Sys & Dispensational Theology Week 13 Any Sure Word PROPHECY'S SURE WORD 2 Thess. 2:1-3

uh since it's time to start going father we thank you Lord for being with us today God we ask that you would help guide us through your word at this time lord we're just turning that corner in this class we ask you to be with us these next three or four weeks together as we move from putting topics of Doctrine together as we as we've looked at a survey of theology surrounding How We Do discipleship and adding in the things that might not be covered there and so moving from putting those topics together to putting the Bible together doctrinally and so be with us now Lord as we open your word together we ask it in Jesus precious name amen so going to have you start off in second Thessalonians 2 because I want to pick up kind of where I left off last time and and uh you know I passed a church Marquee on the way in actually this morning I mean it wasn't like it was just a saying on the Marquee it was part of the church sign out front as their permanent statement out front of their Church and it said live the bigger story and and I thought you know if I was just a lost person I was driving by their Church you know what kind of jargon is that live the bigger story and you know just you know I'm like you know does the bible say that is is that what the gospel offers us exactly uh you know and and if not then why not say what the Bible says out on your church sign because you know I'm just not sure lost person has any interest in or understands what it means live the bigger story well okay I mean that that sounds like a good commercial for uh you know I I don't know Burger King or somebody that has bigger patties I don't know but so here in second Thessalonians 2 so we're moving uh we're moving uh to the flooring that goes between the pillars so I'll say that the topics of doctrine that we have considered you know angelology in christology and bibliology and pneumatology okay those were the pillars now we're trying to put the flooring in between and start erecting next Saturday Lord willing uh the dispensations uh but let me let me nail down uh some of the boards as we get started here and then we'll move on second Thessalonians 2 verse one now we beseech you Brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ that's the second Advent comma and by our gathering together and to him that's the Rapture which chronologically precedes it but all throughout the Bible you know you'll have God mention things in reverse order that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by Spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand because it's not the day of Christ is a judgment seat of Christ and it can't be at hand if the Rapture of the church and the resurrection of dead Saints has not taken place uh let no man deceive you and in terms of you know day of Christ being the Judgment seat of Christ in previous sessions we proved that just through simple English Bible exegesis so let no man deceive you by any means for that day that part of that day uh the last day which he's talking about in verse 4 it shall not come not the day of the Lord in general not the day of Christ which is Judgment seat of Christ and not even the second Advent but after the Rapture then the beginning of Daniel's 70th week the last seven years of his vision Daniel 9 verses 24 to 27 shall not come except there come a falling away first which again you know simple English Bible exegesis that phrase always and only refers to a Hebrew Christian falling away from faith in Christ alone in order to go back to Temple sacrifices and that man of sin be revealed the Antichrist who after he is revealed to be reconfirming the Covenant of Moses with the Jews which is the Covenant that he confirms and he does it at the beginning of those seven years then in the midst of those seven years he shows that he is actually the son of perdition now there are other interesting things that we probably left you hanging with at the end of the last session you know we defined who enters the millennial Kingdom uh we kind of left open who enters the millennial State I haven't quite got there yet but unless you're going to annihilate the devil and his angels and his followers then for them to suffer for eternity means you do not eliminate sin entirely you quarantine it so that's what God does he quarantines it and the souls who are resurrected at the white Throne judgment uh or Believers like us who already have a glorified body like Christ well you know after seven dispensations God gets us right back to Genesis chapter one his his purpose is not thwarted so he's taken plenty of time to do it but he's going to get us right back to Genesis 1 and every soul in eternity he ends up either a Son of God like Adam was with with the body that he had in Eden or made like unto the Son of God Jesus with the same body he had after the resurrection but those are things that uh you know we're not given a lot of detail on because some of that doesn't apply to us and so it's important for you to know from the standpoint of sound Doctrine uh that leads to Eternal salvation versus our contemporary theology that the cult groups the Catholics liturgical churches Mainline Protestants and nominations calvinist reformed charismatics of almost any shape um you know they they all end up with a false doctrine that condemns people to amaze that never really ends up leading them to Heaven it's not it's not like all roads lead to Heaven it's like Jesus is the only way and if you don't come that way then uh you're condemned to amaze and never make it so here is our thesis for this session people are condemned to false gospels if they do not rightly divide their whole Bible so if you don't have sound Doctrine you don't have a sure salvation so the Bible lets us know that this conflict for Souls between God and the devil spans eternity in times and seasons and the purpose of time setting in between two eternities eternity past and Eternity future the purpose of time is to provide a period for testing and so that within time there is an unfolding of seven dispensations and we're working up to that we'll start going through those next Saturday but within the Bible there's a progressive revelation of that plan and it culminates in a completion and uh you know is is your Bible the testimony of God in Scripture or is it the Scholastic Quest of who would be uh autonomous man uh you know humanistic man who can make his own way and he's separate from God and he himself is the authority so is the is your Bible the authority or or Scholars and others that you look to the authority is your Authority Divine or human is it God or self is it man's word or divine revelation if the Bible is the authority then there is a sure word of Prophecy now let me be kind and Rewind and give you the back story so that you understand the context if if you never take the time to learn you'll not be able to study so so that's the you know prophet of what we do with our discipleship one our discipleship two and then now our Institute level classes when you learn you have to learn according to the way that God teaches that's our first point for study God teaches by three separate methods by comparison by contrast and by consistency so comparison or Association is always accompanied by pictures like the Bible types in the Old Testament so God teaches by comparison he also teaches by contrast and contrast is always accompanied by division uh poor ahemplow the law is contrasted with grace for salvation in this dispensation the Kingdom of Heaven is contrasted with the kingdom of God the two Natures of the believer are contrasted your your new nature you get when you're born again in your old nature you're standing in Christ is contrasted with your state in life so we're seated with Christ in Heavenly places that's our standing that's our identity but our condition any moment on this planet the state we are in may be may be different than that the Rapture is contrasted with Second Coming the church is contrasted with Israel so God teaches by comparison by contrast that means you have to learn the Bible by rightly dividing the distinctions that he draws and then third third the Bible uh um uh God's method of teaching is through consistency and consistency is accompanied by repetition and one thing you can always count on is the consistency of God that's why I can take pictures of the Old Testament and know that they apply