God Is Not Partial, Part 2: full transcript and answers

▶ 0:00 Today, alcohol, drugs, sexual immorality, stealing and all that are the same problems, but we are just making everybody feel okay in it. In fact, if you like to drink, well, then we want to promote drinking, cuz we’ll say Jesus drank. you You know, you want to have sexual immorality, well, that’s okay, you know, God loves you anyway. Come on, folks, that’s not the the message that the early church brought. Could that be an amen? You know, we don’t want to get the homosexuals mad at us, we don’t want to get people shacking up mad at us, you know, we don’t want thieves mad at us, so we won’t preach anything. Well, you’re not changing anything either.

▶ 1:00 These people publicly changed. Everybody knew they changed. Now that’s good. “Preaching the word of God increased, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly, including a great company of the priests.” Now the priests were the ones that had Jesus killed. They were the ones there enticing the people to have Jesus crucified. And after Jesus died and this message of the gospel went out, these priests who stirred the people against Christ are now what? Serving Christ. And the public knows it. Are you hearing me? They’re not hiding anything. Everybody knows this. Why? Their life show it. And God multiplied and God increased.

▶ 2:02 Do we want God to multiply our church not because we want numbers, but because we want to see people saved from hell? Yes. See, that’s the difference between the church growth seminars and the Bible plan. Is we’ve got to have a heart for people going to hell. The biggest problem in America are people dying and going to hell every day, and there’s really no focus, concerned about it. The church just wants to hear a nice, enticing word, but we don’t want to be changed to where our neighbors see it, our family sees it, and they get ignited and come to Christ. Hallelujah.

▶ 2:53 God fulfilled this in the early church, and church, we need it fulfilled in our generation. I thank God for what he did in the early church. I thank God for what he did in past revivals. But my prayer is, God, I appreciate what you did yesterday, but we need this in my generation. I need it, Lord, in my lifetime. I need it in my local community. This is what we need. Could that be a good prayer? Acts 16:5: “The churches were established in the faith and increased in number daily.” How often? Daily. But they were established in the faith. What faith? Abraham’s faith. Say it: Abraham’s faith. They had the faith to believe that God had the power to perform what he promised, and they went out and preached the word, and they lived for God, and God fulfilled his promise, and they multiplied. But look at this: they were established. The church was established. The church was strong.

▶ 4:09 Is the church strong in America? Now I’m not saying that to put the American church down and criticize and all that. I’m saying that that we have to look at the facts. Say, our church, is it strong? No. Me, am I strong? No. I need to change. The church needs to change. America church needs to change. Could that be true? The church was strong, established, it was solid, it was successful. And listen to this part of established: the church was accepted as true. Wow. The people said, “They’re the real deal.” Is that what Americans are saying about the church in America right now? No way. But we need to shake loose and become the real deal. Amen. We don’t need to give up and quit and go on in our apathy. We need to become the real deal, and my prayer is, Lord, establish us. Hallelujah. Establish me.

▶ 5:44 The early church multiplied without gimmicks, without big days, without mailers, without a marketing scheme. They had one. I’ll show you, it wasn’t a planned marketing scheme, it was God’s plan. They grew without church growth seminars, without recovery programs, without theology debates and microscoping every jot and tittle of a Bible verse like we do today, or microscoping the Greek and Hebrew meaning. They simply went out and preached the gospel, and the Spirit of God worked with them and changed lives. It was that simple. God was doing something. Now here’s how they did it. Acts 8:5. Here’s an illustration of how they did it, very clear, very direct. There’s other illustrations, but this one is very good. Philip was a deacon, one of the seven deacons. He served tables. You know, if you’re a cook and a toilet cleaner and sweeping up the floor and all this, you’re a candidate, because that’s what a deacon is. Uh, you run the sound, you know, whatever, mow the lawn, repair things, that’s what deacons do.

