Song number 24, as you find your seats on that first verse, we will sing it out.
for me, who caused his pain, for me, who him to death pursued.
Amazing love, how can it be that thou, my God, should stop?
How can it be that thou, my God, should stop for me?
He let his father's throne above, so free, so in fact.
Helpless race, tis mercy hall, immense and free Oh, my God, it fath...
Asbound in sin and nature's night.
Now that my news a-quinning rain,
I wore the dungeon plain with line.
My chains fell.
Amen. Wonderful singing. Let's start our service with a word of prayer. Dear God and my father,
we thank you so much for God for just allowing us to be in your house this evening with God.
We thank you so much with God for
just this wonderful church as well.
And we do pray that you please just bless
every aspect of our service, little God.
Bless the singing unto you, O Lord.
And I pray that you would also just,
most of all, bless the preaching of your word.
Please be with our pastor, little God.
Fill him with your Holy Spirit.
And help us, little God, to be attentive, little God,
tonight as we hear your word being preached, little God.
I pray that you please help us, little God,
to leave here, change, little God,
and apply this sermon to our lives, little God.
Pray now these things in Jesus' name, amen.
You may be seated in song number 227,
saved by the blood.
Song number 227, song number 227, song number 227, we'll sing it on that first verse.
Saved by the blood of the crucified one, now ransom from sin and a new work begun.
Sing praise to the Father, sing praise.
to the Son, Saved by the blood of the Crucified One.
Glorium saved, Glorium saved, My sins are all pardoned, My guilt is all gone.
Glorium saved, Glorium saved, I'm Saved by the blood of the Crucified One.
Saved by the blood of the Crucified One.
rejoicing because it is done. A child of a father joiners with a son, saved by the blood of the
crucified one. Serium sing, glory sing, my sins are abarded, my guilt is all gone.
Saved by the blood of the Crucified One And His will it was done, great pious of the
part in His grace Saved by the blood of the Crucified One
Saved by the blood of the crucified one, all hail to the Father, all hail to the Son, all hail to the Spirit, the great three in one.
Saved by the blood of the crucified one.
I'm saved by the blood of a crucified man.
Excellent singing, everyone.
Just some announcements before we sing our next song, which
will be song number 397, Little As Much When God Is In It,
song number 397.
We'd like to welcome you back to our Thursday night service
at 7 PM.
We're going through the Book of John.
So many teams and times are here below.
Continue to pray for the expectant mother there's stats for July
But I just want to encourage you guys to pass me this put out the challenge to have or not necessarily a challenge
But he has a goal of hitting 2,000 salvation
I pray that you guys make that your mission too so that you can add on to that and you can have Pete
You can help reach help us reach that goal
So continue to pray for that do you want his mission strips will be Saturday August 30th
9 30 a.m. Meeting at the building our men's prayer night will be Friday September 5th meeting at 7 p.m.
And then our church anniversary will be Sunday September 14th
Outside of that, please silence your phones to not be a distraction to the service. Please open up your hymnals to song number
329 little as much when God is in it
Song number 397
Little as much when God is in it song number 397
Sing it on that first verse in the harvest feels now ripen
There's a word for all to do
Park the voice of God is calling to the harvest calling you
Little as much when God is in it
Levered up for wealth or fame
There's a crown and you can win it
If you'll go in Jesus' name
Does a place you're called to labor
Seems so small and little, no
It is great if God is in it
And He'll not forget His own
Little is much when God is in it
Labor not for wealth or fame
There's a crown and you can win it
If you'll go in Jesus' name
Are you laid aside from service
Body worn from toiling care
You can still be in the battle
In the sacred place of prayer
Little is much when God is in it
Labor not for wealth or fame
There's a crown and you can win it If you'll go in Jesus' name
When the conflict here is ended And our race on earth is rocked
Do all the faithful, welcome home My child, well done
Little is much when God is in it Labor not for wealth or fame
There's a crown and you can win it if you go in Jesus' name.
Amen. Wonderful singing at this time. Our ushers will be receiving the offering and please turn your Bible to Ephesians chapter 2.
Good evening tonight. We're in Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians chapter two, the Bible reads,
And you happy quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, when in time past you walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that
Among whom also we have all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love, wherewith he loved us,
even when we were dead in sins, he hath quickened us, together with Christ, by grace he hath saved.
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Then the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and in his kindness,
toward us through Christ Jesus.
For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves is the gift of God,
not of works, lest any man should boast.
For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus on two good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Wherefore, remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision, in the flesh made by hands, that at the time
ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from
the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who were sometimes far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ,
for he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition
Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of the commandments contained in ordinances,
for to make in himself of twain one new man so making peace,
that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby,
and came and preached peace to you, which were afar off to them that were nigh.
For through through him we both have access by one spirit unto the father now
Therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God and are built upon the
Foundation of the Apostles and prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone
And whom all the building fitly framed together growth unto an holy temple in the Lord
Whom in whom you also are building together for an habitation of God through the spirit
Let's pray your Lord God. Just thank you for this time. We have Lord tonight to hear the preaching of a word Lord
Just please give us in the congregation ears to hear the message that pastor is prepared for us Lord
And please feel pastor with your Holy Spirit Lord and boldness as he preaches your word Lord
We pray this all in Jesus name. Amen
Man.
Okay, we're in Ephesians chapter two this evening, look down at verse 19, it says,
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints
and of the household of God.
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being the chief cornerstone.
The time I serve in this evening is the foundation of the apostles.
I want to preach on the subject of apostleship this evening and I've been wanting to preach
you know, studying on apostles in the Bible and I kind of put it off for a while, but then,
you know, while I was out souling, I ran into a person who's actually a member of what's referred
to as la luz del mundo, which is basically the interpretation there is like the light of the
world. It's a major false cult that started off in Mexico and it teaches a slew of heresy, of course,
but one of the biggest things is that they have a modern-day apostle.
and they have this succession of apostles
that goes from son to son to son to son
and they're all pedophiles, they're all perverts,
they're filled with all types of sexual scandals
in those churches, it's extremely wicked.
