WEBVTT 00:00:01.219 --> 00:00:06.639 Welcome to NECF Sermons. Each message here is 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:09.660 designed to uplift and strengthen you in your 00:00:09.660 --> 00:00:13.939 walk with God. Don't miss out. Stay with us until 00:00:13.939 --> 00:00:17.879 the end for a rewarding experience. Let's dive 00:00:17.879 --> 00:00:24.239 right in. Let's have us. Hallelujah. You're welcome 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:27.280 to today's service. I trust God and I believe 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:29.019 God that you'll be blessed today in the name 00:00:29.019 --> 00:00:33.399 of Jesus. So throughout this year, we have been 00:00:33.399 --> 00:00:39.140 taught that every believer or everybody who has 00:00:39.140 --> 00:00:46.560 come to Christ is a minister of God. That it 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:50.159 is not reserved for certain individuals. It is 00:00:50.159 --> 00:00:54.100 not reserved for a special people, right? But 00:00:54.100 --> 00:00:56.840 that everybody that is a child of God is a minister 00:00:56.840 --> 00:00:59.369 of God. So today we're just going to be looking 00:00:59.369 --> 00:01:04.569 at that. And as most of the pastors do, I also 00:01:04.569 --> 00:01:08.469 struggle to find the topic sometimes for some 00:01:08.469 --> 00:01:10.650 of these teachings. But I would just like to 00:01:10.650 --> 00:01:14.170 call it the minister. Praise the Lord. Mark chapter 00:01:14.170 --> 00:01:26.829 16. Mark chapter 16. From verse 15. And he said 00:01:26.829 --> 00:01:30.469 to them, Go into all the world and preach the 00:01:30.469 --> 00:01:44.670 gospel to every creature. He who believes and 00:01:44.670 --> 00:01:47.849 is baptized will be saved, but he who does not 00:01:47.849 --> 00:01:53.090 believe will be condemned. And these signs would 00:01:53.090 --> 00:01:55.349 follow those who believe. In my name, they will 00:01:55.349 --> 00:01:58.489 cast out demons. They will speak with new tongues. 00:01:59.069 --> 00:02:01.870 They will take up sapiens. And if they drink 00:02:01.870 --> 00:02:05.370 anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them. 00:02:05.590 --> 00:02:08.150 They will lay hands on the sick and they will 00:02:08.150 --> 00:02:10.750 recover. Praise the Lord. They will lay hands 00:02:10.750 --> 00:02:13.710 on the sick and they will recover. And like I 00:02:13.710 --> 00:02:16.990 said, that we have been taught that every believer 00:02:16.990 --> 00:02:20.610 is a minister. Praise the Lord. Every believer 00:02:20.610 --> 00:02:24.129 is a minister of God. So we see that Jesus made 00:02:24.129 --> 00:02:28.389 this statement after the resurrection. After 00:02:28.389 --> 00:02:31.030 the resurrection, he tells them to go and preach. 00:02:31.349 --> 00:02:34.590 Go and preach the word to every creature. He 00:02:34.590 --> 00:02:38.250 that believes is saved. Praise the Lord. He that 00:02:38.250 --> 00:02:41.629 believes is saved. We notice that the gospel 00:02:41.629 --> 00:02:45.969 is to be preached in all the world. Praise the 00:02:45.969 --> 00:02:49.990 Lord. The gospel is to be preached in all the 00:02:49.990 --> 00:02:53.229 world. There is no ascertaining people that the 00:02:53.229 --> 00:02:56.710 gospel is targeted to, praise the Lord, but that 00:02:56.710 --> 00:03:00.530 the gospel is preached to all nations, to every 00:03:00.530 --> 00:03:04.729 creature on the earth. So this is God's plan 00:03:04.729 --> 00:03:09.610 that everybody to be saved, that man is to be 00:03:09.610 --> 00:03:12.389 saved, praise the Lord. And so therefore the 00:03:12.389 --> 00:03:16.430 gospel is to be preached in all the world. 1 00:03:16.430 --> 00:03:20.110 Timothy chapter 2, from verse 1 to 4. 1 Timothy 00:03:20.110 --> 00:03:49.810 chapter 2, verses 1 to 4. He says, Praise the 00:03:49.810 --> 00:03:54.210 Lord. So the desires of God is that all men be 00:03:54.210 --> 00:03:57.509 saved. Praise the Lord. The desire of God is 00:03:57.509 --> 00:04:00.069 that all men be saved and come to the knowledge 00:04:00.069 --> 00:04:03.129 of the truth. Praise the Lord. God does not want 00:04:03.129 --> 00:04:06.330 men to be ignorant about the things that he has 00:04:06.330 --> 00:04:09.150 done for them. Praise the Lord. God does not 00:04:09.150 --> 00:04:11.569 want man to be ignorant. So we see the desire 00:04:11.569 --> 00:04:15.710 of God. His desire is that all men be saved and 00:04:15.710 --> 00:04:18.819 come to him. Praise the Lord. So we preach the 00:04:18.819 --> 00:04:22.579 gospel all over the world. Praise the Lord. So 00:04:22.579 --> 00:04:28.720 we preach the gospel to every creature. 2 Peter 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:32.879 3, verse 9 tells us as well about this desire 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:35.540 of God. It said, The Lord is not slack concerning 00:04:35.540 --> 00:04:39.360 his promise, as some count slackness, but is 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:43.100 longsuffering towards us, not willing that anyone 00:04:43.100 --> 00:04:46.319 should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 00:04:47.050 --> 00:04:51.170 Praise the Lord. So the Lord is willing and he's 00:04:51.170 --> 00:04:56.930 patient so that every man will come to repentance. 00:04:57.189 --> 00:04:59.730 Every man will come to the knowledge of truth. 00:04:59.870 --> 00:05:03.529 Every man should be saved in the name of Jesus. 00:05:03.889 --> 00:05:07.850 So he wants all men to come to repentance. His 00:05:07.850 --> 00:05:11.269 plan and his desire is that all men be saved. 00:05:11.449 --> 00:05:14.509 Praise the Lord. In Mark chapter 16 that we just 00:05:14.509 --> 00:05:19.699 read, verse 15. It talks about that the gospel 00:05:19.699 --> 00:05:22.740 should be preached to every creature all over 00:05:22.740 --> 00:05:26.279 the world. And we know that the word that is 00:05:26.279 --> 00:05:30.480 there is a Greek word for cosmos, which is used 00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:34.060 for the system of things. It's that the gospel 00:05:34.060 --> 00:05:37.699 is preached all over the world. It means the 00:05:37.699 --> 00:05:40.980 activity of men. Praise the Lord. To preach the 00:05:40.980 --> 00:05:44.399 gospel in every activity of men, to preach it 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:47.629 in their... going out and they are coming in. 00:05:47.949 --> 00:05:51.529 That the gospel is a part of them, praise the 00:05:51.529 --> 00:05:55.310 Lord. That the gospel is a part of them. It means 00:05:55.310 --> 00:05:58.629 the inhabitants of the earth. So the gospel should 00:05:58.629 --> 00:06:02.290 reach every inhabitant of the earth, praise the 00:06:02.290 --> 00:06:06.009 Lord. The gospel should reach every inhabitant 00:06:06.009 --> 00:06:10.649 of the earth. It should affect the activities 00:06:10.649 --> 00:06:13.370 and the interaction of men, praise the Lord. 00:06:13.819 --> 00:06:16.360 That the gospel should affect the activities 00:06:16.360 --> 00:06:19.860 and the interaction of men. So we preach the 00:06:19.860 --> 00:06:22.420 gospel. Praise the Lord. And one other thing 00:06:22.420 --> 00:06:24.300 we can notice there is that they say you should 00:06:24.300 --> 00:06:27.899 preach it everywhere. It means that there is 00:06:27.899 --> 00:06:31.839 nothing that is, should be, everything is included. 00:06:32.040 --> 00:06:35.519 Praise the Lord. Or everybody is included. Praise 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:39.180 the Lord. To all the families of the earth. Praise 00:06:39.180 --> 00:06:41.759 the Lord. It means that the gospel should be 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:44.220 preached in every family of the earth. It should 00:06:44.220 --> 00:06:46.480 be preached in your family. It should be preached 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:49.060 in your neighbor's family. It should be preached 00:06:49.060 --> 00:06:51.699 in your friend's family. It should be preached 00:06:51.699 --> 00:06:54.579 in every family of the earth, in all creation, 00:06:54.740 --> 00:06:57.920 in all nations of the earth, in every part of 00:06:57.920 --> 00:07:01.040 the earth. So there's no segregation. It does 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:05.139 not see race. Praise the Lord. It does not see 00:07:05.139 --> 00:07:08.259 a different type of people. The gospel is for 00:07:08.259 --> 00:07:12.509 everybody. Praise the Lord. The gospel is for 00:07:12.509 --> 00:07:15.629 everybody. So it should be preached in every 00:07:15.629 --> 00:07:19.550 system or in every nation. The fact that some 00:07:19.550 --> 00:07:22.509 people's system works, for example, you are here 00:07:22.509 --> 00:07:26.250 in Cyprus and you rarely see interruption of 00:07:26.250 --> 00:07:28.329 electricity or you always have constant water, 00:07:28.449 --> 00:07:30.490 does not mean that they don't need the gospel. 