{"id":18510,"date":"2019-02-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-24T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/ecclesiology-051\/"},"modified":"2019-02-24T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-02-24T06:00:00","slug":"ecclesiology-051","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/ecclesiology-051\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecclesiology 051"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[90],"series_event":[484],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18510","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-romans","series_event-ecclesiology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Ecclesiology 051","sermon_date":"20190224","sermon_month":"2","sermon_year":"2019","sermon_notes":6459,"sermon_slides":6460,"sermon_mp3":6465,"sermon_id":"22419135233643","series_or_event":484,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":90,"chapter_and_verse":"16:17","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nEcclesiology 51, Romans 16:17\n\n2-24-19\n\nFather, we\u2019re thankful for today and I just pray You will be with us as we seek to get into\u00a0 Your Word today; be with Sunday School and the main service that follows.\u00a0 And I just pray that everything will be glorifying and honoring to You.\u00a0 And we\u2019re just going to pause, Father, for just a few seconds to confess any personal sin that we may have committed against You and exercise 1 John 1:9 so that we can be taught the Word of God by Your Spirit today.\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for the sixty-six books of the competed Canon that You\u2019ve given us and how they promise to equip us for everything Lord. There are many things you want to do in and through us and I pray that You would use Your Word amongst Your people today to equip us for that task, those tasks.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give You all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen.\n\nJust to show you the power of our internet outreach Dale and Carolyn are visiting today all the way from Iowa, and so that\u2019s kind of neat.\u00a0 They even wanted to know who the famous Ron was [laughter] because I always say Ron will give you a handout, so Ron, you\u2019re now a celebrity.\u00a0 That\u2019s neat.\u00a0 Welcome, I hope you have a great worship experience with us.\n\nLet\u2019s take our Bibles if we could and open them to the Book of Romans, chapter 16, verse 17.\u00a0 A lot of people have been asking when am I going to get finished with Ecclesiology so we can get on to something more interesting, like the doctrine of angels.\u00a0 And I\u2019m going to try as God allows me today to try to finish Ecclesiology today (of course I\u2019ve been making that promise for the last month haven\u2019t I).\n\nWe\u2019re sort of at the end of this outline here.\u00a0 Maybe the reason the series is going a little longer than most on ecclesiology, the doctrine of the church, is because most people leave out number twelve here, the purity of the church because it\u2019s sort of politically incorrect what the Lord says, but He\u2019s given us basically two tools; if exercised consistently and in balance it keeps the church pure in a fallen world, practically pure.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve been talking about ecclesiastical separation is one such tool.\u00a0 And the second one I\u2019m hoping will get into, if not complete today, is church discipline.\n\nBut ecclesiastical separation is necessary because if you don\u2019t separate from people or institutions or groups that are no longer biblically faithful then essentially happens is the church is emptied of its power.\u00a0\u00a0 I mean, the church can only speak with authority to the culture when it\u2019s different than the culture.\u00a0 And if the church becomes just like the culture, just like in the story of Lot, it loses its voice to the culture.\u00a0 So that\u2019s really why separation is sometimes needed.\n\nIs there a biblical basis for separation?\u00a0 You\u2019d be shocked at how many verses talk about this; we worked our way through all of these epistolary type injunctions, commanding separation under certain circumstances.\u00a0 Probably the most well-known is 2 John 1-11, which says do not receive a false teacher into your house, because if you participate with him you participate in is evil deeds.\u00a0 \u00a0[2 John 1:11, \u201cfor the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds. \u201c]\n\nAnd then from there we were talking about what do we separate from exactly and first and foremost you have to separate from groups that are teaching false doctrine.\u00a0 So you say well what is false doctrine?\u00a0 How can you recognize false doctrine?\u00a0 Here\u2019s a list of at least ten things, I like to call it the essentials of the faith, or the fundamentals of the faith.\u00a0 And if someone is compromising on one or more of these ten things then that forms\u2026 I think that they\u2019re basics for ecclesiastical separation.\n\nThe second entity or groups of people that you separate from are those that are what I would call divisive persons.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why I had you open up to Romans 16:17 where Paul says, \u201cNow I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances\u201d now look what it says, \u201ccontrary to the teaching which you learned, [and turn away from them].\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0So there are many people that want to come into a church and they basically want to teach doctrines that you really don\u2019t find in the Bible or really they\u2019re not well supported in the Bible.\u00a0 And Paul specifically says keep your eye on such persons because what they\u2019re going to do is cause dissentions.\u00a0 Dissentions from what?\u00a0 Dissentions related to the truth that you\u2019ve already received.\n\nSo if someone wants to teach something different or at odds with or out of sorts with the truth you\u2019ve already received, that automatically causes a dissention and it causes a hindrance.\u00a0 And so Paul says very clearly at the end of that verse, from such people \u201cturn away.\u201d\u00a0 And I find that what a lot of people try to do is they want to debate you all the time.\u00a0 For example, we teach doctrines here that are very spelled out in our doctrinal statement, there\u2019s no real secret as to where this church comes from and how we interpret the Scripture.\u00a0 And what they want to do is they want to go onto your twitter feed or they want to go onto your Facebook page or they want to go onto your You Tube channel or they want to have some kind of private meeting with you and they want to get into some kind of argument or debate with you.