1 00:00:08,750 --> 00:00:14,190 Morning everybody. So today my title is Walking in 2 00:00:14,190 --> 00:00:18,030 the Truth as we continue in Two Corinthians, and this is what 3 00:00:18,030 --> 00:00:21,830 the apostle John wrote. He so he wrote, I have no 4 00:00:21,830 --> 00:00:27,350 greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the 5 00:00:27,350 --> 00:00:31,950 truth. Now, Christian parents have 6 00:00:31,950 --> 00:00:35,230 great joy when they see their children walking in the truth. 7 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:39,720 If your children aren't yet Christians, don't give up on 8 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:42,160 them. Keep showing your faith with 9 00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:45,160 them and showing your experience of God with them. 10 00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:49,880 But the apostle John was like the apostle Paul. 11 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:55,920 They both had spiritual children that they'd led to the Lord who 12 00:00:55,920 --> 00:01:01,440 become Christians. And five years later, Paul was 13 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:05,080 concerned about some of his spiritual children in Corinth 14 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:09,920 because there were false apostles who were entering the 15 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:14,480 church and spreading lies. And Paul was worried that his 16 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:17,640 spiritual children, the believers, were going to follow 17 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:21,000 these apostles and walk away from the truth. 18 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:27,880 So my message today is very topical. 19 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:34,640 Most of you are members of CCB and on the group, so I think you 20 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:38,400 know what I'm talking about this morning because of what happened 21 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:40,720 during last week. For those of you who aren't, 22 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:46,720 what happened during the week is that an unknown man and an 23 00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:52,640 unknown woman claiming to be members of this church rang 24 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:57,600 individuals on the group inviting us. 25 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:01,600 Or at least this is a call we got, inviting us to attend a 26 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:04,560 prayer meeting on Tuesday at 10:00 PM. 27 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:10,080 Strange. And those who challenged the 28 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:14,840 callers, they the callers became offensive. 29 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:17,400 Sometimes we don't know who they were. 30 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:22,080 We don't know why they rank or how they got hold of the 31 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:26,840 numbers. And they pretended to be members 32 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:31,960 of the church and told lies. So this is very relevant to what 33 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:34,440 I'm going to be talking about this morning. 34 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:38,840 I believe it was a satanic attack, by the way. 35 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:42,440 You know, I believe it's causing some, it's caused distress to 36 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:45,080 some of us. I'm going to pray at the end as 37 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:48,400 well for, for us about lies in our lives. 38 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:57,160 So Paul wrote two Corinthians because of this problem of false 39 00:02:57,160 --> 00:03:02,280 apostles and he mentions about these deceivers in some of the 40 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:08,080 earlier chapters in the book in the in in two Corinthians in 41 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:12,240 chapter 2, he said he he described himself as being a man 42 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:16,240 of sincerity, but he called these false apostles 43 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:22,200 unscrupulous merchants. 1 version colourfully describes 44 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:24,640 them and what they did like this. 45 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:30,720 They they said that they take God's word, water it down and 46 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:33,520 they then take it to the streets to sell it cheap. 47 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:39,960 Other versions call them hucksters or traders who preach 48 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:45,040 for personal profit and handle God's message as if it were 49 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:49,600 cheap. And so Paul compared his methods 50 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:54,840 with these deceitful workers. He said we use no hocus pocus, 51 00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:58,960 no clever tricks, no dishonest manipulation of God's word. 52 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:04,800 He called them wealthy deceived. Well, he didn't call them 53 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:07,480 wealthy deceivers, but they were wealthy deceivers. 54 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:12,440 And he rejected the gospel of money, stating that Christ, 55 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:18,360 though he was rich for your sake, he became poor so that you 56 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:22,760 believers might by his poverty become rich. 57 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:27,920 And he's not talking here primarily about material wealth. 58 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:32,280 He's talking about spiritual riches about, as Jesus said, 59 00:04:32,280 --> 00:04:36,240 about laying up treasures for for ourselves in heaven. 60 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:42,080 And in Chapter 9, which we had last week, thanks Skip, about 61 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:46,560 generous giving. Paul said this. 62 00:04:46,840 --> 00:04:57,240 He said that one must give as he has decided in his heart, not 63 00:04:57,240 --> 00:05:01,960 reluctantly or under compulsion. Interesting. 64 00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:05,600 He says that because that's what was going on from these false 65 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:09,640 preachers, these false apostles. They were corrupt persuaders who 66 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:12,560 bullied believers into giving money. 67 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:20,120 So Paul describes the behaviour of these false apostles in 68 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:24,720 chapters 10, 11 and 12. Now don't worry, I'm not going 69 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:28,960 to read or try and talk about the whole of those 3 chapters. 