When Godly Love Gets Called A Cult

When Obedient Love Gets Slandered

0:00 SPEAKER_00: Oda cult.

0:01 SPEAKER_00: In order to love as Jesus loved, a church would have to be labeled as a cult.

0:07 SPEAKER_00: So radical and unearthly is heaven's love expressed in a church that the worldly and unspiritual Christians will falsely label it as a cult.

0:16 SPEAKER_00: Matthew 10, 24-25.

0:19 SPEAKER_00: A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.

0:24 SPEAKER_00: It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.

0:29 SPEAKER_00: If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household?

0:34 SPEAKER_00: This is perfect persecution based on obedience to solid, sound doctrines and the love of God.

0:41 SPEAKER_00: Such godly, pure, selfless love is always persecuted, even to the point of prosecution.

0:48 SPEAKER_00: It was this fact that the King County prosecutors of Washington state, under prosecutors Mark Larson and Jason Simmons, proved Jesus to be correct.

0:57 SPEAKER_00: Like Satan, who even now corrupts his knowledge of God, prosecutor Mark Larson corrupted his knowledge about false accusations and prosecutions, used such method to law lynch an innocent man.

1:09 SPEAKER_00: A corrupt cop and co-conspirator from the city of Enum Claw, along with lawless prosecutors and authorities, framed Sound Doctrine Church, which was destroyed by the work of their hands.

How Repeated Lies Start To Stick

1:20 SPEAKER_00: Such tactics employ what is called in cognitive psychology the illusory truth effect, where false claims are repeated until people make them to appear true to others or themselves.

1:32 SPEAKER_00: This is the illusory truth effect.

1:35 SPEAKER_00: Lies become self-perpetuating precisely because repetition creates the illusion of credibility, causing the original falsehood to generate a cloud of corroborating, but equally false claims.

1:47 SPEAKER_00: The Internet has compounded this wicked dispersion of lies and character assassination.

1:52 SPEAKER_00: Seattle's King County prosecutors seize the opportunity to destroy rather than to protect the truth, for like Satan, whose name is the accuser, like prosecutors of today who are without accountability, are his tools in the spiritual battle against a holy God.

2:09 SPEAKER_00: To put it in more formal legal terms, falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus, a Latin maxim meaning false in one thing, false in everything.

2:20 SPEAKER_00: It is the common law principle that a witness who lies about one matter is not credible about any matter.

2:26 SPEAKER_00: While this principle primarily concerns discrediting a lying witness rather than describing how lies multiply, it acknowledges the legal intuition that one false statement or witness can corrupt an entire body of testimony.

2:40 SPEAKER_00: Although Sound Doctrine Church, Wine Press Publishing, and the Salt Shaker Bookstore were driven out of the city of Enum Claw, this only proves that the lies against Timothy Williams are indeed complete lies.

2:53 SPEAKER_00: Luke 6, 22-23.

2:56 SPEAKER_00: Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you, and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

3:04 SPEAKER_00: Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven, for that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

3:13 SPEAKER_00: Truly, humbly, Timothy Williams is highly blessed.

3:17 SPEAKER_00: For those who desire to love with the love of God manifested in their life by picking up a cross and hating their own life after having surrendered all, here is the book, Ode Cult, written by Timothy Williams.

3:31 SPEAKER_00: The Consider Podcast.

3:33 SPEAKER_00: www.consider.info.

3:36 SPEAKER_00: Examining today's wisdom, folly, and madness.

Fear Of Cult Labels In Church

3:40 SPEAKER_01: The word cult strikes so much fear in Christian churches that members are afraid to love as Jesus loved.

3:46 SPEAKER_01: So many books, sermons, and ministries have self-righteously pounded the pulpit to watch out for cults that the churches in the United States are now thoroughly lukewarm.

3:57 SPEAKER_01: The first New Testament church, because of its purity, righteousness, and love, inspired by the Holy Spirit, were slanderously labeled a heresy, sect, or cult.

4:08 SPEAKER_01: It is time to repent of being ashamed of the Word of God and love as Jesus loved.

4:13 SPEAKER_01: Let the true disciples of Jesus love so deeply by the power of the Holy Spirit that serious slander and opposition does arise.

4:23 SPEAKER_01: As Paul declared in open court, let us shout everywhere that it is only the disciples of Jesus that have the inspiration unto godly love, to love others selflessly by the power of a crucified life.

4:37 SPEAKER_01: Acts 24, 14.

4:40 SPEAKER_01: However, I admit that I worship the God of our fathers as a follower of the way, which they call a cult.

4:47 SPEAKER_01: I believe everything that agrees with the law and that is written in the prophets.

4:52 SPEAKER_01: Join us now as we listen to the audiobook O de Cult, The Fragrance of Love in the First Church by Timothy Williams.

5:00 SPEAKER_01: The Consider Podcast, examining today's wisdom, folly, and madness.

5:05 SPEAKER_01: Ecclesiastes seven twenty five www.consider.info de Cult, the fragrance of love in the first church by Timothy Williams.

5:20 SPEAKER_02: This book is read by Ralph Cosham.

5:23 SPEAKER_02: Dedicated to all who seek more of the love of Christ in the church.

5:28 SPEAKER_02: I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

5:37 SPEAKER_02: And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.

5:49 SPEAKER_02: Ephesians chapter three verses sixteen to eighteen.

Odorless Christianity And A Wake Up

5:54 SPEAKER_02: Forward For most of my adult life I considered myself a Christian.

6:00 SPEAKER_02: However, I was a distinctly odorless kind of Christian.

6:04 SPEAKER_02: I didn't provoke a strong reaction in anyone.

6:07 SPEAKER_02: People didn't hate me, as Jesus said they would.

6:10 SPEAKER_02: At best, they found me mildly irritating at times.

6:14 SPEAKER_02: Nor did they really fall in love with me.

6:17 SPEAKER_02: For the most part, they thought I was a nice guy or a good friend.

6:22 SPEAKER_02: I was like a piece of rather uninteresting furniture, solid, reliable, functional, good to have around if you wanted something comfortable to sit on, but nothing to really get excited about.

6:35 SPEAKER_02: During the course of eight years I became a member of several different churches and denominations.

6:41 SPEAKER_02: I started out in a Pentecostal church, moved to an independent fellowship, then ended up in a Baptist church, and visited a lot of others along the way.

6:51 SPEAKER_02: All the people seemed very friendly and loving, and there was always a nice, comfortable atmosphere.

6:57 SPEAKER_02: I didn't really care much for theology.

6:59 SPEAKER_02: I just wanted to find a body of believers who truly loved God enough to obey his word.

7:05 SPEAKER_02: What I actually found were Christians whose idea of love was obviously designed to be manageable and comfortable, to be acceptable and appealing to anyone and everyone.

7:15 SPEAKER_02: It didn't smell of Christ.

7:17 SPEAKER_02: It was bland and odorless, just like me.

7:21 SPEAKER_02: So, despite being totally unsatisfied, I fit right in, like a good piece of furniture.

7:27 SPEAKER_02: At church I usually became quickly involved in worship leading, in youth Bible studies, and later in adult Bible studies.

7:36 SPEAKER_02: Though I would often challenge the pastor or the leadership about issues within the fellowship that I saw as being contrary to the Bible, but I was reasonable enough about it to be easily ignored.

7:48 SPEAKER_02: Of course, even a non Christian can read the Bible and point out areas where the scriptures and the church don't match up.

7:55 SPEAKER_02: But I considered myself quite a fundamentalist and followed all the discernment ministries in standing firm against all the error in the church.

8:04 SPEAKER_02: During this time I met many people who seemed to have love and passion, yet it wasn't the love of God or the power of the Holy Spirit.

8:12 SPEAKER_02: I even encountered some people who were rude and offensive, but it wasn't the offense of the cross.

8:18 SPEAKER_02: I had yet to meet any Christians who had that missing something, the fragrance of Jesus Christ.

8:25 SPEAKER_02: Then I heard that a pastor from America was flying over to visit with one of my friends.

8:30 SPEAKER_02: I didn't really know anything about this pastor.

8:33 SPEAKER_02: I had, however, listened to two of his sermon tapes, and found them to be very biblical and very challenging.

8:40 SPEAKER_02: So as I was trying to get out more at the time, I thought it would be worthwhile going around to meet him.

8:47 SPEAKER_02: That's when I first met Timothy Williams and his wife.

8:51 SPEAKER_02: There was obviously something very different about them.

8:54 SPEAKER_02: It's pointless trying to explain or describe what it was, other than to say that they were far from odorless.

9:00 SPEAKER_02: They had a unique fragrance.

9:03 SPEAKER_02: They smelled of holiness, of humility, of a crucified life, and above all the love of God.

9:11 SPEAKER_02: Within a month of discovering this fragrance and starting to fellowship with others at Sound Doctrine Church from halfway around the world, it became clear that I would have to leave my local church and my job.

9:23 SPEAKER_02: People around me started to smell death and didn't want to be associated with it.

9:28 SPEAKER_02: I and Sound Doctrine Church became the subject of all kinds of nasty rumors and gossip as people tried to justify themselves rather than seeking out the truth.

9:38 SPEAKER_02: Phrases like bad exegesis, judgmental, bad hermeneutics, and cultic were often used.

9:45 SPEAKER_02: Some people were even petty enough to always refer to sound doctrine as a group, because they refused to acknowledge it as a real church.

9:54 SPEAKER_02: People were apparently concerned about my involvement with these people, but they preferred to be concerned from a distance, where things looked blurry enough to be mistaken for whatever their sin and fear conjured up.

10:07 SPEAKER_02: Such doubts and accusations seemed utterly ridiculous to me, and I have to admit to being very surprised and disappointed at the reaction of many people I had thought of as brothers and sisters.

10:19 SPEAKER_02: However, while most others were busy getting a bad feeling about sound doctrine, I was rejoicing and struggling with finding a fellowship that not only preached the truth from the Word of God, but actively lived it out by the power of the Holy Spirit.

10:34 SPEAKER_02: The struggle came because I had to begin allowing God to crucify my flesh.

10:38 SPEAKER_02: For a start, I had to humble myself as God revealed the reason I was odorless and didn't smell like Christ.

10:45 SPEAKER_02: It was because I had never really been a Christian.

10:48 SPEAKER_02: This came as quite a shock to me in my self righteousness and self confidence, but it was blatantly obvious as soon as I allowed the light of God to illuminate my life.

10:58 SPEAKER_02: Rather than cause me to turn hostile and defensive, though, by the grace of God it led to an even greater desire to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ.

11:08 SPEAKER_02: Despite the fact that I hate travelling, I felt God was calling me very clearly to fly over to America and visit the church.

11:15 SPEAKER_02: So I decided to take the step of faith and, almost literally leaving everything, I went.

11:22 SPEAKER_02: Almost as soon as I arrived, I knew that I didn't want to leave.

11:26 SPEAKER_02: The love of God was evident in the fellowship right from the start.

11:30 SPEAKER_02: The smell of it was something very different from anything I'd experienced before.

11:35 SPEAKER_02: Not just in what was spoken and taught, certainly not in following any legalistic rules, but in a real and active obedience to God by the power of the Holy Spirit.

11:45 SPEAKER_02: It is a love that simply smells of Jesus Christ.

11:49 SPEAKER_02: Not a dead Jesus on the pages of a book, not a man made Jesus packed neatly into a box, not a comfortable, controllable, entertaining Jesus who just smiles and nods at our sin, but a living Jesus who calls us to lose our very lives for him, that he might live in us.

12:06 SPEAKER_02: Since I have been part of the Sound Doctrine Church, I have gone through many hard struggles as the cross has come to bear on my life.

12:13 SPEAKER_02: Many times I have wept and wrestled with God and with my sin as He seeks to crucify my flesh.

12:20 SPEAKER_02: I trust that I will do so many more times in the future.

12:23 SPEAKER_02: But more than that, I have wept tears of joy at what God, in his grace, has allowed me to be part of.

12:30 SPEAKER_02: I can only pray that by reading this book God will be able to give you a small sample of the fragrance that comes from his incomparable love as it is worked out in the fellowship of his people.

12:41 SPEAKER_02: I pray that it will smell like life to you, for that is what I can testify it truly is.

Break The Jar And Face Judas

12:49 SPEAKER_02: Chapter one Break the Jar Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them.

13:00 SPEAKER_02: Mark chapter fourteen ten.

13:04 SPEAKER_02: It was all Judas could take watching this woman anoint Jesus with perfume.

13:09 SPEAKER_02: Many an individual is driven to reveal themselves as a Judas by the presence of Oda cult, the fragrance of love for Christ.

13:17 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, many who claim faith in Jesus prove by their lives that they just cannot tolerate this fragrance.

13:24 SPEAKER_02: It was the final straw that broke the camel's back and drove Judas over the edge of the spiritual cliff into the bottomless pit.

13:31 SPEAKER_02: He would soon hang himself, and the woman with a jar of perfume moved him faster to his doom.

13:38 SPEAKER_02: Those who whine that this love we have for one another appears like a cult run like Judas to the church leaders to persecute it, while others claim it comes from the devil and therefore commit the unforgivable sin.

13:51 SPEAKER_02: Such church leaders and chief priests provide the power to enable others to do their dirty work.

13:57 SPEAKER_02: And those who oppose this type of fellowship will also instruct others in how to refute its love.

14:03 SPEAKER_02: We must always stand guard against them, and watch ourselves very carefully that we do not act like Judas, opposing those who bless Jesus with the purest of selfless love.

14:14 SPEAKER_02: In our eyes their doctrine may not look respectable, or they do not appear as wise as we think we are.

14:20 SPEAKER_02: But we had best be certain they are not true lovers of God before we speak a word of criticism.

14:26 SPEAKER_02: Let me warn the reader again, you will be shocked at what comes leaping out of a man when you begin to anoint Jesus with odor cult.

14:34 SPEAKER_02: Just as the apostles thought that Judas loved Jesus until it was too late, so too you will be amazed at who rejects this fragrance.

14:43 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, from the chief priests to the apostles themselves, they remain jealous of the love others had for Jesus.

14:50 SPEAKER_02: Because of their guilty consciences the disciples rebuked her harshly.

14:55 SPEAKER_02: They, like us, justify our lukewarm expressions of love to Jesus with spiritual sounding words like being concerned for the poor.

15:04 SPEAKER_02: A church anointed with odocult does not appear reasonable in its expressions of love for Jesus.

15:10 SPEAKER_02: Until you have broken the jar of self and poured it out on Jesus, you cannot speak of wearing odocult or being fully in love with him.

15:19 SPEAKER_02: If this reaction occurred when one woman anointed Jesus with this perfume, you can imagine the reaction, gossip and slander if a whole church acted this way.

15:30 SPEAKER_02: If the best of Jesus followers indignantly talk to one another about this, what will those in the community or other lukewarm churches do?

15:39 SPEAKER_02: Jesus had to personally step in and tell them leave her alone.

15:43 SPEAKER_02: Many oppose Oda cult not because it is wrong, but because it shames their lack of love for Jesus.

15:50 SPEAKER_02: The church should, rather than persecute, break self with all of its reserve and anoint Jesus with love.

15:57 SPEAKER_02: While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard.

16:09 SPEAKER_02: She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

16:13 SPEAKER_02: Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, Why this waste of perfume?

16:18 SPEAKER_02: It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor.

16:22 SPEAKER_02: And they rebuked her harshly.

16:25 SPEAKER_02: Leave her alone, said Jesus, why are you bothering her?

16:29 SPEAKER_02: She has done a beautiful thing to me.

16:32 SPEAKER_02: The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want.

16:36 SPEAKER_02: But you will not always have me.

16:38 SPEAKER_02: She did what she could.

16:40 SPEAKER_02: She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.

16:44 SPEAKER_02: I tell you the truth.

16:46 SPEAKER_02: Wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.

16:57 SPEAKER_02: As this woman broke the jar, it filled the whole room with its fragrance.

17:02 SPEAKER_02: It was a sermon without words, and its smell penetrated to the soul.

17:07 SPEAKER_02: Many today take upon their lips the name of Jesus, but few smell of this perfume of love.

17:13 SPEAKER_02: Whenever I listen to men, women, pastors and leaders speak of Jesus, I recall few who speak his name as perfume poured out.

17:22 SPEAKER_02: Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes.

17:24 SPEAKER_02: Your name is like perfume poured out.

17:27 SPEAKER_02: No wonder the maidens love you.

17:29 SPEAKER_02: Song of Songs chapter one verse three.

17:33 SPEAKER_02: This woman anointed Jesus on the way to the cross.

17:37 SPEAKER_02: As we pick up our daily cross to follow Jesus, there we are also privileged to anoint Jesus again and again with the fragrance of our sacrifice of love.

17:47 SPEAKER_02: It was a simple act what this woman did.

17:50 SPEAKER_02: She did not work at a grand ministry, fulfill a special calling, or seek a blessing from Jesus.

17:56 SPEAKER_02: She sought nothing for herself.

17:58 SPEAKER_02: Without a word or any fanfare, she broke a jar of perfume and anointed Jesus.

18:04 SPEAKER_02: It was an act of selfless love poured out to the one she loved.

18:08 SPEAKER_02: He was not first on her priority list, but her only love.

18:12 SPEAKER_02: It was the pure gospel because it was pure love poured out.

18:17 SPEAKER_02: No wonder Jesus said that wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.

18:26 SPEAKER_02: Jesus died that we might fall in love with him, not that we might grab blessings.

18:30 SPEAKER_02: Those who forsake all give all, letting self be broken, or rather break self for God by the power of the Holy Spirit, are filled with the good news.

18:40 SPEAKER_02: Those who give everything like this woman, breaking open all for Jesus will smell of Jesus.

18:46 SPEAKER_02: This anointing is the same thing He did for us.

18:50 SPEAKER_02: He gave up all of self for our sakes, so we are like him smelling of heaven.

18:55 SPEAKER_02: This is why he is not ashamed to call us brothers.

18:59 SPEAKER_02: Church is a place to prepare for heaven.

19:02 SPEAKER_02: If your church does not have an odor cult love, how can you honestly declare that it loves as heaven loves?

19:08 SPEAKER_02: Every church, every Christian, has a choice every day, to allow the cross to break self or to hang on to self.

19:15 SPEAKER_02: A man either hangs on the cross or he hangs on to himself.

19:20 SPEAKER_02: Pray and long for a church where everyone hangs on the cross with Jesus.

19:24 SPEAKER_02: For there you will experience a church that smells of the resurrected life.

19:28 SPEAKER_02: Be willing to travel, test and search out this buried treasure, to throw in your jar with others who fellowship and anoint Jesus this way.

19:37 SPEAKER_02: People whose very lives smell of a love for Jesus before they speak a single word.

19:42 SPEAKER_02: Be ready at an instant to obey and join a church like this, for there you will discover true, abundant life.

19:49 SPEAKER_02: But you must give up all, all pride, money, time, talent, doctrines, traditions, way of doing things, desires, goals, blessings, all of self.

20:00 SPEAKER_02: All once dead to self, you will be filled with the love of heaven that loves God with all, and able to love others in spirit and truth.

20:09 SPEAKER_02: This is the essence of Oda Cult.

Defining Odor Cult Love

20:13 SPEAKER_02: Chapter two Oda Cult A new command I give you love one another.

20:20 SPEAKER_02: As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

20:24 SPEAKER_02: By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

20:35 SPEAKER_02: All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another, Jesus told his disciples.

20:42 SPEAKER_02: Love from heaven in the church is the one test by which all doctrines and ministry work should be measured.

20:48 SPEAKER_02: But what does the love of Jesus look like in a church?

20:51 SPEAKER_02: It certainly cannot look like the love the world shows, for that is merely sin expressed in kindness.

20:57 SPEAKER_02: It must be a love so radical that the world persecutes it, and the remnant of God are drawn to it.

21:03 SPEAKER_02: This special love which comes from the Holy Spirit is seldom seen in the church today.

21:09 SPEAKER_02: Love from a crucified life has been replaced with socializing and what men call logical doctrine.

21:16 SPEAKER_02: Lukewarmness, because it is warm and comfortable, is considered safe and normal in Jesus.

21:22 SPEAKER_02: Of course, lukewarm churches are the ones that receive all the rewards from Satan and worldly Christians.

21:28 SPEAKER_02: They receive the money, help, and support.

21:31 SPEAKER_02: Satan will not get in the way of such churches, in fact, he will get out of the way so that it appears God answers their prayers.

21:39 SPEAKER_02: Waves of events and new movements in the church have replaced the true love of Jesus.

21:44 SPEAKER_02: The church has refused the efforts of Jesus to nail them down on the cross, resulting in a whirlwind of activity in the church with no depth of serious love.

21:54 SPEAKER_02: Because of this spiritual climate, any love for Jesus hotter than lukewarm is regarded as is evil and cultic.

22:01 SPEAKER_02: But as we shall see, any church that is not falsely accused of being a cult has lost its first love.

22:08 SPEAKER_02: The essence of a cult, or as they say in France, Oda cult, came to mind one day as I walked to the Christian bookstore run by our church as a service to the community.

22:19 SPEAKER_02: At the bookstore we seek to stock the old writings of saints who understood and lived the offensive message of the cross.

22:26 SPEAKER_02: On this walk was born the idea of putting a bottle of fragrance in the store that would remind individuals we need to smell like Jesus.

22:33 SPEAKER_02: Soon we had bottles of Odor Cult sitting on the shelves.

22:38 SPEAKER_02: Actually, the story goes back almost thirty years prior when I preached the sermon entitled Holy Perfume.

22:45 SPEAKER_02: Over my many years of pastoring people have frequently accused me of being a cult leader.

22:51 SPEAKER_02: At my first preaching job it didn't take long before I was being labelled as such.

22:56 SPEAKER_02: Jim Jones, who had led his group down to the jungles of South America and ended up with everyone drinking poisoned Kool Aid remained fresh on everyone's mind.

23:06 SPEAKER_02: I hadn't preached three months when one of the most supportive ladies in the church came up behind me and pushed me saying Is your name Jim?

23:15 SPEAKER_02: Jim Jones?

23:17 SPEAKER_02: This was back in nineteen seventy eight, and I was very green when it came to preaching.

23:22 SPEAKER_02: My crime?

23:23 SPEAKER_02: Preaching the message of the cross to a very comfortable church.

23:27 SPEAKER_02: Their charges were many and varied and grew in emotion and length until I was fired.

23:33 SPEAKER_02: Accusations such as my sermons were too good for a young preacher, so I must get them from someone else, or trying to alienate the children from their parents were thrown at my wife and me.

23:44 SPEAKER_02: We had made the mistake of having a meeting at our trailer one evening to talk about the Lord and innocently served Kool Aid.

23:52 SPEAKER_02: One can easily see that such innocent events turn into false accusations when people must listen to what they do not want to hear.

23:59 SPEAKER_02: After all, I had told them we should love our Baptist neighbors and that some of these people might even be saved.

24:06 SPEAKER_02: This and many other aspects of the gospel rattled their dead spiritual lives.

24:12 SPEAKER_02: Rather than repent, they became hostile.

24:16 SPEAKER_02: I didn't know it then but I later discovered by God's grace that there is a fragrance in Christ that all true disciples receive by the Holy Spirit.

24:24 SPEAKER_02: This fragrance follows us everywhere the Holy Spirit sends us to preach.

24:29 SPEAKER_02: God has sought to give this scent to every church I have pastored with my helpmate and beloved wife.

Fragrance Of Life Or Death

24:34 SPEAKER_02: To some the fragrance smells like death to others it is life.

24:39 SPEAKER_02: If it smells of death it means you are on your way to hell.

24:43 SPEAKER_02: But if it smells like life then eternal hope will produce eternal joy.

24:48 SPEAKER_02: Many others however are not sure what the fragrance is they just know it smells unusual.

24:56 SPEAKER_02: To the one we are the smell of death, to the other the fragrance of life and who is equal to such a task two Corinthians chapter two verse sixteen This fragrance shows itself long before we open our mouths or even arrive in someone's life.

25:13 SPEAKER_02: It is a fragrance that causes a strong spiritual reaction.

25:18 SPEAKER_02: Many times someone will say I don't like them before we even have a chance to say or do anything in the Lord.

