Follow us who follow Messiah

But I just titled this, Follow Us Who Follow Messiah. And subtitle, Stop Eating From The Wrong Tree. So, you know, if we want the best that YHVH's Father has got for us, then we have to learn what and how the best way to follow Him and His Word is. We can ask a lot of things of God, but God asks a lot of things of us. And so we want to be able to say we're walking in a manner that pleases Him.

Because Scripture uses that several times. That we need to know His will and what pleases Him. And then He honours that and blesses us. And so we must get off the merry-go-round and start walking the straight and narrow path as taught by Yeshua. And what I mean by get off the merry-go-round will become clear as we go on a bit. But we need to stop following so much of the nonsense on the internet. Well, that's not too bad a thing to say.

That's fine. I think it is. We've got to stop as well jumping from church to church looking for answers and hope. And start following the Messiah in the way that's outlined in the Gospel. I've been pastoring for over 50 years. And as you understand I've probably been in a lot of churches. And we know that there's a pretty big revolving door in the church. People come in the front and out the back. They're there for a month.

They're there for a year. They're there for 10 years. Who knows? But sooner or later many of them get sick of it and say, I'm not meeting my needs. I don't like this. Something's gone wrong. It's gone in a direction that I can't identify with. I'll go to the one down the road. They're not friendly enough. I'll go to the other one down on that corner. They're teaching some stuff that I don't agree with. I'll go to this one.

And it's quite amazing how people go from church to church to church, especially Pentecostals. They're the worst. And charismatics and Pentecostals, hardest to please. But I don't blame them because they're looking for something more of God that they're not getting from their church. They're wanting something from the ministry, something from the fellowship that is not satisfying the need in their life. And Yehovah wants to meet that need. He wants to bring a sense of purpose for being, an understanding of my place in his kingdom and where he fits in my life today in a more real way.

And so people keep going. And then you get lots and lots and lots of Christians who just stop going to church altogether. I know many, many, many of them. And they just stay home, read their Bible, pray, and do their church thing at home. That is contrary to the word of God. But they can't find anything that satisfies. And that's the problem because that's not the way it should be. And so we have to follow Yeshua as our Messiah in the way that is taught by the apostles and Yeshua himself.

We need to get rid of our favourite teachers and rabbis and be a loyal, committed disciple with those whom Yehovah Yeshua has linked us with as his body and community. Now that's a pretty... Wow! I know what people will think when they listen to this. Wow! You think you're the only ones, don't you? We've all got to leave our church and come to you. We've all got to get off the internet and come to you. No, that's not what I'm saying.

What I'm saying is, any group like us. What I'm saying is, Yehovah is going to raise up a people who will be on a pathway that's more akin to his word. And he always joins people to family. He calls it that in Isaiah and other places. We are a family. The whole family in heaven and earth is in his name. And he wants to bring people out of their difficulties and struggles and longings into a place where they feel loved, wanted, communicated with, respected.

A community of people who say and show this is the way, this is the word of God. Study it. Look at it. And ask the Father, ask the Spirit of God, the Ruach, to identify what is being said as being the truth of your word. And he wants to bring people together. Multitudes. You know, the world is full of hypocrites and the false, according to Yeshua. There are a lot of religious hypocrites. There is a lot of religious falseness in the world around us.

And the only thing that's going to identify the truth and the false is the word of God. Nothing else. If it doesn't match the word, then it's just his word against my word. That's a waste of time. What does the word say? And we have to follow it. So I thought I'd read Matthew 23, verse 8 to verse 17. I'm not in the road. Can you see that above my head? Okay. I'll come up there. You won't see the bottom half because I'm probably covering it.

Okay there? Good. Verse 23. Sorry, verse 8 of chapter 23. Yeshua says, But you are not to be called Rabbi. I get on the internet and there's hundreds of people called Rabbi. Call themselves Rabbi this and Rabbi that and Rabbi something else. They want to be known as Rabbi. Yeshua says, You are not to be called Rabbi. Because Rabbi just means teacher in Hebrew. For one is your teacher and you are all brothers. I know lots of preachers that don't want me to be their brother.

They're just too much better than me. And call no man on earth your father. For one is your father who is in heaven. Well I know plenty of parishes around here. They've got lots of fathers that everyone has to look up to. Nor are you to be called teachers. For one is your teacher, the Messiah. But the greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled. Whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. What's he talking about? He's talking about no titles.

Titles give people power. And that's a problem. He says, don't call anyone father. If Paul calls himself a father, I'm going to look at that later. But here Yeshua is talking about those who title themselves. Because it brings power, prestige and position. He says, but woe to you Torah scholars and Pharisees and hypocrites. For you shut people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not enter yourselves, nor do you let those enter who are trying to go in.

You know what, Yeshua is talking face to face to these Pharisees or religious leaders. And it's like you or I going into the gathering of the leadership of this city. And religious leaders have a gathering, a conclave. And they get together maybe once a month or so. And it's called the Minister's Fraternal. And so all the different religions and their pastors, those who want to come together. And they are the hierarchy of the religious order in the city.

