Solving Doctrinal Disagreements (In the Church)

[0:00] Thank you for tuning into this message by David Entry. Every true revival is a product of the strong preaching of God's word.! May you receive a word from this message that will spark a revival in you.

[0:12] Acts chapter 15 verse 1 to 20.

[0:42] And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phineas and Samaria, declaring the conversions of the Gentiles, and they caused great joy unto all the brethren.

[0:58] And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.

[1:10] But there rose up, certain of the sects of the Pharisees, which believed, saying that it was needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses.

[1:23] And the apostles and the elders came together to consider of this matter. And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men and brethren, Ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us that the Gentiles, by my mouth, should hear the word of the gospel and believe.

[1:45] And God, which knoweth, bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us, and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

[1:57] Now therefore, why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved as they.

[2:15] Then all the multitude kept silent and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wroth among the Gentiles by them.

[2:25] And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, harking unto me, Simon has declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name.

[2:41] And to this agreed the words of the prophet, as is written, After this I will return and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is falling down, and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up.

[2:55] That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.

[3:06] Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Wherefore, my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are, tend to God.

[3:21] But that we write unto them, that they abstain from politions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

[3:33] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church. Let's pray. Father, thank you for bringing us together to hear your word one more time. We pray as we hear your word.

[3:43] Give us exposure into yourself and into grace. That grace will be the predominant factor and the manifestation of your kindness in our lives.

[3:54] Thank you for all to see that we are objects, and we are products of your grace through your word. Thank you that as your word is taught, sicknesses are being healed.

[4:05] Thank you that as your word is taught, you will back your word with manifestation of your power, by stretching forth your hand to heal the sick, to deliver the captives, to save the lost, to convict the sin, and to glorify your name.

[4:17] Thank you, in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

[4:30] So, we saw in our previous session how God sent his word to the Gentiles.

[4:41] And for the first time in the history of the church, we saw a Gentilic church, or a church that is only Gentiles, in Acts chapter 14.

[4:53] Then we come to Acts chapter 15. Then the first verse, we see a problem surfacing. And certain men came down from Judea.

[5:08] Where did he come from? Where did he come from? Now, Judea, that's practically Jerusalem. Jerusalem is in Judea. So, certain guys, they took the trouble.

[5:19] From Judea to Antioch. It's a very long journey. And certain men came down from Judea and taught their brethren.

[5:32] Let's all say their brethren. Their brethren. When you read, I believe the New King James or the New American Standard will use the brothers. So, they came and they were teaching.

[5:43] You know, church life has a lot to do with teaching. So, they were teaching their brothers. They were, it's not like they said something and left. They were teaching the thing.

[5:55] They were busy trying to explain and prove to their brothers. Say their brothers. That tells you how Christianity is just family. Brothers.

[6:06] They were teaching their brothers. Brothers. In the, I think the verse 3 or so, he also mentions the brothers. In the verse 22, 23, the mention of the brothers is made again.

[6:18] The brothers. And the apostles and the elders with the whole church decided to choose of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas called Basaba, sorry, and Silas.

[6:30] Two men who were leaders among the, this is brotherhood. Church is brotherhood. So, enough of that squabble and I don't like this person. I have a problem.

[6:41] Enough of it. Enough of it. We are brothers. Those of us who come from certain type of families where mom, you know, mothers are always interested in, let's be one.

[6:55] Usually families will have some feudal tensions and one or two things. Depending on what kind of, different families are, different, some families, they are very connected. You touch one, they will team up and fight you.

[7:07] There are some families too, they will come and call you to fight your brother. They will come and call you to fight their brother. So, you know, good families stick together.

[7:19] They might have disagreements and issues or personal grievances. But you know, when all is said and done, let's put that aside. We are family. You hear a good mother, a good father say, listen, we are family.

[7:32] So, it's okay. Your brother didn't do well. But it's okay. We are family. So, church is a family. That's why I call them brothers. People came from Judea to come.

[7:43] They were teaching their brothers. In John chapter 21 verse 23, Bible talks about the brothers, the brothers. John chapter 21 verse 23 says that then because of this, the rumor spread amongst their brothers.

