Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
for our Lord Our Savior Our Redeemer our healer our deliverer you give us peace in the midst of the storm you are a Shepherd you're the Good Shepherd and we shall not want Lord even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we will fear no evil as you are with us the rod and your staff they Comfort us Lord I Thank you for being there to comfort us when we have lost when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death with friends and family God we thank you that you are our comfort you're our strength that we know that if we walk with you Jesus we have hope of eternal life and it doesn't stop even with death we looking for that God We Praise You In Jesus Name amen amen you may be seated this morning um you don't want to say this because today today is uh October 2nd 2016. it's the sixth year anniversary of the day I lost my mom but I've noticed that there's we actually have three families in here today that have lost family members Mike lost his uncle to cancer this past week Patrick lost his grandfather to a complication that probably could have been solved but he was what 90. and Melinda just got word that she lost a long time friend who was only in her 40s to cancer today so I want y'all to know something that Psalm 23 came to my mind and I'm going to tell you why as Christians especially we need to learn better learn how to deal with death because it is a part of life I remember one time I was uh when I lived in Montgomery years ago there was a fire across the street from my house when I got out there firemen had pulled out three young people in their 20s early 20s then and I actually asked the Lord Lord do you want me to pray for him do you want me to believe and raise them from the dead you know what the spirit of God said to me no and I said well why he said because they need to understand that death is part of life
and they had heard the gospel and they had rejected it and continued to live in drunkenness and fornication and sin and unbelief but I say that this morning I'm afraid to have to tell you that as hard as it is deal with losing someone close to you um we're going to have a whole lot more to deal with than meet the end so what I'm saying is you need to find that place in your relationship with God where you can find comfort and strength and peace in him you're not gonna find it in other people if you think you're going to find that in other people you're not always going to find it in other people sometimes yes sometimes no because people sometimes they help you sometimes they don't help you sometimes they fail you but you learn if you learn to let the Lord be your Shepherd truly be your Shepherd you shall not want you shall not whack you shall not be without amen that doesn't mean you're not sad listen it was a it was a tough day it was a sad day when my mom passed away and it's not wrong you know Miss the ones that you've lost not wrong to miss them not not wrong to wish you could pick up the phone and call them or go visit them there's nothing wrong with that but some people let it devastate their lives to the point that they get get into depression they quit functioning some even backslide saying God why did you let this happen or let it happen this way if that begins to happen then you're you're letting it take you away from God instead of Drawing Near to God Amen that's all up to you it's an important thing though because we're going to see a lot more of that as the world gets worse and worse men hate to be that bring that to you this morning but that's just a fact right uh this morning I want you to turn first of all to uh John the Gospel of John actually we'll go there in a second go to First John chapter one first John chapter one I've entitled this today walking in the light what's interesting is I could have entitled it walking in darkness because I actually want to cover both issues what that really means I pondered this in the last few days and I think the Lord has opened my eyes to something or to see it in a way a little bit deeper than before and I and I hope that you I'll stay with me and and catch what I'm trying to say this morning and by the way I welcome those listening my Blog Talk Radio mixler or watching on
Facebook live we welcome you this aspiring Grace Church uh here in Opelika Alabama we welcome you um but first John chapter one is where we're going to start today and we're going to start at verse one that which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life and he's speaking the word of life is another name another term for Jesus himself the word made flesh Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life the Gospel of John says in the beginning was the word the word was with God the Word was God in verse 14 and it says and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and that of course was Jesus Christ when he became flesh he says for the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the father and was manifested to us that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you may also have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ now these things right we unto you that your joy may be full this then is the message I'll just say that this then it would be this then is the message it says which we have heard him and declaring to you that God is light and in him is no Darkness at all if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie right and do not the truth but if we walk in the light notice it says if and notice he says we please talk to Christians do you know the Christians can walk in darkness so we're gonna we're gonna understand better what that means today but he says here but if we Christians he's speaking of himself including himself but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have Fellowship one with another in the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin if we walk in the line notice I'm going to point out today he didn't say if you walk sinless in fact he makes it Point here to show us that we will not walk sinless so see I'm gonna share this little nugget real quick with you we've always assumed we just read something like this and we assume that walking in darkness means walking in sin not necessarily okay let's keep reading but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have Fellowship one with another in the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin if we say
