Heaven Rules In My Head | Elder Ang Peng Hoe

You're listening to a message to go from ax Church. We hope this message

will light up your day. I've got a message which I simply entitled heaven't

rules in my head. What does that mean? Well, it might sound

a little bit strong, but I'm just going to be reading from the portion

of Scriptures from Second Timothy, chapter two, verse fourteen onwards, all the

way to chapter three. I think somewhere in verse night. I'll be reading

it chronologically as I share and as I explained. So I hope it doesn't

sound like I'm going all over the place. If you think I'm going over

the place where technically is the Bible. I don't think it's going over the

place. I think there's a certain flow to it. But I hope to

be able to just draw some truths out. And it may sound a little

bit stronger, because the content of this letter that Paul wrote to Timothy is

not one which is soft and nice and dandy. It's a little bit stronger.

It's and I believe we are living in such times. Actually, So

let's let's go straight to the world, and I will explain as I go

along why I say Heaven rules in our head, and it has to be

something that takes place. Now. Heaven has to rule. If you say

the Heaven rules in my life, our life, our being is not just

one part of it, it's every part of it, whether it's our taught

life, where there's our spiritual life, where there's our emotional life. If

we say Heaven rules in our lives, means every aspect and every facet of

our being must be ruled by Heaven. Can you all agree with that?

Okay, So let's let's start with this Second Timothy, Chapter two, verse

fourteen. He says, this, remind everyone about these things I'm reading from

the n LT, and command them in God's presence to stop fighting over words.

Such arguments are useless and they can ruin those who hear them. Okay,

So why do I start like this? Well, the greatest dangerous to

the church actually come from the insight and not outside of it. If you

realize this, From outside, we usually expect attack, we expect hostilities,

no physical challenges. But inside the church, how the devil usually attacks it

is to try to corrupt the truth. And this is where we are living.

And we're living in times in which really, somehow we may not foolly

know what the truth is anymore, well, at least we think we don't,

because no longer are things black and white. Everything seems to be a

shade of gray, and the shades of gray have got unending numbers to it

now. So you know, I believe in absolute morality. I believe that

God's word is right or wrong in that sense. So what the devil does

is he's try to corrupt the truth. And the truth is corrupted from insight

and from within the church. So the key word that actually shines out of

this entire passage that we will be reading today is actually truth. The word

truth and then is what we stand for as believers, because it is our

task before God to keep the truth intact. That's what every Christian and every

believer needs to do. We need to keep the truth intact, to hang

on to it. And the truth always starts where it starts in our heads.

It starts as knowledge, it starts as understanding. So we must have

knowledge of the truth, and therefore Heaven must rule in our heads as believer.

I'm just going to lay it down so that we get a clearer understanding

as I continue sharing. Okay, everyone's doing me. So there are two

ways in which the truth can be destroyed. It can either be destroyed through

the tongue or secondly, true the life, the life that we live.

Basically, it can either be destroyed true words, or it can be destroyed

true works. Okay, which as long as your words or your works contradicts

the truth, then you know it's putting the truth now, So I can

contradict the truth by what I say or by what I do. Either way,

I have attacked the truth and make it more difficult for someone else to

hear and to accept it. And that I care you not. It's going

to get harder. And even in revelations, I think that's the worse that

says they will hear, They will hear. They will hear a lot of

things, but again a lot of hearing, but no heeding. They won't.

They won't do. They will hear, but they won't do. What

is it that people don't do what they hear, especially if they're hearing from

the Lord. It's because sometimes things have caused them to be confused, Things

have caused them to maybe that's not really the truth. And where do the

confusion come? Well, it comes sometimes, if not most times, true

what we say or how we conduct ourselves. And so this is where we

have to be very, very careful. And so it may seem sometimes strange

if you think that works can contradict the truth, but in essence they can,

because if I don't practice what I preach, I will I will send

all of your back confuse. And that's the that's the reality of it.

Because people outside the church can still see our lives, they can see our

lives as believers, and the things that continuously we contradict what we share or

what we confess or what we profess, then they will ultimately not come to

know the truth. So both of these things can get inside the church.