[7:59] That's this disciple. Jesus says somebody will know that will live. He said the whole thing has been brotherhood from the time of Jesus. As soon as Jesus resurrected from the dead, he said, go and tell my brothers.

[8:10] Go and tell my brothers. John chapter, I think, 20 verse 17 or so. Go and tell my brothers. That's the first time Jesus called human beings his brothers. He just said, I have not yet returned to my father.

[8:24] But go instead to my brothers and tell them. Why was he calling them brothers? He says, because now after the resurrection, we are also in. In John chapter 14 verse 1, he says, let not your heart be troubled.

[8:37] Believe in God and believe also in me. For in my father's house there are many mansions. If he were not so, I would have told you. He said, for I go to prepare a place. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself.

[8:52] That where I am, you may be also. He said, I'm going to prepare. So he went into death to conquer the prevailing division between God and man, the enmity.

[9:03] This morning, as I was reading 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 19. He said, God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. Oh, that was so nice, isn't it?

[9:14] He said, God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. So on the cross, God was removing the enmity that separated God and us.

[9:24] By putting his wrath against sin on Christ. So that when you come into Christ, now, he said, now therefore, Romans chapter 5 verse 1. We have now peace with God.

[9:35] Having been justified. Wow. Therefore, having been justified, we have peace with. Previously, we did not. But we have peace. So that's the point I'm making. We have peace with God.

[9:46] Because Christ, when he went into death, he removed the barrier. And then now he brought us to himself. Do you understand what I'm saying? So I'm not talking about just heaven.

[9:57] When he says that, I'm going to a place, I'm preparing a place. He was going into grace to deal with that enmity between God and man. To reconcile us to God.

[10:07] And now we are all together in Christ. That's when we became his brothers. So in Romans chapter 8 verse 20, now he says that for those who for new predestined and those who preestined, to be conformed into the image of his son, that Christ will be the firstborn amongst many brethren.

[10:24] So Christ is the firstborn for the after grave. After the grave, now he's our senior brother. And so if Christ is our senior brother, look, if A is my brother and B is my brother, then A and B are brothers.

[10:41] If Christ is my brother and Christ is your brother, then you are my brother as well then. Because then we are all family. We are a fam.

[10:52] Oh, we are fam. Sorry. I'm trying to use their lingo, but it doesn't seem to be working for me. So he says that they came and polluted the hearts of the brothers.

[11:06] They were teaching the brothers. Back to Acts chapter 15. They taught them. They were teaching the brethren, the brothers, that look at the teaching. Unless you are circumcised according to custom.

[11:18] There is a certain custom that we Jews are familiar with. That's what gave us our relationship with God. Now, he said you have to be circumcised. The problem was circumcision. Because every Jew must maintain the covenant relationship with God by being circumcised.

[11:34] Male. Okay. When the men are okay, the women are fine. That's the system of God. If the men are strong, the women will be strong. You can have strong women, but if you have weak men in the community, the community will be weak.

[11:48] A Christian church that has strong men will be strong. I'm trying to say women cannot be strong. No, I didn't say that. You chose to hear that. I didn't say that.

[12:00] I didn't say, please. I didn't say that. Please, don't do that to me. That's not fair. I didn't say that. You know. So, he says, the brethren came and they taught them because circumcision was a necessary part of being Jewish.

[12:18] And being Jewish was access, having a relationship with the one true God. So, to have a relationship with the one true God, he has given himself through the Jews in the past and gave them now.

[12:30] He called Abraham and Genesis chapter 17, gave him the covenant of circumcision. That on the eighth day, every male that is born in your life must be circumcised so to integrate them into a covenant standing with me.

[12:47] So, the Jewish people are the covenant people. And to maintain the covenant, you have to go through circumcision. And so, that's what it said. And then, it was now enshrined into law.

[13:00] So, the law Moses gave, part of it, it was enshrined into it that, speak to all the congregation of Israel saying, on the tenth of this month, every man shall take himself a lamb.

[13:15] Leviticus. It's Leviticus. On the eighth day, the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. So, God gave them a restriction, a law.

[13:27] So, it was now part of the Mosaic law. But watch this. The Jews, they practiced this for a long time so much that they lost the spirit in it.