as an illustration of New Testament truth now that would all sound simple enough but unfortunately the trouble comes in two directions people today have trouble with the truth uh you know like the old country song used to say and so those who follow God's truth also end up facing trouble turn if you would to Second Timothy chapter two I will say that we kind of bear a stigma for declaring end-time prophecies according to a systematic discipline of rightly dividing scripture almost nobody else does that and uh those you know everybody else labels us as Kooks and nuts and liberal intellectuals and scholarly Skeptics ridiculous for insisting on a literal fulfillment of all the prophecies concerning the end of this age and the day of the Lord but when you have a systematic discipline of rightly dividing scripture then you discover what I would call the ruling lines of progression a progressive revelation the boundary markers uh the margins the boundary lines and so today here they are number one there is one Eternal purpose second Timothy 2 15 says study to show thyself approved unto God a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed how do we do that by rightly dividing the word of Truth which is another way of saying your Bible your completed Bible that you have now so to be approved unto God you need to be a Workman in his word and all workmen have to know the blueprint they have to know the plan so you got to know the drawings and the specs so that you can make right Cuts so if we do not correctly Define God's plan for the ages we will be ashamed before him and beyond that Cults and charismatics and Kooks will will beat you over the head with your own Bible so the Bible is a divine revelation it is a divine plan which is revealed progressively it describes things that only God can do create something out of nothing and then resurrect it to life after it's killed so creation ruin Redemption what does it mean to rightly divide the truth of God's word well in essence we are back to a dispensational view which goes from creation to ruin to Redemption from Perfection to full to Recreation or rebirth so from our perspective on this side of Eternity it is all about the work of discipleship which is transformation because biblical discipleship expresses the resurrection to walk in New Life After Redemption and the problem with so many churches kind of like ours or other Baptist Churches or even those that preach a pure gospel is they stop with evangelism and there's no discipleship to teach a Believer how to walk in New Life After Redemption they are Christ's body and and we are Christians and we're not making Christ followers we are making little christs and so let me be kind and Rewind so you don't miss that because God's goal is to clone a lot of little Christ's in this life and I know all the you know the people that have you know be part of the bigger story on their Church Marquee stopped calling themselves Christians long time ago and they call themselves Christ followers um which uh it's kind of just like all the modern Bible versions inaccurate uh because we are not just followers of the teachings of Jesus even the Dalai Lama does some of that um you know as as wicked as he may be with uh little little boys but uh uh we're you know we're not just followers of the teachings of Jesus Christians are Christ clones with his genetic spiritual DNA so I hope that we are not just Christ followers I hope we are true Christians little Christ because then what is true of you on the inside will be apparent on the outside and that is the hope of the glory of God by Jesus Christ through his body this church Colossians 1 27. and this is so important because followership does not require personal transformation Peter followed Jesus afar off but it is it it what you need is not followership you need Fellowship which requires Progressive sanctification so if there has been no change in your character since you got saved if you're only following Christ but you are not a Christen there will be no transformation therefore there will be no fellowship with God and so let me hit you with this definition transformation in other words making disciples is the spirit-driven process of shaping the inner man in such a way that the outer man becomes christ-like and we all have a tendency to fail and fall at that point because you know obviously we're supposed to walk by faith and not by sight but it's so easy to walk by side and forget faith and and and so spiritual transformation is a divine grace it is activated by faith in the word of God to do the work that you cannot do on your own of changing yourself because true spirituality is those four things it is divine grace activated by faith doing a work you cannot do and changing your personality so much so that your outer life becomes a natural expression of the character of Christ and I'm taking time with this on the front end of this session because this is what sound theology has to do for you because what true spirituality takes is three things to make any real spiritual transformation there are three critical ingredients a number one vision and vision means that we are gripped by the necessity of glorifying God we desire the desirability of this because as soon as the vision is clear then it sweeps everything else up into its Vortex even in difficult and distracting circumstances then second along with vision we've got to have Earnest intention because projects of spiritual transformation do not happen automatically they do not happen accidentally they spring from a decision that you make to walk with Christ so action has to be purposeful it has to start from the inside and that is called intention so you got to get your will involved it's not um it is not a it is not a will worship it is not uh you know you're just going to do this by an act of will no it's your it is your decision to trust it is your will to trust and let the word of God do the work that brings us third to strategy our strategy and glorifying God by Jesus Christ is to do it through his body the church so there is a means and instrumentality which enables Our intention to fulfill the vision it is Christ's body this church it is so the vision is clear the intention is earnest the means and the methods are consistent and then the outcome is assured um now a plot is a complicated plan gradually developed in a story and a plot Vines the story contained in the book or in the show or in the movie into one unit turn to Genesis chapter 3. because all details in a story revolve around just one plot and that one plot is developing and unfolding in the drama until it reaches a denuma that that last part of a play or a movie or a narrative and I know you're surprised I could pronounce that it's actually a French word and it has about you know 15 letters but you only pronounce four of them because that that's French and uh so at the end you know it it reaches that point and then at the end all the loose ends tied together everything's explained or resolved smaller scenes are recorded along the way uh to provide interest in story and maybe give background on on characters and what's happening and and they provide the subplots and the themes contribute something to the completion of the overall plot well that same principle is um applied to The Greatest Story Ever Told in that survival that is filled with many subplots showing all facets of human nature filled with conspiracy filled with Intrigue and yet every detail fits into an unfolding of the seed plot the seed plot of the Bible is found in Genesis 3 15 because it is the first direct Messianic prophecy Genesis 3 15 and I will put enmity between thee and the woman he's speaking to the serpent I will make you the serpent her enemy and between thy seed and her seed thy seed the Antichrist her seed Luke 1 35 Jesus uh it her seed shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel now turn to John chapter 1. human history began with Adam he was he was given Dominion he was told to expand hit that Dominion he was defeated by Satan Satan had usurped this planet to set up his counterfeit Kingdom through the kingdoms of this world and the story could have ended whenever God confronted Satan in the Garden of Eden but that was not the plot that the Trinity decided on in eternity past so instead God set the stage for a drama of redemption and it's never been equaled part of it states that the woman apart from the man will actually have her own