Are the Sign Gifts for Today?

Fighting for the Faith

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Welcome to another

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YouTube edition of Fighting for the Faith. This is the program that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the

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Word of God. If you've ever been told that, oh, the Bible from beginning to end is full of miracle workers and things like that, and that we as Christians, the church must be operating in miracles, go ahead and click the subscribe button below.

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In this installment of Fighting for the Faith, we're gonna be listening to a lecture that I delivered at the 2017

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Pirate Christian Radio Conference. The theme was contend, and I went through an exegetical exercise, if you would.

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Walked through the biblical text and did a summary of Scripture and what it teaches regarding the sign gifts, and you're gonna be shocked to find out that miracles are a rarity in the

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Bible. They are not the norm, and they serve a very specific function.

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So let's go ahead and get to it. Here we go. Let's pray, and we'll get into our closing lecture for the day, and again,

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I'm gonna apologize ahead of time. This is gonna go long. It's just because I just gotta,

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I just gotta be me. I gotta be authentic. That's what I'm feeling right now. Let's pray.

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Lord Jesus, again, as we open up your word to see what your word reveals regarding sign gifts, we ask,

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Lord, that you would open our hearts and our mind. Come, Holy Spirit, enlighten us so that we may rightly understand your word so that we may know what to believe, what it is that we are to hope for, and what we are to confess and do.

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We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Last lecture, one that I've been wanting to do for a while, actually.

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I'm kind of excited about this one. We're gonna talk about sign gifts. If you haven't figured it out, and I'll kind of keep reiterating this,

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I'm a complete hack. And here's what I mean by that, is that, listen to my sermons, listen to my

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Sunday school lessons, and you know what you're gonna figure out? All I ever do is plagiarize God's Word.

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Pretty much, I'm like a one -trick pony. If I don't have a Bible, I got nothing to say, and it's like,

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I'm too lazy now to do the philosophy thing. It's like, oh, it gives me a brain cramp.

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Who wants to do that? You know, but give me a good biblical text or a good biblical topic, and I love to, like, walk it through.

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And so, one of the questions that came up in the time of the Reformation, a little bit of history here, there was the

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Lutherans, you know, those pesky Lutherans, you know, out there saying, we're saved by grace through faith alone.

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And of course, the church had drifted into medieval Catholicism, and the

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Bible was locked up in Latin. I mean, if you didn't know Latin, you didn't know the Bible. I mean, so, you know, you're not really hearing the

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Word of God. Everyone's just trusting the authority of the Pope. Well, these Lutherans come along, and they actually open up the

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Bible, translate it into people's native tongues. They're able to hear it for the first time, you know, in their own language.

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And of course, the papacy's freaking out. And one of the challenges was, what, what miracles, what signs can you point to to prove your theology is correct?

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Answer, Jesus' resurrection from the dead, the Apostle Peter's healing of the crippled, the raising of the dead, even

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Paul himself performed miracles. These were all the signs that we point to for our doctrine, and we don't need to present you with any other.

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Think about that. So, what we're going to do today, as we walk through, we're going to walk through several biblical texts, long stories, because they're just great, and we're going to note along the way the function of sign miracles, who received them in the

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Bible, who functioned in them, what that has to do with, like, today. Because, I mean, the modern signs and wonders movement, they would lead you to believe that, well, just look at the book of Acts.

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It was, like, normal for everybody to be operating in signs and wonders, and the answer is, no, it's not.

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It was not. Read the book. There were a few fellows who operated in signs and wonders.

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A few fellows in the book of Acts, and in the entirety of the Bible, you're going to note that signs and wonders are not the norm.

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I mean, let's just kind of do this. We started this yesterday, but let's kind of, over here on, this is the

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Logos Bible software, just think of the characters in Genesis. Adam, miracle worker?

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Eve? Abel? No? Noah? Methuselah? We're reaching here.

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Abraham? Isaac? Jacob? No. First big signs and wonders fellow.

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Who is it? Moses. Moshe. Why? Set my people free.

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It's a little bit more than that, though. We'll talk about this, because you're going to note a common denominator in sign miracles.

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So move forward. How about Joshua? Yes? Yes, absolutely. Joshua. Samuel, not exactly a miracle worker, but it is noted of him that none of his words fell to the ground.

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But the next big miracle signs and wonders time in Scripture is what?

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Elijah and Elisha. Who were they representatives of?

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We'll talk about this. Yesterday I was asked the question about the school of the prophets, which is terrible translation. That's not what the

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Hebrew says. Talked about the school of the prophets. We'll talk about that. And then after these fellows,

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Daniel? He didn't really perform miracles, but miracles were performed on his behalf.

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Kind of an important thing, and there's also, you note a common denominator here. Then, long period, long period.

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From Malachi, the Italian prophet, until the New Testament. Signs and wonders?

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No. None. During the time of the judges, were there signs and wonders? No. Then we get to the

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New Testament. Signs and wonders show up again. Jesus and his apostles.

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That's it. Why? What's the common denominator?

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Answer? In each of these groups, you have big block authors of Scripture.

