So we will maybe forego the testimony. Oh, let's see. Brother Tyler, could you get these out? Maybe somebody help him. Brother Calvin? Kids can go out, yeah. Well, turn in your Bibles to John 17, 11. I didn't know the kids were coming up for a play tonight, but they're going to show us what they have been learning lately in kids clubs, so that'll be good. John 17 and verse 11. Oh, thank you, brother. I appreciate it. Things are going well on the hospitality house we're building inside of the Church in Perrysburg. We're going to use a multi-use for that, of course, for church, number one, and number two, for housing, for traveling ministers. And really, I want to thank you again. So many of you work so hard at these workdays. It's been fantastic to watch, see it coming together. So thank you. We've got three more workdays this year, and they're in the bulletin. Calvin, could you do me a favor? Walk around with these. How many of you have ever sung in a choir before? Not a trick question, just raise your hand. And here is your personal invitation. You don't have to, if you can't work it into your schedule. I know some of you are busy, but this is your personal invitation. For those of you that have sung in choirs, all of a sudden a bunch of hands went down. Keep your hands up if you ever sang in a choir before in your life. All right? And this is for cantata practices. Starting not this Saturday, but the following Saturday, we really need some committed people. We want to have a big choir and a joint choir with hilltop. It's always neat when we have about 40 in the choir. That is just amazing. But it takes commitment. Now, we don't have as many practices this year, so you don't have to be as committed. See? And if you think you can sing soprano, alto, tenor, bass, you don't have to be great. Just kind of be able to sing parts. We only got like two specials and the rest are hymns right out of the hymn book. It's a play that Dan Priori is writing and I think it's a pretty interesting one. So please, maybe you can join up with us again this year and that would be neat. John 17 verse 11, we're going to get to that now. We got questions and answers tonight. Next week, we have a missionary going to Mexico on Wednesday night. Let's have a good crowd to support him and then we'll get back to answers. Maybe by the end of the year, we'll have 40 questions answered, maybe more, we'll see. But we're up to 35 and 36 tonight. And this first question has, nobody has ever asked me this question, I made it up, all right? But we're going to have a lot of sword drills, so get your Bibles ready. And, but I just made this question up and because in it there's a lot of information because the subject comes up. This question doesn't come up, but the subject comes up and it's about Roman Catholicism. There are 1.2 billion with a B, Roman Catholics on Earth. All right. Now, 1 billion is 1,000 million. There's a lot of Catholics on Earth, 1.2 billion. When you think about 7.2, 7.5 billion on Earth, almost 15, 20% of the whole planet is Catholics, Roman Catholics. And they all believe, if they're true Roman Catholics, they all believe Peter was the first Pope. And they are very vehement in their belief of that. And are there any answers that we can give them to perhaps show them the error of their way? Not that they might be interested, but some of them might be. Just to give you an idea of how many Catholics that is, that means for every Baptist we know on earth, there's about 1,000 Catholics. That's how much we're outnumbered. And so there's a lot of them. There's a lot of them. And sometimes a way to reach people is to jar their faith, shake up the foundation upon which their faith is built. And their foundation is Peter. That's their foundation, not Christ, but Peter. Literally, they believe he is the rock. upon which the church is built." Now, it's an interesting study as you go through the New Testament. As I was reading through the New Testament many, many, many times in my life, I would often say to myself, you know, if there ever was a first pope, it would have been Paul, not Peter. And here's a whole bunch of points that we're going to look at tonight. And the question number 35 is this, if there ever was a first pope, Would it have been Peter or Paul? And the answer in the New Testament would obviously be by his example, Paul. It would be Paul, and I'm going to prove that tonight. Now, in our explanation, our question is a hypothetical one that can be used to shed light on truth and error. In fact, I feel like writing a track or something about that. If there ever was a first pope, would it have been Peter or Paul? And then handing it to people. See if you're rattling a little bit. Sometimes people gotta get rattled to get saved. The office of a pope is not scriptural. Alright, so if you go through the New Testament and you're looking for that office in the local church, it's not in there. They made it up. And here's the scary part. The word pope means papa or father. The pope is often addressed as holy father. That is what he is called, the Holy Father. Now I want to show you the only time that phrase is ever found in the Bible, and you're looking at it in John 17 and verse 11. John 17 and 11, Jesus is in the midst of his high intercessory prayer, and he says, and now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee, Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are one that's the only time you'll see the phrase Holy