Beyond the Letter || Night 11 || ALFC Fresh Start

Welcome to the ALC Podcast. Here at ALC, we seek the loss,

teach the found, and send the disciples. We truly hope you're encouraged by

this week's message, as this is beyond the letter night. Some of you

guys may be new. Thank you for joining us. We've done this this

year, first Wednesday of every month, we've taken from our podcast and kind

of brought in. You bring the questions, we'll bring in the conversation.

So some of our pastoral team that is here, which SNAs is the only

one at the table that's not a titled ordained pastor, but come this New

Year's Eve, she will be ordained as a pastor along with a few other

people on our team. So we're excited for that as well. So you

guys, come New Year's Eve and it's gonna be a special time. We're

gonna celebrate some of that as well, on top of our abundant music.

But people have asked questions, we're gonna bring a biblical conversation around. Some

questions deal with life, some questions deal with the Bible theology. But however

they ask it, we're gonna try to bring a biblical and Christian response to

it as best as we can and always see what the Lord does through this.

So we got two in person questions I believe for this Wednesday night.

And so hello, thank you for joining us. Why don't you introduce yourself

and share your question with us? Well, good evening everyone, And my

name is Angela cob Dannie. I've been attending here at AFLC since about July.

Oh gro kind of new welcome joining us. Thank you. Yeah.

So my question is, and you kind of answered at least a portion of

it just a second ago, but what is a LFC stance on the fivefold

ministry gifts as described in Ephesians for eleven and twelve? But specifically do you

believe these gifts were given to both men and women or only men? Great

question? You want to take this first, past or? Let me begin?

Well, Yes, bund Living believes in Ephesians for eleven, Ephesians four

twelve, and the Ephesians four thirteen, which I think need to be read

together to get the full content of what's being spoken because it talks about why

there is the five full ministry. So she's referring to the five full ministry

being the gifts that work within the church, the leadership that governs the church,

so that is pastors, teachers, evangelists, prophets, and apostles.

I say that right, yeah, So that's the fivefold ministry and all of

them, and we're not going to go into the teaching of that have a

distinct gift mix and a purpose. And I think we need the five full

ministry. The only person that operated in all five gifts was Jesus. Jesus

is the five full fulfillment of the five gifts. But it's for the perfecting

of the saints. So we need all that to cause maturity because it's like

First Corinthians twelve, not are the ear, Not all of us are the

foot, and so we need that part of the body. So I believe

with all my heart that they still operate today. Passor Adam will give more

of a theological perspective of the gift versus the title, and how many people

use extremes calling themselves this, but they don't have the gift to back it

up kind of say, and so just because you've flowing a gift doesn't make

you the title. Secondly, Secondly, in relationship to that, I believe

the spirit of God and Joel he'll pour out his spirit on all flesh,

which is in the New Testament. We see women that prophesiede and so I

believe that we need not only the five fold gifts, we also need the

balance of male and female within what they bring and how God uses them in

those gifts. And we talked oftentimes about Timothy let the women learn to be

silent and explain what that meant in the abuse that was being existed at that

particular time. But to answer your question, we believe in the five four

ministry, we believe they could be male as well as female, equally dispersed.

I personally believe, according to scriptures, is that prophets and apostles are

higher gifts. Doesn't mean they're more elite or like they're the generals and everyone

else's the sergeants. I just believe that the gifts of the spirit flow a

lot of dominant through them. And so I've heard people that don't have no

experience in ministry say I'm a prophet and I'm an apostle. I believe those

are earned gifts through faithfulness of being a teacher, pastor, and evangelist over

a period of time that God entrusts you with the gift of being a prophet

and being an apostle. At the end of the day, to who much

is given, much is required. James tells us it would better that you

never teach the gospel then want that gift, because you will have a higher

judgment than the laity who do not walk in those gifts. Yeah, it's

great. Yeah, I think, uh, if you want, if it's

more comfortable for you to say, you're more than welcome to. Yeah,

but I'll talk a little more on it. I know that there's always that

awkward moment you're just standing there and you're like, yeah, but as fastor

Diego said, I would say, in addition, and if anyone wants to

study, if Heesi's for, you're more than welcome to. But what we

have to remember, even when we talk about the gifts of the spirit as

well, is not only are these gifts, but this is this is this

is an office in which a person operates. And because you know, because

we have a particular in the American Western construct, we have a fascination with

titles. We love titles. We love president and vice president, we love

these honorific We love to go get degrees and put letters at the end of

our last names. And we love these honorifics. And so you particularly see

in the American Church, we've highly, highly exasperated the title of these offices.

So someone wants to pursue these things because I want to be called evangelists

so and so, I want to be called prophet so and so, I

want to be called apostle so and so. But when you read the New

Testament, people weren't necessarily referred to as their office. That's just their gifting.

That's what God's called them to do. So you notice, like the

apostle, Paul says, a servant and an apostle. So Paul said,

my title is servant of Christ. My office is apostle, which means the

apostle. Paul had a heart for the global church. And so that's where

you're operating in the office. And we're talking about, like Pastor Diego said,

not spiritual gifts, but leadership structure in the body of Christ. And

so you know, whether a church recognizes those titles or not, those are

offices that God has enabled so well, it's active in the global church.

