Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #16214 - Don't Be Deceived in the Last Days - 1 John 2:24-29

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#16214 - Don't Be Deceived in the Last Days - 1 John 2:24-29 · 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 to 1st John chapter 2.
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We're going to pick up from where we left off last time in
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first John chapter 2. When you get there, we're going
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to be in verse 24 and I've entitled our Bible study, Don't
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Be Deceived in the last days. That's really the essence of
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this section in Chapter 2 that that John the.
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Apostle, the apostle of love. Is sharing with us Don't be
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deceived in the last days? And one of the exciting things
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about living in the last days is that we're closer and closer and
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closer to the return of the Lord.
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We're reminded with everything that we see around us that Jesus
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is coming again. Can I get an Amen for that?
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There's a Bible word that's used one time in all the New
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Testament, but it's a a good word.
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It's a powerful word. It's the word Maranatha.
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Maranatha. Even so, Lord, come quickly.
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We, we desire you to return. We want to see the culmination
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of your will. Even so, Lord, come.
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And in Luke chapter 19, you can jot it down.
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Jesus says he says he called ten of his servants and delivered to
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them 10 Minas and said to them, Do business till I come.
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It is impossible, as we have learned to have two competing
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loves you. You can't serve 2 masters.
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You'll either love one or hate the other or hate 1 and love the
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other. And to do business till I come
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has everything to do with what Jesus taught us in Matthew
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chapter 6 and verse 33. To seek first the Kingdom of
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God, to have our priorities in order.
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It isn't going to bode well for you or for me.
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To entertain competing loves and competing desires where our
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passion and our commitment is watered down with lukewarmness.
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And the real question that needs to be asked tonight is Are you
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ready and are you waiting and are you occupying until he
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comes? Or is there a part of you that
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wishes you had what you had? You get through a difficult time
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where God is changing and sanctifying you and you go, why
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wish this? And I want that.
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And you're looking back to a time where you know, I don't
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know why we do that. I'm not entirely sure why the
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past seems so attractive to us when God has clearly revealed to
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us that that was a very difficult time living in the
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darkness. It was a very difficult time
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living in rebellion. It was a very difficult time
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living apart from Christ. But there are these times where
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we just maybe even comes out of your mouth.
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Well, you know, I wish I had. You need to take that and
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crucify that before the war. You don't want to go backwards.
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There's nothing for you in this world.
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We need to do business, His business until He comes.
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And that's what Jesus is preparing his disciples for, to
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be ready. He always taught them, I'm
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leaving, but I'll be back. I'm leaving but I'll be back,
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I'm leaving but I'll be back. And even John picks up on that
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for the 1st century church as he equips them, reminding them of
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the days in which they lived. And now 2000 years later,
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they're even darker then. So notice now in verse 24 as we
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start a new paragraph there. Therefore, let that abide in
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you, which you heard from the beginning.
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If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you
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also will abide in the Son and in the Father.
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Verse 25. And this is the promise that He
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has promised eternal life. The Church has been invaded by
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false teachings then and even now, and the problem that the
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Church was facing is that false teaching and false teachers are
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enticing and attractive, shooting their teachings at
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something in us that we're looking for the answer because
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of a dissatisfaction of the answer that God has given.
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I'll give you an example. There may be something in your
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life and right now that you are harboring pain or bitterness or
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difficulty, and the question why comes up.
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And it that question why? While it's OK to ask it, it
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really isn't going to lead you to where you really want to go
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because we almost always never get the answer why.
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The better question to ask is who?
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Who is my savior and what God? What are you doing and what will
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you do this? But there are those times where
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we're so hurt or wounded and we're asking the question why?
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And wouldn't you know it, there is somebody shows up into your
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life that absolutely has the exact answer you've been looking
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for. And as they draw out from you,
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getting to know you and wanting to know what you're going
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through, they're able to craft an answer in such a way where
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they'll draw you closer to themselves.
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And rarely does a false teacher give you the false teachers
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teaching upfront. Rarely do they go head on, but
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rather they hand you a pamphlet, invite you to a gathering, make
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you feel confused over what you're feeling or what you're
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going through. And using that, that instability
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in your life, they entice you and you it, it's attractive.
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I mean, you have the answer. And if you're not careful,
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you'll follow someone that will lead you astray.
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And because they're out there, John, his answer to that, to the
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believers then and to us now is a simple answer.
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He doesn't say notice, go study more, go back to school, double
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up your prayer, your prayer life and double up your Bible
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reading. He doesn't respond with a list
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of activities as if somehow you lack the ability to grow in your
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current condition. What does he say?
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He says abide what you have already heard.
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Verse 24, abide. Don't veer away from the simple
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gospel would be another way to say that.
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Abide in the truth to which some might say, well, I don't have a
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lot of truth. He's not asking you to abide in
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the truth you don't have yet. He's commanding us to abide in
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the truth that we do have. The clarity of knowing what God
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has done in our life. Here at Calvary, we have a
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class, we call it Discipleship 101, Discipleship 101.
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It's been going on for many, many years.
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We used to call it new Believer class, but we changed the name
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because it's not just for new believers.
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Because you might be walking, you know, you might be walking
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with the Lord for 10 years and you need this class.
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You might be a brand new believer that responded to the
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gospel two weeks ago and you need this class.
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But what it does in this class is teaching you the essentials
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of the Christian faith, the basics information to build your
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life upon, like the nature of God, who is Jesus Christ, who is
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the Holy Spirit, what is sin, what is repentance, what is
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faith, and on and on the list goes.
