The Necessary Things

Dear having Father, we are grateful for a right now,

righteousness good enough for the judgment day and every day

of our lives. If we will allow Jesus to do

his work in us. So Father may self be out

of the way, may hearts be surrendered. The preacher included,

as we look for the necessary things in your word

in Jesus' name, Amen. Henry David Throw left his complicated

caterd world in early America to live a few days

in a cabin to get the stress out of his life.

And I did the same thing. In fact, number of

years ago. Our my son Donald raised five thousand dollars

so we could build a cabin on some property of

the grandpa I had in northern Virginia and northern Tennessee.

And I spent an entire month building a cabin with him.

And it was like tension all over the place. I

wanted straight lines. No, Dad, we don't have to be

so st But it was like finally got up. It's

almost perfect, but it is very much a place that

we go from time to time to relax and get

the stress out of our lives. David Throw did that,

and that cabin has long gone. But some of the

ruins of it is still there. But when he got done,

he wrote some books on philosophy that have made world history,

and they're part of American history. And I don't want

to read all his books, but I want to focus

on one statement he made. He said, simplicity. Simplicity. Simplicity.

I say, let your affairs be as two or three

and not one hundred or a thousand instead of a million,

count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumbnail. Simplify, Simplify.

Is that good advice? Yeah? I think so. Terry Gillimet's,

an author and anthologist of many great quotes, had this

to say. It resonates with Henry David throw. She said,

don't feel guilty about saying no to the non essentials

in life. Simplicity is simply saying yes to joy, but

saying no to and then she lists them creatively, overmuch, overwhelm, overdoing,

over having, over being. These are not essential. You can

say no to those things. I think that's good advice too.

And the Christian life, every one of us needs to

find the essentials, to know the difference between what God

really wants and what really doesn't matter. What gets in

the way of the essentials, and sometimes we accept burdens

in our lives that God does not place on us,

and those burdens affect our walk with God. And God

remove the non essentials so we can have the necessary things.

It's possible to load ourselves down with any and everything

and think that God is telling us to do it

when he's really not saying to do it. And when

the complicated takes over the simple, the clear, the profound

truths of God's word in our lives, it's so easy

to lose a relationship with God because we've gotten bogged down.

So I want to help you this morning by looking

at Act fifteen to focus on the word of God

and to see how we can lighten the load in

your experience. The prophet Micah shared his burden for the

essentials of a walk with God. Turned with me to

Micah six, seven and eight. Will the Lord be pleased

with thousands of rams, those are sacrifices, with ten thousands

of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first born

from my transgression, the fruit of my body for the

sin of my soul child sacrifice? Look what he says

verse eight. He has shown you a man and you

can write a woman too, what is good and what

does the Lord require of you? But to do justice,

to love, kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.

That is real religion. Those are the essentials in the

Old Testament, with all the rules, with all the theology

of the sacrificial system. God said, Look what I'm really

trying to get at are the essentials justice, love, kindness,

humble relationship with God. That's all I want out of you. Really,

And yet we can make it so complicated. We can

make ourselves the center of our relationship with God. We

can focus on how smart we are, but not how

wise the Lord is. Whereby we get off track. God

would rather have a kingdom of justice, love and kindness

than a kingdom full of critics, petty rules, browbeaters, virtue

signaling and imposition on others, especially the new and the week.

Elder Ryan Muster, how many have you got a blessing

out of Elder Ryan Muster's message last week? It was awesome,

Praise God, humble man of God. He's not a pastor.

He's a layman who ministers across the country to young people.

And he's a certified counselor and we were blessed at

reaching hearts by his message. Ryan, if you're watching online,

I want you to know that God be praised. Oh.

I quoted Matthew eleven thirty to show us that God

does not put heavy burdens on people. So I'm piggybacking

his message a little bit here. Turn to Matthew eleven

twenty eight, the great invitation of Jesus Come to me. Now,

he doesn't say come to the church, even though the

church is important. He doesn't say come to a theology.

He doesn't say come to perfection. He just says, come

to me. Friends, do you realize that everything you need

in life is wrapped up in a relationship with Jesus

Christ that is liberating. Come unto me, not just the elect,

not just the perfect, all who labor and are heavy laden.

And I will give you rest. That's the Greek word

for sabbath rest verse twenty nine. Take my yoke upon

you and learn from me. For I am harsh, I'm arrogant.

What what's to say? I am gentle and lowly in heart,

And you will find an a pus A sabbath rest

for your souls is the Greek language for my yoke

is easy, and my burden is we say it with

me light friend. God does not place a heavy backpack

full of burdens on the new believer as that person

is baptized. He doesn't say, all right, you better shape

up in a hurry, or you're not gonna be okay. No,

he doesn't do that. The yoke of God is the

law of God, and it's a good law full of justice, mercy, love, kindness, patience.

