Bishop Noel Jones - Sunday Morning Worship - April 25, 2021

be glad and i'm glad certainly with all that we're going through that certainly the grace of god has been upon us and he has richly blessed us i was working so hard uh back and forth living on both sides of the atlantic through this situation that i'm facing personally and i thank god for all of your prayers and i just believe that the hand of the lord is upon everything we do particularly those of us who were called by his name so i thank god for your prayers and on wednesday we gave a message that i thought was relevant and quite germane to the time and that is the grace of god grace to grace grace from the old testament to the new testament and onward and forever and we literally have to stand in grace so i'm learning now that whatever circumstances i am in whatever we're going through we're still standing in the grace of god what does that say whatever benefit we are deriving whatever circumstance that gets better whatever situation that is assuaged and eased we should always give god thanks because that's his grace so because i'm standing in grace i can always say it could be or maybe i should say it should be worse but grace has made it better wear your mask please carry your pocket sanitizers make sure your hands are clean throughout the day continue if you will the social distancing piece and of course do everything in your power to follow the rules just follow the regulations i know we're pent up we've been in for a long time we want to go out have a good time but let's just follow the rules until we get through this together this is one time we've been forced to get through this together i want to spend a lot of time in the word so i'm not going to spend a lot of time uh going through things that you already know and the announcements you already have but the covet 19 self swab testing is still available at the city of refuge visit our website or call us at the church for more information please our prayer list is always growing and i am just so so burdened with the cares of the saints and the things that are happening around us and to all of us uh a very special prayer goes out to uh my brother chris and my family but not only my chris but our prayers go out to brother chris earl and his family particularly because of the loss of his son and all of these things uh just weigh upon us heavily and we need each one of our prayers to join in spirit i speak often times of paul when he wrote having not been to rome having gone away from various churches but his heart was still with them and the burden that of prayer that we need we don't have to be connected physically if we're connected spiritually so we're praying for my brother chris my family for chris earl his family and for every bereaved family and for every person who is struggling and suffering in any manner whatsoever father we come in the name of jesus and we honor you now we praise you we lift up your name we still give you glory and we still give you praise because we realize it's only by your grace and only by your mercy that we are here right now so we pray now for those who are suffering from a loss of loved ones in dire circumstances in situations where they couldn't be there situations where the comfort that they wanted to give and they wanted to share was not there we pray god that you will fill in all the gaps and you will make things right and we claim the blessings now for a move of this pandemic for a change of financial circumstances and situations for an upholding of our spiritual strength for the keeping of our minds and the saving of our souls and we claim victory right now lead us into the word give us a great word for the people today and let their souls be blessed and arm us for the journey that is ahead put on help us to put on your full armor so that we might withstand every attack of the enemy and we claim the victory right now in jesus name amen and amen i'm going straight to the word of god i think it's very important and i i will monitor my time and make sure that i don't go too far in too long because i want to keep your attention here it's very important for you to stay with me uh sometimes when you do get into series and you get to teaching things and it goes for too long people lose interest but this has been an eye-opener for me and i've also discovered that there's much much more to go and when you give real thought to it you will find that the operation of the word of god is so critical to the saving of the soul and to the keeping of the saved that warnings had to be given exhortation admonition all of these things have to be given so that the child of god will focus on the word of god and keep him or herself within the parameters of the word because that word is the security that the child of god has the word is god and god is the word and it's very important to understand this uh i was listening to something the other day exclusivity and inclusivity as it relates to is jesus all and uh is jesus only is he the only way to god throughout the world with five major religions is jesus the only is he the only or is he leading the way and the discussion uh centered around the fact that if the bible is all you go by then the bible becomes your god but i think that's argue we could argue that or we can debate that strongly because the issue now becomes is the word god and is god the word and if so then this bible is making claims that no other religion makes jesus makes claims that nobody else makes in the world and so i'll pick up on that another time but it's critical to understand how caught up with the word the child of god must be and if you're caught up with the word and you have teachers then you should be sure that your teachers qualify not by man's qualification but rather by god's qualification it becomes very important that we study to show ourselves approved unto god and as i opened in second timothy four one through four i have already declared who the witness is and who the judge is the god who is the witness is the god who is the judge he's not calling for anybody to sit on a witness stand to judge my presentations my accuracy authenticity credulity to the word of god did i give it its integrity or did i just use it as a means to self-aggrandize