Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. This is Gary Nearon welcoming you to the Lamp and Light broadcast coming to you from the studios of Central Baptist Church in beautiful Ocala, Florida. Lamp and Light is a ministry taking a book of the Bible verse by verse teaching as it is, to men as they are, without compromise or apology, speaking the truth in love, and our purpose is to give the lamp and light to all. Yesterday in our study of James chapter 3, we were talking about believers who want to teach also need to reach out to the saved, bring them into the church so they too may be instructed. Let's continue from there today. Now, here is our teacher and pastor Dr. Andy Blue. Too often we have Sunday school teachers that come to class and believe that their job is only to teach. No, one must also reach. You've got to reach out. If you don't try to contact the unsaved, and then you don't try to build the saved people, and you're not trying to pray for them and do other things for them throughout the week, if only on Sunday you're going there to teach, you have missed the entire point. And Paul never taught to be a teacher only. No, we are to reach as well as to teach. One who does not witness to the loss should not teach because his or her, should I say as well, his or her faith obviously is not working right. They're not working out their salvation. And none of us are born with the knowledge needed to become a believer. Such knowledge we need to receive apart from ourselves. The problem of receiving such knowledge in order to have faith is a matter of being involved in learning something. In other words, if we are going to learn something, it must be communicated to us by someone who already knows it. We must understand that this epistle was written to Jewish believers of that day. The synagogues of that day were places of open discussion. Anyone who wanted to could come and speak his mind. As a matter of fact, many times the Apostle Paul used this time after his conversion to go in and proclaim the person and the word and the work. of Christ Jesus the Lord. Well, people were starting to bring this over into their local churches. Again, that also happened in Corinth. In 1 Corinthians 14, verse 26, he says, How is it then, brethren, when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation? Let all things be done unto edifying. Our proper place in the assembly should manifestly be that of listener and learner. Now, my friend, I hope you heard that. That's a very important statement. Please listen to it again. Our proper place in the local assembly should manifestly be that of listener and learner. There is a great need among brethren to cultivate a teachable spirit. The pride of scriptural knowledge has men arrogant and even critical. Some Christians rarely receive a blessing in the public worship and teaching service of a fundamental Bible-believing, Bible-preaching Baptist church because they did not come to be taught, but rather to judge the content and the composition of the speaker's message. But don't forget, in chapter one, in verse 19, we were instructed to be slow to speak. The obvious problem is there is too much talking. In Acts 17, verse 11, it says, these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Now, they didn't sit there seeing how they could find fault. They listened, and then they compared it to scripture. Now, my friend, if you're sitting in a service, and a preacher says up there, listen, if you'll just do the best you can, You'll make it to heaven. Well, right there by the word of God, you know, that's a false prophet. That's a false preacher. He didn't have to sit in there with a critical spirit. Just listen, say, boy, we'll find something he says wrong. Oh boy, I want to listen as closely as I can. And a lot of people do that end up taking things out of context. If you're walking with God and you'll get in the word of God, you'll find that when preachers say things that aren't right, teachers say things that aren't right, immediately the Holy Spirit will convict your heart and show that to you. As a matter of fact, if a teacher says something or preaches something that you say, well, I really have doubts there, after the service, ask them about it. Get a passage from them. See if that passage is true to the context. It's easy to take a part of the Bible and take it completely out of context and to mean something else completely different. Sometimes we can say, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth into those things which are before, I press towards the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Great verse there, Philippians 3, 13 and 14. And somebody might take that, it says, well, forgetting those things which are behind. Therefore, people have sinned, they've done wrong. Don't hold it against them. Don't make them repent. Don't tell them they have to do this or do that. Just let it go. Just let it go. God just wants us to be in unity and be one big happy family. Well, wait a minute. In Corinth, God said, that man that's living in adultery, put him out of the church. Pray for the destruction of his flesh. Now, my friend, If that's the way he was supposed to pray and that's what they were supposed to do, then forgetting those things which are behind does not mean just overlooking sin. And you see, speakers can take a verse completely out of context. So make sure that when you question anybody about something that is stated, that what they say also fits the context. When a large group