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That's your common denominator. Big block authors of Scripture.

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Moses, the Torah. Joshua, judges. And the book of Joshua, right?

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Well, actually, let me put it this way. Samuel's probably judges. Joshua wrote Joshua. Then you have those histories.

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First and second Samuel. First and second Kings. First and second Chronicles. Who put that together?

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Answer? The sons of the prophets, or the company of the prophets. And if you look internally, it even says so in these histories.

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Now, then you have the prophetic books. Isaiah wrote what? Isaiah. This is not a sure question.

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Jeremiah wrote what? Jeremiah. Malachi wrote? Oh, I see.

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You're doing it wrong. Yeah. But, and these all, all these fellows were part of the prophets.

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This is this group. And their signs and wonders fellow were representative of Elijah and Elisha.

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And then the apostles? Signs and wonders. That's it. You kind of see that, you see it, how it works?

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And I'll show you this from Scripture. Let's go back in time. One of my favorite stories,

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Exodus chapter three, where Moses is, God appears to him and reveals to him his dream destiny.

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It's a misdriven text. What are you talking about? I'm joking. Moses was keeping the flock of his father -in -law

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Jethro. Keep in mind, Moses at this point is on Egypt's most wanted every Saturday with John Walsh, the priest of Midian.

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And he led his flock to this west side of the wilderness, came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush.

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He looked and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. Moses said, I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.

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And when Yahweh saw that he had turned aside to see, God called him out of the bush, Moshe, Moshe.

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And he said, here I am. And then he said, do not come near, take your sandals off your feet, for the place in which you are standing is holy ground.

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And he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Moses hid his face for he's afraid to look at God.

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And then Yahweh said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters.

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I know their sufferings, and I've come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, to bring them up out of the land, to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the

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Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites and Balletites.

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And now behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the

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Egyptians oppressed them. I will come, I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.

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Moses said to God, oh, who am I that I should go out to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?

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He said, but I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you that I have sent you.

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When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.

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So note, there's a sign for Moses. That's kind of a miraculous thing, don't you think?

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Big miracle. We're gonna get everybody out of Egypt. This will be a sign for you. So note, watch how the signs work.

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So then Moses said to God, all right, if I come to the people of Israel, I say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you.

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And they asked me, what's his name? Who shall I say, what shall I say to them?

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And God said, it's in the Hebrew, it's just really breathy.

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You know, this thing. I am who I am. It's like he's saying,

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I am the self -existing one, you know. I am the one who breathes. And he said, say this to the people of Israel.

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I am, has sent me to you. God also said to Moses, oh, by the way, come to church tomorrow.

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This comes into the sermon tomorrow. Oh, it's amazing. A little preview there. Sorry. So you say that I am, has sent me to you.

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So God also said to Moses, say to the people of Israel, Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the

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God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever.

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And thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. Go, gather the elders of Israel together and say to them,

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Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob has appeared to me saying,

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I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt. And I promise I will bring you up out of the affliction of the

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Egyptians to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the

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Jebusites, and Uptites. And a land flowing with milk and honey. Notice the repetition here.

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This is one of those, those elements of particular parts of the Old Testament that lends itself to the belief or the idea that some of this stuff was told in story format, kind of like around the campfire before it gets recorded in writing.

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You know, because these little elements that occur over and over again, they're great mnemonic devices.

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The repetition will help kind of sink this in and they will listen to your voice and you and the elders of Israel shall go up to the king of Egypt and say to him,

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Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now let us go a three days journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our

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God. But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand.

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So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it. After that, he'll let you go.

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And I will give the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. And you will go and you shall not go empty, because this is all about the end times transfer of wealth, right?

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Sorry, those of you who understand, understand. Each woman shall ask of her neighbor and any woman who lives in her house for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing.

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You shall put them on your sons and your daughters and you shall plunder the Egyptians. Sounds like a straightforward plan.

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God's casting a compelling vision here. But Moses knows this is crazy.

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Why are they gonna believe me? Why should they believe me? Just because I know your name.

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So Moses answered, but behold, they're not gonna believe me, nor are they gonna listen to my voice, for they will say

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Yahweh did not appear to you. I mean, based upon the mission, that would seem like the same thing to say to Moses.

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Moses shows up. Guess what? Talk with God. Mm -hmm. Yeah. Says we're all getting out of here.

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Right. Yeah. Sure. Uh -huh. What's God's name? Well, they said a weird thing.

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I am. Okay. Prove to us God sent you, because this is huge.

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So the Lord, they're gonna say the Lord did not appear to you. Yahweh said to him, all right, what's that in your hand?

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He said a staff. He said throw it on the ground. He threw it on the ground, became a serpent. Moses ran from it, but Yahweh said to Moses, put your hand, catch it by the tail.

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Yeah, you can almost see it. So he put out his hand, caught it, and it became a staff in his hand. So that they may believe that Yahweh, the

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God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has appeared to you. Nope. A sign. A miraculous sign.

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What's the sign for? So that they may know that I sent you.

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It continues. Again, Yahweh said, verse 6, put your hand inside your cloak.

