Latest / NewLife OnDemand / Open Line with Dr. Michael Rydelnik - Hour 3: October 24, 2026 - Introducing Dr. Rick Melson

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Open Line with Dr. Michael Rydelnik - Hour 3: October 24, 2026 - Introducing Dr. Rick Melson · NewLife OnDemand

• 0:08
  S1: Hello, friends. It's time for this third hour of Open
• 0:12
  S1: line third hour. It's the very first time we've done
• 0:14
  S1: three hours of open line. Uh, it's our new schedule
• 0:18
  S1: beginning at 8:00 central. Going all the way to 11.
• 0:23
  S1: This is our third hour. I hope you'll join me
• 0:26
  S1: in the future for the first hour. Glad you're here
• 0:28
  S1: for the third hour. My name is Michael Redlich. I'm
• 0:31
  S1: professor of Jewish Studies and Bible, and I'm professor emeritus
• 0:35
  S1: of Jewish Studies and Bible here at Moody Bible Institute.
• 0:37
  S1: This is Moody Radio's Bible study across America. It's where
• 0:41
  S1: we answer your questions about the Bible, God, and the
• 0:44
  S1: spiritual life. If you have a question, now's a great
• 0:46
  S1: time to call. The phone number is (877) 548-3675. Or you
• 0:52
  S1: can go to our website, Open Line radio.org. Click on
• 0:55
  S1: the link that says Ask Michael a question and then
• 0:59
  S1: you can post it right there and we'll put it
• 1:01
  S1: in the mailbag for the future. Joining me today, as
• 1:04
  S1: you've heard, if you've been listening to the first two hours,
• 1:06
  S1: Eva Riedel, Nick's been here with me. I figure with
• 1:08
  S1: an extra hour, how am I going to get people
• 1:09
  S1: to listen? I'll bring Eva on because people always like
• 1:12
  S1: listening to her. But I also, for the third hour,
• 1:15
  S1: got a special guest, doctor Rick Nielsen, the brand new
• 1:18
  S1: president of Moody Bible Institute. I am so glad you're
• 1:22
  S1: here to join me for Open Line. This. I bet
• 1:25
  S1: you've never even listened to Open Line before.
• 1:27
  S2: Well, I have had a few opportunities to hear Open Line,
• 1:30
  S2: so I'm really delighted to join you all. And we
• 1:32
  S2: had a wonderful lunch not too long ago. I got
• 1:35
  S2: to meet your wonderful wife and it's always great to
• 1:37
  S2: meet the better half, you know?
• 1:39
  S1: So that makes me look better, doesn't it?
• 1:41
  S2: Oh, without a doubt. Yeah. And it's a joy to
• 1:43
  S2: be at Moody.
• 1:44
  S1: Yeah. I'm so glad. And this is. We just completed
• 1:47
  S1: your first Founder's week. Founder's week is great Bible conference.
• 1:51
  S2: It's incredible. Yeah. Absolutely incredible. The people of God together
• 1:54
  S2: come together to open the Word of God and sing
• 1:57
  S2: together and worship together. And I said, it's a little
• 2:00
  S2: bit of camp meeting, a little bit of revival, a
• 2:02
  S2: little bit of Bible conference, a little bit of alumni reunion.
• 2:06
  S2: And it's like a family reunion of God's people coming together.
• 2:09
  S1: Yeah, yeah. This this was Eva's 50th anniversary. Yeah.
• 2:13
  S3: I graduated in 76.
• 2:14
  S2: Oh my goodness. You were part of that class?
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  S1: Yeah.
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  S2: Yeah.
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  S1: She's 39 years old. So it's a very.
• 2:19
  S3: A very young graduate. Yeah.
• 2:21
  S2: Very, very young 50 year graduate.
• 2:25
  S1: So yeah, we were, we were, we were married as
• 2:28
  S1: children as what the deal is. That's it. Anyway, I'm
• 2:31
  S1: so glad you're here. I got to ask you, just
• 2:33
  S1: a personal question. Last night, the first time you preached
• 2:35
  S1: at Founder's Week. I've preached at Founder's Week before. Were
• 2:39
  S1: you nervous?
• 2:40
  S2: Well, of course. You know, anytime you stand before a
• 2:42
  S2: group of people and open God's Word, you're always, you know,
• 2:45
  S2: there's a sense of of gravitas and responsibility, of opening
• 2:48
  S2: the Word of God and to think about the history
• 2:50
  S2: and legacy of Founder's Week and to be in front
• 2:52
  S2: of not just the people that are there in the room,
• 2:55
  S2: but the people on radio and the people that are
• 2:57
  S2: tuning in across the world. You want to be faithful
• 3:00
  S2: to God's Word. When you open God's Word and speak
• 3:03
  S2: from God's Word. And I just try to let God's
• 3:05
  S2: Word speak for itself.
• 3:06
  S1: That's right. That's the way to do it. I do
• 3:08
  S1: remember the first time I spoke at Founder's Week. It
• 3:10
  S1: was 2000, and I asked if I could have a microphone,
• 3:15
  S1: like a lavalier mic or something so I could walk around.
• 3:17
  S1: And it was, it was we were meeting at Moody
• 3:19
  S1: Church back then, and the, the guy from radio said, no,
• 3:23
  S1: this is going out across the network and we need
• 3:27
  S1: perfect sound. And so we have to use this microphone here.
• 3:30
  S1: And I said, what? I had no idea that it
• 3:33
  S1: was being broadcast.
• 3:34
  S2: Oh yeah.
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  S1: And I, and I started shaking. I was like, oh no.
• 3:39
  S1: Oh no. It's kind of everyone's going to hear this.
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  S1: So I understand if anyone's nervous, but I think there's a,
• 3:45
  S1: there's a healthy anxiousness anytime we open the word of God.
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  S1: I think that's healthy that, you know, because we know
• 3:53
  S1: that there's a really serious responsibility.
• 3:57
  S2: Well, and I think it helps us to, as the
• 3:58
  S2: proverb says, lean not on our own understanding, but really
• 4:02
  S2: to trust in God in those moments. And just, you know,
• 4:04
  S2: I always say, when I get up in the morning,
• 4:06
  S2: I tell students this every single morning, even this morning,
• 4:08
  S2: when I get up in the morning, I say, God,
• 4:09
  S2: I can't do this on my own. I need your help.
• 4:11
  S2: And that is true in everything that I do. And
• 4:14
  S2: when you are standing in front of people and opening
• 4:16
  S2: God's word, I say the same thing. That quick arrow prayer. God,
• 4:19
  S2: I can't do this on my own. I need your help.
• 4:21
  S2: Speak through me. Allow this Holy Spirit to speak through
• 4:23
  S2: us that we might be able to communicate. Open the
• 4:26
  S2: ears of the listeners, that they might hear and the
• 4:27
  S2: eyes that they might see. And I just pray that
• 4:30
  S2: every single time, because I can't do this on my own.
• 4:32
  S1: Yeah. You know, that's so true. And there, there are
• 4:34
  S1: times when I have done a terrible job. Oh, you know,
• 4:38
  S1: and all of us. Yes. I'm so mad at myself.
• 4:41
  S1: And that's when people come up to me and say,
• 4:42
  S1: the Lord spoke to me when you said this. And
• 4:45
  S1: I'm like, I don't even remember saying that. Or I
• 4:47
  S1: said that. I didn't know that was just like a
• 4:49
  S1: throwaway line. And that's what God used in someone's life. Yes.
• 4:52
  S1: And it's I think that even when we think we.
• 4:56
  S1: And I know when I preach a dog, you know,
• 4:57
  S1: everyone knows that. But somehow God uses that as well.
