So we're here in Genesis chapter 2, and we're going to finish most of this chapter
We're not going to finish all of it though because the last several verses focus on areas
That's going to be basically its own sermon
We're going to go through like the first 17 or 18 verses or so the name of the sermon is basically the free will of man
And also man's responsibility that we have free will but we do have a responsibility that God expects us to do
So we'll go through some various points here, but the verse number one the Bible reads
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them and on the seventh day
God ended his work which he had made and he rested on the seventh day from all his work
Which he had made so in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth the Bible says and then he rests on the seventh
Day seventh day was a day of rest, okay
This is the Sabbath day the seventh day
And then it says in God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it he had rested from all his work
Which God created in me?
So everything was made in six days in the seventh day was a day of rest and the question is why did God do it?
That way I mean he didn't have to have a day of rest. He could have just done six days
He'll get out of six day week
Or it could have just made seven days and had a seven day week, but the Sabbath actually served a purpose
Okay, go to Exodus chapter 16 in your Bible Exodus Exodus 16
Exodus chapter 16
And see the seventh day was a day of rest for God. Okay now in our modern day
We're going to see this during the sermon, you know, we don't have a specific day where we need to rest
Okay, we do not have to follow the Sabbath day in today's world and I'm going to explain that later on the sermon and it should
Make sense, but in the Old Testament when they had the Mosaic law, they were expected to follow the Sabbath day
They're expected not to work on the Sabbath day now notice what it says in Exodus 16 verse 22
And it came to pass that on the sixth day
They gathered twice as much bread two homers for one man and all the rules of the congregation came and told Moses now
Remember, they're supposed to work for six days and the seventh day was a day of rest
Okay, six days do all your work now from sunup to sundown
72-hour work week, but the seventh day was a day of rest the Sabbath day and he said unto them
This is that which the Lord hath said tomorrow is the rest of the Holy Sabbath of the Lord
Make that which he will make today and see that you will see and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be
Kept until the morning and see what God says is I don't want you to work on the Sabbath day
You're going to gather twice as much and what's going to happen is it's going to be enough for you through the next day
It's going to work out God had prepared a system and he said I just want you to obey and trust in me
And you're not going to work the seventh day. Okay, the seventh day is a day of rest
Verse 24 and they laid it up to the morning as Moses they did not stay
Neither was there any more than that and Moses said eat that today for today is the Sabbath unto the Lord today
He shall not find it in the field now
This is sort of hard for us to understand because in our modern day if you get bread at the store it lasts for weeks
And weeks and weeks and never goes back, but it's actually real bread. It's actually gonna get moldy and go back
Okay, but he said I'm going to make sure the bread is going to last and it's going to be okay for you
And it says in verse 26 six days
He shall gather it but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath in it there shall be none
And it came to pass that there went out some of the people in the seventh day pretty gather
And they found none and the Lord said unto Moses how long refusing to keep my commandments and my laws
So God said I want you to work six days and rest in the seventh day and the people just refused to trust in God
This is kind of a theme throughout all of Exodus through Deuteronomy how they just disobey what God says
They don't trust what God says and God said work six days and then rest in the seventh day
But then what do people do they go out to work on that day anyway, go to Exodus chapter 20
Exodus 20
Exodus 20 now, here's the thing. I don't really think that people in the Old Testament fully comprehended
Why the seventh day was the day of rest?
Yes, that is what God did but there's actually a purpose that it actually teaches us
Because when we get saved we enter into that rest the Bible says
When you get saved you enter into that rest and so the Sabbath day is not something we keep anymore
Because when Jesus rose again that was actually done away, okay
We're going to see that here in the Bible, but people in the book of Exodus probably didn't understand that
They didn't understand all the pictures that were there of salvation, but God said to do it. They should just listen
Even if they didn't understand and one thing for us to understand is this that God tells us to do something whether we
understand it or not
Whether it goes against what we think seems right we need to just obey what God says
We might not understand why God says something but it doesn't matter
Right when I first got saved and started hearing preaching and reading the Bible there were many things
I did not understand why many things that I saw that were just clear as day
But you know what? I was living my life, you know as a normal college student, you know
We've been only been saved for a short time
I had many things in my life that needed to change so I didn't really understand
You know all the rules and laws of the Bible
What's the purpose of God but as you go further along you start to understand God was right all along, right?
They should have just obey God Exodus 20 verse 8
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy six days shall thou labor and do all that work
But on the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God
And it thou shalt not do any work thou and thy son for thy daughter by man's servant or thy maidservant or thy cattle
or thy strength that is within my gates for it six days the Lord made heaven and earth to see and all that in
The midst and resteth the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it
So the Bible says the Lord made everything in six days and rested the seventh day and that was a pattern for us
Okay, go to 1st Corinthians chapter 16 1st Corinthians 16
Now there are religions today and most specifically are the seventh-day Adventists where they teach that you have to have church on
Saturday
Right. I said before that seventh-day Adventists. I talked to the park before I told ya
We meet on Saturdays and all that's good. I was like we have another church that meets on Sunday, but all that's bad
There's nothing magical
about a specific day
Now God had the meeting on or God had the day of rest on the Sabbath day
He said well brother Stuckey. Does that mean that we should have church on the Saturday or the Sabbath day?
