WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: Laodicea Part 1 Publishing Date: 2021-05-29T06:00:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/laodicea-part-1/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.360 verse 14 to 22. Hey, can you turn the AC down a little? Don't turn it off, just maybe lower 00:00:09.360 --> 00:00:22.200 the fan a little because I'm standing right under it. Revelation chapter 3, verse 14 to 22. 00:00:22.200 --> 00:00:32.960 Okay, to the angel of the church in Laodicea write, these are the words of the Amen. What a 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:45.120 name, eh? Jesus has a name and one of his names is Amen. These are the words of the Amen, the faithful 00:00:45.120 --> 00:00:53.080 and true witness. The ruler of God's creation. What a brilliant name, the ruler of God's creation. 00:00:53.080 --> 00:01:01.880 Despots, tyrants, kings, presidents, prime ministers, billionaires think they rule the 00:01:01.880 --> 00:01:11.720 world. The ruler of God's creation, faithful and true witness. What a character to aspire to, 00:01:11.720 --> 00:01:18.240 what a characteristic to aspire to. Faithful and true witness. I know your deeds. He always 00:01:18.240 --> 00:01:25.640 knows, eh? I know your deeds that you're neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the 00:01:25.640 --> 00:01:34.400 other. So because you're lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I'm about to spit you out of my mouth. 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:43.280 You say I'm rich, I've acquired wealth and do not need a thing, but you do not realize that you're 00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:53.080 wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire so that 00:01:53.080 --> 00:02:00.600 you can become rich and white clothes to wear so you can cover your shameful nakedness and salve 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:10.440 to put on your eyes so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. Don't be afraid of 00:02:10.440 --> 00:02:22.440 God's disciplinary aid, even though it is painful, it is such an act of love. Those whom I love I 00:02:22.440 --> 00:02:31.120 rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:37.780 hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me. To him who 00:02:37.780 --> 00:02:44.960 overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:51.440 my father on his throne. This is the whole co-heir thing. He overcomes, he sits on his father's throne, 00:02:51.440 --> 00:02:59.400 you overcome, you get the same rights. He who has in you, let him hear what the Spirit says to the 00:02:59.400 --> 00:03:07.720 churches. I know you've heard this preached by many different preachers and I've preached it too in 00:03:07.720 --> 00:03:17.480 the past and verse 15 is where most of the preaching goes to where it says in verse 15 that I know your 00:03:17.480 --> 00:03:23.240 deeds that you're neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other. So because you're 00:03:23.240 --> 00:03:29.080 lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I'm about to spit you out of my mouth. When you read verse 15, the 00:03:29.080 --> 00:03:41.400 problem with verse 15 is that Christ's desire that they be either hot or cold seems to indicate or 00:03:42.120 --> 00:03:50.120 imply that both extremes are okay with Jesus, which is kind of odd that he's okay with you being 00:03:50.120 --> 00:04:03.120 cold spiritually as much as he's okay with you being hot spiritually. That seems so uncharacteristic 00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:08.880 and you don't find scriptures elsewhere to back that up but that is where we usually go with this. 00:04:08.880 --> 00:04:36.600 Laodicea was located about 10 kilometers south of this place called Hierapolis and 15 kilometers 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:59.360 from Colossae and we read about this in Colossians 4, 13 to 16. You read Paul mentioning both places 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:08.560 when he writes to the Colossians. He says in verse 13, actually let's start at verse 12 because 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:15.080 Epiphras seems to be the one who was the guy who was in charge of that entire area, Hierapolis, 00:05:15.080 --> 00:05:21.960 Laodicea, Colossae and here's what it says there, Epiphras who is one of you and a servant of Christ, 00:05:21.960 --> 00:05:28.280 Jesus sends greetings. He's always wrestling in prayer for you that you may stand firm in all the 00:05:28.400 --> 00:05:34.560 will of God, mature and fully assured. I vouch for him that he's working hard for you and for those 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:41.840 at Laodicea and Hierapolis, our dear friend Luke the doctor and Dema send greetings. Give my greetings 00:05:41.840 --> 00:05:47.600 to brothers at Laodicea and Nimphah and the