[13:38] Because even when they were following idols, this became their national tradition. And so, when they were missing God, they would still make sure circumcision is there.

[13:49] It became part of their Jewish identity. So, over a period of time, they lost their spirit behind it. And they were just following the letter of it.

[14:00] And because they were following the letter of it, when God was even changing it and amend it, they didn't see it. And so, now, for the Jew, if a Gentile is going to have, watch this, if a Gentile is going to have a relationship with a Jew in worship, the Gentile of a necessity must be circumcised in worship.

[14:21] And that was their custom. Now, these Jews have found out that there are people, the Gentile church, now, a church that is entirely Gentile, they said, you know, all the other churches prior to that, it started with Jews, and then some Gentiles came in.

[14:38] But now, in Antioch, we have entirely Gentile church. And so, some brethren, when they heard that Gentiles are now also in worship, they had to go and protect the Jewish tradition within the worship.

[14:53] So, they traveled from Judea all the way to, it's a long journey. In those days, nowadays, there are a lot of easy mode of translation. Those times, it takes a lot of days.

[15:04] They traveled, and they got there, and they started teaching. They started teaching the people that unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, what's that?

[15:22] What's that? In 1 Corinthians 7, verse 18, Paul makes mention of circumcision and tries to deal with the issue of circumcision. He said, He said, He said, He said, Because circumcision is not part of the requirement.

[15:52] Galatians 5, verse 2. Paul said again, Indeed, I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, See, watch this.

[16:05] Watch this. Because when you are Christian, And now you are beginning to, Christ plus certain traditions, You are now annulling Christ.

[16:16] That's why I said earlier on that the gospel, If you add something to the gospel, When you dilute the gospel, You have actually lost the gospel. When you add anything to Christ, For it to become the foundation of salvation, You have actually lost the Christ.

[16:33] Because Christ is only, He stands alone. As soon as you add anything, You lose the Christ. Do you understand what I'm saying? So they went and told the people that, Christ, Hey, Christ is not enough.

[16:50] Years ago, I was told, And they was teaching, That's still going on. Maybe it's true. Maybe it's not. You walk there and be saying that, I'm in Christ. I'm in Christ. So I'm delivered. Demons cannot touch me.

[17:00] I'm in Christ. No, you have to go for deliverance. When we got born again, We were told, That you have to go for them to conduct deliverance. Don't be walking around because, Maybe your father was, Your uncle or your granddad was a fetish priest.

[17:15] Now you are born again. Fetishism is coming after you. The blood of Christ is not enough. Just like that. Saying that I'm born again. You have to go, For a specialist to lay hands on you. And be commanded, Come out.

[17:26] Because, So there are people who are walking around, Thinking, Maybe I need deliverance. Maybe, He said, Don't be quoting that, Christ has delivered from the price of darkness. They said, That is not enough.

[17:38] There's other things you have to do. I am not knocking deliverance. That is not, I'm not saying, Deliverance is not something that, Can happen for somebody.

[17:49] What I'm saying is, When you are born again, Don't be thinking that, I need to do something extra, So that I'm actually free. Just obey the scripture, Work with God, And that's where, Your freedom comes from.

[18:02] Now, If you are going through, Certain attacks, Maybe, You go to bed, Every time, You have to dream, That dogs, Are coming to lick your lips. Every time. And you've been seeing, Dead persons, Every time they go, Hello, Hello, Hello.

[18:20] No, I think, You need to call for backup in prayer. You understand that? Because, This is not normal. And it's, It's persisting too much. You need to call for, Somebody, Or, Some senior person, Or some brethren, Who can agree with you, In prayer, To break their hold, Or whatever, By application of the blood.

[18:40] So, When you see some things, That are extreme, We might take some tests, In prayer. You yourself, Start it first. Your marital problem, Might be, Maybe you are not praying, About it enough. So, You yourself, Don't say you need, Deliverance first.

[18:53] You start praying about it, And work right, And stop the other things, That God said, Don't be doing. Because, Anyone who breaks the hedge, Except for to bite. Back to the, Text.

[19:07] So, They said, Unless you are circumcised, You cannot, Be saved. Eh? Those are strong words.

