Latest / Near East Christian Fellowship Sermons / Day 4: The Defense of the Gospel (Part 2)

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Day 4: The Defense of the Gospel (Part 2) · Near East Christian Fellowship Sermons

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  Welcome to NECF Sermons. Each message here is
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  designed to uplift and strengthen you in your
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  walk with God. Don't miss out. Stay with us until
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  the end for a rewarding experience. Let's dive
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  right in. teachings like this is that we will
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  be equipped enough, okay, we will be equipped
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  enough, right, to teach Jesus all over the world
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  without fear, without doubt, without worry, with
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  full confidence that we know that people will
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  be saved. So yesterday we started, you know,
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  to talk about apologia, which is an answer and
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  the logos, which means an all trans is like,
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  it's like a statement, an all trans, an explanation,
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  right? About why we believe what we believe.
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  And we say that this thing is common. It's common.
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  It's something that you should expect as a believer,
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  right? Don't dodge it. don't avoid it is something
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  that should come on a regular basis, right? It's
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  something that should come on a regular basis
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  that you are able to consistently give an account.
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  All right. So there are three commitments that
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  we must put upon, right? This morning, right?
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  So our commitments to apologia, our commitments
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  to apologia, right? If I say I'm committed, I'm
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  committed to apologetics. I'm committed to be
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  giving an explanation. There are commitments
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  that we need to specifically identify this morning
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  as we go. Before we begin to talk about the different
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  sects and the different beliefs and why those
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  beliefs are actually not the faith of Jesus and
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  how you can correct those beliefs. So, we first
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  of all see our commitments. Our commitments.
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  Let's go to our scripture again. 1 Peter 3. The
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  key scripture, right? Let's go to 1 Peter 3,
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  verse 15. Let's read it again. 1 Peter 3. Sanctify
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  the Lord God in your heart and always be ready
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  to give a defense to everyone who asks you a
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  reason for the hope that is in you. with meekness
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  and fear. Having a good conscience that when
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  they defame you as evildoers. Now, we saw this
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  yesterday. When they defame you as evildoers,
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  those who revile your good conduct in Christ
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  may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the
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  will of God, to suffer for doing good than for
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  doing evil. For Christ also suffered for sins,
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  the just for the unjust, that he might bring
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  us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
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  made alive in the spirit. Made alive in the spirit.
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  Now, the verse 18 is fine, right? So what we
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  see here is that we saw sanctification, right?
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  Yesterday, from yesterday, so let's go back to
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  verse 15. We saw sanctification that... So apologia
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  is actually setting ourselves aside, right? Consecration.
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  It means I'm different for Jesus because I'm
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  ready to give an account. We see the answer there,
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  to give a defense, right? I think in this, what
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  did they call it? In this translation is the
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  word defense, which is to give an answer, right?
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  And to give an answer, an answer which relates
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  to all trances, which relates to a reason why
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  we believe what we believe. And we said that
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  verse 17, let's see. Okay, go to 16, go to 16.
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  Yeah, it says, so that those who revile your
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  good conducts may be ashamed. And we also say
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  that the ashamed there is not to put them to
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  shame, okay? It's not like to make them feel
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  bad because that is not part of the power of
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  the gospel, right? God does not make someone
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  to feel, to see shame. Let's put it that way,
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  right? But the evidence, the explanation of this
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  shame is that when evidence is presented, right,
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  your evidence is sufficient enough, right, for
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  them to put their evidences aside and accept
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  your own, right? So to put their evidences aside,
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  and we check scriptures where that actual word,
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  right, I think we checked it yesterday, where
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  that actual word popped out. So today we have
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  to have a foundation upon which our commitment
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  to apologetics, right? Our commitment to apologetics.
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  So go to the same first bit that, is it having
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  a good, go to 15, let's see, something I'm looking
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  for. Always be ready and answer to give a reason,
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  right? For the hope that is in you, right? That
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  is in you. Now, the first thing that we must
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  do, right? Or the first commitment is, the first
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  thing is that, To know what we believe first.
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  That's our first commitment. That's why verse
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  15 says, A reason for the hope that is in you.
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  So the first thing is, you must know the hope
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  that is in you. You must know the hope that is
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  in you. So we must know what we believe. So when
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  there are teachings, when there are things concerning
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  the faith, and you realize that you are lacking
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  in knowledge, you should investigate it. You
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  should pay attention to study it until you find
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  an answer from the scriptures. You should have
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  a note. This particular part, I need to study
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  it. This particular part, I need to study it.
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  If you are trying, you can tell the pastors,
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  you can tell people around you, right? And the
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  church, over time, can go in that direction,
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  right, based on the decision of the leadership.
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  So what we are saying is that we must know the
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  hope that we believe in. We must know what we
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  believe. We must know what we believe because
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  we cannot defend what we don't understand. Now,
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  this is the difference between other people who
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  call themselves probably some organizations or
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  some sets and... The true Christian faith, which,
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  of course, there's no other true Christian faith.
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  It's just the Christian faith. But the committed
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  Christian faith. The difference is that you must
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  understand what you believe. The ones we are
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  going to check today, you don't need to understand.
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  Just follow. In fact, you just have to follow
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  the organization. Right? You just have to follow
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  the organization. You don't ask questions. But
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  in the faith, you must be ready to give an answer.
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  It therefore means that you must know. Ephesians
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  1. Ephesians 1. Someone says, to know the hope
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  that is in you. Ephesians 1 explains it very
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  well, or opens it up a little bit. And it became
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  Paul's prayer. From verse 15. Wherefore, I also,
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  after I have heard of your faith in the Lord
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  Jesus, and the love unto all the saints, I say
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  this not to give thanks for you, making mention
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  of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord
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  Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you
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  wisdom of the Spirit, right? And revelation in
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  the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding,
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  being enlightened, that you may what? Know. Okay?
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  That you may know. What will you know? The hope.
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  What is the hope of his calling? You must know
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  the hope of his calling. You must know what you
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  believe. It's not, the Christian faith is not
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  without understanding. Okay? The Christian faith
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  is not without understanding, right? There's
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  understanding that must go. You must know what
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  you believe. And in essence, the reason is that
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  we can be able to give sufficient defense, sufficient
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  answer, right? The defense of the gospel is the
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  title, right? So sufficient defense, sufficient
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  answer to those who ask us. And note that...
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  He says, you may be able to give to those who
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  ask you. And now see, some people will revile
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  you. So among those who ask you, do we need to,
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  okay, all right. So among those who ask you are
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  actually people who will revile you. So not everybody
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  that asks you is actually coming to revile you.
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  And we saw that yesterday, right? We saw that
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  there will be people, what's the first group
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  of people that we might encounter? New generation,
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  right? So the new generation might not ready,
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  they are not coming to revile you. They just
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  want to know. Purity everywhere, right? Now,
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  the false prophets too, they are not coming to,
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  I'm sorry, not the false prophets, the sincere
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  preachers, right? Sincere teachers. They are
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  not coming to revile you, right? They are coming
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  actually, they don't know. When Apollos was taken
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  into the house of Priscilla and Aquila, right?
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  It was not to revile him or he was also not reviling
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  them, right? It was actually for him to be taught.
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  So we see that. However, we know that false prophets,
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  mockers and scoffers, they want to revile you,
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  right? So you must be ready to provide an evidence.
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  So the first thing is that we must be committed.
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  These are our commitments in this meeting as
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  we go, as we, you know, after this meeting, that
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  I'm committed to know everything pertaining to
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  the scriptures. You know, one time I used to
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  tell people, I tell someone, okay, preach John
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  3, 6, preach about salvation for me. The people,
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  they prepare the teachings and it goes only across
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  the New Testament or maybe only in the book of
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  John or maybe just a few scriptures. And I said,
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  you see this thing that you do now, it's good,
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  but it is insufficient. Just like we say, if
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  we stay only in the New Testament, we will miss
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  the foundation, which is the Old Testament upon
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  which the New Testament is built upon. So in
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  such. Right? It means that in our explanation,
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  we will do like Jesus. Right? In our explanation,
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  we'll do like Jesus. In Luke chapter 24. Right?
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  Let's go there. Add that scripture. Luke chapter
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  24. We will do like Jesus. So, we must know.
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  Right? We must know. Luke chapter 24. From verse
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  44. Right? From verse 44. We have verse 44. He
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  said, these are the words which I speak unto
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  you while I was yet with you. That. All things
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  must be fulfilled, which are written in the law
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  of Moses, in the prophets, in the Psalms concerning
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  me. And I said, he opened their understanding.
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  So when we need to learn about the faith, we
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  must go to the scriptures. So you will not just
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  stay in the Psalms. You will not just stay in
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  the New Testament, but you will go across scriptures
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  to be able to teach what you know. Right? So
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  we must go. We can put 2 Peter 3 verse 18. 2
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  Peter 3 verse 18. Grow in grace and in the knowledge
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  of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Grow in
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  grace. So, spiritual growth as a believer is
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  to grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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  Okay, the spiritual growth is to grow in the
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  knowledge. So if we say more grace unto you,
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  we are saying more knowledge, more revelation,
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  right? So if I greet someone, more grace unto
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  you, I'm telling you more knowledge, more revelation
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  on the basis of this verse, right? So I'm saying
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  more knowledge to you, more revelation as you
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  press on, right? That you may know, you may know.
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  So when we talk about grace in this context,
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  it's talking about the increase in the knowledge,
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  which is the same thing, again, back to Ephesians.
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  Back to Ephesians, telling us that there will
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  be revelation, the knowledge, in the knowledge
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  of Christ. So we must be zealous to actually
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  know more, right? There should not be any question,
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  like Pastor Fred used to say, he used to say,
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  tell me something. He said, you see, you have
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  to follow the conversation. The reason is because
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  people under us are listening to these same conversations.
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  Right? So, when you listen to that combat, maybe
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  some people giving some explanations, because
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  people listen to them, you listen to them so
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  that you can know how to teach them from Genesis
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  to Revelation on that matter when the question
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  comes. Do we get it? So, it means that we have
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  to grow in the knowledge of Christ, having eyes
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  of our understanding enlightened. Let's progress.
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  Colossians 3, 16. Colossians 3, 16. Let the word
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  of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.
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  Now, teaching and admonishing one another in
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  psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing with
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  grace in your hearts to the Lord. You see, again,
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  the word of Christ dwelling in us richly, in
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  abundance, in surplus, like you have the wealth
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  of the word of God in you. You have the wealth
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  of the word of God in you. The second thing which
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  we saw is... It's still connected to knowing
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  what we believe. It's majorly to say that we
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  should know why we believe what we believe. So
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  it's still connected to what I just said. You
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  must know the why, right? You must know the why.
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  You will know what you believe, right? You must
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  know what you believe. Then we must know why,
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  the reason behind it, right? We must know why,
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  which is the reason behind it. The reason behind
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  what we believe has historical foundation and
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  revelational foundation, okay? The reason behind
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  the Christian faith, why, has historical foundation
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  and revelational foundation. Why? Because it
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  is God working with and within a culture of a
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  people to communicate to the entire world. Some
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  say, why do you believe it? It's an Englishman's
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  religion. Oh, why do you believe it? It's an
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  imported. Why do you believe it? It's just something
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  to control the masses. No. Right? The Christian
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  faith, across history, He has a historical foundation.
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  He has a revelational foundation. He has apostolic
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  foundation. Right? So, those are the reasons
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  why we believe what we believe. It's not just
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  that we read it, we know it. We know the reason
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  why we know it. We know the reason why. Right?
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  We know the reason why. Now, like I said, the
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  ones we are going to discuss today, I will ask
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  you a question. Whether they have historical
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  foundation or they have revelational foundation.
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  Right? We're going to see. Because Pastor Victor
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  is the one that used the word archaeological
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  evidences, you know, all the time. When I started
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  studying, I started seeing that actually, Christian
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  faith is so solidly founded on realities that
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  happened on these earths that God fulfilled.
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  Right? And in those realities, which we call
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  the eyewitnesses accounts, there is what? Revelation.
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  Right? There is revelation. But in most cases,
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  you barely find... any archaeological or any
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  pointer to the fact that some people existed
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  somewhere. Where's Brother Prince? Ah, okay,
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  he's outside. If someone can replace him, it
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  would be nice. Yes, so, Victor, if you can replace
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  him, if he's not in anything, he should come
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  inside. So, there's archaeological evidences,
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  right, evidences on this faith and there's revelational,
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  there's eyewitness evidence, to solidify the
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  Christian faith, which in most cases is difficult
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  for other faiths to establish. So we must know
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  why. Now, the third one is you must know how
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  to communicate the faith. Ah, you must know how
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  to communicate the faith. You must know how to
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  communicate the faith. You must know how to communicate
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  the faith. One of the things I really, you know,
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  honor pastors for is Not just that they know
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  it, but they are apt to teach. See, teaching
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  is something that every day you must trust God
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  that it gives you understanding on how to present
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  the message of the gospel. This teaching is one
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  of the most, I mean, one of the challenging for
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  me to teach. Reason because I'm torn between
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  I don't want to teach someone's doctrine and
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  trying to correct doctrine. Yes, I need to teach
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  the church. So our job is to teach the church.
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  It's not to teach someone's error. But in teaching
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  the church, we would correct someone's error.
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  Do we get it? So our job is not to pick, we don't
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  need to pick all the errors, right? No, not at
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  all. We want to teach the church. Now, in our
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  teaching the church, many errors out there will
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  be corrected. So I was torn in between, right?
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  Where do I start from? Where do I organize this?