Well, here's the thing
It doesn't say in the Old Testament on the day of rest that that's when they were gathering together to listen to preaching
It was a day of rest
Okay, and so that's not the exact same thing when you talk about, you know, when we would have church today
You say well, why don't we meet on Sunday because Jesus rose again on Sunday
Okay now
Look at 1st Corinthians chapter 16 verse 2 not only that we see the pattern in the Bible. Okay, 1st Corinthians 16 verse 2
1st Corinthians 16 verse 2
Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God have prospered him that there be
No gatherings when I come so mentions the first day of the week
Okay, and you know, we commonly talk about the Lord's Day, which is commonly referred to as Sunday
But really any day that you're worshiping God, I mean today's the Lord's Day. I will serve in God worshiping God
Listen to preaching that's the pattern that we see through the Bible and Sunday is usually the best day to be because people schedules are
Kind of go around that obviously Saturday or Sunday is kind of like a weekend schedule
People's schedules are built around this and that's the pattern we have in the Bible now you say why don't we meet on
Saturday I mean or why does it go mother churches or why should we not? Why does it not matter?
It doesn't matter because there's nothing magical about specific day if everybody at our church had the day Friday off
We would meet on Friday
Right. I mean if that was the perfect day for everybody then we would meet on Friday because there's nothing specific about the day itself
It's just that schedules generally fit around Sunday the best okay now turn to Colossians chapter 2
Colossians chapter 2
Now
Here's the thing. I mean that the calendar isn't even the same at this point anyway
So we don't even know what the original Sabbath day would have been
Anyway, whether why another modern day just kind of a perfect example
Sunday is the first day of the week and yet Sunday is part of the week
the end of the week Saturday and Sunday are the weekend and Sunday is the first day of the week inside
Because it is so does it really matter at this point?
We even really know what day that this is that you went back thousands of years ago, right?
I mean, it doesn't really matter now for the seventh day of this
This is like their biggest thing in the world where you must meet on Saturday
Once again in the Old Testament, that's not what the seventh day was. The Sabbath was a day of rest
Okay, when it comes to the Ten Commandments, we are to keep nine of the Ten Commandments today
The Sabbath day is not a commandment. We have to keep
Okay. Now I'll show you why this is notice what it says in Colossians 2
Colossians 2 verse 13
And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh have been quaking together with him
Having forgiven you all trespasses
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to his
cross
And I've been spoiled principalities and powers. He made a show of them openly trying to think over the mint
Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink
Notice this or in respect of an holy day or a holiday or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days
So it says don't let anyone judge you in respect of the Sabbath days now
And he shows to a seventh-day Adventist and they know their doctrine they'll say well that's referring to every Sabbath day
That's what they told me
Well, there's no indication where it says don't let anyone judge you into basically any specific day or any food or any drink
So basically, you know if you want to keep a holiday you can if you don't want to you don't have to
Right now we don't keep Halloween because how we literally in our modern day
They are worshipping the devil in how
But you know if you wanted to just keep that as a tradition where you need a specific food on that day
And just do whatever tradition at home
There's nothing wrong with that now the difference between Halloween and Christmas is because if you are worshipping Christ in his birth
That's not the same as Halloween where you're putting on, you know a stall and you know, like a skeleton and all that stuff
That's difference, right? But see here's the thing people don't have to celebrate a holiday
It's completely up to them
Okay, and it says don't let anyone judge you in a holy day or Sabbath days
Why is that verse 17 which are a shadow of things to come?
But the body is of Christ and see the Bible says there were certain things that were just
Ordinances according to verse 14 were nailed to his cross
certain things that were a shadow of Jesus Christ
Meaning when Jesus Christ came it no longer matter because there wasn't anything inherently sinful about a day
See, here's the thing when you look at the Ten Commandments thou shalt not kill. It's inherently sinful to kill
Right. It's still sinful to kill
Thou shalt not steal. It's still wrong to steal in 2021
That's not just an Old Testament thing where it was wrong for the nation of Israel, but it's okay to steal a day
No, it's still wrong to steal. It's still wrong to kill. It's still wrong to steal
But here's the thing remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy
There's nothing inherently special about a specific day, but God had a specific pattern
I want you to rest on the Sabbath day
But that was something that was nailed to the cross because when we get saved we enter into the rest of Jesus Christ
Now there are many things that were nailed to the cross
But basically what you have to understand is there are certain ordinances that are done away
But the moral law has not changed
It's still wrong to commit adultery. It's still wrong to lie. It's still wrong to dishonor your parents
It's still wrong to use the Lord's name in vain
But the one out of the Ten Commandments we don't have to follow is the fourth commandment
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Why? It was a shadow of things to come the Bible says. Go to Hebrews chapter 4
Hebrews 4
Now
Like I said, of course, I don't believe that they understood that in the book of Exodus
I don't believe that when those men went out to go work
They were understanding that they were destroying the picture of Jesus Christ, but see the Bible says this salvation is not of works
No works at all
Okay, and see the thing is when they were working on the Sabbath day
It was like adding extra work rather than entering into that rest is it makes it like a picture of salvation being by works
Now I'm sure they didn't understand that picture. They weren't thinking toward the future like that, but they didn't understand
Well, this is just a shadow of things to come and now you're basically doing symbolically a work salvation sort of system
It says in Hebrews 4 verse 10
For he that has entered into his rest
He also has seized from his own works as God did for his and see the Bible says this that you know
When you get saved when you enter into that rest says see from it cease from his own works
It doesn't mean that we should not work for God and serve God
But you cease trusting in your good works to get you to heaven and you realize once you're saved
That feeling of relief comes over you because you know, you have eternal life and there's nothing you could possibly do to lose that
God says when you get saved you enter into that rest go to Matthew chapter 5 Matthew 5 Matthew 5
And see the Sabbath day was a picture of Jesus Christ
He did the work for us and for us
There's no work that we have to do at all and it was a shadow of Christ to come
Other things that were shadow of Christ to come are like, you know
making a burn offering I
Do know the church in the u.s. It's a dispensational church the Baptist Church was
Dispensational and they sacrifice the lamb every Easter and I'm just like this
About as blasphemous as you can get because the lamb was already sacrificed for you
Right. I mean the Catholics all they do is they have Jesus on the cross, but in this dispensational Baptist Church
They literally kill a lamb in Easter time
It's like Christ already died for your sins and rose again and made them who why is it?