25:25 SPEAKER_02: Or others will say something like there is something different about them, but they have no evidence to support either statement.

25:32 SPEAKER_02: Many times after people have talked with us, their friends or relatives comment I have never seen him open up to anyone so much and so quickly as he did to you.

25:42 SPEAKER_02: Because people sense something different in our lives they feel safe to speak from the heart.

25:47 SPEAKER_02: Anyone willing to wear this perfume at all times, even when others sense death, the closest of fellowship with Jesus will be theirs.

25:55 SPEAKER_02: Take for example Paul He smelled strongly of Jesus.

26:00 SPEAKER_02: So strong was the scent that people everywhere were talking against him.

26:05 SPEAKER_02: Indeed they referred to Paul's church as a sect, or in our modern day language a cult.

26:11 SPEAKER_02: Paul definitely wore Oda cult.

26:15 SPEAKER_02: They replied We have not received any letters from Judea concerning you, and none of the brothers who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you.

26:25 SPEAKER_02: But we want to hear what your views are, for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect.

26:31 SPEAKER_02: They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying.

26:38 SPEAKER_02: From morning till evening he explained and declared to them the kingdom of God, and tried to convince them about Jesus from the law of Moses and from the prophets.

26:47 SPEAKER_02: Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe Acts chapter twenty eight verses twenty one to twenty four because none of the brothers reported or said anything bad about Paul, they couldn't figure out why so many spoke with such malice about him.

27:05 SPEAKER_02: Again we see the battle between those who interpret the smell as death and those who smell life.

27:11 SPEAKER_02: They met with Paul to discuss this matter.

27:14 SPEAKER_02: With great care and fine logic Paul explained to them about Jesus, Moses and the prophets.

27:20 SPEAKER_02: In spite of Paul's efforts to present the gospel, the Bible tells us that some of those who heard simply would not believe.

27:28 SPEAKER_02: No doubt one reason they refused to believe was that they too would have had to wear Odecult.

27:34 SPEAKER_02: How many in Paul's time and still today feel ashamed of the words of Christ and refuse to wear the fragrance.

27:42 SPEAKER_02: Of course a few found it to be the fragrance of life and were convinced by the Holy Spirit that Paul spoke the truth.

27:49 SPEAKER_02: In marching forward with the cross in our life the fragrance of the gospel spreads everywhere.

27:54 SPEAKER_02: As we become losers for Jesus we march triumphantly as the Holy Spirit leads and God's fragrance permeates everything.

28:03 SPEAKER_02: But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ, and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him two Corinthians chapter two fourteen This book will seem like either death or life to you.

28:20 SPEAKER_02: You might feel confused and even a little frightened as to how to live everything written here.

28:26 SPEAKER_02: This is normal.

28:27 SPEAKER_02: It is not a scent most people are accustomed to, and nothing on earth smells like it.

28:32 SPEAKER_02: When we face something unfamiliar we often become frightened therefore many declare they get a bad feeling when they first come into contact with this love.

28:42 SPEAKER_02: Don't let your fear immediately label this as legalistic or something to avoid.

28:47 SPEAKER_02: Rich joy that will start here on earth and never end throughout all of eternity will be yours if you willingly crucify self.

28:56 SPEAKER_02: The amount and depth of love that God has worked is amazing.

29:00 SPEAKER_02: More astounding is that he worked this love in spite of severe opposition.

29:05 SPEAKER_02: All the stories of persecution would require another book, and are not really worth repeating here.

29:11 SPEAKER_02: It is the same old tired story of men who persecute the love of God.

29:16 SPEAKER_02: The methods and reasons for this persecution remain the same, and will be the same until Jesus returns.

29:23 SPEAKER_02: Satan attacks both outside and inside the church where God works this kind of love.

29:29 SPEAKER_02: Outwardly he brings opposition from many sources in various ways from many directions.

29:34 SPEAKER_02: Inwardly Satan seeks to weaken us with sin, using bitter roots as his main tactic.

29:41 SPEAKER_02: Read through the Old Testament and note what happened as Moses led the people out of Egypt.

29:46 SPEAKER_02: The desert, or the cross from our viewpoint, became a real testing ground to see who had true faith in God.

29:53 SPEAKER_02: Therefore the book of Hebrews warns us to watch out for bitter roots which can quickly destroy a church.

30:00 SPEAKER_02: Everyone who attends a church where the cross remains powerful will feel tempted to have a bitter root from time to time.

30:07 SPEAKER_02: It is a terrible sin that ruins the love in a church.

30:11 SPEAKER_02: If a congregation desires to press on to rich love from Jesus, they must learn to rejoice always, to rejoice even when pride, selfishness, hidden motives and sins are revealed and crucified.

30:25 SPEAKER_02: If this groundwork is not clearly understood by all, then church leaders will find it impossible to move the body forward as the spirit leads Satan loves to use evil suspicions.

30:37 SPEAKER_02: When he roars loudly enough he can cause many to freeze in fear.

30:41 SPEAKER_02: Satan also whispers through men and shoots flaming arrows at our hearts to frighten us.

30:47 SPEAKER_02: He declares it will all end like a cult.

30:50 SPEAKER_02: Who can defend themselves against such an accusation of the future first the accuser frames the story to fit a mold and then declares that the conclusion will end in the way the story demands.

31:02 SPEAKER_02: Plus plenty of failures occur that the evil one and others can point to that will prove their point.

31:09 SPEAKER_02: Please pay careful attention to what you read here.

31:12 SPEAKER_02: If you attempt to gain this love every point and more will be needed to survive the trials ahead.

31:18 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, no man can escape the trap of evil suspicions unless he has true faith in God, a faith in a God who can work the same love that the first church had into our hearts today.

31:30 SPEAKER_02: But you will have to be willing to wear a fragrance that many will think smells like death.

31:35 SPEAKER_02: Those who oppose the message of the cross will somehow know it is death, even when they cannot prove it.

31:42 SPEAKER_02: They will be convinced you secretly sleep with everyone in the church.

31:46 SPEAKER_02: They will think you desire to destroy their family and only want everyone's money.

31:51 SPEAKER_02: If there is never any evidence to support this knowledge, how can they be so sure?

31:56 SPEAKER_02: Simple such accusers measure things by their own hearts and we know the heart is deceitful above all things.

32:04 SPEAKER_02: Inside, they know that if they were in our situation they would fall into such sinful acts.

32:10 SPEAKER_02: Such people cannot imagine a truly pure heart because their hearts burn with lust and sin.

32:16 SPEAKER_02: They judge themselves when they condemn those who wear the fragrance of Christ because they refuse to repent of their own sins.

32:23 SPEAKER_02: Those without the true cross in their life cannot understand that there really is a power that overcomes sins in a person's life.

32:31 SPEAKER_02: Simply stated they are not pure enough by the grace of God to understand the possibility of such purity.

32:38 SPEAKER_02: A man who has not honestly tasted the sufferings of the cross that brings purity cannot for a moment believe it is possible.

32:45 SPEAKER_02: It would be easier to explain light to a blind man than to convince such a person that he is wrong in his false accusations and twisting of facts.

32:54 SPEAKER_02: As Titus one fifteen declares to the pure all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe nothing is pure.

33:03 SPEAKER_02: In fact both their minds and consciences are corrupted.

33:08 SPEAKER_02: Over the years others have repeated the refrain that I am a cult leader, and our church is headed toward that kind of corruption.

33:15 SPEAKER_02: Thirty years ago men declared this evil suspicion over and over.

33:20 SPEAKER_02: As a result, many people failed to consider joining our church as God called them.

33:25 SPEAKER_02: Those who made these accusations back in nineteen seventy nine however still wait for this cult to fall into the corruption they so confidently predicted.

33:34 SPEAKER_02: Like those who vowed not to eat or drink until Paul died, those who started this rumor decades ago still wait for our cult to perish in sin.

33:43 SPEAKER_02: However, fresh new voices always shoot the arrows of evil suspicions in order to build up their own self righteousness.

Evil Suspicion And Guilt By Association

33:51 SPEAKER_02: The following quote comes from an article published in the fall of two thousand two, even as we wrote this book Notice the wickedness of accusation by association and the complete lack of any evidence.

34:04 SPEAKER_02: They know that their accusations are true, and only a matter of time will prove them right.

34:10 SPEAKER_02: Therefore they feel justified in making the accusation now.

34:14 SPEAKER_02: It is slander of the worst kind.

34:16 SPEAKER_02: Note also the false love.

34:19 SPEAKER_02: They pretend to warn rather than accuse, but all the while they imply that bad fruit must be present even though they cannot actually point to any The longer range consequences of such aberrational theology become serious.

34:34 SPEAKER_02: In some settings, particularly where communal living is the norm, which is not the case in mister Williams' group, women will look to the leader as their spiritual covering instead of to their husband, and children will look to the leader instead of to their father.

34:49 SPEAKER_02: Strained marriages and dysfunctional families tend to become a longer term result.

34:54 SPEAKER_02: It is also not uncommon for a financial exploitation to begin to surface at some point, and neither is it uncommon for someone holding this kind of sway to engage in immorality further down the line.

35:07 SPEAKER_02: We wish to emphasize however that we have no evidence that Mr Williams has ever perpetrated such treachery.

35:14 SPEAKER_02: We simply refer to a pattern we have witnessed time and time again among groups that followed a similar path.

35:20 SPEAKER_02: We issue a warning not an accusation.

35:23 SPEAKER_02: Aberrational groups that deviate from the Bible moreover wind up indict themselves.

35:29 SPEAKER_02: We cannot say how many of these trends are already underway within this group but while we do not know with any certainty how far this particular group has gone down this particular road we are quite confident to say that this is the road that they certainly appear to be travelling on Emphasis added The article is of course much longer.

35:53 SPEAKER_02: After doing a thorough job of misrepresentation and insinuation, the writers conclude that they have no evidence to support such claims and that they cannot say how many of these things happen in our church.

36:06 SPEAKER_02: One can only wonder how many knots a man can have in his life and still be labelled guilty.

36:12 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, this discernment ministry mentioned communal living only to weave a lie with the truth in order to make their entire accusation appear true.

36:21 SPEAKER_02: They still remain, however, quite confident that it is the road we are or at least appear to be heading down.

36:28 SPEAKER_02: Such unfounded statements of course result from total sin and come from wicked hearts.

36:34 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, if they lived the gospel, the message of the cross, they would understand all of this.

36:40 SPEAKER_02: If they really preached a true Jesus and not the current wide gate Jesus so often declared, all of this would become abundantly clear.

36:48 SPEAKER_02: Such people would do well to repent of their errors in doctrine and ask God to fill them with the love of heaven that does not think evil of each other.

36:57 SPEAKER_02: Self righteousness results in evil suspicions, quarrels and fear rather than a building up in the truth.

37:05 SPEAKER_02: If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing.

37:16 SPEAKER_02: He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions one Timothy chapter six verses three and four The only thing that remains is for people to bring forth false witnesses as they did with Jesus, which I fully expect to happen some day.

37:38 SPEAKER_02: Therefore, do not become discouraged because some individuals smell death rather than life and fiercely oppose you because of their own sins.

37:47 SPEAKER_02: In fact, let it prepare you for the time when all men will hate you.

37:52 SPEAKER_02: Rejoice and move forward in love, and soon you shall enter through the gates of heaven and fellowship with others who have worn odor cult.

38:00 SPEAKER_02: Even now God will give the deepest of love and fellowship with those who desire all of Jesus and his cross.

38:07 SPEAKER_02: You will discover a love more important than ministry, a love where people put on no false pretenses and individuals live in fear of the Lord, where members feel safe in the church because God keeps everything pure.

38:20 SPEAKER_02: No one is a number on an attendance chart, and no one in leadership takes advantage of the flock, where God really remains the only person sought out and obeyed.

38:31 SPEAKER_02: For example, if any member of such a church should stumble into sin and leave the church they would have the means to return to the Lord even without necessarily returning to that particular church.

38:41 SPEAKER_02: For they have been taught the message and have the tools that allow them to return to a relationship with God.

38:48 SPEAKER_02: Many who do leave feel tormented because this love cannot be found in the world or alone in their hearts.

38:54 SPEAKER_02: Only in the context of fellowship is love fully known.

38:58 SPEAKER_02: Love, the fruit that Jesus said proves someone is of God is present in a church where they truly carry the cross.

39:05 SPEAKER_02: A love and joy so overflowing with no bounds that members exclaim with Paul that they would live or die with these brothers and sisters.

39:14 SPEAKER_02: When a man turns his back on this kind of love he feels tormented and rails against the church to cover up his guilty conscience I do not say this to condemn you.

39:24 SPEAKER_02: I have said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you.

39:30 SPEAKER_02: I have great confidence in you I take great pride in you.

39:33 SPEAKER_02: I am greatly encouraged.

39:35 SPEAKER_02: In all our troubles my joy knows no bounds two Corinthians chapter seven verses three and four although such love is honestly amazing, it is not enough for most individuals.

Why The Cross Triggers Persecution

39:48 SPEAKER_02: To have O de cult you must have the cross.

39:52 SPEAKER_02: This love of Christ in a church requires crucifixion of self by the Holy Spirit, and most remain unwilling to pay the price.

40:00 SPEAKER_02: Everyone is so busy being something and being promised they will be something in the church that Jesus has no time to form a church.

40:07 SPEAKER_02: Therefore you might find one person in a church known for being the slave of everyone, but seldom a whole church the heart of the gospel is missing.

40:16 SPEAKER_02: The following quote comes from a letter by someone unwilling to carry her cross and give all to Jesus This person was an average churchgoer who had experienced much fellowship in other churches, but she wept in the midst of us and said that she had never experienced such love before.

40:35 SPEAKER_02: Later, as she began to reject the requirements of the cross, she wrote a letter stating that she was still testing the spirits to see if we were from God.

40:44 SPEAKER_02: As this person wrote tired old questions, doubts and dodges from sacrifice, she made the following statement And the fellowship was what I thought it was.

40:55 SPEAKER_02: I enjoyed myself so much and felt so welcomed and loved by everyone there.

40:59 SPEAKER_02: I can see how it would be hard for anyone to walk away from that.

41:04 SPEAKER_02: When I pointed out that love was the test that proved whether or not a church remained in Jesus and plainly should answer her doubts, we were then slanderously accused of being full of hate.

41:14 SPEAKER_02: What a turnaround If you gain a love from heaven by way of the cross you will see this kind of thing time and time again.

41:22 SPEAKER_02: Though this person had wept at what she found, she was unwilling to pay the price to have it.

41:27 SPEAKER_02: To wear odor cult requires the surrender of all.

41:31 SPEAKER_02: As two Corinthians two sixteen tells us no man is equal to such a task.

41:37 SPEAKER_02: No man is up to the task of creating this fragrance himself.

41:41 SPEAKER_02: No man is equal to the calling that permits God to bless us with this fragrance.

41:46 SPEAKER_02: It cannot be manufactured by programs, outlines or fancy preaching.

41:50 SPEAKER_02: It does not come with revival meetings or prayer meetings.

41:54 SPEAKER_02: It is the Lord's work that no man can control or influence.

41:58 SPEAKER_02: A person either has the scent or he doesn't.

42:01 SPEAKER_02: Many churches and Christians seek to smell like this with their Bible reading, projects and goals to love one another, but only live a cheap imitation.

42:10 SPEAKER_02: It is the difference between fellowship in the light that the Holy Spirit shines in a church and one that merely socializes by the light of man.

42:18 SPEAKER_02: Where men try to mock this fragrance you will always find something missing.

42:23 SPEAKER_02: Because of the hypocrisy, pride, cliques, gossip, rules and pleasure seeking you can sense they lack the cross.

42:30 SPEAKER_02: For no matter what good points a church may have, leaving a bunch of dead flies floating in the perfume ruins it.

42:37 SPEAKER_02: To obtain odor cult from the Lord, each person and church needs to make sure no dead flies float in the batch.

42:45 SPEAKER_02: They must be ready to repent and give up everything again and again for a little folly outweighs much good.

42:53 SPEAKER_02: As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweigh wisdom and honor Ecclesiastes chapter ten verse one What is odocult?

43:05 SPEAKER_02: Simply the fragrance of love that flows from the throne of heaven a love that will only happen if we willingly pick up a cross as Jesus did.

43:14 SPEAKER_02: In order to get this kind of love we must accept the offensive message of the cross What is the offensive message of the cross?

43:22 SPEAKER_02: Rejoicing and obeying a message from the Holy Spirit that we do not want to hear.

43:27 SPEAKER_02: This book is not about that message, but about the fruit of that message.

43:31 SPEAKER_02: Other books previously listed in the front expound on that topic.

43:36 SPEAKER_02: The fruit of this message is love, a love that comes from the Holy Spirit yet seldom seen in churches today.

43:43 SPEAKER_02: In fact, it is difficult to find a true Holy Spirit inspired hospitality in the church today, let alone a love where individuals lay down their lives for each other.

43:54 SPEAKER_02: If you long for your church to be filled with a heavenly love, then the fragrance of odocult is for you.

44:00 SPEAKER_02: The fragrance of odor cult comes from the love of Jesus in each individual's heart.

44:05 SPEAKER_02: Jesus said that such fruit would tell others we belong to him.

44:10 SPEAKER_02: By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.

44:15 SPEAKER_02: John chapter thirteen thirty five.

44:19 SPEAKER_02: How then shall I describe this love?

44:22 SPEAKER_02: How does one describe a fragrance to someone who has never smelt flowers or incense?

44:26 SPEAKER_02: How do we describe a fragrance that has never been produced by any man on earth?

44:31 SPEAKER_02: There simply is no reference point when it comes to God's love.

44:35 SPEAKER_02: For as the heavens are higher than us, so is God's love different from ours.

44:40 SPEAKER_02: People will often ask us to tell them how this love manifests itself.

44:44 SPEAKER_02: We find it difficult to answer such questions because such a fragrance penetrates all we do, but does not always display itself in grandiose gestures.

44:54 SPEAKER_02: This love is like the power manifested on the night Jesus was born in a simple manger.

44:59 SPEAKER_02: That birth would shatter hell, but only a few shepherds experienced its glory.

45:04 SPEAKER_02: So too the love God works in the church is like a weak baby in a manger.

45:09 SPEAKER_02: It has the power to cause hell to persecute it and heaven to rejoice over it.

45:14 SPEAKER_02: In short, you will find nothing like it on earth.

45:17 SPEAKER_02: It comes from heaven and is completely different in every way, both in heart and action.

45:23 SPEAKER_02: This short book will feebly attempt to share a love that moves individuals who visit us to tears.

45:30 SPEAKER_02: This book is really a prayer.

45:32 SPEAKER_02: Only the answer to prayer can open someone's eyes to the fact that the love of God lived out in this world will look like a cult to the world or the worldly.

45:41 SPEAKER_02: As Paul prayed, that out of his glorious riches God would make the width, depth, and height of the love of Christ known to the church.

45:49 SPEAKER_02: We hope that through this book a few will desire this true love.

45:53 SPEAKER_02: I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

46:03 SPEAKER_02: And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

46:20 SPEAKER_02: Ephesians chapter three verses sixteen to nineteen.

46:25 SPEAKER_02: The fragrance of love in the first church surpassed knowledge, and that should be the case in our churches today.

46:32 SPEAKER_02: No outline, no study guide, and no book, including this one, can communicate the fullness of God and his love in the church.

46:41 SPEAKER_02: Only a God who acts with power, if he can find surrendered saints, can work heavenly love in a church.

46:48 SPEAKER_02: This fullness of God filling a church causes the religious to dislike and even persecute those God anoints with odor cult.

The Perfumer Metaphor For Holiness

46:58 SPEAKER_02: Chapter three Worker of Perfume As you come to him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

47:26 SPEAKER_02: God makes his chosen ones into priests who will love him forever.

47:30 SPEAKER_02: We are a holy priesthood, meant to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

47:37 SPEAKER_02: The following passage describes one such sacrifice the Holy Spirit will fulfill in our lives and churches if we allow him.

47:46 SPEAKER_02: Then the Lord said to Moses, Take fragrant spices, gum resin, Onica and Galbanum, and pure frankincense, all in equal amounts, and make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer.

48:00 SPEAKER_02: It is to be salted and pure and sacred.

48:03 SPEAKER_02: Grind some of it to powder and place it in front of the testimony in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you.

48:10 SPEAKER_02: It shall be most holy to you.

48:12 SPEAKER_02: Do not make any incense with this formula for yourselves.

48:15 SPEAKER_02: Consider it holy to the Lord.

48:17 SPEAKER_02: Whoever makes any like it to enjoy its fragrance must be cut off from his people.

48:23 SPEAKER_02: Exodus chapter thirty, verses thirty four to thirty eight.

48:28 SPEAKER_02: Let us examine this perfume and fragrance with which God wants to anoint the church.

48:34 SPEAKER_02: Then the Lord said to Moses, Take fragrant spices, gum resin, Onica and Galbanum, and pure frankincense all in equal amounts.

48:44 SPEAKER_02: Creating a balanced incense requires the work of a perfumer.

48:48 SPEAKER_02: It is a work not in terms of earning salvation, but in terms of a labor of love, a fragrance that is not manufactured by works, but with the willing, joyful obedience of man.

48:59 SPEAKER_02: It does not come easily but by perseverance.

49:03 SPEAKER_02: The craftsman makes the perfume with equal amounts of ingredients and a blend of fragrances.

49:09 SPEAKER_02: Whatever aspects of the Holy Spirit occur, whether represented by spices, gum resin, onica, galbanum, or frankincense, they are of equal amounts.

49:20 SPEAKER_02: The kind of church or person who has this fragrance is not emotionally unbalanced.

49:25 SPEAKER_02: They do not dance or clap at every church meeting, but have various times and degrees of all the emotions of the Holy Spirit.

49:33 SPEAKER_02: They rejoice, but do so with fear and trembling.

49:37 SPEAKER_02: Each ingredient never overpowers the other, but all come together to fill the senses with the fullness of the Lord.

49:44 SPEAKER_02: Such believers are not judgmental, but neither are they without judgment.

49:49 SPEAKER_02: They do not have dry studies of the word, but make their feelings obedient to the ways of scripture.

49:54 SPEAKER_02: They have things of the world, but they are not engrossed in them.

49:58 SPEAKER_02: They may have money but know how to hate and despise it.

50:02 SPEAKER_02: They go to doctors but don't put their trust in them.

50:05 SPEAKER_02: They believe in miraculous healing, but can accept sickness from the Lord.

50:09 SPEAKER_02: They know when to offend Pharisees but desire peace.

50:13 SPEAKER_02: They know how to point out the faults of others without being a fault finder.

50:17 SPEAKER_02: They do not gossip, but can speak of others in truth.

50:21 SPEAKER_02: They are filled with a holy hatred, but their lives overflow with the deepest of love for others.

50:26 SPEAKER_02: They have all things in common, but the leadership does not own everything.

50:31 SPEAKER_02: They stand one in heart, in mind, but different in every way.

50:35 SPEAKER_02: They do not waste time but know how to play in the Lord.

50:39 SPEAKER_02: They know how to constantly aim for perfection, but also how to rest in God's Sabbath of mercy.

50:46 SPEAKER_02: And make a fragrant blend of incense the work of a perfumer.

50:51 SPEAKER_02: This perfume is so special that it requires the work of a perfumer, a specialist, someone skilled in the way of the cross.

50:59 SPEAKER_02: No young convert knows how to make this perfume.

51:03 SPEAKER_02: No uncrucified person is permitted to create this perfume.

51:07 SPEAKER_02: Those who do not understand or accept the offensive message of the cross do not have the wisdom to blend this perfume.

51:14 SPEAKER_02: It is an art that comes only from above when the flesh has been sufficiently crucified.

51:20 SPEAKER_02: Many a ministry attempts to mock it like a cheap copy of an expensive perfume, but those with discernment recognize it as a lousy imitation.

51:29 SPEAKER_02: The grandest prize of all awaits those who have this fragrance, fellowship with God.

51:35 SPEAKER_02: He will come and sit with them, and quietly hold and embrace them with his glories.

51:40 SPEAKER_02: For God declares that there I will meet with you.

51:43 SPEAKER_02: You will sense his presence without speaking a single word.