God's law is God's character written out on paper. Jesus says,

my yoke is easy, my burden is like Christ came

to reveal what the law is, who God is at

the Jerusalem Council in Acts fifteen. The Holy Spirit had

a good burden for the new Gentile believers in anyone

and beyond. God's burden was to help them see that

the Christian life should not be a bunch of rules.

The Christian life should be a focus on Jesus en

joy in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit cared for

those new gentile believers who were baptized into Christ. The

Holy Spirit was not pleased with these new babes in

the faith being burdened, bogged down, bothered by false teachers,

perfectionistic theologies, scruples and practices like circumcision, and other things

rules and impositions that the Book of Hebrews says were

imposed until the time of Reformation would come that God

had not imposed for these new believers in the Apostolic era.

As the Gospel went to the world, God was there

to liberate those cultures, not to heavy burden them up.

Circumcision was the judaizer's bottom line rule to prove with

a sign, the sign of circumcision, that you were a Christian.

But it was actually a very bad test for anyone

with any common sense in the church because no woman

in the church could pass the test. Only boys were

circumcised into Judaism. To say you cannot be saved without

being circumcised was silly from the beginning. Baptism was a

better sign for new believers and calautions too. Paul makes

it very clear that baptism is the sign of what

it means to come into Christ, his death, his burial,

and his resurrection. Circumcision was a prophetic type that pointed

forward to the death and resurrection of Christ. It was

fulfilled at the cross according to Calautionans too, so Baptism

is a better way of letting people know you're a believer.

How many of you been baptized into Christ? Raise your hand.

I am happy I was baptized in the Christ. How

many you're happier baptized in the Christ? You made both hands.

Do you realize what happened to your baptism? You passed

from death to life. You passed into a relationship with

Jesus Christ. Your sins were pardoned because of the cross

of Christ. And when God declared Jesus not guilty in

the resurrection. When you come out of the waters, God

declares you not guilty because of the death, the burial,

and the resurrection, the perfect life of Jesus. Baptism is

the sign that we are a believer. Christ said, whoever

is baptized and believes will be saved. The one who

does not believe will be condemned. So being baptized is

tantam out to believing in the Gospel. When all the

arguments were heard from the Judaizers who wanted disciples of

the Law of Moses instead of Jesus, Peter and James

both spoke up in behalf of these new gentile believers

who needed the necessary things. Peter affirmed the first and

most important truth of all in the Apostolic Gospel that

saves us and changes us. The Gospel of God Friend

is the gospel about Jesus. Paul says that in Romans one.

But it is also the gospel that demonstrates that He

died for our sins. He was buried to take away

our sins. He was raised for our justification, which means

our legal acquittal, not guilty anymore, because of Jesus. Now,

you may have come to church and you may have

felt deep inside that you can't make up for those

past sins in your life. You're struggling with stuff right now,

and you feel condemned of God because you're in the struggle.

Dear heart, if you're in the struggle right now, you

are not condemned. You're in a relationship with God and

the Cross of Christ and the resurrection covers you by

faith in your struggle to overcome because Christ has already

overcome for you. The objective victory of the Cross is yours,

so you don't have to lose your heart and be

discouraged and lose your way in life. Thank God for

the Apostolic Gospel. And so the circum party was really going.

After all of that, Baptism was the better way. When

all the arguments were heard from the Judaizers who wanted

disciples of the Law of Moses instead of Jesus, Peter

and James both spoke up in behalf of these new

gentile believers who needed the necessary things, not the other stuff,

and Peter affirmed the first and most important truth of

all in the Apostolic Gospel that saves us. Look at

Acts fifteen seven to eleven two actually seven two eleven.

And after there had been much debate, Peter rose and

said to them, brethren, you know that in the early

days of God made choice among you that by my

mouth the gentile should hear the word of the Gospel

and believe verse eleven. And we believe, but we believe

that we shall be saved. How what does it say

in your Bible through the grace of the Lord Jesus,

Just as they will now. The problem with coming up

with a theology of the Gospel at the end of time,

the claims that suddenly we know what the Gospel is.

Nobody got it right until some final generation gets it right,

is that it denies what Peter is saying we are

only saved by the grace of Christ. We don't get

into heaven because we're good people. We get into heaven

because we're God's people, because we believe in Jesus. We've

been baptized into Jesus. We are found in Christ on

judgment Day, and we do not hide from the reality

we have sinned. But we fall at the feet and

we throw our crowns at the one who died for

us on Calvary's cross. Christ is our hope and glory.

And so Peter said here what he preached at Pentecost.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ will save us

all by faith. That's how we get there. Peter affirmed

that we are saved by the grace of God. No

one gets to heaven friend in any other way than

Jesus' way. Jesus died for our sins. Jesus was buried

to take them away. Christ was raised for our justification.