And I have been chastised by one or two. Yeshua is like that. Yeshua is talking to these Pharisees and Sadducees and scribes and Torah scholars. Face to face, eye to eye. And he says, woe to you Torah scholars or scribes. You Pharisees, you're hypocrites. I've never spoken to believers like that, but Yeshua sure did. He says, you are shutting people out of the kingdom of God by your teachings. By your religious systems and beliefs. You are keeping people out of my kingdom.

Because you want them to be part of your kingdom that doesn't match mine. For you do not enter yourselves, nor do you let those enter who are trying to go in. You are a blockage. You are the cork in the bottle that keeps people out of my kingdom. Woe to you Torah scholars and Pharisees and hypocrites. For you travel over land and sea to make one convert. You ever heard of anyone doing that? I tell you what.

Wow. You know, the internet has become our modern day travel overseas. You can become the follower of someone that lives in America. Or Africa. Or Europe. Or anywhere. You can become their follower. And those men overseas are looking forward to you identifying with them as being the one I listen to and look up to. And when he becomes one of your converts, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourself. Wow. Gehenna. The fires of judgment Gehenna means.

The fires of judgment. You are bringing people into the fires of my judgment along with yourself. What a thing to say to the religious leaders. Religious leaders need to read this a little more often. And put themselves in there. Woe to you blind guides. Blind guides he calls them. You say whoever swears by the temple it is nothing. But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated. Oh fools and blind ones. Which is greater? The gold or the temple that made the gold holy? And he goes on and on.

The men of this world's religions, churches and denominations love their titles and their positions of power. It gives them authority and power and control over people's lives and beliefs and doctrines and traditions. They lead them in a pathway that you don't find in scripture. They believe in traditions and feasts and festivals and memorials that you can't find in the word of God. They can highlight them and then wrap a Bible story around them to make them sound like they're biblical when they're not.

And they're doing a really hypocritical thing. And they love to be called rabbi or an apostle or a prophet or a pastor. They love the title of that. I have people say to me now, you want me to call you Pastor John? I said no my name is John. Get rid of the title. It makes me more important than them straight away. It gives me an authority that's not mine. Yeshua said the greatest among you shall be my servant.

Wow. I don't know how many servants there are. With big titles on the internet. They run in big churches. Or tele-evangelists. I don't know how much of a servant heart they've got for you and I and ordinary people in the pew. If they're not among you, if they're not a part of you, if they're not one with you, then they cannot be your servant in the true meaning of the word. You can't rub shoulders with them.

And you can't enjoy a meal with them. And they're too holy and righteous and big to stay around after a meeting to be with you. Then they're not your servants. They don't match the word of God and the heartbeat of Yeshua. Yeshua said to the apostle, I'm here as your servant. Because the disciples were arguing, who will be the greatest in the kingdom? Who will sit at Yeshua's right hand or his left hand? And he chastised them and said, I'm here to serve you.

The greatest among you will be your servant. Lesson to learn, but unfortunately not learned very well. Today, these leaders, they are not, he is saying here, these leaders and all peoples, believers, you and I, we are not to function independently, but in a body or a community of which you and they are a part of. They must be a part of the community, the body, functionally, functionally, functionally, corporately, as one together in unity, not independently. I'm your pastor, I'm your leader, I'm your rabbi, I'm your father.

Just do as I say, come when I'm here, come and then I'm gone. That's the exact opposite to the word of God. Most independent minded messianics do not know what fruit or what tree they're eating of. And I say messianics because I've been involved in the messianics for well over 20 years. I have a lot to do with messianic bodies and groups and peoples. I see lots of them on the internet. And I know lots of messianics who are just doing their own thing at home.

Just like the Christian that's got sick of the church. Doing their own thing, their own way. But those independent messianic minded people do not know what fruit or what tree they're eating from. And they are very easily deceived and led astray by the charisma of these preachers. And the seemingly strong knowledge of the Hebrew or the Greek language of these internet teachers. They promote themselves and present themselves and come across in a way that makes them sound like they're better than the average guy in their knowledge and understanding.

And they're not, by and large. By and large. So, and I'm not saying the internet is evil. Don't get me wrong, don't put words in my mouth. I'm not saying the internet is evil. The internet is no different from your car or your house. It's how you use it. It's what you do with it. And there are plenty of good things on the internet. You can't live today without the internet. Governments and powerful businessmen and conglomerates have invented the internet.

And the internet, of course, originally was for weapons of war and communication in a war footing. And then it became part and parcel of normal life and how we can communicate with one another over vast distances and do things more easily. And so you can't live today without the internet. Can't pay your bills half the time unless you're on the internet. You can't get money from the government if you're not on the internet. They won't give you anything if they can't do it online.

So we're stuck with the internet whether we like it or not. The internet's not the problem. It's how it's being used. It can be used for good or it can be used for evil. And we know that it's used for evil. We know how billions and billions of dollars are made through pornography, etc., and immorality on the internet. But religious men are using it to their advantage to get great following, etc., etc., and to get squillions of dollars from people who don't know better.