We don't sacrifice an animal because that was a picture of Jesus Christ
It was the Lamb of God who died and paid for six certain things were fulfilled by Jesus on the cross
Matthew 5 or 17
Think not that I am come to destroy the law of the prophets
I am not come to destroy but to fulfill for barely I send you till heaven and earth pass
One job or one tale shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled
Now it says verse 18 till heaven and earth pass. Okay, when do you heaven and earth pass? Well?
Revelation 21 is when there's a new heaven
I believe 21 is where there's a new heaven in a new earth but right at the end of the book of Revelation
The Bible says you have a new heaven and a new earth and see if I was saying until heaven and earth pass
Nothing is going to pass from the law until all be fulfilled
But here's the thing when Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again
Some of it was fulfilled but not all of it
Okay. Yes, there were some things fulfilled by Jesus on the cross because there's kind of two extremes here
Some people say something like this. Well everything from the Old Testament still applies today
Okay, unless specifically the Bible says it's done away
Well, the problem is there's a lot of things that were done in the Old Testament that clearly
Nobody leaves still exists today
Okay, and there are certain ordinances the boxes were nailed across but the other extreme is thinking this that when Jesus rose again
All of the law was completely gone and nothing in the Old Testament mattered because it was done away in Christ
Well, if I was to teach that
Because in the law were things like thou shalt not kill that still applies
And look people say well if Jesus specifically mentioned it in the New Testament
Then it applies, but otherwise it does not apply
Well, that's a big problem because there are a lot of things that Jesus never specifically mentions in the New Testament
I mean, there's nothing he never specifically mentions, you know the LGBT
He never said I mean there's a lot of instances of not marrying direct relatives and stuff like that
And it's just like he doesn't specifically mention that does that mean it doesn't apply anymore
Everyone would be like, well, of course it applies. Well, it's like well, that's the devil's standard. I mean
Everybody understands certain things are wrong
We say what exactly took place the moral law didn't change
The laws that are naturally inside of our hearts that our conscious tells us are wrong. Those things didn't change
Nothing changed when Jesus rose again
However
Even though the moral law still exists the cardinal ordinances are done away like run offerings
Sacrifices and the Sabbath day is an example that
Go to Genesis chapter 2 Genesis 2 back to Genesis 2
Though Jesus said he didn't come to destroy the law and proper the prophets
He didn't come here to say hey, I'm trying to get rid of all the law that's not what took place
Right. I mean he preached the same things
That all the prophets preached he preached the same things that Jeremiah preached
So here's the thing if all that was done away then why is Jesus preaching against sin?
Right the Sermon on the Mount he preaches against a lot of sins
He says it's wrong to lust after a woman in your heart
What sounds like he still got those things were wrong sounds like he still preached hard against sin
It wasn't coming to destroy the law of the prophets
But he also wasn't coming to be the judge of the entire world either
He came to die and pay for our sins
And here's the thing we live in governments that don't uphold the laws of the Bible
So if you live in a government that doesn't apply what the Bible says
It's not our job to take it into our own hands. I
Mean, I'm sure there are many people here in the Philippines that deserve the death penalty for whatever sin that they've done
But it doesn't mean that we're going to go out there and you know today
We're going soul-winning if you run into anyone that's committed adultery. Just make sure you just don't okay
That's not what we're going to be doing. That's not the promise that God gave us. That's not what Jesus came to do either
Right sometimes he spoke against the government like they shouldn't do this, but I'm going to follow anybody like paying taxes is a great example
He's like no the government should not make me pay taxes, but you know what I'm just going to follow the law of the land
It's not a battle or fight
Genesis chapter 2 verse 4
Genesis 2 verse 4
These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they are created in the day that the Lord God made the earth
in the heavens
Verse 5 in every plant of the field before it was in the earth and every herb of the field before it grew
but the Lord God did not cause its rain upon the earth and there was not a man to till the ground and
What he mentions is when he made everything in the day that the Lord God made the earth in the heavens
then in verse 5 in every plant of the field before
It was in the earth and what he's saying is these plants were created before they were put in the earth
And see this is where people have trouble with Genesis 1 and 2 those things in contradiction
Because the Bible says God actually made those ahead of time and then he placed them in the earth
Okay, because it says in every plant of the field
Before it was in the earth
So the plants were made before they were actually put in the earth and every herb of the field before it grew
For the Lord God did not cause its rain upon the earth and there was not a man to till the ground
But there went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground
Now so the verse number 7 so point number 1 we talked about the Sabbath day a little bit
Point 2 let us talk about abortion
verse 7 and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and
man became a living soul now, this is a verse that some Christians use to support abortion and
You know, you're looking at your Bibles like what right because I have never even thought of this until I actually heard
This is a Peter Rockman doctrine Peter Rockman use this verse to support abortion as Peter Rockman said abortion is not her and
He gave examples of you know, basically, you know Catholic women having children
Is it God's will for nuns to raise kids and he was trying to say well
It would have been better for those babies to be aborted right? Well abortions murder
We obviously understand that but you say what does he say in verse 7?
