Individuals Who Are Part of the Whole

(4) Tony Rowe - Individuals Who Are Part of the Whole - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDbibaYM0R8

Transcript:
(00:01) Tomorrow is the feast of Pentecost. And uh as that goes, we start to think about what that means for us as God's people, as an individual within God's church and the special meaning and the special instruction that he has for us to learn and grow in every single year. And so I was thinking about a special symbol that God had the children of Israel bring um each one from their household.
(00:39) And it got me thinking about that individual aspect of God's holy days. And so I decided not to just cover the uh feast of Pentecost. I wanted to look at the feasts or the holy days in general and looking at what we can learn as individuals but also the things that we might be able to learn as individuals who are part of the whole.
(01:12) So that's the title of the message today are the individuals who are part of the whole. When we think of the holy day plan, the holy days and this plan of salvation, this path that God has set us upon. How different is that path for me than it is for you? It's the same path. God wants us to go down that same path of understanding what we need to know as individuals.
(01:50) But God has the bigger picture in mind. He has more than just me and more than just you in mind. He has everything in mind. The entire church throughout in all of history and throughout the rest of the future. God has everyone in mind. And we can see how God can design these holy days so that we understand that it is about us as individuals.
(02:25) But it is about the church as a whole. In John chapter 6 and verse 44, I think this is something that is very powerful for us to know to understand that while God has the entire world, all of the past and all of the future in mind, who does he single out? John chapter 4 John chapter 6 and verse 44 it says no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him or her and I will raise them up at the last day.
(03:18) So what does that mean? You are in this room because the father has picked you individually out of the world. Every single one of us, he has drawn to his son Jesus Christ. That is the greatest blessing we will ever have in our physical lives is that God has chosen you and has called you an individual to become a part of the whole who is the body of Jesus Christ the church.
(03:56) So let's look at this individual aspect but think about as we uh move through the message and as we move through the year through the holy days we think about how we can apply what we learn that we need to learn as an individuals but think about how we can apply that to how we work with one another as a part of the whole. Let's start with Passover.
(04:23) Passover, while not necessarily a holy day, it was mentioned in Leviticus 23. So, we want to look at Passover in Exodus 12. Let's look at a special something special on Passover that was done within each of the households as in it was done as a unit a small unit of a lot of units within the uh children of Israel.
(04:55) Exodus 12 starting in verse one. You see here now Exodus 12:1. Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron on on Aaron in the land of Egypt saying this month shall be the beginning of your months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel. So the entire group was to be given this instruction.
(05:23) Every single one of us are given the same instruction throughout our spiritual lives. God doesn't change it for me as he would for someone else. It is the same instruction. So the whole of here, the whole is here. Saying on the 10th of this month, every man shall take for himself a lamb according to the house of his father.
(05:46) A lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and its neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons, according to each man's need. You shall make your count for the lamb. And then it goes on to describe the lamb. And the lamb was to be made was to be not made without blemish, but shall be without blemish. A male of the first year.
(06:07) You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. And so they were to keep it as personal. They're bringing it into their home for four days for the household. of a small group of people. You shall bring it on the 10th. You shall keep it from until the 14th day of the same month. Then the whole assembly again the whole assembly at of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.
(06:40) And they shall take some of the blood and put it onto the door two doorposts and on the lentil of the houses where they eat it. How many Passover lambs are there for us today? There's one. One. Jesus Christ. He is the Passover lamb. How many Passover lambs were there on the first Passover? Many. Many Passover lambs for a household. Why? The commitment to us between us and Jesus Christ is what is it as a part of the church and Christ or is it an individual commitment to Jesus Christ where we take the blood of his sacrifice and put it on our lentil and our
(07:32) doorposts of our lives and we shall be passed over because of his sacrifice for us as individuals. Who did Christ die for? For you. For me, individuals. Who did Christ die for? The entire church, the entire body of individuals, those who would believe in him. We see that God has a whole picture in mind, the whole in mind, and he has each of us as individuals.
(08:09) We see that in Leviticus chapter 16 as well. Leviticus chapter 16. We'd look at the whole here. And the same sacrifice that was Jesus Christ was used for the whole as just one goat. Leviticus chapter 16 and verse 15 and 16 says, "Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, the one goat which is for the whole.
(08:50) " One goat, one sacrifice for the whole, for the people. bring its blood inside the veil and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bowl and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. So he shall make atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanliness of the whole the children of Israel and because of their transgressions.