seed I mean that's what Genesis 3 15 says now that's crazy because not even artificial insemination produces a virgin birth and yet no man inserted seed into Mary another part of that plot states that the enemy is also going to have a seed and the devil can create life he just can't do it out of dust Exodus 8 verses 17 and 18. so the Antichrist is as much the seed of the serpent as Jesus is the seed of the woman so the Bible has to be interpreted and understood in light of that backstory now John chapter 1 verse 45 Philip findeth Nathanael and saith unto him we have found him of whom Moses and the law and the prophets did right Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph then if you'll go to chapter five over with me chapter 5 John chapter 5 verse 39 search the scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testify of me so Nathanael Philip Philip says to Nathanael we found him Moses wrote about him in the law and Prophets we found him Jesus confirms yeah that you know they are they which testify they search the scriptures scriptures testify me so Jesus is the one great subject the entire Bible in an unfolding drama of God's Redemptive Eternal purpose uh Jesus is the star not hot Jesus like in the Bible mini-series but but real mainly Jesus and he has promised as the seed of the woman in Genesis 3 15. he is predicted throughout the Old Testament he is presented in the gospels he is performing his plan right now through his body this church and then after that all hope a restoration for Humanity and creation is centered in Christ and in his return and so he comes he becomes the head of a new race he crushes the Serpent's head who brought the uh original ruin in the garden he bruises his head so at the first Adam could not do in setting up God's kingdom and Dominion the last Adam does therefore the king and his kingdom become the greatest subject of The Greatest Story Ever Told because it's the subject of the Bible and that means the parts of your Bible are all arranged with reference to Christ uh as king of his kingdom and so I think we charted that for you there on your handout everything else in the Bible is subordinate to this plot this is the master key this is the Master's key to the scriptures so our key word for the quiz is king So if you're taking this class for credit in lfbi then each week we have a quiz so make sure that you if you were not here or you were not out at Midtown in real time or someplace else you did actually view the lecture and the key and the key word that you will have to have for that quiz is the word King now with this key you can open up and understand all of the different parts of the Bible and the life of Christ all of those things which are a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to the Lost to the cult groups and even to most of Evangelical them in some of Baptists certainly a rock of offense and stumbling block to reformed and calvinist theologians and yet with this key you can understand the difficult you can see the Obscure you can answer the objections you can illustrate with Bible types and you can put to silence the ignorance of foolish men so if you're not asleep I know just what you're saying Alan I know God's will is more than just for me to get saved be forgiven and granted eternal life I know that because it's only logical that if God has given me eternal life it is because he has some Eternal purpose okay turn to Matthew 28. he does have a purpose for eternity because God's dream for all of us is to grow up into Christ's image to be mature become mature to obtain the full stature of the measure of the fullness of Christ Ephesians 4 13. that is God's dream and that is discipleship's goal but the Systematic Theology in this course is not tied to the scholars opinions I didn't give you those oh well I mean I in passing I think I gave you some just so you'd be familiar with what is taught in other Bible colleges or seminaries but it's really the you know the it's not tied to Scholars opinions it is tied to discipleship and Jesus said that all the Earth will be drawn to him if we will fulfill the mission of the Great Commission because the Great Commission has to do with discipleship so our Great Commission Matthew 28 verse 18 and Jesus came and spake unto them saying all power is given unto me in heaven and in Earth so what so this go ye therefore and teach All Nations that's discipleship uh three things you got to do to get them disciple baptizing them in the name of the father Son and Holy Ghost so they they get saved and you baptize them uh T the you know the church baptizes them teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you and lo I'm with you always even unto the end of the world Amen so it's not this is not God's Eternal purpose this is uh an unto the end of the world space-time purpose it is an intermediate purpose it is a subplot but it is still one thing condensed into three concise activities make disciples by going with the father's gospel baptizing those converts into bible-believing churches and teaching them to observe all truth now unlike many Baptists or Bible churches you know most the church is associated with with us in in a movement we call Living Faith Fellowship uh we are intentional about discipleship we study it out we see how Jesus brings Earth's earliest disciples through seven phases in three and a half years and those first three phases we condense down into four goals and into either 16 or 18 lessons or so depending on the on the church and exactly the curriculum that they're using but we call that curriculum usually discipleship one and Jesus took about six months to get his men through those first three phases and I think that's a great timetable to follow so there's one Eternal purpose and against this are two trinities in conflict the Triune god father Son and Holy Spirit and the satanic Trinity which will be Lucifer the Antichrist and a false prophet Lucifer tried to ascend to the sides of the north and become equal to God the Father the problem is always in the Ascension he goes up instead of being called up and what had happened was he ascends from the sides of the pit while Jesus ascends to descends to slay him with the sword of his own mouth his head gets bruised Satan's head gets bruised after the cross in preparation for it being cut off Christ's second Advent and the serpent does the least possible damage against the Lord that one man can do against another he bruised his heel on the cross so the Beast as the enemy of iniquity will be the devil with skin on just like Jesus the son of God is god with skin on he is the devil's seed John 6 verse 70. and the false prophet will counterfeit The Works of the spirit of God just like The Magicians did against Moses the first time back in Exodus with pharaoh so we now see this conflict really encompasses three trinitarian realms there is heaven Earth and death but each is a Triune place so so Heaven contains three Heavens our atmosphere outer space and the Throne of God that's all in psalm 148. so the first Heaven is the blanket of air around the earth and the Bible when sometimes when it uses the word Heaven is talking about that the next Heaven you can see at night and uh through the through the Hubble Space Telescope the web web telescope First Kings 8 verse 27 says but God will indeed will God indeed dwell on the earth behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee how much less this house that I have builded so Heaven and the heaven of Heavens cannot contain God therefore he spills over into the third heaven where he dwells on a throne in front of a sea now second death is a Triune place comprised of hell Hebrew word was Sheil Greek word was Hades uh secondly Abraham what is called what we call Abraham's bosom from Luke chapter 16. that at that time before the cross was a temporary place where the Old Testament Saints rested until Jesus shed his blood so that paradise could be moved up to the third heaven so we got hell we've got Abraham's bosomen we got thirdly the Lake of Fire in the hell side of hell I I guess I'd say there are three sub-levels so this is a little more theology uh in that segment of theology we call it eschatology which means study the last things uh there's kind of an upper level hell still not air-conditioned uh flaming fire in Greek Tartarus is the lower hell uh it was the place where the gods locked up their enemies and so II Peter 2 verse 4 says God cast the angels that sinned