in any assembly gives themselves to lecturing, rather than learning, and their time to the regulation of the affairs of others rather than their own affairs, much harm is certain to come." We want to find the truth of God's Word and ever seek unto it, and not to see what we can find wrong with someone else. Now, I rejoice, for example, In some, and I emphasize some, home Bible studies, they can help fill a vacuum that exists. But my friend, if they're meeting during a Sunday night, Sunday morning or Wednesday night, instead of in their local church, then that is already starting off the wrong foot. Don't go. There was a man one time that was telling me of some people in his church that said, well, we go to the Bible study at so-and-so's house, and so we don't come on Wednesday night because we've already had a Bible study. Now, praise God that if the Bible study was right, they went to a Bible study in someone's house. But they shouldn't be forsaking the assembling of ourselves together at the local church as well. That way, they were wrong. There are those, though, in these home Bible studies that are teaching all kinds of rebellion. They try to get a following. They eventually begin to tear apart Sunday sermon, as well as misapply and misinterpret the scriptures at various ministries. And they'll do that without the leaders there. I might preach a sermon on Sunday. This person has a home Bible study. And when they get home, they're going to say, no, that's not really right. And this is what it should be. And they try to divide the people in God's house. And that man never goes to the preacher. Now, if I was sitting in a home Bible study and I heard that, my responsibility would be to say, well, what did the pastor say when you said this to him? And then if he said, well, I haven't talked to him about it yet, say then, well, brother, aren't you by the word of God wrong to first of all, to make this accusation against an elder, a pastor, and then to secondly, to come to us instead of going to him? And you see, that will not only rebuke him, but it will also warn the others around that this cannot be of God. And whether they take that warning or not is up to them, but you have fulfilled your duty before God. Often, many of these home Bible studies have novices who have never learned submission. Be sure the Lord is directing you and not a gratification of self-promotion. It's good to build up the saints in the local church through the Word of God, but what we do should be a supplement, not a detriment. It's unethical. to listen critically with the intent to find something wrong that you may go around and tear it down to others. I had a friend of mine who had six months of medical training, and that was it. But for some reason or another, he thought the six months made him an expert. And I can remember being in the hospital, and although he was very dear to me, telling me why all the doctors and nurses and everybody else was wrong, all the consultations they made were wrong, and he was right. And, of course, that is, again, what happens when somebody has six months of a Bible course and they all of a sudden feel like they're a doctor of theology. Be careful. When your local church, maybe a Sunday school class, has a party, there's a gathering, and they run down individuals, or they run down the ministry, they run down someone or something, and that someone is not present. My friend, what they're doing is sowing discord. Do you realize the Bible, in Proverbs 6, says sowing discord is an abomination, and the word for abomination is the same Hebrew word translated abomination when speaking of homosexuality. In other words, God puts the abomination of homosexuality and the abomination of sowing discord on the same level. My friend, that's why if you're at something like that, you need to take a stand and rebuke the person. A faith that works stands, even if it stands alone, and it rebukes the group. Now, if you're standing alone, you're not really alone if you're standing on righteousness, because you have God with you, and greater is He that is in you than the multitudes in the world. Now, the reason we should not be many masters is that the masters, that is, the teachers, receive the greater condemnation. The word condemnation is the same Greek word as appears in John 5, verse 24. There we read, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into Condemnation, but it's passed from death unto life. And so we see this same word condemnation. Now he says, masters will receive the greater condemnation. And yet in John 5, 24, Jesus said they don't enter into condemnation. This is your radio pastor, pastor Andy Bloom saying, may the word of God be a lamp into your feet and a light into your pathway today. We want to thank you for listening to the Lamp and Light Broadcast. If you would like a CD copy of today's message by Dr. Bloom, send us your name, mailing address, and include the radio station by which you are listening and the date of the broadcast. We would appreciate a gift of $5 to Lamp and Light Broadcast, 1714 SE 36th Ave, Ocala, FL 34471. You may also visit us on the website and freely download the sermons by clicking on the sermon library. That website is www.centralbaptistocalla.org. Again, the address for the Lamp and Light broadcast is 1714 Southeast 36th Avenue, OCALA, Florida 34471. And again, our website is www.centralbaptistlcala.org. This is your announcer Gary Naran saying, May God's peace be with all that are in Christ Jesus. Stats! Family Stats!