church in her house and then listen to verse 16. After 00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:53.000 this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that 00:05:53.000 --> 00:06:00.680 you in turn read the letter from Laodicea. So these were very connected. Why am I bringing this up? 00:06:00.680 --> 00:06:13.520 Because in Hierapolis you had hot medical springs or medicinal springs not medical springs. They 00:06:13.520 --> 00:06:20.360 didn't have the provincial health officer in those days. So in Hierapolis you had the hot, 00:06:20.840 --> 00:06:31.560 you had hot medicinal springs and in Colossae, Colossae they had cold pure waters. It was known 00:06:31.560 --> 00:06:43.320 for cold pure water. So you had Colossae which had like lakes or ponds that were or streams that 00:06:43.320 --> 00:06:54.320 were cold pure water and then at Hierapolis you had hot medicinal springs. The waters in Laodicea 00:06:54.320 --> 00:06:59.040 though, and Laodicea had a problem with water, the waters in Laodicea though had to be brought in 00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:16.720 through an aqueduct and the water was tepid and lukewarm. So the contrast that Jesus is trying to 00:07:16.720 --> 00:07:26.360 bring is between the hot medicinal waters of Hierapolis and the cold pure waters of Colossae. 00:07:26.360 --> 00:07:37.040 One would provide healing to those that were sick or supposedly provide healing to those that were 00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:52.560 sick. The other would provide relief or refreshing to those that were weary or thirsty. And I would 00:07:52.560 --> 00:08:00.920 suggest to you that it makes more sense to go with the thought that the church in Laodicea was 00:08:00.920 --> 00:08:08.940 being rebuked not for its spiritual temperature but for the fact that it neither was providing 00:08:08.940 --> 00:08:14.120 healing for the spiritually sick nor was it providing refreshment for the spiritually thirsty 00:08:14.120 --> 00:08:19.880 or weary. So the church was not being rebuked for its spiritual condition or temperature, 00:08:19.920 --> 00:08:35.040 it was being rebuked for what we will call the barrenness of works. They seemed to have faith 00:08:35.040 --> 00:08:42.760 but they didn't seem to have any works to back up that the faith they had. And that will be our 00:08:42.760 --> 00:08:49.600 focus over today and tomorrow. This is going to be a super short teaching. That is our focus. We 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:59.560 have faith, yes, but do we have works? That is our focus. We have faith, but do we have works? So 00:08:59.560 --> 00:09:14.200 that will be what we look at today and tomorrow. So I would say that we have faith, 00:09:14.200 --> 00:09:30.840 but I'll ask the question, do we have works? That's an important question to ask at this 00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:38.800 stage in the life of the church and in terms of this revival that God wants to spread throughout 00:09:38.920 --> 00:09:47.320 the earth. A church that is in right relationship with God, a church that is in right relationship 00:09:47.320 --> 00:10:14.520 with God is a church that has works producing faith. A church that is in right relationship 00:10:14.680 --> 00:10:32.040 with God is a church that has work producing or work bearing faith. Work producing or work bearing 00:10:32.040 --> 00:10:44.920 faith. Is that how we are? It's not a barren faith. It's not a barren faith as in a lot of 00:10:44.920 --> 00:10:51.000 faith that is being exerted, perhaps for good personal reasons where personally we benefit, 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:57.840 but we're talking about churches or the kind of church that Jesus Christ wants, that the kind of 00:10:58.360 --> 00:11:05.720 right relationship with God or the kind of church that is righteous is a church that shows faith, 00:11:05.720 --> 00:11:19.600 but it is a works producing or a works bearing faith, not a barren faith. One of the outputs of 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:29.240 our times is that in Christianity faith is used for personal outcomes, not for corporate outcomes. 00:11:29.240 --> 00:11:37.920 Not everything I teach here necessarily applies to Acts 29, but it is important to ask this question 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:49.000 of Acts 29 too. And a faith that doesn't produce works, a faith that doesn't produce works, 00:11:49.000 --> 00:12:06.880 a faith that doesn't produce works should beg the question, what are we talking about when we say 00:12:06.880 --> 00:12:17.840 works producing faith? Any answers? When we say a works producing faith, what are we talking about? 