And believe it or not, I actually went to that church
when I was about 17, 18, I would say 16, 17 years old,
not because I was looking for the truth,
not because I was interested in the things of God,
it's because a girl invited me to go there
and I was interested in her, okay?
there and then thinking to myself like this church is weird, you know, they don't have
any instruments, the guy sit on one end, the girl sit on the other end and you know, they
basically never talked about Jesus Christ and even as an unsafe person, I thought that
was weird. They never mentioned Jesus Christ. They rarely have ever preached about the Bible.
And I got the impression when I was there that they were essentially teaching that in order to have eternal life or go to heaven that it had to come through the apostle.
And again, I wasn't saved, but I had somewhat of an understanding like well, what about Jesus though?
Isn't doesn't stop me should come through Jesus
I know the Bible says something about that and I remember going to one of the members there because after a while
I was just like this is kind of weird
I want to ask some of the people here regarding some of this teaching and I said so are you saying that like we like in order to
Go to heaven we need the apostle
You know this current apostle. They're like, oh, yeah
He if it wasn't for him, we wouldn't get that
I was like, oh man, that's kind of weird.
And then I said, what if like,
what if someone only knows about Jesus though
and they never hear about the apostle?
Will they go to heaven?
They're like, yes, but it's only because
the apostle knows about them.
And I thought to myself like, whoa, this is like crazy.
And again, I was an unsaved person
and I even knew that that stuff was nonsensical
and out there, but it kind of goes to show you
that deception runs rampant.
all over the world and although you and I will never get to see by a modern day
apostle there are millions and millions of people who are being deceived by
apostles not just by this modern day la luz del mundo movement but you have the
Mormons who have their apostles the orthodox church has their apostles
there's all types of black churches that have apostles a false apostles are
everywhere okay
And so, it's important for us to know what is an apostle according to the Word of God.
Now, hold your place in Ephesians 2, go to Mark 16, if you would, Mark chapter 16, Mark chapter 16.
Let me read to you from Luke chapter 11.
And let me just start off by saying this is that an apostle or the word apostle simply means one who is sent.
So, that is literally from the original language that literally means to send someone out.
So, often in the Bible, when you have people being sent out to go preach the Gospel, the
word Apostles often used to describe that verb.
They're being sent out.
They're being, you know, I can't even say it in Greek, but basically it's like to be
sent out is to be apostolized, kind of the thing, okay?
You're being sent out.
But these Apostles, the Apostles of Jesus Christ, are obviously special and they're specific
because they're not only being sent out to preach the Word of God, they're being sent
agenda, they're being sent out with specific and special abilities to confirm the word of God.
The Bible tells us in Luke chapter 11, you don't have to turn there, verse 48,
truly he bear witness that he allowed the deeds of your fathers, for they indeed killed them
and he billed their sepulchres. Therefore also said the wisdom of God,
I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay,
and persecute.
So you think of these two offices,
the prophets and the apostles.
Apostles carry this connotation
that they're evangelizing.
Prophets carry the connotation
that they're not necessarily evangelizing,
but they're expounding the word of God.
One is winning people to Christ.
The other one is essentially grounding them
in the faith through other doctrines of the Bible.
That's what the apostles and the prophets are.
Now again,
This is important because the Bible talks about, you know, the fact that there are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves.
Now, why is that important? Because the ones who are legitimate apostles who no longer exist were transformed by God.
These, on the other hand, are transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ and no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers be ministers, you know, transform themselves into ministers of righteousness
and shall be according to their works.
So it's literally warning us that we need to be aware
that there are people out there
who are claiming to be the apostles of Christ,
but they're actually ministers of Satan.
Now, let me start off by saying this is the number one.
The apostles, as I mentioned, had supernatural abilities.
And I'm not referring to this modern day
charlatan type, smoke and mirrors,
ability to perform miracles.
I mean, these were notable miracles
that they were able to perform that no one can refute, okay?
Now, why did the Lord Jesus Christ allow the apostles to perform these miracles?
What was the purpose of that?
Well, obviously number one would be to leave an impression, right?
If someone is resurrecting a dead person back to life, if someone is healing an individual,
if someone is bitten by a venomous viper and does not die, that obviously lends veracity
to the messages being preached.
And so they're able to perform signs and wonders and this was obviously done in order to expedite the starting of the local New Testament churches because they're essentially being set out when the New Testament begins in order to lay the foundation to start churches.
Well, in order to do this signs and wonders assist with that.
Because of the fact that you have, for thousands of years, this religion of Judaism being seen as the authority religion there,
but then you have Jesus Christ coming on the scene, he came into his own, his own receives him not,
but then you have these apostles being sent out, they're performing the signs and wonders which essentially lends veracity that these men are sent by God.
These are supernatural capabilities that they have.
It gives the message more credibility.
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 1212,
truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you
in all patience and signs and wonders and mighty deeds.
Acts 19, verse 11 says this,
and God wrought, listen to this, special miracles.
Now if it's special, it means that not everyone's
able to do it.
It means it's unique to the apostles, special miracles by the hand of Paul.
Look at Mark 16 and verse 15 if you would.
So the first thing here is that the apostles had supernatural capabilities.
Look at verse 15 and he said it to them.
Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature
He to believe it in his baptized shall be saved and he to believe it
But he that believe it not shall be damned and these signs shall follow them
But they believe in my name shall they cast out devils they shall speak with new tongues
They shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing
It shall not hurt them.
They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.
So then after the Lord had spoken unto them,
he was received up into heaven
and sat on the right hand of God.
I want you to notice verse 20.
And they went forth and preached everywhere,
the Lord working with them
and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
So Jesus Christ is sending out these apostles and they're able to perform these incredible miracles of, you know, if someone is trying to assassinate them,
trying to get them to drink poison.
If they're bitten by venomous vipers, they're able to also lay hands on the sick and recover them.
All of these incredible supernatural capabilities that lends veracity to the message.
Now, the reason this is important is because of the fact that someone today can call themselves an apostle, but they cannot do this.
They can say they even saw the resurrected Jesus Christ, but they cannot do this.
And here's the thing, folks, is that if someone claims to be sent by God and they have these supernatural capabilities,
let's hand them a black mamba. Let's hand them a diamond-backed rattlesnake.
You know, one that hasn't been frozen in the freezer for quite some time, by the way.
He said, why do you say that? Well, because a lot of these Christian so-called snake handlers,
what they'll often do is they'll place venomous vipers and snakes into freezers, okay?
And so they're all disoriented.
