Grace University (Part 2) | Pastor Jason Varnum

[Music] so [Music] is [Music] uh [Music] you [Music] this [Music] is [Music] me [Music] everybody it's so good to be in the house of the lord in the middle of the week is it not so good to be in the same atmosphere in the same building in the same presence like faith we can build up our most holy faith in his presence together we can be encouraged in this most precious place in his place together we can grow with one another and one mind in one accord right now why don't you stand to your feet if we [Music] if you ever need in your body the healer is here the miracle worker is here if you need god to touch your life touch your body why don't you lift the hand up touch body look around recognize those needs around you and begin to speak the word of patient unleash the gift of faith in jesus name god we lose miracles in this atmosphere i pray that the power of almighty god we begin to float freely throughout this place touching lives touching internet coming against your jesus in the name of jesus christ [Music] [Music] king jesus take jesus [Music] hallelujah [Applause] [Music] shining like this hallelujah [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] of jesus the ushers can go ahead and take this opportunity to get in place there are just a few things to make you aware of while they do that tomorrow morning we have brother jeffrey please home uh homegoing service and his viewing as well his viewing will be at 12 noon and then the funeral service will start at 1. so let's all be there to support the weekly family and then we also have this is that not this friday and sunday but next friday and sunday september 17 and 19th so let's make sure that we are inviting our friends our families our neighbors let's be sure that everybody that we know they know that this is that is happening let's pray over this offering together in the name of jesus god i thank you so much for your many blessings i thank you so much for the promises that are given to a faithful generation for the promises that are given to a people that walk in your covenant and walk in your promise i think that you will continue to bless us in jesus name god bless you as you give where are you now [Music] [Music] victory is here foreign [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is glorified risen he's risen king jesus glorified [Music] [Music] [Music] does anyone believe that the same power the same power the same power [Music] hallelujah jesus oh my lord hallelujah thank you jesus seems like there are some people that think that god we read about in the bible is a different god than we serve today but i'm here to tell you it's the same god with the same power that he is the same yesterday today and forever just before the service i was speaking to one of our parents here in the church and they were we were talking about a family member that was sick and one of their children went to they were having pain in their body in a certain area and one of their grandchildren came by and prayed for them and uh when it did he came they came back later and he said you know when he got done praying that pain completely left my body that's the god we serve that's just the god we serve and god is just looking for men and women that will pray the prayer of faith that will believe that we'll reach out and that's the god we serve i'm so thankful before we get into our teaching and again i will be teaching and it takes a while to teach what i'm teaching and i normally only do it once so i take a little bit of time to do it that's why the youth choir is just singing one song and we're putting everything together because i want to talk a long time so let's pray let's pray god will open our heart we'll pray for endurance we'll pray for everything let's pray together lord in the name of jesus thank you for this wonderful group of people thank you for these men and women that are here god that are represented here that love you that desire to serve you i pray in the name of jesus that the holy ghost god will speak to us god anoint me god to speak your word let me say it with boldness let me say it with clarity i pray in the name of jesus let the holy ghost speak to every hungry heart god let us be prepared i pray for those that are here that's never heard this before prepare their heart to receive those that are watching online prepare their heart to receive in the name of the lord jesus we pray everyone said amen amen god bless you you may be seated i don't know about you actually i do know about you i need the grace of god and so do you but we need to understand god's grace and so i welcome you once again tonight to grace university where we learn self-denial [Laughter] we need to understand that grace is not passive grace is active and grace i think one of the most important things i want to say is understanding this grace gives you something to live up to that's what grace does it gives you something that you you can't deserve it there's nothing you can do to earn it but grace gives you something to live up to grace comes to us as we are not because of how great we are but how great god is and some people get a misunderstanding because grace is unmerited and nothing we can do will make us deserve his grace we assume grace finds us the way we are and leaves us the way we are you see grace comes to you but because you cannot get it by yourself and we need god's favor and we cannot be saved without grace so grace brings salvation to us but we must act on it you've got to act on the grace of god and that's why the bible says by grace are ye saved through faith faith comes alive when we allow works in our lives we're not saved by works you cannot be saved by works bible's very clear but when grace comes in it teaches us things that we should do like don't lie well i'm saved by grace i can lie as much as i want no no grace gives you something to live up to we don't steal you didn't get grace because you were such a perfect person grace came to you but it gives you something to live up to but it's also how we present ourselves in this world remember grace always gives us that thing to live up to titus chapter 2 verse 11 for the grace of god that bring bringeth salvation hath appeared unto some men is it some men how many men are all men saved no so grace appears but when people say well i just live by grace well grace appears to this to charles manson grace appears to fill in the blank but just because grace appears to all men doesn't mean that all men are saved it's what you do with the grace of god so what does grace come and do it's not passive it's active so what does grace do next verse it teaches us grace comes in and begins to say here's a here's a new level you need to live up to you need to live up to this level will we ever get there no we'll never get to that level there's a lot of people that go to college and you'll never get to the level of the professor but the professor is