Tick the box and say, like. Don't worry about whether I've said something good or bad. Just say you like me because we have such a wonderful presentation and such a wonderful ministry. And all you have to do is sit on your lounge chair, click the tick, and listen to me. Done. You've had a wonderful Sabbath. And send me some money. I need to put some more fuel in my jet. Or my lounge chair's not big enough.

My lounge chair's not big enough. Sorry. But, you know, even if some of their theology is right, their practices and the way they gather their followers to their name and their ministry is wrong and unbiblical. They gather support from people on the other side of the world who pay them money, listen to them, sit in their homes and say, what a wonderful teacher. But this knowledge is the answer to your problems. It's not the answer to our problems.

YHVH Yeshua is the answer to our problems. Our walk with him, our relationship with him, the intimate personal time we spend with him, that's what's important. So, these people are a law unto themselves. And it only weakens and does harm to the way of the Messiah, the people of the way. The way of the Messiah is written into the book of Acts. They take the money out of the system. They take money from good-hearted people that's sent overseas to somebody instead of supporting what is in their own hometown.

You can't have community without the sharing of costs. And sometimes people haven't got anything left to share with the cost because they've sent it someplace else. Shame. But it's what happens. So one is strengthened and one is weakened. And one that should be strengthened is the loser because they do not have what those people have. They make life easy. Just sit and listen to me. I will send you a new message every week. Click on me, I will send you a reminder after reminder.

Wonderful things are happening in our ministry. Wonderful things are happening in my name. There are mighty miracles in this nation, in this country. There's not doing anybody any good here. It becomes a problem. The true message of the kingdom of God and the narrow way is lost in their ministry models and their message. And it's what Yeshua said to the leaders of his day. You are the blind leading the blind. You are a people who are keeping people out of the kingdom because your presentation is not a true kingdom message.

You know what? I had a dream two or three years ago, several. And Yehovah gave me, surprisingly enough, some truths in the form of fairy tales. And one of them was he gave me some fairy tales, children's rhymes that told me in a roundabout way when Yehovah opens your mind to symbolisms and parables and stuff. But he told me that Donald Trump was going to be the next president of the United States a year or two years before.

And I relayed this in a message to the people. Then another thing he said to me was he gave me another nursery rhyme, children's story, and told me that the monarchy of England was going to be coming to trouble and collapse. And when Yehovah spoke these things to me, one week later a message came the queen was dead. Now she was a sick lady, an old lady, but they weren't expecting her to die just quite as when she did.

But Yehovah said to me the monarchy is going to fall. Then we get the message. Now King Charles becomes king. And King Charles ascends the throne. Goes through all the nonsense and the marigmarole that they do in these things. Take lots of oaths and lots of hidden things behind the scenes as well as what's for the people. And of course he immediately gets cancer. Next thing you know he's got cancer. The next thing you know that the next heir to the throne's wife has got cancer.

I thought to myself, you're saying something Yehovah, you're saying something. These people are as vulnerable to everything else as we are. And they've had a remission. And good for them. I don't have any problem with that. I would want that for everybody. And now they're in bigger trouble with Prince Andrew. Everything's falling apart. Things are in a very desperate plight. Things are looking very shaky for the monarchy. Now the monarchy, the king is the head of the government of England, Great Britain.

The king is the head of the Anglican Church, the Church of England. He is the head. I mean it's only rubber stamping. But he would have to be one of the most unspiritual religious men on the planet when it comes to the word of God. He is for all religions. He is no different from the Pope who is for all religions. And he is a man that is happy to fit in with anybody and everybody as long as we all work together.

Any religion of any kind is okay. And of course we know that England pulled out of the EU and it all tells its story. But all I'm saying is YHVH was saying there's trouble in the air. This is a collapsing nation. This is a collapsing monarchy. This is a collapsing religious force that will paint a picture about what's coming in the future. Another one he highlighted to me which I've not shared with anybody the other two I've shared with people before was Alice in Wonderland.

Alice in Wonderland is don't go down the rabbit hole. The rabbit hole is full of dead ends and confusions and things you cannot understand and strange stories and happenings and weird things taking place that you can't get your head around. That's the internet. Don't go down the rabbit hole. Because out there on the internet are apostles and prophets and teachers and rabbis who lead you to dead ends and rabbit holes that don't agree with each other.

No different than the religious church system. This church, that church, that religion, the other religion, Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, Pentecostal, they're all at odds with each other over something and stuff. The rabbit hole. Don't go down the rabbit hole. Stay true to the word God. And don't be tempted to try and work out everything on your own and do your own thing. Because that's what people do. Particularly Messianics. The people who have come out of the church system and have become Messianic or followers of the way of the Messiah.

Transferring Sunday to Saturday. Transferring Christmas and Easter to the feast. Nothing wrong with that. But that's just a little smidgen of truth in the Torah and the word of God and the ways of God and the ways of Yeshua, the ways of the Messiah. That walking the narrow road, that is only just one small part of it. And people sit at home and say, well I'm a Sabbath keeper. No, they're not Sabbath keepers. They're in their home doing their own thing.

