One Faith

We started a series last Sunday called the threefold cord of God.

Amen.

And I'm going to invite you now to join me in Ecclesiastes chapter 4 and verse 12.

Ecclesiastes 4 · chapter mention

This is one of our foundation verses for this series.

Ecclesiastes chapter 4 verse 12.

Ecclesiastes 4:12

It says, though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him and a threefold

cord is not quickly broken.

Our second foundational verse for this series is found in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

5.

And it simply says, one Lord, one faith, one baptism.

Amen.

We're going to, I'm going to read it one more time, but this time I'm going to ask everyone

to join me in this verse.

Let's say it together.

One Lord, one baptism.

Last week we looked at the first cord of one Lord.

Today we're going to look at the second cord of one faith.

Father, I thank you for your presence that is in this place today, for speaking to your

church, for moving so powerfully, so beautifully in our midst today, Lord.

And as we enter in your word, I pray for understanding.

I pray for an anointing God.

I pray for clarity.

Lord, speak into the hearts of all that are here today, God, even those that are watching,

Lord, that this word would fall on good ground.

Anoint our hearing, God, that as I teach and as I share these precepts, Lord, it would

be received.

It would be understood and applied.

Rub my lips of clay and let your name be glorified in Jesus name.

Everyone say amen.

You may be seated in the presence of God.

I invite you, as I mentioned last week, to tune into this this series.

I think it's more of a teaching series more than anything, but we always give room for

the Holy Ghost to move.

And so we might do some preaching as well, but perhaps you have heard of the phrase all

roads lead to Rome.

In ancient times, it wasn't just a saying, but a reality.

This expression originates from the Roman Empire, where an intricate network of highways

was designed to meet in Rome, the heart of the Roman Empire, the capital of the Empire.

And all these roads spanning thousands of miles throughout the Empire, it symbolizes

Rome's power, their significance, their world dominance at the time.

And it also underscored a simple yet profound idea that no matter where you started, the

road would eventually lead you to the capital city.

Now, if you fast forward to today, this phrase has evolved into a a saying or a metaphor

for the idea that different spiritual paths or faiths can lead to the same destination

or the same God.

And you may have heard this repeated.

Doesn't matter what you believe, you know, all roads lead to God.

And there have been some notable figures in history, one in particular, whom a lot of

people look up to and quote.

And I'm only quoting it just because it seems to be in the consciousness of a lot of people.

Gandhi once said that the essence of all religions is one, only their approaches are different.

And that sums up the all roads belief system that many people buy into that that all the

approaches are different, but it all arrives at the same place.

But what about within Christianity, within the various creeds and traditions and movements

within all of Christianity?

With the term Christian being used so loosely nowadays, how can any one church think about

this?

How can any one church claim that their faith is the correct faith and that another is false?

How can any one body of people, any one movement claim that?

Is it possible that all roads of faith are equally created, are created equal and arrive

at the same destination?

Is that a possibility?

That somehow, someway, whatever it is you choose to believe, whatever path of faith,

whatever spiritual path you choose, whatever belief systems you apply to your life, that

it's all going to kind of work itself out in the end.

That God is just going to universally accept these different faiths and it's just going

to work out.

There are a lot of people today who believe that.

But I want to tell you that one of the greatest lies ever told was that all roads lead to

heaven.

One of the greatest lies ever told.

And I think it was born in hell.

Is that okay?

Can I say that?

One of the greatest falsehoods ever spread was that there are many faiths which lead

to God.

According to Ephesians 4 and verse 5, which we are deriving this series from, and today's

message in particular, there is only one faith.

Someone say one faith.

So, if the Apostle Paul was being generous or being accommodating to a variety of faiths,

I think this would have been the time for him to establish that there are many roads.

But he says there is only one faith.

Faith is perhaps the most general word in the Bible because it's a word that gets thrown

around and it can mean different things at different times.

Interestingly, the word faith only appears twice in all the Old Testament.