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These are fundamental truths of Christianity.
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We also have a free discipleship booklet.
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It is on the stage every single service.
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It's a little bit more in depth that you can do self-paced
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studies through this discipleship booklet doing the
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same thing from a different angle.
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We also have a Next Steps booklet that we put together.
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We've invested 25 years in putting this booklet together.
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That's also up on the stage to either side in the baskets up
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here, completely free for you. And it has so much information
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that will help you stabilize yourself in the faith of Jesus
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Christ. Not just faith of what you
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heard, but faith that you can. You can read and study the Bible
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and have guided Bible study in your own home being led by the
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Holy Spirit. If you're listening online right
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now or you're out on the radio. I was heading in to the service
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tonight from the airport and we put on the service and I heard
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Josiah leading us and worse. I'm like, OK, we got time.
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We're all right. They haven't even finished
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singing yet. We're all right.
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We're going to make it. We're just turning off a gun
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club on to on to Hampton. We're like, oh, we're going to
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make it, but don't speed, honey, don't speed.
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We're going to be fine. Don't speed.
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If you're online today, you can e-mail me and I can send you the
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links for all of this stuff. All you need to do is ask for
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the discipleship information and I already have it.
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It's on my on my website at taylor.org.
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I mean, we have all of this available.
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The only thing that lacks for some of you is that you haven't
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taken us up on the offer yet. So when he says let that abide
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in you, what you heard from the beginning, there are things you
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need to hear, the basics, the instruction, because today the
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landscape of false teaching is far worse than it was in the 1st
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century because of the advancements in the ability to
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communicate you. You see, false teaching comes in
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the form of pamphlets. Books, Radio, TV, Facebook.
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Cable forwarded emails, blog posts.
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Then there's Facebook and TikTok and YouTube.
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And now fake teach. Fake teachings reside and are
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being developed every millisecond of the day using the
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new technology known as AI. It's important that you
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understand the landscape that you're in.
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It's important to know that if you just type a question into AI
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about the Bible, there's less than a 5050 chance you're going
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to get a good answer. Far less, and certainly today
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people are basing their lives on what AI, what a computer has
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developed not. And really the computer is
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always programmed by people and that's a whole we're developing
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right now. A.
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Class that you can take here in the church on learning AI so you
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can get a fundamental understanding of that tool as a
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believer. It's very, very powerful.
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It's going to be good when it's done, and I want you to learn.
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I want you to understand how to navigate because there's coming
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a day, if it hasn't already, where everything we're doing in
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the digital realm will be touched by AI, all of it.
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You won't be able to escape it. Everything at work and you know,
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it'll start to be introduced and then it'll be mandated and then
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it'll be the tool. It will be the go to tool.
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You will be required to use it within the own ecosystem of your
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of your company in various ways. And so you have to know how to.
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Use it. It's just a tool.
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You don't have to be afraid of a hammer.
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It's like, oh, I can't believe it.
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It's a hammer. You know?
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You don't have to be afraid of a hammer.
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You just have to learn how to use it.
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Maybe I need it. Maybe that's just for me.
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I don't know how to use a hammer but.
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You do, but. I don't have to be afraid of it.
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Things that I'm fearful of, I I'm certain that God can lead me
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and teach me about them. And so we don't want to be, we
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want to use tools for the glory of God.
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You really need to know though, let's come back to this section
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in John in the landscape that we live in right now, you really
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need to know the word of God. I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm not making
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a repetitive pastoral statement. To the degree that you have the
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word of God in you will be to the degree you navigate in this
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very dangerous world, you'll just hear something fake and
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reject it right away. That's where it'll start.
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But it may even lead to you hear something fake and reject it,
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but then the Lord takes you. Not only will you reject it, but
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one day you'll be able to refute it.
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You'll be able to say, no. This is what the Bible says.
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No, this is what he meant because you've learned through
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inductive Bible study or you've been in the word and finally
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you've kept that commitment where you read through the whole
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Bible and you did a couple extra Bible studies and you jot notes
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when you're listening to studies like this and you're like, no, I
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know that's not true. I want you to take it
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responsibility for your itching ears.
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You know, as pastors, it's easy for us to go, Oh, I can't
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believe it. The world, all the technology,
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all it's ruining. Actually, it's it's not all of
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that. You're responsible.
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It's it's, you're responsible. You're the Bible says that
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you're the one that has itching ears.
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The Bible says that in the last days, because of itching ears,
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men and women will raise up for themselves.
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Where does God place the responsibility on Not The Dark
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World, but the believers that are supposed to be living in the
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light. That's where the responsibility
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is us. These aren't response our
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response to the word of God and reading the Word and praying.
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It isn't like a have to in our lives.
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It's a get to. And as we received the Word, He
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inoculates us and he strengthens us.
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So please, Church, take responsibility for your itching
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ears, desire as you are, and continue to want to.
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Hear the word of God and this is not like a Calvary church thing.
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In order to be in good standings with your church or whatever
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church you go to, this is a God thing.
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This is you. You are in love with Jesus
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Christ. He loves you and you love Him,
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and your spiritual life is at. Stake.
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And I know that I've had men and women in this very sanctuary and
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in the school and down when we met on Wagon Trail and over when
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we met in New Life and when we have the space across the street
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in the Cafe, all the different places we've met, there were
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people worshiping just like you, pressing into the things of God,
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just like you, even serving and responsible in this church, just
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like you. And now they're not.