• 5:01
  S2: I believe he uses imperfect people to, you know, display
• 5:05
  S2: the glorious truths of his word. I told the story
• 5:07
  S2: last night of Edward Kimball, who was the Sunday school
• 5:10
  S2: teacher who led D.L. Moody to Christ. And, you know,
• 5:13
  S2: he had this sense in his own heart that he
• 5:15
  S2: needed to share the gospel with Moody. Moody was a
• 5:17
  S2: shoe salesman. He was a young man in his Sunday
• 5:20
  S2: school class. But in the in the biographies, as you
• 5:23
  S2: read them, Kimball said, you know, on his way, he
• 5:25
  S2: almost turned back just because he wasn't sure. How is
• 5:28
  S2: he going to share the gospel with Moody? But he
• 5:30
  S2: finally finds Moody in the back stock room of this
• 5:32
  S2: shoe store, and he. He begins to have a conversation
• 5:35
  S2: with him. And of course, that conversation turned into a conversion.
• 5:38
  S2: Moody gave his life to Christ, but as. But as
• 5:41
  S2: Edward Kimball left, he thought to himself, wow, I didn't
• 5:43
  S2: do a very good job of that. And you know,
• 5:46
  S2: but but isn't that I mean, we're just called to
• 5:48
  S2: be faithful. I mean, I think that's the part of
• 5:49
  S2: the story that's so important. We're just called to be
• 5:52
  S2: faithful instruments, and God uses that for his glory.
• 5:55
  S1: Exactly. And, you know, I heard the story about the
• 5:59
  S1: the man that God used in a great way that
• 6:01
  S1: no one will ever know his name. And I just
• 6:04
  S1: heard a preacher tell this story. He said that, uh,
• 6:08
  S1: there were two young men. They were going to a
• 6:11
  S1: revival and there was no space for them. There was
• 6:14
  S1: no seats. And they kept walking and an usher saw them.
• 6:17
  S1: And he went and grabbed these two young men and said,
• 6:20
  S1: I'll find you, space. And he found two seats, had
• 6:22
  S1: people move over, put him in there. And one of
• 6:24
  S1: those two men was Billy Graham.
• 6:26
  S2: Oh my goodness.
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  S1: Wow. And and no one will ever know the usher.
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  S2: Wow.
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  S1: But think about what God did with an usher that
• 6:32
  S1: no one knows. Yes. And yet God used that to
• 6:35
  S1: win Billy Graham to the Lord. And how many people
• 6:38
  S1: he reached. Wow. So, so cool, so cool. Okay, so, uh,
• 6:42
  S1: now I know your, uh, your your doctor Nelson, you know, uh,
• 6:48
  S1: PhD in leadership, right? So people think, oh, leadership, you
• 6:53
  S1: haven't studied the Bible. But one of the things that
• 6:56
  S1: I like to tell people is it doesn't matter whether
• 6:58
  S1: you're a doctorates in leadership Bible or no doctorate, no
• 7:03
  S1: graduate degrees. We're all called to be students of God's Word.
• 7:07
  S1: That's right. And so I was hoping you would share
• 7:09
  S1: with our audience how it is that you study the word.
• 7:14
  S2: Yeah. So in God's kindness. Yeah. In God's kindness. I
• 7:17
  S2: came to know Christ as a nine year old boy.
• 7:18
  S2: My mom led me to Christ. I shared last night
• 7:21
  S2: at Founder's Week. I still remember the blue shag carpet
• 7:24
  S2: and the yellow bedspread.
• 7:25
  S3: You know.
• 7:25
  S2: Kneeling beside my mom's bed and praying to receive Christ,
• 7:29
  S2: recognizing I was a sinner in need of a Savior. And,
• 7:31
  S2: you know, that was 1978. So, you know, almost 50
• 7:34
  S2: years ago. Wow. God has been so kind in my life.
• 7:37
  S2: I grew up in a wonderful Christian home. I shared
• 7:39
  S2: some of the story last night of the influences of
• 7:41
  S2: my grandfather on my mother's side and my grandmother on
• 7:44
  S2: my father's side, and just the spiritual heritage and legacy
• 7:47
  S2: that God Um, gave me and it's a gift to
• 7:51
  S2: me and I'm grateful for that. And we talked about
• 7:53
  S2: the importance of the gospel in our lives and being
• 7:55
  S2: entrusted with the gospel and then entrusting it to others
• 7:57
  S2: from Second Timothy. So growing up in a Christian home,
• 8:00
  S2: you know, I was very fortunate and, and grateful that
• 8:03
  S2: I grew up in a great church. So the church
• 8:05
  S2: that we joined in 1971 is the same church that
• 8:08
  S2: my mom is still a member of, and she's been
• 8:10
  S2: there and she still sings in the choir there. She's
• 8:12
  S2: in her early 80s. And, you know, I'm just so
• 8:14
  S2: grateful for that church. That's where I came to know Christ.
• 8:17
  S2: It's where I met my wife. It's where we got married.
• 8:19
  S2: It's that church that sent us off to college and
• 8:22
  S2: that church that sent us off to seminary. So as
• 8:25
  S2: a 17 year old, I felt called to ministry. I
• 8:27
  S2: was inclined in music. I actually studied music undergrad, and
• 8:30
  S2: then I went to the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky,
• 8:33
  S2: Southern Seminary in 1992. And that's where I began to
• 8:37
  S2: really delve into God's Word and begin to understand what
• 8:41
  S2: it is that I believe and why I believed it.
• 8:44
  S1: And in southern, did they have like a worship major
• 8:47
  S1: that went together. There was music and.
• 8:49
  S2: Music and worship and well, I mean, at the time
• 8:51
  S2: it was called church music. Uh, but but you know,
• 8:53
  S2: of course, like all good programs, you know, there was
• 8:56
  S2: wonderful studies of the Bible and God's Word.
• 8:58
  S1: Great. What a great combination because, you know, worship leaders
• 9:01
  S1: have to be word leaders.
• 9:03
  S2: That's exactly right. That's exactly right. And I've always said that,
• 9:06
  S2: you know, the the gift that Southern Seminary was to
• 9:09
  S2: me was to combine, you know, the giftedness that I
• 9:11
  S2: had in music with God's Word. And, you know, I
• 9:14
  S2: was a worship pastor. I was a pastor for a
• 9:16
  S2: number of years. And I became executive pastor and campus
• 9:18
  S2: pastor and lots of other types of things in the
• 9:20
  S2: local church. So I have almost 20 years of pastoral
• 9:23
  S2: ministry in the local church. I had the privilege of
• 9:25
  S2: serving with John Piper at Bethlehem Baptist Church, was actually
• 9:28
  S2: instrumental in starting Bethlehem College and seminary. So it wasn't
• 9:32
  S2: until 1938 that 1938.
• 9:37
  S1: London, everything is 1938.
• 9:39
  S2: 1938 until I was 38, I should say clarify. Yeah. 1938. No,
• 9:43
  S2: I wasn't alive in 1938. Uh, it wasn't until I
• 9:47
  S2: was 38 that I felt God calling me to be
• 9:50
  S2: a university president. And part of that came out of
• 9:54
  S2: launching Bethlehem College and Seminary. I wanted to be the
• 9:56
  S2: first president. And in that sense, I realized, well, I
• 10:00
  S2: don't have a doctorate. And, you know, I knew in
• 10:02
  S2: the education world a PhD would be important. And I
• 10:05
  S2: chose leadership, the discipline of leadership, because I knew leadership
• 10:09
  S2: was across all sectors. And, you know, all areas and
• 10:13
  S2: and I loved the studies of leadership. And I looked
• 10:16
  S2: and I thought, you know, we need good, solid leaders
• 10:19
  S2: in the church, in the business world, in the marketplace
• 10:21
  S2: and everywhere in between.
• 10:22
  S1: So now when, when what's, what's your normal habit for
• 10:26
  S1: Bible reading? Do you have a systematic approach? What do
• 10:28
  S1: you do?
• 10:29
  S2: Lots of different things. So I have a I always
• 10:32
  S2: read New Testament, Old Testament Psalms and Proverbs kind of
• 10:35
  S2: a systematic approach just through the Bible. That's what I
• 10:37
  S2: call just Bible intake. Just, you know, just good reading
• 10:40
  S2: of the word that we're regularly taking in the word.