into that part of hell and delivered them into chains of Darkness reserving them for a future judgment and finally the lowest hell is the bottomless pet and it is a place housing Spirit beings which are scorpion locusts that come out you know in the Book of Revelation they're Unleashed and at the fifth trumpet which is the first woe Satan's star is going to fall from Heaven he'll open that place emerging as the angel of that pit called apollyon so the Beast he is their King Revelation 9 verses 1 2 and 11. and when he ascends out of that pit he will kill Moses and Elijah Revelation 11 verse 7. after they are sent back during the middle of tribulation third Earth is also a Triune Place having creatures in three spheres land sea and air so there are separate habitations for humans fish and fowl turn to First Corinthians chapter 10. that brings us to the fact that this conflict is for souls and for The Souls of three ethnic divisions all of the Bible is for you but it is not all addressed to you there are three ethnic groups three applications and three plans first Corinthians 10 verse 32 give none offense neither to the Jews nor to the Gentiles nor to the Church of God so some of the Bibles written to Gentiles and we've listed some books as an example most of the Bible is addressed to Jews and we've listed those books Pura implode and only one section is really addressed specifically to churches or to pastors that's Romans through Philemon so wait some most won so that last one is the place where you have to get Doctrine to be applied to you from you can't steal it from God's love letters those other places you can't take what he said to them and apply to you and this is what it means in essence to rightly divide and yet biblical Revelation has three distinct plans God has a plan for the universe God has a plan for this Earth and God has a plan for your life now in Hebrews chapter 1 you can see the plan for the universe God hath in these Hebrews 1 verse 2 God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son whom he hath appointed heir of All Things by whom also he made the worlds link that to Isaiah 9 verses 6 and 7 For unto us a child is born unto us the son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name Shall be Called wonderful counselor the Mighty God the Everlasting father the princess all of this proves that Jesus is God the Everlasting father Prince of Peace of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end then link that to Isaiah 45 18 for thus saith the Lord that created the heavens God himself that formed the Earth and made it he hath established it he hath created it not in vain he has a purpose for it he formed it to be inhabited I am the Lord and there's none else now go back to Genesis 1. so we have a universe composed of other worlds God's plan for the universe is for it to accommodate the expansion of Christ's Kingdom into eternity that is God's plan for the universe what about his plan for this planet well Genesis 1 verse 26 and God said let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the Earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the Earth so God created man his own image in the image of God created him male and female created he them and God blessed them and God said unto them be fruitful and multiply and replenish the Earth and subdue it and have dominion now go to Romans chapter 8. God's plan for the Earth is to fulfill the commission he gave to Adam as a first step toward establishing Christ's Kingdom on other worlds so his plan began in the Garden of Eden his plan for Earth and all human history is God overcoming sin and overcoming Satan's opposition to get us back to that plan creation ruin but then Redemption but now how does this fit into God's plan for your soul well Romans 8 verse 29 for whom God did for no he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that he his son might be the firstborn among among many Brethren so God's plan for your life is to restore the image of God that was lost in the fall so that we can complete the commission help help complete the commission given in the garden and establish God's kingdom in the universe and all three ethnic divisions Jew Gentile and church and I'm calling them ethnic divisions I'm not sure that's quite correct as to what they are but I don't know what else call these divisions they they they all three play a major role in God's purpose for eternity so God's plan for the Earth is Jewish rule the new Earth is primarily for Israel but they are ruling over the Gentile Nations because God's plan for the universe is Gentile colonization but that colonization will be a kingdom which branches out in 12 branches according to the 12 tribes covering the 12 constellations now wait that means that God's plan for the church is really to fulfill true replacement theology you know the reformed and calvinist group says the church has replaced Israel that's replacement theology um although they don't like to call it that but it is replacement theology but you know really biblical replacement theology states that the church is not the replacement for Israel the church is a replacement for the Fallen sons of God hello some calvinist and so we will take Gentiles and colonize sons of Godless worlds which will not have righteous christ-like sons of God after the dragon casts down a third of those angels in the tribulation Revelation 12 4. and we will be able to restore this this later from the New Jerusalem as headquarters because we will have glorified bodies so you will never fully comprehend God's plan for your soul in eternity and therefore God's plan for your life today until you understand God's plan for the Earth and God's plan for the universe now doesn't that place all of your problems in perspective uh I mean doesn't that just kind of give you a new viewpoint on all the trauma and the pain and the woundedness and the herd and let this be the healing that you need uh I mean this this was worth the price tuition right here because these three distinct plans have three simultaneous applications all the Bible is written for our learning Romans 15 4 and for our admonition First Corinthians 10 verse 11 but not all of the Bible is written you know that is written for us is written to us as the sound Doctrine so all scripture applies to us the question is how does it apply so to get the answer you got to rightly divide as you study and while there is only one correct interpretation there are three aspects of interpretation interpretation is a trinity also literal contextual and general literal interpretation means that scripture means what it says and says what it means except where it tells you that it's figurative and uses the word words like her ass secondly contextual means scripture itself and surrounding verses provide its immediate context for interpretation and then there are three concentric circles or rings of context there's immediate that's the clause or the verse or the sentence or the paragraph or the chapter there's a close context that's the book or the section of the book which is a set of chapters or the segment of books like law gospels history poetry Epistles prophecy transitional books and then there's distant context where you read in from the Bible as a whole and third there is General context because the scripture only has one author Holy Spirit one subject Jesus one audience you and and you know it it has a general surrounding culture you've got to sort through all those things so context is King because you cannot take things written for somebody else and apply them to you doctrinally that is identity theft um I mean and this is simply sound theology so let me frame it this way the Bible is like God is the thing that makes God God according to his own name for himself is he is I am that means he is past present and future all at once but because the Bible is God's book then the Bible is like God is and I know I can take my Bible and I can tear it up I can't tear up God and I know I can burn my Bible I can't burn God and yet I know the Bible is God's word because the Bible is a multivalent revelation multivalent means every Passage has three applications simultaneously past present and future all at once and there is a past historical application there's a present inspirational application for you and there is a future prophetic or doctrinal application so as to these three applications of scripture the historical application means the passage is