00:07:30.610 --> 00:07:33.600 Praise the Lord. Or the fact that maybe in America 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:36.699 there's more, there's so many things that are 00:07:36.699 --> 00:07:39.939 beneficiary or would help your lifestyle. Does 00:07:39.939 --> 00:07:42.000 not mean they don't need the gospel. Praise the 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:46.339 Lord. Material possession or riches do not stop 00:07:46.339 --> 00:07:49.319 somebody from receiving the gospel. Praise the 00:07:49.319 --> 00:07:53.560 Lord. So everybody is included. Every nation 00:07:53.560 --> 00:07:59.259 is included. So we don't segregate. Praise the 00:07:59.259 --> 00:08:03.319 Lord. The fact that your friend has a big car, 00:08:03.420 --> 00:08:06.680 or he or her life is going perfectly, does not 00:08:06.680 --> 00:08:08.860 mean they don't need the gospel. Praise the Lord. 00:08:09.100 --> 00:08:11.899 Does not mean they don't need Christ. Or there's 00:08:11.899 --> 00:08:13.139 some people that will come online and say, you 00:08:13.139 --> 00:08:14.579 know, these things you are saying is because 00:08:14.579 --> 00:08:17.920 these people are poor, right? It's only poor 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:20.220 people that can receive the gospel. Praise the 00:08:20.220 --> 00:08:23.800 Lord. But we see, even from the scriptures, example 00:08:23.800 --> 00:08:27.240 of the Ethiopian eunuch, right? He was in charge 00:08:27.240 --> 00:08:32.529 of... The treasury of the queen, Candace. But 00:08:32.529 --> 00:08:34.889 the gospel was also preached to him. It was reading 00:08:34.889 --> 00:08:38.389 Isaiah when Philip came and he explained to him 00:08:38.389 --> 00:08:41.230 the scripture and he received the gospel. Praise 00:08:41.230 --> 00:08:44.230 the Lord. In Acts chapter 18 from verse 26 to 00:08:44.230 --> 00:08:48.850 40, we see that, that even with his wealth and 00:08:48.850 --> 00:08:51.690 his riches, There was something still lacking 00:08:51.690 --> 00:08:53.470 in his life. When he opened the scriptures to 00:08:53.470 --> 00:08:55.629 read, he could not even understand it. Praise 00:08:55.629 --> 00:08:57.889 the Lord. That he needed somebody to explain 00:08:57.889 --> 00:09:00.549 to him. And we saw that Philip explained the 00:09:00.549 --> 00:09:03.350 gospel to him and he believed the gospel. And 00:09:03.350 --> 00:09:05.710 he was baptized and he was saved. Praise the 00:09:05.710 --> 00:09:09.950 Lord. So we see that every class of people need 00:09:09.950 --> 00:09:13.429 the gospel. King Agrippa, for example, when Paul 00:09:13.429 --> 00:09:16.889 was making the argument about his faith or how 00:09:16.889 --> 00:09:19.309 he came to the knowledge of truth. Praise the 00:09:19.309 --> 00:09:21.700 Lord. He said, you almost persuaded me to be 00:09:21.700 --> 00:09:26.159 a Christian. In Acts chapter 26, from verse 27 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:30.840 to 28. Praise the Lord. We see that he was explaining 00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:33.440 what had happened to him. How he encountered 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:36.480 Jesus. And so the man was feeling persuaded. 00:09:37.080 --> 00:09:40.159 But he told him that he's not just for you, but 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:44.139 everybody else. Acts chapter 26, from verse 27 00:09:44.139 --> 00:09:48.759 to 28. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophet? 00:09:49.559 --> 00:09:52.580 I know that you do believe. Then Agrippa said 00:09:52.580 --> 00:09:55.399 to Paul, you almost persuaded me to become a 00:09:55.399 --> 00:09:58.139 Christian. Praise the Lord. And then let's see 00:09:58.139 --> 00:10:02.379 the other. And Paul said, I will to God that 00:10:02.379 --> 00:10:05.759 not only you, but also all who hear me today 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:09.279 might become put almost and all together such 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:12.980 as I am, except for those, for these chains. 00:10:13.139 --> 00:10:15.889 Praise the Lord. So he wants that everybody that 00:10:15.889 --> 00:10:18.909 hears him, so all the royalties, the people that 00:10:18.909 --> 00:10:21.370 were there to come to the knowledge of truth. 00:10:21.970 --> 00:10:24.169 Praise the Lord. But he was telling them that 00:10:24.169 --> 00:10:26.610 except for the chain that he has. Praise the 00:10:26.610 --> 00:10:29.990 Lord. So he was in preaching the gospel, there 00:10:29.990 --> 00:10:32.529 was consequences and there was persecution. And 00:10:32.529 --> 00:10:34.309 that's why there was chain in his leg. But he 00:10:34.309 --> 00:10:36.950 was preaching to them so that they will not have 00:10:36.950 --> 00:10:40.389 to have the chains in his leg. That his chain 00:10:40.389 --> 00:10:43.529 will mean much more to him. Praise the Lord. 00:10:43.870 --> 00:10:47.350 So the gospel is for everybody. Everybody needs 00:10:47.350 --> 00:10:49.889 the gospel. Your parents need the gospel. That 00:10:49.889 --> 00:10:52.590 your stubborn sibling needs the gospel. Praise 00:10:52.590 --> 00:10:55.649 the Lord. So, but then some people believe that, 00:10:55.690 --> 00:10:59.009 like we have been saying, and I'm going to reiterate 00:10:59.009 --> 00:11:01.629 now, that some people believe that not everybody, 00:11:01.750 --> 00:11:04.409 you know. Maybe our money can work for us. If 00:11:04.409 --> 00:11:06.970 we cannot preach the gospel, let's give offerings 00:11:06.970 --> 00:11:10.190 so that it would help the ministry. It does help 00:11:10.190 --> 00:11:13.470 the ministry, but that is not the way that we 00:11:13.470 --> 00:11:17.049 go about partnering in preaching the gospel. 00:11:17.509 --> 00:11:21.210 It is that you know and you preach. Praise the 00:11:21.210 --> 00:11:25.110 Lord. It is that you know and you preach. Is 00:11:25.110 --> 00:11:28.379 everybody called? Praise the Lord. Are you called 00:11:28.379 --> 00:11:30.799 to preach the gospel or do you have that calling 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:33.820 upon your life? Is it for your particular people? 00:11:34.039 --> 00:11:36.460 Is it for the people that stand in the pulpit? 00:11:36.659 --> 00:11:39.519 Praise the Lord. Is it for the people or is it 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:43.299 for everybody? And sometimes we, from our eyes, 00:11:43.340 --> 00:11:46.720 we judge people that are doing well for God or 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:49.000 we think that people that are doing well for 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:52.279 God are necessarily just people that are in the 00:11:52.279 --> 00:11:54.820 pulpit. Praise the Lord. There are a lot of people 00:11:54.820 --> 00:11:57.799 that are doing the work of ministry and nobody 00:11:57.799 --> 00:12:00.440 knows their name. Praise the Lord. They probably 00:12:00.440 --> 00:12:03.019 have never had a stage to stand and to speak, 00:12:03.179 --> 00:12:06.000 but they are there because they understand that 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:07.759 they are a minister of God. Praise the Lord. 00:12:08.019 --> 00:12:11.399 So not every one of us will start a ministry. 00:12:12.059 --> 00:12:14.580 Not every one of us, what I mean by minister, 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:17.139 not every one of us will start a church like 00:12:17.139 --> 00:12:20.639 this. Praise the Lord. But in our various places, 00:12:20.960 --> 00:12:24.440 in our various places of work, we are to preach 00:12:24.440 --> 00:12:27.320 the gospel. That is the way God intended to be. 00:12:27.419 --> 00:12:30.019 Praise the Lord. We see that the disciples, that 00:12:30.019 --> 00:12:32.039 when they were scattered because of persecution, 00:12:32.440 --> 00:12:34.899 that they went to different places and they continued 00:12:34.899 --> 00:12:37.720 to preach. They were not concerned about, oh, 00:12:37.740 --> 00:12:40.480 how do we gather again? You know, we love the 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:43.139 setting of the church. And that's why as a church, 00:12:43.299 --> 00:12:45.379 we teach you some of the things that we teach 00:12:45.379 --> 00:12:48.580 you because we know that Cyprus is a passing 00:12:48.580 --> 00:12:50.720 place. You come here for four years, you come 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:53.360 here for six years or more, depending on what 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:55.740 you're doing, and you go somewhere else or you 00:12:55.740 --> 00:12:58.440 go back to your home. The will of God is that 00:12:58.440 --> 00:13:01.960 you know him and that you carry on this to continue 00:13:01.960 --> 00:13:04.210 to preach the gospel. With all the knowledge 00:13:04.210 --> 00:13:06.750 that you have, with all the understanding that 00:13:06.750 --> 00:13:08.649 you have been given, with all the catatismos 00:13:08.649 --> 00:13:10.889 that you have attended, with all the Bible studies 00:13:10.889 --> 00:13:13.389 and interpretation you have learned, with everything 00:13:13.389 --> 00:13:16.070 that has been invested in your life, God expects 00:13:16.070 --> 00:13:18.809 that when you go to a place and then you go to 00:13:18.809 --> 00:13:21.029 a church and then you don't understand what they 00:13:21.029 --> 00:13:22.850 are preaching, or you go to another church, you 00:13:22.850 --> 00:13:24.389 don't expect what they are preaching, or you 00:13:24.389 --> 00:13:26.009 don't understand what they are preaching, you 00:13:26.009 --> 00:13:28.490 don't sit down there, praise the Lord. What do 00:13:28.490 --> 00:13:31.539 you do? You start preaching the gospel. Praise 00:13:31.539 --> 00:13:33.500 the Lord. If there is need, you begin to gather 00:13:33.500 --> 00:13:35.919 people. Praise the Lord. If there is need, you 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:38.019 begin to pray over them. Praise the Lord. If 00:13:38.019 --> 00:13:40.500 there is need, you begin to, you start a church. 