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This one comes from Matthew.
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"Denominations.
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There's lots of them today.
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It's frustrating finding the truth.
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Is everyone wrong?
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There's only one truth.
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One interpretation.
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One right answer.
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How on earth do you find it?"
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Think that's a good question?
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The thing I would say to Matthew,
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is Matthew, for one, I'll tell you this,
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you don't find it in denominations,
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and you don't find it in men.
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Basically,
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what is the source of truth?
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Jesus Christ says, "Sanctify them...
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by Your truth.
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Your Word is truth."
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That's where we have to go.
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John 8:31, "Jesus said
to the Jews who had
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believed in Him,
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'If you abide in My Word,
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you are truly My disciples.
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And you will know the truth,
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and the truth will set you free.'"
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How does anybody come
to know the truth?
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I mean, if you don't
know what the truth is,
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how do you come to know it?
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You go to God's Word.
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What happened?
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You go to Acts 17.
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Who was noble?
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You know what I would have
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Connie put on the calendar?
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That this is called the
Berean Bible Study.
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You know why I wanted
it to be called that?
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Basically people that searched
the Word of God;
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they were noble and they
searched the Word of God
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to see if these things were true.
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That's how we're going
to find truth.
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Listen,
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the reality is that you can come across
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Methodists, Lutherans,
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you can come across Presbyterians,
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you can come across Brethren,
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you can come across Congregationalists,
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EV Free people
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that have truth.
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And you can come across a lot
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of Baptists who don't
have much truth.
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You know, we can get all
hung up with denominations.
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And of course, the Catholic church
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likes to say, "Well, they
all broke away from us.
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That's why there's
so many of them.
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We were the true church
in the beginning
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And there's all this multiplicity
of denominations.
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We're only one.
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And then you have all
these denominations
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because they broke off from us."
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That's not true.
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And basically what
all the denominations
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prove to us, is that you've got
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a lot of different people
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interpreting a lot of different things
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in the Bible, in a whole lot
of different ways.
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And you say,
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well, how am I supposed to know?
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If you've got these
people over here
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that interpret it that way;
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and these people over here,
that interpret it that way.
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These people over here,
interpret it that way.
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Well, I can tell you this.
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There are some basic essentials
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to the Gospel that if you believe,
you'll be saved.
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Even if you're off on other parts.
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Folks, wouldn't we agree,
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there are Presbyterians in heaven
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that got it wrong on baptism.
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Right?
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Congregationalists.
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We might say there that
they got it wrong over here.
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But there are those that
got it right enough.
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Folks, I'm reading right now
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about some Lutherans that
had a whole lot right.
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And I've read before about
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some Methodists that have
a whole lot right.
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And bottom line,
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how do we determine right and wrong?
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It's not by the denominational label
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that somebody holds.
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It certainly isn't,
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you drive down the road
and you see a sign
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that says "Baptist"
and you can say,
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"Oh, well, they've
got the truth."
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How do you know?
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The Apostle John said this,
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he says "test the spirits."
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How in the world do you test the spirits?
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Paul speaking to the Thessalonians
said the same thing.
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Test everything.
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Hold fast to what's good.
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Or, hold fast to what's true.
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How do you know?
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How do you know
what to hold fast to?
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You've got to be like the Bereans.
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What happened?
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What was it that the Bereans did?
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They searched the Scriptures.
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But what did they search the
Scriptures to do?
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What in the world even possessed
them to search the Scriptures?
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Well, they had heard teaching, right?
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They sat under teaching.
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They'd heard somebody preach,
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and then they went
to the Word of God
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to see if it was true.
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You know what?
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I call this Berean Bible Study,
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because I hope that you folks
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are going to be folks that
are going to know the Bible much.
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Jesus Christ said,
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"You will know the truth, and
the truth will set you free."
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How do people know the truth?
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They know the truth when
they're taught of the Spirit.
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They know the truth when
God opens their eyes to realize
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that certain things are true.
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I suspect that God gave us
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enough difference
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to test our love.
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To test our graciousness.
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You know what Jesus Christ said?
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You know, some of the disciples
came to Him one day
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and said, "Lord, we told these people
over there to stop."
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Why?
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Because they weren't with us.
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In other words, another denomination.
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Right?
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It's just like that.
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They went, Lord, they weren't with us.
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We're the in group.
We're the in crowd.
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And see, we tend to think that.
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Most people think,
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we've got the truth.
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Very few others do.
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And what did Jesus say?
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He said look, if they're not against Me,
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then what?
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If they're not against us,
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they're with us.
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It is a sad fact
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of those who do bear witness to the truth,
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now that's not to say there's a whole lot,
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but it's interesting how we
write certain things up.
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Can I tell you something?
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When George Whitefield preached,
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anybody know what denomination
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he was affiliated with?
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Whitefield never sought to start
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a denomination.
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He pretty much pledged himself
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to the Anglican movement
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Whitefield and Wesley
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came out of Anglicanism.
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Now Wesley made definitely
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more of a concerted effort.
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And you know we have
the Wesleyan Methodists,
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the Arminian Methodists that came
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more out of Wesley's efforts;
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and then more of the Calvinistic
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Methodist movement came out of
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those that God raised up in Wales,
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like the Daniel Roland's,
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the Howell Harris's.
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And then also the George Whitefield's.
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You know, Anglicans. Anglicans!
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Do you know that the Baptists
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would discipline their members
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if they went to hear Whitefield preach?
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I had a man that I highly respect
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tell me he would not allow
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George Whitefield in his pulpit.
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Why?
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You know what?
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Can I tell you something?