\u00a0 And you notice that Paul never tells the church at Rome to go out and get in all these debates with everybody that teaches something contrary than what you\u2019ve learned. What he says is you just mark them and then you turn away from them.\n\nSo we\u2019ve had a couple of situations lately where people have come on to the Sugar Land Bible Church Facebook page and they don\u2019t like our position on the rapture, we\u2019re pretribulational here, we believe that the rapture will take place before the tribulation, and they start posting all these long and extended rebuttals to the pretrib rapture.\u00a0 And it gets to a point where we have to tell them, I\u2019m sorry, we\u2019re deleting\u00a0 your comments and we\u2019re probably going to end up blocking you from our page because we\u2019re not a debating society here, we are a church.\u00a0 The church is not in the debating business, the church is in the proclaiming business. We\u2019re here to proclaim what we think the truth is.\u00a0 Now if you want to have a debate my suggestion to such people is go set up some kind of chat room and call it a debating place and invite people to participate in the debate if they have time to do it.\u00a0 But the Facebook page of a church is not the proper place for that because the church is not a debating society; it\u2019s a proclaiming institution.\n\nAnd I know of somebody, for example, David Hocking, I was just with him in Israel and he basically told me that after decades of ministry (and he\u2019s been in countless debates with people over this issue or that issue, he says all of it has yielded zero fruit because debates have a tendency to shed heat more than they shed light and what people get interested in is they\u2019re more interested in winning an argument and pride comes in than they are in getting to the truth.\u00a0 And what you see is people start to factionalize and they say this guy won the debate or this guy lost the debate, etc. etc. etc. etc.\u00a0 And I know people that feel called to get into these debates and that\u2019s fine if you have the time to do it; frankly I don\u2019t know if the practice really yields a lot of fruit at the end of the day.\u00a0 And I\u2019m not sure Paul ever told the church at Rome to get out and debate everybody on every particular point, he just said you take people that want to teach something different and you mark them.\u00a0 You don\u2019t get into a debate with them, you mark them and then you turn away from them.\n\nAnd I try to with these little electronic correspondences that go on, you know, there are people out there with honest questions, and you can sort of tell after two or three exchanges that they\u2019re really wanting an answer and so we try to be longsuffering as much as we can and patient with people.\u00a0 But the fact of the matter is some people are unteachable and they\u2019re unteachable because they want to use\u00a0 your church as a way to proclaim their version of things.\u00a0 And those are the people that\u00a0 you\u2019re to turn away from.\u00a0 How does that saying go, \u201ca man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.\u201d\n\nAnd a lot of times things are masquerading as an intellectual query but really it\u2019s a heart problem and it\u2019s a pride problem and so you have a lot of unteachableness out there and with all of this social media stuff that you have today, all of that has accelerated and so people have to understand there\u2019s a place to do the debating.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if I have a lot of time for it, I\u2019m too busy as it is, if \u00a0I get into debates with everybody then I\u2019m not going to be very effective at what God has called me to do here.\u00a0 Now other people feel called to do that and then go right ahead. But that\u2019s not what a church is for.\u00a0 A church is not a debating society; a church is a proclaiming institution and therefore the Facebook page of the church is not the place to have a debate.\u00a0 A chat room maybe but not the Facebook page of the church.\n\nSo Paul is very clear that you separate from those or you turn away from those who teach aberrant doctrine.\u00a0 And then you\u2019ll notice Titus 3:9-11 teaches the same idea, a pastoral letter, it says, \u201cBut avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. [10] Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, [11] knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned.\u201d\n\nSo there\u2019s a lot of people out there that want to get into big discussions about things that the Bible really is not very clear on.\u00a0 One fellow recently wanted to start an argument with me over the fact that the demons that are mentioned in the New Testament are really not fallen angels but they are the souls of the Nephilim or the spirits of the Nephilim that perished in the flood.\u00a0 Now I mean, talk about an unobscured thing to believe in\u2026 and how could you ever prove your point?\u00a0 You know, the fellow was quoting the Book of 1 Enoch and all this kind of stuff which is not even a canonical book.\u00a0 And you try to gently give an answer and then they come back with something else and it goes on and on and on and what are\u00a0 you creating at the end of the day?\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019re not creating light, you\u2019re creating heat and you\u2019re getting involved in something that the Bible, in my opinion, is not crystal clear on.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the very thing that Paul told Timothy to avoid, controversies about genealogies and disputes about the Law and then Paul says, \u201cfor they are unprofitable and worthless.\u201d\u00a0 [Titus 3:9, \u201cBut avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.\u201d]\n\nSo what do you do with such people?\u00a0 Verse 10, \u201cReject a factious man after a first and second warning,\u201d so you notice there\u2019s a grace period for people.\u00a0 But after a first and second warning then you just say we\u2019re going to have to separate.\u00a0 It says, verse 11, \u201cknowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 So Paul says it\u2019s not an intellectual problem, it\u2019s not related to the fact that they don\u2019t have enough information, it\u2019s a pride problem; they\u2019re perverted, they\u2019re sinning, and consequently it should be evident to all that they are self-condemned.\n\nAnd it\u2019s interesting, this word factious here, he says, \u201cReject a factious man,\u201d the word \u201cfactious\u201d is aritocus<\/em>, do you recognize what English word comes from that word aritocus<\/em>?\u00a0 Heretic, Paul you reject a heretic.\u00a0 Which raises an interesting question, who exactly is a heretic that you reject?\u00a0 Well, it\u2019s the person that wants to come along and challenge, in this case, Pauline doctrine.\u00a0 Paul taught A, they say no, it\u2019s B.