1 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:55,560 Well, hello, my Bible in 365 brothers and sisters, I got to 2 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:59,680 tell you I am so excited about today. 3 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:04,200 We are doing a live Q and AI cannot wait to get down to 4 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:06,040 answering some of these questions. 5 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:09,600 But I want to say something right off the bat, and that is 6 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:13,880 our dear Erika is very much under the weather. 7 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:19,880 And it's got to be kind of bad because most of the time that's 8 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:22,880 not enough to keep her from doing anything, especially when 9 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:26,280 it comes to stuff like this. We've been looking forward to 10 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:28,720 this Q&A for quite some time. Obviously, we're going to 11 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:33,360 continue to do it and we're going to have Kate join us in 12 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:36,240 just a second, which I'm looking forward to. 13 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:37,920 But I just wanted you to know that. 14 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:40,600 And what I wanted to do was just open up in prayer. 15 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:44,880 Open up in prayer for her. Then we will take on some 16 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:47,920 questions. I am so looking forward to it, 17 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:50,680 if you have not caught on already, and I want to make 18 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:54,480 myself clear. The whole obligation that we 19 00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:58,800 carry forth as given to us by the Lord is to serve you. 20 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:03,240 We want to better equip you to read the Bible, to understand 21 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:06,960 what you're reading, to be changed by it, for your life to 22 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:09,639 just dynamically grow as a result of it. 23 00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:14,120 And we know that there's amazing power in the word of God. 24 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:17,720 And that's what we hope to be able to put in your hands. 25 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:22,520 It's, it's something that I know was Charlie's heart. 26 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:24,760 I know it's always been Erica's heart. 27 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:29,400 And it's, it's amazing because the marriage that they had 28 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:32,400 together was just like unbelievable. 29 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:34,640 It was such a blessing. And I got to be on the inside of 30 00:02:34,640 --> 00:02:39,760 a lot of that to see how the Bible drove the strength that 31 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:42,840 existed with the two of them together. 32 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:46,440 And they loved what they gained from it so much that this 33 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:48,120 ministry was so important to them. 34 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:51,400 So I hope I get to do everybody justice by answering these 35 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:54,040 questions. Let's pray for Erica. 36 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:55,560 We'll pray for our time together. 37 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:56,880 And then I'll have Kate. Come on. 38 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:00,960 And Kate's awesome, by the way. Many of you already know who she 39 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:01,760 is. You've met her. 40 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:04,480 I absolutely love her. I think she's wonderful. 41 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:06,280 So let's pray. Father, we just thank you, Lord, 42 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:07,800 for your goodness and your faithfulness. 43 00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:10,680 Lord, first and foremost, we just pray, Lord, that You would 44 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:14,520 heal Erica's body right now. Lord, I just pray that You would 45 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:18,200 give her grace, cover her with your strength, Lord, watch over 46 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:20,160 her, fill her with your spirit, Lord. 47 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:24,120 And we pray for everybody here. There are so many here that have 48 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:29,280 come hungry to hear Your word, to get answers to some very 49 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:32,520 difficult questions. Lord, may they be blessed. 50 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:36,240 May You open up their hearts and their minds to understand that 51 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:39,920 the things that are being asked that Lord they would grow as a 52 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:41,680 result of it. We pray that this would be 53 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:45,680 edifying and it that that the benefit of this would just grow 54 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:48,320 into the ages because we know that's what your word does. 55 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:49,840 So Lord, we love you and thank you. 56 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:52,240 We look to you and we ask these things in Jesus name. 57 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:56,320 We pray, Amen. OK, where is Kate? 58 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:01,560 I'm here, I'm here. Thank you, Pastor James. 59 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:03,960 That was a super generous introduction. 60 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:06,320 Hi everybody. I'm Caitlin. 61 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:11,200 I have been with Proclaim and Bible 365 for the past couple 62 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:13,200 years. So if you've emailed our 63 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:15,800 customer service line, called our phone text, you may have 64 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:18,880 spoken to me in the past, but along with the rest of our team, 65 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:22,240 we just want to say it's just such a joy to serve you and to 66 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:25,440 be on this journey with you. And I just wanted to take a 67 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:28,960 minute before we launch in to answer a couple questions we saw 68 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:31,680 come in repeatedly with our Q&A RSVPS. 69 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:35,640 And so we just want to make sure everybody's on the same page for 70 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:39,160 all of those that you have asked us what version of the Bible we 71 00:04:39,160 --> 00:04:41,320 use. We use the English standard 72 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:44,760 version, ESV. We use this because it's the 73 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:47,840 most word for word accurate. It captures the style of each 74 00:04:47,840 --> 00:04:50,920 Bible writer. So again, ESV, English standard 75 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:53,280 version. And then one other thing I want 76 00:04:53,280 --> 00:04:56,440 to encourage you all on is we're going to do our best, obviously, 77 00:04:56,440 --> 00:04:59,680 to answer your questions, but praise God, we have record 78 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:01,600 numbers of people joining us this year. 79 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:05,080 So if we don't get to your question, we'll do our best to 80 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:06,560 answer it at one of our future events. 