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:28.720 It's important to know because if we are right about what Jesus is pointing out to the church 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:37.800 in Laodicea, it means that they seem to be rich, they seem to have things together, 00:12:37.800 --> 00:12:44.360 but Jesus is saying listen, you're neither hot nor cold, as in you have what it takes, 00:12:44.360 --> 00:12:49.880 but you, I'm not talking about your spiritual condition, I'm talking about the fact that there's 00:12:49.880 --> 00:12:57.240 a barrenness of works, you're not showing any works for the faith you have, and he rebukes them, 00:12:57.240 --> 00:13:09.600 he asks them to repent of it, he tells them that it's vomit-worthy. So what does a life 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:23.640 that, what does a life look like that has faith but does not have works? There's a whole chapter 00:13:23.800 --> 00:13:28.920 written on that in James chapter 2, which we'll go to tomorrow and look at some of it today. 00:13:28.920 --> 00:13:40.080 So let's kind of define what we mean by a faith that does not produce works. 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:57.240 A faith that does not produce works is a faith that only looks out for itself. 00:13:57.240 --> 00:14:11.240 This is where we start guys, but it is not where we stay. One of the things that happened 00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:19.360 with the faith movement is that it became a place where people learned how to grow and exert faith 00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:26.460 for their own needs, and so it's where we start, everything has to start with you practicing 00:14:26.860 --> 00:14:31.580 something, but it's not supposed to then hone in on you. So a faith that doesn't produce works is 00:14:31.580 --> 00:14:46.500 a faith that only looks out for itself. Two, a faith that does not fight for others. It's one thing 00:14:46.500 --> 00:14:53.020 to look just for yourself, and then there are opportunities to fight for others, but you choose 00:14:53.260 --> 00:15:02.740 not to because if you fight for others, you'll have to take on their giants. You'll have to take 00:15:02.740 --> 00:15:08.980 on their giants. Why take on their giants when you have giants of your own? A faith that doesn't 00:15:08.980 --> 00:15:29.460 produce works. A faith that retreats when the promise is not visible. As in, God says something 00:15:29.460 --> 00:15:37.980 and you step out in faith, but when you see what God has said not coming to pass, then you begin 00:15:37.980 --> 00:15:46.920 to retreat, you begin to dilute, you begin to tame your step of faith because you have to be 00:15:46.920 --> 00:15:54.260 reasonable now. So basically, a faith that retreats or a faith that begins to reason, 00:15:54.260 --> 00:16:11.700 a faith that begins to reason when the promise is not visible or when the promise is opposed, 00:16:11.700 --> 00:16:27.980 opposed strongly or violently. A faith that doesn't produce works is a faith that doesn't grow. 00:16:27.980 --> 00:16:42.780 As in, your faith stories are about 10 years old or five years old. There are no new stories 00:16:42.780 --> 00:16:49.140 being authored by the Holy Spirit because of your faith. I hate it when I have to refer to 00:16:49.140 --> 00:16:55.260 something in your life that happened five years ago, two years ago. I do it so that I can encourage 00:16:55.420 --> 00:16:59.820 you so that I can use that story to encourage others, but inside my head, and I say this of 00:16:59.820 --> 00:17:06.740 myself too, inside my head I think, what about last month or two months ago? Because if faith 00:17:06.740 --> 00:17:25.180 is a preferred lifestyle, then faith happens every day. A faith that doesn't produce works is a faith 00:17:25.180 --> 00:17:44.580 that is not exerted corporately. As in, it's just a couple of people that exert it. It isn't something 00:17:44.580 --> 00:17:52.420 that is growing as a people. It is growing as just a couple of leaders or individuals. So you have a 00:17:52.660 --> 00:17:59.860 Joshua, a Caleb, a Moses, and an Aaron when there were actually a million people that left Egypt. 00:17:59.860 --> 00:18:12.220 Now these four have to carry the unbelief of a nation on their shoulders. And if those heroes 00:18:12.220 --> 00:18:24.900 get taken out, then an entire nation dies. And so all the enemy has to focus on is, can I take 00:18:24.900 --> 00:18:32.740 the leaders out? Jesus himself said, when the shepherd is struck, the sheep scatter. What if 00:18:32.740 --> 00:18:40.980 you began to become a people that exert faith corporately, like David's mighty thirty, like 00:18:40.980 --> 00:18:52.220 Gideon's 300? What happens then? What happens then? Who do you attack? Who do you pick out? It's like 00:18:52.220 --> 00:19:00.660 a juggernaut that rolls over you every time you stand up against it. Faith that doesn't produce 00:19:00.660 --> 00:19:15.660 works is a faith that is not exerted corporately. A faith that doesn't produce works is a faith 00:19:15.660 --> 00:19:40.700 that speaks, prays, declares, but does not