Transcript

Truth Set Free Q&A · Crosswalk

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Jesus tells us to take up our cross and follow
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Him. You're listening to Crosswalk with Pastor
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Steve Winnery. Crosswalk is the radio ministry
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of Calvary Chapel Tri -Cities and it is our aim
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to lead you to the cross through the teaching
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of God's Word. Today's crosswalk is pre -recorded
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from True Set Free. People that God does not
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value specifically because of their sinful actions,
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attitudes, and teachings. Can you unpack the
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part where it's because as a believer they're
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my objective? I want to lead these people to
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the Lord. But there's a difference. He's talking
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about false teachers here. Okay, so you're so
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specific to guys who are teaching a false gospel.
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Right. Not just sinners. Yeah, we're not talking
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about unbelievers. We're talking about people
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who claim to be Christians and they are false.
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So they're either into false doctrine or, you
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know, as he says in verse 22, they are not those
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who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Right.
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They're phonies. And so, when you look at the
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way that Jesus specifically treats groups of
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people, the group of people that he came down
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on the most radically were phony people who claimed
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to be following the Lord, and specifically the
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scribes and the Pharisees, not all of them. because
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obviously you have Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea,
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and Nicodemus was a Pharisee. And so, not all
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of them, but the phonies. And so, when you're
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talking about unbelievers, the way that Jesus
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treated unbelievers is like lost sheep, basically.
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And so, they are the objective. The way that
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he treated sinful believers is with rebukes and
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correction. The way that he treated hypocrites
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... was with radical rebukes and condemnations,
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not corrections. And see, Jesus, in the span
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of his ministry, going from correcting the scribes
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and the Pharisees to rebuking them harshly. When
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you get to Matthew 23, for example, it's one
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of the most radical rebukes that you have in
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the Bible, and it's directed to those guys. That's
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not even something that's confined to the New
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Testament. You have exactly the same thing in
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the Old Testament. And so when you get these
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situations where you've got people who claim
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to be followers of Christ and they are nothing
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but complete and total phonies. And I'm not talking
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about sinners. I'm talking about phonies. Those
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are the ones you reject. Those are the ones that
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you turn away from. And so anytime, for example,
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that you have the Bible telling us to step away
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from people, it's specifically not talking about
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unbelievers in that sense. It's talking about
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phony believers. So here's another one. This
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is in Romans 16. And it says now I urge you this
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is 1617 now I urge you brethren note those or
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mark those who caused divisions and offenses
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contrary to the doctrine which you learned and
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Avoid them for those who are such do not serve
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our Lord Jesus Christ But their own belly and
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by smooth words and flattering speech to see
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the hearts of the simple again You know getting
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on social media and looking at all these supposed
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you know, teachers who come up with something
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brand new and awesome. And a lot of times it's
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just nothing but nonsense. And he goes on and
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he says, for your obedience has become known
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to all, therefore I'm glad on your behalf. But
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I want you to be wise in what is good and simple
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concerning evil. And you know, when you're obedient
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to the Lord, you're a target for Satan. And he
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brings people like this to try to wreck you.
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and they're to be turned away from. 1st Timothy
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chapter 5 talks about turning away from those
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who say gain is godliness. You step away from
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them. As soon as they're saying that being godly
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is a way to get rich, you step away from those
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people. And so there's another number of groups
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that the Bible talks about separating yourself
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from because they are vessels for dishonor. So
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that's what that's talking about. When you look
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and it says in their message will spread like
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cancer, he names two of them. How would you distinguish
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between this class, this group, and when he says,
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if they're not against us, leave them alone?
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I can't remember the specific verse. You know
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the one I'm talking about, I'm sure, but where
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they're talking about, hey, leave them alone,
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even though they're... Yeah. Even though the
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apostles come up to Jesus and say, hey, there's
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people who are, gosh, I think it was casting
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out demons in your name. And we told them to
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stop, or maybe it was preaching the word. I can't
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remember the specifics. But Jesus said, don't
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forbid them, because if they're not against us,
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they're for us. Right. That's the passage. Yeah.
