WEBVTT

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I am excited to be here this morning. Thank you

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so much for having me come and be your teacher.

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It means a lot to me that when you all sat down

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and planned your summer 2026 gospel meeting,

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you thought of me, you asked me to come, and

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you give me another opportunity to stand before

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you like this, to teach, and to share the Word

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of God with you. Thank you for being here. I'm

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looking forward to and I hope you are as well

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to all the events and all the activities that

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we have planned throughout the course of this

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gospel meeting. I'm very, very excited to come

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to you this time and share a topic with you that

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I think is very, very important, a topic that

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is important to me, that I get excited about.

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I hope to inspire you to be excited about this

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topic as well and see the importance of it. And

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that is the topic of restoring New Testament

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Christianity. You might be sitting there and

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wondering, well, what in the world is restoring

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New Testament Christianity? What does that even

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mean? Well, I hope by the end of this lesson,

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through our study of the Scriptures together,

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that you will have a good idea and a good understanding

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of what it means to restore New Testament Christianity.

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When we boil it down to its most basic elements,

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restoring New Testament Christianity is just

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going back to the Bible. We're going back to

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the Bible to find our faith, to find our doctrine,

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and to find our practice. So this morning I want

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to talk about our mission in churches of Christ.

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We as the people of God should be about a mission,

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the mission of the Lord. And we should have a

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mindset of that mission. We should keep that

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mission in the forefront of our minds. We should

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keep it on the tip of our tongues. It should

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be evident in the way we live. We walk and we

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talk. and our mission mindset as Christians should

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be the restoration of the New Testament Church.

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And we're going to dive into this topic and try

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to understand it better by starting with this

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fact. And this is a fact that we know just by

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simple observation. We look around us today,

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we survey the religious landscape around us,

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and we see that many different churches today

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exist for many different reasons. It's obvious

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to us that some churches today exist to advance

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some kind of social political agenda. And we

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know that by going by church and seeing the rainbow

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flags that it's proudly flying out front. When

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we see that, we understand that church exists

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to advance a social political agenda. We also

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look at the way a lot of churches worship God

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and we see the grand productions that they put

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on as part of their worship, concert, like experiences

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in the way they worship God. And it's obvious

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to us that some churches today exist just to

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entertain the masses. And people flock in masses

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to attend churches that worship God in these

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very entertaining ways. We also look around us

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and see that some churches exist to prop up and

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exalt some kind of popular preacher. And you

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know, The popularity of preachers, it's always

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changing. Sometimes a preacher becomes very popular

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and his popularity declines and then another

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preacher pops up and he's more popular than the

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last. And it's an endless cycle of ups and downs

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concerning the religious world and the popularity

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of preachers in the religious world. And some

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churches today, that's why they exist. They exist

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to popularize and hold up some popular preacher,

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whoever that might be. You know, it's easy for

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us to look around and see our religious neighbors

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and understand why they exist. But before we

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go any further, you know what we ought to do?

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We ought to think about ourselves. And let's

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do that for a moment. Let's turn our focus inward.

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And let's ask the question, why do we exist?

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Why do we exist in churches of Christ? What is

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our purpose? What is our mission? I think it's

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so very, very important that we be able to answer

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that question. Parents, grandparents, it's so

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very important that you teach your children and

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your grandchildren how to answer that question.

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Because if we lose sight of our purpose and we

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lose focus of our mission in churches of Christ,

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we run the risk of going astray as many churches

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already have. What is the reason for our existence

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in churches of Christ? I believe our mission

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needs to be this. Our mission is to be the same

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church that Jesus Christ built. Brother Daniel

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put it so well in his introduction this morning

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that we exist as a church to be the one and the

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same church that Jesus built many, many years

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ago in Jerusalem on Pentecost Day in Acts chapter

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2 as you can read right there in your Bible.

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That needs to be our purpose. That needs to be

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our mission in churches of Christ. Now what I

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want to do is I want to go through some scriptures

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this morning and maybe it's a review for you,

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a refresher, or maybe it's new information altogether

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for you. Regardless, I want to help you discover

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or rediscover, if you will, the church that Jesus

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built or the church that your New Testament teaches.

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And to do that we're going to go back into the

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book of Matthew. I appreciate the reading this

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morning from Matthew chapter 16. As we read,

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Jesus is in a place called Caesarea Philippi.

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He calls his disciples together. And he says,

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who do men say that I am? And there were a lot

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of different ideas and theories about the identity

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of Jesus. Some people said he was John the Baptist.

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Others said he was Jeremiah. Others said he was

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one of the prophets. And then Jesus asked his

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disciples the question. He said, but who do you

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say I am? And you remember that's when Peter

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spoke up, and he said, well, you're the Christ,

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the Son of the living God, and Peter was right.

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He gave the right answer. And you'll remember

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that's when Jesus pronounced a blessing upon

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Peter and made a promise. to Peter and the disciples.

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In Matthew 16 verse 18, Jesus said to Peter,

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thou art Peter and upon this rock, and that rock

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was Peter's confession that he just made that

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Jesus was the Christ. Upon the rock of that truth,

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that confession, Jesus said, I will build my

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church and the gates of hell or Hades shall not

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prevail against it. Here Jesus makes a promise.

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He says, Peter, I will build my church. We learned

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some very important things about the church from

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this teaching. Number one, Jesus says, I will

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build my church. He's pointing into the future.

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He hadn't built his church yet at this point

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in his earthly ministry, but he would soon do

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it. He would soon do it. Jesus said when he built

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his church, it would be his church. He takes

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ownership or possession of that church by saying,

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it's my church. It wasn't going to be Peter's

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church. It wasn't going to be John's church.

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It wasn't going to be Brother James's church.

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Jesus says, when I build the church, it's going

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to be my church. It is going to belong to Christ.

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And another important thing that Jesus teaches

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us here is the only promise to build one church.

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Jesus didn't say, I'm going to build many different

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churches. He said, I will build one church and

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it will be my church and I will soon do it. Jesus

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made the promise. Listen, when Jesus makes a

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promise, you better believe that He's going to

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keep it. And he made this promise to his disciples

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that he would build his church. And in connection

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with that statement, the very next verse, he

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says something else about the establishment of

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the church. He tells Peter, I will give to thee

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the keys of the kingdom. He told Peter, I'll

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give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Did

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Jesus literally take keys out of his pocket and

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give them to Peter? Is he talking about literal

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keys here? No. Keys, of course, are symbolic.

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What is a key symbolic of? A key is symbolic

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really of authority. If I gave you the keys to

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my car, what am I giving you? I'm giving you

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the authority and the privilege to jump in my

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car, turn on the radio, take it for a spin if

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you like. If I give you the keys to my home,

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what am I giving you? Essentially, I'm giving

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you privilege and authority to go in and out

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of my home as you please. And so the keys here

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symbolize the authority. to open and to grant

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access to something. And Jesus tells Peter, I'm

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going to give you these kings. I'm going to give

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you the authority and the power to make available

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to open and to extend access to this kingdom

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that I'm soon going to establish in the form

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of the church. Jesus gave Peter the keys of the

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kingdom. That's very important because not long

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after this, after Jesus died, after he was buried,

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and after he rose from the dead, it would...

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Come time for Peter to use those keys, if you

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will, and unlock or open the gates or the doors

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of the kingdom so that people could come into

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it. So if we keep reading in the Gospels, of

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course, we're going to read about the death of

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Jesus, his terrible, traumatic death. We're going

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to read about his burial. We're going to read

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about his glorious resurrection. And after the

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resurrection of Jesus, the Bible tells us this

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in Acts chapter one, verse three. We're getting

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closer and closer. Now to Jesus's promise to

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establish His church. Before He did that though,

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the Bible tells us in Acts 1 and 3 that He spent

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about 40 days with His disciples teaching them

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things pertaining to the kingdom of God. You

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know why that was? Because the kingdom was oh

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so very close. It was oh so very close to coming

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in Acts chapter 1. He spent those last 40 days

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before He went back to the Father teaching them

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things about this coming kingdom. And then that

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takes us into Acts chapter 2. And as I mentioned

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earlier, Acts chapter 2, in that chapter we find

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the time, we find the place, we find the occasion

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upon which Jesus fulfilled that promise that

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He made in Matthew 16 to build His church. This

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is the day, this is the time, this is the place

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when Jesus built His church. I'm not going to

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read all of Acts 2. I'd encourage you to go home

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and read that entire chapter, all 47 verses.

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It's packed with a lot of exciting information

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in the story about how all this came to be. But

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I'll just summarize it briefly for you. In Acts

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chapter two, verse one to four, the first thing

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that we read is that God sent the Holy Spirit

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upon the twelve apostles. They were baptized

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with the Holy Spirit. And being baptized with

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the Holy Spirit gave the apostles power and ability

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to speak foreign languages that they had never

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spoken before. And they spoke the languages of

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all those Jews. who were gathered at Jerusalem

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for Pentecost from the far reaches of the Roman

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Empire. God gave the ability for those apostles

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to speak the languages of those Jews by way of

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the Holy Spirit in verses 1 to 4. In verses 5

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to 7, Peter and the apostles stand up and they

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start teaching and preaching the people. They

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start speaking by way of the Spirit and they

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start telling them about Jesus and the gospel.

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And you know, all the Jews that were gathered

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together for Pentecost, they saw this, they witnessed

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this. And they tried to assess what was going

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on and they were confused. The Bible says many

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of them were confounded. They didn't understand.

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You know, some of the Jews even pointed to him

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and said, don't worry about them. They're drunk.

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They're full of new wine. These are just drunk

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men. But that's when Peter stands up in Acts

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2 verse 14 to 36 and he says, men and brethren,

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we're not drunk. He says it's just the third

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hour of the day. It's just nine o 'clock. And

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he told him, he said, what you're witnessing

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is the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy through

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the prophet Joel that God would someday pour

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out his spirit on his servants and they would

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prophesy. And then Peter takes advantage of that

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opportunity and he goes on to preach the gospel

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to those Jews. He preaches the death of Jesus.

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He preaches the burial of Jesus and he preaches

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the resurrection. Now he doesn't, if you go in

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and read Acts 2, 14 to 36, you'll notice something.

