Wednesday Evening Bible Study, 4/20/11

Songs

• Awakening
• How Can I Keep From Singing

Exploring Joseph’s Story

Part 14: Today’s Decision is Tomorrow’s Destiny

– Pastor Ulysse

Last time we left with Jacob. He had met with the two sons of Joseph. And now we see him in his last days. He said,

He is about to tell them what would happen to them. Would you like to know what would happen to you? Especially if you knew you were not right? Everybody wanted to be there; it was like the reading of a will.

I underestimated this chapter; we will have to come back to it as a series by itself. Everything I read in this chapter, I see in the church today, as we are also the children of Abraham by faith. Every one of us tonight should find something in this chapter; we all belong to one of those tribes. Now it is said, (I don’t know if it is true or not; I would have to ask Jim), that you don’t teach old dogs new tricks.

> No, you can.

I am glad, because Jacob knew their character, and most of what he was saying was based on their character. I know my children. I will not pronounce their blessing right now, but I will not be surprised at what they will become.

It is also said that if you have habits that you don’t fix before forty, after forty you will have them for life. So Jacob being with them for so long, he figured “Well, they are not going to change any more; that’s it.” But some of you are still young, spiritually. Some of you can change.

Jacob told them by looking back at his children’s lives. That’s why we say, “Today’s decision is tomorrow’s destiny. There is a time when we have to change course, when we have to stop, when we have to accelerate, or whatever. But we can not go on without paying attention to our behavior, because it will affect us for the rest of our lives.

I can tell you that I have a better future right now because I look back and see my mistakes; and I work with caution right now, so I do not make those mistakes. I expect a better future, because I will not repeat the mistakes of the past. Unfortunately, if you are young, you look to the future, because you do not have any past to look back on. That’s why you should have older people around you, so you can benefit from their experience.

Jacob started with Reuben the eldest, and finished with Benjamin the youngest, but he didn’t exactly go by age. He went in order by their respective mothers. I think he did that because that was easiest for him to remember.

So whenever he started with each one, he started with the main character that one had. As we read, I want you to look and decide to which tribe you belong.

Unstable as water. That was his quality; that was his character.

He could not control his emotion. He was up and down, up and down. We need to control our emotion, because it will affect our life. You have to have self-control. Reuben was unstable, but he was talented. He was strong and so forth, but he did not have the blessing, although he was the firstborn. You can see that he was unstable by remembering how he proposed to his father that he kill his sons if he failed to bring Benjamin back. He was unstable because he was double-minded.

Some people are unstable because they have too many choices. I like having only one or two suits and only one or two shoes, because it makes my choices easier.

Reuben was unstable, and he did not have the respect of his brothers. He was the first, but he did not act like it. When they were about to sell Joseph, he told them not to, but they did not listen to him. They went and sold Joseph behind his back. If they had respect for him, then they would have said, “Well, Reuben said no, so we will not.”

When I was in Haiti, I lent my clothes to a senator. We were friends, but when this man was at home, he had no respect. At work, he was a great man, but at home, his wife and children gave him no respect. He came to me one day and said, “Pastor, I need to talk to you. Nobody at my house respects me. What do you do to get respect from your family?” I don’t know. You have to earn it. You have to respect yourself first. If you have to ask for respect, then you haven’t earned it.

Stability comes from oneness of mind. Have focus, and you will be stable.

I think they caught an animal’s legs, and they killed a man, and you know the story; they went and revenged their sister. But their quality is self-will. They don’t listen to anyone. They think of something, and it sounds good, and they went and did it. And you know that when they revenged their sister, they put everyone in trouble. They had a strong bond of brotherhood, which you would think to be a good thing, but when they went together to make trouble, it was a bad thing. So Jacob said that he would separate them.

Levi at the end became a priest, and that was because he changed. He was the only one to stand and come back; so he earned that. It was a privilege, and God’s grace was still there. We should not be discouraged because a blessing or a cursing is upon us. There is always a chance. Of course, Jacob is saying, “These are the final words. There isn’t anything you can do about it; this is the path you chose, and this is the path where you will end.” What if you have a bad habit or whatever and you say, “I am over forty; no one can teach an old dog new tricks.” No, there is always a chance. Whatever major things I have in my life, I see it, but I cannot do anything about it. But it helped me, because I am not surprised. I am expecting it; I say “Where is it?” I am ready for it to be behind me. Jacob said, “There is nothing you can do; that’s it.” But God can still change things.

Judah’s name meant “praise”. Isn’t that great? So some of us are unstable; some of us are self-willed; but some of us give praise. Judah was the one to gain the birthright. So birth order does not determine the blessing. If you are firstborn but you are unstable, uncontrollable, or self-willed, then you will lose it. Judah proved his character and stability when he gave his speech in front of Joseph. The Bible says “show yourself approved,” whether you are the firstborn or the last.

Jesus taught his disciples not in a classroom, but by letting them follow him. This is how we prove ourselves, by doing what Jesus did, or what our parents did, or what our teachers did.

This is the gift of caring. His job was to care. Being a haven, he was a safe place to be. So it was a port, a safe place, a consoling place, a comforting place, a refuge. He was like a lighthouse. Some of us have this character. We may not be the praised one, or the unstable one, or the self-willed one, but we may be the safe one.

Issachar was the lazy one. Unfortunately, spiritually, some of us are from this tribe.

I’m not sure you can understand this more than I can, because I grew up with donkeys. They can be walking along just fine, and the next thing you know, they drop down with their loads, and they will not get up. You can beat them and shake them and shout at them, but they will not get up. When you are buying a donkey, you have to find out whether the people are selling them because they have this bad habit. When the donkey is down, they still have this load. So they are strong, but lazy. This is those of us who only want the easy path. You are searching for whatever is easier.

You become the servant when you could become the master. I know some people who will not take responsibility because they want time. They want to go home and have it easy. So this is the tribe of Issachar.

Now you have Dan, of whom it was said that he would be the judge of his people. But when you look at it, it does not sound like a positive thing.

That’s not good. This is what you would call a “backbiter.” This is like slandering. This is like being judged, but not according to facts, not according to knowledge. It is not righteous judgment. We know for sure that he is one who will be like a serpent and make the rider fall backward. That is not a good way to fall. Falling forward is better. And he stopped right there and said,

He realized, “My time is come. I’m going for real.” This is the first time that salvation is mentioned in the Bible, and Jacob saw glory in it. He is telling them what will take place, but as for him, he sees a much better place.

And he says of Gad, “You are the overcomer.” Some of us will be overcomer. We will always find things to humble us, but we will overcome them at the last. You know that the Bible says that all those who will live righteous shall suffer persecution, but if you are of the tribe of Gad, you will overcome.

He says that Asher shall be fat of bread. You know that it is said there are not many rich among us. You read about the national debt being something like 400 trillion dollars, but there are less than 300 million people, so why don’t they just give each of us one million? Do you think that will be good for the country?

So Asher was rich, and wherever you have givers, you also have takers. Remember when David prayed, “Let me be neither rich nor poor.” I think it is good that they don’t give each of us one million. Some of us would not go to work. So Asher was the one who was materially blessed, and he blessed others.

These are the joyful Christians. They always have a smile for you, and they stand fast in the liberty of God. There is nothing so bad that they could not give you good words. They are free. Being free, you feel free, and you have nothing hindering you. That’s Naphtali.

Of course, Joseph has been blessed, like Psalms 1:1. His branches are so blessed that people come by and take the fruit of them. And the other quality is that he does not retaliate. God held him from showing his human nature. He had his human nature, but he held back. That’s what happens, if we can. There is a saying in Creole about Thermos Christians. You fill up a Thermos with hot water, and it stays hot. But you can also fill it with cold water, and it stays cold. Some Christians are in church and they are nice, but if you see them outside of church, they are somebody else. But Joseph demonstrated his true transformed nature; he truly became that new creature, and so he received the blessing.

Benjamin was a tough fighter. Both Sauls came from him.

So this is the character of the children of Israel. I hope and pray that you can get something out of it, and put yourself spiritually with one of the sons of Israel. Remember it says,

Everybody got blessed. Think about what kind of blessing you would get, and what kind of blessing you would want to have.

Finally, Jacob told them about his death and where he wanted to be buried. I want you to look with me at what he said about his burial site:

That’s where he wanted to be buried. Doesn’t that say anything to you? Remember where he got Leah from? He was tricked. That wasn’t fair to him. He wasn’t happy about it. He spent so many years for the beautiful one, and they gave him the ugly one. The Bible says that, not me. The Bible says you couldn’t even look at her straight. So he had to work seven more years for Rachel. But now this man is about to die, and he asked to be buried by Leah, instead of Rachel. I know us guys have been tricked. The ladies get us by words or however. I don’t remember how I was tricked, but once you are trapped, that’s it. Because God can turn things out. The option is there, “Because I was tricked, I can get a divorce.” But not so. Jacob made a wise choice, because at the end, Judah came from Leah, and Jesus came from Judah. If you have a marriage, stay in it, regardless of how it got started. It’s like having a child. It is not an accident. I thought about how I was conceived, and I was an accident, but I wasn’t an accident.

I want you to think about how you can maximize your abilities so you can maximize your fruits. This will change the rest of your life. There may come a time when you will hear “Well done,” or else… We want to control our behavior. If we want to get Joseph’s blessing, then we know what we must do. If we want to have Judah’s blessing, then we know what we must do. There is a difference between engaging yourself and just participating. Try to engage. Take initiative.

There is a verse in John:

I would like to have that gift, to be free to preach or whatever. We need to abide in God’s word.

This is a great chapter; I hope you will go back to it and get what I cannot explain. If you spend time in it, you will think, “Oh, my goodness. What if I were one of them?” And if you are the wrong one, then you still have a chance, because God’s grace is there until you die. But be aware of what tribe you belong to.

Exploring Joseph’s Story, part 13

– Pastor Ulysse

Of course, this is continuing from chapter 47, where Joseph established a possession to give to his family. Now it’s about seventeen years later. Somebody came to Joseph and said, “Your father is sick.” He took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Something wonderful is about to happen here. Joseph knows this will probably be his last time to see his father alive, and he is expecting a blessing. He hurried, because he wanted the blessing. He said, “I must go.” I’m sure he was sad to see that his father would die, but he was also excited, because he was about to receive a blessing, and his sons would also receive a blessing.