Whether a church gleans towards using those titles or not. God is still operating

those offices. So there may be a guy who calls himself a pastor,

but he operates in the office of apostolic he just doesn't title it that,

and there's nothing wrong with that. But anyone, here's the way I put

it, in a very simple turn, there are spiritual leaders who have a

heart for the global church. So more than likely, and they get really

involved in the global church, and they want to see the global church thrive

and move forward. And they're not just about their city, they're also about

what God's doing nationally and internationally. More than likely that person operates in the

office of an apostolic office. But they may say. You'll notice, when

Catholicism transition and Protestantism came in the Great Reformation, what John Calvin a few

other guys said is they said, hey, the Catholic Church abuse titles bishop

and priest and blah blah. So what they said was, in our churches,

everybody's going to be a pastor and a shepherd, because everybody is equal.

But yet people may operate in different offices. So that's why today,

because we come from the Prostant Reformation, you hear about more pastors. But

if you read your Bible and Ephesians four says the word pastor. That to

me, that's not an accurate translation, because really what that Greek word is

shepherd and so and so it's not really pastor. We use the title now

pastor as an a verse of equality because people would take levels to each of

those giftings and abuse it. So for us, there are a lot.

You know, we have twelve or thirteen pastors on our staff. If you

were to ask me, do they operate all in the teaching gift or all

in the in the shepherding gift. No, we have some people on our

team that are great, that are great prophets, they're great evangelists, they're

great, they're great, they have apostolic calling. So to me, that

happens in churches all over and so the only reason why you see it less

and less today where people are titling themselves because a lot of great abuse has

happened in the American Church as of late, with people abusing these titles to

gain authority over people's personal lives and say you need to listen to me because

I'm a prophet, and if you don't, you're out of the will of

God. Well, to me, those are pretty gregious statements to tell someone

that. And so you've seen a lot of the church, even though I

believe there is right now we're a renewal where God's taking the five full ministry.

I believe I have more of a of a gifting, of an apostolic

gifting, because I'm very much involved in the global church. But I would

never, I would personally never feel the conviction that this is what I think

everyone should call me. I'm happy to say in private, I don't necessarily

have the shepherding gift. I don't necessarily though I may be a good teacher,

I lean more towards I want to see the global church win, and

it's what I talk about all the time. So you can easily say,

well, that's where I believe God has called Pastor Oudam. But you you

talk to Pastor Aaron, he loves the scriptures, or you talk to Pastor

Kenny. Pastor Kenny loves to sit with people and talk for three, four

five hours. This guy has the heart of a shepherd. He can sit

with you for six hours. I can't. I'm like, let's fix your

problem in ten minutes, and let's figure out how we can conquer the world

for Jesus. It doesn't mean one is right or wrong. It means God

has gifted each of these leaders in very different ways to benefit his international church,

his local church, and his global church. So embrace the five full

ministry. If you feel called to ministry, more than welcome to ever approach

us and we could talk to you about where the Lord may be calling you,

because this is church leadership. If you want to know about your personal

spiritual gift by the Holy Spirit, go through our growth track because we talk

about that, and we're not talking about the leadership struggle with that. We're

talking about you. How do you discover your personal gift? Go to our

website, join a growth track and you'll really discover those things. So thank

you guys, thank you so much for asking it, and hopefully we gave

a and we could spend hours talk about. My final thought, which which

was excellent you brought up in the office, is that all these gifts operate

through a local church. And if anyone comes to you with those titles and

does not have a home church where they're submitted to a pastor, then they're

outside of the will of God. You got all these independent, free floating,

franchised tumbleweeds that just float in, drop all these prophecies, all these

conviction and all this condemnation, and then fly out to the next location.

And that is absolutely unbiblical. The Great Apostle Paul had a home church.

It was an antiogue, and you could go there when he wasn't traveling and

you'd see him sitting in the front row serving his church and his pastor.

Yeah, that's great, Okay, let's go to the say we another in

person one. You've asked one before, my friend, I'm glad you're asking

again. Good to see you, bro represent your Men's two fifty two shirts.

Yeah, all right, go ahead, all right, I'm justin and

my question has to do with like generational curses and like sends of the fall.

But I have like seven I watched this video that one of these like

pastors from like maybe the eighties had mentioned like there's like seven signs that he

kind of conjured up that if you have these, that maybe it's a sign

that you're under a curse, like you have generational curses. So like there's

seven where like if you have like mental emotional breakdowns, like you know,

a breakdown. That's one sign repeated or chronic sickness, especially if they're hereditary,

like for example, like doctor can't find out what's wrong, right,

like those phantom illnesses. Three is like female problems, so like barrenness,

menstruation, repeated miscarriages, for breakdown of marriage, family alienation, things like

that. Five is financial insufficiency. So not if you know you have a

shortcoming. You know, everybody goes through tough times, but if you always

are coming up short financially, right, like lifelong poverty. Six is like

accident prone, So something is always happening to you, Like you're always the

one to break your ankle when you fall off the curb, something's always getting

in your eye, things like that, So always something happening to you.

And then last history of suicide so like unnatural deaths, right, so and

like family's riddle with unnatural deaths and things like that. So he's not saying

that like if you have one of these things that, oh, you know,

you're cursed, that's a curse. But like if you if you have

a lot of these things that he's saying that, you know, maybe these

things are signs of a curse. And then he kind of concluded with saying,

like a curse is like a dark shadow from the past over your life,

shutting out the sunshine of God's blessings in your life. So yeah,

I had questions about like curses, and then also like if there's any like

relevancy to that and like seeing the father type thing. Cool, thanks justin

thanks for asking it all right, any anyone anyone want to tackle that?