So when they bring them out and they're
flinging them around or whatever,
they're not getting bit.
It's because the snake's just like, what the heck is going on?
They're not fully awake.
They're not fully conscious.
So they're essentially just faking it.
Now, a couple of years ago, there's
a snake handler who was doing this.
And the snake woke up.
He didn't leave him in there long enough.
And he said, what happened?
The rattlesnake bit him in the head a couple of times,
and the guy ended up dying a couple of hours thereafter.
You know you say why because he's a false prophet, okay? Where's your apostleship now?
Where is your supernatural capability now?
I'll tell you, why did that happen?
Cause he's a false apostle, a deceitful worker, you know,
and nowhere in the Bible does it teach
that Christians ought to be snake handlers.
That should be, you know, an ordinance of a service.
They're part of being a Christian.
It's just bringing up serpents in here
and flinging them around.
That is obviously nonsensical.
It's satanic.
It doesn't, it's not from the word of God.
This is simply saying that they're essentially almost indestructible if God is having a purpose for them here in this world.
You know, if they're getting bit by some venomous animal, the fact that they don't swell up and fall over and die is an indication that they're sent from God.
And we have a literal example of that where the apostle Paul is throwing a bundle of sticks into the fire and a viper comes out and latches on to him.
He just shakes it off.
And the people of the island are kind of shocked.
They're just like, whoa, how come he's not falling over and dying?
He must be a God.
And so obviously, that opens up an opportunity for him to preach the Word of God
because a supernatural occurrence took place.
And so we see here that they're giving these supernatural capabilities
in order to confirm the message.
So when they're able to perform these miracles of raising the dead, healing the sick,
it gets the people's attention.
And once they have their attention, then they begin to preach the Word of God.
And I will say this is that when you study a lot of these miracles that were performed specifically in the book of Acts,
you'll notice that the people are far more astounded by the doctrine than the miracle.
It's like the miracle was kind of put forth to get their foot in the door,
but once the miracle is done and the word of God is preached, the people are far more impressed with the doctrine.
And this is something that happens when the apostle Paul, for example,
goes to the island of Cyprus.
He's preaching the word of God there
and he's preaching it to a magistrate
and you have a false prophet by the name of Elimus
who's seeking to hinder the apostle Paul
and what does the apostle Paul do?
He blinds him, right?
He basically strikes him with blindness
and the Bible literally says that
they were astonished at the doctrine.
So even though that was a notable miracle
that the apostle Paul did,
they were more impressed with the doctrine.
Now, you say, well, I think these miracles still exist,
you know, the ability to be bitten by a snake and not die,
you know, to heal people and to resurrect people.
Well, let me tell you why that's not a thing anymore,
why it's null and void.
Because we've had 2,000 years of the gospel
being saturated throughout the world already, okay?
And the gospel, listen to this,
is the power of God and to salvation
to everyone that believe it.
And quite frankly, we need to understand that
When someone gets saved that is one of the greatest miracles we can see right the reason it was necessary in the first century
Ades because God wanted to accelerate the starting of churches the growth of the churches and that's why this was necessary
They kind of give them a head start, right?
They're just kind of going out there performing these miracles.
Jesus Christ has just ascended up into heaven,
so it's just lending more veracity to the message that's being preached.
Go to Matthew chapter 10, if you would, Matthew chapter 10.
So he tells them there that the Lord was working with them,
confirming the word with signs following.
Now, if you study, you know, so-called apostles today
that are supposedly performing miracles,
you know, the glory always goes to the person performing it.
And more often than not, the message that they're preaching is a false gospel.
It's false doctrine.
It doesn't match up with what the Bible says.
But they don't care because all they care is about signs and wonders because a wicked
and adulterous generation seek it after a sign.
People who just want the sign, they don't care about the message.
Obviously these people, according to God's standard, are wicked and adulterers and fleshly and so forth.
And so this was necessary in the beginning in order to give more credibility to the leaders of the local New Testament churches in the first century.
The second thing I want to mention regarding apostles is that they no longer exist.
Now, obviously, because the word apostle means to be sent out, we can say, you know, we're
apostles because we're being sent out to preach the Word of God.
But you know what?
I don't recommend it, right?
Because obviously, that's going to confuse people.
We're not able to do signs and wonders.
We're evangelists.
We're preachers of the gospel.
We're soul winners.
This is what we are, right?
But apostles no longer exist today.
Why is that?
Well, first and foremost, apostles in the Bible had to be selected by Jesus Christ Himself.
Okay, so you couldn't just take that upon yourself and say well, I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ
Well, did Jesus specifically pick you? Well, no, okay, then you're not an apostle. Okay. Look at Matthew 10 verse 1
It says that when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against
unclean spirits.
So Jesus Christ selected twelve disciples first and then they became apostles.
And as we're going to see later, he ordained another seventy.
So just to let you know, these twelve disciples who became the twelve apostles are actually
favored amongst all the apostles.
And then he gives them power against unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
Now the names of the twelve apostles are these, the first Simon who was called Peter and Andrew his brother, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother.
Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the publican, James the son of Alphaeus and Lebeius, whose surname is Thaddeus.
Simon the Canaanite and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
Now, I personally believe that Judas Iscariot, though a false prophet, was still given by God the ability to perform these signs and wonders, okay?
A lot of people disagree with that because they're like, well, how can he do that if he's not saved?
I'll tell you how it's because God gave him the ability to do so.
Okay, and here's the thing we're saved and we can't perform those miracles
So obviously that argument goes out the window, but let me also say this
Are you really gonna tell me that for three and a half years he performed no miracles and no one caught on to that?
He's one of the 12
Right, so he's just out there, and you know, you know
So there's like some sick dude out there, and he's just like oh man you you heal the also just about do it
Bro, you beat me to it for like three and a half years. That's what's taking place
I don't think so. I think he was actually performing signs of wonders and look folks the false prophet in the Antichrist gonna performing
signs and miracles
point blank
And so the reason Judas scares the false prophets is because he denied the Lord Jesus Christ.
I believe God enabled him to do so because he was given the office of an apostle, he was enabled to do so,
and he didn't have to be saved to do that because we're saved and we can't do that, you understand?
But here we see the ordination of the twelve apostles who were originally the twelve disciples, the closest to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Turn with me if you would to go to Luke chapter 10. Go to Luke chapter 10.