00:13:41.220 --> 00:13:43.799 Praise the Lord. If there is need, you gather 00:13:43.799 --> 00:13:46.879 people together to fellowship. The people that 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:50.559 started a lot of the churches, I can assure you 00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:53.500 that not every one of them have this much knowledge 00:13:53.500 --> 00:13:56.440 that you have. They ran with the little that 00:13:56.440 --> 00:13:59.159 they had. Praise the Lord. With every investment, 00:13:59.399 --> 00:14:01.039 they have taught you Bible study and interpretation. 00:14:01.500 --> 00:14:03.580 They have taught you many things, how to study 00:14:03.580 --> 00:14:05.940 the scriptures, how to create the studies, how 00:14:05.940 --> 00:14:08.320 to do so many things. Do you think it is too 00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:10.519 small or do you think you're too small to start 00:14:10.519 --> 00:14:13.120 something? Praise the Lord. Or you're waiting 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:16.220 for, as I was asking, whether everybody is called 00:14:16.220 --> 00:14:18.700 or few are called. To say, you know, God is telling 00:14:18.700 --> 00:14:21.279 me, go that direction. Or you hear a clear voice 00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:23.779 like Paul telling you that, why have you not 00:14:23.779 --> 00:14:25.620 preached the gospel? Or why have you not started 00:14:25.620 --> 00:14:29.240 the walk? Praise the Lord. Every believer is 00:14:29.240 --> 00:14:32.820 called to preach the gospel. Every believer is 00:14:32.820 --> 00:14:37.179 called. Matthew chapter 16, as Pastor Fred has 00:14:37.179 --> 00:14:40.179 been explaining to us, I'm not really going to 00:14:40.179 --> 00:14:42.740 go into a lot of details. Pastor Fred has taught 00:14:42.740 --> 00:14:45.519 us a lot from these scriptures. I want us to 00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:49.879 read it and then we talk about the calling of 00:14:49.879 --> 00:14:54.240 God upon our lives. Matthew chapter 16, verses 00:14:54.240 --> 00:14:58.240 13 to 19. When Jesus came into the region of 00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:01.000 Caesarea Philippi, he said to his disciples, 00:15:01.399 --> 00:15:04.980 Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And 00:15:04.980 --> 00:15:07.700 so they said, Some say John the Baptist, and 00:15:07.700 --> 00:15:11.080 some Elijah, and some Jeremiah, or one of the 00:15:11.080 --> 00:15:15.539 prophets. And he said to them, But who do you 00:15:15.539 --> 00:15:19.779 say that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, 00:15:19.960 --> 00:15:23.690 You are Christ, the Son of the living God. And 00:15:23.690 --> 00:15:25.850 Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, 00:15:25.990 --> 00:15:29.549 Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed 00:15:29.549 --> 00:15:32.330 these things to you, but my Father who is in 00:15:32.330 --> 00:15:35.210 heaven. And I say to you that you are Peter, 00:15:35.389 --> 00:15:38.309 and on this rock I will build my church, and 00:15:38.309 --> 00:15:41.350 the gate of Hades shall not prevail against it. 00:15:41.470 --> 00:15:43.370 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of 00:15:43.370 --> 00:15:45.549 heaven, and whatever you bound on earth will 00:15:45.549 --> 00:15:47.870 be bound in heaven, and whatever you lose on 00:15:47.870 --> 00:15:50.929 earth will be loosed in heaven. Praise the Lord. 00:15:51.950 --> 00:15:54.830 So Jesus said to him, upon this rock, I will 00:15:54.830 --> 00:15:58.029 build my church. Praise the Lord. And we say 00:15:58.029 --> 00:16:01.009 the word for church there is what? So we say 00:16:01.009 --> 00:16:03.649 the word for church there is ecclesia, right? 00:16:04.110 --> 00:16:09.450 Which means what? You see? Called out ones. Praise 00:16:09.450 --> 00:16:13.309 the Lord. It is a word to use. It's a word that 00:16:13.309 --> 00:16:16.509 is used for summoning somebody. Praise the Lord. 00:16:16.549 --> 00:16:19.610 To be called out. So when he says, I will build 00:16:19.610 --> 00:16:22.830 my church, he's referring to those that he has 00:16:22.830 --> 00:16:25.429 called or those he will call. Praise the Lord. 00:16:25.610 --> 00:16:28.649 So how did he call them? How did he call these 00:16:28.649 --> 00:16:32.250 people? When he says that they are the called 00:16:32.250 --> 00:16:36.250 out ones, that upon this rock he will build his 00:16:36.250 --> 00:16:38.669 church and the gate of Hades will not prevail 00:16:38.669 --> 00:16:41.690 against it. How did he call these people? Ephesians 00:16:41.690 --> 00:16:46.210 chapter 1 from verse 17 to 22. Ephesians chapter 00:16:46.210 --> 00:16:49.269 1. He said that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, 00:16:49.409 --> 00:16:51.529 the Father of glory, may give you the spirit 00:16:51.529 --> 00:16:54.009 of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of 00:16:54.009 --> 00:16:57.210 him, and the eyes of your understanding being 00:16:57.210 --> 00:16:59.529 enlightened, that you may know what is the hope 00:16:59.529 --> 00:17:03.049 of his calling, what is the riches of the glory 00:17:03.049 --> 00:17:06.250 of his inheritance in the saints, and what is 00:17:06.250 --> 00:17:08.130 the exceeding greatness of his power towards 00:17:08.130 --> 00:17:10.789 us who believe, according to the walking of his 00:17:10.789 --> 00:17:14.089 mighty power, which he walked in Christ when 00:17:14.089 --> 00:17:35.630 he raised him from the dead. Praise the Lord. 00:17:36.109 --> 00:17:39.390 In verse 18, he tells us something. Go to verse 00:17:39.390 --> 00:17:48.890 18. of his calling. Praise the Lord. Who is doing 00:17:48.890 --> 00:17:51.549 the calling? Praise the Lord. Christ is doing 00:17:51.549 --> 00:17:53.809 the calling. So for the Greek word, the same 00:17:53.809 --> 00:17:56.869 thing that we saw, right? Which means those, 00:17:57.190 --> 00:18:00.890 or which means those who he called, or what he 00:18:00.890 --> 00:18:04.210 has called us. Praise the Lord. So that calling 00:18:04.210 --> 00:18:07.930 is what he has called us. Praise the Lord. Let 00:18:07.930 --> 00:18:10.049 me put this thing back on this. So that calling 00:18:10.049 --> 00:18:14.819 means what he has called us. So let's look at 00:18:14.819 --> 00:18:17.259 the earlier verses of that place. In the earlier 00:18:17.259 --> 00:18:20.059 verses, in verse 3, it tells us something. Verse 00:18:20.059 --> 00:18:23.880 3, Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3. It says, Blessed 00:18:23.880 --> 00:18:26.539 be God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who 00:18:26.539 --> 00:18:29.599 has blessed us with every spiritual blessing 00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:33.839 in heavenly places. He has blessed us with every 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:37.980 spiritual blessing in heavenly places. This is 00:18:37.980 --> 00:18:40.500 what he has done. Praise the Lord. This is the 00:18:40.500 --> 00:18:43.390 calling that he has called. In verse 4 now. Just 00:18:43.390 --> 00:18:47.329 as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation 00:18:47.329 --> 00:18:49.970 of the world, that we should be holy and without 00:18:49.970 --> 00:18:55.069 blame before Him in love. Verse 5. Having predestined 00:18:55.069 --> 00:18:57.950 us to the adoptions as sons by Jesus Christ to 00:18:57.950 --> 00:19:00.569 Himself, according to the good pleasure of His 00:19:00.569 --> 00:19:04.769 will. Verse 6 and 7 now. To the praise of the 00:19:04.769 --> 00:19:07.509 glory of His grace by which He made us accepted 00:19:07.509 --> 00:19:10.359 in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through 00:19:10.359 --> 00:19:13.180 his blood, the forgiveness of sin according to 00:19:13.180 --> 00:19:16.680 the riches of his grace. Praise the Lord. It 00:19:16.680 --> 00:19:20.839 is God who is doing the calling. So this is God's 00:19:20.839 --> 00:19:24.339 calling. Praise the Lord. He has blessed us with 00:19:24.339 --> 00:19:27.559 every spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. 00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:31.759 He has redeemed us through his blood. Praise 00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:34.119 the Lord. He has redeemed us through his blood. 00:19:34.180 --> 00:19:37.980 He has given us the forgiveness of sins. according 00:19:37.980 --> 00:19:42.500 to his riches in his grace. So when he says that 00:19:42.500 --> 00:19:45.160 you will know the hope of your calling, this 00:19:45.160 --> 00:19:47.480 is what he's trying to say, that you will know 00:19:47.480 --> 00:19:50.039 these things that he has done. Praise the Lord. 00:19:50.180 --> 00:19:52.920 That you will know the blessings in which he 00:19:52.920 --> 00:19:55.660 has blessed us with. That you will know the things 00:19:55.660 --> 00:20:00.140 that we have in him. Praise the Lord. That is 00:20:00.140 --> 00:20:04.920 what he has called us. That is what he has called 00:20:04.920 --> 00:20:08.160 us. We also see another way in which he called 00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:11.420 us. 1 Peter 2, verse 9, that we all know about, 00:20:11.660 --> 00:20:15.420 that he called us out of darkness into light. 00:20:15.980 --> 00:20:19.440 Praise the Lord. He called us out of darkness 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:23.480 into light. He said, but you are a choosing generation, 00:20:23.640 --> 00:20:26.279 a royal priest to the holy nation, his own special 00:20:26.279 --> 00:20:28.400 people, that you may proclaim the praises of 00:20:28.400 --> 00:20:32.099 he who has called you out of darkness into his 00:20:32.099 --> 00:20:35.369 marvelous light. Praise the Lord. He has called 00:20:35.369 --> 00:20:38.690 us out of darkness into his marvelous light. 