In the Greek it means our legal acquittal. Now I

can relate to that. When I was a young person,

anybody here had people. When you grew up, maybe you

didn't fit in like you said. I was an introvert,

and so I had a hard time fitting in, and

I really felt the pang of condemnation. Oh you ever

feel that when you're growing up? Anybody here, okay, two

others here in the church, so I don't feel alone? Okay,

all right, that's all right. And you know what, it

is liberating to know that in Jesus I am accepted

as if I had never sinned. Did you hear that?

And if Christ does not rehearse my failings, why should

we do that in the church. When God brings a brother,

a sister, or person and need through the doors of

the church, we should be going out of our way

to help them feel what God has given us, the acceptance,

the love, and the peace that comes from hearing from

Jesus at the cross. Not guilty anymore. The resurrection is

proof of that. So James was the last to speak.

And James knew the gospel that goes to the world.

Peter James, Paul, they were in agreement at the Jerusalem Council.

He knew that God's word is for the whole world,

and he affirmed clearly the importance of the Bible and

the Sabbath. In the affirmation of the Gospel turned to

Acts fifteen twenty one. Now many people, in fact, I've

been in churches that worship on another day who claim

that there's no evidence New Testament that the Sabbath is enjoined.

Now that the Jerusalem Council we find that James says

this to show that those gentile Christians throughout the world

are real Christians because they're keeping the Sabbath day verse

twenty one. For from early generations, Moses has had in

every city those who preach him, For he has read

every Sabbath where in the synagogues, And so Cornelius and

others whould help to build the synagogues. Gentiles came to

those synagogues, and He's saying, look, these are Sabbath keeping believers.

And if they're Sabbath keeping believers, they're real Christians. Some

people day say, well, if you keep the Sabbath as

a sign of legalism, that wasn't that way for the

early Church. James affirmed with the prophet Isaiah predicted that

the New Testament Church would be a sabbath keeping church

from all peoples of the earth. That one of the

benefits of proper Sabbath keeping is that it brings people

from different nationalities and ethnic groups together because the Sabbath

was made for the human race, Jesus says, Now, look

what Isaiah says in Isaiah fifty six, verse six and seven.

And the foreigners who joined themselves of the Lord to

minister to him, to love the name of the Lord.

That means his law, God's name, God's law, same thing,

to be his servants. Everyone who keeps the Sabbath and

does not profane it and holds fast my covenant. Notice

that God's covenant, his law, his name, is equivalent to

keeping the Sabbath, because the Sabbath helps us to have

a relationship with God, whereby God's covenant is with us.

And here he says in the next verse, verse seven,

these I will bring to my holy mountain. I will

make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings,

their sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar. For my

house should be called a house of prayer. For what

does the text say, all peoples, Now, how many of

you are happy that this prophecy established the multi ethnic

worldwide Apostolic Church? Are you happy about that? Now? Look,

we're a people of prophecy. We believe that the longest

time prophecy of the Bible Daniel eight fourteen, reached to

eighteen forty four, and that's correct theology, it's correct Bible study.

And the purpose of that event was to bring the

Kingdom of God, the final kingo of God, through an

investigative judgment heaven, but to raise up a people on

earth like the app Stolic Church from every nation, kindred

tribe and tongue that preaches the Everlasting Gospel to prepare

the world for the coming of Jesus Christ. The First

Angel's message of Revelation fourteen six and seven is very

clear that that movement would proclaim the Everlasting Gospel. And

then it quotes the Sabbath in the context. Why is

the Sabbath so important in a gospel experience, We'll I'll

tell you why. If you look into Exos twenty when

God gives the ten Commandments, the reason he gives the

Sabbath is because God created the universe in us. So

the Sabbath affirms that God is our creator. But when

you go to Deuteronomy five and the reason for the

Sabbath is given in the second Giving of the Law,

where Moses repeats it, which suggests that the ten Commandments

may have been spoken twice at Mount Sinai. We know

the Father and the Son were present on that holy

mountain based on Exos twenty four. So, in essence, the

reason given for the Sabbath in Deuteronomy five is that

you were slaves in Egypt, and God redeemed you and

he made you free. So the Sabbath is the bulwark

against legalism. The Sabbath teaches us that we have been

created by a loving God, and we have been redeemed

and saved by a loving God. And so the Sabbath

points to the Gospel. The Gospel with the Sabbath worship

experience and the Apostolic Church anchored people into a long

term relationship with Jesus. I will make this statement. I'll

put the slide on the screen. The seventh day Sabbath

is a faithful friend of the Gospel. Did you hear me?

You want to affirm that by saying something to the Lord. Amen.

The seventh day Sabbath is a faithful friend of the Gospel.

The Sabbath truth teaches us that we are finished by

faith as we rest in God at the beginning. Any

of our journey in the Christian life. We are accepted

at the beginning of the journey. Works follow sabbath rest

in Jesus. In Hebrews, four good works are the fruit

of a sabbath rest in Jesus. Because we are finished

by faith before we start. We begin the journey with Jesus.