• 10:44
  S2: And then my wife and I always, you know, think
• 10:46
  S2: through opportunities where we can memorize Scripture together. We've been
• 10:49
  S2: part of churches where we did five verses and, and
• 10:51
  S2: those kinds of things where we're memorizing God's word and
• 10:54
  S2: taking God's word and really, you know, implanting it in
• 10:57
  S2: our hearts and minds and then really meditating on God's Word. So,
• 11:00
  S2: you know, I, I will confess sometimes when you have
• 11:02
  S2: a systematic approach of, of, of working through the word,
• 11:06
  S2: it can become a check box, right? We can be, oh,
• 11:08
  S2: I've got to get my New Testament, old Testament Proverbs
• 11:10
  S2: and Psalms in today. And, you know, one of things
• 11:12
  S2: I really try to do when I'm reading through Scripture
• 11:14
  S2: just for just for just big Bible intake is just
• 11:18
  S2: allow 1 or 2 verses that hit me that day
• 11:22
  S2: to settle kind of in my heart and then to
• 11:24
  S2: reflect on those. And, you know, it's fascinating. And you've
• 11:26
  S2: probably experienced this as well. When you do this and
• 11:28
  S2: you do it regularly, all of a sudden you start
• 11:31
  S2: to encounter people. And God recalls that 1 or 2
• 11:33
  S2: verses that struck you that day, and then all of
• 11:35
  S2: a sudden you have a word from the Lord. You
• 11:37
  S2: don't have to come up with these ideas. God gives
• 11:39
  S2: them to you through His Word, which is the absolute truth,
• 11:42
  S2: God's goodness and truth. And it's sufficient for today. And
• 11:45
  S2: I love that we get the authority of God's Word
• 11:47
  S2: to be able to speak into other people's lives.
• 11:49
  S1: Someone asked me yesterday on we did a taping of
• 11:51
  S1: Open Line, uh, at Founders Week and wanted to know
• 11:54
  S1: how we hear God's voice. I said by reading God's Word, right?
• 11:58
  S1: That's right.
• 11:59
  S2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 11:59
  S1: I've never heard an audible voice, but I've. I've. God
• 12:02
  S1: has spoken through his word.
• 12:03
  S2: Yeah. John Piper says, if you want to hear God speak,
• 12:05
  S2: read the Bible out loud. You know, which I love that.
• 12:07
  S2: I think that's such a great, great reminder.
• 12:10
  S1: You know, that's it. Well, we're going to take a
• 12:11
  S1: break here. When we come back, we're going to talk
• 12:13
  S1: with Doctor Rick Nelson some more. Uh, if you have
• 12:16
  S1: a question about the Bible, the phone number is (877) 548-3675.
• 12:20
  S1: We'll take your question when we come back. Thank you
• 12:23
  S1: for joining me, Doctor Nelson. Thanks for listening. We'll be
• 12:25
  S1: right back. Stay with us. Welcome back to Open Line.
• 12:46
  S1: So glad to be with you this morning. Joining me
• 12:49
  S1: on this special day is Doctor the Special because it's
• 12:52
  S1: our first time of a three hour open line. Three
• 12:55
  S1: hours of open line. Doctor Rick Nelson, new president of
• 12:57
  S1: Moody Bible Institute, is here everyday. Nick is here. I
• 13:00
  S1: do want to mention a couple of things before we
• 13:03
  S1: continue our conversation. First of all, if you've never, ever
• 13:08
  S1: thought about giving a gift to Open Line Boy, it
• 13:11
  S1: would be a great time to do it now. And
• 13:14
  S1: the reason is our current resources. The Bible, A book
• 13:17
  S1: like No Other by doctor Mike Faberes, is our our
• 13:22
  S1: resource this month and it is a great book. People
• 13:25
  S1: are asking, how do we know the Bible is inspired?
• 13:27
  S1: How do we know we have the right Bible, the
• 13:28
  S1: right books in the Bible? This is a great resource
• 13:31
  S1: and if you've never given a gift, we want to
• 13:33
  S1: send you this book as a. Thank you for the.
• 13:36
  S1: If you give a gift and if you've never given before,
• 13:39
  S1: this is a great time to start because that book
• 13:41
  S1: is a marvelous book. I actually wrote the endorsement on
• 13:44
  S1: the first page. It says, I love this book. And
• 13:47
  S1: it's sort of meant as a double entendre because I
• 13:49
  S1: love the Bible. And also I love this book about
• 13:52
  S1: the Bible. I hope you'll consider that if you are
• 13:56
  S1: interested in, uh, giving a gift, all you have to
• 13:58
  S1: do is go to open line radio.org. You can give
• 14:01
  S1: your gift there, or you can call 8886447122. Uh, and
• 14:07
  S1: we're so grateful for every gift, but boy, this is
• 14:09
  S1: a great way to do it. To get a copy of,
• 14:12
  S1: make sure you ask for the Bible, a book like that.
• 14:13
  S2: Yeah. That's so good. You know, and Michael, I just
• 14:15
  S2: want to thank everyone who does give to Moody Radio.
• 14:18
  S2: We are listener supported radio. We can't do this work
• 14:20
  S2: without the incredible family and community of friends who support
• 14:25
  S2: Moody Radio. And I'm grateful that they support the work
• 14:28
  S2: that keeps the Word of God on the radio and
• 14:31
  S2: in people's homes and people's cars, that their lives can
• 14:33
  S2: be transformed because of God's Word.
• 14:35
  S1: Yeah. And, you know, one of the things I love
• 14:36
  S1: about Open Line is people actually are reading the Bible.
• 14:38
  S1: That's right. And then they call up and they say,
• 14:40
  S1: can you help me with this? Yes. Yeah. So good.
• 14:42
  S1: I just love.
• 14:43
  S2: That. So good.
• 14:43
  S1: So so let's do that. Let's, let's see if we
• 14:45
  S1: can answer a few questions for people. We're going to
• 14:47
  S1: start with Rich in Chicago listening on WMBI welcome to
• 14:51
  S1: Open Line Rich. How can we help you today?
• 14:54
  S4: Oh, great to be on the program. Thank you so much, doctor. Michael,
• 14:58
  S4: I just first wanted to say I think it's beautiful
• 15:01
  S4: the love that you have for each other with your wife.
• 15:05
  S1: Especially if you knew Eva you'd know it's not hard.
• 15:09
  S3: Yeah.
• 15:10
  S4: I was really moved when you said that. You you
• 15:13
  S4: love her more and more the longer that you know her. Yeah,
• 15:18
  S4: that's that's true.
• 15:19
  S1: That's true.
• 15:20
  S4: That's beautiful.
• 15:21
  S1: Thank you. Rich, I appreciate that.
• 15:23
  S4: Love my wife that way. Yeah. I hope to study
• 15:26
  S4: the Bible with her. I think that's really beautiful, too.
• 15:29
  S1: Well, go ahead with your question, okay?
• 15:32
  S4: Sure. So, uh, I had a question someone asked me,
• 15:36
  S4: and I never thought about it, and I thought I
• 15:38
  S4: could ask you. So it's. What did Lazarus do with
• 15:43
  S4: his life after Jesus raised him from the dead?
• 15:48
  S1: So, you know, the Bible doesn't tell us. It says that, uh,
• 15:53
  S1: we shouldn't go beyond that which is written. So I
• 15:55
  S1: wouldn't even begin to speculate about what what it is.
• 15:58
  S1: But I do know this, that he was not raised
• 16:01
  S1: to immortality or glory, because the very first one to
• 16:05
  S1: be raised to immortality and a glorious resurrection is the
• 16:09
  S1: Lord Jesus. He's the firstfruits of that. So I know
• 16:12
  S1: that what happened to Lazarus sometime after that resurrection, and
• 16:16
  S1: I bet in his heart pretty soon after he longed
• 16:19
  S1: for it, but that he would die again. And I
• 16:22
  S1: was just thinking about that, uh, doctor Rick. Uh. Don't.
• 16:29
  S1: Can you imagine being in glory and getting called back?
• 16:34
  S2: Well, yeah. What a story, right? I mean, I, I
• 16:37
  S2: can only imagine the conversations. And, you know, these are
• 16:39
  S2: great questions because sometimes the Bible is silent on things
• 16:43
  S2: and it doesn't mean that things didn't happen after that.
