February 18, 2024 Elder Bernie Gaetzke We're going to start today as an act 2:15. Or not an act, second Timothy 2:15, study that yourself. Okay. Be diligent to present yourself and prove to God a worker who does not need to be ashamed or any by the word of truth. And there is a pile and then verse that we're gonna go through, but now that we've found that, let's open up the word of prayer. Heavenly Father, once again we just thank you. Glory for this body of Christ that you have here in Oshkosh. We thank you for this building. We thank you for each and every one that could not make it here today, Lord, due to illness or battling. We just pray for each and every one of them and we know that their love for you is just so great and we miss having him here today, Lord. And now we just pray that... the sermon is preached today, that you would go before us and open our hearts and our minds. And Lord, may it be something that we can take away from here today that not only just we just listen to Lord, but it would change our lives, Lord. And it's in Christ's name we pray all these things, amen.
First thing I wanna do is, my wife Roxy, I don't know, really good. It's called the sandbox. I've got to read it because I've tried to just talk about it and this doesn't come out the same. A little boy was spending his Saturday morning playing in his sandbox. He had with him his box of cars and trucks, his plastic pail and his shiny plastic shovel. In the process of creating roads and tunnels in the soft sand, he discovered a large rock in the middle of the sandbox. The lad dug around the rock, managing to dislodge it from the dirt with no little bit of struggle. He pushed and nudged the rock in the sandbox by using his feet. He was a very small boy, and the rock was very large. When the boy got the rock to the edge of the sandbox, however, he found that he could roll it up over the little wall. Determined, the little boy shuddered, pushed, cried, and put, and, but every time he thought he had some base in progress, the rock kicked back down into the sand. The little boy grunted, struggled, pushed, shoved, but his only reward was to have the rock roll back, smashing his chubby fingers. Finally, he burst into tears of frustration. At this time, the boy's father watched from the living room window as the drama unfolded, and at that moment, the tears fell. There was a large shadow that came over the sandbox and the boy. And it was the boy's father. Gently but firmly he said, son, why didn't you use all the strength you had available? Defeated, the boy sobbed back, but I did, daddy. I did. I used all the strength that I had. No son corrected the father, Pendley. You didn't use all the strength you had. You didn't ask me. With that, the Father reached down, picked her up, and removed her from the sandbox. And how many times has our Father in heaven waited for us to ask Him for His help, and we get in the way? And the thing I want to say about that is there's three things that I see that gets in God's way of utilizing each one of us. And that's me, myself, and I. And once we get them cleared out of the way, and we're open to allow God to use us and be used by Him. And really, that's what He wants us to be. Okay, in the 2nd Timothy, 2:15, there are three things the Apostle Paul tells us what to do in the 2nd Timothy, 2:15. First of all, he tells us what to do, study. Second of all, he tells us why to do it, to be approved unto God. Thirdly, how to do it. by rightly dividing the word. We see that being obedient to God's command to rightly divide the scriptures does not diminish the importance of the scriptures. In 2 Timothy 3:16, let's go there, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is. profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. when we readily divide the word with the truth. That's when it becomes profitable. for both the workman's approval and the purposes and will of God. A steward is one who follows a set of instructions given to him. And that's the same thing you say to a set of a stewardship or dispensation. Also, it's called dispensation, household management, economy, administration. And there's a few others that it can be called. But it basically means the same thing. It's instructions that we get from our Lord and Savior and how we are to conduct ourself. What was Adam's first stewardship? It was to stay in the garden, dress it, keep it. And plus he had to name all the animals that God brought to him. He was also... unashamed of his nakedness. But, I mean, you think about it, how nice would that be for God to bring animals right by you? You don't have to worry about nothing. They're not going to attack you. It was just, you name them what you think they should be named, and that's what they're going to be called from here on in. And I think that's pretty cool. But in Genesis 2:16 and 17, we find out, the first stewardship that Adam and Eve were to follow, this was called innocence or purity. And then in Genesis three, two and three, we can go there and read the lie comes in. And I wanna take us back to Genesis just because I think this simplifies a lot of, what a lot of people confuse in dispensation, right division, economy, stewardship. I think this helps, for me, it helps take out the confusion that's there. But in Genesis three, two and three, and the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God said, you