▶ 7:17 See, unimportant jobs, actually they are important, because without them how you going to get the big stuff done? But that’s what deacons did. Now he takes, there were two of them that were powerful. This one here, Philip, preached Christ to the city of Samaria. Okay, he just went down and started preaching. Can you see this guy just getting on a street corner and preaching Christ? Allelujah. “The people with one accord gave heed to what Philip spoke, hearing.” See, they not only heard the word, but they saw the miracles which he did. Now how many even know that’s a great marketing scheme? Is God partial? He has to do the same thing for every generation, and he wants, it’s not he has to, he wants to do it. I mean, that’s just a great marketing scheme: preach the word, and then the word backs up what the word says. “And they saw the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voices, came out of many; many taken with palsies,” they were paralyzed, “and many that were lame,” something happened to them, you know, they were crippled, they were healed, “and there was great joy in the city.” Publicly, there was what? Great joy. I mean, the whole city. This affected the whole city. Are you out there?

▶ 9:07 So he used two things. He used the spoken word, and he let God heal people. Let me tell you, somebody gets healed, they’re going to go home and they’re going to squawk about it, and it’s free advertisement, and it’s good advertisement. But you get a life change, now, not just the healing, but a drunkard that changed. How many, you know, that gets people’s attention. A homosexual that changed, that gets people attention. A thief that changed, that gets people’s attention. See, he spoke the word, and they saw the miracles. Well, the miracle of salvation is still the greatest miracle. You know, when you were a drug addict and throwing away your money and stealing to get it and lying and everything else, and then people see a transformation, you’re not doing that anymore, and you’re living a good, consistent, good life, man, it gets people’s attention. See, that’s the best marketing skills that we can have, is not only physical healing, but change lives will bring the crowds in. The word will get out. Hallelujah. That’s how simple it was.

▶ 10:40 Now we must be careful not to become a plastic local church or a plastic believer. Now what did I say? We must be careful not to become a plastic local church or a plastic believer. Why do I use the word plastic? Because plastic is not real. It’s a synthetic, human hand, um, man-made thing that we use. It’s everywhere, but it’s not a real mineral. Are you there? And it’s easy for us to become plastic and not anymore. Polymerized is how plastic is made, through polymerization, and a lot of Christians have been polarized, polymerized, I should say. you We’ve let our surroundings, some some igniter, change our lives into something that looks like something, but we’re not real. Are you with me? Now the hippies were good at this. they That’s one of their statements: “Don’t be plastic, man. Be real.” And it was a true statement, but they were very plastic.

▶ 12:23 2 Timothy 3:7: “They are forever inquiring and getting information, they’re forever learning, but are never able to arrive at a recognition and knowledge of the truth.” They never grasp the truth. They think going to Bible studies, hallelujah, “I did my thing,” or listening to a tape or somebody on the radio or whatever, they’re ever learning, but they’re not possessing what they learn. That’s the plastic church. They know Christ died on the cross, but they don’t possess him. See, they know he cleanses and forgives and delivers from sin, but they don’t get deliverance. They know he baptizes in the Holy Ghost, but they don’t get it. They know he offers wisdom to anyone that will ask him, but they don’t get wisdom. The American church is good at talking and going through the motions of learning and not possessing It’s like a kid, you know, you teach your kid, they go, “Yeah, yeah,” and then they go and do what what they want. Huh. “Yeah, yeah.” Yeah, that’s a plastic church, and that’s a plastic believer.

▶ 13:50 See, do I have Christ? That is important. I was debating with some atheist. Talking, debating. I can’t get into a talk with people without getting into a debate, it seems like. And they have some strong points. Okay, they say religion gets people to believe something untrue, and that’s true. Gosh, pre-tribulation any-minute rapture is untrue. It is a theory. This deathbed ritual, deathbed, right? You say this thing and you automatically go to heaven. That’s not true. Are you out there? We do. And I have to say, I I agree, a lot of religious people, they believe untrue things, I mean, you know, but that doesn’t make the Bible untrue. They say religion makes people base the way they run their lives on a falsehood. That’s true. I said, “You know, you got me again.” Lighting candles does nothing for anyone. Holy water, incense, a lot of this nonsense, they’re basing their life on something that has no substance. But that still does not change the word of God. The word of God is truth. Because people change things does not change the word of God. Could that be an amen?

