Keep sharing good news without ads.
Sunday school from January 19th, 2025
Alright, we are going to pray and then we're going to get back into the book of Acts. Let's pray Lord Jesus as we open up your word. We ask through your Holy Spirit to help us to rightly understand what is revealed there.
Especially as it relates to the early history of the Christian Church and the gospel going forward. We pray that we may learn from these apostles whom you have sent out so that we may have the same faith that they have and the faith that is in you for the forgiveness of sins and By the same Holy Spirit that you would produce in us True repentance and produce the fruit of the Spirit in good works.
We ask in Jesus name. Amen. Okay, hang on a second here. I'm gonna change my screen share share thing. Okay, hold on I need to change this to that. How's that? Very good. Okay, we have gotten through the day of Pentecost.
You'll note that I intentionally went on a bunny trail because we wanted to look at what the scriptures. Especially what Christ revealed that the work of the Holy Spirit would be. Oftentimes I get accused and then Lutheran's kind of an extension get accused of somehow not believing in the Holy Spirit.
We absolutely 100 believe in the Holy Spirit and we believe in the Holy that the Holy Spirit works today. Still gives gifts today as he wills. Full stop. But just because someone claims to have a special anointing or a special gift or something like that Doesn't mean that they are exempt from the biblical requirement.
But put on us by the Holy Spirit to test all of that being said you'll note that we talked about baptism. Last week. So let me kind of give you the resolve with Peter's preaching on the day of Pentecost.
When they that's the crowd when they heard that they this they were cut to the heart. You can see the Holy Spirit is working to convict them of their sin in their unbelief. So they said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles brothers What shall we do.
Peter said to them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ. For the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise the promise of the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit is for you.
It's for your children all who are far off. Everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself and with many other words He bore witness continuing to exhort them saying save yourselves from this crooked generation.
So those who received his word were baptized and there were added that day about three thousand souls. They went from a very small church to a megachurch in one afternoon. And there were no skinny jeans, that's correct, you'll note that Peter did not have a liturgical disco ball.
And they didn't even there was no smoke machine and there wasn't even PowerPoint a World without PowerPoint, I remember that world. Oh. And then and then there was Excel and that just ruined everything.
Harvard graphics was the first that's I okay. Got it. Okay. Yeah, you're not wrong. Okay, so now let's take a look at this next portion. They these newly minted Christians devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching and the fellowship and the breaking of bread and The prayers.
I would note that. This is what disciples of Jesus Christ also should be devoted to as well. Note that they are devoted to the Apostles teaching which begs this question. Where is the only place I can go?
To find the Apostles teaching today. The Bible. Okay, so you'll note that's gonna require us to you know. You read the word.
This.
This I know this doesn't sound like rocket surgery, but but over and over and over again that people seem to lose sight of this and I would note within Particular churches. This is not any particular movement that but there are there are very interesting things.
Some of you have come out of churches where those who took the Bible seriously and like like studied it and Started saying things like hey that what you just said in your sermon isn't what the Bible teaches that they were looked at with great suspicion or Contempt or worse told stupid things like touch not God's anointed Right, you know and just crazy things like that.
If you have if you are attending a church where Questions are not welcome and the Bible is held in suspicion or derision.
Run.
That's.
Yeah, yeah, that's right. Don't don't wait for Mark Driscoll to drive the bus over you and kill you with it. Jump off immediately, you know, it's like, you know, and don't wait for it to even hit a red light.
Just Go for it. Just leave. You got you are in deep trouble, right? But then notice this also they were also developed. They were absolutely devoted to the fellowship. So you'll note that in in the true church it is not some mere devotion to abstract teaching and things like this this.
Results in things happening. Okay as James puts it, you know. Just as the body that is not breathing is dead. Faith without works is dead. So who do we do our good works for? Like each other right and I would note.
Get to know each other because you're gonna be spending a long.
Long.
Really long time with these people. Okay, and I'm not talking about this lifetime because there's a world coming. We're all gonna be raised from the dead and it's just gonna be glorious. Okay. So who do you think I'm inviting over to barbecues at my house?