[19:21] They said, Jesus is not enough. You need to add something. Some people, They say, Standards are more important. It's not just salvation.

[19:32] There are standards too, To validate your salvation. So, Follow the standards. Salvation in Christ, Is not enough. You need standards. You need to, Also just, Not just trusting. You have to try.

[19:44] So, There are things you have to do, Not just say, I trust Jesus. There are other things, That you also have to do, To make your salvation, A reality. So, They were hinging salvation, On systems.

[19:55] Not just, Redemption in Christ. Which was dangerous. That is so dangerous. They are beginning to attack. Watch this. It seemed to Paul, That these guys, Were not just brethren.

[20:09] So, In Galatians, When he said that, False brethren were, Surreptitiously, Sticking amongst us, Chapter 2, Verse 4. And this occurs because, False, Somebody say, False brethren.

[20:20] False brethren. Say, False brethren. False brethren. They look like brethren, But they are actually coming to spoil, What Christ is doing. False brethren. Paul calls them false brethren, In 2 Corinthians, Chapter 11, Verse 26.

[20:34] When he was talking about, Some of the things he suffered in life. The last one, He says that, In peril amongst, False brothers. They are supposed to, They are called brothers, But when you look at their, Activities and their actions, They are actually enemies, Of the cross.

[20:52] So, Paul said, I believe that, Some of these people, Who came in, To come and confuse their brethren, Paul saw them, As false brethren. You are spoiling, The work of Christ. You are weakening the church.

[21:03] You are, You see, The point here is this, Anytime, You try to, Add, Other things, To Christ, You have, Annulled, The word here, Annulled, The efficacy, Of the cross.

[21:19] You have neutralized, The effectiveness, Or, Efficiency, Of the cross. Anytime you say, We need this, As well. Yeah, The cross is good, But we need this, As well.

[21:32] To make it complete, To make salvation. I'm talking about salvation. If you say, We need it, Then, It's actually, You are, Invalidating, God's program of salvation.

[21:43] God has his own, Program of salvation. It can be, Invalidated, By, People amending it, And adding their own. And these are, Genuine people, Sincere people.

[21:54] It wasn't like, They are bad. They are sincere people, But any of us, All of us, Can fall into the same, Trap. Of, You know, We have our norms.

[22:05] So, You can be wearing, A very short skirt, And God saved. After you are saved, If you don't change the skirts, We will have a problem with you, Because we think, The salvation is not valid.

[22:20] God didn't have a problem, In saving you in the skirts. We have a problem, In calling you a brethren, In the skirts. You had long, Funny hair, And you came to the altar, You gave your life to Jesus.

[22:34] Now we say, To you to maintain, Your salvation, You have to shave that hair. You see, We can all fall, Be guilty, Of that kind of, Systems that we feel, Is acceptable to us.

[22:48] So then, For you to remain a Christian, This is what, We know is acceptable, Not what, God says. What we know, We expect, That is an acceptable norm, That you must, Adher to, Or you must embrace, To validate your salvation.

[23:05] So they came in, And they said, You have to, If you are not circumcised, It doesn't matter, How do you, Why? We need to get, Get it fast. Then, In Colossians chapter 2, Verse 11, Paul said that, Says that, In him, Look at Paul, Where he placed circumcision, In Christ, You were also circumcised, With circumcision made with our hands.

[23:28] So if the circumcision, Is what they are talking about, Don't worry, You also be already, Be circumcised. The cross, Is circumcision, For those who are in Christ. He said, You always be circumcised, By putting off, The body of sins, Of the flesh, By the circumcision of Christ.

[23:45] We have already been circumcised, If you are in Christ. So don't worry, The circumcision God spoke about, You've also done your own. It's not the Mosaic law one, It's the God's expectation, Of circumcision. I thought you would say amen.

[23:57] Amen. So, They, Touched their brethren, And Paul and Barnabas, Found out, Hey, What are you teaching in the church? So, When Paul and Barnabas, Had no small dissension in his position, That means, It was a big dissension.

[24:16] Big one. Paul and Barnabas, It was a big argument. Oh, You know what? There are people who have, This idea, Let's not argue about doctrines. Let's focus just on missions.

