Conflict in the Church

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Hey everybody, I'm Pastor Jeff Durbin with Apologia Church. I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on Apologia Studios channel.

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What you're about to watch is a sermon, a message from Apologia Church's worship service. And again, I want to thank you all so much for watching, for liking, for commenting, for sharing the sermon itself.

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So thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them. God bless you. All right, if you would open your

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Bibles to John chapter 17. Gospel according to John chapter 17.

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Again, a little step off of the Kingdom of God series today because of all that's going on, but I thought we could, the elders thought we could spend some time talking as a church about some important things in terms of God's plan for the church, the mission of the church, and our unity.

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So God's glory and our unity. And so I thought, where do you start really? I mean, if you're going to have a base text, where do you begin?

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I mean, you could start, of course, in all the passages where the unity of the church is discussed. I mean, that would just take really all day to go through the

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New Testament itself to see God specifically addressing the issue of unity, love for one another, forgiving one another, bearing each other's burdens.

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You have throughout the New Testament. I mean, here's one of the interesting things. As God sanctifies the church universally, sanctifies the church universal through local bodies, right?

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And if we were as sinners who are redeemed by Christ to walk into any church and see at some point conflict, division, struggle, factions, really anything, sadness, depression, lack of joy, you know, just the typical things of a fallen world and sinners.

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And we said, I don't want to have anything to do with that. So I'm going to go and I'm going to depart from this. It's just going to be me and the

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Lord and my Bible. Well, I would say, well, congratulations. You're going to be consumed as you read that Bible with all the discussion about divisions, conflict, and factions, and all the different things that happen within this world and in bodies with believers who love

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Jesus, who are being sanctified together. So I thought, well, if you want to really get the heart of God today, brief message on God's glory and the unity of the church, there's no better place

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I can think of to hear the heart of God about unity and what God intends for us, his people.

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Then John chapter 17, this is Jesus high priestly prayer. We have a recorded prayer of the

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Lord Jesus to the father about us. So make no mistake about it.

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This passage is about you. There are a lot of places in scripture that we can look at and say, no, there are principles we can derive from this here, but it doesn't actually apply to us in terms of, this wasn't

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Jesus talking to me. So for example, I would say, and it's our conviction as a church, that in Matthew 24,

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Mark 13, Luke 21, the Olivet Discourse is Jesus talking to the first century people, his audience.

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Now, of course, we learn from that and we see the glory of Jesus as prophet and telling us the future before it happens and God keeping his promises to judge the covenant breakers.

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But that's about them. We derive principles from that passage, but it wasn't about me.

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It's not about you. It's not about our day. It's about the first century. What's going to happen to them? And Jesus specifies as much.

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He says, this generation will not pass away until all of these things take place. Which generation? Well, the

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Ginnea, the generation that he was then speaking to. However, there are passages in scripture throughout scripture that do apply directly to me, to you.

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It is God addressing us, our issues. And so in Jesus' high priestly prayer,

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Jesus speaks to the father about his church. John chapter 17, hear now the words of the living and the true

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God. When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, father, the hour has come.

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Glorify your son, that the son may glorify you since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

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And this is eternal life that they may know you the only true

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God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

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I glorified you on earth having accomplished the work that you gave me to do and now father glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

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I've manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were and you gave them to me and they have kept your word.

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Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you for I have given them the words that you gave me and they have received them and I have come to know in truth that I and have come to know in truth that I came from you and they have believed that you sent me.

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I am praying for them. I'm not praying for the world.

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But for those whom you have given me for they are yours all mine are yours and yours are mine and I am glorified in them and I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world and I am coming to you.

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Holy Father keep them in your name which you have given me that they may be one even as we are one while I was with them.

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I kept them in your name which you have given me. I've guarded them and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction that the scripture might be fulfilled.

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But now I am coming to you and these things

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I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world just as I am not of the world.

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I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world just as I am not of the world.

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Sanctify them in the truth your word is truth as you send me into the world.

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So I have sent them into the world and for their sake I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth.

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I do not ask for those only but also for those who will believe in me through their word.

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That's you that they may all be one just as you father are in me and I and you that you also may be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me the glory that you have given me.

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I have given to them that they may be one even as we are one I in them and you and me that they may become perfectly one so that the world may know that you have sent me and love them even as you loved me father.

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I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with you where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you love me before the foundation of the world as far as the reading of God's word.

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Let's pray father. We come to you Lord as your people Lord. We have nothing to boast of or in in ourselves

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Lord. You have saved us you chose before the world began to give salvation to your elect people people who do not deserve it

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Lord. We are not better than the world. We are not more righteous. We are not more worthy of your grace

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Lord. You chose us in you before the foundation of the world and we come before you now

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Lord as your church pleading Lord to be taught by you to be transformed and renewed and Lord Jesus we recognize even now as we open this word and we hear your prayer for us.