shall not eat it, nor shall ye touch it, lest ye die. Now earlier on in Genesis 2:17, It says, but this is what God had told him earlier, and this was God speaking, not Eve and the serpent. But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. So we see over here in chapter three that Satan came to Eve and disrupted things and he just took that truth and put a little bit of a lie in there that they weren't supposed to touch it either. But what did that do? That corrupted God's Word and made it unprofitable. And just anytime we add or subtract a God's Word, that's what happens. We take the truth and turn it into a lie. And not that we mean it to be that, but that's just the way it works. That is why in 1 Corinthians 3.10 through 16, now I'd like to read that for you. According to the grace of God which was given to me as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, hay, wood, straw, each one's work will become clear for the day. We'll declare it because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire will test each one's work. of what sort it is. If anyone's work which has been built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? Eve added, shall not touch to it. As that was not in God's instructions to Adam and Eve. Now Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sin entered into the world. They went from being sinless to sinners. And for that, we'll see here that God will kick them out of the garden. And because of that sin, now God has to change how he deals with man and mankind. He no longer can deal with them in the innocence program. So now that is set aside. And bringing in the second stewardship of conscience, Adam knew God's word and he knew that he knew that it would be. disobedience to follow the first stewardship or first set of instructions. as the second one had replaced it. This new instruction are what we need to follow. The results of not obeying God then kicked him out of the garden. They now realized that they were naked. So the Lord made coats of skin to cover them. And there is our first animal sacrifice. The animals had to. give up their life for their coats so God could cover Adam and Eve up. Because of their conscience, now they knew, they were aware, they had the difference between, they had the knowledge of good and evil. The first sacrifice of their eyes, okay, that was found in Genesis 321, if you want to write that scripture down. Now as a result of their sin, they would experience death. Now let me ask you this, was this a physical death, or was this a spiritual death, or was it both? It was both. Absolutely. Adam, one man, lived under two different stewardship or dispensations. When Adam's need or condition changed due to sin, then God made a change. in his management to man, God dispensed a new set of instructions for Adam and Eve to which man now became responsible. And that's a big word for a lot of people today being responsible for something. It's... And as parents, we see our kids growing up, and it's like, they're responsible for some things, and other things, they're not so responsible. But this is what. how we are supposed to be parents and train them up in what God has showed us in his word and how to be responsible. The old stewardship was set aside. The first thing we need to learn is that God changed his program with man because of sin. The fact that God changed his program with Adam is not the same as saying that God himself changed. In Malachi 3.6, It says, God changes not. In Hebrews 13:8, it shows also that Christ was the same yesterday, the same today, and the same tomorrow. They don't change. Guys dealing with men have changed and will change again. We like Adam need to be aware of what the changes are and when they occur. We need to know what our stewardship is so we can be faithful stewards. And you ever wonder why there's so many different churches, denominations? different beliefs that people have. I think it all comes right down to this verse right here, 2 Timothy 2:15. When you don't rightly divide God's word, it is so easy to turn it around and mix things up that you don't understand what God's purpose and intent is for each one of us. And... It's just we have to acknowledge that all of God's word is still God's word. And it's all for us to learn. But it's not all to us to obey. We need to know that our stewardship is so we can be faithful stewards. And if we are trying to follow a different dispensation, or different stewardship, different instructions, are we being faithful to God? Absolutely not. Two things to point out, that God never changes, are his essence and his character. Now this one I had to look up. I don't know, I'm not big on knowing a lot of big words, so I gotta look everything up. I find by doing that I really get an understanding of what it's being said. So in essence, the basic nature of a thing, the most important idea, or quality of something, to be, or being, or I am. Where have we heard I am before? We can go back to Exodus 3:13, and 14. And Moses had a little discussion with God. and so God told him. Exodus 3:13 and 14. It says, Then Moses said to God, Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, What is his name? What shall I say to them? And God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I am has sent me to you. So it's God actually showing his essence to Moses and to the nation of Israel at that