81 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:10,240 But we do just want to remind you in the daily reading, there 82 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:12,800 is a link called Dig Deeper at the end of each section. 83 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:16,240 And if you go there, you will find a fantastic commentary 84 00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:19,360 verse by verse. So if you get stuck on what the 85 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:22,960 meaning is of a certain part of the text, by all means we 86 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:24,960 encourage you to explore that resource. 87 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:27,000 I think it will be super helpful to you. 88 00:05:27,840 --> 00:05:31,440 And then the last thing we've gotten a lot is are we reading 89 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:35,600 in chronological order or why did we kind of go in the order 90 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:37,120 that we went in starting this year? 91 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:40,400 So, Pastor James, if you want to speak to our reading plan and 92 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:42,600 kind of why we organize it the way we do, I think a lot of 93 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:45,600 people would find that helpful. Yeah, that's a great question. 94 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:48,120 And, and I also wanted to add to this because in the videos that 95 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:53,080 we make where we summarize the Bible, what I always do is also 96 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:57,880 point you to my website, whichisjamescadiz.com. 97 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:01,680 If you want to listen the Bible being taught to you, it's all 98 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:04,120 available there. There are thousands and 99 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:08,440 thousands of Bible studies throughout every section there. 100 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:11,480 The commentary in the Dig Deeper is phenomenal. 101 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:14,000 It's very good. The man who put that together is 102 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:16,160 a very dear friend of mine, somebody that I have a lot of 103 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:19,560 respect and admiration for. And so the whole goal is to give 104 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:25,120 you the tools that are necessary to help you grow in your walk 105 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:28,880 with the Lord and obviously to better understand what's going 106 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:30,880 on. Now let's talk about the heart 107 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:40,400 of what we did with respect to the order of the Bible verses 108 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:42,280 and the Bible books that we went through. 109 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:47,640 Some people will assume that we did it based on chronology. 110 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:50,600 Well, that was one part of it. Some people will assume, well, 111 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:55,560 we kind of did it based on maybe spreading things out all across. 112 00:06:56,440 --> 00:06:59,840 But I think there was a little bit of that in virtually every 113 00:06:59,840 --> 00:07:03,000 category. So we we had to balance out what 114 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:09,240 we believed would be important for establishing A chronological 115 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:13,520 basis for understanding what you're going to learn. 116 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:21,520 And at the same time, we also wanted to give you an awareness 117 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:24,640 of fulfilling prerequisites so that you can understand one 118 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:26,440 thing upon the other. So let me explain what I mean 119 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:30,160 when I say this. The Bible builds on precept, OK? 120 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:35,920 And so if you understand the foundation for what you're going 121 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:38,120 to pursue, it makes it a whole lot easier. 122 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:41,240 I'll give you a great example of this, the Book of Revelation, 123 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:42,960 which many of you might be familiar with. 124 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:47,640 I, I actually wrote a book on that, which by the way, just 125 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:49,240 released, I'm very excited about that. 126 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:53,200 But the Book of Revelation, you're never going to understand 127 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:57,040 the Book of Revelation unless you know virtually all of the 128 00:07:57,040 --> 00:07:59,960 Old Testament, and that's just a fact. 129 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:04,040 So if I were going to teach you the Book of Revelation, I will 130 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:07,760 actually go over an overwhelming majority of the Old Testament so 131 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:12,160 that you can understand what it is that's being said. 132 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:16,840 So the idea here is that you would be able to establish a 133 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:21,600 more firmer foundation and allow the fluidity of what you're 134 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:24,080 reading to kind of move through. And I'll give you a great 135 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:27,880 example of this in your amongst the first days of your reading 136 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:30,240 at the beginning of this year, if my memory serves me 137 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:34,120 correctly, you were reading Genesis, Matthew, and I think it 138 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:37,440 was the Psalms at the same time, maybe even Proverbs. 139 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:39,840 I, I don't quite remember. I have to go back and look. 140 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:41,840 Maybe Kate, you can confirm that for me. 141 00:08:42,159 --> 00:08:46,360 But those are great places to start if you're going to want to 142 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:50,680 understand the very foundation of mankind and the problem with 143 00:08:50,680 --> 00:08:53,560 the fall. You go through Genesis if you 144 00:08:53,560 --> 00:08:56,360 want to understand the solution to that problem. 145 00:08:56,640 --> 00:08:59,640 Matthew gives us a really, really good introduction. 