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We recognize Lord your prayer to the father that we would be one even as you and the father are one and Lord I have to confess myself and I think

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I speak for this body that that is incomprehensible. I do not fully grasp the power of it the height of it the majesty of it

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God. I can't fathom Lord as a fallible creature Lord your intense desire and decree that we would be one together as you and the father are one that much unity that much unity all

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I can ask father is that you would Lord give it to us help us Lord bless us now as we open your word help us to understand it give me the words

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Lord that you want spoken and I pray that this day we would be renewed in our minds that we would be firmed up in our commitments to Lord be unified in you the

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Lord we would outdo one another with honor that we love each other with genuine affection the Lord we would be always aware of the schemes of the enemy and I pray

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Lord God that you would allow your word today to penetrate us to the point that we are transformed in Jesus name

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Amen. Okay, so John chapter 17 I as you of course heard me in the prayer just now

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I don't comprehend it it's it's the Trinity Doctrine right the

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Trinity the Bible teaches the Trinity from cover to cover you see the father speaking to the son in the Old Testament there is one

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God only one God none before none after eternal everlasting God from eternity into eternity yet the father is

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God the son is God the Holy Spirit is God it's logical it makes sense it is true and you can declare it you can point to it but there's an element we have to all confess to of the triune nature of God that creatures with three -pound brains that are fallible that came here at a particular point in time cannot fully comprehend it makes sense you can see it in Scripture again you can you can show it to somebody clearly it is incontrovertible it's clear it's throughout the entire

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Bible but there's nothing wrong with saying that there's an incomprehensible nature to these divine truths

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God is not like us and there is something incomprehensible about his nature and so it's almost one of those things where you have to agree with many theologians like Calvin like be very careful when you see a divine truth that is so grand and majestic that you say no it must come down to my level

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I have to be able to understand this as a creature and comprehend it there's a certain degree of arrogance there and saying you have to understand that you're a creature and he's

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God you're not like him he is above you as ways are higher than your ways you are not going to be able to search him out and that's exactly the

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God you want to worship man -made gods look like us man -made gods are easy to comprehend because well they're made by men creatures create gods that we can fathom and comprehend but the

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God of the Bible is incomprehensible and their divine truths in Scripture that we should embrace and celebrate the fact that they are incomprehensible and to me honestly truly this is one of those incomprehensible truths to me that they would be one

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God's people would be one the ones chosen out of the world that God set his love upon the ones that would believe because of the testimony of the early

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Apostles and disciples that they would be one as the Father and the Son are one

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I want you to think about that for a moment Jesus shares here in John 17 he says now father glorify me with yourself with the glory that I shared with you before the world was there is of course we say in theology is the pre -existence of Christ there is

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John 17 matching John chapter 1 where it says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was

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God there right there in John chapter 1 is Jesus in our cane or logos as far back as you want to go forever he was pro stone they own he was toward the father face to face with an intimate relationship with the father that's what the text says and here now

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Jesus is he talks to the father in the high priestly prayer he is reiterating that truth father glorify me with yourself with the glory that I shared with you before the world even was so here is

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Jesus with an intimate relationship of perfection with the father from all eternity there was never a time where the father was not delighting in the son of the son not delighting in the father and the

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Holy Spirit not delighting in the father and the son there is this perfect fellowship in unity a relationship of perfection listen watch no backbiting no conflict no jealousy no strife perfect unity a perfection of love not just in word but indeed from all eternity the father the son and the

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Holy Spirit in perfect fellowship in unity and Jesus says this is incomprehensible to me he says that his prayer to the father is that God's people would be one like the father and the son are one there's a degree of that that I can comprehend and say

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I get it logically but there's a degree of that which I can't have to confess to I cannot comprehend in terms of how is it possible for sinners fallen people to be so united together in love that they match the union of the father and the son it's that kind of perfection of love and all

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I can say in terms of if you say Pastor Jeff how do we get there I would say well I'm in this with you and all

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I can say is it's gonna come with a heck of a lot of repentance it's gonna come with a whole lot of vanquishing our pride our selfish ambition our stubbornness it's gonna come with a whole lot of humility and sacrifice of love for one another it's gonna come with a whole lot of trying to outdo the other person with honor it's gonna come with a whole lot of repentance over not loving somebody with genuine affection genuine affection affection that is truly from God not merely in word but indeed also but it is clear to me that God has a desire for the church that far

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I believe this surpasses our expectations it far surpasses our expectations this is a prayer we don't have just this is important we don't have a lot of Jesus prayers recorded in terms of these lengthy long prayers like what was

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Jesus saying to the father what was it like the intimate prayer life of Jesus with the father for example when it says that Jesus would do something that many of us probably haven't even done and that's where Jesus would leave like very early in the morning when it was still dark to go be at a secluded place to be alone with the father like what was that like like what does it sound like for Jesus to talk to the father for extended periods of time what was on his heart like what did he ask the father for because the father loves the son he loves the son and he gives the son what he wants right

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Psalm chapter 2 ask of me and I'll give you the nations for your inheritance the very ends of the earth for your possession

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I'll give it to you just ask me for it Jesus like the father loves the son he gives him what he wants he is the perfect image of God he is the

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God man fully God and fully man that's who we have and in this prayer of Jesus we have the high priestly prayer he's praying about you he's praying about me he's praying about this moment right now yes the church universal the body universal but he's praying for you and for me this moment together this is about us and this is what

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Jesus prays to the father about the body of Christ he says that they would be one as you and I are one as we are one that kind of unity that kind of oneness that's what the that's what the

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Lord prays to the father that's the intimacy in the unity that he wants us to have as the body of Christ so I want to talk just for a moment

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Jesus says here I'm not praying for the world pause there for a moment hashtag

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Calvinism hashtag doctrines of grace yes I'm not praying for the world but I'm praying for those that you've given me out of the world the ones that you've chosen

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I'm not praying for the world those that you've given me out of the world God's mission is in Scripture all throughout the kingdom of God we talk about it often an apology of church especially because we're in the gospel according to Matthew and it is a highlight theme of the entire book according to a gospel according to Matthew the clear mission of God is the kingdom of God in the world the rule of God in the world

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I just gave you one text on it Psalm chapter 2 ask of me I'll give you the nations for your inheritance the very ends of the earth for your possession the clear text in Isaiah 9 6 through 7 that El Gabor the mighty

