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Bible Questions & Answers (Q&A) Session (2) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  So as you know, we're doing a Q&A and I'm going to hand it off
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  to Mark. But before we do that, maybe we
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  should pray. Ask the Lord to help us if you'd
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  like to pray for us, Sure. Father, we thank you for
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  blessing us with this time. Lord, what a privilege it is to
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  gather. Here is blood bought Saints to
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  dive into your word, to know you better through your word.
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  To live as Christians through your word.
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  Lord, may you enlighten our eyes, enlighten our minds and
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  our hearts as we answer and talk about these sometimes difficult
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  questions. Lord, it may propel us to
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  greater faithfulness and greater love toward you.
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  In Jesus name. Amen.
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  Amen. All right.
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  Well, we have a few questions here I'm excited to, really.
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  Just talk about them a little bit tonight.
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  There's some very practical questions, there's some
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  theological questions in there. But what I love about these
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  questions that you all submitted, it's really it's it's
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  not a stump, the pastor type of questions.
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  It's these are real questions that are on people's minds
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  wanting to know what the word of God says about some hard to
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  understand issues. And you know, I was reflecting
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  on it earlier today and you know in Peter second Peter where he
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  says that you know things that Paul says in the New Testament.
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  Hard to understand sometimes, right.
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  But ultimately, and I love how Peter ends that he says even
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  though these things are hard to understand, even though there's
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  some people out there who will misuse and abuse these difficult
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  scriptures to to bring doubt into your minds.
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  Peter ends this with, then ends that passage with this.
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  He he prays for them, and he says that he hopes they.
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  Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
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  Christ. To him be the glory both now and
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  to the day of eternity. Amen.
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  Amen. And so that's that's really why
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  I'm excited to really dive into these questions today.
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  So let's start, you know, as Christians.
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  Daniel, it's. We we live in a society where
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  all around us, the unbelieving world, there's conflicts,
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  there's arguments, there's just backbiting and hatred and
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  spitefulness. But as Christians, in a
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  Christian community of believers, not only in the local
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  church but in the wider Christian communities, we have
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  to be different from the world. But as Christians, we still
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  have. Sin.
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  We still have disagreements, We still have conflict.
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  So how do we as Christians confront a brother or sister in
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  Christ when that brother and or sister is in sin?
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  Yeah, that's a huge question because when you look at Jesus's
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  instructions about the church, there are only two places in the
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  entire Gospels where Jesus refers to the church directly
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  and clearly. Both are found in the Gospel of
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  Matthew and Matthew 16, where the revelation that Peter has
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  concerning Christ Jesus refers to the church being built upon
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  that revelation. And then in Matthew 18 where
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  Jesus instructs believers how to deal with a sinning believer and
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  he refers to the church in those set of instructions.
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  Now here's what I find so significant about that the the
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  fact that Jesus, out of all the things you could have said about
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  the function of the church, the one thing that he wanted to
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  touch on was that the purpose of the church in the believer's
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  life is that there would be a mutual operation of
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  accountability. Think about that when you and I
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  become followers of Jesus Christ and are joined to, yes, the
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  universal church, but the universal church express in the
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  local settings, the primary. One of the primary reasons for
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  that is that we would open our lives up to other Christians to
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  speak into our lives and also setting ourselves up to be ready
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  to respectfully restore brother or sister if they've fallen into
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  sin. I don't think that's how many
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  believers view the local church. I don't think that's how how
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  many people view their relationship with other
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  believers. That one of the top reasons for
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  Christ bringing us together is that we would have an eye out
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  for one another and what that looks like.
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  Once we've established that once we realized the the great call
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  that Christ has given us concerning what the church
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  should function as, we have to then ask how do we do that
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  right? And that really depends on a
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  case by case situation. It would depend on the nature of
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  the sin. It would depend on the setting
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  of where that sin perhaps was committed.
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  For example, you look at Paul with Cephas and Antioch.
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  Peter is acting hypocritically and he caused other Jewish
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  believers to also follow in his example to treat the Gentiles as
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  lesser than. And So what does Paul do?
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  It says there he spoke before them all and he confronts Peter
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  to his face. That's not a rule for all of us
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  to call out a believer and sin in front of everybody because
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  you go back to what the actual rules are in Jesus says of a
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  brother sins, you go to him privately.
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  And so we know if you read Matthew 1815 down, you see the
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  protocol given to believers. And yet even though the protocol
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  is there, there's still a call for wisdom.
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  And that wisdom is our attitude towards other believers.
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  And I would say the best way in dealing with people, especially
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  if they are caught in sin or they've offended you, is to do
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  so in a way in which you would like to be approached if you
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  were caught in sin. Whether that sin is intentional
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  or not. We have to also remember, when
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  people are in sin, sometimes they're not doing so
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  intentionally. Maybe they're operating with a
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  lesser revelation than you are. Maybe they're immature in the
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  faith. So you always have to put
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  yourself in their shoes. And more than that, Galatian
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  speaks about a spirit of gentleness.
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  And so with that, I believe there is a necessity to approach
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  a brother. And here's here's my preference
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  in doing that, to ask a lot of questions.
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  So approach a believer, asking questions, not coming with
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  evidence and then saying, you know you did this, this is, this
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  is your fault. Or whatever the case may be,
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  what you want to do is you want to love hopes for all things,
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  right? It hopes for the best.
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  And so you want to give them a chance to explain themselves.
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  You want to also give them the chance to be honest and to
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  confess that sin. And so the aim of our
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  confrontation is not to demean or discourage, but always to
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  restore. And even in the confrontation
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  stage, you want to win that brother or that sister.
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  You don't want to destroy them, and you don't want to push them
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  off or give them the impression that you're not for them.
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  Again with that, because Jesus also said that he was gentle and
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  lonely, there are moments and there are settings where a
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  strong word needs to be given that serious rebuke needs to be
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  offered. That doesn't exclude those
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  potential confrontations, but we just need to be wise and we need
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  to consider the different facets of the circumstance in the
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  situation. Always with the goal that I want
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  to redeem this brother. I want to see this sister.
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  Come back to the faith, come back to the will of God, come
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  back to honoring the Lord in their lives.
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  And so the way I've done it, and I've the way I've seen other
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  people do it effectively is, hey, I you did this.
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  And I don't know if you, I don't know if you meant it when you
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  said it, but it it did hurt me. And I just want to ask, you
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  know, do you have a reason behind what you said or what you
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  didn't say? You didn't include me in this.
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  You didn't ask questions because they could be operating under
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  ignorance. They could have done something
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  due to a blind spot. That's not how we feel when
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  we're offended. We always almost assumed that
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  they did it to intentionally hurt us.
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  And that's just one scenario. There's different, again,
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  scenarios that we have to consider, but I think as a
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  general rule, ask questions, come in gentleness and always
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  put yourself in their shoes. If if you were caught in
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  something, how would you want to be approached?
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  It's wonderful what what do you do, though, if you confront
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  someone and they're like I I didn't do anything wrong.
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  Or I did this. Not a big deal.
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  I don't understand what what? What's the big deal?
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  Like if you have a confronting somebody and they just, there's
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  no repentance, there's no remorse.
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  What do you do then, as a Christian?
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  That's a great question. Well then, Jesus provides the
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  answer. Bring two or three other
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  brothers. Let them begin to feel how
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  serious this is, bringing other witnesses to testify that this
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  is indeed a sin. And then if they still resist
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  and they still or repeat that sin and the repentance is
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  shallow and not true, then it comes to the point where Jesus
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  says, then you have to treat them in a certain way.
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  You have to treat them as a tax collector.
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  You have to treat them as a gentile.
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  In other words, you have to treat them as somebody who is
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  not part of the community of faith.
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  And at that point they forfeit certain relational privileges in
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  order for them to realize that there are consequences to a lack
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  of repentance. And so again, the to approach
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  somebody in their sin in the name of gentleness and kindness
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  and respect does not disqualify the need to bring in a more
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  serious approach if it requires it.
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  So I would say that Jesus had that in mind when he gave those
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  instructions. Somebody dismisses it or says
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  that's just my personality, you're too sensitive, OK?
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  Now you bring this before 2-3 other witnesses, and if it's
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  legitimate, they'll agree with you.
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  And then this person that has to deal with other believers who
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  are confronting them. What are they going to do then?
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  And the whole point of that process that Jesus gives us is
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  to keep the the sin issue of a person's A person's fallen is as
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  private as possible and to and to allow them to be in an
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  honorable way come to their senses before it becomes more
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  public. And if it deserves a more public
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  approach, then that's because of their unwillingness to
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  ultimately repent. Thank you.
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  Last followup question, because you know you you hear this a
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  lot, especially in the in the wider Christian community,
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  unfortunately nowadays are there do you think there are any
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  situations where Matthew 18 would not apply, where you are
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  not called to go one-on-one with the person who is sitting
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  against you? Absolutely.
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  I love that followup question because Paul exercises that with
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  the brother in the Church of Corinth who was sinning with his
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  father's wife. And the church knew about it.
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  And Paul skips all those steps and he says get him out of
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  there, get him out of there, he needs to go.
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  And the reason why he says that is because it was a public sin.
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  The church indirectly affirmed it and tolerated it.
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  And so there was no need to go through that protocol.
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  And so it's not this black and white thing.
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  There are Gray areas. There are different situations
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  that demand different responses and there is license for that.
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  So absolutely depends on the nature of this and the
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  circumstances, situation, situation.
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  If a leader sins, there's a different approach than if a
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  believer in the congregation a member sins.
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  So yeah, we can't just, we can't just take Matthew 18 and apply
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  it to every single case. That might be unwise.
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  And that's why there's always a call to wisdom concerning the
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  nature of send the severity of it, how public is it, how
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  dangerous it is. All those things need to be put
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  into Factor, yeah. Great, Okay.
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  Let's move on to the next one. You know, many churches preach
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  primarily from the New Testament and to the neglect of the Old
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  Testament, whether it's Sunday morning, Sunday evening, other
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  Bible study times. In fact, you do have some well
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  regarded or at least well known Christian leaders nowadays.
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  I'm thinking of Andy Stanley large church in Georgia, North
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  Point, who's on record as saying that Christians need to uncouple
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  themselves from the Old Testament.
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  What would you say to that? And and can we apply all of the
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  Old Testament to us as New Testament believers?
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  And how do we know what's and what not to apply if we don't
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  apply all the Old Testament? Yeah, it's unfortunate that many
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  people, whether they like the situation you brought up, this
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  is one of this, assisted themselves theologically with
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  the Old Testament. Or those who are intimidated by
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  the Old Testament and don't see the value of it choose not to
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  teach on and expound on it. At the same time, there is
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  concern because we realize we are in a new covenant.
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  So how does the old covenant apply to us?
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  And that's a vital question. That's an important question.
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  I understand the the reasoning behind that.
