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Spicy Questions and Soulful Insights: Navigating Faith's Trials · Relish: a Christian podcast

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  Music.
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  To flavor, to be pleased or gratified by, enjoy.
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  We are hoping that what we bring to your table today might add some spice to your life.
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  Hello, this is Relish with Don and Rowan.
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  The aftermath of TMAD and the new Relish. Looking forward to bring a little
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  spice to your morning, we hope.
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  And a little something for you to think about. And Rowan comes with these questions.
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  He's got some good questions. He's had some help on them, maybe.
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  I, yep. Okay. Ask around for them. Good job. Come up with some on my own. Okay. But.
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  That's good. They've been very, very good questions. Yeah, I've enjoyed it.
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  He actually heard feedback on your questions. I have. That's good stuff. Yeah.
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  So what's our question this morning? First question is, does God test us? And if so, why and how?
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  And in what ways will he test us?
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  He will test us. And my favorite passage on that is James chapter one,
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  verses two through four.
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  And heard you talk about this a lot. I bet you have, Ron.
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  Yeah, you've been around me any period of time. Consider it pure joy,
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  my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the
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  testing of your faith develops perseverance.
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  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
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  So yes, God tests us like a, I would put it in the context of a teacher who
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  cares a great deal for his student who wants to make sure that the student masters the subject.
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  Yeah. So it's not a test like, I'm going to get you.
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  No, it's more of a test like, hey, I want you to be proficient in your faith
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  so that when trials come, like you think about Abraham and Isaac and all those that were tested,
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  their faith was tested. That comes out in Hebrews chapter 11.
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  And their faith was considered to them as righteousness.
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  I mean, that's what Abraham was considered righteous because of his faith.
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  So if God is wanting to make sure your faith is purely in God,
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  that faith will be tested to see what it's really made of.
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  So yeah, I don't think we should ask for a test, although how many of us haven't?
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  I mean, oh Lord, grant me patience. And you know how God grants us patience?
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  Shows you you don't have it. He shows you how little you really have. That's how he shows.
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  And so in those situations that call for a great deal of patience,
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  we grow in our patience, enduring in faith.
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  So, you know, be a little careful what you ask God for because he will grant it.
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  And sometimes in the process, you won't enjoy the teaching, but it's like math. Your dad teaches math.
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  He does. And, you know, I just like the way he embraces the subject,
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  not only for himself, because he's got a good mastery of the subject,
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  but how much he desires for the students to know it.
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  And he goes in extra early and stays extra late for the sake of his students.
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  I see that as what God's doing. And that's why he tests.
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  Now, did I get the second part of that question? I think you did.
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  There's yeah i mean
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  he can test us however yeah well and
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  even go back to job and the testing he
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  did of job in that situation he didn't
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  do the testing himself but allowed satan
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  a certain domain if
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  you will or permission to carry
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  on the tests and and that's more
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  likely the way life goes now
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  yeah and sort of over time that's the gift of looking back on things is to see
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  how god has maybe used the hardest of our times to teach us the most precious
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  of lessons yeah all right good question thank you.
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  In what ways should Christians engage in politics? Oh, lousy day.
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  Well, what's interesting is, if you go back to the Old Testament,
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  politics and religion were separated.
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  In other words, we see in the Old Testament, there was a king and there was a priest.
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  And the king did his thing and the priest did his thing. But the crossover was
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  when the nation was unfaithful or the king was unfaithful,
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  it was the priest that interceded and it was the priest that came to the throne
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  and said, came to the king and said, you know, we need to shape this up.
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  And that would either be the priest or the prophet that would move from the
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  religious realm, if you will, and try to influence the political realm.
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  And I think maybe that's not a bad way to move today.
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  Although, you know, and so I think we as religious people should be influencing
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  the political realm in that we set a good example.
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  We sort of point out when things are amoral or immoral, you know,
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  in nature and be that which calls it to the fore.
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  However, Jesus would have us go beyond that, and especially as we look in Matthew 5, 6, and 7.
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  The Sermon on the Mount calls a people forth that will embody,
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  if you will, the values of the kingdom of God.
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  And so then that would say that we as Christians, no matter what political atmosphere
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  we're living in, will live by this collective set of values set forth by Jesus.
