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Claude Stauffer: Hard To Worry About The World While Praying · Worldview Matters With David Fiorazo

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  Welcome to World View Matters, discussing controversial issues, discerning current events,
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  defending biblical Christianity, no topic, off limits.
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  And now, here's your host, David Firazzo.
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  Welcome, brothers and sisters in Christ, to another episode of Man, we're just crazy.
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  Almost summer, but we still feel like spring.
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  Well, I should say almost spring.
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  But anyway, our brother Claude Stoffer is back with us.
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  Calvary Chapel of Hope is the website, Calvary Chapel of Hope.org.
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  He's a New Yorker.
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  We love him.
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  And his blog website is shepherdofhope.org.
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  Shepardofhope.org.
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  Brother, thanks for your time today.
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  I'm excited to talk about this important topic to encourage believers.
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  Absolutely.
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  It's always a pleasure to be on your program.
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  Well, Claude, we didn't do an episode on your latest book.
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  You did two on the Holy Spirit.
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  What is your most recent book title, please?
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  My most recent title is a sequel to my previous book on the Holy Spirit.
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  The first one was, have you heard of the Holy Spirit?
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  The second book, my latest book is, have you heard what the Holy Spirit expressly says
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  about the latter times?
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  Okay.
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  Have you heard what the Holy Spirit expressly says about the latter times?
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  All right.
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  Yeah.
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  Good stuff.
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  And you can get that on Amazon?
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  Yes, it's available in Amazon and hardcovered paperback.
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  Kindle or audio, audio book.
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  Sounds good.
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  Sounds good.
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  So we were talking either text or email, leading up to this.
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  Resurrection season is upon us.
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  It's important.
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  It's important for the church not to celebrate Easter and bunnies and chocolate and pastels
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  or whatever, spring fertility, but to understand the empty tomb and the importance of the
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  resurrection of Jesus Christ, that's what our faith is based on.
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  But you also talked about 10, the top 10 things people are worrying about right now.
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  So before we get to that, and I like the list, Claude, we can go through whatever you want
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  to share from that, but I want to quote you, you say the resurrection is God's exclamation point
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  on his promises that is verifiable proof.
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  We can trust him and we don't have to worry.
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  I love that.
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  It's so simple and I think everybody watching and listening would agree.
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  But with the daily grind and with all that's happening in the world and the division, not only
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  politically, but even in the church today, Claude, I think there's a lot of anxiety.
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  A lot of things that are distracting people may be causing more opportunities to worry.
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  Your thoughts overall before we dive in?
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  Well, I just think we're, you know, there are a few things that are prevalent in a like a spirit
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  in culture and society in our world today. One of them is division.
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  We see a divide. We see in our own nation a tremendous divide.
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  You know, on one side you have those who hate the president Trump and will, doesn't mean like
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  it's been said he could cure cancer and they still wouldn't give him any credit.
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  You know, I mean, no matter what he does, he can't do anything right.
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  On the other side, you have those are most for the most part pro Trump, pro president and Trump.
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  But now, even on the conservative side, on the right, you have a divide between, you know,
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  you have the rise of Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson and others now who are questioning
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  president Trump questioning the influence of Israel in the conservative movement.
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  And it's causing a great deal of animus, a great deal of conflict.
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  And then, of course, you have the present war in Iran, but we in America and Israel versus Iran
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  to try to put down that source of worldwide terror. And, you know, we, you know, on the one hand,
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  you have victories, right? You have victories in Venezuela, right? You have victory,
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  tremendous victory in Venezuela. You have, I think, what will turn out to be a victory in Iran
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  to hopefully topple that regime and let the people elect, democratically, a government that
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  will be more positive or more inclined towards a receptive to the West. And then you have things that
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  rumblings that are going on, even in Cuba, that's right on our doorstep in the South.
