Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / 2 Chronicles 28:1-4 - God Loves Babies
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: Life Audio Hot Toy, their friends and faithful listeners, and
- 0:05Speaker 1: welcome to the Bible Explained podcast this lovely morning. We're
- 0:10Speaker 1: going to be in Second Chronicles twenty eight today, reading
- 0:12Speaker 1: only a short little passage, but man, it is filled
- 0:16Speaker 1: filled with content, so we're going to get into it
- 0:19Speaker 1: in just one second. Alrighty, faithful listeners, before we begin
- 0:27Speaker 1: today's episode, here's a quick word from a sponsor or two.
- 0:33Speaker 1: All right, faithful listeners. Like I said, we're not going
- 0:35Speaker 1: to read a lot today in scripture. We're only going
- 0:37Speaker 1: to read the first four verses. So let's read Second
- 0:40Speaker 1: Chronicles twenty eight, verses one through four, and I will
- 0:44Speaker 1: be reading out of the web this morning. And I'm
- 0:47Speaker 1: going to be jumping around a lot in scripture today
- 0:49Speaker 1: actually because there's a lot we can discuss based upon
- 0:52Speaker 1: these first four verses. So I'll be reading primarily from
- 0:56Speaker 1: the web this morning, as I always do, but I'll
- 0:59Speaker 1: also be switching over to the NIV version as well.
- 1:03Speaker 1: And sometimes when I switch back and forth between versions,
- 1:05Speaker 1: I forget to mention which version I'm reading out of,
- 1:08Speaker 1: so I do apologize for that. So if I'm not
- 1:10Speaker 1: reading from the web, it is from the NIV as well.
- 1:15Speaker 1: Just to let you guys know, all right, faith listeners,
- 1:17Speaker 1: grab your cup of coffee or your cup of tea
- 1:19Speaker 1: this morning, and also your bibles. Let's read Second Chronicles
- 1:22Speaker 1: twenty eight one through four together. Ahaz was twenty years
- 1:27Speaker 1: old when he began to rain, and he reigned sixteen
- 1:30Speaker 1: years in Jerusalem. He didn't do that which was right
- 1:33Speaker 1: in Yahwe's eyes, like David his father. But he walked
- 1:36Speaker 1: in the ways of the kings of Israel and also
- 1:38Speaker 1: made molten images for the bales. Moreover, he burned incense
- 1:42Speaker 1: in the valley of the son of Hinham and burned
- 1:44Speaker 1: his children in the fire according to the abominations of
- 1:47Speaker 1: the nations, whom Yahweh cast out. Before the children of Israel,
- 1:51Speaker 1: he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places and
- 1:54Speaker 1: on the hills and under every green tree. Meet a
- 2:00Speaker 1: brand new king in Israel's history. This guy was named
- 2:04Speaker 1: a Has, and a Has has the record for being
- 2:08Speaker 1: the worst king in Judah's history. What a record to hold.
- 2:13Speaker 1: It says that a Has was twenty years old when
- 2:16Speaker 1: he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.
- 2:20Speaker 1: It says he didn't do that, which was right in
- 2:22Speaker 1: Yahweh's eyes like David his father, but he walked in
- 2:25Speaker 1: the ways of the kings of Israel and also made
- 2:28Speaker 1: molten images for the bales. Now what's sad about this
- 2:32Speaker 1: is a Has, his father, as we talked about last week,
- 2:35Speaker 1: was a pretty decent king. In fact, there's no specific
- 2:39Speaker 1: sins mentioned that he did and his name was Jotham.
- 2:43Speaker 1: And even though he was a pretty good king, though
- 2:45Speaker 1: it never specifically mentions his amazing faith like some of
- 2:50Speaker 1: the other kings that we see in Judah's history, like
- 2:53Speaker 1: if they had really good faith in God, stories would
- 2:56Speaker 1: be told about that. But Jotham, it just says that
- 2:59Speaker 1: he was a good king and only briefly mentions the
- 3:02Speaker 1: spiritual aspects of Jotham's reign, which I personally believe means
- 3:07Speaker 1: that Jotham, though he was spiritual himself, didn't do much
- 3:13Speaker 1: to encourage the worship of Yahweh in his own kingdom.
