SPEAKER_00: Ask uh biblical questions, either things related to uh the Bible or the Christian life or uh how things intersect or maybe uh areas of just uh uh curiosity and and uh wanting to know deeper what the Bible teaches on on one particular topic or another.
SPEAKER_00: Um I know Pat's gonna have some uh ground rules up there, but just to remind you, and I'm I'll go ahead and read a scripture passage uh before we begin, uh, but limit the questions to biblical or practical uh implications of b of Bible truth.
SPEAKER_00: Uh this isn't uh Dave's opinion on X, Y, Z issue facing uh politics or anything like that.
SPEAKER_00: Uh please recognize that I'll share my understanding uh uh to these questions.
SPEAKER_00: It's um it's not intended for a protracted debate, so this isn't uh kind of a debate.
SPEAKER_00: If you ask a question, um I'll try to answer it to the best of my ability.
SPEAKER_00: And there may be questions I just can't answer, either it's something in depth or an area that I haven't studied, and so I may uh have to defer to a later time to answer it in another venue.
SPEAKER_00: And uh so some things can't be uh answered off the cuff.
SPEAKER_00: And also, uh, if it's a question that's so particular and so specific that it really isn't germane to uh the entire body of Christ, it may be something that just on a more individual basis.
SPEAKER_00: Um and then this isn't time to stump the pastor.
SPEAKER_00: Let me let me say this.
SPEAKER_00: There are so many things I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: It isn't to go, let's figure out if he knows.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I did this with the college group a couple months ago, and they're like, well, you know, the fourth king after Hezekiah, and the second, you know, I you know, this isn't time.
SPEAKER_00: There's there is a lot that uh I'm not good at trivial pursuit.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm I'm not biblical trivia pursuit, so this isn't stumped.
SPEAKER_00: It's very easy to do, actually.
SPEAKER_00: Um you can find all the obscure things that I won't know.
SPEAKER_00: Um so let me go ahead and read uh from Titus chapter 2 just uh to hear from God's word.
SPEAKER_00: And then um so if you have your Bible, turn to Titus chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: It can be found on page 998 uh in the um uh in the Pew Bible.
SPEAKER_00: And as we mentioned, every week, we love the fact that we can give away Bibles.
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't own one, take that Bible with you at the end of this service and make it your own.
SPEAKER_00: It's our gift to you.
SPEAKER_00: We replace them every week, and it's just our joy to be able to give God's word uh to people every week.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you don't own a Bible, please take that Bible with you.
SPEAKER_00: Titus chapter two says, But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness.
SPEAKER_00: Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderous or slaves to much wine.
SPEAKER_00: They are to teach what is good, and so train the younger women to love their husbands and children to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.
SPEAKER_00: Likewise urge the younger men to be self-controlled, showing yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in all your teachings show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.
SPEAKER_00: Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything.
SPEAKER_00: They are to be well pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.
SPEAKER_00: For the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself to us to redeem us from all lawlessness, and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
SPEAKER_00: Declare these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority, let no one disregard you.
SPEAKER_00: Now, to begin with, I did receive an email question this morning as I was uh leaving for church, and so we'll start there.
SPEAKER_00: If you have a question, you can come up to the mic or you can uh send a uh text as well, but uh give you those opportunities.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but the question that I received this morning was this uh it says, What is happening in Acts chapter 8, verses 14 through 17, uh that the Holy Spirit came on these people uh a while after they had been saved?
SPEAKER_00: Why wasn't it instantly like we believe it is for us today?
SPEAKER_00: Also, how did they know whether they had or or had not received the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: Great question.
SPEAKER_00: If you turn to Acts chapter eight, there's something that's going on in Acts that we need to recognize, and oftentimes we don't make some distinctions, which I think we uh would be helpful to make.
SPEAKER_00: Um within the Bible, you have different types of uh of communication.
SPEAKER_00: You have narrative sections and you have teaching sections.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the whole Bible, in one way or another, teaches us, but not always in the same way.
