Episodit
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Judges 8:29-35
If there’s one thing to take away from history, it’s that good things never last!! If this is true of history in general, it is certainly true of revival history. Where the blessing of God has been poured out upon a people in special seasons of refreshing, it seems only ever to be short-lived before alas the tide of evil comes back in and the people return to bathe again in the insidious waters of iniquity. While the man of God was alive, the people served the LORD, but when Gideon was taken out of the way, the “...children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baalberith their god” (vs. 33). They went from revival to ruin in a single generation! They went back to the pool of vomit from which God delivered them. My dear people, I wish I could say that this was an isolated phenomenon never to be repeated, but even in my short life as a Christian, I have seen so many return again to feast upon the mess from which Christ delivered them only years prior! They forget what life was like in the prison of sin, they forget the chains that bound them and the cruelties that attended their path!
In this final sermon part, looking at the life of Gideon, a warning is sounded for God’s children to keep themselves from idols!
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Part 13
Every cult without exception denies the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Although they may utilise concepts such as grace and faith, what is written outside the box is never what’s inside. In the world of cults, grace becomes synonymous with payment because when everything has been said and done, the cult member is working to earn salvation. At the very best Jesus died on the cross to give mankind the possibility of obtaining salvation. He has merely opened the narrow gate but now it’s left to those who would obtain it to labour. It is for this reason that whether Jehovah’s Witness or Seventh-day Adventist; whether Mormon or Roman Catholic, when the question is put to them; “If you die tonight, do you have 100% assurance that you are saved”? The answer that one will be met with again and again is; “I can’t say for sure, it’s up to God”. With this one simple question and the answer returned, the futility of the cult's works-based system of salvation is revealed for what it is, vanity of vanities!!
There is a world of difference between what the Bible teaches about how a man is saved, and what the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society teaches. In this final teaching part, these differences shall be discovered and the way of truth exposed.
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Judges 8:22-28
The secret to obtaining heaven’s revival blessing; the key to unlocking heaven’s grace is humility. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time” (1 Pet. 5:6). But when God exalts a man, it’s then when things have the potential to go desperately wrong. My greatest fear is not this side of the victory, it’s what happens on the other side — after God has given the victory.
In this first of two sermons, we examine the warning against making idols of God’s blessings.
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Part 12
Anyone who has had any interaction with a Jehovah’s Witness will know that it doesn’t take long for the topic of the 144,000 to arise. There is almost an obsession with this number. In sharing personal testimony with the Witness at the door of how one came to be a child of God by grace through faith – the adoption as children, the sealing of the Holy Spirit, the heavenly calling and the heavenly hope, one will discover upon the face of the Witness a look of pity. “Oh, they say, you’re talking about the 144,000, not the great crowd It’s the 140,000 who have the heavenly hope, the great crowd have only an earthly hope! Only 144,000 have been adopted as children. Theirs is the seal of the Holy Spirit, the heavenly calling, to them alone belongs the heavenly hope!” If one has never heard these sentiments expressed, one may be taken aback! “The great crowd? 144,000? I remember reading somewhere in Revelation about a great crowd that no man could number in Revelation Chapter 7. But if my memory serves me right, they were standing before the throne of God in heaven? If they have an earthly hope as you say, what are they doing in heaven? Regarding the 144,000; Revelation 7, says that they are literal Israelites and Revelation 14 that they are virgins. Are these the 144,000 that you refer to with the heavenly hope? I’m confused!!” In this teaching, all shall be revealed and brought into the light of God’s Word.
Download teaching notes (pdf)
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/bethesdashalom/12_The_144000.pdf
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Judges 8:4-28
Following the awesome victory that God gave into the hands of Gideon His servant – 135,000 Midianites lay dead. Not content with this victory over the host, Midian pursued the 15,000 that remained and slew them dead. The two Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna, were the last two enemies to be destroyed.
This sermon is a plea from God for the same zeal to be enacted on behalf of His people toward sin. We must deal thoroughly and decisively with sin in our lives until every last Midianite is slain. Let us heed the command of God and go up to the fight in the grace and power of the Holy Spirit.