- 3:17Speaker 1: He seemed to be more of a live and let
- 3:20Speaker 1: live kind of king. And I think Jotham's son, a
- 3:24Speaker 1: Has proves this point a little bit further because a Has,
- 3:29Speaker 1: it seems like, wasn't taught anything from his father. When
- 3:32Speaker 1: it comes to worshiping God. It says that when a
- 3:35Speaker 1: Has began to reign when he was twenty years old,
- 3:38Speaker 1: he didn't do that which was right in Yahweh's eyes,
- 3:41Speaker 1: like David his father, But he walked in the ways
- 3:43Speaker 1: of the kings of Israel and also made molten images
- 3:46Speaker 1: for the bales. So he didn't follow the example of
- 3:49Speaker 1: the good kings of Judah. He followed the evil example
- 3:53Speaker 1: of the bad kings of Israel. Now, granted, every single
- 3:57Speaker 1: king in Israel's history was a bad king. Things were
- 4:00Speaker 1: not going well up north in Israel at this time, actually,
- 4:04Speaker 1: Asiria was about to come in and pretty much destroy Israel.
- 4:07Speaker 1: So Israel was not doing well at this point anyway.
- 4:10Speaker 1: But for some reason a Has was following the example
- 4:13Speaker 1: of the kings of Israel, not his own father, not
- 4:17Speaker 1: his grandfather, not the other good kings that came before
- 4:21Speaker 1: down in Judah, but the bad kings of Israel. And
- 4:25Speaker 1: it says that he made these molten images for the bales. Now,
- 4:29Speaker 1: I actually have this nifty little bible. It's called the
- 4:32Speaker 1: Archaeological Study Bible, and it talks about all of the
- 4:36Speaker 1: different archaeological finds that correlate to scripture. So when I
- 4:42Speaker 1: was studying this passage for today, it actually says that
- 4:45Speaker 1: one of these little bail statues was found and it
- 4:49Speaker 1: had a picture of one in my Bible. And this
- 4:51Speaker 1: bail is depicted as being this like fearsome warrior that
- 4:57Speaker 1: holds a spear in one hand and a lightning in another.
- 5:01Speaker 1: I don't know what it is about, like ancient gods,
- 5:05Speaker 1: but every time you see a picture of one, you're
- 5:07Speaker 1: just like, yeah, that's definitely a demon. And I mean
- 5:10Speaker 1: it's it's interesting because scripture does call them demons. Certainly
- 5:14Speaker 1: looks like a little demon. But that is what a
- 5:18Speaker 1: has chose over Yahweh. He chose this fake little image
- 5:25Speaker 1: that pretends to be the almighty God instead of worshiping
- 5:29Speaker 1: the true Almighty God Yahweh. It says moreover, he burned
- 5:35Speaker 1: incense in the valley of the Sun of Hinham and
- 5:39Speaker 1: burned his children in the fire according to the abominations
- 5:43Speaker 1: of the nations, whom Yahweh cast out before the children
- 5:47Speaker 1: of Israel. Now this is talking about the worship of Malik.