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God is coming as a son as a child and what does it say about him up to the increase of his government they'll be no ends it's going to increase in his government and of peace the zeal of the

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Lord of hosts will accomplish this the text in Daniel 7 13 through 14 looking in the night vision seeing one like a son of man coming on the clouds of heaven and what's it saying to him was given dominion glory and a kingdom that all the people's what tribes nations languages would all serve him you see that's the mission itself and if you don't believe that you have to just take a look at Jesus words that are his last words in this gospel that we've been studying

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Matthew Matthew 28 18 through 20 after Jesus accomplishes his mission his perfect life and death and resurrection he's appearing to his disciples and he's there now this is the end of that ministry and now he's going to ascend and be seated on his throne to rule and reign putting all of his enemies under his feet in the last words that he says to his people there is he says all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me go therefore because it's all mine and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the

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Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to obey Jesus tells us what that mission is but you see the

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Jesus isn't on this mission by him self that's what's clear in scripture he has something that he has purchased for himself called the bride the bride of Christ his bride the

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New Jerusalem the kingdom of God the bride of Christ and we know from scripture that God chooses that terminology very very carefully has meaning to it when

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God creates the world he creates male and female and then he gives them their tasks he tells

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Adam this is your duty he tells Eve this is what's going to happen but we know that God says that about Eve Eve was going to be his help meet and when

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God chose to give the church a symbol of the relationship between Jesus and his people he chooses the symbol of the husband and the bride that we are the bride of Christ that Christ calls to be one as he and the

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Father are one but there's something that's beyond that that we have to reflect on and it's this who is the woman to Adam I just said it the help meet the woman is the help meet the image of God in perfection male and female he created them in the image of God he created them together they perfectly express the image of God husband and wife male and female but she's the help meet and when

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God chooses the symbol for Christ in the church he says he's the husband the bride is the church which means that the bride of Christ is his help meet as he's on his mission to win the entire world putting his enemies under his feet the bride is his help meet we are what

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God uses on his mission to transform and renew the world his people but we have to recognize sin as a factor within the body of Christ within ourselves individually so I want to talk just for a moment about this local church about this body just briefly just to talk about what

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God has done this is not to our glory very carefully I want to say that this is not to our glory everything that God has done in this body globally is not about any one of us it's about Jesus it's about God's grace what do we have except that which has been given to us by God what do we have except something that's a gift from his hands everything that God has done through apology a church globally this small church that is impacting the world globally everything is a gift from his hand to his glory it is not about us it is not about our legacy it is about the kingdom of God the gospel of Jesus it's about God's glory but it's good for us to all understand what

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God has done from the beginning I'll just say because the visitors here today many of you guys may not realize that this church came to life out of a drug and alcohol hospital there are people sitting among you right now that were first sitting in front of me in a group setting behind locked doors at a hospital there are people sitting in this room right now that have been with us from the very very beginning and know the very humble beginnings that God granted to us as a body did you know that apology a church was never a thought on any of our minds apology a church wasn't a plan apology a church didn't develop a business plan or a church planning plan this church came to life at a hospital because of God's providence and because of God saving so many people addicted to drugs and alcohol it became so clear that we needed to care for these people so we stepped out in faith with the

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Lord and we began preaching and worshiping the Lord at the family building of the hospital the only people that were in front of us at this hospital were drug addicts most of them still on detoxification medicine many of them in halfway houses the majority of them losing have having lost their families all their close relationships marriages completely failed we were worshiping

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God in the middle of the summertime with no air conditioning in this family building because it's all we had that's where we came from as a church we used to many guys know

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I said a lot we used to be known in the valley is that drug church that's what people called us oh that's that drug church people didn't want to come to Apologia Church early on because when you came the first thing you had to walk through was a cloud of smoke from all of the people smoking cigarettes outside the front door there's a lot of the need to be worked on at the time and as you walk through that cloud of smoke you would walk into a room of people covered in tattoos with gauges in their ears people with torn jeans people falling on their faces before God while we didn't even have a band we were projecting worship songs from YouTube on a screen that's all we had and let me just say we loved it we absolutely loved it but that's where we came from it was something that we resisted with all that we had we told

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God no we didn't want to do it we weren't asking for this I never wanted to plan a church it wasn't a part of my desire my plan but God called us to it and honestly made us do it

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God through this ministry over these almost 10 years has saved countless addicts worldwide and I have to choose that word and I want you to please hear me on this

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I mean this very humbly I try to figure out what word do I want to use for what God has done with this and I thought there's well there's really no way for me to count how many people

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God has saved from drug and alcohol addiction how many families he saved how many lives he's honestly saved from death because of the ministry of this church because what

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God has done countless people worldwide have become reformed in their theology that's a hootin and hollerin thing right there guys that's a good thing right praise

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God their theology has been transformed why would that matter it matters for this reason because we believe reformed theology to be the clearest expression of biblical faith number one but also reformed theology is the theology that says

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God gets the glory for salvation and not me he gets the glory and not me it's all of his grace not according to any work and so we call that a major victory for the gospel in the kingdom of God countless people worldwide have begun evangelizing in their communities because of the witness of this church do you know that the witness of this church worldwide millions and millions and millions and millions of views across platforms or people have seen our church on the streets preaching the gospel it's not been something that we said hey we should go out and evangelize and turn a camera on so that the world can see us evangelize here's the key we were already doing it all we did was turn a camera on and send it out to the world and because of that I have lost count as to how many people have become begun