helping you get a little bit higher grace helps us to grow a little bit further it teaches us some things what does it teach us that it doesn't matter what you do no that's not what it teaches us it teaches us that denying ungodliness grace teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lust that's amazing that we should live soberly we don't just oh it don't matter you know that's what yo when you're drunk nothing matters right to live a sober life means that you care about things we're to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world oh when we get to heaven everything's going to be perfect in this present world that's what the bible teaches us and we are going to learn from the word of god as we study it and this is a good question to ask yourself what is your authority it's a great question to ask yourself i'll never forget i was in a a discussion with a man some time ago and we're sitting there and uh he was a smart man very smart man and as we're talking he was quoting all this stuff from history and this and that and i said i said wow that's interesting i learned a lot thank you so much let me ask you a question what is your authority and he was a christian man and he said the bible so you're saying the bible's the authority yes i said great let's talk about the bible and we got he didn't have any scriptures for what he was saying though and so i started quoting the scripture and he started quoting history and i said wait a second let me ask you a question what's your authority he said well it's the bible i said great let's talk about the bible see you've got to decide what is the authority in your life you see is it is it what someone's opinion is is it even my opinion my opinion should not be the final authority in your life you should have a pastor the bible says obey them that have the rule over you you should have authority spiritual authority according to the word of god but the ultimate authority to me and the ultimate authority to you is the word of god and we need to settle that the bible says all scripture is given by the inspiration of god this is second timothy 3 16. it's profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness and so what it is all scripture everyone say all scripture and so here's how it works you've got to take all of it if you're going to get the good out of it and so i i believe everyone here today will believe this scripture john 3 and 3 jesus answered and said unto him verily verily i say unto thee except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of god everyone who here believes that scripture a few of y'all weren't ready for it you had your hand in your pocketbook or something that's all right shake it off we're going to try it again all right prepare yourself okay here we go if you believe that except you are born again you cannot enter or see the kingdom of god will you raise your hand see i i knew it i knew you all believed that why because it's the word but it also is the word in hebrews chapter 12 verse 14 follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the lord now if we're going to believe that except you're born again you cannot see see the kingdom of god we must also believe unless we follow peace with all men and holiness we cannot see the lord we cannot say we believe john 3 3 but we do not believe hebrews 12 14. all scripture is given by the inspiration of god and if we believe the bible is right we've got to make sure that we hold on to all of it and we are instructed by the word of god to be holy first peter chapter 1 verse 16 because it is written be ye holy for i am holy be ye holy for i am holy so what is what makes something holy holiness has two components to it first of all only god is holy i'll get back to that in just a moment but holiness has two components to it separation from sin and the world's values and dedicated to god in his will you can never ever be holy within yourself and i hope you understand that only god is holy only god is holy i want just a couple more amen so i know before i move on only god is holy the bible says our righteousness is as filthy rags only god is holy but when you live a life of holiness you are not better than anyone two men both have gardens the goats show up i have goats i know about this both of them have a garden beautiful garden wonderful garden the goats show up goats like to eat anything one of them has a fence around his garden the other one doesn't is one man better than the other no is he better off yes when you live a life of holiness you should never get the attitude i'm better than someone that doesn't you lowly sinful man i am better than you no you're not but you are better off right so when we live a life that keeps some things from this world back we are not better but we are better off again what makes something holy i think i'm going to mention this a little bit last week but what makes something holy for instance the ark of the covenant in the bible was called holy what was that it was made of wood with gold why would wood and gold be holy that same tree they could have cut down and made any idol that same goal they could have melted down as a matter of fact that same gold they did melt down at one point and created an idol there was nothing holy about the gold nothing holy about the wood the candlesticks they were called holy the bible calls them holy the altar of incense the labor of water all of these things the instruments the tools that they use the bible talks about them being holy instruments why would they be holy because they're special gold because of special wood no what made something holy in the bible that it was separated from the world and dedicated to god that is what makes it holy in the bible in the new testament in second corinthians chapter 6 verse 17 therefore come out from among them and be separate this is this is the commandment of god come out from among them and be separate saith the lord touch not the unclean thing and i will receive you and i will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the lord almighty having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse ourselves we'll see when i get the holiness is only from god i only get cleansed from god cleanse our selves well holiness only has to do with the spirit cleanse of ourselves from all filthiness of the spirit all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting what whoa so oh i get it we're perfecting god well only god's holy though so if we're perfecting holiness obviously we're perfecting god no you can't perfect god what is this talking about be ye holy for i am holy what does it say separate yourself from this world and dedicate yourself to god that's what the bible is referring to where are we going to do that just in our spirit no in our flesh and our spirit holiness deals both inward and outward romans 12 and 1 i beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of god anyone thankful for the mercies of god that