• 16:45
  S2: I mean, Lazarus continued to live his life on on earth.
• 16:48
  S2: And I know Mary and Martha were delighted to be
• 16:51
  S2: able to rejoice with him. And isn't that a hard reality?
• 16:55
  S2: Like in life, I mean, Lazarus was already in glory.
• 16:58
  S2: And and here he's called back, but he's called back
• 17:00
  S2: for purpose and reason that Jesus could demonstrate the power of, of,
• 17:04
  S2: of so many things, the power of waiting on him.
• 17:07
  S2: You know, I mean, you just think the.
• 17:08
  S5: Power of the resurrection.
• 17:09
  S2: The power of the resurrection, the power and the glory
• 17:11
  S2: of God. And you know, when we don't have the
• 17:14
  S2: answers that the Bible doesn't fill out every single aspect
• 17:17
  S2: of Lazarus life, but the key things that we need
• 17:21
  S2: to know, the truths of the gospel are there in
• 17:24
  S2: that we can read and, and, you know, sometimes we, we,
• 17:27
  S2: we speculate. But here's the good news, Michael. We're going
• 17:29
  S2: to spend eternity with Lazarus and we can ask him
• 17:32
  S2: all about it.
• 17:33
  S1: Yeah, exactly. That's true. You know, the only time I've
• 17:35
  S1: ever preached John 11 in my whole life was at
• 17:37
  S1: my mom's graveside. My very first funeral. Wow. And one
• 17:41
  S1: of the things about that passage that really strikes me
• 17:43
  S1: is that the Lord Jesus waited four days. That's right. Now,
• 17:47
  S1: why did he wait four days? In Judaism, it was
• 17:49
  S1: thought that the spirit of a person hovers near the
• 17:52
  S1: body for three days, and so that it would be
• 17:56
  S1: possible to raise someone after three days. Otherwise, it's the
• 18:00
  S1: last day. Wow. So he comes on the fourth day.
• 18:03
  S1: And the reason I think the Lord Jesus did that,
• 18:06
  S1: and that's what I spoke on. The Lord Jesus raised
• 18:09
  S1: Lazarus on the fourth day to prove that he can
• 18:11
  S1: raise us all on the last day. Amen. And so
• 18:14
  S1: we never have to fear death. Uh, we go to
• 18:16
  S1: be with the Lord when we die. And then he
• 18:19
  S1: raises us up on the last day. I think that's something.
• 18:22
  S2: Oh, what a day that will be. Yeah.
• 18:24
  S1: Amen. Well, thanks. Thanks for your call, Rich. We're going
• 18:26
  S1: to talk to Al in Munster, Indiana, listening on WMBI.
• 18:30
  S1: Welcome to Open Line al. How can we help you?
• 18:33
  S6: Hi. First. I'm sorry. I just wanted to congratulate you
• 18:37
  S6: on the third hour.
• 18:38
  S3: Oh. Thank you.
• 18:41
  S1: I don't know if congratulations are in order. We'll see
• 18:43
  S1: if anyone listens.
• 18:44
  S3: To that first hour.
• 18:47
  S6: You have an extra cup of coffee. Congratulations also to
• 18:52
  S6: Doctor Nelson.
• 18:53
  S2: Oh. Thank you.
• 18:54
  S6: I met you, Doctor Reidel in Chesterton a couple or
• 18:56
  S6: three months ago.
• 18:57
  S3: Oh, nice.
• 18:58
  S1: That's so good. I'm so glad you were there. That's great.
• 19:01
  S6: I'd encourage everybody to do the those live events. Um,
• 19:05
  S6: my question is on, um, acts 1825, which my morning
• 19:10
  S6: Bible study covered today.
• 19:12
  S1: Uh huh.
• 19:13
  S6: And it's talking about Apollos, who they met in Ephesus.
• 19:16
  S6: Paul's traveling all over the place. He's picked up Priscilla
• 19:20
  S6: and Aquila. And, um, they meet Apollos, who's told to
• 19:25
  S6: be said to be very educated and fervent and knowledgeable
• 19:31
  S6: in the Scripture. But there's this, though. There's this phrase
• 19:34
  S6: that says, though he only had received the baptism of John,
• 19:40
  S6: and it either seems like it's discounting the baptism of John,
• 19:44
  S6: or it's an expression of amazement that even though all
• 19:49
  S6: he had was John's baptism, who was around Ephesus around
• 19:53
  S6: that time.
• 19:54
  S1: You know, the same thing happens in acts 19 right afterwards,
• 19:57
  S1: where there are disciples. And, uh, Paul comes to them
• 20:00
  S1: and he says, did you receive the Holy Spirit when
• 20:02
  S1: you believed? And they said, we haven't even heard that
• 20:04
  S1: there is a Holy Spirit. And he he then discerns
• 20:08
  S1: that they were only baptized according to the baptism of John,
• 20:12
  S1: same as Apollos. It's Apollos foreshadows what's going to happen
• 20:15
  S1: in the next chapter. And okay, here's the thing. The
• 20:19
  S1: baptism of John was anticipatory of the coming Messiah. And
• 20:26
  S1: so it sounds to me like a polis knew the
• 20:29
  S1: Messiah was coming and left. You know, he got baptized
• 20:31
  S1: by John, left the area and then, uh, didn't know
• 20:36
  S1: that the Messiah had finally come. And that's why Priscilla
• 20:39
  S1: and Aquila could straighten it out. And, uh, I think
• 20:42
  S1: that that's that's the reason for it. So. Okay.
• 20:46
  S6: Okay. I had assumed that Apollos met John in around
• 20:49
  S6: Ephesus then because John ended up there.
• 20:51
  S1: No, no, that's not talking about the apostle John. It's
• 20:53
  S1: talking about John the Baptizer. Okay.
• 20:58
  S6: Okay. Got you. Thank you very much. And again, congratulations
• 21:01
  S6: to both of you.
• 21:01
  S1: Thank you. So think of you. Think about that. You know,
• 21:04
  S1: people often think that people become believers instantly. One of
• 21:09
  S1: the things that I have seen in the the years
• 21:14
  S1: that I've been sharing the good news with people is
• 21:16
  S1: people make a series of mini decisions. Haven't you found
• 21:19
  S1: that to be true?
• 21:19
  S2: Well, absolutely. I mean, following Christ can be an instantaneous
• 21:22
  S2: moment where we are declared righteous, but we are justified
• 21:25
  S2: when we pray to receive Christ. But there can also
• 21:27
  S2: be a sense in which God is moving us. Even
• 21:30
  S2: Edwards talks about this, you know, in that he, you know,
• 21:33
  S2: through a season of time, sees God's redemptive power and
• 21:37
  S2: work in his life. And I think that's an important
• 21:39
  S2: reminder for all of us. Now, it is important that
• 21:42
  S2: there is that, that, that, that there isn't that there
• 21:45
  S2: is a moment. I mean, whether we can clearly, clearly
• 21:47
  S2: understand it, but there is a time in which we
• 21:49
  S2: give our life to Christ and that we we can
• 21:52
  S2: define that. And there's clarity among that.
• 21:53
  S1: But the thing is, you know, Apollos, he was just
• 21:55
  S1: taking steps. You know, he's taking steps. And I find
• 21:58
  S1: that that's to be. We. That's why I think sometimes
• 22:01
  S1: drive by evangelism doesn't work, you know, because we want
• 22:04
  S1: someone to make that decision right away and we need
• 22:06
  S1: to help them take their next step, their next step.
• 22:09
  S1: And that's what we do at Moody Radio. It's one
• 22:10
  S1: of the things that we're really committed to is helping
• 22:13
  S1: people take their next step with the Lord Jesus.
• 22:14
  S2: Yes, that's so good.
• 22:15
  S1: But also, there are people who are listening, and you
• 22:18
  S1: may be listening and might be one of those that
• 22:20
  S1: you're thinking, you know, I know about Jesus. I know
• 22:23
  S1: a little bit, but I haven't yet made that decision.
• 22:26
  S1: You've taken steps, but now's the time to make that
• 22:29
  S1: decision to put.