a hundred percent accurate to history and that is true whether or not you have discovered it in archeology yet or not secondly the inspirational is also called the personal devotional or practical and while there are many inspirational applications in the Bible personal instructions are always received through underlying Bible principles and those principles remain constant they transcend dispensations so that the Holy Spirit can make the application fit your situation and speak to your conscience concerning his will for your life so this second application includes three concepts spiritual how does how does it apply to you or me or the body of Christ devotional how can it strengthen and or edify you or me or the body of Christ and practical how do we learn life lessons from it or put it into practice now third is the doctrinal application also called prophetic or theological Things are Written doctrinally theologically or prophetically to the Jews which do not apply to you in a Doctrine or theological sense in the church age you can only apply doctrinally those things that are written to you remember those books Romans through Philemon so this third application includes four Concepts a doctoral concept what is it what is it teaching and who is it for dispensational concept what what age or what Covenant does it deal with typological concept what are the Bible pictures in type and and who or what do they picture and what is their anti-type what what is the reality they are pointing toward prophetic so there's a historical prophetic whenever a prophet writes and says hey Babylon is going to destroy us there's a current prophetic hey perilous times have come and there's a future prophetic wait for the rapture apply inspirationally all of scripture because it's all for you I've I I I give you some examples Joshua chapter one historically Israel is occupying the land inspirationally it is you today resting in God's promises while he claims while you claim victory and Ministry with him doctrinally a picture's Second Coming Christ Genesis 19. a lot in Sodom and you know the the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah historically Lots rescue inspirationally you know it really kind of pictures most Believers right before the Rapture I'm just saying we're kind of in that time right now I think so doctrinally it pictures the rescue of tribulation Saints from the destruction of Babylon Hebrews 6 historically picture the the Jew of Acts chapter 8 verses 9 to 24 who loses his salvation uh Simon the Sorcerer inspirationally it teaches the Folly of those who deny the eternal security of the believer uh doctrinally it pictures the tribulation State who does fall away and take the mark of the beast so this plan of God is progressively unfolded in the Bible and involves Three Kingdoms now turn to Luke 22 in Colossians 1. Luke 22 your left hand Colossians around you on your right uh what we discover in the Bible is Three Kingdoms and one of them is counterfeit and corrupted it's a reverse image it is a negative of the original uh if you were born uh you were born into the false one all of us are born into the false one by being born physically from Adam uh John 8 44. but while we lost a whole lot in Adam we gain a lot more in Jesus so much so that we lose one Kingdom and we gain two so so so we lose the false Kingdom and we we gain two more uh because God splits the original Kingdom so now we've got the Kingdom of Heaven and the kingdom of God Luke 22 53 when I was daily with you in the temple Jesus says ye stretched forth No Hands against me but this is your hour and the power of Darkness okay Colossians 1 13. the father hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son so there is a power of darkness which in its hour functions as a Corruption of Christ's coming Kingdom it has been counterfeited Christ's Kingdom has been counterfeited in the kingdoms of this world that the devil offered Jesus uh when he when he was tempted um those counterfeit kingdoms begin with Babel so being the original Earthly counterfeit it encompasses both political and religious roles Genesis chapter 10 verse 10 turn to proverbs 14. um it's spiritual aspects today are counterfeited by the Imperial Church of Rome and its political counterfeit will culminate in the Throne of the Beast Revelation 16 10. so Proverbs 14 28 here's a verse that will help you sort out the spiritual warfare surrounding these kingdoms Proverbs 14 28 in the multitude of people is the King's honor but in the want of people the lack of people is the destruction of the prince it is in the lack of having subjects and so this is the first of nine verses in the Book of Proverbs which we call Royal Proverbs I listed them for you separately under that section of other verses for English Bible exegesis and these are royal Proverbs because they advise and advertise wisdom to Kings into rulers and the first point for study for a king is how a kingdom is not simply composed of a title or of power or of a warranty deed to land the kingdom of a king is composed of The Souls of people and that is why the topic of the kingdom is the key to understanding your Bible so Jesus and the devil are both in an eternal contest for the conquest of The Souls of men and women because according to Proverbs 14 28 whichever one loses ends up being destroyed I go to Matthew chapter 4. see this is why I believe in biblical replacement theology I mean I have to because we in the church age as sons of God John chapter 1 verse 12 have to replace the sons of God from Job 38 which fell at Revelation 12. so if the Dragon's Tail takes a third of them then God still has the devil outnumbered two to one but that even that's not enough because God's going to replace the full number when he whenever the fullness of the Gentiles is brought into the body of Christ Matthew 4 verse 8 says again the devil taketh Jesus up into an exceeding high mountain and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them and saith unto him all these things will I give thee if thou Wilt Fall Down and Worship me all these things will I give thee all these things he says nothing about souls in Luke's account the devil adds all this power will I give thee but he says nothing about people uh you know I like John Maxwell's definition of leadership he says all leadership is influence and I like that because a position without people who are following you is pointless hello somebody uh titles without followers are worthless so the false counterfeit kingdom is one of darkness and one of death and it has to be because that is the only way that the devil can now keep God from completing his plan and replacing the same number of sons in his own son's likeness the other is a kingdom of light and life and everyone in the world is in one of those two kingdoms the devils are gods get Malachi 4 in your left hand Matthew 11 you're right so Malachi 4 Matthew 11. Jesus did not descend on Israel from the obscurity of Nazareth without a warning without warning them in advance before they heard the voice of their Messiah the nation heard the long silent voice of Prophecy a prophet Malachi chapter 4 verse 5 the last book that was ever written of the Old Testament 400 years before Jesus shows up Malachi 4 5 behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and Dreadful day of the Lord okay now look at Matthew 11 verse 14. because Jesus says of John the Baptist and if ye will receive it if you will receive the kingdom then this this John the Baptist is Elias which was for to come okay now go to chapter 17 Matthew 17. because that was Matthew 11. well but in Matthew 12 they did not receive it they did not accept the Kingdom of Heaven that Christ was offering they rejected it therefore Matthew 17 verse 10 and his disciple asked him saying why then say the scribes that Elias must come first and Jesus answered and said unto them Elias truly shall come and restore all things but I say unto you that Elias has come already and they knew him not but have done unto him whatsoever they listed Herod had him beheaded likewise shall also the son of man suffer of them then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist in other words John because of the multivalence of scripture John would have done for a God would have accepted John's Ministry as completing that prophecy about Elijah if the Jews had accepted Jesus as their King John would have counted God God could have accepted him as a fulfillment but the