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Part 11
If one has ever been greeted by a Jehovah’s Witness at the door, after the short and brief courtesies of “Hello, my name is… etc.”, the conversation will inevitably begin with a question like; “What do you think of all the wars in the world today?” or, “Do you think the world is a nice place to live in with all the evil that is in it?”. These questions are leading and are designed to provoke a response of sympathy from the hearer. From this point on, the Witness at the door will proceed to tell of a coming kingdom of peace on earth where wars will cease, and death will be no more. For Jehovah’s Witnesses, Paradise Earth is what the Millennial will be for Christians, except for a few major differences. Firstly, Paradise Earth in Watch Tower eschatology is not restricted to a thousand years but is forever! Secondly, and more importantly, Jesus will be nowhere present on Paradise Earth, He will be in heaven with Jehovah and the angels, governing over the affairs of the earth with the 144,000! I have a question for Jehovah’s Witness: "How can paradise be paradise without Jesus being there?”. Furthermore, what about the new heaven and the new earth which the Bible speaks of, along with the new Jerusalem wherein shall dwell the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb forever, and the Saints shall come in through the city gates? These things along with more shall be the focus of this eleventh teaching part as the beliefs of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society are compared with the Bible.
Download teaching notes (pdf)
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/bethesdashalom/11_Paradise_Earth.pdf
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Judges 7:24-25
The world has always been obsessed with outward boast and human glory. Sadly, much of the Western Church is on par with this thinking. If a man has charisma and can hold an audience captive with stories and personal anecdotes, we make him a minister! The pulpits up and down the length and breadth of this country are full of such men. They look more like action men than they do God’s men. It’s not what a man is on the pulpit that counts so much as what he is off it! Character my friends is where it’s at!
How a man conducts himself amid conflict says a lot about his character. Leaders are called to be peacemakers. Having beheld Gideon the man, in this sermon, we behold Gideon the peacemaker. Through one man’s leadership, a nation is spared from civil war. I pray the Lord ministers to your heart through Gideon’s example.
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Part 10
Jehovah’s Witnesses have long been a cult that has aggressively opposed the doctrine of hell, as can be seen in their literature and publications. Charles Taze Russell, the founder of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, was himself an ardent opponent of this doctrine, as has been every presiding president over Jehovah’s organisation since. Though beginning within the ranks of conservative orthodoxy, by the time Russell had outgrown his teens, he had left both Presbyterianism and Congregationalism because he could not reconcile the idea of a loving and merciful God sending billions to an eternal hell. To this day, after nearly a century and a half, Russell’s disciples continue to hold to his beliefs and teachings.
In this teaching, we examine the beliefs of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society as they relate to the doctrine of hell and contrast this with what the Bible teaches.
Download teaching notes (pdf)
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/bethesdashalom/10_The_Doctrine_of_Hell.pdf
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Judges 7:15-23
The Western Church in this hour wants method and process. If the Church down the road marches around the walls AND God gives them the victory, we write a book on it “How to take a city for God!” But in the valley on the borders of Moab, God had His people dig ditches!! In the wilderness of Tekoa, the people praised the Lord! At the Red Sea, He had them stand still! On the hilltop in Rephidim, Moses held up his hand to God! Friends, you can’t make a method out of this, our eyes must be towards the LORD!!!
Oh the that God might perform a work in this hour as He did in the days of Gideon. A work that our only boast may be in the Lord saying; by His right hand and by His holy arm has He gotten Himself the victory!
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Part 9
When one begins collating the teachings of the Christian cults, it’s no coincidence that there are many shared common beliefs that the Church has long rejected as heretical. The doctrine in question in this ninth teaching part is no different. While it may not be on the same damnable par as the rejection of the Trinity, the deity of Jesus Christ or the personhood of the Holy Spirit; to deny the immortality of the soul is a false teaching and one that must be strongly repudiated. It should come as no surprise to learn that the Watch Tower along with its siblings – Seventh-day Adventists and Christadelphians, reject the belief in the immortality of the soul. What is surprising is that increasingly, Evangelicals are choosing to adopt the same position as the cults regarding this doctrine.