- 5:52Speaker 1: You might not remember this because I haven't really delved
- 5:55Speaker 1: into Malik worship in quite a while. So what the
- 5:58Speaker 1: people would do in order to worship Mallock and gain
- 6:01Speaker 1: some sort of favor from him was they would sacrifice
- 6:05Speaker 1: their baby infant on the hands of this big bronze
- 6:09Speaker 1: statue that would be heated up to astronomical temperatures, and
- 6:15Speaker 1: the baby would be placed on these terribly boiling hands
- 6:19Speaker 1: while drums and music were playing in the background to
- 6:23Speaker 1: drown out the cries of the baby, while the parents
- 6:27Speaker 1: just looked on and watched their infant melt right in
- 6:31Speaker 1: front of them. I have a woodfire heater in my house,
- 6:36Speaker 1: and let me just tell you that if you touch
- 6:39Speaker 1: that thing when it's like seven hundred eight hundred degrees,
- 6:42Speaker 1: your flesh will just melt off your body. And I
- 6:46Speaker 1: do everything I can to make sure that my dogs
- 6:50Speaker 1: don't go near it, to make sure that when my
- 6:53Speaker 1: niece comes over, she doesn't go near it, or any
- 6:55Speaker 1: other person or child that's in my house. I don't
- 6:58Speaker 1: want them anywhere near that thing because they can get
- 7:01Speaker 1: seriously injured if they even touch it for a second. Yet,
- 7:06Speaker 1: parents would place their children on the hands of this
- 7:09Speaker 1: idol and watch as their child suffered right in front
- 7:14Speaker 1: of them. This was how disgusting Molik worship was, and
- 7:18Speaker 1: A has introduced this to Israel. We know that the
- 7:23Speaker 1: Israelites were somehow worshiping Malik before, very likely not with
- 7:28Speaker 1: the burning of the children at this point, but A
- 7:32Speaker 1: has introduced that he introduced the child sacrifice, and this
- 7:38Speaker 1: was a law against God because the children didn't belong
- 7:42Speaker 1: to Molik, they belonged to God. Exodus thirteen, verses one
- 7:46Speaker 1: and two says this Y always spoke to Moses, saying,
- 7:49Speaker 1: sanctify to me all the firstborn. Whatever opens the womb
- 7:52Speaker 1: among the children of Israel, both of man and animal,
- 7:55Speaker 1: it is mine. God wanted the children for himself, and
- 8:00Speaker 1: the reason he told Moses that every single Israelite needed
- 8:04Speaker 1: to dedicate their children to God was to save children
- 8:08Speaker 1: from fates like this one, fates of burning to death
- 8:12Speaker 1: and having their flesh melt off their bodies because their
- 8:17Speaker 1: parents wanted to sacrifice them to some other God. In fact,
- 8:20Speaker 1: I believe there's a verse in I think Jeremiah that says,
- 8:26Speaker 1: in my paraphrase, that God was disgusted with child sacrifice
- 8:31Speaker 1: because it never even entered his mind to do something
- 8:35Speaker 1: so filthy like that. He was disgusted with it God
- 8:39Speaker 1: hated child sacrifices. And yet when people read verses about
- 8:43Speaker 1: how God wants all the children sanctified to him, they
- 8:46Speaker 1: get like all up in arms about that. They're like,
- 8:48Speaker 1: how dare you know God command people to dedicate the
- 8:53Speaker 1: children to him? Well, maybe it's because God doesn't want
- 8:56Speaker 1: parents sacrificing their own children. And you know, I'm just
- 8:59Speaker 1: gonna say this goes back to abortion as well. He
- 9:02Speaker 1: might be like, well, Jen, it has nothing to do
- 9:04Speaker 1: with abortion because the baby is in the womb, and
- 9:09Speaker 1: you know, child's sacrifice is disgusting because the baby was
- 9:12Speaker 1: already born. Okay, but what difference does it make if
- 9:15Speaker 1: the baby is already born or not. That baby is
- 9:18Speaker 1: still a human being, whether he is six weeks old
- 9:20Speaker 1: in the womb or six months old outside of the womb,
- 9:24Speaker 1: he's a human being. But this was the reason why
- 9:26Speaker 1: God wanted the children to be dedicated to him, because
- 9:30Speaker 1: he loves little children and because he wants them to
- 9:33Speaker 1: be protected. And this was a way for God to
- 9:37Speaker 1: protect these little children by putting this law in place.