00:20:38.970 --> 00:20:42.009 So this is what he has called us, that we're 00:20:42.009 --> 00:20:44.710 a royal priesthood, that we're a holy nation. 00:20:44.809 --> 00:20:47.609 This is the calling of God upon our lives, that 00:20:47.609 --> 00:20:50.269 we're a holy nation. We're a royal priesthood. 00:20:50.309 --> 00:20:53.910 We're a special people, a peculiar people. That 00:20:53.910 --> 00:20:58.569 is what he has called us. Praise the Lord. So 00:20:58.569 --> 00:21:01.670 what has God called you? He has called you a 00:21:01.670 --> 00:21:04.079 royal priesthood. He says that you are blessed 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:07.220 in the heavenly places. Praise the Lord. With 00:21:07.220 --> 00:21:09.519 every spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. 00:21:09.900 --> 00:21:12.740 So this is what God has called us. Does this 00:21:12.740 --> 00:21:15.339 look like somebody who is saved? Praise the Lord. 00:21:15.460 --> 00:21:18.240 So does everybody, is everybody called of God? 00:21:18.519 --> 00:21:21.059 Praise the Lord. So every one of us is called 00:21:21.059 --> 00:21:23.779 by God. So we see from the scripture that every 00:21:23.779 --> 00:21:26.740 one of us is called by God. So when Paul says 00:21:26.740 --> 00:21:29.180 that you may know the hope of your calling, that 00:21:29.180 --> 00:21:31.240 you may know the hope in which he has called 00:21:31.240 --> 00:21:34.380 you. That you know that he called you a peculiar 00:21:34.380 --> 00:21:39.500 people. Praise the Lord. So we also look at, 00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:44.259 in the epistle, we also see that a lot of the 00:21:44.259 --> 00:21:48.119 time, Paul also refers to the believers as called 00:21:48.119 --> 00:21:50.980 saints, or he called them saints. Praise the 00:21:50.980 --> 00:21:55.299 Lord. And it is God who has called them. It is 00:21:55.299 --> 00:21:59.779 God that is doing the calling. So being called 00:21:59.779 --> 00:22:02.839 out of the world, the believer is sanctified, 00:22:02.980 --> 00:22:08.000 right? That is declared a saint or called a saint. 00:22:08.279 --> 00:22:11.480 Praise the Lord. So being called out of the world, 00:22:11.500 --> 00:22:17.680 the believer is sanctified, called out or being 00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:21.660 called a saint. So we also see that in Ephesians 00:22:21.660 --> 00:22:24.619 that when he's using the word calling, he talks 00:22:24.619 --> 00:22:28.460 about it in terms of salvation. Praise the Lord. 00:22:29.160 --> 00:22:31.619 A lot of the places, several of the places, talks 00:22:31.619 --> 00:22:34.839 about it as salvation. It is used to reference 00:22:34.839 --> 00:22:38.579 to he that is saved, he that has received salvation. 00:22:41.799 --> 00:22:45.099 So there's a calling that is referred to as, 00:22:45.180 --> 00:22:47.740 that is those who are now saved, or those who, 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:50.220 in the epistle as we see, are the called out 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:53.660 ones, right, are what is known as the church. 00:22:54.019 --> 00:22:57.599 Praise the Lord. is what we refer to or the people 00:22:57.599 --> 00:23:00.460 that we refer to as church so the church are 00:23:00.460 --> 00:23:03.220 referred to as people that are called out so 00:23:03.220 --> 00:23:05.059 to go to the phrase again that some people have 00:23:05.059 --> 00:23:08.920 found a way to coin together that the church 00:23:08.920 --> 00:23:12.380 is a you know it's like a hospital we have like 00:23:12.380 --> 00:23:15.059 six people there six people there speak people 00:23:15.059 --> 00:23:19.660 there As we continue, as we have seen through 00:23:19.660 --> 00:23:22.339 the scriptures, the more we study, the more we 00:23:22.339 --> 00:23:25.420 find out that those statements are very wrong. 00:23:25.559 --> 00:23:28.599 Praise the Lord. But the church is a gathering 00:23:28.599 --> 00:23:31.819 of called out people. Praise the Lord. So when 00:23:31.819 --> 00:23:34.319 we come to the church, what do we do? We come 00:23:34.319 --> 00:23:38.339 to fellowship. Praise the Lord. We come to correct. 00:23:38.579 --> 00:23:42.039 We come to exalt. Praise the Lord. We don't come 00:23:42.039 --> 00:23:43.799 again and we're talking to you about repentance. 00:23:44.720 --> 00:23:49.259 Or we're talking to you about receive Jesus into 00:23:49.259 --> 00:23:52.240 your life. Praise the Lord. The way it should 00:23:52.240 --> 00:23:55.500 be is that it is a gathering of called out people. 00:23:55.980 --> 00:23:58.380 And when we come with fellowship, it will not 00:23:58.380 --> 00:24:00.099 be strange when we say you should minister to 00:24:00.099 --> 00:24:02.279 one another. Praise the Lord. It will not be 00:24:02.279 --> 00:24:04.339 strange when we say pray in tongues. It will 00:24:04.339 --> 00:24:07.079 not be strange when we say heal the sick. Praise 00:24:07.079 --> 00:24:09.839 the Lord. Because it is a gathering of kindred 00:24:09.839 --> 00:24:12.599 minds. It is a gathering of people that believe 00:24:12.599 --> 00:24:15.579 the same thing. that are taught properly. There 00:24:15.579 --> 00:24:18.299 are people that are called out, people that have 00:24:18.299 --> 00:24:31.059 believed the gospel. So like I said, this calling 00:24:31.059 --> 00:24:35.279 is used for salvation, all those, and then all 00:24:35.279 --> 00:24:38.140 those who are saved are called. Praise the Lord. 00:24:38.220 --> 00:24:41.819 So everybody who is saved is called. So if you're 00:24:41.819 --> 00:24:44.440 saved in this building, you are called. You are 00:24:44.440 --> 00:24:50.900 called of God. Praise the Lord. So don't wait 00:24:50.900 --> 00:24:55.180 for the road to the Damascus calling. Praise 00:24:55.180 --> 00:24:58.500 the Lord. Don't wait for the road to the Damascus 00:24:58.500 --> 00:25:02.420 calling or something dramatic happen in your 00:25:02.420 --> 00:25:06.160 life. Praise the Lord. Then we know, okay, we 00:25:06.160 --> 00:25:08.509 are called. You need to focus now. Praise the 00:25:08.509 --> 00:25:10.529 Lord. Or we need to start doing the things we 00:25:10.529 --> 00:25:12.789 need to start doing because something has happened 00:25:12.789 --> 00:25:15.789 and it has helped you to bring you back to God 00:25:15.789 --> 00:25:18.809 or to make you refocus. Praise the Lord. You 00:25:18.809 --> 00:25:29.390 are called out once. Hallelujah. Ephesians chapter 00:25:29.390 --> 00:25:36.509 4, verse 4 to 6. It said there is one body and 00:25:36.509 --> 00:25:41.420 one spirit. just as you are called in one hope 00:25:41.420 --> 00:25:47.500 of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. 00:25:51.619 --> 00:25:55.640 One God and Father of all, who is above all and 00:25:55.640 --> 00:26:00.039 through all, in you all. Praise the Lord. So 00:26:00.039 --> 00:26:02.839 the word one there is talking about those who 00:26:02.839 --> 00:26:06.160 are saved. Praise the Lord. The word there is 00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:08.140 the one is talking about those who are saved. 00:26:08.680 --> 00:26:12.359 That no one is excluded from this. Praise the 00:26:12.359 --> 00:26:15.519 Lord. That we have one faith. We have one baptism. 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:18.740 Praise the Lord. Nobody is excluded from this. 00:26:19.500 --> 00:26:27.640 Nobody is excluded from this calling. There is 00:26:27.640 --> 00:26:31.299 no special reference to a believer, to one particular 00:26:31.299 --> 00:26:33.980 believer or a group of believers. Praise the 00:26:33.980 --> 00:26:37.849 Lord. It is to all. It is common to all. Praise 00:26:37.849 --> 00:26:42.829 the Lord. It is common to all. So all the believers 00:26:42.829 --> 00:26:45.549 have one Lord. They have one baptism. They have 00:26:45.549 --> 00:26:52.549 one faith. Which is from one calling. Praise 00:26:52.549 --> 00:26:57.450 the Lord. They have one calling. Your calling 00:26:57.450 --> 00:27:00.970 is not different though. Praise the Lord. The 00:27:00.970 --> 00:27:03.289 calling of God upon your life is not different. 00:27:04.460 --> 00:27:09.599 We have one calling. Maybe sometimes we mistake 00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:12.400 it or we think about it as, you know, maybe God 00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:14.380 has blessed you. Maybe you have a talent and 00:27:14.380 --> 00:27:15.720 then you say, that's the calling of God upon 00:27:15.720 --> 00:27:24.759 your life. Praise the Lord. No one is exempted 00:27:24.759 --> 00:27:28.460 from this. We have one faith. We have one Lord, 00:27:28.519 --> 00:27:31.700 one faith, one baptism, which is from one calling. 00:27:32.240 --> 00:27:39.140 It is God that is doing the calling. So although 00:27:39.140 --> 00:27:42.519 this word, calling, like I mentioned, it primarily 00:27:42.519 --> 00:27:46.240 refers to salvation, it also, in many places 00:27:46.240 --> 00:27:49.720 of the Scriptures, refers to as ministry, or 00:27:49.720 --> 00:27:54.440 refers to for ministry. We see in Romans 1, verse 00:27:54.440 --> 00:28:03.759 1. Paul, a born servant of Jesus Christ, called 00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:07.599 to be an apostle, separated for the gospel of 00:28:07.599 --> 00:28:10.480 God. Praise the Lord. So we see called to be 00:28:10.480 --> 00:28:12.720 an apostle here. He's talking about ministry. 00:28:13.579 --> 00:28:16.519 Praise the Lord. He's talking about ministry. 00:28:16.900 --> 00:28:20.160 And then in verse 6 and 7 of that same place. 