The latter part of chapter two, which I'll be reading as we go along

after this, it's actually concerned with corrupting words that deny the truth. And

then and basically it causes people to not be able to accept God's word,

the simple meaning of God's word. And then in chapter three, verses one

to now, you will actually see a list of actions, a list of

deeds that likewise can also corrupt the truth or destroy. Okay, So as

I share as I go through the scripture line by line, I hope I

can be able to not lose your Okay, stay with me and stay with

me. So some of the unhealthy words that can eat into the body of

Christ like cancer is word is things like words, arguments, foolish talks,

controversies, quarrels. These are the things can actually spoil the truth. Chatter,

quarrelsome talk, the kind of talk that is not sanctified by the word

of truth. And you know, sometimes we can have a discussion and argue

just for arguments, saying a lot of us can do that. Paul teachers

that this sort of things are there's no good and many people actually have been

turned away from the truth by argument, and it is a very setting when

that happens. And you may actually be interested to know. Actually the Greek

word translated ruin here as I read just now, ruin just means that to

pull something down, to turn it upside down, or just to demolish it.

And know, a lot of times our arguments and our discussions, if

it's unho awesome, it turns things upside now, it demolishes the truth,

and people will never want to eventually hear the truth. So a church does

not need those who demolish things by discussion and argument. We just have to

be very careful with that instate what the church actually needs is good builders,

good workmen who will not demolish the faith of those who are going to hear

what they have to say, but will strengthen it, will actually build people

up step by step. And that's why reading on the next four verses from

verses fifteen to nineteen, it says, this work hard so you can present

yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who

does not need to be a shame, and who correctly explains the word of

truth aid worthless foolish talk that only leads to more godless behavior. This kind

of talk spreads like cancer, as in the case of Hminius and Philateus have

left the puff of truth claiming that the resurrection of the date has a radio

occurred. In this way, they have turned some people away from the faith.

But God's truth stands firm like a foundation stone. With this inscription,

the Lord knows those who are his, and all who belong to the Lord

must turn away from evil. Okay, I will explain or explain why I

say this. So we have come to verse fifteen and a key verse very

important verse actually says, basically, do your best to present yourself to God

as one who is approved. Now, one of the first things you are

asked when you apply for a job is have you got any references right?

And where was your last job? So that there would approver basically has got

that meaning though it's almost like being referred to by someone. So a workman

can actually says, or a worker can say, here's my reference, here's

my previous boss's opinion of me. So when you say study do your best,

it means always do your best to present yourself to God. A workman

or a worker who is who comes with good references, who is a proof,

who is qualified, who is skilled. That is what the scripture is

essentially saying. Now we come to two things that a workman needs. A

workman needs to take pride in his work. A worker needs to take pride

in his work. A worker needs to be proficient in his work. Correct.

Does that make sense? Isn't it? Actually is so nice to meet

someone who actually takes pride in his work. If there's something wrong with it,

he will return to it, he will work on it until he gets

it right, and say, now I've done a good job. You meet

someone like that, you know that someone who takes pride in his world.

You meet, you meet a salesperson, a good salesperson who really cares for

his or her customer or client. He will know that they actually take pride

in what they do. I always always tell people I wouldn't buy something from

a salesperson who doesn't even believe in what he or she is selling. And

you can tell one. Some people really, if they're so all out for

their product, they will take pride in their product. And this is what

it means. No take pride in our work. You know, this work

person can let anyone come and look at what he or she is doing,

and he or she won't be ashamed, won't be embarrass You'll be proud,

she'll be proud. You'll stand there and let you actually inspect his work or

her work. So our Bible study is to be like that. We have

to study the scriptures so that we are not ashamed about what it says.

We don't rush straight. We are proud of our workmanship because we have done

it properly. We have studied hard, we have done our best. That's

how we have to view scripture. Now you cannot take pride in your workmanship

unless you have proficiency in it. And we know when it comes to proficiency

it never comes quickly. But I know this society that we live in,

this generation that we live in, everything must be chop chop. But some

people, I'm afraid, yeah, most of us won't get it straight away.

