back to indexBerean Community Church Wednesday Night Bible Study Session 6 10/9/24
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Alright, could we find our way to our seats? We'll get started shortly. 00:06:55.000 |
I'll just open up with a word of prayer real quick. Father, we just thank you once again 00:07:00.000 |
for this time to just come together as a church to just lift the praise to you with song 00:07:05.000 |
through the study of your word, through the study through this book, and especially this week's 00:07:10.000 |
study of your word and the covenant Bible study. We just come before you, Lord, 00:07:15.000 |
just holding you with reverence, with true humility, just wanting to lift 00:07:20.000 |
up our praise to you. We pray that these songs will be 00:07:25.000 |
just a joyful noise to you here, and that these songs will just glorify you, Lord. We pray all this in Christ's name. 00:13:15.000 |
Father, we just thank you for this time of worship. 00:13:18.000 |
These songs that we sing, Lord, are just our prayers as well. 00:13:24.000 |
We ask that you would take your truth, Lord, plant it deep in us, 00:13:29.000 |
that it would shape and fashion us in your likeness 00:13:35.000 |
that, God, you would teach us full obedience, 00:13:41.000 |
that it would truly test our thoughts and our attitudes 00:13:44.000 |
and cause our faith to rise, Lord, and cause our eyes to see, God, 00:13:51.000 |
And ultimately, Lord, we pray that as we go through your Bible study 00:13:54.000 |
that it would just fulfill in us all your purposes for your glory, 00:13:57.000 |
just like we sing, God. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. 00:14:08.000 |
We do have a lot of stuff going on this weekend. 00:14:11.000 |
I'd like to highlight for you guys some of the announcements here. 00:14:14.000 |
First, our youth group is going to be doing a fundraiser lunch 00:14:21.000 |
It's just $10 a bowl for some delicious Mediterranean chicken. 00:14:28.000 |
You can pay either through the Subsplash app or by cash. 00:14:33.000 |
That Sunday we have Members Meeting and Service Fair, 00:14:37.000 |
so please make sure that you show up promptly 00:14:47.000 |
If you've moved and you need to update your address, 00:14:50.000 |
please send that into the form so that we can update the information. 00:14:57.000 |
please make sure that you submit an entry into that form. 00:15:01.000 |
On Sunday, October 20th, there's going to be a child safety training. 00:15:08.000 |
anything where we are spending the extended time at an event with the children, 00:15:12.000 |
we want all our volunteers to be safety trained, 00:15:14.000 |
so please make sure that you show up at 1.30 p.m. in the main sanctuary 00:15:23.000 |
If you have any questions, you can send over to Alex Coe there. 00:15:28.000 |
For the Family Ministry, that Sunday, Sunday the 20th, 00:15:32.000 |
there is an extended time of fellowship at Bill Barber Park 00:15:41.000 |
so if you're in the Family Ministry, please come out, 00:15:44.000 |
and we'd love to see you and fellowship with you there. 00:15:47.000 |
An important one for you guys is that for all the men, 00:15:54.000 |
we're going to be having a Men's Ministry Fellowship November 9th. 00:15:58.000 |
So it is a little bit away, several weeks out, 00:16:00.000 |
but we want to give you guys a heads-up to save that time. 00:16:03.000 |
It's a sweet time of fellowship for the guys to come together and learn. 00:16:10.000 |
so please make sure you sign up for that as well for all the guys. 00:16:15.000 |
And then we have our regional Thanksgiving fellowship dinner 00:16:21.000 |
We, again, ask all of you guys to check your calendars and sign up early 00:16:26.000 |
because trying to make assignments and pull groups together 00:16:29.000 |
for that many people is tough, tough, big bear, 00:16:37.000 |
the various ministry Christmas parties that will be happening. 00:16:40.000 |
There is an all-family ministry Christmas party on December 7th, 00:16:51.000 |
All right, please go straight into your discussion time. 01:01:22.000 |
All right, if we can start to make your way back into the room. 01:02:00.000 |
All right, if the people who are in the rooms begin to get back into your seats, 01:02:13.000 |
All right, so as they're coming in, before I get started, 01:02:17.000 |
you guys read the chapter on the elders and deacons, right? 01:02:23.000 |
So I know there's a lot of question, and I'm not going to be addressing that tonight, 01:02:29.000 |
but I'm going to answer just a few questions, the common questions that come up. 01:02:34.000 |
So if you're not in the room, you're going to have to listen to it later, okay? 01:02:40.000 |
So first of all, as you guys know, we are an elder-run church. 01:02:44.000 |
Typically, a Baptist church is not an elder-run church. 01:02:47.000 |