(09:09) We know that this is the same sacrifice of Christ that he'd had that was pictured by the Passover sacrifice. We know that because we see that in Hebrews and I want to turn there in Hebrews chapter nine. I'm combining the Passover with atonement here because we see within the same sacrifice that Jesus Christ uh gave himself for us.
(09:34) That same sacrifice is used in both of these holy days. We see that in God's word in Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. Get there and verse 11. Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 11. But Christ came as the high priest of the good things to come with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands. That is not of this creation.
(10:05) Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood he entered the most holy place once and for all. once for all having obtained eternal redemption. Right? Christ was not sacrificed twice. He did not shed blood twice. He shed blood one time as representative of the Passover lamb who is he is our Passover.
(10:33) But he was the goat that was slain for the whole assembly of Israel for the transgressions for their transgressions. So he has died for all of mankind but he has died for each one of us as individuals. Why did he die for us as a whole in chapter 4 of Hebrews verse 16 uh verse 14 of chapter 4. Seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
(11:13) For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us as a body of individuals, as an individual, let us come before there. Let us therefore come boldly before the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.
(11:40) The veil was parted because of Christ's sacrifice at Passover. The blood of the goat that was taken into the sanctuary every year was taken in once for all. And so where what do we have as a body of Christ have access to? We have access to the throne of God. We have access to the throne of God. As we kneel down individually, we can come boldly before the throne of God.
(12:19) Moving on to the feast of unleavened bread. I'm not going to go too deep into this one because we had a lot of great messages about the eating of the bread of life. Right? So, we observe the feast of unleaven bread. And I will turn to Exodus 12 and verse 5. We are to observe this holy day. Exodus 12 and verse 5. Nope, that's a problem.
(12:58) Exodus 12 and verse 15. Sorry. 7 days. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. You as an individual shall eat unleaven bread. Seven days on it. Uh you shall eat unleaven bread. On the first day you shall remove the leaven from your houses, from each individual house. You go and you take that leavenan and you get it rid of it individually.
(13:26) We talk about this about removing the leavenan out of our lives and getting rid of it, throwing it away, finding it, searching for it, and move removing it. This is something that was done within each household. Same as the Passover lamb. each household was to do this. But what about the whole? What about the whole? How can we learn? What can we learn from the feast of unleavened bread that talks about the whole? 1 Corinthians chapter 5.
(14:10) 1 Corinthians chapter 5 can be taken as something that we can learn as a person who is trying to live according to God's way of life, according to his truth that he has individually called us out to do. But it also has application for the whole, for the group. In 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 6, we can start there.
(14:45) Says, "Your glorying," he's talking to the church here. "Your glorying is not good. Do you know that a little levaven leavenvens the whole lump? Can a little bit of leaven in my life leavenven my entire life?" Yes. But what is he talking about here? A little bit of leavenvan within the hole can leaven the entire hole.
(15:17) We are just one big lump together. And if one of us is leavenvened, it couldn't leaven the whole. What does that mean for us? How can we apply that that same type of getting rid of leavenvening out of our lives and apply that to the whole? There's two things that we need need to be mindful of. How am I as an individual affecting the whole or how is the whole allowing someone to leaven the whole? It's about holding people accountable that we need to hold accountable.
(16:01) We're told not to judge lest ye be judged. But if we don't judge righteously, we can allow something to expand and 11 the whole lump. We are here together trying hard to get rid of the levan out of our lives. Who's here to help us? You're all here to help. I think there are some that are more helpful than others. Maybe a wife or a husband can help one another out and say, "Hey, honey.
(16:41) Not good." There could be times where the pastor, Pastor Ken, as we call him lovingly, says, "Hey, Tony, that's not right." But it could be a good friend that says, "What are you doing? What are you doing? That's not right." And I I could And when you come up to somebody and say, "Hey, that's not good." They always listen, right? They're always like, "Yep, yep, yep. I'm wrong. I'll change." No.
(17:11) But it takes patience. It takes love. It takes endurance. But it takes sternness sometimes to say to you know we're some at work we're non a lot of us are non-confrontational. We don't we don't want to we don't want to stir the pot. We'll just kind of work around certain things. We can't work around certain things in uh obeying God's law.