One, there is only one one way to ever get proficient in something,

and that's to do it again and again and again and again. It

is the only way you will be proficient in handling scripture. But the Bible

has so many truths in it you can spend your entire life learning and going

through it and still say it, Oh, this is something new to me.

This is something that I may not fully understand right now. But as

I keep studying it, as you keep studying again and again, you begin

to handle your tools properly. Isn't that true? And so that's what a

workman should be like. A workman takes pride in his work. A workman

is proficient in his work. And then the translation actually says that the person

rightly handles the word of truth or correctly explains the truth. This is all

something that we need to do as believers. It is our responsibility. And

Paul uses this phrase the Word of truth twice elsewhere. Actually, so if

you study the scripture, you realize in collusions and also in efficiency. When

he's mentioned the word of truth, he actually means the Gospel, the good

News of Jesus Christ. And this is what we need to continuously study,

go through it over and over again, keep reading the scriptures so that we

can show ourselves a proof unto the Lord. The workman God wants is one

who can handle skillfully, accurately and preach in a straightforward and in the accurate

manner the Word of Truth, which is the Gospel. And you don't get

that easily. You get it by studying and studying and studying and studying and

reading. And really that's why I always tell people, love to read your

Bible. Never give up reading the Bible. We need God's word in our

lives to be able to say I have knowledge of God, whom I believe

I know the Word of God means we have content in our faith. There

is easy, there is meat in our faith. This means that you have

knowledge, you have wisdom, you have understanding. To have wisdom means simply

just means this. If someone says you have wisdom, it means that you

have a grasp of the truth, You have a whole of the truth.

Being knowledgeable means that you are someone who who is able to present the truth.

And being able to understand simply just means that you're able to apply the

truth. Does it make sense? And this is where we have to keep

again, No one becomes like this overnight. Keep doing it over and over,

and the Lord will add wisdom, will add knowledge, and will add

understanding to the truth. Because if we do not have content to our faith,

we will not be able to stay on this true path, which is

always straight and narrow. It is a strait and is a narrow road that

we will have to keep walking. If we don't know the truth, if

we don't know how to apply the truth, we will end up having all

sorts of worthless talk, which will eventually lead to worthless the And that's the

reality of it. In Christ lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

There's in Collisions, chapter two, verse three. And that's why we

have to turn back to Christ, because in him lies the entire treasure of

knowledge and wisdom. And we need this knowledge and wisdom a man. Now,

let's study this disease of worthless and foolish talk again. It is here

in scripture. You see any discussion that is not centered on the word of

God. Basically, paulicy is a waste of time. If you have a

conversation there's not centered the word of God, waste of time. I mean

strong, like I said, very strong words. No we don't have to

apply literally, but I think you'll understand where we're getting it. You know

where she read of two people who got their names into the Bible for not

very good reasons, Himinius and Philatus. Basically they were sort of realified for

not keeping to the straight and narrow path. Basically they swerved the world was

they swerved from the truth. And you know, take this for example.

You know that Christ is coming back to earth, but and you look forward

to it, and so do I all of us. No, one day

we will believe that Jesus will come back to this world the second time.

But there are certain count groups actually that sometimes appear your doorsteps and they will

tell you that you have missed the second coming. Uh. Christ actually came

back in the early nineteen hundreds. I mean you can. You can work

it out for yourself. Famous count groups a lot a lot out there,

and sometimes if you don't know the truth, this is what can happen.