[24:29] No, For the church to be healthy, We need to sort out, These doctrinal issues. We need to, Disagree to agree, Or agree to disagree, And come to a conclusion, What the scripture says.

[24:41] Don't say, Oh no, This thing, Ecumenism is the most important thing. Doesn't matter what anybody believes, As long as they are sincere, And we can do missions. Let's focus on saving souls.

[24:52] If we save souls, And we don't teach them the right doctrine, We will lose their souls. We won't be able to establish their souls. And they won't be strong in their faith. So, Paul, You can imagine Paul and Barnabas.

[25:08] They had no small disputation and dissension. I like that kind of terminology. Dissension and disputation. Wow.

[25:19] King James has nice words. All right. Let's look at new King James. The King James also used dissension and disputes. Disputation is more powerful than disputes. And how about New American Standard Version?

[25:32] It says, Great, But had great dissension and debates with them. They debated them. It got very heated. And their brethren, Their brothers, Determined that Paul and Barnabas And some others of them Should go to Jerusalem To the apostles and the elders Concerning this issue.

[25:56] Now, I need to explain some things here. Number one, The elders there Is not talking about seniors. What? So, It's not talking about seniors. The elders there Is talking about The leaders of the churches there.

[26:08] The churches were overseen And were shepherded by elders. So, Every local congregation Is supposed to have an elder over it. So, I am the senior elder In this branch With other elders.

[26:24] We have quite a few elders here That we oversee The souls And the work here. Right? So, They have elders there Is not seniors. That's one.

[26:34] Number two, The apostles In Jerusalem, I'm about to draw, Say something quite interesting Because, Theologically, There are two schools of thought And I'm bending more To the second one.

[26:45] What's the first one? The first one is that The church in Jerusalem I've always said that With the headquarters Of the The Jerusalem church Was the headquarters. So, That's where everybody Was coming from.

[26:58] I don't think There will be any scripture To back it. So, They didn't go there. Other than that, If we have a problem Doctrine, We have to go to Jerusalem then. Okay, Where there is a doctrinal issue?

[27:10] Where do we go? Where do we go? Do we go to Jerusalem? Do we go to America? Or we go to Nigeria? So, The one school of thought Says that The headquarters of the church Is in Jerusalem.

[27:26] That's why they said Let's go to Jerusalem Because we have The senior apostles there. Let's discuss it. But you know, Paul knew more About the economy of God. The New Testament program Of salvation of God.

[27:39] Even better than Peter. He knew it. That's why he had to explain. Paul's writings Concerning the cross Is deeper than What anybody has said. He explained What this whole thing is about.

[27:50] That's why In Ephesians chapter 3 Verse 8 He said Unto me Who am less than The least of the saints Is this grace given That I should preach Amongst the Gentiles The unsearchable riches of Christ. Now look at the next verse.

[28:01] To make all men See, Paul said I've been given assignment To make all men see What is the program Of salvation of God. That fellowship Of the ministry It means that God's economy God's program To save souls To build the church.

[28:16] He said So men can know What this whole thing is about. Paul was given A unique assignment. He was given A unique assignment. And so In that sense The Jerusalem church Was not necessarily Senior.

[28:30] So what's the other School of thought? Then why did they Go to Jerusalem? Because the people Who came Where did they come from? Years ago There was some I think Contamination Of the water body And people Were drinking it And they were dying And they were trying To do everything It wasn't going Not knowing That the source Of the water body A dead cow Was lying there And the water Was going by And it was Polluting the water People were drinking Hundreds of miles Down the street And so If you want To deal With that problem You got to Go to the source Were not Peter and James There When these people Who came from there Were teaching these things And just to prove To you that The problem Had to do With the Jerusalem leadership It was a Jerusalem Leadership problem How do you know?