SPEAKER_00: And so you have uh passages that are descriptive, they are describing what happened in time and place uh at a certain time, and passages uh that are prescriptive, that are prescribing uh a normative truth for all times and all places.
SPEAKER_00: And so when we go through the Gospels in the book of Acts, we need to recognize that that within the teaching there, there are also descriptive uh passages that are describing what God did once, and it may not necessarily be normative for uh all times and all places.
SPEAKER_00: For instance, Jesus walked on water and he told Peter to walk on water.
SPEAKER_00: Um I just saw a video recently where there was a pastor talking uh to a group and telling them that if they had faith, they could walk on water like Jesus did and Peter did.
SPEAKER_00: Um I think that misses uh the intention of what these descriptive passages are.
SPEAKER_00: They're explaining what God was doing at that time and in that particular place.
SPEAKER_00: Within the book of Acts, we have a transitional period of time that Luke is writing to describe the establishment of the church.
SPEAKER_00: So in Acts chapter 8, let's look at the passage here and I'll show how this fits in with the larger context.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 8, beginning in verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that the Samarit that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent there Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: For they had not for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Now keep your finger there, turn to Acts chapter two for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: I want to tie a couple passages together.
SPEAKER_00: If you remember in Acts chapter 1, verse 8, Jesus says, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: So you have these concentric circles starting with Jerusalem and then Judea and then Samaria and then to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: And on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit is poured out there, and if you look at verses 38 and 39, it says this.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promises for you and for all your children, and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls.
SPEAKER_00: And you see here there's the the uh there is accepting of Christ and the receiving of the Holy Spirit, all within the context.
SPEAKER_00: Believers were almost uh always immediately baptized upon a profession of faith.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we see earlier the Holy Spirit poured out in the day of Pentecost.
SPEAKER_00: And in earlier in Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit is poured out uh there in the beginning of chapter 2, and uh and it says uh in verse 2, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind.
SPEAKER_00: It filled the entire house, and divided as of tongues of fire appeared on them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, now keep that passage in mind.
SPEAKER_00: Let's turn to Acts chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: We'll kill a couple of birds with one stone.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 10, verses 44 through 48.
SPEAKER_00: Now in Acts chapter 10, verse 44, uh, this is with Cornelius now, a Gentile, and it says, When Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word, and the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles, for they were all hearing them, speaking in tongues and extolling God.
SPEAKER_00: Then Peter said, Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?
SPEAKER_00: So now you have a circumstance where they hear the word, they receive the Holy Spirit, and now they're being baptized.
SPEAKER_00: Uh in Acts chapter 8, uh you have uh slightly different in 14 through 17.
SPEAKER_00: You have uh they came down, they received the Holy Spirit, they had already been baptized into the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Now look at Acts chapter 19, verses uh 1 and following.
SPEAKER_00: In Acts chapter 19, now you have the the in Ephesus, you're getting to the further regions out in Jerusalem, Samaria, uh, in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Now we're getting moving out from this concentric circle, and it says that it happened while Apollos was at Corinth.
SPEAKER_00: Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus, and they found and he found some disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?
SPEAKER_00: And they said, No, we have not even heard there is a Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Into what then were you baptized?
SPEAKER_00: They said, Into John's baptism.
SPEAKER_00: So these people had come believers in God.
SPEAKER_00: They had been baptized, they had come to faith, uh, and they had come to John's baptism.
SPEAKER_00: They had not yet heard the gospel and the crucifixion, the resurrection, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul said to them, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so he preaches the gospel to them, and it says, On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.
SPEAKER_00: There were about twelve men in all.
SPEAKER_00: Now you're more confused.
SPEAKER_00: Um the point here is, and and let me give you one last passage just to complete the confusion, in Acts chapter 11.
SPEAKER_00: And I think this is instructive to everything that is going on in all of these passages.
SPEAKER_00: In Acts chapter 11, beginning in verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: Because now Peter is coming back and telling the apostles what happened in Acts chapter 10 with Cornelius.
