Revelation chapter 4, Revelation chapter 4, verses one through
11. I'm going to read the whole
chapter. It's really powerful.
But I want to give us give us a picture.
And this here is after the catching away of the church.
You know, I'm convinced this is after that particular event
because you know it, they're the first 3 chapters have been
dealing with the church in the earth that John saw by the
Spirit of God some things going on.
And then it said after these things, I looked up and hold the
door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I had
heard like the sound of a trumpet, OK, speaking with me
said, come up here and I will show you what must take place
after these things. So there was a catching up of,
of John into the heaven, the 3rd heaven.
And it says in verse 2 immediately I was in the spirit
and behold a what? Come on, What was it?
What is it? It's a throne was standing in
heaven and one sitting on the throne.
Thrones are in kingdoms, not religion.
So he's caught up to the throne room.
Hallelujah, Amen. Could you imagine right now just
being translated to the throne room?
Who? Glory to God, because the Father
is seated on the throne. I said he's seated on the throne
and Jesus Christ is seated on the throne right at his right
hand. Verse 3 and he who was sitting
was like Jasper stone. And it goes on with the
appearances here and emerald appearance.
Let's go on a rainbow's all around the throne and the
throne. Around the throne were 24
Thrones and upon the Thrones I saw 24.
What were they? Elders sitting clothed in white
garments and golden crowns on their head.
Now this is a future thing that he saw after the church age that
he's caught up. And here he is in the throne
room and there is this throne that the Father sits.
Yet there are 24 other Thrones, of which 24 elders are seated
clothed in white garment, and they all have a crown.
This is all about a king, his Kingdom and his royal offspring.
The Bible's not a religious book.
It's about a king, his Kingdom and his royal offspring.
And here he is, the king of so, the king of the kings that are
sitting around him, 24 elders with their crowns on their
heads. Are you hearing me?
It said. Out from the throne comes
flashes of lightning, lightning and sounds and pills of Thunder.
And there were 7 lamps of burning fire before the throne,
which are the seven spirits of God.
We ministered on those in the in the past and before the throne
there was something like a sea of glass like crystal and in the
center and around the throne 4 living creatures full of eyes in
front and behind. This is going to be a spectacle.
The first creature was like a lion, the second creature like a
calf, the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the
fourth creature was like a flying eagle, and the fourth
living creature, each one of them having 6 wings full of eyes
around and within. And day and night say day and
night and day and night. They do not cease to say Holy,
holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, who is, and
who is to come. Glory to God.
So what is being sung around the throne right now?
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who is, who was and who
is to come. That's being sung right now,
right now, right now, right now. If you want to get a sound of
heaven, there it is. That's what's being sung in
heaven right now and it doesn't cease.
And when the living creatures and when the living creatures
giving glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the
throne, to him who lives forever and ever, the 24 what what are
they? What will they do?
Will fall down before him who sit on the throne and will
worship him who lives forever and ever and will cast their
crowns before the throne saying, Oh my Mama, worthy are you, O
Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power.
For you created all things and because of you your will, they
exist and were created. Did we not just saying glory and
honor and power. How long come on, how long come
on? How long do you understand?
We were picking up a course that is happening in heaven now.
I cannot tell you. It's the same musical tone but I
can tell you it's the same wording.
Hallelujah. Cause the king of kings in his
throne room with 24 other kings known as elders wearing crowns
will bow down and cast their crowns to him.
Just acknowledging you are supreme in authority, You are
Lord and glory of all and they are there to submit to him,
yield to him, carry out anything he has.
He is life, He is love, He's amazing, He is righteous, He is
just. Come on.
Can you get a picture of this? Now, the reason why this can be
a hard imagery for the US Christian Church is because we
tend to be a little more democratic in our Christianity
than we are Kingdom. Because, you know, we don't want
a seat of someone over us. But the reality is there is a
seat and he seated on it. Come on, He is seated on it.