That first, all thoughts and opinions, But well again, yes, the

longer you live and been in the church world, they come in cycles,

they come in cycles. So these things hit the top deliverance. Everything is

about evangelism, everything is about prayer, everything is about the scriptures, everything

is about worship, and all these things are important, but people become zalous

about it and they magnify it above something else. So they come in cycles.

And if you live long enough and are in the church, you'll hear

that. And there's a lot about deliverance right now, a lot about deliverance

right now, And there's a lot of true to that because people are endeavoring

to participate and be involved in sinish activities, deviant activities, and when you

go into the dark world, you're opening yourself up spirits to spirits, and

these spirits have attributes or straints that they work in that make human beings fall

victim to But that curse has to have permission. You have to open the

door, you have to feed into it. The Bible says a curse can

come to four generations, but the blessing comes to it thousand generations, So

the blessing is stronger than the curse. The next scripture says, the curse

shall not come on the causeless, ye shall not come on the causeless.

So you can't put a curse on me because I'm under the blood of Jesus

Christ, and so there's no competition there. Jesus Christ outpowers any level of

curse. But again that could be stopped in your life. That could be

true that those characteristics are there. They are again not one time experiences,

their habitual practices in people's lives, and the list is not seven. You

could go on and on and on and on and talk way more about you

know, disrespect with your kids kind of thing, and can't hold down a

job and you know, a relational breakdown. All those things are byproducts of

those things. But yes, spirits can be transferred. It's like an open

door, and once a generation comes under the authority of Christ, submits to

it, takes authority through the blood of Jesus Christ over it ends. It

ends at that point and people don't have to walk in fear anymore to those

kinds of things. So I would say, bottom line, yes, it's

real. But at the same time, the power of God, the grace

of God and the blood of Jesus is absolutely more powerful. And the more

you submit and yield to God, you'll break the curse off of someone's life

for your life. Yeah, I'll just give a verse that goes with what

you're saying, and we could go to the next one because I don't think

you say much more to But Galatians chapter three, verse nine to ten.

Justice says this, So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham,

the man of faith, for all who rely on the works of the

Law are under a curse. As it is written, cursed is everyone who

does not continue to do everything written in the book of the Law. In

other words, if you're going to subject yourself outside of Christ under the law

of God, which anyone who does not bring their self under the blood of

Jesus. We're all subject to the regulation of God's law, which means everyone

is susceptible of the curses that come with not following God's law. And so

the only place you can find generational curses, for the most part, is

only in the New Testament, because the New Testament is where the law is

housed. The New Testament is where the law is fulfilled by Jesus. So

you won't see much of a generational curse in the New Testament because the New

Testament has everything to do with freedom in Jesus. The Old Testament has everything

to do with bondage to the law and how you and I cannot live up

to God's standard. So, yes, everyone is susceptible to the curses and

the hardships that falling short of God's grace will award you. And it can

pass down generationally, not only because there's a spiritual component, but there's also

a natural component of it too, because you got to think God. God

works spiritually, but he also works naturally. So if as a man,

you have a spiritual curse of womanizing, well guess what if you're a child

and you see your father womanizing his whole life if you don't get freedom,

then guess what. Not only there's a spiritual weight, but also you grew

up seeing it every single day, so it's what you know, so more

than likely you're gonna build an appetite for that as well. If you grew

up around abuses, whether it be alcoholic abuse, drug abuse, verbal abuse,

well more than likely unless you get freedom, you're gonna have that curse.

If you grew up in your you had a parent that went from job

to job to job, and that's all you knew, and you never saw

faithfulness in a job, then there's a spiritual element of warfare, but there's

also the natural element where it's all you saw. So that's what you were

taught at a young age, so you're catching it as well, and so

that's where the generational curse kind of roots. While all in all, according

to the Book of Galatians, that's why it's so important to preach the gospel

and preach freedom to our loved ones and neighbors, because not only is the

Gospel transformative in heaven, it's transformative in this life. With the curses that

we have built an appetite to that we not only is it there, but

we love to embrace it, at times it satiates us. And so that's

why we need to be delivered from that, like Pastor just said, and

experienced the redemption and the deliverance and the freedom that comes with Jesus's death,

burial and resurrect And so to preach the Gospel in our daily life is so

important because what we talked about, you may say, yeah, I have

a friend that's like that, or I got a family member like that.

Well, they deserve freedom in Jesus. So it's important to offer that to

them. Whether they choose it or not, that's up to them, but

we should at least present it to them to say, hey, there's a

way out of that fornicating you know that, right, there's a way out

of this broken marriage. You know that, right? The Lord can offer

freedom. Are you open to that? And it's a great way to share

the Gospel with someone outside of you know, just saying hey, come to

church with me on a Sunday, which that can be a way as well,

but as Pastor Diego just really put it, well, there are other

great alternatives as well. So can I share something really briefly and it goes

to what Pastor Diego said earlier the benefits of being connected to a local church,

because when you're connected to a local church and you're hearing outside noise about

deliverance, you'll know if you're a part of ALFC family, deliverance equals forward

at ALFC. This is how someone finds freedom. So if you're inviting someone

to church and they're new, and they're like, man, I'm seeing a

lot of this deliverance people doing this. Oh yeah, ALFC we have four

we have an experience where you can find freedom. Also, I've been around

people that are like, I'm breaking generational curses. To Pastor Diego's point,

and I will affirm, it's not us that breaks the generational curse. It's

the power of Jesus working through us, because it ends up being a lot

of like pressure on us to uphold it for like our family and the next

legacy and everything. Okay, it's gonna get back. You know that that

freedom and that power is found through Jesus, not through our determination and our

will. That's great, All right, Let's go to the first written question

we have today. Uh is it okay? For is it okay to distance

myself from some of my siblings who do not help our mother. They don't

visit her, take her to the store or to doctor's visits. I'm the

only one who helps her with that said, I don't want to talk to

them. I could love them from a fall. Is that the Christian way

to handle it? Yeah? And so yeah, sonas I'll give you to

this one first. Yeah, you know, I I read that, and

I kind of can sense a tone in the way that this person writes it.