70 00:05:37,740 --> 00:05:42,820 So sorry. Before we get to that, I'm going 71 00:05:42,820 --> 00:05:46,780 to talk about fake news. We've become familiar with that 72 00:05:46,780 --> 00:05:52,020 term over the last few years. Fake news is when a person or an 73 00:05:52,020 --> 00:05:55,420 organisation deliberately spreads false information. 74 00:05:56,200 --> 00:06:01,520 And so we're going to have the great CCB fake news quiz now. 75 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:07,920 OK, so I'm going to show you a picture showing you the first 76 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:09,920 picture already. So some of you know the answer. 77 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:15,080 How is this picture connected to fake news? 78 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:17,960 And if you think you know your answer, put your hand up first 79 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:22,080 hand up gets the gets to answer. So what's this fake news about, 80 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:31,000 right? Yeah, it's the fact that 1000 81 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:36,920 Post Office workers were falsely accused of fraud, went all over 82 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:42,280 the newspapers, was popularised recently on ITV with Mr. Bates 83 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:46,720 versus the Post Office. It all happened 25 years ago, 84 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:53,520 and he's now Sir Alan Bates because he led the campaign to 85 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:58,080 bring it all out into the open, the lies that have been spread. 86 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:03,240 OK, So let me just get ready for the next one. 87 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:08,480 Number two, Question 2. How is this picture connected to 88 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:14,280 fake news again? It's 25 years ago. 89 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:29,070 Yeah, Kate, Kate, OK, Did you hear that? 90 00:07:30,430 --> 00:07:33,790 Kate said that? And she actually said MMR. 91 00:07:33,790 --> 00:07:35,750 She didn't just say MMR. She spelt that. 92 00:07:35,750 --> 00:07:39,710 My second question was going to be, what is MMR standing for? 93 00:07:39,710 --> 00:07:44,390 Measles, mumps, rubella. And there was a doctor called 94 00:07:44,390 --> 00:07:46,270 Andrew Wakefield. He's in the picture here. 95 00:07:47,070 --> 00:07:53,840 And he was doing research, but he believed that vaccines caused 96 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:58,240 autism. And he got a paper published in 97 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:01,680 The Lancet, which is actually the premier medical research 98 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:06,360 journal in this country. And he was shown to be a 99 00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:09,360 fraudster. The paper was removed and he was 100 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:12,800 struck off the medical register. I think he's still doing this 101 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:15,560 stuff in America nowadays. OK, that's question two. 102 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:17,720 Well done. Good point for you, Kate. 103 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:21,240 And now let me just get ready for the next one. 104 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:30,480 This is A1 word answer. OK, what's this fake news COVID? 105 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:34,559 Oh, no problem there, right? Yeah, COVID has spread many lies 106 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:40,159 as a result of COVID. The idea that radio waves around 107 00:08:40,159 --> 00:08:46,520 cell phone masts spread COVID. There was ATV evangelist in 108 00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:51,840 America who claimed that his silver solution was a cure for 109 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:55,920 COVID. He got prosecuted over it and 110 00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:59,600 found guilty of fraud. COVID led to lots of fake news 111 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:04,000 and on social media nowadays there's lots of fake news around 112 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,960 that and many people get deceived into reading fake news. 113 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:13,440 Especially now with AI, it's so much easier to get people 114 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:18,880 deceived in the physical world world, but it's very, very easy 115 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:21,240 to deceive them in the spiritual world. 116 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:25,840 And there's lots of spiritual deception taking place as well. 117 00:09:26,560 --> 00:09:32,840 So what's the common word that we use to describe a person who 118 00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:36,760 spreads fake news? That's one. 119 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:38,600 Yeah. Yeah. 120 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:42,400 Liar. You got. 121 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:43,680 Got it. Yeah. 122 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:46,440 Liar. A liar. 123 00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:51,600 He Jesus called the devil a liar and the father of lies. 124 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:56,440 And Satan was the first created being to spread fake news. 125 00:09:56,800 --> 00:10:00,160 He lied to Eve in the Garden of Eden and he's been spreading 126 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:06,040 lies ever since. So Paul prophesied to the church 127 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:14,240 in Ephesus about deceivers. He said I know that after my 128 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:19,200 departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not spurring 129 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:25,040 the flock, and from among your own selves will arise, arrive, 130 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:31,120 arise, men speaking twisted things to draw away disciples 131 00:10:31,560 --> 00:10:35,720 after them. Many of you know that Libby and 132 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:39,400 I were in Zimbabwe for many years and we came across fake 133 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:44,320 money when we were there. In fact, the bank tellers were 134 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:47,760 taught how to recognise fake U.S. dollars. 135 00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:51,640 They were trained to feel the dollar bill bills and hold them 136 00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:53,800 up to the light to see the watermarks. 137 00:10:55,000 --> 00:11:00,920 And after they they'd mastered the art of identifying real 138 00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:05,000 notes, they didn't need to know about every single type of fake 139 00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:08,840 that might come on board. All they needed to know was what 140 00:11:08,840 --> 00:11:14,720 a genuine dollar bill really was and Paul used the same principle 141 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:18,080 when he was warning the Corinthians about false 142 00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:20,720 apostles. The principle Paul was get to 143 00:11:20,720 --> 00:11:24,240 know the genuine and you'll be able to recognise the facts. 