Think about that.

How many of you thought before I said that the word faith might have been there at least

more than twice in all the Old Testament?

Do a word search.

Only two times.

Only two times you're going to see the word faith.

Even though it only occurs twice, the concept, however, of a singular chosen path of faith

is interwoven throughout the ancient time.

So just because the word itself isn't there, the concept is there.

Hebrews 11 tells us that the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Joseph, Noah, all these

men of faith and women lived in faith, he tells us, as strangers and pilgrims in search

of a heavenly country.

So we know that faith existed.

There was a singular road that God had laid out for his people.

And in Ephesians four, Paul, in talking about one faith is not referring to an act of faith

through which a person is saved or the kind of faith that you have in order to receive

the blessings of God, healings or miracles.

But rather the kind of faith that Paul is talking about here is a body of doctrine,

a body of beliefs revealed in the New Testament, such as a oneness view of God, baptism in

the name of Jesus, speaking in tongues as the initial evidence of the Holy Ghost and

living a holy and separate life.

In true Christianity, there is only one faith.

There is only one way to God.

And his name is Jesus.

He said, I am the way, the truth and the life.

Let's put our hands together.

Let's just thank God for that.

Hallelujah.

Thank you, God.

And the one way was taught and practiced by the original apostles that Jesus appointed

to carry on his work.

Their teachings and practices comprise what we know today as apostolic.

Everyone say apostolic.

That's an important word.

The term apostolic means relating to the apostles or following the beliefs or the teachings

of the apostles.

This pattern is important for us today as New Testament believers.

Why?

Because Jesus gave the apostles the privilege and the authority to teach and to lead the

church.

He didn't give it to anybody else.

He gave it to his apostles.

Apostolic authority so that what they taught was endorsed and approved by God to be the

doctrines of the church.

We are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.

Amen.

With Jesus as the chief cornerstone, Paul taught.

So what the apostles taught is essential for us to understand what is that singular path

that God has called his church to follow.

And I want to for a few moments today take a brief look at the history of apostolic authority

and how it is that we, City Light Church, which is an apostolic church, can claim without

arrogance, without human pride, but confidently claim that what we have is the truth.

Amen.

But this is not some modern invention.

But this goes all the way back to the teachings of the apostles and how we got here in modern

oneness Pentecostalism.

So a brief history of the apostolic faith.

We're going to look at some key time periods, century key figures and facts.

And so, like I mentioned last Sunday, this may be a lot to capture in one slide, but

feel free to take out your phones, take a picture of this, or if you've got fast thumbs,

you could type it out if you like to or a pin.

But I'll walk you through this oneness Pentecostalism or also known as the apostolic faith traces

its roots back to the early church of the first century.

Where practices such as baptism in Jesus name were common, were typical as seen in the Acts

of the Apostles.

So the Acts of the Apostles and their teaching provide the blueprint.

That's the starting point.

That's where we begin this process, this timeline of apostolic faith.

But as time goes on, that's the first century.

Second and third centuries, there were early proponents such as Ignatius.

These are early Christian writers, Polycarp, Notus and Sabellus, just to name a few.

There's others that aligned themselves with oneness theology and taught that God manifests

in three aspects or in three modes rather than three distinct persons.

So in the second and third century, there was a continuation of the doctrine taught

by the Apostles who had apostolic authority by the Christian church that remained after

the Apostle John had died somewhere around 40 or 50 AD.

The doctrine continued.

Oneness theology continued.

Although Trinitarian doctrine became a dominant theological view after the fourth century

councils of Nicaea and Constantinople, which I taught about last Sunday, traces of oneness

theology remained present throughout the church history.

So there are some that will attempt to say that what we believe today, the apostolic

or the oneness Pentecostal movement cannot trace itself because it's a modern thing and

that it was eradicated.

No, it still existed.

Between the fourth and the 16th century, there's a big gap right there.