or did i use it as a means to touch and reach other people's lives this is why we spoke about preaching the word let me read so that we can all those who weren't with us can get with us now uh ii timothy 4 1 through 4 i charge thee therefore before god and the lord jesus christ and that's in the granville shark rule they're one and the same who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom so he before that means the one who looks upon or the one who is in a courtroom bringing it to you and uh so he's looking at you before he's seeing you and that means he is witnessing or watching you very critically the one who is watching you very critically is also the one who is going to judge the living and the dead at his appearance and his kingdom he says here now we should preach the word be instant in season out of season rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears the teachers ears aren't itching the subject of having itching heirs are those of us who through our own lusts employ those kinds of teachers and they shall verse 4 turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables i'm talking about why are we so vulnerable and if you go with me i had dealt with several areas of it first of all i had to deal with the whole issue of preaching and from the word caruso when timothy saw the word caruso i will go over this again it brought before him the picture of the town official who made a proclamation in a public gathering so there's one person who is designated by the emperor who becomes his herald who speaks forth what the emperor tells him to speak now notice the word again is in a construction which makes it a summary commanded to be obeyed at once that means when he declares it the construction of the greek says it has to be obeyed at once it's a sharp command then so that makes it military so we've got military language and this should be the pattern for the preacher today his declaration i remember in the old testament the writer said spare a cry aloud and spare not why because the preaching should be categorized by the dignity which comes from the consciousness of the fact that he is an official herald of the king of kings not the emperor now when i declare and i get up to preach and i keep telling ministers and preachers when you talk about preaching truth to power you're talking about the power of the kingdom speaking truth to the power of the world the world powers and the world powers are not superlative they do not excel neither are they above the powers of the kingdom and just to give you a little example just to go off of course here off grid for a minute uh when the bible says a grain of mustard seed if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed the one of the tiniest seeds you can declare to a mountain be thou removed now notice spiritual smallness is still gigantic in the system of the earth faith as a side of mustard seed now we use it as a metaphor but the truth is that jesus was talking about a particular mountain and he's saying if you have that kind of faith you can move that kind of mountain so there is a great difference between the power in the spiritual as opposed to the power in the natural there is greater power natural does not change spiritual but spiritual change is natural that's what we call miracles it's not reversed the natural does not make miraculous in the spiritual it's the spiritual that makes miraculous in the natural so the herald of the king of kings transcends democracy alligator oligarchy monarchy autocracy socialism communism you name any kind of government in the world and the herald of the king of kings speaks and transcends any other kind of government so when you speak power when you speak to power you're speaking power to power you're speaking a greater power actually to a lesser power so when you speak in from the pulpit it should be accompanied by that note of authority which will command the respect careful attention and proper reaction of the listeners this is not a game this is not a joke this is not for some people to sit and gaze while other people participate in what we call today's prophetic no when you get up behind that sacred desk you're giving a command to everybody from the king of kings so there is no place for clowning in the pulpit of the lord jesus christ timothy is to preach the word and when he talks about the word here he's referring to the whole body of revealed truth as well as well as everything that was declared out of the mouth of god a man shall not live by bread alone but every word which proceeds out of the mouth of god this is why when people say that the bishop is knocking prophecy they're wrong it's using prophecy as the bible declares prophecy is to be used and that's to speak forth into the life of individuals so that they may change their way of living and thereby change their future it is not just where you come up and have a let's a palm reading session or where you just sit and do divination and soothe saying where all you talk about is future and then you take a big money because that's where the money goes in soothsay so i am not going to pay for bad news i keep telling you but in the word when you give the full outcry of the word it comes with multiple things not only good news which is the gospel of course but the good news necessitates a discipleship in the hero of the word which means that oftentimes as you will see i'll repeat this later that you will have to be rebuked you will have to be admonished you will have to be encouraged you will have to have exhortation and all of this comes in the word of god and in order for the word to have any teeth there's got to be some judgment behind it and this is the declaration of god when he speaks to us and this is why it's urgent that we preach the word and he declares go into all the world with it why because the choir may be great the personality of the preacher may be charismatic and his persona may be wonderful but at the end of the day the reason i would go to church is because of the word so when he talks about the word he's talking about the whole body of revealed truth and that's confirmed when you read first thessalonians 1 through 6 galatians 6 and 6. the preacher must present not book reviews as i did before not politics