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  and trusting the Spirit to flow with us even
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  as we teach. So you must learn how to communicate
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  it. You must learn how to communicate it. 2 Timothy
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  2 verse 15. 2 Timothy 2 verse 15. Be diligent
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  to present yourself approved to God, a worker
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  who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing
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  the word of truth. Say that word ashamed again.
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  So it's not shaming, it's actually to shrink.
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  Like, oh, I don't have sufficient evidence to
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  present. Right? So, you will not shrink that
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  you don't have sufficient evidence when you rightly
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  divide the word of truth. That is what it means.
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  It means to withdraw. I withdraw my case from
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  this discussion because I don't have sufficient
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  evidence. When you rightly divide the word of
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  truth, you wouldn't shrink. So, it means that
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  there's a pattern that we need to use to communicate,
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  to communicate the gospel. 2 Peter 1, 20 -21
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  will rightly divide the word of truth. So, rightly
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  divide simply means to cut across the scripture
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  to give an explanation, right? Cut across the
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  scripture to give An explanation. To what? Now,
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  some people are wondering, knowing first, above
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  all, that no prophecy is of private interpretation.
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  And we have explained this, right? That it's
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  not necessarily meaning someone has a revelation,
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  right? That's not what it means. That means like,
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  oh, this is my interpretation. That is your interpretation.
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  But what it's explaining is that no scripture
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  should be taken alone. No scripture is independent
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  of the order. Right? So, if I read Genesis, it's
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  not independent of Exodus. It's not independent
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  of Malachi. For the prophecy never came by the
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  will of man. But see, holy men, stay on this
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  one, holy men of God spoke as they were moved.
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  So, Moses spoke as he was moved. So, if he was
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  moved by the spirits, right? It means that when
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  Isaiah was moved by the Spirit, Moses and Isaiah
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  would be communicating the same thing. Do we
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  get it? So, holy men, they move. They will move,
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  right? They spoke as they will move. So, it means
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  that because it is of the same origin, right?
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  No single scripture has a separate message from
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  the other. Because it is inspired by God, by
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  the same Holy Spirit, No single, that is what
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  we call the, what the pastor Victor call it,
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  thematic context, right? The entire context of
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  the Bible, right? This is thematic, those places,
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  those concepts, I was supposed to write them
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  down there in my book. I probably will bring
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  that, right? We need them because that is the
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  thematic context of the Bible, the overall message
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  of the Bible, saying that no book is independent,
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  but these books brought together. By men in different
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  generations and across different times, they
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  were moved by the Holy Spirit. And does the Holy
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  Spirit have two messages? No. Just that one message
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  of what God will do in us. What God will do.
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  So, how do I, right, communicate the gospel,
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  right? I communicate it across scriptures, holding
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  on to the messages of the scripture. Holding
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  on to... the messages of the scripture. So there's
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  no one scripture that stands alone, but you bring
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  them together and they spoke as they were moved
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  by the Holy Ghost. Let's go to Philemon 6. Philemon
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  6. Philemon 6. The communication of our faith.
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  Right. The communication of our faith. Philemon
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  6. Okay. Media, help us. So Philemon sees. 6
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  says, the communication of our faith would become,
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  he said, that the sharing of your faith may become
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  effective by acknowledgement of every good thing
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  which is in you in Christ. That as we acknowledge
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  all that is ours in Christ, means that you will
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  cut across, to acknowledge what is yours in Christ,
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  it means that you will cut across all scriptures
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  to know all that is yours in Christ. Living no
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  matter untouched. We will cut across all scriptures
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  knowing what is ours in Christ. Then the communication
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  of our faith, the sharing of our faith becomes
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  very effective. Right? It becomes very effective.
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  It becomes very effective. So this three commitment
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  is something that should go with us every day
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  as we go. Every day as we go. I need to know
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  more. I need to know more. Right? I need to know
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  why. And I need to communicate. That is why when
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  you learn, you communicate it. You teach people,
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  right? The reason why we have us here is not
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  for us to just teach you, teach you, teach you,
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  but that you will go and teach others. So if
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  you don't practice how to teach others, how would
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  you be able to be effective in the communication
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  of your faith? To give a defense, you must learn
• 23:34
  how to communicate the defense. You must learn
• 23:38
  how to communicate. And it doesn't come in one
• 23:40
  day. It's not something that you will just wake
• 23:42
  up one day and you know how to communicate of
• 23:44
  it. No, it's practice. Practice after practice,
• 23:48
  after practice, after practice. It's like people
• 23:52
  who are going for evangelism, the more you do
• 23:54
  it, the more you know how to do it. So the first
• 23:58
  time you went to speak with someone, you realize
• 24:00
  that the scripture you started with or the way
• 24:03
  the conversation started, you could have taken
• 24:06
  it through these other parts. Or started with
• 24:09
  this scripture and moved towards this scripture?
• 24:11
  Or asked this question? So, in that, you are
• 24:14
  practicing how to communicate your faith. Right?
• 24:19
  You are practicing how to communicate your faith.
• 24:23
  So, it is not just mere eloquence. It is not
• 24:26
  mere eloquence. It is not in the wisdom of men.
• 24:29
  It is not eloquence. It is not in the wisdom
• 24:32
  of men. It is also not quoting scriptures. Okay?
• 24:38
  So we've warned each other about quoting scriptures
• 24:40
  randomly and using them haphazardly, right? In
• 24:44
  this place, right? This is not just me quoting
• 24:47
  scriptures, but staying on it. Because we have
• 24:50
  people who have quoted scriptures across all
• 24:53
  times. In fact, in their quoting of scriptures,
• 24:56
  they did terrible damage to people who were looking
• 25:01
  for what to believe in. They had to follow them.
• 25:04
  So it is not quoting scriptures. Like some said,
• 25:08
  right, to confuse people. Just quote randomly,
• 25:10
  quote randomly. In fact, like Pastor Victor also
• 25:13
  said, he said, the people that have done damage
• 25:16
  the most to the faith, I mean, unfortunately,
• 25:20
  are people who use the same material. People
• 25:25
  who hold the Bible across history and even people
• 25:29
  who try to create organizations. Why? Because
• 25:32
  they are using the same book. Now, I tell you
• 25:35
  that if someone was using another book, right?
• 25:38
  You remember what happened in Ephesus? What did
• 25:41
  they do? Right? They will bring out their books
• 25:43
  and they will burn it. Right? They will bring
• 25:46
  out their magic books. Right? And they will burn
• 25:49
  it. Because they have believed in the message
• 25:51
  of Christ. Now, somebody that is using the same
• 25:55
  book with you. First, he does not need to burn
• 25:57
  the book. We don't want to burn the book. But
• 26:01
  the person is communicating and keeping people
• 26:04
  in darkness, right? In the name of using the
• 26:08
  same book. So people who really give the most
• 26:10
  challenge when it comes to apologetics, people
• 26:12
  who give the most challenge is the people who
• 26:16
  actually carry the same book or claim to teach
• 26:20
  from the same book. So we must pay attention,
• 26:23
  right? We must pay attention to how to communicate
• 26:27
  this message. So we will teach it instruction
• 26:31
  by instruction, conviction by conviction, evidence
• 26:35
  by evidence. Okay, we will teach it instruction
• 26:38
  by instruction, conviction by conviction, evidence
• 26:42
  by evidence, correction by correction, precepts
• 26:47
  by precepts. It means that we will be detailed.
• 26:51
  We will be detailed in our communication of the
• 26:54
  gospel. We will be detailed in our communication.
• 26:58
  of the gospel. Alright. The next thing is to
• 27:03
  know what is the state of heart of someone who
• 27:08
  is giving a defense of the gospel. The state
• 27:12
  of our state of heart. Now, one of the challenges,
• 27:16
  so the next thing is our state of heart in giving
• 27:18
  a defense. Right? We can say it that way. Our
• 27:21
  state of heart in giving a defense. There's a
• 27:23
  challenge. I think I was saying it one day that
• 27:26
  one of the reasons why people don't go for evangelism
• 27:28
  is because they don't know what the person will
• 27:31
  say. One. Secondly, sometimes they think that
• 27:35
  they are coming apprehensively to attack somebody.
• 27:37
  No. Sometimes they think, okay, someone I've
• 27:40
  never met before. It's because you have not conditioned
• 27:43
  your heart to know what you're about to go and
• 27:46
  do. So if you condition your heart that, okay,
• 27:48
  I'm going to save souls. I'm not going to attack
• 27:50
  anybody. I'm going to have a communication with
• 27:52
  this person. I'm going to discuss and explain
• 27:54
  the scriptures, right? And it's not like you're
• 27:58
  coming to, you know, hold the person, force the
• 28:00
  person. Is it that you believe or not? You know,
• 28:03
  some people will use the wrong scripture, the
• 28:05
  kingdom of God, suffering violence, right? You
• 28:07
  must take it. But no, no, no. That's the very
• 28:09
  wrong explanation of that. We've seen people
• 28:11
  do very funny things with scriptures. So our
• 28:15
  hearts has a position. Believe me, this will
• 28:19
  help you. when you are going. It will help you
• 28:22
  when we are going. You see this one, this is
• 28:24
  the foundation of the next thing we are going
• 28:25
  to teach. So that when we begin to talk about
• 28:28
  doctrines that don't align with the faith of
• 28:32
  Jesus and why a faith cannot be called salvation.
• 28:36
  I said that. Why a faith cannot be called salvation
• 28:39
  or a belief cannot be called salvation. You will
• 28:43
  know that we are coming from a state of hearts
• 28:46
  that is appropriate, that is consecrated. Let
• 28:50
  me use that word, right? A state of heart that
• 28:53
  is consecrated, right? We are coming from a state
• 28:56
  of heart that is consecrated. So the first thing
• 28:58
  that we must know, right? I know many of us might
• 29:02
  not like it. Some of us are so cool. Some of
• 29:04
  us, we are very reserved, right? But the first
• 29:09
  thing you must know when you are going out for
• 29:11
  an apology is that you are confronting ideologies.
• 29:15
  So many people don't like confrontation. Many
• 29:18
  people don't like confrontation, right? You don't
• 29:21
  want confrontation, right? To discuss, to argue,
• 29:25
  to explain, no. So, first, the state of our heart
• 29:29
  must be that we are going to confront ideologies.
• 29:32
  We are going to confront ideologies, strongholds,
• 29:37
  and arguments. Ideologies, strongholds, and arguments.
• 29:44
  Ideologies, strongholds, and arguments. That
• 29:47
  exalts themselves against the knowledge of God.
• 29:50
  That exalts themselves against... So you must
• 29:53
  know, this one you must know. You will not get
• 29:55
  there and tell the person A is B. And the person
• 29:58
  will say, oh, glory to God, I believe. Right?
• 30:00
  No, it's not going to happen like that. So you
• 30:02
  must know that we are going to confront ideologies.
• 30:04
  People are not born tabula rasa. Tabula rasa
• 30:07
  means a plain head. People are not plain head.
• 30:10
  Right? They are not a white board where nothing
• 30:12
  is written on. Something has been written in
• 30:14
  their mind. before they met you, right? Even
• 30:18
  if they have no faith, something has been written
• 30:21
  in their mind. For example, you are going to
• 30:23
  preach even to a new generation person. The person
• 30:25
  will ask you, why does God allow a child in Gaza
• 30:31
  or somewhere to die? Why does he not stop that
• 30:35
  bomb at that last minute before it exploded?
• 30:38
  Right? Someone will ask you such a question.
• 30:40
  You are preaching the love of God. The person
• 30:42
  is telling you, If truly God controls all men,
• 30:46
  if God is truly ultimate, why can't he not just
• 30:51
  kick that bomb away and that child will survive?
• 30:55
  These are questions they will ask you. Now, this
• 30:56
  one is not coming from anything. This one is
• 30:58
  coming from a moral mind. It's coming from a
• 31:02
  humanity mind. If you meet people who believe
• 31:04
  in humanity and they follow those, this is a
• 31:06
  question they will ask you. Why didn't God stop
• 31:08
  it? And you have to explain. So, that is an ideology.
• 31:13
  That it is, God is contributing to that thing
• 31:15
  that is happening by not doing anything. Have
• 31:17
  we seen that in the Old Testament before? Are
• 31:20
  we together? Have we seen that in the Old Testament?
• 31:22
  Leaders, we have seen that. Where they will say
• 31:25
  that God is contributing to an evil that is taking
• 31:30
  place because of his absence. His absence in
• 31:35
  those cases. So the same way today. Today you
• 31:37
  will see it practically. Why is God not stopping?
• 31:40
  So we must know, you must have this in your mind.
• 31:42
  Have it settled. You are going to confront ideologies,
• 31:45
  arguments that exalt themselves against the knowledge
• 31:48
  of God. 2 Corinthians 10, 4, verse 5. 2 Corinthians
• 31:52
  10, 4, verse 5. Romans 1, verse 16. Put them
• 31:56
  together. Romans 1, verse 16. For the weapons
• 32:01
  of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in
• 32:04
  God, to the pulling down strongholds, casting
• 32:08
  down arguments and every high thing that exalts
• 32:12
  itself against the knowledge of God and bringing
• 32:16
  every thought into captivity to the obedience
• 32:19
  of Christ. So, go back. So, he says, go back
• 32:22
  to the first one, right? Where are you? 2 Corinthians.
• 32:26
  I'm still in 2 Corinthians. I'm not in... Yes.
• 32:28
  It's like the weapon of our warfare. So, you
• 32:30
  must know that you are not going for a physical
• 32:32
  fight, okay? The confrontation is not physical
• 32:35
  fight. So, you must know this, right? So when
• 32:40
  the person becomes physical, you move. That's
• 32:43
  the truth. You move. Okay? Because what we are
• 32:47
  doing, it's an argument. I mean, a debate, yes.