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Put his hand inside his cloak, and he took it out. Behold, his hand was leprous, like snow. Then God said, put your hand back inside your cloak.

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So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. If they will not believe you,

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God said, or listen to the first sign, that they may believe the latter sign. If they will not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the

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Nile, pour it on the dry ground, or the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.

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Huh. Now you get it. What's the purpose of the sign? It's God's way of saying, listen everybody,

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I sent that fellow. And he's not the only one who operates in these types of signs.

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In fact, this theology, if you would, is repeated again in the New Testament, in the opening chapters of the book of Hebrews.

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Let's take a look at that real quick before we look at some more stories, because I want you to see this. Hebrews 1,

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New Testament. So we've gone from the first guy who actually has signs, that's Moses. And what is he?

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He's the author of the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch. And God gave, we know.

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So what, how do we know Moses' teaching is from God? The Egyptians would be the first to tell you that guy had some pretty awesome signs.

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Hebrews 1, and we're gonna go into 2, but I want to get the foundation here. New Testament. Long ago, at many times, and in many ways,

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God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. Question, was

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Moses a prophet? Yes. Deuteronomy 18 explicitly says so.

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Deuteronomy 18, it literally says, talking about that there will be a prophet, Moses says, like me, who

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God will raise up among you. And to him you must listen. And if you don't listen to him, then

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God's gonna hold you accountable for that. That's a bad thing. So in Deuteronomy 18,

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Moses says, I'm a prophet. Yeah, because God gave him words. And he's recorded those words for us.

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But God also gave him words that he spoke that never got recorded. It's not necessary that all of the words be recorded, just the ones necessary for doctrine, life, salvation, things like that.

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And you notice the past tense. At many times, in many ways, God spoke. Spoke.

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Mm hmm. Arist past tense. He spoke.

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Doesn't say he's still speaking, but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things through whom he also created the world.

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He, Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.

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He upholds the universe by the word of his power. And after making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

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For to which of the angels did God ever say you are my son today? I begotten you answer. No, God's never said that to any angel.

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Or again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all

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God's angels worship him of the angels. He said, well, he makes his angels winds and his minister and his ministers, a flame of fire, but of the sun, he says, your throne.

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Oh, God is forever. And ever the scepter of uprightness is in the, is the scepter of your kingdom.

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You have loved righteousness, hated wickedness. Therefore, God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.

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And you, Lord, lay the foundations of the earth in the beginning and the heavens are the work of your hands.

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They will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like a garment, like a robe.

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You will roll them up like a garment. They will be changed. But you are the same and your years will have no end.

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And to which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

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Are they not all ministering spirits yet sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

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So in this opening chapter, we've got good Christology, fantastic angelology, and this explicit statement about how

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God has spoken in the past by the prophets and now has already spoken to us now through his son.

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How many books did Jesus during his earthly ministry, right? None, none.

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Okay. Now that gets into the doctrine of inspiration, but let's, let's talk about Jesus.

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That's why I said in his earthly ministry. Okay. During, during that three year period or his entire lifespan from conception and the

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Virgin Mary to death and resurrection, how many books did he write? None. Where's the only place you can go to find out what

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Jesus actually said and did? The apostles, the ones he sent.

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Hmm. Now watch chapter two, watch chapter two. This is where it gets fun.

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Therefore, in light of all of this, that's what the therefore is. Therefore, therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard.

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Lest we drift away from it. Notice where Hebrews is pointing us. We must pay closer attention to what we've heard.

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Lest we drift away from it. Hebrews is pointing us right back into scripture for since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution.

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How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the

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Lord and it was a tested to us by those who heard while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts by the

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Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. And there it is.

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You see it. The signs and wonders performed by the apostles are the very means by which

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God confirmed the message that the apostles were preaching and teaching.

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And we are instructed here to not neglect, but to pay closer attention so that we do not drift away from their message, which was confirmed by God, by signs.

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God confirmed Moses by signs. God confirmed the apostles by signs.

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You see the function of the signs. Then the signs are intimately linked to the veracity of the biblical authors, which is why we don't see a lot of them in scripture.

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They're punctuated. Does that make sense? Coming back now, let's do a little

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Old Testament now, a little bit more Old Testament because I just love this story. Another period in history,

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Elijah and Elisha will focus on Elijah just because this is just great. Sunday school stuff.

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First Kings 18. After many days, the word of Yahweh came to Elijah.

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If you want to know the context, you go back chapter. Yahweh has decided that he is going to judge the false

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God of the Northern Kingdom, Baal, the prince of the air, who supposedly, according to the way the myth worked, was the one who brought the rain.

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That's what the idolaters who believed in Baal believed, that it was Baal who brought the rain that gave us the harvest.

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And they engaged in child sacrifice and other disgusting things in order to please their demonic deity.

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And so God says enough is enough. It's not going to rain again until you say so, Elijah.

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Not going to rain again until you say so. And so Elijah, he goes missing. He has to skedaddle out of Israel so he's not found.

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And he lets everybody know it's not going to rain again until I say so. Ta -ta. And then disappears.