They just do it on Saturday instead of Sunday. There are no more Sabbath keepers than the person who goes to church on Sunday when they don't do it God's way. That's the problem. They don't do it God's way. Good thing to keep the Sabbath? Good thing to keep the feast? Yes. But do it God's way. The Pharisees and the Sadducees kept the Sabbath. Kept the feast. But they didn't do it God's way. They added a whole lot of things to it.

Took a whole lot of things out of it. Made lots of changes to what Moses was given by God. And Yeshua said, you do it my way, not your way. You're keeping people out of the kingdom. So, let me hurry on. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 10. Paul here talking to the church that he established. The church that he planted in Corinth. A Greek city. And you know the Greek city quite well sister.

The city of Corinth. You've got a Greek background? I'm from Cyprus. From Cyprus. I'm Greek Cypriot. Greek Cypriot, yeah. But it's over in that area of the world. And here is Paul the Apostle who established a body of believers in the city of Corinth. Now I urge you brothers and sisters through the name of Adonai Yeshua the Messiah that you all speak the same thing. Isn't that amazing? You all must speak the same thing. And that there be no divisions among you.

But that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose. That's a big verse, isn't it? He's talking about every believer on planet Earth of every religion of every kind must be like that. For you're not like Paul and my God. For it has been reported to me concerning you my brothers and sisters by those who are from Chloe's household that there are rivalries among you. Wow, who would have ever thought? I say this because you each are saying I follow Paul, I follow Apollos, I follow Peter, I follow Messiah.

Has Messiah been divided? Paul wasn't crucified for you, was he? Or were you immersed into the name of Paul? I thank God that I immersed none of you except Christoph and Gaius so that no one should say that I have immersed you into my name. So, here we have Paul giving some sound instructions to the people of the way, the Messianic community at Corinth. There were lots of differences, personalities, attitudes, difficulties to sort out. And here Paul highlights the importance that you all speak the same thing united in the same mind and in the same purpose.

That you're all going in the one direction believing the same things and in unity with one another. So important. Or you'll just destroy yourselves. I've seen a lot of churches destroy themselves. But that's a foreign message to the Christian Church and to most Messianics. The Christian Church is so divided in its theologies and brand of religion and the way they approach the way in which they worship God. Every man and every woman likes to do what is right in their own eyes.

Whether you're a Christian or a Messianic that's where I've found the majority of people's hearts and minds are. There are to be, verse 10, no divisions. Verse 11, there are to be no rivalries. That word rivalry means disputes or contentions or variants. None. They tell them pretty bluntly Chloe's household has told me there's problems in your fellowship now this is how it's got to be. Pulls them in the line and we know Paul pulls them in the line pretty well in every letter that he writes to all the churches that he's planted.

We have to stop compromising our faith. The Spirit of God, the Ruach, the breath of Elohim will stop striving with man and will walk away if you do not listen to his voice and obey what he is asking of us in the word. We will just become dead people pretending to be alive because we can make a lot of good noise with a guitar and a piano and a drum set. We think we're doing God's will and the preacher can preach a message and be pretty charismatic and he's good with words.

That can be as dead as a doorknob. He says no divisions, no differences all of the same purpose based on the word of God. And so our Father, I mean we are told in Genesis the Spirit of God will stop striving with man. The Spirit of God speaks into hearts and says I want you to change. The Spirit of God makes ways in which the message of truth can come. Whether it's through you or me or someone else or the word itself.

YHVH challenges consciences, challenges theologies, challenges what people think and say so that they can reassess what I'm teaching, preaching or believing. And if we don't want to listen to what others have to say or to the challenge of you got it wrong and you're telling it wrong I think Jeff knows a bit about that. So, might have done that a time or two. If they don't listen the Spirit of God walks away. The Spirit of God says I've given you opportunity and chance I'm out of here.

And churches keep functioning as if the Spirit of God is still there when he's not because they've got charisma because they've got the giftings of talented men and people giftings of people that can play music doesn't mean it's anointed doesn't mean the Spirit of God is on it just means they're very talented and gifted very often. Our Father knows how to connect us with his family with a like-minded community of believers. We need to stop listening to the multitude of other voices out there all that does is bring you into confusion and deception and I deal with these quite a lot and more regularly than you would think.

People who come to me with questions about what they've heard on the internet preacher or from this rabbi or this pastor or this apostle or this prophet and they want to ask me what do I think and they are in total confusion and they are deceived about so many things they believe and their faith is going nowhere and they wonder why they're so unsettled why they have no peace why they're always distressed and anxious because they do not have a trust in the Word of God and they have no trust in the people that God is connecting them with they keep questioning, questioning, questioning that rabbi said what you're doing is different to them and I think I believe them more than you and I'm not sure where I'm at that's how it is it is just the mind boggles but it happens regularly so in Corinth they were pitting one preacher against the other I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos, I'm of Peter, I'm of Yeshua they were pitting preacher against preacher debating which one they liked the best and who they would rather follow which one they'd rather come and preach to them this week I'd rather Peter come this week, no I heard enough of Paul I'd rather have Apollos this was the mindset and what was going on in their fellowship but Paul says we are brothers working together with our different giftings and styles and personalities among you and for you we are brothers together what is this nonsense I'm hearing.