And the two guys, Haiminius and Philitis, they had taken an event to

which Christians look forward, basically the resurrection of the body, which has not

happened yet, because it happens when no one day, when Christ returns,

always will be resurrected. They said, it hasn't really happened, and all

of you all missed it. That's why he's he's policying. This is what

they did. And what it's more amazing is that they could actually prove it

from the way they handled the word. And do you know this, No,

if you have made up your mind about thing first and then you start

reading the Bible, you can make the Bible proof what you thought before you

read it. It's possible. And that's why we actually have a lot of

cults, do they And they can coach scripture. They can tell you,

okay, this is what we believe in palm. Let me draw out certain

sentences and then we can use this. And this is where swerving from the

truth starts. Is not proper and not skillful handling, and they actually can

cause a lot of damage. We don't fear those who give us their opinion

and deny the Christian faith. That's fine. I mean some people will be

like, I don't believe in your Jesus po rabbish for me. It's fine

because you know, I respect your opinion. But we should be afraid of

those who actually give us ideas and make the Bible proof them, because can

be very dangerous. And of course this is why Haminius and Philaters were doing.

They were actually upsetting the fifth They were taking away the foundation on which

people's faith is built on. And what do we do when this happens?

And here's where Paul actually prescribes the things that we can do. What do

we do when something like this happens? And the answer is that there is

a firm foundation. That's why he started talking. No, Paul say,

there is a firm foundation. There is something that you can build on and

something that you can be sure of. You see church buildings, not church

buildings that any buildings actually have got a foundation stone on. It's called a

cornerstone, and it's the base in which the entire structure of the building is

actually held on and inside the older buildings. I think in UK and Europe,

if you have a cornerstone, the inscripts their inscriptions on it usually is

the year of which is built. And so Paul is actually making reference to

the church's foundation, which has a sure inscription inscription on it. And these

are the two things that must be engraved in the church's foundation. These are

the two things are The first is this that God can sort out the truth

from the false. Again, I'm just rereading whatever scripture says. So yeah,

she says God can sort out the truth from the false. He knows

those who are his. You hear all these different interpretations, but don't get

worried, because God knows wish is the right one, and one day He's

going to sort it all out. I believe in that. I believe that

God will one days sought it all out. In fact, I've seen how

He has been sorting it out through the centuries. We know which wish is

right and which is not right today if we stand by God's words. And

the other thing is this, he says, we know which is the right

one too, That it's not just God knowing and sorting it out. But

he's also saying, we know the right one, because everyone who is truly

teaching the truth will depart from evil, and we will depart from wrong doing.

That's what the scripture says. And so you see Jesus warned in the

Sermon on the Mound that false preachers would come dressed not as wolves, but

as sheep. Sheep are the people of God. So our Lord warned he

has follows that people would come into the church professing Christians who would also be

false prophets. And how do you identify them then, because it's like,

wow, so vague. Now, how do we even draw a distinction between

the wolf and the sheep when known technically they all look like sheep. And

he's saying you actually identify them by their fruits. If that man is not

growing in grace and himself getting any nearer to God in his lifestyle and he's

living, he's not drawing closer being more and more holy, you know that

he's not truly a teacher. A true teacher will actually take note of what

he teaches himself and do something about it. That is the reality of it.

So you need not worry that there are false teachers God knows those who

are his, and we have a test. That's ultimately what Paul is saying.

He says God knows and we have this test. What is this person's

life like? Is he leading people to more godliness or less? No,

a false teacher will lead people further from God and into more ungodliness, and

his life will be less and less holy than before. But the teacher who

is from God will raise the standard of living and holiness so that we need

not be upset. This is the firm foundation. You know. I've been

walking with Pasta Kenneth for many, many years. I mean, he's discipled

me since I was a teenager. And to be honest, you know,

it's never nice when you are when you're rebuked, when you're admonished, when

you are being taught lessons or you know, sometimes it can be a very

painful. And you know, there are days when sometimes a flesh is like,

don't listen, I wanna, I just want to, I know.

But I know every time he does it is not to draw me further away

from God, because he's always challenging me to re evaluate my relationship with the

Lord. And of course I also look at his relationship with the Lord.

How is he walking as a teachers, as a leader? You know,

what is God doing in his life? These are all amazing things that I

can continue to see God at work. And I think it's so important that

we are able to identify the truth because really we all have a responsibility to

teach the truth as believers. This is something that God has bestowed upon us.