It's a congregational church, but our church is more of a Reformed Baptist church, 01:02:53.000 |
What that means is the role of the elders are to govern the church, to teach the church. 01:03:01.000 |
So basically, the leaders of the church are the elders. 01:03:04.000 |
And then the deacons serve to help the elders do their work and to assist, 01:03:12.000 |
And so one common question people ask is what is the difference between an elder and a pastor, right? 01:03:19.000 |
The Bible does not distinguish between an elder and a pastor. 01:03:22.000 |
The word "elder," "shepherd," and "overseer" are all the same titles that are used in the Bible. 01:03:29.000 |
Now, the Bible gives general outlines of what to do, like the qualification of an elder. 01:03:36.000 |
But how it ought to be, ought to be practiced, in what context, it doesn't give you the specifics. 01:03:43.000 |
It just gives you the qualification of an elder, but not to lay hands hastily. 01:03:50.000 |
And so at our church specifically, the elders of the church are the ones who make decisions, doctrinal statements, 01:04:06.000 |
And the reason why is pastors are ordained, and they may, you know, whether it's a year or two, just like PPC, 01:04:17.000 |
Elders are elders and leaders specific for this church only, so they don't go down the street as an elder. 01:04:24.000 |
They're elders specifically for this particular church. 01:04:27.000 |
The distinction between, within the elders, the elders who are primarily teaching versus elders who are governing, 01:04:36.000 |
the Bible distinguishes between the two, right? 01:04:39.000 |
So at our church, an elder who is teaching needs to have seminary education, needs to be properly ordained, 01:04:46.000 |
and so that's how those are things that are in our bylaw. 01:04:49.000 |
Our pastors will most likely at some point become elders of our church. 01:04:54.000 |
But again, the reason why we distinguish that is because we can't have, let's say, 01:04:59.000 |
if we end up hiring 15 staff at our church, we can't have our youth pastor, our elementary director, our college director, 01:05:07.000 |
and every pastor that comes into our church have equal say as to what our doctrines are going to be. 01:05:16.000 |
Because those pastors may be here in two years and maybe go out to mission field or something, 01:05:21.000 |
but we can't have leadership in the church that's going to lay foundations in the church who are not long-term committed here. 01:05:31.000 |
So for practical reasons, we make that distinction. 01:05:34.000 |
So when we recognize that a pastor seems to be more permanent than not, 01:05:40.000 |
then all the other qualifications obviously they need to have to be a pastor, 01:05:45.000 |
and at some point we will consider making them an elder. 01:05:51.000 |
Another question we get is how come we don't practice deaconship? 01:05:54.000 |
At one point we did, and I don't want to get into the long story behind that, 01:05:59.000 |
but deacons basically, some people think that deaconship is like the government. 01:06:06.000 |
You have the executive branch, you have the legislative branch, you have the judicial branch, 01:06:09.000 |
and so you have different branches in the church for checks and balances. 01:06:13.000 |
It's completely not from the Bible. Not a single sentence of that I said is from the Bible. 01:06:18.000 |
So if you have that kind of thinking, you got it from somewhere, but it's not from the Bible. 01:06:22.000 |
Deacons were created in the scripture to assist the elders so that the elders can focus on prayer and teaching. 01:06:34.000 |
So when people say how come we don't have deacons, 01:06:41.000 |
So when you say how come we don't have deacons, how come we don't have servants, 01:06:49.000 |
Every month we have a servant leaders meeting at church. 01:06:54.000 |
So the proper question is how come we don't use the term deacon? 01:06:59.000 |
So we have many deacons at church, but we haven't used the term deacon. 01:07:04.000 |
We haven't given the title deacon, and part of the reason why we haven't given the title deacon 01:07:09.000 |
is because we're trying to distinguish what is the difference 01:07:12.000 |
when we give a title to a deacon versus others who are serving. 01:07:21.000 |
So what is the distinction between a service team leader who is serving faithfully, 01:07:26.000 |
like anybody else, between somebody who's given a title deacon? 01:07:31.000 |
And so we haven't come to a biblical conclusion on that 01:07:36.000 |
other than we need to give a title because we should practice deaconship. 01:07:40.000 |
So in every way at our church we practice deaconship, 01:07:43.000 |
we just haven't come to a good reason why the title needs to be used, 01:07:52.000 |
Today we're going to be going into the covenant number five, 01:07:55.000 |