And Christ doesn't wait for us to get perfect to

accept us. He accepts us the first day that we

are baptized. James put forth his judgment on the matter

as the last to speak. He had waited for Peter

and for the others to argue out the points Paul

and Barnabas, and then James spoke up Acts fifteen, verse nineteen. Therefore,

my judgment is that we should not trouble those of

the gentiles who turn to God, but should write to

them to abstain from pollutions of idols, from in chastity,

and from what is strangled, and from blood. Now Here

James carefully from the Torah, the law of Moses, that

is Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy the Torah. He

chose from that part of the Torah, that which was

universal for both jew and gentile. Right there in there

it's for the whole world. So we could isolate the

three core areas of principle in our lives that define

the necessary things, so that we would know the areas

in which it matters to God to get it right

with God. And here they are. Number one, to abstain

from the pollutions of idols, which concerns the subject of

spiritual defilement. Number two, to abstain from sexual impurity, which

concerns sexual and moral defilement. Number three to abstain from

food strained with blood, which concerns the defilement of the

body through violations of the laws of health. Now let's

look at these three areas a little bit together. Number one,

to abstain from idols means spiritual purity in the Holy

Spirit for the glory of God. I mean, there are

things that can get in the way. I mean, if

you ever had an eyel in your life, you just

had to let it go so you could walk closer

with the Lord. Don't go saying what it is, but yeah,

we all have what we watch, what we admire in life,

what we read, what takes our time the most, our entertainment,

what we invest in can become an idol. If it

is not right and good in the eyes of the

Holy Spirit. The apostle John said in One John five

point twenty one, little children, keep yourselves from idols, and

that's good. Advice Number two, to abstain from sexual immorality

means physical and personal purity, including the eyes in the

Holy Spirit for the glory of God. Individual purity in

the body of Christ affects our corporate purity in the

Body of Christ. Now I'm gonna make a statement based

on experience here. If a church leader is overcoming sexual sin,

the whole body is burdened by his sexual sin because

it hurts the whole body of Christ as a church,

especially if he's a pastor or administrator. It also devastates

the family his family. I was once fired for turning

in my associate for sexual sin, for clergy sexual abuse.

My whole staff was covering for him. My conference president

covered it up and covered for it, and the executive

officers did the same. The church languished behind the scenes

because of this sin against the body. And when you

are not repentant of these things, what psychology tells us

is that you turn on the mirror that showed you

the problem. You tried to break the mirror instead of

change the behavior. And that's what happened to me and

my wife and my children. We were attacked because we

were a mirror. Now, those pastors tried to break us

to make themselves look good. The Bible is very clear

that we are called to sexual purity as Christians and

what that goes for leaders in the church? Also? Am

I right? Am I right on that sex before marriage

is like throwing your treasure in the gutter. I speak

to young people here. I can't do it better than Ryan.

Ryan had a great interaction. Let sabbath on this God

be praised Proverbs eleven twenty two. Like a gold ring

and a swine snout is a beautiful woman without discretion.

Now let me say this, it's even worse for a man.

If a man has no self control and he takes

advantage of a young girl, it's worse. I think before

it's time and before marriage, sexual relations scar you in life.

It's hard for you to communicate and trust someone in

the future and for the other person also. And now

there are people here who have messed up in that area.

And guess what God does for you? What's the gospel?

What does he do for your sins and Jesus when

you're baptized, it means he pardons you. Right, doesn't mean

you have to be thinking about every day. You can

let it go. You can start a new life in Christ.

But you need to be careful because you have a

sinful human nature. But praise God, there's no condemnation for

those who are in Christ Jesus Romans eight to one. Now,

as physical affection increases before marriage, communication decreases before marriage.

So if you want to mess up your courtship, just

increase physical affection after marriage. As physical affection increases, communication increases.

It's a good thing. That is why Solomon said in

his book on Romantic Love, the song of songs do

not arouse or awaken love until it pleases. Most of

what Hollywood and the Internet media produced today pushes a

person in the direction of immorality, of sexual sin, of adultery,

of pornography, of the abuse of children. And the list

is long. And I'm gonna speak to something here that

may not make some of you happy. Do you realize

that rock music does the same thing. I mean, all

you gotta do is listen to rock musicians who will

tell you that the rock music form is intentionally made

to promote sexual promiscuity. Paul McCartney said that clearly he

was in the Beatles. He's an expert on the beat,

the rhythm, the motif of rock music. Now, I realize

we live in a culture we have to adapt to

some extent. God transforms our culture, but he will not

take that which is profane and force it into the

worship of the church. And we're living in a time

when churches across the land have incorporated the form of

rock music into Christian worship, whereby himnity is thrown out

the door, and our young people are learning to go

to church and hate hymns and love Christian rock music

as if that's okay. Now, I'm going to tell you

right now, I'm not a for that, nor is our

church manual for that. That is against the beliefs of

our denominational system. And so it's time, I think, to

have a revival in our midst to get back to

what is correct Biblical obedience for the sake of the

salvation of our young people. And there's not a place

for compromise here. In fact, I was reading The Church Man,

you know it rightly says, after great studying the Bible,

interacting with the spirit of prophecy, that rock music and jazz

are not forms acceptable in worship in a Seventh day

Adventist church. Do you know that it's in our church manual?