But between that time, even as the doctrine of the Trinity was becoming prevalent and

accepted by and large to the Roman Catholic Church and even through Protestantism, there

were scattered groups that were individuals that were still holding true to the doctrine

and it was preserved.

Now it wasn't the official doctrine that the Roman Catholic Church had established, but

there were groups that were preserving it.

There was a remnant that was still believing it.

Amen.

This is history.

So despite the rise of Trinitarianism, these groups and individuals retain non-Trinitarian

views keeping the essence of oneness beliefs alive between the 17th and 19th centuries.

Moving down the timeline here, the seeds of Pentecostalism were nurtured by various religious

movements including the Quakers, the Methodists, the Shakers, and the holiness movement, which

emphasized personal sanctification and a return to the practices of the early church.

So between the 17th and 19th century, there was this revitalization, this sort of revival

of let's get back to the Bible.

Let's get back.

Let's do away with man's conception or man's imposed theories on Scripture and let's get

back to the original text.

And so there was this movement that started.

I really like the Shakers.

You should read about the Shakers.

And they got that name because they used to like to shake.

And then the revival meetings, they would literally shake us speaking tongues.

So they called them the Shakers.

We need some apostolic shakers today.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

At the turn of the 20th century, the modern Pentecostal movement revitalized these early

beliefs from the outpouring from the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Charles Parham's Bethel

Bible College in 1901 in Topeka, Kansas, to the Zuzia Street Revival, which I think many

of us may have heard about in 1906, led by William J. Seymour in Los Angeles.

During this period, the baptism of the Holy Ghost and speaking in other tongues began

to sweep across the nation.

So at the turn of the century, the 20th century, there was a revival of the Holy Ghost.

God was beginning to pour out his spirit in greater measure.

Next slide.

And by 1913, next slide, 1913, R.E. McAlister's teaching on the baptism in the name of Jesus

at a camp meeting in Arroyo Seco, California, inspired many to adopt this practice, leading

to the formation of oneness Pentecostal groups in the years that followed.

So there was a revival that took place in Arroyo Seco, California.

This minister McAlister was teaching and he got up full of a room full of Trinitarians

and he started preaching on baptism in the name of Jesus.

And there were even those that stood up in the crowd and challenged him.

But he kept preaching it and they started baptizing people there.

And then the word of Jesus named baptism began to spread and began to spread.

It caught on.

People started accepting it and teaching it and practicing it.

And out of there, such groups emerged as the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World in 1916.

The Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in Christ Jesus in 1925, which city-like church is proudly

a part of, amen, and the United Pentecostal Church in 1945.

Just a little footnote, a fun fact, that early pioneers of the Apostolic Assembly in Mexico

actually began baptizing in Jesus' name in as early as 1909.

I'm sorry, Brother McAlister, but we had some Mexican Apostolic that were baptizing in Jesus'

name.

This is a fun fact.

But this is, in 1913 is where it was solidified and it was spreading from that point on.

But today the Apostolic Faith thrives globally with roughly 25 million adherents in over

200 nations.

What I presented to you today is a high-level overview of the one faith, someone say one

faith that Paul teaches us about.

So let us not ever be swayed.

Let us not ever think that what we are a part of is some modern invention that just started

at Azusa Street or just started in the last century, that the early fathers were Trinitarian

or even that the apostles were Trinitarian.

Let us establish very firmly in our hearts and our minds today that there is only one

faith and there is an unbroken historical timeline from the first century to the 21st

century today.

And so this thing has been around a long time.

Praise God.

So now that I have briefly established a historical timeline for us today about this one faith,

now let's talk about what exactly is this one faith.

What do apostolics believe?

I'm glad you asked.

I would like to for a few moments give you a summary of apostolic beliefs and why it

matters.

Number one, what do we believe?

What does this one faith teach us about the Bible?

It tells us and we believe that the Bible, someone say the Bible.

The Bible is the inspired word of God and it is true in all that it teaches.

It is perfect.

It doesn't need to be altered.