that we have no sin notice this is Christian we the Apostle John is including himself he says if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves I'm telling you there's a lot of Christians walking around they think that they don't have any sin in their life they think they're perfect are they or at least minimum they think they're better than somebody else let me tell you let me just inform you of something not only does the Bible say oh have sinned but this clearly says all still have sin okay I don't know one of you in fact I know being your pastor none of you are perfect little angels all the time I know that okay right so if you say we if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in US right Joseph Prince that's for him if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness if we say that we have not sinned we make him a liar in his word is not in us that's pretty strong I mean it literally a bunch of Christians running around Joseph's friend fights saying they have no sin and that they don't sin right but that's not what first John chapter one teaches first John chapter one is clearly teaching you that even as a Christian even as a serious Christian even as a Godly Christian even as a Christian who's hungry and pursuing the Lord you cannot ever say I have not sinned or I don't have sin in my life all right everybody say that is it it's not just Pastor Dean okay all right because I'm gonna make some statements that you know are not taught in most churches today all right but let's back up and let's look at something when he says let's walk in the light as he is in the light if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness now I'm going to read the Greek word for Darkness here all right I'm going to pull it up here not just from the strongs but also from the Thayer's Greek Lexicon but it is the Greek word scotus or scotus let me uh let me get it here and I was studying this this past week and this just kind of leaped off the uh leaked off the page at me the definition and I got to find it here I made my my notes in here and sometimes there we go all right in the strongs it is four six five five scotus all right and here's the definition of
it now in the strongs it says shadiness obscurity Darkness um thayers takes it a little bit deeper all right and talks about several things that I'm going to read it so it says darkness of night darkness of darkened eyesight or blindness here you go one of the definitions and the one I really want to focus on respecting Divine things and human duties and the accompanying ungodliness in immorality y'all catch what I'm saying here I'm gonna read that again ignorance respecting Divine things and human duties this is toward God and the accompanying ungodliness and immorality that follows I want to show you something about walking in darkness walking in darkness is not just the fact that you may have a sin that you struggle with some people it might be their temper some people it might be you know a lust issue you might be doing fine then something walks in front of you or a commercial comes on you you have a lot of problems at that moment some of you it may be you get into fear or you know God forbid you might get into gossiping about someone else foreign we all we all have missteps you know what the the definition of sin in the Greek means to miss the mark okay the things that I just named you know I got an email uh just yesterday or the day before of a Christian you know young lady who's serious about following Jesus but she says you know she's got a problem with testing cuss words come out of her mouth she doesn't want him to come out of her mouth she's asking me what to do about it I'm gonna tell you I don't know you know what I'm saying your flesh wants to do things wrong reigning in but even if you rain it in you're not always going to be perfect at it they still gonna slip out of your mouth all right now just for those of you that might struggle with cuss words slipping out of your mouth part of your problem is is that you listen to TV shows and movies that have those words constantly being put in your head and that's why they're coming out of your mouth okay but I understand it took me when I was born again when I read and rededicated my life and then I got baptized in the Holy Spirit I've been talking like a drunken sailor for years F this GD that blank this I mean that was just my everyday language guess what getting saved didn't stop it immediately
I had to work at it a little bit right it took a little time to break the habit right everybody thinks you get saved and everything all of a sudden your little angel on a cloud with a Halo that's not the way it worked in fact it's never the way it is no matter how strong of a Christian you become no matter how much you grow in the Lord you're still going to struggle with the flesh you're still going to struggle with sin missing the mark now having said that most of the church world out there the Christian world and most of the unsaved ungodly World they think that all sins are equal they think all sins are are the same it's no big deal it's no they some people say it's no big deal if you let a cuss word slip out of mouth or you know you're in adultery an adulterous affair they think those things are the same thing thank you how people think oh well this this this Christian's little problem with overeating per se oh but and this one's a homosexual and they think that that's equivalent to being overeating the sin and and being a sodomite is he equivalent with God it's equal with God that is one that women tell you one of the greatest false teachings that's ever come through the church is that all sin is the same Austin is not the same and I'm going to tell you something in the church realm we spend more time judging each other criticizing each other condemning each other and separating from each other over sins that are not unto death instead of dealing with the sins that are under them but let's break that down for it just for those of you out there listening it's always heard this lie that all sins are the same I'm going to give you two passages we're going to look at here because the Bible is clear that all sins are not the same and I'm going to show you even Jesus talked about there were there was a greater sin greater than others okay but first of all let's look since we're in first John we'll look at this passage go to First John chapter 5. this is to give scripture to prove all sins are not the same there are sins unto death there are Sins Not unto death now I know for my church I've preached this several times I've taught you this but there's a reason I'm laying again this Foundation because I want to I want you to understand when I go into what I'm about to talk about what what walking and darkness really is for the Christians all right but first John chapter five