So, these are the 12, these are the ones who we would say were the closest to Jesus Christ.
And of course, as we know that of those 12, there are three specific ones who were part
of his inner circle, Peter, James, and John.
So, Peter, James, and John, then the 12, but then there's other 70 that God also ordained.
Let me read to you from Romans chapter 16, verse 7 says this, Salute Andronicus in Junia
My kinsmen and fellow prisoners who are listen to this note among the apostles who also were in Christ before me
So the Apostle Paul talks about other apostles aside from the 12 that were present even before the Apostle Paul was saved
that he refers to as apostles and it's possible that
Junia and Andronicus were individuals who were part of this 70 who were ordained in Luke chapter 10 look at Luke 10 if you would
Luke chapter 10 and verse 1 it says after these things the Lord appointed other 70 also and sent
them two and two before his face into every city and place whether he himself would come. Now let
me just pause here real quick to mention something. This is one of the reasons why when we go so many
we go two and two.
This is essentially the biblical pattern that we would use when we go out soul-winning.
Jesus Christ sent out his apostles in pairs to preach the gospel for various reasons.
Obviously, accountability would be one.
Two is just to encourage one another.
And three is just the biblical model that we see.
And so when you're out there soul-winning and you're paired up with someone,
don't just deviate from the plan and go preach the gospel somewhere else.
They're like, I'll see you in an hour.
Make sure you stick with your team.
Stick with your soul-winning partner.
You know so we can keep you accountable make sure you're not preaching anything stupid, too
Look at verse 2 it says therefore said he unto them the harvest truly is great
But the laborers are few pray therefore the Lord of harvest that he was sent forth laborers into his harvest
Do you me think to yourself? Well, it says that he sent out 70
But doesn't this just mean that he's sending them out to preach the gospel. They're just like evangelists are not necessarily apostles
Well, look what it goes on to say verse 3 go your ways
Behold I send you forth as lambs among wolves
carry neither purse nor script nor shoes and salute no man by the way this is
essentially emphasizing the fact that they were to have a sense of urgency
when they would go and preach that's why he says salute no man by the way like
go and get the job done he says and if the first five and
into what's over house he entered first say peace be to this house and if the
son of peace be there your peace shall rest upon him if not it shall return to
you again and in the same house remain
Eating and drinking such things as they give for the laborers worthy of his hire go now from house to house
I like verse 7 because it's basically saying, you know, someone's gonna receive you
They're going to host you and you just need to make sure you eat whatever they give you all right
Don't be picky
They give you Indian food eat the Indian food
You know if they give you, you know some dish that you don't prefer just eat it
And he specifically says there go now from house to house in other words. Don't take advantage of this
Because obviously, if you're performing miracles, people are going to want to host you, right?
So he's saying wherever you go, just abide at that particular house.
Don't just be like, all right, you know, I'm going to stay at this house on Monday and at this house on Tuesday.
He's just saying, stay there, may that be your headquarters in that particular city and then preach the gospel from there.
Verse 8 says, and then to whatsoever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you.
And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same,
and say, even the very dust of your city, which cleaveeth unto us, we do wipe off against you.
Skip down to verse 16.
I actually skipped down to verse 17.
And the 70 returned again with joy,
saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us
through thy name.
And he said unto them, I beheld Satan
as lightning fall from heaven.
So obviously we see here that these 70
weren't just commissioned to go and preach the gospel.
They had those supernatural capabilities
as noted by the fact that they were performing exorcisms.
They were casting out devils.
These were obviously the same people
who were able to perform these great signs and wonders.
Now, the reason that's important is because of the fact
that people often think, oh, there's only 12 apostles,
right?
There's only Peter, James, John, and then the rest.
But no, there's actually a lot more than that.
And if you remember the story in Mark where John is just like,
hey, there's people who are casting out devils
and they run not with us, or I can't remember the wording.
He's like, you know, they follow not after us.
You know, should we rebuke them?
And he's just like, no, because they're on our side.
They're preaching the Word of God.
And I believe the people he's referring to
is probably part of the 70 who essentially was not,
they weren't necessarily going with Jesus.
They're just going in different cities,
preaching the Word of God.
And they're performing these miracles.
Because obviously, if they're performing these miracles,
they're obviously being commissioned
by Jesus Christ to do so.
Go to Acts chapter one.
Acts chapter 1 let's talk about Matthias and Paul, okay? This is a big subject here regarding the Apostles
We obviously know that
Judas ended up hanging himself. We know that he wasn't saved according to John chapter 6
He didn't believe from the beginning, but there's always this debate amongst Christians as to who's the 12th Apostle, right?
I mean you've heard that before like was it really Matthias or is it the Apostle Paul now?
I'm gonna tell you right now that I believe that the 12th Apostle
is Paul and it's not Matthias and I'm going to explain to you why I believe that's the case.
But in Acts chapter 1 the apostles are meeting together in order to ordain the 12th apostle.
Because of the fact that the scriptures obviously foretold that one of the apostles
was going to be the the the son of perdition, right, that he was going to betray the Lord.
Look at verse 26 if you would.
Apostle Peter here says men and brethren the scripture must need to have been fulfilled
Which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas which was guide to them who that took Jesus
For he was numbered with us and it had obtained part of this ministry
What is he talking about? He's saying that he was selected by Jesus Christ to be a part of the 12
He wasn't just one of the 12 disciples. He was also one of the 12 apostles. He says in verse 18
Now this man purchased the field with a reward of iniquity, falling, headlong, he burst the
thunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.
Let's skip down to let's see here verse 21 wherefore of these men which have
company with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us
beginning from the baptism of John unto that same day that he was taken up from
us must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection and they
appointed to Joseph called Bar Sabbaths
who ascertaining justice and Matthias.
And they prayed and said,
Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men,
show whether of these two thou has chosen.
That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship
from which Judas by transgression fell,
that he might go out to his own place.
And they gave forth their lot
and the law fell upon Matthias.
And he was numbered with the 11 apostles.
So a lot of people would take a passage like this
and say, well, they prayed.
And because the casting of lots was a method of making decisions in the Old Testament
and they prayed unto the Lord, the law fell upon Matthias,
therefore we conclude that Matthias is probably the 12th Apostle.
And obviously you can see how that's the case.