time. Character. Character is the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual. Someone thinks, feels, and behaves. Here's some examples. A, courage. B, trustworthy. C, integrity. D, respect and courtesy. In 1 Corinthians 4:2, that a steward is to be found faithful. Adam really divided God's word because Adam knew that the second dispensation was now to be obeyed by him. Adam also knew that the first dispensation was still the word of God and for him to learn from but not to obey. Okay, did Adam have any written word at that time? know this is all between him and God and his memory. If he obeyed the first dispensation or set of instructions, that this would have been disobedience or sin. Same difference. And Adam knew that. So we see Adam approaching God's word the same way the Apostle Paul teaches us to approach it. To study, to show they self-approve, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. And can we wrongly divide God's word? Absolutely. You know, I just struggle with people that... don't understand right division or what it means in scripture and that they try to mix law and grace. And that is such a problem when you try to mix law and grace because law was for a time. And we'll see later on here as we go through this. Paul tells us to rightly divide the word of truth by doing so. it becomes profitable for us. If we try to apply something that is not for us, it is unprofitable. Remember that all scripture is for us, but not all to us. Adam had respect for every word of God, but he knew that his standing before God was according to his obedience of faith to God's latest dispensation. Scriptural and dispensational. Can we be scriptural and not dispensational? Absolutely. And A stewardship is following the set of instructions given by God, but if we don't follow these instructions then we are not being dispensational or obedient to God. In 2 Peter 3:16, even Peter acknowledges this. 2nd Peter 3:16 It says, as also in all his epistles, and he's talking about Paul here. as also in all his epistles or letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction as they do also rest of the scriptures. And the thing of it is, is when you don't rightly divide, you can see how you could get things twisted around and not correct, and how that could harm you. Twisting the scriptures brings destruction, not damnation. Bible study and a Christian life that is unprofitable to both the Lord and to the Christian life. Peter is specifically referring to what saints do with the letters of Paul. Remember, and we were taught this for 18 years, contacts, and right division. If you do not want to confuse God's word, or mix it up, or put a spin on it, If you want it to be exactly the way God intended it to be, and for us to understand, we have to put things in context and right division. We have to know. When we're reading the scripture, what dispensation or what stewardship is being applied here. And once we find that out, now we can put it in the proper context. And by context, I mean read a verse, read above the verse. three four verses it may take three four chapters before that verse and same afterwards but then you get what god is saying you don't get something else like if you were just a plucker first all of scripture somewhere now you're gonna now it's easy to twist things around the way you want them to be and that is not what god wants wrote it down for a specific reason for a specific time for specific people and take it any other way than that. Being scriptural and not dispensational can cause one to twist the scriptures to say what they want them to. This is not correct, but rightly dividing the word is the answer. Our dispensation, the dispensation of the grace of God, in Ephesians 3, 1 through 9. Let's read that. For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you. How that by revelation he made known to me the mystery as I have briefly written already, by which when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men as it has been revealed by the Spirit of the Holy Ghost, by his Holy Apostles and the prophets. that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of his power. To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the of Christ and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the ages has been hid in God who created all things through Christ. God began the dispensation of the grace of God with the salvation of Saul on the road to Damascus in Acts 9:6. Let's go to Acts 9:6. And you know, it's okay if some people have different opinions. That's okay. We can go to God's Word and we can study it together, and we can come up with what God actually intended for it to be. And I have studied this subject a lot. And I have had... different thoughts. I've had different feelings reading different scriptures on how it to be. But I truly believe that the body of Christ actually started chapter nine, verse six. And I said for quite a while, I know it was a trance, it was a, oh. transition and i knew it was a transition but i didn't write quite understand but it had to be somewhere dot actually nailed down to one verse this is where the body craze started if we if you read here uh... let me read first three 3 to 10. As he journeyed, he came near Damascus. This was Saul. And suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you, Lord? Then the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goats. So