Hyper-Grace in the Bible #2

On February 1, 2014, the message was about how to determine if a church is teaching the relatively newly dubbed “Hyper-Grace”. There were at least 8 identifiers. I have already covered #1.

The following are signs of a hyper-grace church:
1. The preachers never speak against sin.

2. The lead pastor never takes a cultural stand for righteousness.

When issues like abortion come up, these pastors will shy away from mentioning it because they are afraid of offending new people. I can understand this to a point. But I counter that we as ministers of Christ are obligated to at least mention our positions publicly so that we use it as a teaching moment for the sheep following us. Not saying anything about an issue like abortion is another way of condoning it!

Exodus 18:
• 20 "And you shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do.
o Leaders, elders and parents are directed to teach all of the laws/standards of God.

Deuteronomy 6:
• 1 "Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the LORD your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess,
• 2 "that you may fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.
• 3 "Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you-'a land flowing with milk and honey.'
• 4 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!
• 5 "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
• 6 "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
• 7 "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
o All of the Torah (teaching) must be taught – not just parts of it
o We are charged to learn it all – have it in our hearts – so it becomes a part of who we are and how we live.

Judges 13:
• 1 Again the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
• 2 Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children.
• 3 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, "Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.
o The child, before being conceived, was known to be a boy
• 4 "Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean.
• 5 "For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines."
o It was known before he was conceived that he was to be a Nazarite, with long hair, and will deliver Israel from the Philistines
• 6 So the woman came and told her husband, saying, "A Man of God came to me, and His countenance was like the countenance of the Angel of God, very awesome; but I did not ask Him where He was from, and He did not tell me His name.
• 7 "And He said to me, 'Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now drink no wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.'"
o His parents did not know his name, but were told what to name him
• 8 Then Manoah prayed to the LORD, and said, "O my Lord, please let the Man of God whom You sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born."
• 9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came to the woman again as she was sitting in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her.
• 10 Then the woman ran in haste and told her husband, and said to him, "Look, the Man who came to me the other day has just now appeared to me!"
• 11 So Manoah arose and followed his wife. When he came to the Man, he said to Him, "Are You the Man who spoke to this woman?" And He said, "I am."
• 12 Manoah said, "Now let Your words come to pass! What will be the boy's rule of life, and his work?"
• 13 So the Angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful.
• 14 "She may not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor may she drink wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean. All that I commanded her let her observe."
• 15 Then Manoah said to the Angel of the LORD, "Please let us detain You, and we will prepare a young goat for You."
• 16 And the Angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Though you detain Me, I will not eat your food. But if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the LORD." (For Manoah did not know He was the Angel of the LORD.)
• 17 Then Manoah said to the Angel of the LORD, "What is Your name, that when Your words come to pass we may honor You?"
• 18 And the Angel of the LORD said to him, "Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?"
• 19 So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it upon the rock to the LORD. And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on-
• 20 it happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar-the Angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar! When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground.
• 21 When the Angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the LORD.
• 22 And Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God!"
• 23 But his wife said to him, "If the LORD had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have told us such things as these at this time."
• 24 So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him.
o His name was Samson
• 25 And the Spirit of the LORD began to move upon him at Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Luke 17:
• 1 Then He said to the disciples, "It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come!
o God’s word will offend many
• 2 "It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.
o But we need to try to not offend.
• 3 "Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
o We need to correct with humility in an attempt to not offend.

Ezekiel 34:
• 1 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
• 2 "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD to the shepherds: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
• 3 "You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock.
• 4 "The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them.
• 5 "So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered.
• 6 "My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them."
• 7 'Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:
• 8 "as I live," says the Lord GOD, "surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became food for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock" -
• 9 'therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the LORD!
o The church leaders do favor to no one by not teaching the whole truth of God

Hyper-Grace

Two weeks ago, we did a bit of a study rather than a real message, though there was a message in it. We had been asked a question about Hyper-Grace and made an effort to give some surface answers. Since most of us had not heard of it, I presented a composite of answers.

Today, turn with me to see what is in the Bible.

Isaiah 30:

·         1 "Woe to the rebellious children," says the LORD, "Who take counsel, but not of Me, And who devise plans, but not of My Spirit, That they may add sin to sin;

·         2 Who walk to go down to Egypt, And have not asked My advice, To strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, And to trust in the shadow of Egypt!

o   This may have been directed at the Israelites, but it certainly applies today

o   People ask advice from everyone except God

o   Isaiah 31:

§  1Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, And rely on horses, Who trust in chariots because they are many, And in horsemen because they are very strong, But who do not look to the Holy One of Israel, Nor seek the LORD!