But that's violated by philosopher king theologian types who think

they're smarter than the world consensus of the study of

scripture in the spirit of prophecy. Now, I'm not here

to poke at anyone. I'm simply saying that our kids

are not saved by integrating that into their experience. Now,

there is contemporary music that has a place in worship.

I'm not saying there isn't, but it is transformed music.

It is not music that mimics the kind of rock

form that I'm talking about here, And we have to

have spiritual discernment that know the difference. Most of what

Hollymood promotes is self is destroying for our children and

the like. God hates these things portrayed as pos culture.

God also hates divorce, which is justified by many in

the church. God makes that very clear in the Book

of malachind. In the Book of Malachi, God calls them

godly ministers to remember the wife of your youth, to

not go hunting for new wives that are younger, prettier,

and more fulfilling. You would think, many a man, now

I'm gonna now switch gears here and go to the

wife a little bit. I'm getting in trouble with you

tomorrow this morning. But Acts fifteen put me in the mode.

Many a man has been driven to discouragement as a

husband because of an unconsecrated wife who has not figured

out that their husband needs her love, her affection, her

unhurried intimacy, and her admiration and respect. Am I right, gentlemen? Okay,

there's a few amens. Most of you are fearful to

affirm this. The wife that can't figure that out should

not be prized when her discouraged husband falls into adultery

and sexual sin. Even though there is no excuse for

this in God's eyes. God will not justify it. It's

a setup for it. Though there are men in the

church today who are pure but whose wives make it

very hard for them to stay pure. God didn't call you,

dear heart, as a Christian wife, to be your husband's critic,

to be his judge, to be his mother or anything

like that. God didn't call you to remind him every

day of all his faults, his failures, his little difficulties,

his imperfections, the shortcomings in life. As a Christian wife,

God has called you to love your husband, to respect

him in spite of his faults, to empower him by

love and nurture him. To lead you and your children

as the spiritual leader in your family, in the community

that in the sphere of God, his manhood can be

holy spirit, baptized to rise to greatness for God and humility.

A woman, a good godly wife, makes her husband. The

husband cannot do this on his own. If you crush

your husband's heart, his strong heart that God has given

him as a man, don't be surprised if someone else

steals his heart, who makes him feel more like a

man and men of God. I speak to you now.

I speak to you. God has not called you, as

a man of God to be anything other than a

pure man of virtue, a faithful man, a committed man.

At every stage of your wife's life and yours. We

live in a culture that diminishes the role of manhood.

But friends, God would have you be a man of God.

Irregardless of the culture. When she was young, your bride

was young, she was pretty in the flower of her youth.

You know, gentlemen that are married, can you affirm that

by saying a hearty amen? Is that true? Come on,

we don't have many people here today. I didn't hear it. Amen. Amen. Okay,

it's healthy for you to affirm that. But when gray

hairs start coming, I never will forget. Now, I'm not

picking to my wife. She's beautiful. She's prettier today than

when she was. I don't even look at the pictures

of the past because I like the way she looks now,

because I've grown in love with my wife more and

more all the time. I love Diana. She doesn't have

to be something she is. But I never will forget.

Two incidents that happened that told me how important it

is to a woman that she looked pretty. She noticed

the first gray hair coming. Oh no, has that happened? Ladies,

Come on, when the first gray hair come in the mirror,

I'm on, it's my wife alone, on that no horrors be.

And then another follows in time and another. Now I've

noticed how many gray hairs I have? Man, I got

them from all the stress of building the church and

other things, and everyone forget the day she took a

curlying iron and she accidentally burned herself all the way

down the stat side of her face. And it looked

like that would be a permanent beauty mark on my

wife for the rest of her life. And when I

told her, was this, and I meant it, Honey, don't

have to worry about that. You don't have to cover

it up with makeup or nothing like that. Let it be.

Your face is beautiful to me. It's pretty. You are pretty.

And I don't worry about your mother thinks, so anybody

else thinks. Sometimes mothers can be a little hard on.

Mother in laws can be hard on. I'm in bad territory, right,

I have a great mother in law. So I don't

know why I went there. But my wife took those

met and by the way, it healed. But it had

never healed. It wouldn't matter if my wife had radical surgery.

It wouldn't matter, because she's beautiful. To me. I remember

the wife of my youth, but I know the wife

of my time, and the character she possesses much more

important than the silly stuff of the world. And the

Song of Solomon. Correct attraction is not ba on the

beauty of the bride. It's based on the moral character

and stability of the groom. And our culture has it

all wrong. You have to be pretty, you have to

be flawless to be loved. Nonsense talk. Uh, you know

it's in time. They have children, Husbands, your wives ever

have children? Aren't you proud that you have children? Your family?

