Stirred: The Church in the Last Days - Part 2 - Pastor Raymond Woodward

well we are in a series this is part two of a series called stern and we're studying the epistle of ii peter peter's goal in writing this epistle is to stir up the saints to remember what they have been taught because in his day there are so many critical cynical voices everywhere around them and those critical cynical voices are questioning everything about the church's doctrine and lifestyle and so peter steps in as an apostle to remind them that in order to be prepared for the future of the church we have to be connected to the past of the church in his first letter peter warned about persecution coming from outside the church we studied that a few weeks ago a few months ago persecution was coming from outside the church and he warned them to be ready in his first letter but in this second letter he warns them about something else this time it's not persecution coming from outside the church it's false teaching rising up from inside the church this time around peter tells them spiritual opposition is actually coming from those who say they are believers they profess to know jesus but they have departed from the doctrine and the godly lifestyle taught by the apostles and now those people are trying to influence others in the church to follow after them in their backsliding and the way they do it is they question everything and they even attack the teaching of the elders can you imagine that that they would attack the teaching of those who delivered to them the precious saving gospel but they're doing it and they're doing it today so in peter's day like in our day it's a treacherous time and that's exactly why peter wants to stir up the church somebody shout stirred this second epistle beloved i now write unto you in both which i stir up your pure minds and here's how you stir up your mind you remember what god has done for you you remember what you have experienced you remember what you have been taught you remember what the elders gave to us that's how you'd stir it up peter lived and preached at the beginning of the church age we live and preach at the end of the church age just before the coming of the lord so if it was important for saints to be stirred in the first century it is much more important exponentially more important for us to be stirred up in the 21st century never before have there been so many voices from inside the church trying to divorce us from the teaching of our elders never before have there been so many people professing so much love for jesus while denying so much of what jesus actually said never before have we seen such disrespect and disregard for the plain teaching of scripture never before have we seen the ungodly attitudes and the ungodly lifestyle of the world makes such inroads into the lives of so-called christians it is a treacherous time and so i stand 2 000 years apart but shoulder to shoulder with peter the apostle to attempt to stir us up one more time as two of history's greatest apostles peter here and paul in his epistle as two of history's greatest apostles said goodbye to those they loved in the very last letters either of them would ever write their desire was to keep the church stirred and so if you read them their message is insistent it is passionate they feel like they have no time to waste and their voices still ring loudly and strongly 2 000 years later do you know that the words of this ancient bible are more relevant than they have ever been before in our lives and in our world don't forget peter says don't forget paul says you have an adversary don't forget your flesh can trip you up don't forget the world is not your friend stop believing that don't forget you are living in the last days don't forget you got lost people to reach so you better get busy don't forget that jesus is coming soon so you don't have much time don't forget to stay stirred by the holy ghost paul said it this way to timothy in his very last letter i put thee in remembrance there's that word again i want you to remember timothy we've invested in you timothy the elders put a lot of prayer on you timothy i put you in remembrance that you stir up the gift of god paul said it's in you by the putting on of my hands now i know he's talking about a commissioning and ministry but aren't you glad for people over the years that have laid hands on you and prayed for you in jesus name maybe in an altar maybe somewhere else but people prayed for us we owe our elders a great debt of gratitude in the first half of chapter one we talked about it last week peter told those believers i want you to make every effort i want you to give all diligence to add to your faith to hear some people talk today it's like well no you just believe in jesus then you don't have to do anything else that's not the record of scripture peter said you need to add to your faith don't just believe but once you believe add to your faith add to your life virtue knowledge temperance patience godliness brotherly kindness charity and he says this it's a pretty good guarantee he said if you do these things you shall never fall that is peter's guarantee it's god's guarantee it's peter's secret to living an overcoming christian life add to your faith you are going to constantly struggle as a christian if you only try to maintain your faith well i wouldn't want to get too over committed i wouldn't want to get too over excited i wouldn't want to get too overheated in church if you just try to maintain you're going to mess up you've got to grow in your faith you've got to advance in your faith you've got to add to your faith and that needs to happen daily now in the second half of chapter 1 where we start tonight peter turns the attention to the word of god upon which our faith is built he's been talking about our experience in god he wants to now turn to the word of god and he's going to emphasize the importance