and hopefully at some point we have an open Q&A 01:07:58.000 |
where you guys can ask more detailed questions about that. 01:08:01.000 |
But for now, because you read that chapter, I wanted to give you a brief answer. 01:08:04.000 |
So let me pray for us, and then we'll jump in. 01:08:09.000 |
Father, I pray for deeper understanding as we wrestle over the covenant number five 01:08:15.000 |
and what it means for our church as we continue to grow and add souls to our church, 01:08:23.000 |
Whether we've been here for many years or whether we are new to the church, 01:08:27.000 |
I pray that you would continue to strengthen us, that we may be united as one, 01:08:31.000 |
that we may have clear understanding of what it is that we are trying to build at this church. 01:08:40.000 |
"I commit to attending and preparing for weekday Bible studies to the best of my ability 01:08:44.000 |
for the purpose of building up the body of Christ at Berean." 01:08:47.000 |
So when you become a member of our church, we require this, 01:08:51.000 |
and we go over this covenant and ask you to fulfill this every year. 01:08:55.000 |
So if we have people at our church who are members of our church 01:08:58.000 |
and who's consistently not taking the Bible study seriously, 01:09:02.000 |
obviously you will eventually get an email or some sort of follow-up saying, 01:09:05.000 |
"Hey, are you planning to take the covenant seriously?" 01:09:09.000 |
And I'm going to be explaining why we do this, 01:09:11.000 |
because every part of the tenfold covenant in our church is the bare minimum. 01:09:24.000 |
And I don't know what your Christian life was before you came to this church, 01:09:29.000 |
We didn't add anything in the tenfold covenant that you do not see, 01:09:34.000 |
at least different teachings of it, all over Scripture. 01:09:39.000 |
A Christian cannot be a serious Christian if he is not regularly in the Word of God, 01:09:48.000 |
You cannot be growing, you cannot be maturing, you cannot be participating. 01:09:51.000 |
So this idea of, "I want to go to church, I want to worship God, 01:09:55.000 |
but I want to worship God on my terms, when it's convenient for me. 01:09:59.000 |
So if it's not convenient for me, then I don't need to go. 01:10:02.000 |
So I want to go to a church where everybody just comes and goes as they please, 01:10:05.000 |
and that's free worship, and that's what grace means." 01:10:12.000 |
So that's what I want to explain, why this covenant is here. 01:10:18.000 |
obviously we understand that work, there's family stuff going on, 01:10:22.000 |
there's different things that may happen that is beyond your control, 01:10:25.000 |
but we're asking to the best of your ability to commit to your faith. 01:10:30.000 |
We're not saying just to bring in, "Commit to your faith," 01:10:33.000 |
where your faith is not just, "I feel this for my Jesus." 01:10:40.000 |
Part of it means to participate in building and growing your faith. 01:10:46.000 |
The philosophy behind the preaching and teaching on Sunday 01:10:51.000 |
and weekday Bible study is different at our church. 01:11:11.000 |
So if Jubilee can see, then everybody can see. 01:11:21.000 |
I want you to understand, at least in my ministry philosophy, 01:11:26.000 |
of the distinction between Sunday philosophy and weekday philosophy. 01:11:31.000 |
Sunday teaching philosophy is to get the Word of God in you. 01:11:35.000 |
Weekday philosophy is to get you into the Word. 01:11:43.000 |
Sunday sermons are geared toward proclamation, preaching. 01:11:47.000 |
There is a distinction between preaching and teaching. 01:11:57.000 |
Jesus says that he's looking for people who will worship him in spirit and in truth, 01:12:02.000 |
meaning your heart condition, your life, your intention, 01:12:06.000 |
and your application of the things that you're learning is just as important as what you are learning. 01:12:13.000 |
So the purpose of Sunday preaching is for the purpose of proclamation. 01:12:23.000 |
and never come out with any conclusion, any application. 01:12:28.000 |
So Sunday sermons are for the purpose of proclaiming 01:12:32.000 |
so that those who hear may be convicted and apply what they are learning. 01:12:40.000 |
I'm going to share with you the distinction between proclaiming and teaching. 01:12:46.000 |
Because that's the goal, when we are studying through a text, 01:12:56.000 |
it is not my goal to get everything that is in the text to you. 01:13:03.000 |
So there might be a text where there's five separate points, 01:13:06.000 |
and my goal in preaching on Sunday is not to make sure that every part of that text is dissected 01:13:12.000 |
and you understand all of it because the themes are different. 01:13:15.000 |
There may be different things that don't fit in. 01:13:17.000 |