00:28:22.359 --> 00:28:26.700 Verse 6 and 7. Among whom you also are the called 00:28:26.700 --> 00:28:31.259 of Jesus Christ. All who are in Rome, beloved 00:28:31.259 --> 00:28:35.039 of God, called to be saints. Grace to you and 00:28:35.039 --> 00:28:39.259 peace from our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:28:39.380 --> 00:28:41.880 Praise the Lord. So this is talking about salvation. 00:28:42.660 --> 00:28:44.700 Praise the Lord. So in the same place or in the 00:28:44.700 --> 00:28:47.099 same chapter, we see a place where he talks about 00:28:47.099 --> 00:28:50.579 calling in terms of ministry and also calling 00:28:50.579 --> 00:28:59.160 in terms of salvation. Praise the Lord. And Pastor 00:28:59.160 --> 00:29:01.859 Kosted and Pastor Emmanuel has done a lot of 00:29:01.859 --> 00:29:04.440 justice during the catatismus in teaching us 00:29:04.440 --> 00:29:08.039 about the different type of gifts. Praise the 00:29:08.039 --> 00:29:11.119 Lord. So we can go on and to listen to those. 00:29:11.220 --> 00:29:22.380 Romans chapter 8, verse 28. He said, And we know 00:29:22.380 --> 00:29:25.480 that all things work together for good to those 00:29:25.480 --> 00:29:28.589 who believe. Sorry, for those who love God. and 00:29:28.589 --> 00:29:30.730 to those who are called according to his purpose. 00:29:31.150 --> 00:29:33.430 Praise the Lord. So when he says to those who 00:29:33.430 --> 00:29:35.509 are called according to his purpose, he's talking 00:29:35.509 --> 00:29:39.630 about salvation. Praise the Lord. Those ones 00:29:39.630 --> 00:29:43.109 that are saved. He's talking about salvation. 00:29:44.809 --> 00:29:50.329 Jude chapter 1 verse 1. Also talks about the 00:29:50.329 --> 00:29:53.190 calling of the believer. Jude chapter 1 verse 00:29:53.190 --> 00:29:58.130 1. Jude, a born servant of Jesus Christ, the 00:29:58.130 --> 00:30:00.849 brother of James, to those who are called, sanctified 00:30:00.849 --> 00:30:04.630 by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ. 00:30:04.789 --> 00:30:06.890 Praise the Lord. He's talking about the calling 00:30:06.890 --> 00:30:10.390 of the believer. So the believer is called of 00:30:10.390 --> 00:30:14.230 God. He's sanctified and justified and forgiven. 00:30:14.650 --> 00:30:17.380 Praise the Lord. So this is what a believer has. 00:30:17.579 --> 00:30:20.759 He's called of God, and in that calling, what 00:30:20.759 --> 00:30:23.180 happened in that calling, or the context of that 00:30:23.180 --> 00:30:26.240 calling, is sanctification, it is justification, 00:30:26.319 --> 00:30:35.720 and it's forgiveness. Praise the Lord. So, when 00:30:35.720 --> 00:30:37.559 he says that you are called, it doesn't mean 00:30:37.559 --> 00:30:40.200 that they have called you out of this world. 00:30:40.920 --> 00:30:43.440 Praise the Lord. It doesn't mean that you have 00:30:43.440 --> 00:30:46.460 left the world. If you have left the world, you 00:30:46.460 --> 00:30:52.019 are asleep. Praise the Lord. It does not mean 00:30:52.019 --> 00:30:55.920 that. But you are sanctified in the world. Praise 00:30:55.920 --> 00:30:58.220 the Lord. You are justified even as you are here. 00:30:58.980 --> 00:31:01.660 Praise the Lord. You are forgiven as you are 00:31:01.660 --> 00:31:05.539 in this world. Praise the Lord. So all are called. 00:31:06.579 --> 00:31:14.380 All are called. So let's look at some interesting 00:31:14.380 --> 00:31:17.640 things about this calling or about salvation, 00:31:17.859 --> 00:31:21.539 about justification, about sanctification, about 00:31:21.539 --> 00:31:27.599 forgiveness. It tells us in Romans chapter 10 00:31:27.599 --> 00:31:33.779 from verse 8 to 13, 1 Corinthians chapter 12 00:31:33.779 --> 00:31:36.940 verse 3 and Philippians chapter 2 verse 11 about 00:31:36.940 --> 00:31:45.789 salvation. Romans chapter 10 from verse 8. He 00:31:45.789 --> 00:31:49.589 said, but what does it say? The word is near 00:31:49.589 --> 00:31:52.390 you in your mouth and in your heart. That is 00:31:52.390 --> 00:31:55.670 the word of faith which we preach. Praise the 00:31:55.670 --> 00:31:59.029 Lord. So he talks about how a person is saved. 00:31:59.829 --> 00:32:01.569 Praise the Lord. So when the word is preached 00:32:01.569 --> 00:32:04.150 and he's saying that the word is near you, it 00:32:04.150 --> 00:32:06.650 means that you had it. Praise the Lord. It is 00:32:06.650 --> 00:32:10.029 in your heart. Right? You've had the gospel. 00:32:10.109 --> 00:32:15.589 You've had it. Verse 9 now. It said that if you 00:32:15.589 --> 00:32:20.890 confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe 00:32:20.890 --> 00:32:23.849 in your heart that God has raised him from the 00:32:23.849 --> 00:32:28.910 dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one 00:32:28.910 --> 00:32:31.730 believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth 00:32:31.730 --> 00:32:35.329 confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture 00:32:35.329 --> 00:32:38.990 says, Whoever believes in him will not be put 00:32:38.990 --> 00:32:42.289 to shame. For there is no distinction between 00:32:42.289 --> 00:32:44.900 the Jews and the Greek. For the same Lord is 00:32:44.900 --> 00:32:51.259 over all, is rich to all who call upon him. For 00:32:51.259 --> 00:32:55.380 whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be 00:32:55.380 --> 00:32:58.779 saved. Praise the Lord. 1 Corinthians chapter 00:32:58.779 --> 00:33:10.200 12, verse 3. Therefore I make known to you that 00:33:10.200 --> 00:33:13.779 no one speaking by the Spirit of God Call Jesus 00:33:13.779 --> 00:33:18.720 a curse. And no one can say that Jesus is Lord 00:33:18.720 --> 00:33:21.500 except by the Holy Spirit. Praise the Lord. Except 00:33:21.500 --> 00:33:26.759 the person he saved. Praise the Lord. And then 00:33:26.759 --> 00:33:36.640 Philippians 2 verse 11. It said that every tongue 00:33:36.640 --> 00:33:40.480 should confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory 00:33:40.480 --> 00:33:45.299 of God, the father, just keep that verse on that 00:33:45.299 --> 00:33:49.759 screen. So salvation is therefore by faith. Praise 00:33:49.759 --> 00:33:52.059 the Lord, as we have explained. Salvation is 00:33:52.059 --> 00:33:54.539 therefore by faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:33:55.539 --> 00:33:59.279 So Jesus is the savior of the world, right? Or 00:33:59.279 --> 00:34:02.599 he's a savior. And when a man believes in him, 00:34:02.740 --> 00:34:06.299 we can say that that person, that Jesus is the 00:34:06.299 --> 00:34:09.380 Lord of that person. Praise the Lord. Salvation 00:34:09.380 --> 00:34:14.719 is by faith. in the gospel of Jesus Christ. So 00:34:14.719 --> 00:34:19.099 salvation is not faith, right? Salvation is by 00:34:19.099 --> 00:34:21.159 faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. You saw 00:34:21.159 --> 00:34:26.079 in Romans, right? That it is what you had. It 00:34:26.079 --> 00:34:29.500 is a preaching that was preached to you. The 00:34:29.500 --> 00:34:31.780 faith you have is in the gospel that was preached 00:34:31.780 --> 00:34:35.900 to you of Jesus Christ. So Jesus is a savior 00:34:35.900 --> 00:34:38.300 of the world. And when a man believes, we can 00:34:38.300 --> 00:34:41.800 say according to this, that Jesus is the Lord 00:34:41.800 --> 00:34:45.099 over his life. And that word for Lord means that 00:34:45.099 --> 00:34:49.000 he's a master. It's a Greek word to mean the 00:34:49.000 --> 00:34:53.760 master or a ruler or refers to authority or leadership 00:34:53.760 --> 00:34:59.599 over somebody or ownership over somebody or something. 00:35:00.280 --> 00:35:04.460 So when a person is saved, right, Jesus becomes 00:35:04.460 --> 00:35:09.650 their owner. That's what he means. When a person 00:35:09.650 --> 00:35:18.469 is saved, Jesus becomes their owner. 1 Corinthians 00:35:18.469 --> 00:35:31.869 6, verse 20. He said, But you are bought with 00:35:31.869 --> 00:35:35.550 a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and 00:35:35.550 --> 00:35:38.389 in your spirit, which are God's. Praise the Lord. 00:35:38.750 --> 00:35:40.650 So when he says that when a person is saved, 00:35:40.869 --> 00:35:43.710 Jesus becomes their master. Praise the Lord. 00:35:43.829 --> 00:35:49.670 It means that Jesus owns us. We are now his property. 00:35:49.909 --> 00:35:52.349 And this place tells us that we are bought with 00:35:52.349 --> 00:35:57.130 a price. Praise the Lord. We are bought with 00:35:57.130 --> 00:36:00.969 a price. And so Jesus becomes our master. There 00:36:00.969 --> 00:36:07.400 is an authority over us. So therefore, at the 00:36:07.400 --> 00:36:12.079 point of salvation, Jesus becomes our Lord, a 00:36:12.079 --> 00:36:16.079 master, a ruler. He becomes our Lord. He owns 00:36:16.079 --> 00:36:21.880 us at the point of salvation. So Jesus has called 00:36:21.880 --> 00:36:25.599 us, or he has called us, or to whom Jesus called, 00:36:25.760 --> 00:36:28.820 the same person Jesus becomes the Lord over. 00:36:29.079 --> 00:36:38.760 Praise the Lord. So let's look at what the will 00:36:38.760 --> 00:36:43.019 of God is for us as believers or people that 00:36:43.019 --> 00:36:46.480 he has called. What is his will consigning us? 00:36:48.260 --> 00:36:55.340 What is his will consigning us? Before we go 00:36:55.340 --> 00:36:57.239 to the New Testament, let's just read a couple 00:36:57.239 --> 00:37:05.429 of places in the Old Testament. Exodus chapter 00:37:05.429 --> 00:37:11.489 19, verse 6. We're looking at what God's will 00:37:11.489 --> 00:37:14.929 is. Exodus chapter 19. He said, and you shall 00:37:14.929 --> 00:37:18.449 be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. 