of knowing the scripture as a defense against false doctrine false teachers in peter's day and false teachers today find it very easy to seduce and deceive people who don't know their bible especially if those people desire spiritual experiences they are easy prey they can pick them off you see somebody that wants a spiritual experience but no doctrine of the word of god they're a victim every single time they fall prey to the devil's devices they fall prey to false teachers and false prophets and they're always going around they talk a lot about jesus but the shallowness of their relationship with jesus is because they don't have any love for the teaching and the truth of the word of god and false teachers seduce them they find it easy the word of god is the only foundation for your christian life with apologies if i hurt your feelings right here the only foundation for your christian life please hear pastor i'm going to pastor for a moment okay the only foundation for your life with god is the bible not how you feel not what other people say not what other preachers preach not what you think not what other people have chosen to do and for heaven's sake not what you dream it is what we know from the word of god not what we think what we know from the word of god if you know your bible the devil can't get at you if you know your bible you can weather any storm if you know your bible there's no false teacher or false prophet that can get into your head because you know that you know that you know the word of god this is the only foundation for your christian life and so peter wants to tell us and brag a little bit on this word of god and the first thing he lets us know is you know what men die but the word lives jesus told peter this is amazing peter knew roughly when and how he would die now that would freak you out he knew from jesus that he would die as an old man and he would die as a prisoner jesus told him that so no wonder when shortly after the day of pentecost peter was arrested and thrown in jail no wonder he just rolled over went to sleep god had to send an angel to wake him up he knew king herod couldn't take his life with an atomic bomb because jesus had said you're going to die when you're an old man and he was still young many years later peter would be crucified upside down at his own request by the way in rome he didn't want to die like jesus he said turn me upside down i'm not worthy to die in the same way as my lord but he knew that although someday he would die a torturous death as an old man as a prisoner because jesus told him here's the thing he knew he wouldn't die yet he knew it because jesus said it and can i tell you something we don't all have that word like peter did we don't but can i tell you something like every one of god's faithful servants peter was immortal until his work for god was done if the devil could have killed you there would have been a massive 90 car pileup on downing street and we'd all be dead the devil can't take you until jesus says it's your time end of story period on the authority of the word of god but peter knew from jesus this jesus said verily verily i say unto thee when you were young peter you girded yourself and you walked wherever you wanted to go but when you're old you're going to stretch forth your hands and another is going to gird you and carry you to a place you wouldn't like to go and then it says john writes this this spake jesus signifying by what death peter would glorify god and you know what jesus said to peter after he told him you're going to die and it's going to be painful and you're going to be a prisoner you know what he told him after he had spoken this he said to peter follow me no matter what you may face tomorrow follow me no matter how dark the night gets or how deep the valley is just follow me you know people in the world say well it'll all pan out well good for them my life's not panning out the steps of a good man are ordered by the lord and he delights in his way and even if he fall he shall not be utterly cast down for the lord upholdeth him with his hand god orders my steps in his word that's why it's important that you know the word because men die but the word lives on you can't beat this book you can't overcome this book the devil can't touch this book so if you're in the book the devil can't hurt you very few of us have a word from jesus about the timing of our death like peter did that moment will come very unexpectedly for most of us but we can have at least the same determination that peter had to live stirred up for god and so he just launches in this epistle he said because of that because of everything i just told you that you need to add to your faith and because i told you that you've got to make all diligence to add these things to your faith and live for god and avoid false doctrine wherefore i will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance there's that word again church if you want to go forward you got to remember some things i will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things even though you know them and even though you're established in the present truth peter said i would be neglecting my duty as a man of god if i didn't remind you constantly about these things i know that you know the right doctrine i know that you are established saints i know you love the truth but guess what established saints who love doctrine and the truth you still need to be stirred up from time to time i love ccc this is a great glorious church and i'm so grateful for every one of you but guess what wonderful people established saints of god people that have spent a lifetime living for jesus every once in a while pastor needs to come to the pulpit and just stand here and say time to get a little stirred up one more time because this can become well i know truth i'm good to go but we've got work to do while we're here we've got a god to serve