• 22:29
  S2: Your trust and, you know, even to encourage someone who
• 22:32
  S2: maybe thinks, well, well, I'm not sure that I can
• 22:34
  S2: actually think of a time. I often ask people, well,
• 22:37
  S2: are you living your life for Christ today? Are you
• 22:39
  S2: declaring Christ as your Lord and Savior? Then you are
• 22:42
  S2: living in Christ today. Yeah. And if you haven't been baptized,
• 22:44
  S2: then you should be baptized because we're called to be baptized.
• 22:47
  S2: And baptism isn't salvific. It doesn't save you. But you
• 22:50
  S2: should be baptized because we're called to be baptized.
• 22:53
  S1: That's it. That's exactly it. And that's why Apollos had
• 22:56
  S1: to be baptized, uh, with his faith in Jesus. That's right.
• 22:59
  S1: Let's do one more question. Okay. Uh, we're going to
• 23:02
  S1: talk to Kyle in Illinois listening on WSB. Welcome to
• 23:06
  S1: Open Line, Kyle. How can we help you?
• 23:09
  S7: Hi. Good morning Doctor Michael. Good morning to your guests
• 23:12
  S7: and to your wife. I work for, um, a Chicago
• 23:16
  S7: transportation agency and I deal with people on a daily basis, sir.
• 23:22
  S7: And I just need, uh, a scripture of encouragement to
• 23:26
  S7: help me get through days because I kind of feel
• 23:29
  S7: like I'm on the battlefield.
• 23:31
  S3: Yeah. I bet people give.
• 23:32
  S1: You a hard time, don't they?
• 23:34
  S7: Oh, that's the question. How do you maintain your Christian
• 23:37
  S7: integrity while you are insulted, disrespected, and not just lose it, man?
• 23:43
  S1: Well, the first thing you need to do is become
• 23:44
  S1: a college professor.
• 23:46
  S3: Because that.
• 23:47
  S1: Will train.
• 23:47
  S3: You.
• 23:48
  S1: No, no, no, our students are wonderful. Uh.
• 23:51
  S3: That's that's a great question, Kyle. It is really good. Yeah.
• 23:55
  S2: It is. You know, there's kind of three things that
• 23:56
  S2: come to my mind. One is Jesus, you know, just
• 23:58
  S2: toward the last few hours of his own life and, uh,
• 24:03
  S2: the disrespect and, you know, Jesus could have brought in
• 24:06
  S2: the full, uh, all of the angels and the power
• 24:11
  S2: of God upon those that were persecuting him. And, um,
• 24:15
  S2: he chooses not to do that. And I think there's
• 24:17
  S2: something in his silence that speaks volumes. And so I
• 24:20
  S2: think that's one I think the second thing is, and
• 24:23
  S2: I just want to encourage you, you know, we live
• 24:24
  S2: in a world and unfortunately, we live in a fallen
• 24:26
  S2: world in the sense that, um, people who don't know
• 24:30
  S2: Jesus don't act like Jesus. And I think that's always
• 24:33
  S2: a grand challenge. And, and I just want to encourage you,
• 24:36
  S2: you know, just continue to live out the word. Paul
• 24:38
  S2: says in first Corinthians 18, for the word of the
• 24:41
  S2: cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to
• 24:44
  S2: us who are being saved is the power of God.
• 24:46
  S2: And just continue to live your life out faithfully in
• 24:49
  S2: living for Christ, trusting Christ. And you know, pray, pray
• 24:53
  S2: for every single person you encounter that they might meet
• 24:55
  S2: Christ and their lives might be transformed by him.
• 24:57
  S1: And they might see the Lord Jesus in.
• 24:59
  S2: You.
• 25:00
  S1: That's right. Yeah. That's right. That's it. You know, I'll
• 25:02
  S1: give you a verse that I think is important. Uh,
• 25:05
  S1: and this applies to working in the CTA or wherever.
• 25:08
  S1: Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically as something done for
• 25:12
  S1: the Lord and not for men knowing that you will
• 25:15
  S1: receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord. You
• 25:19
  S1: serve the Lord Messiah. Now that's Colossians 323 and 24.
• 25:25
  S1: Everything we do, we do for him. That's right. That's
• 25:27
  S1: that's the thing to remember. We're serving him. Hey, thanks
• 25:30
  S1: for your call, Kyle. Thanks for joining me. Doctor Nelson.
• 25:32
  S1: And congratulations your first Founder's Week and taking the leadership
• 25:37
  S1: of Moody Bible Institute. We're really grateful for you. Grateful
• 25:40
  S1: that God led you here. We're going to be back
• 25:42
  S1: with the mailbag in just a moment. So stay with us.
• 25:45
  S1: This is open line with Michael Ray and Eva Wright
• 25:48
  S1: and also Doctor Rick Nelson. Stay with us. We'll be
• 25:50
  S1: right back. Here we are. We're back. I'm Michael Ray.
• 26:08
  S1: Eva Ray Dolnick is here with me today for a special, uh,
• 26:12
  S1: for this first time that we're doing three hours of
• 26:15
  S1: open line. Uh, I hope that you'll join us again
• 26:18
  S1: next week at 8 a.m. central, 9 a.m. eastern. Uh,
• 26:21
  S1: we're going to have three full hours of open line.
• 26:25
  S1: I hope you'll be with me then. You know, it's
• 26:28
  S1: hard to sit for three hours, but there's lots of
• 26:30
  S1: ways you can listen. You can get the podcast and
• 26:32
  S1: spread it out. Listen as you like. Or you can
• 26:36
  S1: choose which hour you want to listen. Or you can
• 26:38
  S1: get your Bible and your notebook out, and you can
• 26:41
  S1: study the Bible with us for three hours. Uh, get
• 26:44
  S1: a big pot of coffee going, then whatever you want
• 26:47
  S1: to do. Yeah, but I'm going to be here.
• 26:49
  S3: We'll be like, Michael will be here.
• 26:51
  S1: Yeah. That's it. I'll be here. Uh, anyway, uh, I
• 26:54
  S1: do want to mention, uh, that becoming a kitchen table
• 26:59
  S1: partner is something that means so much to us. And,
• 27:02
  S1: you know, I appreciate every gift. I appreciate every listener.
• 27:04
  S1: I'm surprised that. Remember what I said when we first
• 27:07
  S1: went on the air almost 15 years ago? I said,
• 27:09
  S1: do you think anyone will listen? Eva said, I'll listen.
• 27:12
  S1: So that was that was my only hope that I'd
• 27:15
  S1: have one listener. But and she does listen. But, uh,
• 27:19
  S1: I appreciate every listener. I appreciate everyone that gives a
• 27:21
  S1: gift occasionally, or has never given a gift and decides
• 27:24
  S1: to give a gift. But it's those kitchen table partners
• 27:26
  S1: who participate monthly. They give monthly so we can be
• 27:29
  S1: on the air weekly. And they pray for me and
• 27:32
  S1: they care about this program and, and they're partners with us.
• 27:35
  S1: I so appreciate that. And maybe you have given some time,
• 27:39
  S1: but have never even considered becoming a kitchen table partner,
• 27:41
  S1: if you would. I just want you to know we
• 27:43
  S1: appreciate it. And also we send out a Bible study moment,
• 27:46
  S1: an exclusive audio Bible study just for our kitchen table
• 27:49
  S1: partners every other week. And then also there's the, uh,
• 27:54
  S1: some resources that we send out to our kitchen table
• 27:56
  S1: partners on a regular basis. So if you'd like to
• 28:00
  S1: become a kitchen table partner, we sure would appreciate it.
• 28:02
  S1: All you have to do is call 8886447122, or you
• 28:07
  S1: can go to open line radio.org. You can sign up there.
• 28:10
  S1: And we really appreciate that as well. Okay, so Eva,
• 28:14
  S1: we've got the mailbag here. Let's go ahead with the mailbag.
• 28:16
  S3: All right. Vinson in Florida who listens on WOR says.