But let me ask you, whose responsibility was it to ordain the 12 apostles?
Jesus.
So it doesn't say here that Jesus selected them.
And they had to have been there selected by God.
The Apostle Paul was actually selected by Jesus Christ
Like he appeared to Jesus Christ on the road. I'm sorry
He appeared to the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus
he like came from heaven and
Specifically selected the Apostle ball to be an apostle, right? Obviously he was an apostle at the time
Now obviously we can point to like oh, yeah, well Matthias. Is it really mentioned there after and I do believe Matthias is an apostle. I
believe he's probably one of the 70
That was running with them since Luke chapter 10
The argument here is he is was he one of the 12 Apostles after this?
Okay, and obviously he's not mentioned there after but I would make the argument that the reason the Apostle Paul is the 12th
It's because the 12 were selected specifically by Jesus Christ himself
Okay, which is something that was very much necessary not only that the one of the reasons people kind of argue about this particular point
It's because of the fact that
The 12 apostles that those disciples were given the privilege to sit them on the 12th thrones in the resurrection
Judging the 12 tribes of Israel, right?
He told them like in the resurrection
You're gonna sit on the 12th thrones and so people were like well
Who's gonna sit on that 12th throne if Judas fell is it gonna be Matthias well?
Let me just say this is that you know God doesn't just give consolation prizes just because they're apostles
It's not like, oh, you're an apostle, therefore you get to judge the twelve tribes.
Why did God specifically select the twelve to sit on the twelve thrones, judging the
twelve tribes of Israel in the resurrection?
It's because they're the ones who suffered with him.
They suffered persecution they did the work right they were there with them
He's like you were you have been there with me in my temptations. He specifically said of the 12th, okay?
Now I'm not talking crap about my thighs or anything like that
But you know, we don't even know if that's even the case with him. However, we do know that the Apostle Paul did suffer a lot
In fact, most of his epistles is just highlighting all the tribulation and persecution,
and I would say, you know, he probably got persecuted more than all the other apostles.
You know as far as we know like based upon the writings either that or he was just the most open about his persecution
Bro a stone. He was shipwrecked. You know he I mean a lot happened to the apostle Paul
He suffered for the cause of Christ greatly
We see that in all the epistles and so you know God is not just gonna give
Dominion and authority to people just because a lot was cast right?
He gives dominion, he gives authority, he rewards those who have suffered with him.
And in fact he says, you know, joint heirs with Christ if so be, they have suffered with him.
That's what the Bible says in Romans chapter 8.
So in order to even be given the privilege to rule and reign with Christ, you have to suffer with Christ.
Obviously, because we're Christians, we're going to go to heaven.
Obviously, because we're Christians, we're going to be in the new heaven and new earth.
We're going to be in the millennia reign.
We're talking about the rewards that you get there.
And judging the 12 tribes is a reward.
It's not something that was just given to them because they're 12 apostles, because
they're the 12 disciples.
It's given to them because they suffered with Christ from the beginning of his ministry.
Yeah, think about it like the 12 disciples they put themselves out there. They're they're placing their faith in Jesus Christ
They're the ones who followed him since the beginning when even his own brothers and sisters his blood brothers and sisters didn't even believe on it, right?
And so, you know, they kind of put their life out on the line, they hazarded their lives,
and so that's where they're given that privilege, and that's why I believe that the Apostle Paul is the 12th Apostle.
He was selected by Jesus Christ, Matthias was not selected. He said, well, it says right here, though.
Yeah, but Acts is more like a, you know, a historical account of the actions of the Apostles. Right?
So it's not necessarily like a blueprint of how to learn doctrine or how to select individuals.
Okay, you know like people always point out. Why are you baptized in the name of the father son of the Holy Spirit?
The Apostles baptized in the name of Jesus and I always tell him what did Jesus say? How did Jesus say to baptize?
The book of Acts is a record of what the Apostles did. It's a synopsis of the work
It's not an instructional guide on how to do things, right?
And so we see here that although Matthias is selected by the Apostles to be one of the 12,
more than likely he was already an Apostle.
He was definitely a disciple, but it's more than likely that the Apostle Paul became the 12th.
The point that I'm making here is that in order to be an Apostle, you had to be selected by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, you can obviously see that modern-day Apostles will say, well, I was selected.
Jesus appeared to me in a dream.
You know he appeared to me in a dream. He selected me. Yeah, but you got to fit all the other criteria, too
Well, let's see it. Let's see a sign then do do a sign of an apostle
I got a cold take it off of me right now
You know I got a fever get it get rid of my fever or something now. Let's let's go to the cemetery actually
You know what you don't even have to heal me
Let's just go to the cemetery and let me see you resurrect some folks from the grave real quick
That doesn't happen. I don't care if you think Jesus appeared to you in a dream. You're a fraud
And so very important there they had to have seen the resurrected Christ the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 9 go to 1 Corinthians 15
If you would 1 Corinthians 9 verse 1 says am I not an apostle am I not free have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord
Are not ye my work in the Lord?
So they had to have seen the resurrected Christ because Jesus Christ specifically picked them
They had to have seen the resurrected Christ in order to be picked by Jesus Christ to be an apostle
right because he was seen
Like, you know above 500 brethren at one time doesn't mean all 500 became apostles
You know they had to have seen the resurrected Christ and he had to have selected them for the apostleship
Understand look at 1st Corinthians 15 verse 5
It says and that he was seen of Cephas referring to Peter
Then of the 12th, after that he was seen of above 500 brethren at once of whom the greater part remain unto this present but some are fallen asleep meaning that they've died.
After that he was seen of James, then of all the apostles and last of all he was seen of me also as one born out of due time.
So this is saying that the last person to have seen the resurrected Christ in order to be appointed to be an apostle was Paul.
Because it's possible that John is the one who saw him last when he's writing the book of Revelation, right?
On the Isle of Patbys, the Lord Jesus Christ presents himself, you know, he has this vision of Jesus Christ.
That's the resurrected Christ.
But what the Apostle Paul's referring to here is that he's seen of Christ in order to be appointed to be an Apostle.
Big difference, okay?
And again, someone can say, well, yeah, I had that experience.
Yeah, but you again, you got to meet all the other criteria though.