- 9:40Speaker 1: But he didn't just put that law in place. He
- 9:42Speaker 1: put other laws in place as well. For example, Leviticus
- 9:46Speaker 1: chapter eighteen verse twenty one says you shall not give
- 9:50Speaker 1: any of your children as a sacrifice to Mullik. You
- 9:53Speaker 1: shall not profane the name of your God, I Am Yahweh.
- 9:58Speaker 1: And then two chapters over Levitic twenty verses one through five,
- 10:02Speaker 1: God pronounces the death sentence to any parent that sacrifices
- 10:06Speaker 1: their children to Malik. It says he always spoke to Moses, saying, moreover,
- 10:11Speaker 1: you shall tell the children of Israel. Any one of
- 10:13Speaker 1: the children of Israel or of the strangers who live
- 10:16Speaker 1: as a foreigner in Israel, who gives any of his
- 10:19Speaker 1: offspring to Malik, shall surely be put to death. The
- 10:22Speaker 1: people of the land shall stone that person with stones.
- 10:25Speaker 1: I also will set my face against that person and
- 10:28Speaker 1: will cut him off from among his people, because he
- 10:30Speaker 1: is given of his offspring to Malik, to defile my
- 10:32Speaker 1: sanctuary and to profane my holy name. If the people
- 10:36Speaker 1: of the land all hide their eyes from that person
- 10:38Speaker 1: when he gives of his offspring to Malik, and don't
- 10:40Speaker 1: put him to death, then I will set my face
- 10:42Speaker 1: against that man and against his family, and will cut
- 10:45Speaker 1: him off, and all who play the prostitute after him
- 10:48Speaker 1: to play the prostitute with Molik from among their people.
- 10:52Speaker 1: So God actually puts two safeguards in place right there.
- 10:55Speaker 1: He says, if anybody sacrifices their children to Malik, the
- 11:00Speaker 1: a death sentence must happen, because that little human baby
- 11:03Speaker 1: was killed, and the person who did that to their
- 11:06Speaker 1: child committed murder. But the second safeguard in place was
- 11:10Speaker 1: that God himself was going to turn his face against
- 11:12Speaker 1: that person. Because God knew that the people were not
- 11:15Speaker 1: actually going to put anybody to death for sacrificing the
- 11:19Speaker 1: children to Malik. Instead, pretty much everybody would just join
- 11:22Speaker 1: in and sacrifice their own children as well, which is
- 11:25Speaker 1: why God says, if the people of the land all
- 11:28Speaker 1: hide their eyes from that person when he gives of
- 11:31Speaker 1: his offspring to Malik and don't put him to death,
- 11:33Speaker 1: then I will set my face against that man and
- 11:36Speaker 1: against his family and will cut him off along with
- 11:40Speaker 1: everybody else who plays the prostitute after him with Molik.