And actually there is a big responsibility on teachers of the word, you

know, as u as I stand here and I hide behind the cross,

and Lord, let me not say anything that's wrong, because no, ultimately

I bear the responsible. So all of us actually have the responsibility to read

God's word. Is not my responsibility to read it for you. If we

keep thinking like that, we're going back to the dark ages. That was

how the early churches were like, when there was only a few people who

could actually read God's word. And then every day he will stand there and

tell you what he read, and then he give you part of way any

But today, the Bible, until today is still the best selling book in

the world. We have it easily accessible, but are we going through it?

Are we reading it? I pray that we will continue to read God's

word now now we're going to move on to a matter of cleanliness and purity

of our lives. Okay, you asking any why suddenly jamana again. I'm

just going going chronologically as the verses being written. It says this verse twenty

to twenty one. In a wealthy home, some utensils are made of gold

and silver, and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils

are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones for everyday use. If

you keep yourself pure, you'll be a special utensil for honorable use. Your

life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use

you for every good work. Okay, trying to imagine this. In a

large house, there are usually many many vessels, many many utensils, all

shapes, all sizes, with jazz buckets, beans, whatever. Some of

them are clean and can be used for anything. And that's the reality of

it. If something is clean, you can use it for anything, You

can stall wherever you want. Right. But then there are some vessels in

your house that cannot just be used for anything because they are dirty. Let's

just say a rubbish bean. I mean, you won't you won't use a

rubbish beIN you go and stall clean water, but it can eat stall things,

Yes it can. And what the scripture is trying to tell us here

is you can still use a dirty vessel, but you can't use it for

everything. The purpose of it becomes limited. But you can use a clean

vessel for anything. And that's why Paul is telling motive that in the church,

Christ needs people who are clean vessels so that he can put anything he

wants in that person and use them for any purpose he desires. But if

you're a dirty vessel, he may be able to use you for a certain

limited purpose, whereas He wanted us to be used for any good work.

And so this is just a reminder. I know science would be like random

and something comes in here, But isn't that true a reminder that we are

to keep ourselves holy and pure? What could make a vessel dirty? Well,

let's move on. The answer is in verse twenty two onwards, verse

twenty two to twenty six. It reads like this, run from anything that

stimulates you full luss. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love and

peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.

Again, I say don't get involved in foolish, ignorant arguments that only

start fights. A servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but must be

kind to everyone, be able to teach and be patient with difficult people,

gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people's hearts

and they will learn the truth. Then they will come to their senses and

escape from the devil's trap, for they have been held captive by him to

do whatever he wants. So he says this, how do we stay pure?

Run away from youthful passions? And last? I know what I mean?

Signs where we think of youthful passion and last we always think of,

you know, the last of the physical flesh only Yeah, I think definitely

that I believe they are also maybe the passion of novelty. You remember,

I remember when I was younger, I like, I like all things new.

One they call it songs. He hung uh. You know as a

kid, I get one thority played two hours, then you see another mutters

something else that I want. Passion and novelty, the passion of ambition.

You know how we can be so driven by ambition that we don't care about

any thing or anyone around us. There's also the passion of impatience, the

passion of argument. I mean, like I said, just now, you

know, we live in this very microwave kind of a generation where we want

everything to be quick, everything to be fast, but things don't always just

happen like that. You know. Argumentative kind of a society today is one

which is highly competitive. I don't know how many of you all realize,

you know, more and more rarely I actually hear people talking about their colleagues

as they are friends, as people that they live because in reality, most

people will look at their cliques as that's my competition, that's my content.

I'm an outshine the person because I want the promotion faster than he or she.

You know, when Benji and Michelle came back from Japan, they were

saying, because we always ask the a you know, how you'll how your

fellowship with the working adults, etc. And then they were saying, in

Japan, I keep you not. They all have lunch individually because they just

want to shut out. They will go to their cars, they will eat

in their cars, or they will go to like single booth restaurants where it's

like one person one person sitting or they will sit alone on their tables.