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So how do you, because there's a lot of interdenominational
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fights. There's a lot of, I was just talking
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about that with Billy the other day. Someone
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made a whole movie picking on a group of people.
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And he threw it in that verse that you just quoted
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and said, you know, these Christians are starting
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a storm. And it's not to be done that way. We're
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picking apart Christians. You know, we've talked
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about before where there's literally ministries
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on the internet and all they're doing is picking
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apart Christians. So what, and I know this is
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a case by case basis, maybe not a fair question
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to try to explain, but how do you distinguish
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between that group, hey, leave them alone if
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they're not against us, they're for us, and this
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group? Well, when you're looking at those guys,
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they're not saying anything unbiblical. They're
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trying to reach people, and, oh, it was baptizing,
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is what was happening. They're trying to reach
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people, and they just weren't in the apostles'
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group. And so they're doing the work of God.
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They're in actuality doing the work of God. Jesus
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said, leave them alone, you know? Don't get on
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them. This case with Hymenaeus and Philetus,
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They're teaching false doctrine and what they
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were teaching had to do with actually eschatology
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of all things when the resurrection takes place
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and so that's a pretty radical standard because
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a lot of times in our culture when we're looking
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at Things like eschatology we go. Well, that
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doesn't matter. Well, Paul said it did And he
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says what they're doing is overthrowing the faith
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of some And so, I think that that right there
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is where it comes in. When you've got somebody
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who's teaching something that's wrecking somebody's
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faith in Christ, I don't care what the teaching
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is. It's going to be a false teaching, but if
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you're wrecking their faith in Christ, then we've
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got a problem here. And so, you know, there's
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that, gosh, I can't remember the quote, but,
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in the essentials unity, in the non -essentials
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charity, or actually, in the non -essentials,
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oh, I can't remember the quote. i'm trying to
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find yeah you're trying to find it in the essentials
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unity in the non -essentials i can't remember
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what the statement was but in the non -essentials
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liberty liberty in all things charity yeah there
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you go liberty and so there are things that are
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non -essential and again one of the things that
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i pay attention to obviously is if it's talking
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about jesus that's essential if it's talking
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about salvation that's essential in this instance
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overthrowing somebody's faith as far as a last
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day's message, that apparently is essential.
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Yeah, that came up before in Thessalonians where
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they're like, hey, we missed the resurrection.
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Right. And he's like, no, you didn't. If you
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miss resurrection, then you'd see this and this
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and this. We're not there yet. Yeah. And that's
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rocking the faith. You know, if you're a believer
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and you're like, hey, I'm still here. But I don't
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know. You just hit me with that. I'm just kind
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of verbal processing this right now. But that's
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a huge viewpoint. in major denominations because
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their eschatological view puts the rapture in
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a different place. It basically makes it the
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same as the second coming. And there's a huge
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thing going on here with the resurrection. It's
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talking about multiple different things. But
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interesting point is they're messing around with
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that and it's causing the faith of some to stumble.
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Yeah. I mean, again, when you look at the book
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of Revelation, there's a curse. There's a blessing
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at the beginning. Anybody who reads this book
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and does the words that are found in it. there's
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going to be a blessing on them. And at the end,
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if you take away from the words of this book,
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you mess around with it, then God's going to
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add to you all the curses that are found in it.
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And so, don't be messing with the book of Revelation,
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you know? And so— You know what a lot of people
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do is they mess with the book of Revelation?
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Yeah. And then this is what I hear them say,
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but, you know, who can know it because there's
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all these symbols and it's not like anyone can
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actually know that. Well, there's a blessing
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for knowing it and a curse for not knowing it.