while we're here we've got a city to reach while we're here so every once in a while even for established saints of god it's time for the man of god to stand in the pulpit one more time he said that before it doesn't matter peter said i'm going to remind you constantly about these things because the church has to be stirred up every once in a while you need to remember what the elders taught you church and you need to remember that new convert feeling you remember that that new convert feeling when you didn't know how to dance right yet you didn't know how to jump right or clap on the pentecostal beat or sing in the key of g or you didn't know any of that stuff and you kind of learned it well while you're learning kind of how to negotiate pentecostal worship and pentecostal style and pentecostal this and that don't learn pentecostal routine and pentecostal deadness and pentecostal i'm just checked out and pentecostal i showed up what are you gonna do i put my money in the plate what do you think no don't don't get that stuff stay with that new convert feeling stay with that feeling you had when you first realized jesus just pulled me out of the world and washed my sins away and i'm going to heaven instead of hell and i don't have all that addiction and bondage keep that feeling remember that feeling get that feeling stirred up every once in a while that's what we need to do establish saints man that feels good when you stir it up just a little bit it feels good every once in a while yeah even in a bible study when somebody just talks in tongues a little bit just kind of off the cuff at random over there over here back there up here it doesn't matter what you're doing you need to make sure that you're not just falling in to a pentecostal rut it's time in the last time for the church to stay stirred up say you're pretty ramped up no peter is pretty ramped up i'm just reading him peter's pretty ramped up about this because he knows what it is like to be attacked by the devil peter knows what it is like to be weak in his faith peter even knows what it is like to fail the lord so he is determined to fulfill his obligation to jesus because at their very last meal together jesus gave peter this commission simon simon behold satan has desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat but i have prayed for you peter that your faith fail not even when you fall even when you mess up even when you're flat on your face and you feel like a failure and everybody else is talking about your mess and your failure even then peter they may not want you back up but i want you back up i have prayed for you that your faith failed not so peter i need you to do me a favor when you're converted when you're strong when you get established when you're seasoned when you're mature turn around behind you and strengthen your brethren turn around behind you and strengthen another new member of the church turn around behind you and strengthen them peter when he writes this he's not young anymore this is the last letter he'll ever write and he knows from jesus that the time of his death is soon approaching and the heat's on the clock's ticking and so he is going to do by the help of god whatever he can to keep the church stirred up because peter knows like every pastor knows that god's wonderful beautiful people have a tendency to get accustomed to truth and then take it for granted to get accustomed to a move of the holy ghost and then take it for granted to get accustomed to powerful prayer and mediocre preaching and then take it for granted he knows he knows and so he wants them to stay stirred up you see we forget the things we ought to remember and we remember far too many things we ought to forget just because these saints knew the truth was no guarantee that they would continue to walk in the truth and you've seen that so many christians lose their first love because they get distracted by life or they stop praying or they fall into temptation or they get entangled in sin or they get deceived by false doctrine but while he is alive as long as there is breath in his body peter is going to do everything he can to keep them stirred up by exhorting them remember remember remember remember so don't get mad when the pastors get up and say remember those elders and remember to be at prayer and remember the word of god and remember you're apostolic and remember that apostolics don't go there and do that and live like that remember remember remember that's how you stay stirred up peter said yay i think it is meat i think it's beneficial as long as i'm in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance man he's on a hobby horse knowing that shortly i must put off this my tabernacle here it is even as the lord jesus christ hath showed me jesus told me i was going to die as an old man as a prisoner and the heat's on in the roman empire so i know i don't have long i know i'm going to die so i want to leave behind something that will never die and that is the word of god and god honored that request of peter because don't you think it's quite amazing that the two letters peter wrote became in part of the inspired scripture and those two letters that man wrote have been ministering to god's people for 2 000 years he said i want to leave behind something that's more powerful than me i want to trust my life to something that's more powerful than me men die but the word lives and then he said this moreover i will endeavor i'm going to do everything in my power that you may be able after my decease after i'm gone to have these things always in remembrance peter said i don't care if you remember me after i'm gone but i want you to remember your apostolic heritage after i'm gone and i'm gonna do everything i can to make that happen now please hear me it's good to have ncc in the house by the way all these fine young men and women what a privilege to have you here you hear me the apostolic