let's go down to verse 16. everybody there things what he says if any man see his brother speaking of a Christian one Christian brother another Christian brother sister right if any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death now let me give you this too the word sin here is a present tense Greek verb which means you see a brother or a sister who's in a sin habitually they're practicing the present tense Greek verb is ongoing continuous action taking place in the present some of you in here that sins that you are continuing I could I could Point them out not going to but I could but I know for the most what I'm talking about things that I know that you do wrong that's them but I know it's not unto death it's not going to damn your soul to hell for all eternity or I would get on you and warn you about it doesn't know that sins that are not unto Eternal death and Damnation it doesn't mean that they won't harm you or get you into a problem but it's not a heaven or hell issue okay y'all understand what I'm talking about I'll name some of those in a minute but he says here if any man see his brother sin they sin habitually practice a sin which is not unto death he shall ask and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death now what this is talking about here is this is when a brother like I see you struggling with the sin or an issue that that I know can be harmful to you the comics to this verse 15 and 14 is talking about prayer and so when he's saying let him ask what he's saying is if a brother sees you if I see you struggling with something that I know may bring harm to you it may not send you to hell but it'll bring harm to you in some way some way what he's saying there is pray for that person I want you to know a lot of times I spent a lot of time praying for you some of you even about stuff you don't even realize that you're struggling with but I know you're struggling but instead of talking to you all the time or correcting you all the time or trying to instruct you all the time just pray for you first sometimes I pray for weeks and months about issues sometimes I watch situations you can ask my wife she's like my and you know my wife's always she she's the go-getter go talk to him nip it in the bud I'm like oh let's slow it down a little bit take it down or not I don't mind that because that's a good
attribute on a lot of things sometimes I'm just like no uh it needs to get worse it needs to get worse and then we can talk about it right because I don't think I said sometimes see sometimes people aren't convinced they have they're having a problem with something they're not really convinced of it of or of what it's doing or going to do to them so they're not convinced of that so you kind of got to let them he walking down that road until they finally trip over the log and bump their head and go hey I mean that's just the way it is right but he's talking about praying for that but let's let's back up I'm just giving you some extra here verse 16 again if any man see his brother sent us in which is not unto death he shall ask and he shall give him life for them to sin not unto death there is a sin unto death and I do not say that he shall pray for it meaning prayer is not going to help us the brother's in a sin unto death just praying for them is not going to help them they're going to have to repent and get out of that sin of the death or it will be have eternal ramifications all right and he says all righteous unrighteousness verse 17 all unrighteousness and there is a sin not unto death all right everybody sees that all unrighteousness is sin but there is not in the day how many of you [Music] that this isn't you've heard the other side it all seems are the same how many people have heard that before everybody everybody in here all right now let's look at another one let's go now I said to the Gospel of John chapter 19. just to show you Jesus said it promise you I'm gonna get to the darkness stuff everybody in John chapter 19. I don't know why this verse has never popped in my mind pertaining to this issue but it did the other day um let's go down to oh we'll just I love this we'll start reading here from verse one then pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him or beat him with the cat of nine tails and the soldiers play to the crown of thorns and put it on his head and they put on him a purple robe and said hail King of the Jews and they smote him with their hands pilate therefore went forth again and saith unto them behold I bring him forth to you that you may know that I find no fault in him now remember Pilots having him beaten with a whip the soldiers are mocking him the soldiers are slapping him with their hands maybe punching him pilot then brings Jesus forth and says I find no fault in him just understand what's Happening Here verse 5 then Jesus came then came Jesus forth wearing the crown of thorns and
the purple robe and pilate saith unto them behold the man and when the chief priests therefore the officers saw him they cried out saying crucify him crucify him pilate sent to them taking him increasing him before I find no fault in him and the Jews answers said we have a law and by our law he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God when pilate therefore heard that that saying he was the more afraid and he went again into the Judgment Hall and saith unto Jesus whence art thou but Jesus gave him no answer then pilate then saith other than him speak his thou not unto me know it's thou not that I have power to crucify thee and have power to release thee and then Jesus taught because he talked about having Authority Pilots that I have the authority Jesus then he Jesus began to speak now you know Jesus answered thou couldst have no power at all against me except they were given uh they from above therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin and from that's what pilate sought to release him I should probably crap but think about this here's this Gentile here's this Pontius Pilate a Roman leader he's having Jesus an innocent man beaten Scourge mocked Crown of Thorns placed on his head he's really being condemned before he's even been judged guilty of anything and Jesus looks at pilate and says the people who delivered me to you has a greater sin than you y'all see that now what pilate was doing was sin amen but Jesus looks at him and says those who delivered me to you so he wasn't just talking about Judas he was talking about the chief priests and the scribes and all of the the plot against him the conspiracy to find Jesus privately and arrest him and and have him killed so he's talking about the religious leaders the Pharisees the Sadducees the high priests Judas he's saying those people yes you're beating me injustly you're mocking me you think you have power over me but I'm telling you the ones who have delivered me here has the greater sin folks let me tell you something if human beings look at that situation we would look at pilate as being the worst sinner but he's the one having Jesus beaten but God most of the time does not look