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  What we have to understand is even in the New Testament, we're
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  told in Romans 15 believe verse four told in First Corinthians
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  10. Believe verse 6 and verse 11,
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  that there is encouragement and instruction found in these Old
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  Testament stories. And even in these laws and and
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  these Psalms, there is value for our personal encouragement.
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  And so people kind of look down upon those who go to the story
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  of David and the story of Joseph and what they tend to say in
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  defense of Christ being. The theme of the Bible is you
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  can't put yourself in that story with Joseph.
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  You can't put yourself in that story of David.
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  And I get that you can stretch these stories to make it about
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  you and not make it about God's glory.
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  At the same time, Paul tells me I can go there for
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  encouragement. I can go to how God dealt with
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  Joseph's life with his perfect, sovereign, providential plan and
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  believe the same for my life. I can look at David's faith and
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  say, yeah, God honors faith and there is instruction and value.
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  They're concerning my faith with the lens of the New Testament,
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  of course. So it's a it's it's an
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  unfortunate thing to hear people speak like that.
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  I know their hearts are in the right place and that they want
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  to defend the glory of Christ being the theme and the golden
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  thread from beginning to end. But there is nothing
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  illegitimate with me and for you for anybody else to go to the
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  Old Testament with the boundaries of the New Testament
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  to see how these things apply to me.
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  In fact, the Old Testament is the best illustration book for
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  New Testament principles. However, I get the again, back
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  to the original question, I get the argument of well, we're in
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  the New covenant, so how do we know what of the Old Testament?
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  Maybe ceremonial laws, rituals, feast.
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  How do we know what transfers over and what is obsolete?
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  Or what has ceased to be applicable?
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  And there are two places that help me when I look at that
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  question. One is an Isaiah 42.
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  You're told they're in the first few verses, a prophecy
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  concerning the Messiah to come and and in the first few verses
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  we are told that the Coast lands will wait for His law.
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  That's an interesting phrase that as the Messiah comes, the
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  gentile nations themselves are awaiting a law to come from him.
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  When you go to Hebrews 7, the author of Hebrews is arguing how
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  the priesthood of Melchizedek is superior to the priesthood of
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  Aaron. And he says something in that
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  chapter, verse 12 I believe, where he mentions that if there
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  is a new priesthood, then automatically that assumes that
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  there is going to be a new law. What does that mean?
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  What that means is that in the new covenant you have in a sense
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  a law within that covenant, a new way of approaching worship,
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  approaching sanctification, approaching our relationship
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  with the Lord. And Christ brought that in.
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  Not that he dismissed the Old covenant, He was the fulfillment
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  of it. But he brought about the true
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  substance of the Old Testament, and that's what we would call
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  the law of Christ. So how do I identify the law of
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  Christ in the New Covenant? I think the best way to do is to
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  read the New Covenant, read the Gospels, read the epistles, the
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  apostles who were given authority, and the promise by
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  Christ that the Spirit would come and he would reveal
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  everything that the Christ would want him to know and expound
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  upon his teachings. Because at that time, they
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  weren't ready to receive all that Christ wanted them to know.
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  And what you'll see as you study the new covenant is that there
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  is some overlap with the Old Covenant, and there are some
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  things that don't apply anymore. So people often ask about the
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  Sabbath, right? They look at the 10 commandments
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  and they'll see that nine of those commandments resurface in
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  the New Covenant. But the the Sabbath, as the Jews
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  observed, is not necessarily repeated.
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  It's not emphasized as a teaching, as a practice for the
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  church. Well, why is that?
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  Because Christ is the Sabbath. Hebrews 4.
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  He fulfilled that, but at the same time, there's a universal
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  moral code that still applies in the New Covenant.
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  So the best way to know what applies to me and what doesn't
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  is to simply study the New Covenant.
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  Realize that there was a law, there was a law from them aside
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  that was anticipated, and that is what we are under.
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  That is what we are subject to. And then that that way you can
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  properly interpret the Old Covenant.
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  So I we know of a brother who's not here, but he loves the Lord,
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  and I trust that he's still walking with the Lord.
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  When he first got saved, he didn't have that revelation.
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  And so when he approached the Old Testament thinking, well,
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  I'm supposed to read this from cover to cover, he looked at
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  some of those levitical laws concerning how men should dress
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  and how they should not shave, that the ends of their the size
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  of their beards. And he thought, okay, well,
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  that's what I got to do as a Christian.
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  I got to not shave here and dress this way.
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  And a wise believer approached him and says, no, that doesn't
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  apply. You know, that's not binding on
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  us. And so that's the simplest
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  answer, I think. Just consider the law of Christ.
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  And that is what we are called to observe, yeah.
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  Great. Love to spend more time on that
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  one. Yeah, you know, unfortunately we
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  have to move on. Next question.
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  This is a good one. Some teach that Jesus went to
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  hell after he died and before his resurrection.
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  Where was Jesus during that interval?
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  That is a good question, and the only place where we are given
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  clear insight concerning that period of time between his death
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  and his resurrection, I believe, is first Peter Three.
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  That's the clearest place. And when you go to first Peter
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  three, you get one idea of what took place during Silent
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  Saturday, as some like to describe it.
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  He says this in verse 19. Well, I can read from verse
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  18th. For Christ also suffered once
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  for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring
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  us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the
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  spirit in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in
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  prison, because they formerly did not obey.
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  When God's patience waited in the days of Noah while the ark
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  was being prepared, in which a few, that is 8 persons, were
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  brought safely through water. So there isn't much given
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  concerning that time and where we are given little, we have to
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  say little not go beyond what is written.
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  But based on this, what we can say is that Jesus in the spirit
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  went to a particular spiritual place and he proclaimed a
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  message to certain spirits who were imprisoned, obviously in
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  prison for many, many, many years.
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  And we're, we're told specifically since the days of
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  Noah and for a specific sin or series of sin during that time
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  of Noah. And so these are commonly
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  believed to be demon spirits who had a great influence upon the
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  generation of Noah. And there's debate about the
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  extent of their influence and how they interacted with the
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  sons of of of men. But what's Jesus here doing,
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  proclaiming to these spirits who are incarcerated and imprisoned
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  until judgment? Right?
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  Based on this, we can make the case and in other places, that
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  there are some demons who are held captive until the day of
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  judgment, and there are other demons who are that loose on the
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  earth, obviously under God's sovereign will for them to do
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  their bidding. But at this time, Jesus comes
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  into this holding place and he preaches he doesn't preach the
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  gospel. He's not evangelizing these
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  spirits, but what he is doing is that he is making a triumphant
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  declaration. That's what Christ is doing.
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  And so there could be even the possibility that these spirits
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  rejoiced at the site of the death of the Son of God, that
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  that they probably thought, okay, we did it.
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  We we were able to overthrow prophecy.
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  We were able to conquer the plan of salvation.
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  And who comes in? Jesus Christ declaring his
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  victory, declaring his vicarious death, his triumphant success
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  over the grave? I would, I would love to have
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  seen those spirits faces. And so all this is saying is
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  that Jesus really came to declare his victory.
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  And one thing's for certain, he didn't go to hell to suffer for
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  our sins. He didn't.
• 21:52
  He didn't do anything because it was finished on the cross.
• 21:54
  It was finished at the cross. He he drank every drop of that
• 21:57
  cup. And so all he's doing here is
• 21:59
  letting people know that he did do that, letting specific
• 22:02
  spirits know, and even the ascension is a declaration of
• 22:07
  that. I I'm looking forward to
• 22:09
  preaching one day purely on the ascension of Jesus Christ.
• 22:12
  We often hear about his, his, his incarnation.
• 22:15
  We hear about His crucifixion. We hear about His resurrection,
• 22:19
  but very little is mentioned about His ascension.
• 22:22
  There is a message with that ascension.
• 22:25
  There's a reason why He bodily went up into the clouds, and the
• 22:30
  and the reason behind that is deeper than we would think.
• 22:32
  So you have to come to that sermon.
• 22:34
  I'm not going to share it. Why now?
• 22:36
  So looking at the Apostles Creed where it says that Jesus was
• 22:41
  crucified, dead and buried, descended into the hell on 3rd
• 22:45
  day rose again, would you say Christians should?
• 22:50
  Not or should say that if they are saying the Apostles Creed
• 22:55
  because some churches say the Apostles Creed is part of their
• 22:57
  liturgy, the word hell, is that the the point that you're
• 22:59
  bringing up? Yes.
• 23:00
  Yeah that's a translation issue more than anything else.
• 23:05
  So especially with older translations you'll see the word
• 23:08
  hell used. But in the original it's really
• 23:11
  referring to Hades the grave she Ole.
• 23:14
  And so that comes really to a translation issue, if if what
• 23:17
  they mean by Hell is what we see in Revelation 20 and where the
• 23:23
  lake of fire will be created, where death in Hades will be
• 23:26
  thrown into, and everybody whose name's not written in the book
• 23:28
  of life. And yes, don't use that word.
• 23:30
  Jesus didn't enter into Hell in that case, but he did enter into
• 23:34
  the underworld as we see here. And he did declare triumphantly
• 23:39
  how he conquered not just death, but Satan himself.
• 23:43
  So just be careful with your terminology, whether it's a
• 23:46
  creed or averse, concerning your translation, and just make sure
• 23:51
  that you're not confused or people hearing it are confused.
• 23:55
  Great. All right.
• 23:57
  The next question, you know, in in many Christian colleges, it
• 24:02
  was the case when I was in Christian college, and it's
• 24:04
  certainly the case now. You still have you do have
• 24:07
  people say legitimately I think sometimes, sometimes not
• 24:10
  legitimately. A guy goes up to a girl, is most
• 24:13
  often the case, and says God told me to marry you.
• 24:18
  It happens probably not the wisest thing to say sometimes,
• 24:22
  but should Christians? And I don't know if this is a
• 24:27
  man or a woman asking this question, but so should I wait
• 24:31
  for a prophetic word to tell me who to marry?
• 24:38
  There's a common joke. I've said it before, so I
• 24:39
  apologize if you heard it before, but if you haven't I'll
• 24:41
  I'll share it anyway. About this woman who was at a
• 24:45
  conference and after a few days a man approaches this woman,
• 24:51
  obviously attracted, drawn to her, and says that very thing.
• 24:55
  He says, The Lord told me that you're supposed to be my wife
• 25:01
  and the woman gently looked at him.
• 25:02
  He says really says yes, and she says, did the Lord tell that to
• 25:05
  my husband? So should you wait for a
• 25:12
  prophetic word to tell you who to marry?
• 25:17
  No, absolutely not. You should not wait for a
• 25:20
  prophetic word because there's no instruction for that in the
• 25:25
  Bible when it comes to selecting a spouse.
• 25:28
  Let me broaden it. I think a lot of Christians even
• 25:31
  fall into the trap of waiting for any supernatural sign to
• 25:36
  indicate to them that somebody is a potential candidate or is
• 25:41
  supposed to be your spouse, because again, there is no
• 25:45
  scriptural mandate or even invitation to do that.