So as I do the study, there's huge chunks of the study that sometimes I may not put in 01:13:25.000 |
Because Christ's main point in that text is to pick up your cross. 01:13:30.000 |
So I don't feel the need to sit there and explain to you every aspect of that cross 01:13:37.000 |
in order for you to understand that text because that's not the philosophy behind Sunday. 01:13:43.000 |
So there are some things that will be put in and some things that will be left out. 01:13:50.000 |
The Word of God is being taught, but it's for the purpose of proclaiming. 01:13:53.000 |
Now, weekday Bible study is to get you into the Word. 01:13:57.000 |
So to get you into the Word, you need to understand the text. 01:14:01.000 |
So the purpose of weekday Bible study is so that you understand all that is in the text. 01:14:12.000 |
Paul may have five different points or three different points or various different points 01:14:16.000 |
that may not be all easily identifiably connected. 01:14:21.000 |
But the goal of the weekday Bible study is so that you would learn how to get into the Bible yourself. 01:14:57.000 |
If you're hot over there, it's much hotter over here. 01:15:05.000 |
So weekday Bible study is to get you into the Bible, right? 01:15:09.000 |
Where Sunday's philosophy is to get the Bible into you. 01:15:13.000 |
And so the philosophy is give a man a fish, he'll be satisfied. 01:15:20.000 |
But teach a man to fish, he'll be set for life, right? 01:15:23.000 |
And so the philosophy behind Sunday is to feed you the fish. 01:15:28.000 |
The philosophy behind weekday Bible study is to get you to learn how to fish. 01:15:32.000 |
And that's why we have emphasis on hermeneutics, okay? 01:15:37.000 |
Now, I put all these different groups here because the Mormons, Catholics, the local church, 01:15:41.000 |
the Seventh-day Adventist, when you first talk to them, they seem like they know the Bible well, right? 01:15:48.000 |
But everything they know about the Bible is from either Joseph Smith, whether it's from the Pope or the priest, 01:15:55.000 |
or the local church from Witness Lee, or the Seventh-day Adventist from Ellen G. White. 01:16:01.000 |
And so when your intake of the Bible is coming from one person or Bible study material, 01:16:08.000 |
everything that they believe, you're going to end up believing because you're going to study that like you study the Bible. 01:16:13.000 |
That's why I don't think it's wise to study the Bible with a study Bible, okay? 01:16:19.000 |
Study Bible is a commentary where somebody's thoughts and theology has been poured into it, 01:16:25.000 |
so when you read it, you think that's exactly what it says. 01:16:28.000 |
So if they happen to be Calvinist, you're going to be a Calvinist. 01:16:31.000 |
If they're Armenian, you're going to be an Armenian. 01:16:33.000 |
If they believe whatever is theology that they have, you're not going to be able to discern 01:16:39.000 |
if what they're saying is their opinion or if it's the Word of God. 01:16:45.000 |
You can use the commentary to compare your studies, but you cannot study the Bible through the commentary 01:16:52.000 |
because commentaries is just like listening to a sermon. 01:16:55.000 |
Somebody else did the study and spoon-feeding you. 01:16:58.000 |
Now, that may be useful when you're young, spiritually, but if all your life you're dependent upon somebody else 01:17:04.000 |
to tell you what the Bible says, that's how the Catholics had all the Christians captivated for so long. 01:17:13.000 |
That's why so many bad doctrines came in and people were not able to discern whether this was from God or not 01:17:21.000 |
Just trust the priest. They're the ones who are educated. They're the ones who study. 01:17:28.000 |
Until it got so ridiculous, they said, "This can't be from God." 01:17:32.000 |
Our weekday philosophy, the emphasis is on hermeneutics, how to interpret the Bible. 01:17:41.000 |
What did the author mean and how did the first recipients understand it? 01:17:47.000 |
That's the question that we need to constantly ask when we're studying the Bible. 01:17:51.000 |
We try not to let theology dictate interpretation, but let interpretation dictate theology. 01:17:57.000 |
Sometimes, because you've committed to a set of theology, you look at text and you try to make it fit. 01:18:04.000 |
This is the truth of God, and you've been taught theology, and then from that point on, 01:18:10.000 |
everything you're looking at, you're looking at through that lens. 01:18:13.000 |
You're proof-texting theology that you've already committed to. 01:18:17.000 |
"I'm a Baptist. I'm a Presbyterian. I'm a Calvinist. I'm this. I'm that." 01:18:21.000 |
Once you have that, everything is tested by, "Does it fit this theology that I committed to?" 01:18:30.000 |
Did you commit to that theology from your careful study of the Word of God 01:18:33.000 |