ye present your spirit no you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy what what are you going to present holy your body holy acceptable unto the lord which is your reasonable service what is he talking about what do we need to do and be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove that which is good acceptable and perfect will of god present your bodies not just your spirits not just your souls so i just read two scriptures flesh and spirit here present your bodies and both of them are talking about holiness perfecting holiness becoming more holy and so we cannot be holy all we can do is get a holy god inside of us how do you do that when you get the holy ghost that's how the holiness comes inside of you when you get the holy ghost that's the way it works but the bible says what fellowship hath light with darkness and so when there's no communication when we live in darkness so what do we do we get a holy god in us and we're so thankful and it's so precious we say i don't want the world to detain it i don't want the things of this world to get inside of me i want more of you jesus that's how we perfect holiness i feel the holy ghost lift your hands and talk to him for a moment thank you jesus thank you lord so we we do have people that get problems right where they just feel like they're so holy because they've separated themselves from the world so greatly we are in this world we're not of this world but we are in this world but you know people can you know dress just right i talked about some of those things how god expects us to not be naked not our definition of naked right we want god's definition because that's who we're trying to please that's who we're wanting to be with for eternity say where the world thinks this the world will think something different tomorrow right the world will think something different tomorrow we don't base what we believe and what the what's fashion or what the world no no no no we do it on the word of god but there are people they're like oh boy i'm living so holy but their spirit is so bad like really bad jesus dealt with that in matthew 23 25 he said woe unto you scribes and pharisees hypocrites for ye may clean the outside of the cup and platter but within ye are full of extortion and excess that is rotten flesh that's what he's talking about one one scripture talking about the same thing says you're like a whited sepulcher or a tombstone all pure without but within you're full of extortion and dead man's bones otherwise just that dying flesh just nasty on the inside and that's what goes on and that can happen in a church in jesus name it will not happen in this church but there are churches that act like oh we're so holy and we're better than everyone else again you're not better you're better off but you ain't better but we walk around like oh look at us look at how wonderful and holy i am look how great i am and i on the outside you we look so clean and pure but the inside so this is what happened these people are out of balance you know what happens to us though in the in 2021 we get out of balance the other way he had a hard time keeping up with me that time didn't you you have a hard time no what's going on what what happened here what what what's going on these people are full of nastiness on the inside and so what the church has decided is it doesn't matter what you look like on the outside as long as the inside is clean what is that out of balance the other way what did jesus teach next verse verse 26 ye blind pharisees cling first that which is within the cup and platter that the outside may be clean also he didn't say clean the inside and don't worry about the outside no we're ambassadors of christ said clean first the inside that the outside may be clean also it's important holiness is not is not a means to earn salvation but it is a result of salvation when a holy god comes in you there should be conviction in you that says i don't want this world i don't want to look like it act like it talked like it we cannot create our own holiness but we can be partakers of his holiness we are the church that means we are the called out ones and we have a passion to please god and the bible tells us in in ephesus uh ephesians excuse me uh chapter 5 and verse number 10 prove that which is acceptable unto the lord prove that can you pull it up in the esv perfect try to discern what is pleasing to the lord that's what we're trying to do that's what i'm teaching so i'm going through the word of god and i'm saying this doesn't please god this does i don't want to do this i do want to do this first thessalonians 5 22 abstain from all appearance of evil if there is something in the bible that sheds a bad light on something should we just go with it or should we say if the bible is shedding a bad light on it i don't want anything to do with it i want to abstain from all appearance of evil so we're going to be looking at this and i'll come back to it but i'll read it first first timothy chapter two verse number eight and down through nine i would therefore that men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands we keep saying that word holy over and over again holy hands without wrath and doubting and like men are also that women adorn that's what we're going to be talking about adornment adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefulness and sobriety not with broadened hair nor gold no pearls or costly array so tonight i'm going to be speaking on jewelry i might get into things even like makeup and things like that and the question is is the bible does the bible address these things and i think we're going to find that the bible does address them but before i get into this because i'm going to say things plain first of all this is a series i primarily do once a year i may talk about it a little bit every now and then but mainly it's once a year and so i tried to say a plane uh if you were to come i take about four to five weeks if you were to come after that series there's a chance you wouldn't hear about it for quite some time there are people that's going to hear things today and you're going to feel convicted even though you may have been coming to this church for months or even a year almost a year but you haven't heard these things taught and you're going to all of a sudden if you're not careful you're going to let the devil say wow they're judging me no you've been coming for months and you ain't felt no judgmental spirit from anybody in this church don't let the devil lie to you and say oh that church is judging me now what's happening though is you are growing in your understanding and you're going to start feeling conviction but i want to say this before we get started we'll say pastor jason everyone say pastor jason say he is not condemning me everyone say he's not trying to run me off everyone say pastor jason loves me and he wants me to stay here everybody clap your hands to the lord what i'm doing is i'm