• 25:52
  Now I know how some people feel like, Are you saying that you
• 25:54
  shouldn't pray for God to reveal who that person should be?
• 25:58
  Absolutely not. You should.
• 25:59
  There's anything to pray the most about Is that more than
• 26:01
  your job, more than your car, more than where to move is Lord,
• 26:04
  who would you have me marry? Who is the person that you would
• 26:06
  have me covenant with? But I'm afraid that as people
• 26:13
  are praying for, that they're waiting for something that is
• 26:15
  not necessarily something that God has to grant.
• 26:19
  Can God supernaturally make something known?
• 26:21
  Yeah. Who says that he can't?
• 26:23
  Is that the norm? I I say, no, it's not the norm.
• 26:26
  And where people tend to go is the story with Isaac and
• 26:29
  Rebecca. Genesis 24.
• 26:31
  Abraham sends his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac,
• 26:35
  and he arrives at a specific well and he seeks the Lord.
• 26:40
  And this is what he asked the Lord.
• 26:41
  He says, Lord, when a woman comes and if she asked if I want
• 26:47
  to drink, let her also ask if she can feed my camels and then
• 26:55
  I will know that my trip was in a waste.
• 26:58
  And this is the person that you have for my master son.
• 27:02
  And people tend to use that and they get very creative in asking
• 27:05
  God for signs, right? Lord, when she knocks on my
• 27:08
  door, let her wear this. Or Lord, let her order.
• 27:11
  That. Or Lord, let her call me at this
• 27:14
  time. And so we make very specific
• 27:17
  demands and we use Genesis 24 as a license to approach that
• 27:22
  decision or that kind of prayer in that way.
• 27:26
  But people miss what the Abraham servant even prayed about.
• 27:29
  He wasn't asking for a random sign.
• 27:31
  Notice what he asked for. He asked that the Lord would
• 27:35
  reveal something about this woman's character.
• 27:39
  Right, this Lord, I want her to not just do what's obvious and
• 27:44
  what's demanded of or what's the social norm.
• 27:48
  I want her to go above and beyond.
• 27:51
  So Lord, if this woman goes above and beyond, then I'll know
• 27:56
  that she's someone special, then I'll know.
• 27:58
  So there's something there in principle for us that if you're
• 28:03
  going to be asking the Lord for anything, is to open your eyes
• 28:05
  to that person's heart, to that person's inner beauty, to that
• 28:10
  person's fear of God, to that person's integrity, right.
• 28:14
  I think that's how we need to be praying with that.
• 28:18
  Don't get me wrong, pray, Lord protect me from the wrong one.
• 28:22
  Because Ecclesiastes tells us that there's something worse
• 28:25
  than death, and that's a woman whose heart is chains and
• 28:29
  fetters, right? In other words, out.
• 28:31
  Externally she looks fine, but internally she's a trap.
• 28:36
  And he says the Sinner is taken by her, but the one who pleases
• 28:39
  God escapes her. And so take that scripture and
• 28:44
  bring it before the Lord. But again, that's that's found
• 28:46
  in the word of God. Lord, as long as I walk in your
• 28:49
  way and your will, as long as I'm honoring you, you promise me
• 28:51
  that I will not be in a trap. You won't put me in a
• 28:54
  relationship that I'll later be like, what did I get myself
• 28:56
  into? You promise me?
• 28:59
  You promise here that you will guide me to the right person,
• 29:02
  and so open my eyes to the extent in which I can see this
• 29:05
  person as a potential partner for life.
• 29:09
  And so be careful asking for something so specific that would
• 29:13
  delay you or even cause you to miss out on potential candidates
• 29:18
  before you. And so, yeah, it breaks my heart
• 29:21
  to see people thinking that way that they that in order for them
• 29:24
  to find somebody, they need this extravagant, awesome story.
• 29:30
  And I get it. But, you know, you want God to
• 29:33
  be glorified in that story. But again, I'm afraid that
• 29:35
  people romanticize that story. They want this testimony so that
• 29:41
  when somebody that says how do you, how do you guys meet?
• 29:42
  You can say, oh, let me tell you how we met.
• 29:46
  And I remember we studied the book of Ruth when we did that
• 29:50
  few years back. And it dawned on me with the
• 29:52
  backdrop of Genesis 24 with Isaac and Rebecca, you can say
• 29:55
  that that was a supernatural story, right.
• 29:56
  It was still an answer to prayer, though the the request
• 29:59
  was very, very realistic. You look at Ruth and Boaz's
• 30:04
  story and and you don't get any hint of that kind of
• 30:07
  intervention. You see Providence.
• 30:10
  You see a woman who just wants to obey God, and so she does
• 30:14
  what she's called to do as a poor individual.
• 30:17
  She goes and she gleans from, you know, the the, the wheat
• 30:22
  fields and as she's there, just obeying what she's been given
• 30:26
  concerning God's revelation for her life and that season of her
• 30:28
  life. There's Boaz in the same field
• 30:30
  and they meet and they reflect on the fact that there's a
• 30:33
  relationship here so I can actually redeem you.
• 30:36
  I I can actually be kinsman Redeemer.
• 30:38
  So they go to court and they figure it out and there was a
• 30:41
  little bit of an obstacle and they overcame the obstacle and
• 30:43
  they got married. That doesn't sound as exciting
• 30:47
  as Abraham servant praying and God revealing it.
• 30:52
  And then I'm going back to Rebecca's house and sharing that
• 30:54
  story and then all be like, wow, this has to be of God.
• 30:57
  But is is Boa's and Ruth story any less God's will?
• 31:02
  Is there any less of God's leading?
• 31:04
  No, it's not. So don't idolize or romanticize
• 31:08
  this Disney idea of Prince Charming meeting someone.
• 31:13
  Just just trust God's leading and believe that he can lead.
• 31:17
  If not, he tends to mostly lead through Providence more than
• 31:19
  anything else. OK.
• 31:23
  Yeah, I love that I and and just to add on that, I I love how you
• 31:27
  said that's normally God works through ordinary means.
• 31:31
  That's not to say he doesn't work through supernatural means
• 31:33
  like salvation, right? Could God, could Christ appear
• 31:37
  visibly to everyone that he is going to say?
• 31:39
  Absolutely. But he does it through ordinary
• 31:42
  means, through the preaching of God's Word.
• 31:44
  And like when you're looking for a spouse, God has given you all
• 31:48
  of the means to choose a spouse. Praying.
• 31:51
  Seeking the wisdom of the Lord. Reading your Bible right?
• 31:55
  You would I I I'm surprised by how many people struggle.
• 31:59
  Like, is this person for me? Is this person not for me?
• 32:02
  When one's a Christian and one's not a Christian right, it's not
• 32:06
  even a question. So we don't need a supernatural
• 32:09
  sign for that. And also wisdom from other
• 32:13
  believers. I will say that, but go ahead.
• 32:16
  Please go. Yeah, especially your parents.
• 32:18
  Are your parents believers? What do they think are your
• 32:21
  friends? Are your older people in the
• 32:24
  church? They're believers.
• 32:26
  So get around these people with your potential girlfriend or
• 32:31
  boyfriend or future spouse so that they can see they can speak
• 32:35
  into your life. They can see this other person
• 32:37
  probably clearer than you can because they're not distracted
• 32:42
  by. Romance or love or anything like
• 32:46
  that. They can see it from a Christian
• 32:48
  wise perspective as also someone who cares about you as a brother
• 32:52
  or sister in Christ. Absolutely.
• 32:54
  And and the council of many, their safety proverb says right.
• 33:00
  And whenever it speaks about counselors, it's plural.
• 33:03
  So not just even one person, you know, have a few people in your
• 33:07
  life that are mature spiritually, that that you know
• 33:10
  are for you and love you and that you can open up about and
• 33:12
  say this is what this person's like and be honest in your
• 33:15
  assessment of that person, Right.
• 33:16
  Be honest. This is what this person's like,
• 33:19
  you know, their spiritual condition, their actions,
• 33:24
  reactions, interactions, be honest so that you can have the
• 33:27
  best kind of counsel you can get with the clearest evidence that
• 33:30
  you provide. So yeah, it's God has given us
• 33:34
  the same Holy Spirit who can speak prophetically is the same
• 33:37
  Holy Spirit who says and many counselors.
• 33:40
  There is security, right? It's the same Holy Spirit who
• 33:43
  says get get around believers who can speak into your life and
• 33:47
  guide you and help you see blind spots, right?
• 33:50
  Great question. Amen.
• 33:51
  I'll end it with this. Learn from Raya Boehm, right?
• 33:55
  Don't pick all of your friends, people your own age, people with
• 34:00
  the same life experience as you, as your only counselors.
• 34:03
  Learn from the wise, the older, the Gray heads around you.
• 34:06
  It's really good. Amen.
• 34:08
  OK, next question. Why do you baptize in the name
• 34:12
  of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit rather than baptizing in
• 34:15
  the name of Jesus as the apostles did?
• 34:20
  Because Jesus said to Matthew 28 we're commanded by Christ to
• 34:25
  baptize in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
• 34:28
  Where this comes from though is when you read the book of Acts,
• 34:31
  you see this habit of the apostles in the early church
• 34:34
  baptizing purely and exclusively in the name of Jesus.
• 34:40
  And so that has created a trend among some specific
• 34:44
  denominations, namely Oneness Pentecostals will apply that
• 34:49
  where they will baptize in Jesus name only.
• 34:55
  Is this even a big deal? Like what's so important about
• 34:57
  that question? And it is a big deal, One,
• 34:59
  because it's a command that Jesus gave, right?
• 35:02
  And two, there are massive implications in Jesus giving
• 35:05
  that specific set of instructions the formula of our
• 35:07
  baptism. One, it's it's one of the two
• 35:09
  ordinances, right? And two, you are identifying
• 35:13
  with something in your baptism. And what Christ is saying there
• 35:18
  is very special because he uses the singular noun for name,
• 35:24
  doesn't say in the names of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
• 35:28
  He says singularly in the name of the Father, Son and Holy
• 35:32
  Spirit, which solidifies our belief in our God being triune
• 35:38
  right. Muslims will often ask.
• 35:40
  They ask a lot of things, but they'll often ask.
• 35:43
  Show me where in the Gospels Jesus ever taught the Trinity.
• 35:47
  And I always go to that verse. I'll always go to Matthew 28.
• 35:53
  I see you tell me what it means to baptize in the name of the
• 35:55
  Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What does that mean?
• 35:58
  And that pretty much ends the conversation, at least with that
• 36:01
  question. And so those who who tend to say
• 36:07
  you know you should only baptize in Jesus name because the early
• 36:09
  church and the apostles did don't have a trinitarian
• 36:13
  conviction. Not all, but most.
• 36:16
  So it makes sense why they would use that as an argument.