I have never had the opportunity of having somebody rich to die and leave me in their will. I remember a time in our ministry; every day when you woke up, you would pray to God for an opportunity, “God, let me bless you.” It’s like the Samaritan lady, to whom Jesus said, “If you knew me, you would not offer me water, but you would ask me for water.” We sacrifice things our material things to get blessings, but we are not as eager as Joseph was to receive a blessing.

We read that when Joseph’s father heard he was coming, he strengthened himself. I look at this like the impact that a visit can bring. I mention this to say that, even when I was a senior pastor, I still did not like going to hospitals. But I know that I have to force myself, because somehow when someone knows you are going to visit them, they are happy. They want you to be there. I definitely do not want to be in the room when my wife is delivering, but she wants me to be there. So it means something to the sick. So in Joseph’s case, he went and received a double blessing.

Jacob spoke to Joseph and told how God appeared to him, and that God promised he would be fruitful and multiply. Then he adopted Joseph’s two sons, saying “They shall be as Reuben and Simeon. They shall be mine.” Joseph, you remember, was Rachel’s son, and Rachel was Jacob’s first love, the one he worked seven years and then seven more years for. Joseph was supposed to be Jacob’s first son, but God switched it around. God has some amazing ways to bring things back where they belong. It reminds me of Lazarus when his sister told Jesus, “I know there will be a resurrection,” and Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me shall have life, even if they were dead.” She didn’t understand how God could save us by killing us. But God has ways. There is not anything that God doesn’t have control.

So now there are fourteen tribes, but you don’t usually count the Levites as a tribe, and you don’t usually count Joseph as a tribe, but his two sons were two tribes.

Jacob is giving provision to his sons for the future, and how he should not stay in Egypt, but he should leave Egypt because he was just there for a mission. Jacob did not see Joseph as an Egyptian; he saw Joseph as his son, and he was giving advice to his son. He said, “The better days are yet to come. I want to tell you that spiritual promises are worth more than your worldly accomplishments.” God appeared to Abraham and gave those promises. God appeared to Isaac and renewed those promises. God appeared to Jacob and renewed those promises. But the Bible does not record anywhere that God appeared to any of the sons of Jacob.

I don’t know if you make anything of this, but I make something of it. God told Abraham and Isaac that the will make them to exceed. But to Jacob he said, “Be fruitful and multiply.” After he told that to Jacob, that was it. He didn’t say anything to his children, because that was it. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, and the children of Israel became the several tribes, and it was complete. There are times when God does not have to add anything to your life, because he has already added everything that you need.

It’s like the vine he spoke of in Jeremiah. He said, “I have done everything I could for this vine. What more could I have done?” It’s like raising children. There comes a time when you have to say, “You are complete. You are grown; you have an education. It’s time for you to be fruitful and multiply; it’s time for you to go.” So now God tells Jacob, “Be fruitful and multiply.” There comes a time when God says, “You have been evangelized; you have been educated; you have been equipped. Go and be fruitful and multiply.”

I don’t think that Jacob didn’t recognize his own grandsons. I think it’s possible that it’s like a legal ceremony. In a wedding, the preacher asks, “Who gives this woman?” And someone answers, “I do.” So I think that it’s possible that Jacob was performing like a legal ceremony. And again, it is possible that Jacob didn’t want to make the same mistake his father did, and bless the wrong one. Remember that these are not little kids; they are now in their early twenties.

So Jacob says, “Lo, I had not thought to see thy face, and now I have seen thy seed.” And Joseph was getting ready for the blessing, so he put Ephraim toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh toward Israel’s right hand. The right hand is for the firstborn, and the left hand is for the next one.

Even though Israel was old, he was still smart in the head, so instead of putting his hands out straight, he crossed his hands.

Joseph was angry. He said, “Not so, my father! This is the firstborn, and should receive the greater blessing.”

When you are sure of what you are doing, you know it is of God, do you know the confidence that gives you? Even though your son is the prime minister, he cannot make you do any different, because this doesn’t have anything to do with flesh and blood. You know.

It wasn’t clear to Joseph at all. Joseph was frustrated. That really ruined his day. He came for a blessing, and that disturbed him. He probably was saying, “That doesn’t’ make any sense!” But remember that we are as clay in the hands of God. The law says that the firstborn will be blessed, but God is God. He can do whatever he wants. Jacob told Joseph, “You are prime minister. Your kingdom is Egypt. Relax and let me do my job. Mind your own business.”

I heard of a captain of a ship who was going to sail and the tourists came on-board, and he sent somebody to tell the passengers that a big storm was coming in a couple days, and they should be aware of that ahead of time. A lady sent a message to the captain, saying “That doesn’t make any sense. If you know it’s coming, why don’t we wait for it?” The captain sent back a message and said, “First, you must relax.” That is a way from him to say, “Mind your own business and let me do my job.” Secondly, he said, “This ship was built with that storm in mind. So we don’t have to wait for it to pass.”

God knows everything; he created the world. So we truly should relax, because God is in control.

What is the most desire you have for your children? He is dying, okay? Joseph was in a pretty good position. But instead, Jacob desired that Joseph go back. He desires that, “Hey, you return to your shepherd life and don’t be blinded by Egypt’s luxury. You still have to go back.” And today, our communication to our children in this world we live in is success, depending on how you define it. Do we desire that our children be blessed spiritually, and look at heaven more? Do we let them know that they are in Egypt, but they are not Egyptians? They are of Canaan; they are not of this world. There is a very good illustration in Exodus, where Pharaoh was trying to convince Moses to go, and leave the children behind.

Pharaoh said, “Hey, I’m going to let you go, but tell me: who else is going?” And Moses said, “We are not going to leave our sons and daughter behind. Whether small or big, they are all going.” But you know how it works nowadays. We love church; church is okay, but if they can be successful somewhere else; they are still Christians; they can go to church wherever they are. But church is not emphasized. You know how it goes; give Satan an inch and he’ll become the whole ruler.

It’s not easy; it’s very, very hard. But we cannot feel comfortable as parents if we are in church and our children are not. It really hurts. Some of us, we desire them to be there, and we do our best, but their will is not under our control. But for many, they say “I will let them go their way and make their own choice.” Before they are eighteen, they don’t have a choice. You don’t give them a choice of whether to go to school. It’s the same way for church. You emphasize spiritual blessings over the material blessings. Definitely if you want to leave one things to your kids, definitely it should be spiritual blessings. If you are dying like Jacob was dying, you would definitely want your children to embrace a spiritual life.

There is one more scripture that I truly, truly like. It’s about Abraham, and God said that he knew Abraham. You know, he was talking about Lot, and God said, “I cannot do this thing without telling Abraham. I know this man; I know he will teach his children, so I have to tell him.”

God says, “I know him. I know he will command his household, and his children after him.” That’s what Jacob is doing. He isn’t counting how many cows he has or how much money in the bank. No, he is making sure that he passes on a spiritual blessing. Are we doing that nowadays? Are we teaching our children the value of spiritual blessings? Or are we teaching them about money and how to manage it? I don’t know how you do it. We should teach our children how to manage money, but if you know how to manage money and you don’t know how to manage your spiritual life, it won’t make any difference. We definitely need to know how important it is to be ready for eternal life. The blessings we have today, that’s what will carry us through. And the things we teach our children, God is observing.

Today I learned something I thought I would never learn. I try to learn something every day, but today I had to ask, “Did I really learn this today, or did I know it already?” We are the light of the world, but it seems like we are all flashing our lights at each other. We are become the light of the church, not the light of the world. Everybody is nice in church, because all the lights are there. There is no dark spot. But we need to shine our light outside of church. If we don’t start at home, then our children will not know how important it is, if we don’t command them. And God said, “I know that Abraham will command his children, and their children after them.” And this is what Jacob did. So whatever we teach our children, the most important thing is to teach them to receive spiritual blessings.

Be Not Weary In Well Doing

– Jay Hunemuller

Who knows the difference between being weary and being lazy?

• Being lazy means you have the ability but not the desire. Weary means you have the desire and you’re doing it, but it’s wearing you down.

• Being lazy is an attitude. You can’t be weary if you haven’t done anything, but you can be lazy and not do anything.

weary:

to be (bad or) weak, i.e. (by implication) to fail (in heart) – faint, be weary.

The scripture tells us to not be weary in well doing, for in due season, after having passed through this life, we shall reap

lazy:

disinclined to activity or exertion, not energetic or vigorous.

moving slowly or sluggish, not rigorous or strict.

Laziness likes company. There’s nothing really wrong with taking rest, but we’re going to talk about some of the reasons we become weary.

So the desire of the slothful killeth him. He has a desire, but no motivation behind it to get that desire. It’s not necessarily talking about coveting money; the scripture goes on to say that he won’t get up to eat because there may be a lion in the streets.

Name some things that can cause you to become weary:

• I’m the only one doing it.
• Rejection
• Overburdened
• Eyes on yourself
• Continuing in the same thing, day after day.
• Not being focused.
• Much study is a weariness to the flesh.
• Lack of progress.
• Expectations too high.
• Didn’t count the cost; bit off more than you could chew.
• Burnout
• Frustration
• Sin, weights, cares of this life
• Loss of purpose, relationship
• Lack of faith, discipline
• Distress, grief

The Bible says that Satan would try to wear out the patience of the saints. But it also says that we are not ignorant of Satan’s devices.

Burnout

Let’s talk about burnout. That’s what would have happened to Moses, but fortunately he was able to overcome it through a scriptural remedy.

How many people, at a minimum estimate, was Moses trying to judge?

> Over a million people.

That’s a lot of people to be trying to handle their problems, every day. Jethro was Moses’ father-in-law. He said, “You’re going to get burned out fast. You can’t do it alone. You’ve got to build a team.” We mentioned biting off more than you could chew. Got gave him this responsibility, but if he would have tried to do it all by himself, he would have bitten off more than he could chew. So Jethro gave Moses a good plan. He said to build a team and a hierarchy, so that the smaller matters could be handled at the lower levels, and the big things, they’ll bring to Moses.

Jethro gave Moses some wisdom, and it’s like giving him an axe. The sharper it is, the better. He gave Moses a plan, and Moses implemented that plan. It came through his father-in-law, but it was from God, because it was wisdom.