And so I would say, first and foremost, yes, if it's

going to benefit you to distance yourself from your siblings, that's okay. If

that's going to make you, that's going to bring peace to you. However,

be careful with how you view your siblings because even though that you'll say,

you'll love them from afar, and you know, but they don't help,

and they don't do this, and they don't do this, and I

do everything for my mother. The scripture says. It says in Ephesians four

thirty one and thirty two, Let all bitterness and wrath, and anger,

and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, for giving one another as God in

Christ has forgiven you. So we have to think about I would encourage this

person. Do you forgive your siblings for the fact that they have not helped

as much as you have, or when you think about them and their activity

with mom, does that spark up bitterness and anger in you? And if

that's the case, that is something that you have to take to the Lord.

Because when you say I'm going to distance myself, but I'm gonna love

them from far, it is okay for you to not have an everyday relationship

with somebody who is not healthy for you. That's okay, even if it's

your sibling. However, if that distance is causing these types of feelings that

the Bible says, we should be putting those away and forgiving one another.

We have to take a stance of forgiving our siblings for the fact that they

have not participated in the way that you have and work on a relationship where

you can truly forgive them and then be at peace with not having that relationship.

But that's something that you have to work with yourself and God one on

one and really figure out and be honest with yourself about the way that you

feel towards your siblings so that you can move forward and not have not bring

more strife to the family, and for your mother, who you take care

of. I completely agree with that. I'd also add to compliment. I

think that this is a question about boundaries, And to Sonaz's point, yes,

boundaries are healthy, but boundaries are I love you and myself at the

same time. So the question is is it appropriate for a Christian to respond

this way? Yes, if I'm loving that person. So if I'm loving

that person and while I'm loving myself, I mean that equals distance. Yes,

But if it's trying to figure out how we will navigate the relationship moving

forward, navigate the relationship moving forward through the lens of forgiveness, sometimes we

mesh the two. Also, we don't know the context, so sometimes we

have expectations of our siblings to do things without asking them. So that's what

Martha did. She went to Jesus. She said, my sister won't help

me. Martha, why don't you ask Mary and see what Mary would do?

Type thing. So confront the person in love, because love believes the

best. Maybe they don't know how much you're helping or how much they can

do. Once you quantify. Okay, they are rejecting this. They don't

have skin in the game. Now. To Snas's point, yes, we

forgive now so we could be friends, so we could be free. Yeah,

that's great. Oh you both answered it. One of the things I

would just ask this person if we're talking, and if it's you who asks,

come chat with us or something like that, if you want to talk

more. But one of the things I would say, how does your mother

feel about it? How does your mom feel about it? And the second

thing is do your siblings know how you feel? Have you? Have you

shared it with them? And number and number three, have any of you

because it seems like you all are a bit older because you could drive and

pick them up, pick your mother up and stuff is Uh. I don't

know what your family structure is, but it may not hurt. Has anyone

ever called a family meeting, you know, and had a conversation, Hey,

how are we gonna look after mom? Is this all on me?

Your siblings may say we thought you enjoyed it, we thought you had it

covered, you know, and you just seem so because some people in the

family are just the helpers, you know, and uh, and they just

they just man, that's that's that's a gift, you know, where it's

almost like a Martha right you're setting up the home and and you're saying,

Jesus, tell my sister to help me. But you also love to do

that, and so in your your own love to do it, you can't

resent others. If that's what you love to do. You may one day

be like, hey, guys, I can't take Mom to the doctor this

Tuesday. It's on one of y'all, and play it out to the last

minute, and if no one does it, then still take Mom, but

be like I put it out there, I wasn't gonna do it. And

that's the first time I've ever said that. Like, give them an opportunity

to step in and play that. And you may say I've done all those

things, and then you know that's where you know, take take this great

advice right here. But but let that be a last ditch scenario, because

you know, family's family, and and I'll tell you this, one day,

if a family member passes away, y'all are gonna have to look at

each other at that funeral, and you're gonna have to find a place where

you love each other or you're just gonna walk away as strangers. And I

just know from experience doing funerals. You know, those experience either make or

break people, and it's just best to try to reconcile as much as possible

and as soon as possible. And so when when when we when me and

my brothers first started working at the church and we started working for my dad,

we knew him as a father, but we didn't know him as a

boss. So we had a lot of chaos for a season. Because my

dad's a visionary and he steamrolls you with his vision because it's big, and

so you can easily get offended by that and think that he means something by

it, but really he's just on fire for what he believes in. And

so one day, either we suggested or my dad suggested, he said,

let's just get away for a day, spend time as a family, and

let's just talk about what you guys need from me. And we did that.

We said, hey, we think you, we think he steamroll us.