\u00a0 And then you give them a warning, first time, second time, and then if they\u2019re basically unteachable, which is what a lot of people are, than\u00a0 you just separate because you\u2019re getting involved in something that\u2019s foolish.\u00a0 It\u2019s a controversy about something that the Bible isn\u2019t very clear on.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t generating edification at all.\u00a0 It\u2019s just generating strife and disputes and at the end of the day there\u2019s not a lot of light shed, there\u2019s a lot of heat involved.\n\nSo I\u2019m not afraid of academic debate if needed but to be frankly honest with you I just don\u2019t really consider that to be my primary calling.\u00a0 Another group that really wants to debate people all the time, they want to debate me, they want to debate anybody that holds to this view, the pre-trib rapture, and the people that are very aggressive, in my opinion on this, are the prewrath rapturists which is a very deceptive name because I\u2019m a prewrath rapturist.\u00a0 But they define wrath as something that happens in the final 25% of the tribulation period.\u00a0 So therefore the church is going to be here for three-quarters of the tribulation period.\u00a0 So rather than call them prewrath rapturists I think a better name for them is three-quarters tribulation rapturists.\n\nBut these are the people that are very aggressive, they\u2019re always wanting to debate and you see, if someone like myself gets into a debate with them what do I gain?\u00a0 All I do is take the platform God has given me and share it with them and a lot of them want to debate somebody else because they don\u2019t really have much of a platform themselves and the reason they don\u2019t have a platform is they\u2019re telling everybody you\u2019ve got to go through three-quarters of the tribulation.\u00a0 I mean, how are you going to get an audience teaching that kind of thing.\n\nSo the debate is sort of a disguise that they use to get your platform.\u00a0 And so that\u2019s basically the problem that I have with people like the three-quarter rapturists wanting to debate.\u00a0 People have always wanted to (when he was alive) to debate Tim LaHaye, all the time.\u00a0 And Tim LaHaye\u2019s point is I\u2019m the author of the bestselling non-fiction series, the Left Behind<\/em>\u00a0 series and all I would do by debating these people is give them the platform that God has given me.\u00a0 So that\u2019s sort of my mindset on these kind of debates.\u00a0 I mean, there\u2019s a place for apologetics, there\u2019s a place for persuasion,\u00a0 but at some point\u00a0 you have to start using the sermon and recognizing that there\u2019s a lot of people out there that aren\u2019t really interested in the truth.\u00a0 What they\u2019re interested in is using\u00a0 you as some sort of vehicle to promote what they believe.\u00a0 And so that\u2019s the example of a heretic, a person that\u2019s to be rejected, and you separate from such people.\n\nWho else do you separate from?\u00a0 Well, you separate from the immoral, those that practice immorality.\u00a0 Take a look at 1 Corinthians 5, just one book to the right after Romans, 1 Corinthians 5:9-11, notice what Paul writes.\u00a0 \u201cI wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people;\u201d\u00a0 he says, [10] I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world.\u201d\u00a0 Amen to that, right?\u00a0\u00a0 [11] \u201cBut actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler\u2014\u201c and look what it says here, \u201cnot even to eat with such a one.\u201d\n\nSo obviously you have to go to the store,\u00a0 you have to circulate in society, you have to go to the bank, you have the normal activities of life and so you can\u2019t completely isolate\u00a0 yourself from\u00a0 immoral people or else\u00a0 you\u2019d have to leave the world permanently, which is not our calling.\u00a0 But when it comes to this issue of fellowship, when it comes to this issue of partnering in ministry with somebody, when it comes to the issue of doing ministry together how in the world could you do that if someone is talking about and promoting immorality of some kind.\u00a0 And\u00a0 you want to follow Paul, what the Bible teaches.\n\nSo this is relative to the whole subject of the incest in 1 Corinthians 5 where there was a man that had his father\u2019s wife and Paul says the pagans don\u2019t even do this (this was happening in Corinth). I mean, the pagans themselves recognize that incest is wrong.\u00a0 And the leaders of the church were kind of just sitting there acting like they didn\u2019t know what was going on when everybody did.\u00a0 And Paul says you should have broken fellowship with this person a long time ago.\u00a0 So you separate from the sexually immoral, in this case those that practice forms of aberrant sexuality such as incest.\n\nAnd take a look, if you could, over at Ephesians 5:11.\u00a0 It\u2019s amazing the number of Bible passages on the subject of separation when you start to research what the Bible says.\u00a0 Paul says in Ephesians 5:11, \u201cDo not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;\u201d and you\u2019ll notice the word \u201cparticipate in\u201d it, it\u2019s sort of a compound word but you\u2019ll see the word koinonia, <\/em>at least as a noun, koinonia<\/em> means fellowship and then that prefix is sort of to add intensification.\u00a0 In other words, you\u2019re not to be in fellowship, you\u2019re not\u00a0 to be in partnership with people that are practicing \u201cunfruitful deeds of darkness.\u201d\u00a0 In fact, what you ought to be doing, Paul says, is shining the search light of truth on what they\u2019re doing, not fellowshipping with them.\n\nSo that\u2019s Ephesians 5:11, and I believe that this passage is also given in the context of sexual immorality.\u00a0 Notice verses 3-5 come before verse 11.\u00a0 What is he dealing with in verses 3-5.\u00a0 \u201cBut immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; [4] and there must be no<\/em> filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. [5] For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, why would you partner with a Christian who\u2019s behaving like an unbeliever when we know that unbelievers are headed to a different place entirely than the believers.\u00a0 So two such people you don\u2019t participate with them, rather what you do is you expose them.\n\nVerse 11 comes before verse 12, and I\u2019m just trying to give you the context of\u00a0 Paul\u2019s statement here in Ephesians 5 about not participating in the unfruitful deeds of darkness.\u00a0 He says, verse 11, \u201cDo not participate (synkoin\u014dne\u014d<\/em>) \u00a0in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them.\u201d \u00a0Verse 12 says it says, \u201cfor it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.