146 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:05,600 And the poetic beauty of all of it coming together is very much 147 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:09,200 founded in the Psalms on a prophetic level and very much on 148 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:11,880 a linguistic level. So the Psalms, reading the 149 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:15,640 Psalms would help you better be able to acclimate yourself to 150 00:09:15,680 --> 00:09:20,200 the general ebb and flow of how biblical text is read and 151 00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:22,680 understood. And Genesis would give you the 152 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:26,080 the foundation from what happened in the beginning while 153 00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:30,600 Matthew was establishing a picture of the Gospel that is 154 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:34,800 critically important, especially as it relates to the Messiah 155 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:38,920 from the eyes of those that would be Jewish. 156 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:42,320 So there's a lot there, but the idea here is that there's a 157 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:45,280 strategy behind it. We are giving you these books in 158 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:50,040 a very specific order so that one precept will be built upon 159 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:51,840 the other. And as you go through each 160 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:55,520 section, it begins to make a whole lot more sense to you 161 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:59,040 because you, the things you had to learn in order to build up on 162 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:00,840 another principle was given to you. 163 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:02,160 And that's kind of why we did what we did. 164 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:06,840 Hopefully that makes sense. I think it made perfect sense 165 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:09,600 and you are correct. Matthew Psalms Genesis, so 166 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:11,760 perfect explanation for our readers. 167 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:15,800 And So what we'll do now, let's go ahead and just jump into some 168 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:18,280 lifestyle questions first, then we'll get into our scripture 169 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:20,840 questions. And we just want to remind you 170 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:24,280 too, for all of you who are our seasoned readers who have been 171 00:10:24,280 --> 00:10:27,360 with us for many years, we're so grateful for you. 172 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:30,160 We know some of these questions might be ones that we've 173 00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:32,960 answered in the past, but we want to remind you, you know, we 174 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:35,360 like I said, we have record numbers of people joining us and 175 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:38,400 we have so many who are coming in who have never opened a Bible 176 00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:40,040 before. So for all of you who are brand, 177 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:43,040 brand new, we're so excited to have you and, and we want to 178 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:47,240 make sure that we address your questions and welcome you into 179 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:50,080 this community. So that being said, our first 180 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:53,480 question is coming from Aiden. What advice would you give to a 181 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:56,480 new Christian who's attempting to study the Bible for the very 182 00:10:56,480 --> 00:11:01,000 first time? OK, so this is a a very good 183 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:03,400 question. We get it a lot, and it's 184 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:06,320 important that it be answered because generally people will 185 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:10,200 assume that you would just know this by default. 186 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:12,920 And in reality, that's why lots of people struggle often times 187 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:14,680 with the Bible. So there's a couple things I 188 00:11:14,680 --> 00:11:19,240 want to say right off the bat #1 you need to understand that 189 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:23,120 engaging in studying the Bible is a spiritual activity. 190 00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:26,200 And you have an enemy, the devil who hates you. 191 00:11:26,520 --> 00:11:29,360 And so when you engage in spiritual activity to try to 192 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:33,400 learn, it will be much more difficult. 193 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:35,480 OK. You just have to accept that for 194 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:38,680 what it is. I can read the the most boring 195 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:44,160 white paper on RF theory as it's applied to it, to the 196 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:48,040 attenuation on an antenna that carries a signal, you know, at a 197 00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:51,720 specific space and just be bored out of my mind and stay awake. 198 00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:54,720 But the moment I I read in the beginning was the word and the 199 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:55,960 word was with God and the word was God. 200 00:11:55,960 --> 00:12:01,080 I'm like, OK, that's the enemy. We we are engaging in spiritual 201 00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:02,560 activity. He hates you. 202 00:12:02,680 --> 00:12:04,120 He's going to keep you from doing it. 203 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:08,160 So just keep that in mind, OK. The other thing that I would say 204 00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:11,720 and this is like super important, do not make the 205 00:12:11,720 --> 00:12:17,160 mistake of using a translation that you don't understand, OK? 206 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:21,160 By the way, Kate, in response to your text all the time in the 207 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:22,760 world. Don't don't worry about it one 208 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:24,200 one bit. Yeah. 209 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:25,560 Sorry. I just noticed you sent it to 210 00:12:25,560 --> 00:12:26,160 me. I'm sorry. 211 00:12:27,680 --> 00:12:32,080 So the one thing that I would say is you need to read a 212 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:36,680 translation that you understand. Now, I for one, when I teach, I 213 00:12:36,680 --> 00:12:38,680 teach through the King James Bible. 214 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:43,120 But I would be derelict in telling you to get a King James 215 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:45,840 in order to study the Bible because most people don't 216 00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:49,280 understand Elizabethan English. I'm a language guy. 217 00:12:49,680 --> 00:12:52,240 I study the Bible in other languages. 218 00:12:52,280 --> 00:12:56,840 OK, so I get the fact that it can. 219 00:12:57,800 --> 00:13:01,200 There's sort of this stigma that exists with you've got to read 220 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:02,840 the King James. Well, if you read the King 221 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:05,440 James, you're going to hate it every time you open up because 222 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:07,280 you're not going to understand what's being said. 223 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:11,760 You need to grab a translation that is more modern. 224 00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:14,880 You need to grab a translation that, yes, will do justice to 225 00:13:15,400 --> 00:13:18,240 what is actually said in the text because the Bible was 226 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:21,680 written in three languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. 