SPEAKER_00: And so now they're coming and they're beginning to compare notes about what had happened.
SPEAKER_00: And in Acts chapter 11, uh, Peter is explaining what happened in Acts chapter 10, and he says, as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember the word of the Lord, how he said, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 17, if then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus, who was it that I could stand in the way?
SPEAKER_00: When they heard these things, they fell silent and they glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also, God has granted repentance that leads to life.
SPEAKER_00: Now keep in mind, in uh in Judaism in that day, there was this sense of it was us and everyone else, and everyone else would have been second-class citizens, even those who had converted to Judaism.
SPEAKER_00: But what happens here in the book of Acts, you remember uh Peter is there and he has this sense that, you know, never should he touch anything unclean, and then he has this vision, and immediately after he has this vision, then one comes uh from Cornelius' party and he asks them to come, and Peter makes a connection that nothing is unclean, that God has declared clean, and so he goes and he shares the gospel with Cornelius.
SPEAKER_00: Now it could have been in people's minds that even though in Acts chapter 8 the Samaritans, which would have been uh a mixed breed of Jew and Gentile, they were a mixed multitude uh genetically, they were uh they were uh half breeds in people's minds, and so they were less than.
SPEAKER_00: And so now here in Acts chapter 8, the Holy Spirit falls on them, just like it did in Acts chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: Now, in people's minds, they would have said, yeah, but they're still kind of Jews.
SPEAKER_00: Well, now you have Gentiles, these who weren't associated with Judaism.
SPEAKER_00: Now, he was a God fear, it says about Cornelius, and so he would have uh been a follower of Yahweh, although not having gone through circumcision.
SPEAKER_00: But what Peter says is is instructive.
SPEAKER_00: He says, when the Holy Spirit fell on them, I knew that they were accepted just like we were, because the very same event happened to them that happened to us earlier, and showing the unity of the body of Christ, that the same experience happened to each group of people.
SPEAKER_00: And so what you find is as you move out of these concentric circles from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria, the Samaritans have the same type of event that they had in Acts chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: And then you get here to Cornelius, who is a God-fearing Gentile, and the same event happens to them that happened in Acts chapter 2, and then you get to Ephesus, which is moving to the farther reaches of the world, and the same event happens to them that happens in Acts chapter 2 to reveal that in every new group of people they are united in equality with the believers in the day of Pentecost, and God at each new movement outward from these concentric circles, they have the exact same type of experience to show the unity of the church, regardless of what group of people they are.
SPEAKER_00: And so uh there's a lot going on here, but you notice, even as we compared the passages, uh, that as uh there there isn't a normative pattern during this time, but what you as you begin to trace it out, you see that it's God's intention of teaching the apostles the fuller meaning of what he's doing.
SPEAKER_00: And so this is uh during this transition period, not normative for today, but was instructive to them to understand that whether you're Jew or Greek or barbarian or Scythian or bondman or free, that you are all one in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And so that was the uh the intention there.
SPEAKER_00: And so you don't see this normative pattern that you see uh in Paul's teaching and moving forward.
SPEAKER_00: Well, let me go and uh try to answer a couple other questions as uh people are uh continuing to uh write in.
SPEAKER_00: Waiting to see.
SPEAKER_00: Jen will answer that one later.
SPEAKER_00: No, just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: Um related to this, uh, and and I'll do I'll step on this landmine.
SPEAKER_00: Uh it says, has the gift of prophecy and speaking in tongues continued to this day or have they stopped?
SPEAKER_00: And this is a very uh uh uh uh controversial question that uh that people have.
SPEAKER_00: I will share uh my perspective on it.
SPEAKER_00: I know that there are people that have uh differences of opinion uh on it, but let me just deal with what the New Testament says first, um, and then I think it'll put in perspective where my per my opinion comes in.
SPEAKER_00: Um in the Old Testament, you had prophets, and and the prophets of God spoke authoritatively.