- 11:44Speaker 1: So God put many safeguards in place in order to
- 11:47Speaker 1: protect these children. He said, this is serious. I don't
- 11:51Speaker 1: want you sacrificing any of your children to Molok. I
- 11:54Speaker 1: want your children dedicated to me, and I will bless
- 11:57Speaker 1: your family if you dedicate your children to me instead
- 12:00Speaker 1: of to Malik. And he says, but if you don't
- 12:03Speaker 1: dedicate these children to me, and you sacrifice them to Malik,
- 12:06Speaker 1: then if the people don't put you to death, then
- 12:08Speaker 1: I will set my face against you, meaning God will
- 12:13Speaker 1: dole out the punishment that he feels is fit for
- 12:16Speaker 1: that person who sacrificed their own children to Molik. And
- 12:22Speaker 1: unfortunately a has a King of Judah, an Israelite man,
- 12:27Speaker 1: introduced this kind of idolatry into Israel. It says he
- 12:33Speaker 1: built this thing in the valley of the son of Hinnham,
- 12:36Speaker 1: where he burned his children in the fire according to
- 12:40Speaker 1: the abominations of the nations, whom Yahweh cast out before
- 12:43Speaker 1: the children of Israel. And that's an important verse because
- 12:47Speaker 1: if you turn to Second Kings, chapter seventeen, verses thirteen
- 12:51Speaker 1: through eighteen, here's what this says about Israel, the neighbor
- 12:57Speaker 1: up north. It says, yet Yahweh testified to Israel and
- 13:00Speaker 1: to Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, turn
- 13:04Speaker 1: from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes,
- 13:07Speaker 1: according to all the law which I commanded your fathers
- 13:10Speaker 1: and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. Notwithstanding,
- 13:14Speaker 1: they would not listen, but they hardened their necks like
- 13:17Speaker 1: the neck of their fathers, who didn't believe in Yahweh
- 13:19Speaker 1: their god. They rejected his statutes and his covenant that
- 13:22Speaker 1: he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he
- 13:25Speaker 1: testified to them. And they followed vanity and became vain,
- 13:29Speaker 1: and followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom
- 13:32Speaker 1: Yahweh had commanded them that they should not do like them.
- 13:35Speaker 1: They abandoned all the commandments of Yahweh their god, and
- 13:38Speaker 1: made molten images for themselves, even two calves, and made
- 13:42Speaker 1: an ashrarah and worshiped all the army of the sky
- 13:45Speaker 1: and served bail. They caused their sons and their daughters
- 13:48Speaker 1: to pass through the fire, used divination and enchantments, and
- 13:51Speaker 1: sold themselves to do that which was evil in Yahweh's sight,
- 13:54Speaker 1: to provoke him to anger. Therefore, Yahweh was very angry
- 13:58Speaker 1: with Israel and removed them out of his sight. There
- 14:01Speaker 1: was none left but the tribe of Judah only. So
- 14:05Speaker 1: this is talking about when Assyria came in and pretty
- 14:09Speaker 1: much completely wiped out Israel. At this point in time
- 14:13Speaker 1: and took all of the Israeli people back to Assyria essentially,
- 14:19Speaker 1: And this was happening right around the time of King
- 14:21Speaker 1: a Has, by the way, and for some reason a
- 14:24Speaker 1: Has thought it was a good idea to look to
- 14:26Speaker 1: the kings of Israel and see what they were worshiping,
- 14:29Speaker 1: what they were doing. And it turned out not to
- 14:33Speaker 1: be a very good thing that he did. But going
- 14:35Speaker 1: back to an earlier point that I made that the
- 14:39Speaker 1: sacrifice of children to molik is similar to abortion, I
- 14:45Speaker 1: just want to say that God is forgiving. And here's
- 14:50Speaker 1: how we know that God is forgiving is because God
- 14:53Speaker 1: did forgive his people for all of these sins that
- 14:56Speaker 1: they committed. He was angry at his people for doing this.
- 15:00Speaker 1: He didn't want those little children to die because He
- 15:02Speaker 1: loves babies, and he loves little children because he created them.
- 15:06Speaker 1: They are part of his image. They are his people,
- 15:10Speaker 1: his image bearers, no matter how small they are. God
- 15:14Speaker 1: loves babies. He was angry with his people for doing this,
- 15:18Speaker 1: but he was not angry forever. He forgave his people.
- 15:25Speaker 1: We find this out in Ezekiel chapter twenty, verses forty
- 15:30Speaker 1: one through forty four. It says when I bring you
- 15:33Speaker 1: home from your exile, you will be like a pleasing
- 15:36Speaker 1: sacrifice to me, and I will display my holiness through
- 15:38Speaker 1: you as all the nations watch. Then, when I have
- 15:41Speaker 1: brought you home to the land I promised with a
- 15:43Speaker 1: solemn oath to give to your ancestors, you will know
- 15:46Speaker 1: that I am the Lord. You will look back on
- 15:48Speaker 1: all the ways that you defiled yourselves and will hate
- 15:50Speaker 1: yourselves because of the evil that you have done. You
- 15:52Speaker 1: will know that I am the Lord o people of Israel.