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Then we learn the story of the woman, the widow, you know, with her son as the famine sets in, how they're near death.

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And then God miraculously provides for them. And by the way, that is not a tithing passage. I'll make that clear.

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Anybody who tells you that's lying, Robert Morris. So after many days, the word of Yahweh came to Elijah third year of the famine saying, go show yourself to Ahab and I will send rain upon the earth.

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So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria. Ahab called

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Obadiah who was over the household and Obadiah feared Yahweh greatly. And when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the

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Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets, hid them by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water.

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Boy, it doesn't sound like they were having their best life now. Ahab said to Obadiah, go through the land and all the springs of water to all the valleys.

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Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive and not lose some of the animals.

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So they divided the land between them to pass through it. And Ahab went in one direction by himself. Obadiah went in another direction by himself.

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And as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him, fell on his face and said, is it you, my

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Lord, Elijah? And he answered, it is I. Go tell your Lord, behold, Elijah is here. And he said, how have

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I sinned that you would give your servant into the hand of Ahab to kill me? As Yahweh, your

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God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my Lord has not sent to seek you. And when they would say he's not here, he would take an oath of the kingdom or nation that they had not found you.

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And now you say, go tell your Lord, behold, Elijah is here. And as soon as I've gone from you, the spirit of the

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Lord will carry you. And I know not where. And so when I come and tell

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Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me. Although I, your servant, have feared Yahweh from my youth.

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Has it not been told my Lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of Yahweh?

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How I hid a hundred men of the Lord's prophets by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water."

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Now you're going to note here, this is referencing a group of prophets, not a prophet, but a group of them.

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Let's talk about this real quick. I have a cross -reference, a few cross -references I want to show you. By way of cross -reference,

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Joshua 24, 26, I wanted to show this point. Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and he took a large stone, set it up there underneath the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the

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Lord. So Joshua tells us who wrote Joshua. He was a signs and wonders fellow. Second Chronicles 26, 22, fascinating verse.

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Now the rest of the Acts of Uzziah, from first to last, Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz wrote.

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You're going to note when you read the histories in the Old Testament, 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd

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Kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles, that you'll find little references along the way, and this is one of them, where we know who put these things together.

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It was the prophets. Think of them plural. Yesterday we talked about, just ever so briefly, about this idea that, you know, the question came up regarding the school of the prophets.

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That's a modern translation. There is no Hebrew text that discusses the quote unquote school of the prophets.

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When you read the Hebrew text, there are two phrases used for this group, and they are the company of the prophets, or they are the sons of the prophet.

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You think of that famous statement from Amos. Amos says, I am neither a prophet nor a son of the prophets. That's famous statement.

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And so that's, that's the group that is being referred to here. And this, so there was no school where somebody go, you know, shows up and, you know, like prophecy 101, how to hear the voice of God.

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That's somebody taking something from modern charismatic movement and reading it back in. If you have a translation that says school of the prophets, that's their, that's kind of a modern

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English way of trying to equate these phrases, but that's not what the text says.

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I'll give you an example. First Samuel 19, David fled and escaped. He came to Samuel at Rama and told him all that Saul had done to him.

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And he and Samuel went and lived at Naioth. And it was told Saul behold,

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David is at Naioth and Rama. And when Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying

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Samuel standing as the head over them. So here the ESV translates the

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Hebrew word, Lahaka as a company. Other, some translations translate that school, but it's the company.

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It does not actually mean school. So it's a group of prophets, the company, the Lahaka of the prophets prophesying and Samuel standing his head over them.

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That's an example of that phrase. The other phrase, second Kings two, when Yahweh was about to take

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Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal and Elijah said to Elisha, please stay here for Yahweh has sent me as far as Bethel.

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But Elisha says, as Yahweh lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So they went down to Bethel and the sons of the prophets.

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And so there's your, your phrase, the sons of the prophets, the, uh, Benny Hannah, uh,

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Neva him. Yeah. The Benny not never hot never aim the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elijah and said to him, do you know that today

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Yahweh will take away your master from over you? And he said, yes, I know it to keep quiet.

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So those are your two references talking about either the company of the prophets, the Laha or the sons of the prophets.

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And that's neither of those are quote unquote schools. Okay. That it's, it's a bad translation to describe either of those as quote unquote schools.

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That's not what they are. They're a company. And these are men who legitimately have received a prophetic gift and they are speaking oracles from God.

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And you, during this time in Israel's history, it is that company from among them.

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You get guys like Elisha, Elijah, Isaiah, Obadiah, you know, this is that group.

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And so in here, as we're looking back in a first Kings 18, we, we hear about the prophets of the

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Lord. This is a group of them that have survived Jezebel's attempt to like totally cut them off from the face of the earth.

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They're being hidden out in a cave. They're getting, they're eating bread and water. They're suffering greatly.

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But the fact then that Elijah is a signs and wonders fellow, he's representative of the group.

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Does that make sense? So is a lie. Shuh Elijah and Elisha are representative of the group.

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So it's important that God affirms what they're working on through signs so that the people of Israel at that time would know these men and the books they're writing for us.