• 36:19
  But it still begs the question, if Jesus commanded it, why do we
• 36:22
  not see that more often as a pattern in the New Testament,
• 36:26
  namely in in the book of Acts? And I think the reason is
• 36:29
  because Jesus Christ himself was rejected as the Messiah, and
• 36:36
  especially with the Jewish audience.
• 36:39
  The call to be baptized in his name was especially scandalous,
• 36:44
  and it reinforced the identity of Christ that demanded their
• 36:49
  allegiance to and their surrender to and their
• 36:50
  repentance to. And so Jesus being at the
• 36:54
  forefront in the call for baptism was important because of
• 36:59
  what the nation of Israel had done concerning Jesus, what they
• 37:02
  thought about him. And so it was a call to
• 37:05
  acknowledge and pledge their allegiance to Christ to him
• 37:09
  specifically because of the recent events concerning him.
• 37:13
  And so that's the, I think, the best way to explain why they
• 37:16
  emphasize Jesus. And it doesn't override what
• 37:19
  Christ had commanded. Amen.
• 37:22
  Amen. OK.
• 37:23
  The next question comes from a sister.
• 37:27
  She says, why should I have an open womb instead of using
• 37:33
  contraceptives? And I and and I think even
• 37:37
  before you start answering contraceptives, I think we
• 37:40
  should be very clear on definitions, right?
• 37:42
  There's those contraceptives that are abortifacients, Plan B,
• 37:47
  other other contraceptives like that.
• 37:49
  And then there's other contraceptives that prevent
• 37:55
  conception. Right.
• 37:57
  Prevent the egg and the sperm joining together.
• 37:59
  And there's also other contraceptives that aren't even
• 38:03
  medical per se, right? Natural.
• 38:05
  Natural contraceptive. So what do you say?
• 38:10
  This is controversial. Some people feel very strongly
• 38:13
  about this topic and this question.
• 38:16
  And so let's just set a foundation and saying that any
• 38:20
  kind of contraceptive that would induce an abortion or a
• 38:23
  miscarriage is wrong, right? We don't want to kill anything
• 38:29
  because we believe that life is at conception.
• 38:32
  And so that's out of the question, I think where the
• 38:34
  debate is other means that don't necessarily do that, that not
• 38:41
  interfering with life necessarily, but interfering
• 38:43
  with God's sovereign will in that process.
• 38:48
  So here's what I would say. And we have to be careful
• 38:51
  because the Bible doesn't explicitly prohibit this,
• 38:54
  doesn't give clear instructions about this, and so we have to
• 38:57
  operate with wisdom and we have to take the whole council of God
• 39:00
  into consideration. Is the idea of family planning
• 39:04
  wrong? I would argue no, because if we
• 39:08
  use the same line of argumentations that people use
• 39:11
  to deny any kind of birth control, I'm I'm talking about
• 39:17
  the legitimate ideas, we wouldn't use another facets of
• 39:22
  life. So one of the common ideas
• 39:26
  concerning this is people would say, well children are a gift of
• 39:30
  the Lord, why would you try to stop yourselves from receiving a
• 39:33
  gift from him? And I understand that sentiment
• 39:37
  and we have to believe that children are gift of of the
• 39:39
  Lord. But when we look at, for
• 39:41
  example, marriage, we see marriage as a gift as well,
• 39:44
  right? Is it not?
• 39:45
  He finds a wife, finds a good thing and obtains favor from the
• 39:48
  Lord. But just because that in itself
• 39:51
  is a gift. We don't expect every single
• 39:54
  person to get married. We don't demand marriage on
• 39:57
  everyone. In fact, Paul Paul in 1st 27
• 40:01
  says that in the case that he was in the context he was in it,
• 40:03
  it's better that you are as I. And he gives reasons for that.
• 40:07
  Yes, there was persecution that was arising that made marriage
• 40:09
  and and and that worldly care very difficult.
• 40:13
  But he also says, you know, you secure an undivided devotion to
• 40:16
  the Lord in your singleness. So is Paul contradicting?
• 40:20
  What Genesis says, right? Because Genesis is often alluded
• 40:23
  to be fruitful and multiply. Yes, be fruitful and multiply,
• 40:27
  but also says in Genesis it's not good for man to be alone.
• 40:31
  But we don't condemn anybody if they believe by God's leaning
• 40:35
  that they are to be single. They are not dishonoring God in
• 40:41
  that right if they believe that this is something the Lord's
• 40:44
  called them to. And so we have to be careful in
• 40:48
  using these ideas that are from a good place, but to condemn
• 40:53
  others for not having that same convictions as others would
• 40:57
  have. I think there is wisdom and
• 41:00
  regulation, there's wisdom and thinking and and praying, and I
• 41:03
  think where we have to check ourselves in this whole process.
• 41:07
  And I hope they're asking this within the context of marriage.
• 41:09
  I'm assuming they are right. What are your reasons in
• 41:15
  delaying and what is your attitude toward children now?
• 41:22
  If you, as a believing husband and wife, look at children as a
• 41:25
  burden altogether, and you don't want to have children because of
• 41:28
  your personal preferences and your ideas and your goals that
• 41:31
  are disassociated from the Kingdom, then you have to
• 41:34
  actually evaluate your heart and ask yourself, am I operating
• 41:38
  under selfishness here or my reasons for delay?
• 41:42
  Legitimate. But if you as a husband and wife
• 41:47
  are wanting to devote even as a couple time to serve the Lord at
• 41:53
  a certain capacity or you're in a difficult place where you need
• 41:57
  to kind of put things in order before bringing a life into your
• 42:01
  home, but in your heart of hearts, you believe that God
• 42:05
  would want to expand your your home and to fill your quiver,
• 42:08
  that's a different mindset. That has to be, it has to be
• 42:13
  considered even by those who feel very strongly that we
• 42:16
  should allow God's sovereign ways in that beautiful act and
• 42:21
  in our in our covenant with another person.
• 42:25
  So I would say to to just sum everything up.
• 42:28
  I would say that it's not illegal.
• 42:31
  It's not ultimately wrong, but you have to examine your
• 42:35
  attitude and your reasons why. If they are righteous, if they
• 42:39
  are God centered, then you shouldn't feel condemned by
• 42:43
  planning when to have a child. That's how I would answer that.
• 42:48
  Amen. Amen.
• 42:49
  I love that that you know the world says children are a
• 42:53
  burden. It's the Christians who can
• 42:56
  stand out and say children, no matter when I have them or how
• 42:59
  many I have their blessing from the Lord.
• 43:02
  Healthy children, disabled children, adopted children.
• 43:06
  All a blessing from the Lord. That's what sets us apart.
• 43:09
  Amen okay. Next question.
• 43:13
  So what does Jesus mean when he repeatedly uses the term Kingdom
• 43:17
  of God in the Gospels? What must I do to enter it?
• 43:22
  Is it the same as going to heaven?
• 43:25
  How will it arrive? Is it?
• 43:28
  Is it synonymous with the second coming of Christ?
• 43:31
  There's a lot of. Some questions in there.
• 43:33
  Yeah, there were and and I think there are more in the original
• 43:36
  question. So the best way to answer that,
• 43:38
  you read the Gospels. You see Jesus speaking about the
• 43:40
  Kingdom of God, even the Kingdom of heaven.
• 43:44
  I believe that there aren't any significant differences between
• 43:47
  the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of heaven.
• 43:48
  Some would say so. I don't believe so.
• 43:50
  The King of God just speaks about the ruler of the Kingdom.
• 43:52
  The king of heaven just speaks about the Kingdom itself.
• 43:56
  Let's define some terms. What is a Kingdom?
• 43:57
  A Kingdom is any territory that is ruled by a monarch, a king.
• 44:02
  And so if you use that definition, then you can, you
• 44:04
  can say the Kingdom of God. If God has created all things
• 44:09
  and he is sovereign over things, he sustains all things.
• 44:11
  And the Kingdom of God is really everything.
• 44:13
  It's the universe itself. And there are Old Testament
• 44:17
  texts that would prove that that would back that up.
• 44:20
  But you come into more problems when you read the Gospels and
• 44:24
  you read things like repent. For the Kingdom of God is what
• 44:28
  it's at hand. Hold on.
• 44:30
  If a Kingdom is the region that a king rules over.
• 44:34
  God created all things. He rules over all things.
• 44:37
  Surely then everything is his Kingdom.
• 44:40
  Then what does it mean that the Kingdom of God is at hand?
• 44:42
  It's near. It's approaching.
• 44:45
  Now we come to a more narrow and more specific answer.
• 44:48
  Surely the Kingdom of God is about God's sovereign rule and
• 44:52
  reign, but more specifically his sovereign rule and reign through
• 44:57
  the Messiah himself being that ruler.
• 45:01
  In other words, the Kingdom of God is the Son of God ruling and
• 45:05
  reigning on the throne, and that helps clarify many things.
• 45:10
  So when Jesus and Luke 17 is confronted about the Kingdom of
• 45:15
  God, he says it's in the midst of you.
• 45:19
  What do you mean it's in the midst of you?
• 45:21
  It's very simple because the King of the Kingdom was in the
• 45:23
  midst of them, right? And Jesus gave examples and he
• 45:31
  gave demonstrations by invading into his world at the time, by
• 45:36
  demonstrating what it's like for God to sovereignly rule through
• 45:40
  the Messiah, by healing and delivering and forgiving and
• 45:43
  restoring. And so there is an aspect of the
• 45:46
  Kingdom of God that has been inaugurated.
• 45:50
  When Jesus came into the world, it was inaugurated, but the
• 45:53
  fulfillment of it is not. Yet the consummation of the
• 45:57
  Kingdom is still to be awaited. So the same Jesus that the
• 45:59
  Kingdom of God is in the midst of you is the same Jesus who
• 46:02
  told believers to pray your Kingdom come, your will be done
• 46:06
  on earth as it is in heaven. So we are still awaiting the
• 46:10
  consummation of the Kingdom where the Messiah, the Son of
• 46:14
  God, will enter into our world and establish a real throne in a
• 46:17
  real place for 1000 years. So then how do we relate to this
• 46:21
  idea of the Kingdom of God now? Well, I think there's an
• 46:25
  invisible aspect of the Kingdom and then the physical aspect of
• 46:29
  the Kingdom. We are enjoying and living under
• 46:31
  the invisible realities of the Kingdom of God.
• 46:34
  Today. Jesus Christ is king.
• 46:36
  He's sitting at the right hand of God.
• 46:38
  We are citizens of his Kingdom. Now, I wouldn't say that the
• 46:42
  church is the Kingdom of God. Some would make that mistake
• 46:45
  that the church is the Kingdom of God on earth.
• 46:48
  I wouldn't say that because you, you start confusing things.
• 46:51
  We're asking for the Kingdom of God to come.
• 46:54
  Jesus inaugurated the Kingdom when he came.