144 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:31,120 If believers understood what a godly leader looked like, not 145 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:36,120 just looked, you understand, but was if they understand the 146 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:39,080 characteristics of godly leaders, then they'd be able to 147 00:11:39,080 --> 00:11:43,920 recognise wolves who crept in disguised as sheep. 148 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:49,560 So Paul didn't go into great detail about these false 149 00:11:49,560 --> 00:11:52,920 apostles in Two Corinthians. Instead, he describes, he 150 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:57,040 characterises genuine Christian leaders. 151 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:01,520 And he used his own calling, his own motivation and his own 152 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:05,120 behaviour to help the Corinthians understand the 153 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:07,560 difference between the fake and the true. 154 00:12:08,680 --> 00:12:12,560 He described his calling, that is, that it came from God and 155 00:12:12,560 --> 00:12:17,520 his spiritual experience, that that he'd shown signs and 156 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:21,080 wonders and in front of the Corinthians, and that these 157 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:27,880 proved his apostleship. He described his sufferings and 158 00:12:27,880 --> 00:12:30,320 how God helped him to be perfected through his 159 00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:34,760 weaknesses, how God gave him power, carried him through. 160 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:38,920 I will boast all the more, he wrote, all the more gladly of my 161 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:43,080 weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 162 00:12:43,560 --> 00:12:49,200 I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions 163 00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:52,320 and calamities. For when I'm weak, then I'm 164 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:54,520 strong. And his boast is not about 165 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:56,960 himself. His boast is about God. 166 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:01,920 Through all this, and he talked about his servant hearted 167 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:04,960 ministry, Paul never abused the Corinthians. 168 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:09,240 He never demanded their money. Instead, he served them through 169 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:17,720 his sacrificial love. So I'm going to just try and 170 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:22,800 describe or try and compare how the fake and the true apostles 171 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:26,280 measured up. And I want to compare them using 172 00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:28,840 Paul the apostle Paul as a model. 173 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:33,800 And the first item was about authority. 174 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:38,960 The false apostles considered themselves to be apostles 175 00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:42,440 because of their worldly success, because they were 176 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:46,360 naturally gifted, and because they were forceful in their 177 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:50,400 personalities. They felt that these things 178 00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:52,440 qualified them to be church leaders. 179 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:57,120 So they appoint themselves as apostles based on their 180 00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:00,120 preaching ability and their outward appearances. 181 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:04,640 And they compared themselves all the time with other Christian 182 00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:08,800 leaders and use themselves as a standard of perfection. 183 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:15,120 They bad mouthed Paul told the church that he was weak and that 184 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:18,320 he was a lousy preacher. They claimed that he wasn't a 185 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:21,520 true apostle and claimed that they were superior to him. 186 00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:27,080 In fact, Paul uses in his book when he talk, when he describes 187 00:14:27,080 --> 00:14:30,400 them, he calls them super apostles. 188 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:33,000 Not just apostles. He calls them super apostles 189 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:36,360 because they and, and this is sarcasm of the greatest order, 190 00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:40,400 because they were exalting themselves. 191 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:44,200 And that this is what he wrote in Two Corinthians 10 with a 192 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:48,640 heavy degree of sarcasm. We wouldn't dare to say that we 193 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:53,400 are as wonderful as these other men who tell you how important 194 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:57,320 they are. He told the Corinthian church 195 00:14:57,320 --> 00:15:01,160 that their existence, that their existence and the signs and 196 00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:03,640 wonders that they'd observed were the proofs that he was an 197 00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:08,520 apostle. Now, God doesn't just call 198 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:12,800 apostles. He doesn't just call pastors, 199 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:15,200 and he doesn't just call missionaries. 200 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:18,920 God has a call on every person's life. 201 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:27,320 Maybe it's God wants you to have a certain career, or he's going 202 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:31,360 to call on a job for you, or a ministry in the church or an 203 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:35,320 activity in the community. But knowing God's calling is 204 00:15:35,720 --> 00:15:44,080 important and when God calls you to an area of life, he gives you 205 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:48,760 an anointing his Holy Spirit to equip you for that calling. 206 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:52,560 So I want to just raise the question in your in your minds 207 00:15:52,680 --> 00:15:57,480 about what's my calling? What's the calling that God is 208 00:15:57,480 --> 00:16:00,520 calling me to? Just have a think about that and 209 00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:06,120 maybe talk to your friends or your family about it or ask God 210 00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:15,520 to reveal His call for you. So let's move on to #2 which is 211 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:21,040 motivation. What was it that motivated these 212 00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:25,560 false apostles in Corinth? It was self-interest. 