church is always one generation removed from worldliness one generation removed from formalism one generation removed from professionalism one generation removed from ecumenicalism one generation removed from carnality and compromise and false doctrine the apostolic church is always one generation removed from extinction and that's why men and women of god get a little bit riled up when they're preaching to something so great as god's church because we could be the last generation of truth but we refuse to be the last generation of truth we are not trusting in a pastor or a program or a leader we're not trusting in a building or a bank account we are trusting we are built on the word of god this church will survive and thrive because it's built on the word of god peter said you better get your faith in the word of god you better get your nose in the word of god you better get your face in the word of god because it's the only thing that's gonna survive men die but the word lives on men go away some people backslide some people get into false doctrine some people give it up and go into worldliness and they go back to the beggarly elements of the world but you won't if you get your face in the word of god that's the word that our faith is built upon so every once in a while your pastor your man of god some evangelist needs to get up here and say stir it up church we got to love that book more than we love anything else we got to love the word of god more than we love the praise of man we've got to it's our hope it's our foundation i know it's bible study but i wish you'd lift up a thanks to the lord for the word of god it's the word that saved you it's the word that sustains you it's the word that undergirds you it's the word that protects you it's the word that gives us the promises of god hallelujah thank you jesus thank you jesus i feel a stirring in my spirit i feel a stirring in our church i feel a stirring in the air we're living awfully close to the second appearing of jesus christ and i'm so grateful we have a bible to hold this church together thank you jesus yes i worship you god i worship you god yes yes yes it is not only the pastor's job to invest in the next generation it is the church's job to invest in the next generation we better love our little children we better love our young people we better love our young families we better love our single adults well you left me out i've been here intentionally i left you out because if we've been around long enough to think we have seniority or experience we need to be the ones leading the charge not kind of taking up the rear watching everything we need to be the ones i'm not talking about physical activity i know that some of us we're getting a little slower in the way we move i'll leave that hanging right there and not going anywhere near that i'm not talking about that but bless god i refused to turn into a mushroom growing on a pew in the church i refuse to let everybody else worship god while i watch them i categorically refuse to do that if anybody's going to worship god in this room i'm going to worship god with them in fact if i can worship god more than them i'd consider that a holy competition and i'll just go for it because jesus deserves praise you tell me how good god's been to you i'll raise you one i'll tell you how good god's been to me i bet i can talk you under the table because god has been so good to me god has opened doors for me god has answered prayers for me god has been faithful to me god has healed my body god has directed me god has sustained me through trials god has protected me from all kinds of trash and junk of this world you better believe i'm going to worship and praise god i'm going to live stirred up i worship you god i'm sorry it's peter's fault peter said we don't want to lose this apostolic experience but thankfully we're not depending on the traditions of men that are dead we're depending on the word that is alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword our church isn't built on the pastoral team our church is built on the word of god peter is amazing he had the privilege can you imagine this he had the privilege of standing on the mount of transfiguration and on that mountain he saw the glory of god literally shine through the body of jesus christ that moment was recorded by matthew mark and luke in their gospels but none of them actually participated in it they just wrote the account down but peter he was actually there on that mountain when that happened along with james and john and peter was like some of us when we get in one of those really good services he just wanted that moment to last forever and peter was never shy about opening his mouth or expressing his opinion so he said lord it is good for us to be here if you wilt hint hint you should let us make here three tabernacles one for thee and one for moses and one for elijah in that moment he just wanted to stay there church on the mountain wouldn't that be a cool name church on the mountain that's what he wanted but now many years later as a much more mature christian and a leader peter realizes that the reason jesus allowed him to be on the mount of transfiguration had nothing to do with how he felt at the moment but everything to do with the truth he would remember all the rest of his life in fact jesus even even told peter james and john you be silent about this experience don't you tell anybody about what happened here until after my resurrection because by then the gospel would be complete and they would begin preaching the truth of the death burial and resurrection of jesus everywhere and peter's bragging on the word of god decades later and he said you know what i got something else to tell you first of all men die but the word lives i got something else to tell you experience fades but the word remains you ever been in one of those awesome sunday night services when you just feel