51:47 SPEAKER_02: Many times you will feel God's mercy and pleasure as when a child just sits on a parent's lap.

51:53 SPEAKER_02: Many falsely believe they feel this presence, but unless the cross does its painful work every day they live a lie.

52:00 SPEAKER_02: My wife and I can testify that this is true.

52:04 SPEAKER_02: The church we worship at can testify to the reality of this love that is hidden from those who reject the offensive message of the cross.

52:12 SPEAKER_02: What you are about to read has been lived and experienced, not just in my lifetime, but in the lives of many other Christians throughout history.

52:21 SPEAKER_02: With fear and trembling we share a small fraction of what God has worked because we know that sin could easily ruin it.

52:28 SPEAKER_02: A year from now it may all be gone, it is that simple.

52:32 SPEAKER_02: We do not share abstract goals or high ideals, but something God has worked by his mercy.

52:39 SPEAKER_02: But be warned, it is difficult to acquire this fragrance from the Lord.

52:45 SPEAKER_02: During the past twenty three years God has led my wife and me to pastor four churches.

52:50 SPEAKER_02: The first rejected the love of the Holy Spirit from the start.

52:54 SPEAKER_02: God opened the door to start a new church, but God had us shut it down because the members made us their Holy Spirit.

53:02 SPEAKER_02: We started another church, but it grumbled and complained about the message of the cross so much that God permitted it to self destruct.

53:10 SPEAKER_02: Finally, our most recent church embraced the fullness of the love of the gospel.

53:15 SPEAKER_02: This fragrance is costly and not easily obtained or maintained.

The Cost Of Daily Brokenness

53:20 SPEAKER_02: It requires that a man surrender all and pay the price daily.

53:24 SPEAKER_02: A daily brokenness is the only way.

53:27 SPEAKER_02: The Old Testament law reserved this perfume for Aaron and his sons, but we, under the new covenant, are all priests who may enter the holy of holies and wear this fragrance freely.

53:38 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, it is a sin for any church not to live up to the level of love we will look at in this book.

53:44 SPEAKER_02: Not only is this powerful love possible, but God requires it.

53:49 SPEAKER_02: Those who desire this perfume must lay a foundation as an expert builder.

53:54 SPEAKER_02: It is hard, exhausting work, but it results in abundant life.

53:59 SPEAKER_02: It is to be salted and pure and sacred.

54:03 SPEAKER_02: This fragrance is pure and sacred, with enough salt to be separated from the ways and manners of the world.

54:10 SPEAKER_02: It is salted with the righteous demands of the gospel that instructs us to deny self, pick up our cross, and obey Jesus in everything.

54:20 SPEAKER_02: Take, for example, the Christian music, books, and worship found in the church today.

54:25 SPEAKER_02: They might have the word of God or good lyrics, but have no salt nor sacredness, making the holy sounding words demonic.

54:33 SPEAKER_02: To be acceptable to the Lord, such things must reflect the Trinity of God in all of his holiness, with salt, purity and sacredness.

54:42 SPEAKER_02: All the ingredients in their proper amounts must be present.

54:46 SPEAKER_02: Grind some of it to powder and place it in front of the testimony in the tent of meeting where I will meet with you.

54:53 SPEAKER_02: It shall be most holy to you.

54:55 SPEAKER_02: This perfume is ground into a powder, placed in front of the tent of meeting, and it draws the Lord.

55:02 SPEAKER_02: We pay the cost by falling to the ground and dying, and therefore the Lord meets us there.

55:07 SPEAKER_02: Self has been ground down and pulverized when we are willing to actually die to who we are, and there God and man meet to fellowship.

55:16 SPEAKER_02: Again, the perfume or incense is made by grinding some of it into powder.

55:21 SPEAKER_02: Self must be ground out of us more and more each day.

55:25 SPEAKER_02: Just as we must carry a daily cross, the priest perpetually offered this fragrance.

55:30 SPEAKER_02: We must submit to the Lord's work at the threshing floor day and night, removing the chaff from the wheat.

55:37 SPEAKER_02: Do not make any incense with this formula for yourselves, consider it holy to the Lord.

55:43 SPEAKER_02: This is a holy or separate perfume in the Lord, and we must never make any of this for ourselves.

55:50 SPEAKER_02: When Satan began to look at himself and selfishly grabbed onto godly things, he became a devil.

55:56 SPEAKER_02: In other words, we must never try to make this happen.

55:59 SPEAKER_02: Not only is such self effort futile, it is also sin, and makes the perfume unholy, tainting it by the corruption of man.

56:07 SPEAKER_02: Today, I know that churches everywhere teach that there is no difference between the holy and the common, but God gives special things to each person and church that they must regard as most holy.

56:19 SPEAKER_02: If we consider this fragrance to be common or a normal thing, God will stop the flow of love in the church.

56:25 SPEAKER_02: Such a church will be left to its own plans and schemes to make up for this loss.

56:30 SPEAKER_02: Sadly, that is what most experience.

56:34 SPEAKER_02: Whoever makes any like it to enjoy its fragrance must be cut off from his people.

56:40 SPEAKER_02: Anyone who seeks to obtain this fragrance apart from the cross will be cut off.

56:45 SPEAKER_02: When we begin to enjoy the things of God for ourselves, they become defiled with selfishness.

56:50 SPEAKER_02: For example, many teach that in order to love others we have to first love ourselves.

56:56 SPEAKER_02: They will quote Matthew chapter twenty two verse thirty nine, and the second is like it love your neighbour as yourself.

57:04 SPEAKER_02: Since they do not understand the cross, they think Jesus said we should love ourselves before we can love others.

57:10 SPEAKER_02: They want to enjoy the fragrance for themselves and in doing so cut themselves off from Christ.

57:17 SPEAKER_02: What Jesus meant is this we are one hundred percent selfish.

57:21 SPEAKER_02: Each of us loves ourselves first above everything and everyone else.

57:26 SPEAKER_02: We are to take that love and turn it to love others.

57:29 SPEAKER_02: We are to love our neighbor as we would love ourselves, giving him the one hundred percent, looking to get nothing out of the relationship.

57:37 SPEAKER_02: This makes us like Jesus totally selfless.

57:41 SPEAKER_02: This explains why the first church permeated the fragrance of Christ.

57:45 SPEAKER_02: They loved and honored each other above themselves.

57:48 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, they were unaware that they loved others more than themselves.

57:52 SPEAKER_02: So lost to self were these believers that they loved without any thought of blessing or favor.

57:59 SPEAKER_02: Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.

58:02 SPEAKER_02: Honor one another above yourselves.

58:05 SPEAKER_02: Romans chapter twelve ten.

58:09 SPEAKER_02: One of the gifts Jesus left behind for his followers was the church.

58:14 SPEAKER_02: In fact, the forming of a church is one of the first signs that the Holy Spirit is truly being poured out on individuals.

58:21 SPEAKER_02: Even today, if someone has really received the Holy Spirit, they will desire to fellowship deeply with others in the Lord.

58:29 SPEAKER_02: Those who do not have this attitude or who say, Why do we need to go to church to worship God?

58:35 SPEAKER_02: Have not surrendered to the Spirit.

58:37 SPEAKER_02: After all, heaven is about fellowship.

58:40 SPEAKER_02: Anyone who knows the truth will love deeply those also in the faith.

58:44 SPEAKER_02: In obeying God, a natural fruit grows in a person's life.

58:49 SPEAKER_02: The fruit from obeying the truth is the deepest of love.

58:53 SPEAKER_02: The love comes because we are obeying the truth, and God can pour sincere love into us.

58:59 SPEAKER_02: For those who, for whatever reason, remain unwilling to pass from belief to obedience, do not and cannot love others.

59:07 SPEAKER_02: We only become pure enough to love by obeying the living God hour by hour and keeping the commands that the Holy Spirit speaks to us from the Scriptures.

59:16 SPEAKER_02: Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply from the heart.

59:29 SPEAKER_02: At Pentecost God formed a church of three thousand in one day.

59:33 SPEAKER_02: Three thousand people began to love each other, had everything in common, and agreed about the truth.

59:39 SPEAKER_02: Their love and devotion for one another looked so different from the world that others called them a sect or a cult.

59:46 SPEAKER_02: We are talking about the kind of fellowship the world can never create nor desires to create.

59:52 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, both Satan and the world hate to see it come to life, for it rebukes their love for what it really is, selfishness disguised as love.

1:00:02 SPEAKER_02: Those in the world use the word love to gain what they selfishly want.

1:00:07 SPEAKER_02: The world and the worldly Christian will hate true fellowship created by the Holy Spirit because it requires a death to self.

1:00:15 SPEAKER_02: It shakes everything up, it shakes our flesh.

1:00:18 SPEAKER_02: It brings a baptism of fire that only the Holy Spirit can work in surrendered saints.

1:00:23 SPEAKER_02: Notice how they prayed, and the place was shaken, and the great love that manifested itself.

1:00:30 SPEAKER_02: After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

1:00:39 SPEAKER_02: All the believers were one in heart and mind.

1:00:42 SPEAKER_02: No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.

1:00:47 SPEAKER_02: With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.

1:00:55 SPEAKER_02: There were no needy persons among them, for from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.

1:01:09 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter four, verses thirty one to thirty five.

1:01:15 SPEAKER_02: We will explore this in greater detail later, but for now just look at the shaking of the Holy Spirit.

1:01:22 SPEAKER_02: The Holy Spirit shook these believers out of their concern for money and the things of this world.

1:01:27 SPEAKER_02: The Holy Spirit took a hold of them and shook them in such a way that they lost their opinions about God and Scripture.

1:01:34 SPEAKER_02: Everything was shaken, from dress, hair, conversation, and attitudes to motives of the heart.

1:01:40 SPEAKER_02: The power of the Holy Spirit crucified these saints.

1:01:44 SPEAKER_02: No seminar, tape series, booklet, or anointed speaker can produce this kind of shaking.

1:01:50 SPEAKER_02: No wonder Scripture declares much grace was upon them all.

1:01:55 SPEAKER_02: God's grace is like that.

1:01:57 SPEAKER_02: It causes members to sell lands and houses to meet the needs of Jesus.

1:02:02 SPEAKER_02: In fact, out of poverty the grace of God will work giving.

1:02:06 SPEAKER_02: This happened to the degree that there was no needy person among them.

1:02:10 SPEAKER_02: Not only did they fulfill the law, they surpassed it in Jesus.

1:02:15 SPEAKER_02: Such is ever the way of a grace with power.

1:02:18 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter two verse forty six declares that they met daily as they broke bread in their homes and ate together.

1:02:26 SPEAKER_02: Their desire for comfort after a hard day at the office didn't stop them from fellowshipping.

1:02:31 SPEAKER_02: The lusts for pleasure and sports didn't overcome their desire to spend time with their brothers and sisters.

1:02:37 SPEAKER_02: They certainly had no worries about lower attendance during the week or during the summer months.

1:02:43 SPEAKER_02: In the church I formerly pastored, we meet for worship on Sunday at one thirty in the afternoon.

1:02:49 SPEAKER_02: That way we can give our best to God.

1:02:52 SPEAKER_02: God led us years ago to meet at this time, and it has been a complete joy.

1:02:57 SPEAKER_02: It keeps the worldly away and allows us to devote the whole day to the Lord.

1:03:02 SPEAKER_02: After all, he who will not give up an afternoon for the Lord will certainly not give up his life.

1:03:08 SPEAKER_02: Those who cannot say no to the one hundred thirty kickoff time for a sporting event will not surrender to God's will hour by hour.

1:03:16 SPEAKER_02: This and many other things God worked kept away those who falsely profess to be brothers and sisters in the Lord.

1:03:23 SPEAKER_02: After all, many a man claims to have unfailing love, but a faithful man who can find.

1:03:30 SPEAKER_02: How many churches claim and even boast they have love but remain unfaithful to God's word and his definition of love?

1:03:38 SPEAKER_02: A vast chasm lies between what man calls love and true godly love.

1:03:44 SPEAKER_02: As we have seen, God's ways are not ours, so it should not surprise us that his way of love lies as far as the heavens are from us.

1:03:53 SPEAKER_02: It should also not amaze us that others will think the love of true Christians looks different and even cultic in nature.

1:04:00 SPEAKER_02: For the love of heaven is nothing like the love the world shows or can show.

1:04:05 SPEAKER_02: It is a bizarre love, with many facets too difficult for man to accept and comprehend.

1:04:11 SPEAKER_02: People often slander us because we preach repentance as Jesus did.

1:04:16 SPEAKER_02: They say that we have no joy or love.

1:04:19 SPEAKER_02: Such individuals do not have the slightest grip on reality.

1:04:23 SPEAKER_02: Many who visit or join find themselves surprised not only that the rumours are invalid, but also that they have never experienced such love and joy in any of the churches they attended before.

1:04:35 SPEAKER_02: Most people, however, refuse to consider or even look, because they cannot see past the shame of the cross to the resurrected life.

1:04:44 SPEAKER_02: Jesus promised that we would find his joy at the cross.

1:04:48 SPEAKER_02: As we follow the Holy Spirit, obeying all of Scripture and picking up our crosses, Jesus can fill us with his joy and love.

1:04:56 SPEAKER_02: Without disobedience to His commands, God cannot work His love.

1:05:01 SPEAKER_02: Jesus is very clear, even if most pastors aren't.

1:05:05 SPEAKER_02: Only those who obey God by grace remain in God's love.

1:05:09 SPEAKER_02: Obedience to the Spirit, guiding us each day as we pick up our cross allows the love of God to work a complete joy.

1:05:17 SPEAKER_02: How many people desire the love of heaven without obedience?

1:05:21 SPEAKER_02: The wide gate, just ask Jesus into your heart gospel, has robbed many of the true joy of Jesus, for as he clearly stated, if you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.

1:05:37 SPEAKER_02: If you want the true joy and love of heaven, then you will have to obey the voice of the Holy Spirit and God's word.

1:05:44 SPEAKER_02: Again, this is no shallow or socializing kind of love, but a love where every person will lay down his life for his friends.

1:05:53 SPEAKER_02: As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.

1:05:57 SPEAKER_02: Now remain in my love.

1:05:59 SPEAKER_02: If you obey Obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.

1:06:07 SPEAKER_02: I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

1:06:12 SPEAKER_02: My command is this Love each other as I have loved you.

1:06:17 SPEAKER_02: Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

1:06:22 SPEAKER_02: You are my friends if you do what I command.

1:06:30 SPEAKER_02: Many who visit this kind of church stand amazed at the love and fellowship.

1:06:35 SPEAKER_02: Even those who never come to church but watch in the community often remark that it really is a family.

1:06:42 SPEAKER_02: God can work more than you could ask or imagine if you are willing to obey and wear eau de cult.

1:06:57 SPEAKER_01: The word cult strikes so much fear in Christian churches that members are afraid to love as Jesus loved.

1:07:03 SPEAKER_01: So many books, sermons, and ministries have self-righteously pounded the pulpit to watch out for cults that the churches in the United States are now thoroughly lukewarm.

1:07:14 SPEAKER_01: The first New Testament church, because of its purity, righteousness, and love, inspired by the Holy Spirit, were slanderously labeled a heresy, sect, or cult.

1:07:25 SPEAKER_01: It is time to repent of being ashamed of the Word of God and love as Jesus loved.

1:07:30 SPEAKER_01: Let the true disciples of Jesus love so deeply by the power of the Holy Spirit that serious slander and opposition does arise.

1:07:40 SPEAKER_01: As Paul declared in open court, let us shout everywhere that it is only the disciples of Jesus that have the inspiration unto godly love, to love others selflessly by the power of a crucified life.

1:07:54 SPEAKER_01: Acts 24, 14.

1:07:56 SPEAKER_01: However, I admit that I worship the God of our fathers as a follower of the way, which they call a cult.

1:08:04 SPEAKER_01: I believe everything that agrees with the law and that is written in the prophets.

1:08:09 SPEAKER_01: Join us now as we listen to the audiobook O de Cult, the Fragrance of Love in the First Church by Timothy Williams.

1:08:17 SPEAKER_01: The Consider Podcast, examining today's wisdom, folly, and madness.

1:08:22 SPEAKER_01: Ecclesiastes seven twenty-five www.consider.info.

The First Church As The Standard

1:08:29 SPEAKER_02: Chapter four Fragrance of Love Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one's friends springs from his earnest counsel.

1:08:41 SPEAKER_02: Proverbs chapter twenty seven verse nine.

1:08:46 SPEAKER_02: Oda cult is the essential fragrance required by God.

1:08:50 SPEAKER_02: It is the only acceptable fragrance and must cover everything done for God.

1:08:54 SPEAKER_02: The fragrance of Odacult is the fragrance of love.

1:08:58 SPEAKER_02: It transforms a church from being a mere church into a cult of God.

1:09:03 SPEAKER_02: This kind of love must be present in your heart, church, ministry, study group, or Bible college.

1:09:10 SPEAKER_02: If it is not, you can forget about all your doctrines and projects.

1:09:15 SPEAKER_02: You have already failed the first test of belonging to Jesus.

1:09:18 SPEAKER_02: A church that does not have all things in common has nothing in common with Jesus and needs to get back to the basics of what it means to have faith.

1:09:27 SPEAKER_02: After all, the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

1:09:32 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, all of our works, projects, and worship end in vain if a church does not have a cultic kind of love.

1:09:41 SPEAKER_02: If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging symbol.

1:09:49 SPEAKER_02: Corinthians chapter thirteen.

1:09:53 SPEAKER_02: How many Christians are nothing more than clanging symbols as they think they defend the faith?

1:09:59 SPEAKER_02: To the Lord they make a clanging sound as they debate doctrine, discern faults of others, and speak of arguments passed down through history.

1:10:07 SPEAKER_02: They may be correct on some doctrinal points, but they remain clanging symbols to the Lord out of tune with the living God.

1:10:15 SPEAKER_02: Unless a ministry adds to the offensive message of the cross, basing everything it does and teaches on the crucified life, then that ministry stands in the way of Jesus Christ.

1:10:26 SPEAKER_02: As Paul would say, those men added nothing to my message.

1:10:30 SPEAKER_02: Just as Jesus always headed to the cross, our ministries should point people always to the cross they too must die upon.

1:10:38 SPEAKER_02: If this does not ring out louder than any other message, then that ministry or church is just a clanging symbol.

1:10:44 SPEAKER_02: Everyone in your church is brainwashed, is an accusation thrown at me or the members of our ministry too often to count.

1:10:52 SPEAKER_02: Well, brainwashing does actually occur.

1:10:56 SPEAKER_02: However, contrary to the implied accusation, I am not the one doing the brainwashing.

1:11:01 SPEAKER_02: Through the Holy Spirit, God cleans up everyone's mind, transforming and giving everyone the mind of Christ.

1:11:09 SPEAKER_02: The love of God compels everyone to give up their opinions and become totally united in Christ.

1:11:15 SPEAKER_02: No one utters the statement that we agree to disagree because we have tasted the power of God that works perfect unity.

1:11:22 SPEAKER_02: This unity causes those who do not understand or remain unwilling to die to their opinions to label everyone brainwashed.

1:11:30 SPEAKER_02: If a church contends as one man for the gospel, of course outsiders will think you are all brainwashed.

1:11:37 SPEAKER_02: Again, it is part of the fragrance of Christ, or Oda cult.

1:11:42 SPEAKER_02: Let us look at the first church and see this love in action.

1:11:46 SPEAKER_02: Keep in mind this is not a goal to work up to, but the starting point where all churches should begin.

1:11:51 SPEAKER_02: This love was the first fruit of the Spirit coming on those gathered at Pentecost.

1:11:56 SPEAKER_02: If your church does not have this, then it already lags way behind in the message of the cross and needs deep repentance.

1:12:03 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, it calls for a sincere confession of sin by the leadership for failing to allow the Holy Spirit to work this fruit.

1:12:12 SPEAKER_02: All the believers were together and had everything in common.

1:12:16 SPEAKER_02: Selling their possessions and goods they gave to anyone as he had need.

1:12:20 SPEAKER_02: Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts, they broke bread in their homes, and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

1:12:31 SPEAKER_02: And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

1:12:36 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter two verses forty four to forty seven.

1:12:41 SPEAKER_02: Jesus commanded that all who follow him must both hate and despise money.

1:12:47 SPEAKER_02: Those in the first church allowed the cross to crucify their greed, self centeredness and respect for money.

1:12:54 SPEAKER_02: Because of this crucifixion to self they could sell their possessions and goods.

1:12:59 SPEAKER_02: They joyfully gave to anyone as he had need.

1:13:03 SPEAKER_02: This outpouring of love came because the believers were together and had everything in common.

1:13:09 SPEAKER_02: They ate together as one family, and with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and fellowshipping.

1:13:16 SPEAKER_02: Think of most churches.

1:13:18 SPEAKER_02: How sad that you cannot rest in the fact that everyone present has a sincere heart that loves the Lord.

1:13:24 SPEAKER_02: Today most churches falsely declare that their members have sincere hearts, but it only appears that way because whitewash covers them.

1:13:33 SPEAKER_02: Behind this thin layer of whitewash everyone knows they live for themselves.

1:13:38 SPEAKER_02: But this first church had been cut to the heart, and it showed in the outpouring of love every day.

1:13:43 SPEAKER_02: Therefore, the Holy Spirit, rather than the programs of men, added to the church daily.

1:13:49 SPEAKER_02: This love was so important to God that he repeats the description of it in Acts four.

1:13:55 SPEAKER_02: All of the believers were one in heart and mind.

1:13:58 SPEAKER_02: No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.

1:14:04 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter four, verse thirty two.

1:14:07 SPEAKER_02: Here again we see that not a single person claimed that any of his possessions was his own.

1:14:13 SPEAKER_02: No one would have claimed that their car was their car or their food, and things belonged to them.

1:14:19 SPEAKER_02: They passed such things around from person to person as they had need, or just to bless others.

1:14:26 SPEAKER_02: You will notice that the leadership did not own all the things in the first church.

1:14:30 SPEAKER_02: Each person owned and stood responsible before God for the property he had given them.

1:14:35 SPEAKER_02: Each family, each member gave those things away as God worked and willed, or their hearts moved them.

1:14:42 SPEAKER_02: Because of this kind of love in our church, slander spreads that we are a cult, and that I own everyone's property.

1:14:50 SPEAKER_02: Nothing could be further from the truth.

1:14:52 SPEAKER_02: After all, when I was a pastor, the Lord Scripture declared that I was not permitted to own land or homes.

1:14:58 SPEAKER_02: The same cross that I preach to others, to be dead to the things of the world, God also expects me to carry.

1:15:06 SPEAKER_02: The power of the cross keeps us safe.

1:15:08 SPEAKER_02: If someone comes into the church and begins to take advantage of the fellowship, believe me, the Holy Spirit reveals it and we deal with it.

1:15:17 SPEAKER_02: Read Acts chapter five verses one to eleven to see how the Holy Spirit can work holiness in a church.

1:15:24 SPEAKER_02: Everyone shared everything they had.

1:15:27 SPEAKER_02: They didn't wait to be called up, but looked for opportunities to share and give.

1:15:32 SPEAKER_02: It wasn't needs that drove them to give, but the happiness of giving even if there was no need.

1:15:38 SPEAKER_02: They had discovered that it is more blessed to give than receive.

1:15:42 SPEAKER_02: No one worried about gaining favor with men, but they lived to favor others.

1:15:47 SPEAKER_02: They remembered that Jesus did not wash the feet of the apostles because he would gain something from it, but because of his heart.

1:15:55 SPEAKER_02: Love so overwhelmed Jesus that he could wash the feet of even Judas.

1:16:00 SPEAKER_02: At a church like this, the members wash one another's feet daily, even hourly.

1:16:04 SPEAKER_02: They take the lowest of positions and seek to become nothing before one another.

1:16:09 SPEAKER_02: No one strives to get a ministry or be something in Jesus.

1:16:13 SPEAKER_02: Rather, everyone prays for and allows the heart of Jesus to transform them into his image, the image of love that never sees itself as it loves others.

1:16:23 SPEAKER_02: The first church had the joy of heaven that makes oneself poor for the sake of others.

1:16:28 SPEAKER_02: No wonder God could bless them.

1:16:30 SPEAKER_02: They had the heart of Jesus that makes oneself poor.