Bible is a multivalent revelation so when prophecy becomes history history also has the option of becoming prophecy in order to fulfill the free free will of people the unfettered Free Will of human beings and that is the reason for what we would call the law of double fulfillment meaning a prophecy can have both a near-term and a far-term fulfillment Malachi says Elijah is going to come Jesus says you know John was the near-term Fulfillment but you know that prophecy became history and they rejected him so this history is going to turn back into prophecy and guess what Elijah is going to come in the in the middle of the tribulation period it has a far-term fulfillment so the meaning of the sovereignty of God is this this gets back to theology proper I guess it is not fatalism it is it is you know sovereignty of God is Not Que Sera Sera what will be will be the sovereignty of God means that he has all his bases covered in such a way that he is never hemmed in by man and never boxed out by the devil God's sovereignty operates by his Providence so John Was Elijah if they had received the kingdom uh if they would accept Jesus as their Messiah then prophecy would be fulfilled in their history but God's Providence has eyes so the way was open for them to reject the kingdom nothing was predestined they had an unfettered free will And yet when they fully exercised it then God's sovereignty is such that their history becomes a prophecy of the future Elijah yet to come so when prophecy becomes history history has the option of becoming prophecy in order to preserve both the Free Will of humanity and the sovereignty of God and yet the human authors like Malachi did not have that double fulfillment in mind when they wrote they just wrote God's words and that's why you cannot base your Bible hermeneutics and your Bible interpretation on what the original authors intended or on what the original hearers heard or thought or thought they heard because while Malachi did not have this ultimate long-term fulfillment in mind the Holy Spirit did because he is the ultimate author of of all scripture turn to Hosea chapter 11. the Bible is a Divine book so stop studying and interpreting it as if it's a human production because I can give you other examples of the law of double fulfillment in the Bible pour a hemploy out of Egypt have I called my son Hosea 11 verse 1 when Israel was a child then I loved him and called my son out of Egypt okay that's referring to the Exodus but the Holy Spirit applies that verse to the experience of Jesus whenever he is taken down to Egypt by Joseph and Mary until after Herod dies Matthew 2 verses 14 and 15. now Hosea meant it originally applied to apply to National Israel so it has a double fulfillment near-tone fulfillment as a type or a picture of the ultimate fulfillment later on number two the destruction of Babylon Jeremiah 50 and 51 predict the destruction of Babylon it was fulfilled in history as to Jeremiah's application but it will be fulfilled in Prophecy as the holy spirit's application which we see in Revelation 18 verses 9 and 9-21 third the destruction of Jerusalem which Jesus describes in what we call his Olivet discourse Matthew 24 that had both a near fulfillment and a far fulfillment the near-term Fulfillment of the abomination of desolation was what Titus did in the temple in destroying the temple and the the far-term Fulfillment is what the Antichrist is going to do um and so not everything said in Matthew 24 can be applied to what the Roman general Titus did in 80 70. but it has a near and aspects I would have a near and far fulfillment uh Malachi 4 5 is fulfilled twice in history once it's coming John the Baptist then prophecy becomes history it's fulfilled but the Jews have a free will they reject Jesus message so then history returns to becomes prophecy again and there's a double fulfillment of Malachi 4 5 when Elijah actually returns before the second coming of Christ then number four Vince and John's revelation the Greek King Antiochus epiphanes fulfilled many things predicted in the Book of Revelation and spoken of concerning the Antichrist in Daniel which Lord willing we will see tomorrow because I'm on schedule to go through all of chapter 11 of Daniel the most the hardest chapter in the Bible I'm going to do it in one sermon and so you'll be praying for me but but we see we see there that uh Antioch has also committed the abomination of desolation so prophecy became history in 167 BC whatever Antioch has sacrificed a pig on the Altar and set up an image of Zeus in the holy of holies but history becomes prophecy because that did not mean that Antiochus was the Antichrist or that Revelation The Book of Revelation only has a past fulfillment turn to Matthew chapter 3 people who do not recognize this dispensational principle about the law of double fulfillment they get so messed up in their interpretation of the Book of Revelation so these are just basic boundaries they are the ground rules they are the ruling guides and Matthew 3 verse 1 says in those days Came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea he was a Nazarite from the womb he lived in the wilderness he was clothed in the fur and fur coat and leather chaps of the old-time Prophets but he he knew life so well too well for a lot of his hearers he knew the evils of his generation he knew the hypocrisy of their two party uh system two-party religious system he knew the corruption of the majority because after all his father was a priest and he had a way of speaking that was a Searchlight on the heart and a shaking of their conscience so without fear of favor he lays bare the darling sins of every social class but the thing most attracting attention uh the issue thrilling every Jewish heart that heard him was his message the Messiah was on his way so verse 2 John preached saying repent ye for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand nobody today wants to believe that the Kingdom of Heaven is any different from the kingdom of God I had a seminary Professor who said to me as he graded me down in a class although Scofield and early dispensationalists made much of this presumed distinction most has been socialists today believe no distinction should be made especially not applying kingdom of God to the church well now I have my degree so I don't care what this professor said he's just another one of those Scholars I like NT Wright and other ones today who quote his own books without reference to the Bible the word kingdom is found 56 times the authorized version of Matthew 56 times in 54 verses that's seven times eight or the number of completion times the number of new beginnings uh the that Greek word basalea is found one additional time where it's translated with the plural kingdoms uh the Greek word is rendered one other way by the James gang it appears as rain the word rain in Revelation 17 18. so the phrase Kingdom of Heaven is only used in Matthew's gospel because his gospel was the Gospel went to the Jews the phrase kingdom of God Appears only four times and while these two kingdoms share many similar aspects they can be distinguished by the following things of which my good press Professor would not agree and yet these are the ground rules for proper interpretation I think we charted this for you as to the kingdom of heaven versus the kingdom of God turn to uh get Matthew 8 in your left hand Second Corinthians 11 in the right Matthew 8 2 Corinthians 11. so first we've got to set aside everything that Nava Church IHOP Vineyard churches Asbury Revival um a Azusa Street Revival a Word of Faith uh Hillsong Channel Bethel TBN CBN Alpha course Holy Trinity Brompton red moon rising poor Bishop Hooper and all the charismatic site Acts chapter 2 is not the early reign and the stuff coming out of these other groups is not the latter one they all say repent believe be baptized in water by just any old person in their bathtub and then believe to receive your own familiar Spirit which they call the Holy Ghost but we know that that's not what the baptism the holy spirit is just by simple Bible definition and and and and we know that's not what the filling the holy spirit is just by simple Bible definition and I have no doubt that they you know they get a spirit but it's not the Holy Spirit um so we preach to reach each with a pure gospel uh while uh you know other groups go and Lose It by becoming familiar with Devils who are agreeable to them and then they preach they name