• 28:21
  S3: I always listen in one way or another. And thank
• 28:25
  S3: you for sharing your wisdom throughout the years. Recently, they've
• 28:28
  S3: been studying. Daniel, can you recommend a good source for
• 28:31
  S3: studying the weeks of Daniel? Looking specifically for a source
• 28:35
  S3: that has done the math on the dates and the
• 28:38
  S3: prophecy that has been fulfilled?
• 28:40
  S1: Okay, so the very first resource is a book I
• 28:43
  S1: recommend all the time. It's called Chronological Aspects of the
• 28:47
  S1: Life of Christ by Doctor Harold Hoehner. He was my professor.
• 28:51
  S1: He was actually my thesis mentor for my master's degree.
• 28:54
  S1: And he was the great Bible Chronologist. And the very
• 28:58
  S1: last chapter of this little book that I recommend to everyone,
• 29:02
  S1: Chronological aspects of the Life of Christ is about the
• 29:04
  S1: 70 weeks of Daniel, and I think that's a great resource. Uh,
• 29:09
  S1: but because I learned from Doctor Hoehner, I had the
• 29:12
  S1: great privilege. Well, modesty forbids me from mentioning it. Someone
• 29:16
  S1: had the great privilege of writing the the commentary on
• 29:19
  S1: Daniel in the Moody Bible.
• 29:21
  S3: The Moody Bible commentaries. Daniel. Covering. Daniel. Which. Which you wrote. Yeah.
• 29:25
  S3: Is would be a great help to to uh, to
• 29:28
  S3: Vincent or anyone studying studying the whole.
• 29:31
  S1: Book of Daniel. And in particular.
• 29:33
  S3: It.
• 29:33
  S1: Has Daniel nine.
• 29:34
  S3: Does the math. Yeah. Got a little chart.
• 29:35
  S1: Yeah. Does the math. And it really helps you understand it.
• 29:38
  S1: And it's based on the work. I actually site Doctor
• 29:41
  S1: Hohner for what he did in chronological aspects of the
• 29:44
  S1: life of Christ, and then also a book that, uh,
• 29:48
  S1: that a person might use, uh, is the Moody Handbook
• 29:52
  S1: of messianic prophecy. Uh, doctor Kevin Zuber, good friend of mine,
• 29:57
  S1: wrote the chapter on Daniel nine. And what does he
• 29:59
  S1: rely on? He relies on the moody commentary and chronological aspect.
• 30:04
  S1: And Doctor Hohner, uh, so, uh, he kind of pulls
• 30:07
  S1: everything together from there. All three of those sources would
• 30:10
  S1: be good. Uh, but if you want the simplest one,
• 30:12
  S1: I think the moody commentary is a great resource because
• 30:15
  S1: I know I tried to explain the the numbers clearly
• 30:19
  S1: and simply for people there.
• 30:21
  S3: Mhm. And Bill kind of related to this, who's listening
• 30:24
  S3: on CB in Texas is interested in the book of revelation.
• 30:30
  S3: So Dan Rev kind of go together. Yeah.
• 30:32
  S1: Good commentary in the moody commentary on revelation.
• 30:35
  S3: On Moody Bible.
• 30:36
  S1: Doctor Dan Green.
• 30:37
  S3: And his question is what calendar system is the in.
• 30:40
  S3: Is the timeline at the end of days used in revelation?
• 30:44
  S3: He wants to know is it Gregorian or is it Jewish,
• 30:47
  S3: or is it Julian or what? What might it be?
• 30:51
  S5: I don't know.
• 30:51
  S1: What I would call it. I think what I would
• 30:54
  S1: call it is a biblical timeline. Okay. Biblical. Uh, and
• 30:57
  S1: the reason is it is based on a three, which
• 31:01
  S1: is similar to the Jewish calendar. It's based on a
• 31:03
  S1: 360 day year.
• 31:05
  S3: So he's really asking about the three and a half
• 31:07
  S3: years of this and the three and a half years
• 31:08
  S3: of that. That's his.
• 31:09
  S1: Question. And it's based on 360 days for each year.
• 31:13
  S1: So three and a half years Is whatever, three, three
• 31:18
  S1: and a half times 360 is. So 1260, I think
• 31:23
  S1: is what that is. And that's what the 1260 days
• 31:26
  S1: in revelation is, I think in revelation 13, uh, 1260
• 31:31
  S1: days is referring to the second half of the tribulation.
• 31:33
  S1: And it's based on a 360 day biblical calendar year,
• 31:38
  S1: just like we, you know, technically our calendar years are
• 31:41
  S1: 300 and 65.25. Right. Right.
• 31:45
  S3: And that's why we that's why we had that leap year. Yeah.
• 31:48
  S3: Now and then.
• 31:48
  S1: But when we talk about how many days are there
• 31:50
  S1: in a year, what do we say 365. And and
• 31:53
  S1: so the same way in the Bible, uh, when they
• 31:57
  S1: talk about a year, it's referring to a 360 day year.
• 32:00
  S1: That's what it's talking about.
• 32:01
  S3: Good. And the moody Bible commentary helpful in both those books,
• 32:04
  S3: revelation and Daniel.
• 32:05
  S1: Yeah, I really recommend it. Okay. You know what I
• 32:08
  S1: love that I people might think, oh, Michael, you recommend
• 32:11
  S1: the moody Bible commentary because you're the editor with Mike
• 32:14
  S1: Van Landingham. No, I used the moody Bible commentary. It
• 32:18
  S1: was written by the faculty of Moody Bible Institute. Both
• 32:21
  S1: Eva and I got to contribute, but there were other
• 32:23
  S1: faculty members. It has a coherent, consistent interpretive method. It's
• 32:29
  S1: easy to understand. We tried to make sure that the
• 32:31
  S1: questions people had got answered. It tells the flow of
• 32:35
  S1: the books. I think it's a great tool. I think
• 32:38
  S1: we have one in every room of our.
• 32:39
  S3: House, I think. I think we do.
• 32:40
  S1: When we're reading the Bible. We can pick it up
• 32:42
  S1: right away. Oh, get me my kitchen moody Bible commentary
• 32:46
  S1: and I'll look at what it says about this verse
• 32:47
  S1: as I have a question about it. And you can
• 32:50
  S1: get all kinds of ways to check it out. You
• 32:51
  S1: can go to the moody publishers.com, or you can go
• 32:55
  S1: to your favorite online bookseller or your local Christian bookstore
• 32:58
  S1: and get a copy. I really recommend it. Great tool
• 33:00
  S1: for understanding the Bible. So, okay. Do you have any.
• 33:03
  S3: Other time for another one? Uh, yeah. Okay. Uh, Jim
• 33:06
  S3: in Minnesota, who listens on KFSI, it says in the Psalms.
• 33:12
  S3: It speaks often. He doesn't give a specific verse about
• 33:15
  S3: the wicked, shall not possess or inherit the land and
• 33:19
  S3: other places. The righteous will inherit the land. What is
• 33:24
  S3: that talking about? And does it apply today?
• 33:28
  S1: Well, it does, because in Matthew five, when it talks
• 33:32
  S1: about kingdom citizens, what will. Uh. Blessed are the. I
• 33:36
  S1: think it's the poor in spirit that will inherit the earth, right?
• 33:40
  S1: The word earth there is gay. It means land.
• 33:43
  S3: Mhm.
• 33:44
  S1: Uh, and so I think this is just talking about
• 33:47
  S1: the future messianic kingdom that. And when it's talking about
• 33:52
  S1: the wicked not possessing. Those are the people who don't
• 33:55
  S1: have faith in God. And the righteous who do inherit
• 33:58
  S1: the land are people who have put their trust in
• 34:01
  S1: God in the Old Testament and those who believe in
• 34:03
  S1: the Lord Jesus. Uh, who are humble enough to put
• 34:06
  S1: their trust in him and believe in him, they will
• 34:09
  S1: inherit the earth.
• 34:10
  S3: It makes me think of Psalm 3711, which I think
• 34:13
  S3: Yeshua Jesus was talking about and was reflecting. But the
• 34:16
  S3: meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.
• 34:20
  S1: Yeah. So the idea is that the meek will inherit
• 34:22
  S1: the earth and in other words, dependence on the Lord.