and the theology was formulated as a result of studying and handling the Word of God? 01:18:37.000 |
Or was a theology given to you, and once you put that on, 01:18:42.000 |
everything that you hear and learn has to be through that lens? 01:18:47.000 |
I would say most Christians, if they're honest with themselves, does the latter. 01:18:57.000 |
It is not safe that you do not learn how to discern truth for yourself, 01:19:04.000 |
because so many bad doctrines, so many bad theologies, 01:19:09.000 |
so many pastors and seminaries who have perverted the Word of God, 01:19:17.000 |
that if you don't learn to discern, you will be deceived. 01:19:21.000 |
Remember what it says in Matthew 24, "In the last times, the deception is going to be so great 01:19:25.000 |
that if possible, even the elect will be deceived." 01:19:32.000 |
That's how powerful the deception is going to be. 01:19:35.000 |
If you don't learn to test and discern the truth for yourself, 01:19:41.000 |
How do you know because you just happen to be, "I think he's a good guy"? 01:19:48.000 |
That's not enough to be able to discern truth. 01:19:57.000 |
Exegesis is basically studying the text, asking the questions, applying hermeneutics, 01:20:02.000 |
and then extrapolating what it says in the text. 01:20:12.000 |
This is how things ought to be, and you're looking for something 01:20:15.000 |
because you've already committed to something because somebody told you, 01:20:20.000 |
or you read something, or you happen to go to this church, 01:20:23.000 |
or you grew up a Baptist, you grew up a Presbyterian, 01:20:30.000 |
Your litmus test needs to be the Word of God, not your theology 01:20:37.000 |
That's what I mean by exegesis rather than eisegesis. 01:20:45.000 |
we have so many people coming from all different backgrounds, 01:20:48.000 |
and they'll say, "Oh, how come our church doesn't do this? 01:21:01.000 |
Okay, so your whole faith is based upon your old church then, 01:21:05.000 |
and your whole faith is based upon your old pastor. 01:21:13.000 |
What text were you wrestling with that caused you to say, 01:21:21.000 |
Because that happens so often in the church, I always test you. 01:21:24.000 |
If you are going to ask me a question and you're going to challenge me, 01:21:27.000 |
the next question you're going to receive is, "Where did you get that?" 01:21:32.000 |
I want to challenge you to make sure that it's not eisegesis but exegesis. 01:21:38.000 |
You have to let the Word of God judge your thoughts and intentions 01:21:42.000 |
and let your thoughts dictate your interpretation. 01:21:47.000 |
So that's our philosophy of weekday Bible study. 01:21:54.000 |
Making disciples requires consistent and regular Bible study. 01:22:01.000 |
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. 01:22:05.000 |
Obedience to Scripture is commanded, a part of discipleship. 01:22:10.000 |
It's not just, "You know what? Here's a set of doctrines. 01:22:13.000 |
Jesus loved me, died for me because I could not, and I accept that. 01:22:17.000 |
If I keep repeating that to myself, then that's what discipleship is. 01:22:21.000 |
Just repeat the first phase of Christ died for me, Christ died for me, 01:22:28.000 |
No. He says, "Go, baptize, teach them to observe all that I have commanded you." 01:22:34.000 |
But discipleship is not simply disseminating the Gospel. 01:22:40.000 |
Now that you've accepted the Gospel, now that you're a Christian, 01:22:45.000 |
That's why Bible study always ends with application. 01:22:48.000 |
That's why teaching always ends in application. 01:22:56.000 |
Discipleship is not just proclaiming the Gospel, 01:22:58.000 |
but also teaching how you ought to live your life. 01:23:01.000 |
Discipleship begins with teaching how we ought to think, 01:23:04.000 |
but must move to how those thoughts move to practice. 01:23:07.000 |
So if all you do is study and get all the right understanding of the Scripture, 01:23:12.000 |
but there was no change in your life, you're not growing in your faith. 01:23:17.000 |
It doesn't matter how much knowledge you have. 01:23:19.000 |
In fact, it's probably doing more damage than good. 01:23:25.000 |
All right, for the sake of time, I'm not going to go through this. 01:23:29.000 |
Just briefly, how can a young man keep his way pure? 01:23:36.000 |
The word "pure" typically, people think that that word talks about sexual purity. 01:23:41.000 |
It's a much more general word than that, sexual purity obviously included. 01:23:45.000 |
The word "pure" basically means moral, righteousness. 01:23:49.000 |
How can a young man keep his way righteous before God, holy? 01:23:55.000 |
Holiness and intake of the word is directly related. 01:24:03.000 |
The purpose of studying the word of God is not simply to know what the word of God says, 01:24:08.000 |