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And one of the reasons is they haven't allowed the Word of God
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to abide in them because there's always something new, isn't
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there? There's always something new.
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There's always something new being offered to us.
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And unfortunately, our tendency is to drift away from the truth,
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The repetitive, mundane part of just read the by.
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It's to say, I already, you know, you might even come to a
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passage of scripture that you've read before.
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And your response in your heart is I've already read this.
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And right away you've disconnected from, well, maybe
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you have read it. That's not there's not a
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problem. I've read that before.
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But what new thing does God have for you?
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What does God have for you? What reminder does God have for
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you? What correction does God have
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for you? What instruction does?
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Like I know you might have read the Bible 100 times, but what
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new thing today does God have for you?
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Because you know, let's say you read this and I said, well, I've
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already read this. Let that abide in you, which
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you've heard from the beginning, which you've heard from the
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beginning, abide in you. You'll be in the sun.
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This is all what we were learning in our greater series.
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So I've already read that really.
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And So what is God saying to you today?
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And as I was putting together, I was just reminded the protection
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that you and I received through abiding in God's Word is that we
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will have a stronger protection and surrounding of the Holy
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Spirit against false teachers automatically.
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You'll just be in the Spirit abiding in Christ and he'll
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protect you. You don't have to figure.
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It all out. You don't have to have a, you
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know, maybe a 10 A10 point checklist.
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If somebody comes up to go, wait a minute, I don't know if you're
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a false teacher. Let me take my checklist out
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right now and what do you believe?
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Would like you all immediately know why?
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Because the Spirit of God abides.
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In you and then as you continue to abide, God strengthens you
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again where you'll. Turn a corner and you'll be able
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to dismiss the new and dismiss that, the new this and new that,
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and be spiritually strong to avoid jumping on the new thing
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bandwagon. Because there is always
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something new. There's always a new thing.
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Even within the Christian world, even within the pale of
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orthodoxies, there's always something new.
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And you get off on this new thing.
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You get off on that new thing. And the real question is, now
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that you're in the new thing, are you abiding in what you
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heard? Are you abiding in what you
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heard? And do you allow it abide in you
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in Second Timothy? Would you turn there with me in
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chapter 4? Just in case you haven't marked
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it yet? I want you to second Timothy
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chapter 4. When you get there, pick up with
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me. In verse 3, Second Timothy 43,
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Paul is warning young Timothy and his ministry in the
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beginning of his ministry. He's reminding him and teaching
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him about the times that will come.
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And he says in verse 3, Second Timothy 4 For the time will come
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when they will not endure sound doctrine.
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Now, if you want to just for the sake of memory, I won't test you
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tonight, but if you just want for the sake of memory, circle
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the word. They and you can write two
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things next to it, believers and possibly me.
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I'm a believer like this is not for someone else.
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You read this text, you go somewhere.
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Oh, yeah. I know there's a time when
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though they they will not endure sound doctrine.
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But he's writing to Timothy about the church and we are the
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church. So the first step I think of
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walking away from the Lord is thinking you'll never do it.
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Oh, that'll never happen to me. Be careful with the word.
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Never be careful. It may or may not, but sometimes
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the word never. For example, if I say that would
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never happen to me, Pastor Ian and I, on one of our drives, we
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were talking about some of the difficulties we've experienced
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together. We've been together over 20
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years. I came out on this trip.
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It's like we've been serving together over 20 years, he and I
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and we've been through a lot together.
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We've. Seen a lot.
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Together and so we were talking about that and and we were
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talking about a brother that we knew that fell into gross, gross
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immorality. And as we were talking about
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pastor, pastor of a very large church.
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Because we both remember when it was announced and and we went
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out there to help, to help stabilize.
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I had. I was teaching out there after
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the fact at the church there. And we were talking about it and
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we were just very careful in our conversation to, to make sure we
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both agreed that although we see that happening and another
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brother, what we can't be looking at it like that would
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never happen to us. I mean, I don't want it to
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happen. And I, I have a lot of
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safeguards in my life and I, I, I love my wife, I love my
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church. I love, I don't want to hurt.
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I got all the right safeguards, accountability, but still, would
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I stand here together? That would never happen to me.
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That's a pretty prideful thing to say.
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That's a very prideful thing to say.
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And the only way that I can confidently say it isn't going
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to happen to me is as I abide in Christ because He's my strength
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and my protector. And he leads me.
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And he inflames my passion for him and His word and he inflames
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my love for my wife and my children and for our church
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family and my grandchildren. And he, he wants.
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It's him that leads and guides us.
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It's He that leads us. And so be careful, Paul says to
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Timothy, The time will come. They will not endure sound
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doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have
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itching ears. They will keep up for themselves
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teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth
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and be a turn aside the fables. But you be watchful on all
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things, endure afflictions, do the work of the ministry or the
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work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry.
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They call it jumping down the rabbit hole.
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Have you heard that phrase before?
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It's usually reference to doom scrolling on TikTok and
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Instagram. But jumping down the rabbit hole
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is how the algorithm catches you on YouTube and before you know
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it, you're 10 videos into it and it's time to go to work.
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You say how could I, how could I turn aside?
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Well, you spend 8 hours on Instagram just following the
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algorithm you have turned aside. I'm not saying it's not a tool
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that can be used. There's great teaching there.
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We have teaching there. That's not what I'm saying.
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But if you get caught down the rabbit hole, you should just
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ask. I don't know for sure.