Lack of Discipline

Who knows the story of Samson? It’s in Judges, from the end of chapter 13 through chapter 16. Samson was someone of whom it was prophesied that he would deliver Israel. The one thing that God told him never to do was, he was not supposed to cut his hair. But the problem is, he kind-of did whatever he wanted to. He fell into sin, and gave up his secret to the enemy, so they cut his hair, captured him, and put out his eyes. He was made weak through sin and lack of discipline in his spiritual life.

Loss of Focus

Let’s look at another example, involving Peter:

So we see that first he lost his focus, then he became afraid. When he began to sink, that’s when he began his recovery. That was a pretty quick thing, but we can do the same. If we lose our focus, and cry out to God, he’ll put us right back on track. The sooner we do that, the sooner we’ll be all right. We don’t have to sink and blubber and hold our breath and so on.

Sins and Weights

Another story is about David and Bathsheba. Is there anybody who is not familiar with that story? It begins with 2 Samuel chapter 11. He saw this beautiful woman, Bathsheba, and he sent for her and had sex with her. When he found out she was with child, he called in the husband and told him to go to his wife. But the man had so much integrity, that … He was the king of Israel, so God had a big problem with that, and he had to suffer the consequences for the rest of his life. The consequences were the wars that he fought, and then his son Absalom who tried to take the kingdom away from him. David repented, and God saw fit to forgive him. We can read in Psalms 51 where he sought restoration and renewal.

So if you find yourself in sin, whether big or small, you can repent and seek restoration.

If that worked for David, most of us aren’t dealing with adultery and murder, but even if you are, God has restoration for you.

Absalom died in battle, because he was going to take over the kingdom, and that wasn’t part of God’s plan, and David was struck with grief. His grief caused him to lose sight of the kingdom. His captain, Joab said, “Hey, do you love your enemies and hate your friends? All Israel will leave you if you don’t speak comfortably to them.” Joab reminded David of his purpose. Sometimes we need to be reminded of our purpose, too.

So if you’re losing sight of your purpose, if you start wondering why you’re doing what you’re doing, then get counsel. That’s what Moses got from Jethro. Every purpose is established by counsel.

Loss of Love

The love and the works kind-of go together. When you love someone, you do something about it, and when you love God, you do something about it. Love is an action verb.

How to Overcome Weariness

• Get counsel; get wisdom

• Build a team

  Even the strong are sometimes weak. So even if you’re not going to lead a team, be on a team.

• Renewal, restoration, re-energize

• Have a clear vision and purpose

• Put legs on our faith

  We didn’t have time to cover this, but James chapter 2 covers it, as well as Proverbs 16:3

This talks about overcoming weariness through faith and a relationship with God:

So stay in that dwelling-place, that habitation with God. Keep a close relationship with him, because you’ll be delivered. Things will happen to other people, but not to you. You want to be that example. How else will people know to come under the shadow of God’s wing?

Fighting the Good Fight of Faith

Endurance is important. Sometimes we just need to be able to see beyond the current circumstances of our existence.

So basically, it’s saying to flee from the works of the flesh and fight the good fight of faith.

Practical Application Study, 3/23/11

Songs

• From The Inside Out
• Everyday
• All To You

Intro

– Jonathan Santiago

Our goal is not to win the argument, but to win the soul. There are people walking around who know the word of God, but all they want to do is argue with Christians. No matter how well you argue the scripture, you won’t win with these people. But we can hold up the word of God while we reach out to their soul. When we talk to those people, we shouldn’t just answer them out of a knowledge of the scripture, but out of a concern for their soul.

Why Should I Get Married?

– Mike Jackson

You’re going to hear that question in many forms. “Why should I get married?” “What’s the big deal with marriage?” We’re going to answer these questions from the word of God. If we were going to answer outside the word of God, the answer is simple: “Do whatever you want.”

Why is marriage a big deal to God?

Marriage was instituted by God. It’s not an invention of man.

I look at this like God performed the first marriage. He made Eve, his daughter. We are all the children of God; Eve was his daughter. And as a father would give his daughter’s hand in marriage, God did so to Eve. So God didn’t just say to Adam and Eve, “You guys can hang out; it’s all good.”

I want you to hold onto this part, because I’m going to come back to it. “Marriage is honorable in all.”

Marriage was sanctioned by God. It’s not just something that man made up. You hear people talking about the different marriage traditions and customs, but it’s not about that.

The very first miracle that Jesus performed; do you remember where it was?

> It was at a marriage.

That may just have been a coincidence, but there’s not many coincidences in the Bible. I don’t know if that has any significance, but I just thought it was kind of cool. If you want to read about it, look at John chapter 2.

What is marriage?

First and foremost, marriage is a ministry. Within that ministry, God has ordained companionship.

It’s not necessarily the ceremony that is important when it comes to marriage. What’s important is the covenant of commitment to God. Don’t misunderstand me; I’m not saying that the marriage ceremony isn’t important. A lot of people say, “It’s not for me; it’s for everybody else. I don’t need to prove my love and devotion to this person. God already knows.” This is the stuff that some people truly believe. But the Bible has an answer for everything.

At my job, I’m a tester. I test things to see if they meet the requirements. As I’m doing that, I say, “These are the things that it’s supposed to do, without fail.” But then I find that there are other requirements that should also meet. We tend to call those “derived requirements.” It’s the same thing with the Bible. There are some things that aren’t there as far as the letter goes. The Bible doesn’t exactly say, “Don’t smoke.” But there are some things that you can derive that message from.

Remember that we said the marriage bed is honorable. Have you ever heard it said, “I’m going to make an honest woman out of her.” Maybe not; you don’t hear it much anymore. They used to say that because, maybe some things were going on that weren’t supposed to be going on, so to make those things legitimate, they’ll get married.

Some people say, “My testimony is between me and God. That’s it. But is it? Is it just you and God? Your testimony is not only seen by God, but it’s seen by every person you meet, every day.

Here’s the question that I pose. If you’re so against getting married, ask yourself “Why?” Some people just want to be rebels. They don’t like to conform. But the question is, what’s the problem with it? What is keeping you from it? If that significant other that you have is the person that you want to spend the rest of your life with, and you say, “Living with that person is showing my dedication; it’s fulfilling the scripture that says two shall become one flesh, so it’s like being married.” People who say that are kind-of tripping over their own words. If it’s like being married, then it’s not the same as being married. So why not just get married? Go to the justice of the peace and stand there before men and God. Just do it. Why not?

People say, “God knows my heart.” God does know our heart. People try to dance around God, but God isn’t fooled.

You live in this world; there’s no denying that. There are laws and ordinances that we have to live with, whether we agree with them or not. Some people don’t think there should be a speed limit. Go ahead and tell that to the nice guys who wait by the side of the road and always want to talk to you when you’re in a hurry. You know, the guyss with the lights on the top of their cars? Go ahead and tell one of those guys that the speed limit doesn’t apply to you. Keep that same story as you go before the judge and see how that goes for you. So it doesn’t matter whether you agree with it or not. It’s not about customs; it’s not about a show. It’s about doing what God said.

Some people point to the Old Testament and say, “There’s a lot of people in the Old Testament who didn’t get married.” They probably can’t show you very many examples, but guess what? There are a lot of things in the Old Testament that don’t apply to us today. And there are a lot of things that do. All those things were done for our example.

Living together without beiing married

The main reason that marriage exists is simply to encourage us, to prevent us from committing the sin of fornication. That word “fornication” is an ugly word. I don’t even like saying it.

Fornication:

Sexual immorality, or illicit sexual intercourse.

We know and understand that any sex outside of marriage is fornication. In the Old Testament, the penalty for that sin was death. If you got caught, I’m sorry. I hope that for you, it was working out.

Let’s go back to our key scripture:

If you’re unmarried, and you’re living together with someone, can you really have a ministry? What type of ministry can you have? People who are single focus solely on the things of God. People who are married also focus on the things of God, ministering to their families and other married families.

So, you’re in a relationship, and you’re not married, but you’re living together, so it’s kind-of more than dating. If you’re in-between, what type of ministry do you have? What is your focus in ministry?

There’s something that I really like in verse 34: “There is a difference also between a wife and a virgin.” You’re either married, or you’re not. There’s no in-between.

If you go on a date with somebody, and you find that you’re not compatible, do you go out on a second date?

> No.

So you find that person who is compatible, and you go out on a second date. You don’t date that person year after year after year after year. You don’t keep stringing them along. Usually one or both parties are looking to move on to the next phase.

So if you’re single, and you’re dating, and living together, but you’re not really dating, because you’ve moved beyond that, because you’re living together, but you’re not really married, but sort-of like married, …

Am I confusing anybody? If it’s confusing, is it of God?

There is a part of the law that’s there for a reason. It’s called “common-law marriage”. Even the law recognizes that, if you’re going to hang together that long, (I think in most states it’s seven years), then you’ve got to be committed.

Some

In the next portion, I’m going to read a lot of scriptures, and there’s not going to be a lot of commentary, because these things are kind-of cut-and-dried.

“To avoid fornication.” I mentioned that marriage is for that. Some people think that just sharing themselves with one another makes them marriage. If that’s true, then there are a lot of people practicing polygamy. If that’s the case, how can it be considered immoral by God? The scripture says to avoid this, let every man have his own wife. There is absolutely no Biblical support for polygamy.

Let’s look down at verses 8 and 9:

If having sex means you should get married, because it’s better to marry than to burn, then obviously there’s something wrong with sex outside of marriage.

Some people say, “I don’t understand what the big deal is. We can live together and not do anything.”

My answer to that is: “Right. Sure.” But let’s go with that for a minute. What does the Bible say about appearance? It says to avoid the appearance of evil.

I just read where it says “abstain from every appearance of evil.” And here it says, “Let it not be named once among you,” if you are saints.

You don’t have to get married. I didn’t read any scriptures that say you have to get married. But here’s the caveat: as long as you are willing to be celibate. A lot of people aren’t willing to live with that caveat. So guess what? It’s time for those people to move on to the next phase of their ministry, the next phase of their life.

Q&A

– Jonathan Santiago

You are doing people a disservice and a discredit to God if you are lenient with people, as far as what the word of God says. We want to be as approachable as possible, but if you alter what the word of God says, you aren’t helping that person at all.

Question

Why do I need to get married? I don’t understand what the big deal is.

Answer

Technically, you don’t. The Bible doesn’t say every man and woman need to get married. Why do you ask? Do you have a girlfriend or something?