at sin the same way that we look at now he said there's a greater sin let me tell you what the greater sin was the greater sin was being ignorant willfully ignorant of the truth and willing to reject the Messiah reject the scriptures the Jews and the religious leaders should have known should have known that Jesus fulfilled all the Prophecies of the Messiah they should have not been jealous of his power and his miracles any great teaching ability they were jealous they were fearful they wanted to keep their position so what I'm saying here is their rejection of the scriptures their rejection of the authority of God in the revelation of God through Jesus Christ through the Messiah was the greater sin than the one who had him beaten and ultimately crucified it so here what I'm going to tell you a moment ago I gave you the definition of darkness and one of it was ignorance of God's ways ignorant and he was talking Christians ignorance not knowing God's will God's word God's revelation and I'm going to tell you something ignorance will not be an excuse let me tell you something a police officer pulls you over speeding down the road here and you go uh officer I didn't know what the speed limit was and he's going to go ignorance is no excuse it's posted it is your job to know the speed limit not the police officer to stop you and tell you you're to know it before you drive the car let me tell you something right now God's truth God's will God's revelation is posted right here it's all here everything you need to know your ignorance of it is your fault and on Judgment day it will not be an excuse ignorance to me I watch this this is why Hosea 4 6 says it my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge ignorant but then he says this and this is where Christians are the worst he says but because you have rejected knowledge I will also reject you
hear what I'm about to tell you where you get in the most trouble as a Christian where you can as a Christian walk in darkness is when you begin to ignore and reject or through laziness or whatever you become ignorant of the scriptures ignorant the truth or you refuse it when God brings it to you either either God has you open the Bible and read it or he sends you a preacher or a prophet or another Christian to tell you and he rejected that is walking in darkness and if you reject truth whether it be the truth of scripture or the truth about your situation if you reject the truth or try to remain willfully ignorant of the truth then you are headed into a place where you will get into sending evil let me let me read this to you again this is goethos this is the word the definition again of Darkness walking in darkness it means ignorance respecting Divine things and the human duties of around accompanying those Divine things which will lead to the accompanying ungodliness and immorality the greatest sin for the Christian is to be ignorant of the will of God in any manner Adam and Eve they weren't smoking dope or crack in the Garden of Eden there was no one else around to cheat on with so they weren't adultery well it kind of was but we'll deal with that later but they weren't adultery they weren't drinking alcohol they weren't in drunkenness what was their sin all sin for the believer remember Adam and Eve I believe they were a picture of the believer you know why because they were new creatures finally right God had just created them he just made them so they were brand new If any man be in Christ he is a new creature awesome thing old things are passed away All Things become new second Corinthians 5 17 right so they were when God created them they were new creatures in a perfect place
there was no sin in that Garden no sin in their lives God came down and fellowshipped with them every evening they they met and fellowshipped and walked and talked with God face to face no hindrances perfect relationship with God and he gives them one thing to do and one thing not to do till the garden keeps the garden but you know that tree in the midst of the garden the tree of the dogs don't eight of it so there you either that you die let me tell you the greatest sin is when God's word says one thing and you begin to justify twist excuse make excuses so you can do the opposite you hear me think about it again it wasn't drugs it wasn't murder it wasn't alcohol it wasn't sexual immorality it wasn't any of those things that led to the greatest fall of mankind it was simply God said here's my will in this situation and they chose not to do it you hear what I'm saying that's walking in darkness let me tell you God tells you go go go share the gospel with your friend or go share the gospel with your your mother or your father or your brother or whoever God says go God you know you've been you in prayer and the Holy Spirit comes all over and you have a burden and the spirit of God says go go share the gospel with this person go share Jesus with this person and you don't do it you're walking in darkness amen I don't like that Pastor Dean I thought if I stay away from the big stuff I'm okay guess what when God Reveals His will to you whether through the scriptures whether in your private prayer closet or he sends someone to you to tell you his will and he uses all three listen I'm going to tell you right now you better listen closely God's going to use the word of God the Bible the scriptures right he's going to directly to you and he's also going to send people to speak to you and sometimes he picks one of those
things sometimes he uses two of those things sometimes he uses all three of those things but if you say no thank you to God's revealed will and situation then you are beginning to walk in darkness and that Darkness will again blind you not only in that area but also other areas you don't believe me James 1 22 when he says what but be ye doers of the word and not here is only deceiving your own self that's not the devil deceiving you that's you deceiving yourself foreign go to uh first Thessalonians chapter five y'all with me hopefully I can get this across so I'm gonna show you there's two there's there's two types of knowledge you must have and that you must continue to increase and grow in to keep this from happening all right but first Thessalonians chapter five I want to show you something verse 3 we'll start reading there well let's just start reading from verse one you just talked to them about the right here in the coming of the Lord and he says but of the times and the seasons Brethren you have no need that I write unto you for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night for when they shall say peace and safety then certain districts can cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not Escape but ye brethren are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief you are all children of the light Children of the day we are not of the night nor of Darkness therefore let us not sleep as do others and let us watch and be sober related sleep or sleep in the night and they they'd be drunk and Drunken In the Night and he goes on to say but let us wherever the day our walking might be sober putting on the breastplate of Faith love for the helmet the hope of salvation what's he saying here notice what he's saying is that Christians should not be walking in darkness now he's talking about this context he's talking about understanding the signs are coming understanding and recognizing when we were in that time period and what he's saying is that if you're ignorant of it what are you going to be if you're ignorant of things that are in here you're in darkness