he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what do you want me to do? Then the Lord said to him, Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do. And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no one. Then Saul rose from the ground, and when his eyes were open, he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. I'm going to stop right there. Do you understand what Saul, what he thought of Jesus Christ in his earthly ministry? He didn't think of him as the son of God. He didn't think of him as a prophet. He thought of him as an imposter. And that's just the way Saul thought of Christ at that time was an imposter. But I think right here where he says, Lord. He said, Lord. I think that is out of respect, like Mr. just giving respect to Jesus. But when he saw Christ... came down from heaven, and he's seen him in his glory, he knew at that exact moment, he knew that this was the Jesus Christ that died on the cross, and he knew this was the Son of God. Without a doubt in my mind, and when he said, Lord, what will thou have me to do? At that point, he acknowledged all of that. And I think at that point he was sealed with the Holy Spirit and baptized into Christ. And I think he was the first one into the body of Christ right then and there. And later on we learned that as he went to Damascus, Ananias went and bled his hands on him because that's what God told him to do. And Ananias didn't want to do it because he was scared of Saul. But he did it anyway. And those little, it's like... scales that fell off his eyes and he was able to see. And then what did Ananias do? He water baptized him. And you say, well, why was he water baptized if he was already baptized with the Holy Spirit? Did they know about the grace of God yet? Absolutely not. It was still hid in God. And the thing of it is, is that's all they knew was repent and be baptized. for the remission of your sin. So that's what Ananias did, not realizing the salvation that had already happened to Saul in Christ. And so there it was there, but then it was a learning process for Saul. And I understand in chapter 10, verse two of Acts, Saul... It says, Barnabas and Saul separate yourselves for the work that I have committed to you. And so they did. And then Acts 10:9 is the first time we hear Saul. That was his Jewish name became Paul, which is now his Gentile name. That's the first time we see that. And then in Acts 10:38 is the first time that we hear the preaching of salvation without works. That's the first time we see that. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. It's obvious that we don't live in the first or second dispensation or stewardship given by God, nor do we live in the dispensation of law that was given to Moses and the nation of Israel. And why do so many people try to drag that along? the whole way because they don't understand right division. It's just like I said earlier, that's why there's so many different churches and not denominations is they don't understand right division and what it means. Paul preaches that the dispensation of God was not given by God. Nor preached by anyone until Christ revealed it to him, to Paul. That was the first time. God kept it hidden himself. which I think is pretty cool, pretty amazing, but he knew he couldn't trust anybody but himself. Okay, Paul says that the dispensation of the grace was hidden in God and was kept a mystery or a secret until Christ revealed it to him and to him only. And in Colossians 1:25 and 26, we see there that that's where Paul was given the right and the instruction to fulfill the word of God. We'll see later, I believe in here that not even Christ came to fulfill the Scriptures far as the mystery program or anything else. Christ came to fulfill the law. Oh, and I wanted to go back a little bit to... when we were in... at, let's see, where it says. He was astonished. solace. Shaking or trembling right here in verse six. So he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what do you want me to do? And again, astonished, I had to look it up. The state of being surprised, startled, stunned by some exceptional wonder. some overwhelming event or miracle. And I believe that's exactly what happened when there was a miracle. But anyway, back to where we were. Although we see a number of different dispensations in the Word of God, where God has changed his dealings with man, we see two primary divisions in scriptures. and it's not the Old Testament and the New Testament like so many people think. It is the prophecy program or prophetic program and the mystery. And the thing is, a lot of people say, well, the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Read them. That was, Jesus Christ came as a Jew to the Jews to his own and he preached to everyone there. about the law. Do the law. It wasn't. He was preaching that, so that was not part of the mystery program which Paul has taught us. And also the difference between the two programs, prophecy and mystery. Prophecy is earthly and mystery is heavenly. Prophecy and mystery. Prophecy was spoken from the beginning of time and prophesied. Mystery was kept secret and was unprophesied. The nation of Israel It's an earthly kingdom, and by the grace of heaven, a kingdom. But also. With that. how to train the thought. Israel lived underneath the prophetic program, which included following Moses and the law. Christ's