We're going to Filimon. We covered a little bit of ground
last week. All those verses that we went
through is in your study sheets that I give you. It's after Titus,
right before Hebrews. It's easy to skip over, it's
only 25 verses. Now we looked last week at several
passages, to be honest, where we covered quite a bit. We covered all of Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians,
2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and then to Philemon. And so, so far we've seen all
the way up now to Philemon that we haven't found one place where
the term ekklesia, translated in our Bible as church, has been
used in a universal, invisible church capacity or a universal
visible church capacity. In every instance so far that
we have up until this point in Philemon, the word ecclesia or
church has been used as a gathered congregation, a specific gathered
congregation or in the plural, congregations. It never has It's
been used in a universal sense of all the elect everywhere. We've seen it's been used in
its institutional way, the kind of church that it is, the Lord's
church, his church that he began. We also, matter of fact, we backed
up last week and looked at a couple of things in Ephesians chapter one, if you
remember, we went through Ephesians chapter one two weeks ago, and
we've seen that he's put all things under his feet and given
him to be the head over all things to the church. And I read a few
things about the footstool. Matter of fact, we just sang
that in that song about the footstool, where we come to the footstool.
And I mentioned that we'll do it. I'll do a full study on that
Before too long about the footstool with the footstool being the
church The Bible says that he put all things under his feet
The Bible says until he makes all of his enemies his footstools
The footstool is is the people of God that's gathered to worship
him That's what the footstool is But anyway, we looked at that
last week, and today we find ourselves pressing forward through
the scriptures in Philemon, and we'll continue to see how the
term ekklesia is used. Again, for those who are watching
and listening, if you're jumping in, it's kind of weird. People download and listen to
these sermons in these series that we do. You know, you'd think
you'd see, you know, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, you'd see those numbers. But
sometimes you might look and see there's 400 or 500 downloads
on sermon number 6, but like 200 on 1, 2, 3, 4. So people
are just jumping into somewhere. I don't know how they understand
it, because most of the time when I title them, it's just
like this one. It'll be probably titled Ekklesia
1, Ekklesia 2. I mean, so how they determine
what we're actually talking about that day, I don't know. But anyway,
for those who are jumping in, what we are doing is we are going
from every verse of scripture that has the term ekklesia, the
Greek word ekklesia, or the English word translated church in it. And we're looking to see how
the Bible defines or how God, the Holy Spirit, whenever he
inspired the writings and that writer wrote those things down,
use these specific words and have a specific meaning to these
things. And we are looking at how this
term is defined by the Bible. And the reason we're doing that
is because there is a misunderstanding in this day of what the church
is. And at the beginning of this,
you can go back and listen to the first few messages. We broke down the word and it's,
a classical definition, how it was understood by the people
of the day, how it was used, not only in literature, but understood
by the people during that time period. Ecclesia predated the
New Testament, that word. It was in use during the time
whenever Jesus, who was the first one to use that in the New Testament,
used that word and defined or categorized his people into a,
body and called them a church, not categorized, instituted or
constituted them into a church. And that institution he called
the Ekklesia, the Lord's Ekklesia. And we've seen the definition,
we've seen how in history it was understood. And so now what
we're doing is we're seeing that the Bible is saying the same
thing. Now, again, we don't look to
history and what men say, as our reason for believing, as
I mentioned that a while ago before we begin our recording,
but we look to the word of God. But what we're seeing is that
the word of God and the classical understanding is lining up. And
so that doesn't make the Bible more true. The Bible just shows
that this is what is defined, how God defines it. And he's
using the understood terms of the day back then. And so it's
kind of overwhelming to see this. And the reason we're doing this
is because of this misunderstanding that the church is something
of just the people of God, that you can just be the church by
being anywhere and doing anything you want to do. But yet Christ
has made or brought together an institution, which he called
the Lord's Ecclesia. And in that Ecclesia is where
he has ordained for the worship and the ministry and the gifts
and the edification of his people to be. And so it's very important. We see in today that a lot of
people have really thrown off an importance for the local church. And a lot of the reason is because
they think, well, I can just be the church just wherever I
wanna be. But the church is a gathered,
organized body of people that God has orderly put together
with officers, with gifts, with ministry, with ordinances, all
these things are put together and they are to be conducted
in the assembly whenever we come together, in the visible assembly
when we come together. And so anyway, we are looking
and seeing the definition because we want to be biblical in how
we understand things We don't care about theology, books, and
all that kind of stuff, as we've said lots of times. All right,
Philemon, look at verse one and two of chapter one, chapter and
only chapter one. Says, Paul, a prisoner of Jesus
Christ and Timothy, our brother, unto Philemon, our dearly beloved
and fellow laborer, and to our beloved Epiphia, I imagine that's
how that's said, Epiphia, and Archippus, our fellow soldier,
and to the church in thy house." Okay? So, here we see again,
the church is identified as a gathering or a congregation of people that
meet in a specific location, in a specific place, gathered
together in assembly. And here, in particular, is an
assembly in Archippus' house, okay? And I've said this many
times, again, we don't discredit people because they meet in houses.