now people say well in time prophecy is not a Salvation issue on the surface right maybe not on the surface but is it one of those things that if you're ignorant and walking in darkness in this area and especially if you live in that time period And there's things you're ignorant of can end up becoming a Salvation issue for instance if you're ignorant of the mark of the beast that's going to be implanted in the hands of the forehead or no man made by herself if you're ignorant of that that the Bible says if you do that you will be damned to hell for all eternity if you're ignorant of that when that comes around it all of a sudden becomes a Salvation issue now doesn't it so walking in darkness is not good it can lead to much worse things do you know what I'm saying um that's one example let's go go back to first John chapter three I'm going to show you an area of walking in darkness and this is something we're gonna have to work on hard everybody because as I was studying this and reading this first John chapter 3. you'd read first John and notice this is what he said here well no I'm sorry first John chapter two we'll get read a minute first John chapter 2. let's go on over to verse 7. he says this he says brethren I write no new commandment unto you but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning the old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning again a new commandment right unto you which thing is true and in him and even because the darkness is past and the True Light now shine he that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now he that loveth not his brother I mean he that loveth his brother rather verse 10 he that loveth his brother abideth in the light and there is none occasion of stumbling in him but he that hated his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whether he goeth because that Darkness has blinded his eyes hey oh boy let me tell you something again we Americans have our own definitions of words that aren't correct the definition of hatred in the Greek here in the Bible
does it just mean you know it doesn't mean that you have this Burning longing desire for you know to destroy your enemy it can be that the simple definition means to love less okay I said that before but let it sink in to love less than you shouldn't to show disrespect love it's a complicated thing you talk about the word agape and the words phileo and all that stuff the Greek word Eros but you know something if you look at a agape it's real simple because you just look at how God loves us right does God love us when we're doing everything perfect is that the only time you love this does he not put up with a lot of stupid crap right and he keeps loving us and then he acts upon it to try to help us out of that by sending his only begotten son to die on the cross for our sin and to be raised into death and all of that was because he loved us and he wanted to help us out of it so he we wouldn't have to be separated from wouldn't have to suffer as much we wouldn't have to die and go to hell so God not only says he loves us he doesn't just say it in words he actually demonstrated he actually put it into practice he actually did what was necessary to help us out of the situation all right but let's apply that to people around us right and and you know here's the thing we'll talk about loving our enemies in a minute we'll talk about loving those that hate us in a minute how about just loving each other the church loving each other I'm gonna tell you there's a lot of loving less than we should going on look if you find yourself with somebody you somebody's struggling or you find out they're struggling and you'd rather talk about it than pray for them you're loving them less than you huh I said well if you if you see somebody struggling with something and you'd rather talk about it what
they're struggling with instead of praying for them that they would get over and be able to overcome it and you really are burdened to see them overcome it you don't love them listen there's a lot of Christians they spend a lot of time talking about other people's faults but they don't pray that they would overcome it I want to see all of you I know I know your struggles I know some things shop the danger of going to a church where the pastor is also a prophet well go to you and tell you all the time because I'm not trying to condemn you I'm not trying to beat you up I'm trying to make you feel bad but what I am doing is I'm praying that you're overcoming most of the time what I'm praying for you is God will open your eyes and show it to you because some of you don't see you have blind spots and you do not see it listen we look at Cain Cain said hated his brother right Cain hate a murderer has hate but what motivated that what was the root of that the root of it yeah was his jealousy and wanting God to accept his way of doing things instead of doing it God's way right but here's what's amazing if you go and read Genesis chapter 4 this is what blows my mind about Cain so so Cain has this jealousy he he's beginning to hate his brother because of of his brother having a better relationship with God than he does because his brother was willing to do it God's way and he wasn't it's amazing the people that don't want to do things God's way and get mad at the people who do right but it happens all the time's been happening forever right but Cain gets mad he's getting all this hate in his heart murder starting to rise up in his heart and God comes and speaks to him and tries to talk him out of it God comes to the situation and speaks to Cain and warning sin is lying at the door why are you angry Kane he has this whole encounter with God before he kills his brother and what that was was that was God trying to bring his life his knowledge his truth his will into that situation before sin unto death and Cain rejected the light and chose to continue in his jealousy his hatred and
his Vengeance until it became it was acted out walking in the darkness is rejecting the word and the will of God and the revelation of God it's rejecting when the spirit of God comes to you and warns you and speaks to you and tries to show you things always lead to something worse when you don't listen no way we'll lead to something worse foreign I think about I think about a situation I know of a situation years and many years ago 20 something years ago I I know the family so I I can say this I know them the mother tells her daughter don't you go to a certain place don't you be out past a certain time right Christian long Christian teenager who's becoming lukewarm teenager but what does she do that was the Bible say hey your father and mothers your life may be long upon you simple Revelation there kids honor your father and mother honor means even when you're adult you should respect and listen because God reached you Authority and that goes for your church members too you better don't take likely if you believe your pastor is a man of God don't take lightly when you're pastor said something he may not even know God's speaking to him and he's speaking to his authority we'll deal with that in a second too situation clearly mother told her don't go to this certain place and don't be out past this time you can go over here be home at this time guess what mom had to go somewhere your daughter should have just obeyed her mother without her mother being home right well guess what she went to the other place she was out past the time her mother said her car breaks down and she gets raped by three guys now who saw that thank you it's not a game and that incident has affected her life for years she'll never be the same I think this is a game how many how many