not economics not current topics of the day not a philosophy of life denying the bible and based upon unproven theories of science but the word the preacher then is a herald who does not choose his message he is given a message to proclaim by his psalm friend if he will not proclaim what god tells him to preach then he ought to step down one writer said he ought to step down from his exalted position now what is he to do he's to be instant in season and out of season in his proclamation now i think it's important to go here because when we look at in sin instant what we have here is a word which means to stand by be present to be at hand so all that is saying is he should be ready to be instant or to be ready epistemic the exhortation is for the preacher to hold himself in constant readiness to proclaim the word everything about him should be ready to proclaim what god has given him for the people not something that he's guessing no subjective theological position no dream in the night that he declares god gave him to give the people i remember there was one time in my uh walk with god in my going to conventions and going from one place to the other hearing the word of god there was a season when all preachers just preached what they dreamt in the middle of the night now it can get really really ridiculous i had a word from the lord in a dream and the word i got from the lord was to ride a corn dog now i'm sleeping in my dream and i'm dreaming in my sleep and all of a sudden there's this monstrous wave coming from the pacific i'm in california and this monstrous tsunami is coming i mean the water was about a mile high and i'm running around with some preachers trying to figure out how we're going to get out of this calling on the law and the water still coming and so we all got in the tub we're going to ride the tub and the lord said no go get a corn dog i went over to the mexican who was selling some uh corn dogs i said give me a corn dog i'll give you a thousand dollars one he said you can have all of them when he looked at the water coming i got the corn dog put the corn dog and straddled the corn dog and the wave dropped me off in phoenix arizona that was my dream now when i doing forensics i discovered i was eating just before the rainstorm came had the same preachers with me in the dream that was with me driving to the meeting now now you might ask me for an interpretation i can't give you one because some dreams are so subjective and as solomon says a matter of business now does god talk to people in dreams yes but not all of these dreams we hear we have to be selective and when the dream comes forward the bible still says prove all things i'll deal with that the next time but my point is do you have the word in front of us we have the revelatory move of god in the bible and what he's saying is if you are a preacher of the bible then your time should be spent studying to show yourself approved unto god a workman that needeth not be ashamed rightly rightly rightly dividing the word of truth not coming up with some old wives fable as the bible is going to call it so now he wants you to be ready in season and the word here is from the word opportune it's it's okay rose and it's out of season it's okay rose in season is opportune okay rose and what he's saying to me is that when i'm in season that means everything is opportune that means the first class ticket has been sent to get in the plane the plane that you choose is the one you get in if you're going across the road or across the atlantic and you want to get down to africa somewhere and you decide well i want to fly emirates and they say fine we'll fly you emirates it's opportune you're sitting in a in a place all by yourself boom you hit the button you're sitting in there and that's good it's in season when you get there they're waiting with limos and they're driving you to the first class hotel they're giving you a suite on the top floor that's opportunity good is good the offering is good they give you a big honorarium and you can come back and buy more than a soda and more than get your clothes clean that's good but there is out of season from a word that means inopportune and this the a they stick the a on the front a cairo's and and of course you know cairo's is season remember that so in season is ukai rose that's opportune when the season is right when things are budding when things are growing when things are in your favor preach the word but be ready to preach it when it is achirose or in opportune so the preacher is to proclaim the word when the time is might i use the word auspicious or favorable or when the time is opportune when everybody's shared uh treating you like royalty and treating you like king and carrying you carrying your bags and operating with you in a way that makes you feel important and he says all right preach the word many of my friends when i go to preach for them they make sure that the suite is right the rooms are right the car is right i can have what i need and they do that because they say when you get up to preach i don't want any excuse about you being uncomfortable i don't want you to have laryngitis i don't want anything to be wrong with you you make sure your contacts are in make sure you're seeing straight make sure you're reading properly i want it right that's why i make sure everything is fine but everybody can't do that so he says when things are favorable be ready but when circumstances are unfavorable he says still be ready you don't call and ask how many members somebody has before you go you don't call and set a certain fee before you go if god is moving you to preach for people in poor places why is it that all of my buddies or many of my buddies or many of the people acquaintances spend their time in lucrative places and when they go to africa who goes to africa and goes to mozambique and goes to places like uh uh north or south of ethiopia go into sudan no no no ghana nigeria south africa all of these places are bounty with money how many go into places and preach the word to people who will be there who don't have that financial capability to make it an opportune time and in season time you're willing to go to the end season but do we have the drive to go to the out of season oh hear me hear