Well, he says that you're not actually alive until God breathes into your nostrils the breath of life
So what he says is until you leave the womb and actually take a breath outside the womb
Then you're not alive and what he says is you're not human inside the womb
So there's nothing wrong with an abortion before that because it's not a human
That's what he teaches and he says well, you know man things like I teach man became a living soul
Basically when he came out, I got us to breathe into your nostrils and he said that doesn't happen until you're actually born now
This is dumb because you know, you can just look at an ultrasound
And it's not amazing like the first time you see an ultrasound of your baby
And I remember just being shocked with Zephaniah because I'm like the baby so young as a man
I see the hands you see the head. It's like wow, it's it's amazing. It's obvious that it's a human being
Inside the mom, but that's not what Peter Rockwood teaches. Now go to Psalm 139. Psalm 139. Psalm 139
And what you have to understand about that verse is you know
It doesn't say well man was formed and he was these body parts, but he wasn't alive
I mean these events are happening simultaneously
It's giving the sentence it says, you know
The word God formed man at the dust and ground and breathing through his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul
It's just like it's happening immediately when God was forming man
It's not like you know
God forms the body parts and a couple hours go by and it's like it's all happening at one time
So you can't just isolate that and say we'll see man was formed but he's not alive and then besides the fact
You know man's outside the womb here anyway
I don't really understand what what what his point is. He's trying to make but Psalm 139 verse 13
Psalm 139 verse 13 says for thou possessed my reigns thou has covered me in my mother's womb
I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made
Marvelous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well my substance
Substance was not hidden from me when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lower parts of the earth
Thine eyes and see my substance yet being
Unperfect and in my book all my members were written which it continues for fashion when as yet there was none of them and see
The Bible the psalmist here says that when there was none of my body parts
Basically in God's eyes. I already existed because God had planned to create that specific person
Right any children that we have God has blessed us with those children and God had already determined who was going to give you that child
Okay, and it says when there was none of them
So before those body parts were there in God's eyes that person already existed because God had already planned that out
go to
Genesis chapter 2 Genesis 2
Genesis 2
Now in verse 7 this is kind of mentioning here where it says and the Lord God will form man of the dust of the ground
That's referring to the body
Right before man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life
That's referring to the spirit and man became a living soul that's referring to the soul
So you're seeing the body soul and spirit being mentioned here
So you can't you can't separate things like oh, here's the body and then here's the spirit and here's the soul
It's giving you the body soul and spirit mentioned in that one verse
Okay, and so point number one
We saw the seventh day point two. We talked about abortion point three. Let's talk about the responsibility of man
Okay
now
Genesis chapter 2 verse 8 and the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden and there he put the man he had formed
So God planted man God put man into the garden that he had formed and man had a responsibility to keep that garden
Okay
Now I do want to mention something as a bit of a rabbit trail here because you'll have some people that will teach that in the Old
Testament nobody went to heaven
They'll say that everybody went to paradise
They say everybody in the Old Testament went to paradise and it's like today we go to heaven and they'll say Jesus died for three
Days, he was you know in the heart of the earth in the good part of hell and just preaching a sermon to those in
the bad part of hell
And he was in paradise and then you know what he took everybody out to heaven after three days
They say well because the sins were not yet paid for
So Jesus had to just hang out in paradise in the center of the earth
Okay, well the Bible doesn't teach us but here's the thing about this if everybody went to paradise in the Old Testament
Would you think the Bible would mention a lot about paradise in the Old Testament if that's where we were going?
Doesn't that make sense?
That if everybody's going to paradise in the Old Testament
Doesn't it make sense that the Bible would mention paradise because in Genesis 2 verse 8
This is a common verse where people say well, you know what that the Garden of Eden was the paradise of God
Well, I'm not against that because but that's not the exact warning mention in Genesis 2 there's a picture later on in Revelation
We're going to see and I think it refers back to that. It's very similar, but it doesn't specifically say the word paradise. In fact
From Genesis to Malachi, you're never going to find the word paradise
It's kind of strange if everybody went to paradise in the Old Testament why the Bible never mentions the word one time
Never once
It's a word that appears three times in the Bible only three times now
I will say this go to Luke 23 Luke 23. We will see one mention of paradise
before Jesus dies in the cross and
In the Gospels before Jesus died, you're technically under the Old Testament law
Although we're looking at a transition period here, but this is the earliest time you see the word paradise in the Bible
You never see it in the Old Testament so people went to paradise in the Old Testament
Why doesn't the Bible mention that one time?