We think this, and then he started to explain to us, no,

I'm like this with all my employees. I'm a visionary. Why don't

you guys run with me and if I'm ever crossing a line, tell me,

let's talk about it face to face instead of you feeling like you got

to go home and talk about it with your wives or whatever. And so

what we noticed was what we were thinking his intention was wasn't until we got

in a room and talked about it. Then our perspective come completely changed and

was like, I didn't I didn't know Dad even operated that way. So

in this case, if you haven't already, maybe you have, but try

to get all the siblings together. Don't do it at Christmas, don't do

it at Thanksgiving. Do it in a different day, but try to get

on, Try to get on, get on the same page, and say

how are we looking after mom? And you tell them I feel like you

guys leave me alone a lot to do this by myself and let them step

out or let them show their true colors. And then I'd say take their

great advice, which is protect your boundaries and your heart at that point,

and I would also encourage I would also say at that family meeting to come

from a place that you want to hear what they have to say, and

that you're not just leading the conversation. Because when I read this, and

as we talk through it, there's a possibility when people tend to just sort

of step away and they're not coming to the doctor, they might feel like

you're controlling, and they might feel like you you want to you know,

you want to navigate all of the things. So let them have a voice

in the family as well, and maybe they'll just start pitching in as long

as they feel like they have skin in the game too and they're not just

being bossed around by a sibling. It's a possibility. I don't know the

situation, so I'm just throwing out different types of scenarios, but just always

come from a place where you're inviting the siblings to have an equal say in

the care of mom and not you just saying all right, I need help,

and you guys need to help me. Because if they haven't done it

yet, that's prob that might not be what they want to do. But

maybe they want to contribute in a different way financially being able to you know

something, So just be able let them tell you how they can help you.

Yeah, it's good, it's great. Okay, let's go to the

next one. All right, I'm thirty five years old. I grew up

in the non denominational Church and have always wondered why there's a significant difference in

the language of the Holy Spirit speaking in tongues now from biblical times when He

descended upon the disciples, foreigners and around them heard the message of the Gospel

in their native tongue. They're talking about Acts chapter two. Today, when

I and everyone around me speaking tongues, it sounds like gibberish, some even

repeating the same few syllables over and over. Can you please help me to

understand this perceived changed Thank you awesome, Thank you so much for asking this.

I'll let Pastor diego if you want to take this first. Okay,

Well, first of all, I want to you don't have to be spirit

filled with the evidence of speaking in tongues to go to heaven. Okay,

you have to be born again, repenting of your sins and accepting Jesus Christ.

So again, much like the generational curse, we can become zalats and

over magnify something or make it bigger than it is. It's just a lifestyle

that the early Church practiced, and it just was the DNA of who they

were. But again, like I think Pastor Adams. There's the extremist want

to make it bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger than it is. We

are if you study theological words. We are a charismatic church, which means

we believe in the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit found in First Corinthians twelve

and believe that they are still operative today. We are a Pentecostal church,

not the denomination. That's what I'm talking about. The theological beliefs, which

means we believe in speaking in tongues. Okay, two big words there where

people get confused though in this is they confuse First Corinthians twelve and First Corinthians

fourteen and believe they're talking about the same tongue and they're not. First Corinthians

twelve is talking about the gift of tongues by the Holy Spirit. The Holy

Spirit originates it, generates it, and initiates it. They are nine gifts

of the Holy Spirit. They are His gifts, not your gift. First

Corinthians fourteen is the ability to speak in tongues, which is not necessarily his

gift. It's worked through him, but it's your gift. First Corinthians twelve.

Holy Spirit has to lead it, guide it, and direct it first

Corinthians fourteen. Speaking in tongues, you lead it, you guide it,

you start it, you stop it. And I think that's what you get

in the Book of Acts, a language barrier to be able to communicate because

they couldn't speak the language. So the gift of the Holy Spirit began to

allow people to hear the Gospel in their native tongue. And so I believe

that as you begin to break down the two differences, the confusion may start

to leave or bring clarity. But I just want to throw that out there

like that as an introduction. That's why we have that little book grow Faith

dot com that describes what it means to be filled with the spirit. And

I'll go through Acts chapter two. I'll go through Acts chapter nine, I'll

go through Acts chapter ten, and I'll go through Acts chapter nineteen to show

you that it wasn't just the early or it just wasn't the one hundred and

twenty that got filled with the spirit. But the Samaritans got filled with the

spirit, the Gentiles got filled, and others got filled. Some twenty years

later, people were still getting filled with the Holy Spirit. With the evidence

of speaking in tongues, my last statement is when you talk about Babbel,

When you talk about Babe, the Bible says, you're not speaking unto unto

men, You're speaking unto God. And again the Holy Spirit is the interpreter

Romans eight twenty six. Likewise, the Spirit also help with our infirmities,

for we don't know what we should pray for as we ought, but the

Holy Spirit bear the witness with us through and speaking through an utterance within us.

So sometimes you don't know what to pray for. If I'm in the

New York City right now and you don't know what to pray, God,

bless him on a job, bless him in his health, but you don't

know what I'm going through right now, you have the ability to leave your

head and tap into your spirit and begin to pray in the Holy Spirit and

pray the perfect will of God in that. So there's nothing spooky about it.

There's nothing sensational about it. It's just something that is a is a

gift for us. Beloved Jude one to twenty. Build up yourself on your

most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, so you pray just like

you pray, and your understanding in your devotions or whenever you choose to do

it, to build yourself up like a battery. This world will drain you,

but the Holy Spirit, through your heavenly language will help you to be

keep charged up. And I'll just stop right there and I'll let pass you

out. I'm taking it from there. I'll just read a verse. It

says this. In one Corinthians fourteen, it says verse one, pursue love

and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. Now we're

caught up in our modern church that we think prophecy means like telling the future

or reading your mail. That's not necessarily every biblical version of what prophecy means.

