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1 Corinthians 12:27,31 -Members Only- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2024-09-08
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Verse 27. Now you are the body of Christ and members in particular, and God has set some in the church, first apostles, second early prophets, thirdly teachers, and after that miracles, then gifts of healing, Healing's plural. Helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But covet earnestly the best gifts and yet show I unto you a more excellent way. Again, father, we thank you. Please be our teacher. Lord, help us digest your word today. Fill us to overflowing. Just saturate us, Lord, as we eat junk food, Lord, our our physical bodies go away, unfulfilled, unsatisfied, and we continue. But Lord, you said if we hunger and thirst after righteousness, we'll be filled. Lord, we pray this morning that you give us the meat and the milk of your word this morning, the the true spiritual food that we need to feed our spirits, that we'd just be overflowing with your love today, the fruit of the spirit which is love. So bless as we study your word, be our teacher in Jesus name. Amen. Please be seated. The gifts are the gifts of the spirit as we're talking about the gifts of spirit are for members only. Worldly people may be gifted, you know, by Satan. Maybe some of these musicians give their souls to the devil, and they have a natural gifting, maybe a demonic spiritual gifting, an occultic gifting, channeling of demons and such, but we serve the true living God, and we have gifts of the spirit that when we're operating in these gifts of the spirit, the world looks on and says, you know, I I I'm jealous of that power the people in the church have. That ability to, you know, cause a dead person to be raised as, Peter raised up Dorcas or as the apostle Paul raised up Eutychus or as Jesus raised up, Lazarus. The the religious leaders were envious and jealous of that power, to raise people from the dead. Or the lepers to be cleansed, the blind to see, the deaf to be able to hear. Homes restored, a demoniac as he, at Gadera there and cutting himself and chained and out of his mind and naked and just shrieking and stuff. The demons just just overwhelming his mind and heart. And and and as the demons began to channel and speak through him, they identified themselves as legion and Jesus allowed them to go into the pigs and go on into the into the ocean there or into the water, the Sea Of Galilee. And and the two demoniacs, they were clothed, and they were they were seated. They were clothed, and they were in their right mind. God hasn't given us the spirit of fear, a power of love and a sound mind. And so, we look at so many people suffering today and and and yet how much of, of the body of Christ is aware of their gifts, their abilities, the power of the holy spirit to live the life of the book of acts, the book of acts continuing, and where we fit within the body, how can we be, useful. The world is enamored with power presently with, the Harry Potter series and witchcraft and sorcery, and we read a couple times in the book of Revelation, chapter 17 and, 18 there and and I think in '21, that of sorcery. People are enamored with sorcery with the pharmakia, the drugs, the LSD, the mushrooms, the different ways of hallucinogenics and ways to try and get into the spiritual realm and to learn secret things of the spiritual realm and then the power associated therewith. But you and I have the power of the holy spirit. We have a they have a counterfeit power, a counterfeit. And so when Elijah was, challenging the 450 prophets of Baal, he demonstrated their impotency that, they could cut themselves and use fire and try to call down fire and all these things. And he began to mock them and say, well, maybe your little g god is going to the restroom, you know, and, just kinda kind of, blowing their minds. But, when when he began to call down fire, the fire licked up the sacrifice and licked up the water, and, just complete demonstration of of the true power of the holy spirit. Samson, when he demonstrate the power of the holy spirit being upon him, you know, the Philistines are in trouble, man. He's gonna come after Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey, and a thousand of them be wiped out by Samson. Such very tragic point came where Samson knew not that the holy spirit departed. You and I never need to fear that the Holy Spirit depart is departed from you and I. Jesus promised he'd never leave us nor forsake us. In the Old Testament dispensation, the work of the Holy Spirit was on specific endeavors or a specific period of time, the experience. David prayed in Psalm 51, take not thy holy spirit from me. You don't need to pray that. The holy spirit in the new testament dispensation because Jesus is crucified, buried, raised from the dead. The Holy Spirit, the gift. Jesus said expedient for me that I go to the cross because I can send the comforter. The comforter, the Holy Spirit was with alongside you. The Pericles came alongside to convict of sin, and then comes into your heart and life as a result of you confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord. Believing that he was crucified, buried, raised from the dead. Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Romans eight, if you don't have the spirit, you're none of his. So we have the indwelling working of the Holy Spirit, And the holy spirit, Jesus said, you shall receive power, dunamis, dynamic power when the holy spirit comes upon you, the preposition of p. And so at Pentecost, the holy spirit's poured out came upon, the early church and different manifestations of the Holy Spirit and the gifting. So the church of Corinth is pretty gifted, but we're gonna see like next week when we start chapter 13 sandwiched between 14, you know, twelve and fourteen. The proper usage of those gifts is in love. These guys were using them in a selfish way. And yet, when people misuse the gifts, the John McArthur's and guys just can't handle, people speaking in tongues. And so the misuse of gifts caused people to throw them all out, and nobody believed that the gifts and operation of the spirit are continued to this day. So the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance, and we believe all the gifts are in operation today. And the only reason, we don't, see the gifts of the spirit in operation today is because we allow them to lie dormant. Because we don't have any need to rely upon the Lord and to use those gifts. Now, some of us do, but you can't enter ministry. You can't enter your ministry as a father, a mother, as a family, as a worker, in the church, sharing the gospel in the community without exercising your gifts and the power of the Holy Spirit. You can't do it in the flesh. You try in the flesh, but you're not gonna bear fruit. It's gonna be fruitless. It's gonna be a striving, a sweating, a working, you know, knocking on doors and stuff. But, when we pray, Lord, give me an open door today to be used of you. How often we pray that way and the Lord through through the day begins to give us divine appointments as we share with people and we're exercising, not just sharing the gospel, but we're exercising our gifts. Some of you may have gifts of helps, and you heard that Betty's sick. And so it's prompting your heart to find out where she's at, and you wanna go there and visit with her and take away some of the pain that she's in by smiling and sharing a verse, reading Psalm a 103 or something with her, holding her hand and praying with her. Those are gifts of helps. Those are intercessors. Those are those are gifts that we all can utilize, but in many cases, what we're looking for is we're looking for America's pastor, pastor Jack to fix it all. We're looking for a politician to fix it all. We're looking for a celebrity evangelist to save them all. And yet, each and every one of us in the body of Christ is a member. You're part of those members, the hands, the eyes, the ears, we're members. I used to wear a jacket when I first, met Kathy and they used to say members only. Those jackets, remember those? Any of you have those? I had a few of them. Members only. Well, there's an exclusivity to what we're speaking about today. The exclusivity for Christians. It's for members only. Simon the Sorcerer wanted to pay money to buy the ability to lay hands on people to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. It's called simony. That's what we call it today, simony. It's the trying to purchasing of gifts. You can't purchase these gifts. Peter Peter knew that, there was something off with this guy and said, you know, you're on the gall of bitterness and all, rebuked him and all. But, he can't do it. And so it's it's a beautiful thing to know that we're not orphans. It's a beautiful thing that to know that we belong in the body of Christ. When you go down memory road with your wife or your family, when you open up the photo album, you know that you belong. You have a family that you came from. You have a mom. You have a dad. I didn't meet my biological dad till I was 18, but, when I did, I got a kind of a glimpse and kinda see what he looks like and all, but I never saw him after that again. But, I have a a stepdad, if you will, that's been my dad since I was four. And, when I look at the pictures, there's memories there. I know I belong. I know that he invested. He sacrificed