In this teaching, the doctrine of the immortality of the soul is defined and the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses are examined and refuted from the Word of God.
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https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/bethesdashalom/9_The_Immortality_of_the_Soul.pdf
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Judges 7:9-15
If God is going to get the glory from your life, it is going to require that we trust Him!!! There’s no escaping this reality!! When the call of God comes to service, it never comes in a neatly packaged parcel with a cute sticky label on the front. We want all the I’s dotted and the T’s crossed. We want it safe and predictable, secure and tested, but that’s not how it works. God called Gideon to a work above his natural ability and out of his human capabilities. At every single step along the way, he was a man pressed out of measure and therefore completely reliant upon God. In the two previous signs given to Gideon as a means of encouragement, they came about at the request of Gideon!! Gideon was the instigator! However, in the passage before us, without so much as a request on the part of Gideon, God takes the initiative to offer him a third sign as further proof on top of the further proof he had already given him — GIDEON, I’M WITH YOU FOR GOOD!!!
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Part 8
So far, the studies in this series have largely focused on the person of Jesus Christ. Whilst Jehovah’s Witnesses are monotheistic in belief, they are aggressively antitrinitarian in expression. They, like us, believe in one eternal God. The point of divergence comes however when they maintain that the singular being of God is without a plurality of persons. The doctrine of the Trinity affirms that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society denies this truth and attacks this position throughout its written literature.
The purpose of this teaching is to address the heresy of the Watch Tower as it relates to the person of the Holy Spirit. Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the person of the Holy Spirit and instead teach that the Holy Spirit is God’s active force. Journey with us as we examine this heresy in light of Biblical truth.
Download teaching notes (pdf)
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Judges 7:1-8
If I were to ask why you so desire a move of God in this hour I wonder what you would say? When I speak of a move of God, I mean a heaven-sent revival that would turn the hearts of compromising lukewarm Christians back to God in fervent zeal and ardent love. I mean a heaven-sent revival that would awaken the sleeping dead and sweep whole multitudes of lost sinners from this town and beyond, into the Kingdom of God. The Pastor wants God to send revival so that His dwindling Church can be filled! The evangelist wants God to send revival so that he can tell of the great numbers that came to Christ under his ministry.
But you Pastor, I’m not a minister. I don’t care for those things just mentioned, I want God to send revival so that my backslidden husband can return to the Lord and my wayward son could get saved! Now granted, your motivation is radically different from the ego-maniac ministers just mentioned, but it still falls short of the only fitting answer to be given, as to why God should send revival. Why should God send a revival? FOR HIS GLORY!!!
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Part 7
The long-anticipated event in the calendar of the Christian Church is not Christmas or Easter, but the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Paul writing to Titus, refers to this event as “…that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Tit. 2:13). Peter refers to this day as “…the day of the Lord” (2 Pet. 3:10), while Jesus calls it “…that day” (Mt. 24:36). Whatever name one wishes to call it by, the fact that Jesus is coming again is the clear testimony of Holy Scripture. What if a group started teaching that Jesus had already come but no one saw Him? Would you believe it? How could you refute such a claim from the Word of God?
Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Jesus came spiritually in 1914. They claim it was an invisible coming despite Jesus stating that His coming would be in the clouds in great glory (Mt. 24:64). How does one get around such a clear statement as “ Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him” (Rev. 1:7)? We shall consider these questions along with others in this seventh teaching part.
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Judges 6:33-40
The men God sets His hand upon for use aren’t supermen; they’re human men like you and me, fraught with human weakness and marred by many insecurities. Any good biography worth its salt will not only describe the mighty feats of the man it purports to represent but also his frailty.
When the Spirit of the LORD comes upon a man/when the anointing of God is resting upon God’s servant, He ministers in a power and an anointing that cannot be explained apart from the language of the supernatural!! It’s not His strength it’s not His power, it’s not his grace, it’s not His ability, IT’S GOD’S! It’s God’s strength, it’s God’s power, it’s God’s grace, its God’s ability!! We look and think, what a man but we’ve got it all wrong!! Rather, we ought to say, what a God!!! In this fourth part of the sermon series, we consider Gideon the man!