Just because people meet in houses doesn't mean that they're not
a church. You don't have to have some big, giant, multi-million
dollar edifice to go to, okay? It can be a lowly little house,
it can be a picnic tabernacle out in the park, it can be wherever
it is, but what it is is one place where the church comes
together They gather and that's where they conduct the business
of the kingdom, the meeting, the worship, the encouragement,
the edification, the gifts, the ordinances. That's where we bring
this together. The gospel is being preached. People are being taught the word
of God. We study, we sing, we pray. That's where we come together. And so here we see that it is
in a house and it is in one location. Now, again, if this was a universal
invisible thing, Paul wouldn't even have made this distinction
here, okay? And to our beloved Epiphia and
Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the church, why does it
have to be the church and the house? Just, and to the church,
or why did they even have to add it to anybody? I mean, just,
why didn't he just say, to the church, but he didn't. So again, we find that in this
context, the word ekklesia is an actual specific congregation
of people, and it was people in a gathered house, okay? All right, let's go into Hebrews.
There's a couple here in Hebrews for us to look at. Hebrews chapter
two. Let's start reading in verse
nine. It says, but we see Jesus who
was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death, crowned with glory and honor that he, by the grace
of God, should taste death for every man. For it became him
for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing
many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation
perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifyeth
and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he
is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name
unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust
in him, and again, behold, and the children which God hath given
me. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
hath the power of death, that is, the devil. All right, we'll
just stop right there. But if you'll notice here, verse
12, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the
midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. Now, someone
can look at that and say, okay, well, that's speaking of the
universal church there, okay? That is talking about all the
elect everywhere. You know, unto my brethren will
I declare thy name. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. But look, if you would, closely
here, Again, up to this point, there's been no use of the word
ekklesia in a universal fashion. Matter of fact, it has overwhelmingly
been specific congregations. And again, as we go into here,
we see Jesus declaring the name unto the brethren. Okay. And also in the midst of the
church singing praise. Now, when did that take place?
You remember the time whenever Jesus declared God's name to
the brethren and whenever he sang in the midst of the church. Well, there's a couple places
for us to look. Look back if you would in John chapter 17.
John chapter 17. Look at verse six, this is Jesus
praying to the Father. He says, I have manifested thy
name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine
they were and thou gavest them me that they have kept thy word.
Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given
me are thee. For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me and they have received them and have
known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed
that thou didst send me. I pray for them, I pray not for
the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they
are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am
glorified in them, and now I am no more in the world, but these
are in the world, and I come to thee, Holy Father, through
thine own name, those whom thou hast given me, that they may
be one as we are. While I was with them in the
world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me, I've
kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that
the scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to thee, and these
things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled
in themselves. I have given them my word, and
the word have hated them because they are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but that should just keep them from
the evil. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth,
thy word is truth. As thou has sent me into the
world, even so I've also sent them into the world. And for
their sake, I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified
through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also that shall believe on me through their word,
that they all may be one, even as thou, Father, art in me and
I am thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me. Now, we'll stop right there,
but well, I'll tell you what. Look at verse 36, that's the
last one I need to read there. It says, and I have declared
unto them thy name and will declare it that the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them and I in them. Now, So once again, looking back at
Hebrews chapter two, he says, saying, I will declare thy name
unto the brethren, my brethren. And so here we see that he's
talking about that local congregation at that time that was made up
of his disciples. Please, if you would, water. But also look, if you would with
me, to Matthew chapter 26. Matthew 26. Starting in verse
26. It says, and as they were eating,
Jesus took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to
the disciples and said, take, eat, this is my body. And he
took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying, drink
ye all of it, for this is the blood of the New Testament, which
is shed for many for their omissions of sin. But I say unto you, I
will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until
that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.
And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount
of Olives. We also find that same account
in Mark chapter 14. Mark chapter 14 and verse 26. It says that when they had sung
a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. This was also
the place of the Last Supper. that Jesus had. So we see both
occurrences that we find in Hebrews chapter two, and let me get back
to Hebrews chapter two here, where it says, saying, I will
declare thy name unto my brethren. We see that the place where he
declared his name to the brethren was his disciples, those that
the Lord had given him that had been with them, and he prayed
for them specifically, those disciples, that was already gathered
to him, but he also prayed for all those that the Lord would
call, okay? But specifically, the declaring
of the name that had already happened, that he said he had
already done in his prayer to the Father was for those of the
church, that gathered congregation that he already had. And then
as Hebrews 2 goes on, it says, in the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. And so if we look at this word
church, what is he talking about? Well, the place where he sung
a hymn and the only place that we find in scripture where Jesus
sings is at the Lord's supper where he instituted that among
the church. And so again, whenever we come
here to Hebrews chapter two and verse 12, If we look at the context,
if we look at the overarching use of the word throughout scripture
up until this point, whenever we come here, we shouldn't need
to think of anything different here, especially whenever we
can go back and find that the occurrence that Jesus is speaking
of is whenever he was ministering among the church that he built,
that he started, that he instituted, that very first church that he
began. with the apostles as the foundation
that was laid within that church, that he put first within the
church. What came first, the apostles or the church? Here's
a question for you. What came first, the apostles
or the church? Well, the church came first.
They had already began to gather the church, but then he appointed
apostles within the church. And we know that because the
Bible said that he set in the church first apostles. So the
church had to already be gathered and instituted before the apostles
because he set the apostles in the church. And of course, we
already know that to be true. Matthew, we read where Jesus
gave instruction on discipline within the church. So we know
that the church began before Pentecost, but we know it's not
speaking of something in the Old Testament. This is something
completely different that the Lord Jesus began whenever he
began this earthly ministry during this time period. All right,
Hebrews chapter 12. Guys, I'm sorry for all the swallowing
and the coughing, especially for those listening. I'm sure
it sounds wonderful, but I've got some drainage going on today. Hebrews chapter 12, starting in verse 22, it says,
but ye are come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living
God, the heavenly city, or excuse me, the heavenly Jerusalem, and
to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly
and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,
and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect. So here we see that we are come
unto Mount Zion, unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general
assembly and church of the firstborn. Now, notice if you will there,
There is a general assembly, and that word assembly there
is not ecclesia. To the general assembly and ecclesia
of the firstborn. Who's the firstborn? Christ, right? Christ is the
firstborn. So the church of Christ, to the
general assembly and church of Christ, which are written in
heaven." Does it seem to make a distinction between all the
people of God and the church? And I know this is a sticky thing.
I know it's not well accepted among a lot of people. I know
that it's a cause for discontent and just, I mean, just outright
arguments and fights and debates. that God doesn't make distinctions.
