Dazed by Deceptions within the Church
-At the cross, Christ paid the penalty for you sin
Romans 1:16
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”
Amusing the Church to Death
–apostates never experience saving faith
-apostates act like a believer on the outside but inwardly remain in a state of unbelief
Hosea 14:4
“I will heal their waywardness
and love them freely,
for my anger has turned away from them.”
Revelation 2:5
“Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”
Luke 8:13
“Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.”
-scripture teaches these apostates will even perform miracles, but will depart from identifying with Jesus Christ because they have never been born again
Matthew 7:22-23
“Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”
-they will be known by their fruits
Matthew 7:20
“Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”
1 John 2:19
“They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.”
-scripture warns of apostasy or a “falling away” before Christ’s return
-this refers to pastors and teachers who marry secular ideologies to Scripture
2 Thessalonians 2:3
“Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness[a] is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.”
Jude 12
“These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead.”
-apostates put on a good show but offer no spiritual refreshment so churches die from hunger and thirst
-apostates operate within churches so watch what defines your church
-the Bible states that churches must adhere to scripture-both Old and New Testaments
-God’s Word doesn’t need human help, power, or intervention
-God never strives to be relevant to the culture
***God’s Words versus culture
***the word gospel implies repentance
-apostates avoid messages on the issue of sin and call to repentance
-Today we are in an epidemic of carnality
***Many churches are described as the church in Laodicea in the book of Revelation
-Jesus describes the church as lukewarm
-they have lost their values, convictions, and purpose so the result is to trust in own effort and self-power
-they had elevated themselves arrogantly to rely on their own effort
-they have a superior approach to ministry
-no Biblical truth, but move toward socially acceptable state of easy believism (feel good-no hard work in changing behaviors (sin) to surrender to Jesus death on the cross (repentance)
-churches today have little or nothing to do with godliness
Replacements in the Church
A different Interpretation
-removing the true authority of Biblical scripture
-colleges, universities, seminaries teach the Bible through literary devices
-teachings disparage the authority of Scripture
-makes Scripture trivial, fun, storylike, and interchangeable with world culture
****Woke: modern term that refers to the progressive political ideology based on perceived social justices and prejudices regarding race, gender, and sexual orientation
-churches that identify as woke that they listen to the world more than the Holy Spirit
***My people have forgotten me
Jeremiah 18:15
“Yet my people have forgotten me;
they burn incense to worthless idols,
which made them stumble in their ways,
in the ancient paths.
They made them walk in byways,
on roads not built up.”
-the church is being deceived by pastors who have manipulated God’s Word
Matthew 5: 17-18
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”
-churches are teaching there is no need for the Old Testament or Genesis as they are just symbolic prophecy
Timothy 3:16 warns that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”
-warning that emotionally appealing ideas is rooted in Marxism
1 Timothy 3:15
“ if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.”
A Different View of Israel
-what Satan cannot destroy, he seeks to distort or replace
-deception within the church today is that the church has replaced Israel
Replacement Theory
-also known as covenant theology, fulfillment theology, expansion theology, and restoration theology
-Israel will not be replaced-they are God’s chosen people
Lie:
-Jews rejected Jesus Christ as Messiah at His first coming, God,in turn, rejected them entirely
-must rid Jews to insert Islamist agenda
-erroneous biblical interpretation has created a history of atrocities done in the name of Jesus Christ against the Jewish people
Truth:
-God’s promises to the Jewish people are powerful and eternal
-God gave clear warnings to Israel that if they reject I'm they will be judged according to their ways
Deuteronomy
Ch. 28-Blessings for Obedience
-replacement theory pushes boycotts, divestment, and sanctions to promote antisemitism
-replacement theory plays right in the hands of the Islamist agenda
-false doctrine that wants to eliminate Israel's right to exist
-rejects prophetic portions of the Old Testament and the veracity of Jesus’ promise to fulfill
-Israel must be back in their land before Christ’s second coming-they are there today
Last days
-church will face God’s wrath during the tribulation
Titus 2:13
“while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,”
Daniel 9: 24-27
-Daniel describes God’s prophetic plan for the nation of Israel
-the prophetic time clock prophecy began with King Artaxerxes Longimanus’s command on March 5, 444 BC to restore and rebuild Jerusalem
-each one week period represents seven years, so decree to the Messiah’s time would be 483 years
-the calculation based on the Babylonian calendar of 360 days rather than our modern 365 day calendar
-the 483 years come to a total of 173,880 days with brings us to AD 33
-the exact day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey on Palm Sunday
Matthew 21: 1-9
Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King
-rides on a donkey and large crowds laid down palm fronds down to welcome their King
-”Hosanna to the Son of David”
Daniel 9:2
“In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.”