act or take the risk. 00:19:40.740 --> 00:19:52.220 I'm afraid that we can become like that very easily. I'm afraid that because we are city 00:19:52.220 --> 00:19:59.620 slickers, I'm afraid that because we are a powerful declaration church, a praying church 00:19:59.620 --> 00:20:07.260 when necessary, a speaking church, I'm afraid that that is one way that faith can go barren in our 00:20:07.260 --> 00:20:17.420 case. Where there's a lot of declaration, a lot of speaking, but not enough action to match the 00:20:17.420 --> 00:20:34.900 declaration and the speaking. A faith that doesn't produce works is a faith that waits for conditions 00:20:34.900 --> 00:20:51.220 to be right. As in, it says in Ecclesiastes, when you cut a tree, don't try to figure out should it 00:20:51.220 --> 00:20:56.180 fall north, should it fall south. No, when you cut a tree, go through with it. If you're watching the 00:20:56.180 --> 00:20:59.580 clouds with you, should I go out today, should I not go out today, you won't end up going at all. 00:20:59.580 --> 00:21:08.380 It is faith that waits for all the conditions to be right. What were the Israelites waiting for in 00:21:08.380 --> 00:21:15.060 their foxholes? What was going to happen every day for 40 days when Goliath came out? What were 00:21:15.060 --> 00:21:20.140 they thinking? What was going to happen? A stroke of lightning? Saul suddenly having the courage? 00:21:20.140 --> 00:21:30.020 Goliath having a heart attack? What were they thinking of? 40 days, 40 nights, twice a day, 00:21:30.020 --> 00:21:41.660 shaking in their armor like the song says. A faith that doesn't produce works looks like this. 00:21:41.660 --> 00:21:45.700 Unfortunately, this teaching is going to go long because I had none of these in my notes, 00:21:45.860 --> 00:21:59.740 so it was much shorter before I started. So, could someone take a picture? Oh, you've written it down? 00:21:59.740 --> 00:22:12.140 Okay. That's what a faith that doesn't produce works look like. A faith that doesn't produce 00:22:12.340 --> 00:22:18.260 works, be it the Ten Spies, be it Zechariah, be it Laodicea. Zechariah didn't have the faith for it. 00:22:18.260 --> 00:22:23.740 The Ten Spies didn't have it. They had faith, but they didn't produce works. Zechariah had faith. 00:22:23.740 --> 00:22:31.580 He was one of those priests who used to actually get to minister once in many years in the Holy 00:22:31.580 --> 00:22:37.620 of Holies. Be it the Ten Spies, be it Zechariah, or be it Laodicea, it was not a lack of faith, 00:22:37.620 --> 00:22:44.460 it was a lack of works. And whenever that happens, it's vomit-worthy unless repented of. It is 00:22:44.460 --> 00:22:52.260 vomit-worthy unless repented of. It is vomit-worthy unless repented of. What it does in the bargain is 00:22:52.260 --> 00:22:59.880 it silences God's promise. Whenever faith is present but works are absent, whenever the faith 00:22:59.880 --> 00:23:07.380 I have is not a works-producing, works-bearing faith, then it silences God's promise. It silences 00:23:07.380 --> 00:23:18.020 God's purpose. It silences God's provision, and it silences God's posterity. As in, it's not your 00:23:18.020 --> 00:23:23.300 purpose that is being silenced. It's not your posterity that is being cut off. It is not your 00:23:23.300 --> 00:23:28.460 promise that is being undone. It's not your provision that is being held back. We think it is ours, 00:23:28.460 --> 00:23:35.740 and so we want to again rise up and exert individual faith. No, just imagine if Acts 29 does not. 00:23:35.740 --> 00:23:48.580 Exhibit works bearing faith, then imagine the promise of God for the earth passing us by. It's 00:23:48.580 --> 00:23:54.780 God's promise that passes us by. It gets silenced. It's God's provision that is awaiting the church 00:23:54.780 --> 00:24:04.940 that then goes dry. It is God's purpose that gets delayed, that gets denied. It's God's posterity, 00:24:05.180 --> 00:24:14.500 as in God's intent to produce more Davids and Josephs and Daniels that get silenced. So what 00:24:14.500 --> 00:24:22.860 does God have to do? Go find another people. It's one of the not-so-happy-God tasks that God does. 00:24:22.860 --> 00:24:34.060 Go in finding another people. You think Capernaum should have been passed by? You 00:24:34.060 --> 00:24:39.540 think Galilee should have been passed by? He came to his own people, man. 00:24:39.540 --> 00:24:58.340 Then the other fact is most churches won't even step into this place of just exerting faith, 00:24:58.340 --> 00:25:06.700 leave alone producing works. Churchianity is paying the cost of diluting, of hyping, 00:25:06.860 --> 00:25:12.540 of sterilizing, of taming, of rationalizing faith because the church in general is toothless. 