• 46:58
  I would say that the church is like the embassy of the Kingdom
• 47:01
  of God and that though we are citizens of the Kingdom, we are
• 47:06
  ambassadors in a foreign land, persuading and appealing to
• 47:09
  people to to gain their blood bot citizenship so that they
• 47:15
  would be prepared when the King does come and that they would be
• 47:18
  part of his Kingdom. And through our lives and our
• 47:19
  example, our testimonies, we would show people to some extent
• 47:24
  what it's like to be Kingdom citizens.
• 47:27
  Because he is king of our hearts, He rules in our hearts.
• 47:30
  And so there's an aspect of us that shows what it's like to
• 47:33
  have the governance of God over us.
• 47:36
  And as the Church, the Bride of Christ, we are waiting for the
• 47:39
  Kingdom to be ultimately manifest when Jesus Christ does
• 47:42
  return. So there is and aspect of us
• 47:45
  being part of the Kingdom, Christ being king, we enjoy the
• 47:48
  invisible spiritual realities of that right righteousness, peace
• 47:51
  and joy in the Holy Spirit. That's Romans 1417 where we hear
• 47:54
  about what the Kingdom of God is about.
• 47:57
  And so, yeah, Jesus inaugurates it.
• 48:00
  We wait for it at the same time, and we do our best to represent
• 48:04
  it to the extent that we can, to convince people to be ready for
• 48:07
  the king and to be citizens of his Kingdom.
• 48:11
  Amen. Beautiful.
• 48:14
  OK, this question might lead to a little bit of squirming.
• 48:18
  So a couple years ago the Barnard group did a survey and
• 48:23
  discovered that Christians in America on average gave 3% of
• 48:29
  their income to churches or ministries, which then leads to
• 48:35
  this question. How much should Christians?
• 48:38
  And this question uses tithe or you could use give.
• 48:42
  And then why do many people within the church not tithe?
• 48:49
  When we think about tithing, and that word denotes a 10% right, a
• 48:55
  portion of your income or your resources.
• 49:00
  That was an Old Testament principle, actually was a law,
• 49:02
  and it had an intention. There was a goal with the tithe
• 49:05
  in the old covenant. It was this.
• 49:06
  The Levites had no inheritance. The the tribe of Levi had no
• 49:12
  land to their name. They were supposed to be devoted
• 49:15
  to the the House of God. God was their inheritance and so
• 49:19
  they did not have the same access to the resources as the
• 49:21
  others tribes that. So what did God do in order to
• 49:23
  support the Levites? He called for a tie from the
• 49:26
  other tribes and it actually mounts up to more than 10%.
• 49:31
  If you do the calculations it's more right 2023% even some would
• 49:37
  argue, and the idea is this, the the tribes would then through
• 49:42
  their tides support the Levites as they devoted their their time
• 49:47
  and their energy and their lives really to supervising and to
• 49:52
  serving in the temple. It was to support the Levites.
• 49:55
  Now when you come to the New Covenant, that idea of the
• 49:58
  people of God contributing in order to help those who have
• 50:03
  devoted their lives to fulltime ministry is still there.
• 50:06
  In fact, in First critin 9, Paul goes back to the priesthood to
• 50:12
  make a case for the the the fulltime minister being taken
• 50:18
  care of through his gospel work. He should be compensated through
• 50:22
  his gospel work. The difference though, is how
• 50:26
  that giving should occur. The goal is still the same
• 50:29
  right? You have a people who work and
• 50:32
  they do other things, and they benefit spiritually from those
• 50:34
  who have given their lives over to serving in the ministry.
• 50:39
  But the means and the way we approach that is different.
• 50:42
  There was an actual number given in the old, and I'm sure most of
• 50:45
  you in here know what the standard is.
• 50:48
  According to the New Testament, what's the standard?
• 50:51
  Whatever is on your heart? 2nd Corinthians 9 Second
• 50:56
  Corinthians 9 tells us very plainly in verse seven.
• 50:59
  Each one must give as he decided in his heart.
• 51:02
  That is the clearest instruction that we are given concerning how
• 51:06
  we should give. Here's where I would like to
• 51:11
  challenge people, though, and this challenged me.
• 51:14
  If hearing that you and I go good, I'm glad I don't have to
• 51:21
  give as much as they gave in the Old Testament.
• 51:23
  Thank God. I don't think we're thinking
• 51:25
  right about giving if we're thinking we're in the new
• 51:30
  covenant, so it's less burdensome to us now because we
• 51:33
  don't have to give as much as they had to give.
• 51:35
  We're not thinking right about giving.
• 51:38
  So that's Second Corinthians 9 seven, right?
• 51:40
  When you go to 2nd Corinthians 8 seven, Paul speaking to the same
• 51:43
  people about the same thing, he says something that every single
• 51:46
  time I read it convicts me every single time to this day.
• 51:50
  Let me read it to you, he says here in verse 7.
• 51:53
  But as you excel in everything, he's speaking to the Corinthians
• 51:57
  in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness,
• 52:01
  and in our love for you or some transition, say, in your love
• 52:04
  for us. See that you excel in this act
• 52:08
  of grace also. What act of grace is he speaking
• 52:11
  about? Giving.
• 52:14
  He's calling the Corinthian Christians to excel in giving,
• 52:18
  to be excellent in giving. Every time I read that, it
• 52:23
  convicts me. So one preacher said something
• 52:27
  and it just a light bulb went off.
• 52:31
  He said if we are we claim to believe that we are under a
• 52:35
  better covenant, that Christ makes everything better,
• 52:41
  shouldn't that then demand of us?
• 52:43
  Better giving, not less giving, the better giving, more
• 52:48
  rejoicing in our giving, more excitement in our giving.
• 52:51
  More intentionality in our giving.
• 52:54
  If our covenant is better, shouldn't our giving be better?
• 52:58
  I heard that convicted me. And so we we should examine our
• 53:06
  hearts and we should think to ourselves constantly.
• 53:10
  What do I really believe about the gospel, about the local
• 53:14
  church and I'm part of about the value that I received from the
• 53:17
  ministries that I am connected to And whether we like to
• 53:22
  acknowledge it or not, and this is for all of us are giving to
• 53:25
  some extent is an indication of that.
• 53:28
  It is. It's an indication of where our
• 53:31
  value is, where your heart is there, your treasure will be
• 53:35
  also. That's what Jesus said, right.
• 53:37
  So if you want to know where your heart is, what he's saying
• 53:39
  by that is look where your money goes.
• 53:42
  And that is not to say that we should not spend money on
• 53:47
  vacations or good food and events.
• 53:51
  But if in our scope of giving and our scope of how we manage
• 53:54
  and plan our money, investing in the proclamation, the
• 53:59
  advancement, the sustaining of the gospel and the ministries
• 54:02
  that we are part of is not there, then we have to ask
• 54:05
  yourself, how much do I really believe that I am under a better
• 54:08
  covenant and that I really, I really do want this to continue
• 54:12
  and excel? Because whether we want to
• 54:14
  acknowledge it or not, money is a real part of what we do.
• 54:17
  It's it's, it's even here. Do we put our trust in the
• 54:19
  money? No.
• 54:20
  Do we need money? In the sense of if we don't have
• 54:23
  money, we can't do the work of God.
• 54:25
  No, God is our ultimate source. But giving is not so much about
• 54:31
  what God needs because he doesn't need anything.
• 54:32
  It's more for us, and you've said this before, it's an
• 54:35
  invitation for us to participate in something, and it even trains
• 54:40
  us to be reminded that life is beyond what I spend, what I save
• 54:45
  up for here. I want to invest in eternal
• 54:48
  things and for things that will exceed my lifetime and exceed
• 54:52
  this world. So I would say look at your
• 54:55
  heart and and even look at your heart and ask the Lord to make
• 54:58
  you excited about it. Not to under compulsion of or
• 55:03
  merely under duty, but to to to operate under the revelation
• 55:06
  that this is a better covenant. I want to as a result of that
• 55:11
  worship and excel in this grace also, and so let it come from
• 55:16
  that place. And the Holy Spirit will help
• 55:18
  us. He will.
• 55:21
  Yeah, I'm wondering, as you know, let's let's say there's a,
• 55:25
  a Christian out there who really wants to do the right thing by
• 55:28
  the Lord, but they don't know how.
• 55:30
  Do you have any practical advice on giving a percentage you think
• 55:36
  that's good? Just an established percentage
• 55:38
  right from the beginning or a regularity, just just to help
• 55:43
  people in that? Yeah, that's a good question.
• 55:46
  Again, I think Paul's instruction here is clear.
• 55:49
  It will be subjective. Your income, your family
• 55:52
  situation, the season that you're in right now, my demand
• 55:57
  of you something else to the next person, right.
• 56:01
  And giving should never put a strain on you.
• 56:04
  It should never cause you to put yourself in a compromising
• 56:08
  situation at all. And so I would just say have
• 56:12
  conversations. If you're married, have
• 56:13
  conversations with your spouse about it, pray about it.
• 56:15
  Ask Lord, Lord, what is it that you would want us to give
• 56:17
  regularly? Would you want us to give
• 56:21
  periodically? How is it that you would want us
• 56:23
  to do this? And let me also add this.
• 56:26
  I'm not one to just encourage people to throw their money at
• 56:29
  anything, even in the name of ministry.
• 56:32
  Even if somebody, it doesn't matter because I know there are
• 56:35
  a lot of sketchy things out there and you're not supposed to
• 56:41
  back up everything that comes your way just because it's been
• 56:43
  presented to you. You should be careful where your
• 56:45
  money goes. You should, you should be able
• 56:47
  to investigate and say, I trust this leadership, I trust this,
• 56:50
  their vision. I see how biblical they are.
• 56:54
  And so just to put anything in an offering plate to say that
• 56:56
  you give, I don't think the Bible even encourages that kind
• 56:58
  of giving. Even if you're giving to a
• 56:59
  ministry, you have to be careful.
• 57:01
  You have to be wise. You have to be steward of the
• 57:03
  resources that you have been granted by the Lord and so be
• 57:07
  careful, be strategic, look into things, ask questions.
• 57:11
  And that's why even here we want to be as transparent as possible
• 57:14
  with our finances. That's why in our members
• 57:16
  meeting we show you everything. And if you have even deeper
• 57:18
  questions, you have every right to come to our leadership and
• 57:20
  say, hey, we want because it's we don't see it as our money.
• 57:24
  This is God's money and This Is Us as as a family coming
• 57:27
  together to put in our resources because we have this collective
• 57:30
  goal of advancing the Kingdom and advancing the Kingdom.
• 57:34
  Looks like at this point of our ministry saving up for a
• 57:38
  building because we want a place to host the ministries that we
• 57:41
  are enjoying here and to make room for more people to enjoy it
• 57:44
  as well. So yeah, don't don't be naive
• 57:46
  and you're giving and I'll give you proof of that when you go to
• 57:49
  first time V5. There was a whole system
• 57:51
  established even back then about which widow should receive
• 57:54
  financial support. Paul didn't believe this idea
• 57:58
  where people can come in and just say I'm in need.