God doesn't make distinctions among the people of God. Brethren,
read your Bible. There's distinction. God makes
distinctions all the time. God puts some in different categories
and in different roles all the time through scripture. Matter
of fact, all of us who believe sovereign grace, if you don't
believe that God can make distinctions between one person over another
and be just to do it, See, that's kind of what is a little strange
whenever we come to this subject of the church, okay? We don't have any problem saying
we believe in eternal election, that God elected a people before
the foundation of the world, having done nothing good or bad,
but that his purpose in election might stand He chose one and
didn't choose another. We don't have any problems crying
that. Matter of fact, sometimes you see guys that believe that
beating their chest. We believe in election strongly.
Oh yeah, nothing. God chose of his own volition. We don't choose. And so we have
those arguments and we believe that's biblical. That is biblical.
God did choose. But does God make any distinctions
among those that he chooses? Yes, we found that also. We see
it in the Old Testament types and foreshadows whenever, again,
God out of Israel who he chose out of all the other nations.
So there's another distinction. God chose the nation or the people
of Israel above every other nation that was out there. And he chose them for a lot of
things. Not only did he choose them for the service of God,
but he also chose Israel to live over others that died. I mean, he said, here, here's
the land that's not yours. What does that mean? That means
it was somebody else's. That's not your land, but I'm
giving it to you. But you need to go in and claim
that land. So what do they do? They go in and claim the land.
Well, how does he have them claim the land? Go in and take it over. Destroy all the
people and everything that's in there. It's your land. God makes distinctions among
people. But within Israel, what do we see? He made a distinction
even among Israel. There were Levites that were
chosen to do the service of God apart from the rest of Israel
who were God's people. The Levites did all of the service
for God. That didn't mean that everyone
else was a less of a Levite. It just means that they were
not chosen to be the ones who did the work of the service of
God. Does God make distinctions? Yes. Was that fair that God chose
the Levites over everybody else? It don't matter. I mean, really,
to be honest, it don't matter whether we think it's fair or
not. Okay, God is not in the being fair business. God is in
the sovereignty business. He is I am. I will do as I please. in the armies of the heaven and
in the inhabitants of the earth. We are talking about a God who
has the right to do with whoever he wants to, even among his own
people, he does that. And I know people want to say
that whenever we get to the foot of the cross, everything's level.
Okay. Whenever we get to heaven, everyone's
the same. We're blood bought, we're washed,
we all came the same way, we all drank of the same fountain,
we all, listen, whenever it comes to the eternal work of salvation,
that is true, that is true. But whenever it comes to the
service, the proper service of God, that's not necessarily true,
just as it wasn't in the Old Testament. But now in the New
Testament, we see that God has called from among his people,
people out together in groups. Now listen, that's why we encourage
people to be a part of the local church. That's why we say it's
important. Don't criticize, don't despise
the Lord's church. And there's too many people out
there today. I'm just, I'm gonna get on a rant here. There's too
many people out there today that are becoming so nitpicky about
every little thing. Now I think it, as everybody
knows here and you know me, I'm very sectarian, we don't just
fellowship with just anybody, okay? But if somebody does believe
the true gospel of imputed righteousness, sovereign grace, those things,
they don't believe Arminianism is a gospel, if they don't, you
know, all these things, we believe those things. We don't believe
that Arminian gospel is a gospel, we don't believe that's true.
We hold to all these things, but yet there can be some differences
Even here among us, there may be some differences here or there,
but we are united in the gospel. We are united on the tenets of
the church. And at that point, other things
can be worked upon, lived with, okay? But so many people are
saying, well, I can't go to that church because they don't believe
this little tiny section of this. Well, I can't go to that one
because I believe everything else, but this little big tiny
thing over here, I can't go to that one If you get too nitpicky,
you're never gonna be anywhere. And now we find ourselves forsaking
the assembling of the people of God. And so, you need to be
careful about that. So, there are a lot of people
that is using this sectarian mentality to not be assembling
together. But brethren, you need to find
some people that you can assemble with. It's very important. That's
the place that God has plan for us to serve and his purpose for
us to serve. So we all need to look for that
and strive to be a part of the Lord's church wherever we are
found. And I've been asked, well, what
about if I'm not in a place where there is one? The Lord's church
is important. The service of God is important. And so, Where's your importance
lie? Find a place. If you find a place,
why don't you get there? Move there. You mean pick up
and move from the town I grew up in? Yeah. Pick up and move. Is that important to you or not?