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  So, so there are all of these things that are happening. And then you have all of the,
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  all of the demonstrations. It's amazing. I think it's, it's, it's, it's, it's amazing to me how you
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  can see the pictures of Iranians demonstrating and pray and singing the praises of America and
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  President Trump in Iran. And on our own, on our own city streets, all we have are people
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  demonstrating against President Trump and what's going on in Iran. It's, it's really flabbergasting
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  to see it and people are so indoctrinated, so deceit, you know, the God of this world has blinded
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  people. I think that's part of that. That's part of the part of the blind, the blindness and
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  deception that people are caught up in. And so all of this causes a great deal of worry and
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  anxiety. Yeah. And, and it's just something Lord has put on my heart recently last couple of
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  weeks. I'm, I'm teaching, I happen to be teaching in the Gospel of Matthew. And I'm in chapter six
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  right now. You know, it's a tremendous chapter that speaks about the importance of prayer.
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  And, but then towards the end of that chapter, it speaks about how Jesus said, do not worry.
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  I mean, he says it very clearly. Do not worry. Don't worry. You know, and it's one thing to be
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  genuinely concerned and, and, you know, look at things and prepare. But I think it sometimes
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  that turns into worry and anxiety that can be almost paralyzing to people. And it's very
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  scared, but let us scared people, let us frighten people right now. Yeah. And in the body of Christ,
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  we shouldn't be referring to anyone as fearful, scared, worried, you know, because that's a lack
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  of trust in God. And I know I'm, I'm preaching to the choir here. I'm not, I'm pointing at you,
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  but I got three fingers pointed back at myself because there are times where if you're watching
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  the wrong news channel or if you're tuning into the wrong sources or outlets, you're going to tend
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  to have some anxiety. And because this world, it's, it's crazy right now. We need that stability
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  that God provides and that we should have as the body of Christ. But Claude, before we continue on,
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  I'll talk about some of these things, the top 10 things that people are concerned, worried about
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  right now. And the answer is always God, the Bible, Jesus prayer. But you're doing a series called
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  is it finished? So Jesus on the cross will go through this again when it comes to Easter weekend
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  and leading up to it. He said, it is finished. And his work was done. And we just have to place our
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  faith in Christ alone. So what do you mean by asking the question, is it finished?
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  Well, I just asked, asked a question, is it finished? And part of it is a challenge to us
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  to understand what it, what it means when Jesus said, to tell us that or when he said, it is
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  finished on the cross because you have a large segment of the so-called church which sees the
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  atoning and redemptive work of Jesus on the cross as something that has to be perpetuated
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  through a ceremony in ritual on a weekly basis. And that's not what Jesus said. What did Jesus
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  accomplish on the cross? And that we know the reason why we know what Jesus did on the cross
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  was efficient and sufficient to accomplish our redemption is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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  It's a living hope. It's a, whenever we feel hopeless, all we need to do is look back
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  at Jesus and see what he accomplished on the cross. And that he rose from the dead. And this is
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  the, this is something that that's why I started this series a few weeks early because I really
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  wanted this, this resurrection week to be for people to really catch the spirit of resurrection
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  week. You know, we don't, why should we limit ourselves to celebrating such a glorious truth
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  for one week? Why not, why not celebrate it? You know, we should celebrate it every day of the week
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  every week of the year. Let me quote, you just alluded to first Peter 3, 3 and 4. I just want to
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  share that encouraging those encouraging scriptures and we'll move on. It says Peter writes,
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  blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has
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  caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
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  to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away
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  reserved in heaven for you, believer in Christ. And that's why your website shepherdofhope.org
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  and Calvary Chapel of Hope. You base, you know, a lot on hope, I think of Hebrews 619, that hope we
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  have in Christ is an anchor to our soul. So cloud, you say we have to guard against the clutter
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  in the world to maintain our focus on the blessed hope. So let's, let's go down some of these things
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  in the list, the clutter, the top 10 things people are worrying about right now. And friends,
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  we know these are things going on in our world, but we have a choice to make and how to react
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  to respond to them. Go ahead. Well, you know, it's the top 10 list of what people are worrying about
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  right now. Now it's interesting. I'm looking at this list and I see sometimes, you know, should I
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  start at number 10 and go towards number one, which is, which is really first, but we'll start at
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  10. It says job security and the labor market. Now, you know, President Trump coming from, and I
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  don't want to make this a, I think a political thing, but, you know, President Trump comes from
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  a business background. And I think he's doing a great deal of good, trying to get,
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  manufacturing back in, back in America, companies coming back into America and the, to get the
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  unemployment rate down and to make, to provide more jobs, not just more jobs, but a better quality
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  of job for the American people. But people worry about job security and the labor market. I think
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  that was more under the last administration and it was under this administration. Number nine is
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  data privacy and AI. You know, that it's kind of, I don't know about you, but have you experienced
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  this? Let me just give you a scenario. You talk about something. My wife and I were talking about,
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  I don't know, we were going to get an appliance of some kind, right? And we were just talking about
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  it, you know, we're sitting next to each other. And all of a sudden, when I went to social media,
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  I got an advertisement of what I was talking about. So there is something to that. They're AI
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  and your phones and all of this stuff. There is an element of intrusiveness to these things.