• 34:26
  S1: That's what that is. Uh, and they will indeed inherit
• 34:30
  S1: the earth. And that's talking about the kingdom, the messianic kingdom,
• 34:34
  S1: that there'll be a physical, earthly kingdom, and people will
• 34:38
  S1: live on the land governed by the Lord Jesus. That's
• 34:41
  S1: what it's talking about. It's a future promise that one
• 34:44
  S1: day the resurrected will experience all the promises of the land.
• 34:48
  S3: And in light of Psalm 37 and and 31 or whatever,
• 34:53
  S3: it's related to the land of Israel more than the
• 34:56
  S3: whole globe. Yeah. It's related to the when it talks.
• 34:59
  S1: About the righteous of Israel. Yeah.
• 35:01
  S3: We'll inherit the land. Yeah. So. So there we go.
• 35:04
  S1: Well, anyway.
• 35:04
  S3: It does apply to us in an interesting way. Yeah.
• 35:07
  S1: We will inherit the land if we trust in the
• 35:08
  S1: Lord Jesus. Uh, we'll be in his kingdom and serving
• 35:11
  S1: him there in the land where he is King. Anyway,
• 35:15
  S1: we'll be right back with more of your questions right
• 35:18
  S1: here on Open Line with Michael and Eva today. Thanks
• 35:21
  S1: for listening for three hours today. We'll be right back
• 35:24
  S1: with more of your questions straight ahead. Welcome back friends.
• 35:37
  S1: I am having a great day. It's three hours. First
• 35:42
  S1: time for Open Line, a three hour program. I'm so
• 35:45
  S1: grateful for everyone listening and whatever part of the program
• 35:48
  S1: you caught, I'm grateful that you got to listen. And remember,
• 35:51
  S1: you can always get the podcast. You can listen on
• 35:54
  S1: the Moody radio app. You don't have to listen to
• 35:56
  S1: the whole thing all at once, although I appreciate it
• 35:58
  S1: when you do. But I have a friend. She is
• 36:02
  S1: a medical doctor in New Hampshire. She'll know she's probably listening.
• 36:06
  S1: What she does is she takes the podcast, and when
• 36:10
  S1: she commutes back and forth to work, she listens to
• 36:12
  S1: the whole program during the week. And now she's got
• 36:16
  S1: a little bit extra time. And it's good because she
• 36:18
  S1: used to listen to her dad's sermon. Her dad was
• 36:20
  S1: a pastor in another town and, and she would listen
• 36:23
  S1: to his dad's, her dad's sermon for her third hour
• 36:26
  S1: of commuting. And now he's retired. And so she gets.
• 36:32
  S3: The extra hour.
• 36:32
  S1: Yeah. So now we have the extra hour for her
• 36:34
  S1: so that she gets three hours of open line to,
• 36:38
  S1: to listen.
• 36:38
  S3: We want to give you a choice of, of times
• 36:40
  S3: to listen to us.
• 36:41
  S5: Yeah.
• 36:41
  S3: That's right. We're giving you three hours to choose from.
• 36:43
  S1: Now, I do want to say there's a Bible that
• 36:46
  S1: I really strongly recommend, and I love the CSB translation.
• 36:50
  S1: And they have a couple of Bibles that are linked
• 36:52
  S1: at our website. One is a CSB teen study Bible
• 36:55
  S1: answering questions that teens often have, and the other is
• 36:59
  S1: the CSB spiral bound notebook Bible. It is a spiral
• 37:04
  S1: bound Bible with note space on the side. I recommend
• 37:07
  S1: both those Bibles. They're really good. And if you want
• 37:10
  S1: to find them, just go to our website, Open Line radio.org,
• 37:14
  S1: and click on the links for those. You'll find both
• 37:16
  S1: of them and learn about them. They're really terrific. Also,
• 37:18
  S1: I want to mention that Chosen People Ministries still has
• 37:20
  S1: their calendar available, the Jewish calendar that they have, the
• 37:24
  S1: Messianic Jewish calendar. This time it's got faith stories of
• 37:27
  S1: Jewish followers of Jesus, and it's got QR codes. It's
• 37:32
  S1: got a little bit written out there on each page
• 37:35
  S1: of the calendar, but it's got a QR code which
• 37:38
  S1: will link you to a video. So you can see
• 37:40
  S1: that whole faith story. One of those faith stories is
• 37:43
  S1: my own. I'm on one of those, and I'm really
• 37:46
  S1: grateful to God that I had the privilege of doing that.
• 37:49
  S1: I hope you'll sign up for the Chosen People calendar.
• 37:52
  S1: All you have to do is go to our website,
• 37:53
  S1: Open Line radio.org. Scroll down till you see the free link,
• 37:57
  S1: the the free gift from Chosen People Ministries that will
• 37:59
  S1: link you up so that you can get a copy
• 38:01
  S1: of the Messianic Jewish calendar. Now let's go back to
• 38:05
  S1: the phones. Uh, talk to Donna in Buffalo Grove, where
• 38:09
  S1: I live for 12 years. Listening on WMBI. Welcome to
• 38:12
  S1: Open line, Donna. How's my old hometown?
• 38:15
  S8: Hey. Hey, doctor. Myra, I can't talk.
• 38:19
  S1: You can call me Michael.
• 38:20
  S8: That's fine.
• 38:21
  S1: It's easier to say Michael.
• 38:22
  S8: Doctor. Nick. And I'm so happy that Eva is there.
• 38:26
  S8: That's my favorite program.
• 38:28
  S1: Yeah, it's always my favorite program when Eva's on. In fact,
• 38:30
  S1: I'm trying to get out of the program. Just have
• 38:32
  S1: her do it alone.
• 38:33
  S3: That's so funny. Yeah. That's going to happen.
• 38:35
  S1: Yeah.
• 38:37
  S8: No, no. I like it when you're together.
• 38:39
  S1: Oh that's fun. How can I help you?
• 38:40
  S8: I have a question and I just got your book,
• 38:43
  S8: The 50 Most Important Bible Questions. So it may be
• 38:45
  S8: in here, and I haven't found it yet. Okay. Um,
• 38:48
  S8: but it's about spiritual warfare in the heavenly realms. And
• 38:53
  S8: I know that there's spiritual warfare on earth. And you
• 38:56
  S8: were just talking about Daniel. And one of the questions
• 38:59
  S8: I had was when I was reading Daniel about, um,
• 39:04
  S8: you know, he has his vision in Daniel ten. Um,
• 39:07
  S8: I think it's quite long. 13 through 20. Yeah.
• 39:10
  S1: And then it's, it's the passage where the Prince of
• 39:13
  S1: Persia is battling. And, uh, he's opposing the message of
• 39:18
  S1: the angel coming to Daniel. And then he had to
• 39:21
  S1: get the assistance of Michael, the archangel of Israel, the
• 39:25
  S1: defender of Israel, to come. And, and so he had
• 39:28
  S1: to wait all those days. I think it's 21 days
• 39:30
  S1: for the message to come to him. And that's what
• 39:33
  S1: you're talking about, about spiritual warfare in the heavens. You know,
• 39:36
  S1: Ephesians six talks about principalities and powers, that there are
• 39:42
  S1: geographical locations. Locations. And in those geographic locations, there are spirits,
• 39:49
  S1: there are there are actual angels and fallen angels that
• 39:51
  S1: are battling it out. I'm not aware of that. You know,
• 39:54
  S1: it's not like I'm I'm looking at it, but we
• 39:57
  S1: need to know that there's a spiritual warfare going on.
• 40:00
  S1: And what we need to do is depend on the Lord.
• 40:02
  S5: And.
• 40:02
  S3: Not not focus on that.
• 40:03
  S1: Yeah, not focus on it. The Lord Jesus said, don't
• 40:06
  S1: focus on that. Focus that your name is Luke ten. Uh,
• 40:09
  S1: focus on the fact that your names are written in
• 40:12
  S1: that in the book of life. Now, here's the other
• 40:15
  S1: thing I think is interesting, and that's spiritual warfare in
• 40:18
  S1: Daniel ten. We often think of, you know, com power
• 40:21
  S1: encounters and confrontations. But Daniel had a revelation from God
• 40:26
  S1: and was looking for an understanding and was praying about it.