but through the word of God to seek Him, to seek Christ. 01:24:12.000 |
At the end of your study, if you do not come nearer to Christ, 01:24:17.000 |
you have not done anything other than added knowledge. 01:24:25.000 |
Your word I have treasured in my heart that I may not sin against you. 01:24:30.000 |
I have told of all the ordinances of your mouth. 01:24:32.000 |
So not only did I learn, I opened my mouth to teach others. 01:24:37.000 |
I have rejoiced in the way of the testimonies as much as in all riches. 01:24:40.000 |
I will meditate on your precepts and regard your ways. 01:24:45.000 |
So all of it is that how can a young man keep his way pure, be righteous and holy? 01:24:54.000 |
I learned, and then I taught so that I would not forget. 01:24:58.000 |
And I would treasure this in my heart, and it would end in delight. 01:25:07.000 |
We're not simply studying so that you can have a better understanding of Philippians or Philemon 01:25:14.000 |
The purpose of all of that is so that we may live holy and godly lives, 01:25:21.000 |
So if the deep study of the word of God doesn't cause you to have deeper affection for Christ, 01:25:26.000 |
then you missed the whole point of the Bible study. 01:25:31.000 |
The strength and health of the church is directly linked to the members being able to test what they are hearing 01:25:36.000 |
and accept what they are learning is ultimately from God. 01:25:39.000 |
Like I said, it is not enough that the elders are testing, right? 01:25:50.000 |
In my lifetime, I've seen three or four major, major cultural things that came in. 01:25:57.000 |
Again, I mentioned to you up in the pulpit, I got saved at the tail end of the Jesus movement. 01:26:03.000 |
And then the holiness discipleship movement came in. 01:26:06.000 |
And then after that, the charismatic movement came in. 01:26:09.000 |
After the charismatic movement came in, the seeker-friendly movement came in. 01:26:12.000 |
After the seeker-friendly, the young restless and reform movement came in. 01:26:15.000 |
After that movement came in, the gospel-centered movement came in. 01:26:19.000 |
And then recently, all this, you know, the political stuff, you know, that movement came in. 01:26:25.000 |
So every one of these things, I've seen people get swept up in that. 01:26:30.000 |
All of a sudden, they were doing fine, and then all of a sudden, with a snap of a finger, 01:26:34.000 |
how they determine what was right and wrong, what they need to do, how churches need to change. 01:26:39.000 |
Every time a movement came in, and usually with young people, and they get swept, 01:26:45.000 |
it means that all this time I was wrong, and all of a sudden, they opened their eyes, 01:26:49.000 |
and then they started to see the whole world through that lens. 01:26:52.000 |
And Satan has a way of using movements to get you off your track. 01:26:58.000 |
And that's why we have to keep our eyes on Scripture, right? 01:27:03.000 |
Movement at the core is correcting what's wrong. 01:27:07.000 |
But typically, what happens with young people, they almost always overcorrect 01:27:16.000 |
So if you are not grounded and anchored in the Word of God, 01:27:20.000 |
whatever movement comes in, you're going to get swept away because you're going to see a tide. 01:27:25.000 |
You're going to see a movement. It's going to be popular to hold on to certain views. 01:27:29.000 |
So the only way to survive these things is to be anchored in the Bible. 01:27:34.000 |
You have to be able to discern. How do you test if you've gone too far? 01:27:38.000 |
How do you test if this is biblical or not biblical? 01:27:43.000 |
Thessalonians 2.13, for this reason, we also constantly thank God 01:27:47.000 |
that when you receive the Word of God, you heard it from us, 01:27:50.000 |
you accepted it not as the Word of men, but for what it really is, the Word of God, 01:27:55.000 |
So it says Thessalonians were a model church because they received the Word of God as God's Word. 01:28:01.000 |
But then Acts 17.11, it says they were more noble. 01:28:05.000 |
The Bereans were nobleminded than the Thessalonians 01:28:08.000 |
because when they received it, they tested it by the Word of God. 01:28:13.000 |
So here's a model church, but here's a church that he said commends even further 01:28:18.000 |
because they didn't just accept it, they tested it with the Word of God. 01:28:25.000 |
All right, this I'm not going to read for the sake of time. 01:28:30.000 |
It says, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, 01:28:34.000 |
because many false prophets have gone out into the world." 01:28:39.000 |
but I believe today we're in much more danger than they were in the early church. 01:28:45.000 |
So many bad doctrines, so many bad teaching has gone out 01:28:50.000 |
that even in a biblical church, what is and isn't from the Bible, 01:28:55.000 |