\u201d\u00a0 And this sort of fits with what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5, the unbelievers, the pagans don\u2019t even practice incest and here this was happening at the church at Corinth.\n\nSo this is shameful immorality and Paul is very clear that you don\u2019t partner with such people, rather what you ought to do is expose their wicked deeds as immoral.\u00a0 And this is an important teaching for us in the 21st<\/sup> century because the culture has all of us by the throat as Christians.\u00a0 And what is the culture always doing?\u00a0 It\u2019s trying to mainstream sexual immorality.\u00a0 It\u2019s trying to mainstream homosexuality.\u00a0 It\u2019s trying to mainstream, and I can show you the journal articles for some in the legal academic community doing this, it\u2019s trying to mainstream even a situation of pedophilia.\u00a0 It\u2019s taking what is perverse and trying to mainstream it and make it normal and turn it into so a civil rights issue.\n\nSo just as we decided a long time ago, in the 1960\u2019s, 1964 the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which was a wonderful piece of legislation, that we should not discriminate against people based on something they can\u2019t change about themselves, like their skin color.\u00a0 Now the big push is we\u2019re going to expand the civil rights category to include, not an immutable characteristic, an unchange\u00adable characteristic but a behavior and we\u2019re going to say things like well, the homosexuals are just doing what they\u2019re doing because they\u2019re born that way.\n\nBy the way, I never really understood that argument, there\u2019s a lot of desires I was born with that I don\u2019t know were really that good.\u00a0 For example, I was born with a desire to eat every single jelly donut in front of me and I could sit all day and eat jelly donut after jelly donut but I\u2019m not promoting that as some kind of civil rights issue.\u00a0 Maybe I should.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 But that\u2019s what\u2019s happening is civil rights is being changed into behavior and now they\u2019ve advanced this argument so far that they\u2019ve made people to believe that if you\u2019re against such and such a behavior, homo\u00ad-sexuality, incest, pedophilia, whatever lifestyle you want to come up with, that you somehow are just as discriminatory as someone who discriminates against a racial minority.\u00a0 So it\u2019s a real \u201cbait and switch\u201d that they\u2019ve done.\u00a0 I call it hijacking the Civil Rights Movement. \u00a0And what is happened is that mindset has come into the church and what people are doing in the church is they\u2019re trying to mainstream the same lifestyles that the world mainstreamed maybe five, ten, fifteen, twenty years down the road.\n\nSo what do you do with people that come in with doctrines to mainstream perversions, things that are recorded in the Bible as perversions?\u00a0 You have to expose them; you have to turn away from them.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a quote by liberation theologian Jim Wallace. Liberation theology, of course, is the idea that we\u2019re going to mix Christianity with Marxism, as if the two are compatible at all.\u00a0 To me it\u2019s like trying to mix oil and water together.\u00a0 But that\u2019s a very strong push and a lot of the millennials kind of look at Jesus as sort of a communist revolutionary type of thing because after all, Jesus was for the poor.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 Well, if you want to create a lot of poor people why don\u2019t you implement communism and socialism?\u00a0 And take a look at what\u2019s going on in Venezuela as I speak, where people are eating out of garbage cans.\u00a0 I mean\u2026 you tell me that communism is somehow liberating the poor????\u00a0 In fact, communism is causing poverty.\u00a0 Anyway, that\u2019s my sidebar for the day.\n\nBut Jim Wallace here is making a comment, he\u2019s being interviewed on Moody Christian radio, February 19, 2008, I don\u2019t know if Moody radio is involved with this, I don\u2019t think they are, I just think it\u2019s something Jim Wallace let slip out in an interview.\u00a0 But he was asked about the word abomination in Leviticus 18:22 concerning homosexuality. \u00a0[Leviticus 18:22, \u201c'You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.\u201d]\u00a0 I mean, what is the perspective of God on homosexuality.\u00a0 God says it\u2019s not my opinion, it\u2019s an abomination and He lists a number of other things there in that chapter that are abominations, incest and a whole number of other issues.\u00a0 And in fact, when\u00a0 you go over to Leviticus 20 what you\u2019ll see is under the Mosaic Law such behaviors were penalized by death under the prior dispensation of the Mosaic Law.\n\nSo Jim Wallace is out trying to mainstream homosexuality and he\u2019s asked correctly, Leviticus 18:22, why are you trying to mainstream something that God calls an abomination?\u00a0 So what does Jim Wallace say:\u00a0 \u201cAbomination is a pretty strong word,\u201d well, I agree it\u2019s \u201ca pretty strong word\u201d but we ought to accept it as a word that\u2019s strong because who put that word in there?\u00a0 The Holy Spirit put that word in there in Leviticus 18:22.\n\n\u201cAbomination is a pretty strong word . . . there is a debate\u201d see how everybody wants to turn everything into a debate?\u00a0 If you turn it into a debate then you can marginalize this idea of abomination.\u00a0 And this is the problem with accepting challenges from people that want to debate the pre-trib rapture.\u00a0 By accepting the terms of the debate to a large extent you already admitting there is a debate when in my mind there is no debate because God has spoken on the subject and God\u2019s Word is eternally settled.\u00a0 But Jim Wallace says, \u201cAbomination is a pretty strong word \u2026 there is a debate and questions over the meaning of the word \u2018abomination.\u201d (Referring to Leviticus 18:22; as heard on Moody Christian Radio Network, in Chicago, February19, 2008.\u201d\n\nBy the way, notice he\u2019s in Chicago here and one of our Presidents came from Chicago, right. And so what you have to understand is this was\u2026 and notice the date, 2008, I mean, this was a big push to get that particular President on the radar screen with the evangelicals and what better way to do it than to teach liberation theology or the idea that the Bible is really in favor of Marxism.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026when asked about government sanctions on civil unions for gays.)\u00a0 [Mary Danielson, The Dangerous Truth About the Social-Justice \u201cGospel,\u201d <\/em>n. 21]\n\nShould the government have a sanction on civil unions for gays?\u00a0 How can you believe that based on Leviticus 18:22.