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  Number eight is climate change. Now, I honestly, David, I really don't worry about climate change.
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  I'm just, I mean, I think that that's, you know, that's more of a globalist. I know some people
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  are very, very concerned about that. But that's something that they, that they, that they're very
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  concerned about crime and violence. I think that's a much more, I look at New York City and the
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  election of Mayor Mandani. And, you know, he's, he's planning on, there's a thing that just recently
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  came out in New York City that he wants to shut the lights off, I think at 11 o'clock. You know,
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  you know, it's going to happen in New York City at 11 o'clock when the lights going.
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  What should go wrong? It's going to be a free, I mean, a free for all military conflict between
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  nations. I mean, we still have the Ukrainian Russian war and there's a number of other,
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  other wars going on. Healthcare costs and access. I think that's improved. It is improving a little
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  bit. I know a prescription drugs. I mean, I've, I've had to go to get prescriptions and just
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  seems like there's a lower expense there. The state of democracy, that's a big thing. The
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  Save America Act. That's, that's a big concern to sure that our elections are, are safe and
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  sound and equitable and, you know, free of any kind of manipulation by either party.
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  So the state of democracy, the economy in general, cost of living in inflation. And lastly,
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  government corruption, you know, is the first thing. And I think that's, that's a legitimate
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  concern, government corruption. I think we, we're in it. Our system has been invaded and it has
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  become a situation where you have politicians who are looking to enrich themselves at the expense
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  of their service to the citizenry that elected them. And I think that is, that is a big concern.
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  But the one that I would, that I'm surprised was not on there was, you know, what about
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  eternity? What about, you know, life after this life? Yeah. I mean, you know, are we so
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  distracted by these, by these 10 things that we're not even thinking about? I mean, we just,
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  a few, it's only been a few years ago that we went through that pandemic, so caught, you know,
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  pandemic, pandemic or whatever you want to call it, where people were really, we're really
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  thinking about, they were kind of shocked into being forced, you know, and the Bible tells us,
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  it's appointed a demand once to die, then the judgment, you know, what, what, what,
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  what does your eternity look like? What does your eternal destiny look like? And so all of,
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  there's so many things for people to worry about. There's relationships we could add to that.
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  Number of different top 10 lists, but, you know, our relationships, if you're not married,
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  will they get married? If you are married, what's the state of my marriage? If you're, if you're,
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  if you're, you know, recently divorced, will you ever be married again? You know, our
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  relationships, what about parent-child relationships? You worry about that. You worry about what's
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  going to happen to your kids in school. But, you know, so you homeschool them, but even when you homeschool
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  kids, they're going to be exposed to social media and things along those lines. So, there's a lot
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  of sources of worry. You know, a lot of sources of worry. You know, you might be a church, you know,
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  is what, is my church going to be invaded by a doctor and I don't agree with, you know,
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  you know, eschatology, theology, things like that. I mean, you know, human beings, we have the
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  tendency to worry and, and we could find stuff to worry about very easily, you know, even pastors,
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  I tell you, even pastors, you know, I'm not immune to it. There'll be times when, you know, I,
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  I can't sleep and I'll be pacing the floor and that that's when the Lord speaks to me or when
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  He just, He kind of gets my attention. What are you doing? Why are you worrying? You're the pastor.