it and claim it you know whatever it's described as you know blabet and bag it uh Gospel of the Kingdom with attendance signs wonders and miracles which if they were real would be signs to the Jews of the coming Kingdom of Heaven um well they're not real uh I mean oh in the gospel the only person who ever did signs wonders and miracles was Jesus the disciples even didn't do that until after Christ was crucified and ascended and then the fact they did it in the book of Acts chapter 345 was such a big hairy deal that um persecuted you know they killed Stephen and persecution started because like man we got rid of Jesus now his disciples doing this other than that the only thing they ever did is the same thing that happens at these revivals and in their healing meetings uh they cast out devils and they heal people because demons are able to afflict you so if one afflicts you but raises up off of you in one of their meetings then everybody there is deceived about what happened and you're healed okay and uh you know uh uh uh okay let's say you uh have an addiction okay Devils do that to you if they happen to raise up off of you at the moment that this false prophet is doing his thing okay you've now we've deceived everybody there about exactly what is happening so so today we teach about the gospel of the Kingdom but we preach the gospel of the grace of God so when John the Baptist cries the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand we now know exactly what he's saying the counterfeit to both kingdoms is the devil's power of Darkness its power is in deception which leads to confusion and if you are in the power of darkness and death you are under subjection to the World the Flesh and the devil and that Trinity is a satanic conspiracy behind them all but if you are in the Kingdom of Light and life then Jesus is your lord your Liberty and your legacy because truth has set you free and you have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light into the kingdom of God's Dear Son Colossians talks about that so because God always out does the devil Satan's alleged success in crucifying Christ simply resulted in a doubling of the Kingdom into the kingdom of his kingdom in the kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven a present spiritual aspect kingdom of God which will be God's rule over the universe and then a future physical aspect Kingdom of Heaven which will be God's rule through the Jews on planet Earth over the Gentiles and it's a full replacement theology us for the Fallen sons of God since the names uh of these two kingdoms seem to be used synonymously in some gospels Theologian n.t Wright says that they're the same and what he forgets is that the king of both kingdoms was then present they weren't split yet so the terms were interchangeable not so today so when you get down to the business of rightly dividing you discover the kingdom like our Salvation has three tenses in Salvation on the cross we have been have been Justified by the spirit we are being Sanctified and one day when we get a new body either by Rapture Resurrection we will be glorified well the kingdom is also 3D there's a past literal territorial Dimension because it is based on the davidic Covenant as the Kingdom of Heaven past but that kingdom was postponed when the Jews rejected it so after the cross which doesn't mean God's not going to get back to it so after the cross the mystery the church has revealed and we are to gain subjects right now for an everlasting Kingdom how can Jesus do that because he can raise him from the dead so secondly the kingdom as a present spiritual ass Dimension because Jesus has inaugurated New Covenant salvation for us even though that Covenant was not supposed to be for us so We're translating in the Kingdom of Christ right now because the spirit has already come Colossians 1 13 and we inherit rulership in that Kingdom if we suffer with him in this life second Timothy 2 12. third the kingdom has a future concrete and material Dimension because Christ and his bride us the church will bring it in at his second Advent and judgment so the Kingdom of Heaven has not yet come it was at hand they refused it and it will not arrive until Jesus returns Matthew 26 verse 29. John the Baptist had the same concept of the Kingdom as the Old Testament prophets did meaning it includes salvation plus Judgment of our enemies and God's enemies so he fused together that second and third dimension because he didn't see that there was a church age in between hence his at hand kingdom included a strong spiritual element Matthew 3 verses 6 and 11. although it's actually the kingdom of heaven preaching the good news or the gospel of the Kingdom as in Matthew 4 23 and 9 35 and 10 7. announcing the good news that the return of the davidic kingdom was now at hand because because the davidic king had finally arrived the proof that followed was the miraculous signs and wonders which only Jesus did even the apostles only healed and cast out demons they didn't do any of the signs and wonders uh and casting out demons and healing is not definitive because for the reasons that I said Devils do that and when they raise up off of them you know people today think God was in it when he wasn't so until Jesus ascended he's the only one to do signs wonders and miracles and and not even Judas did those and as the king is rejected and events unfold in the course of biblical progressive revelation Jesus begins to make clear how the Salvation aspect of the kingdom is going to be accomplished during his first coming even though they reject the kingdom of heaven he's still going to accomplish something and he'll make the kingdom of God and we will be getting subjects into it but the Judgment aspect well that's going to be suspended until his second Advent so the mystery that lay hidden in between were the two of those kingdoms was the opening up of the spiritual aspect of Kingdom blessings to Gentiles through faith in Jesus Christ even and only without the works of the law that is the kingdom of God and the Mystery of the kingdom was the revelation of how the inclusion of the Gentiles was not a last-minute adjustment to God's purpose for eternity it was something that he had predestinated before the foundation of the world Ephesians 1 verses 4 5 and 11. it was part of his eternal plan so at hand meant the kingdom when it was being offered in the person of the king but it could be rejected it meant the kingdom existed wherever Jesus went because everything's subject unto him I had meant the our decision to submit and join it it meant it was inevitable today it means the kingdom of God is present temporally to all who submit themselves to Jesus and Believe on him and the Kingdom of Heaven is approaching spatially whenever Jesus returns turn to Psalm 103 the foreshadowing of his coming Matthew 16 verses 27 and 28. the foreshadowing it was Jesus Transfiguration in Matthew 17 verses 1 to 3. so we do not fight to bring in the Kingdom only Christ does that as his return well we do but we do it with him at his return not now uh instead we don't fight we fish we fish to bring men and women into the kingdom of God remember Proverbs 14 28. the Kingdom of Heaven is coming until then we are to get men and women coming into the kingdom of God acts 14 22 and so we've charted some of the distinctions and differences for you because God teaches by contrast Psalm 103 verse 19 says the Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens and God ruleth over all Deus Uber Alice and that is the definition of the kingdom of God the kingdom of God is the reign of God over all both Heaven and Earth it includes Angels it includes all others who are Spiritual Beings by having been born again so it's Inward and spiritual the Kingdom of Heaven on the other hand is the reign of Heaven on Earth it is literal invisible it is a fulfillment of Covenant promises to Israel but because it is Earthly uh and Rome and the reformers and the charismatics are identity thieves they become the devil's agents to counterfeit the Kingdom of Heaven in their cathedrals in their covenant theology and in their latter rain turn to First Corinthians 15. this is so clear because in the Book of Revelation the church inhabits the kingdom of God and is entirely spiritual in the sense that there is no temple in the New Jerusalem there are no there are no sacrifices during the Millennium for church Aid Saints there's not even a literal visible sun or