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So, is God being unreasonable? And it's usually
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the guys that they want to allegorize. And then
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they go, ah, who can know it? Yeah. And so, they
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need to take, you know, pay attention to the
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end of the book because you don't want to mess
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around with that. I take God seriously, you know
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on those things I think that's the reason that
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the same one was made because Jesus always knew
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you're gonna have these clowns who come along
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and They try to allegorize everything and say
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that God doesn't mean what he's actually saying
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in a passage And so again, you got to be careful
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with that But generally speaking when I'm looking
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at this kind of stuff as far as denominational
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practices and things like that There's a lot
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of things that different Christians do That I
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could just care less about You know, it's like
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they get on their little things and they want
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to go in a certain direction. And sometimes it's
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because of a lack of knowledge and sometimes
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it's because of a preference and that kind of
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stuff. But when you start getting to things that
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are going to undermine the faith of people, that's
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when God begins stepping in and saying, step
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away. So that's what I would be looking at. All
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right. All right. This is my next one. It says
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this. I was wondering. Since God doesn't deal
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in time in heaven as we do on earth, what happens
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when a baby dies here on earth? Do they age in
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heaven? Our daughter delivered a baby nine years
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ago that died in the womb. Is she still a baby
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or is she nine years old? How old will she be
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when we see her when we're taken to heaven? What
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does the Bible say about babies? You know what?
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The Bible, I don't know a passage that actually
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speaks to that. When you see people in heaven,
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all that you ever see are adults. And so it's
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men and women and there's still men and women
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but you see adults in heaven and so That doesn't
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leave out the idea that God couldn't have kids
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there I don't want to make that a dogmatic statement,
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but I don't think so. I think that when we go
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to heaven whether when you die or When the Lord
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comes back and takes us home that you're at the
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perfect age. The Bible talks about no more sorrow.
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Let me read you the passage. This is in Revelation
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chapter 21, and it says, and God will wipe away
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every tear from their eyes. There shall be no
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more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall
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be no more pain for the former things have passed
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away. And so, you have an idyllic state when
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you get to heaven. And so there's nothing that
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causes pain. There's nothing that causes crying.
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Sorrow is taken away. Obviously, there's not
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gonna be any type of deformity, that kind of
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thing. And so heaven's gonna be perfect. And
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so we're gonna be perfect in heaven. So what
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does that mean? And so I think there's a perfect
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state for the human body. And that's how you're
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going to be resurrected. When you're in heaven,
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that's how you're going to exist when you're
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in heaven And so probably something similar to
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like an adam and eve thing, right? Yeah, I think
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so. Yeah And so jesus is the example his body
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was raised And so obviously he was about 33 years
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old when he died And his body was raised and
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he was recognizable. They recognized him as jesus
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There were times when they didn't but you know,
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they knew him as jesus. They could see who he
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was and so again you have his body perfected,
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except for in Christ's instance, he still had
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the marks of the crucifixion. Yeah, that's an
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interesting picture. It looks like he retains
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those for eternity, the marks of the Lamb, which
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is wild to think about. Yeah, it's marks of his
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love for us. But all the rest of us, I think
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that we're in a perfect state. Most of my hair
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is gone. Well, not most of my hair, but a lot
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of my hair is gone. Hair on the top of my head
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is gone. And so I think that when I get to heaven,
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I will get all of my hair back because otherwise
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I will be in pain and I will be sorrowing. Or
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it's the reverse because baldliness is next to
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godliness. So maybe everyone's bald. It could
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be. Or maybe all the people with full heads of
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hair are bald and I have a full head of hair
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because God is fair. There you go. Yeah. So so
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many options. Yeah, this is what I believe I
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believe that when a person goes to heaven that
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they're at their perfect state and So what's
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your perfect state and I don't know I had a full
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head of hair when I was 18. So there you go And
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I had a big old huge neck and all that stuff
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and yeah, but I have bigger arms now So I think
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it's yeah, I think there's a combination That's
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got to go on there. Yeah. Yeah Totally and you
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might not even have to pump iron, you know, you're
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just gonna have a locked -in. That's right. So
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good. Yeah, I can't wait All right. Good on babies.
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Yeah, I'll don't Steff stealth drone tech is
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on YouTube and asks what about Muslims question
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mark Are they the enemy and he says there's three
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countries now? blaming Israel, you know what
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I had a Maybe I'll throw this one in here now
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because I had another question on this. Can you
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give us an update on Israel and how the Iran
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situation is? If at all applies to the end times.