There's just not one thing anything more than they already are having in the workplace.

I mean, that's the reality of it. In a highly competitive environment,

things start to change and we don't see each other as or that's someone

that I need to help, someone that I need to assist, someone that

I need to share God's love with. And that's the reality of it.

And that's why Scripture says shun from youthful passions, because they make a vessel

the ty and God cannot use it for anything and everything. When the vessel

becomes that manner. Therefore, a useful utensil to God must be two things.

It must be clean and it must be consecrated. Really for anything,

if you want God to use you for himself, then make sure that you

are clean and you are holy. I know he's like, ah, so

difficult, but that is our responsibility, our human responsibility. It is obvious

know that a Christian's first job is to keep himself clean before he starts pulling

the dust out of other people's eyes. The Scripture tells us that we have

to make sure that we are aware of the plan that is in our own

eyes, And so a Christian's first task is to make sure that he's clean

from these things that spoil a man or a woman. For God's use,

we have to be aware. There has to be awareness. And how do

you get awareness? Keep reading God's World, because I believe the word.

God's word will convict our hearts. Verse twenty three returns to those debates again,

no verse twenty three. If you read verse train three, you see

it instead of going at one another verbally, how can we manage arguments?

That's what is essentially saying. And then verse twenty four then tells us the

thing the church really needs. What do we do about these people who are

quarrelsome and teaching all sorts of things? How how do we do it?

This is where we are, and this is one of the hardest things of

all. On the one hand, you can win the argument and you can

lose the person. On the other hand, you can lose your argument and

you can win the person. But the most difficult thing to do is to

actually win the argument and win the person. And when you meet a false

teacher or someone who is not saying the truth, say someone who's teaching or

okay, Jesus is not born of the virgin birth. Jesus didn't do any

miracles in this world. You have three choices. You can I either argue

with him until you win, and then he goes off resentful and you have

lost your man. You can give in to him and say, well,

I think you're right, and you might gain your man, but you will

lose your argument, and ultimately you will compromise the truth, which is what

is happening also. But the most difficult thing is for you to speak to

him that you both win the argument and win the person. And how do

you do that? Basically, you do that by correcting him, speaking to

him of what is right. And you have got to You have got to

do it. It is our duty, our responsibility. But it's going to

be largely concerned with the manner in which you do it. How do you

do that? If you do it in a fighting spirit, in a quarrelsome

attitude, in a harsh or overbearing manner, then you will win your argument

and you will lose the person. If, on the other hand, your

manner is so gentle that you never correct the person, then you will win

him. You will lose the argument, you will lose the truth. But

if you correct him gently and with kindness and tell him quite clearly where he

is wrong, then you may, I still have to say, you may

win the argument and the person. And to see, the devil's trick is

to get hold of Christians and swerve or divert them from the truth. And

a good and kind teacher might bring that person back and teach them what is

right. This is our role, this is our responsibility. Why is that

so important? Well, it's so important because sooner or later, corrupted words

always lead to corrupted works. If you keep saying something that is wrong,

it will eventually end up you doing something that is wrong. If you keep

compromising in your values saying it or it doesn't have to be like that actually

got quite cool and he's quite chill, then before you know it, it

becomes a degeneration of God's values and truth. And so let's read verses one

to four of chapter three. I'm just going, I'm going in the flow

in chronology. And remember this, the Bible never actually had chapters and verses,

Okay, so it can actually be read through just like that. Okay,

it says this one to four of chapter three, The dangers of the

last days. You should know the Timothy that in the last days there will

be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money.

They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents,

and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and

unforgiving. They will slender others and have no self control. They will be

cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless,

be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. Paul

says that there will be times of real stress and real strain, a hate

for all believers. And I believe that believers are entering such a time already.

And what actually happens during such time, well, he actually says men

will be fierce. That's the word actually used in all you know as he's

describing this horrible listener, And I want you to notice, no, the

first thing in it and the last thing that he says, the first thing

is lovers of self, and then the last thing it ends with rather than

lovers of God. Do you know what sin is, Well, sin is

basically wrongly directed love. You see, when God made us, he made

us capable of loving, and you either love him or you love self.