00:25:12.540 --> 00:25:21.780 Because we rationalize faith. We sterilize it. We tame it. We hype it. 00:25:21.780 --> 00:25:36.420 We're producing a toothless church, but just having faith and confessing it while important 00:25:36.540 --> 00:25:43.340 gives you teeth. It doesn't mean that it produces works. That's what I want us to 00:25:43.340 --> 00:25:49.540 just remember for the next two days, today and tomorrow, and then practice it for the rest of 00:25:49.540 --> 00:26:04.220 your life. So be it salvation, be it healing, be it revival. Faith cannot be reduced to 00:26:04.220 --> 00:26:16.060 confession or just sheer trust. That's a great place to start, but it cannot be reduced to 00:26:16.060 --> 00:26:27.740 confession and trust. It puts us in a difficult position, eh? This teaching? Because we can say 00:26:27.740 --> 00:26:33.540 all the confessions we want, we can sing all the confessions we want about revival, but now Jacob, 00:26:33.540 --> 00:26:40.860 if you are not able to lead the people into actual works producing faith, then you're a great faith 00:26:40.860 --> 00:26:49.900 teacher. That's all you are. Works producing faith is what God is looking for. Always been looking 00:26:49.900 --> 00:26:55.620 for. The Bible is full of stories of works producing faith. All the guys in Hebrews chapter 11 were 00:26:55.780 --> 00:27:18.820 producing works producing faith people. Faith is invisible and fetal till it takes on full-blown 00:27:18.900 --> 00:27:31.660 action. Faith is invisible and fetal until it takes on full-blown action or until it takes on 00:27:31.660 --> 00:27:41.820 full-blown action or works. It must go into full-blown acts or works before it can move from its nascent 00:27:41.820 --> 00:27:47.020 stage to something that is mature, something that is visible. Otherwise it remains invisible. 00:27:47.020 --> 00:28:00.420 Here's the thing guys, and this really caught me. It is one thing to say to your servants, 00:28:00.420 --> 00:28:10.580 yes the boy and I are going up that mountain and you begin the journey. That's great. Confession 00:28:10.580 --> 00:28:16.940 is made and you even take a step of faith. As you're going up the mountain, your boy turns 00:28:16.940 --> 00:28:25.900 to you and he says to you, but father where is the lamp for the sacrifice? And it's still 00:28:25.900 --> 00:28:32.500 wonderful that you have the faith and the confession and the belief to say God will 00:28:32.500 --> 00:28:39.100 provide a lamp. And you get to the top of the mountain and you're absolutely sure God will 00:28:39.100 --> 00:28:49.300 provide the lamp. But now you get to the top of the mountain and there is no lamp. Works producing 00:28:49.300 --> 00:28:57.420 faith is when you actually take your son and bind him and put him on the altar and pull out your 00:28:57.420 --> 00:29:06.780 knife. That is works producing faith. And that is the question I'm asking you. Do you have it? Do I 00:29:06.860 --> 00:29:19.900 have it? Do we have it? Genesis 22 verse 8 talks about it. It is one thing to say God will provide 00:29:19.900 --> 00:29:27.460 a lamp in Genesis 22 8. But it's another thing then to bind your son and lay him on the altar 00:29:27.460 --> 00:29:33.100 in Genesis 22 9 when there is no lamp visible. And then it is quite another thing to pull out 00:29:33.100 --> 00:29:41.980 your knife. What kind of faith is this man? It is works producing faith. It is fruit bearing faith. 00:29:41.980 --> 00:29:48.820 It engages in works and therefore it is counted to you as being in right relationship with God. 00:29:48.820 --> 00:30:07.740 It's crazy man. Guys these are the standards we must aspire for because faith is being lost on 00:30:07.740 --> 00:30:16.100 the earth. You can see now why Jesus said and it's a horrible statement he makes but when I return 00:30:16.180 --> 00:30:23.980 will I find faith on the earth? He asks that question because faith is being lost on the earth. 00:30:23.980 --> 00:30:30.220 Faith is being lost how? Faith is not being lost by individuals. Faith is being lost by the people 00:30:30.220 --> 00:30:42.100 of God. The people of God collectively are no longer behaving like Gideon's 300, no longer 00:30:42.220 --> 00:31:10.580 behaving like David's mighty 30. But you have to have these individuals. Faith is faithfulness, 00:31:10.620 --> 00:31:24.980 I love this. Faith is faithfulness to a command. Faith is faithfulness to a command which is then 00:31:24.980 --> 00:31:40.420 evidenced in acts or works. Faith is faithfulness to a command. He received a command, take your son 00:31:40.900 --> 00:31:49.540 go to the mountain. I want you to offer a sacrifice. It's faithfulness to a command. 00:31:52.580 --> 00:31:59.220 This is why we as a church have less and less excuse because unfortunately 00:32:00.100 --> 00:32:02.420 in a way of speaking we've learned to hear the voice of God. 00:32:02.420 --> 00:32:15.100 So we will hear commands. Now that you hear commands immediately you go into a place where 00:32:15.100 --> 00:32:19.340 now you have your it'll be seen whether you'll be faithful to the command church. 