• 32:51
  A conversation. That is why when Festus and Agrippa,
• 32:57
  when they questioned Paul, they said, what are
• 33:00
  you guys? This guy does not deserve this. He
• 33:02
  has not done, there's nothing physical. It's
• 33:04
  not a physical warfare. It's just to them. It's
• 33:08
  just ideological. So why should you say he's
• 33:12
  condemned to death? Of course, over history,
• 33:14
  we have seen people that because of their ideology,
• 33:16
  they were condemned to death as well, right?
• 33:18
  So he was saying, let's think. Let's think together,
• 33:22
  right? He doesn't deserve death. But Paul knew,
• 33:24
  right? Paul knew that the weapons of his warfare
• 33:28
  are not carnal. Paul knew what he was doing.
• 33:32
  Apostle Paul was certain that he was bringing
• 33:34
  down the argument. And because they could not
• 33:37
  stand, so people might not be able to stand and
• 33:39
  they turn into fights. Then you just withdraw,
• 33:42
  right? So if you have this mindset, I'm going
• 33:44
  out to have a conversation over the ideologies,
• 33:47
  over the strongholds that are in the minds of
• 33:50
  people. I'm going out to answer questions that
• 33:53
  are in the mind of people, random people who
• 33:56
  haven't been able to understand the love of Christ.
• 33:59
  So this will help us a lot. Now go to Romans
• 34:01
  1 verse 16. Romans 1 verse 16. by faith. So it
• 34:30
  is the power of God. So your communication of
• 34:34
  the gospel, right? The power of God is in it.
• 34:38
  So don't think that you're just going to just
• 34:40
  have a debate, have an argument, have a discussion,
• 34:42
  explain. No. When you are saying that Jesus is
• 34:45
  son of God, the power of God is in that communication.
• 34:48
  When you are saying that when God created man,
• 34:51
  he has the intention to fill all men, the power
• 34:55
  of God is in that communication. When you say
• 34:57
  that to be filled, You need to believe in the
• 35:01
  suffering of Christ and the glory that follows.
• 35:03
  The power of God is in that communication. So
• 35:05
  don't let it look like you are going out to just
• 35:08
  say mere words. No, you are not going to say
• 35:09
  mere words. You are going to communicate the
• 35:12
  power of God. So be bold to enjoy confrontation.
• 35:16
  Right? Be bold to enjoy confrontation. Be bold
• 35:19
  to enjoy confrontation. One of the means by which...
• 35:23
  maybe early days, right, before, you know, I
• 35:26
  got very, I mean, it's not something that also
• 35:28
  I just jumped into being able to have a confrontation
• 35:31
  about the gospel. No, it didn't happen all of
• 35:32
  a sudden, right? I just realized that when someone
• 35:35
  asks a question, right, I just smile, right?
• 35:38
  So if you smile, it calms you down. Then they
• 35:41
  arrange your mind together. Then you know, okay,
• 35:43
  we are not fighting, right? It is that we want
• 35:45
  to communicate, we want to have a conversation.
• 35:47
  So me, that is, first thing, someone comes to
• 35:50
  me, in fact, these days when I smile is because
• 35:52
  I know that, okay, This person, this is another
• 35:54
  opportunity to win someone, right? This is another
• 35:57
  opportunity to win someone. So, we are going
• 36:00
  for confrontation. It's not a fight. We put on
• 36:02
  a smile. You approach the person. You have your
• 36:04
  scriptures. And again, right? Again, this is
• 36:08
  one of the things. Let's put a second one. Let's
• 36:11
  put a second one. So, now it's confrontation,
• 36:14
  right? Confrontation. Let's take a few scriptures.
• 36:16
  1 Timothy 1 verse 3. 1 Timothy 1 verse 3. I think
• 36:20
  Pastor Victor read this. And I urge you when
• 36:23
  I went into Macedonia, so we are still on confrontation,
• 36:25
  please. We have about a number of scriptures
• 36:28
  here. Yes, a number of scriptures here to deal
• 36:33
  with. As I urge you when I went to Macedonia,
• 36:36
  remain in emphasis that you may church some that
• 36:38
  they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed
• 36:44
  to fables and endless genealogies, which minister
• 36:48
  questions rather than godly edification. which
• 36:51
  is in faith. Sorry, which is in faith, yes. So,
• 36:54
  he says he besought Timothy, right, to abide
• 36:58
  still at Ephesus, right, so that he might do
• 37:02
  what? He might charge people to teach no other
• 37:05
  doctrine. Now, to charge people to teach no other
• 37:08
  doctrine would not be very easy, would not just
• 37:10
  be stop teaching this doctrine, right? If you
• 37:14
  tell people stop teaching this doctrine, the
• 37:16
  next question is why? So, what? Timothy is going
• 37:20
  to do is not to say, nobody should teach fables
• 37:23
  here. Nobody should teach, I am from David, I
• 37:27
  am from whatever tribe. No, no, no, he's not
• 37:31
  going to do that. He's going to show from the
• 37:34
  scripture that it is from one Lord, one baptism,
• 37:38
  one faith, so that you would not have an attachment
• 37:41
  to anything you have traced. Endless genealogies
• 37:45
  that is not for profiting. Fables. Right? So,
• 37:50
  these NDS genealogists and these fables are not
• 37:53
  just something we say stop. No, he has to use
• 37:55
  the scripture, right, to stop them. So, it is
• 37:59
  the teaching of the scripture that will stop
• 38:01
  it. So, he's going to go and confront people
• 38:03
  to tell them to stop and to show them from the
• 38:06
  scriptures that we are all the children of God.
• 38:11
  So, this is how he confronts it. Acts 13 verse
• 38:15
  14 to 16, let's add that. Still on confrontation,
• 38:18
  Acts 13, verse 14 to 16. Acts 13, verse 14 to
• 38:23
  16. But when they departed from Pega, they came
• 38:27
  to Antioch in Pidicia and went into the synagogue
• 38:30
  on the Sabbath day and sat down. And after the
• 38:35
  reading of the law and the prophet, the ruler
• 38:37
  of the synagogue sent to them, saying, Men and
• 38:39
  brethren, if you have any word of exhortation
• 38:43
  for the people, do what? Say on. Then Paul stood
• 38:47
  stuck here. Now, this is the one I was talking
• 38:50
  about yesterday. That Paul intentionally would
• 38:54
  put himself in a circumstance where people would
• 38:58
  ask him and say, tell us more. Right? Where people
• 39:02
  would say, give us a defense of the scriptures.
• 39:06
  Right? Give us a defense. Now, these people are
• 39:09
  also very interesting people. Right? They realize
• 39:11
  that the reading of the scripture is not enough.
• 39:14
  But the explanation of the scripture. is where
• 39:16
  the revelation is. Okay? The explanation. Don't
• 39:19
  forget, the Ethiopian eunuch also was reading.
• 39:22
  Right? And Philip had to do what? Explain the
• 39:25
  scriptures. So Paul put himself in a circumstance.
• 39:29
  So there's nothing wrong where you find people
• 39:32
  talking. Right? When you find people talking
• 39:35
  and you go and join them. Right? Because you
• 39:38
  want them to ask you questions. Right? I think
• 39:41
  you want them to ask you questions. I think my
• 39:43
  wife always says something that, you know, she
• 39:44
  goes to lunch. with some people because she knows
• 39:48
  that they will ask her questions. Right? They
• 39:50
  will ask her questions about your faith. So,
• 39:51
  she goes, I mean, there are, what I call them,
• 39:54
  some of them are Christians, right? And people
• 39:56
  who are yet to believe are among them. So, you
• 39:58
  go in that midst and because you know the state
• 40:01
  of mind that they are going to ask a question,
• 40:04
  you want to keep that. Why? Because you want
• 40:06
  to be able to give an answer. Right? So, this
• 40:10
  is what Paul is doing here. Similar to what Paul
• 40:11
  is doing. Putting himself, getting into a synagogue,
• 40:13
  reading the scriptures, And then they said, now
• 40:17
  speak. You know, now speak. Then Paul stood up
• 40:20
  and motioning his hand said, men of Israel and
• 40:23
  you who fear God, listen. The God of his people,
• 40:26
  Israel, choose our father and exalted people
• 40:29
  when they dwell as strangers in the land of Egypt.
• 40:32
  And with an uplifted hand, he brought them out.
• 40:35
  This alone is the message of salvation. A picture
• 40:39
  of salvation is already painted there. Next.
• 40:42
  Now for a time, for about 40 years. He put up
• 40:45
  with their ways in the wilderness. So here we
• 40:47
  see that Paul actually went to confront people.
• 40:50
  He put himself in a circumstance where they would
• 40:52
  say, speak. You remember the same thing. What
• 40:55
  did they tell Stephen? Speak. Are these things
• 40:58
  so? Confirm that this is true. Speak. What did
• 41:03
  they tell Paul? Now you can answer for yourself.
• 41:06
  That's what they told Paul. They asked Stephen,
• 41:09
  are these things so? Paul, they asked him, you
• 41:11
  can answer for yourself. And here they told Peter,
• 41:14
  right? Right? Is it Peter or Paul? They say stand
• 41:17
  up, Paul. They say stand up and what? And speak.
• 41:19
  Right? Paul put himself in this circumstance
• 41:21
  again. So this is what we see. So it's not bad
• 41:25
  to find yourself in such circumstances. Now go
• 41:27
  to 42 to 46. Verse 42 to 46. Of this same chapter,
• 41:32
  please. 42 to 46 of this same chapter of Acts.
• 41:37
  So when the Jews went out of synagogue, the Gentiles
• 41:39
  begged that this word might be preached to them.
• 41:42
  the next Sabbath. So the Jews were angry about
• 41:45
  the message that was preached. Yet, some people
• 41:49
  wanted the message to be preached to them again
• 41:52
  the next Sabbath. So in your apologia, as much
• 41:56
  as you'll find people who would confront and
• 41:58
  they will say no, you must also be having a mind
• 42:02
  and a heart that somebody will hear. Okay? Somebody
• 42:05
  will believe. Don't have this mind that nobody
• 42:07
  will believe. No. Somebody will believe. Somebody
• 42:10
  will hear. Somebody will say yes. Somebody would
• 42:13
  follow. The more you do it, right? So we had
• 42:16
  some people say, let them preach this word to
• 42:19
  us again in the next Sabbath, 43. Now, when the
• 42:21
  congregation had broken up, many of the Jews
• 42:24
  and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas,
• 42:27
  who speaking to them, persuaded them to continue
• 42:31
  in the grace of God. So some Jews, right? And
• 42:35
  some converts, right? They followed Paul. and
• 42:39
  persuaded them to continue the worldview. So
• 42:40
  those ones received the word. On the next Sabbath,
• 42:43
  almost the whole city came together to do what?
• 42:46
  To hear the word of God. Right? People would
• 42:48
  hear. This is a result of putting yourself in
• 42:51
  a place where you begin to teach. Verse 45. But
• 42:54
  when the Jews, again, these same Jews, saw the
• 42:56
  multitudes, they were filled with envy and contradicting
• 43:00
  and blaspheming. They opposed the things spoken
• 43:05
  by Paul. So you can see it's a very great confrontation.
• 43:07
  Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold. Say, I grew
• 43:10
  bold. Say, I grow bold every day. Yeah. They
• 43:15
  grew bold and said, it is necessary that the
• 43:17
  word of God should be spoken first to you. Now,
• 43:20
  it is necessary. That word is historical. That
• 43:24
  word is entire Genesis and the law. It is necessary
• 43:28
  that it be spoken to you first. Because you are
• 43:33
  people in... Abraham, of course, a father in
• 43:36
  your lineage that believed in God. So by the
• 43:40
  promises of God and by the election of God, right?
• 43:44
  You were the ones that will carry this message
• 43:47
  and share, right? That's by God's election. It's
• 43:51
  Israel that would carry this message and share.
• 43:54
  So he said, it is necessary that he be spoken
• 43:56
  to you first. However, you did what? You reject
• 44:00
  it. Now, judge for yourself. and judge yourselves
• 44:05
  rather on worthy of everlasting life. Behold,
• 44:07
  we do what? We turn to the Gentiles. We turn
• 44:11
  to the Gentiles. For the Lord has commanded that
• 44:15
  I have said to you as a lie to the Gentiles that
• 44:17
  you should be salvation to the world, to the
• 44:20
  ends of the earth. So it's not just Gentiles,
• 44:23
  right? No, no, just stay under scriptures. It's
• 44:25
  not just Gentiles, right? But Paul had a heavy
• 44:28
  labor. Paul had heavy labor for the Gentiles.
• 44:32
  But it's not just apostles to the Gentiles. You're
• 44:34
  restraining me a whole lot. Otherwise, we would
• 44:37
  remove the epistles, give the Gentiles only the
• 44:40
  epistles, and we would stay with the gospels
• 44:43
  and maybe Peter, John. So Paul is also an apostle
• 44:47
  to us, right? He's an apostle to us. We're going
• 44:50
  to see that in laying the foundation, right?
• 44:54
  Why nobody can build anything apart from that
• 44:57
  which is already established. So verse 47. We'll
• 45:01
  just stay on verse 7. Right. So, he said, I've
• 45:03
  said it. So, he's an apostle to the ends of the
• 45:06
  earth. Right. To the ends of the earth. For salvation
• 45:08
  to the ends of the earth. So, let's go to another
• 45:12
  scripture. Acts 19, verse 3. Acts 19, verse 3.
• 45:16
  And he said to them, into what then were you
• 45:19
  baptized? So, they said, into John's baptism.
• 45:22
  Again, he met people who were already saved.
• 45:25
  I mean, people who had received the message.