- 15:54Speaker 1: When I have honored my name by treating you mercifully
- 15:57Speaker 1: in spite of your wickedness. I, the sovereign Lord Lord,
- 16:00Speaker 1: have spoken, and this was what God was going to
- 16:02Speaker 1: do for his people. He even said right before that
- 16:05Speaker 1: in verse thirty nine verbatim, go right ahead and worship
- 16:08Speaker 1: your idols, But sooner or later you will obey me
- 16:11Speaker 1: and stop bringing shame on my holy name by worshiping idols.
- 16:16Speaker 1: He says. Eventually you will worship me and I will
- 16:19Speaker 1: accept you. God is forgiving and he is merciful. In fact,
- 16:23Speaker 1: just a couple chapters before that, in Ezekiel eighteen, verses
- 16:26Speaker 1: twenty three through thirty two, these are some of my
- 16:29Speaker 1: favorite verses actually in the entire Bible. Here's what it says.
- 16:34Speaker 1: Do you think that I like to see wicked people die,
- 16:38Speaker 1: says the Sovereign Lord. Of course not. I want them
- 16:42Speaker 1: to turn from their wicked ways and live. However, if
- 16:45Speaker 1: righteous people turn from their righteous behavior and start doing
- 16:48Speaker 1: sinful things and act like other sinners, should they be
- 16:50Speaker 1: allowed to live? No, of course not. All Their righteous
- 16:54Speaker 1: acts will be forgotten and they will die for their sins.
- 16:57Speaker 1: Yet you say the Lord isn't doing what is right.
- 17:00Speaker 1: Listen to me, o, people of Israel. Am I the
- 17:02Speaker 1: one that's not doing right? Or is it you? When
- 17:05Speaker 1: righteous people turn from their righteous behavior and start doing
- 17:08Speaker 1: sinful things, they will die for it. Yes, they will
- 17:10Speaker 1: die because of their sinful deeds. And if wicked people
- 17:13Speaker 1: turn from their wickedness, obey the law and do what
- 17:15Speaker 1: is just and right, they will save their lives. They
- 17:19Speaker 1: will live because they thought it over and decided to
- 17:21Speaker 1: turn from their sins. Such people will not die. And
- 17:25Speaker 1: yet the people of Israel keep saying the Lord isn't
- 17:27Speaker 1: doing what's right. Oh, people of Israel, it is you
- 17:30Speaker 1: who are not doing what's right, not I. Therefore I
- 17:33Speaker 1: will judge each of you, O, people of Israel, according
- 17:36Speaker 1: to your actions, says the Sovereign Lord. Repent and turn
- 17:39Speaker 1: from your sins. Don't let them destroy you. Put all
- 17:42Speaker 1: your rebellion behind you, and find yourselves a new heart
- 17:45Speaker 1: and a new spirit. For why should you die, O,
- 17:48Speaker 1: people of Israel. I don't want you to die, says
- 17:51Speaker 1: the Sovereign Lord. Turn back and live. That is God
- 17:55Speaker 1: essentially begging his people to turn from their sins. He
- 17:59Speaker 1: is begging them to live. I don't want you to die.
- 18:05Speaker 1: I think that verse is really beautiful and shows the
- 18:07Speaker 1: heart of God. He doesn't hate sinners, but he does
- 18:11Speaker 1: hate the sin because the sin is what separates us
- 18:14Speaker 1: from him. The sin is what causes other people to
- 18:18Speaker 1: get hurt, and not just other people, but the individual
- 18:21Speaker 1: whose sins as well. You know, there's so many women
- 18:24Speaker 1: out there that talk about how guilty they feel after
- 18:29Speaker 1: an abortion, how distraught it really was, and it's like
- 18:35Speaker 1: they're not even allowed to talk about that because if
- 18:37Speaker 1: they talk about that, people are either uncompassionate or they say, oh, yeah, right,
- 18:42Speaker 1: you know, abortion is great and you don't have any
- 18:46Speaker 1: regret whatsoever, because you're supposed to think that abortion is
- 18:49Speaker 1: a good thing, and man, I feel for those women.