teaching i'm teaching and if if you are here today and this is your first time or watching first time you know what i've decided god wants you to hear this for the first time but i hope you come again so they say if we do not learn from history we are doomed to repeat it so let's look at a little bit of history here in the old testament it's very interesting to me when i read about this the devil was full of precious jewels ezekiel chapter 28 verse 13 thou hast been in the in eden the garden of god every precious stone was thy covering and then it starts talking about the emerald and the sapphire and all the different stones just one after another next verse thou art the anointed cherubim that covereth and i have set thee so god speaking to lucifer that was upon the holy mountain of god that holy just keeps showing up don't it and thou walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire that was perfect in thy way in the day that thou was created till iniquity was found in thee lucifer was one of the three archangels you have gabriel the messenger angel michael the warring angel and then lucifer one that covereth and he also apparently was over music the bible talks about his body was like a harp everywhere he moved he was gorgeous the bible speaks of no other angel with gems on them like lucifer out of all the angels he's described perfect perfect in the day that thou was created but somehow pride began to come up in him and pride began to make him think i look pretty good look at me sparkle cha-ching what's the bling there it is bling got the bling bling but pride began to move and it led him to destruction and led the angels that followed him to destruction it's very interesting i'm going to come back to some of that as we search through the word of god in the old testament again it's interesting what you find it seems like god would let his people have jewelry but they wouldn't handle it well and he would then make them get rid of it you see this pattern over and over again it seemed like these precious pieces of jewelry somehow had a spiritual impact in their life and we're going to see it referenced over and over again in the bible even to this day if you ever deal because i somehow just something happens but today you deal with witches and warlocks which i have i've been in witches balls and i've been in different situations that was a where all these witches come from all over the all over the world really but all over the united states i've been uh in private conversations one with another uh and and i i've dealt with them but they they have these rings and all this stuff and they believe it's spiritual they understand the power that's in it and if you don't think they have they don't have power that can match god's power but if you think there is no power you are mistaken let's look for at a few scriptures genesis 35 and verse number 3 and 4 jacob is going to get right with god and this is what the bible says let us arise and let us go to bethel and i will make there an altar unto the lord he is needing god's help he is needing direction from god and so he's saying i need to go let's go to bethel i'm going to build an altar because god answered me in the day of my distress and and was with me in the way which i went verse number four because he's going to get right with god this is the decision he made and they gave unto jacob all the strange god which were in their hands and all their earrings which were in their ears and and jacob hid them under the oak which was that so we find here that when jacob was ready to get right with god he said take all the jewelry now these jewels a lot of them were connected to evil things but you find a lot of these times when jory is involved it does get connected to evil things now just stick with me for a few moments but when jacob decided i need to get right with god he said everybody give me your jewelry give me your earrings give me your stuff and they took them dug a hole and buried them in the ground why he says it's time to get right with god when they left egypt again it's like god saying okay let's try this again okay let's let's just see how you handle it this time so in exodus 11 and verse number two the bible says speak now in the ear in the ears of the people and let every man borrow of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor jewels of silver and jewels of gold he said go get it go gather it why couple different things first of all later they're going to melt them down and use them for instruments in the tabernacle but also that was the currency of the day they didn't have five bucks someone i i know that every time i saw him he's like you got five bucks you got five bucks no i don't got five bucks bro sorry you don't know anybody like that you got five bucks okay they didn't have credit cards and money if they did use some type of currency normally that was within a city or just a providence you couldn't just go to the next place with that wouldn't mean anything to them and so what we find is they there was the currency of the day uh and this is um you know the the wealth was the ornaments the gold all these things however they don't handle it well later we find where that's exodus chapter 11 verse number two now we're in exodus 33 and verse number two and this is what the bible says they're not handling it well and so god's like you know what y'all could go into the promised land i'm not going he god said i'll send an angel he'll fight everyone for you he'll take care of it an angel by the way he has a host he said i'll send an angel he'll take care of this thing for you but he said i'm not going with you let's read about it exodus chapter 33 verse number two i will send the angel uh before thee and will drive out the canaanites and the ammonites and the hittites and the parasites and the heavenlies parasites sorry i don't know if y'all caught that or not all these heights he said you're going to go in there i'm going to send the angel unto the land that flows with milk and honey for i will not go up in the midst of thee why you are a stiff-necked people what is that pride you are a prideful people this is what he said lest i lest i consume thee in the way god said if i go with you you're going to make me so sick with your pride that i'm going to wipe you out on the way now watch what happens here go to verse number 4. and the and when the people heard this evil tidings they mourned and no man did put on hit on him his ornaments jewelry that's what that is no one put on their jewelry for the lord has said unto moses saying unto the children of israel ye are a stiff neck or prideful people i will come up in in the midst of thee in a moment and consume thee therefore now put off thine ornaments from thee that i may know thee and what i can do unto thee verse six and the children of israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount horeb now god could have said you're a prideful person i need you to