• 45:27
  Which is the message of? John the Baptist. I'm
• 45:31
  saying there's no problem about that message,
• 45:32
  but the way it's communicated, it's communicated
• 45:35
  in a coded form, in a hidden form of what is
• 45:38
  to come. But in our communication, we communicate
• 45:41
  what is already done. The finished work of Christ
• 45:44
  is what we communicate. This one is telling them
• 45:46
  somebody will come and do some finished work.
• 45:48
  There's somebody that is going to fulfill it,
• 45:50
  right? So, he confronted these people and said,
• 45:53
  well, this is it, right? And he taught them appropriately.
• 45:58
  Verse 9 and 10. Verse 9 and 10 of the same scripture.
• 46:02
  But when some were hardened and did not believe,
• 46:05
  I'll go to verse 8, take it a little bit back.
• 46:08
  And again, he went into the synagogue and spoke
• 46:11
  boldly for three months. You see, always going
• 46:15
  to, in the synagogue, looking for places where
• 46:19
  people would have questions and explain the scriptures
• 46:22
  to them. So, spoke boldly for three months. Reasoning,
• 46:25
  did you see? Reasoning. It means giving explanation.
• 46:29
  The Logos, giving explanation and persuading
• 46:32
  concerning the things of the kingdom of God.
• 46:37
  Right? He was going about meeting people and
• 46:41
  giving explanation regarding things concerning
• 46:44
  the kingdom of God. So Paul did not shy away
• 46:47
  from confrontation. Right? And we cannot shy
• 46:50
  away. Go to verse 10. But when some were... Okay,
• 46:54
  go to verse 9. Stay on 9. Let me see. But when
• 46:56
  some were hardened... and did not believe, but
• 46:59
  spoke evil of the way, which is the message,
• 47:01
  before the multitude, he departed from them and
• 47:04
  withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the
• 47:08
  school of Tyrannus. Now, look at, did he reason
• 47:11
  in the synagogue with them? Did he reason in
• 47:14
  the synagogue with them? Yes, he did. Now, when
• 47:18
  he realized that one, two, three, four people,
• 47:21
  they are getting it, right? He took them aside.
• 47:26
  and train those ones very well, right? Train
• 47:30
  those ones so that those ones will go and do
• 47:33
  what? Will do the same work. So as much as you
• 47:36
  are seeing confrontations, right? You'll meet
• 47:38
  people who will believe. In fact, sometimes you
• 47:41
  can go and teach somewhere or you're talking
• 47:44
  to two friends and you realize that in that evangelism,
• 47:46
  one is more receptive, the other one is not receptive,
• 47:51
  right? One is more receptive, the other one is
• 47:54
  very... It's not receptive. Now, it would be
• 47:57
  good that that one that is receptive, you put
• 47:59
  more energy, get person number, you follow up
• 48:01
  such kind of people. Let me put it this way.
• 48:04
  They are closer to the kingdom of God. Okay?
• 48:08
  Such kind of people, they are closer to the kingdom
• 48:11
  of God. It means that they are ready to hear
• 48:13
  your reasoning. So, reasoning is something that
• 48:16
  we must do. So, he took them aside. So, specifically,
• 48:19
  he continued with those ones. The question is,
• 48:21
  do you think those ones will not have questions?
• 48:23
  They have questions. The disciples of Jesus had
• 48:26
  questions. These disciples had questions and
• 48:28
  then he answered their questions. So we see that
• 48:30
  in general, you can have confrontation with a
• 48:33
  group. You can have people specifically also
• 48:36
  being separated for discipleship while you are
• 48:39
  confronting the ideologies in our mind. So again,
• 48:42
  just put this as a note that you cannot control
• 48:46
  how people respond, right? But you must be faithful
• 48:50
  to the teaching of the word. You cannot control
• 48:53
  how people respond. But you must be faithful
• 48:56
  to the teaching of the word. You must be faithful
• 49:00
  to the teaching of the word. So, some people
• 49:05
  will be receptive at some point, some people
• 49:07
  will not. So, you must be faithful to the teaching
• 49:10
  of the word. Now, observe that James, the brothers
• 49:14
  of Jesus, did not believe him at some point in
• 49:17
  time. Right? They did not. But when... Peter
• 49:22
  would hand over church. It was James, the brother
• 49:24
  of our Lord, that he handed over to. So there
• 49:28
  are some people that the current confrontation,
• 49:30
  they might not be able to receive it. I say it
• 49:33
  again. The brothers of Jesus never believed them.
• 49:35
  We've taught that before. After resurrection,
• 49:37
  they believed, right? And when James, the apostle,
• 49:40
  was killed, James, the brother of Jesus, took
• 49:42
  over the church from Peter. So Jerusalem became
• 49:46
  where James, the brother of our Lord, was. In
• 49:49
  Galatians, we see... Paul, Peter emphasizing
• 49:52
  that because they set the lead arms to kill James
• 49:54
  and all of that. And there was another James.
• 49:56
  So we see that people, we don't control the response.
• 49:59
  Jesus could not control his brother's response,
• 50:01
  right? But after resurrection, sufficient evidence,
• 50:04
  they believe the message of the gospel. Now,
• 50:08
  the second thing is we are fighting a good fight.
• 50:10
  Okay, we are fighting a good fight. 2 Timothy
• 50:12
  6 verse 12. We are fighting a good fight. We
• 50:17
  are fighting a good fight. Sorry, 1 Timothy 6
• 50:21
  .12. Sorry, I think it should be 1 Timothy 6
• 50:23
  .12. It should be 2 Timothy 4 .1. 1 Timothy,
• 50:26
  yes, 6 .12. Fight a good fight of faith, lay
• 50:29
  hold of eternal life, to which you were also
• 50:32
  called, and have confessed the good confession
• 50:36
  in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you
• 50:41
  in the sight of God, who gives life to all things,
• 50:43
  and before Christ, who witnessed the good confession.
• 50:47
  Now, go back to verse 14. Let me explain something
• 50:49
  in verse 14. Now, verse 12, sorry. Verse 12,
• 50:52
  go to verse 12. Now, fight a good fight of it.
• 50:54
  Lay hold of eternal life is not talking about
• 50:57
  that Timothy does not have eternal life, okay?
• 51:00
  It's not saying Timothy does not have eternal
• 51:02
  life, right? It is that fight of faith, right,
• 51:06
  that is the work of eternal life, okay? It's
• 51:09
  not saying that, oh, now, fight a good fight
• 51:11
  of it, then hold eternal life, right, to which
• 51:14
  you have been called. Now, look at it. Take hold
• 51:16
  of eternal life. Eternal life to which you have
• 51:18
  been called and have made a good confession.
• 51:21
  So, he's talking about the message and the ministry.
• 51:26
  That's what he's saying. He's talking about fight
• 51:28
  a good fight, but do the work of ministry, right?
• 51:30
  And that is eternal life itself. So, eternal
• 51:33
  life is not something that we have alone. It's
• 51:36
  something that we do. Okay? Eternal life is something
• 51:39
  that we do. It's something that we do. That fight
• 51:42
  of faith is eternal life. It's something that
• 51:44
  we do. It's not just something that we have.
• 51:46
  Right? So it's something that we do. So we would
• 51:49
  fight a good fight. It means we are taking hold
• 51:51
  of eternal life. It means we are preaching the
• 51:54
  gospel. We are doing that which we are called
• 51:56
  to do. That which we have confessed and we have
• 51:59
  confessed before many witnesses. So taking hold
• 52:03
  of eternal life is you fighting a good fight
• 52:05
  of faith. It's you giving a defense. So we must
• 52:08
  know that it's a fight. Right. We must definitely
• 52:11
  know that it's a fight. So it means that not
• 52:13
  everybody will celebrate you. People will reject
• 52:15
  you. Right. People would, people would even give
• 52:19
  you a new reputation. Right. Pastor Victor was
• 52:21
  saying that if you, if your reputation is at
• 52:24
  stake, right, then you are not ready for a defense
• 52:28
  of the gospel. Right. He said something like
• 52:31
  that. You know, you should void yourself of any
• 52:34
  reputation. If you would teach the word correctly,
• 52:36
  if you would teach the word accurately. because
• 52:40
  people would give you names, they'd give you
• 52:42
  reputations, people would, you know, come against
• 52:45
  you. So it's a fight, right? It's a fight. So
• 52:48
  it means that we have to contend, that word contend
• 52:51
  there in James that we saw, he says we should
• 52:54
  contend for the faith. It's the same thing here,
• 52:56
  fight a good fight of faith, contend for the
• 52:59
  faith, right? So we see that in that. Now let's
• 53:03
  see 1 Peter 3 .15. The third thing, Peter said,
• 53:07
  we should do it with meekness and fear, right?
• 53:11
  Meekness and fear. So in this confrontation,
• 53:13
  in this fighting, right? Fighting means, you
• 53:17
  know, arguments, debates, ideologies, you know,
• 53:20
  having this conversation. We should do it with
• 53:22
  meekness and fear. He says, but sanctify the
• 53:25
  Lord, be ready to give a reason. He said, do
• 53:28
  it with meekness and fear, right? So you are
• 53:31
  not doing it. you're not doing it arrogantly,
• 53:35
  right? You're not doing it to say, oh, you guys
• 53:37
  don't know. No, it's not about they don't know.
• 53:40
  It's about that you want to have their life,
• 53:43
  right? You want to have the life of God rather
• 53:45
  in them. So you are doing it with meekness, knowing
• 53:49
  fully well that you too, you were once like them.
• 53:53
  So in meekness and fear. So when you're going
• 53:56
  out, you should have this in your mind that,
• 53:58
  oh, I'm going to do this with meekness and fear.
• 54:01
  He's talking about reverence to God, right? Meekness
• 54:04
  and fear. You're doing it with gentleness. 2
• 54:07
  Timothy 2, 2 Timothy 2, 14 and 19. 2 Timothy
• 54:12
  2, 14 and 19. Remind them that these things,
• 54:16
  charging them before the Lord, not to strive
• 54:18
  aboutwards to no profit to their runes of their
• 54:20
  heralds. The next one. But be diligent to present
• 54:25
  yourself a proof of God, right? A worker who
• 54:27
  does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing.
• 54:30
  the word of truth. The next. But some profane
• 54:33
  and idle babbling for they will increase to more
• 54:35
  ungodliness and their message will spread like
• 54:38
  cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort
• 54:41
  who have strayed concerning the truth saying
• 54:44
  that the resurrection right is already past and
• 54:48
  they overthrow the fate of some. Nevertheless,
• 54:52
  the solid foundation of God stands. The solid
• 54:56
  foundation of God stands. Having this seal, the
• 54:58
  Lord knows those who are his. Let everyone who
• 55:01
  names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
• 55:06
  Go to 24 and 25. And the servant of the Lord
• 55:09
  must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able
• 55:13
  to teach patience in humility, correcting those
• 55:18
  who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant
• 55:22
  them repentance so that they may know the truth.
• 55:26
  Right? so that they may know the truth. So you
• 55:30
  can see cautions on gentleness, meekness, carefulness
• 55:33
  in the teaching, carefulness in the explanation
• 55:38
  of the gospel, apt to teach, able to teach. You
• 55:42
  see that word, able to teach? We already discussed
• 55:43
  that. We already talked about that this morning.
• 55:46
  Now, the next thing is boldness, not harshness,
• 55:50
  right? This is also related to this. You have
• 55:51
  to go in boldness, not in harshness. Boldness,
• 55:56
  not in harshness. We're still connected to this.
• 55:58
  We must go in boldness. You can put Acts 4, 29
• 56:01
  to 30, which gives us the context of that. Boldness,
• 56:05
  not doing it harshly. Now, what happened in Acts,
• 56:10
  for them to walk in this boat, it's not that
• 56:12
  the boldness was not there, right? But circumstances
• 56:15
  happened. Okay? So, when you are doing your apologia,
• 56:19
  you might meet someone, right, that's at... So
• 56:24
  many philosophies, right? And you were not able
• 56:28
  to bring down their stronghold on that day, right?
• 56:31
  You might not be able to bring that. Or there
• 56:33
  were just a lot of arguments and all of that,
• 56:34
  you know? There's always a time that, I think
• 56:38
  it's part of the ask, that we will speak to you
• 56:40
  on this matter again after a matter was discussed.
• 56:43
  So there's always that time to speak to the person
• 56:46
  again, right? So you will not say, because I
• 56:48
  went out today, I'm trying to explain, I'm trying
• 56:50
  to give a defense today. You know, it seems like
• 56:54
  I couldn't answer a few questions, right? Answering,
• 56:58
  not being able to answer a few questions does
• 56:59
  not mean that you should withdraw. Are we together?
• 57:02
  So if you have questions, it doesn't mean that
• 57:05
  you will withdraw. I have people who would go,
• 57:07
  they would send me message, sir, someone asked
• 57:09
  me this question during evangelism. I don't have
• 57:14
  an answer, but we plan to meet again. That is
• 57:17
  the way it should be, right? So you also notice
• 57:20
  that. When something happened, the context of
• 57:23
  this is after they had probably disciplined the
• 57:26
  disciples, right? And the Jews, they said they
• 57:29
  went to their own company. You see, they went
• 57:33
  to their own company, right? And in that company,
• 57:36
  this is where prayer was said for them to walk
• 57:40
  in boldness. So we must know that we must walk
• 57:43
  in boldness. And that comes through a prayer
• 57:46
  life. So you can put it down. Prayer life helps
• 57:48
  us. To give a good defense. Prayer life helps
• 57:52
  us to give a good defense. So as much as you
• 57:56
  study, you study, you study, you must pray. The
• 57:58
  prayer life helps you to give a good defense.
• 58:00
  The prayer life helps you to be bold. To be bold.