-foretold that the Messiah would be cut off for a capital offense April 6, AD 33
Daniel 9:26
“After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.”
-afterward, Jerusalem and the temple would be destroyed which they were in AD 70
-this still leaves Israel with on seven year period of time yet to be fulfilled
-prophetic time clock has been paused until Daniel’s final seventh week-the tribulation period
-God’s promise to the nation of Israel of a future week remains to be fulfilled literally
-Christians should carefully read the entire Bible and study Jewish history
-read what the Bible says about Israel’s creation and destiny
-read to discover that God is not done with the nation of Israel or the Jewish people
-prophetic revelations of the Old Testament are so clear that they frustrate those who refuse to believe God’s great commitment to Israel in the last days
Different Design for Men and Women
-God’s design for men and women has been the accepted standard since the beginning of time
2 landmark decisions
-1973, United States Supreme Court ruled in the case of Roe vs. Wade that women have the right to abort-to terminate-their unborn children
-1973, American Psychiatric Association no longer designated homosexuality as a mental disorder
-reshaped the culture and the church
God’s design for men and women, husband and wife, and family:
Genesis 1:27-28
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
-created in God’s image we are uniquely designed to mirror His moral likeness
-He gave us the ability to think, create, reason, experience, and enjoy things that neither animals nor angels know of
-He made us to fulfill His plan “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28)
-the family unit is one of God’s ordained methods for ensuring that His Word and His will permeate society
Malachi 2:15
“Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.[a] So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.”
Create strong, healthy, and lasting families
-God’s principles for biblical masculinity
-Jesus modeled manhood
-Jesus modeled being a servant leader
-Nothing was beneath Jesus
-Biblical masculinity means being a man of strength and sensitivity, firm yet tender
-Biblical masculinity honors the Word of God
Biblical Masculinity:
-Christian men should not be trying to fit into the culture on how to dress, live, and act
-Worldliness lends itself to the castration of manhood
-Biblical men should love his family as Jesus loves the church
-Biblical men set aside selfish and any destructive personal issues
Ephesians 5: 26
“to make her holy, cleansing[a] her by the washing with water through the word,”
Biblical Femininity:
-it is a sad day when a woman cannot or will not define what she is
-Christianity vs. Paganism = how women are treated
Genesis 2:20
“ So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.”
-God speaks tenderness regarding Eve and her descendants (she was formed from the rib closest to man’s heart)
-God calls for women to be honored and held in high esteem
-Pagan religions degrade, abuse and suppress women
-God made man and woman differently but equal in worth
-women are apt to be more tender, diplomatic, and persuasive
***equal worth on equity worth
-God’s design gifts qualities to men and to women which we should not delegate that task to the world
-church’s should not be silent in matters of God’ creation of man and woman, gender confusion, gender ideology, or the erasure of women over trans (no to pregnant person, birthing person, etc)
Raise the warning flag:
-too many have distorted or watered down the Word of God-conviction has been washed out of it
-Believers should be raising the warning flag of the return of Jesus Christ
Chronicles 12:32
“from Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do—200 chiefs, with all their relatives under their command;”
Luke 12:35
“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning,”
Hebrews 12:1
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,”
-Prepare your minds for Action
-Peter uses gird your loins so not weighed down or held back but be prepared for the fight/battle
1 Peter 1:13
“Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.”
1 Peter 1: 15-16
“But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
-distorted water-downed word of God leads to lack of conviction
***pray to be strengthened against emotionally based theology
***pray to revive the lost art of critical thinking and scrutinize everything against the Word of truth