me hear me after all of this time i've built a brand and certainly my brand should be compensated for so i go only to places that are in season and forget the places that are out season so few times are still available for preaching that the preacher must take every chance he has to preach the word what he's saying is it's so important to preach it that the season doesn't matter you should be ready let me put it this way and maybe we'll put it on the screen there is no closed season for preaching in his preaching he isn't to include now uh when he when he's preaching he's got to include certain things and and i think i want to i i must i must bring this up if you just bear with me a minute and let me change my screen here because there's something i've got to bring up that is so so important to me and and i think it will make this very clear to all of us here just give me a minute i i've got it in another note and i've got to bring it up and it's very very important that we understand in season and out of season and i want to take you to paul talking to us because he is going to give me an example of what he is talking about in second corinthians 11 verse 23 through 27 here's what he says he says are they ministers of christ i speak as a fool i am more now notice he's being humble with it i speak as a fool if they are ministers of christ he says i speak as a fool now youth pamper them you take care of them because he made sure to tell us how well peter and the other apostles were being treated they were treated carefully they took care of their wives they took care of everything that they did and paul is saying on the other hand are they ministers of christ he says i speak as a fool i am more i don't want to compare myself with them but watch how you treat them watch how i'm treated he says i am more why because in labors more abundant in stripes above measure in prison more frequent in depths and dying off of the jews five times received i 40 stripes saved one thrice was i beaten with rods once was i stoned thrice i suffered shipwreck a night and a day i have been in the deep in journeyings often in perils of water in perils of robbers in perils by mine own countrymen in perils by the heathen in perils in the city in perils in the wilderness in perils in the sea in perils among false brethren in weariness and painfulness in watchings often in hunger and thirst in fastings often in cold and nakedness beside those things that are without that which cometh upon me daily the care of all the churches and that's paul's experience of his preaching and i have left one hotel to go to another hotel and pull my own credit card out because i did not like the hotel i was put in now here is a man who makes me feel like a fool here is a man who makes me feel like what i expect from my preaching and how i expect to be treated because i'm the man of god yet still i am interpreting his writing i'm literally preaching right now from what god revealed to him so that i would preach to you what god gave him i'm illuminating what he had revealed he sat with god and god talked to him and yet still i don't like my hotel i'm not flying coach i wonder do you understand where we are and what we have become and then to carry it further where we've got a group of folk who don't even study their bibles who come up with all kinds of ideas and all kinds of presentation that have nothing to do with anything but money if you put me or any one of us through this we'd be dead in a week we wouldn't be dead from the situation we'd be dead from complaining are you are you serious are you putting me anywhere less than the four seasons or the waldorf historia are you serious are you picking me up in a pickup truck and not a limo are you serious you don't have my silk hankies on the pulpit and you make sure i have something in the waiting room in the green room are you serious look at the man who we are interpreting look what he went through and so now his preaching is not only so saying his preaching is not only good things are coming if you check the old testament you will find that the prophets who were put in prison jeremiah isaiah who were totally mistreated isaiah was in prison imprisoned but he was mistreated but now if you check they were always up against prophets who always declared everything was going to be all right and they mistreated the ones who would speak of rebuke and reproof and that is get your life together were going into exile isaiah had it so bad until god had to switch him from his presence and throw him into the future to talk about jesus christ and that's why he's called the eagle-eye prophet because god took him out of the present and thrust him into the future to show isaiah that there was coming a time when we would have the victory when god's people would have the victory through the son of god he was bruised for our iniquity wounded for our transgressions chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed and we take the by his stripes we are healed and make it physical healing but it is spiritual healing if you understand the context and read it and study it and show yourself approved the the greek word for reprove is elegant and it speaks of a rebuke which results in the person's confession of his guilt or if not his confession in his conviction of sin not only does he preach good things are coming in cadillac's and wealth and all of the marvelous things that we want to hear but he has to rebuke he has to preach until we confess and then if we don't confess he's got to preach until we're convicted anyway the preacher is to deal with sin both in the lives of the unsaved heroes and also in the saints to whom he ministers you can't preach and not deal with sin he is to do it in no uncertain tones when you talk about the word sin here it is not enough in the vocabulary of our preaching today and as he deals with the sin that confronts him as he preaches he is expected to preach the salvation of the lost and he is expected to preach the sanctification of the saints when he's dealing with sin the word rebuke refers to a rebuke which does not bring the one rebuked to a conviction of any fault on his part it might be because the one rebuked is innocent of the charge or that he's guilty but refuses to acknowledge his