• 58:06
  Prayer life helps you to be bold. Now, just a
• 58:11
  few counsel here, right? This one's a counsel
• 58:13
  before we move to the next thing, right? Just
• 58:16
  a few counsel here. Now, when we are up... Approaching
• 58:18
  Apologia, which we are going to do now in the
• 58:22
  next five minutes, right? We are going to enter
• 58:25
  into some teachings and see. Now, if you are
• 58:29
  approaching Apologia, the first thing we must
• 58:31
  know is that it is not a personal... How do I
• 58:36
  put it? We must draw a line between the personality
• 58:40
  and the theology. Okay? We must draw a line between...
• 58:47
  The personality and the theology. If we are able
• 58:53
  to address the theology, the personality will
• 58:57
  be transformed to the personality of Christ.
• 58:59
  Hallelujah. So, when you are giving a defense
• 59:02
  of the scripture or you are approaching someone,
• 59:05
  you must draw a line between the personality
• 59:06
  and the theology. Because the teaching and the
• 59:11
  ideologies of that person is what you want to
• 59:13
  address. This is also preparing our minds, getting
• 59:16
  our minds ready. What you want to address is
• 59:19
  not the person. It's not you are taking only
• 59:23
  communion. It's not you are not celebrating Christmas
• 59:28
  or all of that. No, those are not the ideologies
• 59:30
  that you want. It's why is the person. What do
• 59:33
  you believe? So it's not the personality. It's
• 59:36
  not the individual that you are attacking. Don't
• 59:39
  forget, our warfare is not carnal. We are bringing
• 59:41
  down strongholds, ideologies. thoughts, arguments
• 59:45
  that exalt themselves, right? Did you see a person
• 59:48
  there? No. It's these arguments, right? These
• 59:53
  arguments. So, we are not attacking people. The
• 59:56
  personality. Our focus is on what is your theology.
• 1:00:00
  Then the person explains their theology. If we
• 1:00:02
  teach you right, you will practice right. Okay?
• 1:00:05
  If we teach you right, we will practice right.
• 1:00:09
  Galatians 2 verse 11 to... I think we used the
• 1:00:14
  scripture yesterday. Now, when Peter had come
• 1:00:17
  to Antioch, I withstood him to his face because
• 1:00:19
  he was too be blamed. For before certain men
• 1:00:22
  came from James, he would eat with Gentiles.
• 1:00:25
  But when they came, right, he withstood and separated
• 1:00:28
  himself. Watch. Separated himself, fearing those
• 1:00:31
  who were of the circumcision. This is what he
• 1:00:33
  practiced. Now watch. The rest of the Jews also
• 1:00:35
  played the hypocrite with him. So they played
• 1:00:37
  the hypocrite. so that even Barnabas was carried
• 1:00:40
  away with their hypocrisy. Continue. But when
• 1:00:42
  I saw that they were not straightforward, did
• 1:00:44
  you see that he did not just jump on them and
• 1:00:48
  say, oh, you are not eating with the Jews. No,
• 1:00:50
  no, no. The argument is that they were not what?
• 1:00:54
  Straightforward about the truth of the gospel.
• 1:00:58
  So their conduct or their practice was a result
• 1:01:01
  of a theology. And what Paul addressed, Was that
• 1:01:07
  not being straightforward? And that not being
• 1:01:10
  straightforward, being addressed, Peter changed,
• 1:01:14
  right? He became a better person. Even him began
• 1:01:16
  to give a defense, right? Do you want to put
• 1:01:19
  a stone on people's neck after God has saved
• 1:01:23
  them, right? He used the word, do you want to
• 1:01:25
  tempt God, right? By putting this circumcision
• 1:01:29
  on them. Now, that was Peter giving a defense.
• 1:01:31
  But here, what Paul was doing was addressing.
• 1:01:35
  He said to Peter before them all, if you're being
• 1:01:38
  a Jew, living a manner of a Jew and not as Jew,
• 1:01:40
  why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? The
• 1:01:43
  next one, who we, who were Jews by nature and
• 1:01:47
  Gentiles and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing
• 1:01:50
  that a man is what is not justified by the works
• 1:01:54
  of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. Even
• 1:01:58
  we have believed in Jesus Christ, in Christ Jesus,
• 1:02:02
  that we might be justified by faith. and not
• 1:02:05
  by works of the law. For by works of the law,
• 1:02:09
  no flesh shall be justified. This is the explanation,
• 1:02:15
  right? This is the explanation. And when they
• 1:02:18
  went to Jerusalem to talk about this matter of
• 1:02:22
  circumcision, right? When they went to the council
• 1:02:25
  in Jerusalem to talk about this matter of circumcision,
• 1:02:30
  they did not talk about that Peter was eating.
• 1:02:34
  with the gentiles they didn't have this conversation
• 1:02:37
  right let's check let's check the scriptures
• 1:02:39
  go to acts 15 uh let me see go to acts 15 verse
• 1:02:47
  1 and certain men which came down from judea
• 1:02:52
  taught the brethren and said except ye be circumcised
• 1:02:56
  after the words the manner of moses ye cannot
• 1:02:59
  be saved right they cannot be saved now Look
• 1:03:03
  at how it was answered here. Go to verse 7. And
• 1:03:11
  when there had been much disputing, Peter rose
• 1:03:16
  up and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know
• 1:03:20
  that a good while ago God made choice amongst
• 1:03:26
  us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear
• 1:03:29
  the word of gospel. Right? You see, so the Gentiles
• 1:03:32
  also heard from Peter, not just Paul, right?
• 1:03:34
  They heard from Peter as well, right? I mean,
• 1:03:37
  that was Cornelius heard from him and believed.
• 1:03:40
  And God, which knoweth the heart, bear them witness,
• 1:03:44
  giving them the Holy Ghost, even as it did unto
• 1:03:46
  us, and put no difference between us and them,
• 1:03:49
  purifying their hearts by faith. Now, therefore,
• 1:03:52
  why tempt ye the Lord to put a yoke upon the
• 1:03:56
  neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers
• 1:03:59
  nor... Our fathers know we were able to bear,
• 1:04:03
  but believe that through the grace of God, Jesus
• 1:04:06
  Christ, we shall be saved even day. So it is
• 1:04:10
  the doctrine. Look at the teaching he explained.
• 1:04:13
  God put no difference, right? Put no difference
• 1:04:17
  between them and us that we all will be saved
• 1:04:20
  by grace, not by circumcision. What is addressed
• 1:04:24
  is not the practice, right? But much more. The
• 1:04:29
  doctrine, therefore the practice is corrected.
• 1:04:32
  The theology, right? Good. So again, another
• 1:04:37
  concern is that we would notice that most teachings
• 1:04:41
  that we would examine, right? These teachings
• 1:04:43
  are actually, how do I put them? These teachings
• 1:04:48
  are actually individual centered, right? The
• 1:04:51
  things we are going to check in a few minutes.
• 1:04:53
  They actually go to capture the individual. Right?
• 1:04:58
  With an unquestionable theology. So let's start
• 1:05:01
  a new section. Right? Let's start a new section.
• 1:05:06
  Let's start a new section. Just one minute. Can
• 1:05:10
  we just pray in the Holy Ghost? Can we just pray
• 1:05:12
  in the Holy Ghost? Can we just pray in the Holy
• 1:05:14
  Ghost? We want to talk about things pertaining
• 1:05:16
  people's belief now. Why they believe what they
• 1:05:20
  believe and how that is not correct. Can we just
• 1:05:22
  pray? The Lord, we do it in the right spirit.
• 1:05:25
  We do it in the right spirit, even as we come.
• 1:05:28
  We have wisdom in the name of Jesus. Can we pray
• 1:05:39
  in the Holy Ghost? There's abundance of revelation.
• 1:05:46
  There's abundance. Oh, we do this in the right
• 1:05:48
  spirit. We do this in the spirit of Christ. Even
• 1:05:50
  as we teach, even as we open up. These issues
• 1:05:53
  we teach in the Spirit of Christ in the name
• 1:05:55
  of Jesus. We have boldness. We have boldness
• 1:05:58
  in the name of Jesus. We have boldness to give
• 1:06:06
  a defense of the gospel. We have a boldness to
• 1:06:08
  give a reason why we believe what we believe.
• 1:06:11
  We have boldness. We commit ourselves to study.
• 1:06:14
  We commit ourselves to pray much more. We commit
• 1:06:17
  ourselves, oh, to give an answer. Or to those
• 1:06:20
  who come around, this is our consecration. Can
• 1:06:48
  we pray? Can we just pray? Can you pray for yourself
• 1:06:52
  that you are ready, ever ready, to give a defense
• 1:06:55
  of the gospel? You are ever ready to give a defense
• 1:06:58
  of the gospel? You are not weak. In your mind,
• 1:07:00
  your mind is strengthened. In the name of Jesus,
• 1:07:03
  my mind is strengthened to always give an account.
• 1:07:06
  My mind is strengthened. Can you pray for yourself?
• 1:07:08
  I'm an able teacher. Oh, I am an able teacher
• 1:07:11
  of the gospel. I'm unable to teach all of the
• 1:07:13
  gospel. I'm apt to teach. I'm unable to teach
• 1:07:16
  all of the gospel. See, I answer all questions.
• 1:07:18
  I answer all questions by the Spirit of God.
• 1:07:21
  I answer all questions by the Spirit of God.
• 1:07:23
  Oh, I search the scriptures. We bring down every
• 1:07:48
  argument. We bring down every ideology. We bring
• 1:07:51
  down every word that exalts themselves against
• 1:07:54
  the knowledge of God. We bring down every thought
• 1:07:56
  that exalts themselves against the knowledge
• 1:07:58
  of God as we speak, as we confront people, as
• 1:08:01
  we tell them about the message of Christ, as
• 1:08:03
  we explain to them in detail. Oh, starting from
• 1:08:06
  the prophets, the Lord, the Psalms. Oh, why in
• 1:08:09
  the name of Jesus, they are transformed. They
• 1:08:14
  are transformed. They come to the knowledge of
• 1:08:15
  Christ. Can we pray? Can we pray? Let me hear
• 1:08:18
  us praying. Say, the gospel is powerful in my
• 1:08:24
  mouth. The gospel is powerful in my mouth. The
• 1:08:27
  gospel is powerful in my mouth. The gospel is
• 1:08:30
  powerful in my mouth. When I say it, it comes
• 1:08:32
  forth with power. He comes forth with demonstration.
• 1:08:35
  He comes forth with power. He comes forth with
• 1:08:37
  demonstration. He comes forth with power. He
• 1:08:40
  comes forth with demonstration. In Jesus' name
• 1:08:49
  we pray. Amen. So this is actually the greater
• 1:08:52
  works that we are doing, right? Giving an apology
• 1:08:55
  is part of greater works. It's part of greater
• 1:08:58
  works. And if you give... an apology or an explanation,
• 1:09:02
  an answer to people, right? And they believe
• 1:09:07
  they are able to walk in greater works. Now let's
• 1:09:10
  start. First, because we're going to check two
• 1:09:14
  sects and I'm going to tell us, we're going to
• 1:09:16
  check the Mormon doctrine and the Jehovah Witness
• 1:09:20
  doctrine. The question is, are they believers?
• 1:09:22
  I think Sister Christy disturbed me about this
• 1:09:24
  a lot. She disturbed me a lot on this matter.
• 1:09:27
  Are they believers? Did they believe? Wait, relax.
• 1:09:31
  The answer will come. By the time we unleash
• 1:09:34
  some of the things that they pertain to, you
• 1:09:38
  will know what they are. Right? You will know
• 1:09:42
  what they are. Now, 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians.
• 1:09:44
  The first thing is no other foundation except
• 1:09:47
  Christ. That's the heading now. After that, then
• 1:09:49
  we begin to go layer by layer into what they
• 1:09:52
  teach. Now, no other foundation except Christ.
• 1:09:56
  1 Corinthians 3. 9 to 13. Can I have that scriptures?
• 1:10:02
  For we are God's fellow co -workers. So note
• 1:10:05
  that word, fellow co -workers. We are not the
• 1:10:09
  master, but God's fellow co -workers. I'm sorry,
• 1:10:13
  God's fellow workers. We are co -workers with
• 1:10:16
  the apostles, but we are God's workers. Okay?
• 1:10:19
  So we are God's workers, but we are co -workers
• 1:10:22
  with the apostles. We're going to see that. So
• 1:10:23
  we are God's fellow workers, right? We are...
• 1:10:27
  God's field. You are what? The building. According
• 1:10:30
  to the grace of God, which was given to me, right?
• 1:10:34
  Paul, as a wise master builder, I did what? I
• 1:10:38
  have laid the foundation and another builds on
• 1:10:41
  it. But let each one take heed how he works,
• 1:10:46
  how he builds. For no other foundation. You see,
• 1:10:50
  he said, I've laid the foundation. The next verse
• 1:10:52
  says, for no other foundation. Can anyone lay
• 1:10:55
  than that which is laid? And that which is what?
• 1:10:59
  Christ. So Christ is who? The foundation. Now,
• 1:11:03
  if anyone builds on this foundation with gold,
• 1:11:05
  precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each work
• 1:11:09
  will become clay for the day we declare it. Now,
• 1:11:12
  he's talking about the work of ministry. Okay?
• 1:11:15
  Paul is talking about the work of ministry here.