He's not voted into power. He cannot be voted out of power.
He is the king of glory. Hallelujah.
And there are 24 elders. Who are those elders?
I don't know who those elders are.
Now, some scholars speculate that's 12 could be one from each
tribe of Israel, the 12 tribes of Israel for the Old Covenant,
and the other 12 could be the apostles of the Lamb.
And that may be true. That could very well be true.
That would definitely equal 24 and it would fit.
There are someone specific. Remember there were two of the
disciples that came with a Mama to Jesus.
Come on, Mamas, quit meddling, came to Jesus, said Jesus, I
want you to give me just one request.
Tell me you'll do it. And he's like, tell me what it
is first, right? That's kind of like a Mama, tell
me you're going to do it. Well, I don't even know what I'm
doing yet to tell you I am. They want, they want commitment
before they even communicate. And so she says I want my sons,
each of them, when you get in your Kingdom, one to be on the
right and one to be on the left. He said it's a hard thing You're
asking for your boys might be easy for you, Mama, but you're
asking a hard thing for your children.
Mama. Sometimes you need to watch out
what you're asking for your kids because some things you may be
asking, it's a hard thing. Maybe better you just pray that
they come to the realization of the will of God for their life
is try to determine where they should go and then where God
should use them. Amen.
And so with that being said, he said it's a hard, can you drink
the cup that I'm about to drink? They're like, oh, we can do it.
But you understand they also said they won't deny him either.
He did say you're going to drink the cup, meaning they would be
martyred like he would, but he said to sit on my right and
left. I don't have the authority for
that. My Father in heaven will
determine that. Do you understand?
You don't determine that. The Father will.
And here's the thing, I have no jealousy towards one of the 24.
You should have no issue that right now there's 24 elders that
are before. They're going to be before the
Lord. And if it is those 12, they
could be there now that they are worshipping Him.
They're there in his throne room, receiving His counsel,
doing his bidding, and they are appointed by God.
Now, why do I start with Revelations today?
Because I want you to see that in the Kingdom of God there is
leaders. And here we are in heaven.
And God has placed men in his throne room as elders.
Now he's God supreme in authority, self-sufficient, all
sufficient. Yet in his own throne room he
has elders. Yeah, this is this is amazing
that God the Father is so secure in his ability, his
righteousness, his justice, his, his walk of love, who he is as a
being, that he has no problem sharing his delegated power.
That even in heaven he has 24 human spirits, 'cause you're not
on a throne unless you're in power.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? You're not on the throne unless
you're in power. So there are 24 human spirits,
humans that he has hand picked to put in his throne room that
have authority. And if God is supreme and has
layers of leaders, then don't you know the church does?
The church does. If God the Father doesn't do it
without delegating and then giving them very specific
responsibilities within those seats.
These elders have specific responsibilities assigned to the
throne that they are on. Wow.
And they have been been found faithful.
They have been found worthy through the obedience they had
with the Lord. And if it is that the scholars
are correct that 12 of them are from the tribes that technically
could be in the Old covenant. I, you know, I don't know too
many people who will argue that Moses could be on one of those
Thrones, right? Maybe Abraham could be on one of
those Thrones. David could be on one of those
Thrones, could be right. No one argued.
But if they are, these are men who were not born again in the
time they lived on the earth, but they lived a righteous life
by faith-based upon what was allowed for them to function in
until the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus that
earned them the seat. If it's true, and we know this,
if you take time to read the Bible, that in the millennial
reign, when it comes back, the Prince of Jerusalem will be
David, the one we read about. He'll be back in the planet
ruling in Jerusalem. Isn't that amazing?
So here's God in heaven with layers of leaders, and these
leaders are called elders. Well, are there arrow elders in
the church? Look what it says in Acts
chapter 14 verses 21 to 23, it says.
And after they had preached the gospel to that city and had many
disciples, they returned to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch.