and I see my mom there. I see my brothers and my sisters. I know that I belong somewhere. And then I see Kathy's family and we bring the two together. Again, I know I I belong. I have a family. The family is important, but the devil would love us to think that it's individuality that the that you as a as a person don't belong to anything like a family or a church body, but you belong to the state and you lose your individual identity and you're just absorbed by the state. And the state's going to tell you what your job is in the tribulation period. The state's going to tell you if you're in communist China when you'll wake up, when you'll go to sleep, what you'll do, what you won't do, and what you will learn while you're in school being trained for various jobs that you have. But we as the body of Christ have tremendous liberty And we may have been an unbeliever, we may have been way out there with wherever we were in the natural, but in the spiritual realm, we come to Christ and we belong. And we don't have a church membership outside there because you're born into the church, you don't join it. So you can come and go as you please, but this little body of believers here, there are gifts represented. There are abilities that the Holy Spirit gives us that are represented. And if those gifts lie dormant and we rely upon money or we rely upon programs or men's ideas and ingenuity and all, it just really is powerless and doesn't bear much fruit. It might be able to get people in the pews and sit and stuff, but many of them are headed to hell. They don't know the true and living God because we drew them through marketing scams and schemes and such. And so the one world religious system is gonna be a system of do gooders, of people thinking they're going to heaven because they're good people. I'm a good Muslim. I'm a good Catholic. I'm a good purpose driven Christian. I do good things and because I do good things, I'm going to heaven. Well, the bible says, Jesus says, I'm the way, truth, and the life. No man comes to the father but by me. Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute. You're a hater. Exclusivity of Jesus Christ? Yeah. Members only. Only members only through Jesus. Well, you're a hater. You're outside. We say that, hey, this is the Catholic, the universal church, and all of you are welcome to be a part of the b system church, the last days apostate church. Whether you're a Hindu or Buddhist or Muslim, what you just need to be good. Do good things, and you'll make it to heaven. The bible says there's none righteous, no, not one. All we like sheep have gone astray, and the lord has laid the iniquity of us all upon his son. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Every single one of us, none righteous. The only way is through Jesus. And when you come by way of Jesus, he gifts you. He empowers you. He gives you he even has a new name for you that no man knows. I know mine, but I can't tell you. And I know when the rapture is gonna happen, I'm writing a book, but I I can't tell you the date just yet. But these secret things belong to the Lord. Right? And, he doesn't want your gifts to be secret. He wants you to discover what your gifts are. He's not trying to hide your gifts or where you fit within the body of Christ and and, you know, and you have to read a book about somebody else's gift and try and mimic it or whatever. You have gifts that are just gifts. And I I spent years trying to discover my gifting or or where I fit within the body and such. And you're unbeknownst to you, you're probably already exercising these gifts and you don't even know it that they're spiritual gifts that God's given you. Sometimes these gifts will there'll be a natural side to them, as you're growing up before you're saved, maybe an ability to communicate or to write or to speak or whatever, but, or sing or whatever it may be. But, when you come to Christ, now you have the unction, the power of the holy spirit, and there's just such an incredible flow. There's just an effortless working of the holy spirit because it's not you. It's the holy spirit working through you. And and it's just an amazing thing to find the flow, to get in the flow of where we fit within the body of Christ. The gifts are for members only. Notice verse 26, and whether one member suffer, all members suffer with it or member be honored, all members rejoice with it. Now you're the body of Christ and members in particular. It's not for everybody. It's a community of believers, an exclusive unique membership, unity, and individuality. So some of the politicians are a part of what they would term the skull and bones. Some of them go to meetings, the only for the builder burgers, you know. The stakeholders, the Klaus Schwab stakeholders and all. So the the world has all these little clicky little type of groups that they belong to, and you and I are born into the body of Christ. It's it's part of our heritage as being Christians. We also have an inheritance. We have an inheritance as sons and daughters. We're joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Everything he's created, everything that he's he's bequeathed, that he's going to receive from the father, you and I are joint heirs with him to enjoy the splendor of his kingdom because we belong. The unbelievers don't belong. Many are gonna come to Jesus in Matthew seven one day and say, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not cast out demons in your name? Hey, we're we're the good guys. We are part of the good guy church. We did a lot of works. And he's gonna say, away from me, I never knew you, you that practice iniquity. There's you're just religious. You're just religious. You didn't know me. You you you're not a member. You're not a part of my body. Away from me. I never knew you, but they knew the vernacular. They knew the words. They knew the our father prayer maybe, but they didn't know the person of the prayer. They didn't know their heavenly father. They didn't know his son Jesus Christ, and they don't have the holy spirit within their heart and life being born again to speak to them and give them ears to hear, and the empowerment of the holy spirit to be used of God. It's a unity and an individuality. God gifts our God gifts each congregation. Each congregation. This little congregation, this little flock should be a gifted flock. And we don't need to be like any other flock out there, just we just need to be who God's called us to be to uniquely be able to minister in Bremerton, Kitsap County, and wherever else the Lord sends us. You need to be gifted to work here. You need the help of the Holy Spirit to work here. It doesn't just fall in your lap. You need the help of the Holy Spirit. He says, and God has said, the word set, some in the church. That word set is tithami. It means to place, ordain, appoint. In verse eighteen and twenty four, we see the same Greek word tithami. And it says some, which speaks of exclusive unique appointments in the church universal. God decides who, what and where you're gonna serve. When I went back to California for my my road down memory lane, three weeks there, I was ready to come back. I used to ride my bike along there before I ever went into the ministry. I told you guys about that. And I used to go to the beach and I used to live that life there, the Christian Disneyland, had it all. And, it was easy. It was great. But the bible says, except a corn and wheat fall to the ground and die, it bites alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. And so as I began to pursue and try to discover where I fit within the body and what my gifts were and such, Kathy and I together became apparent that that God was calling me to be a church planner and a pastor and a bible bible teacher. And I didn't know what capacity. It could be Sunday school, be home bible studies. It could be as we find me here in Bremerton as a pastor teacher, but it required faith. It required stepping out of the boat. It required being willing to go wherever the Lord would send me. And again, this last three weeks that I spent down there going by her old house, Kathy's old house, my old house, my old school, her old school, meeting with childhood friends, going to very familiar places, familiar foods, and all those things. It really, really helped, as I said, to remind ourselves we came from a family, We came from a neighborhood. We belong. We're a part of this community. And then there came a point in time where the Lord says, I'm gonna send you out. And we couldn't wait to come back to be a part of this body that the Lord has here because this is where he would have us work, where he'd have us till and and work the field and such. So very exciting to to realize that if we're gonna just live for self, it's gonna be boring and dead. You gotta die to self. Except a corn of wheat fall to the ground and die, it abides alone. You're not gonna bear any fruit. But if you die to self, you can bear much fruit. If any man come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. So the Lord decides who and what and where. And so we're called here. We're called to this place. If you doubt your calling, a double minded man's unstable in all of his ways. No man putting his hand on the plow looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. We're here right now for this reason, this place, this time, and I enjoyed our ministry in the past. I was talking to the boys while we're coming