• 1:11:17
  Because in that church, they were saying, I'm
• 1:11:19
  from Apollos, I'm from Paul. I'm from Apollos,
• 1:11:21
  I'm from Paul. So Paul begins to tell them that,
• 1:11:24
  We are God's workers together, right? And I've
• 1:11:29
  laid a foundation upon which I expect the leaders
• 1:11:33
  of this church to build. Not that I have also
• 1:11:37
  laid the foundation, but the foundation itself
• 1:11:38
  is Christ. So Paul is saying that what he is
• 1:11:44
  teaching that church is not anything that is
• 1:11:48
  separate from things concerning the kingdom of
• 1:11:50
  God that Jesus taught. Do we get it? Paul is
• 1:11:54
  saying, what I have presented to you that I want
• 1:11:58
  you to work on is nothing out of what Jesus said
• 1:12:02
  was prophesied, spoken regarding him from the
• 1:12:06
  prophets, the Lord, the prophets, the Psalms.
• 1:12:09
  So it therefore means that Paul's constraint
• 1:12:12
  is within the scriptures, within the scriptures,
• 1:12:17
  Christ himself. Good. I've forgotten verse 13.
• 1:12:21
  Okay, no. Now, Ephesians 2 verse 19 to 20. On
• 1:12:25
  the foundation of the apostles. Now, verse 19.
• 1:12:29
  Okay, yes, good. Now, therefore, you are no longer
• 1:12:31
  strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens
• 1:12:33
  with the saints and the members of the household
• 1:12:36
  of God. The next. Having been built on the foundation
• 1:12:39
  of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself
• 1:12:41
  being what? Being the cornerstone. So, the teachings
• 1:12:45
  of the apostles. which are the prophets, right?
• 1:12:49
  The messengers of those who carry the message
• 1:12:50
  of God, right? The teachings of the apostles,
• 1:12:52
  which are the prophet and his sky. No, no, no.
• 1:12:56
  Stay there. Stay in the previous one. He is the
• 1:12:58
  foundation. And he says Christ himself is the
• 1:13:00
  cornerstone. It means that the cornerstone of
• 1:13:02
  the teaching of the apostles is Christ. Okay?
• 1:13:07
  The cornerstone of the teachings of the apostles
• 1:13:09
  is Christ. It means that not just Paul, right?
• 1:13:15
  But the apostles. did not teach anything outside
• 1:13:19
  that which Christ taught from. And Christ did
• 1:13:23
  not teach anything outside that which the scriptures
• 1:13:27
  have said. Can you see? So, the gospel is self
• 1:13:33
  -confirmatory. The gospel is self -confirmatory.
• 1:13:37
  The message of God is self -confirmatory. It
• 1:13:40
  reveals in itself what the message is. So, we
• 1:13:44
  see that the foundation here, is Christ. The
• 1:13:48
  foundation here is Christ. So we can say, right,
• 1:13:52
  we can say that the interpretation of the scriptures
• 1:13:56
  is already set by the apostles. The interpretation
• 1:14:00
  of the scriptures, right, is set by the apostles.
• 1:14:06
  Means that I should not go out of what the apostles
• 1:14:10
  have taught, which they did not go out of what
• 1:14:13
  Christ has taught. Again, I should not go out
• 1:14:17
  of what the apostles have explained because we
• 1:14:21
  said the epistles explained the Old Testament,
• 1:14:24
  right? Gives us the light and clarity of the
• 1:14:26
  Old Testament. So I should not go out of what
• 1:14:29
  the apostles have teach because the apostles
• 1:14:31
  did not go out of what Jesus taught. So we can
• 1:14:34
  say that interpretation of scriptures is also
• 1:14:37
  within the scriptures. It means that no creed.
• 1:14:41
  So we are writing no creed, no organization.
• 1:14:45
  can put a new interpretation of the scripture
• 1:14:50
  for us. No creed, no organization can put forward
• 1:14:57
  a new interpretation of the gospel. This will
• 1:15:02
  hinder they themselves from doing the greater
• 1:15:04
  works. It will hinder those who will believe
• 1:15:06
  them from doing greater works. No creed, no organization.
• 1:15:11
  Let's go to Acts 17 verse 11. Acts 17 verse 11.
• 1:15:17
  These were more fair -minded than those in Thessalonica
• 1:15:21
  in that they received the word with all readiness
• 1:15:24
  and searched the scriptures daily to find out
• 1:15:28
  whether these things were so. The teachings of
• 1:15:32
  the apostles can be searched. Right? The teachings
• 1:15:37
  of the apostles can be searched. The scriptures
• 1:15:40
  can be searched and the teachings of the apostles
• 1:15:43
  can be searched. It means that we can check it
• 1:15:45
  and examine it if it were so. We can check it
• 1:15:51
  and examine it if it were so. So Paul's teachings
• 1:15:55
  can be examined. Peter's teaching can be examined.
• 1:15:58
  You can put 1 Thessalonians 5 .21. 1 Thessalonians
• 1:16:02
  5 .21. 1 John 4 .1. 1 Thessalonians 5 .21. 1
• 1:16:07
  John 4 .1. 2 Corinthians 1 .24. So I'll read
• 1:16:12
  it again. 1 Thessalonians 5, 21, which says,
• 1:16:16
  prove all things, right? He said, test all things.
• 1:16:19
  Hold fast what is good. 1 John 4, verse 1. It
• 1:16:24
  says, beloved, do not believe every spirit, but
• 1:16:27
  test every spirit, whether they are of God. Because
• 1:16:30
  many false prophets have gone out into the world.
• 1:16:33
  Now, here, he's not talking about discerning
• 1:16:37
  or discerning, right? He's saying false prophets.
• 1:16:40
  He's talking about teachings here. Right? You
• 1:16:42
  are not trying to differentiate between spirits,
• 1:16:45
  right? But it's actually talking about the teachings
• 1:16:49
  of these false prophets. So these prophets are
• 1:16:51
  the false spirits, right, that have gone out.
• 1:16:53
  So we see that in this place. 2 Corinthians 1,
• 1:16:56
  24. 2 Corinthians 1, 24. Now that we have dominion
• 1:17:01
  over your faith, but we, not that we have dominion
• 1:17:05
  over your faith, but we are fellow workers for
• 1:17:07
  your joy. For by faith you stand, right? For
• 1:17:13
  by faith you stand. So you are standing in the
• 1:17:16
  faith of Christ, right? So the faith is not oppressing,
• 1:17:20
  is not forcing, is not oppressive. He says, we
• 1:17:26
  are fellow workers for your joy. For by faith
• 1:17:30
  you stand. So the faith that makes you stand
• 1:17:33
  is what is making me stand. Amen. Good. Now let's
• 1:17:38
  check. Now we have established that no other
• 1:17:41
  creed, no other organization can establish any
• 1:17:47
  doctrine that is not found in there. In fact,
• 1:17:51
  they cannot establish any doctrine except that
• 1:17:54
  which is already established. So now let's start
• 1:17:57
  with the Jehovah Witness faith, right? The first
• 1:17:59
  thing is that, again, note that what is our rule?
• 1:18:03
  We don't attack the personality, okay? We don't
• 1:18:06
  go after the personality. When you want to approach
• 1:18:09
  them in their communication is not in the personality
• 1:18:12
  of the founder. Though we're going to give you
• 1:18:15
  a little bit of information on that because this
• 1:18:17
  is training, right? This is training. We're going
• 1:18:20
  to give you foundation that will let you know
• 1:18:22
  why they believe what they believe, right? All
• 1:18:24
  of them, both the founder of the Jehovah Witness
• 1:18:27
  faith and the Mormon faith, they had similar
• 1:18:29
  thing. One thing is common is that in both, okay,
• 1:18:35
  In both, the childhood experience becomes a faith,
• 1:18:40
  becomes part of their contribution to faith.
• 1:18:45
  Their childhood is a both faith, their childhood
• 1:18:47
  experience becomes part. So it therefore means
• 1:18:49
  that their experience is presented forth as part
• 1:18:54
  of what should be the faith that people would
• 1:18:57
  follow. And that means that they are creating
• 1:19:00
  what? A new foundation. And scripture says no
• 1:19:03
  other foundation. No other foundation can be
• 1:19:07
  established. So I've given us just a general
• 1:19:09
  view of both persons, the childhood experience.
• 1:19:11
  Now we don't attack the childhood experience,
• 1:19:14
  right? We don't say, oh, this is, but rather
• 1:19:16
  when we meet the followers, we address what they
• 1:19:19
  believe. What do you believe about the scripture?
• 1:19:22
  So for the Jehovah Witness, the person's name
• 1:19:24
  is Charles Taze Russell, right? So you can write
• 1:19:27
  it down, Charles Taze Russell. Charles Taze,
• 1:19:31
  Charles T -A -Z -E -R -U -S -S -E -L -L, right?
• 1:19:36
  This is the founder of that organization. And
• 1:19:41
  this organization was established 800, almost
• 1:19:47
  700 years after the church, 700 years. So he
• 1:19:51
  was born in 18 something and therefore the organization
• 1:19:53
  was established 700 years. to establish a new
• 1:19:58
  foundation. Now, the timeline is enough to debunk
• 1:20:00
  whatsoever new revelation would come. So, he
• 1:20:04
  was born in this period. Now, he was raised in
• 1:20:07
  a religious environment, but he rejected the
• 1:20:10
  doctrine of eternal judgments. So, he was born
• 1:20:14
  in a religious environment, means he was born
• 1:20:16
  in a Christian environment where the eternal
• 1:20:19
  punishment is taught. That is why one of their
• 1:20:24
  teachings is that there's no eternal punishments.
• 1:20:28
  So he rejected the doctrine of eternal punishments.
• 1:20:32
  Right? He rejected the doctrine of eternal punishment.
• 1:20:36
  He handed over to someone called Rutherford.
• 1:20:38
  Right? He handed over to someone called Rutherford.
• 1:20:41
  And we are going to touch upon that. So these
• 1:20:43
  are just the personalities of someone called
• 1:20:46
  Rutherford. And as a result of the controversies
• 1:20:50
  with the so -called Jehovah's Witness doctrine,
• 1:20:54
  Rutherford changed the name to actually become
• 1:20:57
  Jehovah's Witness. So it was not the founder
• 1:20:59
  that gave the name. So Charles Taze Russell established
• 1:21:02
  what we call the Watchtower Society, right? The
• 1:21:07
  Watchtower Society. So it wasn't the name. It
• 1:21:10
  wasn't the name Jehovah. It wasn't the first
• 1:21:12
  person who founded it that gave it that name.
• 1:21:14
  It was the Watchtower Society. It was an organization.
• 1:21:17
  It was an organization. Then Joseph Franklin
• 1:21:22
  Rutherford. gave the name Jehovah Witness to
• 1:21:26
  the people, to that organization, after Charles
• 1:21:29
  died. The reason was because of too much controversies
• 1:21:34
  in what Russell has established. So too much
• 1:21:38
  controversies, less was rebranded. So the name
• 1:21:42
  itself is not what they started with. The name
• 1:21:44
  is a rebranding to avoid controversies of the
• 1:21:47
  person who established that organization. See,
• 1:21:51
  I'm calling it an organization, not a church.
• 1:21:53
  So pay attention. So in these establishments,
• 1:21:58
  right, we will take their doctrine. For him,
• 1:22:01
  there are not so much what we call scandals and
• 1:22:05
  stuff around in the case of these people, but
• 1:22:08
  they are doctrines. And over time, the two, Watchtower
• 1:22:12
  Society and Jehovah Witness, separated. Till
• 1:22:14
  today, they are still separated, right? Some
• 1:22:17
  people still believe they stay on the founder's
• 1:22:20
  teaching. And some people believe they have moved
• 1:22:21
  on. But there is no single difference in both
• 1:22:25
  of them. So what are their teachings? Because
• 1:22:27
  that's what we want to address. I just gave us
• 1:22:30
  that background and I intentionally said he did
• 1:22:32
  not like the eternal punishment. It's like you
• 1:22:35
  grew up in a Christian family and they are always
• 1:22:36
  teaching you about hell, hell, hell, hell. So
• 1:22:39
  when you started your own organization, you said
• 1:22:40
  there's no hell. We're not even going to teach
• 1:22:43
  about hell because they have a lot of teachings
• 1:22:44
  about hell. But the cell meeting teaching is
• 1:22:46
  already sufficient on hell. Now, what is their
• 1:22:50
  belief? They don't believe in the Trinity at
• 1:22:53
  all. At all. They don't believe. Both of them
• 1:22:56
  don't believe in the Trinity. So, this is fundamental.
• 1:23:00
  If you don't believe in the Trinity, it's a big
• 1:23:03
  challenge. Now, we are going to see and give
• 1:23:05
  them credits for where they deserve credits.
• 1:23:09
  Right? Now, the argument is that, first of all,
• 1:23:14
  we all know that there's no place in the Scripture
• 1:23:16
  where the word Trinity is established. Right?
• 1:23:18
  Are we together? There's no place in the scripture
• 1:23:21
  where the word Trinity is written as a word,
• 1:23:25
  right? Do we get it? Just the same way, all the
• 1:23:29
  words that we find and we say it's a metaphor,
• 1:23:32
  this is a simile, right? They are not written
• 1:23:35
  there in the scriptures like that. But because
• 1:23:38
  we understand it, that this is the understanding
• 1:23:41
  of this, we call it Trinity. Now, it's the same
• 1:23:45
  way in my house. For now, we are Trinity. We
• 1:23:47
  can say we are Trinity. We are three, right?
• 1:23:50
  Are we not three? We three, we function together.
• 1:23:52
  We do things together, right? Now, we have made
• 1:23:55
  it a word of divinity. It's an English word,
• 1:23:58
  right? Trinity is an English word, right? But
• 1:24:01
  we have made it a word. We have put it within
• 1:24:03
  the context of Christianity alone, right? Which
• 1:24:06
  is triune, right? Triune, trinity, and all of
• 1:24:08
  that. Now, they argue that it is unscriptural
• 1:24:11
  and it is satanic. Not the word, the teaching.