1:16:34 SPEAKER_02: In such a church the members would find it difficult to keep track of who owns what.

1:16:39 SPEAKER_02: They wouldn't even try.

1:16:41 SPEAKER_02: It is a hopeless effort.

1:16:43 SPEAKER_02: As just one example, I gave a new air conditioner to someone in our church, but it wound up being used in a totally different household.

1:16:51 SPEAKER_02: It was passed around.

1:16:52 SPEAKER_02: It blessed the most needy, and that person didn't even know it had come from me.

1:16:57 SPEAKER_02: They thought someone else bought it, which was great.

1:17:00 SPEAKER_02: Again, this example is only the tip of the mountain of love God builds in our midst.

1:17:05 SPEAKER_02: An air conditioner seems frivolous compared to the clothing, food, cars, and homes we share with each other.

1:17:12 SPEAKER_02: This love comes out in thousands of different ways as God moves through the church.

Shared Life Without Leadership Control

1:17:17 SPEAKER_02: You might think this sounds cultic.

1:17:20 SPEAKER_02: It sure does.

1:17:21 SPEAKER_02: It sounds that way because it is the fragrance of Christ flowing from everyone laying down their lives for others.

1:17:28 SPEAKER_02: But it gets better.

1:17:29 SPEAKER_02: Remember in our passage they were also one in heart and mind?

1:17:34 SPEAKER_02: On the surface it must have looked like brainwashing occurred, for not only did they all think alike, but they all had the same heart in what they thought.

1:17:43 SPEAKER_02: What joy and perfect unity in the church.

1:17:46 SPEAKER_02: The fact is, of course, there was brainwashing going on.

1:17:50 SPEAKER_02: And again, it resulted from the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, not of any man.

1:17:56 SPEAKER_02: This is partly what Paul meant when he declared I no longer live.

1:18:00 SPEAKER_02: Men dead to themselves have no thoughts of their own.

1:18:04 SPEAKER_02: Dead men in Christ can be filled with the mind and heart of Jesus.

1:18:08 SPEAKER_02: God transforms and fills their souls with the thoughts and emotions of Jesus.

1:18:13 SPEAKER_02: As each person hates his own opinion about Scripture and all things concerning this life, Jesus can pour out a love for the truth.

1:18:22 SPEAKER_02: Such a powerful holy love causes disciples to consider his or her opinion an obstacle.

1:18:28 SPEAKER_02: Men can grow to hate their opinions and doctrinal concepts if they embrace the message of the cross.

1:18:34 SPEAKER_02: God provides a power that makes it possible.

1:18:37 SPEAKER_02: Otherwise, Paul would have mockingly asked the impossible when he wrote to the Corinthians that they, and I quote, be perfectly united in mind and thought.

1:18:48 SPEAKER_02: I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you, and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.

1:19:04 SPEAKER_02: Think of it, not just united in mind, but also in the way we think.

1:19:09 SPEAKER_02: Those who agree to disagree slap Jesus in the face and pour contempt on the power of the cross.

1:19:16 SPEAKER_02: They do not really believe that the love that comes from heaven can so fill a person that perfect unity in the truth can happen.

1:19:24 SPEAKER_02: They remain unbelievers even as they profess belief in God.

1:19:28 SPEAKER_02: Those mature in the way of the cross and familiar with its power can trust God to work complete and total agreement even when a difference of opinion occurs.

1:19:38 SPEAKER_02: Those who do not know this power think this is a fairy tale or a subtle form of manipulation.

1:19:45 SPEAKER_02: But if you do not understand or have never really experienced the painful crucifixion of self, then you cannot possibly claim the promise below.

1:19:54 SPEAKER_02: All of us who are mature should take such a view of things, and if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.

1:20:02 SPEAKER_02: Philippians chapter three fifteen What happens in our churches today is not true unity but a false unity, where individuals agree to disagree, or agree to a small list of basic beliefs and ignore differences.

1:20:18 SPEAKER_02: They make a convenient difference between essential and non essential beliefs.

1:20:23 SPEAKER_02: In reality, there is no such thing as a non essential belief in the Lord.

1:20:28 SPEAKER_02: What really happens is that each man's opinion becomes more important to him than the word of the Lord.

1:20:34 SPEAKER_02: Therefore, the wide gate of doctrine swings open.

1:20:38 SPEAKER_02: Everyone falls more in love with his own opinion than with the living word of God.

1:20:43 SPEAKER_02: He commits the sin Jeremiah preached against a long time ago.

1:20:47 SPEAKER_02: Instead of perfect unity in mind and thought, each person worships his own opinion and distorts the words of the living God.

1:20:56 SPEAKER_02: But you must not mention the oracle of the Lord again, because every man's own word becomes his oracle, and so you distort the words of the living God, the Lord Almighty, our God.

1:21:07 SPEAKER_02: Jeremiah chapter twenty three, verse thirty six.

1:21:12 SPEAKER_02: You might think that the kind of love and fellowship God requires sounds pretty scary, or too much like becoming some kind of robot.

1:21:20 SPEAKER_02: This only underscores how little we understand today the loss of one's life.

1:21:25 SPEAKER_02: Jesus said that only those who lose their lives find life.

1:21:29 SPEAKER_02: Yes, it is scary.

1:21:31 SPEAKER_02: A true walk of faith is always risky.

1:21:34 SPEAKER_02: I have loved many people hard and deep with the love of Christ, only to see them leave and trample on that love.

1:21:41 SPEAKER_02: Jesus never promised that the way of love and unity would be easy.

1:21:45 SPEAKER_02: You might have some very honest questions.

1:21:47 SPEAKER_02: Questions like how can you be sure that the leadership will not take advantage of everyone and control others?

1:21:55 SPEAKER_02: The answer is only found in the message of the cross.

1:21:59 SPEAKER_02: In this short book we have only the space to explore some of hundreds of scriptures about the power of love that flows from heaven in the fragrance we call Oda cult.

1:22:09 SPEAKER_02: A rich buried treasure remains available for those willing to seek it and dig it up.

1:22:15 SPEAKER_02: All we can say at this point is that if a church will get this fragrance, God will work a unity that is precious oil poured over each person in the church.

1:22:24 SPEAKER_02: And all the persecution, slander, and betrayal can never take away this joy.

1:22:30 SPEAKER_02: All of who we are, our pride, opinion, Bible head knowledge cannot stop God from working unity if we pick up the cross.

1:22:39 SPEAKER_02: For love, love for God and each other is stronger than death, even death to self.

1:22:46 SPEAKER_02: God will honestly give such a church blessing and life forevermore.

1:22:50 SPEAKER_02: The following song is a song of ascents.

1:22:54 SPEAKER_02: It leads up to higher ground in the Lord, of passing beyond a mere salvation experience to the fullness of love and fellowship.

1:23:02 SPEAKER_02: It is truly precious because most refuse to ascend the heights and remain only selfishly concerned with their salvation, doomed even while they claim salvation.

1:23:12 SPEAKER_02: It is precious because God can so seldom work perfect unity in a church.

1:23:17 SPEAKER_02: Our love remains too shallow, and we refuse to be broken enough of self to allow God to work this miracle.

1:23:24 SPEAKER_02: A song of our sense, of David How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity.

1:23:31 SPEAKER_02: It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes.

1:23:40 SPEAKER_02: It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion, for there the Lord bestows his blessing even life forevermore.

1:23:48 SPEAKER_02: Psalm one thirty three verses one to three.

1:23:52 SPEAKER_02: Think of it.

1:23:59 SPEAKER_02: How many will see their works burned up because they did not flow from this kind of love?

1:24:04 SPEAKER_02: Too many whine, so you mean we all have to agree with you?

1:24:08 SPEAKER_02: The answer is no, never with me, but always with Jesus, who will crucify your thoughts and give you his.

1:24:17 SPEAKER_02: This love is not an option to all who would seek to enter through heaven's gates.

1:24:22 SPEAKER_02: It is the very essence of Odacult.

1:24:24 SPEAKER_02: All who fail to live up to the example of the first church shame themselves before Christ.

1:24:30 SPEAKER_02: For only here can the Lord bestow his blessing, even life forevermore.

Walking In The Light Together

1:24:36 SPEAKER_02: Chapter five.

1:24:38 SPEAKER_02: Walking in the Light But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

1:24:54 SPEAKER_02: Perfume is only appreciated when worn.

1:24:57 SPEAKER_02: Likewise, you can only understand the light of God if you walk in it.

1:25:02 SPEAKER_02: While I can describe to you a small portion of the meaning of walking in the light, you will never understand it unless you take a leap of faith and actually start walking in it yourself.

1:25:12 SPEAKER_02: Fear holds many people back, and they end up continually watching us to make sure there are no hidden dangers.

1:25:20 SPEAKER_02: Others just like to scare people, not because they have honest concerns, but because they hide their own sins.

1:25:27 SPEAKER_02: But the crucified life never feels comfortable, and there are lots of dangers.

1:25:32 SPEAKER_02: A person must trust God in faith, and step out like Abraham to travel where they have never been before if they want to experience the wonder and power of God.

1:25:42 SPEAKER_02: First of all, it has to be God's light.

1:25:45 SPEAKER_02: So often we wind up walking in our own light, living a lie, a lie that cannot save us.

1:25:51 SPEAKER_02: Churches and ministries often light their own torches, and foolishly think they walk in the light.

1:25:57 SPEAKER_02: If we, however, fail to find the light of God, we will lie down in torment, and not be received into heaven.

1:26:05 SPEAKER_02: But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go.

1:26:11 SPEAKER_02: Walk in the light of your fires, and of the torches you have set ablaze.

1:26:15 SPEAKER_02: This is what you shall receive from my hand.

1:26:18 SPEAKER_02: You will lie down in torment.

1:26:20 SPEAKER_02: Isaiah chapter fifty eleven.

1:26:24 SPEAKER_02: How does a person know if he or she walks in the light?

1:26:28 SPEAKER_02: If you can tolerate the light you walk in, then it is not the light that comes from Jesus.

1:26:33 SPEAKER_02: The light of Jesus penetrates, works, manoeuvres, reveals, and brings hidden things to the surface for all to see.

1:26:41 SPEAKER_02: It has a mind of its own and is never influenced in the least by the will of man.

1:26:46 SPEAKER_02: The mind of Christ moves through the Holy Spirit in a church to expose, purify, and heal.

1:26:52 SPEAKER_02: Before it works the resurrected life, it puts us on the cross, a cross that will expose all of our sins, weakness and flesh.

1:27:01 SPEAKER_02: It will lead us to a crucifixion that will put to death our excuses, justifications, and whitewash.

1:27:07 SPEAKER_02: Often, those who do not want to walk in the light declare only God knows my heart, you can't judge me.

1:27:15 SPEAKER_02: There is a great error when it comes to this issue.

1:27:18 SPEAKER_02: Truly only God knows our hearts, but we assume that He keeps such knowledge to himself.

1:27:24 SPEAKER_02: Nothing could be further from the truth.

1:27:27 SPEAKER_02: God can communicate what hides in someone's heart to those dead to their own judgments.

1:27:32 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, when we preach the word of God correctly, the secret things of our hearts are brought out into the light.

1:27:39 SPEAKER_02: Take for example two members of the first church.

1:27:42 SPEAKER_02: They came before Peter with an offering, but Peter saw by the power of the Holy Spirit that Satan filled their hearts.

1:27:49 SPEAKER_02: Then Peter said, Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart?

1:28:00 SPEAKER_02: The nature of Jesus reveals what lies in our hearts.

1:28:03 SPEAKER_02: If the nature of Jesus fills a man or church dead enough to self, the Holy Spirit reveals the hearts of everyone from time to time.

1:28:12 SPEAKER_02: Besides, it doesn't take a spiritual giant to understand a man's heart.

1:28:17 SPEAKER_02: Our conversations reveal that easily enough.

1:28:21 SPEAKER_02: The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.

1:28:29 SPEAKER_02: For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

1:28:33 SPEAKER_02: Luke chapter six forty five.

1:28:38 SPEAKER_02: Individuals often become defensive when they feel I am judging them, and complain that I do not know their hearts.

1:28:45 SPEAKER_02: It doesn't take great spiritual insight to see that out of the overflow of the heart a man reveals his secret motives.

1:28:53 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, we often lie to ourselves, thinking our hearts are better than what our actions declare.

1:28:59 SPEAKER_02: God reveals the lies and hidden agendas in our hearts through the church that fellowships in the light.

1:29:05 SPEAKER_02: If you want a church where your heart is not exposed, then you must seek out a false Jesus.

1:29:11 SPEAKER_02: The Romans crucified people naked.

1:29:14 SPEAKER_02: In humiliation every fault and weakness became apparent to all.

1:29:19 SPEAKER_02: Likewise, God's light exposes all, even the thoughts and attitudes of the heart, if we teach by the power of the Holy Spirit.

1:29:28 SPEAKER_02: Man's light allows you to keep your religious clothes on, walk in the light of your own lamp, and fool everyone around you.

1:29:36 SPEAKER_02: Most churches offer this type of light to their congregation.

1:29:39 SPEAKER_02: The revealing light of God, however, exposes our hearts more than most of us can take, and therefore we run.

1:29:47 SPEAKER_02: Cockroaches in a dark room crawling on the walls and the floor scurry for darkness when you flip on a light.

1:29:53 SPEAKER_02: The same is true for people who hang around in dark churches.

1:29:57 SPEAKER_02: When God seeks to draw them into the light, they run for cover.

1:30:01 SPEAKER_02: Like the cripple that Jesus healed, yet later had to call to repentance, they refuse to repent and set out to persecute the light.

1:30:09 SPEAKER_02: If they persevered, they would have discovered that beyond the cross lies the resurrected life, where one not only walks in the light, but also allows God's light to flow through them.

1:30:20 SPEAKER_02: They would become a people not just walking in the light, but living as children of the light.

1:30:26 SPEAKER_02: For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.

1:30:30 SPEAKER_02: Live as children of light.

1:30:33 SPEAKER_02: Ephesians chapter five eight.

1:30:36 SPEAKER_02: Many people will not even attend a church like this because they know it would require them to walk in the light.

1:30:43 SPEAKER_02: Like the first church, many feel afraid to join because they know God is holy in the fellowship.

1:30:49 SPEAKER_02: They cannot see past the offense of the cross to the resurrected life.

1:30:53 SPEAKER_02: Of those who do, few are willing to become honestly crucified with Christ enough to get it.

1:30:59 SPEAKER_02: Self righteousness and pride usually stop those who start to agree with this message.

1:31:05 SPEAKER_02: Many justify themselves because the fragrance has an edge to it, an odocult type of smell.

1:31:13 SPEAKER_02: This light, filled with power, causes a person to sense that self will be exposed and crucified.

1:31:20 SPEAKER_02: Since self has been in charge of one's life for years, it feels threatened and knows deep inside that a death sentence hangs over it.

1:31:28 SPEAKER_02: It naturally recoils at the thought of what God might do.

1:31:31 SPEAKER_02: Those willing to let the offense of the cross do its work will discover joys they never knew existed.

1:31:38 SPEAKER_02: This light causes many to leave the church embittered.

1:31:41 SPEAKER_02: They regret their first sacrifices and surrenders, wishing to take back what they had freely given at one time.

1:31:48 SPEAKER_02: They come to the church because light at first looks better than darkness.

1:31:52 SPEAKER_02: But when that light seeks to work life in them, they run back to the darkness.

1:31:57 SPEAKER_02: As that light begins to penetrate their lives, hearts and minds, they know they will have to really change.

1:32:04 SPEAKER_02: They start to understand and know that self must be crucified.

1:32:08 SPEAKER_02: Unfortunately, they do not really want to give up their lives.

1:32:12 SPEAKER_02: They only want Jesus to clean their lives up for them.

1:32:16 SPEAKER_02: So they leave the church, and in order to justify themselves spew forth all manner of twisted truths and slanders.

1:32:24 SPEAKER_02: In the small town where our current church resides, it didn't take long for this to happen.

1:32:29 SPEAKER_02: An individual came and started changing, but since she remained unwilling to change all the way, she listened to those threatened by the light.

1:32:38 SPEAKER_02: A family member begged her to go to any other church but ours.

1:32:42 SPEAKER_02: This family member said that he would go with her to any church if she just wouldn't go to our church.

1:32:48 SPEAKER_02: When push came to shove, doctrine didn't matter.

1:32:52 SPEAKER_02: Avoiding the light remained the only concern.

1:32:55 SPEAKER_02: Such actions are just a foreshadowing of a time when men will hide in caves to avoid the light of God.

1:33:01 SPEAKER_02: Once a rejection of the light set in, the whole town became swamped with all kinds of slander.

1:33:07 SPEAKER_02: It finally came to a head when some of the pastors in town sent me one of the most judgmental and unloving letters I have ever received.

1:33:16 SPEAKER_02: Enemies of the cross relish the chance to interview and use individuals who leave embittered.

1:33:22 SPEAKER_02: Many people leave and say all manner of things.

1:33:25 SPEAKER_02: God, after all, deals with the most personal of sins, idols and every person's high place.

1:33:32 SPEAKER_02: God will use the church to deal with their sinful nature, not just some aspect of sin in their life.

1:33:39 SPEAKER_02: The church is not a clinic like those in the world where individuals clean up their lives so they can go back out and mess them up again.

1:33:46 SPEAKER_02: The church should be a place where members put on the new nature in Christ.

1:33:51 SPEAKER_02: God seeks to create a new life in each person by way of an offensive cross, and many, if not most, will simply not permit God to do this.

1:34:01 SPEAKER_02: The vast majority of people only want Jesus to fix up their lives, not take their lives.

1:34:08 SPEAKER_02: Therefore, when they leave the church failing to overcome their sins, they will not blame themselves but you, and as they lie about it, they will know inside their hearts that they slander not you, but God.

1:34:21 SPEAKER_02: I share this with you so that you will not let such things discourage you from celebrating the love God will desire to work in you.

1:34:29 SPEAKER_02: You will see many people leave, and the temptation to become cynical and bitter will become very real.

1:34:35 SPEAKER_02: You will be burned many times, but you will not burn in hell.

1:34:40 SPEAKER_02: Paul was always in danger from false brothers and was deserted several times.

1:34:46 SPEAKER_02: God calls large crowds but only chooses a few.

1:34:50 SPEAKER_02: For example, God sent us on a trip to Scotland.

1:34:54 SPEAKER_02: Out of the many individuals encountered, very few moved forward into grace.

1:34:59 SPEAKER_02: Several at first seemed excited about the message.

1:35:02 SPEAKER_02: They had already listened to sermons and read our books, but they quickly left as God moved to make these things a reality in their own lives.

1:35:10 SPEAKER_02: They thought all of this cross talk was just mere words.

1:35:14 SPEAKER_02: Others came to test things out, but soon gave up when they realized God required them to give up everything for him.

1:35:22 SPEAKER_02: Only a few remained, including the woman one of my sons would marry.

1:35:27 SPEAKER_02: But that is another miracle altogether.

1:35:30 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, many a pastor has stopped preaching because very few actually want to love God and others.

1:35:36 SPEAKER_02: Every pastor must heal the wounded with the untasteful medicine of nails to crucify the sinful nature.

1:35:43 SPEAKER_02: A pastor should teach the flock that God comes into our lives to bless us by turning us from sin daily.

1:35:50 SPEAKER_02: Those who pray to God for blessings should understand that they are asking God to show them more sin and wickedness in their hearts and lives, to be blessed by turning each of you from your wicked ways.

1:36:04 SPEAKER_02: When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.

1:36:16 SPEAKER_02: Pastors burn out because they do not go back to God for refreshment.

1:36:20 SPEAKER_02: Those who do stay in a pulpit have to water down their preaching.

1:36:24 SPEAKER_02: It takes hard work to get the cross to produce life in others, and no one dies willingly or easily to self.

1:36:31 SPEAKER_02: I can remember some time back when an individual who suffered from mental problems made vast amounts of improvements as God began to move in his life.

1:36:41 SPEAKER_02: Others in his life, however, would rather have him suffer mentally than attend church with us.

1:36:47 SPEAKER_02: Vicious attack came against him and us, with the help of many behind the scenes.

1:36:52 SPEAKER_02: Eventually, the individual could not take the abuse by them anymore and left.

1:36:58 SPEAKER_02: Naturally, it was seen as our fault.

1:37:01 SPEAKER_02: Once people got the sense we were a cult, they assumed we did all kinds of bad things.

1:37:07 SPEAKER_02: No one ever blames himself for his sins, and our flesh desires a quick and easy way out.

1:37:13 SPEAKER_02: This is one of hundreds of stories that demonstrate how when you show love to others they spit it back in your face.

1:37:20 SPEAKER_02: We must, as Paul did, endure all things for those few elect that will come to love God.

1:37:27 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, it is worth it to see a few embrace the full message of life.

Confession That Makes A Church Safe

1:37:31 SPEAKER_02: Better to have a small church where love moves everyone to unity than to have a large church where sheep and goats mingle without the slightest care.

1:37:41 SPEAKER_02: Bottom line, if you desire to be godly to wear the fragrance of Christ, you will be persecuted.

1:37:48 SPEAKER_02: In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Jesus Christ will be persecuted.

1:37:54 SPEAKER_02: two Timothy chapter three verse twelve.

1:37:58 SPEAKER_02: Let me encourage you to remember the words Jesus spoke about the last days.

1:38:03 SPEAKER_02: Jesus declared that the love of most would grow cold.

1:38:07 SPEAKER_02: This is why you smell so little of this fragrance today.

1:38:11 SPEAKER_02: Men desire ministry, works, doctrines, pleasures, and their own lives above a heavenly love.

1:38:17 SPEAKER_02: Although they talk, preach, and write hard about love, the truth is revealed when God comes along with that cross that produces this love.

1:38:26 SPEAKER_02: In reality, they love their lives too much to give them up to God, let alone their fellow man.

1:38:33 SPEAKER_02: The message of the cross has merely become a higher moral level, not a means of death to self.

1:38:39 SPEAKER_02: Therefore, churches tolerate all manner of false Christians.

1:38:44 SPEAKER_02: The gospel has been politicized into a conservative agenda, not a means to crucify a person.

1:38:50 SPEAKER_02: So far has the gospel slipped that one conservative Christian's well known ministry stated to my assistant that they saw nowhere in Scripture that we have to hate for Jesus.

1:39:01 SPEAKER_02: It is true that everyone will know pretty much everything about your life.

1:39:06 SPEAKER_02: This is not as dreadful as it sounds.

1:39:08 SPEAKER_02: Take, for example, your sin.

1:39:10 SPEAKER_02: Once you resolve to walk in the light with a particular sin, no man can control you with that sin.

1:39:17 SPEAKER_02: You have no fear of exposure because you have already confessed and walked in the light with that sin.

1:39:23 SPEAKER_02: Confession of sin enables the church to pray for others that they might be healed.

1:39:28 SPEAKER_02: Those who walk in the light find great freedom, so much freedom that each person in the church has a heaven sent power to love others.

1:39:37 SPEAKER_02: In fact, any church that practices confession is a very safe place to worship.

1:39:43 SPEAKER_02: Of course, we are not talking about a confession safely done in a small booth, but out in the light.

1:39:50 SPEAKER_02: One person who visited but never was willing to surrender to God exclaimed, No wonder your church grows spiritually.

1:39:58 SPEAKER_02: You really do confess your sins.

1:40:00 SPEAKER_02: It is not uncommon at all to hear confession of sin before individuals take communion, or even at the dinner table, or in normal fellowship during the week.

1:40:10 SPEAKER_02: Jesus told us that we must surpass the law to enter heaven.

1:40:14 SPEAKER_02: So consider Old Testament worship.

1:40:17 SPEAKER_02: No one had a small altar at home where they could privately worship God.

1:40:21 SPEAKER_02: If a man wanted to make a sin offering, he had to go to the temple and bring a particular sacrifice that would reveal to everyone his sins.

1:40:31 SPEAKER_02: The nature of sin is deceitful.

1:40:33 SPEAKER_02: It is not easy for any of us to see our personal sins.

1:40:37 SPEAKER_02: We easily see sins in others, but not in ourselves.

1:40:41 SPEAKER_02: Only in a church where the light of God powerfully moves can this deceitfulness be dealt a death blow.