Okay, and there's one specific criteria that I'm gonna cover at the end of the sermon that most of these modern-day Apostles for sure do not meet
All of them do not meet actually
Go with me if you would to Ephesians chapter 4 Ephesians chapter 4 if you wouldn't
So an Apostle someone who is sent not just to preach the gospel
But to perform miracles supernatural feats in order to lend veracity to the message that they're preaching
Give more credibility to as the book of Acts would put it this way
But they were not only giving supernatural capabilities,
we also see that he appointed more than just 12.
There's 70 at one point.
There's a lot of them walking around performing these miracles.
Let me also say this is that not all apostles
wrote scripture or started churches.
Now this is important, okay?
because today you have a lot of, you know, churches,
Protestants, and then you have Catholics
who believe in what's known as apostolic succession.
That's like a huge thing, right?
And they're like, well, we get our authority from the apostles, right?
We got our authority from the apostles and we have an unbroken lineage to the apostles,
therefore we have the authority, but that's 100% false, okay?
You say, where do you get your authority from?
The Bible!
That's where we get it from.
See, we believe in biblical succession.
Non-Apostolic succession. We believe in biblical succession meaning that what we believe lines up with the Bible. We're right. You're wrong
And here's the thing folks is just like yeah, but you know, how are you supposed to know what scripture? What's not?
I'll tell you how I got the Holy Spirit dwelling within me. That's how I know
point blank and
Look the New Testament not all the New Testament was written by Apostles
Point point blank. What about that? You so well like what well, how about Luke?
Luke is a physician, he wrote the Gospel of Luke and he wrote the Book of Acts and he
probably even helped pen some other portions of Scripture that were dictated by an Apostle
but Luke and Acts were for sure written by Luke, he said oh man I don't know about that
well of course you don't know because you're not saved because at the end of the day what's
important to us is that it's written by God and the way we can tell it's written by God
is that if it lines up with Scripture and the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit
And so, you know, they didn't write all of scripture.
And look, I'm not trying to strip away
the authority of the apostles,
but I'm gonna tell you right now,
you know, some of the apostles
are even off-doctorally sometimes.
You know why, because they're fallible men.
And not all of them started churches.
Some of them were pastors, some of them were evangelists,
some of them taught weird stuff.
You know, think about this.
You know, the apostle Paul, for example,
in Acts chapter 16, took Timothy to go get circumcised.
Not right. Oh, yeah, but he's an apostle. You can do that. No, he can't
Being an apostle doesn't give you the green light to just do whatever the heck you want
And look folks
This is why it's important for us to realize that we believe in biblical succession not apostolic succession because when you believe in apostolic
Secession they can do no wrong
Whereas when we realize well if they contradict the Bible, then they're just wrong
Right? You have James, you know, instituting imposing unbiblical laws on the Gentiles.
How about, you know, how about the first Pope, Peter, who's over here, who's literally Judaizing people?
You know, we think of the term Judaize? Sorry, but it actually comes from Peter.
Like, the Apostle Paul, when we're buking Peter, and when this is being penned in Galatians 2,
You know what that shows me, you know, we're to follow the apostles when the apostles follow the Bible, but there's instances when they're wrong
Okay, which is why the apostle Paul had to rebuke him
And so for sure, they provided a doctrinal foundation
for the churches, but at the end of the day,
this is why 1 John chapter two tells us
that we have the unction, which is the Holy Ghost
that dwells within us, and we need not that any man teach us.
We have the Holy Spirit, we have the author himself
dwelling within us, and we can discern what is the word
of God and what is not, okay?
And I'm not discrediting the Apostles, obviously the Apostle Paul wrote the vast majority of the percentage of the New Testament.
I'm just telling you here that just because they're Apostles doesn't mean they weren't wrong sometimes.
And it doesn't mean that they started all the churches.
There were churches that were started by regular people.
Okay?
Look at Ephesians chapter 4.
It says here, and he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers
for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
What does it mean when it says that he gave some apostles? It means not all the churches had him.
Right?
So how do you do apostolic succession if not all the churches had apostles?
How?
You know are the Catholics going to say that some of the churches of the New Testament were literally not biblical because they didn't have apostle over them
They can't
You know some did have them some didn't there's times when the apostle Paul didn't even go visit a church
He would have liked to have visited the church, but he couldn't for whatever reason
But you know what if they didn't have an apostle they had a prophet and if they didn't have a prophet
That's okay. They had an evangelist and if they didn't have an evangelist they had a pastor
They had a teacher and as long as they were teaching the Word of God they were fine
Okay
Because the perfecting of the Saints wasn't just subject to the Apostles themselves
It was a conglomerate work of all these offices right here
So one church is not like oh man, we didn't have an apostle. Yeah, but you still had a prophet you had a pastor
You had a teacher, you know because it's all one God who's teaching you this through different different vessels
Okay, you don't necessarily need an apostle
You know, it's nice to have an apostle to see signs and wonders
But that was this is during an era where like a lot of that was phasing out
Understand and after the apostle Paul and the apostles died. There was no more miracles
There's no supernatural occurrences. They have to be just satisfied with the word of God
Okay
He says at verse 13 so we all come in the unity of the faith and
Of the knowledge of the Son of God into a perfect man unto the measure of the statue of the fullness of Christ
So he literally says that some people had apostles some didn't some had prophets some didn't look if you go back to Ephesians 2
Ephesians 2
Now a lot of Protestants would get mad when they hear what I just said because they probably believe to a certain degree some form of apostolic succession
But what I'm trying to teach you as a church is that you know the Bible is our final authority
Okay, and I'm trying to teach you that man is fallible. I'm fallible. This is why it's important for us to yes
Respect church authority, but more important than that is understanding that we need to just go with what the Bible says
Okay, now look at Ephesians 2 verse 19 now therefore here are no more strangers and foreigners
But fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God now
He's talking to the church at Ephesus. These are Gentile believers and he's made a distinction between
Gentile believers and Jews right and he's saying that now
Both are made one man right through Jesus Christ
And he's saying that both Jew and Gentile are both part of the household of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
Now look at verse 20 and are built, referring to the Church of Ephesus,
built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.
Now let me explain a couple of things regarding this verse.
Because verse 20 can be interpreted two ways.
And I think both ways are fine.
Both are valid.
I like both. Let me explain both of them to you.