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Bible studies centered around our videos and then those churches have gone out into the world and they're winning people to Christ in their neighborhoods the witness of this church just take this weekend one weekend for example this weekend

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Friday we have the men of this church and the women of this church and the children this church going out downtown in the public square to proclaim the excellencies of Jesus the gospel and the call to repentance that was

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Friday night Saturday morning we had at least 50 people including small children outside of an abortion mill where they're killing children holding signs and speaking into an abortion mill we had little children as young as four picking up a microphone to call out to the death squirts to plead for the lives of the children that's what

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God has done through the witness of this church countless people worldwide have come to Christ out of the cults out of atheism we've lost count

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I just this morning as I'm praying for and preparing for the message this morning received a message from a

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Jehovah's Witness couple this Jehovah's Witness couple it's a second one I received in a week in one week a

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Jehovah's Witness couple that came to Christ through watching the witness of our church online going to the text that were talked about and now yes praise

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God now those Jehovah's Witnesses who are now saved and in Christ are using all the things that our church has sent out into the world to now actually go and engage with their families and their old

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Kingdom Hall to win those people to Jesus these stories can be multiplied ad infinitum ad nauseum over and over and over again

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I can't tell you about all the people who have seen the content of our church

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Zach preaching into the mill Josh preaching into the mill all of our people here preaching the gospel to the abortion mill who have listened to that content or seen it when they that morning had an appointment to kill their child at the abortion mill and they saw the video come up they listen to the message and now they give us the name of their daughter who's alive today because of the witness of this church hundreds of churches now around the world literally in six nations hundreds of churches now that are on mission at the abortion mill preaching the gospel and this is where it gets watch it gets tough listen

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I say it so much that it becomes something that is too easy for us to hear don't let that happen when

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I say that literally thousands of children are alive today because of the witness of this church in the work of this church when

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I say thousands of children are alive today don't let that be something that you are ever jaded to or indifferent towards do you understand what

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I said thousands of children alive because of the witness of this church around the world six nations now churches that are being trained by apology a church to win people to Christ at the abortion mills and to save lives there's no way to calculate the glory of God in what he has done in just this very small body of unworthy and undeserving people it's a powerful thing what

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God has done in this church to transform lives there are people in this church that had needles in their arms who are living on the streets living in their cars who are almost dead and God saved through this community of believers transform their lives people here who are now have families and children who should be dead according to the world standards and if they had gone that direction any longer the powerful thing that watch early on one of the difficulties was because of the nature of our church that drug church people we didn't have any families we had no children one of the things that our wives used to say is

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I well I guess this is just how we will have it a bunch of single people and ex drug addicts and it'll just look like this and now right now they call us that kid church all the marriage yes amen all the marriages that have started because of apology a church all the children that have started all the discipling of our children taking place at this church we have visitors that come and watch our children recite catechism and they are in awe and stunned over what

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God has done through this church with just the children kids preaching to death squirts at an abortion mill the regular baptisms that God is blessing us with with us as a church there are churches that don't see this level of baptisms on a regular basis it's a gift from God to us as a church and I want to highlight something when you take note of all those things one it's not me to it's not our leadership three it's not you and your power and your knowledge and your righteousness and your gifts it's

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God who gets the glory for this it's God who did this but there's a second thing

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I want to highlight here and this is very very important for us to recognize did you hear everything I just said here's an important thing to do when you reflect on a church that God is using to do that around the world you have to recognize we have to recognize that we are a target for the enemy never miss the spiritual element of this conflict in the world a church like ours that God is using unworthy people like us that God is using to do these amazing things around the world we have to recognize that the enemy doesn't want to see the kingdom of God growing the enemy doesn't want to see the kingdom of God saving children from death the enemy doesn't want the light of the gospel spreading into all these different areas to take down the kingdom of the cults to address atheism to destroy secularism to fight against these things and so we have to recognize the spiritual warfare aspect of this

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I think we often neglect in reform circles their spiritual aspect of this fight one of the things that I think charismatics can teach you is they can teach you about the spiritual elements of our warfare that's critical if you would open your

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Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4 sorry

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Ephesians 6 Ephesians chapter 6 verse 10 this is by the way go read this later the

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Apostle Paul points to the Apostle Paul points to in Ephesians chapter 4 starting in there you can see he's pointing to actually addressing the conflict that's happening in the church in Ephesus so you have conflict happening that Paul is addressing and right on the tail of that on the heels of that is the

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Apostle Paul pointing to something very very critical that we have to hear as a church as a local church

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Ephesians chapter 6 verse 10 he says this to the church after addressing the problems of sin and conflict finally be strong in the

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Lord and in strength of his might put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil and we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the rulers against the authorities against the cosmic powers over this present darkness against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as as shoes for your feet having out in the ready put in on the readiness given by the gospel of peace in all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one and take up the helmet of salvation and the sword of the

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Spirit which is the Word of God praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication to that end keep alert with all perseverance making supplication for all the

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Saints and also for me the words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel you see brothers and sisters listen closely the

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Apostle Paul is talking to a church about their conflicts about the strife about the divisions about the sanctification that needs to happen within that body and as he ends that discussion he says brothers and sisters you are not fighting a warfare against flesh and blood you are fighting a much different warfare a spiritual warfare this is an attack of the enemy notice he says you put that shield of faith up so that you may be able to vanquish all the fiery darts from your brother or sister that you may be able to vanquish all the fiery darts from the enemy out there now he says the vanquish the fiery darts from the enemy who are we talking about the enemy of our souls who are we talking about the accuser of the brethren and listen