\u00a0 Wallace comes back and he says, \u201cAbomination is a pretty strong word . .\u201d and we ought to debate that, as if I have the right to take things in God\u2019s Word and suddenly submit them to a debate and make them subjective.\u00a0 I mean, if you want to dismiss biblical truth about homosexuality or any other lifestyle perversion you might as well try to explain away the Atlantic Ocean because God has spoken.\n\nI used to say this, God says it, I believe it, that settles it!\u00a0 But now I\u2019ve skipped number 2, God said it, that settles it!\u00a0 Whether I believe it or not is irrelevant, I don\u2019t think God really needs my approval for things.\u00a0 If it\u2019s in the Bible that\u2019s the issue. And because of the culture\u2019s push to take lifestyles and turn them into civil rights issues, they\u2019ve become very successful in basically getting people to believe that if you have an opinion about sexual morality or immorality you are no different than the Jim Crowe south that discriminated against blacks in the United States.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the propaganda they push, it\u2019s a lie, but this is what they\u2019ve been very successful in perpetuating.\n\nSo my point is this mainstreaming of perversion in the culture is coming into the church and the church has got to figure out really quick if they\u2019re going to separate from people that teach this kind of thing or not.\u00a0 Whole denominations right now are in battle over these kind of things.\u00a0 As for me and my house, if you start teaching that stuff in my church or in my denomination I think\u00a0 you should be shown the door very fast.\u00a0 And if\u00a0 you lose control of the denomination, which is really what\u2019s happening because people don\u2019t want to give up the property and the library and all of these other things, and I understand that, but if you can\u2019t reclaim it, if\u00a0 you can\u2019t turn the ship around it\u2019s time to practice Ecclesiastical separation and go meet in a storefront somewhere because at least in a storefront, you may not have the stained glass windows anymore but your conscience is clear at the end of the day because you\u2019re following the Word of God.\u00a0 And this is what Paul tells us to do regarding sexual perversion.\u00a0 So we separate from false doctrine, divisive persons, immorality and then we separate from those who practice a general disobedience to Scripture.\n\nTake a look at 2 Thessalonians, just keep moving right from Ephesians and you\u2019ll come to the T\u2019s, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon, that\u2019s not really a T is it?\u00a0 Let\u2019s see, I may have gone too far, before you get to Timothy after\u00a0 you get out of Colossians, Ephesians, Colossians, then you\u2019ll run into 2 Thessalonians chapter 3.\u00a0 By the way, if I was going to come up with my own study Bible I would not organize it at all like the Protestant New Testament is organized.\u00a0 They\u2019ve got everything organized by topic; I think it ought to be organized chronologically, the order in which the letters were written, which means 2 Thessalonians should be number three because that was Paul\u2019s letter.\u00a0 But anyway, I\u2019m not planning on coming out with my own study Bible, I\u2019m just expressing my dreams!\n\n2 Thessalonians 3, notice verse 6, Paul here is not really dealing with sexual immorality, he\u2019s dealing with people that won\u2019t work.\u00a0 And notice what he says in verse 6, \u201cNow we command you, brethren,\u201d notice this is not a suggestion, this ecclesiastical separation is a command, \u201cNow we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away\u201d that\u2019s separation, from who? Unbelievers?\u00a0 No, \u201c\u2026from every brother\u201d this would be a Christian, \u201cwho leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us.\u201d\u00a0 Paul says I gave you teaching and if people are living a lifestyle that is in contradiction to that teaching then you turn away from such people.\n\nIf you drop down to verse 14 it says, \u201cIf anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and\u201d get into a long debate with them\u2026 it doesn\u2019t say that, does it?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cIf anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame.\u201d\u00a0 So again it\u2019s another injunction towards ecclesiastical separation and what was happening here?\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t sexual immorality.\u00a0 The issue is given in verse 10, 2 Thessalonians 3:10, it says, \u201cFor even when we were with you, we used to give you this order:\u201d notice this is not a suggestion, it\u2019s a military command, \u201cif anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to\u201d what? \u201cto eat, either.\u201d\u00a0 I mean, it\u2019s pretty simple, if you like to eat (I like to eat) well then go to work, provide for yourself and provide for your family.\n\nYou\u2019ll see this going all the way back to Genesis 3:19 where man is to toil by the sweat of his brow to earn his bread.\u00a0 [Genesis 3:19, \u201cBy the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.\u201d]\u00a0 And everywhere communism or\u00a0 socialism goes it fails every single time.\u00a0 Have you noticed that?\u00a0 Why does communism or socialism fail everywhere it\u2019s tried?\u00a0 There is no example on planet earth (that I\u2019m aware of) of any country that has moved in the Marxist direction that has ever prospered.\u00a0 Why is that so?\u00a0 Because socialism or communism is the opposite of what the Creator said in Genesis\u00a0 3:19.\u00a0 God was very clear that each man is to work by his own sweat, or the sweat of his own brow.\u00a0 In other words, I eat because I work.\u00a0 Marxism comes along and hoodwinks people because they make you believe you can get out of the curse, you can escape it by giving you a different doctrine, not you work and you eat; the doctrine is someone else will work and you eat.\n\nNow that\u2019s very attractive to Bernie Sanders, voters, it largely complies to the young people that want to escape the basic responsibilities of life.\u00a0 The problem is, as Margaret Thatcher once stated, you run out of opium, which stands for what?\u00a0 Other people\u2019s money.\u00a0\u00a0 It always sounds good on paper, communism or socialism, but it never really works in the long run because you eventually run out of other people\u2019s money because it\u2019s a rebellion against what God said at the very beginning.\n\nAnd you say well, gee, pastor, you\u2019re a pretty hard-hearted person, don\u2019t you believe in a safety net?\u00a0 Well the problem is what happens when the safety net turns into a hammock; that becomes a problem, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 And I do believe in charity, I mean, I understand it, I read all the prayer requests. \u00a0I know that there are people even in this flock that want to work but because of economic circumstances can\u2019t but they\u2019re trying.