• 1:24:16
  about God in three essence, they said it is not
• 1:24:20
  doctrinal, it is satanic. Now let's check the
• 1:24:24
  scriptures and see if truly God has manifested
• 1:24:29
  himself, right, in three essence, if God has
• 1:24:32
  manifested himself. So they said this is pagan
• 1:24:35
  and they said it teaches that there is one God
• 1:24:38
  who eternally exists, right, and Father, Son,
• 1:24:42
  and Holy Spirit. So they believe that when we
• 1:24:43
  say God is one, And the Father, the Son, and
• 1:24:46
  the Holy Spirit are all in one. They don't agree
• 1:24:50
  with that, right? So let's see. Let's go to Deuteronomy.
• 1:24:53
  Deuteronomy 6, verse 4. Now, they don't have
• 1:24:56
  much scriptures on all of these, but we'll go
• 1:24:58
  to some scriptures that they touch upon. It says,
• 1:25:00
  Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. Hear,
• 1:25:06
  O Israel, the Lord our God is one. This is from
• 1:25:10
  the... People that God communicated the same
• 1:25:15
  message to, that we are carrying, and they claim
• 1:25:17
  to be carrying. So, we see that, it says, the
• 1:25:20
  Lord our God is one. Isaiah 45, verse 5. It says,
• 1:25:24
  I am the Lord, right? And there is no one. There
• 1:25:27
  is no God beside me. I will guide you, though
• 1:25:30
  you have not known me. And this was actually
• 1:25:32
  talking about Cyrus. We are talking about a man
• 1:25:34
  that God intends to use. Now, on the basis of
• 1:25:38
  this foundation, they agree with this. They agree
• 1:25:41
  with this, the Lord God is one and there's no
• 1:25:43
  other God. However, the problem is in the person
• 1:25:47
  of Christ and the Holy Spirit. So I think I wrote
• 1:25:52
  something here. I say, acknowledgement of the
• 1:25:54
  Father is not a problem. We will come to the
• 1:25:57
  misrepresentation of the Father. However, how
• 1:25:59
  the Father will do what he will do, writing on
• 1:26:03
  that, how God intends to do what he will do was
• 1:26:06
  rejected by them. And that is why it is impossible.
• 1:26:10
  to call them Christians. Right? It's impossible
• 1:26:13
  to call them Christians because what God will
• 1:26:16
  do, they rejected how God will do it. And it
• 1:26:20
  is saying that God chooses a path to save man
• 1:26:24
  and man chooses the other path. Is that scriptures
• 1:26:27
  in Romans that says that the potter can choose
• 1:26:31
  to make one unto this and choose to make this
• 1:26:35
  other path unto this. So you cannot question
• 1:26:38
  the potter. Are we together? You cannot question
• 1:26:42
  the Father. You can write it down. That God said,
• 1:26:44
  I am. Right? I think Pastor Fred talked about
• 1:26:47
  the I am, right? God said, I am. And is that
• 1:26:50
  he will do what he will do. It means that the
• 1:26:54
  salvation of men will come from God himself.
• 1:26:59
  So write it down. That they reject the fact that
• 1:27:02
  the salvation of men will come from God himself.
• 1:27:04
  I will tell you how that happens. They rejected.
• 1:27:08
  The fact that the salvation of man will come
• 1:27:12
  from God himself. They rejected the fact that
• 1:27:16
  the salvation of man will come from God himself.
• 1:27:19
  Rather stating that God will use another creation
• 1:27:24
  of his. Okay? They rejected that God will do
• 1:27:30
  what he will do by himself. But rather, they
• 1:27:34
  stated that God will use another creation of
• 1:27:37
  his. To do what he will do. Now let's go to.
• 1:27:42
  Let's go to first John. John chapter 1 verse
• 1:27:45
  1. Which is the first key scripture. John chapter
• 1:27:48
  1 verse 1. Now if you read it in the original.
• 1:27:52
  This is the fundamental. Which means. That they
• 1:27:56
  missed something here. Now in the beginning was
• 1:27:59
  the word. And the word was with God. And the
• 1:28:01
  word was God. Now in the original. There is nothing.
• 1:28:07
  Like the word was a God. So the last, the word
• 1:28:11
  was God. In their new word translation, please
• 1:28:13
  don't use that translation, right? It's not for
• 1:28:15
  you. They added that it is a God, right? Now,
• 1:28:19
  it simply means that before any creation that
• 1:28:23
  God created, God had to create Jesus first. Do
• 1:28:28
  we get it? So the argument is that before God
• 1:28:31
  created anything, the first creation of Jesus,
• 1:28:35
  the first creation of God, was Jesus. Because
• 1:28:38
  in here, we could not argue less that the person
• 1:28:42
  that was being spoken about here is who? Is Christ.
• 1:28:45
  So how can they say that this is God? They are
• 1:28:48
  saying no. This was actually talking about the
• 1:28:50
  first creation of God, which is Jesus. So they
• 1:28:55
  argue here that through Jesus, all things were
• 1:28:58
  made, but God had to make him first. So they
• 1:29:01
  put an intermission, right? Or they put something
• 1:29:04
  in the middle there. And what is the teaching
• 1:29:08
  of the scripture? The teaching of the scripture
• 1:29:10
  is that there was nothing that was made. Can
• 1:29:15
  we go to next? The next verse. The next verse.
• 1:29:19
  Verse 2. Stay here. He was in the beginning with
• 1:29:23
  God. All things were made through him. Without
• 1:29:26
  him, nothing was made that was made. Right? Nothing.
• 1:29:30
  It means that there was no creation before him.
• 1:29:34
  This is what he said. So it's not like he said
• 1:29:36
  that he was made to make other things. He said
• 1:29:39
  there was nothing that was made. So no, nothing
• 1:29:44
  existed, right, from the beginning. So we can
• 1:29:48
  see that the Bible is clear. The Bible is clear
• 1:29:51
  that there was no creation before Christ. Christ
• 1:29:55
  himself is the one who created all things. So
• 1:29:59
  we can therefore say that Christ is God. Okay,
• 1:30:03
  this is the main argument. If Christ is God or
• 1:30:05
  not. We can therefore say that Christ is God.
• 1:30:08
  Now, if you go to, you know, some of their meetings,
• 1:30:10
  you will see them celebrating Jesus a lot. They
• 1:30:12
  literally thank Jesus for what he does. Like
• 1:30:14
  they thank him, like, thank you for accepting
• 1:30:17
  to do this mission. But if you're not careful,
• 1:30:21
  right? If you're not careful, you will assume
• 1:30:23
  we are saying the same thing. But we are not
• 1:30:26
  saying the same thing. We use the same words,
• 1:30:29
  salvation, atonement, but we don't mean. The
• 1:30:33
  same thing. When they say they thank Jesus, they
• 1:30:35
  thank him as an agent of God. So Christ is not
• 1:30:39
  an agent. Christ is God himself. Christ is God
• 1:30:44
  himself. So there was no A there. It was added
• 1:30:49
  by these translators. Let's go to Colossians
• 1:30:53
  1, 16 -17. Colossians 1, 16 -17. The same scriptures,
• 1:30:57
  nothing that was made. For by him, All things
• 1:31:01
  were created that in heaven and on earth, visible
• 1:31:03
  and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or
• 1:31:06
  principalities of power, all things were created.
• 1:31:08
  All things means all things, right? Were created
• 1:31:11
  through him and for him. Through him and for
• 1:31:16
  him. Now, the question is, when scripture says,
• 1:31:21
  go to verse 15 of this Colossians. For he is
• 1:31:25
  the image of the invisible God. The firstborn
• 1:31:28
  of all creation. This is the scripture they use.
• 1:31:31
  That he is the firstborn. That him is the number
• 1:31:35
  one. And every other thing takes number. So this
• 1:31:39
  is the scripture that is being injured. Injurious
• 1:31:43
  acts. So this scripture. So let's go to that
• 1:31:46
  Colossians and see. So this is their main scripture
• 1:31:49
  to say, Oh, Jesus is the one that was the firstborn.
• 1:31:52
  Then other borns came in. You know. including
• 1:31:56
  animals. That would be what he means, right?
• 1:31:58
  Including animals, including birds, including
• 1:32:00
  everything that has been made. Now, go to Colossians
• 1:32:04
  1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, the will
• 1:32:07
  of God, by the will of God, and Timotheus, our
• 1:32:10
  brother, to the saints and faithful brethren
• 1:32:11
  in Christ, which are in Colossae, grace be unto
• 1:32:14
  you, peace from our God, right? Our Father, peace,
• 1:32:18
  grace be unto you, and peace from God, our Father,
• 1:32:22
  and the Lord Jesus Christ. So, he's writing definitely
• 1:32:25
  to believers, right? He's writing to believers
• 1:32:28
  here. Now, if you move to verse 16, if we move
• 1:32:32
  to verse 16, or probably, let's move a little
• 1:32:36
  bit, verse 10, that we might walk, go to verse
• 1:32:39
  10, sorry, that we might walk worthy of the Lord
• 1:32:41
  in all pleasing, being fruitful in every good
• 1:32:44
  work, increasing in the knowledge of Christ,
• 1:32:46
  strengthening with all mind according to the
• 1:32:47
  glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering
• 1:32:50
  with joyfulness, giving thanks to, unto, Giving
• 1:32:53
  thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet
• 1:32:56
  to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
• 1:32:57
  in light, who hath delivered us from the power
• 1:32:59
  of darkness and translated us into the kingdom
• 1:33:02
  of his dear Son. Right? In him we have redemption
• 1:33:06
  through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.
• 1:33:10
  Who is the image? Now, pay attention now. Who
• 1:33:14
  is the image of the invisible God? Image of the
• 1:33:18
  invisible God and the firstborn of every... Okay?
• 1:33:24
  Don't forget we are coming from talking about
• 1:33:27
  the realities of the believer in this context.
• 1:33:30
  Okay? The forgiveness of sins translated us to
• 1:33:33
  the sons. We talk about redemption. We talk about
• 1:33:36
  forgiveness of sins. We talk about translation.
• 1:33:39
  Now, the image of the invisible God talking about
• 1:33:43
  the firstborn of every creature is not talking
• 1:33:46
  about every creature. Right? So, invisible image.
• 1:33:52
  The image of the invisible God means that God
• 1:33:54
  is Christ, right? Because it's talking about
• 1:33:57
  Christ here. The Lord Jesus Christ is talking
• 1:34:00
  about Christ is the God that is invisible, right?
• 1:34:05
  But is the image, is the one that we see to know
• 1:34:08
  God. Do we get it? So Christ is the one that
• 1:34:11
  we see when we no matter seen God, but when we
• 1:34:15
  saw Christ, we knew that we have seen God. Do
• 1:34:19
  we get it? Now, the word, the firstborn of every
• 1:34:23
  creature, that word firstborn, right, is the
• 1:34:27
  word prototokos. Okay? You can write it down.
• 1:34:29
  It's the word prototokos. Prototokos. It refers
• 1:34:35
  to those, it refers to one that others take after.
• 1:34:39
  It's not just, they created me, then they now
• 1:34:42
  created she, then they now created them. No.
• 1:34:44
  Everyone, every other pattern that came, took
• 1:34:47
  after my pattern. That is what you call prototype.
• 1:34:50
  It's the word, I mean, you know the word prototype,
• 1:34:52
  right? So this is a prototype. Every other thing
• 1:34:54
  will follow in the same pattern. You will not
• 1:34:57
  create an architecture, you will not, let me
• 1:34:58
  just do this very clear, physical understanding.
• 1:35:01
  You will not create the prototype of something.
• 1:35:03
  And we now see the building. It's three -story
• 1:35:06
  building, the prototype. In what was produced
• 1:35:08
  is bungalow. That is not prototocusing, right?
• 1:35:11
  It's not doing the job. That is not a prototype.
• 1:35:14
  So, What a prototokos means is that when we see
• 1:35:17
  the others that will follow, they will follow
• 1:35:20
  the same what? The same pattern, the same character,
• 1:35:22
  the same nature. Do we get it? The same pattern,
• 1:35:26
  the same character, the same nature. So it's
• 1:35:29
  prototokos. It means that every other one comes
• 1:35:31
  after this in this manner. In this manner. So
• 1:35:36
  therefore, that firstborn cannot mean everything
• 1:35:38
  God created took after Christ. So that firstborn
• 1:35:43
  cannot mean that everything God created, including
• 1:35:47
  everything that you see in nature, right? It's
• 1:35:50
  not all nature. He's not talking about nature
• 1:35:53
  here. He's not talking about creation. Because
• 1:35:55
  they say God created him, then through him, everything
• 1:35:58
  was created. It will include animals because
• 1:36:01
  in their teachings, it included that. So we see
• 1:36:05
  here that it means that Christ is a pattern that
• 1:36:08
  others... Now, the word prototokos... writes,
• 1:36:12
  we can find it also in Hebrews 1 verse 6, Hebrews
• 1:36:16
  11 verse 28, the firstborn, 12 verse 23. Hebrews
• 1:36:21
  1 verse 6, Hebrews 11 verse 28, Hebrews 12 verse
• 1:36:27
  23. But again, when he again brings the firstborn
• 1:36:32
  into the world, he say, let all the angels worship
• 1:36:36
  him. The next one. By faith, he kept the Passover
• 1:36:40
  and the sprinkler of the blood, lest he who destroyed
• 1:36:43
  the firstborn should touch. So the same word
• 1:36:45
  happening here, to the general assembly and to
• 1:36:50
  the church of the firstborn who are registered
• 1:36:53
  in heaven, to the God of all joy, the spirit
• 1:36:54
  of the just man made perfect. Stop here. Now,
• 1:36:58
  we see that Israel actually was the first, you
• 1:37:02
  know, they use this word, not prodigal cause,
• 1:37:04
  but in the Greek, the word firstborn was also
• 1:37:06
  used for Israel to picture a people that God
• 1:37:10
  would establish. to carry his message. So the
• 1:37:13
  word firstborn and son was used for Israel to
• 1:37:17
  picture a people that God will use to carry his
• 1:37:21
  message. So again, when they used firstborn and
• 1:37:24
  son for Israel, it was not meaning trees, animals,
• 1:37:27
  anything. No, it was referring to the same pattern
• 1:37:31
  of Israel. To carry my message, I will create
• 1:37:34
  the church, the church of the firstborn, the
• 1:37:37
  church in the wilderness. The firstborn and the
• 1:37:41
  son. You see, tell Pharaoh, Israel is my firstborn
• 1:37:44
  and my son. Right? So, the word firstborn and
• 1:37:48
  son refers to creating the same pattern. Right?