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I am not at all in any way suggesting as a Christian this is very important that we look for the devil behind every rock that we blame everything on the devil but you know what there is a lack of balance in terms of the spiritual warfare on the one hand you don't want to say the devil made me do it it's all the devil you're looking behind for the devil behind every rock but on the other hand you don't want to be so ignorant of his schemes and devices that you act like he's not an enemy after your souls that we don't recognize that the devil and the demons and these spiritual attacks come against the body of Christ you've heard me say so many times as the pastor of this church that God has equipped our body in such a way as to protect us and to teach us and to train us so that the external attacks from the world do not phase apology of church when we have news agencies creating documentaries to attack our church we laugh when we have attacks on our church from unbelievers where they mock us or they attack us we laugh at the enemy

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I've always said it's not the external attacks that will destroy a body like apology a church it is the attacks of the enemy that occur from within the body of Christ from inside and Paul is saying to the church in Ephesus you must be on guard brothers and sisters this is not a physical warfare of flesh and blood this is spiritual this is an attack of the enemy you must be ready with that sword and the helmet and breastplate and your loins girded up in your shoes and your shield you must be ready with all of these elements of spiritual warfare and always be on guard against the attacks of the enemy we must be ready and recognize that we are a target now brothers and sisters

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I know I'm trying to be careful with time today but I want to point out some things to you

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I said in the beginning in terms of us being Christ help me the kingdom of God spreading around the world our position as the bride of Christ his help me

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Christ call for us to be one I mentioned also at the beginning that a lot of times we struggle with the fact that the body of Christ is the most amazing thing it is truly one of the most the greatest testimonies to God's divine presence and love you know what

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I mean I'll take for example this week that blessed me severely we have someone that's a part of our body that had a health issue this week and I was incredible to see what happened the moment the body was notified that this person was hurting and in the hospital you should have seen just the dozens of conversations of prayer for this person and how can we help and let's show up at the hospital let's care for their needs

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I can't tell you the amount of times really on a weekly basis that you'll see someone hurting within the body and you'll see so many people just leap on that struggling person to care for all their needs handing out money hand over fist to care for needs of the body you see these glorious moments where pain enters into our experience we've had death enter into our body the death of loved ones that has severely severely wounded us and you've seen the body come around those families in ways that only can only be

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God it can only be God you've seen God show up in miraculous ways for this body in ways that testify to God's presence within our body the church is the most amazing place to be it is truly divine but at the same time because we're in a fallen world we're all being sanctified there are also moments within the body of Christ enter into our experience where you'll see sin sinful conflict misunderstanding disagreement strife factions might happen lies you see difficulty occur discipline has to happen so we often struggle with the fact that this is

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Christ's bride and his work and his mission in the world but it's difficult can we just confess that and be honest about that the body of Christ is also difficult why because God is sanctifying the body by his spirit he's sanctifying us he's changing us and what

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I say is this oftentimes you'll hear about a person who's having struggles within their local church they don't like that their struggles within their local church so what they end up doing is they end up going to another church and into another church and another church and another church and another church and trying to find the perfect church we're brothers and sisters here's the deal we live in a fallen world

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Jesus saves sinners not righteous people if ever we find a perfect church stay far away because you will screw it up right so we struggle with the fact that there's conflict within a church and disagreement and sanctification going on and I stress at the beginning listen you will never escape from that because if you want to run away from the body of Christ as a believer the moment you put your nose in this book you're going to be reading about conflict and strife and factions and all these different things you can't escape it this is the nature of the world that we live in I'll give you an example just as something to plant your feet in just so you can see what

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I'm talking about go to 1st Corinthians chapter 11 1st Corinthians chapter 11 just as an example of the

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Apostle Paul and the Word of God giving us blessing and encouragement but also you get a little insight as to what was taking place not long after Christ's resurrection and ascension in verse 17 1st

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Corinthians chapter 11 still hear those pages turning so I'm trying to be slow chapter 7 chapter 11 verse 17 but in the following instructions

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I do not commend you because when you come together it's not for the better but for the worse for in the first place when you come together as a church

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I hear that there are divisions among you and I believe it in part for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized it's a little blip right little moment right the

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Apostle Paul's talking about Lord's Supper and we're learning all these amazing things about spiritual gifts in chapter 12 and love in 13 and more gifts in 14 but as a little blip this little moment as we learn all these things in 1st in 1st

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Corinthians you see this moment of Paul he knows what's happening in that church he knows that this is a church in a pagan city that's come to Christ they're dealing with sanctification and difficulty and what he says is this when you come together as a church there's divisions among you and I believe it he says there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized you catch that that's hard to hear did you hear it there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine may be recognized so Paul is saying is this in local churches worldwide and just this one issue when a faction rises in a local church

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Paul says that it must be that way so that the genuine believers will be recognized factions show that just one example of what happens as the church is sanctified a moment like that but another example is in Ephesians chapter 4 moved to Ephesians chapter 4 of how you read about God's work of sanctification in the body in the

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New Testament itself Ephesians chapter 4 here's

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Paul talking to the church about their unity he says I therefore a prisoner for the Lord urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called with all humility and gentleness with patience watch this bearing with one another in love eager to maintain the unity of the

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Spirit in the bond of peace do you catch that do you see what's happening there here's the

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Apostle Paul in Ephesians 4 telling the church look you have to be willing and ready to accept these things walk in a manner worthy of the calling of what you've been called with all humility and gentleness with patience bearing with one another in love eager to maintain the unity of the

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Spirit in the bond of peace there's one body and one spirit just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call one