00:37:18.710 --> 00:37:21.989 Praise the Lord. These are the words which you 00:37:21.989 --> 00:37:24.269 shall speak to the children of Israel. Did we 00:37:24.269 --> 00:37:27.469 read this earlier? Did we read this somewhere 00:37:27.469 --> 00:37:30.230 in the New Testament? Praise the Lord. That what 00:37:30.230 --> 00:37:32.570 God has called us, what did he call us? He said 00:37:32.570 --> 00:37:35.480 we're a holy nation. Right? We're peculiar people. 00:37:35.880 --> 00:37:38.380 Praise the Lord. So we see that this is God's 00:37:38.380 --> 00:37:40.860 plan, even from the Old Testament, that he has 00:37:40.860 --> 00:37:43.760 always had this plan that we should be kingdom 00:37:43.760 --> 00:37:51.480 of priests and a holy nation to him. And so when 00:37:51.480 --> 00:37:53.420 he was telling Moses this to tell the children 00:37:53.420 --> 00:37:56.179 of Israel, he was saying to them that preach 00:37:56.179 --> 00:37:59.320 these things to them. Right? And how they become 00:37:59.320 --> 00:38:03.099 a kingdom of priests is what? That they believe 00:38:03.099 --> 00:38:06.260 what I'm saying. Praise the Lord. So this is 00:38:06.260 --> 00:38:12.039 the message that Moses was preaching to the children 00:38:12.039 --> 00:38:17.000 of Israel. And how they become that is that they 00:38:17.000 --> 00:38:20.099 believe God. Praise the Lord. It's that they 00:38:20.099 --> 00:38:23.039 believe that he wanted them to be a kingdom of 00:38:23.039 --> 00:38:27.019 priests and a holy nation to him. Praise the 00:38:27.019 --> 00:38:30.780 Lord. So this is the message that Moses had for 00:38:30.780 --> 00:38:37.590 them. It depends or it is the condition is that 00:38:37.590 --> 00:38:40.050 they believe the message they receive or they 00:38:40.050 --> 00:38:42.550 trust God. They believe that this is good for 00:38:42.550 --> 00:38:48.889 them. Praise the Lord. So the preaching here 00:38:48.889 --> 00:38:53.730 will say that Moses gave is that Moses taught 00:38:53.730 --> 00:38:57.909 them or he tells them about the promises of God 00:38:57.909 --> 00:39:04.269 as kingdom of priests and kings. Praise the Lord. 00:39:04.769 --> 00:39:09.150 So the message or the sermon you see about what 00:39:09.150 --> 00:39:12.789 the preaching Moses did to them is that he taught 00:39:12.789 --> 00:39:16.909 them about what? That God intended you a kingdom 00:39:16.909 --> 00:39:20.809 of priests, right? And a holy nation to me. A 00:39:20.809 --> 00:39:24.289 kingdom of kings and priests. So this is a message 00:39:24.289 --> 00:39:26.969 that was given to them. He said, I will make 00:39:26.969 --> 00:39:33.780 you a kingdom of priests. And this is what God 00:39:33.780 --> 00:39:36.300 is going to fulfill. Praise the Lord. We saw 00:39:36.300 --> 00:39:38.360 in the New Testament that the calling, it is 00:39:38.360 --> 00:39:41.360 God that is calling it. Praise the Lord. Right? 00:39:41.420 --> 00:39:43.699 It is God that is calling it. Did you do anything 00:39:43.699 --> 00:39:48.840 to be saved? Was there any of your workings to 00:39:48.840 --> 00:39:50.900 be saved? The same thing that he was preaching 00:39:50.900 --> 00:39:53.980 to them here is that this is what he said. This 00:39:53.980 --> 00:39:57.900 is what he is going to do. It is God that is 00:39:57.900 --> 00:40:01.010 going to make this happen. Praise the Lord. It 00:40:01.010 --> 00:40:03.289 is God that is going to make this happen. And 00:40:03.289 --> 00:40:06.469 what they needed to do was to believe the gospel 00:40:06.469 --> 00:40:11.329 or to believe what was preached to them. So God's 00:40:11.329 --> 00:40:14.429 plan was for man to be a kingdom of priests and 00:40:14.429 --> 00:40:20.969 a holy nation. So he doesn't want that to be 00:40:20.969 --> 00:40:25.349 restricted to the tribe of the Levi. Praise the 00:40:25.349 --> 00:40:27.750 Lord. He doesn't want that to be restricted just 00:40:27.750 --> 00:40:31.550 to Moses. He doesn't just want that to be restricted 00:40:31.550 --> 00:40:35.309 to a certain people, but that everybody will 00:40:35.309 --> 00:40:40.130 be to him kings and priests on the earth. Praise 00:40:40.130 --> 00:40:46.510 the Lord. So, but we see that the people, when 00:40:46.510 --> 00:40:49.170 they were taught this message, they did not receive 00:40:49.170 --> 00:40:52.670 it. Praise the Lord. As we see in Exodus and 00:40:52.670 --> 00:40:55.309 the teaching that most of our pastors have done, 00:40:55.369 --> 00:40:58.050 that they did not receive God's message to them. 00:40:58.570 --> 00:41:00.789 They did not receive God's message. They rejected 00:41:00.789 --> 00:41:03.329 God's plan and they decided that, oh, Moses, 00:41:03.489 --> 00:41:06.329 we want you to be a mediator for us. We want 00:41:06.329 --> 00:41:09.510 you to speak for us. We want you to be between 00:41:09.510 --> 00:41:12.309 us and God. We don't want to see him or we don't 00:41:12.309 --> 00:41:15.070 want to talk to him face to face. We reject this 00:41:15.070 --> 00:41:17.929 message. We want something else. Even they went 00:41:17.929 --> 00:41:21.769 for that, even when God wanted to be king over 00:41:21.769 --> 00:41:24.650 them, they said, no, let us have kings like every 00:41:24.650 --> 00:41:27.820 other nation. And he told them the consequences 00:41:27.820 --> 00:41:30.619 of what that would mean, right? That your children 00:41:30.619 --> 00:41:33.079 are going to be in the soldiers, that your children 00:41:33.079 --> 00:41:35.460 are going to be walking in the palace. They rejected 00:41:35.460 --> 00:41:38.219 even God being king over their lives. Praise 00:41:38.219 --> 00:41:40.599 the Lord. So we see that they rejected these 00:41:40.599 --> 00:41:44.059 things. And some of the examples of how God wanted 00:41:44.059 --> 00:41:47.719 or wanted to show them or begin to see also is 00:41:47.719 --> 00:41:50.619 that as God wanted them to be kingdom of kings 00:41:50.619 --> 00:41:53.139 and preached on the earth, there was a few demonstrations. 00:41:53.949 --> 00:41:57.150 to show them what that will be like. Praise the 00:41:57.150 --> 00:42:00.550 Lord. In Exodus chapter 18, we see that in the 00:42:00.550 --> 00:42:04.190 life of Moses. Exodus chapter 18, from verse 00:42:04.190 --> 00:42:13.349 13 to 26. So it was on the next day that Moses 00:42:13.349 --> 00:42:17.110 started to judge the people, and the people stood 00:42:17.110 --> 00:42:22.320 before Moses from morning until evening. So when 00:42:22.320 --> 00:42:24.800 Moses' father -in -law saw all that he did for 00:42:24.800 --> 00:42:27.420 the people, he said, what is this thing that 00:42:27.420 --> 00:42:30.920 you are doing for the people? Why do you sit 00:42:30.920 --> 00:42:34.059 alone and all these people stand before you from 00:42:34.059 --> 00:42:37.519 morning to night? Praise the Lord. Go back. So 00:42:37.519 --> 00:42:41.840 he tells them that, why did you sit alone? Praise 00:42:41.840 --> 00:42:44.239 the Lord. I don't know if Jethro knew what the 00:42:44.239 --> 00:42:48.500 intention of God was for his people, but he said 00:42:48.500 --> 00:42:51.219 to him that, Why do you sit alone? Why is it 00:42:51.219 --> 00:42:54.440 only you? Praise the Lord. Or why is it, why 00:42:54.440 --> 00:42:58.079 is it that you want your pastor to hear God for 00:42:58.079 --> 00:43:00.960 you? Praise the Lord. Why is it that you cannot 00:43:00.960 --> 00:43:03.460 also, or why is it that you are not exercising 00:43:03.460 --> 00:43:06.579 what God has given you to hear God consigning 00:43:06.579 --> 00:43:10.699 your life? Continue. And Moses said to his father 00:43:10.699 --> 00:43:13.340 -in -law, because the people come to me to inquire 00:43:13.340 --> 00:43:17.019 of God. Praise the Lord. When they have difficulties, 00:43:17.139 --> 00:43:20.159 they come to me and I judge between one and another, 00:43:20.280 --> 00:43:22.420 and I make known the statutes of God and his 00:43:22.420 --> 00:43:26.000 laws. So Moses' father -in -law said to him, 00:43:26.079 --> 00:43:29.079 This thing you do is not good. Praise the Lord. 00:43:29.300 --> 00:43:32.079 But you and those who are with you will surely 00:43:32.079 --> 00:43:35.199 wear yourself out, for this thing is too much 00:43:35.199 --> 00:43:37.719 for you, and you are not able to perform it by 00:43:37.719 --> 00:43:40.260 yourself. Listen to my voice, I will give you 00:43:40.260 --> 00:43:44.199 counsel. God will be with you. Stand before God 00:43:44.199 --> 00:43:47.280 for the people, so that you may bring the difficulties 00:43:47.280 --> 00:43:50.309 to God. And you shall teach them the statutes 00:43:50.309 --> 00:43:53.829 and the law and show them the way in which they 00:43:53.829 --> 00:43:57.449 must walk and the work they must do. Moreover, 00:43:57.690 --> 00:44:00.969 you shall select from all the people able men 00:44:00.969 --> 00:44:05.150 such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness, 00:44:05.369 --> 00:44:09.090 and place them over them to be rulers over thousands, 00:44:09.329 --> 00:44:12.269 rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers 00:44:12.269 --> 00:44:15.650 of tens. And let them judge the people at all 00:44:15.650 --> 00:44:20.250 times. great matter they shall bring to you, 00:44:20.309 --> 00:44:22.590 but every small matter they themselves shall 00:44:22.590 --> 00:44:25.769 judge. So it will be easier for you, for they 00:44:25.769 --> 00:44:28.989 will bear the burden with you. And if you do 00:44:28.989 --> 00:44:31.429 these things, God, he said, if you do these things, 00:44:31.449 --> 00:44:33.929 I also God commend you that you will be able 00:44:33.929 --> 00:44:37.230 to endure and all these people would go also 00:44:37.230 --> 00:44:40.090 to their places in peace. So Moses heeded to 00:44:40.090 --> 00:44:41.769 the voice of his father -in -law and did all 00:44:41.769 --> 00:44:44.869 that he had said. And Moses chose able men out 