do whatever but there's one thing he chose to point out you're full of pride stiff neck i can't go take all your jewelry off that's the only way i'm even going to talk to you that's what he just says that's the thing god chose to tell them remove isn't that amazing out of everything god could have told them to do that's what he told them to do and it says that they took them off on the mountain do that same verse verse 6 in the in the esv therefore the people of israel strip themselves of their ornaments from the mount horeb onward in other words once they took the jewelry off they didn't take it off and then put it back on they did it onward give me one more verses do the uh gw version god's word after they left the mount horeb the israelites no longer wore their jewelry ain't that amazing holy ghost deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 25 and the graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire that ye shall not desire the silver and gold that are on them don't don't go after the silver and gold that are on them nor take it unto thee lest thou be snared therein gold and silver these jewels can snare people boy this is strong for it is an abomination unto the lord thy god wow that's a powerful scripture right there neither shalt thou bring an abomination of thy house lest thou be a curse thing like it but thou shalt utterly detest it thou shalt utterly abhor it for it is a cursed thing when god speaks about joy you'll find i showed you an example what god actually says go get it and every time they get it and they come pride starts rising up in them there's examples about jewelry and it keeps messing people up and it keeps bringing pride and self-worship all these things keep happening and you go it's amazing i'm just talking about if we don't look at history we're forced to repeat it if we don't pay attention and you start with lucifer and he's the one that has all of this pride comes in him then you start going through the people of god and pride keeps coming in them where god just says take it off i don't even want to talk to you i'm not going to look at you i won't go with you in the promised land until you take it all off let's go to the new testament because i've been in the old because i believe all of it's the word of god from genesis to revelation can i hear an amen new testament now the old testament had some things and i'm actually going to go back to the old testament hopefully here in a few minutes so let's look at the apostle peter and the apostle paul now most people would consider them the um most prominent of the apostles i don't think i know of anyone that would argue that uh peter of course first to the jews but he also opened the door to the gentiles uh of course paul primarily to the gentiles but also to the jews some as well um but let's look at both of them both of them had something to say about jewelry in the new testament let's see what they said paul this is in first timothy chapter two verse number eight and i would therefore that men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands that holy just keeps jumping in there don't holy hands without wrath and in doubting men are also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shame-facedness and sobriety not with say that not with not with boarded hair that's weaving gold and things in your hair broaded hair or gold or pearls or costly array the apostle paul in the new testament made it very clear we do not wear gold pearls or costly array that's that's just how he says it we don't wear it not with let's look at the apostle peter what does he say first peter chapter three verse number three whose adorning let it not be the outward adorning of the playing of the hair the wearing of gold or the putting on the peril so both peter and the apostle paul simply tell us don't wear gold i i don't know how you can make it more simple than that it just says don't wear it now there are people that you've never heard anything like this and you're like oh my lord what is he saying to me i'm saying this is what the word of god is teaching and you need to look at it study it don't feel like old pastors beating up on you you are learning something new and i want our young people to get a hold of these convictions because the world is pushing its agenda and we don't want to flow with that so then so that's clear right you got the apostle paul the apostle peter both simply say we're not wearing gold not wearing jewelry we're not doing it you got through the old testament i showed you several examples i will show you a couple more in a moment in the old testament but then people get into the mindset of okay so the bible's against jewelry but let's let's just wear wedding bands first of all there's no scripture there's scripture to say don't wear gold there's no script that says don't wear gold except for wedding bands now we're going to look at something here because it's important that we understand it oh i'm gonna get there right now verse number one this is first peter three verse one number one likewise you wives everyone say marriage likewise you wives be subject to your own husbands everyone say marriage that if any obey not the word they also may be without the word word one by the conversation of the wives everyone say marriage that they speaking of their husbands everyone say marriage beholding their chaste conversations coupled with fear now i want you to jump two verses to go to verse number five for after this manner in old times did holy that word keeps showing up on it that holy women also who trusted in god adorned themselves being subjects to their own husbands everyone say marriage so i want you to see this this is not me i want you to see this in the word of god this passage of scripture is speaking of a husband-wife relationship is there any doubt let me read it one more time likewise he writes be subject to your own husbands that if any obey not the word they may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives that they behold your chaste conversations coupled with fear verse five after this manner in old times that holy women of god who trusted in god adorn themselves being subjects to their own husbands is there any doubt that this passage of scripture is in the context of a husband-wife relationship is there any doubt but we skipped two verses what two verses did we skip let's read it with those two verses likewise wives be subject to your own husbands that if any obey not the word they may without the word be won by the conversation of the wise that they beholding your chaste conversation with fear whose adorning let it not be the outward adorning of the plating of the hair the wearing of gold or putting on apparel but let it be the hidden man of the heart that is which is not corruptable even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of god a great price for after this manner in old times did holy women of god holy woman also who trusted in god adorn