Prophecy also means that the actual literal Greek interpretation is speak forth or speak

boldly. So Paul basically says, I pray that all of you may speak

about Jesus boldly. And he says some people do it better than others,

but he goes, it's my prayer that all of you can do that.

I want everyone to speak about jesusldly. So he says that prophesy and also

that that in that boldness, that may boldness may also be to speak things

that the Spirit is revealing to you, a boldness to talk about it.

And so then he says now verse two, for one who speaks in a

tongue speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands him,

but he utters mysteries in the spirit. On the other hand, the one

that prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and their encouragement and consolation. So,

like Pastor said, the spirit is the one bringing. The Spirit is

for you, and it's to build you up. It's for you and God.

No one can understand it. You may not even fully understand it.

And then what happens is to prophesy, to preach, is to encourage people.

There's moments today and when what we've been saying it we prophesied, we

spoken, and we encourage people, Hey, don't give up on your family,

go talk to him. That's speaking boldly. That that's a prophetic movement

into a person's life. So, ultimately, Paul is differentiating, and there

isn't much that's said in the rest of the Bible, but he does say,

hey, there's a difference between speaking a known tongue, which the spirit

can do, and that has not ceased. You could go on YouTube and

you can find testimonies from people that were in Uganda or South Africa and they

didn't know any of the language, or they didn't know Spanish, and they

start preaching and all of a sudden they start speaking Spanish. But when that

happens, everyone in that region knows that that's a miracle of God. If

I were to come up today here in America, which is what we call

it, a first world country, if I started speaking in Spanish, you

would say, Pastor Adam got Rosetta Stone, he's using duo lingo. You

wouldn't think it was a miracle. You would just think at home, I

just started learning the language. So that wouldn't necessarily build your faith up.

And so that's why a lot of times you see it more internationally in more

impoverished companies countries because to them, it is a miracle to know their language.

It is a miracle to preach about Jesus. So Acts two is still

happening in the world today. It's just a lot of times we're just we're

limited in hearing those testimonies. But also now to pray in the spirit.

And I'll just say this, we could jump to the next one. You

could go on beyond the letter on our YouTube and you could search in.

We did an episode on speaking in Tongues where I shared more in depth about

like my testimony. But for the first seven years of my faith, not

only did I not speak in tongues, I didn't believe in tongues, and

I was anti that. And I'm classically trained, so I could read this

Bible in Hebrew and Greek, and you know, and not even be in

English. I can read it in the way that it was written, and

I got caught up in hey, this Greek means this. So what I

just read in One Corinthians fourteen, there's a camp of people who who believe

that Paul is issuing a reproach to say, to say speaking tongues of angels

and to the spirit is not true. But there is nothing in what I

just read that gives me any inclination that Paul is rebuking anyone in the Corinthian

Church for doing it. In fact, to me, it seems as though

he's encouraging it. So yeah, he says, I think God, I

do it. And so first seven years I didn't believe in it. The

first two years that I was a youth pastor here. I wasn't convinced of

it still, but I believed in abundant living, how lives were being transformed

and saved, and so me and my dad we had big differences in that

until one day I took seven of my youth students up to northern California.

Mind you, I'm their youth pastor, and I also knew their parents aren't

really involved in church. Dim students knew nothing about speaking in tongues. Nothing,

And I took them up to a youth camp and one of my good

friends to this day who still comes to our church and preaches about being filled

with the spirit, David Hall from Australia. He preached about what it means

to be filled with the spirit with the Evans speaking in tongues. All seven

of my students started speaking in tongues. Mind you, David Hall didn't speak

in it from stage, he didn't lead anyone into it. And seven of

my students, who not only did I not believe in it, I somewhat

discouraged it privately, not to them, but in my own head, like

my kids better not be speaking in no tongues if this ain't happen, and

they start doing it. And I even asked them, have you ever heard

that before? They said, I've heard it talked about. I've never heard

it. I've never heard it mentioned. And so I'm their youth pastor now.

So now I got to go home and I gotta go wrestle with God

to say, God, why my kids doing this? And no one coursed

them, no one coached them. They started speaking in this spiritual language,

and so I said, Man, I gotta go reconcile this. So I

went into the scriptures and I approached it with a fresh set of eyes.

And I believe I was misinterpreting Verse fourteen. I took a human interpretation that

I wanted to believe because I saw abuses of tongues as a child, not

in my dad, but in other people in just church. Who who who

would abuse tongues and use it authoritatively over people or make people feel less than

if they don't speak in tongues. So I wanted to believe that it wasn't

legitimate because I believed it hurt people. And so I was like, God,

this can't be real. But really, what I realized was human people

abuse God's gifts all the time, and it can be abused, and you

can abuse God's gifts all the time. And so that's why someone could be

a great preacher but lead people astray because they have the gift of leading,

but they've used their gift to lead people astray. And so when I came

to that realization, I said, God, I'm gonna speak in tongues every

day for the next twelve months, and if it's real, I just want

you to move in a miraculous way. I still don't believe in it right

now. And that was in two thousand and fourteen to fifteen, and I've

legitimately spoken tongues every day since twenty and fifteen because I saw God move in