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I'm not saying every situation, but if you're burning 5 or 6
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hours on YouTube five days a week, that's 30 hours.
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It's a long time. You only work 40 hours, so
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that's like a second full time job.
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And So what are you feeding yourself and what are you
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looking? For even if it's just mindless.
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Even if it's just mindless as you're emptying your mind for
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6-7 hours a day, five days a week, your second full time job
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is to turn aside from the things of God and then what happens?
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I mean, I could go on. It doesn't just mean YouTube.
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I mean, I think video games suck a lot of life out of folks.
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And, you know, sometimes it's hobbies, sometimes it's apathy.
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There's a lot that can tempt us to take turn aside.
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But when it comes to false teachings, you have to be very,
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very careful. It's not just somebody standing
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on a corner with a pamphlet anymore.
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It's right on your phone. It's right on your phone, it's
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on your computer. It's on my phone and computer.
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I use those tools. I use them a lot, but I also
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have to be very disciplined on how I use them so that they're
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tools that I use it, it doesn't use me.
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You guys get me. It got pretty silent in here.
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You're like some of you are thinking, I wish he missed his
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plane, man. So when Paul tells Timothy and
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he says the time will come, I say all that just to say this
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from John's perspective, the time has come.
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The time has come. There isn't today just a lack of
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endurance, but there's an outright resistance to sound
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doctrine today. And yes, it is other churches.
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It's true. I can say that with absolute
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certainty. Other churches have abound.
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Many other churches have abandoned sound doctrine.
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But that's not my point. I'm not responsible for other
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churches. I'm just responsible for us.
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So I'm not trying to make a point in order to say we're a
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better church than everyone else.
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That's not my point. This is my point.
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I'm not responsible, neither are you for other people's believe
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other people's walks with the Lord or what other churches do.
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You're responsible for you and I'm responsible for us and I'm
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committed to the best of my ability with the way that God
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has gifted me and the gift of pastor teacher to give you sound
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doctrine the way that God would have me to deliver it.
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But it's up to you to receive and live in it.
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It's up to you to stay, not resist the truth that when
23:15
something difficult comes, there will be a church in town that
23:19
will teach and provide something that will appeal to your flesh,
23:24
that will appeal to some part of your flesh.
23:27
Take advantage of that weakness and you just have to be careful.
23:32
I mean, I, I think let me step back for a minute.
23:34
The the whole prosperity gospel, the health and wealth movement,
23:38
that false teaching that God owes you.
23:42
And that you can command. God and that the more faith you
23:45
have, the more God will do. Like, it's just all nonsense.
23:48
It's neither prosperity or the gospel, but it's one of the most
23:52
popular false teachings that's around today.
23:55
Why? Because it appeals to the flesh,
23:58
You know, You know how they appeal to the flesh?
24:01
They say if you sow into their ministry, you'll get a lot of
24:04
money back or you'll get a lot of benefits back.
24:07
If you send in your money, I'll actually even give you a little
24:11
piece of cloth that I sweat on and prayed over.
24:14
Just for you. And if you use that cloth,
24:17
there's prosperity in that cloth.
24:21
Now in the current place where we are right now, it sounds
24:26
absolutely silly, but to someone who's going through a financial
24:31
need and doesn't have, isn't rooted in the word of God, it's
24:35
a very attractive message. God wants to bless me.
24:39
Yes, God wants to bless you. He does.
24:42
God wants to take care of all of my needs.
24:44
Not only does he want to, he promises to take care of every
24:47
need you have according to your riches in Christ Jesus.
24:51
God wants me. He wants me to participate in
24:54
the work that he's doing on the earth today with the money that
24:57
he's entrusted me. Absolutely one.
24:59
Those are all truths. Bam, bam.
25:02
Those are all solid biblical truths, but the way they get.
25:05
Applied in this false teaching is just to enrich a small group
25:09
of people. It doesn't take you to God at
25:12
all. It takes you to them.
25:15
And these false teachers embedded the algorithm long
25:18
before Silicon Valley did to get you hooked.
25:24
It used to be letters. They would just send out letters
25:27
and it would say and then if you you know the way to test them is
25:30
just put a false, you know, sign up with a fake name.
25:34
Say I'm I'm Jehoshaphat Taylor, and then you just know when it
25:39
says, hey, dear Jehoshaphat, I was thinking of you today.
25:43
I mean, the letters come out so personal.
25:45
You weren't thinking about me today.
25:46
You don't even know my name. And on and on the time has come.
25:51
Church know the word. Don't be taken advantage of.
25:56
What what what should we do? Abide it says verse 24.
25:59
Just abide in the truth, abide in the Lord, and when you're in
26:02
the Son, you're in the Father, and He's promised you eternal
26:06
life. By the way, this is many years
26:09
ago, but I thought it was interesting at one time a man by
26:12
the name of Jen Baker. How many of you know that name?
26:14
Jim Baker. OK, it's pretty.
26:16
Popular. I'm going to introduce you to
26:17
him if you don't know him, but Jim Baker was one of the most
26:20
successful #1 televangelists that exists during his time.
26:26
He he had a very large, pervasive television ministry.
26:31
He had built a very large church.
26:33
He was building a Christian theme park and hotels.
26:37
And he held to this false teaching of the prosperity
26:41
gospel. You can Google his story.
26:43
I mean, sure, you'll find articles on him.