00:32:19.340 --> 00:32:26.340 And then if you're faithful to the command it's one thing to confess it, one thing to trust in it, 00:32:26.340 --> 00:32:30.820 one thing to pray it, one thing to sing it. It's another thing to now evidence it in acts or works 00:32:31.300 --> 00:32:42.180 as a group of people. So we're not talking, I mean the problem with James as soon as he wrote 00:32:42.180 --> 00:32:47.620 the book of James and people began reading it, the problem became, oh Paul said it was by faith, 00:32:47.620 --> 00:32:52.980 James is saying it's by work. It's not faith plus works, it's working faith. 00:32:53.540 --> 00:33:01.540 Because a work less faith is not a lifestyle that is acceptable for a believer. A work less faith, 00:33:01.540 --> 00:33:09.940 a works less faith is not a lifestyle acceptable for a believer. So God is not saying okay now 00:33:09.940 --> 00:33:14.020 that you've shown faith I want you to work. No, now that you've shown faith let me see your works. 00:33:15.140 --> 00:33:17.140 It should produce fruit. 00:33:18.100 --> 00:33:19.860 It should produce fruit. 00:33:23.940 --> 00:33:27.860 That's why I said this line before that, faith is faithfulness to a command. 00:33:28.980 --> 00:33:33.300 The hearing and the faithfulness to what you've heard is still vitally important. 00:33:47.300 --> 00:33:55.700 Guys, the reason we can avoid works and just stick with faith is because once, 00:33:55.700 --> 00:34:01.940 because we don't, the reason we cannot avoid works and just stick with faith is because works actually 00:34:03.300 --> 00:34:05.300 test your faith. 00:34:09.780 --> 00:34:13.780 As in, hey Abraham, I'm going to give you a little bit of a lesson. 00:34:14.260 --> 00:34:21.700 As in, hey Abraham, so you're a man of great faith, sure let me test you. Let me see whether 00:34:21.700 --> 00:34:25.700 you will offer your only son who I gave you by promise, whether you'll offer him up to me. 00:34:26.180 --> 00:34:29.700 Works test your faith. 00:34:30.020 --> 00:34:32.020 Your faith. 00:34:40.420 --> 00:34:46.820 Second, works prove your faith. 00:34:49.700 --> 00:34:51.220 Works test your faith. 00:34:51.620 --> 00:34:53.620 Faith. 00:34:54.500 --> 00:34:58.500 What is faith? Faithfulness to a command. 00:35:04.260 --> 00:35:11.220 And evidenced in acts or works. Acts, yeah. 00:35:14.340 --> 00:35:20.420 Works test your faith. Did I tell you this Jacob? Well, let me test your faith 00:35:21.940 --> 00:35:29.140 by seeing whether you will actually put it into action. What works have you shown me 00:35:29.700 --> 00:35:31.860 for the command I gave you? What have you done? 00:35:35.060 --> 00:35:42.340 And like I said, it has to be work bearing faith, which means you've got to go through those lists, 00:35:42.340 --> 00:35:50.660 that list that I put up earlier to see whether it actually produces works. Does it begin to retreat? 00:35:50.660 --> 00:35:56.340 Does it begin to rationalize once you realize that yes, a command was given, but I don't have 00:35:56.340 --> 00:36:01.300 the means. Yes, the command was given, but I'm facing opposition. Yes, the command was given, 00:36:01.300 --> 00:36:04.500 but I have to be reasonable. Yes, the command was given, but I will look foolish. 00:36:09.620 --> 00:36:14.580 Please try not to apply this to your personal lives only. Please think of us as a church too. 00:36:15.140 --> 00:36:18.500 It's not just a pastor's job to think of us as a church. 00:36:21.300 --> 00:36:24.900 So apply to your individual lives, yes, but think of us as a church too. 00:36:26.420 --> 00:36:32.340 It's very easy for a church that knows how to walk in faith to be happy with the faith that we are 00:36:32.340 --> 00:36:44.020 exerting every day with the muscle that we earned eight years ago. It's very easy for a church or an 00:36:44.020 --> 00:36:50.340 individual to think that they're walking well in faith using a muscle that they developed eight 00:36:50.340 --> 00:36:57.220 years ago because that muscle that they developed is still 95% better than the rest of the people 00:36:57.220 --> 00:37:10.900 around them, but it is still eight years old now. Part of the reason I encourage you to discover your 00:37:11.940 --> 00:37:16.900 season in life, your destiny at this particular time in your life, what it looks like for the 00:37:16.980 --> 00:37:21.140 next six months is if you don't discover it, you will never meet a Goliath bigger than the 00:37:21.140 --> 00:37:27.620 one you dealt with last time. And if you don't meet a Goliath bigger than the last one you met, 00:37:27.620 --> 00:37:34.900 you will never break into a new place. So my question is, is Acts 29 dealing with 00:37:34.900 --> 00:37:40.180 bigger Goliaths now or is Acts 29 dealing with Goliaths that it already beat two years ago, 00:37:40.180 --> 00:37:50.500 three years ago? That is my fear and I'm saying to you actually that Acts 29 is beating 00:37:51.540 --> 00:37:56.260 giants that it has already learned how to beat some years ago. We're not beating new giants. 