guilt but you rebuke anyway what the word implies is a sharp severe rebuke with possibly a suggestion in some cases of impending penalty it has no teeth if there is no penalty even where the preacher has experienced failure after failure and bringing sinners or saints to forsake their sin or where there seems little hope of so doing yet he is sharply rebuking sin he's not rebuking the individual he's rebuking the sin in them he has discharged his duty whether they live it or not and the responsibility is upon his hearers to deal with the sin in their lives not only is he to speak in stern language against sin but he is to exhort the word exhort now it's para kaleo and it has in it the ideas of please i beg of you i urge you the exhortation is based upon what the lord has done i beg you so even in this rebuke i'm not only talking in stern language but i'm saying based on justification pro-appreciation based on redemption based on reconciliation based on atonement based on adoption based on what god has done on calvary i the exhortation is i beg you perikelio i urge you so now there is to be a mingling then of harshness with gentleness in my preaching and my gentleness is is made or magnified because i understand that i am in the same position as the one i'm preaching to now that means now i'm to do it with all long-suffering and doctrine anytime you go anywhere and people say well he preached the doctrine and we don't want to hear doctrine the whole bible is doctrine i don't understand it's either eschatology sociology it's theology christology it's pneumatology the whole thing is doctrine but i must preach it with long-suffering and doctrine long-suffering speaks of that temper which does not easily succumb under suffering of that self-restraint which does not hastily retaliate or wrong so i'm not telling anybody off i'm not trying to be nasty in my presentation i am suffering long because i expect as i strive to be close to what god wants me to be or to be what he wants me to be then i'm preaching so that all of us must strive to be what he wants me to be i just can't come and give you a good time for your money i've got to come and declare the truth of god whether you pay or not because i'm an in season and out of season preacher that's the word of god and why should we do this we've got to do it urgently the doctrine is deducted and that is just teaching which literally means teaching the whole bible is teaching i don't understand why people are arguing about well we don't want to hear doctrine he came with doctrine what doctrine is the doctrine it's teaching it's didactic and it speaks of instruction how you're going to go in this bible and get your way navigate to where god would have you to be and operate where he wants you to be and not have instruction you see the prophet is given in the days prophetic it's telling you what you're going to get but what's the instruction how am i going to get it you're going to be the next bill gates well how am i going to be bill gates where is the instruction whatever the prophetic word declares in terms of prediction prediction it must give you instruction that's all i'm saying i'm not knocking prophecy i'm saying you are leaving off the main part of prophecy simply to sooth say and divinate and give prediction but the prediction has to be based on something what is it based on doctrine so vincent says and i quote vincent he says long-suffering is to be maintained against the temptations to anger presented by the obstinacy and the perverseness of certain hairs and such is to be met not merely with rebuke but also with sound and reasonable instruction in the truth unquote uh calvin says those who are strong i'm quoting calvin only in fervor and sharpness but are not fortified with solid doctrine weary themselves in their vigorous efforts he says if they're not having any doctrine they make a great noise rave make no headway because they build without a foundation unquote so vincent says i'm quoting the the etymologists vincent says and i quote men will not be one to the truth by scolding and then quotes another as saying they should understand what they hear and learn to perceive why they are rebuked unquote now the reason for this the great exaltation to proclaim the word why i'm doing it now thank god it's given in the view of what's coming the coming defection from the faith once for all delivered to the saints they don't want the defection is coming now notice he is talking about a defection coming 2 000 years ago we're 2 000 years later and as i will prove to you on the next session that the church has always had difficulties trying to figure out who to follow and when the false teachers came along because of the attitude of the saints they were able to leave the genuine and the true in season and out of season presenters to grab somebody who would allow for them to satisfy whatever was in them that the true and sent preacher was trying to get out of them do you think that i like everything the bible says about my life i don't i wish sometimes when i want to do something that is against the word i wish the word would disappear i wish it was never in there but i can't move it out because it is there and it's either going to convict me for me to make a confession or it's going to bring me to the place where it convicts me without a confession so it's either going to be a place that saves me or a place that judges me and condemns me the word endure an echo means literally to hold oneself upright or firm against a person or a thing to endure means to push against and what he's saying here is pretty soon they don't and won't push against or hold themselves upright against the proper teaching they won't lean and support themselves on the proper teaching so they're left then without anything but to grab something that's fetish i think i was talking to my prophet abraham dixon the bishop and the bishop said something that's that was that caught my attention in our conversation what he said was that the saints now are operating off of fads what's in right now so we run behind he's saying we run behind particular leaders who are in right now and the end right now is saying what we want to hear we move away from those who are solid because the word of god is not a fad