here that, about the Roxy and how their mommy and, their aunt, used to run the coffee house and bring in bands, and we'd we'd evangelize like crazy and do stuff. And it was very, very exciting, and I would wish we had that that, sort of thing, you know, again so that my grandkids could do that, the same sort of thing as an evangelistic outreach, but, but those days are behind us. There's a new work, a new place, a new vision. Without a vision, the people perish, and there's always always always the Holy Spirit's moving and working, and we need to just pray and ask the Lord, help us to get into the flow. Where do I fit in? Do I fit into this body? You may be a piano player, but you don't fit into this body. We don't play the piano here. I mean, we could. Donald could get up there and do the, Rob's friend with the keyboard or whatever, but, nobody's gonna push and shove their way to a place that they think they're called within a body. You gotta wait. We gotta get to know you. We gotta make sure that there's a little bit of humility there, that there's a servanthood aspect to it rather than a star persona. And and so we we wanna get to know people first. Nobody just, you know, jumps right in. Oh, I see a need within this church. I see a I see a a glaring inequity, and I'm here to fill it. Well, let us get to know you first, you know, and, be in prayer and continue to, let us get to know you. We wanna get to know you. And then as time goes on, the Lord will raise you up to where you fit within the body. In acts thirteen two, the Holy Spirit said, separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I've called them. So they're at Antioch. Earlier, they didn't have that kind of relationship with the Holy Spirit as we see in Acts chapter one when Peter's realizing that the 12 of the apostles are crucial, the 12, and that Judas went out and hung himself, you know, now the 12 are 11. And so how do they discern the Lord's will as Peter's determining it that we need 12? They cast lots. They're throwing lots like rolling the dice. Urim and the Thumma maybe, the black stone, the white stone, and you bring it out and alright. Oh, it's the black one. No. Is it this guy? Oh, it's a white yeah. It's a white one. You know? And, however but you see that once chapter two comes, once Pentecost is poured out, the church no longer needed the casting of lots. So Matthias, the one that the lot fell on, he became a part of the 12, but now we're in the book of Acts, and we see in the book of Acts, there's a guy named Saul of Tarsus, the apostle Paul, one born out of due time, one of the apostles born out of due time, but also Barnabas. Barnabas, the word apostle in a general sense means one that sent, but, there's also the office of an apostle, the 12 apostles, and a criteria we're gonna see here, one of which is is to have seen the risen Christ. And so but in acts 13, you see where the holy spirit as the men are praying, as they're gathered together praying and seeking the mind of the Lord, praying and fasting at Antioch. The Holy Spirit said, and as we look at Jesus, as he's speaking to the seven churches in Revelation two and three, over and over again, we keep hearing. He that has an ear to hear, let him hear what the spirit is saying to the churches. Do you have an ear to hear what the spirit is saying to the churches in the last days? Do you have a spiritual ear that you can hear today? Or do you have a selective hearing where you only hear what you wanna hear when you wanna hear it? Does God have your attention? The Verizon guy need to come out and say, can you hear me now? Sometimes it's through pain. Sometimes through difficulty where finally, we're willing to listen. Lord, here's your servant. I'm listening. Are you listening? Do you really want? Do you want to know what your gifts are and where you fit within the body, or are you indifferent? You're just kinda self satisfied. You really don't care at all. But Paul and Barnabas were there with these guys. They're fasting. They're praying. And the Holy Spirit says, separate unto me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereof I've called them. And so Tithamai, they're set to go on their first missionary journey to spread the gospel. So if you want to, you could stay at Christian Disneyland. You could stay in a nice big mega church that has everything you ever wanted for you and your family. All the kids programs, all of it, and you you just start to take it in. And that's a good thing to do early on in your walk with the Lord. You need to be grounded. But how many years you're gonna sit there and get, like, Java the Hun or whatever that guy is blah blah. You know? I mean, there's gotta be a flow out. Otherwise, you're like the Dead Sea. You do need a flow in. Hopefully, there's a flow right now, but there needs to be an outlet too, or there's a stagnation. You're stagnant. Nothing can grow. And so you're not growing, nobody around you is growing because you're not taking what's coming in and reinvesting in the lives of others. I spent eight years at Costa Mesa basically, taking in, serving in little ways, little tiny ways in the Sunday school and stuff. But, I was on a quest to try and understand where I fit within the body. Where do I fit? Pastor Chuck's always saying that God wants to use your life, you know. And I heard it over and over and over and over over again, and I'm glad I did. It prompted me and prompted Kathy, but never never in a million years would we have ever thought that I would be a pastor. In fact, Kathy said, Rick, if I'd have known you're gonna be a pastor, I'd have never married you. You know? So then I went into school, and when I was in school, it got tough. And I said, hey, do you want me to quit and and just get back and focus on the business and fix things? You know? Because I'm a fixer. You know? And and she said, no. We've come too far to quit now. And so I that's what I needed to hear. I needed to hear that she's in it for the long haul. And boy, is she ever in it for the long haul. She knows that she's called. She knows that God's called her. And no matter how difficult, we know what we're called to do. You that's the way it needs to be in your life. You need to know what you're called to do. You can't quit your marriage. There's never a point in time where you're gonna quit at marriage. You're called to endure. You're you're called to continue. Your kids need you. Your family needs you. Your grandkids need you. If can two walk together except they'd be agreed? If your wife wants to leave or your husband wants to leave, you can't force them to stay in that marriage. But as much as lies with you, you can't quit. You can't be the one that quits. Not if you're a Christian. You don't you don't bail on a marriage. You're gonna endure. You're gonna continue. That's your greatest platform for ministering and to people that are perishing. They're all yearning for a relationship that we call marriage, which the devil wants to destroy. But the two have come together and become one. It's a picture of your relationship with Jesus Christ. You're a member of his body. It's always too soon to quit. Things get difficult. We wanna quit. We wanna quit school. We wanna quit our job. Wanna quit our family. Just quit. Quit. Quit. Quit. Quit. You can't quit because these trials that we face are tests. And if you fail the test, when you do come back to the Lord, he says, well, where'd we leave off? I think you gotta retake that test. You know, you can't you know, don't don't interpret verses like, he's never gonna give me more than I can handle. Yes. He is. Yes. He is. Where'd you ever hear that? Where'd you ever think that? Well, he won't give you more than you can handle. You're trying to tell somebody you're going through a real ordeal, real oh, well, he's not gonna give you more. They they just wanna bounce that off of you so they don't have to feel bad for you. That's a that's a that's a friend that Job has. They're miserable comforters. And so there's no temptation that's taken you, but such is common to man. God is faithful who will not tempt you above that which you are able, but will with you gotta keep going. But will with the temptation make a way of escape. Where's that way of escape? You're broken. It's over the top. It wiped you out. He gave you more than you could handle. You're wrestling with God. You're Jacob, and he's crippled you. He's dislodged your hip. How do you win with God in a fight? By losing. Now you rely upon him. You're gonna walk away changed, no longer Jacob, heel catcher, conniver, trying to do what God's called you to do in the arm of the flesh, Moses killing an Egyptian. No. It's in the power of the Holy Spirit. God, by his spirit, transforms and changes you from within. You're a new man. You're a new woman. Your marriage has been renewed because you were trying to do it yourself, and you needed the help of the holy spirit, and you needed ears to hear. You needed a heart that would apply. You needed to yield day by day to love unconditionally with the love, the akapayo love that only God can give. And that's how we minister, is in the love of the spirit and the power of the Holy Spirit. And so separated unto me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereof I've called them. You think they're gonna be failures? No. Even when Paul's brought to the place of being stoned in chapter 14, he gets right back up. They're circled around him and those of Lystra and Derby in chapter 13 are just blown away. Mercury and Jupiter's here, Paul and Barnabas are here. Let's offer offerings unto them. The priests are saying, no, we're men of like passions as you don't do that. Worship God. Well, then they switch gears. Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna. Crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. How fickle people are. And they stone Paul, and he's left for dead. And I know I know a man once whether in the body or out of the body caught up to the third heaven seeing things, you know, unlawful, things you can't even describe, Paul says. Maybe he was caught up at that point. He actually was dead, but he came back down. He got into that body. He stood back up, and he said, I wanna go back to Jerusalem. I wanna go back to the party. It's Christian Disneyland there. I could ride my bike along the beach every day, and everything's just already done. These settlers have everything in place. There's no real work to do anymore. It's just enjoy the fruits of everybody else's labor. You don't grow. It's just me, me, me, me, me. At a certain point, you gotta get in the game, coach. Let me in the game. God has a place for you within the body, and it may be difficult. It may stretch you. It may stretch you beyond measure. You may even think you're broke and useless at certain point. But God's gonna come to you as you attend Jethro's sheep, and you're content tending Jethro's sheep. You're 80 years old. It's time to go home. God says, no. I got forty more years of work out of you. Moses, you're gonna go tell Pharaoh to let my people go. Oh, man. God sovereignly sets us in place. Hebrews five one. Now picture the trumpeter turning his head and his ear getting blood or Hollywood scammeroni. Crisis actors. I don't know what you believe about that. But one thing I do know for sure is he's not a priest, and he's not receiving a priesthood because his right ear was bleeding. Okay? That's absolutely wrong, but the nut jobs jumped on board. Look. It's God's selection. Hebrews five verse one, every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men and the things pertaining to God that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. No man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God as was Aaron. Is he a part of the Aaronic priesthood? Well, then if he usurps and goes from a place of being a king like king Uzziah to try and usurp the role of a of a priest, then he's gonna get some leprosy. If he's gonna try and be like Cora Dathan and Abiram and offer, you know, offer themselves as priests and get the censer and the incense and all, the ground's gonna open up and swallow them. Not his office. If God's called you to be a pastor, don't lower yourself to be a king, Charles Haddon Spurgeon said. It's a high calling. You don't call yourself into the priesthood, and having a bleeding ear is not God's call upon your life into the priesthood. We're a bunch of nut jobs. Are we that desperate? Unreal. Unreal. Mind boggling how many people bite that stuff and take that stuff in and don't even look at the scriptures. You know? Makes me insane. He says, first apostles, first in order and importance, gifted men given to the church, an exclusive group, exclusivity. No king Uzziah. King Uzziah, don't go in here. The priest had to drive him out of there as he as he was trying to offer incense. And boy, he took on the the leprosy, and he was a leper till the day of his death for stepping over. So you got the 12 and minus Judas, and then as I said, Matthias, then you got Paul as one born out of due time. And then you got the brother of our Lord, James, a leader within the church in Acts 15. James, the writer of the epistle of James, but James didn't believe in Jesus nor did his brothers, Jude, until after the resurrection. They thought he was beside himself. They came to relieve him, to bring him away, and and get him away from the crowds of people and such. But afterwards, we've got James operating as one of the leaders within the church, a pillar within the church. And you got Barnabas as we said, but he wasn't one of the 12, but one that was sent. And, what are the qualifications? In case you're into the new apostolic reformation, These guys are running around parading as present day apostles. Alright. How do you qualify as a present day apostle? Number one, you have to be chosen directly by Christ. So they're gonna tell you Jesus called me to be apostle. Well, how do we check that out? We can't. They just say it. Number two, they have to have seen the risen Christ. Well, how do you refute that? Well, you just you know they haven't received the the risen Christ. You just know that they're they're going on some other criteria, and not gonna happen. Function. What's the function of an apostle? To lay the foundation of the church. Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone, We as little stones are upon the apostles and the prophets, Jesus being the chief cornerstone. So Ephesians two twenty, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Second function, to receive and declare the revelation of God's word. So holy men of God, the holy spirit, the inspiration of God's word, the infallibility of God's word based upon the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as men are writing down that which God is revealing. And not just that, but also eyewitness accounts of the gospels, those that traveled with him, the apostles. Three, third function, to give confirmation of that word through signs and wonders. So these guys today who claim to be apostles, they should be able to present signs and wonders as confirmation that they truly are apostles. Now, the tribulation period, the antichrist is going to bring forth lying signs and wonders to trick people, to deceive people that he's the one, you know, that he's the god. So that one world religious system of do gooders, Hindu, Buddhists, all of them, Catholicism, of it, the woman that rides the beast. The one of the things let's see here. I forgot what I was gonna say. It'll come back to me. To give confirmation of his word through oh, signs and wonders. And, so the lion's signs and wonders that's gonna happen during the tribulation period. The oh, here it is. Second Thessalonians chapter two. One of the one of the, characteristics of this religious system is that people are gonna be given over to a strong delusion because they would believe the lie. What's the lie? The lie that the devil presented to Adam and Eve that you can be as gods. So one of the characteristics of this apostate church, one world church, Buddhist, Hindus, the do gooders, you get to heaven by being good, is, they think they're gods. They think they're god. So nobody can judge them. Nobody can say anything is wrong because that's a hater. And as long as they do what the government's telling them, the Antichrist, and they stay in line with their social credit score, and they don't eat meat, and they eat bugs, and things like that. They're good people, and, and they're gods. And if they're god, you can't tell them that anything they do is wrong because they're gods. Isn't that amazing, the pride the pride that caused Lucifer to be cast out of heaven in Isaiah chapter 14 and Ezekiel 28. He's gonna be as the most high God. Hebrews two verse three. How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation which the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him? God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will. So God confirming with signs and wonders that what was being spoken by the apostles is is from him. And so secondarily, after the apostles, he has prophets. The prophets are those given to the church to speak forth the word of God. There's a prophet in the book of Acts named Agabus, and in Acts chapter 11 verse 28, that there'd be a great famine, a great dearth upon the land, and there was and and affected Jerusalem. In Acts twenty one ten through 11, he prophesied the one that owns this belt, Paul's belt would be bound, in Jerusalem. The office of a prophet, those who prophesy. Thirdly, teachers called to study and interpret God's word for the church, a gift of teaching and God's call to teach. And so in Ephesians four twelve, there these men and women given to the church, the role is for the perfecting of the saints, the maturity. We mature. We grow in the Lord by learning God's word. And not just head knowledge, but but, heart knowledge. The Lord by the Holy Spirit speaking to each of us, molding and shaping us in the image of Christ as we apply God's word. Not being hearers only, but doers of God's word. The foolish man builds his house upon sand because he goes to church, hears the word, but doesn't apply the word, doesn't apply to him. Selective hearing. But the wise builder may take longer. The wise builder is a doer of God's word, not a hearer only. So as you do God's word, he gives you more. In, Mark chapter four, the illumination, the light that God illumines your heart and reveals himself, he'll give you more if you apply that. If you don't apply what he's already illumined, then he stops. You're not you're not gonna you're not gonna grow. So we'll have what's called an arrested state of development. You might be a Christian of forty years now, but you're still a babe in Christ. Just a babe because you haven't been taught the word, you haven't been in the word, you haven't allowed the word to transform you and change you because