Father in all the scriptures and in its context as Jesus is praying who is he talking about? is he talking about Peter? he's talking about No, let's read it again here. And now I am no more in the world. Now he's praying. But these are in the world, and I come unto thee, Holy Father, keep through thine own name those that thou hast given me, that they may be one. Now notice, as we are one. He's talking about the Heavenly Father. Now I know what you're getting at, Fred. He's talking about the church, the true born-again church having unity. God wants us to have unity in every local church. and with each other. I don't mind having a joint service once in a while with other churches where we have love and unity and peace with each other as brothers and sisters in the Lord. Amen, that's okay. He's talking here about the Trinity, he says, as we are one. The Holy Father, Jesus said, is the Heavenly Father. What does it say in Matthew 6, 9, Brother Sean, you were quoting that Sunday night, after this manna, therefore pray ye. What does the word Hollywood mean? Holy, sanctify. Our father which art in heaven. Hollywood, holy, is thy name. So for any human being, can you imagine if you came up to me and said, Pastor Cole, how are you tonight? And I said, wait a minute. I want you to call me the Holy Father." Boy, you'd say, boy, that's blasphemy. That's blasphemy. And you know, when you have a picture of the one world religion, well, in fact, let's do a sword drill right now. Here is a verse and draw a sword. Hold your Bibles up by your binding. Let's do our first one, Matthew 23, 9. Go, Matthew 23.9. Okay, so it's talking about in a spiritual application. It doesn't say I shouldn't say to my dad, George Cole, hi father. No, it's talking about spiritually call no man on earth father for one is your father even God, okay? So, that's a violation of Christ's command. Now, when you see the Roman Catholic institution in the light of biblical prophecy, it really fits well into Revelation 17. And the whole chapter talks about it as the great harlot. What is a harlot? A substitute wife. And the true church is the bride of Christ, but Satan has made a harlot That many have fornicated with in a spiritual sense and part of the description of the harlot is in Revelation 17 and verse 3 so draw swords. Let's do another one here Revelation 17 3 Go Revelation 17 3 Okay, that's good enough full of names of blasphemy Monsignor is a French word that means my lord and When they call somebody Monsignor so-and-so, they call him My Lord, Holy Father, Reverend. Psalm 111 verse 9 says, Holy and Reverend is thy name. It's the only time the word Reverend is found in the Bible. It's referring to God. That's something I do correct people on sometimes kindly. And they don't mean bad, but they call me Reverend Cole and I'll say, you know, I'm not Reverend at all. I'm pretty much a wreck of a human being actually. I'm just saved of a pastor but holy and reverend is his name That's his name, but they use these names and it says they're full of the names of blasphemy Blasphemy, okay. Now here's some considerations By the way, there's only one father of the church and that's God. It's Ephesians 4 6. We won't do that one Well, here's some considerations that would indicate that if there ever had been a first pope it would have been Paul instead of Peter number one or the first dot there Paul had the care of all the churches not Peter the Apostle Paul writing in 2nd Corinthians 11 28 says this besides those things that are without that which a come cometh upon me daily the care of all the churches the care of all the churches Paul claimed that he had the care of all the churches he was a Just a super aggressive church planter in his life. It was amazing what God did with him and through him as a missionary and evangelist, but a church planter. And he cared about those churches. So the care of all the churches is not something Peter ever claimed, but Paul did. Now here's one that Brother Kelly is going to read. And he's going to turn to Galatians 2. I'd like you to turn there also in verses 7 through 9. After he reads it, we'll explain it. But the point is this, number two, Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, not Peter. Okay, go ahead and read that. But contrary-wise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter, for he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles. And when James Cephas and John who seemed to be pillars perceived the grace that was given unto me they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship that we should go Unto the heathen and they unto the circumcision. All right. There's a lot of big words here, but this is a very important text when you see the word circumcision that's referring to the Jews and when you see the word uncircumcision that's referring to the gentiles so in verse seven paul is writing but contrary wise when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision gentiles was committed unto me that's paul alright he's the one that went to the gentiles now what are most roman catholics honestly what are they? they're gentiles okay but the gospel of the circumcision was committed unto who in verse 7? Peter. The circumcision, that's the Jews. So Peter's focus was to who? Okay, Paul's focus was to who? Gentiles. Next verse. For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the Jews. In other words, Peter was the apostle to the Jews. The