my life and I saw the Holy Spirit move in ways that I cann't reconcile

with. And also then, like the Bible says, I went back to

the Word, and it's there. We just read it together, and so

I can put a cherry on top and try to reconcile. As much as

I don't believe it happens today, but it is there. And uh and

and do I believe it's mandated for every person to do know the apostle Pa

says not everyone will do it. He says it in those verses. But

but but it is a special thing that the Lord can actively move in anyone

who desires to do it. Yeah, everybody who desires, who wants to

do it. Then it must be done decently in order not to cause confusion

or disrupt the service. So that's that's very important that it's more done in

your private life. The gift of the First Corinthian is done publicly, but

it has to be done with interpretation or it serves no purpose because if an

unsafe person comes in, they'll mock it and they'll be discouraged, so that

it's all it's all found there. Then the Babbel's statement, you don't mock

your child who's one years old who babbles, and say, you stupid kid,

you don't know how to speak any language. That's not that's the devil,

is that what you would tell them? Then why would you tell a

new bloe who seems to be babbling that it's not God? But as they

mature, the more they articulate, then that language becomes developed. My heavenly

language that I've been speaking with now for forty something years sounded like Babel in

the beginning. Now it sounds like a language that is undifferent than English.

But that took practice, that takes perfection, that takes a lot of time

in that. But don't think that someone doesn't have it just because it sounds

like Babel. Think of the child and how they have to learn how to

talk and become to cooperate with the Holy Spirit scood and we can move on.

But I don't want to be the dead horse. But for those that

are curious, and this is one of the things I did too, and

I knew about it before, but I'd always be like, ah, that's

whatever. A secular university, you can look it up online. A secular

university took people who do meditation, so people that say, other people who

do tantras, so they were prepeate phrases other people. They had them prayed

just in English, and they took people other religions, had them praying their

religious languages. And then they took a person who speaks in tongues and they

independently put them in an MRI brain scan, and speaking in tongues was the

only thing that they saw a specific part of their brain spark. When they

started doing it. So everyone that started, anyone that prayed in English,

anyone who repeated oms. So even to say tongues is babble. Well,

there were people who were babbling saying om or they were chanting phrases. But

then the person who was speaking in tongues, who to your ears may sound

like it's the same thing. But and you can look it up. It's

on YouTube. They did a study. It's a university and literally they show

you on the screen and they're not even like they're not even trying to legitimize

speaking in tongues, but they are saying, we studied people spoke in tongues

under an MRI and there was a receptor in their brain that turned on that

isn't on when anyone else does any of them those other things. And so

there is there is a piece of scientific proof. Now, when I was

on the other side, I'd be like, ah, anyone will find anyone

to legitimize. And now I'm like, well, they weren't even a Christian

university. Why would you know, Like what would they have a desire to

prove it? For? They don't benefit from it in any way other than

they were curious scientifically whether this was a real thing or not. And so

I believe that's the Holy Spirit, and and and that's our spirit being engaged

in that moment as we begin to speak with the Spirit in a profound,

unique way, you know that he's gifted believers. So you go look it

up online. You can see the video and it's very interesting as well.

Let's go to the next one. We probably got time just for this one,

so let's let's close it out with this last one. Is it true

that as a Christian woman you should be chaperoned when alone somewhere with the opposite

sex someone you are interested in, so that your reputation is not tarnished or

is that just something from the old days. How do you spend time alone

to get to know them if you're not permitted to be alone? This makes

no sense to me. Well, I'm saying is that if I imagined you

would type it? You know, were you ever alone with Nathan when not

at the beginning? Actually, no, I think the word chaperone is kind

of tricky because a lot of times when we think of the word chaperone,

you think of like parents driving their kids to the movies and like watching them.

So we just have to we have to understand sort of what they're asking.

We have to understand that in order to meet somebody and get to know

them. I do think that there are going to be opportunities for you to

be alone. However, it is always wise to guard your heart, to

guard your temptation, and to not put yourself in situations that you know that

that could be a temptation for you. If you want to do dating right,

there are things that I would recommend so that you are not in a

place that you can get caught up. For my husband and I, we

did hang out with a group of friends for a significant amount of time before

we spent time alone. That was for multiple reasons. It wasn't just because

we needed to be chaperoned. It was because then we could truly see the

real person, because we can pretend to be anybody we want to when we're

alone with somebody, and somebody can put on whatever they want, but if

they're around their friends, if you're around your friends, you're not going to

be a fake person in front of other people who know who you really are,

they're gonna call you out. So I think it's really important to bring

people into the relationship in the beginning so that you can not only not be

fogged with the love goggles, so that other people can begin to see your

behavior when you're with them, their behavior and see any red flags. I

always say, you can't see the picture when you're inside the frame, and

so when you're in a relationship, sometimes you don't see things that the people

who know you and know what you can take and can't take, they'll be

able to spot and maybe speak some life into you. So that's why it

is important to have people around you in the beginning of your relationship to keep

you accountable, to keep you from the love goggles getting overwhelming to the point

where now you are alone, and now you're going to be doing things that

are compromising your walk with Christ. So that is why not the term chaperone.

But I think that it's wise to be able to put yourself in situations

that you're not going to be compromising your walk and start to you know,

and then you're throwing things away and you're throwing your potential away and all of

that. Yes, definitely there's gonna be times where you're going to be alone

with the person, but then you also make sure that you guard yourself maybe

we shouldn't be in my bedroom at eleven o'clock at night because that's not necessary.

But we can go to a movie, you know, we can go

to dinner, we can go to coffee, We can do those things.