teenagers don't drink and drive don't drink and drive what are they gonna do drink and drive dead now you say well past it no this is simple stuff but you see what happens you reject the revelation of God the truth of God's word God's seeking through Authority speaking through someone else you rejects that and now you're walking in darkness and now that's going to lead to something else oh there's been people come through this church married people going through problems right oh Pastor Dean Nancy we want counseling okay Sit Them Down council with them two or three times figure out the issues give them the advice and counsel Godly advice and counsel for the word of God oh no no we're not doing that look back on it we're talking about divorce and just the trail of Destruction behind them and you're like it if they just listen number one in God's word number two God's Messengers I just blows my mind man I mean that's I mean I preached on it not too long ago about you know in the multitude of counselors there is safety with good advice to make your War a lot of people want a lot of people now won't even humble themselves to go to a church much less respect elders and pastors and leaders when they speak let me tell you what's my name watch my knees book Spiritual Authority one of the books ever written I believe on the subject of Spiritual Authority well one thing he said real plainly the cuss word could come out of your mouth or you could struggle with a lustful thought or you could just have a bad day and lose your temper at somebody all those are sins but you know what he said a greater sin is a sin against Authority because it's remember and Rebellion is as the sin of Witchcraft right you know there's a lot of people that are going to be in hell not because they were drunkards or adulterers or fornicators or drug users they're going to be in hell because they went into one church after another and rebelled against the pastor and the elders and the holy and and and blew it up blew the church up because of their Rebellion and they're going to stand before God and think oh well that was that pastor's fault he didn't do this I thought he should do or that that's that Deacon's
fault he did this I thought he had done and God's going to say no no no no you forgot about Aaron and Mary I can't tell you how many times I cannot even tell you how many times I told people things if you do this this is what's going to happen and they go oh oh I know yeah oh I hear you uh-huh and then they go do that and then it happens it's like I thought oh my you don't have to learn the hard way you really don't have to learn the hard way I look back at some things oh Lord when I was younger I wish I had to listen to my mom and dad are you walking in the Darkness see it's not so simple isn't it it's not just sin is it not just the big stuff humility now let me show you this real quick I don't even know what time it is what time oh yeah it's early 11 o'clock somewhere all right it's way up here but so let's go somewhere all right oh crack myself up sometimes you know I probably should quit I'm probably getting myself in trouble foreign oh Lord I could spend a lot of time I really could spend a lot of time on this walking in darkness you know it's a simple thing that like what blinded judas's eyes you just you know what the thing Judas wanted was a good thing he wanted Jesus to become king he wanted Jesus to destroy the evil Romans and set up the kingdom and make Israel great again he wanted the Messianic Kingdom hey folks let me explain something to you you just believe that Jesus was the Messiah of Israel the promised one or anyone that followed him with three years he believed he was the one he it
wasn't doubt wasn't his sin unbelief wasn't his sin his sin and and the thing he desired wasn't bad but he decided to do it his way he decided to try to force God to do it when he wanted it his agenda became and he deceived himself going I just want Jesus to be the king I just want Jesus to to Deliver Us from these evil Romans I just want Jesus he can he can feed the thousands he can take care of us he can heal us he's everything we need so Jesus come on I'm going to help you and that's what some of you some of you because you think the thing you want is good I want to as a good thing I want I want this oh that's a good thing it may not be God's timing God will there's two kinds of knowledge I'm gonna end with it there's two words in the Greek there's gnosis and epidemuses or epidemic these two words are used in the New Testament for knowledge remember the the opposite of ignorance is knowledge right everybody with me ignorance would be not knowing something you need to know and knowledge is knowing something you need to hear this okay um and I'm just going to read them I I didn't have time this morning to I didn't even yeah tell my wife on the web we were leaving she just I'm like I don't know what I'm preaching I had no idea so I didn't have time to between the ride here to put these up for you let's go back to this hypnosis the word gnosis you'll see it different verses it means in the strongs it's uh 1097 it means knowing the ACT knowledge science now the word science is interesting because science means a systematic study of something so scientific knowledge is is knowledge you get simply by your mental faculty okay this is the scripture we get studied to show yourself approved right this that passage is talking about you have to spend the time reading studying right the Bible but