(17:38) All right. We can't just do part of it. I think Mr. L gave a sermon on that a couple months ago about you can't just almost keep it keep the law. You have to fully keep it right. And so we have to hold each other accountable sometimes and help us help each other out. Let's turn to James chapter 5.
(17:59) James chapter 5. Sometimes an individual can save another individual and by doing that can save the whole. We definitely want to save the whole because that little bit of leaven could spread into even our own lives. the ones whom who want to remove that leaven in 19 in chapter 5 and verse 19 brethren and if anyone among you so it's talking about the group he's saying pay attention to the group pay attention to the whole look at the individuals that are around you if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back let him know that he who turns
(18:50) a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. We are here to help one another. Everyone here around us is here to help us. throughout the church, a great big body of individuals. We've seen it in the past, a little bit of levan preached from the top can spread into an entire body and it breaks apart and then we come back together.
(19:35) Now, we've been an organization, a physical organization for 30 years, desperately trying to hold on to the truth to make sure it's a part of our lives and it's something that we preach every week, God's word, his truth, his way of life. We're here to do that. Let's move to what we are celebrating tomorrow. The feast of Pentecost.
(20:04) What is the special symbol that each household was to bring on the feast of Pentecost? Leviticus Leviticus chapter 23. Leviticus chapter 23. and verse 17. Leviticus chapter 23. Well, start in verse 15, which is the beginning of the feast of weeks. I do that because people take notes and they write 17 and now they have to scribble it out and write 15. I'm not the best speaker.
(20:49) Uh just trying just getting into trouble. But verse 15, it says, 'Then you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheath of the wave offering, seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count 50 days from the day of the seventh Sabbath, and you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord.
(21:08) You shall bring from your dwellings, your dwellings. So this was every household. You shall bring from your dwellings two waveloaves of 2/10 of an eff. They shall be made of fine flour. They shall be baked with leavenan. They are the first fruits to the Lord. Every household was to do this.
(21:34) How many Passover lambs were slaughtered or killed or slain, however you want to I I don't know, however you want to say it. Not as many as there were loaves because even then the you know twice as many you think twice as many but then some households who were smaller combined for the Passover. How many pieces of bread the priests have to work with on the feast of Pentecost? It was a lot.
(22:04) How many people are God is God working with or has worked with or will work with how many you are an individual within that body that God has specifically called out. He wants us to be part of the whole part of the body. Every household was to bring these two loaves. And of course, talking about the two loaves, I'm going to go into everything that I know about what each of those loaves represented.
(22:49) And now that that's over with, let's turn to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. You know, one of the things that uh Mr. Corbett did teach me, one of the many things he said, you have to preach from the word of God. And some things are good for Bible studies and to think and to but when you're in the podium, you got to say what's in the word of God.
(23:16) I wish there was a book like Hebrews on atonement, first Corinthians on uh unleavened bread. There was a book on every single holy day and what everything meant. That would be just great. But there isn't. So some things we have to know that God said that they to do them, but we have to uh preach and understand what's in the word of God.
(23:42) So I will read the word of God when it comes to the day of Pentecost on Acts chapter 2. Two for the two loaves, I guess. No, I'm kidding. We want to see the group on the feast of Pentecost, but we want to see the individuals on the feast of Pentecost. Verse one, when the day of Pentecost had fully come, and they were with all with one accord.
(24:09) They were all there together in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven and of as of mighty rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house. The whole house was filled where they were sitting, and there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and one one sat upon each of them. Every single individual was given God's Holy Spirit as a part of the whole.
(24:48) So we see that the Holy Spirit is poured out, but each individual had what appeared to them divided tongues as of fire. And they were all all of them filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. How does this apply to us today? I think it's very similar to feast of unleavened bread.
(25:28) We are all given and filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, when you were baptized, were you baptized with five people and the pastor had to try and figure out how to lay hands on five people? No. Who did the pastor, who did the man who baptized you, who did he lay hands on? You, an individual. You were filled with God's Holy Spirit. You were.
(25:56) Verse 15. Let's look at verse 15 of Acts chapter 2. Peter's saying here, "For these are not drunk as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken of the of the by the prophet Joel. And it ca and it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my spirit on who? On all flesh. On all flesh.
(26:23) And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your young men shall see dreams. Your old men shall dream visions. The Holy Spirit is poured out upon the whole. When you received Holy Spirit with the Holy Spirit, how did you receive it as an individual who and the elders laid hands upon you? God sees the whole. He sees everyone.