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  You know, wake up. Practice what you preach, you know, and, and so, so Matthew chapter six,
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  beginning in verse 15, Jesus says, do not worry. And then He goes and He speaks in that last
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  chapter of Matthew chapter six and He just, you know, He really, it's an exhortation to not,
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  do not worry. And of course, Paul, be anxious for nothing, but in everything, you know, and then
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  He goes on and tells you what we should be thinking about. And plus, first Timothy, we have not been
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  given a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. So as you're going through this list,
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  and I have a list printed out here, I'm looking at, I'm maybe half of these and I'm thinking,
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  if Christians are worried about some of these things, like climate change might be one of the
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  examples, it depends on where you're getting your information and what you've been told or taught.
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  And we know what the K through 12, we know what the university's academia is teaching. We know what
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  Hollywood thinks about global warming, climate change, what they're trying to do to save the planet.
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  And people are the problem, right? Jesus is a solution to everything, but they think, anyway,
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  their worldviews messed up. So if Christians are listening to the wrong voices or getting
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  their information from the wrong places, it's no wonder that they can be just as susceptible to
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  worry, correct? Absolutely. You know, chapter six, which is probably Jesus' greatest statement
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  about exhortation not to worry and why we shouldn't worry, but it's a chapter that begins with
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  that well-known prayer of his, the our father. And something interesting about that prayer is,
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  do you know that there's no first-person singular pronouns in that prayer? It starts out our
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  father and let us lead us not into temptation. It's all, you know, it's plural. So there's a subtle
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  direction there by Jesus to speak about how rather than worrying, come together and pray.
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  You know, come together and pray. That's where that's where the solution to your worry
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  worries some problems. That's where it begins to be answered is when we come together and pray.
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  Of course, we pray individually to the Lord. We have our own personal quiet times. Jesus went
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  up on a mountain to pray, got up early in the morning to pray. Jesus was an incredible example.
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  A prayer. And if the Son of God and the Son of Man prayed, how much more should we pray?
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  But then when he taught his disciples how to pray, he said, our father, which are in heaven,
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  how would be thy name? Thy kingdom come. I will be done in earth as it is in heaven, you know,
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  so on and so forth. Let, you know, give us this day our daily bread, you know, praying together.
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  And I think if, if the church is ever to be what God designed it to be, well, we need a revival
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  of prayer. We need a revival in our church, but we need a prayer revival, a prayer revival.
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  Let's talk a little bit more about that. Because I'm thinking in my own life, boy, I do
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  I need to be better at praying. And that needs to be one of my first responses. Trust God,
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  pray about a situation. And I want to quote you and let you expound on this. You sent me
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  in an email, you said prayer is essential to whether the storms of the times in which we are living.
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  That's a great quote, brother. Prayer is essential to whether the storms of the times in which we
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  are living. Because we're all going through something, whether it's a loved one or health,
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  or maybe financially or something in our lives. And if we don't turn to God to the word and
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  or to prayer, hopefully a combination of those, I don't know, our foundation might be a little shaky.
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  Go ahead and share. Well, prayer is a declaration of dependence on God. But the lack of prayer is a
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  declaration of independence from God. Right. So really your prayer, your prayer life is kind of a
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  barometer to show or to reveal or expose where you are at with the Lord. And you know, prayer is
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  essential. Jesus said, if you have faith, there's a mustard seed, say to this mountain,
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  go into the sea, and it will go. You know, I mean, and how do we do that? It's through prayer.
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  You know, through prayer. Let me just read to you. If I encourage your listeners or those that
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  are watching this, I encourage you to, there are some authors that are really dynamic, either
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  examples or authors about prayer. One is Hudson Taylor. Yes. Get your hands on a copy of Hudson
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  Taylor's spiritual secret. Another one is now he's the E.M. Bounds is another when E.M. Bounds
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  was an officer in the Union Army in the Civil War and he wrote a series of books on on prayer.
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  And I just would like to read just a couple of sentences from from from one of his books. He says
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  prayer affects men by affecting God. Prayer moves men because it moves God to move men.