- 18:53Speaker 1: The good news is that God loves you and that
- 18:56Speaker 1: He is merciful and kind, even if you went through
- 18:59Speaker 1: an abortion years ago. He is merciful and kind and
- 19:03Speaker 1: he accepts you. It says right here, if you turn
- 19:06Speaker 1: away from your wickedness and obey the law and do
- 19:08Speaker 1: what is just and right, you will save your life.
- 19:12Speaker 1: That is what God says about his people. And don't
- 19:15Speaker 1: forget he's talking to the idolatrous Israelites and Judites that
- 19:21Speaker 1: were performing these child sacrifices, specifically talking to them. So
- 19:27Speaker 1: my encouragement to any woman who is listening that has
- 19:30Speaker 1: gotten an abortion, or any man that may have encouraged
- 19:34Speaker 1: his girlfriend or wife to get an abortion, hold on
- 19:38Speaker 1: to these truths that scripture says about how God loves
- 19:41Speaker 1: you and wants to free you from that sin and
- 19:45Speaker 1: from that guilt. And also to any person listening to
- 19:49Speaker 1: this that may be considering an abortion, I encourage you
- 19:52Speaker 1: to go back to Exodus thirteen, verses one and two,
- 19:56Speaker 1: where it says, sanctify to me all the firstborn. Whatever
- 20:00Speaker 1: opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of
- 20:03Speaker 1: man and of animal, it is mine. Those children belong
- 20:08Speaker 1: to God. Psalm one point thirty nine says that God
- 20:11Speaker 1: knit together that little baby in your womb, and that
- 20:15Speaker 1: baby belongs to God. Even if you don't know how
- 20:18Speaker 1: you're going to survive with a baby, because you feel
- 20:22Speaker 1: like you're not ready or you feel like you can't
- 20:26Speaker 1: possibly survive with a child, God knows that that baby exists.
- 20:32Speaker 1: God was the one who formed him or her in
- 20:35Speaker 1: your womb. And if God knows that baby exists, I
- 20:38Speaker 1: know wholeheartedly that he is going to take care of you,
- 20:41Speaker 1: and He is going to provide you with everything you
- 20:43Speaker 1: need in order to take care of that baby. I
- 20:46Speaker 1: encourage you to look into some women's care centers in
- 20:50Speaker 1: your area and find some help there. Those places are
- 20:55Speaker 1: ready and willing to help you. There's a few in
- 20:58Speaker 1: my area that my church is partnered with over the
- 21:01Speaker 1: years and that I have gone to dinners and different
- 21:03Speaker 1: events that they hold, and they do really, really good
- 21:07Speaker 1: work for these women. And some of the women went
- 21:10Speaker 1: up and you know, said their testimonies about how that
- 21:13Speaker 1: care center actually saved their lives and provided them with
- 21:17Speaker 1: shelter and food and clothing that they needed for their
- 21:20Speaker 1: babies and diapers and all sorts of stuff, and now
- 21:23Speaker 1: their babies are healthy and well and five or six
- 21:26Speaker 1: years old. These kind of resources do exist, and God
- 21:29Speaker 1: is going to take care of you, and he's going
- 21:30Speaker 1: to take care of that baby as well. Just dedicate
- 21:33Speaker 1: your child to God and see how he works in
- 21:36Speaker 1: your life. It's always hard to talk about topics like
- 21:42Speaker 1: this because they're very sensitive. And also this topic is
- 21:45Speaker 1: hard because I know that there's a lot of women
- 21:47Speaker 1: and men out there that have been completely destroyed by
- 21:51Speaker 1: an abortion that they had. And if that's the case,