227 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:26,320 But you need to make sure you read something that's in plain 228 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:29,080 English. The other thing that I would 229 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:31,000 say, which by the way, there's a couple of great translations, 230 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:33,480 very good translations. I always recommend the new King 231 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:35,000 James, the New American Standard. 232 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:39,080 It's a great translation. The HCSB, the translation that 233 00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:42,240 we use here at Bible in 365 is a good one. 234 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:46,320 My whole point behind it is it's got to be plain English. 235 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:48,240 The other thing that I would say is pray. 236 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:52,360 You know, before you open up your Bible, just say a simple 237 00:13:52,360 --> 00:13:54,880 prayer to God. You say, Lord, help me to 238 00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:57,600 understand what I'm reading. Help me understand what I'm 239 00:13:57,600 --> 00:13:59,200 reading. The other thing that I would do 240 00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:01,800 is I would journal things. So as you're reading, if you 241 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:05,720 don't understand something, write it down and then take that 242 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:11,200 information and dig deeper. Maybe go to a commentary or a 243 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:14,720 Bible study where something is read and that will absolutely 244 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:17,960 help you. But just understand you will 245 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:22,000 become more acclimated to what you're reading as you read it 246 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:25,240 more often. There is no way in the world you 247 00:14:25,240 --> 00:14:29,520 can expect to know the Bible well if you're not reading it on 248 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:32,800 a regular basis. So understand that the first, 249 00:14:33,280 --> 00:14:37,240 you know, whatever 100 times you read, you're going to struggle. 250 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:39,840 If there's going to be a part of you that's that's going to be 251 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:41,480 like, man, I just don't understand this. 252 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:45,080 But the more you do it, the more acclimated you will become to 253 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:48,280 what it is you're reading. And before you know it, you will 254 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:50,280 have a good grasp on what it is you're reading. 255 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:52,680 The other thing that I would tell you one last thing, and 256 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:57,920 that's this look for solutions in the Bible to problems that 257 00:14:57,920 --> 00:14:59,640 you actually have. OK. 258 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:03,080 And the way that I would do this is not like, OK, well, I have a 259 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:04,680 problem. How do I fix it in the Bible? 260 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:09,160 As you're reading through the Bible, I want you to identify 261 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:11,640 what might be a solution to something that you've been 262 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:14,880 dealing with for a little while and write it down and you'll be 263 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:17,240 blown away. Listen, if you want to learn how 264 00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:20,880 to do well in business, if you want to succeed financially, if 265 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:24,000 you want to be a better investor, if you want to be 266 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:27,600 better in your relationship, right, marriage relationships, 267 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:31,080 you go to the Bible for it, you know, and it's something that 268 00:15:31,080 --> 00:15:35,880 is, is super, super important because the Bible solves 269 00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:39,200 problems, right? And that's why by God's grace, 270 00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:43,920 my marriage is not affected because the more the enemy tries 271 00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:47,520 to attack, we have the word of God that we can go to and find 272 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:49,480 the solutions. You know, that's the story of 273 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:52,280 Charlie and Erica. It's the story of anybody who 274 00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:53,760 puts their faith and trust in the Lord. 275 00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:58,560 I know Kate and her husband, for example, amazing to see you rely 276 00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:01,680 upon the word of God. You listen, He gives you the 277 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:04,880 solutions to problems and it makes your marriages stronger. 278 00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:08,600 And if you're not in a marriage, well, praise God because God is 279 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:12,120 preparing you for that time and the word of God will help you do 280 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:14,120 it. But that's one example of many. 281 00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:17,320 There's a lots of places where the Bible can speak to you 282 00:16:17,320 --> 00:16:20,080 directly regarding issues. Start looking for it. 283 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:22,800 So don't read the Bible from the perspective of will. 284 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:25,800 I just got to do it to kind of get my few chapters in and start 285 00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:28,520 reading the Bible from the perspective of I'm desperate for 286 00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:31,640 some answers to some problems I'm trying to solve. 287 00:16:32,040 --> 00:16:35,080 And you'll be blown away with how much more effective your 288 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:39,120 Bible study will be. Love that, that's great. 289 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:43,600 Marguerite wants to know how does one find a church and know 290 00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:46,280 it's a good church? She says how can I convince my 291 00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:48,240 husband to give church another try? 292 00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:51,320 He's a believer but has had bad experiences. 293 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:54,160 Yeah, this is a very, very difficult question. 294 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:58,160 It really is, because where you find a good church is where they 295 00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:01,200 are preaching the Word of God. They have to be teaching the 296 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:03,080 Word of God. If they're not teaching the word 297 00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:05,520 of God, it's not going to be a healthy church. 298 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:08,920 But I have to take it a step further, and that is the pastor 299 00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:13,800 has to believe that the Bible is the answer for their worldview. 