• 40:30
  S1: Two things are happening. His prayer is being obstructed, the
• 40:34
  S1: answer to his prayer for 21 days. So think about it.
• 40:38
  S1: We want to quit praying after 2 or 3 days, but, uh, yeah,
• 40:42
  S1: but spiritual warfare says persistent prayer because God's going to answer.
• 40:47
  S1: And then the second is that, uh, he wanted to
• 40:51
  S1: understand the revelation of God, and you'd think he'd become
• 40:55
  S1: discouraged because he wasn't getting an answer. I think sometimes
• 40:58
  S1: we become discouraged in spiritual warfare from reading the Bible
• 41:01
  S1: and understanding it. And so what we have to do
• 41:03
  S1: is persist in reading God's revelation to us. And so
• 41:07
  S1: where is the spiritual warfare really happening? It's in the
• 41:11
  S1: study of the word and in prayer. It's not some
• 41:14
  S1: big power encounter. It's we need to persist in studying
• 41:18
  S1: God's Word and praying for God to answer. Okay.
• 41:23
  S8: Okay. Thank you so much, I appreciate it.
• 41:25
  S3: Yeah. Thanks for calling.
• 41:26
  S8: All that you do.
• 41:27
  S1: Thank you for your call.
• 41:28
  S8: I have been listening since you first came on.
• 41:30
  S3: Oh, wow.
• 41:31
  S1: You sound too young to be that. Okay. Thanks for
• 41:33
  S1: your call. Okay. Bye bye. Bye. We're going to talk
• 41:37
  S1: to Benny in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Welcome to Open Line, Benny.
• 41:42
  S1: Love the name. How can we help you today? Hey, Benny,
• 41:47
  S1: are you there? Well, I guess not. We're going to
• 41:51
  S1: go to Bill in Spokane, Washington, listening on KMBI. Welcome
• 41:55
  S1: to Open Line. Bill. How can we help you today?
• 41:59
  S9: Yes, Uh, doctor, I have a question on book of job.
• 42:04
  S9: So there's of course, the three friends. And at the end,
• 42:08
  S9: God castigates the three friends. But there's that fourth fella
• 42:12
  S9: who's sort of enigmatic Elihu.
• 42:15
  S1: Mhm.
• 42:16
  S9: And God does not say anything about him. And he
• 42:20
  S9: does make. And Elihu does make accusations against job or
• 42:25
  S9: castigates job, so to speak.
• 42:27
  S1: Not to the extent that the others do.
• 42:30
  S9: Yeah. Yeah. So should we take from that that what
• 42:34
  S9: Elihu said about job is true.
• 42:37
  S1: Uh, there's always some truth in what his friends say.
• 42:40
  S1: Elihu has more truth than the others. I think we
• 42:43
  S1: have to ultimately know that we're being led to the
• 42:46
  S1: Lord's answer. But Elihu is basically saying, job, you've become
• 42:50
  S1: too arrogant. You think that you're completely righteous, but your
• 42:53
  S1: attitude shows that you're not. And that really was a
• 42:56
  S1: problem in job's life. Uh, he finally had to learn
• 42:59
  S1: to submit to the sovereignty of God and not. You know,
• 43:03
  S1: he expected God to answer him. But the answer was
• 43:06
  S1: I'm God. I don't have to answer you. You have
• 43:08
  S1: to submit to my sovereignty. And that's when, uh, Jobe, uh,
• 43:14
  S1: repents with with dust and ashes. That's because he realized
• 43:17
  S1: he was being too arrogant and demanding an answer from God. So, yeah,
• 43:23
  S1: I think that there's more truth in Elihu in what
• 43:26
  S1: he says than what the other friends say. Okay. Thanks
• 43:30
  S1: for your call, Bill. Appreciate it. Uh, we're going to
• 43:33
  S1: talk to Samuel in Tampa, Florida, listening on WKES. Welcome
• 43:37
  S1: to Open Line, Samuel. How can we help you?
• 43:39
  S10: How are you doing, doctor?
• 43:41
  S1: Hi.
• 43:41
  S10: Um, I wanted to, um, years ago, when I was
• 43:45
  S10: a young man. I did this job for a guy,
• 43:48
  S10: and he didn't pay me, so, you know, I was,
• 43:51
  S10: you know, I love how I had everything. I wasn't
• 43:53
  S10: in the Bible, but I was mad and I seen
• 43:56
  S10: my mother, she said, if I let that go and God,
• 44:02
  S10: you know, will give it to me sevenfold and take
• 44:06
  S10: it from this guy sevenfold, this been like 20, 20, 30,
• 44:12
  S10: maybe even 40 years ago. And then I became a
• 44:15
  S10: Christian and I found it in the Bible on Proverbs
• 44:18
  S10: 630 and 31. And right now I'll be watching AI
• 44:25
  S10: a lot. I was telling AI what my mother said,
• 44:30
  S10: but it could not, you know, put the God component
• 44:35
  S10: in there. And then the AI was telling me like
• 44:37
  S10: I was wrong. It said.
• 44:40
  S3: AI, ai. I didn't know so much. I gotta tell you. Stick, stick,
• 44:43
  S3: stick to the Bible. Samuel. Forget AI.
• 44:45
  S1: There's a reason it's artificial.
• 44:47
  S3: Yeah. That's right, that's right. Well, okay.
• 44:50
  S1: So Benny, you know, what this is saying is if
• 44:52
  S1: he's caught, he must pay seven times. Apparently, he hasn't
• 44:55
  S1: been caught. What this is saying is that, uh, they're
• 44:59
  S1: in the Bible. Uh, it's the idea often of, of
• 45:04
  S1: criminality isn't by sending someone to jail, but by having
• 45:08
  S1: them restore and even pay extra, just like, just like Zacchaeus.
• 45:13
  S1: Did you know he gave extra, uh, for what he
• 45:16
  S1: had stolen? And so, uh, that kind of, uh, remuneration
• 45:21
  S1: is what is often used in Scripture. I hope this
• 45:24
  S1: person one day comes to repentance and does give.
• 45:27
  S3: You pay you back all those years. Wouldn't that be something?
• 45:30
  S1: Yeah, that would be something. But for now, you can
• 45:32
  S1: trust the Lord that when we have a loss that
• 45:35
  S1: God knows and he can meet our needs regardless. So,
• 45:39
  S1: you know, we once bought a fence and the guy
• 45:42
  S1: went out of business and he took our money, but
• 45:44
  S1: never built the fence around our house. And, you know,
• 45:47
  S1: we ultimately we had to say, well, God knows and
• 45:50
  S1: he'll meet our needs regardless. That's how it is, don't
• 45:52
  S1: you think?
• 45:54
  S10: Yes, sir. But I was just saying that I know
• 45:58
  S10: God is saying God. I keep saying he and the
• 46:00
  S10: King James, but I look at it like my mother said. Yeah,
• 46:04
  S10: about he and I'm looking.
• 46:06
  S1: I think it's it's the guy that's I think it's
• 46:08
  S1: the guy that stole that has to pay back.
• 46:10
  S3: Yeah, but I love your mom's trust in God. That's great.
• 46:12
  S3: We all want to trust in God no matter what
• 46:15
  S3: happens to us.
• 46:16
  S1: Thanks for listening, everyone, to our first three hour program.
• 46:19
  S1: Really appreciate it. Make sure to listen next week, 8 a.m.
• 46:23
  S1: central Time. We'll be back with Open Line back then.
• 46:26
  S1: Thanks to our team here for making this program possible.
• 46:29
  S1: And keep in touch with us by going to our website,
• 46:32
  S1: Open Line radio.org. It's got all the links you're looking for,
• 46:34
  S1: all the things that we mentioned in the program. Keep
• 46:37
  S1: reading the Bible. We'll talk about it next week. Open
• 46:40
  S1: line with Doctor Michael Ridley and Emma Wright is a
• 46:43
  S1: production of Moody Radio, a Ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
• 46:47
  S1: See you next week.