In chapter 3, just go to chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians and verse 1 he goes on to say and I brothers and sisters could not speak to you as spirit filled but as worldly he says my brothers and my sisters you are worldly as infants in Messiah I gave you milk not solid food for you were not ready I could not teach you the deeper truths of the word of God and what it means to be YHVH's messages and people indeed even now you're not ready for you are still worldly you are still worldly you think like the world, you act like the world, you behave like the world and you brought the world mindset into the fellowship he says and all I can teach you is stuff that I should have got rid passed a long time ago but you're not ready for it for since there is jealousy and strife among you aren't you worldly and walking in a human way where is the spirit of God in leading you, where is the Ruach HaKadesh in bringing you into unity and conformity and he talks about this in Ephesians I've given you apostles and prophets and teachers and pastors so that you can come into the unity of the faith and into the unity of the spirit that's the objective of Peter, Paul and Apollos together working to bring them into that unity of oneness of mind and purpose so important all you've got is divisions and arguments verse 4 for when one says I follow Paul and another I follow Apollos are you not just being me as humans like the people out there in the world like it's a job, you're climbing a ladder you want this one to be the CEO or that one or you want, you know, you are so worldly so worldly what then is Apollos and what is Paul they are servants through whom you came to trust and to each as YHVH gave I planted, Apollos watered God gave the increase so neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything me and Paul and Peter, we're nothing God gave the increase, we're just being obedient to our call we're just sharing what he gave us to share we're teaching you what he told us to teach you we're putting together a community of believers but YHVH gives the increase nothing to be proud of YHVH gives success or takes it away but only God who makes things grow now he who plants and he who waters what do they do? work as one each will receive his own reward according to his own labour for we are God's, what? co-workers you are God's field God's building why are you pitting up against each other? if we went to another passage a little further they're having the feast of Passover same thing that's happening they were divided and in division these ones a clique over here and a clique over there and a group over there these ones are eating and eating the supposed Passover meal some are getting drunk and Paul tells them off what's going on here? you're putting these poor people down because you've got plenty? there was something wrong in the fellowship and so here we find that Paul is saying we are co-workers together Peter's different I'm different Apollos is different doesn't matter who comes into your midst of share they are one with us we know who we are together us apostles and us elders we work together as one and we know who we can trust and we know that we are in agreement with one another working together and we've all got different giftings we've all got different approaches we all share in a different way and it might you know, you might like the way Peter presented better than the way I presented doesn't matter we're all teaching the same stuff from the same book that you may learn something and grow together with us don't pit us against each other so you are they are co-workers and he says you are God's field what are they doing in God's field? they're sowing the seed of the word that's the parables of Yeshua the field is people and the seed is God's word and so these are the workers of God sowing the seed of his word into his field and Paul is saying my Corinthian people that I established were sowing the seed of God's word into this field then he says you are God's building that they are building according to the divine plan that is held in the heavens let me just say you can't do that from afar how can the man on the internet out there whose his ministry is so great and magnificent and mighty how can he fulfil this scripture in your midst? can't you cannot be this kind of leader and ministry and teacher and pastor if you're not one of them we are servants together we are here to demonstrate and to teach and to bring you together as a body of God's people as a building together as a field together we're working as farmer and people farmer and harvester farmer and servants we are here as one you can't do that from afar you have to be part of a body you have to be part of a community that YHVH brings together back in chapter 1 Paul highlights the importance and the purpose of baptism or emergence just a quick reference to that again in verse 12 verse 12 of chapter 1 Paul said I say this because you are each saying I follow Paul I follow Apollos I follow Peter I follow Messiah has Messiah been divided? Paul wasn't crucified for you was he? were you immersed into the name of Paul? you know I thank God that I immersed none of you except Crispus and Gaius so that no one should say that I had immersed you into my name isn't that interesting? in this translation it uses the right word into into my name I do go back to Matthew 28 and you will find that when Yeshua said immerse them into the name of the Father they changed the word as I've preached so many times they changed the word into to in and turned it into a little prayer formula instead of a living experience and here in this passage of Paul the translators here have translated it correctly they have translated it as into but in your Bibles if it's not this one it will say in and not into they still stick to the wrong translation of the Greek word in meaning in instead of ice meaning into and they change it but here at least they're doing the right thing in this passage and quoting Paul correctly at least you were were you immersed into the name of you were not immersed into my own name he's referencing back to Yeshua when he says we must be immersed into the name of YHVH not into my name and so here we find that Paul is saying you weren't immersed into me were you why are you making me so important why are you making me the focus of attention why are you saying that I can do anything and everything for you if we become one of Paul's devotees then everything will be wonderful and great no I am not, I'm a man I'm just a man doing a job for God you cannot be immersed into my ministry you must be immersed into YHVH because he is the one who has all greatness, all power, all authority, all blessing he is the one that brings salvation not me I'm just a carrier of the message never say that anybody was immersed into me or I am more important than Peter or more important than Apollos or more important than the Messiah that's how it comes out and it's sad and tragic Paul is saying I am not establishing my own ministry in my own name and neither are my brothers that could go out all over the internet and I'd love to see it go out all over the internet Paul is saying I and my brothers we are not establishing any ministry in our own names oh goodness me and neither are my brothers no there has to be big changes if people want to stop keeping people out of the kingdom instead of bringing them into the kingdom you are all immersed into YHVH and his kingdom with its truth and message and purpose if anyone teaches anything different to this and if they are not part of you or one with you have nothing to do with them that's what 2 John says I didn't say that I'm just quoting John in 2 John verse 8 want to read it I'm giving a lot of stuff aren't I probably taking a little bit longer than well I don't know about normal but for a normal church 2 John verse 8 he says well if I read verse 7 