earthly ministry came under the law and he obeyed it. Also, he came to fulfill the law. Fulfill, bring to completion, achieve, realize something desired, promised, or predicted. Matthew 5:17. Do not think, this is what this is, do not think that I have come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. I think a lot of them thought that he came to destroy it, but it wasn't. And by fulfilling the law, what Christ did is he had to take all those promises to the Father and all those promises to the nation of Israel throughout all those years, and those had to come to fruition. He had to make those happen. And then on that cross, it was completed. Okay, I already did that. But what does Paul say in Romans 6:14? For we are not under the law, but we are under grace. Galatians 5:18. But if we are led of the Spirit, you are not under the law. In the prophetic program, when they did have the Spirit, did it come upon them or did it reside in them? It came upon them. The only time that the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, has resided inside of us is after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And at that point, the opportunity was there. And whoever puts their faith and trust In that death, burial, and resurrection for our sins, they are sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption. And that, no other people have ever known that before then. We've never had that guarantee. And Christ raising from the dead was also a guarantee for us that God accepted that. And so we can rest assure that. God's mystery program, grace, unsearchable means unprophesied, or no tracks, or footprint. There was no trace of the mystery truth before Paul. And why do you think that is? Why do you think that? It had to be hidden in God. Because I believe that had he made it known prior to that, Satan would have never put him on that cross. Satan realized later that he was defeated at that cross. And Kevin Sadler, he had a really good illustration on one of his videos about this little village over in Africa. couple come home one day and there's this great big snake in their house. It's like over six foot long. So they would come screaming out of the house. They went down into the village square and they found a guy that was wielding a sword and said, could you help us out? He said sure. He went in, went into the house and all of a sudden they heard a bunch of crashing and noise. Guy comes walking out and there's still a bunch of crashing going on. And he said, don't worry, I decapitated them. But it takes them a while to realize they don't have a head anymore. And it's just like Satan. Satan's head was crushed. And he's making all kinds of racket. He's trying to take as many people as he can take with him. And he knows he's been defeated. but it will come to fruition later on down the line. And God allows him to do this for now. But realize that God is all powerful and in control. What does Romans 15, eight say? Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made unto the fathers. Did you notice one three little word there? Was. Says now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision. Why is it past tense? What? Because today, he is no longer. minister of circumcision, he is the head of the body of Christ. Peter and 11 did not reveal anything about the mystery either. They taught prophecy, that which was spoken since the world began. As late as Pentecost, we see Peter saying in Acts 2-16, but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. Even the events of Pentecost were the subject of prophecy. The mystery was still hid in God. Then after Pentecost and the stoning of Stephen, when Christ revealed it to Paul, it is in Romans, through Philemon that we find out God's plan for his church, the body of Christ. Why God kept the dispensation of grace a secret. That's really all it really is. So one of the things that I would like us to take away from here today is the fact that we have to understand that God can utilize each one of us. but not until we get rid of me, myself, and I. Those are the three things that will stop us from allowing God to do his work. And this dispensation of the grace of God is just so blessed. I grew up in northern Minnesota in a Lutheran church, and I was saved through a low Lundstrom crusade that I went with my Baptist. a friend of mine that his dad was the Baptist pastor. And it was through all that. But I never grew until I was 25 years old and we came here to Oshkosh and we were invited to Grace Bible Church. And it's just been a total blessing to understand God's word. and God's word rightly divided so that we know where we stand with Him and we know what He wants of us today. Let's close in prayer. Heavenly Father, once again, just thank you for this day. Thank you for this opportunity to speak from your word, Lord, and just pray that we fully understand all we have. in this stewardship that you have given to us and Lord that we apply it in our lives each and every day Lord. And now we just, once again, we pray for all those that are ill, that are missing from here today, that they would be back with us next week in worshiping you, Lord. And as you are the only one that is worthy of anything that we say and do, and we just pray that it was a blessing today. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen.
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