Question

Yeah, I’m in a relationship, and we’re committed to each other. But I don’t see what’s the big deal with getting married.

Answer

Do you see this relationship as being romantic, and are you guys doing what comes naturally?

Question

Well, yeah, of course.

Answer

The Bible says that fornication, which is sex without marriage, is sin. God has given us fornication to avoid this sin. I assume that you want to have sex, and I can understand how having sex with only one woman would seem like a sacrifice, but the Bible says that whoever finds a wife finds a good thing and favor from the Lord. So yes, it’s a sacrifice, but it’s also a huge blessing.

---

Question

So me and my girlfriend, we love each other. I’ve told her I love her and she’s told me she loves me. Does getting a piece of paper in front of a judge and witnesses really matter?

Answer

I look at it this way. We’re subject to the laws we live under. God says that he has given authority, and we need to submit to that authority. The law even has something called common-law marriage. If you want to stand against all that, can you really say that you are following God? So the

Question

So the Bible says that you shouldn’t have sex outside of marriage, and I’m okay with that. But couldn’t me and my Christian girlfriend live together and just not have sex until we decide to get married?

Answer

The Bible says that you should avoid the very appearance of evil. Do you really want to fight the battle of defending your relationship and testimony against the assumption that you’re doing what comes naturally behind closed doors? You could very well be living together and respecting each other, but what does it look like from the outside? And do you really want to expose yourself to that kind of temptation? Unless you have some kind of super-human super-Christian strength I wouldn’t if I were you.

Question

Me and my girlfriend really, truly love each other. And eventually, we’re going to get married. We’re committed to each other, and we’re living with each other, but we’re not doing anything. What’s so wrong with that?

Answer

I admire you for knowing the word of God and that it forbids sex outside of marriage. For me, if I saw a guy and a girl going into the same apartment at night, and leaving in the morning, you kind-of know what happened, right? I keep some scriptures on the wall to motivate me, and one of them just says, “Don’t be an idiot.”

Question

Is that really a scripture?

Answer

If it isn’t, it should be. So even though my flesh would like to snuggle on the couch with Holly all night, I respect Holly and I respect God too much to do that. I know it’s wrong, and even if I didn’t, the spirit of God says to me, “Don’t be an idiot.”

---

Question

My girlfriend and I love each other and everything, but I just don’t understand what’s so important about getting married?

Answer

Before I answer your question, I need to ask you something, just to establish where you’re coming from. Are you looking to make it into the kingdom of God?

Question

Yeah, sure.

Answer

Awesome! So now I know that I can share with you about the word of God. Because the wold can do whatever they want to do, but we are held to a higher standard. The Bible says very clearly, (Genesis 2:18) I can show you a lot more when we have time, but the scripture is very clear. If you want to avoid fornication, then marriage is the way to avoid fornication. It isn’t just something you do in front of a justice of the peace and other people, it’s an adherence to the word of God.

---

Question

My girlfriend and I really love each other, and we’ve talked to each other about getting married. But I don’t see what’s the big deal about having a piece of paper to prove that you’re married. What is the difference between a spiritual marriage and having a piece of paper to prove it?

Answer

Are you interested in having a spiritual marriage? Do you want to know what the word of God says about it?

Question

That’s kind of why I asked.

Answer

One of the things I’ve learned is that God judges us by our actions, and not only our thoughts. If God judged me by every time I had an angry thought, I’d be in trouble. The Bible says in Corinthians that marriage is honorable in all, and to provide things honest in the sight of all men. So God is a judger not just of what you think, but of what you do.

---

Question

My girlfriend and I have been living together for a while, and we’re pretty committed. We’re eventually going to get married. What’s the problem with living together if we’re going to get married anyway? I want to let you know, that we’re not doing anything. So what’s the big deal? what’s the Bible say about it?

Answer

It’s a good thing that you’re looking to find answers from the Bible, because God and his word is very clear about marriage. God instituted the first marriage between Adam and Eve, and it’s really a commitment between two people. The Bible talks about having a testimony before God and man. So when you get married, you’re taking those vows before God and man, and you’re not leaving yourself an “out”, so to speak. The Bible says that marriage is also a way to avoid fornication.

Question

But we’re not doing anything.

Answer

And I admire you for that. You’re a very strong person. But what does it look like to other people? The Bible says to avoid the very appearance of evil. And temptation works both ways, for yourself and your girlfriend. So the Bible gives us a way to avoid those things.

Practical Applications Study, 3/16/11

Songs

• How He Loves
• Your Grace Is Enough

Intro

• Mike Jackson

We’re going to be going over a topic that has a lot of emotion attached to it. One of the things we’ll be doing is to look at the topic and what God has to say about it. There are a lot of radicals who are excited, to say the least, to get out what they have to say about this topic. And the reason is, they have a hard time separating the sin from the sinner.

Does God Hate Gay People?

• Scott Shepherd

There are two sides to this issue that really get put out a lot. There’s the side of the gay movement people who march and have parades and get their lifestyle out front and center. The other side is people who go to funerals and wave picket signs that say “God hates gay people.” It is unfortunate that these appear to be the only two sides, because neither one is really Christ-like.

I can say with great that God does not hate gay people. God does not hate anyone. Let’s look at the example of the woman that the well to illustrate how God deals with this topic.

The shortest route from Jerusalem to Galilee was through Samaria. But the Jews did whatever they could to avoid the area, because they considered the Samaritans to be unclean. They had a history of intermarrying, and the blood line wasn’t pure anymore. The religious people of that time didn’t want to interfere with what was going on in Samaria, and the religious people of today don’t wan to have anything to do with the homosexual movement, unless they’re picketing funerals or something.

[John 8;48]

It’s like in today’s society when we say, “That’s gay!” But Jesus ignored the prejudice, and he walked right up to the woman at the well.

The reason is this:

In another scripture it says, they that are whole need not a physician. God came for those who are sinners, and by the way, that includes all of us.

The word “world” is not exclusionary. There is nobody who is left out by that. God loves everybody. He loves me; he loves you; he loves all of the idiosyncrasies about us. When people are dealing with something, they need to know that God loves them, first. Jesus even taught us to love our enemies. We were all once enemies of God when we were sinners, but he still died for us, because he loves us.

Paul writes about this, and Jesus extends himself to this woman. Before he says anything else, he engages the woman to find out more about her.

Christ came to save everyone, and he is the one we should direct people to. We should teach people, “You need to know the love of Christ.” Jesus did that to the woman at the well.

So it was about the sixth hour, or about noon. This was the heat of the day. This isn’t when most people came to the well; most of them came in the morning. But this woman, aware of the sin in her life, avoided the other people and their snide comments. People who are dealing with the sin of homosexuality don’t need a diagnosis of their lifestyle; they need the cure. If you would ask a homosexual, “What do Christians think about your lifestyle,” most of them would say “They think I’m going to hell.”

Jesus came and died for each and every one of us. No one sin is greater than another sin. God came to save all the sinners, not “all sinners except for the homosexuals” or “all sinners except you crazy drunks.”

Continuing with the story, we find that the woman responds to the love that Jesus showed her:

Jesus already knew the sin that was in her life, so he gently coaxed it out of her. Not only was she living with a man outside of marriage, but she had had five husbands, so she was technically living in adultery. So Jesus, upholding the Biblical principle of marriage, let her know that she wasn’t doing right.

There is another scripture that really highlights this topic and what we should do about it:

What Jesus was referencing was:

The Bible gives one man one woman, and makes a distinction between male and female. There is a Biblical standard that we as Christians should uphold, and we can’t shrink away from it. It doesn’t matter if you’re a consenting adult or not. If you’re a Christian, anything outside of heterosexual marriage is sin. So God specifically chose to do things a certain way, and because of the sin in our life, it got perverted.

God came as the man Jesus Christ, and died and was crucified for our sins. Yet somehow we have the audacity to say, “Oh, no. I know better.” Sin has a way of puffing us up with our own ideas. But the fact is, our bodies are no longer our own; we’re bought with a price. We have to bring every thought into captivity. Every thought that is not of God, we must cast out into the depths of hell.

Continuing the story:

This is one of the few times that Jesus revealed himself as messiah to anyone beside the disciples. But Jesus wants to reveal himself as messiah to everyone. When we go out and witness to people, we need to represent Christ, and not our own prejudices and ideologies. Some people say, “I’ll try anything once.” And what happens is, people identify themselves by their sexuality. But we need to identify ourselves not as gay or straight or bi or any other orientation. We need to identify ourselves by Christ.

Jesus didn’t condemn the woman at the well, but neither did he justify her:

It’s not our job as Christians to excuse the sin in anyone’s life. It is our job as Christians to hold up the mirror, show them the sin in their lives, and teach them how to sin no more. Jesus seeks people who will worship him in spirit and in truth. We have to abandon the fleshly desires, and seek the desires of God.

We all struggle with sexual temptation in our life. We need to not excuse sin, but call it for what it is.

We have a sinful nature. We of ourselves are not good. There are people who will try to tell you that “people are basically good.” That’s not true. If we would do things of ourselves, we would destroy ourselves. We have to accept that.

There are specific scriptures that talk about homosexuality. We’re not going to go into all of them, but we’re going to look at these four:

The gospel is committed to our trust, and we have to call sin what it is. But we have to be careful not to say, “Oh, I just read that homosexuality is an abomination.” It says in Proverbs 6 that seven other things are also abominations:

We shed innocent blood when we spew hatred to other people. Yes, homosexuality is an abomination, but so are lying and a proud look. If you say to someone, “I’m better than you, because at least I’m not a homosexual,” that’s a proud look, which is an abomoniation.

Paul said,

He went on and listed all these things: fornicators, idolators, adulterers, abusers of themselves with mankind (which is homosexuality, by the way). These are people who were living that life, and now they are washed in the blood of Christ. There is hope for these people; through Christ we can be changed. Through Christ, I don’t have to give in to my desire to go out and have sex with every beautiful woman I see.

We need to approach people on an equal playing field, knowing that the only thing that separates us is that I have the love of Jesus Christ in my life. Some people say, “There are only seven scriptures in the Bible about homosexuality.” So? How many do you need, thirty? Some

The four scriptures I listed are probably not the best place to start when you’re dealing with someone who has sin in their life. We need to show them Jesus Christ and him crucified. When they acept that, then we share with them about letting go of their old life and becoming a new creature in Christ.