the word of god is centuries old it never becomes obsolete but it is solid people like fads instead of things that are solid that's why we change see when i buy a suit i have a suit now that's 30 years old and there's two blessed things one is it hasn't been repaired that's one and two i can still get in it but the suit does not have big lapels or tiny lapels it has a lapel that can stand the test of time so while everything is changing around this suit this suit is only going up in price it's only becoming more valuable and it becomes more valuable because it's not fattish do you understand when you have the word of god you don't have a fad so you're not running after this tent or this individual or that individual you're running to the word and you want something that you can stand straight against and they don't want to endure that is what he's saying it is a perfect description of humanism that has come in today and modernism and it's a perfect description of the attitudes of the day in which people subjectively make up things without any solid basis to prove it the word translated sound has the idea of healthy or wholesome the word doctrine is teaching so they will not endure firm healthy wholesome teaching and paul's system what paul is saying is that the system of doctrine to which that that he's referring to is his theology his presentation of jesus his boldness in saying that there's nothing i want to preach other than jesus christ and him crucify and so after is down it's qatar so now it means they're going to choose teachers because they're being dominated by their epithelia their cravings this i'm gonna have to come back with this their cravings what are their cravings you're not craving after satan but satan controls what you crave for and what i pray for they set themselves against the proper teaching they set themselves against the gospel message they set themselves against the doctrine which would hold them up and now they go after what satisfies their cravings i hope you're looking me right in the eye they're satisfying that that's the problem we have we have been delivered from satan on the cross but we haven't tackled or don't want to because we are again cognitive misers we want the easy fix we don't want to tackle the battle between the old man and the new man and the battle between the old man and the new man represents in the old man the lust of the flesh lust of the eyes the pride of life that's all that the old man is bringing to the table so the battle now is not the devil now they can make it incubus and succubus but the battle is not incubus and succubus the battle is the old man and the new man because the old man still has the cravings notice the doctrine and the solidarity of the word the word with its integrity feeds the new man but because they don't want to deal with the new man which is a sound doctrine they now keep to themselves teachers who will deal with their cravings this is why we are vulnerable because we still have the cravings and the greek word is dominated here kata to dominate by the cravings that we should be mortifying i'm not telling you what somebody told me i'm telling you what i feel every day and i can go through all my mistakes if you want to hear them because of the cravings these dominated by my private personal cravings the particular and idiosyncratic lust that i have that you have the sin that so easily be set that needs to be brought under well what is this that satisfies cravings lust of the flesh money lust of the eyes money pride of life money money is power to satisfy every craving that you can find so the cravings then consists of the desire for personal gratification now let me just take it further right now and i think i'll go again to another note that i made that i i must i must deal with i must deal with i must name it now if it happens even even in our prayer life where paul says now where no i'm gonna go where paul says this personal craving takes them away from the solid word so we're vulnerable because of our cravings so now we have itching ears but here's what goes wrong james picks up from here and james says you ask and receive not because you ask amiss our prayer life has deteriorated to the point where we are now praying to god to satisfy our cravings james say you ask and you don't get it because you asked amiss that you may consume it upon your lusts so notice the devil ain't in the question here what we have done is we brought our world cravings the old man cravings and then we got to the place where we don't want to hear the doctrine that supports the new man so now we gotta have somebody to feed the old man in the church so we're sitting there ignoring all of the deep doctrinal things that strengthen that the new man is begging for and we heap to ourselves teachers having itching heirs who feed the old man in the church this ain't happening out of the church it's in the church the new man and the old man are battling in the church so the individual has to decide whether or not i'm going with solid sound doctrine that's feeding my starving soul or am i going to get somebody who will help me to go after the things i want and now i'll do it in the name of god you will understand this and maybe i can bring this to a close today you will understand this that when the love of many shall wax cold it ain't that they fell in love with the devil it's that they fell in love with money this is why the love of money not money reverend ike said that being poor is the root of all evil money is not the root of all evil nobody said money was the root of all evil the love of money is the root of all evil why because it now allows me to satisfy everything that sound doctrine is saying bring under control what sound doctrine says is what you are striving after have temperance one of the gifts of the holy spirit is temperance and that is i allow you to have gratifications but have your gratification within sound doctrine the word must control your gratification as you mortify the old man so what we want now is because we have itching ears we heat to ourselves the preachers who can scratch them so the greek makes it clear that itching heirs belong to the people that's why we're vulnerable the word heat means to accumulate in piles episodio to