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Thanks. So maybe you could just give us Muslims
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attacking Israel. What's the situation? How does
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that apply? Well, are they the enemy? Abraham
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a covenant those who curse you I will curse those
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who bless you I will bless and if they're cursing
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God and attacking the people of God God takes
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those things personally. And that doesn't matter
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whether you're talking about Jews or whether
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you're talking about Christians. So with the
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Christians, Jesus, when he was talking to Saul
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of Tarsus at that time, he said, Saul, Saul,
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why are you persecuting me? And what he's telling
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him is, I'm taking this personally. You're killing
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Christians. You're going after them. You're persecuting
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them. You're persecuting me. And he knocks Saul
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off his horse and turns things around for him.
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You see the same thing with the persecution of
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the Jews coming out of Egypt. King of Moab calls
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for Balaam to curse the people of Israel from
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three different heights, overlooking the people
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of Israel. And when Balaam goes to God, God gives
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him nothing but a blessing for those people,
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and specifically reiterates what was stated.
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by God to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12, those
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who bless you, I will bless those who curse you,
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I will curse. And so you put yourself in that
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position and you are an enemy of the people of
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Israel, obviously, and you become an enemy of
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God at that point. And so that's what the Bible
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teaches, that you have to watch the way that
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you handle the people of Israel. And again, that's
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not confined to Genesis. It's not confined to
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Numbers. You see that throughout the whole Old
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Testament. And then you see what happens to nations
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that go after the Jews. Okay, I'm going to open
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a can of worms here, and hopefully it's not a
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long thing. But I'm constantly getting into discussions,
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and a lot of this is with Christians. And what
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they want to do is—and it goes back to their
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understanding or lack thereof of the Abrahamic
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covenant, which you just pointed to—but they
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want to do is they want to make Jews a cursed
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people because they're in disobedience to God.
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And what they'll do is they'll say, okay, why
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am I supposed to bless this group that is no
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different than all the other heathens of the
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world? So, could you just talk—and I know this
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could take a long time to unpack, but this is
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the premise. They're looking at Israel as a cursed
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people, and they go, how am I supposed to bless
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this awful thing that they're doing? And then
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they'll give some extravagant example and they'll
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throw them into the category of a lost, heathen,
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unbelieving nation. And they can't get past this
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promise that God gave them because it's different
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than the promise that He gave to Christians in
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the church in the sense of you have a rebellious
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people, but they're in this group where God made
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a covenant with them, land and blessing. Does
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that make sense? Yeah, this is really simple,
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okay? So, first off, what group of people are
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we allowed to curse? Is there anyone? From a
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Christian viewpoint, no. Yeah. So, shut up. No,
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like, seriously, shut your mouth. We're not allowed
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to curse anybody. Right. And so, you don't get
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to do that. And what group of people are we not
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allowed to bless? There isn't one. Right. So,
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sermon on the mount, dude. You know, it's like,
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and so why are you trying to make a distinction
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between every heathen on the stinking planet
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and the people of Israel? And they're specifically
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the ones that you want to go around cursing.
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You know, do you even know Jesus? When I get
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into conversations like that with people, number
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one, get off the internet because you have no
18:42
discernment. And pick your Bible up and start
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reading it. And you might start at the Sermon
18:49
on the Mount. You might start there. And so,
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again, when you're looking at this kind of situation,
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the Bible says that I'm supposed to be good to
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my family. I'm supposed to love them. And I'm
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supposed to be taking care of them. I'm supposed
19:06
to be good to my friends. I'm supposed to be
19:09
good to the people in my church. I'm supposed
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to be good to those who spitefully use me. I'm
19:14
supposed to bless those who spitefully use me.
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And so you don't have a group of people that
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you get to do this with. And so again, my answer
19:24
is shut your mouth. Shut up, dummy. So I'm just
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done. I'm done with you. Yeah. Come on. And so,
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again, you have that. And then on top of that,
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God gets to make any kind of rules He wants to.
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And so, if God says, I know that there's, you
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know, how many places in the Bible are they called
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stiff -necked and rebellious? And judged by God.