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Lord one faith one baptism one God and father of all who is over all and through all and in all but grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift so here's this moment where Paul now has to address the struggles within a church where they're not walking humbly with each other we're not being gentle they're not being patient with their struggles they're not bearing with one another in love eager to maintain the unity of the bond of peace and so what

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Paul does is he keeps addressing it and so in verse 11 he says to the gifts and he gave the

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Apostles the prophets the evangelists the shepherds and teachers to equip the Saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ and so we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the

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Son of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ so that watch we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine by human cunning by craftiness and deceitful schemes rather speaking the truth in love were to grow up in every way into him who was the head into Christ from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with it with which it is equipped when each part is working properly makes the body grow so that builds itself up in love look at verse 25 therefore having put away falsehood let each one of you the church the church let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor for all members of one another be angry and do not sin do not let the

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Sun go down in your anger and give no opportunity to the devil there it is again there it is again the source of the conflict and strife is spiritual attack give no opportunity to the devil let the thief no longer steal but rather let him labor doing honest work with his own hand so that he may have something to share with anyone in need let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths but only such as is good for building up as it fits the occasion that I may give grace to those who hear and do not grieve the

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Holy Spirit by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption watch this is Paul talking to the early church in the first century let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice be kind to one another tender -hearted forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you are you seeing it this is the sanctifying aspect of the

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Spirit of God in the local church you see I think that oftentimes we all want to believe the best about ourselves we all want to believe the best about ourselves we don't want to believe that we have selfish ambition or a lack of love we don't want to believe that there's pride within me we don't want to believe that we're not walking humbly with each other but I think one of the most critical things to do as a believer within your family or within a body of Christ is to examine yourself to see if there's a wrong way in you to recognize that all of this message here in Ephesians to the church in Ephesus applies to my church my body it applies to me these words count for me

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Jeff let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you

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Jeff be tender -hearted forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you these are commands of God upon us as believers you see it throughout the

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New Testament one more word I'll give you here as to walking within the body of Christ and I have a few last thoughts and we'll be done go to James if you want to have your spiritual teeth kicked in there's no better place than James I want you just to see how

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James addresses the church in James chapter 4 and I make I'm gonna make some observations here

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James chapter 4 verse 1 near the end of your New Testament are you ready guys listen closely here's

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James talking to the church what causes quarrels and what causes fights among you is it not this that your passions are at war within you you desire and you do not have so you murder you covet and cannot obtain so you fight and quarrel you do not have because you don't ask and add and you ask and do not receive because you will ask wrongly to spend it on your own passions you adulterous people do you not know that friendship of the world is enmity with God therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God or do you suppose it is not it is to no purpose the scripture says he yearns jealously jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us but he gives more grace therefore it says

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God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble submit yourselves therefore to God and here it is again resist the devil and he will flee from you draw near to God and he will draw near to you cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double -minded be wretched and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom humble yourselves before the

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Lord and he will exalt you do not speak evil against one another brothers the one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother speaks evil against the law and judges the law but if you judge the law you're not a doer of the law but a judge there is only one lawgiver and judge he who is able to save and to destroy but who are you to judge your neighbor couple things to point out if you're taking notes this is a popular listing here

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I think I want to share with you listen it's actually powerful one what is James say in regards to the source of the quarrels and fights within Christian fellowships what is

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James says the sources he says that it is something what within it is something about our hearts it is something about our passions within us that are the source of the conflicts so this is something that affects the universal body of Christ no matter which local body you find yourself in when there are quarrels and conflicts note that James the

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Lord's brother under the inspiration of the Spirit of God says if you want to know the source of your quarrels and conflicts you have no better place than to look within it is because of these passions that are within you that are a war with one another you covet you're jealous you want you ask a miss all those things

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James says you look within number two the consequences of sin within the body versus two through four you have you don't have so you murder you covet you don't obtain so you fight and quarrel there are conflicts to allowing these passions at war within us to actually find expression within the body of Christ but note also that James says third point the need for grace versus six and ten he says but he gives grace he gives more grace therefore it says

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God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble submit yourselves therefore to God resist the devil and he'll flee from you so the third point is the need that all of us have for the grace of God so what is

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James say here he says God opposes the proud God is an opposition to us if we're not willing to be humble next point pursue

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God over sin verses 7 through 8 notice that it is specifically noted that we are to resist the devil submit to God draw near to God he draws near to us the source is within us there are consequences to our sin we need grace therefore we must be humble the call is to resist

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Satan and to pursue God over our sin next James is teaching us in verses 8 and 9 to take our sin very seriously take our sin very seriously seriously to the point of this be

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I love how the ESV says this be wretched mourn and weep over your sin let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom

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James says take your sin so seriously the war that is happening within you all that's taking place within you to cause division and strife among you and he says you ought to stop laughing and having expressions of joy and you should fall down and be wretched and weep and mourn what not over somebody else's sin over my sin over my lack of humility over my jealousy over my strife next

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James says to stop the pattern of judgment verse 11 stop the pattern of judgment do not speak evil against one another brothers the one who speaks against her brother or judges his brother speaks evil against the law and judges the law so James says this take your sin seriously and you stop passing judgment upon your brother and the final point is this this is beautiful James says this in verse 12 there's only one lawgiver and judge he who is able to save and to destroy but who are you to judge your neighbor here's what here's what

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James says final word on this listen closely all the all this strong division that's happening in James day between these believers that he's addressing he's saying this you mourn over your sin you stop judging your brother and you trust the judge you put it into his hands you see here's the thing when

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I recognize that God is a perfect God and perfect judge I'm able to rest in myself knowing that whatever the conflict is