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They have been affirmed by signs and wonders. So this is why we see at this time in Israel's history, another example of a time when signs and wonders appeared.

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Does that make sense? Has it not been told my Lord, what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of Yahweh, how

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I hit a hundred men of Yahweh's prophets by fifties in caves and fed them with bread and water.

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And now you say, go tell your Lord, behold, Elijah's here. He's going to kill me. Elijah said, well, as Yahweh, Yahweh's Sabaoth, the

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Lord of hosts lives before whom I stand. I will surely show myself to him today. So, but I went to meet

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Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah in one of the most amazing backwards statements in all of human history.

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When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, is it you, you troubler of Israel?

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Notice how evil calls good evil. You dirty, rotten discernment blogger, you troubler of the church.

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You are the one causing division. How dare you touch God's anointed? So he answered,

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I have not troubled Israel, but you have, you and your father's house, because you have abandoned the commandments of Yahweh and you have followed the

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Baals. Now, therefore send and gather all of Israel to me at Mount Carmel and the 450 prophets of Baal, and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table.

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So Ahab went to all the people of Israel, gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel and Elijah came near to all the people and said, how long will you go limping between two different opinions?

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If Yahweh is God, follow him. If Baal, follow him. And the people did not answer him a word.

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Stubborn, stiff -necked people. Elijah said to the people, I, even I only am left a prophet of Yahweh, but Baal's prophets are 450 men.

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Let two bowls be given to us. Let them choose one bowl for themselves, cut it in pieces, lay it on the wood and put no fire on to it.

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I will prepare the other bowl, lay it on the wood and put no fire to it. And you call upon the name of your

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God. I'll call upon the name of Yahweh. And the God who answers by fire, he's

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God. There's a sign miracle, explicitly a sign miracle.

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I find it fascinating that some of the crackpots are like, you know, YouTube prophets. There's one of them out there who is challenging the

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Muslims to a showdown at Mount Carmel. They can call on Allah and they'll call on Yahweh and see, it's ridiculous.

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Like, no, this is not like a repeatable thing here. Anyway. And by the way,

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God doesn't need to repeat this. He's already done it. You see, this is a sign for you and for me, that Yahweh is

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God. So that all the people said, the God who answers by fire, he's God. All the people said, yeah, all right, that's well spoken.

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No problem. So Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, choose for yourselves one bowl, prepare it first for your many, call upon the name of your

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God, put no fire to it. And they took the bowl that was given to them and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon saying, oh,

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Baal, answer us, are you home?

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There was no voice. No one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made.

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Great passage. At noon, Elijah mocked them. Yeah, it actually says that. Yes, it does.

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And notice that scripture does not rebuke him for doing so. Just saying. Okay. So don't get mad when

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I kill your little idol. But anyway, mock it too. Okay. So he mocked them.

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Cry aloud, cry louder. He's a God, isn't he? Maybe he's musing.

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This is so polite or he's relieving himself. It's a lot more graphic in Hebrew.

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Just saying. Okay. He's behind the door taking a dump or he's on a journey.

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Maybe he's asleep and he's got to be awakened. Okay. So this gets them really riled up. So they cried louder and they began cutting themselves after their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out upon them.

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And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation.

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But there was no voice. No one answered. No one paid attention.

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Then Elijah said to all the people, come near to me. All the people came near to him and he repaired the altar of Yahweh that had been thrown down.

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Elijah took 12 stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of Yahweh came saying,

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Israel shall be your name. And with the stones, he built an altar in the name of Yahweh.

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And he made a trench about the altar as great as would contain two seers of seed. And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, laid it on the wood.

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And he said, fill four jars with water, pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood. Now a little side here.

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Seeker driven guys would have you believe that this is now a tithing text. Here's how they twist the scripture.

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And if you have something just as simple as like Google earth, you can debunk this very easily, but let me explain fellows like, you know,

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Levi, Lusko, Perry, noble, and others. They would say, well, look at this.

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What's going on. It hasn't rained for three years. So everybody who's there, they have their own water, right?

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But they don't have any other water. So where did this water come from? So what Elijah was calling for here was for them to sacrificially tithe their water so that then

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God can show a sign because everybody knows God is up in heaven and he doesn't do nothing until he hears a coin in the coffer claim.

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I wish I was making this up. Here's how you debunk it. Go to maps .google

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.com type in Mount Carmel. Take that little fellow, you know, you can drag him and drop him.

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Just do that. And then do this scan the horizon. And what will you see answer the

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Mediterranean it's within walking distance.

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It's within walking. No joke. I mean, this is so easy to debunk. It's like I just do the little

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Google guy. Oh, wow. Look at that. There's a lot of water out there. No tithe necessary just saying.

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So made a trench, put wood in it, said fill four water jars with water poured on the burnt offering and on the wood.

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He said, do it a second time. They did it a second time. He said, do it a third time.

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They did a third time. Hmm. Water three times.

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Father, son, Holy Spirit. Oh, now we're cooking.

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And the water ran down around the altar, filled the trench also with water at the time of the offering of the oblation.