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Part 6
The dictionary definition of the word resurrection is “the act of bringing someone back to life”. Resurrection is not resuscitation. When someone is resuscitated, they are brought back to life very soon after death. Resurrection, however, is bringing again to life after the person has been legally pronounced dead. In both cases, the bringing back to life involves a physical body. A resurrection without a body is nonsense. Imagine if when Lazarus was raised from the dead, one party claimed to see him alive while the women were seen carrying his corpse away. Rumours might well surface of seeing the "spirit" of Lazarus but everyone would agree, that Lazarus is dead since a resurrection requires a bringing again to life of the body. Jehovah's Witnesses have a very strange dilemma facing them. On one hand, they teach that Jesus was raised from the dead, but on the other hand, they teach that Jehovah destroyed His body! Whatever spin one may desire to put on this, one is left with the same problem, a supposed resurrection without a body!
In this sixth teaching part, we examine the Watch Tower's teachings regarding Jesus's resurrection and compare them with what is taught in the Bible.
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Judges 6:25-32
Before Gideon could reform a nation, he had to first reform his house!! The altar of Baal MUST come down and an altar for Yahweh be established!! See where revival begins! Admittedly, this is a costly ask — it always is with God. Can I encourage you — PAY THE PRICE AND GO THROUGH WITH GOD, it will be the best thing you ever do!!!
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Part 5
To deny the deity of Jesus Christ is to be left with a question of paramount importance that demands an answer. If Jesus is not God, then who is He? The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society have their answer to this question as do the Muslims and the New Agers. However, when one looks at the alternatives being offered, it becomes deplorable. Heretics think that by robbing Christ of His place in the Triune Godhead and stripping Him of His deity, they automatically disqualify themselves from needing to provide a rigorous argument for their claim. When one puts the question to Jehovah’s Witnesses, “Who was Jesus Christ before coming to earth” the answer that they will give is Michael the Archangel. In the absence of any meaningful biblical support, we shall weigh this claim against a mountain of evidence to the contrary and demonstrate that Jesus is none other than God.
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Judges 6:7-24
When circumstances sink so miserably low, we grow accustomed to it and can’t see how things can ever change. WE FORGET!!! Every revival has begun from the place of low ebbs!! Moses didn’t come on a fluffy cloud with a bolt of lightning to deliver Israel. Where did God find him? In a place of low ebb, his people were oppressed and enslaved by the Egyptians! In the days of Gideon, it was the same. The Midianites were instruments of humility to turn the hearts of His wayward people back to Him. When Israel cried out to God, God raised up a deliverer! From whence did God find this man? In the palaces of power and influence? On the contrary; God found His instrument of revival by the winepress, threshing a handful of wheat and hiding in fear. Men love to look on the outward appearance, but have yet to look where God’s eyes are found – on the heart!
This sermon is an encouragement for believers. It matters not how incapable you may feel you are. God has a work for you to do in His power!
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Part 4
Whenever the doctrine of the Trinity comes under enemy fire, it is a direct assault upon the persons of the Godhead and thus a direct assault on God Himself. The Apostle John understood this when in his day he contended earnestly for the verity of the Christian faith against an early form of Gnosticism called Docetism. John shot it straight and made no bones, saying, “Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also” (1 Jn. 2:23). Meddle with the Son and you meddle with the Father; deny a cardinal tenet of Christ’s nature, and you lose the Father in the process! You cannot have it both ways and yet the irony is, the cults insist you can. Whether it be Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, or Christadelphians, each attack the deity of the Son of God, stripping Him of His eternal glory while at the same time insisting that they still have the Father! Concerning the person of Christ, Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Jesus is a created spirit not differing in substance to an angel. They believe and teach that there was a time when the blessed Son of God was not!
In part 4 of this teaching series, we confront this error and present Biblical evidence proving the deity of Christ.
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