Okay.
If you're thinking well, it might be us right, okay. Because I don't know Abraham Isaac and Jacob, you know, I know you guys so you poor fellows are gonna be the ones I have. To invite, you know, this is how this works and I expect Reciprocation on these things right that but you get the idea.
So they devoted themselves to the fellowship. That's to each other. The breaking of bread. What is that talking about? Could it possibly be the Lord's Supper? No, I couldn't possibly be that. Yeah, it really is.
Okay, and here's the one That that seems to be missing in a lot of churches today the prayers. Fascinating to me that as I watch, you know, I I don't know if you know this I ingest copious amounts of really bad sermon.
It's and stuff like this, but when I watched kind of like the standard American megachurch.
Evangelical ish.
Quasi charismatic kind of church services. Many of them have zero place in the service for any kind of like meaningful prayer. And I remember it was a couple years ago now. I legitimately heard One of the demon slayers, I think it was Signorelli Complaining about the fact that he had visited a church and the pastor.
Are you? Check this out. He says you're not gonna believe this but the pastor he spent an entire two and a half minutes praying. And he says my my eyes glazed over and I was so bored. I'm thinking two and a half minutes.
Whoa. Don't come to Kongsvinger man, you know.
Just.
Two and a half minutes that we're about a third of the way there, you know. That's crazy talk, right? No, no meaningful time for prayer at all. And I would note this is where a little bit of a bunny trail is gonna be helpful.
Okay? I've said it before and I will continue to say it when Satan deceives you and Satan sends you Theologically off the rails like any good horror movie plot Satan cuts lines of communication. Okay, you got to think this out the last person Satan wants you to talk to is God.
And so you think about what happens in the Roman Catholic Church? Who are they praying to? Dead people. Okay, I Legitimate, you know, I'm so on X we do we have to call it X now. Or can I be old-school and call this so call it Twitter?
Okay. Okay.
What.
Nobody cares. Okay on that platform. I. You know, I don't know why it is that Twitter seems to think that I want to see what Roman Catholic priests are posting on social media but God admit the algorithm knew because of this.
This was something I went. Whoa I had taken a screenshot of it. This Roman Catholic priest puts in there and goes. I have these Protestants are so stupid. They tell us that we're not supposed to pray to dead people.
When are they gonna come to realize that the people who died in the faith aren't dead? They're still alive and by implication. That means we can still pray to them.
Yeah.
Yeah, right. So here's the issue. Okay, let's just do basic Greek, you know. Definitions of words. Okay. So the word for prayer Prosuke its first primary meaning to a petition addressed to deity.
Does this begin to give you a hint of certain people that we can just automatically begin to rule out now.
You know.
Like humans. Okay, anybody who's a unless of course they've somehow attained to deity.
Kenneth Copeland never thought that he was never a deity. So, you know so you're gonna note that just the basic definition of the word prosuke means that this is a and note what the first.
Partition.
You know that's gonna require you to do something that a lot of people aren't doing anymore and that's gonna require you to. Are you?
Ready for this ask.
Okay, let me let me. This is hilarious. This is absolutely hilarious. I Taught on this in one of my videos a while back put a post up on social media about it and James chapter 4. I want you to listen to what James says.
Are you ready? He says what causes quarrels. What causes fights among you? Is it not this that your passions are at war within you. You desire you do not have. So you murder. Does that sound sane to you by the way?
Okay, that sounds a little crazy. You covet. You cannot obtain. So you fight and you quarrel. Here we go. You have not because you Ask not. So I posted this on social media and I had some crazy Charismatics come out of the woodwork and say you're quoting it out of context.
Then I said well.
Please provide me the context that would then basically say I need to decree and to declare. Because here's the thing. There's a lot of churches nowadays that are running around and they've substituted prayer.
Obviously we talked about Rome substituting actual prayer and we're not praying to the Virgin Mary. We're praying to dead saints and and things like this, but the charismatic and Pentecostal movement.