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He doesn't spend a whole lot of time dwelling

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on the death of Jesus. You know why? because

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the death of Jesus was indisputable. Just fifty

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days prior to this, many of these Jews were first

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-hand witnesses to the death of Jesus. They walked

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outside the city walls and saw Him hanging on

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the cross. They were witness to His phony trial

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and His conviction. The death of Jesus was not

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a fact that was disputed. The Jews knew it. It

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was the talk of the town. Peter doesn't spend

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a lot of time on the burial of Jesus because

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it almost goes without saying, what do we do

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with dead people? We bury them. And that's what

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they did with Jesus. After he died, he was buried

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in a tomb. But you know, Peter does spend a lot

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of time in this sermon focusing on the resurrection

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of Jesus. And he goes back to Old Testament prophecy

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to prove that yes, Jesus died and was buried,

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but God had raised him from the dead. And that's

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the gospel that Peter preached to those Jews

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in Jerusalem on Pentecost Day. When we get down

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to verse 37, we find the effect of the preaching

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of the gospel. The Bible says that those Jews

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were convicted. They were pricked in their hearts.

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And they cried out to Peter and the apostles,

00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:17.820
Men and brethren, what shall we do? You know,

00:13:17.820 --> 00:13:19.580
that's what the preaching of the gospel does.

00:13:19.879 --> 00:13:23.639
It pricks our heart. It's a wonderful message.

00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:28.759
The message of Jesus. and His sacrificial death

00:13:28.759 --> 00:13:31.940
for you and for me. Jesus didn't deserve to hang

00:13:31.940 --> 00:13:34.240
on that cross. We deserve to hang on that cross

00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:36.720
because of our sins, because of our transgressions.

00:13:37.100 --> 00:13:39.779
But Jesus, the perfect sinless Son of God, willingly

00:13:39.779 --> 00:13:42.259
took that punishment we deserved on Himself.

00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:44.960
That's why He went to that cross, to save us,

00:13:45.080 --> 00:13:47.419
to deliver us from condemnation and punishment

00:13:47.419 --> 00:13:51.570
for our sin. He took our place. It's a touching

00:13:51.570 --> 00:13:54.289
story. It's a beautiful story. It shows us how

00:13:54.289 --> 00:13:56.490
much God loves us. It shows us the abundance

00:13:56.490 --> 00:14:00.029
of His mercy and His grace. And that He was willing

00:14:00.029 --> 00:14:02.350
to give His only Son. Would you give your only

00:14:02.350 --> 00:14:04.409
Son for the sins of the whole world? I'd have

00:14:04.409 --> 00:14:07.909
a hard time doing that. But God did it nonetheless.

00:14:10.169 --> 00:14:12.610
It's a wonderful, beautiful story when you open

00:14:12.610 --> 00:14:16.070
your heart to it. When you look inside and see

00:14:16.070 --> 00:14:18.759
your sin, And understand how terrible it is and

00:14:18.759 --> 00:14:20.659
when you see the love of God demonstrated through

00:14:20.659 --> 00:14:24.720
the sacrifice of Jesus. It's hard not to be touched

00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:26.779
and convicted by the preaching of the gospel.

00:14:27.620 --> 00:14:29.340
And that's what happened in Acts 2. Those Jews

00:14:29.340 --> 00:14:30.799
were pricked in their heart. They said, what

00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:33.759
are we going to do? And then in Acts 2 .38, Peter

00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:35.539
told them what they needed to do to get right

00:14:35.539 --> 00:14:37.600
with God. He said, first thing you need to do

00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:39.879
is repent. Repent of your sin. He said, you need

00:14:39.879 --> 00:14:43.620
to be baptized. He said, every one of you. He

00:14:43.620 --> 00:14:45.730
said, it's... in the name of Jesus Christ or

00:14:45.730 --> 00:14:47.870
by the authority of Jesus Christ and it's for

00:14:47.870 --> 00:14:50.190
the remission or an order that you might receive

00:14:50.190 --> 00:14:52.850
the forgiveness of your sins. And he told them

00:14:52.850 --> 00:14:54.610
if they would do that there was an associated

00:14:54.610 --> 00:14:56.389
promise with that. He said you'll receive the

00:14:56.389 --> 00:14:59.210
gift of the Holy Ghost. He told them what they

00:14:59.210 --> 00:15:02.350
needed to do to get right with God, to repent

00:15:02.350 --> 00:15:05.230
of that sin and have it washed away in the waters

00:15:05.230 --> 00:15:08.769
of baptism. And the Bible goes on to tell us

00:15:08.769 --> 00:15:12.350
what happened next in Acts chapter 2 verse 41.

00:15:13.379 --> 00:15:16.299
In Acts 2 .41 it says this, they that gladly

00:15:16.299 --> 00:15:19.820
received his word, those who gladly received

00:15:19.820 --> 00:15:22.940
Peter's preaching of the gospel, the death, burial,

00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:24.899
and resurrection of Jesus. What did they do?

00:15:24.960 --> 00:15:28.360
The Bible says they were baptized. Those who

00:15:28.360 --> 00:15:31.179
gladly received his word were baptized, and the

00:15:31.179 --> 00:15:36.000
same day, immediately, same day, they were added

00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:39.600
unto them about 3 ,000 souls. Isn't that wonderful?

00:15:40.840 --> 00:15:44.840
3 ,000 people that day heard the gospel. 3 ,000

00:15:44.840 --> 00:15:48.700
people that day believed the gospel. And 3 ,000

00:15:48.700 --> 00:15:51.519
people that day obeyed the gospel in baptism.

00:15:52.460 --> 00:15:54.820
And you know, when these 3 ,000 heard, believed

00:15:54.820 --> 00:15:57.460
and obeyed the gospel, the Bible says the Lord

00:15:57.460 --> 00:15:59.779
added them to something. You notice the word

00:15:59.779 --> 00:16:02.639
added there in verse 41. The Lord added them

00:16:02.639 --> 00:16:06.240
to something. What did He add them to? We skip

00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:08.840
down to the last verse of the chapter verse 47

00:16:08.840 --> 00:16:12.080
and it tells us what the Lord added them to When

00:16:12.080 --> 00:16:14.120
they were baptized and saved from their sins

00:16:14.120 --> 00:16:16.440
These three thousand people were praising God

00:16:16.440 --> 00:16:18.340
and they were having favor with all the people

00:16:18.340 --> 00:16:24.159
and the Lord added to the church daily Such as

00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:27.139
should be saved every day People continued to

00:16:27.139 --> 00:16:28.960
hear believe and obey the gospel and baptism

00:16:28.960 --> 00:16:31.399
and at that very moment God saved them from their

00:16:31.399 --> 00:16:33.519
sins He washed them clean by the blood of Jesus

00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:37.200
and He simultaneously added them to His church.

00:16:37.379 --> 00:16:41.600
This is when it all started, right here. This

00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:44.799
is when the first Christians came into the body

00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:48.259
of Christ through baptism. This is the day, this

00:16:48.259 --> 00:16:50.519
is the time, this is the place and occasion upon

00:16:50.519 --> 00:16:54.100
which Jesus built His church all the way back

00:16:54.100 --> 00:16:58.399
in Jerusalem in Acts 2 on Pentecost day. We have

00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:00.659
it recorded for us and left to us in the Scriptures.

00:17:01.519 --> 00:17:03.779
Now here's some things we need to understand

00:17:03.779 --> 00:17:08.160
about Jesus building his church Paul would later

00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:10.819
go on to talk to the elders of the church at

00:17:10.819 --> 00:17:14.059
Ephesus and he told them to take heed therefore

00:17:14.059 --> 00:17:16.240
unto themselves and to all the flock over which

00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:18.559
the Holy Ghost had made them overseers or elders

00:17:18.559 --> 00:17:22.099
and he tells those men in Acts 20 28 to feed

00:17:22.099 --> 00:17:25.420
the church of God To feed the church of God and

00:17:25.420 --> 00:17:27.740
he makes a comment about the church here which

00:17:27.740 --> 00:17:30.640
he that's Jesus have purchased with his own blood

00:17:30.859 --> 00:17:34.380
Jesus paid a high price to purchase the church.

00:17:35.579 --> 00:17:39.400
The price that was paid was his own shed blood.

00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:43.839
He died and shed his blood to purchase, to take

00:17:43.839 --> 00:17:47.059
possession or ownership of the church that he

00:17:47.059 --> 00:17:51.700
built. Now a lot of people today, they don't

00:17:51.700 --> 00:17:54.079
think about the church as being essential or

00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:57.220
important or necessary. A lot of people today

00:17:57.220 --> 00:17:59.680
focus solely on just having a relationship with

00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:01.819
Jesus. It's all about having a relationship with

00:18:01.819 --> 00:18:04.019
Jesus and we don't need religion and we don't

00:18:04.019 --> 00:18:07.299
need the church. All we need is Jesus. Well,

00:18:07.299 --> 00:18:10.019
I'm here to tell you we do need Jesus. We do

00:18:10.019 --> 00:18:13.220
need a personal relationship with Jesus. But

00:18:13.220 --> 00:18:16.420
to have a personal relationship with Jesus means

00:18:16.420 --> 00:18:18.779
that we are going to value the things that He

00:18:18.779 --> 00:18:21.819
valued. What did Jesus value? What did he give

00:18:21.819 --> 00:18:24.019
up his life for? What did he die for? The Bible

00:18:24.019 --> 00:18:27.200
says Jesus died to purchase the church. If the

00:18:27.200 --> 00:18:30.240
church was that important to Jesus, shouldn't

00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:32.420
the church be that important to us if we're following

00:18:32.420 --> 00:18:35.859
Christ? This idea of give me Jesus, but I don't

00:18:35.859 --> 00:18:38.079
need the church. I don't think Christ respects

00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:40.039
that idea or that attitude. I don't think he

00:18:40.039 --> 00:18:44.799
accepts it. Because to follow Jesus is to happily

00:18:44.799 --> 00:18:47.140
and thankfully be a part of the church that he

00:18:47.140 --> 00:18:49.339
built and that he purchased with his own blood.

00:18:49.640 --> 00:18:52.519
A high price was paid to purchase the church.

00:18:53.859 --> 00:18:56.700
And because Jesus is the one who died to purchase

00:18:56.700 --> 00:18:59.460
the church, He is the one who rules and reigns

00:18:59.460 --> 00:19:01.500
supreme over His church. He's the head of the

00:19:01.500 --> 00:19:03.720
body of the church. That's Colossians 1 and 18.

00:19:04.279 --> 00:19:08.980
He's the head. No man, no council, no board of

00:19:08.980 --> 00:19:13.240
directors, no organization, no priest, no pope,

00:19:14.180 --> 00:19:18.279
no preacher is the head of the church. Jesus

00:19:18.279 --> 00:19:21.039
Christ and Him alone, He rules and reigns supreme

00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:24.380
over His body, which is the church that He built.

00:19:25.779 --> 00:19:30.859
Now, those are some scriptures which help us

00:19:30.859 --> 00:19:33.619
discover or rediscover the church that Jesus

00:19:33.619 --> 00:19:37.660
built. I want to continue forward in history.