Some Christians say of those who are gay, that they chose to be gay. Someone who is dealing with the temptation of homosexuality in their life didn’t chose that temptation. So a better thing to say is, “I know that you didn’t chose that temptation, but there is a way out of it.” We all have temptations, but none of us went to the supermarket and went down the aisle tossing temptation into our shopping basket. Satan chooses our temptations based on our weaknesses. Whether we choose to act on that temptation is another story. We need to run from sin as fast as we can. I heard one preacher say, “You need to have your own track shoes, because temptation is coming.”

We need to run as fast as we can from sin, especially sexual sin, because it is a part of our biology. Sex feels good, so people are going to want to do it. You need to flee from sexual sin.

We all deal with different types of temptation. For me, life is like a “Where’s Waldo?” book. Only for me, it’s “Where’s the hot girl?” If “Where’s Waldo?” was “Where’s the hot girl?” then I would have a gold medal. I would be the world champion.

There is sin in our life, and we have to run from it. We have to understand that we are not good in and of ourselves.

We’ll finish up the story of the woman at the well, then we’ll move on to practical applications.

It’s not our job to clean people up and bring them to Jesus. It’s our job to bring people to Jesus and let him clean them up.

We’re supposed to go out and sow, and reap, and bring people to Christ. It’s not our job to judge other people’s life. Some people will bring up the question of whether some people are “born gay.” I would avoid the subject altogether, because it really doesn’t matter one way or another. The Bible is very clear on what must be done.

Practical Application (Q&A)

– Mike Jackson

Question

Scott, if someone is gay, are you saying they can’t get into heaven?

Answer

What do you mean by “gay?” Is that someone who is attracted to the same sex, or someone who is actively engaged in homosexual activity?

Question

Either one. Okay, if someone is attracted to the same sex.

Answer

For someone who is attracted to the same sex, I’m not saying that at all. That’s no more sin than my own attraction to women. But for someone who is actively engaged in homosexual activity, the Bible says they shall not inherit eternal life. It’s the same as any other sin that God came to separate us from.

Question

Mike, why do Christians seem to hate gay people so much?

Answer

First of all, I don’t think they do. The God I serve teaches us to have compassion, so someone who truly serves God won’t hate anyone. If someone says that they hate gay people, then the true question is whether that person is a Christian. A lot of people have trouble separating the sin from the sinner. But if a Christian is truly being Christ-like, they won’t have that hate in their life.

Question

I’m gay. That’s me. Are you telling me that I can’t be saved?

Answer

I understand that you feel like being gay defines who you are. But that doesn’t mean that God hates you. It just means that you have to give that struggle over to a God who loves you. He loves you so much that he who was perfect died for you. So no, God doesn’t hate you, but he does want something better for you. He wants you to have a life that is eternal, not temporary. When we live in our own bodily desires, we live a life of corruption. But when we turn our desires over to Christ, we learn that he truly loves us and wants the best for us.

Question

Why is being gay a sin?

Answer

It’s one of those things where we have to examine the scriptures and line up ourselves with the word of God. You see the plan of God, how that he made woman for man, and man for woman. In the context of the scriptures, there were those who were married, and those who stayed single. Both could be effective in ministry.

Question

Why does the church tolerate other sins, like prostitution in Nevada, and bars open on every street-corner, but condemns homosexuality?

Answer

The Bible also says that drunkenness is a sin, even though many churchgoers get drunk all the time. You can’t lump all those people together and call them “the church.” You were talking about things that the government has done. But if you’re talking about the church of God, that’s entirely different. We have to look at the gospel of Christ and let that judge our lives, not what other people do.

Practical Applications Bible Study, 3/9/11

Songs

• Because Of Your Love
• Jesus Messiah

Introduction

– Scott Shepherd

We wanted to reiterate the purpose of this series. It is not to give you a set response to every question. I want to remind you of what Jesus said to the disciples:

The disciples walked, talked, and had a relationship with Christ. If we seek out that same relationship, that same communion with God, we won’t have to seek out the words to speak; we’ll have the words to answer. So this series is not to give you the words, but to give you the concepts and the confidence you need.

Why Bother Going To Church?

– Adam Paine

> I’m a Christian. Why should I have to go to church?

A co-worker of mine came to me and said, “I used to go to church when I was a little kid. But now I pray; I study my Bible, and I’m okay with that.” I don’t doubt it. I said, “That’s great. But is God okay with that?” We have to let that be our focus. It’s not about what we want, but about what God wants.

People who ask this question believe they have a relationship with God. You don’t hear people say, “I don’t believe in God. Why should I have to go to church?”

What is “going to church”? Obviously, we’re here on Wednesday because we have so much fun on Sunday that we said, “Let’s do it on Wednesday, too.” But the main church day for most people is Sunday. The word “sabbath” is referenced in the ten commandments. One of the ten things written in stone was to observe the sabbath.

The sabbath is observed on the seventh day, in remembrance of God resting on the seventh day from all his work.

When you look at the sabbath, you think “Okay, it’s a celebration of God resting.” But did God rest? No. The sabbath is a gift from God. Creating the world in seven days did not wear God out. He didn’t say “I want to sit back and watch football.”

So it’s for everybody in the “children of Israel”. We know that Jesus came, and now we are counted among the “children of Israel”.

The Jews have 89 rules about what you can and cannot do on the sabbath, but these are rules created by man. This gets into what we call “legalism”. But God just said to observe the sabbath.

Here in Mark it says that Jesus and the disciples were working through the fields and began to pluck the corn; in Matthew it says they rubbed the kernels between their hands.

So this is Jesus making reference to something that David did. The story is, David and his men were hungry, so they went to the high priest. The high priest said, “All I have is the shewbread.” Now the shewbread, according to one of those 89 rules, was something you couldn’t eat. Nobody could eat it but the high priest. But David said, “We’re all sanctified; feed us,” and he did. If you want to read more, it’s in 1 Samuel chapter 21.

Saturday or Sunday?

Some Christians observe the sabbath on Saturday; some observe it on Sunday. That’s kind of why we have a five-day work-week and a two-day weekend, because we didn’t know which day to observe the sabbath on, so we get both. You gotta love the American way.

It’s about having a good conscience toward God.

There are many reasons people give about not wanting to go to church on the sabbath, but when you get down to the heart of the issue, it’s a Lordship problem. We are bought with a price. That means we are owned by God. A lot of people say, “Well, this works for me.” You hear about people “church-shopping” like we shop for shoes.

When we talk about the fact that we’re sinners, I’m not going into it in depth; Jonathan did a very good job of that in week one.

We’re all members of the body of Christ, and the body has a diversity of gifts. I think there are many people we will meet in heaven who have never been to church in their life. But if you’re in a place that God has provided to you, to grow in the truth, and you are forsaking that, that’s what we’re talking about tonight. So if you are forsaking all that, you are forsaking the gifts that God has for you. And if you say that you don’t need those gifts, then the gift you lack is the gift of self-awareness.

So this is a recapping of, “Here are gifts; here is how they are placed in the church. Nobody has them all; the body of Christ has them all.” Saying that we don’t have to go to church is like saying that I’ll do all my lifting with my right hand. God gave me two hands.

That’s a brief outline. Now let’s cover some of the excuses that people use for not going to church:

I get all my spiritual needs at home

Some people say that they don’t need to go to church because they get all their spiritual needs at home. I can respect that viewpoint, but it is self-centered. Number one, those people are thinking about nobody but themselves. Number two, we will never get all we need in Christ without the teachers that God has provided for us.

Let’s talk about Philip and the eunuch. God calls Philip, and he goes to the eunuch. The eunuch was reading Isaiah. He didn’t have the New Testament yet, so he was reading the most up-to-date stuff there was. …

The New Testament is filled with stuff we’re supposed to do for one another. We’re supposed to comfort one another, confess our faults one to another, pray for one another. How can we do those things if we forsake the gathering of ourselves together.

There are 52 Sunday mornings in a year. If you come to every one, there’s a chance that you’ll get your cup filled 26 times. There are some days when you get exactly what you needed. On other days, you might help minister to someone else. You can get-get-get on your own, but you can’t give-give-give on your own. It’s kind-of like basketball. Everybody wants to play offense, but you’ve got to play defense half the time. That’s just how it worked.

> I said I’d never tell it to a living soul, > How he wrought salvation and made me whole. > But I found I couldn’t hide this love, > That Jesus did impart.

If you’re living your life as a Christian, then it’s going to shine through you. We see that example in Paul. New Testament, he’s basically the Starbucks of Christianity. Everywhere he went, he built churches. So we have an example of what to do.

It’s boring and predictable.

> It’s boring. I went there last week. I don’t want to go this week, because I know what’s going to happen.

I feel that way about work sometimes. Everything we do in life, we have routinely. We eat routinely. We sleep routinely. We even have fun routinely. What’s the expression? “I need a little ‘me’ time.” If I slept once a month (because I slept last night – I don’t need to do it again), it wouldn’t be healthy.

If you don’t go to a church that preaches the true Christian gospel, you’re living on junk-food. It’s like three meals a day of Snickers and ice-cream: “It tastes great! I love it! But I feel awful all the time.”

The keyword there is “abide”. So we’re talking about doing something with consistency.

I had a bad experience.

I was hurt. I was betrayed. Somebody did something that hurt me.

I don’t know what that feels like. A lot of us don’t. But it is important to never minimize people’s pain. We act as an ambassador for God, laying ourselves naked before God, and somebody betrays that trust. How do you get over that? A lot of people don’t.

Here’s what we have to remember. One, God is a god of reconciliation. Another thing is, whatever was done to them was done by man. They may have done it in the name of God, and that’s a shame. But God gave himself for us, the ultimate sacrifice, so we wouldn’t have to suffer. Don’t let a man come between you and God. If somebody does something bad to you, and you let that come between you and God, then you have put that man before God. I don’t mean to minimize the pain, but we have to go to God for reconciliation. When you’re in trials., in pain, that’s when you need him the most.

We’ve got to remember, we’re always pushing God, not our church social club. I like church. All my friends go there; I spend a lot of time there. But we’ve got to keep our focus. Why do we go to church? Because God wants us to learn there.

Practical application (mock Q&A)

Question

So Adam, I know you go to church, but I don’t know if I should. The last time I went, they seemed more worried about how I look than if I needed God.