26:46
And he had perfected the delivery of this false teaching
26:51
to the tunes of millions upon millions of dollars, except that
26:57
he got caught in his deception and sent to jail for fraud
27:02
because he was defrauding those that were genuinely supporting
27:08
his ministry. And in his book after he got out
27:13
of jail, I think he read it while I wrote it while he was in
27:15
jail, but it was published afterwards.
27:17
This is what he said. He he learned something in jail.
27:20
And I quote, I've always quoted third John verse 2 saying above
27:24
all things, God wants you to prosper.
27:27
I love that. Scripture he wrote it looks
27:29
great on ATV screen when you're raising funds and I interpreted
27:33
it as God wants you to be rich. But when I got to the words of
27:37
John I said now this doesn't make sense.
27:40
So I took the word prosper apart in the Greek and I found it to
27:44
be made-up of 2 words. The first word means good or
27:48
well, and the second Rd. it's a progressive word.
27:52
So like it's like a journey. So here John saying basically,
27:56
beloved, I want you to have a good journey through life as
28:00
your soul has had a good journey to heaven.
28:02
It was a greeting. He said, exclamation point.
28:06
And building theology on that is like building the church on have
28:10
a nice day. And in his book, after he got
28:13
out of jail, he completely denounced his false teaching.
28:18
He did. I was very encouraged when I
28:20
read that many years ago. But he has since changed his
28:23
tune and he is back on TV. He's got a little ministry in
28:28
Branson, MO, and he's even worse than he was before.
28:33
Because that's what happened when you don't repent and when
28:36
you don't have godly sorrow, when you just pay lip service to
28:40
God. Obviously spoke to him in
28:43
prison. Stop it.
28:46
This is sin. You're misinterpreting the
28:48
scripture. You're taking advantage.
28:50
You think that scripture looks good, like he was obviously
28:53
busted but did not respond with that.
28:56
Being busted by the Holy Spirit with godly sorrow and he's back
29:01
making the same mistakes, getting sued, lying on and on.
29:05
The list goes. Still stealing money from
29:11
vulnerable susceptible people. You know, when I think of
29:14
vulnerable susceptible people, I'm reminded of my mom in her
29:18
latter years, alone after my dad passed away alone in a dark
29:23
house. Just my mom and her TV.
29:26
That's what she had. She had ATV in the front room.
29:28
She had ATV in her bedroom, which her whole life.
29:32
She went to sleep watching TV. And while she wasn't taken
29:37
advantage of by by these folks, she was influenced, She was
29:42
vulnerable. And I just think of it's not
29:46
just us. It's not just us, but the.
29:49
Vulnerable. The ones that are writing that
29:52
check or sending that money and really believing.
29:56
That this is the truth of God's Word.
29:59
This is serious stuff for you and for us to hold the sound
30:04
doctrine. And as a pastor, it's so sad to
30:07
see so few people in the body of Christ today want God's word,
30:13
want God's word. Instead they heap up teachers
30:16
for themselves. COVID revealed that in a very
30:19
real way. Now it was much easier to lop
30:23
onto conspiracy theories and spilled your whole life on
30:26
conspiracy theories and things that may or may not happen.
30:33
Even some listening me right now.
30:35
Well, you know, ambassador, conspiracy theories, they came
30:38
true. That's actually not even the
30:39
point. You're missing the point.
30:41
You're so caught up in it, you're just missing the point.
30:44
All that time wasted that you weren't abiding in the word, you
30:50
were abiding in something else. I can't tell you how many times
30:53
during that time it was just really, it was unbelievable how
30:56
many times people would come up after a service and say, but
30:59
pastor, what if this and what if that?
31:01
And I just learned I got added something to my ministry during
31:04
that time and I told them, I don't deal in hypotheticals.
31:08
What is God doing right now because I don't know what God
31:12
wants to do in the future. I don't know.
31:13
You can create any scenario you want.
31:15
I have no idea. But what does God want from you
31:17
right now? And you're so caught up in the
31:20
hypotheticals that you're not walking and abiding in Christ by
31:25
faith. I want to commend you as a
31:28
church. I love this church and this
31:31
congregation of ours wants God's Word.
31:34
And I commend you because it's not easy to step in.
31:37
It's not easy to die to your flesh.
31:39
It's not easy to learn. For some of you, it's not easy
31:42
to read because of a reading disability or dyslexia.
31:45
Like I get all of the pressure besides our flesh that might
31:50
lead us away from God's Word. But I commend you because you're
31:53
pressing in and you're matching with obedience.
31:58
God. God is well pleased with you.
32:01
Keep hungering for the Word, by the way.
32:03
One last thing on that and we'll get to the next few verses.
32:07
This is one of the reasons why this church in particular has
32:11
invested so much money in the radio ministry and media in
32:16
general, but the radio ministry in particular, because when we
32:21
started Grace FM. There was another and there is
32:24
another station in town that teaches God's Word, and for that
32:26
I'm grateful, but not the approach that we've taken.
32:31
And the approach that we've taken is only systematic, verse
32:34
by verse, teaching on the radio and only teaching on the radio,
32:39
Monday through Friday, 24 hours a day.
32:41
We would say 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
32:43
That's it's not 24/7, it's like 24, five and a half, something
32:47
like that. Because we do put some music on
32:49
Saturdays, but for the most part we want to.
32:53
Give out the word of God. And here's the here's the
32:55
thought. It's not only, it's not only to
32:58
teach the word of God, but it's to develop an appetite.