almost like a tingle hit you and everybody's excited it seems and oh man the music's going and the praise team's worshipping and the pastors spitting on the microphone and everything's going so good and you just think wow this is awesome and god was here tonight and god showed up and god touched people tonight and it's so awesome but how many have gone home from a sunday light night like that and woke up on monday morning anybody you don't wake up on monday mornings do you sleep through the day how many have ever woke up on a monday morning after a service like that i have six i guess the rest of you sleep on mondays i remember that and when you get up on monday the singers were gone the music was gone the preacher wasn't there the saints weren't there and it was just you and it feels different peter said yeah i know i was on the mount of transfiguration that was a high water mark for me but let me tell you something years later experience fades but the word the word remains he said for we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our lord jesus christ let me tell you something we're not false teachers we were eye witnesses of his majesty we stood on that mountaintop and we saw the glory of the eternal god shine through that fleshly body of jesus christ until it was like he was transparent we could see the glory of god it was amazing but in spite of that i'm here to tell you that experience fades but after the experience fades the word remains in the last letter that he would ever write the apostle paul warned timothy about the very same thing false teachers false doctrine people wanting to believe whatever they wanted to believe and he stressed to timothy in the last letter he would ever write paul could have written to timothy about anything he wrote about this he said timothy the antidote to false doctrine is this preach the word that's the antidote to false doctrine now we live in a treacherous time when false doctrine and shallow experiences run rampant in so many churches and sometimes entire denominations but the antidote to false doctrine and shallow experience is still the same today preach the word preach the word here's what paul said he said to timothy preach the word be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine doesn't sound like three little simple points and happy happy clappy feelings at the end that doesn't sound like that reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine for the time will come timothy when people will not endure sound doctrine they'll think it's a burden if you preach doctrine they'll think it's a drudgery if you preach doctrine they'll stay home and check out and go to a different church if you preach doctrine but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers those people have itching ears they just want their ears to be tickled by the latest fancy doctrine or the latest christian book or the latest theologian or the latest preacher they just have itching ears they're always running from here to here to there to there they just want to hear something that's religiously entertaining he said and in that day timothy they will turn away their ears from the truth can you imagine they're tuned into all the trash of the world they know every secular song on the radio they know the soundtrack to every movie on the television they know every kind of false prophet and preacher and teacher they got their ears tuned to all that but they've turned their ears away from the truth and they've turned their ears to fables let me tell you something the truths that the apostolic church is built upon and believes they are not cunningly devised fables they didn't come the truths we hold dear they didn't come from exaggerated stories or manipulated services or clever teachers with hidden agendas or false prophets with hidden sin peter stakes emphatically no no no we were eye witnesses see peter saw jesus transfigured and it forever marked him he said i know he's god in the flesh i know he's the one true only living never dying god i know that because i saw him transfigured he said this is what happened on that mount he received from god the father honor and glory and there came this huge voice to him from the excellent glory it just came booming out of heaven and that voice said this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased and peter said this voice which came from heaven we didn't hear about it we heard it and when we were with him in the holy mount see peter said i was there i saw it happen i heard it happen you can't turn me away from it and i'm not writing to you to tell you something i thought about or i heard somebody else say something about i was there so that's why you can trust what i'm telling you now if you're thinking and i know you are that brings you to say this wait a minute pastor we weren't at the mount of transfiguration so where does that leave us well that's a great question god bless you we're dismissed no that's a great question and here's a great answer you and i were not eyewitnesses of the transfiguration but peter was there and he faithfully recorded his experience for us in the letter that he wrote inspired by the spirit of god and other people matthew mark and luke recorded this moment as well and of course then it all became from different sources it all became part of the word of god think with me peter could not share that experience with us it happened two thousand years ago on a different continent it happened to peter not to us so he can't share his experience with us but what he could do was write it down and share the record of that experience so that we could have it permanently in the word of god and he's making that point as he writes this letter experience fades but the word of god remains experiences are quite subjective but the word of god is objective truth experiences may be interpreted in different ways by different participants but the word