00:44:44.869 --> 00:44:47.650 of Israel and made them heads over the people, 00:44:47.750 --> 00:44:50.409 rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers 00:44:50.409 --> 00:44:53.489 of fifty, rulers of tens. So they judged the 00:44:53.489 --> 00:44:56.590 people all the time, and they had cases they 00:44:56.590 --> 00:44:58.989 brought to Moses, and they judged every small 00:44:58.989 --> 00:45:01.909 case themselves. Praise the Lord. So we see here 00:45:01.909 --> 00:45:06.230 as well that they begin to see glimpses of what 00:45:06.230 --> 00:45:10.329 God has intended, or the intention of God. Praise 00:45:10.329 --> 00:45:13.219 the Lord. They begin to see some of those intentions 00:45:13.219 --> 00:45:17.599 of God. In verse 21 and 22, we saw that Moses 00:45:17.599 --> 00:45:21.420 judged these people, sorry, Moses judged these 00:45:21.420 --> 00:45:24.400 people and he taught them, right? And he taught 00:45:24.400 --> 00:45:27.980 among them. So his father -in -law's suggestion 00:45:27.980 --> 00:45:32.059 in verse 21 and 22, right, was that these things 00:45:32.059 --> 00:45:35.440 are too much for you. Select for yourself people 00:45:35.440 --> 00:45:39.320 among these people that will judge them. Praise 00:45:39.320 --> 00:45:41.820 the Lord. And we saw that the characters of these 00:45:41.820 --> 00:45:44.579 men were people that feared God, people that 00:45:44.579 --> 00:45:46.519 had truth in them, or people that had no truth, 00:45:46.719 --> 00:45:49.579 and people that hated covetousness. Where can 00:45:49.579 --> 00:45:51.880 we see this again in the Scripture? About people 00:45:51.880 --> 00:45:54.739 and the selection of people and this criteria 00:45:54.739 --> 00:45:57.860 to them. We see that in Acts of the Apostles. 00:45:58.320 --> 00:46:00.599 Praise the Lord. So we also see the same thing 00:46:00.599 --> 00:46:02.639 in Acts of the Apostles and the four Gospels. 00:46:03.340 --> 00:46:07.800 In verse 20 of this. Chapter we just read, verse 00:46:07.800 --> 00:46:10.920 20, Exodus 18, verse 20. So he say, and you shall 00:46:10.920 --> 00:46:13.159 teach them the statutes of the law and show them 00:46:13.159 --> 00:46:16.199 the way in which they must go and the work they 00:46:16.199 --> 00:46:19.139 must do. So Moses had to teach them the ordinances 00:46:19.139 --> 00:46:21.840 and the laws of God. He also taught them how 00:46:21.840 --> 00:46:24.480 to do practical things, how to do the little 00:46:24.480 --> 00:46:27.599 things. Praise the Lord. They say the way that 00:46:27.599 --> 00:46:30.699 they must walk and the work they must do. Praise 00:46:30.699 --> 00:46:33.539 the Lord. So that they are able to judge. So 00:46:33.539 --> 00:46:36.510 he tells them to put people over them. officers 00:46:36.510 --> 00:46:40.170 over them right and he's so we also see the same 00:46:40.170 --> 00:46:44.170 thing in the new testament right when jesus chose 00:46:44.170 --> 00:46:49.750 his 12 disciples he chose them in in the same 00:46:49.750 --> 00:46:53.230 way or he chose them just like moses chose the 00:46:53.230 --> 00:46:57.289 70 uh elders that he chose that will stand before 00:46:57.289 --> 00:47:00.010 god the 12 disciples were people that should 00:47:00.010 --> 00:47:04.559 learn from christ mark chapter 3 verse 14 Mark 00:47:04.559 --> 00:47:08.280 chapter 3, verse 14. Then he appointed the twelve 00:47:08.280 --> 00:47:11.239 that they might be with him and that he might 00:47:11.239 --> 00:47:14.800 send them out to preach. Praise the Lord. He 00:47:14.800 --> 00:47:17.820 said that they might be with him. Praise the 00:47:17.820 --> 00:47:20.199 Lord. So in this being with him, he means that 00:47:20.199 --> 00:47:22.400 they will learn from him. Praise the Lord. And 00:47:22.400 --> 00:47:25.500 when they learn from him, they will go out to 00:47:25.500 --> 00:47:28.860 preach. They will go out to preach. So they will 00:47:28.860 --> 00:47:33.059 stay with him. And when they have learned, they 00:47:33.059 --> 00:47:36.420 will go out to preach. So we saw that in the 00:47:36.420 --> 00:47:39.360 Exodus, as the people were coming out of Egypt, 00:47:39.699 --> 00:47:45.199 we saw that it is a like of what Christ has done, 00:47:45.320 --> 00:47:47.900 right? So being called out of Egypt, that is, 00:47:47.920 --> 00:47:52.059 Egypt represented bondage or sin, a life without 00:47:52.059 --> 00:47:55.409 God. Praise the Lord. And into the promised land, 00:47:55.469 --> 00:47:58.510 that is God's promises, right? The Holy Spirit's 00:47:58.510 --> 00:48:01.070 redemption, right? That when they came out of 00:48:01.070 --> 00:48:04.670 Egypt, that there were people that should proclaim 00:48:04.670 --> 00:48:07.190 or should teach about God to the other nation. 00:48:07.369 --> 00:48:10.710 Praise the Lord. So the coming out of Egypt was 00:48:10.710 --> 00:48:14.769 coming out of bondage into freedom or into God's 00:48:14.769 --> 00:48:18.369 blessing. And in turn, they would declare the 00:48:18.369 --> 00:48:20.590 promises of God or in turn, they will become 00:48:20.590 --> 00:48:23.800 ministers. Praise the Lord. So in line with that 00:48:23.800 --> 00:48:26.059 which God has said concerning them, that he want 00:48:26.059 --> 00:48:29.300 them to be a kingdom of kings and priests, is 00:48:29.300 --> 00:48:32.099 that when they come out of Egypt, when they come 00:48:32.099 --> 00:48:35.300 out of the land of bondage and the land of sin, 00:48:35.400 --> 00:48:38.079 they are coming into the promises of God, into 00:48:38.079 --> 00:48:40.340 the spirit of God, into the redemption of God, 00:48:40.400 --> 00:48:43.059 so that they will become God's ministers on the 00:48:43.059 --> 00:48:46.179 earth. Praise the Lord. The king and the priest 00:48:46.179 --> 00:48:49.679 will become God's ministers on the earth. so 00:48:49.679 --> 00:48:51.800 that they will preach the message of salvation 00:48:51.800 --> 00:48:55.559 to every creature, to the people around them. 00:48:55.900 --> 00:48:59.340 So the disciples being with Jesus is that they 00:48:59.340 --> 00:49:03.260 also learn from him. Praise the Lord. So he called 00:49:03.260 --> 00:49:05.300 them from their different professions. He called 00:49:05.300 --> 00:49:07.260 them from the different things that they were 00:49:07.260 --> 00:49:09.280 doing so that they will be with him. They will 00:49:09.280 --> 00:49:11.760 learn from him. Just like the same way Moses 00:49:11.760 --> 00:49:15.159 taught the children of Israel, the same way Jesus 00:49:15.159 --> 00:49:17.500 was teaching the disciples so that they will 00:49:17.500 --> 00:49:20.500 learn from him and do the same. They will go 00:49:20.500 --> 00:49:23.980 out and they will preach the gospel. So the 12 00:49:23.980 --> 00:49:27.099 disciples were to learn from Jesus so that they 00:49:27.099 --> 00:49:31.380 could be trained enough to... to be in his stead. 00:49:31.480 --> 00:49:34.639 Like when he's gone, they will be able to continue 00:49:34.639 --> 00:49:37.579 preaching the word. In Mark chapter 1, verse 00:49:37.579 --> 00:49:44.199 16 to 20. Mark chapter 1, verse 16 to 20. Mark 00:49:44.199 --> 00:49:48.440 chapter 1, verse 16 to 20. So this is Jesus calling 00:49:48.440 --> 00:49:52.059 out, calling the disciples. And as he walked 00:49:52.059 --> 00:49:55.860 by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, 00:49:55.980 --> 00:49:58.739 his brother, casting out a net into the sea. 00:49:59.159 --> 00:50:01.480 for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, 00:50:01.519 --> 00:50:04.500 Follow them, and I will make you fishers of men. 00:50:04.639 --> 00:50:07.440 And they immediately left their nets and followed 00:50:07.440 --> 00:50:11.280 him. And he had gone a little further from there, 00:50:11.360 --> 00:50:14.380 and he saw James the brother of Zebedee, and 00:50:14.380 --> 00:50:17.460 John his brother, who were also in the boats, 00:50:17.539 --> 00:50:20.159 mending their nets. And immediately he called 00:50:20.159 --> 00:50:23.199 them, they left their father Zebedee in the boat, 00:50:23.360 --> 00:50:26.260 with a hired servant, and went after him. Praise 00:50:26.260 --> 00:50:29.539 the Lord. So we see here also Jesus calling out 00:50:29.539 --> 00:50:32.940 his disciples, calling them from where they were 00:50:32.940 --> 00:50:36.340 to something much more better. And they followed 00:50:36.340 --> 00:50:40.699 him, right? He would train them to do the things 00:50:40.699 --> 00:50:44.159 that he's doing. So to be with him is that he's 00:50:44.159 --> 00:50:48.019 training them to be in, to do the things that 00:50:48.019 --> 00:50:50.980 he's doing. In Luke chapter 5 verse 10, we see 00:50:50.980 --> 00:50:53.079 that Luke used the word that he will make them 00:50:53.079 --> 00:50:57.610 catchers or to catch men. Praise the Lord. Luke 00:50:57.610 --> 00:51:00.190 used the word to catch men, meaning that they 00:51:00.190 --> 00:51:02.570 are going to preach, right? What it means to 00:51:02.570 --> 00:51:05.510 catch men is to preach and to teach the gospel. 