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Yeah. How many places? It's like the whole Old
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Testament. From the very get -go. Every single
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one of these people. You talk about Abraham,
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Abraham did not do what God told him to. It was
20:02
always in complete obedience until you get to
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chapter 22. And then all of a sudden, the guy's
20:07
obedient. It just goes for it. And when you get
20:12
to chapter 25, he dies. And you look at the same
20:17
thing with Isaac, and he's the chosen son, and
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he gets married at 40, doesn't have kids for
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20 years, because he just assumed that he was
20:24
going to have them. And God deals with him. And
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Isaac disobeys, too, in the same way that Abraham
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did. And then you get Jacob, and Jacob's a piece
20:33
of work. And you go down to Moses, and Moses
20:37
did better, but still, Moses had his issues.
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When Israel starts out—and again, you know, we've
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talked about this a number of times— Israel starts
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out violating the covenant, the Mosaic covenant,
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and God goes, I'm going to kill them all. And
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then Moses, the only reason that God continued
20:57
to work with the people of Israel is because
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he forced Moses into an intercessor's position
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where Moses claims the Abrahamic covenant. And
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then God goes, okay. And I totally believe that
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the reason that God did that with Moses is so
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that Moses would understand that he's not blessing
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these people because they're the greatest. or
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because they're wonderful or because you know
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or any any reason like that he's blessing them
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based on the promise that he gave to abraham
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and that's it and again as you go through the
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old testament in the new testament it's always
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a situation where it comes down to the abrahamic
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covenant and that's why god takes care of these
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guys okay so you so so you already so again simple
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version is you don't get to curse anybody yeah
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so you already made the point that and usually
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What I see with a lot of this group is that they're
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not taking the stuff that Vladimir Putin's doing
21:56
in Russia or Ukraine or Afghanistan. Because
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they're anti -Semitic. They're using these things
22:04
and then going and applying it to Israel. Right.
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Exclusively. Because they're anti -Semitic. And
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they are anti -Semitic because they are under
22:13
the deception of Satan. That's why. So, when
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you're looking at this and not cursing a group
22:20
of people, and let's just use the Muslims, because
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that's the topic that was brought up in this
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question, I can abhor or hate or despise some
22:29
of the things that Muslims are doing. Right.
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But it doesn't mean that I have to curse all
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Muslims. Exactly. You know, and actually, when
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I look at the whole situation with Jews and Muslims,
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just to kind of put it on the other foot, the
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Bible... in Romans chapter 11 talks about hardness
22:46
of heart. Hardness has happened to the Jews in
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part until the fullness of the Gentiles comes
22:51
in. And so there is a judicial hardness that
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has come from God on the Jewish people. It's
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why they're not converting in mass. And that
23:02
judicial hardness is taken away when the fullness
23:04
of the Gentiles comes in. And so that's going
23:07
to take place during the tribulation. And that's
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when you see Jews coming into a relationship
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with the Lord en masse. And you see this in Zechariah
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12 through 14. And we can go to the book of Amos,
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the book of Ezekiel, the book of all over the
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place. You have this prophecy that large numbers
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of the people of Israel are going to come into
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a relationship with Christ in the last days.
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And again, God knows what he's talking about.
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When I'm looking at Muslims, although some Muslims
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have done heinous things, one atrocity after
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another atrocity after another atrocity caused
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by Muslims. And so they've got a rich history
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of being wicked people, right? And even having
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said that, they don't have a judicial heartness.
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That's all the time we have for today. If you
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have questions for Pastor Steve, please email
24:00
me at crosswalkradio at gmail .com. or you can
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leave a voicemail or text message to 707 -872
24:07
-7677. Crosswalk is the radio ministry of Calvary
24:11
Chapel Tri -Cities in Kennewick, Washington.
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If you're wanting to know more about what it
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means to follow Christ, then please contact our
24:17
church office by phone at 509 -736 -2086. You
24:22
can also look us up online at calvary -tricities
24:26
.org. There you will find a wide variety of Steve's
24:29
teachings to listen to or to download for free.
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If you want to join us for church sometime, we're
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located at 10 -611 West Clearwater Avenue in
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Kennewick, Washington. Our Sunday service times
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are 8 .30 and 10 .30 a .m. We also meet at 6
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p .m. Sundays and 6 .30 p .m. Wednesdays in our
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sanctuary. We hope you have been blessed today
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and will join us again next time on Crosswalk.