for many deceivers have gone out into the world but those who do not acknowledge Yeshua watch yourselves so you do not lose what we have worked for but receive a full reward John is saying we have worked hard to bring you the truth of the message it's cost us a lot we are followers of Yeshua the Messiah and we have paid a great price to stand true to him and so he says do not lose what we have worked for but receive a full reward anyone who goes too far and does not remain in Messiah's teaching that is the teachings of Yeshua the Messiah does not have God because God and the Son are one Yeshua said I only teach what the Father teaches I only do what the Father does Him and I work as one and so here John is saying and John knew Yeshua better than anybody else of all the apostles anyone who remains in this teaching has both the Father and the Son if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching do not welcome him into your home or even give him a greeting for the one greeting him shares in his evil deeds now that's pretty strong stuff isn't it he says if someone's message is taking you away from the truth of what Yeshua and the apostles teach keep well away from them they'll just bring conflict they'll just bring confusion they'll just bring deception if it doesn't match what Yeshua's word and teachings and parables are he says don't bring them into your house to run a meeting to give you teaching to instruct you in the way because it's not going to be very good it's a necessary but strong stand so as not to allow the wrong people into your fellowship and your love feasts James and Jude talk about these things people that come in and they join you in your love feasts and festivals but they're carrying a different spirit a different attitude a different heart a different message a different way of doing it than what we do he says it's only going to bring confusion John chapter 3 just go over the page to 3 John it's only a little little book few verses verse 1 and he says to Gaius the loved one John calls himself the elder whom I love in truth loved ones I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health just as it is well with your soul for I was overjoyed and some brethren came and testified of the truth in you how you are walking in truth I have no greater joy than this to hear that my children are walking in the truth there's lots of rubbish going on in his day as well more than ours probably loved ones you are acting faithfully in whatever you do for the brethren especially for strangers they have testified to your love before Messiah's community you will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God for on behalf of the name they went out excepting nothing from the pagans therefore we ought to support such people so we might become co-workers in the truth he's talking about the pagans pagans are people who have religious beliefs but it doesn't match God's word and he calls them pagans he says they are worshippers of foreign gods and sometimes don't even know they're worshippers of foreign gods Christmas and Easter are worshippers of foreign gods they are the goddess Ashtoreth a goddess of fertility is what Easter is based on and John is here saying the brethren that come sharing the word even some that are strangers to you he said they have brought a good report of you he said they do not receive support from the pagans they don't involve themselves in the pagans and those who do not worship and walk and run the way of the truth and here he's making a strong emphasis on truth you are followers of the truth truth brings freedom the truth shall set you free not false tradition and beliefs we want a freedom in the spirit if we want a freedom in relationship with our God if we want a freedom of joy and rejoicing because we know our consciences don't work against us he says what a wonderful thing you've got and so therefore, verse 8 we ought to support such people so we might become co-workers in the truth I wrote something to Messiah's community but diatrophies all diatrophies there's a few diatrophies around the place and so he says John says I wrote a letter to all the various home Messianic communities around my district the guy who loves to be first among them he wants to be the most important of all the other elders of all the other Messianic groups around the district doesn't welcome us so if I do come I will call attention to what he is doing he is slandering us with wicked words not even content with that he refuses to welcome the brethren and even forbids those who want to do so throwing them out of the community if people want to follow those that we send and myself in particular he says he says he will just throw them out of the community now I'm not having you listening to these preachers and teachers you've got to listen to me I'm the only one you've got to follow loved ones do not imitate what is evil but what is good the one who does good is of God the one who does evil has not seen God and of course right throughout scripture false teaching is called evil compared with the evil of the world this evil generation, this crooked generation he's talking about false teachers Demetrius has a good testimony from everyone even from the truth itself we vouch for him if Demetrius comes your way he's a co-worker with us I'm recommending him and you know that our testimony is true I have much to write to you but I don't want to write to you with ink and pen but I hope to see you soon and we will speak face to face there it again, the importance of community he says face to face I don't want to just send letters I just don't want to send a message across the internet I don't want you just to support the ministry that's out there I want to come and see you face to face I want to be a part of your life and your fellowship I want to be one who is there with you in it that's the way it's meant to be it's the only way that works that is powerful and strong and blessed of the almighty and so 1 Corinthians 3 I just want to go back to Corinthians and follow our fathers in the faith gee I don't know how long I have no idea how long I've been going probably about an hour just maybe a little bit more just to get to the point because that was my heading of my sermon my sermon was follow those who follow Messiah and so I just want to highlight the fact of follow us who follow Messiah anyone like us out there that's doing it God's way according to God's way and we have to have that witness within our spirit of what God is saying follow our fathers in the faith 1 Corinthians 3 verse 10 Paul goes on to say in his letter to the Corinthian people according to the grace of God which was given to me like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation and another builds on it but let each consider carefully how he builds on it for no one can lay any other foundation than what is already laid which is Yeshua the Messiah now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay straw each one's work will become clear for the day will show it because it is to be revealed by fire and the fire itself will test everyone's work what sort it is if anyone's work built on the foundation survives he will receive a reward if anyone's work is burned up he will suffer loss he himself will be saved but as through fire don't you know that you are God's temple and that the Ruach Elohim the Holy Spirit dwells among you if anyone destroys God's temple God will destroy him for God's temple is holy, Kedosh and you are that temple Paul is saying I came and established you in Corinth I came with the gifts that God gave me and like an experienced and skilled master builder I laid the foundations and others will build on it but remember the foundation is Yeshua the Messiah and no other I have laid a foundation of everything that is based on Yeshua the Messiah his life, his teachings, his walk, his ministry everything that Yeshua the Messiah