[29:21] Look at the text again Therefore When Paul and Barnabas Had no small Dissension and disputes With them They determined That Paul and Barnabas And certain others Of them Should go up to Jerusalem To the apostles And the elders About this question Then let's Look at verse 3 So Being sent On their way To the church They passed through Phoenicia And Samaria Describing the conversion Of the Gentiles And caused great joy Let's learn 4 And when they had Come to Jerusalem They were received By the church And the apostles And the elders And they reported All things I like this one All things that God Had done with them Remember they did The same thing When they came back To Antio They reported all things That God has done to them Now look at verse 5 Something came there But some of the sect Of the Pharisees Who believed They were there In fact The bigger problem Those who came to Those who came to Antioch They said Look at verse 1 Unless you are Circuncised according To the custom of Moses

[30:21] They were just talking About circumcision But look at those Who were The Pharisees Look at what they said They arose and said It is necessary To circumcise them And to command them To keep the They were there In Jerusalem That's the source Of the problem If we don't go To Jerusalem Because the concentration Of the Pharisees They were there But they have become Born again They have believed In Jesus But they feel like You know Pharisees Are adherents To systems and customs And so they were Very particular About their laws Their laws 612 laws That were given To Moses You have to keep Them all How can you Keep these laws So that's why Peter said Why are we Putting on their neck Laws that we Couldn't keep So these guys Were there Did you see The necessity Of this meeting Because if they Had not sorted it out The Gentile church Didn't have a problem

[31:23] The Gentile church Didn't have a Circumcision problem Law problem Because they never Didn't know about it But the Jerusalem church That's the headquarters Of the Jews That's the headquarters Of Pharisees A concentration Of the priests And the Pharisees Some of them Have become Christians They have believed Jesus But they have not Left The Pharisaic tradition They believe That no no no You have to We are all like that So They said You don't have to Just be circumcised It's not enough You have to keep The laws of Moses As well So Now that is when Paul and Barnabas Has even gotten there So you see There was a problem With the Jews Peter what were you doing James maybe they were Not aware But they would be familiar They would know that There would be some Because listen If you live among the people You will know some of the things And James didn't say No no no no no This cannot be done They allowed discussion Let's talk

[32:24] So that became the first Ecumenical council Of the church Now When I say I believe in So that's the second School of thought So the first school of thought Is that Jerusalem Is the headquarters The second school of thought Is they weren't there Because that's where The problem was coming from Now I'm more inclined Towards the second school of thought Because The church Has never had a headquarters Anyway The headquarters Of the church of God Is in heaven I'm not talking about The organizational system I'm talking about The universal church Colossians chapter 1 Verse 18 Says Christ Remains Is and remains The head Christ is the head Of the body The church Who is the beginning The firstborn From the dead That in all things He may have The preeminence It's just him In Revelation chapter 2 Verse 1 It says that To the angel Of the church of Ephesus Write These things say He who holds The seven stars In his right hand He who walks

[33:25] In the midst Of the seven golden lampstand Now when he says He holds the seven stars He already explained That the seven stars Were the angels Of the churches And the lampstand Are the churches And he is the one Who is in charge Of the lampstand And holds the seven stars In his hands So he Is the owner Of the church Christ The headquarters In Revelation chapter 4 Verse 2 And 3 And chapter 5 Verse 1 We saw a scene In heaven This is after redemption He said Immediately I was in the spirit And behold A throne was set That's the headquarters A throne was set In heaven And one Sat on the throne Look at verse 4 And he who sat On the throne Was like a jasper And a sardine stone In appearance And there was A rainbow Around the throne In appearance Like an emerald Revelation chapter 5

[34:25] Verse 1 And I saw In the right hand Of him who sat On the throne A scroll Written inside And on the back Sealed with seven seals And the one Who sat on the throne He owns the copyright The authority Over the church So now What am I trying To suppose That if there is An issue To deal with Within the church Now If Caris Someone Maybe one of our branches Is beginning to teach That unless you are Circumcised You can That one This is the governing Head of the church Of Caris We can sort here But if Caris And another church Maris Maris International Caris International There is a dispute And they are all Born again churches And there is another Church with another Opinion Then Where is the headquarters Are we going to go To Jerusalem Are we going to go To America Are we Where are we going To England So then