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This is the evening sacrifice three in the afternoon, the same exact time that Christ cries out to tell us die.

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It is finished and gives up his life the same exact time when the evening sacrifice that lamb has its throat slit prefiguring

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Christ. Beautiful. Elijah, the prophet came near and said, Oh Lord. Oh, Yahweh, God of Abraham, God of Isaac and Israel.

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Let it be known this day that you are God in Israel and watch and that I am your servant and that I have done all these things at your word sign gift.

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The purpose of this is so that everybody can know that God sent Elijah.

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Elijah is part of what group, the Lahaka of prophets, the company of the prophets, the

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Benny Ha, but he's a company at part of the sons of the prophets. So this group, this is the sign and wonder that affirms that what they're doing, that God is the one who sent them.

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God is the one who's inspired them, that the project that they're working on part of the old

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Testament. This is all from God that I've done all these things at your word.

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Answer me. Oh Lord Yahweh, answer me that this people may know that you, oh

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Lord, our God, to have turned their hearts back. Then the fire of Yahweh fell, consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench.

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And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, Yahweh, he's

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God. Yahweh, he's Elijah said to them now sees the prophets of all, let none of them escape.

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And they seized them. And Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and slaughtered them there.

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And everyone said, yeah, great story. Is it not purpose of the sign gift to know that the

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Lord sent Elijah and he's a representative of a group. It's not hard when you let the scriptures tell you what this is all about.

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We don't see a lot of sign gifts after Elijah and Elisha. It's not necessary that company of the prophets, as long as they endured.

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And as long as they wrote, this was the sign that that group was sent by the Lord, which is why we have the major prophets and the minor prophets, as well as the histories that these fellows put together in scripture.

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God had affirmed that he had sent them, did it with signs, not just one, but many.

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Elijah performed several signs, Elisha, several signs, and all of those signs affirm and confirm they were sent by God.

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And then everything goes silent for centuries. It goes silent.

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Now, a little bit of a note here. Daniel did not perform signs. Signs were performed on his behalf and on behalf of the children of Israel.

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They're amazing signs, but they're of a kind of a different stripe that they're there helps us a little bit because Daniel is part of the corpus of scripture.

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So it's important that that's in there. Does that make sense? Next group then would be the apostles.

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I'm debating what I wanted to do here. I think I want to go with this one because it's a little bit more fun. Today's signs and wonders, new apostolic reformation movement talks about signs and wonders in this way.

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It is absolutely necessary for evangelism, for the sake of evangelism that we operate in signs and wonders.

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Otherwise, how can people know with certainty that there is a God? This is how they talk.

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So we must, must, must, must, must, must, must recover signs and wonders in the church so that the gospel can go forth and we can take, take dominion over all of the earth.

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This is how they talk. Is that how it works all the time? We know Peter operated in signs and wonders.

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We know this for a fact. I mean, raised somebody up and gave him the ability to walk who was crippled from birth.

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You know, he raised Dorcas from the dead, great signs. What about the apostle

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Paul? Okay. Because this is the, this is a fellow who is kind of like unnaturally or untimely born as an apostle.

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He is an eyewitness of the resurrection. Most certainly true. He learned his gospel directly from Jesus.

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Jesus actually trained him in the gospel that he preached, but you're going to note this, that the apostle Paul has the same quality of signs and wonders that Peter has.

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Same quality. He raises people from the dead. He heals people. And these signs and wonders affirm that he's one of Jesus's apostles.

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He was sent by Christ himself, but signs and wonders don't always work well in evangelism.

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This is a case of that. Let me explain. Let me fast forward just a little bit in Acts 14 verse eight at Lystra.

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There was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked.

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He listened to Paul speaking and Paul looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well said in a loud voice, stand upright on your feet.

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And he sprang up and began walking. There it is. Okay. Great sign proof that God sent him, but he's in pagan territory.

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So he sprang up. And when the crowd saw that Paul had done what they had done, they lifted up their voices saying in the

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Laconian language, the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men.

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Barnabas, they called Zeus, Paul Hermes because he talked too much. And the priest of Zeus whose temple was at the entrance to the city brought oxen and garlands to the gates wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds.

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But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul knows both of them are apostles, Barnabas sent by the church and by the

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Holy spirit, but Paul sent by Christ a little bit different. They heard of it.

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They tore their garments, rushed into the crowd crying, men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of like nature with you.

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And we bring you good news that you should turn from these vain things to a living

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God who made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them in past generations.

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He allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet he did not leave himself without witness for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.

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Even with these words, they scarcely restrained the people from offering a sacrifice to them.

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But the Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.

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All I can say is that had to hurt. So let me ask you this. The majority of the new

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Testament is written by whom Paul, how do we know the doctrine he is teaching is really from God.

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He performed signs. He performed wonders. Didn't always work well for him.

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And you'll notice here, the sign actually kind of, you know, it gets people's attention. Hey, what

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I'm saying is true. I mean, who can do that? It's not a magic trick. You know, this fellow, I don't even know his name.

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Right. And it just, it kind of sprung back at him. He ends up getting stoned for it. So is it necessary that we have signs and wonders in evangelism?