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In the first and second
Great Awakenings,
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the Calvinistic Baptists were
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largely passed over.
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It's historical.
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You can read about it.
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Why?
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For that very reason right there.
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They would discipline their members
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if they'd go listen to Whitefield preach.
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The Spirit of God rested upon Whitefield.
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Multitudes were being converted.
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The Spirit of God rested upon John Wesley,
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as much as a lot of Calvinists
don't want to admit it.
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And the Baptist churches
were disciplining
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members if they'd go.
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By and large,
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in the first and second Great Awakenings,
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the Spirit of God passed
over the Baptists.
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Isn't that shameful?
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And you know what's likely to
happen today?
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If revival breaks out in this land,
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I'm not going to say it might not happen
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among Calvinistic Bapists,
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but what if it broke out among Lutherans?
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What if it broke out with Methodists?
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Would we even know?
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What if true revival broke out
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among the charismatics?
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Would we even know?
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I just watched a video -
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just a little part of it last night,
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like the first five minutes.
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Some guy did a message on
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charismatic Calvinists.
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Just bitter and hateful.
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You can see it.
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It's one of the most popular videos
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on sermonaudio.com right now.
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You see that kind of thing.
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If revival broke out among charismatics,
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I can tell you that guy
preaching that message
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wouldn't even know.
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Brethren, bottom line,
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if we see something that seems to be
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a move of God;
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we see something preached out there,
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we need to test the spirits.
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Not by the denominational label,
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but by "thus sayeth the Lord."
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Go to the Word of God.
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You know what, if they love Christ,
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I think we should be stand,
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I think we should be willing
to spill our blood for
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our convictions regarding baptism
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and the Lord's Supper.
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We ought to be willing
to die for our convictions.
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But the fact is,
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we'd have to admit,
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that people have
had different ideas
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about the Lord's Supper
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and about baptism
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that are in heaven now.
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And I know there
are some Baptists
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that don't like to admit that.
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Folks, look, there are a lot
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of different ideas out there,
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but I'll tell you this,
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who's the pillar and ground of truth?
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The church is.
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And so you know what?
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Even though there's
a lot of differences,
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there are good churches out there,
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and they are
few and far between,
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as I've told people lately
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that I've counseled to,
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and people over the Internet and by phone.
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Look, I think behind
any decisions you make
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about receiving Christ,
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I think next to choosing
the right spouse in life,
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the third most important decision
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you can make in life
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has to do with what church you go to.
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I believe that you should choose
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where you live, where you work,
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based on what church
you're going to go to.
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Where you're going
to raise your children,
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based on where a good church is.
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Because I'll tell you what,
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it will have a lot to do with your life.
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It will have a lot to do
with your fruitfulness.
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But we need to be testing them.
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Listen to this,
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you know this - Revelation 2:2
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Jesus said this of the Ephesian church,
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"I know your works; your toil,
your patient endurance;
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how you cannot bear with those
who are evil,
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but have tested..."
Look at that.
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"...but have tested those who
call themselves apostles
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and are not, and found them
to be false."
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How do you test?
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How do you test somebody and
find them to be false?
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I'll tell you what Jesus said
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about false prophets.
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You've got false churches;
you've got bad doctrine.
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Jesus says this,
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"Beware of false prophets.
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They come in sheep's clothing,
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but inwardly are ravenous wolves."
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How did He say we'll recognize them?
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By their fruits.
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I'll tell you this,
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where you find unholy living,
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you've got bad doctrine.
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Guarantee you.
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You want to know what's
most important?
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What are the doctrines that
are really essential?
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Let me just throw some off the top.
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Listen, the devil attacks
primarily in two places:
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The person of Christ.
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And the work of Christ.
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Guarantee it.
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And it's Christ.
He is always the issue.
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So you want to look for good doctrine.
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You want to look for good church.
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I don't care what the denomination is.
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You're looking for a church that
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is really a pillar, a ground,
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a buttress of truth.
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You're going to go in there,
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and you're going to look at
these two things.
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What do they do with Christ?
His person?
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What do they do with Christ - His work?
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Guarantee - the devil
attacks in both places.
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You've got false doctrine?
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What are they doing?
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Oneness doctrine:
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The Father is the Son.
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Rejection of the deity - the JW's.
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He's not God.
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There will be some rejection
in His person.
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The devil always goes after
the glory of Christ.
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He wants to chop it down somehow.
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And then the work.
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What about the work?
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Anywhere where there's works?
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Run for your life!
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Because it's damnable.
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Because the only Gospel that saves,
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is the Gospel that is 100%
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based on the merits of Jesus Christ.
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That doctrine of justification
is essential.
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We are justified by faith
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aside from any works of the law.
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And anytime people want to add to it,
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whether it's - you've got to be baptized;
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you've got to speak in tongues;
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they add anything whatsover,
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no matter how pretty it might sound,
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if they're adding anything
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to the merits of Jesus Christ,
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run from it like the plague.
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But I'll tell you this,
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where they make much of Christ,
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and much of the work of Christ,
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though they may go
wrong in many things;
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they're with us.
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They're with us, folks.
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Where Christ is the sole basis
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of our acceptance with God.
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Where Christ is made much of,
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where He's exalted,
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and where what's said of Him
in the Scriptures
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is said of Him by that church
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or by that preacher,
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they may go wrong in things like baptism;
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they may go wrong in things like
the Lord's Supper;
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they may go wrong
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and their ecclesiology may be off
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and they may have problems
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with regards to their cessationist views
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or non-cessationist or various
works of the Spirit...
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Test the spirits, brethren.