300 00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:18,800 In other words, that pastor cannot be fearful of taking his 301 00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:23,520 biblical worldview into politics, into everyday living, 302 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:29,400 into a whole plethora of areas that the Bible applies to, 303 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:32,080 because the Bible does apply to all of these areas. 304 00:17:32,360 --> 00:17:36,240 And if you get to the point in your mind where you say, well, 305 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:39,960 the Bible only applies in this context or in that context for 306 00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:42,960 that matter, but it doesn't apply here, you've got a 307 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:44,640 problem. And many churches 308 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:49,320 compartmentalize God's Word and they become very unhealthy. 309 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:52,000 The other thing that I would also say is we live in a world 310 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:54,280 of cover up culture. There's a lot of people. 311 00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:55,960 We see it in the charismatic movement. 312 00:17:56,160 --> 00:17:57,640 We've seen it in the Catholic Church. 313 00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:00,320 We see it everywhere. It's not just, you know, A1 type 314 00:18:00,320 --> 00:18:03,480 of church does this or does it, but there's a lot of cover up 315 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:05,320 going on. There's a lot of lack of 316 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:08,920 accountability if you have a church leadership that is 317 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:11,520 accountable, if you have a church leadership that is 318 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:14,120 dedicated to the Word of God, and if you have a church 319 00:18:14,120 --> 00:18:18,920 leadership that is seeking to examine the Word of God with you 320 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:21,720 and show you how to apply it in everyday life. 321 00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:23,720 They're speaking up on political issues. 322 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:26,040 They're showing you how it applies to your finances. 323 00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:29,440 They're teaching you how to take extra steps of faith in business 324 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:31,360 based on the precedent that the Bible gives. 325 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:34,280 There's where you know you're in a healthy church. 326 00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:39,480 And unfortunately, most churches nowadays aren't doing this. 327 00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:40,600 Actually, that's not a fair statement. 328 00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:43,320 I would venture to say that there are more churches that are 329 00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:45,840 doing this that aren't, but we just don't hear about them, 330 00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:49,480 unfortunately, because many of the large churches that aren't 331 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:51,160 doing it ruin it for everybody else. 332 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:56,400 So again, the idea here is that you need to look for those 333 00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:59,880 things and you will be more than good. 334 00:18:59,880 --> 00:19:05,080 You will be more than OK. Thank you for that. 335 00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:08,640 And actually, that kind of segues into this next question. 336 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:11,080 There's a couple parts to it. It's from a reader named 337 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:13,960 Allison. I was a conservative atheist a 338 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:17,040 year ago in December 2024, when Charlie said his wife ran a 339 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:20,120 company called Bible and 365. I heard Erika say no one 340 00:19:20,120 --> 00:19:22,960 regretted reading the Bible. I was terrified but signed up. 341 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:25,200 Within a month, I felt peace sweep over me. 342 00:19:25,360 --> 00:19:27,360 Not only was I doing the readings, but I was seeking 343 00:19:27,360 --> 00:19:30,080 online Bible studies, podcast books, classes. 344 00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:32,840 It's really amazing Allison. She says. 345 00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:35,920 I found a church with a great pastor but he said something 346 00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:37,800 that worried me. He said if you don't live with 347 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:40,520 other Christians you can't come here and I don't. 348 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:43,120 He also said you can't partake in the Lord's Supper if you 349 00:19:43,120 --> 00:19:45,480 haven't been baptized. I was baptized as an infant but 350 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:48,520 he said that doesn't count. Should these things exclude me? 351 00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:52,080 I did like his gospel based preaching but not if I'm not 352 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:54,720 accepted. She mentions finding another 353 00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:57,400 church with a female reverend that she says is not woke. 354 00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:00,760 She hadn't been to church in 50 years but has been going ever 355 00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:04,480 since. September and says how will I 356 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:07,200 know when I'm a Christian? I'm waiting for a sign. 357 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:09,160 I pray for one, I ask God for one. 358 00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:11,160 OK, wow, there's. A lot there. 359 00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:13,160 There's a there's a whole lot to be said. 360 00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:15,680 First of all, what that pastor told you is wrong. 361 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:20,240 That's crazy. There's a lot of people who live 362 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:24,040 with non believers. I know of lots of people who 363 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:26,040 live with family members that don't know the Lord. 364 00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:28,840 And if they're non believers, that does not disqualify you 365 00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:30,320 from going to church. As a matter of fact, I would 366 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:33,440 like to think that that would encourage you to go to church. 367 00:20:34,120 --> 00:20:37,960 The other issue is, I think there was a question, maybe I 368 00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:40,120 missed it, that they can't have communion. 369 00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:43,000 Did I get that right, Kate, that they can't have communion if 370 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:44,440 they're, if they're not baptized? 371 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:45,920 Is that what? Yes. 372 00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:49,120 So he said, can't partake in the Lord's Supper if you haven't 373 00:20:49,120 --> 00:20:51,280 been baptized. She was baptized as a baby, but 374 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:52,880 he said that doesn't count. Yeah. 375 00:20:53,080 --> 00:20:55,080 That's insane. OK, I'm sorry. 