- 21:54Speaker 1: you have to acknowledge that, yes, you sinned. But when
- 21:57Speaker 1: you admit that and you confess your sin before God,
- 22:01Speaker 1: just see how merciful and kind He actually is. This
- 22:04Speaker 1: reminds me of the story back in the Book of
- 22:08Speaker 1: Genesis where Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery. They did
- 22:14Speaker 1: not know what happened to Joseph. They probably assumed that
- 22:18Speaker 1: he was dead after about two decades, and they were
- 22:21Speaker 1: racked with guilt when they went into Egypt. You could
- 22:25Speaker 1: tell that this was eating them alive for decades after
- 22:29Speaker 1: they had sold their brother into slavery. And yet God
- 22:32Speaker 1: worked that entire situation out for good, and Joseph was
- 22:35Speaker 1: the second command in all of Egypt. He started out
- 22:38Speaker 1: as a slave and yet, with God's help built his
- 22:41Speaker 1: way up to becoming the second in command, Pharaoh's right
- 22:45Speaker 1: hand man. And even after that, Joseph's brothers were still
- 22:50Speaker 1: feeling guilt. You can see this because after their father died,
- 22:57Speaker 1: when they were all living in Egypt together, the brothers
- 23:01Speaker 1: kept saying to Joseph, They're like, are you gonna kill
- 23:03Speaker 1: us now that our father died? Like we are so
- 23:05Speaker 1: sorry for what we did to you. And Joseph was like, no,
- 23:08Speaker 1: don't let that guilt eat your entire life away, because
- 23:12Speaker 1: God is good and God is forgiving and merciful and
- 23:17Speaker 1: loving toward all of his people. Well, faithful listeners, this
- 23:21Speaker 1: episode was a heavier topic, but I hope it was
- 23:23Speaker 1: both convicting and encouraging for all of you guys. Now,
- 23:26Speaker 1: before I let you all go with a happy listening
- 23:29Speaker 1: and God bless, here's a quick advertisement from one or
- 23:32Speaker 1: two of the sponsors, and then I will wrap things
- 23:35Speaker 1: up after that. Already, faithful listeners, I hope you have
- 23:39Speaker 1: a fantastic and wonderful rest of your day. If you
- 23:42Speaker 1: have any more questions about this topic, don't hesitate to
- 23:45Speaker 1: reach out. I do read all of my emails and
- 23:49Speaker 1: I try to respond to as many as I possibly can.
- 23:52Speaker 1: So if you have a question about any of this,
- 23:54Speaker 1: you can find my contact information listed in the description
- 23:57Speaker 1: of this episode. But also, faithful listeners, if you have
- 24:00Speaker 1: a prayer request, don't hesitate to reach out about that
- 24:03Speaker 1: as well, and I will write you down in my
- 24:04Speaker 1: little prayer journal and pray for you for the week.
- 24:08Speaker 1: Faithful listeners, have a fantastic and wonderful rest of your day.
- 24:11Speaker 1: I will see you guys tomorrow as we start a
- 24:13Speaker 1: brand new book of the New Testament, which is phi Lemen,
- 24:17Speaker 1: and we'll be in Philemen for about five seconds because
- 24:21Speaker 1: it is a very very short book of the Bible.
- 24:24Speaker 1: So I'll see you guys tomorrow as we discuss Philemen
- 24:27Speaker 1: Chapter one. Happy listening, and God bless I just want
- 24:36Speaker 1: to take a second to thank the team at Life
- 24:38Speaker 1: Audio for their partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast.
- 24:41Speaker 1: In fact, if you go to lifeudio dot com you
- 24:43Speaker 1: will find dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network.
- 24:46Speaker 1: They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting and more