There's whole portions of it that they believe prayer is You know is tearing down Strongholds, so you remember that whole Kenneth Copeland kovat debacle kovat 19. I Blowed a wind of God on you. I decree it and declare and I command a controlling cancer.
I command you to leave this building right now. Right, huh? That's what I are they asking God for anything. Prayer is a petition Addressed to deity. Tacitly asking for judgment. Okay, so now then watch this.
So you have not because you do not ask. You ask and you don't receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. Well now we know the theology of Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz? I didn't gonna work.
Okay, right? So you'll know that the earliest Christians Devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching we can do the same today, but you know Reading and studying and preaching and understanding the Apostles teaching which is found still in the scripture and The fellowship they're devoted to each other the Lord's Supper and to petitions addressed to the deity.
That's pretty simple, right? Okay, and I would note that this is all you need for church Legitimately, okay. Yes. Were they Norwegian? And that those would have been hot dishes by the way, not potluck.
It's yeah. No, the breaking of bread here is is a reference to on the night that Jesus was betrayed He took bread and when he broke it, he said, okay. You'll note that that that it's not this isn't talking about Love meals with your people in your fellowship, although Eating with each other is a great idea that but this is actually a reference to the Lord's Supper.
With the by the breaking of bread that's shorthand for the Lord's Supper. Right. Okay. So and I coming back here. This is super portable. Do you need a big building? Do you need a smoke machine million-dollar budget?
Do you need a praise band?
You don't need any of that.
Okay, a and you'll know this means that like one or two guys could like go on a mission trip and Legitimately end up planting churches and if the church is as long as they have a place to meet to do these things They're gonna be by they're gonna be vital.
They're gonna be alive and thriving. Right. Mm-hmm, right. Exactly and you know what that's gonna require a team of volunteers to put it together and then break it down. That's not a problem. It's not a big deal you know and So highly portable and I would note that so much money is wasted on What it can only be described as like worship entertainment.
As soon as you put a stage up then you want to have entertainment on that stage. You'll know we don't have a stage here at Kongsvinger. Okay, don't have one of those. Beware of the worship entertainment kind of concept.
You don't you don't need that but you just need these things which means you're also gonna need a pastor who knows how to rightly handle the word and Yield. That being the case then wherever this is happening.
You got a church. Does the attendance matter?
We're two or more, okay. So church is going to be minimally two people. You need a pastor and you need a congregant if you got that you got a church. And if someone were to ask me so what's what you know when you know in your preaching?
What's the smallest church you've ever preached to somebody one? I've actually done that. Okay, I've actually done that. Yes. Uh-huh, so I would note that we Absolutely believe that two or more are gathered.
When you're using the internet and it's live, you know. Isn't the whole concept behind zoom is that this is an actual live meeting. We're all gathering together. So the internet is just a medium for this.
So I would note that as things get to Warm up in the persecution department and Christians are driven out of society and driven underground. Oh just we can be super clever. Okay, you know and and there's all kinds of options available to us and I Remember Don said, you know.
He thought that the kovat and what we had to go through was through kovat was a good dry run for what's coming in the future. So, you know.
Yeah, oh, yeah, we can always pray by ourselves. Yeah, you don't need two or more wouldn't. When that's concerned you in that case you and God constitute the two. Okay, you know that that that that's absolutely the case so.
All right. Let's keep going here. Ah came upon every soul. Many wonders and signs were being done through. Who? The Apostles. Many wonders and signs were being done through the Apostles. You'll note that they aren't the only ones who can perform miracles in the New Testament.
They aren't the only ones but the vast majority of signs and wonders listed in the New Testament are performed by an Apostle. The vast majority and Anybody who was able to operate in signs and wonders like they had some kind of an actual gift from the Holy Spirit given them.
To do so they were able to do so after an Apostle laid hands on them. So you'll note that This claim that every Christian needs to be out there performing signs and wonders is baloney. Okay, you might as well scream in my face and say man.
You need to get skinny right now. I'll work on that. Okay, I'm sure it'll happen by give me give me till tomorrow.