we have to constantly test, where did you get that from the Bible? 01:29:01.000 |
How do we test it? How do we test the spirits? 01:29:17.000 |
Your feeling can change because of the weather. 01:29:20.000 |
Your feeling can change because somebody said something not nice to you. 01:29:27.000 |
You watch a romantic movie and all of a sudden you love everybody. 01:29:35.000 |
Feelings are not bad when it comes along with truth, 01:29:39.000 |
but feelings are not a good test of what is right and wrong. 01:29:42.000 |
So don't say, "Oh, it made me feel this way. I don't like it. I prefer this." 01:29:47.000 |
Well, what's that based on? It's just, "I just prefer this." 01:29:50.000 |
That's your feeling. Don't test it by your feeling. 01:29:53.000 |
Don't test it by what consequences may come from it. 01:29:59.000 |
What if it divides? What if they don't like it? 01:30:02.000 |
What if people get offended? That's not a good litmus test, whether it's truth. 01:30:09.000 |
And sometimes speaking the truth and holding on to the truth will divide. 01:30:13.000 |
People will be offended. The Bible says they will. 01:30:18.000 |
You don't need to cling to be offensive or divisive or be a jerk. 01:30:24.000 |
But if you speak the truth, it will always divide. 01:30:29.000 |
Don't test it by what you have become accustomed to. 01:30:34.000 |
This is what I was taught. This is what I always knew. 01:30:37.000 |
That's from my church. This is from my parents. 01:30:41.000 |
It's not safe simply to test something based upon the set of facts that you've already received. 01:30:51.000 |
Where is that based on? Is it coming from Scripture or is it coming from tradition? 01:30:56.000 |
Don't test it by popular opinion just because everybody embraces it. 01:31:01.000 |
There's a movement that came in and all the popular pastors, all the mega church pastors, they're doing this. 01:31:07.000 |
All the Bible teaching pastors, they're holding on to this. 01:31:12.000 |
It's good to compare. It's always to see, but it's not safe. 01:31:15.000 |
You don't test truth based upon how many people agree with you. 01:31:20.000 |
Think about that. Even Apostle Peter and Barnabas had to be rebuked. 01:31:28.000 |
It's not safe simply to say because they believe it, because this is my tradition. 01:31:33.000 |
Where did you get that from the Bible? Where in the Bible did you get that? 01:31:44.000 |
But that's not where your final conclusion should be coming from. It should be coming from Scripture. 01:31:50.000 |
Don't simply test it by a system of theology you have come to accept. 01:31:57.000 |
I'm a dispensation or I'm a covenant, so I believe this because of that. 01:32:04.000 |
Where in the Scripture did you come to that conviction? 01:32:09.000 |
What are some ways that bad doctrine comes into the church? 01:32:12.000 |
The most obvious, men ordained into ministry without proper testing. 01:32:21.000 |
Today, in our environment, if you want to be a pastor, just go sign up at some seminary. 01:32:31.000 |
And then when you see a job opportunity that's open, send in your resume. 01:32:37.000 |
If you speak English and you give somewhat coherent of a message, 01:32:45.000 |
and you make eye contact with people when you talk, you're hired. 01:33:05.000 |
You're not going to get in here like that in our church. 01:33:22.000 |
I said, "Okay, they're going to pay me? Sure." 01:33:26.000 |
I felt weird in the beginning, but they're going to pay me. 01:33:30.000 |
Either that or I'd be a janitor for 10 hours a week. 01:33:34.000 |
I'm being silly, but it's not that far from the truth. 01:33:39.000 |
You have people who may, for whatever the reason, they're coming in, 01:33:43.000 |
and maybe they started out with a good reason, 01:33:47.000 |
But the primary reason why the church has become corrupt 01:33:50.000 |
is there's people who came into the ministry who shouldn't have been. 01:33:57.000 |
The Bible and I have been having a high place in teaching in the church. 01:34:01.000 |
Because the people who came in were more concerned about opinions of men. 01:34:05.000 |
They're servants of men rather than servants of God, 01:34:07.000 |
so they didn't put the Bible high priority because the people weren't coming. 01:34:12.000 |
This generation of people don't seem interested in the Bible, 01:34:14.000 |
so in order for my church to succeed, I've got to lessen this, 01:34:22.000 |
So the Bible slowly started leaking out of the church. 01:34:25.000 |
I've heard pastors just straight up say, "We don't do Bible study 01:34:27.000 |
because if we do Bible study, people are going to leave." 01:34:33.000 |
Where is the "preach the word in season and out of season"? 01:34:40.000 |
Ignorance of the congregation of the Bible to discern what is biblical or not biblical. 01:34:45.000 |