376 00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:56,680 That's a place you've got to run from. 377 00:20:56,880 --> 00:20:59,920 Because the question I would ask is this where does Scripture 378 00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:02,960 explicitly command baptism as a prerequisite for the Lord's 379 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:04,640 Supper? Matter of fact, let me take it a 380 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:07,240 step further. Where in the Bible does the 381 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:10,440 Scripture actually command the baptism in order for salvation? 382 00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:14,640 OK, now baptism is a command. We seek to obey that command. 383 00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:17,640 But is it a prerequisite? No, Actually, no. 384 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:20,400 As a matter of fact, there's not a single passage in the Bible 385 00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:22,720 that says you must be baptized before you partake. 386 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:25,560 As a matter of fact, let's talk about the institution of 387 00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:29,240 communion for just one second because when you read about how 388 00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:32,720 God instituted what we call the Lord's Supper in Matthew chapter 389 00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:35,600 26, he literally gave it to his disciples. 390 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:37,960 There's no discussion about their baptism status. 391 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:40,600 There was no no discussion about that. 392 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:44,680 As a matter of fact, one of the guys that was getting ready to 393 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:50,400 take that communion was the guy who actually betrayed Jesus. 394 00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:53,680 OK, and if that isn't enough, how about First Corinthians 395 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:56,320 Chapter 11? In First Corinthians Chapter 11, 396 00:21:56,840 --> 00:22:02,400 Paul says as a prerequisite for communion, he says let a man 397 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:04,840 examine himself. OK? 398 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:06,720 By the way, when it's man, it's matter woman, right? 399 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:10,400 OK. And so the idea isn't let him 400 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:12,160 examine himself to see he's baptized. 401 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:18,560 No, OK He's talking about what makes you worthy to eat and 402 00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:23,760 drink of this baptism. No of the Lord's Supper. 403 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:27,320 Baptism is not involved. The requirement if you look at 404 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:30,160 first Corinthians Chapter 11 is really simple. 405 00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:34,200 It's self examination, OK it's discernment. 406 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:36,480 That's that's an important one faith. 407 00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:40,040 Do you trust in the Lord. OK Paul doesn't say let a man be 408 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:42,720 baptized, you know, examine himself. 409 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:44,840 Let a man let a baptized man examine himself. 410 00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:49,320 That's just absolutely crazy. So, so there's, there's just a 411 00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:52,880 lot to say there. So definitely that would not be 412 00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:55,880 the case here. OK, I would not believe that 413 00:22:56,120 --> 00:22:58,320 it's it's wrong. It's not biblical. 414 00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:02,840 The other problem, and I want to be genuine as I say this and I 415 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:07,280 want to be gentle as I say this, I believe that the Bible 416 00:23:07,360 --> 00:23:12,160 prohibits women from being pastors in the church to the 417 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:15,440 point that they are the ones in standing authority. 418 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:18,120 You know, there are lots of women involved in ministry who 419 00:23:18,120 --> 00:23:21,480 teach, who are missionaries, who do all that, that's there's room 420 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:23,920 for all of that. But the person who would take on 421 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:28,040 the role of the overseeing pastor, that is prohibited in 422 00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:30,120 the Scripture. So if you're saying that that 423 00:23:30,120 --> 00:23:34,960 pastor is also one who is a woman who is saying all of these 424 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:39,160 things, again, it just should just show you the premise is 425 00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:43,520 wrong, the foundation is wrong. OK, You want to go again to a 426 00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:47,520 place that will teach you the Word of God, that will allow you 427 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:51,040 to participate in all of these things as the Bible allows you 428 00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:52,720 to. There's nobody that should be 429 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:54,960 more graceful than the Bible, and there's nobody that should 430 00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:57,200 be more judgmental than what the Bible says. 431 00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:02,840 Now, let's go back to knowing if you are going to heaven, knowing 432 00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:04,080 if you are walking with the Lord. 433 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:08,320 Listen, it's really simple. The prerequisite is this is your 434 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:12,040 faith and trust in Jesus Christ. The Bible says that if you will 435 00:24:12,040 --> 00:24:17,160 put your faith and trust in Christ Jesus, then you will be 436 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:20,040 saved. OK, That's the prerequisite. 437 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:21,800 You put your faith and trust in Him. 438 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:24,520 Yes, we often times talk about declaring with our mouth. 439 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:28,680 That's an outward, a show of what's happened to us inwardly. 440 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:31,520 We talk about repentance, meaning we change our ways, you 441 00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:35,480 know, But the reality of it is the only thing that can get you 442 00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:38,280 to heaven is by living the law of God perfectly. 