themselves being subject to their own husbands it is important to note that when some people read this passage this is how they read it go to verse 3. who's adorning let it not be only the outward adorning of the plague of hair wearing a gold that's see that's how people pop that in there whose adorning let it not only be the outward adorning so otherwise we should have a ring that says we're married but not only that we should also let it be the hidden man of the heart but that's not what this scripture says it does not say let it not only be the outward let it also be the inward it says do not let it be the outward when people put on the wedding ring they say this says i'm married that scripture says the exact opposite let it not be the wearing of gold that says you're married what should it be the hidden man of the heart otherwise you act like your marriage you want to know listen they say well i need this so i can be faithful to my wife and my husband okay that's what that's that's what we're going to say how many people in this world wear wedding bands how much adultery in fornication is going on in this world i was talking to brother nie smith the other day and he was saying he never heard this teaching until he came here and he said as soon as i heard it he said i grew up listening to country music and there's all kinds of songs about take the wedding band off i don't even know what the song is and put it on the table that sounded good right i did something like that i don't know what it is but but there's that we we sing songs about it because because if this is the only thing saying you're married i call it the circle crutch and this is what happens with the circle crunch this says i'm married so now i can go wherever i want to go and and people know i'm married and and if i flirt a little bit it don't mean anything because they can see i'm married it don't work it just slips right off and people don't even care they see that ring on your finger that doesn't stop them at all if you if you're acting towards them in a certain way they're gonna they're gonna test the door so listen there are some people now that are saying okay pastor we shouldn't wear gold so i'm going to wear a rubber ring that's what's going on now but i want you to notice the bible does not say let it not being the wearing of gold but let it be a rubber ring that says you're married that's not what it says it says let it not be the wearing of gold but let it be this look at verse four the the the alternative is not a different type of ring the alternative is to say don't let those things outwardly be what says you're married let it be the hidden man of the heart you got to rightly divide the word of truth see just because the bible says something doesn't mean that god's for it what i mean by that is just because you read that something happened in the bible doesn't mean it's the will of god for instance abraham lied that doesn't mean god wants us to lie david had an affair that doesn't mean god wants us to have an affair and i could go through the list there is a difference between something happening in the bible and god actually giving us instructions through his word or by example you must rightly divide the word of truth for instance there are people that have brought this up to me that when abraham sent his servant to go get a wife for isaac and he found rebecca he gave rebecca jewelry but this was this was not and people used that and actually the bible talks about a ring when you study it it's a nose ring i think we should start doing that actually i think that's a good idea we should start doing those rings that's that's powerful um but that's what it is but and then people say well see that was for marriage i had a preacher tell me that that was for marriage the bible does not say that that jewelry when you study the custom was a diary is that right that was show i'm not even going to try to say it what they said um that is showing the wealth and satan is coming that's how people live their lives but there is no scripture that indicates they wore that that shows they're married no one did and just because we see that the the servant of abraham did it you don't find god saying to do it and you don't say it well it's in the bible it has to happen well the bible says that they kept pressuring moses until moses gave them the writing of divorcement but the bible says god hates divorce there are things that god may put up with in the old testament but the bible says that there was a time that he winked at it but now he commands some things what it clearly spells out in the new testament is what i just read both peter and paul don't wear it and by the way abraham and sarah did not wear a wedding ring neither did isaac and rebecca if they wore a ring and that was the custom of the day to show that they were married whenever both abraham and isaac both did the same thing with their wives were so beautiful and they came into a new area and they said to their wives honey listen you're so beautiful this guy is going to want to marry you and he's going to kill me so say you're my sister and not my wife if the custom was to wear something what he would have said is babe i need to take off that ring so they won't think you're my wife you won't have to say nothing just don't have the ring on and they're going to know you're not my wife but if you read i don't know if you could pull this up i don't think i gave it to you genesis 26 and eight if you could pull it up quick that'd be great but you don't have to but this is how they found out that they were married after he was with rebecca and rebecca acted like oh we're just sis brother and sister we're not married later the bible says in genesis 26 and 8 that he looked out the window and saw isaac sporting with rebecca his wife i love that word right there he did not realize that they were married because of a ring you want to know how people know you're married you act like you are married that's how people know you're married you need to do some more sporting with your wife you need to do some more sporting with your husband that's how people will know there is no doubt in anyone's mind that me and my wife are married let me tell you something if i'm in a conversation with someone more than just a few moments i'm going to talk about my kids and my wife that's exactly what i'm going to do i'm going to talk about it that's how the hidden men of the heart what is he talking about act like it don't have a circle crutch that can just be on and off no if i don't have that now i actually have to live that way now i have to live my life in such a way people can look at me and say he's not available she's not available i don't i don't i don't have to present myself a way where they wonder and saying do they have a ring or do do they have we don't have to do that oh my goodness i'm like halfway through i'm not going to finish just once you know there's a lot of material on this stuff