SPEAKER_00: And so when the prophets in the Old Testament spoke, they said, Thus saith the Lord, and and a true prophet of God spoke uh without error, and what that prophet said was absolutely binding upon the hearers.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, if a prophet ever said anything that did not come to pass, uh that prophet was known to be a false prophet and would have been put to death.
SPEAKER_00: And and we see that uh uh in the Old Testament, in Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, there's prescriptions for those uh who speak false prophecies.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I've been reading through Jeremiah, and you see Jeremiah's uh going back and forth because the false prophets were prophesying peace when God was about to bring judgment upon his people.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what's interesting is when you get to the New Testament, uh you see a change happen.
SPEAKER_00: You find that the binding authoritative teaching doesn't continue to reside with the prophets, but it resides with the apostles.
SPEAKER_00: And the apostles, in one sense, are the heirs of that authoritative uh binding uh ability that um that we see in the Old Testament prophets.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, in fact, when you get into the book of Acts, um you find you find prophecies, you find prophets still being mentioned in the book of Acts, uh, not just among the uh apostles.
SPEAKER_00: Um I think of of Agabas, for instance.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but what's fascinating though is when you find um these prophets uh in Acts chapter 21, for instance, uh it talks about Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and he stayed with him.
SPEAKER_00: He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.
SPEAKER_00: Uh 21 9, verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: And while they were staying many days, a prophet named Agabas came down to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And he makes his prophecy telling Paul, Paul shouldn't go to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And he's well, he's saying that this is what the Holy Spirit says, uh, that the Jews in Jerusalem are gonna bind him uh hand in foot, deliver him over to the uh to the hands of the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: Um then Paul hears this and he says, Well, I'm willing to suffer whatever God has for me.
SPEAKER_00: And so uh they're begging him not to go, but he says, I'm gonna go and do God's will.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm gonna go where the Holy Spirit leads me.
SPEAKER_00: And what's interesting is if you trace everything that Agabas said, all of the details don't match up with what we find out at how Paul was treated specifically during that period of time.
SPEAKER_00: Uh moving forward to 1 Corinthians chapter 14, I'll skip over for now chapter 12 in the list of gifts.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but what you find in 1 Corinthians 14, even among the prophets during Paul's day, and just talking about during the time of prophesying.
SPEAKER_00: Uh in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verses 26 and following, uh, it says, uh, what then, brothers, when you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation.
SPEAKER_00: Let all things be done for the building up.
SPEAKER_00: So everything was to be done for edification.
SPEAKER_00: If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be only two or three at most, and in turn, and let somebody interpret.
SPEAKER_00: So if nobody interprets, that person should be silent.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he says in verse 28.
SPEAKER_00: But if there is no one to interpret, let each one of them keep silent in church and speak to himself to God.
SPEAKER_00: And then verse 29, let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: Let two or three speak, and let the others, and in the context, it's either the other prophets or the other leaders, the elders in the church, weigh what is said.
SPEAKER_00: If uh, and uh it says if a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent, for you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and be encouraged, and the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace.
SPEAKER_00: So, even in the book of 1 Corinthians, the prophets at this point did not have an authority, nor were they uh were uh in errant, that they were in essence sharing.
SPEAKER_00: What they believed that God might be laying on their hearts, but it wasn't to be taken as absolute truth without being evaluated.
SPEAKER_00: And so even within the book of 1 Corinthians and the book of Acts, we see this shift happening.
SPEAKER_00: And so even there, when God was moving through people, it was not like he was moving through with Christ, who was authoritative in everything he said, or the apostles who were authoritative.
SPEAKER_00: This would be what we would say in our vernacular was, well, you know, I have a sense that God might be leading this way.
SPEAKER_00: Or it seems to me that God has put this on my heart.
SPEAKER_00: So I believe, I don't see anything, and this is my personal conviction, that would say that all instances of tongues have ceased, or all prophecy have ceased.