It's one of those things you hear a priest all the time and you just assume it's there because you've heard a priest I
Mean, isn't it true that we've been in Baptist churches and heard people say everyone in the Old Testament went to paradise
So you start believing it but it's ever never actually mentioned in the Old Testament
You're never going to find it from Genesis to Malachi one time, right?
Especially I mean especially if there's this transition from paradise
To heaven you would think that I would make a point to mention paradise all the time so we can see all there's a transition
You're no longer going to paradise, but actually the paradise appears three times from Matthew to Revelation
but never in the Old Testament
Luke 23 verse 43 and Jesus said on to him, verily I say unto thee, today shall thou be with me in paradise
Okay, so here Jesus tells the thief on the cross beside him that today you're going to be with me in paradise
Okay, of course Jesus Christ dies and this man will end up dying afterwards as well
But what Jesus said is today shall thou be with me in paradise. You say well, what is that referring to?
I think it's a synonym for heaven
He's saying today you're going to be with me in heaven you're going to be with me in paradise because heaven is a paradise
But he's saying brother Stuckey
How is that possible because if you teach that Jesus Christ was in the heart of the earth for three days
How could he say that he was up in heaven because Jesus is God
That's the reason why
He said I mean, is there any place that you that you're that I can't find you say it the Lord God is everywhere
Okay, and so yes, Jesus Christ he was in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights in hell
But he was also everywhere at the same time because he's gone and soon as able to tell the people the cross
Today shall thou be with me in paradise now go to second Corinthians chapter 12
second Corinthians chapter 12
I
Mean Jesus Christ even said and no man has been sent up to heaven
But even he that came down from heaven even the son of man, which is in heaven
So when Jesus was on earth
He said he was in heaven you say how is that possible?
He's omnipresent
Jesus is God
You know today I was giving the gospel to
You know three I had seen that verse and this was the part of the gospel that they could not get
Jesus made God just they weren't able to get and I showed them a lot of verses on it
You know, there's so much in the Bible that just shows that Jesus is God
How about the fact that people worship Jesus and he never stopped them from worshiping him?
How about when Jesus was on earth how he said the son of man, which is in heaven is throughout the Bible
So Jesus is God and while he was alive on earth
He said he was in heaven. Well while he was in the heart of the earth
He was in heaven as well because Jesus is everywhere
second Corinthians 12 verse 3 and
I knew such a man whether in the body or out of the body
I cannot tell God know how that he was caught up in the paradise in her unspeakable words
Which is not it is not lawful for men to utter. So
All says here that he knew a man that was caught up in the paradise
And you'll notice that when it says paradise it says caught up in the paradise and so
What they'll say is well paradise was in the heart of the earth in the Old Testament
But then it got brought up to heaven when Jesus died now first off
There's no indication that anywhere in the center of the earth is paradise
There's some weird movies
I haven't seen them but it is like this Brendan Fraser movie where he went to the center of the earth
There's like a water slide or something and it's nice and relaxing
There's no indication that any part of the center of the earth is a place you want to be
I'm about to say hell hath enlarged herself
So but basically as as hell is getting closer to the surface basically
Which would also be why there's more volcanoes and seismic activity and stuff like that
But look, you know what? You don't really have to get that deep for it to get really hot
There's volcanoes that are very active today in other volcanoes, you know the philippines there's a lot of volcanoes where it's like, oh wow
The volcano again, they're like erupted something right?
So there's no indication anything in the center of the earth is nice and here's the thing if people believe that doctrine
They must believe that the center of the earth just changed at the resurrection and there's no indication of that
Okay
The last place we're going to paradise is Revelation 2
Revelation 2
Revelation 2 verse 7 Revelation chapter 2 verse 7
And it says in Revelation 2 verse 7
He that hath in here let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches to him that overcometh
Why give the heat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of paradise of god?
So there's the reference people are going to look at and i'm perfectly fine with that when they talk about the garden of eden
The paradise of god the tree of life
But he never actually does mention the word paradise in the old testament
I believe the reason why is because god is trying to stop a stupid doctrine like that from being man-corroded
And so the only time you see the word paradise mentioned is in
The new testament go back to genesis chapter 2 genesis 2
Genesis 2
So
He said well, how did people go to heaven in the old testament?
Well, the bible says jesus was the land slain from the foundation of the world
And it was always in god's plan. It wasn't some new thing that he came up with. He was always planning to do that
And you know when jesus christ actually died two thousand years ago
You know what?
Yes, he died physically two thousand years ago
But people in the old testament their sins had already been paid for because there's a land slain from the foundation of the world
They did not have to wait until jesus died and rose again to actually go to heaven
And we see examples in the bible because we see people going to heaven
We see elijah that went up into a whirlwind
So unless you just think elijah's just hanging out
Up there and look i've never really had people answer that about what about elijah because he got caught up into a whirlwind
It's like is he is he just do you look up there?