1:40:48 SPEAKER_02: Confessing sins out in the open robs deceitfulness of its power.

1:40:53 SPEAKER_02: Now, it takes great wisdom and care when confessing sins, and unfortunately, we do not have the time here to explore that issue.

1:41:02 SPEAKER_02: It is enough for us to see that it must be done.

1:41:05 SPEAKER_02: In the Old Testament the priest knew how the offerings should be made.

1:41:09 SPEAKER_02: Likewise, pastors today should be the experts on directing the body in how the Holy Spirit leads confession of sin.

1:41:17 SPEAKER_02: Sadly, such knowledge is almost totally lost.

1:41:22 SPEAKER_02: In the Old Testament, church wasn't just a place where you went for an hour and sang a few songs, listened to a sermon, and returned home to live your religious life.

1:41:32 SPEAKER_02: Church completely filled the life of the worshipper.

1:41:35 SPEAKER_02: Everything centered around it, and all aspects of a person's life remained out in the open for all to see.

1:41:42 SPEAKER_02: If a person sinned, the whole church suffered, and only the priest could declare them clean.

1:41:48 SPEAKER_02: If God blessed someone, everyone watched as the person brought their thank offering to the Lord.

1:41:53 SPEAKER_02: Such Old Testament examples of how everything is in the light and how it affects everyone in the body no doubt filled Paul's mind when he wrote the following verse.

1:42:04 SPEAKER_02: If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.

1:42:07 SPEAKER_02: If one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

1:42:16 SPEAKER_02: The notion that somehow sin or blessings remain a private affair in the Lord is totally wrong and totally sinful.

1:42:23 SPEAKER_02: It smacks a vile self centeredness.

1:42:26 SPEAKER_02: God uses others to expose your weak areas.

1:42:30 SPEAKER_02: You know that if you start to wander away or grow cold, others will see and encourage you.

1:42:35 SPEAKER_02: Members of the church feel very secure, knowing they remain safe with the leadership and safe from themselves.

1:42:42 SPEAKER_02: Like the first church, members can trust leadership so much that they can lay even the things of the world at their feet and know they will not be used to please the flesh.

1:42:52 SPEAKER_02: The flock knows the power of the light, and if anyone in leadership begins to stray into sin, God will deal powerfully with them.

1:43:00 SPEAKER_02: They know it because they have felt and seen this power in their own lives.

1:43:04 SPEAKER_02: As a body they know that the light of God reveals the secrets in a man's heart.

1:43:10 SPEAKER_02: They know it because their own secrets have been revealed and the true motives of their hearts drawn out.

1:43:16 SPEAKER_02: They have seen God draw out these secrets not only in others, but in the church and themselves.

1:43:22 SPEAKER_02: This happens especially at first, when a vast gulf lies between why we think we do something and the real reason for our actions.

1:43:31 SPEAKER_02: God uses the body to perfect his church in this way.

1:43:35 SPEAKER_02: As you read the scripture below, you will notice why the first church was thought of as a cult.

1:43:40 SPEAKER_02: If a person is judged by all and they do not want to repent, they will certainly leave and slander that church.

1:43:48 SPEAKER_02: Let me ask you, is your church known for revealing the secret things of a man's life in the light?

1:43:54 SPEAKER_02: If not, then you really cannot speak of the presence of the Lord filling your church, for it is in this context that individuals fall down and worship God exclaiming God is really among you.

1:44:08 SPEAKER_02: But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare.

1:44:22 SPEAKER_02: So he will fall down and worship God exclaiming God is really among you one Corinthians chapter fourteen verses twenty four and twenty five.

1:44:33 SPEAKER_02: The light of God holds more power than any accountability partner.

1:44:38 SPEAKER_02: People always want to know who watches over me in the Lord, who am I accountable to?

1:44:43 SPEAKER_02: When I answer that the light of God rules over all, they don't consider that a good enough answer.

1:44:49 SPEAKER_02: They think I am avoiding the question and hiding something.

1:44:52 SPEAKER_02: They are used to man's worthless schemes to keep others accountable.

1:44:56 SPEAKER_02: They don't understand the power of God.

1:44:59 SPEAKER_02: Think how many ministries and pastors have fallen into secret sins, even with accountability partners.

1:45:06 SPEAKER_02: A man remains powerless to hold another man accountable unless the light of God does the work.

1:45:12 SPEAKER_02: After all, how can darkness reveal darkness?

1:45:16 SPEAKER_02: Or darkness hold darkness accountable?

1:45:19 SPEAKER_02: All the schemes of men to hold each other accountable are worthless attempts to walk in the light.

1:45:24 SPEAKER_02: Rather, such attempts are classic Pharisee moves that seek to look noble to others but allow self to remain on the throne.

1:45:33 SPEAKER_02: And every once in a while that ugly head pokes itself out and someone gets caught.

1:45:38 SPEAKER_02: As to my accountability, the answer is simple.

1:45:42 SPEAKER_02: Everyone in the church, every member, keeps me accountable in the Lord.

1:45:47 SPEAKER_02: I am accountable to every single one of them, and God can and does use everyone to keep me in line.

1:45:53 SPEAKER_02: If I began to slip into sin or start to take advantage of others, God would powerfully deal a death blow.

1:46:00 SPEAKER_02: Everyone has divine power to judge me, and those dying to self can see the truth very quickly.

1:46:07 SPEAKER_02: This light does require that individuals be iron in the Lord.

1:46:11 SPEAKER_02: Most believers, however, remain too touchy and moody to attend a strong church.

1:46:17 SPEAKER_02: Therefore, God leaves them in weak churches until they become ready to repent.

1:46:22 SPEAKER_02: God often waits a long time to create a church like this because the people are not ready for it.

1:46:28 SPEAKER_02: Their flesh is still attracted to many foolish things found in weaker churches.

1:46:33 SPEAKER_02: Walking in the light Scripture declares as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

1:46:42 SPEAKER_02: Some people are so filled with pride that they become as brittle as glass.

1:46:46 SPEAKER_02: Therefore, when someone who is iron in the Lord tries to sharpen them, they break and become dangerous to others.

1:46:54 SPEAKER_02: Other individuals are like pillows, so loving and nice that they agree with anything and everything.

1:47:00 SPEAKER_02: When iron strikes they absorb it, but never allow it to sharpen them.

1:47:05 SPEAKER_02: Still others are like hard clay, all self righteous and richly decorated, but easily shattered when iron seeks to fellowship with them.

1:47:14 SPEAKER_02: Such people have passed through the fire several times and may look good and strong, but they are still just clay.

1:47:21 SPEAKER_02: They often agree with the message of the cross, but only from a self important standpoint.

1:47:27 SPEAKER_02: Their self righteousness makes them fragile, and when they meet someone of iron in the Lord they become easily offended and shattered.

1:47:35 SPEAKER_02: Still others are actually iron, but refuse to be struck against.

1:47:39 SPEAKER_02: They are cold iron.

1:47:41 SPEAKER_02: Because they are iron, they pride themselves on being strong.

1:47:45 SPEAKER_02: When they look at themselves they see someone solid in the Lord.

1:47:49 SPEAKER_02: They just don't know the reality of their coldness.

1:47:52 SPEAKER_02: They will avoid those hot in the Lord at all costs, because the heat would reveal that they are cold iron.

1:47:59 SPEAKER_02: These types of individuals will usually pride themselves on staying in a dead church in spite of what God's word commands, because they think they have something to offer.

1:48:09 SPEAKER_02: They forget that cold iron may be strong, but it is also cold, frozen in self righteousness.

1:48:16 SPEAKER_02: Such people start out following Jesus, rejoicing in this message, but do not like the heat that produces a sharp edge.

1:48:24 SPEAKER_02: If we expect the rough edges of our sin to be made smooth, iron must rub against iron.

1:48:30 SPEAKER_02: Heat will build up and sparks will fly.

1:48:33 SPEAKER_02: Those who can rejoice in it will become red hot in love with Jesus, and sharp as a double edged sword.

1:48:40 SPEAKER_02: This kind of fellowship requires some real resolve, real love, and being at peace with each other no matter what comes.

1:48:48 SPEAKER_02: Grumblers and fault finders will not endure it and will quickly leave.

1:48:52 SPEAKER_02: When the light reveals a dullness or rough spot in the iron, another piece of iron strikes it to smooth out the edges.

1:48:59 SPEAKER_02: Not only are both pieces of iron sharpened, but in the deepest of love a bond forms between the two.

1:49:06 SPEAKER_02: Let me remind you that only the Holy Spirit can arrange and manage this striking.

1:49:12 SPEAKER_02: Where you find a church seeking in human effort to mock this, you will witness destruction.

1:49:17 SPEAKER_02: Only the Holy Spirit has the love, wisdom, and grace to know when to strike, and the strength required.

1:49:24 SPEAKER_02: Therefore Jesus said, Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with each other.

1:49:29 SPEAKER_02: You will have to be iron in the law to wear, O de cult.

1:49:32 SPEAKER_02: The fragrance, however, gives a joy so that the probing, examining, and challenging produces life.

1:49:39 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, even the trials of fellowship cannot stop the inexpressible joy the Holy Spirit provides.

1:49:47 SPEAKER_02: When the sparks fly and heat builds up, it ends not in bitterness, but in becoming sharper in the Lord.

1:49:54 SPEAKER_02: God works by his Holy Spirit every earnest counsel among us that the stubborn in the Lord The Lord cannot tolerate.

1:50:02 SPEAKER_02: Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one's friend springs from his earnest counsel.

1:50:09 SPEAKER_02: Proverbs chapter twenty seven.

1:50:14 SPEAKER_02: People often wonder how we can take such sharpening, but a slap in the face sent by God is the deepest act of kindness.

1:50:22 SPEAKER_02: I often smile to myself when someone whines that they wish I would show more kindness as I point out sin.

1:50:28 SPEAKER_02: It is a smile of sadness, though, because they do not understand what real kindness in the Lord is about.

1:50:36 SPEAKER_02: Let a righteous man strike me, it is a kindness.

1:50:39 SPEAKER_02: Let him rebuke me, it is oil on my head.

1:50:42 SPEAKER_02: My head will not refuse it.

1:50:44 SPEAKER_02: Psalm one hundred and forty one five.

1:50:48 SPEAKER_02: They will often say I couldn't live like that.

1:50:51 SPEAKER_02: That is a lie.

1:50:53 SPEAKER_02: We can because we allow and have allowed God to crucify our pride, justifications and excuses.

1:51:00 SPEAKER_02: We long for and are eager for correction and encouragement, because we hunger and thirst for righteousness by faith.

1:51:08 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, rather than considering a rebuke to be of the devil, we see it as a kindness from the Lord.

1:51:14 SPEAKER_02: The oil of the Holy Spirit smooths out all the sharpening and keeps our love ever increasing and overflowing.

1:51:21 SPEAKER_02: Notice again that only in this light will we obtain a fellowship that allows the blood of Jesus, his Son, to purify us from all sin.

1:51:31 SPEAKER_02: But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin.

1:51:46 SPEAKER_02: Those who stay at home or remain in compromising churches and refuse to fellowship in the light with others are not delivered from their sins.

1:51:55 SPEAKER_02: They remain unclean, and will soon discover that they are not dressed properly for the wedding with Jesus.

1:52:01 SPEAKER_02: They may be virgins, but not pure virgins ready for Jesus.

1:52:06 SPEAKER_02: Now is our time to get into the light to check for stains on our clothes.

1:52:11 SPEAKER_02: If you plan to go to a special dinner party, would you not ask someone if everything looks correct?

1:52:16 SPEAKER_02: How much more should you do that as you prepare for the wedding banquet of the Lord?

1:52:21 SPEAKER_02: Consider soberly the scripture below, as it shows us many Christians go to hell.

1:52:27 SPEAKER_02: They make it all the way into the wedding banquet, find a seat, and yet are thrown out as God goes around the table.

1:52:33 SPEAKER_02: God even refers to them as friend.

1:52:36 SPEAKER_02: Think of it, friends of God sent to hell, but not cast out in any normal sense of the word.

1:52:42 SPEAKER_02: They are first tied hand and foot, and then thrown out, powerless in hell to do anything as they face torment.

1:52:50 SPEAKER_02: It is proper judgment, for their hands should have prayed for the light to fill the church and their feet should have walked in it.

1:52:57 SPEAKER_02: Reader, you might voice all kinds of excuses and fears as to why this cannot or should not be lived.

1:53:04 SPEAKER_02: But there will come a time when, like this man, you find yourself speechless, having no excuse for not demanding the light in your church.

1:53:13 SPEAKER_02: But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.

1:53:19 SPEAKER_02: Friend he asked, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?

1:53:23 SPEAKER_02: The man was speechless.

1:53:25 SPEAKER_02: Then the king told the attendants, tie him hand and foot and throw him outside into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

1:53:35 SPEAKER_02: Matthew chapter twenty two verses eleven to thirteen.

1:53:40 SPEAKER_02: This light brings health, healing and a full life in Jesus.

1:53:44 SPEAKER_02: For certain this light also brings purity, and with purity comes forgiveness of sins in the sight of God.

1:53:51 SPEAKER_02: All those who love God will long for fellowship with believers who also desire this light.

1:53:56 SPEAKER_02: Others will run and even persecute it.

1:54:00 SPEAKER_02: It doesn't matter if someone claims salvation or not.

1:54:03 SPEAKER_02: If they refuse this kind of light, then they are not saved.

1:54:07 SPEAKER_02: Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

1:54:18 SPEAKER_02: To wear odor cult means that you will have to come into the light.

1:54:22 SPEAKER_02: After all, it is the only perfume worn at the wedding party.

1:54:26 SPEAKER_02: Are you willing?

The Satire Of Cult Watchers

1:54:29 SPEAKER_02: Chapter six Dr.

1:54:31 SPEAKER_02: Harry Heretic Hunter To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable.

1:54:42 SPEAKER_02: Luke chapter eighteen verse nine Dr.

1:54:46 SPEAKER_02: Harry Heretic Hunter, a knowledgeable expert in the field of exposing cults, investigates, searches the Bible, and listens to the stories of those who have escaped such groups.

1:54:58 SPEAKER_02: He carries a strong influence in the community, the expert everyone looks to for answers.

1:55:04 SPEAKER_02: He debates scripture and discerns the faults of others.

1:55:08 SPEAKER_02: The only problem is that doctor Harry's methods are dead wrong.

1:55:12 SPEAKER_02: He has made the fatal mistake all mankind makes concerning Jesus.

1:55:16 SPEAKER_02: He judges by outward appearance and ends up persecuting Jesus Christ.

1:55:21 SPEAKER_02: No one can come to a correct conclusion about Jesus Christ and his disciples by judging mere appearances.

1:55:30 SPEAKER_02: Stop judging by mere appearances and make a right judgment.

1:55:35 SPEAKER_02: At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, isn't this the man they are trying to kill?

1:55:41 SPEAKER_02: John chapter seven verses twenty four and twenty five.

1:55:46 SPEAKER_02: In order to make a right judgment, we must look past what appears true or false.

1:55:53 SPEAKER_02: This began in the Garden of Eden when we decided we would like to play God, deciding between right and wrong.

1:56:00 SPEAKER_02: The fruit looked pleasing to the eye and desirable, but was total sin.

1:56:05 SPEAKER_02: In the same way, those who look at a church filled with the same love as in the first church and measure it by what pleases their eyes and mind will make a mistake every single time.

1:56:16 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, they will fall on the side of working for Satan and his darkness.

1:56:21 SPEAKER_02: Satan likes to throw the word cult around so he can keep the church lukewarm.

1:56:26 SPEAKER_02: They see themselves busy and on fire for the Lord, yet not active enough to be called a cult.

1:56:32 SPEAKER_02: Lukewarmness then becomes the norm, resulting in what we see in the church today.

1:56:37 SPEAKER_02: A lukewarm church loves to point out the faults of a cold or liberal church.

1:56:42 SPEAKER_02: Alongside the sport of labelling those on fire in the Lord as a cult is the pastime of pointing a finger at cold dead Christians.

1:56:50 SPEAKER_02: Let us not forget that Jesus would rather have a church cold or hot, not lukewarm.

1:56:56 SPEAKER_02: Either reject what you are reading here as being of Satan or live it fully, but don't play at it.

1:57:02 SPEAKER_02: Those who do so shame Jesus far more than those who remain cold.

1:57:08 SPEAKER_02: Enemies of the cross like to use the word cult to make others look evil and themselves look righteous.

1:57:15 SPEAKER_02: The word cult strikes fear in most Christians, and the vast majority of pastors fear being labelled a cult leader.

1:57:22 SPEAKER_02: If you desire to follow Jesus in real love, you had better die to what others will think of you.

1:57:28 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, you had better learn to leap for joy when they come against you.

1:57:33 SPEAKER_02: If you don't want controversy, then we advise you not to become a Christian.

1:57:38 SPEAKER_02: It would be best not to try and rescue people from their sin, for the vast majority do not want to be saved.

1:57:44 SPEAKER_02: Many who try will give up and become bitter.

1:57:47 SPEAKER_02: To lay down your life as Jesus did will overwhelm you with opposition and controversy.

1:57:53 SPEAKER_02: Those who oppose the message of the cross will accuse a preacher who preaches this message, like Paul, of being a troublemaker, stirring up riots all over the world.

1:58:03 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, the crowds labelled Paul the ringleader of this sect or cult.

1:58:08 SPEAKER_02: Further, they considered Paul someone who tried to tear down other churches or desecrate the temple.

1:58:14 SPEAKER_02: Ironically, the more you hold to God's word, the less people will think you are of God.

1:58:20 SPEAKER_02: In holding to the truth, you come into direct conflict with religious men whose ways oppose the living God.

1:58:27 SPEAKER_02: Many times when we have been attacked, the accusers will assert that just by talking to me or others from the church the truth about all their charges will be discovered.

1:58:37 SPEAKER_02: Certainly a whole host of groups and individuals assert that these things are true.

1:58:43 SPEAKER_02: Such is the fate of anyone anointed with odor cult.

1:58:46 SPEAKER_02: Jesus promised this would happen, and Paul tells us that if we just desire to be holy in Jesus, we will be persecuted.

1:58:55 SPEAKER_02: We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world.

1:59:00 SPEAKER_02: He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect and even tried to desecrate the temple, so we seized him.

1:59:07 SPEAKER_02: By examining him yourself you will be able to learn the truth about all these charges we are bringing against him.

1:59:14 SPEAKER_02: The Jews joined in the accusation, asserting that these things were true.

1:59:19 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter twenty four verses five to nine.

1:59:24 SPEAKER_02: A church not slanderously labelled a cult does not live enough of Christianity to truly be of Christ.

1:59:31 SPEAKER_02: Pretend for a moment that you are not a Christian.

1:59:34 SPEAKER_02: Stand outside of your Christianity and read the Bible from a sinful man's viewpoint.

1:59:39 SPEAKER_02: Would true Christianity not look like a cult?

1:59:42 SPEAKER_02: And of course, there are always groups of heretic hunters, only too happy to point a finger at others and build up their own self righteousness.

1:59:52 SPEAKER_02: Every generation has people who set themselves up as experts on the evil of others.

1:59:57 SPEAKER_02: If the law of the land permitted them to, their evil suspicions would come to the surface and they would burn you at the stake as they did in ages past.

2:00:06 SPEAKER_02: Imagine being at a meeting called by one of these heretic hunters.

2:00:10 SPEAKER_02: It would probably resemble a news conference, lights and cameras flashing pointing at the expert, doctor Harry Heretic Hunter.

2:00:18 SPEAKER_02: He stands up to testify about the cult called Christianity.

2:00:23 SPEAKER_02: A hefty rush of self righteous pride fills his heart as he begins to speak against this evil cult.

2:00:29 SPEAKER_02: Everyone listens to him for, of course, he is quite insane enough to first boast of all his credentials and all of his accomplishments.

2:00:37 SPEAKER_02: He has borrowed a local church building to give his talk, where he packs the pews.

2:00:42 SPEAKER_02: The church leaders feel thrilled with the increased attendance.

2:00:46 SPEAKER_02: He begins the lecture slowly, confidently, saying I have spent years researching this group, and I am here to tell you what I have found.

2:00:55 SPEAKER_02: I have been, he brags, persecuted and lost friends because of my stand for the truth.

2:01:01 SPEAKER_02: He begins to lay out the evidence as he subtly associates this cult with the likes of Jim Jones or Waco or other off the wall groups.

2:01:10 SPEAKER_02: He falsely accuses the cult in question merely by naming it alongside the truly guilty.

2:01:17 SPEAKER_02: He lists the following evidence, and it comes straight from the Bible.

2:01:21 SPEAKER_02: The lights are dimmed, and the PowerPoint presentation moves from slide to slide point to point.

2:01:27 SPEAKER_02: Imagine the slides that come into view as he pushes the button on the remote control.

2:01:33 SPEAKER_02: Let me pause for a moment and explain to the reader what follows.

Bible Verses Used As Accusations

2:01:38 SPEAKER_02: I have written the following points from the viewpoint of an unbeliever or a self righteous Christian who prides themselves on discerning cults.

2:01:46 SPEAKER_02: The scriptures following each point prove that you cannot discover whether a church is really a cult or not just by outward examination.

2:01:54 SPEAKER_02: Besides, we need to ask a very serious question.

2:01:58 SPEAKER_02: Who watches the cult watchers?

2:02:01 SPEAKER_02: Just because a cult watcher group agrees with you against the church you do not like does not mean they or you are spiritual and in God's will.

2:02:10 SPEAKER_02: A man may stand against a lot of things you do, but that doesn't mean they or you have the truth.

2:02:16 SPEAKER_02: So let's now follow doctor Heretic Hunter's presentation.

2:02:21 SPEAKER_02: Everybody you talk to says it is a cult, so it must be true.

2:02:26 SPEAKER_02: But we want to hear what your views are, for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect.

2:02:32 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter twenty eight, verse twenty two.

2:02:36 SPEAKER_02: Everywhere this cult sect goes, we hear that trouble follows.

2:02:41 SPEAKER_02: This group just enjoys causing trouble.

2:02:44 SPEAKER_02: We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world.

2:02:50 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter twenty four five.

2:02:54 SPEAKER_02: These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here.

2:02:58 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter seventeen verse six.

2:03:02 SPEAKER_02: One man seems to be the leader who stirs up all this trouble.

2:03:06 SPEAKER_02: The poor people just blindly follow him.

2:03:08 SPEAKER_02: They are brainwashed.

2:03:10 SPEAKER_02: He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect cult, and even tried to desecrate the temple, so we seized him.

2:03:18 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter twenty four verses five and six.

2:03:22 SPEAKER_02: No, but this mob that knows nothing of the law, there is a curse on them.

2:03:27 SPEAKER_02: John chapter seven, verse forty nine.

2:03:30 SPEAKER_02: No Orthodox church, discernment ministry or church has accepted this group.

2:03:36 SPEAKER_02: The Pharisees retorted, Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him?

2:03:41 SPEAKER_02: John chapter seven, verse forty-eight.

2:03:45 SPEAKER_02: They even admit that they belong to a group others call a cult.

2:03:49 SPEAKER_02: However, I admit that I worship the God of our fathers as a follower of the way, which they call a sect.

2:03:56 SPEAKER_02: I believe everything that agrees with the law and that is written in the prophets.

2:04:00 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter twenty four verse fourteen.

2:04:05 SPEAKER_02: The leadership of this cult holds too much authority.

2:04:09 SPEAKER_02: And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience once your obedience is complete.

2:04:15 SPEAKER_02: two Corinthians chapter ten verse six.

2:04:19 SPEAKER_02: What do you prefer?

2:04:20 SPEAKER_02: Shall I come to you with a whip or in love and with a gentle spirit?

2:04:29 SPEAKER_02: It is strange, but they all think alike on biblical issues.

2:04:32 SPEAKER_02: Someone is brainwashing their minds.

2:04:35 SPEAKER_02: All the believers were one in heart and mind.

2:04:38 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter four verse thirty two.

2:04:42 SPEAKER_02: They really put the pressure on for everyone to think alike.

2:04:45 SPEAKER_02: There just doesn't seem room for one's personal opinion.