First and foremost, when it says that the church had Ephesus and by proxy we ourselves, right,
are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
the foundation that this could be referring to the fact that the, you know, the church is built upon
the foundation that the apostles laid, right?
When it says, built upon the foundation of the apostles,
you can see how it could be referring to the fact that the apostles laid a doctrinal foundation for the churches.
They laid an administrative foundation for the churches, right?
And more often than not, this is how people interpret this passage to be.
And I'm fine with that. I think that's a valid point.
Because look at chapter 3, if you would. Chapter 3.
Verse 1, for this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ,
For you Gentiles if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God
Which has given me to you word how that by revelation
He made known unto me the mystery as I wrote a foreign few words
Whereby when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ
which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men
as it is now revealed unto us, unto his holy apostles and prophets
by the Spirit. So we actually see here
that something that is very unique to the apostles and prophets of the New
Testament
is that extra revelation is given to them specifically in this matter of
replacement theology.
Because he's saying that the Gentiles are to be partakers with us and it's exactly what he's talking about in Ephesians chapter 2
And he's saying that before like the sons of men didn't really understand that but now it's revealed to us through
Just the Apostles no actually says the Apostles and prophets
Now again, what did I say in the beginning?
What is an apostle as someone who's sent out to preach the gospel and what is the prophet?
It's someone who's preaching the word of God thereafter as well, okay?
And both of these are foundational for the New Testament churches.
Why? Because you have apostles going forth preaching the Gospel
with signs following, but then you have prophets showing up on the scene
confirming them in the faith, teaching them the Word of God,
getting them grounded doctrinally. You see this
multiple times throughout the book of Acts.
And in fact, let me read to you from Acts chapter 11 verse 27 says this,
And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.
And there stood up one of them named Agabus and signified by the spirit that there should be great
Deir throughout all the world which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.
Acts 13 verse 1 says this,
Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers
as Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene and Meneon
which had been brought up with hair of the tetrarch and Saul and they ministered to the Lord and fasted
As they minister to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said,
separate me, Barnabas, and Saul, for the work wherein to have called them.
Acts 15, verse 32 says this,
and Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, listen to this,
exhorted the brethren with many words and confirmed them.
So we'll see that the apostles were necessary
because they had these miracles that they were able to perform,
but then people also needed to be matured in the Lord as well.
through prophets. These are individuals who know how to expound the Word of God.
They can put the cookie on the bottom shelf. They can preach with authority.
They're essentially preachers is what they are. The point that I'm making here is a lot of times people
will place a great emphasis on the apostles, but they actually ignore the
prophet part.
Well it says the foundations of the apostles
and prophets. So the apostles laid the foundation
of preaching the Word of God telling people that this is Christ, Jesus, right?
Prophets came thereafter, confirming them, establishing them in the faith, helping them to be doctrine and sound. It was a joint effort, okay?
So that could be an interpretation.
It's just referring to the foundation
that they laid for the New Testament churches, okay?
And that's, you know, that's possible.
I'm in full agreement with that interpretation.
But another interpretation that it could be referring to
is the fact that churches are built upon
the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
and that could be talking about what?
The fact that the foundation of the apostles and prophets
is Jesus himself, right?
It could be interpreted in that manner as well
It basically saying like hey, you're built upon this specific foundation that the Apostles and Prophets are also built upon
you understand what I'm saying and
That's very much a valid interpretation as well because we have what's the foundation Jesus Christ
For no foundation can no man land and that which is late, which is Jesus Christ
Now go back to let's see here. Oh, you're there in Ephesians
So the the foundation could be referring to Jesus Christ himself now
This is where this is the point that I want to I want to get that tonight
And that is that it refers to Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone, right and in fact look what it says
Let's read it again
It says in verse number
19 let verse 20 says and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets
Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.
Now again, a lot of times with apostolic succession, they say,
well, what do the apostles believe?
What do the apostles say?
What are the writings of the apostles?
What are the disciples of the apostles say?
What are those who work directly under the apostles say?
Because that's what's authoritative.
Well, number one, sometimes the apostles won't even write.
But number two, what about the prophets?
And number three, you're not even finishing the verse.
Why? Because it says in verse 20 Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone
So he's saying hey, obviously the apostles have authority so do the prophets
But let me just remind you Jesus Christ himself is the chief cornerstone
In other words, we don't necessarily go to the apostles to figure out what Jesus said
We go to Jesus to see if what the Apostle said is right
The source of the truth is who? Jesus Christ.
Now, it's important for us to understand why use the term chief, what? Cornerstone.
You see, Jesus Christ is the foundation.
What is the foundation? It's the very bottom, right? It's the base.
And of course, that can be described as essentially referring to salvation.
But then, when you're building upon that, Jesus Christ is also the cornerstone.
So, he's not only the foundation, he's also the cornerstone thereafter.
And what is the cornerstone? Well, the cornerstone is the first stone
to be placed on a building that operates
as a reference point for all other stones.
And it essentially ensures the structure
stability and alignment. So, you put this cornerstone in every other stone that's
laid thereafter.
the cornerstone okay so that means you know if you find a writing of the
apostle some apostle or whatever and they claim to be a disciple of the
apostle and polycarp this and whoever this that and the other they claim to
be disciples okay well let's see if it lines up with the cornerstone though oh
oh oh oh they have some letter from the apostle John you know oh that's great so
is what they're saying lining up with the cornerstone though
You see, I don't need to go to the Apostles to figure out if, you know, to interpret to
me what Jesus said, I can go to Jesus myself, right?
I need to go to Jesus to see if what the Apostles or whoever wrote those letters is right.
The reason we know that the Apostles are right is because it lines up with the Bible.
And is it interesting that the Gospels were the last ones to be written, right?
So that when we see the writings of the Apostle Paul we see the writings of John
They talk about in times prophecy and that lines up exactly what Jesus said in Matthew 24 mark 13 Luke 21
When he's writing in 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 and 1st Thessalonians chapter 5
Some of the wording that he has is like identical to the prophetic teachings of Jesus Christ
Even though the writings of the Gospels was written way after that
You know that indicates that indicates to me that God wrote it
And so, what I'm telling you tonight is this,
is that too many churches, and of course,
through the influence of Catholicism,
through the influence of orthodoxy,
through the influence of Catholic light known as Protestants,
they placed such a great emphasis
on these extra biblical writings.