SPEAKER_00: However, I would say that first of all, most of what we see is what is called tongues in modern day does not fall in line with what Paul says here, even in just this one passage, because if there's not an interpreter, he doesn't say to speak quietly, he says don't speak at all, and that isn't normative in a lot of Pentecostal churches.
SPEAKER_00: And then secondly, I would say that even when somebody, if God moves in somebody that he thinks that God is speaking, he needs to recognize that that isn't to be taken as absolute certainty because everything that is done and said is weighed by God's word.
SPEAKER_00: And so just like when I preach, what do you guys do?
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully.
SPEAKER_00: You open your Bibles to see if that's really what's true.
SPEAKER_00: If somebody comes up and says, you know, I really think that God's putting this on my heart to tell you, and say thank you, but ultimately the only authority that we have is God's word.
SPEAKER_00: And so a lot of what goes on under the uh discussion of uh prophecy or uh spiritual gifts such as this, I would say don't keep in line with God's word.
SPEAKER_00: And yet I don't, I wouldn't say that God cannot, in any circumstance, move in a person's life so that he gave them the ability uh to uh to speak a language he didn't know in order to communicate to others, or that God could not move in a person's life to give him a message uh to tell others, but it is never authoritative and binding.
SPEAKER_00: Uh only God's word is, and we see that even in the pages of Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: So I'll I'll stop there, and uh you can send the emails via Pat.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Um but uh but anyway, uh there's there's so much more that could go into that.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and and a lot I I didn't say and didn't say well, even what I did, but um but but I do think most of, let me say this, most of what happens today, even if we were living in first century uh uh Jerusalem or Corinth, um, would be out of bounds of what the scripture says, even just taking the passages at face value.
SPEAKER_00: Um so we have to be very careful because most of what people uh do in these areas doesn't line up with God's word, and so I would say it's out of bounds of what uh just what the New Testament says, regardless of some of these other questions.
SPEAKER_00: Well, let me go, let me uh try to answer a couple others.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'll I'll answer this one quickly.
SPEAKER_00: Um it says, how can we avoid exasperating a strong-willed child when discipling them in love?
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 6, 4.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll say, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I I I patience, prayer, um uh, and and honestly knowing the sinfulness of your own heart.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think I I I'll answer for myself.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things that I've learned about children, um, you know, when you when you're single, you think you have it all together, and then you get married, and then you begin to realize like how sinful you really are.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you like you didn't realize that you're the one that squeezes the toothpaste in the middle, and then you get married and you blame your wife, and you realize it's you and you've been doing it your whole life.
SPEAKER_00: Um, you you find out how petty you are, you find out how um just I mean, just it's it's amazing uh how much my holiness has gone down getting married.
SPEAKER_00: Um and then you have children.
SPEAKER_00: And any last vestiges of thinking you have it together are gone.
SPEAKER_00: Because you you think you're patient, and you tell yourself before you have children, how can a two-year-old frustrate me to the point of almost losing it?
SPEAKER_00: And then children come.
SPEAKER_00: And all of the things you said that that you you know you couldn't believe, um it just happens.
SPEAKER_00: And so uh and so honestly, I mean, realizing how sinful I mean, I have to realize how sinful I am.
SPEAKER_00: And and how prone I am to get angry, how prone I am to be petty, how prone I am to want to control other people, there's this there's this natural tendency that we build idols up.
SPEAKER_00: We, you know, I want peace, and this becomes my idol.
SPEAKER_00: And and anybody who attacks my idol, I'm going to respond in kind.
SPEAKER_00: And so a lot of it starts with recognizing the sinfulness of our own hearts, of realizing, you know, when I get angry, is it really because my child is doing something wrong?
SPEAKER_00: Or is it because in my mind I wanted things a certain way?
SPEAKER_00: I wanted to control my child.
SPEAKER_00: I wanted my child to act a certain way, be a certain way.
SPEAKER_00: I'm worried about my reputation.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm a pastor.