Answer

I’m sorry you had a bad experience. The reason I go to church is that I’m always looking to strengthen my relationship with God. The church is the family that God has called me to.

Question

I have a lot of bad memories associated with church. My mom used to force me to go. I feel like I was treated poorly, and it’s too painful for me to go. It just brings back bad memories.

Answer

I’m not hearing you say that you’re against God; you just have a problem with church. If you want to have a relationship with God, what do you think the best way to go about that?

That’s good. I like to follow up these questions with more questions. And I ask not because I’m trying to say the right thing, like I’m selling them a car or whatever. I ask because I genuinely want to know.

Question

I grew up in a church that says you have to go church on Saturday. Your church goes on Sunday. How do I know I’m not breaking God’s commandment by going on Sunday instead of Saturday.

Answer

Jesus said that the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. I don’t think it matters when we observe the sabbath; only that we do observe it.

Question

I know you go to church, but I pray on my own; I read the Bible, and I don’t feel like I need to go to church.

Answer

In your daily life, do you ever come across things you don’t have answers for? I find that when I go to church, if I don’t understand something, I usually find someone who has an answer. There are a lot of people who have experience and answers that I don’t have.

I like that, because Pat based his answer on personal experience. He shared about why he goes. If you can’t tell someone about why you go, you can’t expect them to want to go.

Question

I’m not a big church guy. It seems like the “same-old, same-old.”

Answer

I can’t tell you why you should go, but I can tell you why I go. I enjoy meeting and having fellowship with other people. I’m blessed by the music and the message, and it gives me the fuel I need to continue throughout the week. I couldn’t imagine not going.

Question

I used to love church, but I had a bad experience, and I just don’t see myself going back.

Answer

I’m sorry that you had a bad experience. You had a real hurt in your life, and I think you should ask God about what kind of church you should go to. Maybe you can even ask your dad to go along.

This is about God’s church. I want to be clear on that. I love Christian Fellowship, but this not a commercial for Christian Fellowship. This is about being a member of God’s church.

Question

I like taking care of my spiritual needs in the middle of the week, so my weekends are free for competitive bowling. What do you think about that?

Answer

I can read the word and pray, but there are a lot of things in the Bible that I don’t understand. There are people who are called to teach and preach the word a lot better than I can. So I go to church, and God speaks through his people. For me, I go to church because there are a lot of souls out there who don’t understand the word, and I want to be able to share with them.

Men’s Fellowship Bible Study, 3/4/11

Testimony

– Ken Portal

I’m going on deployment tomorrow night. All week, I’ve been packing and repacking. This morning, our Base Commander gave us the day off to spend with friends and loved ones. I was so tired, I just wanted to sleep in. But at seven o’clock this morning, the spirit moved me to put together a Bible study. I sat down and the spirit just dictated scripture after scripture about water baptism. Then God told me to share with my co-worker, and this afternoon she got baptized in the name of Jesus.

Study: Sharpening Your Vision

– Jay Ugali

I used to work at LensCrafters in Waukegan. I think I pre-tested some people here, teaching them how to wear contact lenses. If you’re around 40 or 45, you tend to lose your vision. You tend to find yourself doing this.

> (holding Bible at arm’s length and trying to read it)

That’s natural. I learned that it’s because of a muscle in your eye that is no longer able to flex the way that it used to.

A lot of things have been going on in our ministry. Satan is really trying to tear us up. We are the men, and we are the backbone, and God has chosen us.

When we first get saved, we get a lot of things thrown at us. How many of you remember hearing the message when you first got saved, and saying, “Wow! I never heard this before!”

I remember thinking that if there was a Buddhist God, then I wouldn’t be able to understand him unless I was born in India. I didn’t know who God was; I didn’t know what to believe. I remember the teachers sharing with me that there’s not a Catholic heaven or a Buddhist heaven – it’s all the same God for everyone.

How many times do we do that? Sometimes things cloud our vision, and we allow them to blind us.

So who was this man of God? Who was supposed to be the chief priest? Who was supposed to know it all? Eli.

Here’s one thing we know about Eli. He put his sons above God. We are a royal priesthood. What are we putting above God? What examples do we see in the Bible of men of God putting God above their own family? How about Abraham? Things of this world will cloud our vision. That’s why we should set our affections on things above. (Colossians 3:2) The Bible says that sins are pleasurable for a season. (Hebrews 11:25) All things are lawful, but all things are not expedient. (1 Corinthians 6:12) The Bible says to lay aside every weight and sin that besets us. (Hebrews 12:1)

I drive a schoolbus, and I find myself saying to the kids, “Hey! Stop doing that!” They keep doing it. And guess what can happen while I’m paying attention to those kids? I could get in an accident. So I’ve got to focus. I hear them saying, “Mister Jay, are we there yet?” And I’ve got to say, “Not now; I’m driving!”

So the rest of it is about Eli losing the priesthood. And in the next chapter:

It says that Samuel ministered to the Lord, but what was he doing? The Bible says that in those days there was no open vision. So did God speak to Eli, or did he speak to Samuel?

So right now, Eli is catching a clue, but Samuel, oh my gosh, he is getting it.

A lot of us are just starting to get to know Jesus. God loves you. God wants to work with you. Samuel was just a little child. You’re going to see a lot of “old-heads” who don’t want to do anything for Jesus. But don’t allow anybody to cloud your vision. People will mess up and offend you, but you focus on your walk and don’t let them get in your way.

So how do you think Samuel is feeling, hearing this? We can look in our lives right now and think of the people who taught and shared with us. A lot of them are not around anymore. But what is more important? The word of the Lord, or people’s feelings? So God called Samuel, and he paid attention. And God said, “All right!” and he told him what was going on.

I read that and I think, “C’mon, Eli! No repentance? What are you going to do about it? Come on, set your house in order!”

Stay faithful, all you young people who are just getting started. You never know what God has for you. The answers are right in front of you. Do any of you wear progressive bifocals? How many of you know that the prescription is inscribed right there at the bottom of the lens? Can you read it? Why not? It’s right in front of your face. I used to make glasses, and I used to tell people their prescription, and they’d have to take my word for it. Sad but true.

The Bible says in Romans 10 that people had a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. (Romans 10:2) So have a zeal of God, but continue to get knowledge. Look to your own personal ministry.

Oh. My. Goodness. A lot of talk doesn’t mean anything. We tend to hold onto the old ways, but God wants you to be on fire. Don’t depend on what you did last week or last year. Be on fire for God now. You’re on the plow, looking forward. What does the Bible say happens if you look back? You’re not fit for the kingdom. (Luke 9:62) What happened to Lot’s wife? So keep looking forward.

We know the story of God telling Moses to send out spies to spy out the promised land. So they went out, and they said, “Yeah, this is the promised land.”

So how many people think they believed that this was the land of promise? Oh, yeah. They wanted to show it off.

So they were already convinced. They saw it with their own eyes, and the witness came out of their own mouth. But what happened? They started looking around and saw the enemies that were all around. It’s like Peter walking on the water. He took his eyes off Jesus and saw the waves, and started to sink.

That’s the attitude we’ve got to get. “Hey, we can do this!” God blesses us with a great opportunity. He touches us in some way; he does a miracle in our life. We look at it and say, “Wow!” But is that the end of it? It shouldn’t be. It’s like Peter. He saw Jesus, and he saw the miracles, and he said, “Wow!” Then … “Hey, guys, you wanna go fishing?” And you read in Acts chapter one, they’re still doing it. Jesus went up, and they stood there staring, and finally God had to send an angel to say, “What are you guys doing! Get to work!” And what about the transfiguration? They saw Jesus and Moses and Elijah and they got all excited. It’s like they saw some celebrities, and they said, “Hey; let’s build three altars. We’ll build one for Moses, and one for Elijah, and one for you. What do you think, Jesus?”

I believe that David knew about this story when he went to slay his giant. So he heard this guy blaspheming God, and he said, “Who does this joker think he is? C’mon, guys, we can do it!”

My goodness, they didn’t even go into battle yet! You’re going to get a lot of crybabies in church. This is proof. “Oh, I get persecuted so hard! Oh!” I just wanna slap people, sometimes.

Where is your focus? Where is your vision? They were looking back, and saying “It was better in Egypt. And they wanted to make a captain. They wanted to stone Moses and Aaron.” So all you young ones, don’t let the nay-sayers bug you. They’re like black holes; they just suck.

Who? Who? All the congregation.

This is what I love about Moses, man.

So where was Moses’ focus in this situation? He was taking care of the children of Israel. God was even bargaining with him. God said, “Separate yourself from these people, and I’ll make of you a greater and mightier nation than they.” But Moses argued with God. Isn’t it awesome to have such a relationship with God that you can convince him to change his mind?

What does the Bible say about love? You’ve got to love your neighbor as yourself. That’s the hard part: you’ve got to love the naysayers, too. You’ve even got to love your enemies.

I was thinking about Job, also. A lot of bad things happened to Job. He lost everything; his money, his children, his servants. And the one who was supposed to be closest to him, his wife, said “Curse God and die.”

We read about the children of Israel looking at all their enemies and not wanting to fight. But without a battle, there can be no victory.

There are people around us that are lost. Our focus has got to be about sharing with them. Some of you don’t know this, but I had a bus assistant, and we were always talking about the word of God. And just before the holidays, she was shot and killed. When I think of all the times I shared with her, it’s kind of sad. But we’ve got to keep focused.

See, here’s the problem. We’re going to go through battles.

Why do we go through all that? Let’s not focus on those things we’re going through. Let’s focus on heaven. Hey, those who live godly in Christ Jesus what? Shall suffer persecution. (2 Timothy 3:12)

Manifest where? In our body. People who want to know Jesus need to see how we live. Let your light so shine before men. (Matthew 5:16]

That’s Paul taking charge, and talking to the church. Hey, we know that not everyone who comes to church will be the same mind as Christ. But you’ve got to keep a right attitude.

It’s a lot of work, sharing with people. Think about the people who used to look you up and make sure you get invited out to church. I used to think it was the most annoying thing in the world. This one brother used to come into my barber shop to invite me out to church. I used to be a runner and a dodger. I used to see Bill Griffith and just cringe inside. I knew he’d have something encouraging to say, like “Praise the Lord” or something. But now I look back and I think, “Those guys were really looking out for me. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here.”

God has called us to work together, so we can go out there and be a testimony. The world teaches you to hang out with your own.