of god consistently gives one clear message what we remember about our experiences well that can be unconsciously subconsciously distorted but the word of god abides forever in peter's day false teachers were trying to turn people away from the word of god by giving them new freedom and deeper experiences that was kind of what their their thing was you can have a new freedom you just believe this you can have a new freedom or you can have a deeper experience and all of those things were contrary to the word of god and of course that's still happening today it's happening in our city it's happening in our province in our nation it's happening around the world maybe more than ever before and peter says he'll talk about it in the next chapter we'll talk about it next week he said these teachers used fake words and through their feigned or fake words oh they're really clever to listen to they're kind of cute and quaint and funny and engaging he said but through their feigned words they teach damnable heresies you see folks brothers and sisters what you believe is a matter of eternal life and death if you believe the truth you will live eternally if you believe lies you will die eternally so what you believe is actually the difference between salvation and damnation you remember who this letter is addressed to we talked about it last week to them that have obtained like precious faith this means that if we've got the same faith as the apostles had if we've got the same doctrine as the apostles had if we've got the same experience as the apostles had we have equal standing with the apostles in the first century church i'm not teaching heresy i'm teaching you the word of god god doesn't say well peter and james and john they were my favorites and i'm going to leave the 21st century with just this kind of ragtag team of ragamuffins that you know they don't really have any strength and they they they don't really know what they're doing that's not what happened at all we are not a less than church we are not an inferior church we are not some kind of secondary church god didn't let the first century church travel up in first class and put the 21st century church in the cargo hold in the back of the plane we have the same god the same truth the same scripture the same experience we have the same thing so we are with like precious faith with the apostles now you're right we did not have a mount of transfiguration experience absolutely correct but we have something better they had that guess what they didn't have this it wasn't put together yet all the epistles hadn't been written yet nobody had ever come up with a brilliant idea yet of taking all those letters and instead of you having to be in a church service when that particular letter came to your little town or city and they read it to you and you had to try to remember for the life of you what they read no we got something way better that they didn't have we've got the word of god we've got every epistle we've got all the old testament prophets we've got the book of psalms and proverbs we've got the history of the jews we've got the acts of the apostles we've got the four gospels we've even got the book of revelation and it hasn't even happened yet we got it all right here so yeah they had a mound of transfiguration experience but not even all of them had that we've got something better we've got the word of god it's all together for us that's why you need to love that book you need to get into that book you need to value that book what a treasure that is we have something better way better far better experience fades but the word of god it remains anyone who is paying any attention to the news media today if you are living in this world at all you can tell us that our world is decidedly getting darker we've got all kinds of conveniences you know we got medical science that can make us live longer but we act worse the longer we live we've got modern travel it can take us farther but when we go the same sin is that's here is there so our world is getting darker war and famine violence and fear evil and greed perversion and wickedness anxiety and hatred racism and rebellion pandemics and plagues this is the new normal and we're supposed to be happy about it i'm not happy about it i don't even like the new normal the new normal oh no i'll get on that rant so i better stop but we shouldn't be surprised if the world's getting darker because this is exactly what the bible prophesied would happen in the last days but peter said i got one more thing to tell you men die but the word lives experience fades but the word remains and i just got one more the world darkens but the word shines we have also a more sure word of prophecy where unto you would do well to take heed it is like a light that shineth in a dark place until that final day dawns and the day star will arise in your hearts the apostles read their letters they did not expect their world to get better they didn't they expected it to become far worse but as it got darker and darker they didn't despair and they didn't have a panic attack because they knew that as the world got darker and darker the word would just keep getting stronger and stronger and brighter and brighter the bible tells us god is light the bible tells us his word is light when jesus began his earthly ministry the prophecy of isaiah was fulfilled it said this the people which sat in darkness saw great light and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up i know that's isaiah talking about jesus earthly ministry i know but i just like to steal isaiah's prophecy for a second and say that all of us that used to be in sin the people that sat in darkness they've seen a great light the people that used to be bound and addicted they've seen a great life the people that used to be headed for hell they've seen a great light and now his church is the light of the world there is more darkness than