33:02
And it and the Grace FM blesses all churches, not just this
33:05
church. It blesses all churches because
33:08
it's building up believers in other churches and building up
33:11
believers in other communities. And then when somebody gets
33:15
hooked on God's word, that's what they want.
33:18
It's like you guys, and I know many of you, you, you, you give
33:21
me a hard time. You really should have give me
33:23
personally a hard time when it comes to rhubarb because it's
33:28
disgusting. I know nobody's ever told you
33:30
that, but sometimes God brought me from California, just to let
33:33
you know. That's nasty.
33:35
It's disgusting. And then of course, well, if you
33:37
mix it with strawberries and sugar, why can't I just have
33:39
strawberries and sugar? That's fine.
33:42
But here's the thing with rhubarb, every this is the
33:44
beautiful thing when we have this conversation, because I
33:46
don't have any problems. You want to eat that stuff,
33:48
that's fine. Just don't serve it to me.
33:50
But you can have it. But I'll tell you what, it's
33:53
almost always a nostalgia that's attached to that.
33:58
I'll hear it. Well, that's what we ate growing
34:00
up, or my grandmother made it for me.
34:02
If you had my grandmother's rhubarb, I there's always a
34:05
response that attaches that rhubarb to something beautiful
34:10
and wonderful. And when you grew up, and so you
34:13
can back off on that and say, you know why you like rhubarb is
34:16
because you were fed it as a young, in a young age, it became
34:20
a part of your family. I didn't know what rhubarb was.
34:24
I'm not joking, till I moved here.
34:27
I never heard of it. I'm like, anyway, we don't need
34:32
to go. That's not the Bible study.
34:34
I thought I'm going to hold it, but but some of the things that
34:37
we like, you know, and some of our tastes that we have, the
34:41
reason why we have the taste is because we were fed it young at
34:45
a young age. That's what my family ate, have
34:47
all these different nationalities, all these
34:49
different dishes, all the, you know.
34:51
Beautiful diversity of our church.
34:52
So diversity of food here. Why?
34:54
Because this is what you had in your home and not this is your
34:57
meal, that this is what you like and it's OK if other people
35:00
don't like it. That's not the point.
35:02
The point is, I like it. And I like it because I was fed
35:05
it. And that's how it is with the
35:07
word of God. I promise you, you may not be
35:09
there yet, but it's OK because I'm sure as a kid you didn't
35:11
like it. I'm sure as a kid you ate that
35:13
and said, mom, did I do something wrong?
35:17
But then you kept having it, kept having it, kept having it
35:19
and. You're like, I like this.
35:21
This is a part of our family tradition.
35:24
I like it. I don't, I don't don't feel I
35:26
have to. I like it.
35:27
That's how it is with God's Word, because sometimes you're
35:30
reading God's word, I'm teaching it and it's hard to receive.
35:33
You don't like what I'm saying, You don't like what the Bible's
35:36
saying. You know, the opposite of what
35:38
John's saying right now could be this.
35:40
Why are you not abiding in his word?
35:43
That's a pretty tough question to ask and answer.
35:47
Or I illustrated that in in the gift of pastor teacher.
35:51
I illustrated that. So you're burning all those
35:53
hours on YouTube. I'm sure that was hard to hear.
35:58
Those of you that are burning all those hours on really
36:00
nothing. It adds nothing to your life.
36:05
It just sucks the life out of you.
36:07
And if it's a spiritual rabbit hole, then it confuses you.
36:12
And you were such had such a simple faith until you spent 30
36:15
hours for the last five weeks looking at all this false stuff.
36:23
And then by the time you come up to ask a question, you're
36:25
already convinced in your own mind that you spend all that
36:29
time apart from God's word and you let some guy teach you and
36:32
you don't even know by now you're so convinced.
36:36
And now you're gone. And as a pastor, I, I pray for
36:39
that. I want to be more equipped in
36:41
the days in which we live to serve in this.
36:44
I don't want to sit here and pound the pulpit and condemn
36:46
everything in the world that's not going to help you grow.
36:50
But if I love you and teach you, that's going to help you grow.
36:53
And if you respond by abiding in the Word, that's where you're
36:56
going to be. You're going to remember your
36:58
eternal life. And I encourage, I commend you
37:01
truly, and everyone that's not here, that'll be here on the
37:04
weekend. I commend you for going through
37:06
the Word of God verse by verse, chapter by chapter, receiving it
37:12
no matter what you go through, no matter what you're what
37:16
you're experiencing tonight. He says as you abide in him at
37:18
the end of verse 25, you'll enjoy eternal life.
37:22
That's not just heaven, that's now age abiding life.
37:26
He is with you verse 26. Now He says these things I've
37:30
written to you concerning those who try to deceive you, but the
37:34
anointing which you have received from him abides in you,
37:38
and you do not need that anyone teach you.
37:41
But as the same anointing teaches you concerning all
37:43
things and is true and is not a lie, and just that is at as it
37:48
has taught you, you will abide in him.
37:51
So now he uses a different term for these false teachers.
37:54
I find it interesting that deceivers and false teachers
37:57
love to come to believers to make comforts.
38:01
Their message has no power apart from someone that has a
38:05
knowledge of the Bible. They, the false teachers and
38:07
cults, they just go after believers.
38:10
They're successful and confusing believers because believers, the
38:14
ones that they're successful with are believers that are not
38:17
abiding in Christ. They're wandering and drifting.
38:22
And So what will these folks do? They'll go through our parking
38:25
lot and attempt to put Flyers on your cars.