(26:53) He looks at every single one of those two loaves that we were to that they were to take to the uh tabernacle. He sees every single one of those. But those were a lot of loaves to deal with. A lot of loaves. There is another holy day that had a special symbol for every single household. What holy day is that? It's in the name. A feast of tabernacles. Tabernacles.
(27:33) I was thinking I was oh when I was developing the message I was thinking oh the the spring holy days are just really focused on the individual aspect of what we do to uh as we live our lives toward uh and walk down that path of salvation. the whole and the fall holy days are more about the whole, right? I'm thinking of atonement, right? The one goat that was slain for the entire I'm thinking but and they just knocked me outside the head.
(27:59) What about the tabernacles? So, my my plan was was that uh my clever idea was was squashed away uh with the word of God says, "Hey, look at my word. Don't think of your own clever ideas." So, Leviticus 23, let's look at his word and see what he has to say. And this picture that we have of a tabernacle, right? What is this? What is this tabernacle that we have? And how does it apply to us as individuals? And then thinking about what does it mean? And how does it apply that we looking towards the fall holy days as the whole? How are we as individuals part of
(28:40) the whole when it comes to the next few holy days we will celebrate? Verse 39 of Leviticus chapter 23. It says, "Also on the 15th day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep a feast of the Lord for seven days, and on the first day there shall be a Sabbath rest, and on the eighth day a Sabbath rest.
(29:07) And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the bows of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. Verse 42 says, "You shall dwell in booths for seven days." Every household was to dwell in a booth for seven days.
(29:32) And so Big Sandy decided to have a booth city, I guess. I don't know. I wasn't there. I think Mr. Gothal is probably the only one. I don't know. Anybody in the Big Sandy? Oh, a couple three. My parents My parents as well were in Big Sandy with Mr. and Mrs. Sexton. So, they had Booth City, but here we were they were to dwell in Booths.
(29:59) Why? What's the purpose of the booth? What does it represent for us as individuals? Ow. O how we're temporary. Some of us are getting to realize just how temporary we are. Some of us think we're not temporary at all and we do stupid things. But we're temporary. We're temporary dwellings. God wants us to understand that, to see it.
(30:30) Why does he want us to see us as temporary? because he wants us to look forward to when we are permanent, eternal. Let's turn to first Peter. First Peter in chapter 2. He wants us and he sees us as the whole individuals as part of the whole. And he uses the holy days to show us that he sees us as individuals but as part of the whole.
(31:16) Verse uh 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 11. Well, let's start actually in in verse nine. Verse nine. But you are a chosen generation. Entire group of people. An entire generation. A royal priesthood. A holy nation. His own special people. You are a part of that. You are an individual within the group of people that are his special people and a part of his holy nation that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out.
(32:00) John 6 and verse 44. Out of what? The world and drew you to who? Jesus Christ. Who did that? God the Father singled you out to become a part of this whole. Called you out of dark out of darkness and into his marvelous light. Once who were once not a people but are now a whole a people who had not obtained mercy but have now obtained mercy.
(32:33) Beloved, I beg you as sojourers and pilgrims. You are temporary. You're here for a short amount of time. Abstain from your fleshly lusts. Obey God's laws which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak speak against you as evildoers, they may they may by your goods works which they observe glorify God.
(33:01) when when it's their turn and their time according to God's plan to walk the same path towards salvation that you are on today so that they as individuals can now become a part of the whole. They may glorify God in the day of visitation. What happens to us as individuals when Christ returns? Let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
(33:47) 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 50. This is what we're looking forward to. I know some of us more so maybe other of us, some of us feel pain on a daily basis. We struggle every single day. And so do what do we look for? What do we yearn for every single day? We yearn for a body that doesn't hurt.
(34:13) We learn yearn for a time where we don't cry. when we don't face struggles, we look for a time when we are no longer flesh and blood. In verse 50, it says, "Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Our temporary bodies cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery.
(34:38) We shall not all sleep, but we all shall be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corrup corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption and this mortal has put on immortality, then it then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.
(35:13) Death is swallowed up in victory. Each one of us will not be transformed into a big blob of an eternal bo being will we? Each one of us will be an eternal being permanent forever and ever reigning with Jesus Christ as the whole with him as the head. Every single one of us will have this new body. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 starting in 15 says, "For this we say to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord himself
(36:17) will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and the with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will raise first, and then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up as a whole, together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord as a whole in the air. And thus we as individuals, part of the whole, shall be with the Lord.