It is this is not how this works.
You can't you can't force somebody or put pressure on them to perform signs and wonders. It leads to the nonsense that we see with like Todd White where he goes out and lengthens people's legs and calls it a miracle.
They're just it's just nonsense. Okay, but many signs and wonders were being done through the Apostles and the Apostle Paul himself.
Describes.
His ability to perform miracles as one of the signs of the signs of the Apostles, let me show you that real quick. I'm gonna look for signs and Apostles hang on a second here, and I think okay. Hang on a second.
I think it's gonna be in two Corinthians 11 I think. Hold on a second here and do this. Hang on a second here. I'm gonna check that really good Bible search engine called Google, you know, if I were to go Bible Signs Signs of the Apostles.
Do one didn't. AI now starts to get in there and give you some kind of a summer summary. True signs of Apostles. 2nd Corinthians 12 to. I was in the right. I was one chapter too early 2nd Corinthians 12.
Alright, here's what Paul says. Says I must go on boasting though. There's nothing to be gained by it. I'll go on divisions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man 2nd Corinthians 12 to hang on a second here.
I've missed something here. 2nd Corinthians 12.
Okay, here we go.
Verse 12 2nd Corinthians 12 12 The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with the utmost patience with signs and wonders and mighty works. You're gonna note that I've made this claim before and I'll make it again that in the scriptures The ability for a human being at Will to be able to perform miracles is a rarity legitimately a rarity.
Abraham Isaac Jacob. They didn't perform miracles. That is not to say that God didn't do miracles on their behalf. He did so the Bible is full of miracles. But what the Bible isn't full of is miracle workers.
Okay, so the very first miracle worker really legitimately in Scripture is Moses and God gave him signs that were specifically intended for the purpose of validating his.
His.
Calling to prove to people that he was truly sent from God. In fact, this is a good place to kind of tuck this in here if I were to go to Exodus chapter 3 and.
I.
Don't want to go through the entire Exchange, but you're gonna note that when God calls Moses Moses isn't really that keen on the assignment. He even legitimately gets to the point of saying please send somebody else.
It's kind of annoying. Okay, he by doing this Moses Single-handedly destroyed the entire presupposition of the purpose-driven life.
I'm just saying okay so Moses Moses says exodus 4 says Moses answered but behold they will not believe me or Listen to my voice. They will say Yahweh did not appear to you. So Yahweh said to him what is that in your hand?
He said a staff. He said throw it on the ground. So he threw it on the ground and it became a serpent and Moses ran from it. But Yahweh said to Moses put out your hand and catch it by the tail. So he put out his hand and caught it and it became a staff in his hand that they may believe that Yahweh the God of the Of their fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has appeared to you.
So no God says what the signs are for. Okay. Now you'll note that there are many Charismatic Pentecostals who believe that signs and wonders are kind of the point and They lust after them and push for them and claim that anybody who is isn't, you know.
Any church that's not operating in signs and wonders is somehow has a gospel. That's without power. I Would note here. Okay. Again, miracles are throughout the scripture miracle workers are not. So Moses is your miracle worker first the first in the scripture and how much of human history has gone by without there being miracle Workers, he shows up and God gives him signs for the purpose of validating that he was sent by God the next miracle workers in scripture after Moses are not until you get to Elijah and Elisha and They are representative of the prophets who put the rest of the Old Testament together.
Okay, so you're gonna note that authors of scripture usually have signs and wonders going along with them. Or at least at least in a token way. Then we get to the Apostles and you'll note the Apostles are operating in signs and wonders and I would remind you Not that I'm gonna I'm trying to like, you know ruin the story by telling what's gonna happen.
But I'm assuming you guys have read the book of Acts before there's a story about a woman by the name of Dorcas who dies in the book of Acts and They send to Peter to come and raise her from the dead and when Peter arrives He doesn't scold those Christian women and sit there and go you have the ability to do signs and wonders yourself.
Why did you make me travel all the way over to here for me to do what you should be doing all for yourself anyway.