00:37:59.380 --> 00:38:03.540 And there ain't no revival going to happen and there ain't no new territory going to come 00:38:03.540 --> 00:38:08.020 till we now begin to step into works producing faith which I hope to talk about tomorrow. 00:38:10.180 --> 00:38:15.300 It's like beating the same soccer team over and over again. 00:38:18.820 --> 00:38:22.500 I mean the Boston Bruins don't take any more pleasure in beating the Maple Leafs. 00:38:23.460 --> 00:38:25.300 It's like happening for years on end. 00:38:40.180 --> 00:38:54.260 How do we know the new giants? You know the new giants only if you take a risk into a territory 00:38:54.260 --> 00:39:02.420 you haven't gone to before. You will never meet new giants if you are staying still in the place 00:39:02.420 --> 00:39:14.020 that you have now occupied for a little while. Opposition, intimidation, fear, difficulty to 00:39:14.020 --> 00:39:28.260 make progress, size, impossibility, irrationality, illogical and suddenly I mean all the things that 00:39:28.340 --> 00:39:36.020 you would not desire. The best way to look at it is Deuteronomy 9.3. I know I've read this recently 00:39:36.020 --> 00:39:41.860 but just look at it again. Deuteronomy 9.3. 00:39:42.500 --> 00:39:44.500 1, 2, 3. 00:39:52.500 --> 00:39:54.500 1, 2, 3. 00:39:54.500 --> 00:39:59.140 Here O Israel, you are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations 00:39:59.140 --> 00:40:03.220 greater and stronger than you with large cities that have walls up to the sky. The people are 00:40:03.220 --> 00:40:07.940 strong and tall. Anakites, you know about them and have heard it said. Who can stand up against the 00:40:07.940 --> 00:40:13.060 anakites but be assured today that the Lord your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like 00:40:13.060 --> 00:40:18.820 a devouring fire. So he's sending them into a territory where the cities are larger, the walls 00:40:18.820 --> 00:40:26.580 are higher, the people are giants, stronger, greater than the Israelites who have come out of 00:40:26.580 --> 00:40:32.980 slavery but are still not the warrior type but he's sending them into it because without sending 00:40:32.980 --> 00:40:39.300 them into it God cannot prove himself anymore to us. That's a sad thing. Not only do you not 00:40:40.900 --> 00:40:47.140 at the end of the day who are the people that who suffers for not producing 00:40:48.740 --> 00:40:54.900 works related faith? The people. Why? Because their God is mid-sized. Their God is the size they 00:40:54.900 --> 00:40:59.460 met two years ago. Their God doesn't grow larger because there's nothing to beat. 00:40:59.460 --> 00:41:06.340 That is bothersome for me and I'm saying to you that Acts 29 needs 00:41:09.140 --> 00:41:15.780 works producing faith afresh because the giants we are presently beating are giants that we've 00:41:15.780 --> 00:41:21.860 beaten two years ago. It's a foolish thing I'm doing. 00:41:29.460 --> 00:41:33.860 There's another scripture. 00:41:40.500 --> 00:41:44.900 I wish someone would find it for me. It's a scripture that says 00:41:45.460 --> 00:41:46.660 there's another scripture. 00:41:53.140 --> 00:41:57.300 I wish someone would find it for me. It's a scripture that says 00:42:00.740 --> 00:42:08.100 that I'll leave some opposition, I'll leave some opposition behind so that you get seasoned in war. 00:42:09.060 --> 00:42:13.940 Can you find that? It might be in Joshua. Don't take my word for it. 00:42:15.860 --> 00:42:18.260 If you find that let me know. I'd love to read that scripture. 00:42:21.140 --> 00:42:23.620 Can half of you find it and half pay attention? 00:42:25.140 --> 00:42:30.580 Or let's just wait till someone finds it. Like I said the teaching is short. We're trying to 00:42:30.580 --> 00:42:34.020 prolong it so that you don't feel like you're in another church. 00:42:34.340 --> 00:42:35.860 Can someone find it? 00:42:41.860 --> 00:42:42.660 It is Joshua. 00:42:42.660 --> 00:42:48.660 Judges 3-1. Judges 3-1 is the one I'm looking for. 00:42:48.900 --> 00:42:51.300 Yeah, Judges 3-1 is the one I'm looking for. 00:42:57.140 --> 00:43:06.020 Hi, yeah. Judges 3-1. These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had 00:43:06.020 --> 00:43:12.420 not experienced any of the wars in Canaan. He did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of 00:43:12.420 --> 00:43:18.660 Israelites who had not had previous battle experience. Just think of that man. Isn't it 00:43:18.660 --> 00:43:22.500 nuts? What kind of God is this? Is this the God you really want? 00:43:27.780 --> 00:43:31.700 These are the nations the Lord left to test all the Israelites who had not experienced 00:43:31.700 --> 00:43:36.660 any of the wars in Canaan. He did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of Israel 00:43:36.740 --> 00:43:43.140 who had not had previous battle experience. Verse 4. They were left to test the Israelites 00:43:43.140 --> 00:43:47.940 to see whether they would obey the Lord's commands which he had given their forefathers through Moses. 