is and who he is and what he taught that's the foundation if anyone teaches you anything other than that as being important don't listen to it if you build rubbish false teachings and traditions on that or your understanding and belief system is wrong, it's going to be tried by fire it's going to be either precious stones, gold, silver, gems or it's going to be wood, hay, stubble which one's going to be burnt up in a fire we know that gold and silver and gemstones won't be consumed and disappear in the fire but we know that wood, hay and stubble will Paul is saying, what are you teaching? what are you preaching? what are you building onto the foundations that I lay? what are you bringing into my fellowship of Corinth? what are you believing? who are you listening to? why is there division? why are you thinking like the world does? he said everything that people bring and say is going to be tried by the fires of God and tested so you will become the least in the kingdom if you're in the kingdom at all he said all your ministry, all your teaching, all your preaching everything you've ever done, gone no reward, no reward you may be saved but by fire in other words you'll be the least in the kingdom even if you get into the kingdom and he goes on to say that you are God's temple and that Ruach dwells among you he is speaking here of Corinth the Kahal, the Hebrew word for congregation community he says my Kahal in Corinth and he's speaking of them as a community collectively as the temple and the dwelling place of the Ruach because that pronoun knew when he said you are God's temple in the Greek that word, that pronoun is in the plural he's not talking to an individual he's talking to a community, a group of God's people and people will take this individually and say I am God's temple and there is a context for that but not here Paul is saying you, the community you, the body of believers are the temple of God together you cannot be the truly God's temple Yeshua's body on your own it has to be in the context of we are the body we are the community we are the blood supply we are the sinews and the bones and the joints the hands, the feet, the nose, the eyes we together make up a body and we support and strengthen, establish, help and be there for one another and so here we find that if anyone's teaching if anyone's preaching or behaviour or attitude or divisiveness destroys what God has put in place Paul said God will destroy you I'm looking around the world as many of you are and I'm seeing many ministries being destroyed today many big name preachers being brought to nothing many big organisations being confronted with the evil and the immorality of their ministries which are mega God says you do the wrong thing by my children I will destroy you He has the controls of every person and people He has the final say always sooner or later God's temple is Kedosh set apart and you are that temple collectively we are that temple and the spirit of God is with us and among us so that is whatever is planted or built according to the heavenly plans the kingdom of heaven here on earth in our hearts is God's temple and you are a part of it last scripture 1 Corinthians 4 let's go to the next chapter verses 1 and 2 and then to verse 6 let each one think of us in this way as Messiah's helpers and stewards of the mysteries of God in this case moreover what is required of stewards is to be found trustworthy he's talking about himself and Peter and Apollos and any others that come along he's saying think of us uses the plural us in these terms as Messiah's helpers as Yeshua's helpers and stewards of the mysteries of God we have a responsibility to present God as stewards of that ministry found only in Yeshua the Messiah verse 6 now I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit brothers and sisters so you might learn from us not to go beyond what is written then none of you will be puffed up in favour of one against the other puffed up pride pride is one of the major problems in people's lives and ministries who think they got all the answers for who makes you different and what do you have that you did not receive you have what you have because someone taught it to you don't think you are so great that you got it all by yourself no I and Apollos and others have spoken into your life things that you now pretend is your great knowledge base but if you did receive it why do you boast as if you had not received it as if you didn't get it from somewhere else already you are full already you have become rich without us you have become kings indeed I wish you were kings so we might also be kings with you for it seems to me that God has put us the emissaries or the apostles on display last of all like men sentenced to death we have become a spectacle to the world both to the angelic hosts and to people we are fools for Messiah's sake but you are wise in Messiah we are weak but you are strong you are honoured but we are dishonoured to this very hour we are both hungry and thirsty dressed in rags and mistreated and homeless we toil working with our own hands when we are cursed we bless when we are slandered we speak kindly we have become the scum of the earth the dregs of all things even to this moment wow I do not write these things to make you ashamed but to warn you as my dearly loved children Paul is saying to the current congregation you've become rich you have been made to look like kings and rulers at our expense or without us he's having a bit of a go at them we have paid the price that you may be a temple reflecting God's richness and God's goodness you are full of pride and boasting about what you have made yourself we are a great congregation we are a great church we are a great gathering of God's people but if you did it all on your own oh you're rich you're kings you boast about it in pride of who you are he said that you are that because of us this was the cost of fatherhood for Paul there is always opposition to truth there's always people who want to take the glory just finishing this with the verse 14 21 I do not write these things to make you ashamed but to warn you as my dearly loved children for though you may have 10,000 guardians in Messiah yet you do not have many fathers for in Messiah Yeshua I became your father through the good news I urge you therefore be imitators of me for this reason I have sent you Timothy my dearly loved and faithful child in YHVH he will remind you of my ways in Messiah just as I teach everywhere in every community now some are puffed up as though I were not coming to you but I will come to you soon if YHVH is willing and I will find out not the talk of those who are puffed up full of themselves but their power for the kingdom of God does not consist of talk but of power what do you want shall I come to you with a rod or in love and a spirit of gentleness he had an authority in that fellowship because he was the one that established them and put their father in the faith and so he is saying I came became your father through the good news Paul says quite openly be imitators of me don't follow these other people puffed up with pride who think they're great and got ministries a million times bigger than mine he says listen to my teachings and instructions and follow them they will stand you in good stead and bring you into the kingdom at Messiah's return that's the objective I'm sending Timothy my faithful son and apostle to you he will remind you of my ways in the Messiah how faithful I am to Messiah no matter what it costs me I travel the roads from place to place there are robbers wanting to take my life all the time there are religious leaders that want to stone me and kill me because of my message and so he's saying that Timothy will remind you of my ways just as I teach everywhere in every community Paul reminds us that we will have many teachers or guardians building on the foundation he has laid.