It doesn't need to be changed.

It doesn't need to be modified.

It doesn't mean, come on, hallelujah.

It is flawless.

And it is our only authority from what we believe and how we ought to live.

Second Timothy chapter three and verse 16 says all scripture is given by inspiration

of God.

Literally in the original it is God breathed and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,

for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

This Bible is not just a book about God that men wrote.

This Bible is God's autobiography.

This Bible was written by the Holy Spirit through the hands of men, but it's not written

from the hands of men.

Just thinking and philosophizing about God, theorizing about God.

This is God's message to the world today and we can bank our lives on it.

We can build our futures on it.

We can live on this word.

Pastor Jacob, why does it matter?

Because the moment we start to add or subtract from the word of God, we are taking the place

of God himself.

And then we are subject to judgment.

The Bible warns Revelation chapter 22 verse 18 through 19 at the end of the Bible.

Revelation 22:18–19

If anyone adds to these things, God will to him the plagues that are written in this book.

If anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away

his part from the book of life, from the holy city and from the things which are written

in this book.

We live in a world church that is challenging the authority of scripture as the word of

God.

People call the Bible a manmade book.

You know why they do that?

So they can disobey it.

But let me tell you something, heaven and earth will pass away, but the word of our

Lord shall by no means pass away.

Someone shout hallelujah today here.

This is the word of God and it matters.

This is the starting point and it matters.

So this is what we as an apostolic church believe about the Bible.

It is the word of God.

Now what do we believe about God himself?

About God and about Jesus Christ.

Again, this is some refreshing from what we have heard before, what I taught last Sunday.

But about God and Jesus Christ, we believe that there is only one God and that Jesus

is that one God manifested in the flesh.

That he is that one God of the Old Testament, the Elohim, the El Shaddai, the Jehovah, the

Yahweh in flesh.

And where do we get this concept?

We get it from the word of God.

To see Jesus is to see God.

Colossians chapter 2 and verse 9, for in him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

In Jesus Christ is all the fullness.

There is a great debate happening in the world today.

It's been happening for centuries.

Is Jesus in the Godhead or is the Godhead in Jesus?

I'm here to tell you that Jesus is not in the Godhead, but the Godhead is in Jesus.

He is all the fullness.

He is the visible image of the invisible God.

Now why does it matter?

Why does it matter?

Because your view of God determines how you view everything else in life.

How could you live for God if you don't have the right revelation of who he is?

The right revelation of God is the starting point of our faith.

If we get our theology of God wrong, how can we be sure that everything else we're building

on, our faith, our doctrines, our beliefs are in line or correct?

If the starting point is crooked, everything else is going to be crooked.

But if the starting point is straight, which is God is one and Jesus is God, that ensures

that we're on the right path.

Amen.

What else do we believe?

We believe about sin and salvation.

The apostolic, the one this Pentecostal church, we believe everyone has sinned and needs

salvation.

Somebody say amen.

We believe that salvation comes by grace, through faith, through the finished work of

Jesus Christ on the cross.

That there is no other means by which we find salvation other than Jesus Christ.

But we must be saved.

There is no way that if there is sin in your life and you have not repented that you will

make it to heaven and be saved.

Romans 6 23, for the wages of sin is death.

But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Hallelujah.

Why does any of this matter?

It matters because if you ever hear a gospel, a doctrine that tells you that we are all

just essentially good people and we're not really sinners and Jesus and Christianity

is kind of like just a self-improvement course.

You know, and we just gather just to pump each other up.

No, we need to understand that we are lost without him.

That sin is real and it's deadly and it's destructive.

But the grace of God is also real because where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

Hallelujah.

Sin is real, but so is grace.

The only way to find grace is to seek God and to apply his word to our life.

And that's where we come to the next belief about the gospel.

Thank God for the gospel and conversion for God so loved the world.

Amen.

John 3 16, that he gave his only begotten son, whosoever would believe in him would

not perish, but have everlasting life.