213 00:16:27,240 --> 00:16:30,200 They boasted about themselves all the time, about their 214 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:32,680 health, about their wealth, about their success. 215 00:16:33,680 --> 00:16:38,800 But their main motivation was to gain followers who looked up to 216 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:43,520 them, who submitted to them. And their strongest motivation 217 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:48,200 was money. Getting their followers to give 218 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:51,560 them money was their main driving force. 219 00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:55,200 And Paul's motivation was the complete opposite. 220 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,600 He didn't try to out boast the false apostles. 221 00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:02,280 He wrote humbly about his spiritual experiences. 222 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:05,599 He spoke he reluctantly, he says several times. 223 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:10,960 He's only boasting reluctantly to share about his sufferings 224 00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:14,359 and his weaknesses and his health problems and how God's 225 00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:18,960 power has enabled him to endure and that he was supporting 226 00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:23,119 himself. His motivation wasn't driven by 227 00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:24,839 a desire to exploit his followers. 228 00:17:27,119 --> 00:17:29,960 He just wanted to carry on building God's church. 229 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:34,080 That was his motivation. He said I will keep on doing 230 00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:38,520 what I'm doing in order to cut the ground from under those who 231 00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:42,720 want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the 232 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:50,480 things that they boast about. OK, so that's motivation. 233 00:17:51,520 --> 00:17:56,160 What about behaviour? So Paul described this false 234 00:17:56,160 --> 00:18:00,480 apostle behaviour like this. Such men are false apostles, 235 00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:05,400 deceitful workmen disguising themselves as apostles of 236 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:09,880 Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan 237 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:15,280 disguises himself as an Angel of light, so it's no surprise if 238 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:20,480 his servants also disguise themselves as servants of 239 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:23,920 righteousness. So they were pretending to be 240 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:28,920 apostles and deceiving people to follow them and disguising 241 00:18:28,920 --> 00:18:30,760 themselves as servants of righteousness. 242 00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:34,520 But there were really Lords of immorality. 243 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:39,280 And that's what Satan is. He disguised himself as a 244 00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:44,160 righteous Angel of light. And the false apostles were just 245 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:49,720 like their spiritual father. They lied, they dominated, and 246 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:52,520 they exploited the followers, especially about money. 247 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:58,160 And Jude describes such people. He says that they are shepherds 248 00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:03,800 feeding themselves and he condemned them for perverting 249 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:09,240 the grace of God into a licence for immorality. 250 00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:13,040 And we'll see this, we'll see this later on. 251 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:17,880 But Paul was humble and he was sincere and he was loving and he 252 00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:21,720 was servant hearted and the Corinas were like his spiritual 253 00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:24,160 children. And he described himself as a 254 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:27,840 parent who was willing to spend and be spent for them. 255 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:30,640 He said, I seek not what is yours. 256 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:33,680 He wrote to them, I seek not what is yours, but you. 257 00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:38,600 For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, 258 00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:45,200 but parents for their children. Changing a bit, Nowadays parents 259 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:47,400 have to bail out the kids a lot of the time. 260 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:50,160 But anyway, that's OK, that's good. 261 00:19:50,360 --> 00:19:53,360 But we hope that our children will look after us when we're 262 00:19:53,360 --> 00:19:55,200 older. That's not always the case, is 263 00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:59,760 it? So where are we? 264 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:07,200 So Peter wrote about these false teachers in his letter. 265 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:14,000 I put together 4 different translations of the same verse 266 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:18,840 here because I think it gives us a better understanding of the 267 00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:20,520 character. Let me just read them. 268 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:25,880 These false teachers only want your money, so they will use you 269 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:30,120 by telling you lies. In their greed, these teachers 270 00:20:30,120 --> 00:20:32,680 will exploit you with fabricated stories. 271 00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:36,720 They will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. 272 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:42,560 They're only out for themselves. They'll say anything, anything 273 00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:47,840 that sounds good to exploit you. So if that's a description of 274 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:51,920 the behaviour of these false apostles, let's look a little 275 00:20:51,920 --> 00:21:02,280 bit at the teaching now. So the false apostles in cometh, 276 00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:06,120 they were Jewish, we believe, and they probably held similar 277 00:21:06,120 --> 00:21:12,240 beliefs to the Jewish believers who Paul mentions in Galatia and 278 00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:16,480 who Paul met with in Jerusalem. And it's described in the book 279 00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:19,960 of Acts. And these Jewish believers, they 280 00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:23,920 belong to the Pharisee party, and they elevated their own 281 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:27,440 ideas and their own traditions above God's Word. 282 00:21:28,840 --> 00:21:31,720 They taught. This is a quote from the book of 283 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:35,680 Acts, chapter 15. It is necessary to circumcise 284 00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:39,760 Gentiles and order them to keep the law of Moses. 