A person who loves self is basically he's saying, you're a sinner. I

know he's strong because the priority becomes very important. If you love self and

not God, you're a sinner. A person who loves God is a righteous

man or woman. The times of stress come when people do not love God

anymore, and that's the truth. They just love themselves and only themselves.

Are we not in such times? You see? If you love self,

then secondly, what will happen is you become a lover of money. That's

what the scripture is saying. You can't help that because if you're looking after

number one, then naturally you need what the world needs most, which is

money, because money makes the world go around. Right. If you are

a lover of self rather than a lover of God, then I almost can

guarantee you that you will begin to one more and more money. So it

becomes a drunk. When you get more money, then you become proud and

arrogant. It's like a bit of a spiral because you can never get enough

of it, right, there's always I want more, actually not enough.

Now I'm a million, and I want to be a billionaire. Now we're

a billion and I want to be a trillionaire. Actually, I was just

in the orphanage that we go weekly, and the kids were telling me I

want I want to be a successful football player. And I'm like, wow,

okay, why because I want to have a lot of money. And

I was like, how much is a lot of money? I want be

a millionaire once you come a million, and what do you want to be?

I want to be a billionaire after billion and what do you want to

be? I want to be a chilionaire. And they kept going on and

on and I'm like, wow, okay, that's what we are driven by.

And you can see how it goes. No, because the least is

progressive, and it's progressively getting worse. No boastful and proud scoffing and god,

disobedient to their parents, are ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred.

They will be unloving and forgiving. They will slender others, have no self

control, They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray

friends, be reckless, be puffed up, love pleasure rather than God.

So these times of stress indicate that it is more difficult to bring up children.

Actually, I believe is getting more and more challenging to raise kids in

this environment. But we still need to stand by the truth. And this

seems to be the narrative of the days in which we are living in today.

So let's all continue to to whole firm because the next surprising thing in

this chapter actually tells you this. No, it tells you that people still

like religion. And actually this can translate into us having lots of fashionable,

nice, big, crowded churches. Okay, I'll read the scripture and you'll

get why why I say this. Verse five, he says they will act

religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly, stay

away from people like that. They are the kind who work their way into

people's homes and win the confidence of vulnerable women who are burdened with the guilt

of sin and controlled by various desires. Such women are forever following you teaching,

but they never but they are never able to understand the truth. These

teachers oppose the truth, just as Janus and Gembers oppose Moses. They have

depraved minds and counterfeit faith. But they won't get away with this for long.

Some day everyone will recognize what foods they are, just as with Jennis

and Gembers. Well, I know this sounds astonishing, but we are a

religious creature. Men are a religious creature. And even though he is living

for money, even though he's living for pleasure, even though we are living

for ourselves, wrapped up in all me, me, me, me,

we still like to go to church. That's what the scripture says. You

will get all the form of appearance of religion, but without the power,

without the dynamite. You see, what is the gospel. The gospel is

the power of God unto salvation. And you speak to some people of the

Holy Spirit and they either go, I don't know what you're talking about.

No, I don't think the Holy Spirit is doing any of these things.

Today. The only Christianity worth calling Christianity is Holy Spirit Christianity that has power

in it, because what the Spirit is helping us to overcome ultimately is the

power of sin at work in our lives. We need power, We need

the Holy Spirit power to overcome the power of sin in our lives. And

the reality is these people who are erupted in their works will be inside the

church. But you will not see the power of the Holy Spirit in them.

If you talk to them about the Holy Spirit's power to sanctify, they

will deny. It's not what they want in their religion. They want the

form, they want the fashion, but they don't want the power. And

actually, Paul is essentially saying avoid people like that. Don't get mixed up

because fashionable religion can go along with the love of self, the love of

money, the love of pleasure. But that is not what our belief is

about. That is actually form without power, and we don't need form without

power. We need both form, structure and power in our lives. Amen.