\u00a0 I believe there is a distinction in the Bible between those that are needy and those that really aren\u2019t.\u00a0 And the problem is when you get into this idea of compassion for everybody, a safety net for everybody, well who\u2019s going to pay for all of it?\u00a0 Someone else is going to pay for it.\u00a0 You just went against what God said at the very beginning of the Bible. God said if you want to eat then you work.\u00a0 That\u2019s how it works.\u00a0 Communism or socialism says I\u2019ll eat if someone else works.\n\nAnd so Paul is very upset with these people in Thessalonica because a lot of them have just quit their jobs.\u00a0 Why did they quit their jobs?\u00a0 Bad eschatology!\u00a0 When you go back to chapter 2 verses 1-2 you find out that there was a forged letter circulating in Thessalonica telling them that the day of the Lord had begun.\u00a0 [2 Thessalonians 2:1-2, \u201cNow we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, [2] that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.\u201d]\u00a0 In other words, these people were the first post-tribulationalists in the Bible; they believed that they were in the tribulation and they believed that it was just a matter of days, months or\u00a0 years before Jesus comes back and sets up His kingdom and so since we\u2019re in the seven\u00a0 year tribulation period itself I don\u2019t need to save for retirement, I don\u2019t need to put my kids through college, I don\u2019t even need to work at a job, I\u2019m just going to quit and go live out on a hill somewhere.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll find this kind of thing happening over and over again in church history. Do some research on the Millerite movement and you\u2019ll see they fell for the same kind of deception.\n\nAnd these folks were believing (because of a forged letter) something that Paul had taught them against in the first letter that they would escape the tribulation period via the rapture.\u00a0 And now they\u2019re very confused because they\u2019ve got a fourth letter in their midst and a lot of them are using an imbalanced eschatology to get out of life\u2019s responsibilities.\u00a0 And so Paul has to correct them on this whole subject.\u00a0 And\u00a0 this is why a balanced eschatology matters; if you\u2019re not balanced in your eschatology you\u2019ll start to make life decision that go against the Word of God, such as the very simple injunction, \u201cif a man does not work, neither should he eat.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0[2 Thessalonians 3:10, \u201cFor even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.\u201d]\n\nSo Paul here in that whole context says these people aren\u2019t working, they\u2019ve turned the safety net into a hammock, and what you do, verse 6 and verse 14 is you disassociate yourself with them.\u00a0 You warn them, you lead them back to the truth, but if they\u2019re still unteachable then you basically disassociate yourself from them.\u00a0 And so there is a theme here that\u00a0 you separate yourself from those that are in general disobedience to the Word of God.\u00a0 In this case, not following the basic injunction, if a man will not work neither shall he eat.\n\nSo what do you separate from?\u00a0 A.\u00a0 Any false doctrine.\u00a0 B.\u00a0 Divisive persons, heretics that want to cause splits and schisms by teaching things contrary to what Paul revealed.\u00a0 Third,\u00a0 you separate yourself from the immoral.\u00a0 And you separate yourself from institutions and groups that want to take lifestyles that are immoral and mainstream them, you separate!\u00a0 And then the fourth group you separate yourself from is those that are in general disobedient to the Scripture.\u00a0 For example, not following the practice if a man shall not work neither shall he eat.\n\nSo we\u2019ve gone through ecclesiastical separation; why separate, the biblical basis of separation, and what to separate from.\u00a0 And I would venture to say this, even though this subject is all over the Word of God I would say that very few of you have ever heard a teaching anywhere in your Christian experience about ecclesiastical separation.\u00a0 In fact, can I just see a show of hands, just for my own sake here, how many people this is the very first time they\u2019ve heard from a Christian leader about the topic of ecclesiastical separation.\u00a0 Just put\u00a0 your hands up.\u00a0 Wow, look at that, two-thirds, three-quarters of people are putting their hands up.\u00a0 And yet it\u2019s not an obscure subject, is it?\u00a0 I mean, there\u2019s Scripture after Scripture after Scripture which reveals this doctrine.\n\nSo the final way that the church is to keep itself pure is through church discipline.\u00a0 Take a look, if you could, at 1 Corinthians 5:13, let\u2019s see if we can make five simple points about church discipline.\u00a0 Let\u2019s see if we can make five simple points about church discipline.\u00a0 Number 1, church discipline is a biblical command.\u00a0 Putting people out of the church that are\u00a0 unrepentant is a biblical command and you\u2019ll see it there in chapter 5, verse 13 dealing with the whole subject of incest.\u00a0 It says, \u201cBut those who are outside, God judges.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, I\u2019m not really all that worried, Paul says, about what they\u2019re doing at city hall.\u00a0 Now I think we ought to be involved in politics and all that kind of thing, praise the Lord we have a chance to do that.\n\nBut you\u2019ll notice that Paul is not really all that concerned about what they\u2019re doing at city hall.\u00a0 What he\u2019s really concerned about is what\u2019s going on inside God\u2019s church.\u00a0 So he says in 1 Corinthians 5:13, \u00a0\u201cBut them that are without God judges.\u201d\u00a0 And then he says, \u201cRemove\u201d and that\u2019s a command, \u201cthe wicked man from among yourselves.\u201d\u00a0 So you\u2019ll notice that church discipline is not a suggestion but it\u2019s a command.\u00a0 And you say well this is the most unloving thing and unloving Bible study I\u2019ve ever heard.\u00a0 Well I\u2019ll remind you of what the Lord said in Hebrews 12:5-11, \u201cwhom the Lord loves the Lord chastens\u201d or disciplines.\u00a0 Discipline actually can be the most loving thing you can do to somebody, church discipline.\n\n[Hebrews 12:5-11, \u201cand you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, \u201cMY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM;\u00a0 [6] 6<\/a><\/strong>FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.