285 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:44,640 And that's probably what the false apostles in Glacier and in 286 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:48,840 Corinth were saying as well. And by doing this, they were 287 00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:54,240 rejecting the gospel of grace that God had revealed to Paul 288 00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:57,520 and to the other apostles, the other true apostles. 289 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:02,760 And Paul calls these deceivers, he calls them Satan's servants 290 00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:07,200 and that their their description, their deception and 291 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:11,320 compared their their deception to Satan's deception of Eve in 292 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:14,520 the Garden of Eden. He described their teaching 293 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:17,240 covers like this. This is what he says about the 294 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:22,480 false teaching. If someone comes and proclaims 295 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:27,160 another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a 296 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:32,240 different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a 297 00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:38,040 different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it 298 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:43,840 readily enough. So the Corinthians had heard the 299 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:46,760 gospel that Paul breached. They believed it. 300 00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:50,800 They trusted it and they'd received the Holy Spirit. 301 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:53,160 The Holy Spirit had come into the hearts like we were talking 302 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:57,600 about earlier in the service. But afterwards, after they were 303 00:22:57,600 --> 00:23:00,320 born again, they heard the false apostles. 304 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:03,640 They heard the preaching, and the preaching was about a 305 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:06,320 different Jesus. Don't know what aspect of it 306 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:10,280 was, but Jesus maybe just that he was a good man, I don't know. 307 00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:14,960 But their preaching wasn't inspired by the Holy Spirit. 308 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:20,240 It was inspired by the spirit of this world and the beliefs 309 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:24,640 accepted this different teaching about Jesus and they were 310 00:23:24,640 --> 00:23:29,200 deceived into into accepting a different gospel and they became 311 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:35,120 more like slaves, the disciples of these false apostles of 312 00:23:35,120 --> 00:23:39,520 people that Paul called fools. He uses sarcasm again here. 313 00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:43,680 He said for you put up with fools gladly since you 314 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:47,840 yourselves are wise. And I think he's speaking very 315 00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:53,160 sarcastically here. You buried if someone enslaves 316 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:58,960 you or devours you. These deceived believers 317 00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:03,040 consider themselves now to be so wise because of the teaching 318 00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:06,160 they've accepted. But Cole considered them to be 319 00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:11,040 slaves, slaves to strict religious laws and subjects of 320 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:16,280 powerful men Who he, who, who, who figuratively ate them for 321 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:21,080 dinner that they were devouring these believers. 322 00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:29,960 So what is the pure gospel? It's a gospel of grace. 323 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:32,360 It's a gospel of Christ's apostles taught. 324 00:24:32,360 --> 00:24:37,080 And this is just a a short summary, that Jesus died for our 325 00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:39,160 sins and was raised from the dead. 326 00:24:41,120 --> 00:24:44,960 Secondly, that salvation comes only by God's grace through 327 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:47,600 faith. And faith is when a person puts 328 00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:52,280 their trust in Jesus Christ to be their Saviour only through 329 00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:55,720 faith. And after a person believes 330 00:24:55,880 --> 00:25:00,000 faith leads to good works that God recognises, good works by 331 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:02,280 themselves never lead to salvation. 332 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:09,040 Not the law, not giving money. Salvation is never the result of 333 00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:12,960 our human obedience to the law. It's always God's gift. 334 00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:23,920 It's always grace. So ever since Pentecost, Satan 335 00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:26,840 has been trying to distort this gospel of grace. 336 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:30,760 And Jesus spoke about this. He told a parable, the parable 337 00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:35,640 of the wheat and the weeds, as an illustration of how Satan 338 00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:38,120 does it. We know his methods. 339 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:41,800 God's revealed it to us. So here's the story. 