Thank God that you can read through the last many years of church history

and you will find that most false teachings will eventually crumble or it will be

made known and people will know, Okay, this is Ajaran Sasaty'd say wrong,

right. People have turned away from it because the truth has gone on.

And it's comforting to know that you know, all this folly, all

these lives will not ultimately try him. I believe it will definitely not ultimately

try him. Gives me great comfort that if I'm giving the truth, that

if I'm presenting the truth it won't fade away, and that if people come

to the truth, they will go on regardless of who these teachers are appearing,

and they could have the Holy Spirit within them. He is the teacher,

and that's the difference. That's the main difference, because we need the

Holy Spirit. And then false teachings will be made known. You'll find churches

that have collapsed and discipline because false teaching got in. But now they have

gone and it's over for them. So false teaching is dangerous, and any

form of trying to dilute the truth, trying to compromise the truth, is

dangerous. But we need to remember this norm. I've tried to show us

that the truth is such an important thing that the truth goes on because the

Word of God is alive and powerful. It goes on, It must carry

on, and we must keep it alive by studying it ourselves, by teaching

it to others. Amen. One last verse from Hebrews chapter four, verse

twelve. It says this, for the Word of God is alife and powerful.

It is shepherd than the shepherd's two aged sword, cutting between soul and

spirit, between joint and merrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before

his eyes. And he is the one to whom we are accountable. Remember

this. If Heaven would to rule in our hearts, then we should not

just confess Jesus with our mouths. We must actually consider him in our minds

and in our thoughts. Okay, why do I say this? The word

consider means to give such attention, to think so hard about something that you

get the message that you discover the hidden, meaning that we are able to

master the mystery and the secrets. That's what the word consider means. You

think, for instance, that statement consider the lilies in the fields. That

means that we should not just look at it and be in awe of God's

beauty, beautiful creation, because as we can be, all lilies in the

fields so pretty. But when you look at it and you realize, wow,

God can take care of the lilies in the field. What more would

he care for his creatures, those made in his own image? We've got

to think of it deeper. Many people confess Jesus, but not many people

consider him and think about him and meditate an understand him. We will ever,

only consider Jesus, when we read and know his word. That is

my firm belief. In fact, it is to know the word, not

just read his word, but no the word, because in John one one

it says that he is the Word, He is the logos, and this

is how Heaven rules in our head. Remember, the Word of God is

living and active, plenty deep within your heart, and it will germinate and

it will grow. It is a two aged sword that can cut through a

man's flesh and bone. Basically, it can penetrate our innermost being. Will

we accept the Word and let him rule in our lives, let him rule

in our heads? Or will we ignore him completely? Let me draw you

a simple analogy before it end to help you picture this situation a little bit

better. Remember the Israelites grumbled and complain against God for bringing them out of

Egypt. Eventually, a whole generation never found the peace. And remember that

they're complain, complain, complaint, For four tears they complain, and then

what happened? They got waited until the whole generation was wiped out in a

new generation. When into canan, you see it was easy for God to

get Israel out of Egypt. But comparatively a little bit more difficult to get

Egypt out of Israel. They never stopped complaining. They were complaining in the

Egypt. All these slave drivers bullying me worked me so hard. In other

words, it's much easier to get the Christian out of the world than it

is to get the world out of a Christian, which is what holiness is

all about. Holiness is about taking the world out of your being. A

lot of times that is so difficult. Remember this, Christ not only rescues

us out of something. He wants to redeem us into something. He not

only wants us out of the land that is bad for us, but into

the land that is good for us. He wants that for us. He

not only wants us Christians who profess, he wants us to be spiritual and

considerate Christians who can enjoy His word of truth. This is our responsibility.

If you want to be able to grasp the truth, if you want to

be able to present the truth, if you want to be able to apply

the truth, then there is only one thing you need to know, or,

more accurately, there's only one person you need to know, and his

name is Jesus. Amen. We hope you've been blessed by this message.

For more information on our church, please visit as Church to RG. We

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to be a good week ahead for you. God bless