accumulate in piles they're coming from everywhere we've got them everywhere now because that's who we're calling for so it speaks then of the crowd electing teachers in mass an indiscriminate multitude of teachers and these teachers give the people what they want not what they need that's why the word itch in its active verb simply means to scratch to tickle to make to itch in the passive to itch so it describes that person who desires to hear for mere gratification i don't want to challenge i don't want to get in the battle of bringing the old man under i want a salvation that i don't have to change my life that i can still strive for and go after the same things i've always gone after that's the kind of salvation that i want so i'll get me somebody and we got bunches of them because they're going to get paid and generally that's who we're going to pay whoever gives us what we want but the truth is when the new man is fed by the doctrine it transcends everything that's earthly and worldly and this is why i have to recommend jesus this is why i can't fall into becoming a scratcher of the heirs of people who don't want sound doctrine because that's all i studied sounded i studied the bible i didn't go by something that popped up in my mind i didn't sit and try to work out new ways to take offerings i've got news for you when i first started preaching as i bring this to a close and i and i i should quote ernest gordon because he commented on the verse and i'll quote him first he said hardly has the latest novelty been toyed with then it is cast aside as stale and frayed and the newer assault one has here the vault the volatile spirit of the greek city so in contrast with the gravity and poise of the christian spirit engaged with eternal things unquote the volatility the volatile spirit of the greek city when he's riding they go from one thing to the other that's one thing together one fad to the other one new thing to another oh this is new let's run over here this is new this new and we give and give and give to all these little new things and we walk away from that solid word isn't it interesting that the pastor in his own church preaching and teaching every day talking to people on the phone encouraging exhorting rebuking loaning money giving money doing everything for the flock that god has placed him over and he can't raise an offering for something that's needed in that house that he is serving every day and somebody can fly in who's going to fly out and raise 20 times more money than he can while he is there working all the time because people have a volatile spirit for the fat it's newer it's the end thing but the word never changes the word does not give you the flexibility of doing and being anything the word is calling for what christ is requiring and i want to say to you today that that's why i recommend jesus that's why i present jesus and i present jesus to you because he is the power that brings the fads under control and he will take from you that volatility that vulnerability to follow anything and everything that's going when jim jones was a fad he led people into guyana and that was it and the people who died there were from every denominational walk would you believe that even the most conservative of all that i know the strictest when i was growing up apostolics died in guyana because he was the hot thing at the time you don't need a hot thing you need jesus christ you don't need to bounce around from one fair well who's hot who's this who's this this this to the other you don't need a facebook preacher you know just no what i need is something solid what you need is something solid i recommend jesus so i say to you if you're hearing my voice today and there's any brokenness in you if you've tried a lot of things and found no satisfaction because the satisfaction can't come from the old man he's hungry every day he wants more every minute of the day he can't get enough but there is a peace and a contentment that comes with the lord jesus christ there is a satisfaction that he gives that you can't get anywhere else and what he gives carries no sorrow with it what he gives carries great reward you won't be broke to serve jesus you'll be richer than you've ever been you'll be more wealthy than you've ever been because you would have achieved more than money can buy so if you're tired of being where you are and you want to come to the lord you want to give your life to him you want to be saved you want to be born again of the water and the spirit if you're out there you have never received the spirit the holy spirit now is the time if you have not shown your repentance you have not been baptized in the name of jesus now is the time and all i need you to do if you're sorry for your sins you'll get the instruction and all the information you need if you call 844-267-7729 that's all i need you to do right now we're not at church and i don't know when we'll ever be able to walk through a crowd and lay hands on everybody according to the science according to what we're dealing with but god moves in always every way you can imagine he's not limited to the building so i need you to pick up your phone and call 8442-677729 call that number as anxious as you are to reach that number is as anxious as someone is to answer your call i'm calling you i'm calling you i'm begging you i'm begging you somebody says sin doesn't pay yes it does the wages of sin is death and in this case we're talking spiritual death so i'm saying to you now get right with god backslider come home don't stay out there you know the truth you know the truth everyone's telling me to talk to my brother and to make sure that he's right with god chris knows the truth chris knows what god is who god is chris knows the truth i don't have to fly to london or go anywhere to get him straight it's a decision he has to make as you have to make as i have to make and that is i want to be saved when this life is over i want to be saved i'm taking my time with this because i'm telling you look how quickly your life is passing and there is no guarantee that you live another day now is the time now is the time it's urgent it's a must so please let's do it father i come in the name of jesus and i reach to those who are not in the place of safety right