Iconium is modern day Albanium, strengthening the souls of the
disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying
through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God.
And when they had appointed elders for them in every church,
having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in
whom they had believed. Hallelujah.
So here the Apostle Paul, if you get this full context, he's
actually was ministering in a particular community that the
the officials of that town incited a riot against Paul and
they drug him out of the city and stoned him to death.
Now the Bible doesn't say this, but it could be that this is
where Paul in another letter says I knew a man in body or out
of body, I do not know, called up to the 3rd heaven and he
begins to see unspeakable things that God wouldn't let him talk
about. But he returned to his body
because they drug him out, supposing he was dead all right.
And back then they knew how to check a pulse people, they knew
how to determine somebody was breathing.
So all indication is when he was stoned, then they killed him.
But God, I said, but God, I mean, if it's not done for you,
they can't kill you. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
If you're walking in the planet, God, they're not going to be
able to kill you. God to get you right back in
your suit, of which he got back in that suit and that suit did
not get immediately healed, but he picked himself up, went on to
the next city. These three mention are are I
think it was Derby and ends up preaching the gospel when he
shows back up a little bruised from the stoning back to this.
These churches, they're like Paul, we thought you were dead.
He begins to instruct them more and says to them, look, in the
Kingdom of God, you're going to have some sufferings.
There's going to be some trials and tribulations.
In essence, we don't stop just because of opposition, because
you understand, in the world the Kingdom of God will have
opposition against the forces in the earth that do not want the
Kingdom to manifest. And that's through the domain of
darkness. And the domain of darkness loves
religion, loves religion, and loves to keep people in religion
and loves for people. How do we know they're in
religion? Because they're defining God on
their terms instead of God defining himself on his own
terms. And so he comes back into the
city and what does he do? He begins to appoint elders.
Now Paul is an apostle to the church.
He has planted these churches specifically, and so he is
authorized to appoint elders in this particular church body.
Now one particular commentary concerning the things of God and
appointments within the church says this.
Our Lord Himself is the sole source and origin of all
ministerial power. Do you believe that He is the
head of the Church? None can take office in the
Church except with His authorization.
He is our great High Priest. None can serve under Him unless
by His appointment. He is our King.
None can bear rule in His Kingdom except they hold His
Commission. Now that's powerful statement,
but that is a true statement nonetheless because the Bible
tells us that God places us in the body where it pleases him.
So you understand, everyone is actually placed in the body by
the King himself. The positions are the things
that you do within the church body are not your picking.
You should be finding your assignment because when you find
your assignment, you will thrive.
And let me tell you something, God loves you, loves me.
Religion places us in competition.
The Kingdom were complementing each other because when you're
in Christ there is no competition.
It's just complete. It is just completing each
other. It is complementing each other.
In fact, Pastor Joshua was telling me before service he
went to Daytona, he had a particular assignment where he
was there. I'll just leave it at that.
But with that being said, he was right here in the pits on pit
row where they jump across the wall to change the tires and he
said I forgot to bring gear plugs.
So the crew that he was with, because he was with one of the
owners of a NASCAR, gave him a headset that he could hear the
conversation between the pit crew and the driver.
This is inside stuff here. I mean, this is this is not a
NASCAR experience. This is NASCAR.
And he said they considered the pit crew athletes, athletes.
In fact, they consider them masters, master mechanics.
And that he said every time one came to pit, one guy was
responsible to fuel the car. They got this big jug that they
stick in and you have two seconds, jump over the wall with
a can, put it in two seconds, you're pulling it back out and
jump back over the wall. He said every time the person
did it, he stopped, watched himself on film.
Oh, y'all don't want to hear this?
Washed himself on film, Pastor Joshua said in his ear.
He was here in the crew. You got to do it better than
that. You got to get over that wall
quicker than that. You've got to do it.
But what are you doing? You are an elite mechanic.