38:30
There you go. Come on, Pastor.
38:31
Yes. There was a big season for for
38:35
quite a while where we had to have extra security in the
38:39
parking lot so that we could either get rid of these guys or
38:43
take the papers we would bring. They would bring papers in of
38:46
false teachers and false invites to you.
38:50
So after you receive the word, you come out and you go, Oh
38:52
yeah, I don't really like that teaching for Med.
38:55
And all of a sudden there's a piece of paper, there's a better
38:57
teacher. Oh, God, you're so good.
38:59
You know, and they're just. Liars.
39:03
We haven't seen that in a while. It's different mechanisms these.
39:05
Days, but there are those that. Will invite you to their own
39:11
personal Bible study. They'll be picketing at
39:13
Christian events. Why don't they talk target
39:16
unbelievers? Why don't they target
39:18
unbelievers? I'll tell you why the devil has
39:20
a strategy, and his strategy is this.
39:23
We learn this in the book of Acts.
39:24
If I can't beat them, I'll join them and I'll infiltrate from
39:28
within and I'll be a wolf in sheep's clothing.
39:33
And devil doesn't care that you've been warned about it.
39:35
He doesn't care because wolves in sheep's clothing can be very
39:39
successful with other things other than God's Word.
39:46
John mentions 8 reasons why and how we can be deceived.
39:50
I'm going to give them to you very quickly.
39:52
If you can't write them down, you can e-mail me and I'll send
39:54
them to you. But there's 8 reasons how we can
39:58
be deceived #1 is in chapter 1, verse six that darkness clouds
40:02
our walk. In verse 8 of chapter 1, we deny
40:05
that we're sinful. He said in chapter 1, verse four
40:09
and chapter 3, verse 7, disobedience will deceive us.
40:14
When we're deliberately hateful in chapter 2, verse 9, chapter
40:18
4, verse seven, that can lead us to be deceived in chapter 2,
40:22
verse 15, when we're distracted by the world in chapter 2, verse
40:26
27, when we depend on ourselves, when we're in the flesh in
40:30
chapter 4, verse one, we'll learn we can be deceived when we
40:33
don't search the Scriptures. And then finally in chapter 2,
40:37
verse 23, we can be deceived. Just people can be deceived just
40:42
plain because they're dead in their sins and they haven't been
40:45
born again. And John says in verse 27 that
40:49
there's an anointing that every believer has, the indwelling of
40:53
the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the third person of the
40:58
Trinity, God at God revealing himself as Holy Spirit as your
41:02
comforter and your teacher and your guide will learn in
41:07
Ephesians coming up. He's the seal of your salvation.
41:12
And the criteria for determining truth is the outward standard.
41:16
So. If you need help, there's two
41:18
ways to examine everything you hear.
41:21
Number one, you look at it outwardly and the way you look
41:24
at something outwardly is the Holy Spirit reveals this to you.
41:28
Again, you don't have to be a Bible scholar to do this, but
41:30
you say, does it teach? Is it in line with God's Word?
41:34
Does it match God's character? Is it what you've been taught
41:38
already? Is it in the Word of God, in the
41:43
whole council of God? For example, why do we water
41:47
baptize adults? And I'll tell you why, Because
41:53
Jesus taught it. It is repeated in the book of
41:56
Acts and it is spoken of and corrected in the epistles.
42:01
It goes through the entirety of the New Testament, the new
42:04
covenant act of water baptism of believers.
42:08
Jesus taught it. It's in the book of Acts and
42:12
it's corrected. And it's so that becomes
42:14
something regular in our worship of God.
42:17
So why don't we also then do the same thing with foot washing?
42:21
Why don't we wash feet once a month like we do with communion?
42:25
First of all, you guys, you know your, your feet, your feet, you
42:29
know, like, first of all, it's your feet.
42:31
No, I'll tell you why it's not that at all.
42:34
We don't practice foot washing as an ordinance in the church
42:37
because it, it's not taught as such by Jesus.
42:41
It's practiced by him, but it's not taught by him.
42:44
So it becomes an example. It isn't practiced or taught in
42:47
the book of Acts and it's not mentioned as anything kind of
42:51
correction in the epistles. So is foot washing for today?
42:56
Yes, but not the same as communion.
43:00
It's not the same. So if you go to a church and go,
43:03
well, wait, wait, foot washing is just as important as
43:05
communion, you can tell them, hey, Jesus didn't teach that.
43:10
The church didn't practice that, and Paul didn't carry it on in
43:15
his church planning or James or Peter or Jude.
43:18
All the letters in the epistles, the letters, none of them
43:21
address foot washing as an ordinance for the church.
43:25
And you can see that with baptism, you can see that with
43:29
communion, but you don't see. That with foot.
43:32
Washing. So there's an outward standard,
43:34
but there's also an inward standard.
43:36
And what is that inward standard?
43:38
The Holy Spirit. I will often refer to that as
43:41
you hear something and the Holy Spirit alarm goes off.
43:46
You may not fully understand it, but it doesn't give you a.
43:49
Peace the you pay. Attention to that.
43:53
Don't quickly dismiss that inward standard.
43:57
Is the Holy Spirit in me bearing witness to what is there?
44:02
That's not the only standard, but it is an important standard
44:06
that John says here you have the anointing.
44:09
You don't need anyone to teach you anything new.
44:11
When you're faced with false teaching, that's what he's
44:13
saying. It's not that you have nothing
44:15
to learn the rest of your life. That's not what he's saying.