You gonna just keep your hands down, I'm on, husbands,

raise your hand all right. Wives, you know you had children,

but they need to recognize I had children. Well, then

they get a little bigger when they had children, Yes

or no, you just aren't responding much. They did and

it looked beautiful. But then after children it was a

little harder to keep that thin look, wasn't it. And

they could feel awful about that. I'm gonna tell you

right now. Being a little bigger, a little chubbier is okay.

Hormones change in life. A little pudgy here and there.

I noticed I'm fighting a little bit. Look. If all

there is to your wife is her good looks, her

perfect body, her youthful energy, God forbid that you should

have ever married her in the first place. What kind

of man are you? You hear me, God would have

you love your wife because God loves you with all

your problems. It's a sad thing when a woman who

seeks to be loved, and a woman has a deep

need to be loved, to be cherished by her husband

or man. Now we all have different ways of doing it.

I'm the intellectual type. I'm not into touchy touchy, but

I cherish my wife. I try to do things. My

wife got the new car first, then I got my car.

My car is a better car. I've said, honey, you

can have my car because I'd rather her go first.

I mean that I drove it to church this morning.

I'm no longer driving the rattle trap, but my wife

isn't either, and she got the first car. Husbands, we

must cherish our wives and our love language as best

we can. God forbid that you have ever married her.

If you choose not to do that, if she looks

attractive or not, it doesn't matter. She is. One of

the saddest things I've noticed is when a woman who

seeks to be loved, who needs to be cherished by

her husband or man of God, who is a man

of God, they try to compensate by decking themselves out

with jewelry and making and overdoing the makeup. You know,

there's a difference between cosmos and chaos. The word cosmetic

comes from cosmos. It means order. You know, a little

cosmos is not a problem. Chaos is a problem. And

sometimes chaos takes the place of cosmos because a person

wants to look pretty, and that's coming because of bad messaging. Look,

Daughters of Zion, sweet daughters of Sarah, you are pretty

to God. You are beautiful to God. You are a

lily of the valley. According to Jesus, you don't have

to overcompensate to make that point in your life to

your husband. If you're in the dating time of your life,

you don't have to do that. You be true to

the Lord, and the right godly man will find you.

Peter tells us that the Daughters of Sarah and the

Church in First Peter, don't dress this way to lure

a man who can see the beauty of their outward appearance,

but rather the hidden jewel of the heart. Be beautiful

where it matters. Men of God, as husbands, God put

you on earth to protect your wife, to guard her

life for the future. And God puts your wife on

earth to guard your heart. You said, what do I saying?

Eve was taken from what bone that made the man

the woman? Adam's rib right, that's right. What does a

rib do? It guards the heart? That's right. A husband

will fail or succeed based on the judgments of his

wife because she guards the heart, the stiff stuff, the

strong stuff, to guard the heart of her man, or

to crush it outright. There are no reasons in life

when your wife. There are reasons in life when your

wife may be hard to live with. No Amen's men,

please not for this one. But a man of God

doesn't make it harder on her and his children, her

children by destroying their family with infidelity because they're going

through a growing time in their relationship. Fight for your family.

Is a man of God, and as he should and would,

guard your family. Show the consistency that is necessary as

a man of principle. Protect your wife in an air

of emotional change. Life is full of change. And remember,

as God says, the wife of your youth. Adam first

named his wife woman, and Hebrew it's the word eshaw.

Say it with meha, It's just another word for ish.

Man Esha is more of man. He named her the

feminine word for man. Here is man, and here's more

man eshah feminine man. But after he sin, God made

a promise not to Adam but to Eve. In Genesis

three fifteen, the first Gospel promises to the woman. And

so Adam has no future unless he embraces his wife

after that horrible fall. So what does he do. He

renames his wife Eve, which in he remans life bah bah.

It was no longer Adam and his wife, It was

Adam and his life. James calls these compromises of fornication,

adultery pollutions that mess up the life, the good life

that God has for the family. Pornography is a pollution

destroys the life. It's rampant. It's rampant in the church,

it's rampant in our culture. And this is one reason

why we need to have firewalls in the home that

say no to most of what is produced by Hollywood.

I'm sorry, but this Marvel movie mess that's out there,

and the Magic of the Silver Screw, which is now

on home and the Internet and the television, it will

mess your family up, your kids up, if you don't

draw a line and say no to this, and by

all means, we shouldn't be showing these kind of movies

in the church. Does no good for anybody. James calls

them pollutions. Men of God. Don't sell your soul for

a pot of porridge like Esau did. And if you

have been struggling with pornography in your life at some point,

guess what you were baptized into. Who come on Jesus.

So if you're in Christ, there is therefore now no condemnation.

Can you put that behind you without thinking about it

all the time? Yes or no? Yes, start anew with Jesus.