SPEAKER_00: What are people gonna say if my children act like this or do this?
SPEAKER_00: And so so so often our exasperating our children is really because we haven't looked deeply in our own hearts and realized that a lot of times it's our own sin that we're not confronting and confessing, and we're then wanting things.
SPEAKER_00: We've we've justified our own sinfulness, and so then we begin to want to control and and and and uh dominate our children uh to conform to what our will and our desires are and our wishes are, and and quite honestly, a lot of the time it's just a matter of recognizing uh, first of all, you know, asking ourselves, is this really something that is, you know, are they are they hurting themselves?
SPEAKER_00: Is it is it for their own character, for their own building, or is it just because I want things a certain way and they're they're violating my sense of peace or my standards?
SPEAKER_00: Um so so, in a lot of ways, there's this um there's this need for us to really look at our own hearts and to realize how sinful we are, and that we don't we don't have it together.
SPEAKER_00: Um and and go to Christ and and just ask for forgiveness and ask God to search your heart, um recognize just what your sin is, and then um ask God for the grace and strength to respond to your children with love and for their good, not for your peace and your benefit.
SPEAKER_00: And uh again, I mean I I really don't have the answer.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I struggle with that every day.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I have three children, one wife, three children.
SPEAKER_00: Um struggle with that every day.
SPEAKER_00: So I think, um, yeah, like I said, I mean, I just realize more and more um how much I need God's grace in order not to allow my own uh pettiness, my own sinfulness, my own desires rule the day.
SPEAKER_00: Um, let's go in another direction.
SPEAKER_00: Um, it says there are a lot of rules in the Old Testament that we do not follow today.
SPEAKER_00: Some of them are more clearly released from than others, such as with Peter's vision about unclean food.
SPEAKER_00: How do we still determine what Old Testament laws are binding for us today?
SPEAKER_00: Um again, the I would say, first of all, I mean, the the New Testament gives us, um in interprets for us how we handled the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus uh talked about that.
SPEAKER_00: He did not come to abolish the law.
SPEAKER_00: Uh in Matthew chapter 5, verses 19 to 20.
SPEAKER_00: He said he came to fulfill it.
SPEAKER_00: Um and in Hebrews, uh, you go out, you look at Hebrews in chapters uh 7 and following, and really what the writer to Hebrews is showing is the superiority of Christ over Moses and the superiority of grace over the law.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when we come to the law, um we need to make some distinguishing uh some distinctions between them, uh or we can get into trouble.
SPEAKER_00: We can become confused.
SPEAKER_00: Um there is within the pages of the Old Testament the ceremonial law.
SPEAKER_00: There was also the civil law that related to uh to Israel, but for our purposes there is the ceremonial law, and these are uh the rules and regulations and the sacrifices coming from Moses moving forward.
SPEAKER_00: And so you have the ceremonial law, uh which was a shadow of what was to come.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it says in Hebrews.
SPEAKER_00: And so when the reality came, when Christ came, all of those shadows really just pointed to the reality of who we are in Christ and what Christ was going to do.
SPEAKER_00: Now, there is an in there is some instruction even with the ceremonial law, even though those have been fulfilled in Christ and are no longer binding.
SPEAKER_00: But even when you just step back and look at all the laws, the laws touched every area of life.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you had to think about, well, what do I eat?
SPEAKER_00: You had to think about what do I wear?
SPEAKER_00: You had to think about at all times, what do I do?
SPEAKER_00: How am I separate for God?
SPEAKER_00: How am I been how have I been set apart?
SPEAKER_00: If you were a Jew in the Old Testament, how am I set apart for God?
SPEAKER_00: And in every area of my life, God has lordship over.
SPEAKER_00: And so even when you look at the ceremonial law, you see the influence of God in every area of life.
SPEAKER_00: And I would say that that principle still uh applies today.