i can go through all the greek mythology and where rings came from and what they originally represented all of these different things how that came in peter and paul said it very plainly the new testament church they did not wear jewelry you want to know where jewelry started its way back into the church the roman catholic church with the pope and it was a holy ring and people to this day still kiss kiss kiss those holy rings it wasn't from the apostles and what a lot of people are saying going back to this i feel like i need to say it i'm not going to read all the information i have here but this is the attitude of a lot of people going back to wedding rings that well we're just going to do wedding rings i can go through the history of the methodist church and other churches starting in 1703 when john wesley and his brother and them were were were just coming out of all the catholicism and they're trying to find more truth and more truth and and you can see how they talked about not wearing jewelry not allowing these things in your life and there's an actual date i i think was 1852 if i remember if i'm seeing this correctly yeah 1852 where where they established these standards and then a little bit later they just said you know what we're just going to do wedding rings and wedding bands that's all we're going to do and in just another couple years there was a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more i'm a part of one of the greatest organizations in the world and i feel like i need to say this one of the greatest organizations in the world the united pentecostal church international it is a wonderful amazing organization but i am scared that if we're not careful we will follow that same pattern because what we are allowing in some of our churches is it was about 50 years ago just a wedding band if you pay attention today it's not just a wedding band there's all kind of diamonds on it now not only that now i'm seeing us where kids coming up in church and we're wearing class rings because there's a reason for that see it's functional jewelry so the classroom and then there's a promise ring and that's important you got to make a promise and then there's this one and then there's that one i've seen them now coming to church and they have rings on both hands my point being is there's a direction it's going in and all of it through the bible over and over again it comes to pride and god says take it off i can't look at you i can't talk to you until you get it all off it's a slippery slope i was going to go into other things but i won't there's more things here that i need to say can i say it just i'll go quick i'll go quick okay all right all right you asked for it this ties into it and this is why i want to put it together because i want to show you the bible keeps putting together and that's makeup ask the question what makes this what what is this appealing to is it to the spirit or to the flesh makeup is appealing to the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life that is what makeup is appealing to so at the first time makeup is mentioned in the bible it is mentioned in the bible do you know who it connects you to jezebel i'm not calling anyone jezebel i know people are like oh i put a little something on oh my god he thinks i'm jezebel i don't but i think you need to understand what you're connecting to and i think you need to see what's in the word of god and why we draw lines where we do because we don't want to be connected to things abstain from all appearance of evil in whose eyes gods look first second kings chapter 9 verse 30 and when um jehu was come to jezreel jezebel heard of it and she painted her face and tied her hair and looked out the window she that is the act of a harlot she was trying to seduce him to come upstairs with her and he said how you play in that game he stayed down that's what you got to learn to do just stay away from that mess you know this has nothing to do with this sermon at all you know the bible doesn't teach us to be strong against temptation there's nothing in the bible that says you should be strong young men you know what it says to do flee run well i'm going to prove how strong i am don't do it jehu said no no no no i ain't coming up there you want to tell you something else oh i'm about to get in trouble now this ain't got nothing to do with this and you're going to be sorry you said preach faster the second thing the bible says to do is get married why i'm talking about temptation right now of being lustful and sex is so is so you can have sex it's better to marry or burn than to burn that where burn means to burn in lust say get married i can go scripture after scripture that the bible does not tell people you need to have more self-control that's what we say to our husbands or our wives you need more self-control bible doesn't say that bible says you need to get married why so you can get together oh y'all didn't expect that did you dunk came out of nowhere didn't it uh-huh we're ready for that one that's what the bible says the only reason that you're not to help me lord the only reason you're not to get together the bible gives you is when you're fasting and praying and that's not even a sure thing if you agree makeup so there was a time that the people of israel were y'all want me to do a whole sermon on this don't you oh i got one i got one i ain't doing it tonight though jeremiah 4 and 30. what's going on the people of god have rejected god they're worshiping false idols and because of that they're the bride of christ or old testament they were god's god's bride and so they have left and so he is painting them as an adulterer this is what he says go read the whole chapter jeremiah 40 excuse me jeremiah 4 and 30. and when thou art spoiled he's mad and he's telling them you're just messing yourself up when you are spoiled uh what will you do you're going after all these other gods what will you do though thou closeth thyself with crimson though thy decast thyself with ornaments of gold when he is talking about painting someone as a harlot he's talking about them wearing gold i'm not calling anyone harlot please i'm trying to let you see the word of god deckest thyself with gold though thy rentest thy face with painting in vain shall i make thyself fair thy lover shall despise thee they shall seek thy life whenever god is pointing israel and trying to describe them as someone that is turned away from him he's talking about they're wearing gold and they're putting on makeup let's look at another one ezekiel chapter 23 verse 40. um and furthermore and furthermore let me tell you a little something else that ye have this is a completely different time that ye have sent from men to come from afar unto whom a messenger was sent and lo they came and thou did wash us thy face painted thy eyes talking about makeup deckest thyself with ornaments and he's saying again you're trying to have an affair with these other gods and