Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Friday
August 23, 2019
They did not worship our Lord and Savior and they also were being used to mislead people into false doctrines in false gods.
When he says the people sat down to drink and stood up to play it simply means they were lovers of self more than lovers of God.
The Orgy at Shittim = While Israel was camped at Shittim, Acacia Grove, the men began to have sex with the Moabite women.
They went from bondage to faith; {Egypt}
From faith to great courage; {Red Sea}
From courage to liberty; {Joshua}
From liberty to abundance; {David’s Military Victories}
From abundance to complacency; {Solomon’s Riches}
From complacency to apathy; {Isaiah and Jeremiah’s ministry}
From apathy to dependence refers to the Jews rejecting their Lord and Savior and then they fell into dependence back into bondage once again and on and on it goes, where it stops, nobody knows."
Then your name will be in "The Obituary in Heaven" which will reveal if you are a winner believer and if you are, you will be rewarded for being so.
If we desire to glorify the Lord, we must begin with the glass being half-full rather than half empty.
The athlete had to undergo ten months of strict training just to qualify and to participate in the Games.
- You had to enter a registered state gymnasium, analogous to living in the predesigned plan of God.
- Every athlete went through identical training no matter what his event.
- Only the protocol Christian is living the Christian way of life, therefore, they can compete in the spiritual games found as long as they understand the rules of the Angelic conflict.
- The athlete or the athletai as they were known, were the ones who trained under the rules of the national gymnasium for ten months.
- You were not allowed to leave the large walled area of the gymnasium for ten months, and you had to exercise under the authority of the gumnasiarch, the ruler of the gym.
LUK 6:40, A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher -- it does not mean to be like him, or to mimic him, it means to copy his dedication and devotion that they have to live the spiritual life.
This required extreme training to make it either in the military or in the "Games" of the ancient world as athletes, or the ultimate motivation for all of us who desire to become winners.
The gumnasiarch or the pastor-teacher had marshals under him who watched the athletes which is analogous to the deacons under the authority of the Pastor-Teachers.
The gumnasiarch wore a purple robe with white sandals; analogous to the pastor or evangelist bringing forth the good news; ROM 10:15, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things!"
- After the completion of the ten-month course, then the athlete was allowed to compete.
- The athlete followed a set of very strict rules which constantly tested his motivation, decisions, and momentum.
PRO 16:2, All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, But the Lord weighs the motives.
This is analogous to the concept of daily perception of doctrine and momentum testing to reveal what your true desire is.
- You could not leave for any reason or you would be disqualified either from the games or from the military.
Everyone did the same exercise under the same authority which was analogous to us as believers under the authority of the pastor-teach they have been assigned to; 1PE 5:3.
1PE 5:3, Pastor-Teachers are commanded not to lord it over those allotted to your charge,
- You are either a pastor-teacher or an evangelist, or you have been allotted to submit to their authority when needed.
You all have been appointed by God to a pastor-teacher who has been elected or chosen by God to teach you the mystery doctrine of the Church-age.
I am responsible to teach you the mystery doctrine of the Church-age and you are responsible to learn it.
10.There were eight to ten exercise periods during the day which demanded that everyone would be prepared and ready to exercise at all times.
- Everyone participated in group exercise naked, regardless of the weather - getting the same doctrinal teaching under the filling of the Spirit which reveals our nakedness before God;
HEB 4:12-13. - There were also Daily trumpet calls which had to be met at various times and if you missed one you were disqualified.
Everyone had equal privilege and opportunity to compete.
- Each class was preceded by a warning trumpet during which time the athlete reported to his trainer, the aleiptei, who rubbed him down with olive oil.
- The athlete also wore no clothes, analogous to the filling of the Holy Spirit that causes us to be clothe naked before the Lord and be honest with yourself and with Him.
JOB 1:21, And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."
ECC 5:15, As he had come naked from his mother's womb, so will he return as he came. He will take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand.
It does not say: He will take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his SOUL and Human spirit, because we can especially if we desire to.
- All the athletes ate the same food: wheat, cheese, figs, no wine, no sweets. This relates perception of doctrine to strict academic discipline.
You were on a strict diet, which everyone ate (other foods being analogous to distractions of the cosmic system).
- All earthly distractions were prohibited during the ten months, including contact with family, friends, no sex, no social life.
Agonistai = people who just worked out to stay in shape, which is just sheer agony; analogous to the believer in the cosmic system and is analogous to arrogance in the cosmic system, which is sheer agony.
1CO 9:24‑27 illustrates how we compete to reach a reward which is imperishable.
adokimos = to be unapproved, rejected; worthless; reprobate; castaway, rejected, as well as having a negative attitude toward others at times.
Pessimism = the tendency to take the most unfavorable view of situations, or to expect the worst outcome in any circumstances; it is the lifestyle of looking on the gloomy and dark side of things.
Positiveness is optimism; which is the tendency or habit of seeing and expecting the good in things; looking on the bright side; anticipating favorable results; hopefulness.
PRO 23:7 says that if you give place to negative thoughts in your heart, you will become a negative person. For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.
PRO 15:13b [Sad and negative thoughts weaken our spirits and lead to discouragement.] By sorrow of the heart, the spirit is broken.
LUK 6:45, [Those whose hearts and minds are filled with negative thoughts usually spread them by voicing them.].
LUK 6:45, A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good: and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
ROM 8:6-7, [Negative thinking is not walking in "newness of life," but in the old carnal nature which is against God.] For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Because the carnal mind is enmity [hostile] against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
1Co 13:5 says [If we're walking in love, we don't think negatively towards others. and.] we will not behave unseemly, seek not our own and thinks no evil.
Hebrews 12:15 [Harboring negative, critical thoughts can lead to bitterness.] Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.
The point is that we need to ask the Lord to "wash" our hearts and "renew" our minds to think only His positive, good thoughts.
PSA 51:2,7,10 says: Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
He also said to Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow... Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
ROM 12:2, And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
1CO 6:11b, But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
HEB 10:2. "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts for sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water."
Each winner in the national games received a crown of ivy leaves, which represented the rewards he would receive when he returned home.
The winner had a special entrance cut into the wall of the city through which he passed when he returned.
For the winner, he rode in the best chariot through the city in a parade.
He also received a lifetime pass to all future games; a great amount of money; an ode was written by a poet; a statue was put up in the public square; his children fed and educated at public expense; he was exempt from all income taxes for life.
Whether it is the military or the athletic games, these are all shadows of the truth because the reality is that our Lord Jesus Christ is the greatest soldier or the greatest athlete in the universe.
I want to deal with a few more principles that we learn about believers who feel like they are prisoners to a prison situation.
Part of that "positive thinking" is to depend upon the doctrines that the Lord gave us which allows us to be prepared for anything that our Lord brings our way.
Most believers would have blamed someone else for their life going astray from the power and plan of God.
Most believers also think negative thoughts when they are going through something that they do not like or enjoy and because of that, they also reject the positive attitude toward that our Lord portrayed during His earthly ministry.
These type of believers are always complaining about something or someone else and are controlled by their very own Negative Thinking.
Definition: Negative thinking is what produces pessimism, which is the tendency to take the most unfavorable view of situations.
What makes one believer positive and another believer negative, when they both are facing the same exact problems?
This is also another example of how two children can be brought up with the same parents, in the same house, in the same environment,
and yet one of them is positive while the other one is negative.
Same parents, family, home, environment, but two different results.