00:19:38.500 --> 00:19:40.319
I want to talk a little bit about the past. I

00:19:40.319 --> 00:19:42.160
want to talk about history this morning. I think

00:19:42.160 --> 00:19:44.059
it's important that we understand some basic

00:19:44.059 --> 00:19:47.940
history about the church. Because it's really

00:19:47.940 --> 00:19:49.980
hard for us to see the need and the importance

00:19:49.980 --> 00:19:52.740
of restoring New Testament Christianity if we

00:19:52.740 --> 00:19:55.359
don't understand the history of Christianity.

00:19:55.420 --> 00:19:57.500
If we don't understand how we got here today,

00:19:58.619 --> 00:20:00.819
it's hard to see the importance of restoring

00:20:00.819 --> 00:20:03.960
the New Testament church. We're going to continue

00:20:03.960 --> 00:20:06.400
forward in the first century. In the first century,

00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:08.619
the church enjoyed rapid and booming growth.

00:20:09.019 --> 00:20:11.700
The church was growing rapidly throughout the

00:20:11.700 --> 00:20:13.900
Roman Empire. It was being persecuted at times,

00:20:13.900 --> 00:20:16.640
yes, but it was still growing rapidly into the

00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:19.480
far reaches of the Roman Empire. Many, many people

00:20:19.480 --> 00:20:21.859
come to know Christ. Many, many people come to

00:20:21.859 --> 00:20:24.720
hear the gospel and be baptized. But at the same

00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:27.819
time the church was growing and booming in the

00:20:27.819 --> 00:20:30.819
first century, the apostles were also predicting

00:20:30.819 --> 00:20:34.380
an apostasy. You can think about apostasy as

00:20:34.380 --> 00:20:37.000
a falling away or a departure from the faith.

00:20:37.740 --> 00:20:39.400
And I want to show you two of these prophecies.

00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:42.859
The first one is in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.

00:20:43.220 --> 00:20:46.220
In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, Paul writes to

00:20:46.220 --> 00:20:49.180
the church at Thessalonica. And it's really verses

00:20:49.180 --> 00:20:51.240
1 to 12. We're not going to read 1 to 12. I'm

00:20:51.240 --> 00:20:54.140
going to focus in on here on verse 3. This is

00:20:54.140 --> 00:20:56.900
where Paul tells the Thessalonians. He says,

00:20:57.019 --> 00:20:59.380
let no man deceive you. So we don't want to be

00:20:59.380 --> 00:21:01.279
deceived about this. We want to understand the

00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:04.460
truth. Let no man deceive you by any means for

00:21:04.460 --> 00:21:06.940
that day shall not come and the day that's under

00:21:06.940 --> 00:21:09.339
consideration There is the day of Christ return

00:21:09.339 --> 00:21:11.579
if you look at the context That's what they're

00:21:11.579 --> 00:21:14.099
talking about the day of the Lord's return that

00:21:14.099 --> 00:21:18.059
day will not come except there come a falling

00:21:18.059 --> 00:21:22.299
away first Paul tells the Thessalonians Lord's

00:21:22.299 --> 00:21:25.599
coming back and he is coming back He says but

00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:28.279
before the Lord comes back There's going to be

00:21:28.279 --> 00:21:31.819
a falling away First, Paul predicted that, an

00:21:31.819 --> 00:21:35.019
apostasy, a falling away of the church. You know,

00:21:35.019 --> 00:21:37.099
it's very similar to the language that he wrote

00:21:37.099 --> 00:21:40.279
to Timothy. He wrote to Timothy, I believe, about

00:21:40.279 --> 00:21:43.240
the same thing. In 1 Timothy chapter 4, verses

00:21:43.240 --> 00:21:45.519
1 to 3, listen to what he says. Now, the Spirit

00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:49.099
speaketh expressly, clearly. The Spirit speaks

00:21:49.099 --> 00:21:51.000
clearly about this, so we need to understand

00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:53.700
this clearly. That in the latter times, Paul

00:21:53.700 --> 00:21:58.500
says, some, not all, but some shall depart from

00:21:58.500 --> 00:22:01.220
the faith. Wow, that must have been something

00:22:01.220 --> 00:22:03.880
for Timothy to hear. You know, he's seeing many,

00:22:03.880 --> 00:22:05.700
many people come to know Christ. He's seeing

00:22:05.700 --> 00:22:09.359
the church grow. But Paul tells him there's going

00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:11.059
to come a time when some are going to depart

00:22:11.059 --> 00:22:13.720
from the faith. He's telling the Thessalonians

00:22:13.720 --> 00:22:16.119
that there's going to be a falling away. These

00:22:16.119 --> 00:22:19.640
are prophecies pointing forward to some events

00:22:19.640 --> 00:22:22.039
that did happen and did unfold, just like Paul

00:22:22.039 --> 00:22:24.200
predicted and prophesied in the course of church

00:22:24.200 --> 00:22:29.450
history. Now, if you study church history, there

00:22:29.450 --> 00:22:31.329
are some things that will become evident to you.

00:22:31.490 --> 00:22:34.710
These are the undisputed facts of church history,

00:22:34.890 --> 00:22:37.849
okay? Regardless of what faith you have, what

00:22:37.849 --> 00:22:40.369
denomination you're a part of, we can study church

00:22:40.369 --> 00:22:43.170
history and scholars across the board can agree

00:22:43.170 --> 00:22:45.490
on the facts of church history that I'm about

00:22:45.490 --> 00:22:47.170
to share with you. And I'm going to share the

00:22:47.170 --> 00:22:49.569
good, the bad, and the ugly concerning church

00:22:49.569 --> 00:22:51.710
history. We have to do that. We have to be honest.

00:22:52.140 --> 00:22:54.400
And I want to tell you honestly and sincerely,

00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:56.799
this falling away, this departure from the faith

00:22:56.799 --> 00:22:59.000
that Paul predicted, it did happen over the course

00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:01.559
of church history. It didn't happen all in one

00:23:01.559 --> 00:23:04.019
day. It didn't happen all in one year. It didn't

00:23:04.019 --> 00:23:07.359
even happen all in one century. But this falling

00:23:07.359 --> 00:23:09.279
away, this departure from the faith happened

00:23:09.279 --> 00:23:12.859
slowly over the course of about 1 ,400 years,

00:23:13.180 --> 00:23:16.559
and it corresponded to the rise of what we know

00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:19.029
today as the Roman Catholic Church. I want to

00:23:19.029 --> 00:23:20.410
talk to you a little bit this morning about the

00:23:20.410 --> 00:23:22.670
Roman Catholic Church. And when I do that, I

00:23:22.670 --> 00:23:26.230
want you to understand something. When I mention

00:23:26.230 --> 00:23:29.029
the Roman Catholic Church, please don't misunderstand

00:23:29.029 --> 00:23:32.009
me. I'm not trying to attack individuals personally

00:23:32.009 --> 00:23:34.170
who might be a part of the Roman Catholic Church.

00:23:34.670 --> 00:23:36.490
You might have friends and family members who

00:23:36.490 --> 00:23:39.130
are part of this church. I do. And this is not

00:23:39.130 --> 00:23:41.210
an indictment on them personally or questioning

00:23:41.210 --> 00:23:44.079
their faith or their sincerity. But we're going

00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:45.859
to talk about some things concerning the Roman

00:23:45.859 --> 00:23:48.140
Catholic Church. It would be hard for us to tell

00:23:48.140 --> 00:23:51.319
the story of church history without talking about

00:23:51.319 --> 00:23:53.319
the names of some of the churches that have been

00:23:53.319 --> 00:23:57.220
involved. But slowly over a period of 1400 years,

00:23:57.460 --> 00:24:00.339
what we see happening with the rise of the Roman

00:24:00.339 --> 00:24:03.059
Catholic Church, some of the things that Paul

00:24:03.059 --> 00:24:05.299
mentioned in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, they

00:24:05.299 --> 00:24:08.519
come true. If you go back and read 2 Thessalonians

00:24:08.519 --> 00:24:11.539
2, 1 -12, Paul talks about a man of sin being

00:24:11.539 --> 00:24:14.319
revealed, the son of perdition who exalts himself

00:24:14.319 --> 00:24:17.519
or lifts himself up above God or everything that

00:24:17.519 --> 00:24:20.039
is called God so that he as God setteth in the

00:24:20.039 --> 00:24:22.720
temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

00:24:22.839 --> 00:24:25.200
A man rises up and takes the place and says,

00:24:25.380 --> 00:24:30.420
I am God. And we see that prophecy fulfilled

00:24:30.420 --> 00:24:34.210
in the rise of the office of the Pope. The Roman

00:24:34.210 --> 00:24:38.490
Catholic Church teaches that the Pope is Christ's

00:24:38.490 --> 00:24:40.490
representation on earth. He is God on earth.

00:24:41.390 --> 00:24:43.890
He is the vicar of Christ, the representation

00:24:43.890 --> 00:24:47.109
of God on earth in the form of the papal office,

00:24:47.170 --> 00:24:50.730
the office of the Pope. Paul also said that they

00:24:50.730 --> 00:24:52.930
will teach doctrines of devils. The Greek word

00:24:52.930 --> 00:24:55.930
there for devils is demons. And the idea here

00:24:55.930 --> 00:24:58.430
is that a doctrine would prevail that would teach

00:24:58.430 --> 00:25:01.309
people to worship and venerate the dead. just

00:25:01.309 --> 00:25:04.670
as many saints are venerated today. Many saints

00:25:04.670 --> 00:25:07.309
that have died hundreds of years ago, centuries

00:25:07.309 --> 00:25:11.390
ago are venerated and worshiped as part of the

00:25:11.390 --> 00:25:14.170
Roman Catholic Church. He says that it's going

00:25:14.170 --> 00:25:16.190
to get really bad and people's conscience is

00:25:16.190 --> 00:25:18.490
going to be seared. They're going to get involved

00:25:18.490 --> 00:25:22.369
in error and sin to the point that they're blinded

00:25:22.369 --> 00:25:24.890
to their sin. They're blinded to their error.

00:25:24.970 --> 00:25:28.150
Their conscience is seared with a hot iron. They

00:25:28.150 --> 00:25:30.640
cannot see with a... with a clear mind. They

00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:34.380
cannot feel with a good conscience that they

00:25:34.380 --> 00:25:36.599
are disobeying God and doing things contrary

00:25:36.599 --> 00:25:39.339
to His will. He said they would also forbid to

00:25:39.339 --> 00:25:43.119
marry. You know, we see that today. That's been

00:25:43.119 --> 00:25:45.359
practiced for hundreds of years in the Roman

00:25:45.359 --> 00:25:47.380
Catholic Church that its leaders, its priests,

00:25:47.460 --> 00:25:51.000
its bishops, its cardinals, and its pope aren't

00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:52.819
allowed to marry. They're forbidden to marry

00:25:52.819 --> 00:25:54.960
if they want to be in that office to serve God.