You're accepted as a repentant person. Number three. To abstain

from defiling blood means purity of health and body for

the glory of God. Who would want to eat a

bunch drink a glass of blood for breakfast instead of

orange juice pigmies do, They'll drain animals and drink the blood.

Not a good thing, and blood was forbidden. God doesn't

want vampire Christians in the church. I mean, vampirism is

on the march, people trying to act like their vampires.

I went to Staples store in Laurel Maryland. They attendant

very nice person, but he had these vampire fangs he

put on his face. He was dressed to look like

a vampire. I guess he wanted me to notice that

he was different. Yeah, he was different, but the sun

was shining, so he wasn't a vampire. All that doesn't work.

It was just him trying to look different. Look. God

allowed the human race to eat clean meat after the

flood to survive in a post flood world. Some have

asked the question why does James not mentioned the distinction

between clean and unclean foods in Acts fifteen. First of all,

we must understand that nowhere in the Bible are unclean

animals called legitimate food. It is an abomination to drink blood.

In the Bible, no vampires are allowed. Also, unclean animals

for food are also called an abomination by God. Let

me show you. Turn to Isaiah sixty six. Now this

is about the Second Coming. It's a verse in our

Bible about the second Coming. Isaiah sixty six, Verse fifteen.

Wait for the slide to get there, for behold, the

Lord will come in fire. That's the second Coming, and

his chariots like the storm wind to render his anger

and fury his rebuke with flames of fire. Verse sixteen.

For by fire will the Lord execute judgment, and by

his sword upon all flesh. And those slain by the

Lord shall be many. The world will be brought to disaster.

Only those in Christ will be taken up go The

next verse, those who sanctify and purify themselves to go

into gardens, following one in the midst this is a

demonic ritual that's described an ancient pagan ritual led by

demons eating swine's flesh, and the abomination and mice shall

come to an end together, says the Lord. Now Here

swine's flesh, mice, abominable, uncle clean animals are connected to

demonic worship in the groves. Now, who on earth would

want to be eating food that symbolizes demon worship? Anybody here?

And yet we live in a culture where that's the case,

Where people will say, and I grew up on bacon,

by the way, anybody had bacon as a child? I did.

I was baptized at fifteen. I love the taste of bacon.

Now this morning I had veggie bacon Morning Star Farm

veggie bacon. Anybody here every eat morning Star Farm Vegeman.

Now there's a brand out there that was great and

they quit making it. It's not bacon. It tastes kind

of different, but I do it. But boy, I just

can't imagine putting a real piece of bacon on my

plate anymore after reading that verse. It's associated. It's a

symbol the unclean, the abominable, of demon worship, of these

secret practices which were a cultic in the ancient world.

In fact, an unclean bird in the book Revelation presents

a demon. So don't go eating Kentucky fried vulture anytime soon. Okay,

stick to the chicken clean animal. God does not condemn that.

You can later become a vegetarian if God leads you

that way, and I think he leads most people that way,

not everyone. Some people for health reasons have to figure

it out. But who wants to eat an unclean animal

that represents a demon or his associated with demonic worship?

Revelation eighteen one. Now this is the fourth Angel's message,

Revelation eighteen verse one. After this, I saw another angel

coming down from heaven, having great authority. The earth was

made bright with his splendor. This is the last message

of this world. Next verse, and he called out with

a mighty voice, falling, Falling is babbling. The Great has

become a dwelling place of demons. You see, an unrepentant

religious system that rules the world by influence at the

time of the end becomes a demonic religious system. Babylon

a haunt of every foul spirit, a haunt of every

every foul and hateful bird. So unclean spirits are symbolized

by unclean birds that God says not to eat in

the Old Testament. This is the last book in our Bible.

Verse three. For all nations have drunk the wine over

impure passion. Now I've been into certain homes for some

Seventh day abt us. I've got this notion they can

socially drink and it's okay. The Bible says, whoever that

wine is a mocker, and whoever is deceived thereof is

not wise. Of course, you know they'll get experts up there. Well,

it really doesn't do anything to you. It's not a

bad thing and all that. Well, the Bible says it is,

and noticed state it's not just unclean animals that are

associated with demonic activity. For all nations have drunk the

wine over impure passion. When a person gets drunk, and

I've been drunk in my life as a young person.

God's not in control, the Holy Spirit's not in control.

So the nation has become drunk. Wine is a symbol

of the same problem. And the kings of the earth

that committed fornication with her, there's the immorality aspect. And

the emergents of the earth have grown rich with the

wealth of her wantonness, idols wealth instead of God. Everything

that Acts fifteen is talking about is germane. It is

an issue at the time of the end, and John

is saying, look, get out of that stuff. Verse four.

Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, come out

of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins,

lest you share in her plagues. Next verse for her

sins are heaped as high as heaven, and God has

remembered her iniquities. Now, friend, knowing this does not mean

we need to be hard on people, does not mean

we need to browbeat them. It was an abomination for

God's people to eat unclean foods in the Old Testament.