Now. There was a few other words that
I'm not at liberty because the Kingdom I am, we do not say so
if there was an opportunity for someone to be offended, it's the
guy holding the can. Are you hearing me?
But here's the thing, when 1 driver of the team wins, the
whole team gets bonuses. So this guy holding a gas can is
just as significant to this race as the one driving for two
seconds. And then how can I do my 20?
Y'all don't want How can I do my 2 seconds better?
I mean how many you coming? How can I get my praise better
today? How can I get my praise better
today? How can I get my giving better
today? How can I get my welcome better
today? Do not let the world out.
Praise us for the God they serve.
And here's the thing, when you know the Kingdom, you are
absolutely jacked, excited to grab hold of a can and jump a
wall and hit it for 2 seconds and come back.
And when your team crosses the finish line with the checkered
flag, you're like, I did that, I did that, I did that.
You don't feel inferior, you don't feel like you're second
fiddle. You don't go home cried 'cause
you were not upstanding and popping to champagne.
Now, if the world's got this, there's no reason the church
shouldn't have it. The only reason the church
doesn't have it is because pastors aren't making the demand
out of the Saints to rise 'cause we're too sensitive to
correction. Yet every time he jumps the
wall, they're being corrected on how they could do it better
every race. Hallelujah.
Say Amen anyway. Oh, but I got some Saints in
here who like to jump a wall. They leap over a troop.
They're ready to do their part and only their part, excited
about their part. And when people come into the
Kingdom and we keep advancing and we take another territory
and we take another town and we go into another country and we
do another book and we have another song to sing That when
you're driving a golf cart and bringing someone up, you're
like, I did that, I did that, I broke my part, I did it, man, we
need everybody, Hallelujah. So quit cheapening positions.
Quit being carnal in your thinking and cheapening
positions because at this house, every place is important.
Get self aware and know your part is important.
Hallelujah. So every place is authorized by
the King. All right.
So this minister of power, our Lord conferred upon his apostles
in Acts, in the Acts of the Apostles are and other parts of
the New Testament, we learn how apostles carried out this
Commission. Now the first act after the
ascension, that's when Jesus went up and they watched him go.
They, the apostles brought in Matthias to replace Judas who
had betrayed. It was the apostles, the 11 that
came together say we are here to appoint by the Holy Ghost the
next person into the role of the apostle that Judas fell from.
And so they cast loss for him, which means God was in the midst
of that. The head of the church was
communicating to them, but it was them in the earth that the
lot fell to Matthias and they brought him in and he became the
12th apostle of the Lamb. There were qualifications for
this apostle that he had to have been with the Lord, seen the
miracles walk with him. He couldn't be someone that just
got that was started to show up at a prayer meeting, right?
That the apostle said, hey, you know, we got a prayer meeting in
this upper room. You know what, I think I'm going
to come and they're like, oh, I want to be apostle.
You just got here, son. I said, you just got here.
But the point is, is you say, what's wrong with that?
Well, the Bible tells you she can't put a novice in leadership
position or they'll get lifted up in pride like the devil.
So again, there's qualifications.
This is in the Kingdom. Don't get offended by that.
This is a safeguard to you. This is to strengthen you.
This is to help you become all that God wants you to be.
After this time, as the church grew, it required additional
officers or what they called subordinate officers, meaning
those in a different layer of leadership.
And the first ones they did were actually deacons, deacons.
And these deacons were the ones that serve the food to the
Hellenistic Jews. And there were qualifications.
They had to be full of faith, full of wisdom and full of the
Holy Ghost just to distribute food.
Are you hearing me? Well, a couple of those deacons
out of being in that office or that role and their
faithfulness, God ultimately placed them in the gifting that
He always ordained for them. Philip being an evangelist and
Steven himself becoming someone that God used to minister the
Word and have done something miraculous.
Now some believe that he himself moved into the Apostolic role.
With that being said, there's another layer, a second one that
they ended up placing and they were called elders.