00:25:55.279 --> 00:25:57.559
The doctrine is called the celibacy of the priesthood.

00:25:58.250 --> 00:26:00.950
You know, Paul predicted that during this departure

00:26:00.950 --> 00:26:03.190
from the faith, during this falling away, that

00:26:03.190 --> 00:26:06.210
these things would come into Christianity, that

00:26:06.210 --> 00:26:08.829
these doctrines would be a part of many people's

00:26:08.829 --> 00:26:11.269
faith. He goes on to say that they would teach

00:26:11.269 --> 00:26:14.269
people to abstain from meats, that at certain

00:26:14.269 --> 00:26:16.809
times and on certain times of the year and certain

00:26:16.809 --> 00:26:19.289
days of the week, you couldn't eat certain meats.

00:26:19.809 --> 00:26:22.470
That's also a teaching today of the Roman Catholic

00:26:22.470 --> 00:26:26.509
Church. And Paul goes on to say that because

00:26:26.509 --> 00:26:28.630
of this, God would send many people a strong

00:26:28.630 --> 00:26:32.029
delusion that they would believe a lie, he says,

00:26:32.049 --> 00:26:34.309
because they didn't have a love of the truth.

00:26:34.990 --> 00:26:37.630
I encourage you to go back and read 2 Thessalonians

00:26:37.630 --> 00:26:40.029
chapter 2, verse 1 to 12, and see these things

00:26:40.029 --> 00:26:43.490
for yourself. And unfortunately, it's come true.

00:26:43.509 --> 00:26:45.890
Many people have believed a strong delusion.

00:26:46.970 --> 00:26:49.369
And God's allowed them to believe a lot of the

00:26:49.369 --> 00:26:52.690
religious lies that are propagated in religion

00:26:52.690 --> 00:26:57.869
today. All these things happened and they corresponded

00:26:57.869 --> 00:27:00.289
to the rise of the Roman Catholic Church. During

00:27:00.289 --> 00:27:03.529
this period of time, the Roman Catholic Church,

00:27:03.990 --> 00:27:07.890
which really had the market on most of Christianity,

00:27:08.349 --> 00:27:10.829
over this period of time they became doctrinally

00:27:10.829 --> 00:27:13.829
corrupt. Many false doctrines came into the church

00:27:13.829 --> 00:27:17.789
slowly over this time. The idea of worshipping

00:27:17.789 --> 00:27:20.710
or venerating Mary, the idea, as I mentioned,

00:27:20.769 --> 00:27:22.609
of the celibacy of the priesthood, that church

00:27:22.609 --> 00:27:25.170
leaders can't marry, The idea that you should

00:27:25.170 --> 00:27:27.650
pray to the saints instead of praying to God.

00:27:28.470 --> 00:27:30.769
The idea of infant baptism. And the list goes

00:27:30.769 --> 00:27:34.190
on and on. Many, many other doctrines came into

00:27:34.190 --> 00:27:36.009
the church that we have no scriptural authority

00:27:36.009 --> 00:27:38.250
for, that we don't find taught in the Bible.

00:27:39.100 --> 00:27:41.519
Over this period of time, most of Christianity

00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:44.299
became organizationally corrupt. A hierarchy

00:27:44.299 --> 00:27:46.660
developed within the Roman Catholic Church that

00:27:46.660 --> 00:27:49.220
is foreign to Scripture. We don't find anything

00:27:49.220 --> 00:27:52.420
in the New Testament, in the Bible, about one

00:27:52.420 --> 00:27:55.480
priest being over one congregation, and then

00:27:55.480 --> 00:27:58.559
a bishop being over a number of priests, and

00:27:58.559 --> 00:28:00.960
then an archbishop being over a number of bishops,

00:28:01.359 --> 00:28:03.980
and then a cardinal being over maybe all the

00:28:03.980 --> 00:28:06.380
churches in a nation, and then the idea of a

00:28:06.380 --> 00:28:09.250
pope being over the whole church. spread out

00:28:09.250 --> 00:28:12.890
throughout the earth. These are offices that

00:28:12.890 --> 00:28:15.210
aren't taught in the Bible. This is man -made

00:28:15.210 --> 00:28:18.410
religion. And this is a hierarchy that man slowly

00:28:18.410 --> 00:28:20.970
established and evolved over a period of time

00:28:20.970 --> 00:28:23.190
that we have no authority for in the scripture.

00:28:24.130 --> 00:28:27.309
Jesus, in fact, gave us a pattern for church

00:28:27.309 --> 00:28:29.950
organization. If you're able to come back Friday

00:28:29.950 --> 00:28:31.609
night and you're interested in that topic, we're

00:28:31.609 --> 00:28:33.829
going to talk more about that, about God's plan

00:28:33.829 --> 00:28:36.309
for the organization of the church. And it was

00:28:36.309 --> 00:28:39.160
not this. But yet this is the hierarchy that

00:28:39.160 --> 00:28:42.119
developed within the church over this 1400 year

00:28:42.119 --> 00:28:45.220
period. You know, most of the church also became

00:28:45.220 --> 00:28:49.200
morally corrupt during this time. Morally corrupt.

00:28:51.299 --> 00:28:53.380
For hundreds and hundreds of years the Roman

00:28:53.380 --> 00:28:58.000
Catholic Church forged a worldwide empire. The

00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:00.319
Roman Empire at first, then the Holy Roman Empire

00:29:00.319 --> 00:29:03.420
through the Middle Ages. They forged a worldwide

00:29:03.420 --> 00:29:06.720
empire that dominated most of Europe. North Africa,

00:29:06.900 --> 00:29:09.660
even parts of Asia. And, you know, as part of

00:29:09.660 --> 00:29:12.039
this one world empire, one world government,

00:29:12.240 --> 00:29:14.720
they raised up a giant army. Roman Catholic Church

00:29:14.720 --> 00:29:17.940
raised up a giant army to go and to slaughter

00:29:17.940 --> 00:29:20.519
people by the thousands over a period of time

00:29:20.519 --> 00:29:25.160
by the millions. In the crosshairs were what

00:29:25.160 --> 00:29:27.759
they called heretics. A heretic was anyone who

00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:30.490
disagreed with the Roman Catholic Church and

00:29:30.490 --> 00:29:32.289
what it taught. If you disagreed with the Roman

00:29:32.289 --> 00:29:34.150
Catholic Church, you were a heretic and you were

00:29:34.150 --> 00:29:35.829
subject to the penalty of death. And they had

00:29:35.829 --> 00:29:38.049
a giant army to go find you and hunt you down

00:29:38.049 --> 00:29:41.230
and kill you. You know, they also raised up armies

00:29:41.230 --> 00:29:44.630
to make crusades into the Middle East and to

00:29:44.630 --> 00:29:47.349
slaughter by the millions of people living in

00:29:47.349 --> 00:29:50.869
the land of Palestine as part of a crusade or

00:29:50.869 --> 00:29:53.190
an effort to regain the territory of the Holy

00:29:53.190 --> 00:29:56.410
Land. Millions and millions of people were murdered.

00:29:57.160 --> 00:30:00.799
Over the course of history by the swords of the

00:30:00.799 --> 00:30:03.180
Roman Catholic Church and the army that it raised

00:30:03.180 --> 00:30:07.319
up now we can see that Jesus never Taught this

00:30:07.319 --> 00:30:09.900
Jesus never advocated for this Jesus never commanded

00:30:09.900 --> 00:30:14.779
anything like this It's evidence of it's one

00:30:14.779 --> 00:30:17.579
of the evidences of how the church became morally

00:30:17.579 --> 00:30:21.039
corrupt over this 1400 year period of history

00:30:21.039 --> 00:30:24.220
I Told you I was gonna give you a good bad and

00:30:24.220 --> 00:30:27.509
ugly and I realized a lot of that was ugly This

00:30:27.509 --> 00:30:29.829
is the truth. These are the undisputed facts

00:30:29.829 --> 00:30:33.329
of church history. If you're interested in this,

00:30:33.490 --> 00:30:35.269
if I piqued your interest, you go do your own

00:30:35.269 --> 00:30:38.450
research and you're going to find that this is

00:30:38.450 --> 00:30:40.769
the history of the church. It's a dark history.

00:30:41.930 --> 00:30:44.690
But you know there was a light that began to

00:30:44.690 --> 00:30:46.609
shine around the year 1500. Some things began

00:30:46.609 --> 00:30:50.329
to change. Around the year 1500, men actually

00:30:50.329 --> 00:30:53.069
started to rise up and protest against the errors

00:30:53.069 --> 00:30:56.109
of the Roman Catholic Church. And this began

00:30:56.109 --> 00:30:58.890
a reformation movement. It's called the Protestant

00:30:58.890 --> 00:31:02.769
Reformation. These men were protesting the errors

00:31:02.769 --> 00:31:04.450
of the Roman Catholic Church. That's why it's

00:31:04.450 --> 00:31:06.869
called Protestant. They were protesting and they

00:31:06.869 --> 00:31:09.720
were demanding reforms. That's why it's called

00:31:09.720 --> 00:31:12.900
a Reformation, Protestant Reformation. Men like

00:31:12.900 --> 00:31:15.680
Martin Luther, who was a priest in the Catholic

00:31:15.680 --> 00:31:19.140
Church, published his 95 Theses, which was a

00:31:19.140 --> 00:31:22.160
list of objections that he had against the teaching

00:31:22.160 --> 00:31:24.980
of the Catholic Church, 95 points at which he

00:31:24.980 --> 00:31:27.460
saw the church was not teaching scriptural doctrine.