You know, he doesn't do that, you know what he does he raises her from the dead and. So the idea then is this is that when we see it that that many signs and wonders were being done Through the Apostles the point isn't the signs and wonders.
The point is that the signs and wonders validate a very important thing and that these men were sent By Jesus Christ and that they are operating on his authority by his command and. That is exactly what you would expect.
So back in the time of the Lutheran Reformation Some rascally Roman Catholic basically said to Luther so what miracles do you perform to validate the gospel that you preach and Luther said The gospel I preach was validated with the miracles that were performed by the Apostles.
It's in the scripture. Oh Yeah, okay God's patience that allows the miracles to happen. I would note that God is patient with us and I I wouldn't. I've never connected the concept of patience with miracles, although it Wait, hang on a second, which which one.
Okay, so the sign, okay. So the signs of a true Apostle were performed among you with utmost patience with signs and wonders and mighty works. That's that it would be the patience of the Apostle Paul.
It it's it's it's almost like this, you know, Paul says I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ and they said, all right. Well, what sign or wonder do you have to perform? And so Paul performs a sign and a wonder and they go All right do that again.
All right, do another one. They were that you know, how many did Moses had he had three? Moses had three signs. So the idea here is that they were performed among you with utmost patience, which basically means that that They they didn't accept them the first one.
They probably were getting close to thinking okay after two, but they probably wanted another one and so he performed them. Multiple signs and it's not just a sign but multiple signs and wonders performed with patience and things like that.
That's the idea behind it.
The the the plagues of Egypt are considered signs. They're considered signs of God's judgment. Correct. Moses was still the conduit. Right. Yeah, he yeah, but he had three signs to validate his call Him being sent by God that he performed for the for his own kinsmen for the Israelites.
Okay, so when we see here in Acts when it says that ah Came upon every soul many wonders and signs were being done through the Apostles You'll note that there's there's a function here. It's the same function that Moses had it Validates the fact that these men were sent by Jesus Christ and that the claims that they were making you got to understand.
They are making ginormous claims. God sent us. Oh did he now? Yes, and he sent us through his son. God has a son. Yes, he does. Okay, and Jesus was crucified and he rose from the grave.
Right and.
What signs do you perform to validate this nonsense? Okay. Well, I can raise people from the dead. I Can heal people of diseases? What do what would you like to see? You kind of get the idea so the signs and wonders are being done through the Apostles and it's validating What they're proclaiming because you got to admit what they're proclaiming on some sense sounds just like too good to be true.
Or it's a sounds Looney Tunes. Right, you believe a guy died and rose from the grave off after he'd been dead for three days. Are you kidding me? Right. So That's a very important thing here. So all who believe were together and they had all things in common.
Now a little bit of a note here. We are not going to become communists. Okay? That's not the point of this text. I have seen it used in this way by the woke left. Okay, of course they will point to this and say therefore we need to abandon capitalism and go communist and I would say you don't have to Wait for that.
Go ahead. You go right ahead sell everything you have and you guys can survive communally go for it.
And.
It's well, the thing is they can't live, you know. Communists can't live unless they're basically stealing other people's money. Okay, this is how this works. But the you're gonna note communism is take is basically stealing other people's money at gunpoint.
Okay, there is no gun here. They are doing this out of their love for Christ and their love and devotion to each other.
So they they were had all things in common they were selling their possessions and their belongings and Distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. I would note That the entire time I have been at Kongsvinger Kongsvinger has done a very good job of setting aside a portion of what comes in for the purpose of meeting the needs of other people.
And They still do to this day. I've never seen a church take in so little and give so much. Okay, and day by day Attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes. They didn't have church buildings.
They received their food with glad and generous hearts break praising God having favor with all the people and watch this. And The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. Who added?
The Lord. Okay. Well there goes all the church growth gurus. Right, this is when it comes down to growing the church whose job is it to grow the church. Right. Okay. What's the job of a pastor to preach the word right preach the word minister the sacraments when a pastor thinks it's his job to become a vision casting CEO and That you know He needs to go out and do a sociological survey to find out what the world wants so that we can change the church to Make it more attractive to the world.