And I hear that a lot. I really wished I could be in
the Lord's church. I really wished I could be in there. I really
wished I could. Well, all it takes is a move. I hate moving. I hate moving. When we moved
to Joplin, we were talking, and I said, I tell you what, I hope
I never have to move again. I don't ever plan to move again.
I don't want to ever move again. People hate to move. But I tell you what, if it meant
not having a place to fellowship and worship and not being part
of the Lord's church, hey, it's worth getting the U-Haul. and
packing it up in a few days and getting out, going. If anything would ever happen
here, no matter what I'm doing, I'm finding a place where I can
go worship. Clear and simple. I mean, I'm
not going to stay somewhere where there is nothing. Will I try
to find people? Absolutely. But if I can't, I'm
going to look. I'm going to go find. And so
I think we ought to be diligent about that. And I'm not meaning
that in a legalistic way. I'm not saying that you have
to be at church every time the doors are open. If not, you're forsaking
the assembly of yourselves together. That's not what I'm saying. What
I am saying is a lot of people do not put the importance upon
the local congregation gathering as they should. And they don't
see the importance of it. They don't see the health part
of it. the spiritual health part of
it. They don't see the activity part of it as far as God has
put us here to help each other. You know, we talked about the
body a few weeks ago and how important that is that every
member be working together. So anyhow, but here we see in
Hebrews chapter 12, we see the general assembly and the ecclesia
of the firstborn. Now, I wonder, you know, is there a distinction
being made there for a reason? You have the General Assembly.
Now, what are you saying? What are you saying, preacher?
What are you saying? Get down to it. What are you talking about?
The General Assembly and the Ecclesia of the firstborn. We have come to Mount Zion and
under the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to an innumerable company of angels." Okay? We've come to Mount Zion and
to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. To the general assembly and the
church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven and to
God, the judge of all. Now remember, whenever we talked
about this, whenever Christ died for the church, whenever we say
Christ died for the church, that is not to the neglect of all
the rest of the elect. but the church is made up of
those who are the elect. So to say that Christ died for
the elect, and to say that Christ died for the church is saying
the same thing. It's just in a more narrow aspect. Christ died for the church, and
in saying that, you're not denying that he died for these, but we're
saying something specifically about the church. But whenever
we talk about we have come to the General Assembly and the
Ecclesia of the Firstborn, we're not saying that those who are
not in the local church is gonna be left out in this time of gathering. At the end, there is the General
Assembly and the Church of the Firstborn. The Ecclesia, the
Gathered Assembly of the Firstborn. Call that whatever you wanna
call it, I don't care. Names and monikers, I don't care
about. All I'm saying is the Bible here
is saying there's gonna be two groups of people here, the General
Assembly and the Church of Jesus Christ. We have seen up until
this point that the church is a gathered assembly. We see that
at this point there is a There is a specificness to the congregations. They are specific congregations. But we also have seen that there
is an institution, the kind of church, Christ's church, the
church of the firstborn. His church. And it is a kind. And every person that has ever
been in the Lord's church has been a part of the church of
the firstborn. And so that distinction is being
made here in Hebrews. The general assembly, if you
remember that word. Matter of fact, let me just quickly
here, I didn't look this up ahead of time, but let me look this
up and I will show you what the word is, because I know it's
not Ecclesia. See, that was in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 23. the word panagreus. Remember when we were going through
the etymology? We have our little papers here
on etymology, I believe. Maybe I didn't. Anyway, we had the terms, the
four terms, Greek terms. Well, here the general assembly
is panagreus. not Ecclesia. And if you remember,