now but safety is just a phone call away no safety is just confessing you right now in their hearts and then opening up their mouth and declaring with that call what must i do to be saved yes lord that phone call will cover confession that phone call will cover believing in the heart and confession with the mouth and we will tell them what to do and i thank you for that knowledge i thank you for that doctrine thank you for the doctrine of soteriology and i thank you for the grace that's extended to everyone right now who will call because in order for them to call you will have to draw and i know you're drawing them right now i pray that they will respond and i speak it now for the saving of souls in jesus name amen and amen i was going to tell you something in the middle of the message it just came back to me and i said i'd say something else and i'd come back to and i didn't but here's what it was when i first started preaching on the road and i discovered that that part of being out there as an evangelist was to take a second offering would you believe that i had more stress in giving thought to taking a second offering than i did to preaching the word i had more stress and my friends will tell you right now when i come let us take the offer don't let jones take it because he ain't gonna go for the money well if you're calling for a preacher what's your budget that's that you know why put me through having to ask and ask and ask so you end up preaching then before people leave because some people come to hear you preach they didn't come to give a second time or a third time they just came there preaching and so because the offering gets so important after you preach you don't go into an altar call you go into an offering then you do an article means getting the money takes the priority over making the altar call by virtue of where it's placed sermon offering altar call it should be sermon altar call offering a no offer that's where we are so i hope that something was said today that bless you again if you need prayer prayer at cityofrefuge.la.org but if you want salvation call that number please thank you again for your gifts i must say thank you for the offerings you've responded to every call and we want to say thank you again and again and i have learned now that saints don't have to be cajoled uh my grandfather loved the word invigo people who love god will give when they have it to give will tithe according to their income and their financial situation so we want to say thank god for you and we're planning now on when to come back we're working that out i have another meeting next week and then we'll make an announcement as to when we're coming back don't think you're coming back to touch your neighbor and all of that not coming back to a lot of hugging and lot of running through the audience laying on their hands and hugging everybody so be prepared to be disappointed it's not going to be like it was right now i want to prepare you for that god bless heaven smile on you [Music] that was a dynamic and timely word that was well needed for here at this point in time of our service we want to open it up for you to pray in you see the number down there on the screen at 844-267-7729 we want you to pray so we can meet you right at the point of your need i'm kind of often reminded of my cell phone my cell phone can't it's meaningless without power i need to plug it into the charger in order to get power just as you need to plug into god and to get prayer so we're there waiting for you on the other side for you to get connected to what god wants to do next in your life if you do not know the lord as your savior please go ahead and call we want to meet you at the next step of this transaction for your life god is getting ready to do something amazing uh as well if you do have uh you know just a general need please don't hesitate wherever you're at we want you to go ahead and call in so we can pray if we gather in the lord's name he's going to be in the presence in the midst of us okay at this time it's not too late for you to give if you were touched by the worship and the message and god has put you know uh you know just a burden on your heart to give we want to go ahead and just give you the five ways to give your generosity is so well appreciated in these times because it's really allowing us to be the hands and feet of the gospel message to meet the tangible needs of our community so we thank you so much also for those that are tuning in for the first time i want to remind you of our service times we are meeting every sunday 10 a.m pacific standard time and 6 p.m pacific standard time and we also meet at bible study on wednesdays at 12 noon and then evening service at 7 pm pacific standard time so i want to see you there don't miss it at all and right before we get into the benediction i also want to invite all my young adults for new wine i'm the young adult pastor there and we want to welcome you on monday nights at 7 00 p.m we go uh live uh on instagram and we want to go ahead and do life with you in community through discipleship so i want to see you there for all our young adults between the ages of 18 and 39. can't wait to see you there now hey since we plugged up into the lord hey we got the power and we have the faith to now go ahead and take on our week let's pray heavenly father we thank you for what you have done so far we thank you for breaking the bread of life that we may have the spiritual sustenance to take on our week and glorify you so lord god fill the areas in us that are lacking so we can go ahead and please you each and every day until we meet at the respected times for all my brothers and sisters that are grieving i pray that you give them comfort for all my brothers and sisters that are in need i pray that you provide for them according to your riches in glory we thank you that you govern and keep us at the appointed time we thank you in jesus name amen can't we can't wait to see you soon we love you guys god bless [Music] you [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] you

Channel: Official Bishop Noel Jones

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Id: gVUVTZYjOYM

Length: 74min 45sec (4485 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 25 2021