00:43:47.940 --> 00:43:49.140 It is nuts, man. 00:43:52.340 --> 00:43:58.980 So I'm going to lead us in a prayer shortly saying, I'll try not to be like George Bush saying, 00:43:58.980 --> 00:44:05.780 bring it on. It won't be that crass, but it'll be saying, oh God, please, we're dealing with 00:44:05.780 --> 00:44:14.580 giants from two years ago. So works actually test your faith, works prove your faith. 00:44:14.580 --> 00:44:27.540 And then the other cool thing is that works are followed by provision. 00:44:28.260 --> 00:44:36.500 So in Genesis 22, you see works testing Abraham, offer your only son. Then you see 00:44:36.500 --> 00:44:44.020 works proving Abraham. Do not touch that boy. You have not held back your own son from me. 00:44:44.020 --> 00:44:50.420 And so you have proven your faith and I credit it to you as right standing with me. And then 00:44:50.420 --> 00:44:59.220 a most marvelous thing happens. God turns up as Jaira, Yahweh Jaira. That's the name 00:45:00.180 --> 00:45:05.140 that is revealed immediately after. For there was a lamb caught in the ticket. 00:45:06.260 --> 00:45:11.860 It was invisible and suddenly it becomes visible. And Moses builds an altar and calls that place 00:45:11.860 --> 00:45:15.060 Yahweh Jaira, God the provider. 00:45:15.620 --> 00:45:24.340 There are rewards. So it's the meshing of believing and acting that gets you named God's friend. 00:45:25.140 --> 00:45:32.020 That's the other cool thing that happens. Believing, confessing, praying is great. 00:45:33.540 --> 00:45:37.300 But there's a place that every church must desire to go. 00:45:37.460 --> 00:45:40.660 There's a place every individual in a church should desire to go. 00:45:40.660 --> 00:45:46.340 But there's a place that every church must desire to go. And that place is God's friend. 00:45:48.820 --> 00:45:56.980 And that happens through the meshing of believing and acting. The mesh of believing and acting 00:45:57.780 --> 00:46:05.860 gets you named God's friend. And that's the place where you are going to be called God's friend. 00:46:08.180 --> 00:46:13.060 The mesh of believing and acting gets you named God's friend. 00:46:18.980 --> 00:46:22.900 Let me conclude with a scripture and then I'll pray and then we'll sing the voice of truth one more time. 00:46:30.980 --> 00:46:35.380 Go to James, go to the message, go to James chapter 2. 00:46:38.020 --> 00:46:49.780 James 2, 16 onwards from the message. 00:46:51.940 --> 00:46:55.300 James 2, 17 onwards from the message. 00:46:55.860 --> 00:47:04.340 Okay, isn't it obvious that God talk without God acts is outrageous nonsense? 00:47:07.140 --> 00:47:11.940 I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, sounds good, you take care of the faith department, 00:47:11.940 --> 00:47:18.340 I'll handle the works department. Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith 00:47:18.660 --> 00:47:23.380 not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith 00:47:24.340 --> 00:47:30.260 than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together, 00:47:30.260 --> 00:47:36.980 hand in glove. Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God but then observe you 00:47:36.980 --> 00:47:41.620 complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons 00:47:41.620 --> 00:47:48.820 do that too but what good does it do them? Use your heads. Do you suppose for a minute 00:47:48.820 --> 00:47:53.620 that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands? 00:47:55.300 --> 00:48:00.820 Wasn't our ancestor Abraham made right with God by works when he placed his son Isaac on the 00:48:00.820 --> 00:48:07.940 sacrificial altar? Isn't it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners? That faith expresses 00:48:07.940 --> 00:48:14.260 itself in works? That works are the works of faith? The full meaning of believe in the scripture 00:48:14.260 --> 00:48:22.180 sentence, Abraham believed God and was set right with God, includes his action. It's that mesh 00:48:22.180 --> 00:48:28.580 of believing and acting that God Abraham named God's friend. Is it not evident that a person is made 00:48:28.580 --> 00:48:35.460 right with God not by barren faith but by faith fruitful in works? The same with Rahab, the Jericho 00:48:35.460 --> 00:48:42.340 harlot. Wasn't her action in hiding God's spies and helping them escape that seamless unity of 00:48:42.340 --> 00:48:49.460 believing and doing what counted with God? The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up 00:48:49.460 --> 00:48:55.700 with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing, a corpse. Sometimes the message 00:48:56.260 --> 00:49:00.020 is able to convey it very simply, very clearly. 00:49:05.460 --> 00:49:08.260 I'm gonna do the song first and then the prayer. 00:49:10.740 --> 00:49:15.380 Just once through, maybe the chorus repeated at the end, 00:49:16.740 --> 00:49:20.740 otherwise straight through and then we'll pray.