00:51:05.849 --> 00:51:10.550 This implies that Jesus' focus was that he was 00:51:10.550 --> 00:51:13.929 making people or he was building people that 00:51:13.929 --> 00:51:16.730 will continue the things that he's doing. Praise 00:51:16.730 --> 00:51:19.789 the Lord. He's drawing men or he's bringing men 00:51:19.789 --> 00:51:21.929 so that they will continue the things that he 00:51:21.929 --> 00:51:24.599 has been doing. So he reached out to the 12 and 00:51:24.599 --> 00:51:28.480 he called them and he trained them and he sent 00:51:28.480 --> 00:51:30.860 them out to do the same thing. Praise the Lord. 00:51:31.159 --> 00:51:35.280 To reach out and to train and to send out. Praise 00:51:35.280 --> 00:51:37.239 the Lord. We see that those were the works of 00:51:37.239 --> 00:51:40.099 the apostles. Wherever they were, they were reaching 00:51:40.099 --> 00:51:42.679 out to men, they were teaching them and they 00:51:42.679 --> 00:51:45.079 were telling them to continue the same thing 00:51:45.079 --> 00:51:47.360 that they were taught. We learned from some of 00:51:47.360 --> 00:51:54.030 our previous... that a faithful servant is one 00:51:54.030 --> 00:51:56.789 that do the same or one that gives exactly what 00:51:56.789 --> 00:51:59.349 he was given. Praise the Lord. That the gospel 00:51:59.349 --> 00:52:02.329 did not come to you so that when you are giving 00:52:02.329 --> 00:52:04.570 it out, you begin to preach something we don't 00:52:04.570 --> 00:52:07.409 understand. Praise the Lord. Or something that 00:52:07.409 --> 00:52:09.750 cannot save anybody. Or something that cannot 00:52:09.750 --> 00:52:12.590 make somebody's life the way that God intended 00:52:12.590 --> 00:52:15.530 it to be. So we learn that a faithful servant 00:52:15.530 --> 00:52:18.309 is one that gives exactly that which they were 00:52:18.309 --> 00:52:21.909 taught. So Jesus taught his disciples, he trained 00:52:21.909 --> 00:52:24.929 them and he sent them out to do the same, to 00:52:24.929 --> 00:52:29.230 reach out to men and to train them and send them 00:52:29.230 --> 00:52:32.289 out. It is the same thing that the church ought 00:52:32.289 --> 00:52:34.449 to be doing. The same thing that we are doing, 00:52:34.570 --> 00:52:36.969 that we are teaching you the word or we are teaching 00:52:36.969 --> 00:52:39.570 you or we are training you so that when you go 00:52:39.570 --> 00:52:42.489 out, you will do the same. You have the manual 00:52:42.489 --> 00:52:45.510 for training. You have the manual for training 00:52:45.510 --> 00:52:47.829 and when you have trained people, you will send 00:52:47.829 --> 00:52:51.360 them out. Praise the Lord. You will send them 00:52:51.360 --> 00:52:54.559 out. Even as you are doing the little things 00:52:54.559 --> 00:52:56.440 that you are doing, you are filled with the Spirit. 00:52:56.639 --> 00:53:00.119 In Acts chapter 6, talking about Philip and the 00:53:00.119 --> 00:53:02.599 other people that were chosen, when there was 00:53:02.599 --> 00:53:04.579 a problem in the church because some people were 00:53:04.579 --> 00:53:08.699 neglected, these men were chosen to handle these 00:53:08.699 --> 00:53:11.739 matters so that the apostles would focus on the 00:53:11.739 --> 00:53:15.079 world and in prayers. Just like the same way 00:53:15.079 --> 00:53:18.539 Moses chose men because of the advice of his 00:53:18.539 --> 00:53:23.280 father -in -law and the 70 that he also chose. 00:53:23.920 --> 00:53:27.940 So we see that although these men are believers 00:53:27.940 --> 00:53:31.210 and they have made them... People who serve tables, 00:53:31.429 --> 00:53:33.630 like the way we say in the church, let's say 00:53:33.630 --> 00:53:36.190 welfare team now, you are serving tables. But 00:53:36.190 --> 00:53:37.869 it doesn't mean that you cannot preach the word. 00:53:38.070 --> 00:53:42.630 It doesn't mean that outside of this place, you 00:53:42.630 --> 00:53:45.449 will not be able to cast out demons. Praise the 00:53:45.449 --> 00:53:48.730 Lord. We saw later on in Acts chapter 8 that 00:53:48.730 --> 00:53:52.110 Philip went on to continue to preach and to heal 00:53:52.110 --> 00:53:55.849 the sick and to do mighty things for God. Praise 00:53:55.849 --> 00:53:58.010 the Lord. Because in the place of training, there 00:53:58.010 --> 00:54:00.469 are a lot of things that is acts of them. So 00:54:00.469 --> 00:54:02.329 as you are in church and as you are receiving 00:54:02.329 --> 00:54:04.849 training from God, as you are receiving training 00:54:04.849 --> 00:54:07.090 from the church, you might not be doing a lot. 00:54:07.289 --> 00:54:09.230 Praise the Lord. You might not have the opportunity 00:54:09.230 --> 00:54:11.630 to come to the pulpit and preach. You might not 00:54:11.630 --> 00:54:14.110 have the opportunities to be in the front or 00:54:14.110 --> 00:54:16.710 to lead a team. Praise the Lord. But it doesn't 00:54:16.710 --> 00:54:19.269 diminish your training. It does not diminish 00:54:19.269 --> 00:54:21.909 the main thing that you are here for. Praise 00:54:21.909 --> 00:54:24.110 the Lord. It's that you're in a place of training. 00:54:24.559 --> 00:54:27.920 That this calling is common to all. Praise the 00:54:27.920 --> 00:54:30.119 Lord. If they point you and say, next two weeks 00:54:30.119 --> 00:54:32.280 you are preaching, you are able to come out and 00:54:32.280 --> 00:54:35.780 preach properly. Praise the Lord. That you have, 00:54:36.000 --> 00:54:39.000 it's like you are capable of doing things and 00:54:39.000 --> 00:54:41.820 you're just sitting down. Praise the Lord. You 00:54:41.820 --> 00:54:43.820 are capable of doing many things, but you're 00:54:43.820 --> 00:54:46.579 just sitting. So we saw that Philip, although 00:54:46.579 --> 00:54:48.800 he was serving tables, was a man full of the 00:54:48.800 --> 00:54:51.159 Holy Ghost. He was preaching the word. He was 00:54:51.159 --> 00:54:53.579 healing the sick. So even as you are in the place 00:54:53.579 --> 00:54:56.139 of training, do not neglect the things that we're 00:54:56.139 --> 00:54:58.579 doing. Do not neglect the things that the church 00:54:58.579 --> 00:55:01.360 is trying to help you or trying to instruct you 00:55:01.360 --> 00:55:03.619 to do. Because something will happen tomorrow 00:55:03.619 --> 00:55:05.840 or your studies will finish and you'll be in 00:55:05.840 --> 00:55:07.679 a field and you'll be in a place where you have 00:55:07.679 --> 00:55:10.420 to teach, where you have to preach. Praise the 00:55:10.420 --> 00:55:13.800 Lord. Where you have to cast out demons. I remember 00:55:13.800 --> 00:55:15.400 one time, and I'm going to share this story as 00:55:15.400 --> 00:55:18.659 we close. There was a time where the house that 00:55:18.659 --> 00:55:20.739 I lived, I don't know what happened to the guy. 00:55:21.360 --> 00:55:24.820 He just started, you know, displaying so many 00:55:24.820 --> 00:55:27.099 things. He looked like he was sick. He was not 00:55:27.099 --> 00:55:29.719 breathing properly. We're waiting for ambulance, 00:55:30.039 --> 00:55:32.380 all of so many things like that. And we begin 00:55:32.380 --> 00:55:34.880 to call the neighbors. So please come and help 00:55:34.880 --> 00:55:37.119 us. The guy is a heavy guy. Come and help us. 00:55:37.159 --> 00:55:39.380 Let's take this guy downstairs, take him to the 00:55:39.380 --> 00:55:43.139 hospital. And then nobody, everybody refused 00:55:43.139 --> 00:55:46.860 to come. All the hefty guys, nobody came out 00:55:46.860 --> 00:55:50.739 because what he was displaying was first. So 00:55:50.739 --> 00:55:52.500 I hope this is not a demon or something like 00:55:52.500 --> 00:55:54.639 that. And he's all, he has a medical condition. 00:55:55.000 --> 00:55:57.019 Praise the Lord. And so they came and called 00:55:57.019 --> 00:55:59.900 me downstairs and I was like, what will I do? 00:55:59.980 --> 00:56:02.219 We're waiting for car to come. But in the back 00:56:02.219 --> 00:56:04.219 of my mind, I was thinking, let this guy not 00:56:04.219 --> 00:56:06.960 die here. Not in this place. There's so many 00:56:06.960 --> 00:56:09.519 explanation to be done. I mean, nothing happened, 00:56:09.579 --> 00:56:11.820 but you're going to spend a lot of time doing 00:56:11.820 --> 00:56:14.599 a lot of explanation, right? So I just started 00:56:14.599 --> 00:56:16.960 to pray. I don't know what's going on, but I 00:56:16.960 --> 00:56:19.260 still started to pray. continue to pray. And 00:56:19.260 --> 00:56:23.159 I continue to pray. Continue to pray until his 00:56:23.159 --> 00:56:25.300 situation was such that he needed to go to the 00:56:25.300 --> 00:56:33.019 ICU for days. So, but everybody else was running. 00:56:34.960 --> 00:56:38.119 Praise the Lord. Everybody else was running because 00:56:38.119 --> 00:56:41.159 they don't understand what is going on. I also 00:56:41.159 --> 00:56:43.900 had the choice to run. I also had the thought 00:56:43.900 --> 00:56:46.400 in my heart that, ah, may this guy not hold my 00:56:46.400 --> 00:56:50.050 neck. Do you understand? Or something else should 00:56:50.050 --> 00:56:52.949 not happen there. But if you know that you have 00:56:52.949 --> 00:56:54.949 the Spirit of God in you, what do you turn to? 00:56:57.329 --> 00:57:00.469 Praise the Lord. You turn to do that which you 00:57:00.469 --> 00:57:03.789 have been equipped to do. So as you are in church 00:57:03.789 --> 00:57:05.750 here, there's a lot of equipping that has happened 00:57:05.750 --> 00:57:08.429 to you. There's a lot of investment upon your 00:57:08.429 --> 00:57:11.190 life. As the opportunities come to you, you take 00:57:11.190 --> 00:57:13.829 it. Praise the Lord. As the opportunities come 00:57:13.829 --> 00:57:18.059 to you, you take hold of it. And let Christ be 00:57:18.059 --> 00:57:21.579 glorified. Amen. Just close our eyes and just 00:57:21.579 --> 00:57:26.159 begin to pray. We appreciate you being here today. 00:57:26.559 --> 00:57:28.980 We hope you carry this word with you throughout 00:57:28.980 --> 00:57:31.860 your week. Don't forget to check the show notes 00:57:31.860 --> 00:57:34.619 for additional insights. Stay connected with 00:57:34.619 --> 00:57:37.300 us through our website or follow us on social 00:57:37.300 --> 00:57:40.980 media. If you are encouraged, share this message 00:57:40.980 --> 00:57:43.980 with someone you care about. Until next time, 00:57:44.059 --> 00:57:45.000 stay blessed.