I hear that and think, “How dare you call my affliction ‘light’?” You should say, “our heavy affliction.”

So all those trials and tribulations, don’t even put them on the same level. Imagine experiencing heaven for just five seconds. Snap! And you’re in heaven. “Wow! Look at all this stuff!” and Snap! You’re back here. Then imagine experiencing five seconds of hell. Snap! “Oh, the pain!!!!” Snap! How much different would we be?

Practical Applications Bible Study, 3/2/11

Songs

• The Glory Of It All
• Blessed Be Your Name

Introduction

– Adam Paine

Jonathan has a study prepared, so let’s introduce what we’re doing. We surveyed a lot of people and asked, “What are the most common questions that people ask you as a Christian? What do people want to know?” We took five of the top answers, and we’re going to go over one topic each week. Our goal here is not for you to memorize a script; our goal is for you to learn these topics. The best way to handle a question is to know the answer.

Our topics are:

1. If God is good, why do so many bad things happen?
2. Why bother going to church?
3. Does God hate gay people?
4. Why bother getting married?
5. How do you know your way (Christianity) is the only way to get to heaven?

As we begin these topics, it’s important to keep a few things in mind.

This series is not a forum for questions and answers; it’s a forum for practicing our answers. So after each study, we’re going to hold a mock “Q & A”. If you’re willing, we’re asking you to join us. We’ve asked the pastors to join us in the fellowship hall for answers to your real questions.

I heard a pastor ask one time, “Do you win people? Or do you win arguments?”

Here, we’re learning the Bible, and we’re learning how to win an argument, but remember that the goal is always to win people.

If God Is So Good, Why Do So Many Bad Things Happen?

– Jonathan Santiago

Suffering. Talking about suffering is like walking through an emotional minefield. This is a Bible study. I’m finishing my masters at Regents right now. I remember one of my first assignments was to write a definition of faith. I thought, “That’s easy; I’ll use James.” But they said, “You can’t use the Bible. Use Christian theology.” If the fact that I’m going to use the Bible is a turn-off to you, I’d ask you to listen to the study anyway, because the Bible is a guide for how we should behave as Christians.

The people who will ask these questions are going to be one of two types. The first will be atheists or people who basically don’t believe the Bible. But we’re going to address the second type, because we’re going to use the Word of God to answer these questions. There is power in the word of God. It’s what you believe, anyway.

So if someone asks, “If God is so good, why is there so much evil?” You could say, “Because of free choice.” And that’s the correct answer, but it doesn’t always help. Suppose a woman says, “I gave birth to a stillborn. You can’t honestly tell me that God is good, can you?” That’s the same question, isn’t it? To answer this type of question, you have to know the scriptures and live them. You have to internalize them.

No matter how long you’ve been saved, suffering is a part of life. It’s easier to feel the love of God on your wedding day than when you’ve fallen on tough times. It’s easier to feel the love of God when you get a raise than when you’ve been fired. It’s easier to feel the love of God when your loved ones are healthy than when they’re dying of cancer. It’s easier to feel the love of God when you’re winning than when you are losing.

> (prayer for the study)

We’re going to talk about suffering in general.

1. God loves us.
2. God is more concerned with our spiritual well-being than your physical well-being.
3. God is no respecter of persons.
4. God is just.

God loves us

You can never assume that people know that. You can never emphasize it enough.

Those are a lot of things. It covers the angels and the supernatural; it covers life and death and anything else that can come along. It could have been said a lot shorter, but it’s like a love poem. “How does God love me; let me count the ways.”

What is “slack” ? It’s like slow, right? And what is longsuffering? It means patience, forbearance, slow to anger, slow to punishment.

A lot of times we say, “I wish God would punish him right now!” But at some time, someone was probably saying the same thing about us. So I’m glad that God is long-suffering.

God is more concerned about our spirit than our flesh.

The scripture says that we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. But then it says we are conquerors. How can this be?

God is not particularly concerned with our bodies. He loves us, but our bodies won’t go to heaven.

You can’t give a spirit physical things and expect them to be of much use. Our spirits yearn to please God and to be more like him.

We’re talking about life and peace. Peace is a fruit of the spirit. A lot of times, we’ll look for the fruits of the spirit in fleshly things. But there is no peace in the flesh. There is violence. There are things that are contrary to peace in my life. But do you have the peace of God in your life?

Technically, our bodies should be considered dead, anyway. So I’m going to put my stock in spiritual things.

God is no respecter of persons.

Have you heard the story of Job? Job was so righteous that he prayed for other people in case they sinned. He said, “It may be that my family has sinned,” so he prayed and gave sacrifices for them.

God allowed Job, a just man, to have much suffering. If you ever get confused about suffering, read the story of Job. So God allowed Satan some leeway with Job. And Satan timed it perfectly. He was sitting down to dinner, and one by one, people came in and reported that he had lost his servants, his wealth, and his family, except for his life.

Sometimes we think that rich people don’t suffer enough, but what is happening to them, spiritually?

God is just.

In general, you would think that parents know how to give good things to their children. Imagine a perfect parent. That’s what God is. I remember when I was a child, I was going to run away, so I put my cat in a box, and I got out my bag, and my Dad said, “I’ll help you pack.” So he filled it so full that I couldn’t lift it. I struggled and

So was Jesus good? Yes, he was perfect, as a matter of fact. But he said, “As long as you’re flesh, you’re not going to be good. Only your father in heaven is good.”

I’m not saying that you guys aren’t good people and do good things; but the Bible says that spiritually, there is none of us good.

What are wages? If you got to the end of the month, and your boss didn’t pay you, you would say “That’s not fair.” And it’s not fair. So if the wages of sin is death, and God doesn’t punish us, that’s not fair, either.

So thank God he isn’t fair.

Another way to ask the same question is, “Why does salvation happen to bad people?” Maybe we should be asking, “How can a holy and just God allow any of us into heaven?”

Why Is There Suffering?

Let’s talk about five reasons why.

1. Free will. There is evil, and people have a choice to do evil. If you’re one of those people who don’t believe in free will, then I don’t know what to tell you.
2. So God will be glorified.
3. So we can grow; so God can shape us and use us.
4. Sometimes suffering is self-inflicted.
5. Mysterious Suffering

Free Will

In the Bible, Joshua told the children of Israel, “Choose ye this day whom you will serve.” God gave them free choice.

So God Would Be Glorified

On Sunday, we talked about the man blind from his birth. I don’t know which would be worse, losing your sight or never having it. So the disciples asked, “Who sinned, this man or his parent?” Nobody did. It just happened so that God would be glorified. God will do whatever it takes.

God wants to use us and shape us.

The image of a potter is a good analogy.

Self-inflicted Suffering

If there’s a flame and I stick my hand in it, I’m going to get burnt. If I didn’t know it was hot, I should have read the manual.

Mysterious Suffering

Sometimes we just don’t know.

God created us and everything we have. We couldn’t really give anything back to him physically if we wanted to.

Remember we were talking about Job? After God has stripped Job of everything he has, but hasn’t struck him with sickness.

This is God in heaven, having a conversation with Satan. Job can’t see that. Job can’t see that God would use him to be glorified. At the end, God blessed Job. Did he have to bless him? Sometimes our blessings come in physical form, and sometimes they don’t.

When you are suffering, and nobody knows it, not even your pastor, that’s a good place to be.

How should we react to suffering?

Some of you are suffering right now. Others might not be in the season of suffering. If so, that’s good. You can help those who are suffering; you can help bear their burdens.

We can’t waste our suffering. We have to put it to use. That’s God trying to use us. Read about the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, long-suffering. If those fruits aren’t present during adversity, you won’t stand out before anyone. We can’t use anger, frustration, or emotions as an excuse to lash out. When we have those emotions of anger and strife, they’re the works of the flesh. We have to overcome them with the fruits of the spirit.

I’d rather suffer than to have God’s face turn away from me. Suffering is not the worst thing that can happen to us. Having the face of God turned away is. Being the enemy of God and going to hell is far worse than suffering.

People who are in the world are suffering, whether as drug addicts, prostitutes, or whatever. Our primary goal isn’t to relieve their suffering. That’s great if it happens, but our primary goal is to lead them to Jesus. So go ahead and serve in a soup kitchen, but share with somebody about Jesus when you do.

Summary

Suffering in General

1. God loves us
2. Spirit versus Flesh
3. God is not a respecter of person
4. God is just

Reasons for suffering

1. Free will.
2. So God will be glorified.
3. So God can shape us and use us.
4. Sometimes suffering is self-inflicted.
5. Mysterious Suffering

Mock Q&A

– Adam Paine

Explain to me, if God is good, why he allows people to suffer?

– Jonathan Santiago

That’s a good question. Sometimes it happens because of free will. Sometimes it happens so that God would be glorified. Sometimes it is self-inflicted. And sometimes we just don’t know. As I look back on my life, God has never let me down, spiritually. God has proved himself time and time again.

– Adam Paine

So basically, as a Christian, no matter what happens, it’s all God’s will, so it’s all just fine.

– Jonathan Santiago

As Christians, we walk by faith. We trust in things that we can’t see and can’t understand. But I thank God that there are some things that are clear, and they’re in the Bible. When we follow God, he gives us gifts in our life; they’re called the fruits of the spirit. Some of them are love, peace, joy, and long-suffering. Can I tell you a little more about them?

– Adam Paine

So that’s one way to answer the question. Would anyone else like to demonstrate how to answer that question? Rick Hahn, come on up.

– Jonathan Santiago

If your God is good, why is there war? Why do bad things happen?

– Rick Hahn

Jonathan, I think it’s about perspective. God created all things. Your life is a gift. If God gave one man a year, and another man a hundred years, is God unjust? But from God’s perspective, everything we suffer is nothing; it’s a knee-scrape compared to eternity. I’d rather focus on eternity. I’d rather focus on the gifts that God gave me.

– Jonathan

Jesse, what’s up with people like Hitler and people who do evil things. That doesn’t make any sense. How can you serve a God who allows that?

– Jesse Rairdon

We’re all evil. How can God love us? But he loves us, every one. And nothing can separate us from that love. We can’t stop the evil; it’s going to be here until the Lord takes us home.

Wednesday Home Bible Study, 2/23/11

Songs

• He Is All I Need
• Because He Lives

Message: The Word Of God

– Clarence Willis

There are three parts to this study

1. Purpose
2. Importance
3. Salvation

Purpose

This is what the word of God is for – to help us cleanse our ways. And even though it says “young man”, the same applies for the aged and for women.