\u201d\u00a0 [7] It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his<\/em> father does not discipline? [8] But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. [9] Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? [10] For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us<\/em> for our<\/em> good, so that we may share His holiness. [11] All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.\u201d]\n\nNumber 2, there is a reason why we are commanded to practice church discipline.\u00a0 Notice Galatians 5:9, what does he say?\u00a0 \u201cA little leaven leavens the\u201d what? \u201cwhole lump of dough.\u201d\u00a0 Just like leaven, something negative, works its way through a lump of dough, that\u2019s what sin does unchecked.\u00a0 Sin unchecked will contaminate somebody else in terms of their thinking and low and behold, when that happens you have a whole church that\u2019s been corrupted by a wrongful lifestyle and a wrongful way of thinking.\n\nIf you go over to 1 Corinthians 5:6-7, the case related to incest, you find Paul the apostle saying the exact same thing.\u00a0 [He says, \u201cYour boasting is not good.\u00a0 Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?<\/em> [7] Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact<\/em> unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.\u2019\u201d]\n\nNow I remember very clearly Dr. John Walvoord, when he was alive, I was working on my Master\u2019s Degree at Dallas Seminary, and at that time he was very old and he really didn\u2019t have the strength to speak long in chapel and so when he spoke in chapel I was always sitting on the front row, wondering what he was going to say.\u00a0 He was known for his defense of the pretrib rapture and things like that so that\u2019s what I thought he was going to talk about.\u00a0 But he didn\u2019t talk about that; what he talked about in the waning moments of his life with the last amount of strength that he had and you know when people are getting down to their last words, they\u2019re getting down to what\u2019s really on their heart.\u00a0 As he started to talk about apostasy in the seminaries, and he says he had done an in depth study historically of why seminaries go liberal, and they all go liberal, don\u2019t they?\u00a0 Harvard, Princeton,\u00a0 Yale started off on a biblical basis, they\u2019re very liberal today.\u00a0 And he said it\u2019s always the same pattern and he was trying to protect Dallas Seminary from this.\u00a0 You start off with a professor that kind of says things that are a little different, a little bit off on an area or two, maybe not a huge area but just kind of off and that person is never really confronted by the leadership.\u00a0 And he said it\u2019s always basically the third president of the school because the third president has sort of forgotten all the sacrifices that the first generation made to start the school, how they all went without pay to get the school off the ground financially, and the third generation comes along and they\u2019ve forgotten about all that and so the President is very weak and he never confronts people concerning wayward doctrine, and this strange belief is coming from one professor, it affects another professor, it affects another professor, it affects another professor and he said that\u2019s how it happens over and over and over again, how seminaries go liberal, how they start to drift.\n\nSo what is that saying?\u00a0 Those who do not learn the lessons of history are condemned to repeat it.\u00a0 And what Dr. Walvoord was talking about really is \u201ca little leaven leavens the whole lump.\u201d\u00a0 So that\u2019s the reason that church discipline has to be implemented and practiced.\u00a0 What do you discipline people for?\u00a0 You don\u2019t like their style of clothing; does that deserve church discipline?\u00a0 I may not be a member of this church if that\u2019s the criteria.\u00a0 No, you discipline people for things that we\u2019ve already talked about, disobedience to the Scripture, blatant immorality, and that\u2019s what\u2019s going on in 1 Corinthians 5.\u00a0 Incest was taking place and Paul says you should have dealt with this guy and this issue and this situation as elders, you should have dealt with this a long time ago!\n\nAnd then you discipline people that are heretics that want to come in and teach basically wayward type doctrines, Romans 16:17 which we\u2019ve already commented on.\u00a0 So what is the procedure for church discipline.\u00a0 How do you do it?\u00a0 Well, you all know the passage, Matthew 18:15-17, there are steps that the Lord said\u00a0 you carry out and I believe the Lord is hinting at the church that\u2019s coming, it hasn\u2019t been established yet but it\u2019s on the horizon so many of Jesus\u2019 teachings look forward to that coming dispensational transition.\n\nAnd it says in Matthew 18:15-17, \u201cIf your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private;\u201d so you try to correct the situation through a private meeting, \u201cif he listens to you, you have won your brother.\u201d\u00a0 Praise the Lord, problem averted.\u00a0\u00a0 [16] \u201cBut if he does not listen to you,<\/em> take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED.\u201d\u00a0 The concept of two to three witnesses is very prominent in the Bible, or else it becomes a vigilante type of thing where you\u2019re rushing people to judgment without a lot of evidence.\u00a0 So two to three witnesses is very critical.\u00a0 Verse 16, \u201cBut if he does not listen to you,<\/em> take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED.\u201d\u00a0 Then what do you do?\u00a0 [17] \u201cIf he refuses to listen to them,\u201d then at some point you have to \u201ctell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.\u201d\n\nSo at some point you make a public announcement, so and so and such and such is involved in this kind of sin and basically they are no longer in good standing with this church.\u00a0 You\u2019re not to fellowship with them, etc. etc. etc.\u00a0 It\u2019s always a hard thing, I\u2019ve been involved with churches where it got to that point and there\u2019s always a lot of tears in the room when that happens.\u00a0 But I believe that there\u2019s a specific manual or procedure.\u00a0 And why in the world you do this to somebody?\u00a0 This is very important\u2014the goal is not punitive, see that?\u00a0 It\u2019s restorative, that\u2019s what you want to get accomplished, that\u2019s why you go through these initial steps before you go public over it.\u00a0 You\u2019re trying to get the person to repent or change their mind about what is happening Song of Solomon it doesn\u2019t get to the point of being something public.\n\nIf you\u2019ll notice 1 Corinthians 5:5, Paul is very clear that the goal in doing this is to shame the person into repentance.\u00a0 1 Corinthians 5:5, you might just in your devotions this week read through 1 Corinthians 5 because it\u2019s all about this subject of church discipline and ecclesiastical separation.