these other things when you're supposed to be with me and when he is painting them as someone that is unfaithful he is this is how god sees it that's why i say abstain from the appearance of evil if god talks about this stuff in such a negative way why would we want any part of it so he's painting them there and he's saying you're painting your eyes you're decking yourself with gold you're painting your face we don't do it we don't want to live our lives in such a way that god looks at us and it reminds him of something that is not right oh it's going to get better hair god likes gray hair god likes gray hair i like gray hair i can't wait till my wife becomes a silver fox yo baby come on holy ghost i felt something right then leviticus yeah i'm sporting oh i'm going to do some sporting there's some sporting going on all right help me lord uh leviticus chapter 19 verse 32 thou shalt raise up before the horry head the hory haired is a gray head and honor thy fa honor the face of the old man uh and fear thy god i am the lord god honors that uh proverbs 16 31 do that in the new key james if you have it the head or it says the silver head uh is a crown of glory god likes gray hair proverbs 20 29 the glory of young men is their strength and the beauty of old men is their gray hair gray head this is how god feels about his creation we are fearfully and wonderfully made we are lively stones that means living stones we are living we we have an abundant life you don't go out and paint living things there's a tree out there right out here we don't go and paint that tree now when it's dead and we've cut it down we paint it but not when it's living only weird people dye their dogs different colors something wrong with that hair dye is makeup that's what it is matthew god speaking he says neither shalt thou swear by thy head because thou canst not make one hair white or gray i read that to someone one time and they said well that's because they didn't have hair dye back then i'm like yes they did well y'all cr nuts when you read ancient egyptians i'm talking about 5 000 years ago they were they were uh using the art of die taking vegetables and making dye to dye their hair and when you look at josephus writings the great um uh josephus which was an historian back in the day the only jewish person that he talked about that dyed his hair was king herod king herod was the one that beheaded john the baptist and he dyed his hair because he was so vain he didn't want people to think he was old it's not godly to paint or die our bodies hair dye tattoos leviticus chapter 19 verse 28 ye shall not make any cutting in your flesh for the dead nor paint any mark upon you i am the lord jude chapter 1 verse 8 likewise also filthy dreamers defile thy flesh that word defile thy flesh literally means to die with another color or to stain we don't defile our flesh we don't stain our flesh we don't color our flesh we're going to end with this the comparison between the harlot church in the book of revelation and the church of god revelation 17 1-4 and there came one of the seven angels which had seven vials and talked with me saying unto me uh come hither i will show you the ju the judgment of the great which sitteth upon the waters with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication and the habitation of the earth was made drunk with the wine of her fornication she has carried me um so he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness and i saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast full of names of blaspheming having seven heads and ten horns that's from uh daniel seven and different places verse four and the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colored decked with gold and precious stones and pearls having a golden cup in her hand full of the abomination and filthiness of her fornication that's how it talks about the the horror of babylon the the church that is ungodly it talks about it's got gold it's got all these things uh that that it's representing but when it talks about the church of god in revelation 19 beginning with verse 7 let us be glad and rejoice and give honor unto him the marriage of lamb is come for his wife hath made herself ready how did she make herself ready for uh for her granted to be arraigned with fine linen clean and white when the bible speaks of the of babylon it's always decking and putting on and doing when the bible speaks of that mindset in god's eyes in the old testament it's painting and it's and it's wearing all these things but when god speaks of his church it's clean it's pure it's white that is what the bible and so again i say we are to abstain from all appearance of evil before whose eyes not the world's eyes before god's eyes i'm stopping hallelujah stand with me don't leave just stand jesus god i thank you thank you for this wonderful church god please forgive me if i made light or hurt someone i i don't mean to hurt it with my words but the word of god is right and we must obey the word of god we must take it serious soberly god we are to present ourselves holy flesh and spirit i pray in the name of jesus that you will help this church to pursue holiness i pray that you will help us to perfect holiness how do we do that by separating from the things of the world and dedicating our lives to god god we are not here for the fashion of this world god i pray for anyone here or those watching online that has never heard anything like this i pray that you will touch their heart god i'm not here to condemn or to judge i'm here to teach the word of god and it's the word of god that will judge us in the end i pray that there will be a soberness that comes in us help us to realize we are not here to please ourselves and we are not here to please the world we are here to please you i pray god that you will help us that you will guide us and you will direct us help me be a pastor that pastors with love and compassion help me to be a pastor god that's there for people i don't want to condemn anybody i pray that give me the right heart in the right spirit and let this church fall in love with holiness let this church fall in love with separation from the world let this church love you help us to love what you love and hate what you hate in jesus name in jesus name help us to realize that we are not better because of the decisions we make but we will be better off because of the decisions we make and we will please you in jesus name we pray the church said amen amen i love you amazing wonderful people please don't just walk out greet a couple people before you leave if there's any questions you have i'm going to sit right up here for a few minutes please come and talk to me i'll do everything i can to answer your questions i love you you're dismissed in jesus name

Channel: Souls Harbor FPC

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Id: BfNYwzVpA2Q

Length: 83min 32sec (5012 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 09 2021