it was a universal assembly or a mass meeting. It was like at
the Olympics. Everybody from everywhere gathered
together in just a bulk group, okay? That's the term that's
being used. The Holy Spirit has made two
distinctions here. One is a mass group of people,
the General Assembly, and the Ecclesia. Now, if, again, if
the church was the universal or general assembly of all the
elect of God, why does he use two different Greek words to
describe these two different groups of people? Why does he
not say to the panagrius, the general assembly, why does he
give a distinction between these people and these people? By the
way, that's not a steeple for anybody watching. We don't believe
in steeples and crosses on our church. All right. This is the
Ecclesia. This is the Pantagreus. This
is the Church of the Firstborn. This is the General Assembly. And again, brethren, I didn't
believe that. That's not ingrained in my soul
from birth. In fact, it goes against a lot
of what I understood growing up. It goes against what I preached
and taught even before I come through studying God's Word and
the Spirit teaching me on these things. At least I hope that
that's what has been taught by the Spirit and not by my own
wisdom. It's overwhelming that I can't
see a universal thing, and then when we get to a place where
universality can actually be applied, okay, around the throne
of God, everybody there, that still there is a distinction
that's being made. We've come to Mount Zion, the heavenly city,
Jerusalem, to the General Assembly and to the Ecclesia, the Church
of the Firstborn. You say, oh, well, you must be
one of those kind of guys. Baptist Bride. You're one of
those Baptist Bride guys. Again, I don't, you know, whatever
terms you wanna use, it don't matter. Still, my thoughts is
there's a distinction there. When we come unto the Mount Zion
and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and unto the innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly
and the church of the firstborn, we see there is distinction made. The church of the firstborn which
are written in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the
spirits of just men made perfect. I mean, there's a distinction
being made among these people. And so I have to put away my
philosophies, I have to put away my preconceived ideas, my presuppositions,
and I have to say the Bible is making something distinct here. And so I must put it there. Do
I maybe, do I not fully understand it? That's very possible. I may
not fully understand it. I may not know in clarity exactly
what this is mean. And how it's gonna fall out.
And what does that mean, those distinctions, whenever we get
there? Is there gonna be levels of God's
people in heaven? I don't know. All I know is that
whenever he's talking about it, he makes there a distinction
between the church and he makes a distinction from the General
Assembly. And again, if there are men that
have better light on this, then I'm willing to listen to that
and be corrected. But I've studied this over and
over again now several times, and this particular verse, I've
seen probably two or three different ways studying this. But I get to this place where
I see the words that the Holy Spirit used are two different
words with two different meanings and that coincides with the rest
of the Scripture that has made a clear distinction that the
Ekklesia is a called-out group of people that is gathered, that
is a congregation, that is local in the sense that It's found
wherever these people are gathering together, and that that is not
a universal invisible church. It is a specific group of people. And so, you know, I just have
to bend to that, have to bend to that. All right, let's look into James,
if you would. We'll look at James and then
3 John, then we'll take a break. James, chapter 5. James, chapter 5. Look at verse 13. It says, is any among you afflicted,
let him pray. Is any merry, let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you, let him
call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing
him with oil in the name of the Lord. Now I can go on and just show
there is a, there has to be a gathering for some of these things to take
place, right? and the prayer of faith shall save the sick,
and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he have committed
sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one
to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.
The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man abateth much."