We believe the gospel is the good news that Jesus died for our sins, was buried and rose

again.

But how do we apply this gospel to our lives?

How do I make what Jesus did for me over 2000 years ago a reality in my life?

We apply the gospel to our lives by repenting of our sins, death to sin, being baptized

in water in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins.

And baptism is a type of burial.

We are being buried and then receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, resurrection.

So we apply the gospel.

The gospel is that Jesus died for our sins, was buried and rose again.

When we are baptized, when we are converted, amen, we repent of our sins, we die to our

sins and then we are buried like Jesus was, but our burial is a watery grave.

Amen.

And then when we receive the Holy Spirit, there is a regeneration, there is a resurrection

of life.

There is a quickening of our mortal bodies.

Acts 2 38, then Peter said unto them, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the

name of Jesus Christ for the remission or the forgiveness of sin and you shall receive

the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Clap your hands.

Let's give.

God's a praise today.

Thank you, Jesus.

Pastor Jacob, why does it matter?

I'll tell you why it mattered because God's way is the only way.

Amen.

And the only way to obey the gospel is to repent.

Someone say repent.

If you don't repent and you just get baptized, you go down to dry sinner and you come up

a wet sinner.

It was just for show.

But if you repent and you say, God, forgive me of my sins.

I don't want to live that way anymore.

I've died to my old self.

I die to my old life.

I want nothing about my old life anymore.

When you repent, truly make a 180 degree turn from your old life and then you are born again

of the water and of the spirit.

That is what true conversion looks like.

It's not a sprinkling of water on top of you.

It's not just saying a prayer.

No, it is to obey what the apostle preached on the day of Pentecost.

Repent, be baptized in Jesus name and be filled with the gift of his spirit.

Amen.

I'm going to be just a few more moments.

But there's a couple other beliefs that I want to cover about Christian living.

We are a part of that one faith.

Anybody glad to be a part of that one faith?

Amen.

And that one faith requires us to live a life that is in honor of and in worship to the

God who delivered us out of sin, out of bondage.

And now we are called into his marvelous light.

Amen.

To be a peculiar people, his own special people, a royal priesthood, a chosen generation.

Amen.

And we believe that as Christians, apostolics, that we are to love God, primarily love God.

Every aspect of your Christian life, your conduct, your behavior, everything flows,

number one, out of a love for God.

Amen.

Not because, just because the pastor told you, or just because of this or that, but

because you love him.

I don't have to live holy only, I get to live holy.

It's a privilege.

And we believe that as Christians, we are to love God and love others.

We are to submit to God, submit to authority, to submit to our spiritual leaders.

We are to worship God, to live a life that is pleasing to him, both on the inside and

on the outside.

Through a life of modesty, contentment, chastity, purity, devoid of the things that this world

tells us we ought to do.

We are God's people.

And there are things that God calls us to abstain from, to flee from.

Hallelujah.

Amen.

To look different, to act different, to think different.

That's what we believe.

We are to uphold the sanctity of human life, in and out of the womb.

We are to uphold the sanctity.

I'm talking about Christian living here, is that all right?

Uphold the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman.

Uphold the sanctity of the human biology that God gave us, and to honor that distinction

of gender, that if God made you a woman, you should stay a woman.

And if he made you a man, you should stay a man.

Praise God.

I don't care what Christian organization is allowing or approving certain things.

I don't care what flag they're.

Somebody said this is Pride Month.

I feel like we're getting cheated here because isn't like Father's Day this month?

And I'm like, come on now.

But I'm going to tell you what I'm proud about.

I'm proud that my name is written in the book of life.

I'm proud to be an apostolic.

I'm proud, hallelujah, of this.

Not in my own righteousness.

Don't get me wrong.

But the Holy Ghost empowers us to live right, to honor God with our thoughts, with our words.

Hallelujah.

Amen.

With our actions, with our attire, with our finances, basically everything.

Romans 8 13, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die.