Is he being faithful in his office in his calling? No, and I can hear somebody say yeah. But if you expect me to go out there and preach the word then our church is going to become irrelevant and it's going to die.
Right, so.
Decades ago now boy, it's getting to be a long time. I was Guest of Rick Warren. He invited me as one of his critics to come to a purpose-driven.
Conference.
He was on I'm being a purpose-driven preacher. And that was the concept that he was teaching. So I went. I attended. I attended the whole thing took copious notes. Okay, and While I was there taking notes Rick Warren gave a long lecture on Purpose-driven preaching and Here's what he said.
He said.
Your.
Unbelieving neighbors are Not willing to sit through 30 minute long Bible centered exegetical sermons. Mm-hmm. And so you need to get rid of those and you need to learn how to preach repentance without saying the word repent and What you're unbelieving.
Unbelieving pagan neighbors what they want are Messages that are going to be useful for them to make their lives better. Your unbelieving neighbors struggle with getting a raise at work being promoted They have difficulties in their marriages.
They have children that behave poorly and They struggle with a sense of meaninglessness in their life. And which you should do according to Rick Warren is Not exegete the scriptures. But piece together different verses that will give them advice.
That will result in making their lives better because once their lives are made better by biblical advice They'll believe in God and they'll want to become a Christian. This is exactly the opposite of what we're commanded to do.
You I want this is gonna sound just like crazy talk. Okay, the reason why your unbelieving neighbors do not attend church is because they're unbelievers. Does that make sense?
That being the case. Unless God changes their heart and Regenerates them they are not Going to want to come to church. They have better things to do with their time. They're not going to want to hear about the Bride of Christ.
They're not going to want to talk about the forgiveness of sins. They're definitely want not going to want to do an extensive study of the exegesis in the Greek in any given text. They don't care. No, they will instead engage in such futility as rooting for the Minnesota Vikings.
Okay, and consider that a better spent part of their day and their time. Okay, we should pray for them. Especially for that because that last part. Okay, I Will not vouch for the Chargers, I'm sorry. Okay, but you get the idea what I'm saying here, right.
So how is it that the Lord adds day to their number day by day? It's through the preached word. What are the Apostles doing? They're preaching. They're teaching. They're praying and and people are hearing the gospel and They're being regenerated and God is adding those people to the church day by day.
Okay. Now I would note something here. Okay, we are not a megachurch despite the fact that some have actually accused us of being such. Okay, we are not.
I'll tell you later. Okay, we've been accused of being a megachurch. I don't know how we get that charge, but. Here's the deal. Okay, I I'm gonna ask you guys this. Okay, when I first got here, I can only describe Kongsvinger as on life-support.
It really was okay. You know, there was there was a few anchor families that were descendants from the original families of this church and. And the the kid there weren't any kids here. But the younger adults that were here couldn't date each other because they were all related to each other.
Okay. And attendance was not at an all-time high. Okay, it was it was Really pretty spotty and there were times when if we had 12 14 people on a Sunday, that was a big deal. Okay.
Now.
Has Kongsvinger grown?
How much vision casting have I engaged in for Kongsvinger to grow.
Zero.
Zero. Okay, I can legitimately say we have made no effort None whatsoever to somehow strategically find a way to grow this church. You know what we did. We just preached the word preached Christ and him crucified Forgave people's sins administered the sacraments and Did it again and Then did it again and then did it again?
Right.
Who has brought the people that are here here?
Amy Amy.
God has added to our number right and now we have kids that can actually date each other. This is a good thing. Okay. Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna water down the Norwegian, you know gene pool here, but that's okay.
All right.
All of that being said it is God who adds it is God who does these things and. So the the the job of a church is to be devoted to the things that we talked about the Apostles teaching the fellowship the breaking of bread.
The prayers.
Let me find another word real quick here supplications. Okay, I want you to consider what the Apostle Paul says in this regard. Okay. No, I'm not looking for the book called supplications. I Hate when that happens, okay.