the word epicanism when it talks about the knowledge of God okay now for instance here well let me read this gnosis knowledge signifies general intelligence and understanding the general knowledge of Christian religion uh the Deep deeper more perfect and in large knowledge of this religion such as belongs to the more advanced uh especially knowing things that are lawful or unlawful for Christians knowing what is right and wrong blah blah blah right that's a gnosis right we can we can all anybody can open the Bible read The Ten Commandments and you gotta you know should I know the gods before me it's not bow down to integrated images right I mean that right there is because I had studied and I have read Exodus 20 I know the Ten Commandments I have gnosis I have knowledge of that right I have knowledge of all the fundamental doctrines of Christianity I could go down the list the deity of Jesus Christ that Jesus is God In the Flesh the inspiration of the scriptures Bible prophecy salvation repentance healing Deliverance all the basic doctors I can do without even pulling without even opening my Bible I can give you sufficient scriptures to establish every one of those doctrines that by study memorization use knowledge that is the systematic study knowledge everybody understand that there's a different one though and you must have too in Ephesians chapter 1 when Paul said he was praying for the Ephesians and he said I pray that the eyes of your understanding would be enlightened that God will give unto you the spirit of wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes of your understanding would be enlightened you would know the hope of this calling that's different it's the word epidemosis now what that means is to have a full spiritual discernment of a matter yeah this is where most Christians now I can't say there's a lot of Christians that won't read and study the Bible till they fall short on gnosis but there's a lot of Christians who have a lot of study of scripture but have very little discernment discernment full discernment epidosis means that you not only have studied
but you've spent time with the Holy Spirit and you've spent time in prayer and fasting and God hath enlightened your mind he has brought in spiritual light to give you understanding and revelation of the knowledge of him and for the Christian you cannot just have scientific systematic study or just scriptural knowledge you must have intimate Holy Ghost Revelation knowledge let me say that this goes for every situation in your life everyone I know people who have knowledge of things for instance I mean everybody knows I love Dr Rebecca Brown's book he gave me some captives free to prepare for war becoming the best of Honor on broken curses great teaching on spiritual warfare great testimony great examples of things I know her personally from years ago had her concrete Minister and Montgomery big event spend a whole week with her every day I was the one who picked her up took her to the meetings and sat with her and basically her bodyguard and wonder who the witches were in town that wanted to take her out to eat everything else all right I'm gonna tell you what though I could almost quote especially the first two books I could almost quote the whole book that's how well I knew it I think the first book I've read six seven times okay I used to use the scriptures I would take the scriptures that she had in the book and I would memorize those scriptures all right so I can say I have knowledge I have the gnosis the systematic study I have the knowledge of what those books about fighting witches and satanists and spiritual warfare and werewolves and everything else okay werewolves they're real by the way but I also have epi you know just because I have dealt with which is in Satan's and werewolves okay I've encountered those things I have confronted those things I have fought those battles face to face so I don't just have gnosis I have epigenous understand
and in every situation you're in you better have both types of knowledge and I'm going to tell you some of you think you do you've got different situations going on whether it be situations with children with friends with family with work you may have knowledge of the situation that's going on but it doesn't mean that you have spiritual Revelation about what's going this is what's sad a lot of people think they have spiritual discernment or Revelation on something and you don't because it doesn't always come instantaneously it has to be prayed over it has to be fought over and sometimes what blocks us is our pride that we have over the knowledge the gnosis knowledge we have blocks us from getting the spiritual knowledge that we need the discernment can I just tell you that many many many many times that things are so in the spirit they do not appear that way in the natural they there's nothing outward that would show many times for instance I have a friend right now we go way back Way Way Back all right and I know that they are offended and angry with me and don't agree with something I'm teaching and have allowed that to be to divide us right but when I try to confront the situation and say there is a division between us right you know they oh no there's no division that was their work there's no division yet they won't have anything to do with me like they used to well it's pretty obvious to me there's no problem right right and I know in the spirit what it is what they refuse to admit it maybe they're blind to it maybe they it's their pride maybe it's their stubbornness maybe it's something but I know it's there I know it's there because I can see it in the natural and I know it in the spirit that it's there but I can't even get them to acknowledge it right and this is a born-again Spirit-filled tongue talking Christian foreign and I hate to say it but in this area walking Darkness and what's sad about the situation is because of their offense and they're wrong I even in the little disc we had a little discussion about it I gave them tons of scripture I said now if you if you can give me scripture
to say that I'm wrong I'd be glad to hear it please please show me but in the Bible where I'm wrong guess what this born-again Spirit-filled Christian did they give me one scripture no what did they do they just separated themselves from no scriptural basis oh I don't you know you're an heir really show me show me give me book chapter and verse be a man and show me nope run and hide all right because guess what they have no scripture they can show you all right so but let me tell you what that's done too that issue of choosing to walk in darkness now is leading to it's it's actually leading their lives and they think it's okay they think where it's leading them it's fine just like Judas the goal is to make Jesus King right but where it's leading their family is not in a good place what do you do you pray like well you don't do it every day every single day I pray for God open their eyes isn't it amazing that we have to pray for Christians that God would open their eyes oh well did y'all understand what I'm talking about today walking in the light is walking in the knowledge of God both the gnosis and the epicness it's walking in the will of God it's walking in the word of God it's having spiritual discernment about what's going on around you and I and I promise you I have to keep here's the thing you if you want to have spiritual discernment here's your number one thing you'll have to do is be humble enough to say God When you pray I know I have blind spots this is where Muslims we think we see everything clear I pray all the time I pray all the time God please I know I just think I don't see please show me where I'm blind or something I pray all the time I pray that scripture in verse in Ephesians 1 all the time God please give me the spirit of wisdom and revelation open our eyes to see the one in Psalm 19 where is IKEA 119