340 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:48,400 A farmer owned a wheat field and one day his enemy sowed seeds in 341 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:52,400 the farmers field. And in this in this parable, the 342 00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:56,120 wheat's a picture of believers, but not just believers, it's a 343 00:25:56,120 --> 00:26:00,440 picture of God's truth. And the weeds are not just a 344 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:04,400 picture of fake believers, they're a picture of false 345 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:07,320 teaching. And the enemy who's doing the 346 00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:11,560 sowing is Satan. And the main lesson of this 347 00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:18,520 parable is that outwardly the wheat and the weeds can look the 348 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:22,520 same. And the application of this for 349 00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:27,800 us is that firstly, in our churches we have unbelievers as 350 00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:30,040 well as believers. There are unbelievers who look 351 00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:35,160 like Christians and you can't tell the difference from at the 352 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:39,320 outside at the moment. One day that difference will be 353 00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:41,520 made clear, but you can't tell the difference. 354 00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:47,360 And secondly, that God recruits false teachers to infiltrate 355 00:26:47,360 --> 00:26:53,080 churches and spread lies. False teachers who twist Bible 356 00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:57,120 verses so that they sound like the truth, so that we can't 357 00:26:57,120 --> 00:27:01,800 distinguish easily between truth and fake news. 358 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:05,280 Fake lies. Well, not fatal lies, but lies. 359 00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:16,680 Just lies. OK, Yeah, so we come to this. 360 00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:23,480 So false teachers are like the weeds that the enemy planted 361 00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:28,240 among the weak, among the wheat. And in recent years, the 362 00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:32,040 prosperity gospel has sprung up in churches throughout the 363 00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:37,440 world, just like the weeds started during the 1950's, the 364 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:41,680 modern rendition of the prosperity gospel. 365 00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:46,320 Pentecostal preachers in the United States started to spread 366 00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:50,600 this prosperity gospel and it spread rapidly in Latin America, 367 00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:54,160 in Asia, and all over Africa as well. 368 00:27:54,480 --> 00:28:00,160 And I can vouch for that, aided by religious TV channels and 369 00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:03,760 nowadays social media. Lots of this on social media 370 00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:06,440 nowadays. And the core message of the 371 00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:11,640 prosperity gospel is that God desires all believers to have 372 00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:14,720 material wealth and physical health. 373 00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:18,400 And if you hear someone preaching that God wants you to 374 00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:23,560 be comfortable and wealthy, they're preaching the prosperity 375 00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:26,360 gospel. It's not the teaching of Christ. 376 00:28:27,360 --> 00:28:32,160 Christ, who told us to pick up a cross and follow him, and to lay 377 00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:35,240 it not treasures on earth, but treasures in heaven. 378 00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:44,440 So the prosperity gospel has idolatry at its core. 379 00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:48,960 It's a gospel of money. It directs people to worship 380 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:53,280 God, not for who he is, but for what he can do for me. 381 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:58,200 And it treats God like a cosmic vending machine. 382 00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:02,840 It shifts the focus away from Christ suffering, away from 383 00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:05,080 salvation by grace through faith. 384 00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:10,240 And instead it focuses on me, my wealth, my health, and my 385 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:15,280 happiness. And it may sound appealing, it's 386 00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:18,520 a modern day perversion of the gospel. 387 00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:25,080 It's the 21st century version of a 1st century heresy, a false 388 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:31,240 gospel that Jesus, Paul, Peter, Jude all describe in the New 389 00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:35,160 Testament. And the mechanism for the 390 00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:39,280 prosperity gospel to work is the Word of Faith. 391 00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:43,480 Now we believe in the word and we believe in faith. 392 00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:49,320 But let me try and describe very briefly what they false gospel 393 00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:55,080 preachers base the doctrine on of prosperity, which is Word of 394 00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:57,240 Faith. They teach that in order to 395 00:29:57,240 --> 00:30:01,800 obtain wealth and healing from God, followers must, and you've 396 00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:05,280 probably heard this phrase, followers must name it and claim 397 00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:07,760 it. They teach that God desires 398 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:11,520 believers to be prosperous, and they say that you can blame 399 00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:14,920 these blessings by declaring that you already have the 400 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:18,880 blessing, like healing of money as if you've already received 401 00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:21,440 it. Now there's some verses in the 402 00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:26,120 Bible that say this as well, but it's a way that this is 403 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:30,720 interpreted and put into practise that matters not. 404 00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:34,880 The texts that Jesus spoke about, Jesus spoke about this. 405 00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:40,080 They say that believing this Word of Faith unlocks God, God's 406 00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:43,520 promises, and that followers are encouraged to speak positive 407 00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:48,920 declarations like I am healed, I am wealthy as if they've already 408 00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:52,160 happened, using the power of the words, the Word of Faith, to 409 00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:56,280 bring them into a reality. It's mine over matter stuff. 410 00:30:59,880 --> 00:31:03,920 Prosperity. The prosperity gospel may sound 411 00:31:04,560 --> 00:31:08,400 like it's biblical and didn't Jesus ask to say this? 412 00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:11,080 Jesus said ask and it will be given to you. 413 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:14,440 He said unto now you've asked nothing in my name. 414 00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:20,520 Ask and you will receive that your joy may be full Jesus. 