same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles. Next verse. Who is Cephas? Peter. And when James, Peter, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we who Paul and Barnabas should go unto the heathen, that's synonymous for the Gentiles, and they unto the circumcision, synonymous for who? The Jews. So James, Cephas and John focused on the Jews, Paul and Barnabas on the Gentiles. So there's three consecutive verses that teach that Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, not Peter. Number three, Peter was called Satan once by Christ. That's in Matthew 16.23. We won't do the sword drill there. Paul was never called that. And that's an important text too because that's the text, Matthew 16. where they often misquote, and this was a question we had earlier in the year, they often misquote the verse in Matthew 16 where Jesus said, And I say unto you that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. was not peter but peter's declaration that jesus was the christ the son of the living god and in that same conversation a few verses later but he turned and said unto peter get thee behind me satan thou art an offense unto me for thou savest not the things that be of god but those that be of men what a rebuke that was not only did jesus rebuke peter once But if you're in Galatians or turn to Galatians 2, Kelly's going to read now where Paul once publicly rebuked Peter, who is taught to Catholics as being infallible. But was he infallible? Listen to this in Galatians 2, 11 through 14. But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles, but when they But when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, if thou being a Jew livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compelst thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? All right, and the next verse says, we who are Jews by nature are not sinners of the Gentiles, and then he goes into the gospel. So we have Paul literally rebuking Peter publicly in front of everybody because of his hypocrisy. So there was no infallibility ever claimed by Peter or Paul or anybody else. Next one, Paul wrote 13 books of the New Testament mostly to the Gentiles. Peter wrote two books of the New Testament, mostly to the Jews. Now think of the books that Paul wrote. Romans. Who is that to? Gentiles. 1st and 2nd Corinthians. Galatians. Ephesians. Philippians. Colossians. 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. 1st and 2nd Timothy. Who is Timothy? Okay, his mother was a Jew, his father was a Greek. Titus, what was he? Gentile. Philemon, he was a resident of Colossae, has a Gentile name. Titus has a Gentile name. Every single book Paul wrote was to Gentiles. Now maybe he wrote Hebrews because he was a Hebrew of the Hebrew and an expert at that. We don't know the author there. But who did Peter write to? Well, let's draw swords. 1 Peter 1.1. Go. 1 Peter 1.1. All right, that's 1 Peter 1.1. That refers to the first two books of Peter. He only wrote two books and he called his writings to the strangers. Who do you think that is? Anybody want to try to define why he called them strangers? Who were they? They were Jews living among Gentiles. That's why they were called strangers. Peter wrote to Jews. Paul wrote to Gentiles. All right, what are Roman Catholics? Gentiles, okay, Gentiles. Let's go on. Peter, well, I'm sorry, Paul was for sure in Rome and ministered to the Romans. Let's do one of these. Draw swords. Acts 28.16. Go. All right. We definitely know for sure Paul was in Rome. And there's some other verses there on your sheet, Romans 1.7, Romans 1.15, about his finally getting to Rome. Okay? Was Peter ever in Rome? Well, we don't know. We can shrug our shoulders. But boy, the Catholics got some traditions that are so deeply entrenched in their psyche, they will get angry at you. In fact, they built a cathedral there called what? St. Peter's, right? And they believe he was there. They believe he started the Catholic Church there. They believe he died there and so on. And that has no, has absolutely no, Biblical history to that being true and even traditional history is quite I Mean, it's it's if you'd Google that they would give you all kinds of stories about him being there They have invented a lot of things and have said it for 1,500 years And it is just so deeply entrenched kind of like a Good Friday thing You know anybody knows the Bible knows Jesus didn't die in Good Friday but it's so deeply entrenched in people's thinking. And it's the same thing with Peter being in Rome. But Paul was there, so it sounds like Paul would be more of a pope than Peter. Last one, Peter was the apostle and pastor of the church at Jerusalem among the Jews. He remained there faithfully, and Luke recorded this in the first 12 chapters of Acts. Those were mostly events all around Jerusalem. Jerusalem is considered the mother of us all not Rome according to Galatians 4 and verse number 26 now after Acts 1 through 12 we then have Acts 13 through 28 which is mostly the missions to the Gentiles and who's the main character in chapters 14 through or 13 through 28 of the book of Acts for those who don't know it who's the main character Paul Paul and three missionary trips to Gentiles but he did run across Jews everywhere he went and he preached to the Jew first and also to the Greek but his ministry was among Gentiles in fact in Acts chapter number 18 he kind of washed his hands and said you Jews don't want to hear it I am going to turn to the Gentiles