443 00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:41,880 And the only person who's lived the law of God perfectly is 444 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:45,280 Jesus Christ. So when you go to Christ our 445 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:49,760 Messiah, OK, When you go to Jesus our Messiah, that would be 446 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:56,000 the more the more correct term, OK, you are basically saying I 447 00:24:56,000 --> 00:25:00,880 trust you that the perfect life you lived will now be used to 448 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:05,640 give me credit so that I can go to the Lord and he can say well 449 00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:08,280 done, good and faithful servant. So think about it like this. 450 00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:11,600 When you go before the Lord one day, because you put your faith 451 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:16,040 and trust in Jesus Christ, Jesus takes off the robe that he wore. 452 00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:19,680 This is a metaphorical term, the robe that he wore where he lived 453 00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:23,440 his life perfectly on this earth, He hands it to you and 454 00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:26,440 God looks at you and he says, well done, good and faithful 455 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:28,320 servant, look at the perfect life you lived. 456 00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:29,400 Now, did you live a perfect life? 457 00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:32,960 No, I haven't left. I would go to hell based on just 458 00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:34,280 the time that we've had in this Q&A. 459 00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:36,600 You know, I mean, think about that. 460 00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:42,040 I mean, we all have fallen short of God's perfection, but you are 461 00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:44,680 getting credit for the perfect life that Christ lived. 462 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:48,600 And that's the best part. The only work is that you would 463 00:25:48,600 --> 00:25:50,960 trust in Him. And that's an amazing place to 464 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:52,600 be. And just understand this, 465 00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:55,360 Allison, we are going to see one another. 466 00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:57,680 If we don't see each other here on this earth, we will see one 467 00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:00,800 another in eternity. Because when you put your faith 468 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:02,880 and trust in Him, that's it. It's a wrap. 469 00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:04,840 You get credit for Christ's perfect life. 470 00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:08,840 That's great, thank you. Because we actually had another 471 00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:12,520 reader, Julie, if you're listening, that wanted to know. 472 00:26:12,520 --> 00:26:14,600 It's as if you only need faith as small a dose of the mustard 473 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:16,600 seed to go to heaven. But the Bible says you also have 474 00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:18,480 to lot to do a lot of things to get into heaven. 475 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:20,000 I'm confused about how to get into heaven. 476 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:23,280 So for all of you, we had a lot of readers asking about how to 477 00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:26,360 get to heaven. So that was a great explanation 478 00:26:26,360 --> 00:26:28,840 to cover a lot of bases. And this one, this next one kind 479 00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:30,880 of ties into that. But I do think it'd be great to 480 00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:34,080 address specifically. It's from an anonymous reader. 481 00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:35,720 It says I'm new this year to proclaim. 482 00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:37,840 I've tried to read the Bible a few times but have gotten 483 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:40,040 confused. I'm making changes in my life to 484 00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:42,640 be better for myself and welcome the Lord into my life. 485 00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:46,360 However, I'm divorced and I just read Matthew 5 about divorce and 486 00:26:46,360 --> 00:26:49,160 feel like because I'm divorced and now married again I have no 487 00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:51,800 chance of getting to heaven. Am I reading this wrong? 488 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:54,280 Yes, you. Absolutely are reading it wrong 489 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:57,320 and I would love to spend some time talking about this if I 490 00:26:57,320 --> 00:27:01,120 just spent time talking about that section in Matthew, which I 491 00:27:01,120 --> 00:27:03,400 believe is near the Sermon on the Mount. 492 00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:05,880 I, I, I will just tell you this right now. 493 00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:09,480 It would I could spend hours and hours and hours and hours 494 00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:14,000 talking about it, but that has absolutely nothing to do with 495 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:16,880 your salvation. You were who you were before you 496 00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:20,960 knew the Lord. You walked in being lost and now 497 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:25,360 you are living a new life. You are living as a new creation 498 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:28,360 in Christ. And so it has absolutely nothing 499 00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:32,000 to do with your salvation. And my prayer and my hope is 500 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:34,600 that God will bless your marriage and that God will allow 501 00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:37,880 your marriage to grow as the both of you seek one another and 502 00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:42,160 grow in one another and, and, and, and seek the Lord together 503 00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:45,480 as a married couple. Listen, understand this. 504 00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:48,960 The marriage that God has created for each and every 505 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:53,720 single one of us is designed to make our walks with God even 506 00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:56,920 closer. So the reality of it is, because 507 00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:00,400 of a bad decision you may have made back in the day, it has 508 00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:03,880 nothing to do with where you are today, Today, do you have faith 509 00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:06,240 and trust in Christ? Then it's a wrap. 510 00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:07,360 You've got nothing to worry about. 511 00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:08,960 You are absolutely going to heaven. 512 00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:14,000 You've got nothing to worry about, you and your bride or 513 00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:16,320 your husband. I don't know who this is, it's 514 00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:20,520 talking male or female, but the reality of it is you can rejoice 515 00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:23,120 in the fact that your salvation is not predicated upon a 516 00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:28,400 relationship. Next we're hearing for that. 517 00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:32,560 Matter, you know. Next we're hearing from grace. 518 00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:36,040 Non believers I know always ask if Jesus is the only way to 519 00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:37,880 heaven. What about the people who never 520 00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:39,960 got a chance to know about Jesus? 521 00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:42,760 I want to be able to answer this, but I do wonder the same 522 00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:44,200 thing. Yeah, I would. 