▶ 15:33 They say religion stops people thinking in a rational and objective way. I go, you “You’re right.” A lot of religion are sectarian, and they they offer extreme beliefs, and they won’t listen to anything outside their camp. Man, if you say anything outside that their group or their leader, man, they won’t listen. You’re right. I mean, atheists aren’t stupid. But that doesn’t change the Bible being a book of truth, because people distort it and make up their own stuff. Could that be an amen? They said religion forces people to rely on outside authority rather than becoming self-reliant, self-controlled, self-contained people. And I go, “You got to me again.” If they Catholic, you think the pope is the authority. If you’re a Protestant, the pastor, is some TV evangelist, we lean on people, and we shouldn’t be doing that. We should be looking through Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. Could that be an amen? Atheists aren’t stupid, folks. They have some strong points that they make.

▶ 17:00 “Religion imposes irrational rules of good and bad behavior.” I go, “You know, you’re right again.” You know, there’s churches: no makeup, no jewelry, no pants, no meat on Friday, you know, you cannot say God’s name. There’s religions that have jihads, you know, going to go to heaven if you kill people. You’re going to go to heaven if you obey your husband. It’s true, but that doesn’t change the Bible. The Bible does not back up these things. But church, we got to get back to the, B it’s important that you know your Bible in this generation. There are over 1,600 different religions in America, and you better know your Bible. They’re all coming with these weird things along with good things, and we are at a place where we got to what? Know our Bible.

▶ 17:57 “Religion divides people.” That is true. 1,600 religions in America, that’s division. “The hierarchy structure of most religions is anti-democratic and offends a lot of human rights.” And that is true. The way a church government is set up is very important, and so many churches are set up up where the pastor is the guru, he owns everything, or the group owns everything, or the, you know, headquarters, Springfield, owns everything, if you’re in a certain denomination. And that is true. And the people have no say. Whatever Springfield says, that’s what goes. Whatever the pastor or the pope says, that’s what goes. The people have no recourse, and that is true. That’s bad government, and most Christians don’t even think about the government of a church when they go to it. See, the atheists have some things to say that we can hear and correct. Could that be an amen? I said, “But that doesn’t change the Bible. The Bible doesn’t give that kind of government.”

▶ 19:26 “Religion doesn’t give equal treatment to women.” I go, “You’re right. Even Protestant churches beat up women for decades.” But you can’t go to the Bible and get that stuff. You have to twist the scriptures to get it. And other races, and we’ve been guilty. But that doesn’t change the Bible. And church, we need to be a solid church. Could that be an am? We need to be a Bible church. Could that be an amen? And we need to let God arise with his word and with his presence and touch people’s lives. Could that be an Amen. So it’s important that I get involved in the church. It’s important that I grow in God, because God can change people’s lives through me and through a church that is involved with God. The early church had the goods. They were a genuine group.

▶ 20:35 First Corinthians 24 and 5: “My speech and my preaching.” See, this is what Stephen had, Philip had, was not “with enticing words of men’s wisdom.” See, they didn’t have to give up and say a joke to start their sermon. They didn’t have to use Toastmaster’s, you know, outline and speaking, and they didn’t have to limits to making everybody feel good about themselves or whatever psychology there is. “My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of men wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and power.” Woo woo. Isn’t that what Philip had when he went down to Samaria? “That your faith should not stand in what the wisdom of man.” See, this is what [unclear] bananas. But our faith should be in what? The power of God. Abraham’s faith, that God has the power to perform what he promised. Say it: God has the power to perform what he promised. Say it: God has the power to perform what he promised, in spite of my unbelief, if I will believe what, like Abraham believed, God will work for me.

▶ 22:15 The early church was genuine. They were solid, they were established, and I want to be an early church believer, and I want to be a pastor of a church who possesses these things. How about you? We don’t have to go looking somewhere else. We need to go looking for him, and he will not be partial. I don’t have to go to Argentina to get in that revival. I don’t have to go to Africa to get in that revival. I don’t have to go to Australia to get in that revival. I can go to Jesus, who is revival. Because [unclear] needs revival, the families of [unclear] need revival, Orange County need rev— Folks, we need Jesus and his word, and we need to focus on that. Could that be an amen? God is not partial. He can use us, but we got to get out and speak the word. We got to live the word and let God arise. Hallelujah.

▶ 23:31 Now remember, they were ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth, possessing the truth, embracing the truth. This morning, are we willing not only to learn but reach out and possess that truth?