SPEAKER_00: It says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 that uh, and whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do it all for the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: And so that even though we're not bound by any of the ceremonial laws and rules and regulations, um, we ought to have that mindset that everything we do ought to glorify God in what we wear, what we even to the food we eat, we eat it for God's glory.
SPEAKER_00: And to think about uh, how do we eat for God's glory?
SPEAKER_00: How do I live my life for God's glory?
SPEAKER_00: But I will say this as well.
SPEAKER_00: There is another law, which is the moral law.
SPEAKER_00: And the moral law is nothing more than a reflection of the character of God.
SPEAKER_00: And so the moral law, which is reflecting in God's character, reveals to us who God is and in his holiness.
SPEAKER_00: And when Christ came, Christ came to reveal the Father.
SPEAKER_00: And we, the Bible says in Romans 8.29, that those whom he foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son.
SPEAKER_00: And so God is at work in every believer, conforming us to the image of his son in our attitudes and our actions and our thoughts and our responses and our relationships.
SPEAKER_00: And so that in a right sense, we can look at the moral law, we can see the character of God, we can see most clearly the character of God and the person of Christ as he lived it out, and then we can say that in a right understanding of God's moral standards, it does give us a mirror in which to look at and to see our lives, and in looking at Christ, it gives us a model to see what living out a life pleasing to God for his glory looks like in time and space, and to know that that is our goal, to be conformed to his image, he's moving us towards that trajectory by his grace, by his spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just quickly, I'll see if there's one more uh that I can answer quickly.
SPEAKER_00: Each one of these is like a sermon series.
SPEAKER_00: Um I'll answer this one and I know what's the answering.
SPEAKER_00: Let's see.
SPEAKER_00: Define God and give four examples.
SPEAKER_00: Um it says, um, it says, will you speak about the rapture?
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Um and and again, this is I I would I would suggest this, and I can only go through a couple passages.
SPEAKER_00: Um that in uh in the New Testament, the Bible talks about uh two realities.
SPEAKER_00: Um one reality is that most of us are going to die, but not all of us.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, and and potentially, not all of us, um, because the Bible talks about the fact that uh that some will be uh caught up together in the air and uh and be with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So if you look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, and again, um there is uh there's a lot of of uh of that that could go into this.
SPEAKER_00: Um But the the Thessalonians had been under the false impression that Christ had already returned and that they missed it, that somehow they uh they had missed it.
SPEAKER_00: But Paul had had obviously in his time in Thessalonica, as he established the church, had taught about these things, but they needed further instruction.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may grieve, you may not grieve as others who have no hope.
SPEAKER_00: For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, for this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord Jesus, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
SPEAKER_00: For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, so that we will always be with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, encourage one another with these words.
SPEAKER_00: In the end of First Corinthians chapter fifteen, uh you find uh a similar type of of uh of comments in First Corinthians fifteen, fifty or fifty-one, he says, Brothers, I tell you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
SPEAKER_00: For this perishable perishable body must put on imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
SPEAKER_00: And so what Paul is teaching here in 1 Thessalonians and in 1 Corinthians, uh notice there is an order.
SPEAKER_00: So when I die, uh if it's before Christ returns, um my body goes into the grave.
SPEAKER_00: Now the Bible says that my soul, my spirit goes to be with God in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And so my body, and theologians refer to this as the intermediate state.
SPEAKER_00: It's an unnatural state.
SPEAKER_00: Uh God intended for us to be a unity of body and soul, and we will be again, but when a person dies, there is for a time this uh unusual state of separation.
SPEAKER_00: Our bodies go in the ground uh and our our souls go to be with God in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: But it it says that when Christ returns, uh that those who are alive, uh something is going to happen.
SPEAKER_00: He says that there is a priority that the dead in Christ rise first.
SPEAKER_00: And so that those who have died will, that their bodies will be resurrected in an imperishable, glorified body like Christ's body, and will be raised, and that those who are alive, they will be transformed, so they too will have a glorified body, and they will meet the Lord in the air.