Now these had a higher function because they helped feed the
flock of God. They helped with oversight in
the congregation. In fact, some even moved into
the role of pastoring. Some moved into the role of
pastoring or feeding the flock for a season until the gift came
in or they themselves, through their faithfulness as an elder,
became an actual pastor of that particular flock.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? So we already see beyond the
time we're in that elders exist, but when the church started,
elders also exist. In Titus chapter 1, verses 5
through 6, I want to look at the Amplified classic.
It says this. For this reason I left you
behind. Now Paul's talking to Titus that
many believe Titus is an apostle.
You understand the 12 apostles of the Lamb, and then you have
of which Matthias is one of those because Judas betrayed
himself. But then you understand there
were other apostles because Paul is obviously called an apostle,
but there are many others that were apostles during that time.
OK. Titus is believed to be 1.
For this reason Paul the Apostle says to Titus the apostle in
Crete, I left you behind in Crete, that you might set right
what was defective and and finish what was left undone,
that you might appoint elders and set them over the church's
assemblies in every city, as I directed you for next verse.
Is that the second verse? There it is.
These elders should be men who are unquestionable, have are of
unquestionable integrity and are irreproachable, the husband of
but one wife, those children whose children are well trained
and are believers. These elders are not open to
accusations of being loose and moral and and conduct or unruly
and disorderly. OK, so here a church is
established, but the church is not given the right by the head
of the church. Who who created this order?
Jesus Christ, the head of the church.
Then through the gift of the apostle from the apostle the
appoint the particular leaders of the church.
Saints do not vote for their elders.
Apostles appoint the elders of the church now.
Just because we are a couple of 1000 years removed from the
writings of the book of Acts, the original occurrences, does
not mean God has changed His way of doing church now.
Man has changed the church according to their ways and
there are many denominations and things that they do that are
probably more in line in the government's that they, their
natural governments and they are in a Kingdom.
But we endeavor to follow the voice of the Lord.
Are you hearing me? And so we see here that the
apostles, Paul specifically telling Timothy, who was
submitted to the authority of Paul and the churches he
planted, 'cause he helped Paul plant those churches, he said,
you appoint the elders in every city.
I'm giving you the direction of, in essence, I'm authorizing you
because this is the order the head of the church is telling
us. And these are the qualifications
you are to look for in order for us to have them as elders in the
church. Are you hearing me?
So here's a few things that Scripture tells us that elders
will do within a church body. The first thing that we can see
is elders aid in establishing church doctrine and culture.
Elders are pretty it's pretty serious business being an elder.
OK Acts chapter 16 verse 4 says it this this way.
Now, while they were passing through the cities, they were
delivering the decrees which had been decided upon by the
apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem for them to observe.
So here we have Paul coming into another area, some other
churches outside of Jerusalem, that they are communicating
decrees. These are orders, say orders.
It's OK to say stuff like this in the Kingdom.
Now, if you're in religion, you have a problem with this, but in
the Kingdom you have no problem with this because you understand
they had orders. In essence, they went to the
church and says this is the culture and doctrine that you
are to stand with. And this decision is not been
taken lightly. It has been through a process of
of seeking the Lord and knowing what His thoughts are on this
particular matter. Are you hearing me?
See, in our society today, we have taken a few scriptures and
we have turned them with our government.
What we've done is we've taken the scripture that we're all led
by the Spirit. We've taken the scripture that
no one teaches you but the Holy Ghost.
We've taken these scriptures, you know that all of us can hear
the Holy Ghost. And so the minute we do that, we
say, well, you know what? I can hear God just like you
can, and you can't tell me. And I'm listening to God.
He's the only one teaching me anyway.
So we take the independent spirit of our U.S. government
and we apply it to our spiritual walk, and we use Scripture to
back our rebellion because independence is the most
dangerous word in the Kingdom. The second most dangerous word
is rebellion. Now, no one's telling you to
listen to a pastor just because he says it, because Paul says
search the Scripture for yourself to see if it's so.