• 58:00
  I'm a widow. He goes, OK, who are you?
• 58:02
  How have you served the Saints? How old are you?
• 58:05
  There's this whole list of qualifications that Paul had in
• 58:07
  mind about where the money should go.
• 58:10
  So not just anybody who comes in with rags or with a need demands
• 58:16
  the priority of our resources. We have to be very, very careful
• 58:19
  where that goes because people will manipulate.
• 58:22
  People are evil. People know the generosity and
• 58:24
  the charity of Christians that will take advantage of that.
• 58:27
  And so we have to be very, very cautious and wise and how we
• 58:30
  approach that. And you should be just the same
• 58:31
  with your giving. Great.
• 58:36
  So we have several more. How many more do you think we, I
• 58:39
  don't know, how you guys doing? All right, keep going.
• 58:46
  In a premillennial view, some eschatology here.
• 58:49
  Now the Millennium includes a new temple with the
• 58:53
  reinstatement of animal sacrifices.
• 58:56
  Skeptics bring up 4 flaws with that delegitimately
• 59:01
  delegitimatize this view from being a viable.
• 59:05
  Based being viable based mainly on the sacrifices with some
• 59:08
  attention to the temple itself. And then they this person lists
• 59:13
  some of the objections. Yeah, we can hear them.
• 59:15
  I think it's good. Well can we just pause and does
• 59:17
  that already on catching on to what was just said.
• 59:21
  So there is a belief that during the millennial reign of Christ,
• 59:26
  after the tribulation period, when Christ does return
• 59:29
  physically and establishes his Kingdom on earth, many who hold
• 59:33
  to that view also would say that there will be a temple during
• 59:38
  the Millennium and that temple will actually have a function
• 59:43
  and in that function there will be a priesthood and there will
• 59:47
  be animal sacrifices. And so the there are those who
• 59:53
  obviously oppose that view and we're about to hear that main
• 59:55
  objections to that. What's the purpose of a temple?
• 1:00:00
  Being reintroduced when Jesus Christ comes to rule.
• 1:00:04
  And so we all understand the question so far.
• 1:00:06
  So now we're going to hear the main objections, and they're
• 1:00:08
  they're good objections, but we'll we'll address them.
• 1:00:10
  Yeah, the first one is why do we have that If Christ Atonement
• 1:00:15
  being once and for all time was already accomplished, well, why
• 1:00:21
  don't we read all of them and it maybe we'll just yeah.
• 1:00:24
  Okay. So Christ Atonement being once
• 1:00:26
  and for all time. That's the first objection.
• 1:00:28
  The second one is. God's displeasure with animal
• 1:00:31
  sacrifices. 3 God's establishment of his bride as
• 1:00:36
  the temple removes the possibility of a physical
• 1:00:39
  temple. And then lastly, God instituted
• 1:00:43
  a proper way of remembrance known as communion.
• 1:00:48
  Great question. I love this question.
• 1:00:50
  It's a deep question. The idea of a temple being
• 1:00:55
  erected during the Millennium period is not a random thought.
• 1:00:58
  It comes from the book of Ezekiel.
• 1:01:00
  So when if you, if you've read Ezekiel, you know that Ezekiel
• 1:01:03
  40 to 48 is dedicated to the detailed blueprint of this
• 1:01:10
  glorious temple. And it's so detailed.
• 1:01:13
  I mean, there's 8 chapters dedicated to it.
• 1:01:15
  And within those chapters you have even instructions of what
• 1:01:18
  is to be happening in that temple.
• 1:01:22
  For those who would not hold to that because of these arguments
• 1:01:25
  that there will be a physical temple during the million and
• 1:01:27
  they would say about Ezeka 40 to 40, that's it's allegorical,
• 1:01:31
  it's speaking about the church, it's speaking about believers.
• 1:01:35
  It's speaking about Christ. In some regard.
• 1:01:38
  It's it can't be literal because it just doesn't make sense in
• 1:01:42
  light of what Christ will accomplish and what he has
• 1:01:44
  instituted in the New Covenant. And so they would say from 40 to
• 1:01:48
  48, it's it's purely allegorical, it's symbolic and
• 1:01:52
  it's meeting. It's not to be taken literally.
• 1:01:56
  I am among those who would believe that Ezekiel's temple is
• 1:02:00
  literal for the simple reason that it is given to us to be
• 1:02:06
  understood literally. And so when you read Ezekiel 40
• 1:02:10
  to 48, there's something interesting that pops up of an
• 1:02:12
  Ezekiel 43, verse 10. I want to read it to you.
• 1:02:16
  And it says here, As for you, son of man, describe to the
• 1:02:20
  House of Israel the Temple, that they may be ashamed of their
• 1:02:24
  iniquities, and they shall measure the plan.
• 1:02:28
  And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known
• 1:02:31
  to them the design of the temple, its arrangements, its
• 1:02:34
  exits and its entrances, that is its whole design.
• 1:02:37
  And make known to them as well all its statutes and its whole
• 1:02:40
  design and all its laws, and write it down in their site, so
• 1:02:43
  that they may observe all its laws and all its statutes and
• 1:02:45
  carry them out. That can't.
• 1:02:50
  That can't open up the possibility that what you see in
• 1:02:52
  Ezekiel 40 to 48, then, is allegorical, because Ezekiel was
• 1:02:56
  instructed to take the actual blueprint and to read it out
• 1:03:01
  loud, and to make it known to the people of Israel to inspire
• 1:03:04
  holiness, to forsake their sin. And say we want that temple, we
• 1:03:08
  want that kind of glory. So if we, because of those
• 1:03:14
  arguments, want to dismiss the literal interpretation, I think
• 1:03:17
  an allegorical interpretation opens you up to more questions
• 1:03:19
  than actual answers personally. So then what do we do with this?
• 1:03:24
  Because I think the burden is not so much on those who would
• 1:03:29
  say that this is a reality. I believe the burden here based
• 1:03:32
  on those objections is, OK, fine, it is a literal what's the
• 1:03:36
  purpose of it? Then how do we understand its
• 1:03:38
  function? And how do we reconcile that
• 1:03:41
  with our faith and our covenant? And that's where I understand
• 1:03:43
  where the tension is. There are many things to say
• 1:03:47
  about this, and I think the main problem that people have is the
• 1:03:53
  idea of the sacrifices more than an actual temple, it's the
• 1:03:56
  sacrifices themselves. And here's what I would say to
• 1:04:02
  somebody who would then, if you first can say confidently, okay,
• 1:04:06
  this is a real temple. Ask yourself this question.
• 1:04:08
  Has this temple ever been realized in history?
• 1:04:12
  No, it hasn't. It wasn't recognized in
• 1:04:14
  Solomon's temple. It wasn't recognized in Ezra's
• 1:04:17
  temple. It wasn't recognized in Herod's
• 1:04:18
  temple. This kind of manifestation has
• 1:04:22
  never been known. More than that, when you read
• 1:04:27
  Revelation 21, you will see explicitly that there will be no
• 1:04:30
  temple. We're told that in Revelation 21
• 1:04:33
  there will be no temple. But that's speaking about the
• 1:04:35
  eternal age, because Christ will be there, right?
• 1:04:39
  We don't need a temple. So then we got to fit this
• 1:04:42
  somewhere. If it's never been recognized
• 1:04:45
  before, if it's not going to be realized in the eternal age,
• 1:04:47
  then what What do we have left? The Millennium?
• 1:04:51
  The tribulation? There will be a temple, right?
• 1:04:54
  Paul alludes to that when he speaks about the desecration of
• 1:04:57
  the temple and 2nd Thessalonians.
• 1:04:59
  But the shifts that will happen geographically, the shifts that
• 1:05:02
  will happen in the world might demand that there would be a new
• 1:05:05
  temple and that would fulfill what is Ezekiel's prophesying.
• 1:05:10
  So, OK, it's there. So then why the sacrifices?
• 1:05:14
  Why all these different things that seem to contradict what
• 1:05:17
  Christ has done? And here's the thing that I
• 1:05:20
  would challenge you with, and this would maybe encourage you
• 1:05:23
  to do further Bible study. When you look at even Paul as an
• 1:05:28
  example, maybe you've never thought about this.
• 1:05:30
  If you read Acts carefully, there is an instance where Paul
• 1:05:32
  himself actually post experience with Christ, participates in
• 1:05:40
  some of the rituals and ceremonies in the temple of his
• 1:05:43
  day. Does anybody know where where
• 1:05:45
  I'm thinking, anybody know what I'm referring to?
• 1:05:48
  I mean, Dan, you've preached to the Acts, right?
• 1:05:51
  So in Acts 21 you read of James and you can turn there because I
• 1:05:55
  want you to see this and I want to.
• 1:05:56
  There's a reason why I'm bringing this to your attention.
• 1:05:58
  In Acts 21 you read of James telling Paul and encouraging
• 1:06:03
  Paul to take four men who were under a vow.
• 1:06:07
  And it's believed that the vow was a Nas right vow and to go to
• 1:06:11
  the temple and to have them purified and to actually pay for
• 1:06:18
  their expenses concerning the purification procedure.
• 1:06:23
  So I want to read that to you. Verse 23 do.
• 1:06:26
  Therefore what we tell you. He's speaking to Paul.
• 1:06:28
  Here we have four men who are under a vow.
• 1:06:31
  Take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay
• 1:06:33
  their expenses so that they may shave their heads.
• 1:06:36
  Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been
• 1:06:39
  told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance
• 1:06:42
  of the law Here Is James concerned?
• 1:06:44
  There were all of these rumors that Paul was going around
• 1:06:45
  preaching that he is anti law, he's anti Torah, that he wants
• 1:06:50
  to dismiss and cancel all that the covenants that the Jews have
• 1:06:55
  known. He he just now is presenting
• 1:06:57
  this new concept altogether. Dismissing that and James like
• 1:07:00
  for the sake of your testimony would you just go ahead and do
• 1:07:03
  this to prove that that is not the case And Paul agrees he
• 1:07:09
  agrees. You read in verse 26.
• 1:07:11
  Then Paul took the men and the next day he purified himself
• 1:07:14
  along with them and went into the temple giving notice when
• 1:07:18
  the days of purifications would be fulfilled and the offering
• 1:07:20
  presented for each one of them. Now if you look at if this is an
• 1:07:23
  ass right vow. If you go to numbers and you
• 1:07:25
  look at the whole protocol for Nazarete, included in the
• 1:07:29
  Nazarete vow was not just to extend your hair length but was
• 1:07:32
  also animal sacrifices. So what do we have here?
• 1:07:38
  We have Paul post salvation, teaching others about the
• 1:07:42
  sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice, willing to partner
• 1:07:46
  with men who underwent A ceremonial law in the temple.