Right now in america, I don't know about here. We always talk about the man on the moon because supposedly you look at the moon
It looks like there's a man there and it's something that scares kids. I used to believe here
I didn't I didn't believe it when I looked up there. I I was positive. I saw a man on the moon
Is that elijah right? Is that what it is?
Right. I mean, it's just like, you know, it's ridiculous in the old testament
They went to heaven just like we go to heaven today. There's no difference. Okay
Genesis 2 verse 9
And out of the ground out of the ground may the lord god be grow ever treated as pleasant to society good for food
The tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
And a river went out and eaten the water of the garden and her mentalist parted and it became into four heads
The name of the first is paisan that is in which compass at the whole land of patlobah where there is gold
And the goal of that land is good. There's deluge and the onyx stone
And the name of the second river is gaihan the same as in the compass of the whole land of meteopia
And the name of the third river is hadekel that is in which goes toward the east of is Syria
And the fourth river is euphrates now
It mentions a lot of different places here. It mentions havala
Euphrates, hadekel, iseria and ethiopia and many of these are places that are after
And see what you're seeing is in genesis chapter 2 it was man's responsibility to preserve the land
Okay
Now we don't have the garden of Eden that we're here today
But
It is still our job to preserve the land you say why is that? Well, the bible says we are the soul
of the earth
What is the purpose of salt?
to preserve food
I mean sometimes to add taste to but it also preserves food, right?
And so here's the thing
We are the soul of the earth and what the bible is saying is this we are meant to
Keep the earth from being destroyed you say brother stuckey. Are you becoming an environmentalist?
Well go to second corinthians five second corinthian sacrifice
I do believe that we should take care of the earth. I don't think we should trash it
I mean, it's pretty frustrating when you're walking around town and then people are just throwing trash in the ground
And there's garbage in places. I think it's disgusting
And honestly, the truth is that a person who is physically unclean
That's usually an indication that it might be spiritually unclean as well
right
but
Here's the thing
It's not that we're supposed to dress and keep it in terms of like throwing away the trash
Of course, we should do that, but that's not what it's talking about. But it's actually referring to
so many innocent paul sticks
Second corinthians five or seventeen
It says therefore if any man be in christ, he is a new creature
Old things are passed away behold all things have become new and all things are of god who hath reconciled us to himself by jesus
Christ and notice this and have given to us the ministry of reconciliation
Okay
God has given us the responsibility the ministry to reconcile people with the savior
This is referring to solely it is our job to go out in the lost verse 19
To wit that god was in christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses onto them
They have committed on unto us the word of reconciliation so how is it that we reconcile people with the savior
It's through the word
The word of god is what reconciles people with the savior
You say brother stuck you do believe that we need the word of god and get people saved in 2021
Of course because it's the word of reconciliation
Throughout the bible the so we're so at the word
That's what the bible says. I mean you sow the word you preach the gospel to people
You use the word of god and that's how people get saved it is our job
To get people saved and we do it by using the word of god
We preach the gospel through the word of god and by that we reconcile souls to the sacred verse 20
Now then we are ambassadors for christ as though god did beseech you by us. We pray you in christ dead
Being reconciled to god. So it says in verse 20 that we are ambassadors for christ. Okay
When you think of an ambassador for a nation
It's basically like a representative for that nation, but it's a very important representative, right? You'll pick someone who's very
famous
You know people that are well known people that are supposedly well respected
I don't know all the ambassadors here. I know the u.s
Bill Clinton was one of the ambassadors or something
I'm not saying they're necessarily like good people godly people but they pick people that are very famous
But ambassador is meant to represent the country well
Right, so if I was saying we are ambassadors for christ
We are meant to represent christ here on earth and see this is how we actually preserve the earth
Is by going out and preaching the gospel and living a godly life
It's our job to do this. Now. Here's the thing. You're never going to see angels preached from the gospel people
That's not how people get saved
If I were to ask you to come up here and give me your testimony of how you got saved
It's going to be the exact same thing for everybody you heard the gospel through the word of god from somebody else
Isn't that true?
Right. I mean if i'm wrong you can come up here and try to just put me i'm not going to leave you
Because I know what the bible says, but see it's the same testimony for all of us
Somebody preached the word of god to you and you've got to stay through it now. It could have been through online preaching
I'm, not really sure for everybody's testimony here, but you heard the gospel from something
Somebody told you about salvation and that is how you got saved and it was the word of god that was preached to you by somebody
Not necessarily a sermon. It could have been a one-on-one conversation
I got saved because somebody gave me a one-on-one conversation
But they use the word of god and that is how people get saved
It's our job though. It's been given on to us
Now some people could look at that like it's a burden
And say man, that's hard work, you know, i'm already so busy and everything but but here's the reality
Let's say that it was not our job to win people in the lord. Let's say it was the angels
What would really be our purpose here?
Right. I mean, what would be our purpose?