44:17
It's context. He says when you meet a false
44:19
teacher, false, you know, teachings, you don't need any
44:22
more teaching in that moment. You just listen.
44:25
I mean, sometimes you don't have to listen, but what you hear,
44:28
does it line up with the word of God?
44:30
And does your spirit bear witness with their spirit?
44:33
Because the Spirit of God is in you And over and over and again,
44:37
you will find that the Spirit of God will get to you far more
44:39
than your mind does. And you're just like, this isn't
44:41
right. This is not right.
44:44
This person is not sharing the gospel with me.
44:47
This person is inviting me to their little Bible study.
44:50
That. Alone should say that God didn't
44:52
send them. The hell alone, they're not, you
44:56
know, you get stopped by somebody in the mall, as I
44:58
mentioned many, many weeks ago, and they're they're not sharing
45:01
the gospel with you. They're trying to find out what
45:03
you believe really quick. So then they go come to our
45:05
Bible studies. We want to teach you, you don't
45:07
believe correctly like that. That's not from the Lord.
45:09
God doesn't send people to the mall to do that.
45:13
That's not love. That's not dying to self
45:16
whenever someone's drawing you to themselves.
45:19
The Holy Spirit doesn't bear witness to that, I promise you.
45:22
Now you might ignore that and that's, you know, it's our
45:25
danger when we ignore the Spirit of God in us.
45:27
But when someone's drawing, it's always about them come to them.
45:30
They have then that that alone, the Spirit of God, because the
45:36
Spirit of God will always testify of Jesus, always point
45:40
you to him. We're not to disregard pastors
45:44
and teachers and books. That's not we're not to
45:49
disregard a teacher that God has put in our lives if they
45:52
teaching correctly. The Bible says in Ephesians
45:57
chapter 4 and never forget this. It's even hard to say it.
46:01
Sometimes I make a joke out of it, but it's serious and it may
46:04
sound self-serving what I'm about to share with you, but
46:07
it's not it's biblical truth. Good, solid, faithful pastors
46:14
are God's gift to us. They are God's gift to the
46:18
church and we need them in our lives.
46:24
And so it makes sense that situations would try to erode
46:27
trust where we don't have men in our lives and their families to
46:32
help us walk with the Lord and or we just say, I don't need
46:35
that. I don't need that.
46:36
You do. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11.
46:39
We will study it in depth. But the Bible says, and you say
46:43
gift and I say gift, yes, you say give to the church.
46:46
I do listen to what it says. And he's Speaking of God himself
46:51
gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some
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pastors and teachers for the equipping of the Saints, for the
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work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
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Recently I was reminded of the man that God used in such a
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great way in my life. His name is Rudy, Pastor Rudy.
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He oversaw the children's ministry back in the back of the
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building, seemingly in obscurity.
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But he wasn't an obscurity at all.
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And neither was his commitment just to serve children.
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He also served their parents. And because I was early and I
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didn't, I wanted my son to get into Sunday school.
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And we would show up early. I'd be sitting in the hallway as
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he's opening the doors. Oh, I see you're here.
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And he met. We got to know each other.
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Oh, Ed, you're here early. You bet I'm here early.
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I want my son in Sunday school because I want to be in the
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sanctuary and learn and then after.
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A while. So, you know, you're here early
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all the time. Have you ever thought about
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serving? Yeah, I thought about serving,
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but not children. And it just began this
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conversation. And through a series of events,
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that's exactly what I did. I showed up to serve children.
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I showed showed up to serve children with the wrong motives,
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Of course. I felt like he was going to give
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me. I was in school at the time, you
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know, taking classes just a little.
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They called it a shepherd school or school ministry or something.
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And I was just taking classes at night at the church with five or
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six of us in the class. And they said you had to do
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service hours. And so I, I went to, I couldn't
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do any more nights. I went to Rudy.
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We had these conversations. And I just thought for sure he
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was going to give me the biggest class where the kids could
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understand all the Greek and Hebrew that I was going to teach
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them. And he said, oh, you want to
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search? Yeah.
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Well, you know, we have a need in the nursery.
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And in that moment, I have an inside voice and an outside
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voice. My inside voice said no, But my
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outside voice said, OK, where do I go?
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And through that man, all the years that I served with him, I,
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I watched him and I learned from him and I listened and I served
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alongside of him. And it was mostly by osmosis of
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his example and the Holy Spirit using him.
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The men and the women, whether they're pastors or leaders,
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small group leaders, they're God's gift to us to lead us and
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got got it through John as saying today he's saying look,
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remain in remain in the Lord and receive what he has for you.
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He says in verse 28 and now little children abide in him so
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that when he appears, we may have confidence and not be
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ashamed before him. It is coming.
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If you know that he's righteous, you know everyone that practices
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righteousness is born of him. Your life reflects the Lord and
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Jesus was never deceived. He always confronted falsehood
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with the truth. He did it a lot of different
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ways, but he was never deceived because his commitment is our
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our example. His commitment was this.
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I always do that which pleases the Father.
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And that's really what John is sharing with us and what we've
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been learning today. Understand the times and remain
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in the truth. Amen.
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Father, thank you for your word tonight.
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It speaks to our hearts and the necessity of knowing you being
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filled with your spirit tonight and we want to be protected and
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guarded and we ask for that tonight in Jesus name, Amen.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study,
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delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
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For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace that's 877-304-7223.
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Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.