and from Acts 18 that's pivotal In New Testament Christian history from that point on, the rest of the book especially is just a focus on reaching Gentiles for Jesus Christ. So at the conclusion at the bottom it says here there is no Pope. Never has been, never will be. But Paul by far would fit the description better than Peter. And so I've given you I think seven points there. to show that now I don't know if that can be used in some way to rattle the foundation of somebody who's has false hopes in Peter which brings us to the next question and our last one tonight question number 36 did Peter alone receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven now here is certainly a a portion of scripture that is very confusing and has also been kind of used as a cornerstone, if you will, for Catholicism that, you know, hey, Peter was our first pope. We're the true church. We go back to the days of Christ. You know, Baptists make that same claim. I think a great book to read, if you ever get the chance, is by J.H. Carroll. It's called The Trail of Blood. It's only 53 pages long. I think every one of us should read it. We make the same claim that Baptists go back to Jesus Christ, except we're not proud about it. We try not to be proud about anything. But we believe that there has been a line of believers since Jesus Christ who were never Catholics and who were never Protestants. And they go by different names at different times through history. uh... but uh... they are what we call baptists today and i'm not ashamed of that frankly uh... but uh... get brother carol's book it's tremendous and um... another book is hot hailey's handbook if you don't have one of those h a l l e y i get one of those handbooks and he'll show you the true origin of the catholic church was not to their first pope gregory in five ninety a long time after Christ when there was ever a man who can claim to be the universal leader of the body of Christ. Gregory 590. So nobody from Peter to Gregory ever made such a claim until he claimed to be the first pope. Now we ought to know a little bit about this because there's 1.2 billion on earth and they need to be saved. God loves them and sometimes we can try to rattle Them and so pray I'm gonna we have a little article article in the penny saver. It's pretty widely distributed I'm gonna start putting some of these things in the penny saver Hopefully to rattle some people who read it Not to make enemies or anything. We're gonna make enemies. That's for sure But maybe some of them are gonna start saying wow I didn't know that Because usually when a Catholic gets saved and gets grounded in the Bible. They usually start saying that an awful lot. I never knew that I never knew that. Our last question, I don't know what time the kids are coming up. Did Peter alone receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven? Yes, it was to Peter alone. Turn back, oh here it is, it's right here in Matthew 16, 19. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven this verse has been translated to to have people think that Peter today stands at the pearly gates of heaven and if you give him a good reason he might let you in alright now there's other keys in the Bible that we should be more concerned about than this one we'll come back and explain this one but draw swords These are the keys that I would really be concerned about revelation 118 Go revelation 118 These are the keys I would be concerned about right here What's the score So who do you think is talking there? I am he that was alive. Say it again, Kath. I am he that liveth and was dead and am alive again forevermore. Amen. Who do you think that is? And have the keys of death and hell. Those are the keys I'd be concerned about. Jesus Christ owns the keys to heaven or hell. what's the keys of the kingdom of God the kingdom of God is a reference to the gospel in spreading the gospel we're gonna see here that the gospel was opened by Peter to three groups Jews Gentiles and Samaritans it's in the book of Acts and in every single time When the Jews received the gospel, the Samaritans received the gospel, the Gentiles received the gospel, there was a stamp of approval upon that by them receiving the Holy Spirit. And Peter was present for all three historical events. So let's look at that. By the way, the verse at the top, Matthew 16, 19, and I will give unto thee In the context, Jesus is talking to Peter and thee is a singular word. Thee, thou, thyself, thine, any time it starts with a T that's singular in the King James Bible. You, ye, yourselves, it starts with a Y that's plural. So yes, Jesus is speaking specifically to Peter And he's saying, and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Praise the Lord. Peter loosed everybody. And use the keys of the kingdom to open the door of the gospel to all three groups. There are no other groups, either Jew or Gentile or Samaritan. And so, let's look at these. To the Jews, well, we're not gonna read this one, but I do want you to turn to Acts chapter two. Acts chapter number two, and I just want to show you here the presence of Peter when the Jews receive the gospel and receive the Holy Ghost. Acts two is the historical record of what day in Christian history. The day of Pentecost, okay? The day of Pentecost, very important day. It says Jews were gathered there in Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost, one of their feasts, and God took advantage of this and they had the Holy Ghost come upon them. Let's focus on a few verses for time's sake. Skip to verse 14. standing up with the eleven lifted up his voice and said unto them ye men of Judea and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem be this known unto you and hearken to my words then he preaches the gospel he gives in verse 21 the same invitation we give to this day And what is it? And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Skip to verse 37. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, and he leads them to salvation and faith in Jesus Christ. And what happened during the day of Pentecost for the first time, it says in verse 4, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. This was unique. It had never happened like this before. There had been times when men were filled with the Spirit, mostly in offices, prophets, priests, kings in the Old Testament. It was kind of a pick-and-choose type of thing, but not every believer in the Old Testament. Not every believer in the Old Testament was filled with the Spirit, but now every single one of them that was there was filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and Peter was the preacher. Now what about the Samaritans? Who are the Samaritans, by the way? A mixed breed. Turn to Acts chapter 8. Brother Kelly is going to read about how the door of the kingdom of God is open to them and lo and behold who's there? Peter, Acts 4.8 and verse 14. Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who when they were come down prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost. For as yet he was fallen upon none of them, only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost okay here. We see Samaritans for the first time ever Receiving the Holy Ghost and Who's there to witness this event? Peter Peter and John and Peter and praying for them John praying for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost and so for the first time now ever in history Samaritans received the Holy Ghost all right first of all Jews now Samaritans and now he goes to the Gentiles well you don't have that one and in Acts chapter 10 for time sake let's go to verse 44 Acts 10 44 now he's at the house of Cornelius and what nationality was Cornelius anybody remember Roman okay or nationality What are Romans? Italians, okay. The Bible says he was Italian. And so here we have some Gentiles and Peter does something that just was so out of the box. He goes to the home of some Gentiles. And boy, does he take some heat for this. But he does it because God says so. God gives him an unbelievable vision while he's up meditating and says, I want you to go to the house. And Peter even fought and said, not so, Lord. I've never eaten anything common or unclean. And God says, don't call anything common or unclean that I have cleansed. And Peter figured out, God's trying to teach me something spiritual here. Then here comes a knock on the door, and this guy named Cornelius sends men and says, we want to hear Peter. And an angel told us that Peter will come, and it says here in chapter 11 and verse 14, who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved. And this is where he's reviewing it in chapter 11. But go back to chapter 10 and let's see, here it is, verse 44, while Peter yet spake these words, first time now to Gentiles, while Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on them which heard the word, Gentiles. And they of the circumcision which believe were astonished, that is, the Jews that were there witnessing this, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also is poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnified God, then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days. So he did a good job with the keys he was given. He did a good job. All right. Jesus said, Peter, you're going to have a unique place in the kingdom of God. I'm going to use you to show everybody That I have approved the Jews to be saved, the Samaritans to be saved, and the Gentiles to be saved. And I'm going to give you the same sign in each case. They're going to receive the Holy Ghost when they believe. Do we need these keys anymore? No. No, it's open. Door's open, stayed open. Any Jew, any Samaritan, any Gentile on earth can be saved. And Peter was the one that opened the doors to these officially in Christian history. He used the keys of the kingdom. And so that's what it means when it says, when Jesus said to Peter, and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom. Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Praise God, Peter was a good steward of the keys of the kingdom, but his job is done. Peter's not up there waiting for you, and when you get there, he says, give me a good reason why I should let you in. There's people that really believe that. They really believe that. Boy, I'm going to die and meet Peter, and what am I going to say? So, why don't we run down and get the kids there. Brother John, I guess they're going to do something here. There's a couple of questions there about Catholicism. Catholicism is an extremely complex religious system that, even if you showed them these things, a lot would say, well, they put their traditions over the Bible as an authority more than this. But it's worth a try to know these things and maybe share them with somebody. And maybe somebody will say, maybe I've been taught wrong. Who knows? You might save someone. I don't know, you might. But it's good to know some answers.