Christianity is not a set of rules and regs and and me changing myself. There's a transformation. There's a metamorphosis of being changed from glory to glory into the image of Christ, and that work is a dynamic of the Holy Spirit working through God's word. As a as a man thinketh in himself, so is he. God's changing the way you think. God's changing the way your brain connects. Your brain shoots electrical things. You're you're being changed. If any man being Christ, he's a new creation. The old things are passed away. All things have become new. That's why so many of us that did too many drugs or alcohol or or watched things that that stunted our growth and messed our brains up. When we become a Christian, the Lord is able to go into reprogram. He's able to go in there and reconnect and cause things that were dormant and dead and cause the brain to to reconnect. God's able to to use us in our in our fallen condition and broken condition, he's able to make all things become new. And so that's a work of the Holy Spirit within, and God continues to transform and change us. So after that is miracles. Greek word, dunamis, miraculous power, raising the dead. As I told you, I believe all these gifts are available and operational. I don't know what my gifts are, but I told you that when a friend of ours died, that Kathy and I went into the room there, and the lady left us alone, and we went over to him, and we prayed over him, tried to raise him from the dead. We didn't succeed. Probably a good thing for him. He's in a much better place. But we take every single gifting, every single word serious. We we don't say this was for that time, it's not for this time. We've stepped out of the boat. We're walking on water, and we've we've we've risked it all. We've just risked and tried and and stepped, and we continue to. We're gonna need to, rehone those skills of walking by faith as the day approaches, as the dollar crashes, as the economy, the global economy crashes. We're gonna need to be a body of believers working together with our various gifting. We're gonna be able to we're it's gonna be essential to live the life of a Christian in the power of the Holy Spirit. So much of what we do today is is men generated, money generated, pragmatism, and such, but we're gonna have our backs to the wall. We're not gonna have a solution. Nobody's gonna be able to fix the things that we're seeing. Picture yourself living in Venezuela with an economic crash. How are you going to navigate that as Americans spoiled little brat soft Christians? You know? We're not used to that. We're gonna have to get our big boy pants on. And really, we're gonna have to learn to pray and to yield to the Holy Spirit and operate in the power of the spirit and discover what our collective gifts are and how we can minister one to another, and how we can reach the lost. And so I imagine if things get tough, the church is gonna grow because people are gonna be looking for answers that the government can't provide. They're gonna be looking for solutions and help that their heroes can't provide, can't do. And unbeknownst to them, but they're gonna find out later, it's your very heroes that caused it. It's called an engineered economic collapse. It's not by accident. It's by design to bring in the demonic beast system of nobody can buy or sell without a mark on the right hand of their forehead. Revelation thirteen sixteen through 18. A prelude to that is gonna be a digital ID and other maybe some other kind of coins and stuff and the Fed coin for us here in America. But bottom line is the dollar is being engineered, to collapse, which is the facto global currency. So empires crumble. The British Empire crumbled, and, as a result of their currency, the British empire used to, the sun never set on the British empire, so that empire building We can't have all these military bases all over the world when we don't have control of the just printing dollars. We're gonna have to greatly curtail that which we do our influence. Already, those in Yemen, the Houthis are able to put the fear of God into our ships offshore in the Red Sea. With what? With a different technology, that of drones. $50,000 drones made in Iran. And so we're gonna try and stop them with what? And you're gonna have to help me. $30,000,000 missiles? How many $30,000,000 missiles do we have? How soon do we deplete those missiles that were given to Ukraine? How many can we build and make? And and what's our you know, I I believe we're purposely standing down so that we could convey to the world the office of the presidency is a joke. The ability of the US Navy to protect all the waterways is waning. That's why we're allowing these small little countries, Afghanistan, and all these places to, gain the victory over us. We're abandoning, giving all that weaponry to ISIS and all these different groups, the Taliban, and, and to be used to be used in such a way to paint a picture of the ineptness, the impotence of America. The empire is waning. You can't get people to let go of the dollar until they lose confidence in the dollar. And so that's what's happening. The world is losing confidence and, by design. So how much more we're gonna appreciate a church? We're gonna appreciate our church and our our little group of people. We're not gonna be looking politically. Hey. If I vote this guy in, he'll fix everything that's wrong out there, and I can have a casual approach to going to church and seeking the Lord and the things of the Lord. Church is not just attendance to avoid hell anymore. It's attendance to be with like minded believers as they exercise their gifts, I exercise my gifts, and we collectively are growing and maturing and experiencing a peace that surpasses all understanding that the world can't give. Amen. That's the that's the work of the early church. That's the work of the Holy Spirit in a time of crisis, in a time of persecution. We start to realize, you know what? We got a lot more to be thankful for with each other than to be dividing over, and to be envious about, and jealous about, and unloving about. And so so he says, the miracles that would take place. So you don't have any there's a old old story. I don't know if it's true, but I'll I'll just say it, of people in prison in China, and there's no food, and a mango is pushed by a rat through a little hole in the wall to feed the missionary who's in jail. Miracles, inexplicable, unexplained miracles start to happen when we reach the end of our devices, the end of our intellect, the end of how to do his church. He said upon this rock, I will build my church. It's his church. He doesn't need our marketing help. He doesn't need us to change the message or water down the gospel or never mention the word repentance. Never mention the word sin. He doesn't need us to cause the church to be filled with homosexuals and lesbians in the name of love. That's not love. Or adulterers or pedophiles. That's not love. Each body has an immune system, and that immune system removes that which could corrupt and destroy the body as a whole. Sin can't be tolerated. Sin can't be paraded. Sin can't be allowed to, so overwhelm our kids in the school and their formative years to pollute their minds and hearts and give up a custody, give up sovereignty over our children that God's entrusted to us to a world that wants to use the word trans, but trans what? Transhuman? Transgender? God says, I'll transform. I'll transform you. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. He's not body and soul. He's body, soul, and spirit. And I'll gift you and I'll empower you. I'll make you a new person in Christ Jesus, and I've got a place for you within my body that you fit. The only problem with this is I don't see any gift in here of being super gamer. God can use gamers. I talked to the kids this morning. I said, you know, if if we still had the Roxy and we could call uncle German there, and you guys could do a concert and have some gamers there and have a contest, but we'd use it as bait to evangelize, to bring the gospel because everybody's into the electronics now. So we're fishers of men. We take knowledge of what people are into, and then we present it as bait. Or you're a Christian and you love the game, and you have the ability to write programs, you make a Christian game. So all these kids that are gaming learn the gospel, or they little ones get to see David slay Goliath, and it's a game. But you're taking them through the bible in such a way that is is is, you know, thrilling to them, exciting to them. And so the same way Christians use music and change the lyrics and point to Jesus and and so be wise as serpent, gentle as doves, able to fish for men, for women, for kids, and it doesn't have to always be presented as your grandparents' church. You know? So we talk of being relevant, but not relevant to the point of of sin, sin against the Lord, and compromise. Never compromise. And so I see people already already, you know, probably the gay comment offended somebody. It's a battle. In the Calvary Chapels right now, there's a battle. I think they're calling it side b, and what's starting to try to infiltrate the Calvary Chapels and the the leadership's pushing against it is what's called celibate gayness or a celibate gay man. That I'm in the church, I'm a Christian, I'm gay, but I'm celibate. That's what's being presented. So what do you do with that? And so the problem with that is God didn't