2:04:49 SPEAKER_02: I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another, so that there may be no divisions among you, and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.

2:05:01 SPEAKER_02: Corinthians chapter one ten.

2:05:05 SPEAKER_02: If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

2:05:22 SPEAKER_02: Philippians chapter two verses one and two If you do voice your opinion, they just quote you something out of Proverbs.

2:05:31 SPEAKER_02: A fool finds no pleasure in understanding, but delights in airing his own opinions.

2:05:37 SPEAKER_02: Proverbs chapter eighteen, verse two.

2:05:41 SPEAKER_02: They think they're so correct that it gives them the right to cram it down your throat.

2:05:45 SPEAKER_02: They think you have to agree with them today.

2:05:48 SPEAKER_02: Come on, it takes some people a little more time than others.

2:05:52 SPEAKER_02: Then Agrippa said to Paul, Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?

2:05:59 SPEAKER_02: Paul replied, Short or long, I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.

2:06:09 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter twenty six, verses twenty eight and twenty nine.

2:06:14 SPEAKER_02: They think that you have to accept only their message.

2:06:17 SPEAKER_02: If you don't accept their message, they say you're going to hell, that you ought to be condemned.

2:06:22 SPEAKER_02: But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preach to you, let him be eternally condemned.

2:06:30 SPEAKER_02: Galatians chapter one, verse eight.

2:06:34 SPEAKER_02: One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.

2:06:40 SPEAKER_02: Ephesians chapter four verses five and six.

2:06:44 SPEAKER_02: They challenge each other about sin.

2:06:47 SPEAKER_02: Let a righteous man strike me, it is a kindness.

2:06:50 SPEAKER_02: Let him rebuke me, it is oil on my head.

2:06:53 SPEAKER_02: My head will not refuse it.

2:06:55 SPEAKER_02: Psalm one hundred and forty one, verse five.

2:06:59 SPEAKER_02: As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

2:07:03 SPEAKER_02: Proverbs chapter twenty seven, verse seventeen.

2:07:08 SPEAKER_02: When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he was clearly in the wrong.

2:07:14 SPEAKER_02: When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all Galatians chapter two, verses eleven and fourteen.

2:07:25 SPEAKER_02: So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing.

2:07:30 SPEAKER_02: They expect you to be at church whenever they meet.

2:07:32 SPEAKER_02: This enables leadership to control your life and mind.

2:07:37 SPEAKER_02: Every day they continue to meet together in the temple courts.

2:07:40 SPEAKER_02: They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.

2:07:45 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter two, verse forty six.

2:07:49 SPEAKER_02: Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another, all the more as you see the day approaching.

2:08:01 SPEAKER_02: With everyone meeting together like that, you will lose your private life.

2:08:06 SPEAKER_02: I have heard that they know everything about you.

2:08:08 SPEAKER_02: If you trip up a little bit, everyone will know about it before you even get home.

2:08:13 SPEAKER_02: If we claim to have fellowship with him, yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.

2:08:20 SPEAKER_02: But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin.

2:08:34 SPEAKER_02: Why, I have even heard that they've broken up some nice, lovely families.

2:08:39 SPEAKER_02: Even their leader, Jesus, who is now dead, said he came to tear up families.

2:08:45 SPEAKER_02: Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.

2:08:48 SPEAKER_02: I did not come to bring peace but a sword.

2:08:51 SPEAKER_02: For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter in law against her mother in law, a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.

2:09:02 SPEAKER_02: Matthew chapter ten, verses thirty four to thirty six.

2:09:07 SPEAKER_02: This man Jesus would not even let one of his followers go home to bury his good Jewish religious father, who had religiously served God all his life.

2:09:17 SPEAKER_02: Another disciple said to him, Lord, first let me go and bury my father.

2:09:22 SPEAKER_02: But Jesus told him, Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.

2:09:27 SPEAKER_02: Matthew chapter eight verses twenty one and twenty two.

2:09:32 SPEAKER_02: I have heard them say and do some pretty unloving things.

2:09:35 SPEAKER_02: If anyone does not love the Lord, a curse be on him.

2:09:39 SPEAKER_02: Corinthians chapter sixteen, verse twenty two.

2:09:43 SPEAKER_02: He rebuked Peter Get behind me, Satan.

2:09:47 SPEAKER_02: Mark chapter eight, verse thirty three.

2:09:51 SPEAKER_02: Among them are Hymeneus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.

2:09:58 SPEAKER_02: Timothy chapter one twenty.

2:10:01 SPEAKER_02: They expect you when joining their church to make all your things community property.

2:10:07 SPEAKER_02: No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.

2:10:13 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter four, verse thirty two.

2:10:16 SPEAKER_02: The people who go to this cult even lay their money at the feet of the leadership.

2:10:21 SPEAKER_02: For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet.

2:10:30 SPEAKER_02: Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, sold a field he owned, and brought the money and put it at the apostle's feet.

2:10:41 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter four, verses thirty four to thirty seven.

2:10:46 SPEAKER_02: This cult just has no respect for a dollar.

2:10:49 SPEAKER_02: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

2:10:55 SPEAKER_02: You cannot serve both God and money.

2:10:58 SPEAKER_02: Matthew chapter six twenty four.

2:11:02 SPEAKER_02: They are hypocrites, because I have heard them speak so much against money, yet they spend a fortune on evangelistic work.

2:11:09 SPEAKER_02: Why, that money could have gone to the poor.

2:11:13 SPEAKER_02: But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected.

2:11:18 SPEAKER_02: Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor?

2:11:22 SPEAKER_02: It was worth a year's wages.

2:11:30 SPEAKER_02: Their teaching is so hard and narrow.

2:11:32 SPEAKER_02: In fact, it is downright offensive.

2:11:35 SPEAKER_02: On hearing it, many of his disciples said, This is a hard teaching.

2:11:40 SPEAKER_02: Who can accept it?

2:11:42 SPEAKER_02: From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

2:11:53 SPEAKER_02: Make every effort to enter through the narrow door.

2:12:00 SPEAKER_02: Uh brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted?

2:12:05 SPEAKER_02: In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.

2:12:09 SPEAKER_02: Galatians chapter five, verse eleven.

2:12:13 SPEAKER_02: Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, Does this offend you?

2:12:19 SPEAKER_02: John chapter six, verse sixty one.

2:12:24 SPEAKER_02: The message says that you have to beat your body or something similar.

2:12:29 SPEAKER_02: No, I beat my body and make it my slave.

2:12:37 SPEAKER_02: If you don't agree with their teaching, they will not have anything to do with you.

2:12:42 SPEAKER_02: Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God.

2:12:48 SPEAKER_02: Whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and Son.

2:12:52 SPEAKER_02: If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him.

2:12:58 SPEAKER_02: two John verses nine and ten.

2:13:02 SPEAKER_02: Let him acknowledge that what I am writing you is the Lord's command.

2:13:06 SPEAKER_02: If he ignores this he himself will be ignored.

2:13:10 SPEAKER_02: one Corinthians chapter fourteen, verses thirty seven and thirty eight.

2:13:15 SPEAKER_02: You have to live up to a certain standard or they will not tolerate you in the group.

2:13:21 SPEAKER_02: Having a form of godliness but denying its power, have nothing to do with them.

2:13:26 SPEAKER_02: two Timothy chapter three verse five.

2:13:30 SPEAKER_02: Therefore do not be partners with them.

2:13:33 SPEAKER_02: Ephesians chapter five seven.

2:13:36 SPEAKER_02: Keep away from them Romans chapter sixteen seventeen.

2:13:41 SPEAKER_02: After that, have nothing to do with him.

2:13:44 SPEAKER_02: Titus chapter three ten.

2:13:48 SPEAKER_02: In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you brothers to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us.

2:13:57 SPEAKER_02: In fact, they do an awful lot of judging, and if there is one thing we know for sure, Jesus said you are not to judge.

2:14:05 SPEAKER_02: With such a man do not even eat.

2:14:07 SPEAKER_02: What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?

2:14:11 SPEAKER_02: Are you not to judge those inside?

2:14:13 SPEAKER_02: one Corinthians chapter five verses eleven and twelve.

2:14:18 SPEAKER_02: Why, I have even heard that one of their leaders thinks he can judge without hearing both sides of the story, that he can judge everything.

2:14:26 SPEAKER_02: Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit, and I have already passed judgment on the one who did this just as if I were present.

2:14:36 SPEAKER_02: Corinthians chapter five verse three.

2:14:40 SPEAKER_02: The spiritual man makes judgments about all things one Corinthians chapter two verse fifteen.

2:14:48 SPEAKER_02: When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died.

2:14:51 SPEAKER_02: At that moment she fell down at his feet and died.

2:14:55 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter five verses five and ten.

2:14:59 SPEAKER_02: Their leader Jesus was either a hypocrite or very mixed up.

2:15:03 SPEAKER_02: Either he came to judge or he didn't.

2:15:06 SPEAKER_02: As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge the world but to save it.

2:15:15 SPEAKER_02: John chapter twelve, verse forty seven.

2:15:18 SPEAKER_02: Jesus said For judgment I have come into this world so that the blind will see, and those who see will become blind.

2:15:27 SPEAKER_02: John chapter nine, verse thirty nine That sort of thing can't be of God.

2:15:32 SPEAKER_02: I mean it makes people afraid to join the church, and we all know that Jesus came to love us, not to make us afraid.

2:15:40 SPEAKER_02: No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people.

2:15:46 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter five, verse thirteen.

2:15:50 SPEAKER_02: Why, if you don't live up to the standards they set, then the leadership will not even let you help out in ministry work.

2:15:58 SPEAKER_02: You have no part or share in this ministry.

2:16:01 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter eight, verse twenty one.

2:16:04 SPEAKER_02: The leadership even thinks they can know what is in your heart.

2:16:08 SPEAKER_02: Only God knows what is in my heart, and he knows that I love him, even though I can't live up to their standards.

2:16:15 SPEAKER_02: You have no part or share in this ministry because your heart is not right before God.

2:16:24 SPEAKER_02: Then Peter said, Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart?

2:16:30 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter five, verse three.

2:16:34 SPEAKER_02: The man who says I know him but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

2:16:44 SPEAKER_02: They try to make people feel guilty.

2:16:47 SPEAKER_02: Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood.

2:16:53 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter five, verse twenty eight.

2:16:57 SPEAKER_02: Then, when these people get mad and lash out at them, they are happy about it.

2:17:02 SPEAKER_02: They act as if they serve God by making people feel guilty.

2:17:06 SPEAKER_02: But there is one thing I know for sure it is God's job to convict people of sin.

2:17:11 SPEAKER_02: Yet they seem to be really happy that they get people mad at them.

2:17:15 SPEAKER_02: The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name Acts chapter five, verse forty one.

2:17:26 SPEAKER_02: Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man.

2:17:33 SPEAKER_02: Rejoice in that day and leap for joy.

2:17:36 SPEAKER_02: Luke chapter six verses twenty two and twenty three.

2:17:40 SPEAKER_02: That is why for Christ's sake I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.

2:17:49 SPEAKER_02: two Corinthians chapter twelve ten.

2:17:53 SPEAKER_02: If this were not a cult, then more people would belong to their church.

2:17:57 SPEAKER_02: As it is, they do not have very many in number.

2:18:00 SPEAKER_02: God just can't be in such a small church.

2:18:03 SPEAKER_02: After all, this is a religious town.

2:18:06 SPEAKER_02: We have a church on every corner.

2:18:09 SPEAKER_02: While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see the city was full of idols.

2:18:15 SPEAKER_02: I even found an altar with this inscription to an unknown God.

2:18:20 SPEAKER_02: At that Paul left the council.

2:18:22 SPEAKER_02: A few men became followers of Paul and believed.

2:18:26 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter seventeen verses sixteen, twenty three, thirty three and thirty four.

2:18:34 SPEAKER_02: Do not be afraid, little flock Luke chapter twelve, verse thirty two.

2:18:39 SPEAKER_02: Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.

2:18:45 SPEAKER_02: Luke chapter six twenty six.

2:18:49 SPEAKER_02: One of their primary leaders hates women.

2:18:52 SPEAKER_02: Why, he says that God does not allow a woman to teach a man.

2:18:56 SPEAKER_02: He even teaches that it is shameful for a woman to talk in church.

2:19:00 SPEAKER_02: I think maybe he has a weird mental problem.

2:19:04 SPEAKER_02: A woman should learn in quietness and full submission.

2:19:07 SPEAKER_02: I do not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man.

2:19:11 SPEAKER_02: She must be silent.

2:19:16 SPEAKER_02: eleven and twelve.

2:19:18 SPEAKER_02: As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches.

2:19:23 SPEAKER_02: They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission as the law says, for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

2:19:32 SPEAKER_02: Corinthians chapter fourteen verses thirty three to thirty five.

2:19:37 SPEAKER_02: It is bad enough that they teach women should be silent and submissive, but they make them wear a towel thing on their heads as a sign that they are in submission to men.

2:19:47 SPEAKER_02: For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head.

2:19:54 SPEAKER_02: Corinthians chapter eleven ten.

2:19:57 SPEAKER_02: This cult sect also condemns a lot of other churches and groups.

2:20:02 SPEAKER_02: They tell others to leave their particular church or religious teachings.

2:20:07 SPEAKER_02: Leave them.

2:20:08 SPEAKER_02: They are blind guides.

2:20:10 SPEAKER_02: If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.

2:20:14 SPEAKER_02: Matthew chapter fifteen, verse fourteen.

2:20:18 SPEAKER_02: I have talked to others who went to their church, and they say it is a cult.

2:20:22 SPEAKER_02: In fact, a lot of people have left that church.

2:20:26 SPEAKER_02: At my first defense no one came to my support.

2:20:30 SPEAKER_02: Everyone deserted me.

2:20:35 SPEAKER_02: You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me.

2:20:39 SPEAKER_02: two Timothy chapter one verse fifteen.

2:20:43 SPEAKER_02: So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, gossiping maliciously about us.

2:20:49 SPEAKER_02: three John ten.

2:20:52 SPEAKER_02: They produced false witnesses who testified Acts chapter six thirteen.

2:20:59 SPEAKER_02: These cults always make you do something to get to heaven.

2:21:03 SPEAKER_02: This cult orders people to be baptized.

2:21:05 SPEAKER_02: Cults always make salvation a works program, and so require their people to do something, to prove themselves saved.

2:21:14 SPEAKER_02: Then Peter said, Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water?

2:21:19 SPEAKER_02: They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.

2:21:23 SPEAKER_02: So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

2:21:27 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter ten, verse forty seven.

2:21:30 SPEAKER_02: I preach that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.

2:21:40 SPEAKER_02: What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but no deeds?

2:21:45 SPEAKER_02: Can such a faith save him?

2:21:47 SPEAKER_02: James chapter two verse fourteen.

2:21:50 SPEAKER_02: I have heard this cult sect condemns whole churches and groups of people.

2:21:57 SPEAKER_02: Even one of their own prophets have said, Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.

2:22:04 SPEAKER_02: This testimony is true, therefore rebuke them sharply.

2:22:08 SPEAKER_02: Titus chapter one verses twelve and thirteen.

2:22:13 SPEAKER_02: This group destroys its members' good self esteem in order to control them.

2:22:18 SPEAKER_02: No one around there thinks very well of themselves.

2:22:22 SPEAKER_02: But I will not boast about myself except about my weaknesses.

2:22:26 SPEAKER_02: two Corinthians chapter twelve verse five.

2:22:30 SPEAKER_02: Why do you call me good?

2:22:32 SPEAKER_02: Jesus answered.

2:22:33 SPEAKER_02: No one is good except God alone.

2:22:36 SPEAKER_02: Luke chapter eighteen, verse nineteen.

2:22:40 SPEAKER_02: This cult sect acts totally different from the rest of us.

2:22:45 SPEAKER_02: From holidays to everyday life they act completely different than everyone else.

2:22:50 SPEAKER_02: You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you.

2:22:55 SPEAKER_02: Leviticus chapter twenty, verse twenty three.

2:23:00 SPEAKER_02: They did not destroy the peoples as the Lord had commanded them, but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs.

2:23:07 SPEAKER_02: Psalm one hundred and six verses thirty four and thirty five.

2:23:13 SPEAKER_02: Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.

2:23:30 SPEAKER_02: James chapter one, verse twenty seven.

2:23:34 SPEAKER_02: So concludes the presentation by Dr.

2:23:36 SPEAKER_02: Harry Heretic Hunter.

2:23:38 SPEAKER_02: As the lights return to their normal brightness, the darkness has increased in the hearts of the listeners.

2:23:53 SPEAKER_01: The word cult strikes so much fear in Christian churches that members are afraid to love as Jesus loved.

2:24:00 SPEAKER_01: So many books, sermons, and ministries have self-righteously pounded the pulpit to watch out for cults that the churches in the United States are now thoroughly lukewarm.

2:24:10 SPEAKER_01: The first New Testament church, because of its purity, righteousness, and love, inspired by the Holy Spirit, were slanderously labeled a heresy, sect, or cult.

2:24:21 SPEAKER_01: It is time to repent of being ashamed of the Word of God and love as Jesus loved.

2:24:27 SPEAKER_01: Let the true disciples of Jesus love so deeply by the power of the Holy Spirit that serious slander and opposition does arise.

2:24:36 SPEAKER_01: As Paul declared in open court, let us shout everywhere that it is only the disciples of Jesus that have the inspiration unto godly love, to love others selflessly by the power of a crucified life.

2:24:51 SPEAKER_01: Acts 24, 14.

2:24:53 SPEAKER_01: However, I admit that I worship the God of our fathers as a follower of the way, which they call a cult.

2:25:00 SPEAKER_01: I believe everything that agrees with the law and that is written in the prophets.

2:25:06 SPEAKER_01: Join us now as we listen to the audiobook O de Cult, the Fragrance of Love in the First Church by Timothy Williams.

2:25:14 SPEAKER_01: The Consider Podcast, examining today's wisdom, folly, and madness.

2:25:19 SPEAKER_01: Ecclesiastes seven twenty five www.consider.info.

Bad Fruit From Careless Words

2:25:26 SPEAKER_02: Chapter seven Bad Fruit No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.

2:25:35 SPEAKER_02: Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.

2:25:38 SPEAKER_02: People do not pick figs from thorn bushes or grapes from briars.

2:25:43 SPEAKER_02: Luke chapter six verses forty three and forty four.

2:25:48 SPEAKER_02: Jesus declared that we will be judged for every careless word we spoke.

2:25:52 SPEAKER_02: Dr.

2:25:53 SPEAKER_02: Hunter and men like him spew forth a whole book of careless words, words that will injure the love of Jesus, words that result in evil suspicions and unholy divisions between men, rather than a love whose solid foundation rests on the truth.

2:26:10 SPEAKER_02: Because doctor Hunter refuses to be crucified to self, he views Jesus and what the Holy Spirit works in a church through sinful eyes.

2:26:19 SPEAKER_02: He can only see on the surface of things.

2:26:21 SPEAKER_02: Rather than holding his tongue, he promotes death with his words.

2:26:26 SPEAKER_02: One day, if he does not repent and wear odocult himself, he shall eat the bad fruit he has sown.

2:26:32 SPEAKER_02: In the meantime, the bad fruit will poison many against the holiness of the Holy Spirit.

2:26:39 SPEAKER_02: The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

2:26:45 SPEAKER_02: Proverbs chapter eighteen twenty one.

2:26:49 SPEAKER_02: Even before doctor Harry Heretic Hunter ends his speech, people feel terrified about this new cult.

2:26:56 SPEAKER_02: Mothers grow distraught as they consider that some of the points seem to fit the church where their children attend.

2:27:02 SPEAKER_02: Fathers become panic stricken about their daughters falling into the clutches of such a group.

2:27:08 SPEAKER_02: The church hosting the conference feels smug and self righteous that they are not like that group of cultish Christians.

2:27:16 SPEAKER_02: In reality, such heretic hunters terrify the church so much that members become afraid to wholeheartedly live any scripture at all.

2:27:24 SPEAKER_02: The Holy Spirit cannot work joy and life because everyone will be afraid of becoming or being labelled a cult.

2:27:31 SPEAKER_02: They will be unwilling to wear odocult.

2:27:34 SPEAKER_02: To live by the Holy Spirit, even one tenth of those scriptures listed in the last chapter would easily get a church labelled a cult, and the followers dismissed as brainwashed.

2:27:44 SPEAKER_02: A mediocre, lukewarm form of Christianity is all that is safe to live today, unless a church wants Dr.

2:27:51 SPEAKER_02: Harry Heretic Hunter to label them a cult.

2:27:55 SPEAKER_02: The church that invited doctor Harry fell into a trap.

2:27:59 SPEAKER_02: In order to remain in good standing with him, the members must conform to his definition of acceptable Christianity.

2:28:07 SPEAKER_02: The only thing such religious men accept is lukewarmness.

2:28:11 SPEAKER_02: It is safe, controlled, and faces no dangers that require a living God's correction.

2:28:17 SPEAKER_02: Most churches can and do correct their own mistakes because they don't live anything out of the ordinary.

2:28:24 SPEAKER_02: What they obey they obey by human effort and according to dry biblical guidelines or principles.

2:28:30 SPEAKER_02: They do not hunger and thirst for righteousness.

2:28:33 SPEAKER_02: They sit down at the table content with what they have prepared for themselves to eat.

2:28:38 SPEAKER_02: To strive to live what is written in this book will cause sin, self and mistakes to rise to the surface.

2:28:45 SPEAKER_02: Just look at David, a man after God's own heart.

2:28:49 SPEAKER_02: If we measured his love for God by all the mistakes and sins he made compared to Saul, Saul would be the saint.

2:28:56 SPEAKER_02: Saul didn't commit half the sins David did.

2:29:00 SPEAKER_02: Every church needs to run after God, to seek to obey things too impossible to obey, to seek to obey things that you know you will stumble in and be rebuked by God for failing to obey.

2:29:12 SPEAKER_02: This is why the Bible tells us to aim for perfection.

2:29:16 SPEAKER_02: God loves those who aim for this perfection in Christ, while he fully rejects those who moan that no one is perfect.

2:29:24 SPEAKER_02: In aiming for perfection, love for the living God breaks forth in the church and in one's heart.

2:29:29 SPEAKER_02: Though many mistakes and sins take place, ones that only God Himself must correct, God's love is poured out in abundance.

2:29:37 SPEAKER_02: The self righteous and the worldly love to talk about and misinterpret this type of rebuking.

2:29:43 SPEAKER_02: Such individuals should consider their final judgment for persecuting those whom God perfects.

2:29:50 SPEAKER_02: Pour out your wrath on them, let your fierce anger overtake them.

2:29:54 SPEAKER_02: May their place be deserted, let there be no one to dwell in their tents, for they persecute those you wound and talk about the pain of those you hurt.

2:30:03 SPEAKER_02: Charge them with crime upon crime, do not let them share in your salvation.

2:30:08 SPEAKER_02: May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous.

2:30:17 SPEAKER_02: Let us not pass too quickly over this.

2:30:20 SPEAKER_02: We need to be very careful when we see faults in a church that wears odocult.

2:30:24 SPEAKER_02: Although they sin, they will shine in the end.

2:30:28 SPEAKER_02: And part of their shining will be the judgment God works for those who have persecuted or slandered those he wounds.

2:30:35 SPEAKER_02: Verse twenty four.

2:30:37 SPEAKER_02: Pour out your wrath on them, let your fierce anger overtake them.

2:30:41 SPEAKER_02: Verse twenty five.

2:30:43 SPEAKER_02: May their place be deserted, their tents or churches be empty.

2:30:48 SPEAKER_02: Verse twenty six.

2:30:50 SPEAKER_02: For they persecute those you wound, talk of the pain God inflicts.

2:30:55 SPEAKER_02: Verse twenty seven, charge them with crime upon crime.

2:31:00 SPEAKER_02: Most significantly, such persecutors will not be saved.

2:31:04 SPEAKER_02: God will blot them out of the book of life, not listing them with the righteous or letting them share in the salvation of Jesus.

2:31:12 SPEAKER_02: For example, people will say, What if you start to sin in some serious way?

2:31:17 SPEAKER_02: If God is alive, this is not a problem.