(36:53) And so we comfort one another with these words because that's what we're looking for. That's what we're looking towards. God's holy day plan shows us that we are individuals and that God has singled us out, but that we are together as a whole. It's a beautiful, beautiful picture that God has given us so that we can have hope and understand.
(37:25) Couple more scriptures here in John chapter 3. John chapter 3. I asked one lovely lady today said, "What does John chapter 3:16 say?" Well, everyone knows what John chapter 3:16. What does John chapter 3 verse4 say? John chapter 3 verse 15 and 17 say the same thing. So I'm going to read both for fun but because they have important meaning.
(38:03) They show that God has the whole in mind but also the individual. John chapter 3 and verse14. John chapter 3 and verse 14. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the son of man shall be lifted up. Now, Moses had to raise the serpent for what? The Israelites were doing the Israel thing. Now, no offense to Israel people here, but at the in their time, they like to complain. They like to uh disobey.
(38:35) So, what did God send them? a whole bunch of snakes and they bit them and they were a lot of them died as a plague of snakes. And so God told Moses to make this bronze serpent, Nahushin is what they called it later on and lift it up in the desert. And so right when it was lifted up, what happened? There's a big shock wave that went out and everyone was healed, right? No. No, it wasn't.
(39:06) Christ died for all of us. What do we have to do? What do we have to do as individuals? The son of man was lifted up for everyone. The serpent was lifted up for everyone. What did they have to do? Verse 15, that whoever believes, the individual that believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
(39:29) What did the Israelites have to do in order to be healed? They had to go and look at the serpent and then they were healed. The serpent was there all the way over there. But if they did not go over there and look at it as an individual, they would not have lived. John 3 and verse 16.
(39:58) For God so loved the world, the whole the entire world. And we see that throughout God's holy day plan. What do we see in the last great day, that eighth day of the feast, we see that God has the whole in mind. And it doesn't just stop with us being resurrected and what we're hoping for. It goes on to think about the whole.
(40:22) God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that each individual that believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God saw and sees and will see the whole forever. How can we learn from God's holy days how we can be individuals who obey God as well as being a part of the whole to support and to help the whole observe God's laws to help them understand to teach them to protect them to hold them accountable What's our role? How do we see that in each of God's holy days? What different aspect of God's holy days? That's kind
(41:18) of a homework question because I don't have time to go through every single holy day and come I've given you a couple of ideas, I hope. But hopefully you can do some research on your own and think about it in that in that type of light. What does God want me to learn about how I live my life? But what does God want me to learn so I can help be a part of the whole? Let's turn to one final scripture passage of scripture.
(41:54) 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Some of the old uh experienced speakers were saying, "I wonder when he's going to 1 Corinthians chapter 12." The answer was at the end. At the end, but it's no less important. 1 Corinthians chap 12 and verse 20. Now indeed there are many members, many individuals, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you.
(42:34) Nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. No, much rather those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. They seem to be weaker, but they are not. They seem they are necessary and you as individuals are necessary for the entire body of Jesus Christ. You are necessary for the whole and those members of the body which we think to be less honorable on these we spo we bestow greater honor and our unrepresentable parts have greater modesty but our presentable parts have no need. We are all part of the body little
(43:17) pieces. I like to think of myself as the funny bone. And whenever I say a joke, it hurts really bad. Just hurts. That was a painful joke itself. But we're all necessary. We're all part of the whole. But what does it say? Our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the whole out of individuals. God has composed the body, having g given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.
(44:03) And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. If one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ and members individually. God's holy day plan has specific instruction for our individual lives. It teaches us what his goal for us was, what he did for us in the past, and everything in between.
(44:41) Let's learn tomorrow about his feast of Pentecost, about how we can apply that within our own lives. But let's also as we observe tomorrow, feast of trumpets, atonement, tabernacles, the eighth day, let's think about how we as individuals can be a part of the whole. How can we love one another? How can we serve one another? How can we at times hold each other accountable? And then as a whole forgive one another.
(45:29) Let's think about ourselves as the individual as God sees you and has called you out. But let's think of ourselves as the individuals who make up the whole. The way that God sees the whole body of his son Jesus