But here's the thing, it it when they're in the gifting and
they're truly seeking God, they'll come to establish the
truth that you yourself will come in line with that same
truth. You're not going to have your
own truths. They are not your own truths in
God's Kingdom because Jesus said that straight.
I am the way, the So you don't have a truth.
I have a truth. No, there's the truth of how God
sees it. And if we haven't come to that,
we need to stay on it until we hear the word of God.
But you understand God has no problem with going through his
layers of leadership. None.
He has no issue because he knows those gifts of apostle, prophet,
pastor, teacher and evangelist are to what equip the Saints.
It's within their gifting to have insight to doctrine and
culture of the Kingdom by which then they would communicate that
when you hear you would go yes. Now the problem is your spirit
says yes, but your flesh will go no because you have to change
your thinking. Well, this chapter 16, verse 4,
where did it come from? Back up a chapter.
We won't read the whole thing, but I'll give you the context of
this decree, these orders, these commands, these things that the
church is to yield and submit and obey and teach because it
has come from the apostles and elders of Jerusalem that are
yielded and submitted to the head of the church.
Acts chapter 15, verse one and two, it says some men came down
from Judea and began teaching the brethren.
This is what they were teaching. Now unless you are circumcised
according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.
And when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with
them, notice what they didn't do.
Well, brothers, we can just agree to disagree.
I mean, we've really developed kind of a church culture in the
US Like, you know, it's like it's so bad for us to debate
Scripture. I mean, when you have a heart
just to know truth, what's the problem?
There's really not a problem. I mean, we even see it in our
own government. I mean, there's technically two
sides and nobody wants to come together and collaborate or
really, you know, say, OK, what is the best thing here 'cause if
one says this, the other hates it.
When the other one says something they had, the other
ones hate it. And there's no common ground.
There's no dialogue. There used to be a time we
debate. I saw this on a Instagram Reel.
So please forgive me. Let it just popped in my head.
And it is pretty applicable. A particular lady, she was a
comedian, and she says, you know, us Generation X, you know,
which is my generation, you know, it says, you know, we did
some crazy things back in the 80s, crazy things.
She goes, this is one of the weirdest things we did in the
80s because it's so weird. I can't even believe we did it.
We did this thing called critical thinking.
And that was the same response she got from the crowd.
Yeah, I know. You know, there was this time
where somebody would give a side and somebody else would give a
side and then we between both sides would form an opinion and
then we would make a decision. We did this thing called
critical thinking, Amen. If you use that term now, they
just call you critical. But the Bible says seek.
And how can you seek first unless you can become critical
at how you think compared to what he's saying, Amen?
And so we see here that somebody's preaching a thought
process that Paul and Barnabas oppose.
And it said when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension
and debate with them, the brethren of this particular
church determined that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them
should go up to Jerusalem. To who?
The apostles and elders concerning this issue.
Hallelujah. So notice, yeah, this is real
good notice that the church didn't say, well, we're going to
believe what we want to believe. They're like, you know what?
We're going to go to the leadership.
It's what we're going to do. So Paul and Barnabas take off
and go to Jerusalem. Are you hearing me?
Let's follow this account then. So the next verse, then we'll
look at jump down to verse 4. And when they arrived at
Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles, and
the well are they. And they reported all that God
had done with them. But some of the sect of the
Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, now these Pharisees
are believers, but what's the problem with the Pharisees?
These particular Pharisees have a old way of thinking that they
brought into the new covenant. They're born again, but their
mind is not renewed to this thing called the life of faith.
And so they believe stood up, saying it is necessary to
circumcise them and to direct them to observe the law of
Moses. Because even even Paul and Jesus
said that the the law itself is righteous and just.
But you of your own nature that's cut off from God cannot
live according to it. You'll never measure up.