There the mystery of the kingdom of God is revealed. What does the Word provide, when it falls on good ground? Fruitfulness. The Word of God is for us to bear fruit. In this Bible Study, I threw some seeds out. Maybe it will help you later on when you’re feeling depressed, or maybe you’ll be able to share it with someone else. The Word is always available for us, to help provide that fruitfulness.

So the purpose of God’s word is to cleanse our ways, help us to not to sin against him, and to help us to bear fruit.

Importance

The Word of God is our doorway into faith, and into hearing what God says. Without it, we’ll just have our own philosophies and our own ways of doing things. God has provided a way for us to know for sure what His will is for us on this earth. So if you want your life to have spiritual meaning and direction, you need the Word of God.

We’re not left without direction; we don’t have to go blindly through life, wondering if we’ll make it to heaven. But the Word can only guide us if we listen to it.

God gives us his word, but God is not ink on paper.

There you go. You have the spirit of God and his truth. We don’t just have the Bible to figure out on our own; God’s spirit is there to guide us and lead us into all truth. (John 14:26)

The Word of God is a judger of our actions and the purity of our souls.

So if you want an honest opinion of yourself and where you are with God, you can look in the Word of God. You can ask me and I can tell you that you’ve got a great walk with God, but God knows. Everyone and everything is naked before him. Sometimes we even fool ourselves, but never God.

What is trusting in God? It’s trusting his word. And in order to trust in his word, you have to know his word. So how do you know you’re not wise in your own eyes? You check what you know and what you say by the Word of God. Many people think they’re not leaning to their own understanding, but if you compare what they say to what the Word of God says, you’ll know for sure.

Salvation

How does all this relate to salvation? We read in Romans

So in order to know what you need to believe and do, you’ve got to dig into the Word of God. Whether that’s through a message from a Pastor, or through a Bible Study, or through the technology of the internet, ultimately, we have to hear and obey the Word.

When we obey the Word through baptism, God plants a seed in our lives, and continues to nurture it.

If the Word of God says it, that’s what we’ve got to do.

We’ve got to put on Christ. How? Through baptism in Jesus’ name. It’s pretty simple, but people complicate it by leaning to their own understanding. Does the water save us? No, the placement of God’s spirit in our lives saves us.

God loves us and wants his spirit to continue in our lives. How do we let that happen?

If we stick to that simple formula, the Word of God will tell us what to do to be saved, stay saved, and make it to heaven. It’s not a guess; it’s a fact.

Wednesday Bible Study, 2/9/11

Songs

• Heaven's Jubilee
• Inside The Gate
• I'll Fly Away

Testimonies

> Pastor Taylor

That song has a lot of sentimental meaning for me. When I was just a teenager, I remember my grandpa singing it to me.

Has anyone tried for one day to not be negative?

 

(Several hands raised)

I’d like three people to come up and share about it.

> Jay Ugali

As you know, I’m a school-bus driver, and some of the kids like to talk about God. They say to each other, “You’re not supposed to that. You go to church. Mister Jay!” I told them, “You know, you guys should come out and visit my church.” Even though the kids come on-board with a negative attitude, some of them were so encouraged by my positive attitude that they asked if I could be their permanent bus driver. To myself, I was thinking “Oh, no!” But I said, “You’ll have to talk to my supervisor about that.”

> Jaucelin Fenelus

I’ve thought about that challenge every day. Since that day, I’ve failed. But I learned that every day is a new day, and a wise man falls seven times and gets back up. The Bible talks about the beam in our eye. God doesn’t compare sin, but he teaches us to focus on improving ourselves rather than the faults of our neighbors.

> Bob Vincent

This actually happened a long time ago. Bruce Avants noticed that I always have a snide remark to make about something, and he challenged me to go a whole week without making a snide remark. So, I bit my tongue a lot, and I think I almost made it. And along the way, the scripture that helped most was:

I learned how to look for the good in things that I didn’t feel good about. And it really helps.

> Pastor Taylor

For those of you who don’t remember, last week I taught on being a living sacrifice, and challenged everybody to go a whole day without saying anything negative.

> Jaucelin Fenelus

It’s funny that the living sacrifice study brought about that challenge. I heard a lot about communication, and that’s what today’s study is about.

Explain how we communicate with God.

Communication is a two-way interaction between God and man. God gave his spirit to pray within, that we may know and understand his will. The one scripture that really jumped out at me was:

This scripture is personal to me. How does the spirit utter things we don’t even know about? People who get saved often look back and remember seeking for things that they didn’t know anything about at the time. I remember looking for a small church. As a single sailor, you tend to spend a lot of evenings watching TV. In my case, I got woken up the next day by a brother inviting me out to church. And when he did, God said, “There’s the answer to your prayer.” I didn’t even know it was a prayer. Communication can make us or break us.

I thought about how I came into the ministry. I remember asking, “Where is God in all this?” I was seeking for a truth, even though I didn’t think there was a truth to be found. God that day did more than I could have asked or thought.

Explain why communication with the pastorship is vital.

I looked up the word “perfecting” because this is what is happening to us.

To complete thoroughly, to repair (lit. or fig.), to make perfect, perfectly joined together, to restore.

When we go to doctors, it sometimes doesn’t feel good while we’re getting fixed. And sometimes we feel injured when we haven’t been communicating, and then we communicate and get a message that doesn’t feel good. It’s like Daniel’s book which was bitter in the mouth and sweet in the belly. Anything worth having won’t come easy.

A lot of times we make the mistake of looking at things with our eyeballs instead of with our spirit. And sometimes we want to shoot the messenger instead of receiving the message. Most of the time, we aren’t communicating because we’re doing something wrong. We don’t want to hear the answer because we already know it’s wrong. I remember communicating with ET2 Glander back in 1993. It was hard, but I thank God for it. I was fellowshipping and sharing with “all these girls!”, but I finally communicated about it, and he shared with me that I was going down the wrong path. How is it that we communicate peace with a lost person? The best thing about our ministry is the people. And the worst thing about our ministry is the people. God uses imperfect people to work his perfect will.

Who is well-pleased?

 

God.

We say, “Who is he to demand anything of me? He’s just a man.” But it’s God that wants us to do this thing. God has placed our pastors there for a reason, and a lot of times we don’t know what they go through.

Explain the importance of communication throughout the body of Christ.

Why are we finding younger brothers and sisters with different doctrines? There was a saying about Christian Fellowship: everywhere you went, people were able to tell, “You must be from Christian Fellowship.” Why? Because there was one mind and one accord. Why is that so tough for the younger brothers and sisters nowadays? We’ve got to share with them. We’ve got to share our victories. We’ve got to share the word of God, standing firm on that foundation. This is the spiritual gas-station.

How can we labor together with no communication? That doesn’t work in the world, either. We’ve got to be a spiritual tag-team. If you can’t do it alone, then pull someone else in. Pastor has said, “Don’t be in such a rush to get to the church building that you run over someone along the way.” Sometimes when we’re in the church building, we’re in such a hurry to get our church-work done that we run over each other, spiritually. I grew up in church. My Dad was a pastor of the church. But when I first got here, I was wondering, “Why are these people so nice? Maybe it’s because I’m new.” But after all these years, I became one of “these people.”

Communication is important. Not only do we need it, but some poor soul that just came in needs it, too. We need to hold each other’s hands and be united to see souls saved. God didn’t allow us to come here just so we could have a club. This last message was about the light-house that was run-down, but the people were alive, until they became an exclusive club. We are a city set on a hill, and we’ve got to shine that light. Even though we’re busy throughout the week, we’ve got to communicate in order to grow and be confident in why we drag ourselves to church on Sunday mornings. Yes, we know why, but that knowledge is reinforced by communication.

We need to be encouraged while we’re here, so we can take the message out there.

If there’s any doubt about whether it’s better to get fellowship than to go it alone, refer back to this scripture.

Sin’s deceitfulness won’t get a chance to enter in, if we communicate. On the topic of assuming:

• My brother looked at me wrong.
• My sister was talking about me.

Then we bring someone else in:

• Did you hear about what so-and-so said to me?

If we’re bold enough to talk to someone else about it, then we should talk to the right person. Gossip is like rats that sneak in through holes in the wall to steal up all our groceries. But communicating the right way is like stopping up the holes. God called us for a global purpose, and Satan definitely desires to sift us like wheat. But the only power that Satan has is the power we give him, when we don’t communicate.

People can’t act on what they don’t know; we’ve got to share. We don’t all know everything; we’ve got to “distribute to the necessity of the saints.”

When it says “let love be without dissimulation,” the word “dissimulation” means hypocrisy.

What are blessings? They are gifts. We can’t earn them. This is the one place in the Bible where I found that God commanded a blessing. Why did he command it? Because it’s our life-line. To not have this unity is committing spiritual suicide. You might as well hang yourself like Judas did. He did that because he was all by himself, alone. Even though the other disciples were there, he wasn’t communicating with them; he was all lone.

God says that he hates those who sow discord. Hate is a strong word, but God used with. See which side we wind up on, right or left, if we keep sowing discord?

Explain why everyone is responsible for communication in the ministry and give examples from the Bible and from daily life.

Whether we communicate or not, God still holds us accountable. How many times have we seen a brother or sister doing something wrong, and we let ourself off the hook by saying, “I’m not going to be a snitch or a tattle-tale?” That attitude was from high-school. But to give an example,

 

(dropping a pen on the floor)

Whose responsibility is it to pick that up?

 

Everyone who sees it.

God holds the pastor accountable for our souls, but how can he give account if we’re not communicating? How can he know what to pray for, or how to minister?

Give two examples of how communication benefits the church body.

If Paul never communicated with Peter about how his actions were causing dissension in the church, where would that have left the church? But he did communicate, and I believe that it benefited the whole world.

First he says, “ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.”

> You just got saved. You don’t know nothing. You’ve got to listen to me.

But then he says, “all of you be subject one to another.” Shouldn’t we who are older in the faith be clothed with more humility? We’ve all got to be willing to learn from one another.

In that last verse, what does “verily” mean?

 

Truthfully

And who was speaking?

 

Jesus

I believe that Jesus knew what he was talking about. Then he says, “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” How does that happen? Through our words. Let us be careful to communicate good things.