2:31:21 SPEAKER_02: The same God who gave Paul a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan.

2:31:25 SPEAKER_02: The same God who killed Ananias and made Elimus blind is the same God who stands holy among his people and able to humble and deal with me or anyone else.

2:31:36 SPEAKER_02: The trouble is most people know scriptures, but they don't know a living God or a cross of power, and so they easily fall into serious errors.

2:31:45 SPEAKER_02: We must see that to judge any church by outward appearances, personal interviews, and other worldly means will never allow anyone to come to a correct conclusion.

2:31:55 SPEAKER_02: Every church or group has people bitter against it.

2:31:59 SPEAKER_02: That is the human condition.

2:32:01 SPEAKER_02: We are bitter by nature.

2:32:03 SPEAKER_02: Therefore we see one group always calling another group's doctrinal position a cult.

2:32:08 SPEAKER_02: We vent our bitterness that spills out in religious ways.

2:32:12 SPEAKER_02: Think of Paul.

2:32:14 SPEAKER_02: Suppose you wanted to join an early Christian church, but you wanted to know if Paul was a godly man.

2:32:20 SPEAKER_02: Who was over him in the Lord?

2:32:22 SPEAKER_02: Did he live what he preached?

2:32:24 SPEAKER_02: Was he loving or judgmental?

2:32:26 SPEAKER_02: If you set out to gather the facts, you would become dismayed very quickly.

2:32:31 SPEAKER_02: You would find many bad reports along with the good reports.

2:32:34 SPEAKER_02: People regarded Paul as an imposter and troublemaker.

2:32:38 SPEAKER_02: This is the nature of those who wear odocult.

2:32:42 SPEAKER_02: Through glory and dishonour, bad report and good report, genuine yet regarded as impostors.

2:32:49 SPEAKER_02: two Corinthians chapter six eight.

2:32:53 SPEAKER_02: For this reason, Jesus bids us to never make a judgment by mere appearances.

2:32:58 SPEAKER_02: Many people and ministries spend most of their time looking for faults in other groups, but they themselves create a corrupting influence in the church today.

2:33:07 SPEAKER_02: The last thing the church needs today is another book, website or seminar on cults.

2:33:13 SPEAKER_02: The church needs confrontation with a holy God that demands obedience by faith.

2:33:18 SPEAKER_02: If you try to do that, all the whining about legalism drowns out any life God desires to work.

2:33:25 SPEAKER_02: The so called discernment ministries do not understand that the message of the cross is the only message that honestly allows others to hear from the Holy Spirit as to who really belongs to God.

2:33:37 SPEAKER_02: If they preached the message of the cross, then ninety percent of their ministry would become obsolete.

2:33:43 SPEAKER_02: After all, the best defense for the truth is not to preach against falsehood, but to show and live the truth all the more.

2:33:51 SPEAKER_02: This is exactly what Jesus did.

2:33:54 SPEAKER_02: Jesus talked with power, clarity, and truth, whereas the Pharisees and Sadducees argued with falled against each other and no truth was ever discovered, lived, or obeyed in spirit and truth.

2:34:06 SPEAKER_02: When Jesus talked, people knew he used more than just words and human arguments.

2:34:11 SPEAKER_02: A people, at least God's elect, can see that there is something better besides pointing out the faults of others.

2:34:18 SPEAKER_02: Ask yourself a serious question.

2:34:21 SPEAKER_02: Aren't you tired of all the finger pointing, of wasting energy that could be spent loving God and others?

2:34:27 SPEAKER_02: The last thing the world needs is another ministry that goes around pointing out the faults of other groups.

2:34:33 SPEAKER_02: We need churches that reflect the truth and the glory of God.

2:34:37 SPEAKER_02: We should not build a ministry by tearing down others, but by preaching the truth of the cross in such a way that it crucifies all who hear the message.

2:34:46 SPEAKER_02: Where you find the offense of the cross preached in a one sided fashion, you hear the preaching of a lie.

2:34:52 SPEAKER_02: Every preacher or seminar speaker will offend those who listen as well as those they speak against if their words are really inspired by the Holy Spirit.

2:35:02 SPEAKER_02: So often Christians rely on their feelings to judge whether something is of God or not, and therefore walk down dead end streets.

2:35:09 SPEAKER_02: Instead of investigating church after church and discerning them in your own strength, let God speak to you.

2:35:16 SPEAKER_02: Of course, he will speak what your flesh does not want to hear and what feels uncomfortable to you.

2:35:22 SPEAKER_02: But if you allow him to do that you will be blessed to find a cult you can join, where you will never be taken in by a man.

Leadership That Loves Unlike The World

2:35:30 SPEAKER_02: This you have God's promise on Chapter eight Leadership That Loves Now this is our boast.

2:35:40 SPEAKER_02: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world and especially in our relations with you in the holiness and sincerity that are from God.

2:35:50 SPEAKER_02: We have done so not according to worldly wisdom, but according to God's grace.

2:35:55 SPEAKER_02: two Corinthians chapter one twelve leaders that were Ode cult smell much different than leaders of the world.

2:36:05 SPEAKER_02: By this time this fact should not surprise us.

2:36:08 SPEAKER_02: The kind of leadership that is of Jesus where Jesus leads the leaders makes for very strange church leadership.

2:36:15 SPEAKER_02: It takes time for everyone to get used to this kind of leadership because as we have seen, God's ways are not our ways.

2:36:23 SPEAKER_02: The world knows what it expects from its leaders.

2:36:26 SPEAKER_02: Congregations make a grave mistake if they demand that their leaders meet these same worldly expectations.

2:36:33 SPEAKER_02: The end result is a worldly dead church that God must work in spite of, not through.

2:36:40 SPEAKER_02: Paul boasts that he did not conduct himself as a leader in the church according to worldly wisdom, but according to God's grace.

2:36:48 SPEAKER_02: Paul did not even conduct himself according to godly leadership principles, the kind of laws that we would place leaders under today.

2:36:57 SPEAKER_02: Paul was crucified to what the world thinks makes a good leader, and he allowed the grace of God to move him to lead the church in love.

2:37:04 SPEAKER_02: When a congregation demands that a pastor show worldly loving leadership, it begs for failure.

2:37:11 SPEAKER_02: Only Jesus can give the victory, and we gain the victory by allowing Jesus to lead as he wills, not as we will.

2:37:18 SPEAKER_02: The way of the cross must have its way in leadership if God is to be glorified.

2:37:23 SPEAKER_02: The problem is that since this leadership comes out in ways unlike the world it has a touch of odor cult.

2:37:30 SPEAKER_02: Unfortunately, most churches close their hearts and minds to the shame of the cross glorifying God's name in their leaders' lives.

2:37:39 SPEAKER_02: Until the cross can crucify our fleshly expectations of what leadership looks like, we will always have evil suspicions of true godly leadership.

2:37:49 SPEAKER_02: The kind of leadership that comes from heaven does not reflect our outlines, seminars and books on leadership.

2:37:56 SPEAKER_02: Rather, such leadership is so different that even men like Paul are not readily accepted as being a leader sent by God.

2:38:04 SPEAKER_02: Let us read on in our passage and note how Paul hopes that they come to understand fully his leadership.

2:38:11 SPEAKER_02: Now this is our boast our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world and especially in our relations with you in the holiness and sincerity that are from God.

2:38:23 SPEAKER_02: We have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God's grace.

2:38:28 SPEAKER_02: For we do not write you anything you cannot read or understand.

2:38:32 SPEAKER_02: And I hope that as you have understood us in part you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus two Corinthians chapter one verses twelve to fourteen They understood in part that Paul was a godly leader, but had their doubts they didn't fully trust him.

2:38:55 SPEAKER_02: Therefore Paul wrote that he hoped others would come to understand that he really came from God.

2:39:01 SPEAKER_02: These believers were still young in the way of the cross and their understanding of true godly leadership needed to be crucified.

2:39:09 SPEAKER_02: They could not trust him fully because they were unaccustomed to his style of leadership.

2:39:14 SPEAKER_02: Until they allowed the cross to crucify them deeper they could not feel completely assured of his guidance.

2:39:21 SPEAKER_02: One day they would grow mature enough to not only trust Paul but to boast of what Paul did as a leader.

2:39:28 SPEAKER_02: The cross causes these types of struggles.

2:39:31 SPEAKER_02: If leaders by the power of the Holy Spirit preach the message of the cross it will always go against the flesh and sin of the flock.

2:39:39 SPEAKER_02: In short, we don't like godly leadership.

2:39:42 SPEAKER_02: After all, in our flesh who of us wants leadership to shine the light of the cross into our hearts and lives our sinful condition always desires leaders less than or equal to ourselves.

2:39:56 SPEAKER_02: God's way places leaders above us who can show us the way and who demand we strive for righteousness.

2:40:03 SPEAKER_02: Most will not even attend that kind of church, let alone call it godly leadership.

2:40:08 SPEAKER_02: Human rebellion hates confrontation whether gently or firmly against sin.

2:40:14 SPEAKER_02: This kind of church feels uncomfortable to the flesh to worship at, but it gives life to the soul.

2:40:20 SPEAKER_02: Paul didn't get his leadership training from a seminar, book or outline God's grace taught and motivated him.

2:40:27 SPEAKER_02: Like all true godly leaders, Paul led as Christ led him.

2:40:32 SPEAKER_02: Unfortunately, the vast majority of churches do not really want true godly leadership.

2:40:38 SPEAKER_02: They want leadership that fits their ideals.

2:40:41 SPEAKER_02: They will falsely label a leader who does fit their expectations as godly.

2:40:46 SPEAKER_02: On the other hand, a truly godly leader will seem out of place in the world and like a cult leader.

2:40:53 SPEAKER_02: Most leaders in the church are nothing but hired hands, employed by the elders or a committee to perform a certain job and fulfill a specific ideal.

2:41:03 SPEAKER_02: Paul would never bow down to man's ideals.

2:41:06 SPEAKER_02: That would be idolatry and compromise.

2:41:09 SPEAKER_02: Instead he let God's grace move and work in such a way that the church remained safe and secure, a place where love could flourish and grow.

2:41:19 SPEAKER_02: Often children misunderstand their parents and why they do things.

2:41:23 SPEAKER_02: If a child does not get what it wants he may respond by saying you hate me.

2:41:29 SPEAKER_02: As the child grows, he comes to understand that it wasn't hate but really love.

2:41:34 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, that child will become very thankful for all the love shown by his parents, even though at first he considered it hatred.

2:41:43 SPEAKER_02: In the same way the love of Jesus reaches beyond our understanding.

2:41:47 SPEAKER_02: Only as we grow do we come to understand a lot of things we considered hateful as really love.

2:41:54 SPEAKER_02: To illustrate this point, go through your Bible and highlight all the times Jesus appeared to act unloving.

2:42:01 SPEAKER_02: For example, the time Jesus would not own up to his mother but appeared to use her as a sermon prop, or the times he called a woman a dog, called Peter Satan, and renounced the Pharisees in no uncertain terms.

2:42:14 SPEAKER_02: Pretend you talk to Jesus about how Lazarus his good friend died, and Jesus responded by saying he felt glad that he was not there to help.

2:42:24 SPEAKER_02: To add insult to injury Jesus did not even explain himself or act with the kind of sympathy we would expect.

2:42:32 SPEAKER_02: So then he told them plainly Lazarus is dead and for your sake I am glad I was not there so that you may believe but let us go to him chapter eleven verses fourteen and fifteen How indignantly we would react to Jesus this pastor and preacher not rushing to Lazarus side as he died, and then afterward declaring he was glad he was not there You can bet your bottom dollar that churches today would quickly fire Jesus Suppose that the Holy Spirit will that I, as a pastor, not visit someone in the hospital would you not consider me an unloving pastor?

2:43:12 SPEAKER_02: Do you really want godly leadership that deals with sins in the church, protects the church and loves in ways the Holy Spirit leads?

2:43:21 SPEAKER_02: Consider this serious question slowly because few honestly can answer yes.

2:43:27 SPEAKER_02: Such leadership is not bizarre or psychologically unbalanced, but full of righteousness and completely different than the world.

2:43:34 SPEAKER_02: Godly leadership flows with so much love and wisdom that it does only what is best for the other person, even if that person resists.

2:43:43 SPEAKER_02: Godly leaders react from selfless motivation and purity.

2:43:47 SPEAKER_02: This kind of leadership suffers to make others perfect in Christ, making itself poor for the sake of others.

2:43:54 SPEAKER_02: It acts like Jesus in every way.

2:43:57 SPEAKER_02: As an accused cult leader myself, I have experienced how people do not understand the love that God moves through me.

2:44:05 SPEAKER_02: When a few of these individuals however grow in wisdom and the crucified life they come to appreciate my love.

2:44:12 SPEAKER_02: They know it does not come from my goodness for I have none, but by God's grace.

2:44:17 SPEAKER_02: Let me give you one example Godly leadership lays down its life for the flock.

2:44:22 SPEAKER_02: If the cross works this kind of heart in a leader, God gives power to see men's motives and understand attacks against the church.

2:44:30 SPEAKER_02: God also provides the love to deal with opposition in a way that shows the wisdom of God.

2:44:36 SPEAKER_02: Before we look at this example let me remind you of this scripture Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.

2:44:46 SPEAKER_02: Be shepherds of the church which he bought with his own blood.

2:44:50 SPEAKER_02: I know that after I leave savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.

2:44:56 SPEAKER_02: Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.

2:45:03 SPEAKER_02: So be on your guard.

2:45:05 SPEAKER_02: Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears Acts chapter twenty verses twenty eight to thirty one Note well that Paul stated as long as he was present men could not rise up in the church to distort the truth.

2:45:22 SPEAKER_02: But after he left evil men would attempt to fulfill their plans.

2:45:27 SPEAKER_02: As long as Paul remained close the flock was safe.

2:45:31 SPEAKER_02: After he was called away the leadership that was left would have to prove itself to be taken seriously.

2:45:37 SPEAKER_02: In other words these evil men would not take the leadership seriously because they had not proven themselves dead enough to self.

2:45:45 SPEAKER_02: Most importantly God worked such a love in Paul that he cried day and night with tears for three years.

2:45:52 SPEAKER_02: So precious and full of love was the church that he guarded and protected it with the utmost in godly zeal.

2:46:00 SPEAKER_02: Sometimes individuals do not understand this zeal.

2:46:04 SPEAKER_02: They cannot figure out why they cannot see what I can see in the Lord, and become concerned that I have overreacted.

2:46:11 SPEAKER_02: Just as individuals no doubt could not figure out why Jesus overturned tables in the temple.

2:46:17 SPEAKER_02: After all, the law required the purchasing of sacrifices Below is one person's reaction to such a zealous moment you guys I know that I do not understand the whole situation here, but you all need to stop and read what you are writing these people.

2:46:35 SPEAKER_02: I do not get the impression at all that they were trying to be sneaky.

2:46:39 SPEAKER_02: Perhaps they were just missing and is that not possible?

2:46:44 SPEAKER_02: There is no love in these posts all I see is self righteousness and defensive behavior.

2:46:50 SPEAKER_02: Timothy you come across as a cold, smug and intimidating man to anyone who either doesn't understand or questions you is the Christlikeness that should be coming forth from you?

2:47:02 SPEAKER_02: Would Jesus tell them to go away?

2:47:05 SPEAKER_02: Confused and sad and starting to think you all are not as close to the truth as I was beginning to believe Fortunately this person was willing to pray about the matter and wait on the Lord for insight.

2:47:19 SPEAKER_02: As some brothers and sisters scripturally explained to her the situation she wrote the next day Everyone, please forgive my stupid assumptions.

2:47:29 SPEAKER_02: I am so ashamed and sorry that I jumped in and replied out of indignation and my prideful feelings of outrage.

2:47:36 SPEAKER_02: You all have shown me nothing but compassion and last night I trampled all over it.

2:47:41 SPEAKER_02: Lord Jesus, forgive me for trashing these brothers and sisters please give me a soft heart that I can allow their words to penetrate and become real.

2:47:50 SPEAKER_02: I have so far to go love she had experienced so much love through us in the past that the recent events honestly confused her.

2:48:00 SPEAKER_02: Rather than get a bitter root she wanted to hear from God on the issue, and a positive response resulted.

2:48:07 SPEAKER_02: She gave up her sin and flesh and gained a deeper understanding of love.

2:48:12 SPEAKER_02: She is on her way to wearing Oda cult I will end this chapter with one last example.

2:48:18 SPEAKER_02: Many individuals complain that they don't like the tone of my preaching and writing I write and speak directly clearly to the point and at times offensively.

2:48:29 SPEAKER_02: Others cannot see past the offence of the cross to the resurrected life.

2:48:34 SPEAKER_02: If they could move past the tone, accepting words that crucify the flesh, they would discover a resurrected life and joy they never thought possible.

2:48:44 SPEAKER_02: The Holy Spirit worked this in Paul for some say his letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing Corinthians chapter ten.

2:48:59 SPEAKER_02: His letters or sermons sounded weighty and forceful, but in person they felt Paul wasn't that impressive.

2:49:06 SPEAKER_02: The vast majority of the time God's love moves me in such a way that most would consider it loving and kind.

2:49:14 SPEAKER_02: My sermons come across far more offensive than I am in person.

2:49:18 SPEAKER_02: My wife often teases that the old sixties song applies to me to know him is to love love him and I do.

2:49:29 SPEAKER_02: Jesus seemed more offensive up front, but those forceful about God who moved past the offence of the cross discovered eternal life.

2:49:37 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, many over the years have been literally amazed that in person I am not a foaming at the mouth Helen brimstone hard nosed ogre.

2:49:47 SPEAKER_02: God has wisdom about how he works all of this, but we do not have time to explore it.

2:49:53 SPEAKER_02: It is enough to note the opposite reaction.

2:49:56 SPEAKER_02: Many upon meeting me in person then take me for a fool, thinking that I cannot be moved by the Spirit to react as I do on sermon tapes.

2:50:05 SPEAKER_02: Paul dealt with this same reaction.

2:50:07 SPEAKER_02: Here was his reply Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.

2:50:17 SPEAKER_02: Let every church pray for a leadership that wears odor cult.

2:50:21 SPEAKER_02: In them you will find the richest of protection and love.

2:50:24 SPEAKER_02: But you have to accept a godly leadership that honestly helps God work godliness and purity in you.

How To Seek This Kind Of Church

2:50:31 SPEAKER_02: You must desire leaders that wear just a touch of odor cult Chapter nine How to get the fragrance The fig tree forms its early fruit the blossoming vines spread their fragrance Arise, come my darling, my beautiful one, come with me Song of Songs chapter two thirteen If you desire to seek this kind of love, then consider the following before the Lord Do not sow among thorns.

2:51:04 SPEAKER_02: This is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem Break up your unploughed ground and do not sow among thorns Jeremiah chapter four three Do not think you can simply step into living this type of Christianity.

2:51:21 SPEAKER_02: You must place every doctrine and opinion on the cross.

2:51:24 SPEAKER_02: This is one of the most challenging points faced by those who feel they have searched for God for a long time.

2:51:30 SPEAKER_02: Anyone with strong convictions finds it extremely difficult to let the cross crucify those convictions.

2:51:37 SPEAKER_02: But a conviction in the flesh is just strong opinion that must be rendered powerless.

2:51:42 SPEAKER_02: The cross crucifies man's wisdom associated with the scriptures and replaces it with the resurrected life.

2:51:50 SPEAKER_02: God seeks to break up unploughed ground, and he does not want to place his good seed among weeds This is new territory, and God desires to start fresh.

2:52:01 SPEAKER_02: Even if you believe you have some good things in the Lord, let him trim it all away so that you might bear even more fruit to learn from the Holy Spirit what the following scripture means The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know one Corinthians chapter eight verse two Do not strive to keep church members Most likely your church membership grew in numbers by using worldly means and attractions.

2:52:32 SPEAKER_02: To change this pattern it will take a work of the Holy Spirit and the message of the cross.

2:52:37 SPEAKER_02: As a result you will lose members unwilling to let the Spirit crucify them.

2:52:42 SPEAKER_02: It will hurt to watch them go, but let them leave.

2:52:46 SPEAKER_02: This is not a cult that seeks to entrap or keep members.

2:52:50 SPEAKER_02: Each one must fully and willingly pick up their cross and fellowship with you.

2:52:55 SPEAKER_02: When the cross became too much for many of the disciples of Jesus he did not beg them to stay, but quietly let them go.

2:53:03 SPEAKER_02: In the same way today, if someone doesn't want to join or they want to leave, the Holy Spirit requires that we quietly let them leave.

2:53:11 SPEAKER_02: In fact, when individuals think about joining the church old friends and family become highly concerned.

2:53:18 SPEAKER_02: Since they have no love for the light they seek to instill fears and talk the person out of joining.

2:53:24 SPEAKER_02: Rather than trying to use all kinds of persuasive techniques to keep members, we should offer very little help at such times.

2:53:32 SPEAKER_02: If a person cannot withstand and say no to the opposition at this point, they will certainly not last long as Jesus moves them step by step closer to the cross.

2:53:43 SPEAKER_02: They will become like one of the disciples who turned back and no longer followed.

2:53:48 SPEAKER_02: From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him You do not want to leave too, do you?

2:53:57 SPEAKER_02: Jesus asked the twelve John chapter six verses sixty six and sixty seven In the past I made the mistake of trying to talk people into staying, logically laying out the message of the cross again and again.

2:54:13 SPEAKER_02: This only weakens the church and causes bitter feelings in those that eventually leave anyway.

2:54:18 SPEAKER_02: So again, do not seek to keep that person you love so much in the Lord.

2:54:23 SPEAKER_02: Let them go if they want to leave.

2:54:26 SPEAKER_02: Do not even try to say they have a good heart.

2:54:28 SPEAKER_02: A good heart does not turn its back on a love that comes from heaven.

2:54:33 SPEAKER_02: Don't even say they are saved, for a saved person does not reject the love of Christ in a church.

2:54:39 SPEAKER_02: Everything that we have looked at in this book is baby stuff.

2:54:43 SPEAKER_02: It is the beginning things that show someone belongs to Jesus.

2:54:47 SPEAKER_02: This is the ground floor and you will find no other way into the building but by coming in through the front door.

2:54:53 SPEAKER_02: Again, a good heart does not turn its back on the basic things of Jesus, of what it means fundamentally to call oneself a Christian.

2:55:01 SPEAKER_02: If a person refuses to wear Ode cult, he will not wear the clothes of Christ either.

2:55:07 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, do as Jesus did and ask others if they want to leave also.

2:55:11 SPEAKER_02: Warn them of the cost up front warn them of what it means to have a church filled with the love of heaven and let them go if they are unwilling to pay that cost lay a good foundation lay out very clearly the message of the cross and what you desire for God to work.

2:55:29 SPEAKER_02: State clearly what you desire from the congregation and prepare yourself for much humility.

2:55:35 SPEAKER_02: You will need to confess sins of selfishness, greed and dullness many times.

2:55:41 SPEAKER_02: Like children in the Lord, become teachable and willing to see new failings and different ways that God will manifest love among you.

2:55:48 SPEAKER_02: You cannot keep yourself centered dignity in a church filled with the love of heaven.

2:55:53 SPEAKER_02: There simply isn't room for unteachableness, pride and false comfort.

2:55:58 SPEAKER_02: If your current church leaves Leadership will not fully embrace this, leave them today.

2:56:03 SPEAKER_02: This is a matter of love, so doctrinal debate and talk should not stall you.

2:56:08 SPEAKER_02: After all, the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk.

2:56:12 SPEAKER_02: Don't even think twice about staying.

2:56:15 SPEAKER_02: God's word and spirit are clear.

2:56:18 SPEAKER_02: You must avoid such individuals no matter who they might be, if they refuse the love that comes from heaven.

2:56:24 SPEAKER_02: Instead, pray for and find one other Christian willing to let God work his love between the two of you by way of the offensive message of the cross.

2:56:33 SPEAKER_02: Jesus said, as recorded in Matthew chapter twenty, verse eighteen, for where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.

2:56:42 SPEAKER_02: Just be sure you lay a good foundation so that love from God can flow between the two of you.

2:56:49 SPEAKER_02: By the grace God has given me I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it.

