Sowing is one thing, raking and weeding is another.

Hello, welcome to Ruach, and that's the time of teaching from the Bible. There's a fresh wind coming this season. The Ruach is on its way, and we need to be ready for this. So the Lord gave me Acts 15:25, which in itself is a whole story, but what's more interesting is the revelation he gave me going with this. I was going to title this: Sowing is one thing, raking and weeding is another. But first, let's dig in. Krrr, abadr, bebabashay, arrr. We thank you for this time of learning from you. Of understanding how the things you put in place function for the best and how we are going to be good stewards. Lord, thank you for bringing us together to today. Bless every one of us. Bless our understanding. And bless my teaching, Lord, in Jesus' name. So let's go to Acts 15:25. So a bit of context first. The apostles have gathered because some people in Antioch wrote to them about an issue they had. So we decided, having come to complete agreement, to send you official representatives along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul. Now it turns out that the people of Antioch had been hassled by some people who told them, no, you need to be circumcised. What you were told by the apostles wasn't correct. And that letter the apostles are sending is a letter saying, "You've done right to contact us because what these people were saying was not on at all. It was the incorrect teaching." What's interesting in the NIT Regarding a complete agreement, it says unanimously. The KGB says being assembled with one accord, and the BBE says arrived on, um, at common judgment. So they've been on a journey to get to the decision. And we're in a time— it's a time in the Bible where there's a pivot, there's a shift in focus. The focus turns from Peter to Paul. Um, we need to understand first what the other scriptures Jesus said regarding stewardship of the church. So we'll go to Matthew 13:18-23. Now listen to the explanation of the parable by the farmer planting seeds. The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the kingdom and don't understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was sown in their hearts. The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy, but since they don't have deep roots, they don't last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God's word. The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God's word, but all too quick— but all too quickly, the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced. The seed that fell on the good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God's word and produce a harvest of 30, 60, or even 100 times as much as had been planted. Now we've got 1 John chapter 4, verses 1 to 3. Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: if a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here. The Antichrist was already among the believers at the time of Jesus. Wow. Um, Galatians chapter 1, verses, um, verses 1, verses 6 to 10. Let's do this. That's if I can find it. We'll go to 1 Corinthians 14:33. For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace, as in all the meetings of God's holy people. Colossians 2:8. Guys, don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world rather than from Christ. Romans 16:17-18. And I make one more appeal, my dear brothers and sisters. Watch out for people who cause divisions and upset people's faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught. Stay away from them. Such people are not serving Christ our Lord, they are serving their own personal interests. By smooth talking, glowing words, they deceive innocent people. So there is history from previous teachings that the apostles had to get together and look into this. And they decided to send Paul and Barnabas. Now here's what I heard the Lord say about this. The apostles had to see to the quality of the crops and that none of the correct teachings got stifled by lies and deception from incorrect teachers or 4 teachers who were in error, in a danger zone, a zone which signals the presence of a wrong spirit. A garden needs constant supervision, territory allotted to someone, a congregation allotted to someone needs constant supervision, constant upkeep to ensure healthy spiritual growth of people. So the people's spiritual growth was at stake there. The quality of what they heard was crucial. The apostles were reminded here that once they had their backs turned, some would just try and creep in to spread wrong teachings unless they put people in place who they could trust to carry out good teachings. Therefore Paul and Barnabas. The role of the leader of that church has different aspects, which is sowing, teaching, raking, weeding is deliverance, watering is the work of the Holy Spirit, burning the weeds is the work of impartation. The corrupt teachings come from wrong alignments, wrong appointments, That leads us to think of, am I listening to many people? Do I need to prune some out? Is that a time to prune out the alignments that send out confusion? Because the wrong aligners are like the birds flying in on the ground, stealing the seeds. So the apostles sent Paul and Barnabas because they were known for the sand of Judea. They were sent in not to just troubleshoot the incorrect teachers, but to teach afresh, impart afresh, and weed out whatever whatsoever had to be weeded out of that congregation. They implemented good practice to ensure that the church would then follow what they modeled. All of what Jesus Christ did while He was on earth was to see that the model that He put in place would remain healthy, they would be reproduced and well-lived, because it's also about the lifestyle of a Christian at the foundation level, which is prayer and being in the presence of God. So if the people around you don't reflect the presence of God and have and speak things which you know are not the same that what you heard before, that they don't confirm what you heard before, and that what you heard before was the correct teaching, then some of those new connections need to to be sintered, they need to be discarded. So Lord, we thank you. Thank you, Lord, for this insight as how your church is supposed to work, how we're supposed to be good stewards of your church, Lord. Thank you, Lord Magada. Your Church is and was always meant to be founded on the Fivefold. Thank you, Lord my God, for unity in the fivefold. Because when there's unity in the fivefold, the gates of hell will not prevail against your church. Thank you, Lord Magog, for giving us that nudge in our spirit that says, hmm, where has he was not quite Right, it didn't quite sound like what I was taught before. I need to double check on that. Thank you, Jesus, for giving us the check in the spirit that leads us to double check on some teachings, on the quality of the teachings that we've heard. Thank you, Lumago, for keeping us sounding the alarm on teachings that don't sound quite right. Thank you, Lord my God, for keeping us identifying and sounding the alarm on teachings which don't sound quite right. Thank you, Jesus, for pruning out the wrong teachings from your church. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for pruning out the wrong doctrines, the wrong theologies from your church, the wrong beliefs, the wrong mentalities from your church. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for giving us the eyes to see the wrong teachers coming. Ha! And put up a fence. Ha! Put up a fence. Ha! The Lord bless you, keep you, and make His face shine on you. Sign up to Kingdom Pass. It'll help you understand how the Kingdom of God works and Get into a deeper relationship with Jesus. The link is in the description. Bye now!