ever before in our sinful world but the church has a message of light and hope because jesus still saves and jesus is coming soon now we already discerned that you all sleep in on monday so let's try tuesday but if you do get up on tuesday you know this that before the day dawns the day star or the morning star shines brightly up in the sky to herald the dawn to the church john said in revelation 22 jesus is the bright and the morning star and peter says he's our day star the promise of his coming shines brightly no matter how bad or how sad or how dark the world may get the promise of his coming shines brightly but it's even better than that we don't have to wait until that day because his light is in us right now the world darkens but the light the word shines come on back kathy if you would do you remember the day that the word of god shined into your heart for the first time do you remember how powerful it was do you remember how it changed everything in your life do you remember how it broke the chains of sin and set you free do you remember how it transformed you into a new creature and old things were passed away and all things became new there's a good reason it could do all of that because this bible don't ever get over familiar with this bible don't ever get too casual with this bible because the bible is a supernatural book this isn't man's book this isn't ccc's book this brothers and sisters is god's book that's why it works that's why it's powerful that's why you can pray it that's why you can take courage from reading it that's why you can claim a promise and get a miracle just from interacting with it it's god's book [Music] in closing peter says this knowing this first no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation for the prophecy this came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of god spake as they were moved by the holy ghost when peter says that the writers of scripture were moved by the holy ghost he uses the word pharaoh it means to be carried along as a ship would be driven by the wind he's saying to us the scriptures were not man designed they were god breathed god said god said write this peter write this john write this matthew their god breathed god literally spoke his word this word into existence the writers were just the messengers do not think it's strange especially you college-age people do not think it's strange that all the educational institutions and so much of the media and so much of the supposedly learned people of the world do not think it's strange that suddenly they're attacking the accuracy and the authenticity and the origins of the word of god they have been around forever and they're still around and they're getting more vicious and they're on social media and everything else now so the attack has gotten fierce but the word is still the word and when those people's bones have turned to dust if jesus tarries there will still be somebody somewhere getting healed by the power of the word of god there will still be somebody somewhere getting set free from the chains of sin by the power of the word of god there will still be somebody somewhere that gets baptized in the name of jesus because they heard a sermon from the word of god there will still be somebody when their bones are dust and all their books are in the rubbish sheep or in a yard sale there will be somebody saying oh the bible says i can speak in other tongues as the spirit gives utterance and they'll be receiving the same experience that the church had at the beginning [Music] i don't know if you've ever heard this i have but pastors have weird conversations with people on the phone by email we can't even go on facebook and be left in peace somebody's always wanted to argue with preachers even on facebook have you ever heard somebody say well that's not what that verse means to me [Music] you all sleep all day monday and nobody's ever heard anybody say that my goodness if you've ever ever heard anybody say i've heard many people say that well that's not what that verse means to me i know that that's what you think but that's not what it means to me beverly tells me not to so what a stupid statement that is you wouldn't say that about math or physics well that's not what two plus two means to me well that's not what gravity means to me you wouldn't say that about anything else and you say it about the most precious commodity on the planet peter would argue with you that's not how it works here's what peter would tell you since god spoke the bible into existence you need his spirit to understand the bible you can't just come up with your own little private interpretation of what it means you can use the bible to prove almost anything if you want to isolate a verse out of its proper context which is exactly the approach that false teachers use all the time and so i'll close with this that's why you need a church that's why you need pastors that's why you need bible study that's why you need a relationship with god and a prayer life like never before because it is dark and deceptive out there but in the midst of so much darkness there is a powerful light the world is darkening but the word is still shining the world is weakening but the word is getting more powerful the world is fading away but the word of our god shall stand forever and this is the foundation that the church is built upon oh my goodness i wish you'd lift up everything you got singers grab a microphone and help us

Channel: Capital Community Church

Views: 10,564

Rating: 4.8248177 out of 5

Keywords: capital, community, church, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick, canada, upc, upci, united, pentecostal, international, apostolic, christian, preaching, sermons, sermon, raymond, woodward, jack, leaman, matthew, bible, study, biblical teaching

Id: uORcy3eCYpo

Length: 53min 31sec (3211 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 16 2020