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Now it's a little bit of a trick question. The answer is yes and no. Not that I perform them, but that I point people to the living active word of God, where the signs that support the doctrine in scripture are recorded for us.

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And for the sake of those who are investigating these things, we don't need signs and wonders today.

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We have them already in scripture. And it's consistent throughout that major blocks of authors of scripture had signs and wonders, these signs gifts for the purpose of confirming that they were sent by God.

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So do we need them today? No, what we have is sufficient. The ultimate sign then is the pinnacle, pinnacle miracle of all scripture.

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One that nobody, nobody, I mean, nobody could mimic by using trickery and magic.

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And that's the resurrection of Christ stone cold graveyard dead killed by the

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Romans. And the Romans never led anybody off those crosses alive, sat in a tomb body cold as ice.

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And on the third day, he walks out on his own steam. That's the ultimate sign.

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That's the ultimate miracle in scripture. It's even greater than the parting of the red sea, even greater.

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And that's the sign that Jesus is who he claimed to be. And you'll note the greatest miracle worker in all of scripture is

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Jesus. And Jesus says of his disciples who became the apostles, the one who hears you, here's me.

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And now today, the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets long ago.

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In many ways, God spoke by the prophets, but now these last days he has spoken by his son.

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And all of this is confirmed. God has confirmed that he sent them by these miracle miraculous signs.

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So those are the signs that we are to point people to. Those are the signs, not some sign that I have to work myself up into performing.

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Isn't it fascinating? I mean, the big sign that people are miracle workers today is they can link lengthen legs.

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Really? For real? I can do a cold reading. Let me look at your

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Facebook real quick here. I mean, that's the bizarre thing. I mean, watch the, you know, the

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Azusa now revival from last year. There's Sean Bowles on the stage at the LA Coliseum.

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And he says, is there a such and such out here in the audience? And he's holding his cell phone.

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Is there a such and such? Does this mean anything to you? And it's like the, and somebody actually sent me links.

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They looked up the people that were called out by name at the time and pointed me to their

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Facebooks and on their Facebooks in the public, out in the open. You didn't even have to be their friends was the information he was using.

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No joke, total fraud. Do we need these types of signs and wonders?

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Not today. We need to point people. Hey, listen, let me tell you about Peter. Peter was sent by Christ.

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Peter, actually God raised people from the dead through him affirming that he was sent by Christ.

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And he's an eyewitness to the resurrection, the signs and wonders we need to point people to are in the scriptures themselves.

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Now, last bit, a little bit dark, Matthew 24. I want you to consider

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Jesus's explanation of how things are going to be like in the last day. Work our way through a large piece of this.

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Jesus left the temple was going away. When his disciples came to point out to him, the buildings, the temple, he answered them.

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You see all these, do you not truly? I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.

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Think like a Jew for a second. Where's the place you go for sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins?

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Temple. If there's no temple, there's no forgiveness of sins. If there's no forgiveness of sins, it's the end of the world.

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It's kind of how they're thinking, right? So as he sat on the Mount of Olives, watch the question. Disciples came to him privately saying, tell us when will these things be?

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What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age? Their assumption is it's the end of the age and you're coming back.

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If the temple's destroyed, that's their thinking. I love it that the disciples kind of like me, kind of like all of us just don't always get what

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Jesus is saying. What Jesus then does is he gives a prophecy and we talked about this big term yesterday, proleptic.

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It's a proleptic prophecy and think of it this way. He takes something that's going to happen in the near future and literally braids it with something that's going to happen in the far future.

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The near fulfillment is type and shadow then of the far fulfillment.

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The destruction of the temple is type and shadow of the end of the world itself. Think of it that way.

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So what will be, when will these things be? What will be the sign of your coming in the end of the age? Jesus answered them, see to it that no one leads you astray.

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For many will come in my name. Huh? I'm a Christian saying,

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I am the Christ. Better way of saying it. I am an anointed one because that's what a Christos is.

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A Christos is an anointed one. Yeah. Touch, not God's anointed. Let me translate.

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Touch, not God's Christ. You see it. They will lead many astray.

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You will hear of wars, rumors of wars. See that you're not alarmed. That must take place. The end is not yet.

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If the United States decides to take out North Korea next week, don't be alarmed.

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You just never know with this administration, just saying nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom.

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There are going to be famines, earthquakes, various places. All of these things are, but the beginning of birth pains. And I love the fact that scripture regards these as birth pains.

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That means something's about to be given birth to painful, but it's something news coming. They will deliver you over to tribulation, put you to death.

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You'll be hated by all nations for my namesake. Lovely sign me up.

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Many will fall away, betray one another, hate one another.

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Many false prophets, not some, not a few, not a smattering, not a dollop.

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Many oodles and oodles and oodles of false prophets will arise and lead what many astray.

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This is a description of what now ever and always. And in increasingly so, and because lawlessness will be increased, scary thought, the love of many will grow cold.

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Most of the increase in hatred today, but the one who endures to the end, that's the one that's going to be saved.

