- 00:04
- The Doctrine of the Week for this Sunday is Israel and the church.
- 00:09
- In Matthew chapter 16, Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
- 00:21
- And then in Ephesians chapter three, the apostle Paul spoke of the church, which is made up of both
- 00:27
- Jew and Gentile. He spoke of the church as being a mystery. That is something that was not known in ages prior.
- 00:37
- And Paul referred to this age that we're living in now, or as we typically would call it the church age.
- 00:44
- He refers to it as the dispensation of the grace of God, Ephesians chapter three, verse two.
- 00:51
- So the church was something completely new Israel as a people.
- 00:58
- When Jesus said that, uh, Israel as a people and as a nation had existed already for 1 ,500 to 2 ,000 years at that point, therefore
- 01:09
- Israel and the church are not the same thing. Now I know that should be obvious and that is obvious to many of you, but because of Roman Catholic theology, and then later what became known as covenant theology, uh, they claim that the church is
- 01:29
- Israel and that the church in Israel are the same thing. That is not correct.
- 01:36
- Okay. And if a person does not rightly understand the difference between the church and Israel, they will be in error on many things, but especially the subject of end times
- 01:49
- Bible prophecy, especially regarding the return of Christ, the tribulation period and the millennium.
- 01:56
- So in conclusion, number one, we firmly believe that there is a difference between Israel and the church.
- 02:04
- And number two, we believe there is still a future for Israel in the plan and purposes of God.
- 02:12
- As the scripture says in Romans 11 29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