·          

·         8 Now go, write it before them on a tablet, And note it on a scroll, That it may be for time to come, Forever and ever:

·         9 That this is a rebellious people, Lying children, Children who will not hear the law of the LORD;

o   Deuteronomy 32:

§  20 And He said: 'I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be, For they are a perverse generation, Children in whom is no faith.

o   We have taken the Bible out of schools and parents don’t know the Bible well because it was gone when they were in school

·         10 Who say to the seers, "Do not see," And to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.

o   Churches today have gone from theology to therapy in the pulpits.

o   In the past decade, we went from therapy to motivational speaking instead of preaching.

o   I was not able to find any teachers/preachers of this trend that I have ever heard.

o   While he doesn’t overtly use the term, the closest I found was Joel Osteen. Many of his comments and teachings fit this view. And I found writers accusing him of such.

o   Isaiah 5:

§  20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

o   Amos 2:

§  12 "But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, And commanded the prophets saying, 'Do not prophesy!'

o   Jeremiah 6:

§  14 They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, Saying, 'Peace, peace!' When there is no peace.

o   Isn’t that the way of these motivational speakers who talk about peace with one another without preaching the Bible?

o   Jeremiah 23:

§  17 They continually say to those who despise Me, 'The LORD has said, "You shall have peace"'; And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, 'No evil shall come upon you.'"

§   

§  25 "I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed!'

§   26 "How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart,

o   How often have you heard it said, “Just follow your conscience and you will be ok.”

o   I know several well-intentioned people who think this way

o   They believe if they do good and follow their conscience, God will take care of them

o   Romans 16:

§  18 For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.

o   2 Timothy 4:

§  3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;

§   4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

o   We are living in that “time will come”, and the Hyper-Grace teaching is evidence of how deep we are into this prophecy

·         11 Get out of the way, Turn aside from the path, Cause the Holy One of Israel To cease from before us."

·         12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel: "Because you despise this word, And trust in oppression and perversity, And rely on them,

o   What word do they despise? The Law, of course!

Ezekiel 34:

·         1 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

·         2 "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD to the shepherds: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?

o   Zechariah 11:

§  16 "For indeed I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off, nor seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, nor feed those that still stand. But he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in pieces.

§  17 "Woe to the worthless shepherd, Who leaves the flock! A sword shall be against his arm And against his right eye; His arm shall completely wither, And his right eye shall be totally blinded."

·         3 "You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock.

o   We have all seen churches where the leaders were living in opulence from the tithes and offerings and NOT teaching the true Word of God

·         4 "The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them.

·         5 "So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered.

o   And when people find out they are being disillusioned, they leave – sometime to other churches and sometimes they drop out altogether.

·         6 "My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them."

·         7 'Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:

·         8 "as I live," says the Lord GOD, "surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became food for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock" -

Forgiveness vs. Consequences

Forgiveness is one thing. Avoiding the consequences of your actions is another thing altogether.

I think this is one of the many things that it takes many years to understand, and many never learn it.

Getting Ready

Well, actually, I am mostly prepared for the Sabbath. Bulletins, Prayer Lists and Announcements are done. Message is prepared. I may tweak it, but it is ready to go. Just rest up now

February 15

Mark your calendars. Ian Hufton will be our guest speaker. His wife, Thalia, plans to be here as well, so we have planned a pot luck following services.

Whose Side Are You On?

In Joshua 5:14, the Angel-Yehovah said that the issue is not whether He is on our side, but whether we are on His side. Zechariah 14:3 states that He is coming to fight against all those who have come against Jerusalem. Many Jews want Jerusalem without Jesus. Many Christians want Jesus without Jerusalem. Secular Humanists and Islamic Jihadists stand in opposition to the both. The question is not what we want, but what He wants. When He comes, will we be found fighting for Him, or just copping out?

quoted from the end of Chapter 7 of the book "Who Ate Lunch with Abraham?: byAsher Intrater.

Carrie Underwood and Vince Gill - How Great Thou Art - exceptionally wonderful

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=pLLMzr3PFgk&feature=player_embedded

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