Okay, it says here, if there's any sick among you, let him call
for the elders of the church, and let them, the elders of the
church, pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the
Lord. I know sometimes babies get freaked
out about this kind of stuff. They, again, go too far overboard
into the Pentecostal stuff and think we're getting all heebie-jeebie
out there. But here the Bible says that
if there is any sick among you, let him, the one who's sick,
not the preacher, not the evangelist, not the worship team, not the
Pentecostal healer, call for you to anoint you, okay? This whole thing of, I see there's
a woman in a red dress that's out there and her legs aren't
working, okay? Okay, it says, if there's any sick among you,
let him, the one who's sick among you. Call for the elders of the
church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in
the name of the Lord. So let's talk about Ecclesia
first and then I'll give my side note about this verse here in
just a second. Is there any sick among you? Let him call upon
the elders of the church. If you look through scripture,
elders are appointed to who? Churches, right? God appoints
the elders in the churches. And if we go back in Acts, we'll
see that it was plural elders, not plural elders, but plural
churches. And he established elders in
every church. See? So in every church, there
was an elder that was appointed from among those people. So there wasn't one elder. who overseen all the churches. There isn't a universal church
that elders administer this to. There is a local congregation. And how can in the world, you
know, I'm an elder at this church. And if somebody in Africa gets
sick and says, pray for me and anoint me with oil, Is it incumbent
upon me to travel over to Africa to pray with that person? I mean,
is this for a universal thing? No. The understanding of this
is a local church, local, visible congregation of people where
an elder has been overseeing the people of the church, shepherding
that church, preaching the word of God to that church, and they
call upon that elder to pray for them and anoint them with
oil. That can only happen in a local congregation scenario,
not in a universal scenario, not an invisible scenario. How
are you gonna anoint an invisible somebody? Now, as far as the oil is concerned,
I'll give you my thoughts on that just real quickly. I don't
have any problem with that. I don't think it's unscriptural
if somebody wants to ask for the elder of the church to pray
for them and anoint them with oil. I don't have a problem with
that. Do I think that's mandatory?
No, I don't think it's mandatory either. If a person is in their
heart and their conscience feels that, hey, this is what I think
needs to be done, and they come forward and said, I'm sick, I'm
having a rough go at this, can you pray for me? Would I have
a problem anointing them with oil and praying over them? I
don't know, not a bit, not a bit. And so, don't let us let the
things of the Pentecostals take away from some of the truth that
we can find in the Word of God. Now, 3 John. 3rd John. If you turn too fast,
you might miss this one too. It's only 14 verses. 3rd John. In 3rd John, we find
ecclesia there three times. In verse 6, it says, I'll tell you what,
let's just back up. It says in verse 5, Beloved,
thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and
to strangers which have borne witness of thy charity before
the church, whom if thou bring forward on their journey after
a godly sort, thou shalt do well. Okay, so again, we see the word
ecclesia here, that this is addressed the elder
unto the well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. Okay,
so Gaius or Gaius, however you want to say that. I've heard
it either way. He had done some work for the
church. And it says, which have borne
witness of thy charity before the church, whom if thou bring
forward on their journey after a godly sort thou shalt do Well, now again, did Gaius do this for everybody everywhere? Or was it a specific congregation? It said, which have borne witness
of thy charity before the church in whom if thou bring forward
on their journey after a godly sort thou shalt do well, because
that for his namesake, they went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles.
We therefore ought to receive such that we might be fellow
helpers to the truth. I wrote unto the church, but
diatrophies, who love to have the preeminence among them, received
us not." Okay, so this is talking about a specific congregation,
isn't it? Okay, so John was writing to
a church, but Diotrephes didn't want to receive them among
men. Now this isn't talking about
a universal thing. Diotrephes wasn't rejecting John in front
of all the people of God. He was rejecting him in front
of a local congregation somewhere. Right? He says, wherefore, if
I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, pratting against
us with malicious words, and not content therewith, neither
doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would,
and casteth them out of the church. Wait a minute, if the church,
wait a minute, If the church is all the elect of God and you
get in the church by being baptized by the Spirit or being quickened,
that's how you get in the church? Is he gonna cast them out? Are
they losing their salvation? If you cast them out of the church,
no, this is talking about a local congregation, right? You can
be cast out of a local congregation. Matter of fact, Jesus give us
instructions that if there is any unruly, if there's divisive
people, if there's heretics, If there's people who doesn't
repent, that we are to put them out of the church, right? It's
not talking about the universal invisible body of believers. Okay? You can't be put out of
that, right? So there's no such thing as a
universal invisible church. The church is a local congregation.
And this is talking to a local congregation. Cast them out.
And he says, whenever I come, I want to cast them out of the
church. All right, we'll stop right there
and we'll take us a break. If you need to do anything with
the food ladies this time, and then we're going to go into a
revelation and finish up and uh,