• 1:07:54
  You know what some people say about Paul?
• 1:07:55
  He was wrong. Paul was actually in sin, that
• 1:08:00
  he caved under the pressure and he did something that he
• 1:08:03
  shouldn't have done. You know why I have problems
• 1:08:07
  with that? Because if Paul is wrong, James
• 1:08:09
  is wrong too, because he's the one who told him to do it.
• 1:08:12
  And if Paul is wrong, then why? Later in a couple of chapters,
• 1:08:17
  when he gives testimony of what happened, he he speaks about
• 1:08:20
  this incident and there is no sense that he's in the wrong for
• 1:08:25
  doing what he did. He speaks about him coming into
• 1:08:27
  the temple. He's, he's disclosing the event
• 1:08:29
  that led to his arrest, and he speaks about this moment.
• 1:08:33
  So then what do we what do we have here?
• 1:08:35
  I believe we have Paul, who is able to, with a clear conscience
• 1:08:39
  to some level, participate in these rituals and ceremonies
• 1:08:42
  because in his mind, he did not see redemptive qualities or
• 1:08:45
  properties in his participation of it.
• 1:08:48
  He does the same thing with Timothy with circumcision,
• 1:08:51
  right? So here's what I want to just
• 1:08:54
  propose as a possibility. If you see this example with
• 1:08:57
  Paul in the temple, partnering with some of these Jewish
• 1:09:02
  believers in their participation of the rituals of the Levitical
• 1:09:08
  law, is it so hard to believe that in the Millennium there
• 1:09:14
  will be some of this, not to atone for sin, not to undermine
• 1:09:19
  the blood of Jesus Christ, but for other purposes?
• 1:09:23
  That's all I'm suggesting to you, right?
• 1:09:26
  There is no way that Paul approached this because he
• 1:09:28
  thought that in doing so he would have some of his sins
• 1:09:31
  cleansed. And when you, when you think
• 1:09:35
  about it that way, then it opens up the the possibility that in
• 1:09:39
  the Millennium, because where people feel strongly about this
• 1:09:41
  is you're actually blaspheming Christ by thinking that you're
• 1:09:45
  reintroducing the Mosaic system. When Christ is ruling A
• 1:09:49
  reigning, he's the fulfillment of it.
• 1:09:51
  Which I would also say, if you read Ezekiel's instructions from
• 1:09:54
  40 to 48 very carefully, you don't have a reintroduction to
• 1:09:58
  the Mosaic system. You know why?
• 1:10:00
  Because a lot of those feasts are not reintroduced, including
• 1:10:03
  the Day of Atonement. Some of the furnishings that
• 1:10:08
  were there in Solomon's Temple in the Tabernacle are not there
• 1:10:11
  again. So we're not reintroducing the
• 1:10:15
  Levitical law in the Millennium. We're not doing that.
• 1:10:18
  So we got to eliminate that. And though we may not know the
• 1:10:21
  full answers to why those things will be in practice, we can be
• 1:10:24
  rest assured that Christ will be honored and glorified His
• 1:10:28
  sacrifices atonement will reign triumphant as the reason why we
• 1:10:32
  glory in him, and that nothing will interfere or conflict with
• 1:10:35
  that. I mean Paul didn't even in Acts
• 1:10:36
  21. As a born again believer, I hope
• 1:10:39
  that makes sense. At least entertain the
• 1:10:41
  possibility with the evidences throughout scripture.
• 1:10:46
  Yeah. Thank you.
• 1:10:48
  Alright, this next question, I love the heart behind this
• 1:10:51
  question. I don't know who submitted it,
• 1:10:53
  but it it it really speaks to me as far as the the really
• 1:10:57
  concerned this person has. So when we look around the
• 1:11:00
  landscape of the church today, whether it be different
• 1:11:03
  churches, denominations, organizations, Christian
• 1:11:06
  colleges and seminaries, some pastors and ministry leaders,
• 1:11:09
  even family members, we often see more secular and cultural
• 1:11:15
  ideologies permeating how people think.
• 1:11:18
  And what they practice and preach rather than the truth and
• 1:11:22
  the gospel of Christ. Here's the question, How do we
• 1:11:25
  best speak out against this when we see it?
• 1:11:29
  I know every situation is different, but I wrestle at
• 1:11:31
  times with whether my discontent is of a holy indignation and
• 1:11:36
  from a place of true love and zeal for the Lord and others, or
• 1:11:40
  if I am being self-righteous or judgmental in a way that is not
• 1:11:44
  pleasing to God. Do you have any advice on how to
• 1:11:47
  react with practical wisdom in these situations with others,
• 1:11:51
  whether it be at home, work or social media?
• 1:11:54
  When should we speak out and when should we stay silent?
• 1:11:59
  Such a good question, and in some way it might tie into the
• 1:12:03
  first question of this session, though not entirely.
• 1:12:08
  But I would first say to this person's heart that you
• 1:12:14
  shouldn't condemn yourself for feeling this way about clear
• 1:12:18
  opposition and contradiction to the word of God being done in
• 1:12:23
  the name of Christ and among those who claim to be leaders
• 1:12:26
  for Christ. And I would say, hone that, own
• 1:12:30
  that, praise God for that, and ask God to harness your feelings
• 1:12:33
  so that it wouldn't cause you to act in unrighteousness.
• 1:12:36
  But even the disciples, when they saw Jesus enter into that
• 1:12:39
  temple in John Chapter 2 and overthrew the money changers,
• 1:12:43
  they saw that zeal and they realized zeal for his house will
• 1:12:47
  consume him. So there is a righteous zeal
• 1:12:50
  that we should feel when it comes to the purity and the
• 1:12:53
  integrity and the honor that God should have in his house and
• 1:12:56
  with his word. And so if you feel that passion,
• 1:12:59
  I I applaud that because there's some people who care less and
• 1:13:03
  they're so consumed with their own lives that they're not
• 1:13:05
  consumed with the glory of God. And so I applaud that that heart
• 1:13:10
  for the honor of the Lord Jesus. But the question is followed up
• 1:13:15
  with, how do I express this? How do I deal with this?
• 1:13:18
  And that indicates that there are people in this person's life
• 1:13:22
  that are proposing this, that are preaching this, that are
• 1:13:26
  sharing this, that are teaching this.
• 1:13:28
  And so I would say, as he said and and he's on to something,
• 1:13:30
  that the format will demand a different approach, right.
• 1:13:33
  And so from a preaching standpoint, we got to deal with
• 1:13:36
  it as clearly and as authoritatively as possible, to
• 1:13:39
  call it out for what it is and to denounce it and to condemn
• 1:13:42
  it, and to be very direct. But that's not the case for many
• 1:13:48
  believers. So what the What should they do?
• 1:13:51
  I would say, in hearing that, depending on the extent of your
• 1:13:54
  relationship with other believers who might be
• 1:13:56
  entertaining these ideologies and these philosophies and these
• 1:13:59
  wrong doctrines have conversations with them, right?
• 1:14:02
  And so we're told there in Second Timothy how the Lord's
• 1:14:04
  servant should be. And that includes being gentle
• 1:14:07
  and patiently enduring evil and being able to interact with
• 1:14:10
  people in a certain way so that you would win them and that they
• 1:14:14
  would come to their senses and escape the snare of Satan.
• 1:14:17
  So there is a call for conversational and respectable
• 1:14:21
  dialogue. And the best way to do it again,
• 1:14:25
  is from Jesus's method to ask questions to say you know, or to
• 1:14:29
  invite somebody out to say, you know, I saw these things that
• 1:14:32
  you're posting and I heard that you believe these things.
• 1:14:34
  I'm curious, no more Can I ask more about that?
• 1:14:36
  And maybe it's a colleague from work where you take a lunch
• 1:14:38
  break and you have that time or if it's a family member, but you
• 1:14:42
  want to have a conversation with them because those people
• 1:14:44
  assumingly believe that this, whatever they're believing in is
• 1:14:47
  of God, is God's will, God's word.
• 1:14:50
  And they're interpreting things. So have that conversation with
• 1:14:52
  them and hear them out and then deal with it accordingly and
• 1:14:57
  guide them. Usually when you give people a
• 1:15:00
  chance to speak, they tend to give you a chance.
• 1:15:01
  And I know some people are not like that, but some most are.
• 1:15:05
  And have those conversations and trust that those conversations
• 1:15:08
  can be fruitful and that and and here's what I always say, don't
• 1:15:12
  feel like you have to win that person in the first conversation
• 1:15:15
  or that first kind of interaction.
• 1:15:17
  Believe that the seed that you plant can actually be enough for
• 1:15:20
  them to wrestle with what they hold to.
• 1:15:21
  So be patient, be patient with them, and I would say just ask
• 1:15:25
  God to continue to fuel that passion in your heart and for
• 1:15:28
  platforms, be able to just testify if His truth and for
• 1:15:32
  divine appointments with people to hear what you have to say
• 1:15:34
  concerning the truth. And I'm sure the Lord will honor
• 1:15:36
  that in a day of age where people are very afraid to speak
• 1:15:38
  out what God has to say. So.
• 1:15:41
  Wonderful. All right, this is the last
• 1:15:43
  question. You know, I don't think it's any
• 1:15:47
  shock to anybody that in America we live in a very litigious
• 1:15:50
  society. People love to sue other people,
• 1:15:52
  but the people love to threaten to sue other people.
• 1:15:55
  So this question says when is it right for Christians to seek
• 1:15:59
  legal action in Scripture? We do not take our brothers to
• 1:16:03
  court, but instead forgive. But what about unbelievers?
• 1:16:07
  The word says vengeance is the Lord.
• 1:16:10
  So is there ever a time when we should, as Christians, take
• 1:16:14
  legal actions? I think you should answer that
• 1:16:19
  question too, with your history and your background.
• 1:16:21
  And I will ask that I'll give an answer and please add on to it.
• 1:16:25
  Here's what I would say based on scripture.
• 1:16:29
  There is a clear call that believers should suffer wrong
• 1:16:32
  instead of taking each other to court.
• 1:16:34
  Because protecting the testimony is the testimony of crisis far
• 1:16:39
  greater than you gaining extra money or getting payback.
• 1:16:43
  But what do we do with unbelievers?
• 1:16:46
  And I would say that Paul's mentality with the believers,
• 1:16:50
  the principle that he's operating under, overlaps even
• 1:16:55
  with how we interact with unbelievers to some extent.
• 1:16:57
  What was Paul's mindset when he talked taught that in First
• 1:17:00
  Scrinthian 6, your rights, no matter how strongly you feel
• 1:17:04
  about them, should be in subject to the greater cause of the the
• 1:17:07
  person, the nature, and the message of Jesus Christ.