moon and we are the stars so the king craves subjects are you one of them then our second point for study is this the goal of discipleship is to make Kingdom subjects and little Christ are you prepared and preparing for the king's other Dominion to come because after it does after all of that First Corinthians 15 verse 24 says then come at the end when Christ shall have delivered up the kingdom to God even the father when he shall have put down all Rule and authority and power and that leads us into a consideration of how number eight Christ's work is in Three dispensational Ages many times people consider the um Life of Christ only in terms of his Earthly ministry as a baby born in Bethlehem and he lived 33 years and he died on Calvary they forget that before his physical birth he had a role and after his physical death he has a role he has three roles because he's the Eternal Christ of an eternal purpose so the dispensational work of Christ consists of holding three successive offices first his pastoral prophet Jesus serves in that role from the fall of Adam to the cross and during that time he is typified he's pictured by an altar which faces backward to the fall and faces forward to the Cross First Peter 1 11. now I'm not saying that the offerer looked forward the altar does and the result of this office is the Salvation of of men and women Titus Chapter 2 Verse 11. so in his pastoral is prophet he appears as the word in creation as the Lord God in Old Testament times so he's the angel of the Lord he's the I am that I am he's the captain of the Lord's host who shows up to Joshua uh his work at that time was primarily with people of Israel number three appears as the Redeemer during the days of his Incarnation God manifests in the flesh First Timothy 3 16. his purpose is to seek and to say by making an atonement for our sin second his present role is as priests he serves in that role from the time of his Ascension until the Rapture of the church and during his role as Prophet there was an altar facing backward to the fall and forward to the cross and during his role as priests there is a table First Corinthians 11 26 pointing backward to the cross and forward to his coming the table of the Lord's Supper we'll we will enjoy together uh fifth Sunday this month so just in a couple of weeks and during that time Jesus intercedes and in interceding he is advocating for believers Hebrews 7 25 and first John 2 1. he's a mediator between man and God for the believer and for the unbeliever first Timothy 2 5 he also sanctifies the believer Ephesians 5 26 and Hebrews 13 12 because he is the high priest he sanctifies the rest of us then his future role as king he serves that role during the millennial Reign on Earth during this period that distinguished the distinguishing characteristic is not an altar that faces backward and forward it's not a table that points backward and forward it is a throne that looks back at the second coming and on to the Eternal Kingdom which will be at the beginning of his Everlasting Kingdom Revelation 20 and second Peter 1 verse 11. well so his first office shows us justification there's an altar his second office shows us sanctification there's a table his third office inaugurates glorification there's a throne Titus 2 13. and these three basic divisions are the ministry of Christ his different roles from the foundation for the basic boundary lines of God's Eternal purpose so Church age Saints are presently on Earth as priests and and will be in the millennial Kingdom Revelation 20 verse 6 and we will reign as kings in the future Eternal state so God's Eternal purpose Gentiles function as prophets in the new Heavens Jews function as priests on the new Earth the church functions as kings from the New Jerusalem so in summary what we see and this is probably so hot I'm going to burn my tongue teaching it we're almost done this conflict for soul spans eternity in times and seasons first there's eternity Ephesians chapter turn to Ephesians chapter two you might say eternity has two parts eternity pass attorney future uh eternity uh past is the creative ages God made spiritual Angelic beings he created the material Universe he said Adam on uh on a recreated Earth after the fall eternity future is the ages of the ages so there's one aspect of Eternity Before Time and the rest of Eternity Falls after time and Ephesians 2 verses 6 and 7 say God hath raised us up together made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding Riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus so we've got eternity and we've got and we've got seasons seasons are due to the movement the changing characteristics of the planets and stars and God ordained the objects in the heavens for seasons and so we could regulate times and without Seasons we'd have no way knowing how much time has passed so eternity passes in Seasons due two times and God's plan for the kingdom required a parenthetical detour into the church age just like God's Eternal purpose required that detour into time and that time is that parenthetic division between eternity past and attorney future and God needed time in order to work out his plan because times are what provide a period of testing and it is during the testing process happening in time that God separates failure From Success Disobedience from trust and therefore within that framework of times God works out dispensations now it sets us up for next Saturday Lord willing because within time there's an unfolding of seven dispensations since each one takes place in a time they provide a period of testing you know there was a college debate team in Marshall Texas led by Melvin Tolson and he was played by Denzel Washington in the movie The Great Debaters and there's a scene later in the movie where circumstances conspire against Professor Tolson causing him to contemplate quitting but at that point he reminds his team members of the giant wrestler antaus in Greek mythology antaus was the son of the sea god Poseidon and the Earth goddess Gaia and okay so wait he's the son of a god but he's born on the Earth So what had happened was whenever he is thrown down after coming in contact with Mother Earth he rises up more fortified and that really meant the defeat only made him stronger you know that in this world nobody wants a loser and but in God's kingdom by God's grace defeat only makes us stronger so do not capitulate to uh Calvinism and the fatalist postmodern relativistic charismatic revivalism or Evangelical uncertaintyism this is the unique thing I think about Baptist Church is the reason I'm you know I don't I want to make Christians not Baptists but I'm comfortable with the name because of the historical distinctiveness um uh you know even though it means claiming a name that was given to us by our distractors uh detractors it I'm comfortable with it because you know we're always the we're the light shining through and when you read church history you don't read anything about us because we were the defeated ones and you know sometimes I think I'm antaus and I feel Afflicted but God uses the Chisel of Affliction to sculpt yourself soul so I feel weak sometime but God uses dark weakness to deepen my dependence and then the weaker I feel the harder I lean and the harder I lean the more my Living Faith and then the more living my faith the better I get back up again so if you're down get up if you want to let go hold on if you want to give up hold out if you are weak look to the strong one for your strength because we serve a God who can give us rebound Revival so my time is up I thank you for yours let's have a word of prayer father I thank you Lord for uh meeting with us today and getting us through this material and Lord I know on this level of what we teach in lfbi I mean that's really it's more and probably more intense in a lot of ways than anything you would get in seminary because there it is easy in a sense to study the writings of other men and what they say and simply get that down compared to looking at and studying and putting together through simple English Bible exegesis the word of God uh because boy what we find there the aspects of what you're giving us there just blows our minds uh you because you're a mind-blowing God you've got a purpose for our souls in eternity that really ought to set us right and father I pray it'll do that as a result of this course and this time together we ask these things in Jesus precious and Powerful name amen