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God is a righteous judge he will always do right he's got it handled it's not up to me as a believer within the body of Christ to create conflict or amplify conflict because I want to act as judge do you see

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James is addressing that trust the judge he always does right okay final words here because we got to do baptisms a couple things in terms of conflict within church because we recognize also that there are times where you have to say a church is a bad church amen yes we know lots of those right is there a perfect church no but there are good churches and their churches you ought to leave

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I'll give you an example here are I think three good reasons to leave a church three good reasons to leave a church one they abandon essential core theology if you are at a church that is abandoned essential core theology theology where if you mess with it it ends up destroying the faith itself if you find a church like that or your leadership has gone the direction of abandoning essential core theological truths that is a time where you must leave that church that's a must leave the church another reason to leave a church is a refusal to discipline if you're at a church where the elders the leadership are not willing to enact biblical discipline merciful humble biblical discipline that is a church that you ought to leave it's not a healthy church a third reason

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I think you should leave a church is under is over gross unrepentant sin in leadership when you have unrepentant sin in leadership leadership they will not repent of their sin that's when you should leave a church here are reasons

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I would say as we're on mission together worldwide comprised of local churches everywhere here are reasons not to leave a church because there will be conflict within church one disagreements over non essentials right so here's the thing do you know how many churches have popped up because a church somehow splits and goes off and starts planning another church over side issues literally churches that have actually separated because of side issues like I don't believe you should ever smoke a cigar

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I know of a church listen I know of a church where one of the elders ended up splitting away from the church and taking a good segment of the church with them over members in the church who were playing

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Texas Hold 'em Texas Hold 'em not for money with chips so that was reason enough to cause a church split and division

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I know churches that have split and become whole other churches over the

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ESV versus the NIV those issues so reasons not to leave disagreements over non essentials if we find ourselves in a place where we are trying to make everybody look just like us in the

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Adi offer of the side issues the problem is not the church the problem is us it's me one of the things that I personally am thankful to God for in our local body is that God is granted to us a spirit of humility where we are able to have believers in our body who have differing perspectives over non -essential issues like one of the things

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I'm so happy about and so humbled by is that we have people at Apologia Church who are technically

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Presbyterian members of our church they believe in infant baptism and I am so humbled by the fact that they feel at home here that this is their body and that that issue isn't something that divides that we have believers here who have differing perspectives on baptismal mode we have believers here who have differing perspectives over particular practices we have differing perspectives on a host of issues and God has allowed our church to maintain unity even with non -essentials that's something to praise

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God for amen it truly truly is it's God who does that within us a reason not to leave a church ready your feelings were hurt people leave churches because their feelings were hurt another reason not to leave a church it's too small it's too small well if you were there the day that Jesus turned thousands of people away and it's whittled down to 12 people would you have complained to Jesus that his movement was too small too small is not a reason to leave a church another reason not to leave a church you're not being made the center of attention you're not being made the center of attention that's not a reason to leave a church another reason not to leave a church the pastors are not my best friends these are by the way reasons that I have heard another reason not to leave a church is the

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Deacons are not my best friends another reason not to leave a church is the pastors wives are not my best friends another reason is the

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Deacons wives are not my best friends Another reason not to leave a church is that you're not being made a leader.

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Another reason not to leave a church is that you're bored. It's just boring now.

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It was exciting before, it's boring now. Let me just say this, if you leave a church because you're bored, you will find that in every church that you go to.

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Because ultimately, I think boredom is a heart issue. Our ability to find joy shouldn't be found in our pastor, our leadership, or the believers next to us.

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Who's the source of our joy? Jesus. And that should not be a pithy response.

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When someone says, I'm struggling now because I feel really bored, what that tells me is that when you're going from church to church, you are looking for a savior, not a church.

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We should never leave a church because we're, quote, bored. How about another reason not to leave a church?

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Because I have conflict with another believer in the body. Brothers and sisters, that's throughout the

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New Testament, and you and I are going to find it throughout our lives. What's the call of God upon us if we have conflict with another believer?

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That's right. Go to them. Humility, repentance, love, fight for unity.

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What does Jesus say in John 17? Did you catch that part? I didn't highlight it, it's my mistake, I didn't do it, I wanted to.

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But in John 17, when Jesus talks all about that they would be one, as we're one, united together, one, loving one another, he says what?

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So that the world will know that you sent me.

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Jesus says that our unity together within the body is going to testify to the world that Jesus is who he says he is.

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Which means when there's conflict within the body of Christ, the command of Jesus is this, love one another, submit to one another, be humble, forgive one another.

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Why? To testify to the world that Jesus is who he claims to be.

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Here is a question to ask whenever there's conflict in any local church. In any local church, is

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God teaching you, is God teaching you to be patient when you're wronged?

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Is God teaching you to abandon your pride over your very passionate beliefs?

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Is God teaching you to endure hardship? Is God teaching you to submit to your leadership?

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This is a big one. Is God teaching you to have genuine love for the people of God?

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Can you admit something? It's something we actually used to say a lot, Pastor Luke and I, at the very beginning of Apology at Church.

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It was easy to say to them. I don't know why. I don't know why it was so easy to say to them.

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It was easy to say to that group of people at the very beginning who knew they were at the lowest place, they were broken, they were hurting.

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We used to say, leave your God face at the door. And what we meant by that is don't come in here and pretend that you're okay.

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Don't pretend. Tell the truth. Don't show us the God face. We'd say, you know, you're in the car ride over, your kids are fighting in the back, you're swinging back and trying to like karate chop the children, right?