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  And that will be out beyond what's politically great.
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  Then you have Peter in 1 Peter 3.15 saying, live such a good life.
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  Those around you won't have anything to accuse you of, which makes sense.
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  Yeah. So how do we, we rub shoulders, we influence, I'm not sure we take over.
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  Makes sense. Our kingdom is not of this world. Yeah. God's kingdom is not of this world.
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  That goes back to that warfare question, because our area of warfare will be
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  in the power of the air, spiritually.
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  Doesn't it say somewhere, I don't know the reference, but like all authority
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  is under God or like, all authority has been given to me.
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  Matthew 28, 19, I believe.
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  Let's see if Don's right. Let's turn it up.
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  And that is Jesus saying, this is sort of one of our games, is to see whether
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  Don is actually close to the right book,
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  chapter, and verse when he says
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  something off the top of his head like that. It's one of the, oh, yes.
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  Yes. 28, 18. Then Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven and on
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  earth has been given to me.
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  There it is. That's the precursor of saying, therefore, go and make disciples of all nations.
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  Yeah. So it almost sounds like a banner.
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  Yes, all authority has been given Jesus, not all authority has been given to you or me.
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  But we do have certain authority that we've been given in Jesus.
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  Got that one. Yeah. Okay.
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  Next one, like, why do, why do people speak in tongues or what is the,
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  like, what is the benefit of that? The benefit of that.
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  Most of the time, the benefit of tongues is for the individual. Okay.
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  Yeah. Okay. I confess I've spoken in tongues and it was cool because I fought
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  it for an awful long time.
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  I even had a preacher come from Ohio to help me speak in tongues because he
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  thought that was really necessary for me to do. And I could not in that.
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  However, in another meeting, and the Holy Spirit was really present in that meeting.
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  And all of a sudden, I was speaking in tongues. I was praying in a tongue that was not my own.
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  And it was really cool. And then I was given a word of prophecy for the person
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  standing behind me. And I shared that word.
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  And it was powerful. It was really powerful. Yeah. Another time I'd been through
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  an experience, a really hard experience.
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  And on the back of that experience then was sort of a breakthrough.
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  And in that breakthrough, I was in the car and I was just praising the Lord.
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  I just thanking the Lord.
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  And I was doing it verbally. And then all of a sudden I went into this tongue.
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  That wasn't anything I understood, but I just felt like I got a little extra
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  praise done in that tongue.
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  And so I don't fight it like I once did.
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  It's a very holy experience. But for me, the speaking in tongues has always been mainly for me.
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  Kind of sense like how powerful God is. Exactly. He's in control. Yeah.
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  Yeah. And, you know, I've got my walls up. You know, I try to protect myself. Yeah.
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  And I think that's part of the reason maybe I don't do it more.
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  But when I've allowed the Holy Spirit to freely move, that has happened.
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  So your question again
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  was what is the purpose of tongues yeah and
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  the purpose of tongues is to glorify encourage
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  the body and so sometimes i was in a meeting worship service one time and this
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  lady was speaking in tongues and they were asking for an interpreter if anybody
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  could interpret this and what was interesting was i i was a visitor this was
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  not my normal congregation.
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  And yeah, I could have interpreted because it was basically Koine Greek.
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  And so, yeah, I could get the gist of what she was saying. I could have stood
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  up and said it, but I was so sheepish I didn't.
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  And it happened that the minister said, well, this is what I heard.
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  And so he interpreted the tongues for us.
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  And it was a word for the congregation. it was an encouragement to the congregation
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  it's neat it's not something it's something I've experienced it's not something
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  I'm real comfortable with yet but the times that it's happened it's been very powerful,
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  yeah in the group that I'm part of,
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  we've had tongues happen and had it interpreted and it's been yeah very powerful
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  stuff yeah Did I get the whole question?
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  I think you got all that one, yeah. Okay.
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  Well, maybe that's enough for this time. I better go take a break, I think.
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  But it's been good. Those are good questions, Rowan. You're doing a good job.
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  And we hope that somehow or another, the conversation that we've had today will
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  add some spice to your life and that you might relish the thought.
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  Yeah. Yeah, I just had to slip that one in there.
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  Another reason we use the name that's another reason we use the name so may
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  you be blessed today until we meet again see you next time.