2:56:56 SPEAKER_02: But each one should be careful how he builds.

2:57:03 SPEAKER_02: Declare a fast.

2:57:05 SPEAKER_02: You cannot receive new wine from God into old wineskins.

2:57:10 SPEAKER_02: You are about to embrace the way of the cross which requires much denying of self, even if you think you knew this concept before.

2:57:18 SPEAKER_02: Begin now by denying yourself food.

2:57:21 SPEAKER_02: Turn from socializing where the stomach is worshipped, and pick up a cross that will work love.

2:57:27 SPEAKER_02: Declare a fast for a Saturday through Sunday evening, and seek the Lord, asking him to give you the new wine of love that will make your joy full.

2:57:36 SPEAKER_02: But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them.

2:57:40 SPEAKER_02: In those days they will fast.

2:57:42 SPEAKER_02: He told them this parable.

2:57:45 SPEAKER_02: No one tears a patch from a new garment and sows it on an old one.

2:57:49 SPEAKER_02: If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.

2:57:55 SPEAKER_02: And no one pours new wine into old wineskins.

2:57:58 SPEAKER_02: If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out, and the wineskins will be ruined.

2:58:05 SPEAKER_02: No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins, and no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says the old is better.

2:58:15 SPEAKER_02: Be assured, if you honestly desire this new wine, you will never want to go back to the old way of church fellowship.

2:58:22 SPEAKER_02: No one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says the old is better.

2:58:28 SPEAKER_02: The old way of the New Testament fellowship tastes far sweeter than that found in the church today.

2:58:35 SPEAKER_02: Learn from your mistakes.

2:58:38 SPEAKER_02: You will make lots of mistakes, sins, so learn from them.

2:58:42 SPEAKER_02: We are weak vessels of clay, and you will say and do things that you will regret later.

2:58:48 SPEAKER_02: Some may even leave the church because of these mistakes and their lack of love and forgiveness.

2:58:54 SPEAKER_02: Don't let it stop you from learning and letting God give you a wisdom that flows from love.

2:58:59 SPEAKER_02: We made many mistakes, and know of many pitfalls you will want to avoid along the way.

2:59:05 SPEAKER_02: Let love fill everyone's heart, and when mistakes happen, God will work the greater good if we remain in his love.

2:59:13 SPEAKER_02: One of the churches God had me and my wife start would never live the passage below, and thus became bitter and destroyed themselves.

2:59:21 SPEAKER_02: Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.

2:59:26 SPEAKER_02: Forgive as the Lord forgave you, and over all these virtues put on love which binds them all together in perfect unity.

2:59:35 SPEAKER_02: Colossians chapter three verses thirteen and fourteen.

2:59:40 SPEAKER_02: Reject any and all plans to make it happen.

2:59:44 SPEAKER_02: When we fell in the Garden of Eden, we thought we could become gods, knowing good from evil.

2:59:50 SPEAKER_02: We believed we could devise plans on how to be godly.

2:59:53 SPEAKER_02: So of course many how to books fill the world and even Christian bookstores.

2:59:59 SPEAKER_02: Again, in the Christian community we find hundreds, if not thousands of how to books, how to preach a sermon, how to read the Bible, and how to share the gospel without fear.

3:00:10 SPEAKER_02: The list goes on and on.

3:00:13 SPEAKER_02: The message of the cross honestly preached, throws all those how to books out the window.

3:00:19 SPEAKER_02: If Jesus is clearly portrayed as crucified, we see that the flesh becomes totally powerless to fulfill one scripture.

3:00:27 SPEAKER_02: Come before God and let him teach you how to love.

3:00:30 SPEAKER_02: Let God arrange the body as he sees fit, moving and working love in the congregation as He wills.

3:00:37 SPEAKER_02: Reject the desire to have a king or be a king unto yourself, and let God be God.

3:00:43 SPEAKER_02: You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?

3:00:47 SPEAKER_02: Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.

3:00:52 SPEAKER_02: Galatians chapter three, verse one.

3:00:56 SPEAKER_02: Wait on the Lord This love will not happen in a day unless, like Pentecost, a solid foundation has been laid years before.

3:01:06 SPEAKER_02: It is crucial that each day every person enters the rest of God and waits upon God to will and work in a church.

3:01:13 SPEAKER_02: You will feel tempted to run ahead of the Lord in your eagerness, but let the cross crucify your impatience.

3:01:20 SPEAKER_02: Great dangers lie ahead, from false teachers to your own flesh, and in fear and trembling you need to stay very close to the Lord.

3:01:29 SPEAKER_02: You may want to obtain a copy of the book A Whisper Revival, which will give you a more detailed account of these troubles.

3:01:36 SPEAKER_02: But realize you must return to God to receive Oda cult.

3:01:41 SPEAKER_02: But you must return to your God, maintain love and justice and wait for your God always.

Avoiding Self Effort And Being Taught

3:01:52 SPEAKER_02: Chapter ten taught by God The Spirit gives life.

3:01:58 SPEAKER_02: The flesh counts for nothing.

3:02:00 SPEAKER_02: The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life John chapter sixty three What does one followed by twenty four zeros times zero equal?

3:02:14 SPEAKER_02: You can have all things in common in the power of the flesh, and it will count for nothing.

3:02:19 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, this explains why many a good start ends so badly.

3:02:24 SPEAKER_02: It was done in the power of the flesh.

3:02:27 SPEAKER_02: You can hate and despise money and seek to walk in the light in the power of the flesh, but a septilian times zero still equals a big fat zero.

3:02:38 SPEAKER_02: Jesus said Flesh counts for nothing.

3:02:41 SPEAKER_02: Where the power of the cross is not present, every ministry, Bible study, and Christian merely follows Jesus by the power of self, by worthless human flesh.

3:02:51 SPEAKER_02: The greatest danger is that a church will attempt to live all we've looked at in self effort, in other words, by human effort, and therefore become foolish Galatians.

3:03:02 SPEAKER_02: Attempting to do so results in disaster and death, a guaranteed failure.

3:03:08 SPEAKER_02: Such efforts will self destruct, this is what happens in the real non Christian cults and even in larger mainstream churches.

3:03:17 SPEAKER_02: Imagine what would happen if a church sought to have all things in common, or to meet daily, without being full of the power of the Holy Spirit and crucified to self.

3:03:27 SPEAKER_02: Without the cross and the light of God, sins spring up and cause havoc.

3:03:32 SPEAKER_02: Therefore, each person by way of the cross must be taught by God how to love.

3:03:38 SPEAKER_02: There is no shortcut, no easier way, only the painful work of the cross, a literal suffering in one's body with sin will allow all of these blessings to become a reality.

3:03:49 SPEAKER_02: Again, you must be taught by God.

3:03:53 SPEAKER_02: And now, about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.

3:04:07 SPEAKER_02: We plead with you to first humble yourself and ask God to make real to you the message of the cross before you ever attempt to live these scriptures.

3:04:16 SPEAKER_02: Don't be a foolish Galatian that falls prey to human effort, schemes, or the manipulation of man.

3:04:22 SPEAKER_02: The Holy Spirit will seek to work obedience of the following list of scriptures into your life and church.

3:04:29 SPEAKER_02: Approach them with a sense of awe and helplessness, a respect that recognizes them as commands of God that must be obeyed.

3:04:37 SPEAKER_02: Obtain a sense of helplessness in knowing we cannot possibly live them out unless God crucifies self.

3:04:44 SPEAKER_02: If you approach these scriptures with this in your heart, picking up a cross that causes you to lose your life, God will provide grace to live all of them out abundantly.

3:04:54 SPEAKER_02: Others will warn you that you have gone too far, for you will have a joy they know nothing about.

3:05:00 SPEAKER_02: Do not look at these scriptures from a worldly point of view.

3:05:04 SPEAKER_02: They require an absolute dependence on the Holy Spirit.

3:05:07 SPEAKER_02: Remember, this kind of fellowship shakes everything up.

3:05:11 SPEAKER_02: It is truly radical, and you will find nothing like it in this world.

3:05:15 SPEAKER_02: This kind of love and fellowship only comes down from heaven.

3:05:19 SPEAKER_02: It doesn't come from a tape series or seminars, but from a fire baptizing, cross wielding, crucifying holy Holy Spirit.

3:05:28 SPEAKER_02: This is not the slick, self righteous presentation of a heretic hunter.

3:05:32 SPEAKER_02: These are living words only the Holy Spirit can work.

3:05:36 SPEAKER_02: Fulfilling the law of Christ Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

3:05:50 SPEAKER_02: A new command I give you love one another.

3:05:54 SPEAKER_02: As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

3:05:57 SPEAKER_02: By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

3:06:03 SPEAKER_02: John chapter thirteen, verses thirty four and thirty five.

3:06:08 SPEAKER_02: Assembling for church and let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

3:06:15 SPEAKER_02: Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

3:06:27 SPEAKER_02: twenty four and twenty five.

3:06:30 SPEAKER_02: Living a life worthy of the gospel.

3:06:33 SPEAKER_02: Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.

3:06:38 SPEAKER_02: Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel.

3:06:49 SPEAKER_02: Philippians chapter one, verse twenty seven.

3:06:53 SPEAKER_02: Walking in the light but if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

3:07:08 SPEAKER_02: Belonging to one another.

3:07:11 SPEAKER_02: So in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

3:07:17 SPEAKER_02: Romans chapter twelve five.

3:07:21 SPEAKER_02: Being devoted to one another in brotherly love.

3:07:25 SPEAKER_02: Be devoted to one another in brotherly love, honour one another above yourselves Romans chapter twelve ten.

3:07:34 SPEAKER_02: Washing one another's feet.

3:07:37 SPEAKER_02: Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you should also wash one another's feet John chapter thirteen, verse fourteen.

3:07:47 SPEAKER_02: Serving one another Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.

3:07:53 SPEAKER_02: Honour one another above yourselves Romans chapter twelve ten.

3:07:59 SPEAKER_02: Sharing possessions with one another All the believers were together and had everything in common.

3:08:06 SPEAKER_02: Selling their possessions and goods they gave to anyone as he had need.

3:08:11 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter two verses forty four and forty five.

3:08:16 SPEAKER_02: All the believers were one in heart and mind.

3:08:19 SPEAKER_02: No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.

3:08:24 SPEAKER_02: With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.

3:08:32 SPEAKER_02: There were no needy persons among them, for from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.

3:08:47 SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter four verses thirty two to thirty five.

3:08:52 SPEAKER_02: Knowing everyone hates money and loves God.

3:08:56 SPEAKER_02: No one can serve two masters.

3:08:58 SPEAKER_02: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

3:09:05 SPEAKER_02: You cannot serve both God and money.

3:09:08 SPEAKER_02: Matthew chapter six, verse twenty four.

3:09:12 SPEAKER_02: Bearing one another's burdens Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

3:09:23 SPEAKER_02: Stirring one another up to love and good works and let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds Hebrews chapter ten, verse twenty four.

3:09:35 SPEAKER_02: Building one another up Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

3:09:47 SPEAKER_02: Ephesians chapter four, verse twenty nine.

3:09:52 SPEAKER_02: Honoring one another above yourselves Be devoted to one another in brotherly love, honour one another above yourselves Romans chapter twelve, ten.

3:10:04 SPEAKER_02: Admonishing, rebuking one another.

3:10:07 SPEAKER_02: We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.

3:10:15 SPEAKER_02: To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy which so powerfully works in me.

3:10:21 SPEAKER_02: Colossians chapter one, verses twenty eight and twenty nine.

3:10:26 SPEAKER_02: Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

3:10:38 SPEAKER_02: Colossians chapter three, verse sixteen.

3:10:42 SPEAKER_02: Becoming our brother's keeper.

3:10:45 SPEAKER_02: Now Cain said to his brother Abel, let's go out to the field.

3:10:50 SPEAKER_02: And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

3:10:54 SPEAKER_02: Then the Lord said to Cain, Where is your brother Abel?

3:10:58 SPEAKER_02: I don't know, he replied.

3:11:00 SPEAKER_02: Am I my brother's keeper?

3:11:03 SPEAKER_02: Genesis chapter four verses eight and nine.

3:11:07 SPEAKER_02: This is the message you heard from the beginning.

3:11:10 SPEAKER_02: We should love one another.

3:11:12 SPEAKER_02: Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother.

3:11:17 SPEAKER_02: And why did he murder him?

3:11:19 SPEAKER_02: Because his own actions were evil and his brothers were righteous.

3:11:26 SPEAKER_02: eleven and twelve.

3:11:29 SPEAKER_02: Son of Man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel, so hear the word I speak, and give them warning from me.

3:11:37 SPEAKER_02: When I say to the wicked, Though wicked man you will surely die, and if you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.

3:11:50 SPEAKER_02: But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself.

3:11:59 SPEAKER_02: Ezekiel chapter thirty three verses seven to nine Restoring Each other Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.

3:12:12 SPEAKER_02: But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.

3:12:16 SPEAKER_02: Galatians chapter six one Accepting one another Accept one another then just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God Romans chapter fifteen seven Confessing sins to one another Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other, so that you may be healed.

3:12:40 SPEAKER_02: The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective James chapter five sixteen.

3:12:48 SPEAKER_02: But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

3:12:58 SPEAKER_02: If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

3:13:03 SPEAKER_02: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

3:13:16 SPEAKER_02: Forgiving one another as God has forgiven us.

3:13:20 SPEAKER_02: Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.

3:13:27 SPEAKER_02: Ephesians chapter four, verse thirty two Becoming dead to self and one in mind.

3:13:36 SPEAKER_02: Then make my joy complete by being like minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

3:13:43 SPEAKER_02: Philippians chapter two verse two All the believers were one in heart and mind.

3:13:50 SPEAKER_02: No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.

3:13:59 SPEAKER_02: Mending broken relationships Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar.

3:14:11 SPEAKER_02: First go and be reconciled to your brother.

3:14:14 SPEAKER_02: Then come and offer your gift.

3:14:17 SPEAKER_02: Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court.

3:14:21 SPEAKER_02: Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.

3:14:31 SPEAKER_02: I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

3:14:36 SPEAKER_02: Matthew chapter five, verses twenty three to twenty six.

3:14:41 SPEAKER_02: Refusing to lie or play spiritual games.

3:14:44 SPEAKER_02: Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices.

3:14:50 SPEAKER_02: Colossians chapter three, verse nine.

3:14:54 SPEAKER_02: Loving one another deeply from the heart.

3:14:57 SPEAKER_02: Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

3:15:03 SPEAKER_02: one Peter chapter four verse eight.

3:15:08 SPEAKER_02: Loving in the spirit You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the spirit.

3:15:24 SPEAKER_02: Allowing God to teach us how to love.

3:15:28 SPEAKER_02: Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other one Thessalonians chapter four verse nine.

3:15:39 SPEAKER_02: Calling everyone to peace.

3:15:42 SPEAKER_02: Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

3:15:52 SPEAKER_02: Bear with each other, and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.

3:15:57 SPEAKER_02: Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

3:16:00 SPEAKER_02: And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

3:16:06 SPEAKER_02: Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace, and be thankful.

3:16:14 SPEAKER_02: Colossians chapter three verses twelve to fifteen.

3:16:20 SPEAKER_02: Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.

3:16:27 SPEAKER_02: Thessalonians chapter five fifteen.

3:16:32 SPEAKER_02: Loving, sharing, rebuking, encouraging and forgiving by the power of the Holy Spirit.

3:16:39 SPEAKER_02: Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.

3:16:48 SPEAKER_02: If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.

3:16:53 SPEAKER_02: If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.

3:17:01 SPEAKER_02: To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever amen.

3:17:12 SPEAKER_02: Aiming for perfection Finally, brothers, goodbye.

3:17:17 SPEAKER_02: Aim for perfection.

3:17:19 SPEAKER_02: Listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace.

3:17:23 SPEAKER_02: And the God of love and peace will be with you.

3:17:26 SPEAKER_02: Greet one another with a holy kiss.

3:17:28 SPEAKER_02: All the saints send their greetings.

3:17:31 SPEAKER_02: May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

3:17:38 SPEAKER_02: Corinthians chapter thirteen, verses eleven to fourteen.

3:17:42 SPEAKER_02: We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.

3:17:50 SPEAKER_02: Colossians chapter one, verse twenty eight.

3:17:55 SPEAKER_02: Greeting one another with a holy kiss Romans chapter sixteen.

3:18:17 SPEAKER_02: Believe it or not, I have seen individuals who would not even visit the church because some members greeted one another with a holy kiss on the cheek.

3:18:26 SPEAKER_02: It felt entirely alien to them that the love, the comradeship, and the grace of God could so fill people's hearts that the Holy Spirit caused them to obey the command to greet one another with a holy kiss.

3:18:39 SPEAKER_02: This kind of fellowship is the fruit of suffering against self unto death, and it is uneasy to obtain at first.

3:18:47 SPEAKER_02: But once found, you maintain it by carrying around the death of Jesus at all times.

3:18:52 SPEAKER_02: Such is the fragrance of love in the first church, and today for those willing to wear O de cult.

3:18:59 SPEAKER_02: We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

3:19:06 SPEAKER_02: two Corinthians chapter four verse ten.

Choosing A Club Or A Cult

3:19:12 SPEAKER_02: Chapter eleven Club or Cult It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.

3:19:21 SPEAKER_02: If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household?

3:19:27 SPEAKER_02: Matthew chapter ten twenty five.

3:19:31 SPEAKER_02: The choice is a simple one.

3:19:34 SPEAKER_02: Either we join a church that resembles a club or we join a cult.

3:19:38 SPEAKER_02: If the crowds call Jesus Beelzebub, how much more will we, sinful and frail, be labelled as evil?

3:19:46 SPEAKER_02: The word cult will not disappear, and it will never be fashionable to be a Christian, at least not a true Christian.

3:19:54 SPEAKER_02: From Communist China to Branson, Missouri, people use the word cult to demean and deride others.

3:20:00 SPEAKER_02: Those too lazy to live the truth choose a fast and easy way to excite the sinful emotion in man against someone else.

3:20:09 SPEAKER_02: Everything and everyone seems to be labelled a cult these days.

3:20:14 SPEAKER_02: One day I received a message from a young man who disagreed with an article I had written on what kind of music is acceptable to God.

3:20:23 SPEAKER_02: He told me that whether or not I realized it, I was starting a cult.

3:20:27 SPEAKER_02: What a tell tale sign of the cold times we live in.

3:20:31 SPEAKER_02: I should not have been surprised.

3:20:33 SPEAKER_02: Here is a young man who, from his pastor and youth leader, learned to use the word cult whenever confronted with something he does not want to examine in the Lord.

3:20:43 SPEAKER_02: How will he ever become soft hearted enough to listen to the Holy Spirit correct him on the sin in his life, or to speak to him the truth of God's word?

3:20:52 SPEAKER_02: Woe to this young man's teachers.

3:20:55 SPEAKER_02: They hardened him against the joy that only comes from righteousness and obedience by the power of the Holy Spirit.

3:21:02 SPEAKER_02: How deeply Satan penetrates this word cult into the hearts of sinful men.

3:21:08 SPEAKER_02: Thanks to those who overused and misused the word cult without the love of heaven, anyone who doesn't agree with another's position is quickly labelled a cult.

3:21:18 SPEAKER_02: Anytime the church tries to deal with the sin in a person's life, they are labelled a cult by those determined to keep their sin.

3:21:26 SPEAKER_02: It is a cheap, easy, emotional way to drive a wedge between God and man.

3:21:33 SPEAKER_02: Man has become a beast.

3:21:35 SPEAKER_02: He doesn't like to think but to act on instinct.

3:21:38 SPEAKER_02: When man fell in the Garden of Eden, he became like one of the wild animals, doing what feels correct and comfortable.

3:21:45 SPEAKER_02: As a result, everyone seeks to find a comfortable church, or in reality, a club.

3:21:52 SPEAKER_02: Everyone wants to go to the kind of club they personally enjoy, and pastors try to attract the kind of followers they desire.

3:21:59 SPEAKER_02: They entertain people into church, or lure them in with food, or preach hell and brimstone to attract whatever type of person the leader desires to satisfy his own flesh.

3:22:10 SPEAKER_02: Indeed, if talking about love will bring people in, the church will talk about it, but seldom do they honestly love anyone by way of the crucified life.

3:22:20 SPEAKER_02: If you cannot step back from your church and declare that the overriding message your church declares in everything and every way is that a man must hate his own life, then your church is really just a club.

3:22:34 SPEAKER_02: The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

3:22:45 SPEAKER_02: Instead of the church becoming a cult for Jesus, it has become a social club for those who use his name, a club full of fun, blessings, entertainment, and socializing like the world.

3:22:57 SPEAKER_02: Even those who state they feel appalled by the club atmosphere in the church never find themselves labelled a cult.

3:23:04 SPEAKER_02: Their love for God is still in the lukewarm range.

3:23:07 SPEAKER_02: They are simply members of a club that act a little more conservatively than the rest.

3:23:12 SPEAKER_02: It is totally unreasonable to expect that people who love Jesus with all their hearts will escape being labelled a cult in these last days.

3:23:21 SPEAKER_02: Only those churches that have whitewashed sin and have a thin veneer of scripture laid over their lives can go about a religious life without the label of brainwashed or cult.

3:23:32 SPEAKER_02: If a church preaches the old rugged cross of Jesus with all of its offensiveness, they will be labelled a cult.

3:23:39 SPEAKER_02: Anything less is a sham and underscores how Jesus is not presented as clearly crucified.

3:23:45 SPEAKER_02: Instead, to sell products and attract crowds, we have sanitized books, stylized music, modernized dress, popularized not dating, idolized family and home schooling, nationalized righteousness and prioritized money.

3:24:02 SPEAKER_02: All this, combined with what passes for worship today, draws people into the church at any cost.

3:24:09 SPEAKER_02: Again, a church should preach the offensive message of the cross and leave it to the Holy Spirit to draw those who truly belong to him into the body.

3:24:18 SPEAKER_02: Preaching anything less makes the church into a social club, one that sets its own rules and regulations, but is still just a club.

3:24:28 SPEAKER_02: We each have a choice to cry out to the living God to point us to a church where individuals pick up their cross in Jesus, or to find a club that merely talks about the crucified life.

3:24:39 SPEAKER_02: We live in the last days when the love of most grows cold.

3:24:43 SPEAKER_02: Therefore, anyone seeking to love Jesus will quickly and most resoundingly be labelled a cult.

3:24:50 SPEAKER_02: Any church not labelled so is at best lukewarm.

3:24:54 SPEAKER_02: Their talk of the crucified life is just that talk.

3:24:58 SPEAKER_02: They do not really experience from the Holy Spirit a suffering against sin to the point where they can show love to one another in the church.

3:25:06 SPEAKER_02: We only arrive at and maintain this love because each member of a church falls to the ground in humility and allows the suffering cross to do its work.

3:25:16 SPEAKER_02: Make no mistake about it, if we turn our backs on this cross, we turn our backs on the power to love one another.

3:25:23 SPEAKER_02: Without this love, no church can claim to be of Jesus.

3:25:27 SPEAKER_02: Forget all the stats pridefully thrown out that boast of numbers saved or served, just like Macdonald's statistics.

3:25:35 SPEAKER_02: Think about it.

3:25:36 SPEAKER_02: What does the church have to offer anyway?

3:25:39 SPEAKER_02: After all the evangelism and the winning of souls, does the church really offer something different than a club like the world?

3:25:46 SPEAKER_02: The answer is a resounding no.

3:25:49 SPEAKER_02: To have the love of heaven in the church means to immediately gain the attention of Satan and be labelled all manner of things, including a cult.

3:25:58 SPEAKER_02: Blessed are those who have rejected churches that seem like social clubs, and are willing to be excluded by them.

3:26:05 SPEAKER_02: Blessed are those who are rejected by respectable churches in the community and are willing to walk the life of faith that will lead them to be labelled a brainwashed follower of a cult.

3:26:15 SPEAKER_02: Blessed is the man or woman who finds a cult they can join.

3:26:20 SPEAKER_02: Blessed is the man who wears O de cult.

3:26:24 SPEAKER_02: Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man.

3:26:32 SPEAKER_02: Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven, for that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

3:26:40 SPEAKER_02: Jesus.

3:26:43 SPEAKER_02: Everything said.