First or second supplications, you're funny. That's actually pretty that that's pretty good. Okay, you know what? I've set a bad example for you guys. You sound too much like me.
Okay in in the in the in Ephesians chapter 6 when it's talking about the the armor of You know the Christian armor, right the armor of the spirit, right? We are to take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
Here we go praying at all times again prosuke. Prosuke, you know, it's the same word. That means to petition deity. Praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer here. So note with all prayer and supplication.
Now I I've said it before but I'm gonna point this out supplication is it one of the fancy church words? But here's what it means an urgent request to me to need exclusively addressed to God. Here we go.
Again a supplication. It's an urgent request. So so when we pray for each other, you know pray for me I've you know, I've got this letter to the other thing going on. That's prayer. But when somebody has had an emergency they've gotten into an auto accident and they're there.
They're in the emergency room and they're in their life is hanging on by a thread and we call each other and we get each Other praying right? Those are supplications. Those are those urgent things. But note again, even supplications are urgent.
Requests.
Okay, no decreeing no declaring no commanding no controlling. It's we are making our requests made known to God. Praying at all times with all prayer and supplication to that end keep alert with all perseverance making supplication for all the Saints.
We have to pray for each other constantly. Philippians says it this way Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. That should be like as far as I'm concerned that should be like the mission statement of certain churches.
I'm just saying because they their unreasonableness is everybody knows about it. And this would be a good corrective. Okay, let's put that one on everyone's mirror, right? Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.
The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything. Tell me how easy that is. That's not easy but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your Requests be made known to God.
You know, I think of Bill Johnson from Bethel Church. He says to pray thy will be done as a prayer of unbelief and My question for Bill is how'd that decreeing and declaring work when your wife was dying of cancer?
They had a prayer service for Benny Johnson at Bethel Church a few months before she died and There was a lot of decreeing. There was a lot of declaring. You know what? There was a little very little of asking.
Very little asking. The primary Prayers that were offered were all decrees and declares but note what Paul says by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
First Timothy Paul says first of all, I urge the supplications.
Prayers.
Intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all people. No, nothing here in the list about declarations. Right. It's almost as if God expects us to treat him as God. We his creatures and since he's our father in heaven, you know what we have to do with dad.
Got to ask him for things dad. Can I borrow the keys to the car dad? Can I take my girlfriend out on a date to the movies dad? Will you pay me the money that you owe me for mowing the lawn, you know things like this, right?
How many of you with your father's just decreed and declared. I decree and declare.
The car.
Okay now real quick. There was a quick question and then I got to answer it and then I got to go. Barry says pastor Chris if you see this it would be a good idea to draw a distinction between signs and wonders and the Manifestations of the Spirit described in 1st Corinthians 12.
It doesn't dispute your point. I would note that the manifestations of the Spirit Given in 1st Corinthians 12 are talking about the gifts of the Spirit for the purpose of building up in edifying the church.
Now there are manifestations of the Spirit also listed in 1st Corinthians 12 13 and 14 That are specifically designed to be signs for unbelievers so for instance the gift of tongues is a sign to unbelieving Jews and a fulfillment of a prophecy from Isaiah, but Signs and wonders are not the same as manifestations of the Spirit.
Those are actually two different things all together. And then if you were to read carefully through 12 13 and 14 the manifestations of the Spirit we are going to include you know preaching God's Word boldly and you know and things like this and help and administration and and and and there's there's other Manifestations of the Spirit that all of them are for the purpose of the building up and edifying of the church or in a couple Of instances some of the signs and wonders are specifically to be signs for unbelievers.
That's what tongues is. But that's a different that's way different than the signs and wonders that the Apostles engaged in because their signs and wonders are going to be Undeniable miraculous signs and wonders like being able to heal people of diseases and stuff like this on command and always being able to do so.
So, all right, very good. We are going to pause there and Lord willing we will pick up. For we'll pick up on this next week. Well, actually next is next. No. Is it really already all right next week's ask the pastor.