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  Prayer influences men by influencing God to influence them. Prayer moves the hand that moves
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  the world. Right. Oh, it's, you know, our prayer. I just go back to what I said previously.
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  If Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of Man, if he spent long nights in prayer, consistent in
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  prayer, the one thing, you know, that his disciples asked him to teach them about was his prayer life.
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  His prayer life must have been so dynamic and and he's our example, right? He says, I have given
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  you an example. Paul wrote and he said, God has predestined us to be conformed to the likeness
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  of his son. John says we're to follow in the steps of Jesus. Peter said we're to follow in his
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  step, follow in his steps or John said we should walk as he walked. I mean, it's throughout
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  scripture. So Jesus prayed, where is our prayer life? Where is where is our where is our prayer
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  life? So that's the question. So so so very important. So before we run out of time, I just want
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  to mention this. I thought this was already done a while back from Barna, but the number of
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  Americans with biblical worldview is now really low lower than what we thought, but Gen Z is
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  polling. And this is over at TheWashingtonStand.com. Gen Z is polling at 1%. 1% of Gen Z has a
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  biblical worldview. And this is by Arizona Christian University's Cultural Research Center.
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  So we shouldn't be shocked by this, but this is a reflection of a lack of the teaching of God's
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  Word, the sharing of the gospel, the the ability of believers to defend the faith, and the the
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  inability of some pastors to equip the saints in their care. And here we go. Another study that's
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  showing the biblical worldview declining Gen Z 1% cloud. Just your brief thoughts on that in light
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  of what we're talking about. Well, I think it's a it's a it's a consequence of the church diminishing
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  the value of the teaching of the word diminishing of how many churches have vital prayer meetings
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  where a good proportion of the church comes out to to pray together at our church. We have a
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  men's prayer meeting every Saturday morning. We've had it now for for many, many years. And and
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  even we see now that it's growing. Our ladies have prayer time also during the week. And so it's
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  so very important for us to pray if we if we really believe that there is a God, then why aren't
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  we communicating with him? And and you know, someone told me early in my in my walk with the Lord,
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  you know, prayer in the Bible, go hand in hand. Someone told me when you pray, you speak to God,
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  but when you read the Bible, God speaks to you. So whenever I'm praying, I have my Bible. I don't
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  pray without my Bible. I I'm I'm there. And when I read the Bible and say, Okay, Lord, what do you
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  want to say to me today? What what do you want to correct me today? What do you want to advise me
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  today? What wisdom do you want to pass on to me today? What encouragement? What comfort? What truth?
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  You know, what what what insight about who you are? Your grace, your mercy, your justice, your
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  judgment, your righteousness, you know, your your return, Lord, what is it that you're that you
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  want to communicate to me? And that's the way I read the Bible. So, you know, I grew up in a very
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  dysfunctional household. I always believed in God, but I never got a response to him. But when I
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  accepted Jesus Christ as my savior, one of the things that I was told that and and it's really
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  proved to truth throughout my life is that when I pray, I speak to God, but when I read the Bible,
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  he speaks to me. So now that's how the Lord use the Lord uses his word to solidify that personal
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  relationship, the personal aspect of my saving relationship with Jesus Christ. And it's in prayer
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  and get to get back to worry. You know, when you're praying and declaring your dependence upon the
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  Lord and you're hearing from him in his word, you're going to be much less apt to get sucked into
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  the worrisome events in our today. That's right. When you're praying or praising God, it's worry is
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  not quite impossible, but it's really difficult when we're tuned in. Brother, thank you so much
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  for your time and this is a good topic, important topic to get back to the basics of what we need to
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  be doing, how we need to be responding to what's happening in our world with faith in God.
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  Calvary Chapel of Hope and Shepherd of Hope.org, Claude, thank you.
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  Friends, I want to mention the conference site again. I didn't actually, I didn't mention it
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  earlier. It's worldviewmattersconference.com. Make sure to check that out if you're in the Midwest,
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  especially if you're considering going tickets are going very fast. Worldviewmattersconference.com.
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  God bless you and as always, keep speaking the truth about things that matter.