\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5:5, he says, if \u201cI have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his\u201d what? \u201chis flesh,\u201d the \u201cflesh\u201d there, the sarx<\/em>, is the sin nature.\u00a0 The sin nature is reigning over this person and that\u2019s why they\u2019re involved in all this immoral conduct.\u00a0 And what\u2019s going to get their attention and shame them into repentance and consequently break the power of the flesh is public shaming.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026 so that his spirit may be\u201d what?\u00a0 what does it says? \u201csaved in the day of the Lord Jesus.\u201d\n\nI don\u2019t this person, Paul says, to get before the Bema Seat Judgment of God and have a terrible ruling at the Bema Seat Judgment of God and have no reward.\u00a0 I want to save him from that so Paul\u2019s goal is not punitive but it is to restore.\u00a0 Now the Corinthians weren\u2019t kicking this guy and gal practicing incest out of their midst, they were just kind of acting like nothing was wrong.\u00a0 And I believe that when Paul told them to do this they got busy and they excommunicated this person.\u00a0 But then they went too far because my reading of the Bible was the guy repented and after the guy repented they wouldn\u2019t let him back in.\n\nYou say well where are you getting this from?\u00a0 It\u2019s in 2 Corinthians chapter 2, verses 6-8.\u00a0 Many commentators believe that this is the same guy.\u00a0 2 Corinthians 2:6, \u201cSufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted<\/em> by the majority, [7] so that on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him,<\/em> otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. [8] Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your<\/em> love for him.\u201d\n\nYou\u2019ll notice that the Corinthians would not exercise church discipline when they were supposed to and then when they finally did it they were so unloving in their approach that they turned it into a form of punishment and the fellow, I believe, was in repentance and they should have readmitted him to the church and they didn\u2019t do that.\u00a0 So Paul says you [can't understand word] but when you do discipline you\u2019re so heavy handed with it that you\u2019re not readmitting the man into the church when he is repentant.\n\nAnd when Paul is talking about church discipline in 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15 regarding if a man will not work then neither should he eat, notice what he says there in chapter 3 verses 14 and 15.\u00a0 \u201cIf anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame.\u201d\u00a0 You see what\u00a0 you\u2019re doing?\u00a0 You\u2019re shaming him into repentance and consequently breaking the power of the sin nature over their lives.\u00a0 Now look at verse 15, very important, \u201cYet<\/em> do not regard him as an enemy,\u201d see that, \u201cbut admonish him as a brother.\u201d\u00a0 So when you assemble these verses you see very clearly that the goal of church discipline is not punitive but it is to restore.\n\nHow do you practice this in the 21st<\/sup> century in the United States.\u00a0 It becomes more difficult, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 If someone is kicked out of First Baptist then they just join Second Baptist, then they get kicked out of Second Baptist and they\u2019ll just join Third Baptist, and these are mega churches so people slip in and out and they don\u2019t even know their identity.\u00a0 So you can see how the 21st<\/sup> century evangel\u00ad\u00adicalism has made this a difficult practice to implement.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I think pastors need to not be competing with each other but on the phone with each other, talking.\u00a0 You know that doesn\u2019t happen, right?\u00a0 Pastors don\u2019t talk to each other. Why is that?\u00a0 Because they\u2019re too busy competing with each other.\u00a0 Oh, so and so got kicked out of your church, what kind of tither is he?\u00a0 Maybe he can enhance my budget.\u00a0 You guys laugh but this kind of stuff goes on all the time.\u00a0 And we\u2019re getting away from the New Testament design.\n\nBut when you were kicked out of the church at Thessalonica in the first century, when you were kicked out of the church at Corinth in the first century, you were in literally the domain of Satan.\u00a0 There was no Second Baptist of Corinth to join, you were out, and you were in a domain where Satan dwells.\u00a0 And Paul says certain people need to be put there because the power of their sin nature needs to be broken and they need to be shamed into repentance.\u00a0 Well, I totally get it that this was written in the 1st century and the 21st<\/sup>\u00a0 century makes this practice somewhat difficult to implement. But it\u2019s still a biblical command nonetheless.\n\nSo church discipline is the command, we have the reason given, we have the offenses meriting discipline, we have the procedure and then we have the goal which is punitive and not restorative and guess what folks, we finished ecclesiology. Can you believe that?\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0[clapping]\u00a0 And because I rushed to finish it\u2019s ten minutes over and I can\u2019t take questions but here\u2019s what I think we should do, if\u00a0 you guys are on board with this: next week let\u2019s just do Q & A the whole time.\u00a0 Is that cool? So we\u2019ll just do a complete\u2026 we\u2019ve done that before haven\u2019t we?\u00a0 We\u2019ll do a complete Q & A session because I know you guys have a lot of questions on some of the things we\u2019ve been talking about and I think it\u2019s better to deal with some of those questions than to rush into another subject.\u00a0 On the horizon is angelology, the doctrine of angels, which would include Satan and the demons and the good angels.\u00a0 AND the question you all want to know, what\u2019s going on in Genesis 6?\u00a0 So that\u2019s sort of where we\u2019re headed in Sunday School but before that everybody\u2019s been sort of asking about my trip and things like that; I\u2019ll probably do a week or two or three on Israel, covering the places that we visited.\u00a0 So I\u2019ll be taking you to Israel in this class via slides and things like that.\u00a0 So we\u2019ll do the Q & A next week, a mini-series on Israel, involving my recent trip there and then we\u2019ll start angelology.\n\nLet\u2019s pray.\u00a0 Father, we\u2019re grateful for Your Word and what it reveals concerning the doctrine of the church.\u00a0 You\u2019ve given us a high calling so help us to absorb these truths and practice these truths at Sugar Land Bible Church. We\u2019ll be careful to give\u00a0 You all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t