Christ is the only one who did. So the apostles and the elders
came together to look into this matter.
So what do they do? They looked in and there's from
the next few verses, there's this dialogue that's taking
place concerning something because again, what are they
posing? Unless they are in essence, they
were concluded, I'm born again because I'm circumcised.
And if these guys are truly circumcised or born again, then
they would be circumcised. So again, they were looking for
this physical manifestation of their salvation as opposed to
fruit manifestation because there should be some
manifestation of your salvation. I'm just going to say that if
you're truly born again, there should be fruit associated,
There should be a lifestyle change.
You should function differently. And the apostle Paul wrote in
many of the churches certain decrees as an apostle that you
live this way. You do not live this way in the
Kingdom. Are you hearing me OK?
And the reason you don't is because you're a different
nature because the those actions you'll never see in heaven.
Jump down to verse 13. After they had stopped speaking,
James, who is an apostle, answered saying, brethren and
pastor of this church, brethren, listen to me, we get down to
verse 19. Therefore, it is my judgment
this is the apostle. Now.
This is after they had heard everything he himself had
discussed with the other apostles of the Church of which
he oversaw that church and was pastoring that church, plus with
his elders, they're having healthy conversation.
He's like, what do you think? Where's this at?
Now I do this with my staff. I will throw thoughts out to
them. I said, what do you think?
You know, now the Bible says this and the Bible says this.
We call that those sessions Iron Sharpening Iron.
And I don't mind looking at something from a totally
different angle because anything that is of truth will be
strengthened and anything that is alive will be destroyed.
I have no problem. See, some people won't ask
because they're afraid they'll get deceived.
How can I be deceived when I follow the spirit of truth and
truth is available? When you have a heart to know
truth, you won't be deceived. The only reason people get
deceived is because they want to hold to their truth.
Therefore, he said, it's my judgment that we do not trouble
those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, but
that they but that we write to them that they now there are
things he told them to do now that they're born again, abstain
from things contaminated by idols, and that from and from
fornication. So having sex before marriage is
never acceptable in the eyes of God.
It is always sin, period. He does not say it's OK ever.
There is no sexual engagement that God ever says is OK except
for husband and wife, period. So they are to not fornicate and
that and from what is strangled and from and from blood.
So there were things that they're saying now in our
culture because we're in the Kingdom.
We're not of this world, we're not saying you have to be
circumcised. You can be born again and keep
your uncircumcision. But what we are saying is there
are some things you used to do potentially when you were pagans
that you don't bring over into this Kingdom because it's never
part of this Kingdom. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
And really this statement is basically saying some of the
same things that they were saying to the Pharisees.
I know you live according to the law to try to follow God, but
you know, we didn't make it. Jesus was our substitute.
So at the end of the day, you couldn't do it.
And part of his discourse was, look, if we couldn't do it, what
makes us think that we going to put this burden on these guys?
You know, we're just faith in Christ.
However, you're trying to bring your religion into the Kingdom
and we don't want them to bring their religion into the Kingdom
because for some of these, their worship was sexual intercourse
in the temple. And they're like, no, this is
not how we're not that close. We're unified, but not that way.
Are you hearing me? OK, so the the apostles and the
elders were a part of this process.
Now jump down to verse 22. Then it seemed good to the
apostles and the notice they're here the whole time with the
whole church to choose men from among them to send to Antioch
with Paul and Barnabas. Judas called this guy and and
Silas leading men among the brethren.
So they were leading men among the brother, or something about
their character that set them apart.
And they sent this letter by them, the apostles and the
brethren who are elders, so that not every brethren is an elder.
So not every brethren carried this authority.
But yet we're not working against each other.
We're all just stepping within the assignments we're called.
It goes on to say to the brethren in Antioch, Syria,
Sicilia, who were who, who are from the Gentiles, and
greetings. So again, elders help the
apostle to establish church doctrine and culture.