It still is. Noah offered clean animals to God on altar,

and they ate those offerings to survive in a post

flood world, God allowed clean meat as food for his people.

After the flood. There were seven pairs of clean animals

that went into the ark, but only a pair of

unclean animals went in. So if Noah's family had eaten

or sacrificed one of those unclean animals, it would be

extinct today. And don't go telling me eight dinosaurs. No,

that's not why they're dead. They got wiped out. Then

go on the arc. If they had sacrificed a rat

to God, a rabbit to God, a swine to God,

a vulture to God, a frog to God, a lizard

or a snake to God. Now our little turtle day

is off the hook. He's unclean, right, not a sacrificial animal.

If they had put that on an altar, they would

be gone today. There were only two of them, they

would have been extinct. The principle of bodily purity prohibits

a lot of things in our holy spirit walk with God,

not just unclean animals and foods like this, alcohol, drugs, stimulants.

I'm gonna add caffeine as a stimulant, and it's spoken

of directly in the consensus of our world Church. It

affects a person's spiritual capacity that has been demonstrated by

scientific reasons. Search. Caffeine is a stimulant that has been

linked to spiritual decline. Opioids like the kind that led

my brother to suicide, tobacco, and any other addictive drug.

We are to be controlled by the Holy Spirit and

none of these. I have compassion for people who struggle

with addictions. Why Because I have a family system in

which addictive proclivity is there. It would be easy for

me to go down that road. I struggled as a

young person. I'm not browbeating here. Alcoholism killed my grandfather.

I drank so much until I was baptized. I was crazy.

I was on a pathway to self destruction. I planned

with my brother to stop drinking. Stop drinking. He didn't,

and the next time I met him he was hooked

on opioids. The rehabs didn't work. He died with a

gun to his head. Don't tell me this stuff is neutral.

Don't tell me social drinking is okay. It doesn't work.

Our children are precious, Our families are precious. We're to

draw a line in love and teach our children, temperance

in the church, not compromise and decline. In Acts fifteen,

James isolates three key areas of our life. I'm going

to review that must be under the complete control of

the Holy Spirit. We cannot afford to lose the necessary

things that will free us in life to take the

burdens out. These are the things that matter. Number One,

Spiritual purity means turning away from every idol in your life.

Can you affirm that with the n Amen, yes or no?

You with me yes? Number two, Moral purity means saving

sex for marriage and being true to your wife or

husband in marriage, and saying no to pornography in every form.

Can we say affirm that with the Namen now we

can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us. Can

we not? Number three, Physical purity a body means guarding

your health by saying no to anything that defiles you

and by seeking the good foods and practices that honor

God in your body to let the Holy Spirit know

that you care, that you are a holy vessel for God.

You can go beyond the baseline of clean and unclean foods.

You can become a vegetarian, but you don't have to

the Bible doesn't command you to, but you could seek

the best for God in your life. Acts fifteen twenty eight.

They wrote this in a letter to the church at Antioch.

For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and

to us to lay upon you no greater burden than

these necessary things. That you abstain from what has been

sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and

from unchastity and chastity. If you keep yourselves from these,

you will do well farewell. So when they were sent off,

they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation

engation together, they delivered the letter. And when they read it,

they rejoiced at the exhortation. Now I've been exhorting you

based on Acts fifteen today, right or no, Yes or no?

What would you rejoice in the exhortation today? How many

rejoice in the Holy Spirit that we have been given

the same exhortation so that we can live lives with

the necessary things, not the other things. May God bless you,

dear Heavenly Father. Some of us have messed up in

our lives a lot, and we could feel real awful

if it weren't for the cross, and maybe someone out

there feels that way. Right now, Dear Lord, thank you

that our sins are forgiven for his sake. You are

not in the condemnation business. You are in the growing business.

In Christ. We are accepted to become what you want

us to be. Bless every person in this church who

chooses Jesus Lord, with no fear. If you and your

heart feel that you need to come to Jesus you

have not been with him. I want to give you

the opportunity right now as we are prayed. Raise your

hand to Heaven, say Lord, I need to come home.

I've been rebellion against you. I have not been obedient

to you in my life. You raise your hand to God.

God sees that. Now. Father God, I'm going to ask

you that you will reach down through the Holy Spirit

and communicate to that person's heart that they are accepted

in Jesus as if they had never sinned, because they

have appealed to you for a clean conscience, and that

you will be with them as they grow. You will

not browbeat them, you will not put them down. You

will discipline, but you love them, and Father, I pray

that you'll hold everyone here ready for the sudden coming

of Christ. Help us not to be compromised Christians, but

obedient Christians, not legalists, but loving obedient Christians. And thank

you Lord for the Sabbath, which gives us the chance

to experience a right now righteousness of rest in You.

Bless your people as they leave this place. And Lord,

forgive me for my longer prayer, but I wanted to

pray for the people. Bless them in Jesus name. Amen, Amen,