• 1:37:54
  Following the same pattern. Now, here we see
• 1:37:56
  that it says to the general assembly and the
• 1:37:59
  church of the firstborn who are registered in
• 1:38:01
  heaven. Now, this was not possible. Prototokos
• 1:38:05
  is not possible. in Christ without resurrection.
• 1:38:09
  You can write it down. That the reality of Christ
• 1:38:13
  being the firstborn was not possible except through
• 1:38:17
  the resurrection. The reality of Christ being
• 1:38:20
  the firstborn was not possible except through
• 1:38:21
  the resurrection. I think we need to read Hebrews
• 1:38:25
  2 here. Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2
• 1:38:30
  from verse 13. And again, I'll put my trust in
• 1:38:33
  him and behold. And again, behold, I and the
• 1:38:36
  children which God hath given me. For as much
• 1:38:38
  as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
• 1:38:40
  also him likewise partook of the same, that through
• 1:38:45
  death he might destroy him that hath the power
• 1:38:47
  of death, that is the devil, and deliver them
• 1:38:50
  who through fear of death were all their lives
• 1:38:55
  subject to bondage. I think we need to take it
• 1:38:59
  a little bit higher. Let's go to some earlier
• 1:39:03
  verses there. Verse 9. Verse 9. But we see Jesus
• 1:39:07
  who was made a little lower than the angels for
• 1:39:09
  the suffering of death, crowned with glory and
• 1:39:11
  honor, that he by grace of God should taste death
• 1:39:15
  for every man. For it became him for whom all
• 1:39:18
  things and by whom all things in bringing many
• 1:39:22
  sons unto glory, to make the captain of their
• 1:39:26
  salvation perfect through what? Through suffering.
• 1:39:28
  So Jesus will suffer to bring many sons to glory.
• 1:39:33
  Right? So if Jesus suffers and brings many sons
• 1:39:36
  to glory, he himself coming into glory, resurrection,
• 1:39:39
  becomes the firstborn. Not that he's created
• 1:39:45
  in the beginning to create everything. No. The
• 1:39:47
  firstborn is that he, through the power of resurrection,
• 1:39:51
  after suffering, he will bring many sons into
• 1:39:53
  his glory. He will bring many sons into his glory.
• 1:39:58
  And this takes place through suffering and the
• 1:40:01
  glory that followed. through suffering and the
• 1:40:05
  glory that followed. The other word is monogenes.
• 1:40:11
  Let's write it down. Only begotten. I think we've
• 1:40:14
  had this teaching before, but we shall have it
• 1:40:15
  again. Only begotten. Because this is the teaching
• 1:40:17
  that will address that issue of the first begotten
• 1:40:20
  of the creations. Only begotten. The word only
• 1:40:24
  begotten can be found in John 1, 14, which is
• 1:40:29
  monogenes. Right? monogenes monogenes g -e -n
• 1:40:36
  -e -s the word became flesh and dwell among us
• 1:40:40
  and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only
• 1:40:46
  begotten of the father full of grace and truth
• 1:40:48
  now this monogenes is talking about the unique
• 1:40:53
  appearance of god on earth that no man ever walked
• 1:41:00
  in except christ What we walked in is after resurrection.
• 1:41:06
  So it's the unique appearance of God on earth
• 1:41:09
  that no man walking except Christ. We joined
• 1:41:13
  that identification after resurrection. So there
• 1:41:16
  was no begotten. Only begotten is the only begotten
• 1:41:19
  at this time. So when God came to earth, which
• 1:41:23
  again is what they rejected, the incarnation.
• 1:41:26
  When God came to earth and he became the unique
• 1:41:29
  appearance on earth. They said that is not God.
• 1:41:33
  That is just one God. Okay? They said that is
• 1:41:38
  not God, but said that is one God. That is a
• 1:41:42
  God, not God himself. So they deny the incarnation
• 1:41:46
  to say that Christ is not God. Now, the argument
• 1:41:50
  is that when we say that we are having Holy Spirit,
• 1:41:54
  the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, that we
• 1:41:56
  are actually practicing. actually is a contradiction
• 1:42:00
  on their side because when you say that Christ
• 1:42:03
  is a God, it means that the Father is a separate
• 1:42:05
  God, the Son is a separate God, then the Holy
• 1:42:08
  Spirit is not a God. This is the argument. So
• 1:42:10
  it's actually the, you know, you try to debate
• 1:42:14
  something but you put yourself in the trouble.
• 1:42:16
  So by saying that Christ is a God, it means that
• 1:42:17
  in their own religion there are two gods and
• 1:42:20
  one wind. Right? Two gods and one wind. So, but
• 1:42:25
  what we see here is that he's saying that I appeared
• 1:42:28
  on earth to come and do what I will do for men.
• 1:42:32
  There is no other person that is called the only
• 1:42:34
  begotten, but there are many people who follow.
• 1:42:38
  There are many begotten after, there are many
• 1:42:40
  sons after resurrection, right? But nobody is
• 1:42:44
  the same way that our God anointed Christ. That
• 1:42:47
  office of the anointed Christ is the only begotten,
• 1:42:51
  right? So we can see that John 1, 18, You can
• 1:42:54
  go John 1, 18. John 3, 16. John 1, 18. John 3,
• 1:42:59
  16. 1 John 4, verse 9. 1 John 4, verse 9. I will
• 1:43:04
  do one more. Then we'll come back to the second
• 1:43:07
  half. I'll do one more. Come back to the second
• 1:43:10
  half. Another argument that they rejected. Many
• 1:43:13
  arguments. If we are going to create, you know,
• 1:43:16
  something to help us. So we can just write those
• 1:43:19
  scriptures. I already explained monogenes. Now,
• 1:43:21
  the second claim is that Christ, is Archangel
• 1:43:25
  Michael. You should say hmm to that one without
• 1:43:28
  me presenting an evidence. You should just say
• 1:43:31
  hmm. The argument, how can you say Christ is
• 1:43:34
  Archangel Michael? What scripture do they use?
• 1:43:38
  Revelations 12, 7 -9. This is their scriptures.
• 1:43:41
  Without already doing scriptures together, we
• 1:43:44
  will fall into trouble. Revelations 12, 7 -9.
• 1:43:48
  So they claim again that we are done with Christ.
• 1:43:52
  the son and the mother Jesus and the firstborn.
• 1:43:54
  Now we are going to Christ, the claim that Christ
• 1:43:57
  is archangel Michael. Right? Where's Revelation?
• 1:44:01
  Oh, okay. We don't have it yet. Revelations 12,
• 1:44:05
  7 to 9. Now it says, and there was war in heaven.
• 1:44:10
  Michael and his angels fought against the dragon
• 1:44:13
  and the dragon fought and his angels and he prevailed
• 1:44:17
  not. Neither was there place found anymore in
• 1:44:21
  heaven. And the great dragon was cast out. The
• 1:44:24
  old serpent called the devil, the Satan, that
• 1:44:26
  deceived the whole world. He was cast out in
• 1:44:29
  the earth and his angels were cast out with him.
• 1:44:33
  Because they said he led the world. There was
• 1:44:37
  one in heaven and Michael and his angels. Meaning
• 1:44:39
  an archangel, right? That is the word. An archangel
• 1:44:43
  means one that leads other angels. Right? They
• 1:44:47
  said one that did what? That leads other angels.
• 1:44:51
  And they said, well, this is also Christ, right?
• 1:44:53
  Because their doctrine is more related to Revelation
• 1:44:56
  somewhat. This is the major reference. And it's
• 1:44:59
  quite very easy to debunk with this one. The
• 1:45:02
  first place that we'll find this, right, is,
• 1:45:06
  let's open Revelation 22, verse 8 to 9. They
• 1:45:14
  identified Jesus with angel Michael. Now, I saw,
• 1:45:18
  now, I, John. Did you see? So angel put himself,
• 1:45:46
  say, meal. And Moses, we can say, angel said,
• 1:45:50
  the people who have believed, Moses, the people
• 1:45:53
  who are in faith, those who believe the words
• 1:45:56
  of this book, right? Those who believe the word
• 1:45:59
  of this book, we are all what? Servants. That's
• 1:46:03
  the explanation. We are all servants. You see,
• 1:46:07
  for I am your fellow servants, you and I, fellow
• 1:46:09
  servants, you are functioning as human, I'm functioning
• 1:46:12
  as angel. So angel did not receive his worship.
• 1:46:15
  So fellow servant did not receive. Another servant
• 1:46:17
  worshiped. Do we get it? He says, worship who?
• 1:46:21
  God. Now open to Matthew 14, 33. Matthew 14,
• 1:46:25
  33. Matthew 28, verse 9. Matthew 14, 33. Matthew
• 1:46:31
  28, verse 9. To distinguish between an angel,
• 1:46:36
  the conduct of an angel, and the conduct of Christ.
• 1:46:39
  Then those who were in the boat came and worshipped
• 1:46:42
  him, saying, truly you are the son of God. Truly
• 1:46:47
  you are the son of God. 28, 9. And as they went
• 1:46:50
  to tell his disciples, Behold, Jesus met them.
• 1:46:52
  This is post -resurrection. Saying, rejoice.
• 1:46:55
  So they came and held him by his feet. And they
• 1:46:57
  did what? They worshipped him. The next one.
• 1:47:00
  John 9, 38. John 9, 38. Hebrews 1, 6. And then
• 1:47:06
  he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.
• 1:47:08
  Now, Hebrews 1, 6. But when he again brings the
• 1:47:11
  firstborn into the world, he says what? Let all
• 1:47:14
  what? Angels. Now stop it. This one is one that
• 1:47:17
  should scatter it very easily. When he brings
• 1:47:21
  the firstborn into the world. Firstborn Christ.
• 1:47:26
  They agree that firstborn is Christ. Right? Yet
• 1:47:31
  is archangel. That's a contradiction based on
• 1:47:35
  the scripture. So the office of the firstborn
• 1:47:38
  is occupied by someone here who is Christ. And
• 1:47:40
  then he said, let all angels do what? Worship
• 1:47:43
  him. So, they warned, did Jesus receive worship?
• 1:47:46
  Yes. But angels did not receive worship. You
• 1:47:51
  will observe their cautious conduct when they
• 1:47:54
  come to deal with men. When they come to give
• 1:47:57
  a message, they will say, I am a messenger. Some
• 1:48:00
  of them say, I stood by the presence of God.
• 1:48:04
  So, they honor their servitude position and refuse
• 1:48:08
  to take worship. But what we see is that people
• 1:48:12
  worship Christ. And he never said stop because
• 1:48:15
  he is God, right? They said he is the son of
• 1:48:18
  God. So this is also correct. Now, another pattern
• 1:48:22
  that we will see is that, okay, we have one minute
• 1:48:27
  more, is that when there was war in heaven, there
• 1:48:30
  was a scripture, we're going to see that after
• 1:48:32
  we come back. He said, the angel Michael said,
• 1:48:36
  the Lord rebuke you, right? But when Jesus would
• 1:48:41
  talk to the devil himself, he said, I rebuke
• 1:48:44
  you, right? It was rebuked. It was a direct,
• 1:48:46
  it was not, it says, get deep behind me, right?
• 1:48:50
  And that system shows the authority of Christ
• 1:48:54
  above angel, right? Not to now talk of, when
• 1:48:57
  we begin to read Hebrews, right? Hebrews 1 established
• 1:49:01
  clearly the difference between Christ and any
• 1:49:04
  angel and was not classified as an angel. So
• 1:49:07
  in such a doctrine that classified Christ as
• 1:49:10
  an agent, as a God, at the same time as an angel,
• 1:49:14
  right? Definitely states that God is not the
• 1:49:18
  one that came to do what he did. He created an
• 1:49:20
  agent to go and do the job. And therefore, we
• 1:49:23
  cannot in any way hold on to such faith. Now,
• 1:49:26
  the reason why we are giving such amount of scriptures
• 1:49:28
  is that you can go back and read and study that
• 1:49:32
  when you are confronted with such ideologies,
• 1:49:34
  you will pull them down to the obedience of what?
• 1:49:38
  Christ. We must bring all this argument. together
• 1:49:41
  to the obedience of Christ we must gather them
• 1:49:44
  and say these arguments they are not in alignment
• 1:49:46
  with Christ glory to God we appreciate you being
• 1:49:51
  here today we hope you carry this word with you
• 1:49:54
  throughout your week don't forget to check the
• 1:49:56
  show notes for additional insights stay connected
• 1:49:59
  with us through our website or follow us on social
• 1:50:02
  media if you were encouraged share this message
• 1:50:06
  with someone you care about until next time stay
• 1:50:10
  blessed