00:31:27.920 --> 00:31:30.339
And he published that in Wittenberg, Germany

00:31:30.339 --> 00:31:35.819
in 1517. He publicly published his dispute of

00:31:35.819 --> 00:31:38.720
the Catholic Church on these 95 points. And,

00:31:38.759 --> 00:31:41.259
you know, he was one of many at that time who

00:31:41.259 --> 00:31:43.720
rose up to protest the errors of the Catholic

00:31:43.720 --> 00:31:46.480
Church. And, you know, their rallying cry, their

00:31:46.480 --> 00:31:49.059
plea was very simple. These men said, you know,

00:31:49.160 --> 00:31:51.339
our authority needs to be found in the Bible

00:31:51.339 --> 00:31:53.940
and the Bible alone. We need to go back to the

00:31:53.940 --> 00:31:56.920
Bible. And our faith, our doctrine, our practice

00:31:56.920 --> 00:31:59.220
needs to line up with the Scripture. Not hundreds

00:31:59.220 --> 00:32:01.339
and hundreds of years of manmade doctrines and

00:32:01.339 --> 00:32:04.789
traditions. And that was their... That was their

00:32:04.789 --> 00:32:07.190
protest and that was their cry. Now, I want to

00:32:07.190 --> 00:32:08.950
tell you something about the Protestant Reformation.

00:32:09.890 --> 00:32:13.470
It was a very noble effort. A very noble effort

00:32:13.470 --> 00:32:16.829
and I'm thankful for the men who stood up and

00:32:16.829 --> 00:32:19.690
some of them lost their lives. They risked their

00:32:19.690 --> 00:32:21.670
lives to stand up and say, no, we need to get

00:32:21.670 --> 00:32:24.710
back to the Bible and do things God's way. It

00:32:24.710 --> 00:32:26.730
was a very noble effort. However, I'm here to

00:32:26.730 --> 00:32:29.089
tell you this morning in my estimation, Protestant

00:32:29.089 --> 00:32:32.430
Reformation, as noble as it was, was unsuccessful.

00:32:33.400 --> 00:32:35.940
And one of the reasons why I say it was unsuccessful

00:32:35.940 --> 00:32:39.980
is that it led to the rise of all the religious

00:32:39.980 --> 00:32:43.180
division that we see around us today. The different

00:32:43.180 --> 00:32:45.680
parts of the Protestant Reformation eventually

00:32:45.680 --> 00:32:48.920
fragmented, and from that fragmentation of that

00:32:48.920 --> 00:32:50.960
movement, many of the denominational churches

00:32:50.960 --> 00:32:53.160
that we see around us today were established.

00:32:53.920 --> 00:32:56.200
So before the Reformation, we had one church,

00:32:56.200 --> 00:32:59.640
and it had a lot of problems. Okay? After the

00:32:59.640 --> 00:33:02.099
Reformation, we've got dozens of different churches.

00:33:02.440 --> 00:33:05.559
all divided against each other, and they still

00:33:05.559 --> 00:33:08.119
have not all the same problems, but a lot of

00:33:08.119 --> 00:33:10.000
the same problems that they had in the beginning.

00:33:11.140 --> 00:33:13.319
So that's why I say the Protestant Reformation

00:33:13.319 --> 00:33:15.759
was a noble effort, but it really just led to

00:33:15.759 --> 00:33:19.140
the rise of religious division that we see today.

00:33:19.799 --> 00:33:22.400
Another movement came after that. From about

00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:24.980
the year 1780, continuing on into the present

00:33:24.980 --> 00:33:29.180
day, in the late 1700s, men began to look around

00:33:29.180 --> 00:33:31.839
and see the religious division around them. And

00:33:31.839 --> 00:33:33.900
all these different churches and denominations

00:33:33.900 --> 00:33:36.220
said, hey, we all say we're Christians and serving

00:33:36.220 --> 00:33:38.799
God, yet we're all divided against each other.

00:33:39.579 --> 00:33:41.859
And a group of men tried to come together and

00:33:41.859 --> 00:33:44.299
put aside all denominational differences to just

00:33:44.299 --> 00:33:46.619
come around the Word of God and just practice

00:33:46.619 --> 00:33:49.339
New Testament Christianity as it's revealed in

00:33:49.339 --> 00:33:51.940
the Scriptures. They saw the need to do that

00:33:51.940 --> 00:33:54.299
because they realized that many man -made doctrines

00:33:54.299 --> 00:33:56.539
had been carried over from the Roman Catholic

00:33:56.539 --> 00:33:59.279
Church into their denominational churches. So

00:33:59.279 --> 00:34:01.279
they saw a need to go even further than they

00:34:01.279 --> 00:34:03.720
already had in getting back to just practicing

00:34:03.720 --> 00:34:07.900
the Bible. Also many unbiblical practices had

00:34:07.900 --> 00:34:10.400
been carried over from the Catholic Church into

00:34:10.400 --> 00:34:13.880
denominational churches. And these men saw the

00:34:13.880 --> 00:34:17.039
need to continue to press on, to try to get back

00:34:17.039 --> 00:34:19.119
to being the one in the same church that Jesus

00:34:19.119 --> 00:34:22.260
built. Now I want you to notice something. We

00:34:22.260 --> 00:34:24.280
call this movement the Restoration Movement.

00:34:24.739 --> 00:34:27.360
And that's different than the Protestant Reformation.

00:34:27.460 --> 00:34:30.099
There's a difference between Reformation and

00:34:30.099 --> 00:34:32.000
a difference in Restoration. And I'll have more

00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:34.280
to say about that in just a few moments. But

00:34:34.280 --> 00:34:36.639
notice this was not an effort to reform. They'd

00:34:36.639 --> 00:34:38.579
already tried to reform the church, already tried

00:34:38.579 --> 00:34:41.659
to change it. They said, you know what, instead

00:34:41.659 --> 00:34:44.179
of trying to reform the church, we just need

00:34:44.179 --> 00:34:47.519
to go back to the very beginning. Instead of

00:34:47.519 --> 00:34:49.559
trying to change it one piece at a time, a little

00:34:49.559 --> 00:34:51.440
bit here and a little bit there, we just need

00:34:51.440 --> 00:34:55.130
to start all over. And we just need to make up

00:34:55.130 --> 00:34:56.849
our minds. We're going to be the church Jesus

00:34:56.849 --> 00:34:59.769
built. And our faith, our practice, our doctrine,

00:34:59.949 --> 00:35:02.130
if we can't find it clearly authorized in the

00:35:02.130 --> 00:35:04.630
New Testament, we're not going to be a part of

00:35:04.630 --> 00:35:07.909
it. So they just wanted to wipe the slate clean

00:35:07.909 --> 00:35:10.869
completely and start all over in restoring the

00:35:10.869 --> 00:35:13.409
church that Jesus built. Now, I believe that's

00:35:13.409 --> 00:35:16.130
a noble effort. I agree with a lot of the underlying

00:35:16.130 --> 00:35:18.949
principles of that effort and that movement.

00:35:19.150 --> 00:35:22.460
And that effort is still ongoing today. That

00:35:22.460 --> 00:35:24.579
effort and this movement lives on in the minds

00:35:24.579 --> 00:35:27.679
and the hearts of people who still feel compelled

00:35:27.679 --> 00:35:32.539
to be working as we go along trying to reach

00:35:32.539 --> 00:35:38.320
a clear and a perfect understanding and putting

00:35:38.320 --> 00:35:41.699
into practice of the New Testament. And I think

00:35:41.699 --> 00:35:43.940
that's a noble effort. I want to be about that

00:35:43.940 --> 00:35:46.400
effort today. I'd encourage you to be about the

00:35:46.400 --> 00:35:48.980
effort also of restoring the New Testament Church.

00:35:50.889 --> 00:35:53.929
So that's some history. Thank you for your patience

00:35:53.929 --> 00:35:56.230
and let me lay out that history. That explains

00:35:56.230 --> 00:35:58.469
kind of how we've got to where we are today and

00:35:58.469 --> 00:36:00.409
I hope through explaining this history you can

00:36:00.409 --> 00:36:02.829
see that we do have a great need for religious

00:36:02.829 --> 00:36:06.030
restoration. We do have a need to restore the

00:36:06.030 --> 00:36:08.409
New Testament Church Jesus built. I've thrown

00:36:08.409 --> 00:36:10.630
out this word restoration. Before we go any further,

00:36:10.690 --> 00:36:12.570
I want you to understand what that word means.

00:36:13.170 --> 00:36:15.369
Restoration, the root word, is the word restore.

00:36:15.690 --> 00:36:17.730
And we understand that when we restore something,

00:36:18.050 --> 00:36:19.969
we want to take that thing and bring it back

00:36:19.969 --> 00:36:23.250
to its former, original condition. You take this

00:36:23.250 --> 00:36:28.250
old car. It don't look too good. It's seen better

00:36:28.250 --> 00:36:31.130
days, hadn't it? If you had a mind to and the

00:36:31.130 --> 00:36:33.309
money to, you could buy that car. If you had

00:36:33.309 --> 00:36:36.360
the skill, the talent, the ability. and access

00:36:36.360 --> 00:36:38.539
to all the parts, what could you do? You could

00:36:38.539 --> 00:36:42.800
restore that car. You could return it back to

00:36:42.800 --> 00:36:46.280
its former original condition. And that's what

00:36:46.280 --> 00:36:48.519
we're talking about when we talk about restoration.

00:36:48.619 --> 00:36:51.599
We're not wanting to restore a car or a piece

00:36:51.599 --> 00:36:55.079
of antique furniture. We're talking about restoring

00:36:55.079 --> 00:36:57.219
the church that Jesus built. We're talking about

00:36:57.219 --> 00:37:00.239
restoring it back, taking it back to the very

00:37:00.239 --> 00:37:03.690
beginning. and returning it to its former original

00:37:03.690 --> 00:37:06.170
condition as it's revealed to us in the New Testament.

00:37:07.130 --> 00:37:09.429
We have a desperate need for religious restoration

00:37:09.429 --> 00:37:12.769
today for these reasons. One, man -made doctrine

00:37:12.769 --> 00:37:15.429
still abound in Christianity today. There's still

00:37:15.429 --> 00:37:18.070
many things taught in churches today for which

00:37:18.070 --> 00:37:20.909
there's no scriptural authority, for which there's

00:37:20.909 --> 00:37:24.070
not a book, chapter, and verse to back it up.

00:37:24.170 --> 00:37:26.889
and to show that it's truly from God. There are

00:37:26.889 --> 00:37:29.449
many man -made doctrines and traditions in religion

00:37:29.449 --> 00:37:31.409
today and because of that we still have a need

00:37:31.409 --> 00:37:34.469
for religious restoration. Many practices in

00:37:34.469 --> 00:37:38.329
religion today are unauthorized. No scripture.

00:37:39.670 --> 00:37:41.389
No scriptural authority. Scriptural authority

00:37:41.389 --> 00:37:44.190
is so very important. If we want to be the church

00:37:44.190 --> 00:37:46.230
Jesus built we have to question the authority

00:37:46.230 --> 00:37:48.769
of everything. We teach, preach, and practice.