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And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations.

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Then the end will come. So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken by the prophet

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Daniel, Daniel spoke about this fellow. Actually, I think he got that via direct revelation and have explained by an angel.

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We see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place. Let the reader understand.

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Now everyone thinks the holy place is the temple in Jerusalem. Question is the temple type and shadow of Christ, or is the temple the thing itself?

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That's the holy thing type and shadow temples gone, not there.

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Where would the holy place be? Where's the only holy place you can think of right now in the truest sense of the word holy and don't think

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St. Peter's. It's the church. Where does the abomination of desolation come from?

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According to scripture, the church, whoever this fellow is, he's a churchman.

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We see him standing in the holy place. Let those who are Judea flee. Now this is where it gets interesting. Now here comes the near prophecy.

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It's type and shadow of the far. This is the proleptic part of it. So this is the part that's fulfilled already. Let the one who is in the housetop, not go down, take what is in house, but the one who is in the field, not turn back to take his cloak.

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Alas, for women who are pregnant, for those who are nursing infants in those days, pray that your flight may not be in the winter or on a

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Sabbath for then there will be great tribulations such as not has been from the beginning of the world until now and never will be.

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And if those days had not been cut short now, it's squishing things together. No human being would be saved, but for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.

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So if anyone says, so you're going to note here a little bit of something to do with like the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem.

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And now we're back off into the far piece of this and talking about if in the very last days, as things really get rocking and rolling, think of left behind kind of cataclysmic kind of stuff, but without the rapture, talk about that later.

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If those days are not cut short, no human being would be saved. You know, from this text,

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I think it's kind of safe to say that the devil's plan all along. If you look back in the garden of Eden, the devil seeing that man was creating in the image of God, the goal was to have basically humanity killed by God.

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That was the idea, deceive them and make God kill that, which he created in his own image.

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That didn't work. So Satan will settle for a suicide of the entire species. And does it not seem like we're heading over the cliff of insanity to the point where if we keep at this pace, humanity as a, as a planet, as a race is going to commit suicide.

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That's kind of the idea. So if the days had not been cut short, nobody's going to be saved, but for the sake of the elect, that's us.

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Those days will be cut short. So then if anyone says to you, look, here's the anointed one, or there he is, don't believe it for false

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Christ's false profits will arise. And here it is and perform great signs and wonders.

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So as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect see, I have told you beforehand. Huh? So in the very last of the last days, there's going to be a signs and wonders revival, great signs, great wonders.

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I like to picture it like this. Maybe if it's in the near future, there's Patricia King up on stage at her on the front lines.

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And while she's preaching, which she should never be doing and twisting God's word, which she's going to be held accountable for some lady in the front row has a heart attack kills over and plump is dead.

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And what does everybody do? They panic. They call nine one, one income, the paramedics, nothing's happening to this woman's dead.

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And just before they wheel her corpse off, Patricia King comes and lays her hands on her.

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And this woman gets up Christian post is all over it. It's all over Fox news,

57:19

CNN, and there's no doubt about it. The paramedics said that woman had no pulse for 15 minutes.

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She was gone. What's going to happen. Everyone's going to say, Patricia King is a prophetess of God.

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And I'll be on my radio programming going, no, she's not. She's a liar and a deceiver.

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And this is what Jesus said would happen because we've gone 2000 years without needing any signs and wonders.

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And when they really show up again, Jesus has told us when they show up again, don't believe the people who are performing them.

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In fact, that's his point. False Christ, false prophets will arise, perform great signs and wonders.

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So as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. And then Jesus says, see, I've told you beforehand.

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Look at this. We have a prophetic word telling us the future. So put it all together. The signs and wonders that are recorded for us in scripture confirm that the men whom

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God sent were sent by God. And these men were the big block writers of the old

58:34

Testament. Also the new Testament review again with me, what it says in Hebrews two,

58:40

I think it'll help kind of make the point as we kind of wrap up here. Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we've heard less.

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We drift away from it for, since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable in every transgression or disobedience received a dress retribution.

58:57

How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the

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Lord. And it was attested to us by those who heard while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the

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Holy spirit distributed according to his will. So God was bearing witness to the prophets and to the apostles through those signs and wonders that the message they was, they were bringing us was true.

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And in the apostolic record, we have Jesus saying in the very last of the last days, there will be a signs and wonders revival.

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And it ain't from me. And I've told you ahead of time. So when it shows up, what don't believe it.

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So do we need sign gifts today? Nope. No one needs to be operating in them.

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We need to be going out and proclaiming the apostolic doctrine found in the word of God. We need to proclaim the apostles and the prophets words that were confirmed by signs and wonders.

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And when signs and wonders legitimately show up again today, don't listen to the people who are performing them.

01:00:04

Christ has warned us ahead of time that they're coming to deceive. If possible, every one of us.

01:00:11

And now you know what the Bible teaches about signs and wonders, their function and what to expect any day now.

01:00:26

Thank you for listening. If you would like to hear and see more things like this from pirate

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So until next time, may God richly bless you in the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ and his vicarious death on the cross for all of your sins.