415 00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:23,360 But Jesus taught his disciples also to pray. 416 00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:28,600 Our Father who art in heaven give us this day Our Daily 417 00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:32,640 Bread. There's a difference between 418 00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:38,400 asking God because of how gracious and merciful he is, and 419 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:41,800 demanding from God what is our divine right. 420 00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:47,000 And there is another doctrine, the little God's false doctrine, 421 00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:51,440 which says that we have got divine rights, we are little 422 00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:54,320 gods. There's a world of difference 423 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:59,240 between letting your requests be made known to God through prayer 424 00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:02,680 and Thanksgiving. Philippians 4/6 and demanding 425 00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:07,760 material inheritance from God. Jesus said I'm come that they 426 00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:11,560 might have life and they might have it more abundantly. 427 00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:17,240 An abundant life here isn't so much about material and wealth 428 00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:20,000 and physical well-being. It's about the gift. 429 00:32:20,280 --> 00:32:23,000 This is how Jesus interpreted. It's about the gift of eternal 430 00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:26,320 life. And false teachers have made-up 431 00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:30,760 a lie that believers can use their faith to demand prosperity 432 00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:41,170 from God. I believe, OK, I want to come to 433 00:32:41,170 --> 00:32:45,930 another doctrine associated very often used with the prosperity 434 00:32:45,930 --> 00:32:49,170 gospel. Well, it's called the seed faith 435 00:32:49,170 --> 00:32:53,650 doctrine. It was first taught in 1947 by 436 00:32:53,650 --> 00:32:56,890 ATV evangelist called Oral Roberts in America. 437 00:32:57,490 --> 00:33:01,730 And the teaching is a twisted interpretation of a verse in two 438 00:33:01,730 --> 00:33:04,840 Quintus 9. This verse in indeed teaches 439 00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:08,000 that there is a blessing from God that accompanies generous 440 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:11,480 giving. But this verse is twisted. 441 00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:15,320 Oral Roberts twisted the meaning of this verse to benefit 442 00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:18,200 himself. He preached that money given to 443 00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:22,000 the ministry. His ministry acted as a seed 444 00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:28,320 that God would then multiply and give you back the prophet. 445 00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:32,680 He gave you a gift back. It was known as giving to get. 446 00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:39,640 It's a false belief. Copeland explained this giving 447 00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:46,880 to get principle in this way. Listen this it's based on a 448 00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:51,240 verse that Jesus said about giving up your house or your 449 00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:56,160 family for God and will. It will lead you to do God give 450 00:33:56,160 --> 00:34:00,280 you back a hundredfold and Copeland used Jesus statement 451 00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:04,640 and he he built on to this prosperity teaching the seed 452 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:09,719 faith doctrine. He said this give her $10 and 453 00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:16,360 receive $1000. Give $1000 and you'll receive 454 00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:21,880 $100,000. It's a good deal, he said. 455 00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:29,239 And it's estimated that she and he, Kenneth Copeland, are now 456 00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:34,520 worth half a billion # million, half a million, half a billion 457 00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:37,360 dollars. And thousands of other 458 00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:42,159 prosperity preachers have followed the same false teaching 459 00:34:42,719 --> 00:34:44,520 and are using it to benefit themselves. 460 00:34:49,239 --> 00:34:54,199 So many people in Pentecostal churches and evangelical 461 00:34:54,199 --> 00:34:58,040 churches are being drawn into this heretical teaching. 462 00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:03,920 So 1000 Protestant churchgoers in the United States were asked 463 00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:05,920 if they agreed with this statement. 464 00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:09,120 The statement is this. To receive material blessings 465 00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:12,840 from God, I have to do something for God. 466 00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:18,160 In 2017, about 1/4 of them said that was true. 467 00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:24,240 Five years later, about 1/2 of them said that that was true and 468 00:35:24,240 --> 00:35:28,240 there were some other things. But basically it's it's this, 469 00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:32,240 this is a slide showing that prosperity gospel is 470 00:35:32,240 --> 00:35:36,160 infiltrating Pentecostal churches and evangelical 471 00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:41,600 churches around the world. This is what the director who 472 00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:45,600 carried out this, this research, his organisation very, very 473 00:35:45,720 --> 00:35:48,480 solid. He said in the last five years, 474 00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:52,440 four more churchgoers are reflecting prosperity gospel 475 00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:56,960 teachings, including the heretical belief that material 476 00:35:57,280 --> 00:36:02,280 blessings are earned from God. That is not the gospel of grace. 477 00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:07,680 That is the gospel of works. It's the gospel of works, not by 478 00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:09,520 works, lest any man should boast. 479 00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:15,160 And it's especially prevalent amongst young people and amongst 480 00:36:15,160 --> 00:36:20,600 the least educated church goers. So don't get us deceived by it 481 00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:24,960 or associated false teachings. There's another doctrine of the 482 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:28,880 man of God doctrine that teaches subjection through heavy 483 00:36:28,880 --> 00:36:33,640 shepherding by men who are we are to call them our spiritual 484 00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:36,440 fathers. I won't go into that, but these 485 00:36:36,440 --> 00:36:39,680 heresies are increasing and they will continue to grow as they 486 00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:43,200 have been growing until Jesus comes going to scripture. 