when he says open my eyes open my eyes Lord show me wonderful things out of your law you first have to admit guess what like when Troy was here we talked about spiritual glaucoma what I realized is all of us have that in some stage over certain things but you first have to admit you know what they say in AAA you got to admit you have a problem first right you have to admit it don't live in denial not good listen you guys a lot of people say old Pastor Dean you know you teach a lot of things you teach a lot of things I've never heard before I've never seen you in the scriptures you know I have people like oh wow it's just you know it's because I say Lord I know there's things I don't see there's things I don't know there's things I don't understand teach me show me open my eyes even it's unpleasant even if I have to admit that I'm wrong or I've been wrong right well that's a that's that's hard for a lot of people I was wrong all right you know there once upon a time I taught the pre-trib Rapture I was wrong right but why did I finally see the truth in the word because I kept studying I kept reading I kept praying God opened my mind and he finally showed me the truth and there's still a lot of people who can't see that truth and refused to see it you can lay out the scriptures from from Genesis to the maps on the subject show them Beyond any shadow of that that post-tribulation Rapture is biblical you can show it to him what Jesus taught Matthew and they just uh well I sure hope you're ready to deal with the Antichrist let me get you I know you think you're leaving so you might not think it's him all right you think you're leaving before when the Antichrist comes oh I can't be him I'm supposed to be out of here all right see how walking in darkness always leads to more profit down the road right all right this is something you ought to go back and study out for yourself what does it mean to walk in darkness walking ignorance walking blindness to things the greatest the greatest issues in the church world we can we can deal with sin we can find sin and we can confront and deal with it
that's not hard you know somebody is in adultery in church we know it and they won't repent we'll deal with it hard to deal with there's a Christians who refuse to get knowledge of the scriptures knowledge of God's will or refuse to pursue discernment and refuse to listen right this is this is the I watched it for 30 years man nothing new you know what I told the Lord this morning thinking about these things Lord I'm I'm so tired of trying to get people to see things and he reminded me some are you got to remind me like some are I know Lord but most aren't he's like welcome to my world right that's what I go through I mean think about it God God he's got confused and listen and see and the rest of them don't listen to him all right well I guess I need to I guess I need to deal with it right no I'll tell you what some of it I watch people choose to either disregard some truth in the scripture or some discernment matter or whatever I see people disregarding I see what begins to happen and and most of the time I see it divide like it is in a situation with my friend and I see it bring division and that you know I don't know I know God God deals with being grieved at his heart and saddened by people but he's God so he can handle it better than I can I I really I get sad sometimes I get sad because I'm like I look at all the relationships that are divided over true they have to be there's just no other I mean you you have to stand for the truth and then those brothers and sisters who won't it that causes the the division you don't want to be divided from them but there's nothing you can do can two altogether except they be agreed all this crap let's agree to disagree no that doesn't work y'all let's agree to this that's bull I mean we can't walk together unless we're Amos 3-3 can two walk together except they'd be agreed doesn't mean we can't love that person that means we can't be around them sometimes it doesn't mean anything but you can't
really walk together in fellowship and intimacy and true true friendship true brother and sister true relationship can't have all this you have I mean Paul talked about it he said there's division among you foreign he said there's division among you but what did he say he said you all should speak the same thing and have the same judgment or discernment what he was saying was you should all know the same truth and you should all have the same discernment because my holy spirit is not saying two things and the word of God doesn't say two different things you should all be in agreement the problem is when some choose to be remained wealthy you all know family y'all talk to down south don't want to listen what does it call the vision but only because you're willing to stand for the truth and you really speak the truth they don't want it even when they hear it music here I know I know Marley I remember Marlene telling me about showing one of them show me take this book and show me where it says we worship and pray to marriage show me show me where it says to do that well guess what that caused an issue didn't it but not because you did anything wrong in Atlanta truth the will of God the revelation of God and people who say they're Christians who choose to walk in darkness I'm gonna quit let me tell you the biggest sin the greater sin greater than what you struggle with missing the mark issues that you all struggle with the greater sins unbelief unbelief God says it you just don't want to believe willful ignorance I know it's in there but God said the Pastor a friend a family member to tell me gave me the scripture showed me the truth about the matter right that's willful all right all right let's do it let's stand that way Hallelujah let's pray Father in Heaven I ask you Lord we want to walk away from sin as much as possible we want to live holy righteous we want
to do live according to your moral law and standards but we know God that we won't always do that perfectly and that's why there is forgiveness through the blood of Jesus that's why we must admit that we have sinned and we struggle with sin and we need to confess that sin and let you wash it away the Lord began to show us where there's areas of ignorance willful ignorance Darkness where we have blind spots where we're lacking in discernment I begin to show us those areas begin to Humble us and help us to pray and get discernment in situations father I ask you to do that and everybody here everybody listening watching I pray that that would be done in every single person that they would increase in the knowledge of you God in both types of knowledge father I thank you for Revelation I thank you for truth I ask you to bless your people and we pray it today in Jesus name amen