00:37:50.190 --> 00:37:54.429
But yet many churches today don't... look to

00:37:54.429 --> 00:37:56.329
the authority of Scripture as important. They

00:37:56.329 --> 00:37:58.250
do what feels right. They do what the people

00:37:58.250 --> 00:38:00.710
want instead of doing what the Bible tells us

00:38:00.710 --> 00:38:04.590
to do and is authorized in the Scriptures. And

00:38:04.590 --> 00:38:05.889
I'll tell you something else. This is another

00:38:05.889 --> 00:38:08.289
reason why we need religious restoration today.

00:38:09.389 --> 00:38:11.989
Religious division abounds. And you know, I'm

00:38:11.989 --> 00:38:15.909
afraid that we just become desensitized to it.

00:38:17.010 --> 00:38:20.070
Desensitized to it. And I'm guilty of this very

00:38:20.070 --> 00:38:24.809
same thing. You know, back home to travel from

00:38:24.809 --> 00:38:27.010
our home to New Harmony Church of Christ where

00:38:27.010 --> 00:38:29.909
we worship on Sunday morning, I think I passed

00:38:29.909 --> 00:38:33.510
like seven or eight different churches. I passed

00:38:33.510 --> 00:38:35.489
seven or eight different churches to get to the

00:38:35.489 --> 00:38:38.409
place where me and my family worship. And those

00:38:38.409 --> 00:38:41.230
churches all have different names. They teach

00:38:41.230 --> 00:38:42.969
different doctrines. They worship in different

00:38:42.969 --> 00:38:44.889
ways. They preach different Gospels. One has

00:38:44.889 --> 00:38:46.989
a preacher. One has a priest. One has a minister.

00:38:50.119 --> 00:38:52.360
And you know what, and I'm just being honest,

00:38:52.519 --> 00:38:57.519
to me I'm almost desensitized to it. But we should

00:38:57.519 --> 00:38:59.760
really never be desensitized to the religious

00:38:59.760 --> 00:39:01.800
division we see around us because I'm here to

00:39:01.800 --> 00:39:03.380
tell you, we're going to teach on it multiple

00:39:03.380 --> 00:39:05.460
times this week, religious division is not the

00:39:05.460 --> 00:39:08.360
will of God. Jesus prayed that we would all be

00:39:08.360 --> 00:39:10.519
one. And let me tell you something, we are not

00:39:10.519 --> 00:39:14.380
all one. We are not all one in Christianity today.

00:39:14.440 --> 00:39:17.159
We are divided tremendously. And for that reason,

00:39:17.500 --> 00:39:20.059
We need to come together around the Word of God

00:39:20.059 --> 00:39:22.780
and restore the one in the same church that Jesus

00:39:22.780 --> 00:39:27.360
built. So I've introduced the idea of religious

00:39:27.360 --> 00:39:29.460
restoration this morning. You say, Brother James,

00:39:29.699 --> 00:39:32.159
is it even scriptural? Is the idea of religious

00:39:32.159 --> 00:39:35.900
restoration even scriptural? Yes, it is. I'm

00:39:35.900 --> 00:39:37.760
going to give you three examples from the Bible

00:39:37.760 --> 00:39:40.780
to show you that religious restoration is scriptural.

00:39:41.019 --> 00:39:43.320
The first example will come from the Old Testament.

00:39:43.780 --> 00:39:47.159
You remember in 2 Kings chapter 22? In the days

00:39:47.159 --> 00:39:49.840
of King Josiah, the book of the law of the Lord

00:39:49.840 --> 00:39:52.599
had been lost for many years and it was rediscovered

00:39:52.599 --> 00:39:55.539
in the temple. And you remember the priest, the

00:39:55.539 --> 00:39:59.719
high priest gave the book to a scribe. The scribe

00:39:59.719 --> 00:40:02.539
went and read it to King Josiah. And you remember

00:40:02.539 --> 00:40:05.300
what Josiah's response was when he heard the

00:40:05.300 --> 00:40:07.559
Word of God straight from the book for the first

00:40:07.559 --> 00:40:12.489
time in probably his life? Josiah said this in

00:40:12.489 --> 00:40:15.429
2 Kings 22 -13. He says, Great is the wrath of

00:40:15.429 --> 00:40:17.429
the Lord that is kindled against us, because

00:40:17.429 --> 00:40:19.590
our fathers haven't hearkened, they haven't listened

00:40:19.590 --> 00:40:22.489
under the words of this book. Josiah recognizes

00:40:22.489 --> 00:40:24.949
and realizes that he and his people had strayed

00:40:24.949 --> 00:40:27.530
far, far away from the will of God. They hadn't

00:40:27.530 --> 00:40:29.969
been following God's word for many, many years.

00:40:31.769 --> 00:40:34.429
And when Josiah realized that, what did Josiah

00:40:34.429 --> 00:40:39.889
do? You go read 2 Kings 23. If you allow me to

00:40:39.889 --> 00:40:42.389
just paraphrase it and put it to you in straight

00:40:42.389 --> 00:40:46.630
and simple terms, Josiah cleaned house. Josiah

00:40:46.630 --> 00:40:50.889
cleaned house. He immediately looked at the ways

00:40:50.889 --> 00:40:52.949
the Jews were worshipping God. And if it wasn't

00:40:52.949 --> 00:40:54.809
a part of the law, if it wasn't part of God's

00:40:54.809 --> 00:40:58.130
Word, he got rid of it. And the things that they

00:40:58.130 --> 00:41:00.210
had long forgotten, that God told them to do

00:41:00.210 --> 00:41:02.409
as part of their service to him, he brought those

00:41:02.409 --> 00:41:05.849
things back into their faith and practice. Josiah

00:41:05.849 --> 00:41:08.679
restored the religion of the Jews. He returned

00:41:08.679 --> 00:41:11.139
it back to its former original condition because

00:41:11.139 --> 00:41:14.539
it had been long lost and forgotten. And because

00:41:14.539 --> 00:41:17.159
Josiah restored the religion of the Jews, I want

00:41:17.159 --> 00:41:18.900
you to look at how he was remembered in the Word

00:41:18.900 --> 00:41:23.199
of God. 2 Kings 23 -25, Like unto him, Josiah,

00:41:23.460 --> 00:41:26.199
was there no king before him that turned to the

00:41:26.199 --> 00:41:28.460
Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, with

00:41:28.460 --> 00:41:30.820
all his might, according to all the law of Moses?

00:41:31.500 --> 00:41:34.119
Neither after him arose there any like him. He

00:41:34.119 --> 00:41:39.800
was like no other. Like no other. Why? Because

00:41:39.800 --> 00:41:41.780
when he read the Word of God and saw how far

00:41:41.780 --> 00:41:44.159
he was from the truth, he immediately made up

00:41:44.159 --> 00:41:46.179
his mind, I'm going to change to get back in

00:41:46.179 --> 00:41:48.780
line with God's truth. And that's what restoration

00:41:48.780 --> 00:41:53.000
is about. Second example of restoration in the

00:41:53.000 --> 00:41:56.940
Bible is the fact that Paul had to restore the

00:41:56.940 --> 00:41:59.639
doctrine of the gospel for the churches of Galatia.

00:42:00.409 --> 00:42:02.690
There were false teachers, Judaizing teachers

00:42:02.690 --> 00:42:04.889
that went throughout Galatia, teaching if you

00:42:04.889 --> 00:42:07.010
wanted to be saved, you had to believe in Jesus,

00:42:07.030 --> 00:42:09.710
but you also had to be circumcised. And that

00:42:09.710 --> 00:42:12.269
was a false gospel. Being circumcised is not

00:42:12.269 --> 00:42:14.110
part of the gospel. They're the plan of salvation.

00:42:14.170 --> 00:42:16.650
But that's the gospel that was taught in Galatia,

00:42:16.670 --> 00:42:18.710
and that's the doctrine that they began to believe.

00:42:19.429 --> 00:42:21.769
So Paul wrote Galatians to correct that false

00:42:21.769 --> 00:42:24.769
doctrine. He said in Galatians 1 .6, I marveled

00:42:24.769 --> 00:42:27.250
that you're so soon removed from Him. You see,

00:42:27.250 --> 00:42:28.909
they'd moved away from something. They'd moved

00:42:28.909 --> 00:42:31.250
away from Christ and His truth. They strayed

00:42:31.250 --> 00:42:34.449
away. Removed from Him that called you into the

00:42:34.449 --> 00:42:36.829
grace of Christ, you've been removed unto another

00:42:36.829 --> 00:42:40.489
gospel. He says, which is not another. It's not

00:42:40.489 --> 00:42:43.030
really a gospel. It's a false gospel. But there

00:42:43.030 --> 00:42:45.869
be some that trouble you and would pervert, twist,

00:42:46.030 --> 00:42:49.309
change, alter the gospel of Christ. He says,

00:42:49.429 --> 00:42:51.190
but though we are an angel from heaven, preach

00:42:51.190 --> 00:42:53.389
any other gospel unto you than that which we

00:42:53.389 --> 00:42:57.960
have preached, let him be accursed. Paul found

00:42:57.960 --> 00:43:01.480
it necessary to write to the Galatians to restore

00:43:01.480 --> 00:43:03.699
the true doctrine of the gospel because they

00:43:03.699 --> 00:43:07.380
had believed a false gospel. And you read the

00:43:07.380 --> 00:43:10.599
rest of Galatians, he goes to great detail and

00:43:10.599 --> 00:43:13.420
painstaking detail, if you will, to help them

00:43:13.420 --> 00:43:17.559
see the problem of their error. The third example

00:43:17.559 --> 00:43:21.199
of religious restoration, Paul had to write to

00:43:21.199 --> 00:43:24.239
the Corinthians to restore their practice of

00:43:24.239 --> 00:43:27.710
the Lord's Supper or communion. As Brother Jared

00:43:27.710 --> 00:43:29.710
mentioned this morning from the table, the Corinthians

00:43:29.710 --> 00:43:32.389
had lost track. They had turned the Lord's Supper

00:43:32.389 --> 00:43:34.570
into a common meal. The Lord never intended it

00:43:34.570 --> 00:43:37.869
to be a common meal for the satisfaction of the

00:43:37.869 --> 00:43:39.750
flesh, for filling of the belly, if you will.

00:43:40.309 --> 00:43:42.210
They had turned it into something the Lord never

00:43:42.210 --> 00:43:44.869
intended for it to be. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians

00:43:44.869 --> 00:43:49.010
to them to correct them and to restore the true

00:43:49.010 --> 00:43:51.510
practice of communion in their congregation.