487 00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:51,120 So I want to just land us now. So how to avoid false teaching? 488 00:36:52,120 --> 00:36:57,320 First way is test the spirits. John urged believers not to 489 00:36:57,320 --> 00:37:01,280 believe every spirit, but to test the spirits to see whether 490 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:05,240 they are from God, because it might be a lie from Satan and 491 00:37:05,240 --> 00:37:10,000 his servants. And the best way of testing is 492 00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:14,320 by knowing Scripture, checking the teachers out, and checking 493 00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:16,000 their teachings out against the Bible. 494 00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:18,760 And Paul preached this to the Bereans. 495 00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:22,760 He said they received the word that Paul had preached. 496 00:37:23,240 --> 00:37:25,560 So Paul had preached the word and they received it with all 497 00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:28,360 eagerness. They'd never heard of God's 498 00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:34,200 grace before, so they checked it out, checked out Scripture and 499 00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:36,280 confirmed that what he was saying was true. 500 00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:41,360 So don't just accept what preachers say, even if he says 501 00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:44,880 it's an apostle. Check it out yourself or ask a 502 00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:53,200 leader if you're not sure. Secondly, don't go by outward 503 00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:55,560 appearances. Check character. 504 00:37:55,560 --> 00:37:58,440 Check the character of those who are preaching or those who are 505 00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:00,960 teaching. Beware of those who make 506 00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:05,400 spiritual boasts. Don't be swayed by the stories 507 00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:10,240 of experiences that they've had of God, of God revealing stuff 508 00:38:10,240 --> 00:38:13,240 to them. New doctrines especially, or the 509 00:38:13,240 --> 00:38:17,600 signs and wonders follow godly leaders. 510 00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:20,920 Check out whether they are humble, whether they serve 511 00:38:20,920 --> 00:38:24,120 others, whether they don't seek their own personal game. 512 00:38:24,120 --> 00:38:32,400 I think this is my last slide. Beware of prosperity preachers 513 00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:37,080 and also beware of prosperity preach preacher followers as 514 00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:39,520 well. Paul spoke about the followers 515 00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:43,560 here in this verse, but he warned about people when he was 516 00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:47,080 writing to Timothy. He warned Timothy about people 517 00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:52,960 who were depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining 518 00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:56,000 that godliness is a means of gain. 519 00:38:56,800 --> 00:39:00,280 That's the keyword. Godliness isn't a means of gain, 520 00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:04,200 not materially. He's talking about material 521 00:39:04,200 --> 00:39:08,120 gain, not spiritual gain. And this is how the message 522 00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:11,720 translates One Timothy 6. He says if anyone teaches a 523 00:39:11,720 --> 00:39:15,480 different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of 524 00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:20,920 our Lord Jesus Christ, the words result in constant friction 525 00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:24,720 between people of corrupt mind who have been robbed of the 526 00:39:24,720 --> 00:39:28,560 truth and who think that godliness is a means to 527 00:39:28,560 --> 00:39:32,040 financial gain. So he's talking about the impact 528 00:39:32,440 --> 00:39:36,600 of this teaching on churches That causes division. 529 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:42,440 It causes constant friction between people of corrupt mind. 530 00:39:43,320 --> 00:39:45,600 Be careful to the teachers that you listen to. 531 00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:52,720 Many of those who on TBN and the God Channel and many who are on 532 00:39:52,720 --> 00:39:55,440 YouTube are prosperity gospel teachers. 533 00:39:56,680 --> 00:40:00,320 Some of those big name preachers like TD Jakes and Joyce Meyer 534 00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:04,120 have now renounced some prosperity teaching. 535 00:40:05,240 --> 00:40:09,040 But it's wise to be careful about what they preach because 536 00:40:09,040 --> 00:40:13,280 millions of people are being robbed of the truth and now 537 00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:16,520 think that godliness is a way of financial gain. 538 00:40:17,960 --> 00:40:22,920 Prosperity teachings produce envy, strike malicious talk and 539 00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:25,760 evil suspicion. I want to just pray for us right 540 00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:27,040 now. Let's just pray. 541 00:40:30,040 --> 00:40:31,320 Yeah. Heavenly Father, we want to 542 00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:35,600 thank you for your word, Lord, thank you for the your spirit 543 00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:37,680 that you give us to understand your word. 544 00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:44,520 And we just recognise through your word that we live in a a 545 00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:51,440 world which is dominated by Satan and that his lies run 546 00:40:51,440 --> 00:40:59,280 through this world every day. Lord, thank you that you've 547 00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:03,320 given us the weapons of our warfare, which is spiritual to 548 00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:05,600 pulling down struggles. And right now, Lord, I want to 549 00:41:05,600 --> 00:41:11,160 pray that you will, if we've got any strongholds, any lies in our 550 00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:17,160 minds or in our lives, I pray Lord, that you will reveal that 551 00:41:17,160 --> 00:41:21,040 to us and help us to pull down those spiritual strongholds. 552 00:41:21,040 --> 00:41:22,960 Lord. And Lord, if we, if we've been 553 00:41:22,960 --> 00:41:27,600 also concerned about not just concerned, but disturbed by what 554 00:41:27,600 --> 00:41:33,440 happened this week on the what's up side, Lord, I pray that 555 00:41:33,440 --> 00:41:37,040 you'll give us your peace and please watch over us and protect 556 00:41:37,040 --> 00:41:40,000 us, Lord, in Jesus name we pray.