But if you live by the spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

How many of you want to live today?

Hey, hallelujah.

How many of you want to live today?

I've got to put to death the deeds of the flesh and the deeds of the body.

And like Paul said, I die daily.

I got to crucify this flesh so that the Spirit of God can thrive and live in my life.

This is what I'm after.

I want to be a part of that one faith.

I want to be a part of that one Lord, one faith and one baptism.

I want to walk that straight and narrow path.

Narrow and straight is the gate that leads to eternal life.

But why is that gate that lead to a destruction?

I want to be a part of that one faith.

Can somebody give God some praise today if you want to be a part of that?

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Why does it matter?

I'll tell you why it matters, brother, as I close.

I'll tell you why it matters.

Because God has called us to be his witnesses.

That's why it matters.

To be a light, Jesus said, you are the light of the world.

We got to be the light of the world, church.

We got to be a city light.

A city on a hill.

Hallelujah.

Why does it matter?

It matters because God called us, he said, come out from among them and be separate.

He didn't call us to blend in, but to stand out.

He didn't call us, Jesus, to be a copy of the world, but to be an original.

To be his people.

To trust him in everything of our lives.

Everything about me is submitted to you, God.

My mind, my body, my emotions.

Hallelujah.

The way I think, the way I act, my relationships, my finances, it all belongs to you.

My children, everything.

Finally, we believe about the future.

We believe as apostolics that Jesus is coming again to catch away his church.

We believe according to scripture that in the end, there's going to be a final resurrection

and a judgment.

And that the righteous will inherit eternal life and that the unrighteous, eternal separation

from God.

The Bible says this, and we are to comfort one another with these words in 1 Thessalonians

chapter four, verse 16, for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with

the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God.

And the dead in Christ will rise first.

All right, Grandpa Rodriguez, you're going before me.

He gets to go first.

All those that are past in the Lord, they're going first.

Amen.

Is that all right?

They're going to go first.

But then those who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with him in the clouds

to meet the Lord in the air.

And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Would you stand with me here this afternoon?

Why does it matter what we believe about the end times?

I'll tell you why it matters.

Because how you view the end will determine how you live in the present.

Oh, hallelujah.

There are some that are living this life with no awareness, with no concept or with no fear

that the Lord could come at any moment.

But my view of the end time, my view of Jesus coming in the twinkling of an eye, oh, at

any moment, and no man knows the day or the hour when the Lord shall appear.

But when that day happens, that is causing me to live my life in such a way that when

that trumpet sounds, I am ready to meet my Maker.

I am ready to meet.

So I've got to live right.

I've got to live that one day.

And we ought to comfort each other with these words.

I'm going to invite the praise team if you can prepare yourself to come up.

In a moment, we're going to worship the God together.

But I want to tell you this as I just finished this altogether.

Hallelujah.

Thank you for your patience today.

I want to tell you in closing, the Bible talks about the falling away of the faith and the

last days.

There's going to be a falling away, and we're seeing it even now in this generation.

Falling away of the very elect of God, or departing from the faith, or compromising their faith,

or abandoning the faith, forsaking the faith.

And we today, church, I feel this in my spirit today, and this is why the Holy Ghost has

led us in this series, this direction, is because we must do what Jude taught.

Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I

found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you to contend, to contend, to contend earnestly

for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saved church of the living God.

We have been called by the Lord to contend for this one faith that has been delivered

to us.

God has delivered to you that one faith, and he's calling upon the church in this hour

to stand strong and to hold your head up high and to serve the Lord with everything that

you have.

I wonder if there's somebody right now that can begin to render under God's worship, begin

to render under God some praise, render under God the glory through his name, and say, Thank

you, Jesus.

I'm not just a part of any church.

No, no, no.

City Light Church is not just another flavor among all the flavors out there.

We are that one faith.

We are that one church.

And I'm glad to be a part of it.

Why don't we worship him today?

Why don't we thank him?

The name of Jesus is to be praised.