Now, I think we should read the bible a lot
But honestly the truth is this if it all comes down to just the angels preaching the gospel to people
Then you want I wouldn't really care about any of this. I wouldn't want to be a preacher
I would I certainly wouldn't go solely
Right, i'd be like calvin said doesn't go solely because there's no purpose
Right, and it's just like you know, god has given to us though the ministry of reconciliation
Anyone, it's it's great that god left us with something that's exciting because this is the most exciting thing in the christian life
Go back to genesis chapter 2
genesis 2
Okay
Oh, this is not really it's it's not our fault if we go preaching the gospel and nobody gets saved, you know today
Nobody got saved in nepal park now some people heard the gospel
But they didn't get saved
right
And you know, that's what happens. Sometimes you preach the gospel and sometimes they don't get saved
And you can't really do anything about that
You preach the gospel to someone you give them a chance and then they don't end up believing and it's just like well
You did your part now
I accidentally preached to a couple almost today. I realized in about 10 minutes
So I guess maybe that was kind of my fault. I should have realized earlier or whatever
But this is like, you know, you preach the gospel to people and you like you give them a chance and sometimes they believe
Sometimes they don't
Right, but it's our job to go out there and at least give people a chance throw up the lifeline that we sing
In our handles and so there's a responsibility of man here on earth and that is to dress and to keep the earth
We preserve it you say brother specky
Why is it that one day the antichrist is going to come here because christians have not been preserving the earth
They're living a wicked life and they're not getting people saved
They're not going soloing
If christians were living a godly life and going out soloing then this world would be preserved
Now, of course, we know that's not going to happen and we can look at the world
And those things are getting worse and worse and worse. I will say this though that when I got saved in 2003
In 2003
I started going to ifv churches in 2005 about I started listening to independent baptist preaching before that
But I started going to an ifv church and I would say this when I first started going to independent baptist churches
They actually had a real soloing program
They actually had lots of people going out and preaching the gospel
Anyway, I went to some of those churches. I visited a lot of different churches
I wasn't sure which church I wanted to go to and you know, 10 years later
I was also looking for a church in the same area. So I visited a lot of those same churches
And I was just thinking we used to have like 25 people out soloing
And then all of a sudden they have like two people. It's like what happened?
And you know, that's what has happened all around this world. Those churches are going soloing
People get so mad about our type of church and they get mad about people joining our churches
It's like well if your church was more exciting people would come
It's like the preaching is boring. There is no soul winning. So there is no purpose
And it's like it's bad enough if the preaching is not exciting and you never learn anything and it's boring
But if you're going to church and they have no soloing program and they really resist even doing any soloing
It's like what am I even doing here?
You know, i'm just wasting my time
Right if there is no solar taking place. It is our job to preserve the earth and it's going to be destroyed one day
We can't blame it on the lgbt. It's because of christians. That's the reason why
Now of course we can at least try to do our part here in pom pong because
I hope we don't have a mountain to go around to because pom pong is so wicked
It could happen though
Right. I mean if christians are going out preaching the gospel and living a godly life
I don't think god's going to preserve the area. But if not, then you know what who knows what might happen?
Last thing we see three will mention here in genesis chapter 2 genesis 2 verse 16
And the lord god commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden that way is freely eat
But if the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it from the day that is thereof
Thou shalt surely die
And so god says basically you can eat up any tree you want except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
He said eat from this tree and this and this this and this but not this one
Right and see this is the way it works in our lives where god gives us free will
To do what we want to do
And he has very slight restrictions on things that says but I don't want you to do this
Right. So an example would be like for jobs
There are thousands of different types of jobs
a lot of different types of jobs now
I will say this that you know what if you don't have a good church, this doesn't necessarily apply
But if you do have a good church, which I think we would all agree
This is a good church. We're able to serve god and what you want to pick jobs are actually able to serve god
Right, you know if you're looking for a new job if you say well i'm in the market for a new job
Don't pick a job where you're not going to be able to serve god
You say well brother second i'm going to become an ofw because i'm going to make more money
Well, you're going to leave a good church and then go to a place. You don't have a good church
Just for money. It's the wrong choice
You know, I remember pastor meneses said this before that if you're making a choice primarily based on the money. That's your big motivator
That's your number one motivator that you're making the wrong choice and you see that throughout the life
You see that with a limelack
He goes to moab you see that with abraham in genesis chapter 12
And it's like there was a famine in the land and then they go down to egypt you see this throughout the bible
And one thing about this why it appears so much is because this is something men
struggle with
And all i'm loving myself in as well because finances are the biggest thing
As a guy that basically make you nervous and make the wrong decision and things like that
Now as I said, if you don't have a good church, and I don't think this would necessarily apply, you know, but
Then yeah, you can move wherever and get a different job or whatever
But if you do have a good church, that is where it would apply now
I will say this if you have a good church here
But then you get offered a job where there's a good church
Then it's okay to move because you have a good church over there as well
What i'm saying is when you're able to serve god in the location
And you say i'm going to move somewhere where i'm not able to serve god
Then you're making the wrong choice
Because you should be putting god first in your life
Look, this is something that is a very difficult thing. There's a lot of our members in manila during the lockdown whose jobs, you know
They struggled they had to get new jobs and everything like that and there are certain people at our church that made the choice
You know, they get offered a job they say well, can I work remotely?