So you have a church filled with people who idolizes an individual 01:34:49.000 |
or a megachurch pastor or somebody that they love, 01:34:55.000 |
and then they start going astray, you start going astray. 01:34:59.000 |
They start saying weird things, and you start accepting weird things. 01:35:03.000 |
And then when they fall apart, you fall apart, 01:35:06.000 |
because your whole faith was based upon somebody that you idolized. 01:35:17.000 |
I will ask you to test me, but test me with the word. 01:35:29.000 |
If you see something off, tell me where it's off. 01:35:32.000 |
What is it that you're studying that caused you to see 01:35:35.000 |
that this is something that maybe needs to be tested? 01:35:40.000 |
I don't want to build a church based upon my strong opinion. 01:35:43.000 |
I want to build a church based upon His word. 01:35:46.000 |
So if there's a blind spot that we don't see based upon the word of God, 01:35:50.000 |
the church would be healthier if the whole church is able to test the word of God 01:35:54.000 |
and to be able to correct and challenge the leaders in the church 01:36:05.000 |
Now, there is, because people handle the word of God and doctrine 01:36:10.000 |
to point and to divide and to judge other people, 01:36:22.000 |
And so the system of theology came as people started to accumulate 01:36:39.000 |
When doctrine is handled by fleshly men, it divides. 01:36:47.000 |
Every time I run into whoever it is, whatever background it is, 01:36:50.000 |
and they study the Bible passage to passage with learning the context, 01:36:58.000 |
We're almost in full agreement, almost in full agreement. 01:37:04.000 |
We grew up in different churches, different background. 01:37:07.000 |
But if they handle the word of God the same way I handle the word of God, 01:37:11.000 |
I find, man, the word of God is not as complex and divisive as people think it is. 01:37:17.000 |
Careful study of the word of God actually brings the church together. 01:37:27.000 |
How faithful do you think you've been in fulfilling the fifth covenant of the church? 01:37:35.000 |
Do you have a tendency to kind of, you know, whenever something comes up, 01:37:39.000 |
it's only out of convenience do you come, or are you committed to this? 01:37:45.000 |
The reason why I--again, I'm not going to do this for the other ones. 01:37:49.000 |
The reason why this is being emphasized is because if you're living by the flesh, 01:37:54.000 |
then whatever flesh--like your flesh doesn't desire today. 01:37:59.000 |
You think it's better if you go to a church where you don't feel guilty. 01:38:05.000 |
I'm just going to go when I feel like it, and I'm not going to go when I don't feel like it. 01:38:08.000 |
You think allowing your flesh to dictate what you're committed to, 01:38:11.000 |
what you prioritize, is actually a good thing. 01:38:14.000 |
Paul says, "I buff in my body and make it my slave. 01:38:17.000 |
After I preach to others that I may be disqualified." 01:38:20.000 |
So if we believe that the Word of God has high priority, 01:38:23.000 |
the discipline to get the Word of God in us and us into the Bible should be high priority. 01:38:32.000 |
We're asking you to take this covenant seriously 01:38:35.000 |
because the Bible has placed this as high priority in every Christian's life. 01:38:40.000 |
How much of your current knowledge of the Bible 01:38:42.000 |
do you think you've attained through someone teaching you 01:38:44.000 |
versus you searching the Word of God for yourself? 01:38:53.000 |
and make your personal intake of the Word of God a goal in your life. 01:39:00.000 |
If the Bible is outlawed in the United States, 01:39:01.000 |
how much of the Bible do you think you will be able to retain from memory 01:39:09.000 |
How much of the Bible do you think you have a grasp of 01:39:12.000 |
that even if you are not able to jot it down word for word, 01:39:18.000 |
how many years would it take before the Word of God is completely eliminated 01:39:23.000 |
in your personal life if you didn't have other people around you? 01:39:29.000 |
What is the passage of the Bible that you've recently studied 01:39:31.000 |
caused you to think differently about God and yourself 01:39:34.000 |
and what applications were made in practice as a result of that? 01:39:53.000 |
that you would help us to build a church, Lord God, 01:40:08.000 |
Help us to learn, Father, to handle your Word of God, 01:40:11.000 |
that not only that we would seek you through it, 01:40:14.000 |
that we would learn, Father God, to live holy lives, 01:40:17.000 |
that we would ultimately be able to teach others 01:40:20.000 |
and learn to delight in it day and night and meditate on it. 01:40:34.000 |
to take seriously where the Word of God stands with us 01:40:38.000 |
and that we would be the light that you called us to be.