He said that's a good thing I'm laying the foundations I'm establishing what needs to be established but Peter and Paul and Apollos and Timothy they'll come along and they'll build on this and so there will be lots of others who will be your teachers and guardians keeping you on the right track just like Timothy that I'm sending to you but always check that everything is true and square to the foundation that I have laid as their father and is true to it and of course we know Jack how important it is to have the foundations right and to build according to that foundation to get it and keep it right he's saying never forget to be a follower of Paul who is a true follower of Messiah check the credentials are they truly a follower of Messiah Yeshua and his ways and his teachings and his truths or not only use people who will build on that truth so he was raised up Paul to be a witness and an apostle to the Gentiles as we know from his own ministry and so was Timothy and Titus and Barnabas and Silas and Apollos and Aquila and Priscilla and also to us healing to the as we come to Mildura and wherever YHVH sends us raised up to be a witness to the Gentiles raised up to be a witness to the towns that he sends us to raised up to be a people who will lay foundations and build on them according to what we find in Yeshua and the teachings of his word and come against anything that is contrary to the word here so we must also follow Paul's example and his love and obedience to Messiah that's the criteria are we imitators of Paul and his message his ministry his heartbeat his selfless giving of himself to his people we are and always were meant to to walk with those who are our physical brothers not our internet brothers and sisters nothing wrong with having connections nothing wrong with having friends on the internet nothing wrong at all but make sure that that isn't where you get your sustenance and your life make sure that that is not what satisfies you and keeps you in your home you have to have a body that you can work with and love and identify with and support and become one with in order to be strong we must have physical brothers and sisters in the flesh as people of the way the way of Yeshua our Messiah our King Amen how much God loves us he doesn't want us to be lonely travelers he wants us to be a body of believers who love one another enjoy one another are there to bless and encourage one another support and assist one another he doesn't want us traveling this road on our own trying to make heads and tails of every other preacher out there on the internet or church or platform of all saying something different and promoting their own ministries and how wonderful they are he says no connect yourself to a body of believers that will love you support you and follow and imitate me Paul who follows and imitates Yeshua the Messiah be like the apostles and he says that is how the temple of God functions you are God's temple in other words you are God's dwelling place you are where he presences himself and speaks into our lives that's what it means to be the dwelling place where he puts his name you see that right through our scripture Amen Heavenly Father we thank you for your goodness and greatness we thank you for the truth and the power of your word I thank you Father that you are leading us on in the ways of truth and that as John says I am so filled with joy because the report is you are people of the truth and here I am I want to come and meet you face to face and bless you Father bless my brothers and my sisters watch over them this week watch over them Father day by day and let joy fill their hearts let peace be upon them in Yeshua's name Amen Amen