You know, they said either in vanilla or pom pom good because they said I want to be part of the church
And then if it wasn't offered they said well, you know
I'm not going to move to a random area where there's not a church because they said church is important to me
Right and church should be important to us because how are we going to serve god if we don't have a church?
That we're part of and see here's the thing you have great
Free will with what job you want
You can go ahead and do any manner of different jobs under the sun as long as you're able to serve god
As long as that job is not inherently sinful
For example, if you get offered a job to make a lot of money being a bartender
It's wrong
Right
Or if you get offered a job, I mean there's there's there's a lot of there's a lot of sinful industries that pay good money
right
I mean you get offered a you know, you become a drug dealer guy your brother's not
So i'm struggling for money, but I found a career where I can make good money, right? I'm going to be a drug pusher
and it's just like
Well, you're you're liable to get all of us killed, right?
But it's just like obviously that's wrong because it's inherently simple people. I say well, you know, why can't I do this?
Well, because there's certain jobs that you know cause them not to serve god
You know a great example of something that I think would be wrong
Is professional athletes that are not able to go to church because of their job
Right. I mean, I don't know about an NBA, but I know the NBA they play games on Sundays and they're not able to go
To church. Well, I mean, I think it's wrong then
It doesn't matter how good you are at basketball and if you're paying 20 million dollars if you're not a part of a church
Then you're making the wrong choice
Go to philippines chapter four philippines four
philippines four
Another thing is with hobbies we have, you know
I don't know in terms of everybody in this room people got saved at different stages in their life
And you had different hobbies that you had in the past or whatever
You know, i've had hobbies I had in the past, you know, give an example, you know
What I really like doing as a kid was playing soccer
That was my dream was to be a pro soccer player when I was a kid
And you know when I got older I figured you know, I had some injuries and I just kind of you know
Basically said obviously that dream was never going to happen or whatever when I was a young teenager
But I just figured when I get married one day and have kids if I have any sons
I want them to be the best soccer players they can possibly be
And just be really great and everything. But here's the thing that was before I was saved
Then when you get sick because here's the thing. I played soccer on Sundays all the time traveling to different tournaments
But here's the thing. I don't want my son
Getting involved in a hobby where he's going to have to start missing church
And I think soccer's a fun sport to play basketball is a fun sport to play
And you can maybe play this sports and it doesn't get in the way of serving god
But if it's going to get in the way of serving god, that's not what I want my kids to go after
No matter how talented they might be at something like that
You know, there's many hobbies you can do. There's nothing simple about me. I like to work out now. I like to write poems
There's nothing simple about that. If you like to play instruments, you know, there's nothing simple about that
But you know, you might have hobbies from the past that would be wrong
And here's the thing
You know what? It might have been your hobby in the past, but god has a restriction on things that are simple
So no matter what you personally enjoy if it's wrong
It's wrong
I spent a lot of time before I was saved listening to rock music
And watching, you know the wrong movies and the wrong tv shows and it was fun back then but it's like wait a minute
God says no
And it doesn't matter what we spent our time in the past. There's a restriction
So we do have free will
And god gives us a lot of free will to make our own choices and we still have the free will to make the wrong choice
But god does have a slight restriction where he says there's a thousand things in front of you. Just don't do this
This is okay
This is okay. This is okay
This is not okay
Right. I know this is an important thing
We should teach our kids at a young age because as they're picking careers, you know
Obviously some careers you might be able to serve god maybe some careers you're not going to be able to serve god
I know in the u.s. There was a really one really good paying job is in the petroleum engineering field now
I don't know about now because
Everything's protecting the environment so you're not allowed to drill for oil
But the problem with working in petroleum engineering is you would be on the job site for three straight weeks
Then you have like a week and a half off
so basically
It'd be basically impossible to really get involved in a system of of church because you're gone for three weeks
And then you're back
And it's like, you know, there's certain jobs where you know and that you're just not going to be able to serve god that well
Philippians chapter 4 notice what it says in verse 8
He says finally brethren whatsoever things are true
whatsoever things are honest
Whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely
whatsoever things are a good report if there be any virtue and if there be any praise think on these these things so
God says in verse 8, you know what?
Anything that's true. I mean things that are true and honest and just and pure and lovely and a good report
He said there's basically many things that you can think about and meditate on and spend your time on and they're not wrong
They're not sinful. Obviously, we know we need to be in church
Obviously, we need to know that we need to go so we need to read the bible and do these things
But it's just like it's not like we're going so many 24 seconds, right?
Obviously, we're spending time doing other things in your free time
There are plenty of things that you can do
Plenty of things that you can focus your energy on and so there's no need to look at and say well
God is so restrictive because I have these hobbies and I can't do them
There's plenty of things we can do many things that we can do for enjoyment. You can spend time with your family
You know, there's plenty of books you can read you can study things you can be educated honestly
There's a lot of things that we can do with our time. But the truth is we have probably all had hobbies
Or forms of entertainment in the past that you know what if we're going to serve god
We need to kind of put it aside
Just not the best thing that to do right there's plenty of things we can do
So here's the thing we have free will to do
A lot of different things where god doesn't even care and he doesn't say it's wrong
It's just he has small slight restrictions on certain things in the garden of eden eat up any tree in one
Just not this one tree