Oh, because they're a disciple of Polycarp.
They're a disciple of the apostle John.
He was close friends with them.
Who cares?
Amen.
I don't even believe he was a close friend.
Who gives a rip if they had lunch together?
is what he's saying because they viewed it like,
well, because he was so close to him,
that means what he says here,
you know, he was a lot closer to the apostles than you were.
He knew him better than you.
Yeah, but hold on a second.
Heretics existed in the first century as well.
The Bible tells us that the foundation
is not just of the apostles.
It's also of the prophets,
meaning you should go to both to see what they're saying,
right?
Go to what the apostles preach.
Go with what the prophets say, but hold on a second,
you need a measuring stick called the cornerstone as well.
And if you find some letter, you find some document,
some manuscript, some book, and they claim to have been
buddy buddies with some apostle and they're a disciple
of this, that, and the other, you know,
I'm not really impressed.
I'm not impressed.
Oh, we found this letter or whatever and he said this and therefore this is why we should believe this because of all this
Apostolic succession and the Apostle John laid hands on this person
Well, you know, it's possible the Apostle laid hands on a lot of people who were became false prophets though, too
So sorry that I'm not impressed I
View it is if it's true if it lines up with the cornerstone
Because the foundation is Jesus Christ but so is the cornerstone and if there's a stone in that building that's a little off take it out
Yeah, but it's closer to the cornerstone that why is it so wicked and why is it teaching contrary to the word of God?
Just because the stone is closer to the cornerstone doesn't lend veracity to its authority. It actually holds it more accountable
Because he's closer to Jesus Christ in that timeline
And look, folks, this is why we're Bible believers.
This is why we believe in biblical succession
because that's God's model.
The model is we need to prove all things
whole fast, that which is good,
study to show that I self-approved them to God,
a workman that needed not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the letters of polycarp
and rightly dividing the man, no, no, no,
rightly dividing the word of truth.
Who gave you the authority God gave it to me shut up God gave me the authority to discern what the Bible says
I have the mind of Christ. That's what the Bible tells me
We have the mind of Christ. That's what the Bible says. I have the unction of the Holy Ghost
You're a natural man. You receive it not the things of the Spirit of God
They're foolishness unto you and you don't know them for they're spiritually discerned. That's what the Bible says
Well, when was your church started?
2017
That's when it was starting you know what and we still know more Bible than you
Because you know what my cornerstone this stone these stones here are more in alignment with the cornerstone 2,000 years ago
Then whatever stones you're going according to you're not even in the right building
You have like a false foundation. It's a faulty Christ
It's a there you're built upon the sand is what you are
The point that I'm making here is that the Bible specifically says that if any man teach otherwise and
Consent not to hold some words listen to this even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ
This is not to take away the authority of the Apostles
Because there's many instances in the New Testament that said hey, you know
Remember the words of the Apostles and prophets, but you know why they're saying that because it lines up with what Jesus said
Here it says that if you don't consent to the words, wholesome words, even the words
of our Lord Jesus Christ and the doctrine, which is according to Godliness, he is proud
knowing nothing.
But doting about questions that strives the words where have come with envy, strife, railings,
surmises, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, destitute of the truth, supposing that
gain is Godliness from such which draw thyself.
Okay, the point that I'm making here is that the foundation of the apostles the foundation of the prophets
Yeah, could it be referring to the doctrine of foundation and you know the the model
They laid for the New Testament believers of course
But you know I think it's probably just referring to the fact that they were built upon Jesus Christ
But even then that doesn't give them a hundred percent authority to just say whatever
Because there's instances even in the New Testament where they were wrong
And how do we know they're wrong?
Because we actually have the entire Bible, plain and simple.
Who are you to say that the apostles were wrong?
I'll tell you who, I'm a Christian who has 66 books here
that I can compare it to.
And when Peter's Judaizing, no, sorry, that's not,
that wasn't right.
And look folks, I mean the apostles are ordained
to go preach the gospel and they're still,
they're sticking around in Jerusalem the whole time.
That was wrong for them to do.
Paul's over here circumcising Timothy on the world.
What are you doing?
James over here imposing just, you know,
unbiblical rules for Gentiles.
What are you doing?
They're fallible men.
But this is why we have the entire New Testament, and you know what, we're to follow the apostles
and follow the prophets as long as they align with the cornerstone.
That's why we're Bible-believing Christians.
And so, you know, if someone comes to you, you hear this out like, oh man, you know,
we have an apostle run screaming in the opposite direction.
There are no modern-day apostles anymore.
Okay, they don't know what the heck they're talking about.
But also, you know, enough of this apostolic succession,
garbage and nonsense, it's just, you know,
it's just a statement that they like to put out
so that you can just buy into their heresy
based upon some authority.
Then you know, yeah, but we've been around
for thousands of years.
Yeah, so what's the devil though?
So what?
Devil's been around for a long time too false prophets been around a long time too
There are false prophets among the people even as there should be false teachers among you
Who privilege of bringing down to bring in damnable heresies?
So, you know how long someone's been around does not impress me at all Satan is all he bro. He was in heaven
He like what are you talking about? He was like right there
Bro is a cherub
Hey, he was the anointing one should we listen to him?
Folks, we have a, listen to this, a more sure word of prophecy.
That's what the Bible teaches.
That's great. Father, we thank you so much for your word.
Thank you for the Bible, Lord, and we're thankful for the Apostles and Prophets
and the foundational teachings that they laid.
But we're also more thankful for the cornerstone
whereby we can prove all things whole fast out, which is good.
Men can fail us.
Prophets fail and there's instances where the apostles weren't right, but we're thankful that we have the measuring stick of Jesus Christ
That can keep us in line that even though
Those who were filled with the Holy Spirit filled with the Holy Ghost may have done erroneous things
You know, we can we can essentially go to a higher power, which is the word of God
And I pray God that you bless us as we go on our way.
Help us to have a greater esteem for the Word of God
and for the authority thereof.
We love you.
We thank you.
Pray the things in Jesus' name.
Let's sing it on that verse first.
In the dark of the midnight, have I hopped in my face?
While the storm howls above me and there's no hiding place.
In the crash of the thunder, rashes forth.
passes by.
Till the storm
passes over
till the thunder
settles on hold
till the
climb.
In the sky
Wonderful singing you are dismissed