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You know, you're in the car, you're arguing with your wife or your husband, and you're red -faced and you're yelling over this or that, and all of a sudden you open the door, you shut it, put your

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Bible under your arm, you're like... You walk into church like, all is well, we love

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Jesus, this is the perfect little Christian family, hey brother, hey sister, I love you so much. Like, right, this like, not genuine.

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It's not even real, it's fake. And guess what? It's gonna die. That kind of love for other

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Christians will die when it's fake. Take off the God face.

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Stop pretending. Stop pretending. Is God teaching you to love other Christians with a genuine affection and not with this pretended

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Christian affection? Right? Where we love each other in word, but not in deed.

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Like, is Jesus teaching you, when there's conflict in the local body, is He teaching me, is He teaching us to love each other with a divine love, with a genuine affection?

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To shed the fake shell of hypocrisy of pretending to love each other.

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When there's conflict within local churches worldwide, is God teaching you to have genuine love for people?

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Is God teaching you to love His church like He does? Is God teaching you to fight for unity?

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Because you see, brothers and sisters, there's so many things that could happen within the body of Christ that the devil could use as an attack on the church.

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I'll give you some examples. Last word on this. In terms of like, what would it look like? In bodies around the world, local churches,

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God, sorry, the devil can use all kinds of schemes to put the body of Christ against one another or to cause people to have conflict, to allow their passions to find ground to divide.

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These are things I've literally heard over all the years. Your sermons are too short.

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I have heard that. I have heard that. And I've heard, ready? Sermons are too long.

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You guys are like, I'm buying that one. Ready? By the way, these are complaints many times

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I've heard in the same day or the same week or the same month. Ready? Here are some more conflict kind of things that happen within the body of Christ.

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We need more psalms in worship. We need to get back to the roots, to psalms, right? Amen. I'm like, yes to that, right?

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And literally that week, Pastor Jeff, we need more modern music in worship. Nobody knows this old stuff.

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These are, again, this is what leadership or pastors were here. We need more time with our pastors.

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And our pastors are working too much. We need to do more outreach and grow as a church.

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We need to do more outreach, grow as a church. Next person comes. I miss being a small church.

01:10:25

We need to train more men to be teachers. Another one. Why aren't the pastors teaching all the

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Bible studies? We need more programs for the kids, for the children, for the teenagers.

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Same body. We need to stop separating children from the body so much. Here's a quote.

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Quote, I don't feel like I'm growing. Same person. I don't attend a reach group, go to Bible studies, or attend any functions outside of Sunday.

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Quote, I don't feel like I'm connected to the women of the church. Same person.

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I've never attended any of the women's get -togethers. Quote, I want to be discipled.

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Quote, no, I've never set up a meeting with a pastor. Quote, I want to use my gifts.

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Quote, no, I've never set up a meeting with my pastor. Quote, nobody says hi to me when

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I come to church. Same person. Quote, no, I don't want to be a greeter. Do you feel it, brothers and sisters?

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Yes? Yes. You see, we always will, as sinful people, find some way, some way to sin and to fail and to hurt one another.

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But Christ's command is that we would be unified, that we'd grow together in love with genuine affection as the body of Christ.

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Let's just leave it with this. Three points. One, we all recognize the sanctification that God promises individually, right?

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God puts His Spirit within me. And let me ask you this. Have you ever been convicted over sin?

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Yes. If you're in Christ, yes. Your mouth, your heart, your mind,

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God convicts you, He challenges you. Each one of us recognizes the sanctifying work of the Spirit of God individually.

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God's changed my mind, my heart. He makes me think differently. I war against my sin. I hate my sin. I'm on my knees weeping over my sin.

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All of us know the sanctification of God individually. Next. Married people know what

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I'm talking about. Marriage is the fast track to sanctification. Amen? Yes.

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Right? I know we're sitting with couples, and I love to hear, I love to hear them say it, and I try not to smile when

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I hear it. When you have couples who are, you know, now struggling, sitting in front of their pastors or working through these things, and you'll hear them say,

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I never had these problems before. Right? It's because you were sinning in private.

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Right? You didn't have someone next to you going, hey, that was sinful. Or hey, don't talk to me like that.

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Or hey, you shouldn't behave like that or watch that or do that. It's because you have a wife now who can see all your sin, who loves you and is your help.

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Meet. Or the same goes for the wife. Your husband's the fast track for sanctification for you.

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The Spirit of God works through your spouse to love you and to encourage you and to call you out.

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Amen? So we all recognize that our spouses are used by God to sanctify us.

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The family is used by God to sanctify us together. Amen? But we neglect this important thing.

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The next order and realm of authority is the church itself.

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God uses the church to sanctify the church, which means this. In the same way that marriage will expose your sin by creating conflict between you and your spouse, the church itself will expose sin that needs to be abandoned and healed by God allowing conflict to happen.

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Because what happens is as you now grow with the people of God, as sin spills out on the floor, it reveals what was always in your heart.

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So when I see sin spill out on the floor, is the answer to run from that sin?

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No. It's to allow God's perfect work of the church to sanctify me as a person.

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I pray that God would use us as His body more and more and more to bring glory to Jesus and that we as a church would leave even this moment recognizing the spiritual attacks that come upon every church.

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It's in the word of God that we would be wise to those schemes and that, brothers and sisters, we would take what the

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Lord Jesus says in His high priestly prayer so seriously, that they are to be one as you and I are one, as the

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Father and the Son are one. I pray God gives us the grace to do that. Let's pray. Father, I pray that the words that were spoken today would glorify you, that,

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Lord, you would change us as a church, you would give us humility, compassion, and love for one another, that we love each other with genuine affection, that we would be one,