SPEAKER_00: And and for those who are alive during that time, and if if if you notice Paul, he even says, We shall not all sleep.
SPEAKER_00: Um, there was this anticipation and this expectancy that they didn't know when Christ was going to return.
SPEAKER_00: And so they had this hope that maybe it would be in their lifetime, that they would be among those who would still be alive when Christ returned.
SPEAKER_00: And and and every generation has had that hope that they may be among those who are still alive when Christ returns, and that they would be caught up together with the Lord in the air.
SPEAKER_00: Um there there is uh a lot of debate in the details, uh, and again, there's a lot of theology that goes into Daniel chapter 9 and Daniel's 70th week, uh, this period of the 70th seven, uh, which uh many scholars, most scholars would say is a seven-year period of time, three and a half years of peace, three and a half years uh uh of tribulation, the text says, and that when during this period of time that that event, the rapture, is going to happen.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but again, that would be a whole sermon series or a whole uh lecture.
SPEAKER_00: But suffice to say uh that the Bible talks in very unmistakable terms that those who are alive at the return of Christ uh that they will be transformed and caught up together to be with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I know our times escaped us.
SPEAKER_00: There's a bunch of great questions here.
SPEAKER_00: Um I'm gonna have to leave them because I know I don't want to hold you hostage.
SPEAKER_00: Um again, there's so much to be said, and a lot of these, um, you know, for those who have been in my theology class this summer, there's uh, I mean, a lot of this is contingent on uh even a lot of these answers on prior commitments and and and preconceived notions of what we believe, how the Bible is structured and fits together.
SPEAKER_00: And so a lot of our understanding of the Bible um we need to recognize is is influenced by uh our perception of how things are and how things work out, whether we're talking about spiritual gifts, whether we're talking about um eschatology, or we're talking about other areas.
SPEAKER_00: And so we need to be like the Bereans.
SPEAKER_00: If you remember the Bereans, they were listening to Paul.
SPEAKER_00: They were listening to the Apostle Paul, and it says of them, they searched the scriptures to see if these things were so.
SPEAKER_00: And I would challenge you, no matter who you're listening to, whether it's me, whether it's somebody on the radio, somebody on television, regardless of who it is, you have your Bible open or whoever you're reading, whatever book you're reading, whatever author, no matter how popular he is, a bestseller, that you have your Bible open and you look up every passage that is quoted, whether it's if they just give a reference in a book or they're saying it, so that you can see for yourself what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_00: Because every one of us needs to be a student of the Bible and not just expect the experts to have the answer.
SPEAKER_00: God has given his word to each one of us.
SPEAKER_00: And each one of us uh has the privilege to study God's word and the responsibility to avail ourselves to what God has given us, uh, to search the scriptures, to ask questions, to study, to read, to pray.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, it's not easy, um, and it takes a lifetime, uh, but that should be what each one of us does.
SPEAKER_00: Um and so I want to challenge you with that uh to search God's word and to continue to pray.
SPEAKER_00: Well, let me go ahead and um and close.
SPEAKER_00: I know you just want to do the song?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we'll we'll do a song after this.
SPEAKER_00: So let me close this in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Father, um, with most of these issues, we could only scratch the surface.
SPEAKER_00: Um, there's a lot to be discussed, uh a lot to that uh to explain differences of opinion and why people have uh one opinion over another and what your word says and how it's interpreted by different people.
SPEAKER_00: But Father, I pray for us.
SPEAKER_00: You have given us your Holy Spirit and you have given us your word, and you have called us as your people uh to know you and love you, and you have revealed yourself to us through your word so that we might have an accurate understanding of who you are and what this love relationship is.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Father, I pray that even though we've talked about some deep theology, that these won't be academic discussions, uh, but these will stir our hearts for greater love and devotion to you and to recognize, Lord, that that you are our end.
SPEAKER_00: And your word is a means to knowing you.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Father, may we never lose sight of that even as we love one another and discuss these ideas together.
SPEAKER_00: We pray in Christ's name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.