Another thing elders will do, we can see here in Scripture
they're church leaders who help in making disciples.
Look what it says in First Timothy 517 and 19.
The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double
honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.
For the Scripture says you shall not muzzle the ox while he is
threshing and the labor is worthy of his wage.
Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the
basis of two or three witnesses. So here we see that elders are
part of this process of actually helping disciples, which means
elders can help fulfill the pulpit.
They can even do it for a season if necessary.
But they're definitely in the process of rightly dividing the
word of truth. And why wouldn't this be true?
Because they're part of the process of making sure the
doctrine of the church is pure, has a purity about it, and that
we're not going into our own thinking and what we want to do.
And they themselves then, you know, continue as the apostles.
This is it. Then they carry that teaching
all the way through the layers of the church.
Elders do not preach their own truth in Sunday school class,
right? Come on now.
They uphold the doctrine of the church, even to the point that
in some of these scriptures, the elders can help correct the
church body when they're off. They can help stop issues that
take place within the church when people are saying things
and trying to, you know, carry certain thoughts about Scripture
across the congregation. That isn't right.
They can do this. But last little note concerning
this, although I'm not going to deal with it a whole lot today,
but you do not receive an accusation against an elder
except base two or three witnesses.
You'd never let one person come up and talk to you about an
elder ever. They better have a handful of
people with them, number one, and then at that point, if
there's they're you know, accusations collaborate.
It is only to be able to go bring restoration.
But you understand Jesus had collaborated and non
collaborated witnesses against him.
At no place do you just talk about an elder ever.
You don't do it. I said you don't do it.
Now I'll give you a little nugget real quick.
Peter in one of his writings who was an apostle and John himself
who is an apostle. Peter said in one of his writing
he said the elder to the elders. John said the elder to the lady
elect. Both of them acknowledged we
were elders because the simple definition of elder is old man.
But it's not just age, it's wisdom, OK?
It's wisdom in the word, experience, character through
trials and tribulations. So not only do you not talk
about elders, the gift should not be talked about either.
Are you hearing me? OK, Elders pray and lay hands on
the sick of the church. James chapter 5, verses 14 to
15. Y'all doing all right?
Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders
of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him
with oil in the name of the Lord Jesus, and pray.
And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who was
sick, and the Lord will raise him up.
And if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.
So again, an elder can come to your hospital, anoint you with
oil, or can come to your house. Now again, the this the context
here is if someone cannot make it to church, they are to call
the elders know what it doesn't? James, who is the apostle, who
was the one who gave the decree so that Paul the apostle and
Barnabas could go out and and along with Silas and tell the
churches, this is our doctrine, these are our values, this is
our culture. He says, now listen, I'm the
apostle and pastor of Jerusalem. I'm just going to let you know
that if somebody's sick of the house and you can't get to us,
I'm sending an elder. James is saying I'm not coming.
Now, it's amazing how many Saints get offended if the
senior lead pastor doesn't show up.
He didn't even come to pray for me.
I sent you an anointed office. That's their gifting.
And we're here to complement each other.
I mean, the Bible says believers can lay hands on the sick, but
we're not just sending a believer, we're sending an
elder, someone appointed by God within that vision that it will
have an anointing to lay hands on you to be healed.
Can I get an Amen? So again, just thank God for the
body of Christ. Can we say that thank you, Lord?
Come on, say thank you, Lord, for the body of Christ.
We are all very important in our assignments, Amen.
Just just be thankful, OK? The last thing I'm going to show
you real quick today is that elders can take part with a
laying on of hands at ordinations.
First Timothy chapter 4 verse 14.
The amplified says it this way, Paul talking to Timothy, he says
do not neglect the gift which which is in you, that special
inward endowment which was directly imparted to you by the
Holy Spirit by prophetic utterance when the elders laid
their hands upon you at your ordination.
So elders can participate in laying hands on those who are
called into the ministry. Can I get an Amen?