• 1:17:11
  And so if you, surrendering your rights protects and Shields from
• 1:17:16
  an unbelieving world, a possible scorn, mockery, disdain, then
• 1:17:23
  sacrifice your rights. And Paul did that for himself
• 1:17:27
  and 1st Corinthians 9. He said, I have the right to
• 1:17:31
  demand material benefit from you as I benefit you spiritually.
• 1:17:35
  But I surrender that right because I don't want anybody
• 1:17:37
  else to say Paul's preaching to gain money from you.
• 1:17:40
  And Paul's like, I'd rather glory in that than to demand
• 1:17:43
  something of you. So I'm not going to ask you
• 1:17:44
  anything for the gospel. And in the same chapter there he
• 1:17:47
  tells the same church to give to ministers.
• 1:17:51
  So Paul, he's, he's in a different world and his
• 1:17:53
  thinking, he's in a different world constantly with any
• 1:17:56
  situation or circumstances. He's always thinking this in the
• 1:17:59
  forefront of his mind. What would bring most glory to
• 1:18:01
  Christ in this? What would limit scandal?
• 1:18:05
  What would protect my testimony ultimately, as I deal with the
• 1:18:08
  situation and sometimes, depending on the situation, that
• 1:18:13
  would require you to actually exercise your legal right.
• 1:18:19
  And Paul does that. And we taught a Bible study on
• 1:18:21
  that. Remember, in Act 16, him and him
• 1:18:23
  and Silas were arrested. And then they go to the jailer's
• 1:18:25
  house, they're converted. And then the magistrate come and
• 1:18:27
  they say, hey, we were wrong. We're sorry, we didn't mean to
• 1:18:32
  arrest you. You guys can leave now.
• 1:18:34
  No issue, no court case. It's all done.
• 1:18:36
  We dropped the case, right? We dropped all charges.
• 1:18:39
  You know what Paul does? He goes, no, no, no, no, no.
• 1:18:44
  You're not letting us go. Actually, we want you to escort
• 1:18:48
  us out. And pious Christians in 2023
• 1:18:54
  would say, Paul, that's not Christ.
• 1:18:56
  Like we're people of peace. Go about your way and fulfill
• 1:19:01
  your ministry. You know what Paul would say
• 1:19:02
  with you? No, I'm not going anywhere.
• 1:19:06
  Was Paul bitter? Did Paul want to get something
• 1:19:11
  back? No, he was.
• 1:19:14
  He's he was operating under the same principle and conviction as
• 1:19:17
  he was when he told the believers that he would not
• 1:19:20
  exercise his right to gain anything from the materially for
• 1:19:22
  his spiritual service, in what sense?
• 1:19:24
  What happened? What happened to Paul and Silas?
• 1:19:27
  They were publicly condemned. They were publicly arrested.
• 1:19:30
  They were publicly shamed and there was little information
• 1:19:34
  given about their arrest. The last thing that the people
• 1:19:35
  saw was that these missionaries who came into Phillip Eye are
• 1:19:38
  now arrested. Surely did something wrong and
• 1:19:40
  illegal to warrant that. And Paul knew that.
• 1:19:42
  So Paul says, I'm not going to let the last thing that they saw
• 1:19:45
  be us getting arrested. You have to bring us out and
• 1:19:47
  show everybody that we were actually innocent.
• 1:19:49
  Why? For the sake of the gospel.
• 1:19:52
  For the sake of the testimony of Christ.
• 1:19:56
  And so when it comes to promoting the gospel, when it
• 1:19:59
  comes to protecting the gospel, protecting.
• 1:20:02
  His, his, his glory, his name, his purpose on the earth.
• 1:20:05
  Through the church, we should utilize the freedoms that we
• 1:20:07
  have. I think the greatest example of
• 1:20:09
  that is what we've been experiencing the past few years
• 1:20:11
  when we've been told that you can't gather and meet under the
• 1:20:16
  name of safety and healthcare and loving your neighbor even.
• 1:20:21
  And many churches have taken the stand and and took the legal
• 1:20:24
  route to say no, we have the right to meet.
• 1:20:26
  This is our right. We should for what purpose?
• 1:20:31
  In order for us to fulfill what God called us to fulfill.
• 1:20:34
  In order for us to protect what God called us to protect an
• 1:20:36
  honor, and that is to meet together as the church.
• 1:20:39
  And so that is legitimate. God would applaud that according
• 1:20:42
  to His word. That wisdom is granted through
• 1:20:45
  Paul's example, many other incidents for us to be
• 1:20:47
  encouraged to say, yes, this, this, this is something that we
• 1:20:50
  can do for the good of our God and His glory.
• 1:20:56
  Now, I know that this is probably more impersonal things,
• 1:20:59
  personal matters. I understand that I would have
• 1:21:01
  to hear the situation to give any kind of counsel or advice.
• 1:21:04
  But I would say you're always safe by using Paul's mindset in
• 1:21:08
  all situations. And at sometimes we'll call you
• 1:21:12
  to say I'm letting this go. In other situations it would say
• 1:21:16
  I can't let this, I can't let this go because this will cost
• 1:21:19
  more for my faith and for others and for the wellbeing of the
• 1:21:23
  church and the message of the church.
• 1:21:24
  So we must fight. So we will fight.
• 1:21:27
  That's how I would answer that. What would you add?
• 1:21:30
  Yeah. You know, it's interesting in in
• 1:21:32
  in I know this is talking about lawsuits against unbelievers,
• 1:21:36
  but I I, I think it's important to talk about.
• 1:21:38
  You know there's some some Christians who say that even if
• 1:21:41
  a crime was committed against me by somebody, an unbeliever, I'm
• 1:21:45
  not going to go to police. I'm not going to go to court
• 1:21:47
  because I that's what the Bible says.
• 1:21:50
  I I would just caution, especially when you're dealing
• 1:21:53
  in crimes, right, whether it's spousal abuse, whether it's.
• 1:21:58
  God forbid somebody murders someone that you know and you're
• 1:22:00
  a witness to it or something, or whether you get called for jury
• 1:22:04
  duty on a criminal case, believe it or not.
• 1:22:07
  So one of the questions that I asked him in when I did criminal
• 1:22:10
  juries is, do you have any religious beliefs that would
• 1:22:15
  cause you to not be able to sit in judgment against someone
• 1:22:18
  else? Because you have some Christians
• 1:22:21
  who say I will not judge him because I'm a Christian and.
• 1:22:28
  Judge not lest you be judged, right.
• 1:22:30
  That's what they say. I I think that's a
• 1:22:32
  misapplication of what of what Christ is saying there.
• 1:22:35
  And I think actually as Christians we have a duty to to
• 1:22:40
  work with the work with the government in criminal cases
• 1:22:44
  because ultimately what what criminal cases are about is an
• 1:22:47
  offense against the people around you, the people of the
• 1:22:51
  state of Illinois. That's who's on the one side of
• 1:22:54
  this, this criminal case, the people of the state of Illinois
• 1:22:56
  versus the defendant. And I believe it's our job as
• 1:22:59
  Christians to help the government do their job.
• 1:23:02
  The government's job is to call good, good, call evil, evil,
• 1:23:07
  punish the evil doer. Right.
• 1:23:09
  And as good citizens, as Christian citizens, it is our
• 1:23:12
  job to cooperate with that, whether it's being a witness in
• 1:23:15
  a criminal case or a member of the jury in a criminal case.
• 1:23:19
  Lawsuits against believers. You know, I, I, I know people
• 1:23:23
  who love. Clear, Black and white.
• 1:23:25
  Yes or no. Yes or no.
• 1:23:27
  But it's not the case in in in most things, I would say, and I
• 1:23:31
  absolutely agree sometimes, yeah, you do give up your right.
• 1:23:34
  You say I'm not going to sue, but sometimes you do have to say
• 1:23:38
  and looking at the Bible, yeah, it's actually my responsibility
• 1:23:42
  to sue. How about the hospital?
• 1:23:44
  Who's so negligent that they mess up something in your
• 1:23:47
  surgery or something? Well, guess what?
• 1:23:50
  If you don't pursue legal action against them, they're going to
• 1:23:53
  do it to somebody else. So you might not be seeking
• 1:23:56
  1,000,000 or $10 million, but I believe as the responsible
• 1:24:01
  Christians, we have to make sure this wrong does not continue.
• 1:24:05
  Or as Daniel said, you know, there's Christian law firms
• 1:24:08
  every day suing, using the civil, criminal, civil court
• 1:24:13
  system to advocate for the rights of the the.
• 1:24:18
  The coach who wants to pray before a football game, Or the
• 1:24:22
  nurse who won't do abortions and then gets fired, Or the cake
• 1:24:27
  Baker who won't make a specially designed cake because it goes
• 1:24:32
  against his Christian beliefs. These are absolutely legitimate
• 1:24:36
  lawsuits. We see it in Paul, not just in
• 1:24:39
  Philippians, but also in acts. Right as he was arrested.
• 1:24:43
  I appeal to Caesar, right? What a Caesar.
• 1:24:46
  You shall go. And then we see what the Lord
• 1:24:48
  does. As Paul uses that system that's
• 1:24:51
  in place, we see how the Lord uses Paul even for the good of
• 1:24:55
  so many other people as he's following through in that
• 1:24:58
  process. So, yeah, hope that helps.
• 1:25:02
  I hope it helps to help me. Amen.
• 1:25:05
  Well, that concludes our Q&A. I hope you guys are edified and
• 1:25:09
  blessed. We love when questions come in
• 1:25:10
  because it sharpens us and it encourages us to kind of examine
• 1:25:15
  things in a deeper level. And so we were so blessed.
• 1:25:17
  There are many, many other questions, obviously.
• 1:25:19
  I mean it's it's close to 9:00. So we we enjoyed it.
• 1:25:23
  We hope you didn't feel the the time when we just want to pray
• 1:25:26
  and give God glory for all these things that were discussed.
• 1:25:29
  Would you like to pray for us? Heavenly Father, you are good
• 1:25:34
  and your mercy endorsed forever. Lord, your word is so good
• 1:25:38
  sharper than any two edged sword.
• 1:25:41
  Lord, your word gives life. Where else should we go?
• 1:25:44
  Lord, you have the words of eternal life.
• 1:25:47
  And thank you for the wisdom from Pastor Daniel and the
• 1:25:50
  guidance. And thank you for the questions
• 1:25:52
  where brothers and sisters are truly wanting to do what is
• 1:25:57
  right according to your word. May you give us all wisdom.
• 1:26:01
  May you give us all discernment. Supernatural understanding
• 1:26:04
  illuminate our hearts and our minds as we read.
• 1:26:08
  Lord, shower us with Your grace. May we live lives that are
• 1:26:13
  pleasing to you, and may You transform us every day more into
• 1:26:18
  the image of Christ in our thoughts and our words and our
• 1:26:21
  actions. You are good, Lord, in Jesus
• 1:26:24
  name we pray. Amen.
• 1:26:26
  Amen. Well, why don't we sing one more
• 1:26:30
  song and closing. Shall we do that?