make you that way. That's what they're insinuating. I'm gay because God made me this way. I have an affection or a desire toward other men, but I hold back because I'm a Christian and I'm celibate. Well, next thing you know, you're gonna have the celibate pedophile here working in the Sunday school. Or let's be fair to us, the celibate adulterers. You look upon a woman you've already committed adultery, murderers, hate. So it's the heart we're dealing with. But if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Those old things have passed away. All things become new. You're no longer that murderer. You're no longer that adulterer. You're no longer that gay guy or lesbian or whatever it may be, adulterer. God's transformed and changed you, and he's transformed and changed you from within. There may be temptation along the way, but sin shall not have dominion over you. You're gonna walk in the power of the spirit, gaining victory over the impulses and things that and God's gonna as I said, he's gonna reprogram your mind and change your mind. You may struggle. You may struggle with alcohol, struggle with drugs, but God's gonna give you a greater power to overcome the drugs, the alcohol, the sinful tendencies, and desires because greater is he that's in us than he that's in the world. And then gifts of healings, plural, the recovery of those who are sick, Helps, plural, give relief, cook, drive, clean, visit. Some of you have already visited, Betty in the hospital. It's not about celebrity Christians. The pastor isn't the only one that cooks and cleans and visits the sick. We're all a part of the body of Christ. You wouldn't want what I cook. You wouldn't want the cookies that I could make. You wouldn't you'd stay longer in the hospital. Government speaks of administration. Those who lead is the Greek word kubernetes, to steer or pilot a ship, one who keeps a ship or a church on course toward its proper destination. And that's been a battle, hasn't it? Because the church wants to adopt the philosophies of the world. So we gotta stay on course. We gotta stay with the word of God. In Proverbs twenty nine eighteen, where there is no vision, the people perish. In the Septuagint, in Proverbs 12 verse five, the thoughts of the righteous are right, but the counsels of the wicked are deceit. So blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly in Psalm one, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. So you're walking, you're standing, you're sitting. So if you're Lot, you're seated in Sodom and Gomorrah as one of the leaders there. Careful Lot. This all started because you and your bros got in a fight over the sheep in the in the pasture land. Abraham and you and your flocks and all. Your your uncle Abe made you rich. You should you should be humble here, borough. But he's a generous guy, and he says, you choose which way you wanna go, and I'll go the other. You get first choice. So he chooses the best for himself. The field, but it it was towards Sodom, but it was really good, well watered. Lot of wealth in Sodom and Gomorrah in that area. So he leaves his unc, and he ventures as a shepherd in that area, that direction. The next thing you know, they're in Sodom and Gomorrah. Blesses the man who listens who walks not in the counsel of ungodly, nor stands away as sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and it is as loud as he meditate day and night. Lot's relationship with the Lord began to suffer as he and his family are in Sodom and Gomorrah. He doesn't have much influence with his son in laws. He can barely get his daughters and his wife out of Sodom and Gomorrah. He lingered. It took two angels to get him out of there. So in contrast to the world, blessed all happy is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, stands on the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight be in but his delight is in the Lord, and his word shall he meditate day and night, and he shall be like a tree that's planted by the rivers of water, that shall bring forth its fruit in its season. His leaf shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. But the ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. So which direction are you going? Which direction are you pointing your family? What kind of church do you attend? Do you want the word of God in your children? Do you want the word of God in your marriage? Do you want the word of God in the power of the holy spirit to keep you on track walking that straight and narrow path, or do you wanna be like the world? And, anything goes. Diversities of tongues, unknown tongues of men and of angels, and last on the list of importance, but still, Paul says, don't allow anybody to forbid the speaking in tongues. If you speak in tongues, you've been given the gift of speaking in tongues. Use that gift to edify yourself. He that speaks in unknown tongue speaks not on himself, but unto God, and he edifies himself. It's part of your prayer language, part of your worship, your devotion, you know, with the Lord. So the gifts are for members only, the exclusivity of those gifts. Secondly, the diversity of those gifted. Verse 29, are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Verse 30, have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? Rhetorical questions. All answered no. Not all are apostles. Not all are prophets. Not all are teachers. Not all work miracles. Not all have gifts of healing. Not all speak with tongues. Not all interpret. Speaking in tongues, the 17 different dialects there that were spoken in in, Acts chapter two, they're speaking the wonderful things of God. He that speaks to an unknown tongue speaks unto God, not unto man. It's not a message to man. Prophecy, preaching and teaching, a message to men for edification. He that speaks in an unknown tongue edifies himself, but go for it. Edify yourself. Those gifted are exclusive, but diverse. If you don't speak in tongues, so what? We don't care if you speak in tongues. If you do, praise the Lord. That's a gift that God's given you. But some charismatic circles and churches, they'll identify you as super spiritual and have the baptism of the Holy Spirit if you speak in tongues. If you don't speak in tongues, they say that's proof that you're not baptized in the holy spirit. That's not true. Proof of baptism of holy spirit is love. It's simply love. Without love, we're nothing. People can be so unloving. God has something unique and special for you. If you don't speak in tongues, so what? Maybe speak in tongues and you got three other gifts, four of them. It doesn't matter. Something needed in the body of believers. Maybe something only you can do. We're always looking at the celebrities, the America's pastor. One thing about America's pastor is he's not omnipresent. He can't be here. So the Lord gives you a slug like me to fill in, you know, till Jesus comes back. And, when Jesus comes back, it won't need any of us, you know. So so why has God raised up this body of believers? Why Calvary Chapel, Bremerton? Why are we here? Why are you here? What is your your unique role within the body here at Calvary Chapel? Are you in the flow? Have you discovered your gifts and calling? Why has God made you? Why did he make you? I look at my mom being married seven times, my life exploding in chaos, and then I come to Christ when I'm 20. How did that happen? Why me? That's a question of all questions in my heart and life is, Lord, you planned this. And then when I go down to California and I meet a bunch of my Village View friends, we all grew up going to Village View and then Marina High School. It's so strange because none of us were saved back then. And now we're sitting there having lunch and getting together, and we're all telling how we got saved and when we got saved and what God's doing in our families. It's it's mind blowing. Absolutely mind blowing to see your friends and family get saved. The gifts are for members only, the exclusivity of those gifted. And don't let those people get you to be inclusive. Be exclusive. The exclusivity of Jesus Christ. He is the only way. There is no other way. Why do you say that? Well, he was crucified, buried, raised himself from the dead, and a seat at the right hand of father is coming again. Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, none of them could do that. There's no pope that could do that. Only Jesus. And don't apologize for it. Don't try to please the world. The diversity of those gifted. Thirdly, the intensity of those gifted. Are you intense with your gifts? Or again, have you buried them? Allow them to lie dormant. Was there a period of time in your walk with the Lord where you're more intense, more excited about Jesus, more in love with Jesus, wanting to reach the lost than you are now? He says, but covet earnestly. There you go. There's your intensity. We might covet money. We might covet a house. We might covet a certain person we wanna marry. And you don't do it casually, you do it earnestly. It's a strong desire, a compelling desire. But covet earnestly the best gifts and yet show unto you a more excellent way. That word words covet earnestly means to have a warmth of feeling for or against, not to be cold or indifferent, on fire. If Kathy loses passion for me, if she's not on fire for me, I mean, it comes and goes, doesn't it? But there's gotta be a a day where it comes back. Right? You'd hope on your birthday or something. You know? Changes, doesn't it? I ask her all the time, honey, do you still love me? Yeah. I love you. Yeah. Are you still burning? You madly in love with me, honey? Don't go there. Not to be cold or indifferent, on fire. So what do we covet? What do we covet? In Exodus twenty seventeen, we're told, thou shall not covet thy neighbor's house. Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. We never hear sermons on covetousness, do we? In first Timothy six ten, godliness with contentment is great gain for we brought nothing into the world, certain we're not gonna carry anything out. Right? You never see a U Haul trailer following the hearse. Right? So the love of money is the root of all evil. While some men coveted it after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. So what are we covered in? What do we yearn for? What are you earnestly desiring to enter into all that God has for you spiritually? Is this an intense desire in your heart or just a casual passing kind of a thing? Wiese describes this constant zealously as after the greater spiritual gifts. So be constantly zealous after the greater spiritual gifts. So every time you pray, every time you get together, you're you're zealous. Lord, I wanna enter into all that you have for me, all that you've made me for. Lord, please reveal to me where I fit in the body of Christ, where I fit as a member in the body of Christ, and Lord, let me operate in the power of your Holy Spirit with that gifting that you've given me, Lord. First Corinthians fourteen one says, devour desire or covet earnestly spiritual gifts. Jesus said, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. I don't think we in America as a church hungers and thirsts after righteousness. There's no way we could succumb to a political phrase, vote for the lesser of two evils if you are hungry and thirsting for righteousness. There's no way you can do that. There's no way you can vote for a murderer, the warp speed jab guru, and call that. And as he's moving closer and closer toward pro choice rather than pro life, He doesn't respect his base. He's moving in a direction knowing this insanity, this Trump cult will vote for him no matter what he does. He's quoted as saying, could shoot somebody in Downtown New York and they'll still vote for me. How about we take a risk and we say, I'm gonna stand for righteousness. I'm not gonna give my vote to a do nothing Republican party that's in on the collapse of the dollar, that's in on the presenting of the COVID vaccine, which is killing millions of people. How can you how can you sit there and sing louder as trains are heading toward Auschwitz with Jews in them and call that Christianity? You can't do that. You can't vote for Hitler and just be quiet because you're afraid of Hitler. You've blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. They shall be filled. There's a promise here. The Lord will fill you. The Lord will change the politicians if you put the Lord first and quit moving in that illusion that voting for the lesser of two evils is gonna fix. Where in the bible does it ever say I'm supposed to vote for evil? If I'm if I'm Daniel, if I'm Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, if I'm under pressure, what am I gonna do if I'm John the Baptist? I'm gonna have to trust the Lord and stand for righteousness. I'm not giving my consent to Caesar each year and say Caesar is Lord so I can live another year. Jesus is Lord. And I'm willing to gamble the whole system, the whole fraudulent system for the sake of righteousness that God will raise up leaders. If he doesn't, we're doomed. The present course we're taking isn't working. So what do you crave? What do you hunger for? Will you fast and pray? Will you knock repeatedly asking, seeking, knocking, earnestly desiring for God to bless you with your exclusive unique spiritual gifts. Can Jesus be glorified in you? Can his body be strengthened and built up because of you? I love the way that so many of you with the gifts of helps help each other. Sewing, cooking, cleaning, fixing cars, landscaping, computer work, so many different ways the body of Christ ministers one to another. And you're gifted, and you're strong in areas many of us are weak. Maybe you already know your gifts, but you've buried them. You're sidetracked. You've lost your focus. You're not in the flow. You have become lukewarm, stagnant. Do you know what happens when a church is stagnant, when a Christian stagnant? There were some merchants from the East Coast that had this beautiful, very succulent, luscious codfish. And this codfish, when it's caught in its chilly, really cold waters, and brought to market, and brought to bear where it's it's fish and chips and people are eating it, it's just amazing. The texture, the taste is just exploding. Well, these merchants wanted to get this beautiful fish to the West Coast. How are we gonna get people to enjoy the taste of the codfish here? So they tried to freeze the fish, and they sent it to the West Coast, but they go to Costco. They thaw it out. They eat it. It doesn't have any taste. It's like farmed it's like farmed fish. It's not this wild salmon we love. It's farmed. It's like tilapia or something. You know? Doesn't have any taste. So the guys rack their brains together, and they didn't have the technology of that fast freezing of it. You know? When Kathy, when she's really, really treating me good, I I take her to Anthony's. And, we go to Anthony's, and Anthony's gets some halibut from Alaska, and they catch it today, and it's at Anthony's tomorrow on your plate. And that's what they brag about, and it's somehow freeze freeze frozen or whatever or something, but it's there. And boy, she loves it. She says this is the best fish ever. Well, these guys on the East Coast didn't have that technology, that ability. So what they did is they said, hey. Let's get some water trucks, and let's fill the the tank with water and we'll put live codfish in the tank and we'll get them to the West Coast and they'll be alive. Well, how many have ever went trout fishing with your kids to a fish farm? And there's this this pond, and there's all these trout in there, and you catch one, and you open it up, and it's just white and ew. You know? It has no texture, no taste, and it tastes like dirt, know. Well, their codfish, when they got to market, it didn't have any texture. The fish were soft. The fish lacked the suppleness. So they came up with another idea. These fish are stagnant. These fish are in lukewarm. They're insipid. So they put their arch enemy. They put some catfish in the tank, and the catfish began to swim in the tank and chasing the fish. Little persecution. Little little difficulty. Right? Little difficulty in your life. The crash of the dollar maybe. Crisis. Now my faith is activated. The doctors are doing the best they can with me, but now I have an injury. Only God can help me. God's got your attention. Your faith is growing. You're in the word. Your prayers are intense. The person you married and love is sick. God, you've got to intervene. It's intense. It's not lukewarm. You want everyone on the prayer list to be praying for your bride, praying for That's what Alan did. He contacted hundreds of churches to pray for his Korah, and God did a miracle. But Alan didn't just write it on the back of a card. You know? He was intense. Desperate. A desperate faith. Praying like a dying man. And these codfish got to market, and they were supple. They were good. They were the way they were on the East Coast because there was an enemy in there chasing them. And when we have an enemy chasing us, when we're away from the Christian Disneyland, there's actually some threat. You're gonna go to jail because you said something wrong on Facebook. Well, you're gonna acquiesce. You're gonna give in. You're gonna be passive. You're gonna allow the censorship that's gaining ground to silence you from exercising your gifts. You're gonna go along to get along, Are you gonna shout it louder? You're gonna sing louder? Round two's coming. They just admitted. I saw it on Fox News. I posted it. The powers that be just admitted that COVID was a test to gauge, to measure your compliance. If you would comply with the idiocy of that table over there can hold six people, but you get seven over there. It's COVID. It's COVID. And you can put a bubble over here. And, I mean, these guys are smoking dope, taking LSD, and they're coming up with all the COVID protocol laughing to how many of us would comply with it. I better preach behind a plexiglass. You know? We better be six feet. But Costco can be open. Lowe's can be open, but this place can't be open. Strip centers can be open, but churches have to shut down. Let's see if they obey that one. A test. And guess what? Round two is coming. And I don't think they're gonna get you this time. Right? They're not gonna get you. So you're gonna you're gonna have to ask the Lord for a Holy Ghost boldness. And I don't know how we're gonna get through to people. I'm convinced it's a cult. You can't get through to them. They're gonna keep boosting and jabbing and doing all that stuff, double masking, driving, and there's no way we're gonna be able to get through to them. But that's okay. They they decide on their own, and all those crazy people that kick me out of their places, you know, and I'll get ready. I'll be ready, but I'm gonna be so nice. I'm just gonna be so nice. Because thou art lukewarm, the church of Laodicea, and neither cold nor hot, no intensity, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I'm rich and increased with goods and need of nothing, complacent. Knowest not that thou are wretched miserable, poor blind and naked, a spiritual bankruptcy. You don't have touch with reality of who you are in your walk with the Lord. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed spiritual riches, and that thy shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see. The church lay of the sea of the lay of the sea in the area, they had a pharmaceutical kind of an eye salve that could help people on the road to blindness. The Lord's saying, you're spiritually blind. Get your eye salve from me. So he says, earnestly covet. Seek spiritual riches. As many as I love are rebuke and chase and be zealous therefore and repent. So love Jesus. Love Jesus more than you love America. Is that blasphemous? We go all over the world and we're saying, we're gonna spread democracy because we're exceptional. Those days are over. That ideology, that phrase is over. What we spread to the whole world is war, pornography, pedophilia, drugs, abortion, fund abortion. That's reality. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. Our form of government is holy and inadequate for an ungodly people, for an immoral people. Too corrupt. Judgment begins at the house of God. How bad do we want it? What are we willing to sacrifice? What are we willing to let go for righteousness to prevail, to call their bluff? Where's Jesus? Is he in or is he out? Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Is he kicked out of his own church? If any man hear my voice, God speaking to you. Can you still hear him? Can you hear still hear him knocking? He says, open the door. He's a gentleman. He's on the outside of the church, kicked out of his church, a lukewarm self satisfied church. And he says, I'm still knocking. I still want fellowship. The doorknob's on the inside of your heart. You gotta open the door. I will come into him and sup with him and he with me. So fellowship, spiritual riches are are restored. Verse 31, but covet earnestly the best gifts and yet show unto a more excellent way. It's the way of love. Church of Ephesus, you left your first love. Church of Laodicea, you're indifferent, you're complacent, you're self satisfied. Church of Philadelphia, there we go. You got little strength. Little strength. You're persecuted church. You're under fire. But I've got the keys of David. I'm the God that can open and no man shut and shut no man open. And I know you got a little strength. And I'm gonna give you an open door that no man can shut, Church of Philadelphia. You keep your eyes on me, you rely upon me as a member in the body of Christ. I'm gonna anoint and use your use your lives in these last days. And and what I'm gonna keep you from is the hour of trial that's coming upon the whole earth in Revelation three verse 10. What's he speaking of? The tribulation period. Why are you gonna be kept from that hour of trial? Because you were faithful in your perseverance to stand for him. You kept his word during this trial. You kept his word and you did not deny his name. And because of that, he says in Revelation three verse 10, because thou has kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. The earth dwellers. The earth dwellers are in for hell on earth. But you and I are gonna be kept from that hour of trial, that time of Jacob's trouble, the tribulation period, God pouring out his wrath because during this insipid period of time, you were zealous. You weren't indifferent. You're excited. You're looking, watching for his soon return, knowing your redemption was drawing nigh. You're a student of prophecy. You kept his word. You didn't deny his name during the voting cycle and during the COVID and all these other, means of distracting you from what really matters, your citizenship being in heaven. He says, I'm gonna reward you. I'm gonna keep you from the trial that's coming upon the earth. And he says, when you see these things begin to come to pass, then look up knowing your redemption draweth nigh. Pray always that you'd be able to escape these things and stand before the son of God. Location, location, location. Where is he? I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you onto myself that where I am. Where is he? He's in heaven, and he's preparing a place for you and I. I receive you onto myself that where I am there, you may be also. That's the rapture of the church, the bride of Christ. So don't be caught like an unbeliever. He's coming for the unbeliever like a thief in the night, but for you and I as believers, we've got our oil, we're ready, we're watching. Our love for him is passionate. We can't even sleep. We're watching for the groom to come. He could come at any moment. We're about our father's business. We haven't buried anything. We're doing what he's called us to do. The exclusivity of our gifts, the diversity of our gifts as a body for his kingdom and for his glory. That's where I wanna be. Father, thank you. Thank you for this day. Thank you for the blessing of being a Christian, being saved out of this world. Thank you for the hope that is ours, the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior. Jesus is coming soon. And Lord, I vote for him. I vote for Jesus, for king Jesus. Lord, this world is over. It's passing away. America's done. Put a fork in it. There's no candidate, rather Republican or Democrat, gonna save this thing. It's going down. It's a sinking ship. That's either doom and gloom or it's glorious. Lord, I choose glorious. It's exciting because it, Lord, it it demonstrates how soon your return is. This global superpower that's not even mentioned in the bible is going by the wayside to make room for the one world government, the one world economic system, the one world religious system. Lord, we're excited. We're students of prophecy. We're excited that you're coming for us. And Lord, we wanna be faithful. Lord, use us, gift us. Let us be used of you, Lord, in the power of your holy spirit, we ask. While your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed, if you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior, this is your opportunity. An eternity in hell is a long time. There's no such thing as a second chance. It's appointed on all men once to die and then the judgment. There's no annihilation where you cease to exist. There's no reincarnation where you come back in India as a as a rat or something. It's appointed on all men once to die, and then the judgment. There's a fearful looking to of judgment. So your point in time is now. Today is the day of salvation. Tomorrow may be too late for you. Later today may be too late for you. You have until the point in time that you die to choose where you wanna spend eternity, and God gives you the power of choice. You can choose hell if you want by rejecting Jesus. There's nobody in hell that's there that God placed them there or appointed them there or sent them there. People go to hell because they choose hell. They choose to reject Jesus. They choose not to believe. He gives you the power of choice. And presently, right now, he's given you the power of choice to choose Christ, to choose life, to choose eternal life. Jesus went to the cross and died in your place. Jesus suffered in your place. He took the punishment that you deserved upon himself. And then he was buried. He was raised from the dead, seated at the right hand of his father and he's coming again. And he loves you. What motivated him was love for the joy that was set before him. He endured the cross despising the shame and seated down at the right hand of the father. It's love. He's incarnate love. And he loves you. And he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked would turn from his sin. God's long suffering, he's patient, not willing that any would perish, but that all would come to repentance. All means all. He wants us all. He has no favorites. Are you here this morning? And God is tugging on your heart and he says, want you to be a member. I want you to be a member of my body. I don't want you to be an earth dweller and caught in a tribulation period of destruction and caught in the fires of hell for all eternity with the devil, the beast, the false prophet, and all the wicked dead. I've come that you might be saved, saved from the consequence of sin. Anyone here this morning, just lift your hand up. We wanna pray with you. We wanna lead you in a prayer as you surrender afresh your heart, mind, your being unto God. Jesus came to seek and to save those who are lost. Anyone here this morning, just lift your hand up. Father, thank you once again for the peace in this room right now. Such a such an incredible peace. There's no fearful looking to of judgment. Lord, we know that our sins have already been paid for at the Cross Of Calvary. There's now, therefore, no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Thank you, Lord, for the life of the spirit. Thank you, Lord, that we belong, that we belong to you, that we're members, in the body of Christ. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
About This Podcast
Calvary Chapel Bremerton - Sunday Service
Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, teach the Word of God cover to cover, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes on Mondays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.