[35:26] What defines What the church Must adhere to That is what I want to finish on So they had A heavy dispute It is okay For the church To sit down Then they went They didn't go For prayer meeting They call for session Let's sit down And talk There are times Some people Who say Oh yeah Just let's pray And God will guide us Let's pray No We will pray But we have to Also sit down And reason Based on the text If you are afraid To reason And discourse If we are afraid Of discourse We will never Come to An effective Healthy conclusion To make the church Healthy That is what The west Was built on Discourse That Christianity Has never been Afraid of discourse Christianity Has never been Afraid of Intellectual challenge Listen The church The church Has never said Hey Don't touch our book You can't talk You can't say anything No They say talk If you have questions Come and let's talk Because we have An intellectual Understanding An explanation

[36:26] For what we believe The bible is not true Because we believe it We believe it Because it's true So it is It is necessary To understand That true church Shouldn't be afraid Of discourse If there are Doctrinal issues We have to sit down And discuss it And find out Where Like the day Of Martin Luther He said that No no There are things That church is practicing That I don't accept 500 years ago I don't accept We don't It's not It's not in scripture And they said no Okay who has the So the discussion Ended up Who has the final Authority about What the church Should do And the church Father said The leader The Roman Catholic Church said It must be The pope And the church Tradition That determines What we should be doing No scripture That's where This phrase Sola scriptura Only the scripture Has the final Authority

[37:27] On what we do So now let's go To what Let's see what they did In Acts chapter 15 Is everybody getting Something Verse 4 says that And when They were come to Jerusalem They were Okay I think We've done that Already Let's go to verse 5 But there arose A setting of the Sects of the Pharisees They were believers But they were Former Pharisees Okay Sects of the Pharisees Which believed Saying that This was needful To circumcise them And to command them To keep the law Of Moses And the apostles And the elders Came together To consider This matter And when There had been Much disputing Can you imagine A long time Back and forth But that's beautiful Including Peter James Back and forth Paul Barnabas Peter James The Sadducees Sorry The former Pharisees The Judaizers They were all there Let's talk The church The elders Not only this few The elders In other words Church Various leaders Of the church They all got it Let's discuss this matter Because it's going to affect

[38:28] The salvation Or the future Of the church So And when they had Much disputing Peter rose up And said unto them Men and brethren Ye Watch this Ye know how That a good while ago God made Choices amongst us That the Gentiles By my mouth Should hear the word Of the gospel And believe And God Which knows The hearts The hearts Bore Or bear them Witness Giving them The holy ghost Even as he did Unto us So you see Peter Peter See why God Used Peter Because this problem Was going to come Peter was forced By God To admit That you don't need To practice Judaism To be saved That's why He said of a truth Now I know That in every nation God is no respecter Of persons And he started Teaching the gospel Watch this In Acts chapter 10 I have done it already As he spoke The gospel The holy ghost Said now All it requires For salvation All that is required For true salvation

[39:28] Is Jesus Christ's Death, burial And resurrection Who he is And his work After Peter Finished He didn't finish The bible says Verse 44 Acts chapter 10 Whilst Peter Was still speaking God said I don't need That anymore The holy ghost Came upon them So Peter Was amazed Wow That's why When he went Back in chapter 11 He says that Who are To withstand The hand of God If God Decided to Include them Wow So then They all Concluded Wow Verse 18 That God Has also granted The gentiles Repentance Unto Life So Peter He said I wouldn't go But see what happened God had to Sidestep me To teach me A new lesson So Peter Watch this When there was A dispute And a problem In the church They relied Number one On the experience Of the holy ghost So what we saw The spirit did What we have seen Him doing Is a reflection On what God Accepts When we saw What the spirit Has been doing One of the things

[40:28] That I am very Thankful to God For our church Carries Is the number Of genuine Conversions That we have seen People who have Genuinely come to Christ And they are genuine About Jesus That is the foundation Of Christianity It's not our building It's not our singing It's not our style But it's The people who are Finding Christ Genuinely It's a sign that If the spirit of God Through this constant Teaching Is really saving lives And the lives That are saved Are so evident That it's beginning To spread and save Others Then actually The spirit of God Is confirming That this thing Is of him It's of him Because he will not Endorse what is not Of him So first of all They employed Or they relied On the experience From the spirit So Peter recounted What has happened How you all know I went to the house Watch this Let's continue Verse 10 Now therefore Why tempt God To put a yoke