We don't have to have our friends. You know. Hey, sorry,

I can't go out with you because I don't have a friend who can watch

us during our date. You know, and you're a grown person, but

just making sure that you're not putting yourself in a situation where you know it's

going to go in a direction that you are trying so hard to get away

from, especially if you have a past that you are trying to change for

the future. True, dude, any way, anything to add that before

we close. I mean, there's a difference between a sixteen year old at

thirty five year old at a seventy year old. The flesh is the flesh,

but there's a difference in maturity there. And then I think you said

it all of us, whether you are sixteen, thirty five or seventy second

Corinthians. I think it's thirteen where it talks about know yourself, examine yourself,

and test yourself. So you didn't really be honest with yourself and take

that into consideration that says I cannot handle being alone with someone. You know,

my mind goes somewhere kind of place. It takes the pressure off to

have somewhere else, group dating or whatever. So I think just people aren't

honest with themselves and think that they can handle what they can't handle, and

they fool themselves and they get in these predicaments instead of being honest with themselves

and saying I should not be alone with someone, and I shouldn't be doing

this night thing, and I shouldn't be playing this you know, Erry white

music, very dressed in this way and minxing alcohol with it and all that

stuff. They just think that, you know, the get away with them.

You know, I would just say, very briefly, if we just

take the word chaperone out and put community in, I think is so healthy

because community not only helps to like vet the guy or the girl, how

are they around friends, but community helps us with our blind spots. So

if we bring that person around in a public setting and we are humble enough,

they can tell us that is that person compliments you well, or that

person is not right for you, And it's a test of our humility.

I'd also say it depends on where you're at in your discipleship journey too,

because as you come to Christ, your value start to change. So there's

a lot of things I didn't think made sense because I didn't read the Bible

and I didn't have convictions. So once you start getting around different community,

once you start growing in your faith and getting in scripture, you may have

different victions to I'll be self aware to say, you know what, it

would be beneficial to have my community around because I would want my community to

celebrate who I would end up with anyways. So yeah, that's great,

Thanks pastor, and for all right, well, Pastor Diego, would you

close for us and we'll leave together. Yeah, thank you guys for coming,

Thanks for bringing the questions that it was a this is a good night,

and I pray that you got minister to fed and are growing immaturing you

in your faith. You know those last song I noticed that we're saying that

the praise and worship saying spontaneously Daniel led them, was I surrender, I

surrender all you know. When I was around sixteen years old, I thought

I would be a drug dealer, big drug dealer, really wasn't. I

stood on a street cornerack at a gas station, and I was selling lids

of marijuana, and just by happenstance, some police officers came by and they

started asking me questions, and I panicked and I just took off running like

Booker t and they ran me down, and they threw me down and did

the whole thing, arrested me, took me to prison. But I remember

them telling me to stop, and I raised my hands like I surrendered.

But the moment I got out, man, I was doing the same thing.

And there's so many people like that because they get busted, they get

caught, they feel guilty, they raise their hand and they say, I

surrender. But surrender is not just an outward surrendering. It's really an inward

surrendering. And that's when you really yield to God and say, God,

I'm tired of running from you. I'm really tired of doing the things that

I'm doing. God. But I don't know how to stop doing because you

can't sometimes stop doing what you're doing. But when you surrender to God,

then he takes control and it's his responsibility to deliver you. It's his responsibility

to heal you and to set you free from whatever sin is holding you captive.

But I want you today today, ask yourself, have I been running

from God like Diego was? Have I been playing with God? And just

because I feel guilty or want my wife, backer husband, backer, my

job back. I'm just gonna surrender. But then when things get good and

things get right again, I'm gonna start running the streets again, and I'm

gonna start going back to the same lifestyles. Would you completely surrender to God

today and recognize you cannot change yourself. You come to Jesus has tore up

and has messed up and jacked up as you are today, and believe that

God can deliver you. And he can, but you have to completely surrender

your will and your wants to Him tonight. Or you say I am a

Christian, but you know what I'm what they call a prodigal. I'm a

backslider. I know what it is to be in the house of God.

I know what it is to be close to God. God never left me,

but I've left him and I got a return back because I'm tired of

this miry pit in the lifestyle that I've been living. Or you say,

like we talked about today, everything is great in my life. I'm born

again, but I'm just not spirit filled. And at the end of the

day, I want everything that God has for me. And maybe, like

Pastor Adams's testimony, I don't know much about it or I've been taught wrongly,

but at a place right now where I'm open to it. For any

of these three things, I'm gonna ask you to raise your hand like that.

Your hand won't be the only hand. Don't be ashamed. You're not

lifting it up for me. You're lifting it up for the one that lift

him up, lifted himself up on Calvary, naked, marred, and beaten

for you today. The Bible says, if you acknowledge him, he will

acknowledge you. But if you are embarrassed and a shame of him, he

will be ashamed of you before his father in heaven. Here we go,

one two, one two three. Raise your hand wherever you are all across

this auditorium. There you go, say this simple prayer with me. Dear

Jesus, you know who I am, you know what I've done. I

surrender to you tonight. I'm tired of playing the game. I'm tired of

being in control. I'm tired of fixing it. I can't. I ask

you to take control of my life as I surrender to the work of Calvary.

That you died on the cross for my sins, and because of that,

I ask you to be my Lord and my savior. Amen. We

really hope you enjoyed the message, and if you said yes to Jesus,

we just want to say congratulations and give you a free devotional to help you

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