00:43:52.360 --> 00:43:55.619
In 1 Corinthians 11, 17 -34, we're just going

00:43:55.619 --> 00:43:58.139
to look at 20 and 21. Paul said this, when you

00:43:58.139 --> 00:43:59.960
come together therefore into one place, this

00:43:59.960 --> 00:44:02.320
is not to eat the Lord's Supper. That's his way

00:44:02.320 --> 00:44:04.139
of saying, look, you're coming together and you're

00:44:04.139 --> 00:44:06.179
doing something and you're calling it the Lord's

00:44:06.179 --> 00:44:08.139
Supper, but what you're doing is not the Lord's

00:44:08.139 --> 00:44:10.860
Supper, it's something different. You've turned

00:44:10.860 --> 00:44:13.639
it into something else that it was not supposed

00:44:13.639 --> 00:44:16.650
to be. He says, For in eating, everyone taketh

00:44:16.650 --> 00:44:23.489
before other his own supper. One is hungry and

00:44:23.489 --> 00:44:26.190
another is drunken. You've turned this into a

00:44:26.190 --> 00:44:30.510
common meal. Paul wrote to them the rest of that

00:44:30.510 --> 00:44:33.989
chapter to correct them and to explain what a

00:44:33.989 --> 00:44:36.269
true and proper observance of the Lord's Supper

00:44:36.269 --> 00:44:39.409
should look like. That had to be restored. It

00:44:39.409 --> 00:44:42.110
had been lost. That practice had been lost. Paul

00:44:42.110 --> 00:44:45.699
wrote to them to restore. the truth in their

00:44:45.699 --> 00:44:50.079
observance of the Lord's Supper. Now, I've explained

00:44:50.079 --> 00:44:53.280
to you this morning what restoration is. I've

00:44:53.280 --> 00:44:55.880
given you three Bible examples of religious restoration.

00:44:57.019 --> 00:44:59.219
Is religious restoration even possible today?

00:44:59.320 --> 00:45:00.940
Some people hear these things and they say, yeah,

00:45:00.980 --> 00:45:04.099
it sounds good in theory, but in practice it's

00:45:04.099 --> 00:45:07.920
just too hard. In practice it's just too hard.

00:45:08.710 --> 00:45:11.010
Would it really be that hard for us as hard as

00:45:11.010 --> 00:45:13.489
we might think to restore New Testament Christianity

00:45:13.489 --> 00:45:16.030
today? I don't believe it would be that hard

00:45:16.030 --> 00:45:17.849
if we'd have the right mind and have the right

00:45:17.849 --> 00:45:20.889
heart and To illustrate that I want to use an

00:45:20.889 --> 00:45:23.190
example some of you may have heard before maybe

00:45:23.190 --> 00:45:26.269
the first time you're hearing it But I want to

00:45:26.269 --> 00:45:28.469
use the illustration the example of restoring

00:45:28.469 --> 00:45:32.190
the game of baseball To show you how easy it

00:45:32.190 --> 00:45:34.989
would be to restore the church that Jesus built

00:45:34.989 --> 00:45:38.739
every single time a major league baseball team

00:45:38.739 --> 00:45:40.880
gets together to play baseball they follow a

00:45:40.880 --> 00:45:45.159
rule book this is 2026 official rules of major

00:45:45.159 --> 00:45:47.079
league baseball every time they play they follow

00:45:47.079 --> 00:45:49.519
this rule book and you know this rule book tells

00:45:49.519 --> 00:45:51.500
you everything you need to know to play major

00:45:51.500 --> 00:45:54.500
league baseball it tells you three strikes is

00:45:54.500 --> 00:45:56.780
an out we all know that tells you four balls

00:45:56.780 --> 00:45:59.659
is a walk tells you there's six outs per inning

00:45:59.659 --> 00:46:01.880
three three outs at the top of the inning three

00:46:01.880 --> 00:46:04.420
outs at the bottom of the inning tells you you

00:46:04.420 --> 00:46:07.510
play nine innings in a game It says you need

00:46:07.510 --> 00:46:09.869
to put all the players on the field, and it says

00:46:09.869 --> 00:46:12.150
the field needs to have a diamond -shaped pattern,

00:46:12.530 --> 00:46:14.949
and there needs to be so many feet between home

00:46:14.949 --> 00:46:17.090
plate and first base, and first base and second

00:46:17.090 --> 00:46:19.030
base, and there's a pitcher's mound in the middle

00:46:19.030 --> 00:46:21.530
of that diamond, and it's so many feet away from

00:46:21.530 --> 00:46:25.349
home plate. All the details are laid out in the

00:46:25.349 --> 00:46:27.429
rule book of Major League Baseball. And because

00:46:27.429 --> 00:46:29.469
they have a rule book when they play baseball,

00:46:29.530 --> 00:46:31.789
guess what? They can go anywhere on the face

00:46:31.789 --> 00:46:34.550
of the planet. And they can play Major League

00:46:34.550 --> 00:46:37.969
Baseball the same way in Japan that they do in

00:46:37.969 --> 00:46:41.010
America. They could take this rule book to the

00:46:41.010 --> 00:46:43.309
North Pole and they could play baseball at the

00:46:43.309 --> 00:46:45.429
North Pole the same way they play it here in

00:46:45.429 --> 00:46:49.070
Tennessee. Because the rule book ensures consistency.

00:46:49.670 --> 00:46:51.630
If you want to play baseball, it's simple. You

00:46:51.630 --> 00:46:53.289
can play it anywhere you want. All you got to

00:46:53.289 --> 00:46:56.730
do is follow the rule book. Now what if we took

00:46:56.730 --> 00:46:59.190
this rule book of Major League Baseball and we

00:46:59.190 --> 00:47:02.380
put it in a time capsule and we buried it? and

00:47:02.380 --> 00:47:05.599
we stop playing baseball altogether, what would

00:47:05.599 --> 00:47:11.679
happen? A few generations would go by and we'd

00:47:11.679 --> 00:47:13.380
forget about baseball pretty quickly. We'd move

00:47:13.380 --> 00:47:15.260
on to other things. We'd move on to other sports,

00:47:15.260 --> 00:47:18.199
right? Our grandkids might go to a museum and

00:47:18.199 --> 00:47:19.940
see the bat and the ball and say, hey, grandma

00:47:19.940 --> 00:47:23.400
and grandpa used to play that game. A few more

00:47:23.400 --> 00:47:26.059
generations would go by and baseball would be

00:47:26.059 --> 00:47:29.119
forgotten. Suppose a thousand years went by.

00:47:30.079 --> 00:47:34.860
Thousand years from today, 3026. Suppose our

00:47:34.860 --> 00:47:36.239
great, great, great, great, great, great, great,

00:47:36.239 --> 00:47:37.599
great, great, great, great, great, great, great,

00:47:37.599 --> 00:47:41.219
great, great, great grandkids unearth that time

00:47:41.219 --> 00:47:44.659
capsule. And they pulled out this book and it

00:47:44.659 --> 00:47:46.800
says, Official Rules of Major League Baseball,

00:47:46.960 --> 00:47:54.280
2026. Suppose they read it. Could they play Major

00:47:54.280 --> 00:47:56.739
League Baseball a thousand years from today?

00:47:57.230 --> 00:47:59.550
Without any prior knowledge of it whatsoever.

00:47:59.550 --> 00:48:01.929
Could they play major league baseball? Well,

00:48:01.989 --> 00:48:04.849
sure they could All they need to do is read the

00:48:04.849 --> 00:48:06.469
rule book. They'd say, you know, it's three strikes

00:48:06.469 --> 00:48:09.389
isn't out It's four balls in a walk says right

00:48:09.389 --> 00:48:11.349
here in the rule book It's six outs per inning

00:48:11.349 --> 00:48:13.010
three at the top of the inning three at the bottom

00:48:13.010 --> 00:48:14.909
of the inning It says we need to play nine innings

00:48:14.909 --> 00:48:17.750
and it says we need to go out on a field and

00:48:17.750 --> 00:48:19.750
make a diamond -shaped pattern and put first

00:48:19.750 --> 00:48:21.610
base there and second base there and third base

00:48:21.610 --> 00:48:23.550
there and There's so many feet from home plate.

00:48:23.570 --> 00:48:27.880
We need a pitchers mound Could they play Major

00:48:27.880 --> 00:48:31.539
League Baseball? Sure they could. It's simple.

00:48:31.679 --> 00:48:35.659
Why? Just follow the rule book. Just follow the

00:48:35.659 --> 00:48:37.139
rule book and you know what they could do. They

00:48:37.139 --> 00:48:38.760
could go anywhere on the face of the planet.

00:48:38.820 --> 00:48:41.639
I don't know what nations would even exist. They

00:48:41.639 --> 00:48:43.260
could go anywhere on the face of the planet and

00:48:43.260 --> 00:48:45.159
they could play baseball the same way everywhere

00:48:45.159 --> 00:48:48.159
they went because just like the rule book ensures

00:48:48.159 --> 00:48:51.280
consistency for us today in baseball, it would

00:48:51.280 --> 00:48:54.329
provide the same consistency a thousand years

00:48:54.329 --> 00:48:56.349
from now. They could all play baseball alike.

00:48:58.530 --> 00:49:00.769
It wouldn't be hard for us to restore the New

00:49:00.769 --> 00:49:02.670
Testament church. We have a rule book, if you

00:49:02.670 --> 00:49:04.630
will. We have a pattern, a plan. It's the New

00:49:04.630 --> 00:49:08.130
Testament scriptures. And even though they were

00:49:08.130 --> 00:49:10.269
written 2 ,000 years ago, they're still available

00:49:10.269 --> 00:49:13.710
to us. If our descendants could play baseball

00:49:13.710 --> 00:49:15.829
without any prior knowledge a thousand years

00:49:15.829 --> 00:49:17.710
from today by following the rule book, we can

00:49:17.710 --> 00:49:20.030
do the same with the New Testament. We can read

00:49:20.030 --> 00:49:23.670
it, we can understand it, and we can... be successful

00:49:23.670 --> 00:49:26.030
in restoring and being the church that Jesus

00:49:26.030 --> 00:49:28.630
built. All we got to do is follow the rule book.

00:49:29.030 --> 00:49:30.929
Our rule book, of course, are the Scriptures.