[41:30] Upon the neck Of the disciples Call them disciples Yoke Which neither Our fathers Nor we were able To bear God has Built us From this thing Now you are Putting it To fear Peter was saying No no This is So he depended Relied on the Spiritual experience The experience Of the Holy Spirit And what he said Look at verse 11 He said But we believe That through the grace Of the Lord Jesus Christ We This text is so interesting He didn't say They shall be saved Just as us Look at the text We Shall be saved Even as they It should have been The other way They shall be saved Because they are not joining He said God went there Without any systems In place Any pre-existing Religious systems And norms in place And saved them He said We shall be saved Just like that We don't need the systems We don't need Religious restrictions Religious systems We don't need that Because this is how God saves

[42:30] Let's look at that And that's how We are also being saved Oh I thought you Say hallelujah To Jesus So And Peter said Then verse 12 says That Then all the multitudes Kept silent And gave audience To Barnabas and Paul Declaring What miracles And wonders God had wrought Amongst the Gentiles By death They were endorsing The move of the spirit Just Amongst the Gentiles See what God Has been doing Amongst people Who were not circumcised If God had a problem He wouldn't have been Moving like that So Paul and Barnabas Also said See what God did Amongst them So number one To solve disputes Doctrinal issues In church Number one The apostles What they did They Employed Or went to Experience Of the spirit Number two Two ways Let's look at the text again Number two Verse 13 After they had held Their peace James answered These are the big boys Peter and James James Answered Saying

[43:31] Men and brethren Hacking unto me Simon has declared How God At the first Did visit the Gentile To take out Of them A people For his name And to this Agrees The words Of the prophets Exposition Of scripture Experience Of the spirit To Exposition Of scripture James says Let's go to the text The text shows So James Quoted In the text James quoted And he said That He said The scripture The prophet Agree with this As it is written Verse 16 After this I will return And I will build The technical of David Which is falling down And I will build Again the ruins thereof And I will search it Up That the residue Of men Might seek After the Lord And all the Gentiles Upon whom My name is called Says the Lord Who doeth

[44:32] All these things Known unto God Are all his works From the beginning Of the world Wherefore My sentence is That we trouble Not them Which from among The Gentiles Have turned to God Let's not trouble them When we look at scripture Scripture agrees With the fact That Gentiles Are also in Without conditions So Peter brought His experience Of the spirit And Jesus brought Exposition Of the scripture Experience of the spirit Not emotional How he feels About the situation Please Your emotions Are not as important How you feel About it Is not as important About the facts Concerning it Sometimes As a pastor When I'm mediating Between a couple Who are fighting And sometimes The guilty one Is the first person To start throwing tantrums But he has been Telling everybody Meanwhile You are the one Telling people He's been telling Everybody Okay Okay He will listen to I say Hey Calm down Let's Don't

[45:33] Don't manipulate Us With emotional Tantrums Let's go to the fact Stop crying It's not necessary Sometimes You have to wait Give them tissue Finish crying You finish Okay Now let's talk Back to them So it's important To understand That when it comes To the things Of God It's not about They don't like me They don't like me They don't like Did you actually Gossip about it Sister No But I didn't say It like that Did you What did you say People don't like me People are always Talking about me No But you are the one Talking about them So emotional Tantrums don't Solve situations Adults don't Solve situations With emotions That's why you Have brains They solve situations With dialogue Thinking Wait for the other Person to say Well And so they said Now let's write To them We'll pick it up From next week Let's write to them And send them A message We put in the writing What should we tell them That they should abstain

[46:33] But is it not Another set of Restrictions But that we write To them That they should abstain From pollution Of idols From fornication That's acceptable It's good to abstain And from things Strangled And from blood Why I will explain it Next time I will explain it Next time Why they brought Feather Not feather But let's be free Liberty There's liberty But whilst you are Exercising your liberty You have to also Be conscious Of love Love Be sensitive About other people What traditionally They are not Comfortable with Alright Did you receive something?

[47:20] Hallelujah Thank you for listening To this message By David Entry We pray you have been Revived towards God You can connect With David Entry On all relevant Social media platforms Including Instagram And LinkedIn You can also hear More messages From David Entry On all relevant Streaming platforms And the Carish Church app Don't forget To like And share the message Be blessed And share the message And share the message Thank you.