00:49:31.590 --> 00:49:34.489
We could do it. I believe we should be about

00:49:34.489 --> 00:49:39.869
doing it. But to do it, to be successful in this

00:49:39.869 --> 00:49:41.449
restoration we're talking about this morning,

00:49:41.510 --> 00:49:44.989
we got to go back to the Bible. We got to push

00:49:44.989 --> 00:49:46.630
everything else aside. I'm going to talk more

00:49:46.630 --> 00:49:48.289
about that this afternoon. I hope you'll come

00:49:48.289 --> 00:49:50.719
back. and hear more what I have to say about

00:49:50.719 --> 00:49:52.800
this topic this afternoon. Hey, I hope you'll

00:49:52.800 --> 00:49:55.119
come back every single assembly, every single

00:49:55.119 --> 00:49:57.300
service of this meeting. This is a series of

00:49:57.300 --> 00:50:00.179
meetings, right? You know how it works with a

00:50:00.179 --> 00:50:02.219
movie series or a sitcom series? Once you hear

00:50:02.219 --> 00:50:05.079
the first one, you want to hear the rest in the

00:50:05.079 --> 00:50:07.179
series, right? You don't want to miss an episode

00:50:07.179 --> 00:50:13.900
in the series. Please come back and please set

00:50:13.900 --> 00:50:16.500
your heart and your mind and your will to learn

00:50:16.500 --> 00:50:19.840
more about these things. I'm going to talk more

00:50:19.840 --> 00:50:21.380
about it this afternoon, but here's what we've

00:50:21.380 --> 00:50:23.400
got to do. We've got to push aside our preferences,

00:50:24.039 --> 00:50:26.840
our opinions, our tradition, our culture. We've

00:50:26.840 --> 00:50:30.480
got to push everything aside to go back and find

00:50:30.480 --> 00:50:33.079
the truth revealed in Scripture. We must go back

00:50:33.079 --> 00:50:35.480
to the Bible to find our faith, to find our doctrine,

00:50:35.860 --> 00:50:38.019
to find our practice. Only then can we truly

00:50:38.019 --> 00:50:42.159
say that we are about the work of restoring the

00:50:42.159 --> 00:50:45.239
church that Jesus built. This is a schedule of

00:50:45.239 --> 00:50:47.099
services and topics that we're going to have

00:50:47.099 --> 00:50:50.090
throughout the week. wrap it up pretty quick

00:50:50.090 --> 00:50:52.530
here. I know that might be hard for you to see,

00:50:53.869 --> 00:50:56.190
but I'd encourage you all, we'll leave this up

00:50:56.190 --> 00:50:59.889
in between services, after services. These are

00:50:59.889 --> 00:51:01.650
a list of topics that we're going to cover. If

00:51:01.650 --> 00:51:03.530
some of these topics are interesting to you,

00:51:03.550 --> 00:51:06.610
please make it a priority to be here and hear

00:51:06.610 --> 00:51:08.690
what the Bible says about these topics. We're

00:51:08.690 --> 00:51:11.130
going to talk about restoring the church in several

00:51:11.130 --> 00:51:13.829
different ways, from several different angles.

00:51:14.349 --> 00:51:16.369
And so I encourage you again to come back and

00:51:16.369 --> 00:51:18.349
be a part of this meeting as we study these topics

00:51:18.349 --> 00:51:22.090
together. As you come to this meeting, I want

00:51:22.090 --> 00:51:24.630
to please ask you to come with an open mind.

00:51:26.409 --> 00:51:29.869
Come with an open mind. Because I'm just going

00:51:29.869 --> 00:51:31.710
to be upfront and honest with you. As we go through

00:51:31.710 --> 00:51:33.489
this series, we're going to investigate and we're

00:51:33.489 --> 00:51:35.949
going to give some honest self -examination to

00:51:35.949 --> 00:51:39.110
things pertaining to doctrine. And if we don't

00:51:39.110 --> 00:51:41.210
come with an open mind, the likelihood that we

00:51:41.210 --> 00:51:44.010
learn something is very low. But if we'll come

00:51:44.010 --> 00:51:46.809
with an open mind, we might learn something.

00:51:47.369 --> 00:51:51.010
And I hope that you do. I hope that you learn

00:51:51.010 --> 00:51:53.269
something through the course of this meeting.

00:51:54.050 --> 00:51:56.630
I'm gonna ask you to come with an open heart.

00:51:57.989 --> 00:52:02.570
Come with an open heart. Again, we're gonna scrutinize

00:52:02.570 --> 00:52:05.449
and we're gonna challenge some commonly accepted

00:52:05.449 --> 00:52:08.610
beliefs and practices. Things that religious

00:52:08.610 --> 00:52:10.510
people do today. Even some of the things that

00:52:10.510 --> 00:52:13.800
we do. We're gonna respectfully and lovingly

00:52:13.800 --> 00:52:15.820
challenge and scrutinize some of those practices.

00:52:16.260 --> 00:52:18.980
And it's not in an effort to condemn people and

00:52:18.980 --> 00:52:21.519
put people down and damn people to hell. It's

00:52:21.519 --> 00:52:23.500
in an effort for us to clearly see the difference

00:52:23.500 --> 00:52:27.699
between truth and error. We clearly need to understand

00:52:27.699 --> 00:52:32.599
the truth and stay away from error. Come with

00:52:32.599 --> 00:52:34.820
an open mind, come with an open heart, and please

00:52:34.820 --> 00:52:39.280
come with an open Bible. Follow along in the

00:52:39.280 --> 00:52:41.099
scriptures. Pay close attention to the scriptures.

00:52:41.179 --> 00:52:43.320
We're going to do our very best to validate everything

00:52:43.320 --> 00:52:45.639
we teach with a book, a chapter, and a verse

00:52:45.639 --> 00:52:48.840
from God's Word. And I hope you'll hold me accountable

00:52:48.840 --> 00:52:51.500
to that. I'm going to try to show everything

00:52:51.500 --> 00:52:54.380
we teach you, show it to you clearly from the

00:52:54.380 --> 00:52:57.679
Bible. We're going to follow a simple four -step

00:52:57.679 --> 00:53:00.619
approach. as we go through analyzing some of

00:53:00.619 --> 00:53:03.440
these topics, some of these doctrines and practices

00:53:03.440 --> 00:53:05.519
through the course of this meeting. Here's how

00:53:05.519 --> 00:53:07.619
this simple four -step approach is going to work.

00:53:08.940 --> 00:53:11.420
It might be confusing to you this morning, but

00:53:11.420 --> 00:53:13.039
once we get into it, you're going to get the

00:53:13.039 --> 00:53:15.239
hang of it. It's very simple. First thing we're

00:53:15.239 --> 00:53:17.079
going to do concerning our doctrines and our

00:53:17.079 --> 00:53:20.400
practices is we're going to go to the New Testament

00:53:20.400 --> 00:53:22.739
pattern. We're going to see the original pattern

00:53:22.739 --> 00:53:24.679
that was revealed in the New Testament for us.

00:53:24.719 --> 00:53:26.840
We're going to see how things were in the beginning.

00:53:27.380 --> 00:53:29.940
That's where we're going to start. And from there,

00:53:29.940 --> 00:53:31.820
we're going to move to step two. We're going

00:53:31.820 --> 00:53:34.139
to look down through the centuries of church

00:53:34.139 --> 00:53:37.000
history to try to understand and analyze how

00:53:37.000 --> 00:53:39.480
error slowly evolved and how people went away

00:53:39.480 --> 00:53:41.960
from that original pattern as it was delivered.

00:53:42.420 --> 00:53:45.360
So we want to understand God's original pattern

00:53:45.360 --> 00:53:47.400
for something in the beginning, but then we need

00:53:47.400 --> 00:53:50.739
to ask the question, well, what went wrong? What

00:53:50.739 --> 00:53:52.760
went wrong over the course of church history?

00:53:53.360 --> 00:53:55.519
Third thing we're going to do is it's going to

00:53:55.519 --> 00:53:59.320
bring us forward to carefully observing and understanding

00:53:59.320 --> 00:54:02.460
our modern -day practices, our modern -day doctrines

00:54:02.460 --> 00:54:04.360
and traditions. What's the state of Christianity

00:54:04.360 --> 00:54:07.380
today? What is our standing? That's the third

00:54:07.380 --> 00:54:08.760
thing that we're going to look at and we're going

00:54:08.760 --> 00:54:10.519
to analyze and then the fourth thing we're going

00:54:10.519 --> 00:54:13.679
to do is we're going to talk about the ways that

00:54:13.679 --> 00:54:17.880
we need to restore the original pattern as it

00:54:17.880 --> 00:54:20.139
was given. We're going to talk about how we can

00:54:20.139 --> 00:54:23.150
make it right. Though it was right in the beginning

00:54:23.150 --> 00:54:25.769
and though we went astray and we can clearly

00:54:25.769 --> 00:54:28.309
see that as part of our standing today, we're

00:54:28.309 --> 00:54:30.590
going to talk about the steps that we can take

00:54:30.590 --> 00:54:34.710
to rectify and resolve error and get back to

00:54:34.710 --> 00:54:37.849
being the church that the Lord wants us to be.

00:54:38.289 --> 00:54:40.429
So it's a cycle, it's a process, it involves

00:54:40.429 --> 00:54:42.710
these four steps. I just want to introduce it

00:54:42.710 --> 00:54:45.150
this morning. It'll become more apparent I think

00:54:45.150 --> 00:54:49.880
as we get into further into the series. As I

00:54:49.880 --> 00:54:51.739
wrap it up this morning, here's some things I

00:54:51.739 --> 00:54:55.159
want you to take away from this lesson. I want

00:54:55.159 --> 00:54:57.119
you to know for a certainty that Jesus did build

00:54:57.119 --> 00:55:00.460
a church. It's His church. It belongs to Him.

00:55:00.500 --> 00:55:04.940
He's the founder and builder of His church. Satan

00:55:04.940 --> 00:55:07.119
has been working over the last 2 ,000 years to

00:55:07.119 --> 00:55:09.340
corrupt that church, to derail it, to defeat

00:55:09.340 --> 00:55:12.860
it. He's still working to do that today. And

00:55:12.860 --> 00:55:16.380
we see evidence of that as we study church history,

00:55:16.460 --> 00:55:18.039
the history I've shared with you this morning.

00:55:18.750 --> 00:55:21.110
We have a desperate need to restore the church

00:55:21.110 --> 00:55:24.530
that Jesus built. I hope my lesson this morning

00:55:24.530 --> 00:55:28.170
has helped you to see that need. With God's help,

00:55:28.769 --> 00:55:32.130
I believe we can. I believe we can be the church

00:55:32.130 --> 00:55:34.050
that Jesus built. With the Lord's help, we can

00:55:34.050 --> 00:55:37.309
do that. So let's let that be our focus. Let's

00:55:37.309 --> 00:55:40.429
let that be in our mind and in our heart this

00:55:40.429 --> 00:55:42.750
week as we go through this series of lessons

00:55:42.750 --> 00:55:44.670
on restoring New Testament Christianity.