523 00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:48,360 Recommend going to my Bible study on jamescadiz.com in 524 00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:52,360 Romans chapter 1. I spend a lot of time actually 525 00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:56,320 talking about this and the the gist of the answer is that God 526 00:28:56,320 --> 00:28:59,880 is just. God knows exactly the heart of 527 00:28:59,880 --> 00:29:06,000 the person that goes before him. And again, the Bible says that 528 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:08,360 the heavens declare the glory of God. 529 00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:13,160 And so we know that there are people who simply see God in 530 00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:17,000 creation because creation speaks out loud and they have a 531 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:19,640 relationship with God. They may not necessarily go 532 00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:23,480 through the motion that is understood, but to know and to 533 00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:26,560 recognize the fact that there is right and wrong because the 534 00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:29,160 Spirit of God makes us aware of those things. 535 00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:31,920 And when you respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, 536 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:35,600 doesn't matter what context it may be in, God is just and he 537 00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:37,600 understands. So the way I would I would 538 00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:42,200 describe that is I just simply don't know in terms of I don't 539 00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:45,320 know a person's heart. God does and He will judge on 540 00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:47,960 that basis. But what matters is for those of 541 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:51,440 us that are hearing these messages that do know we're now 542 00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:53,400 accountable because we are aware. 543 00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:59,080 That's great. Melinda and an anonymous reader 544 00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:01,280 both have questions coming up about marriage. 545 00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:05,280 So Melinda says my husband lost his job and was taking it well. 546 00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:07,280 We've been reading the Bible together, praying and loving 547 00:30:07,280 --> 00:30:09,560 each other. He spoke with his sister and 548 00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:12,000 everything changed. He's become angry, mentally 549 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:15,360 abusive, controlling and mean. Will the Lord let me know if I 550 00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:17,920 should leave for 29 years, the love of my life? 551 00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:20,960 I feel like he's gone and then another reader asks. 552 00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:23,240 I'm wondering why I'm feeling lost in my relationship. 553 00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:25,960 I can be so happy and then it changes so quickly with doubts 554 00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:28,080 in my head. Is God telling me something or 555 00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:29,880 should I push through and keep trying? 556 00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:32,880 God says marriage is meant for learning to be more God like. 557 00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:35,240 Is this what's happening? Yeah. 558 00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:38,360 So these are two very different questions. 559 00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:41,560 Let me speak to both of them. One, I think I have license to 560 00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:44,040 use as an example. If I don't, then I'm going to 561 00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:48,000 get in trouble. But, but let me let me go over 562 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:50,480 the first question with Melinda. First of all, Melinda, let me 563 00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:54,040 make myself clear. If you are being physically 564 00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:58,600 abused right now or if you're being abused at any level, God 565 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:03,000 gives you a tool, OK? And that tool is separation. 566 00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:10,080 If through that abuse or through that separation, the abuse 567 00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:14,480 continues, I do believe without getting into like a big old 568 00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:19,280 description here, you have justifiable grounds to move on. 569 00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:20,920 But let me just explain something. 570 00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:23,880 When I say that moving on doesn't mean going and finding 571 00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:27,160 the next relationship there, there's some big consequences to 572 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:30,360 that action, not to your salvation, but to that action. 573 00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:35,160 My recommendation is that you go to a pastor who knows the Word 574 00:31:35,720 --> 00:31:37,360 who can counsel you through this. 575 00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:43,000 But whatever you do, remember, abuse is never to be tolerated 576 00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:45,360 in a marriage relationship, or any relationship for that 577 00:31:45,360 --> 00:31:49,080 matter. And if you are being abused, he 578 00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:51,040 cannot be allowed to continue doing that. 579 00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:54,000 If that means you separate immediately to get yourself out 580 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:57,560 of danger, great. And if you so choose to continue 581 00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:00,960 to work through the marriage relationship, then by all means, 582 00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:02,840 May God be with you when you do so. 583 00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:07,280 But so long as He can aptly demonstrate the fact that He 584 00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:11,560 will not go back to any type of these behaviors because he has 585 00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:14,920 to be held accountable. Men are not allowed to beat 586 00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:18,160 their wives. Men are not allowed to speak 587 00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:20,640 harshly to their wives and to tear them apart. 588 00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:23,760 It's just not biblical. And actually, God hates it. 589 00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:28,520 OK, so with that said, please go to your pastor. 590 00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:34,160 Please have a conversation, try to bring in some counseling into 591 00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:37,440 the picture. Abuse is never a part of this. 592 00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:41,720 If a pastor says you've got to put up with abuse, that pastor's 593 00:32:41,720 --> 00:32:44,080 got something going on, there's something very wrong. 594 00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:47,320 So make sure you go and find one that will counsel you biblically 595 00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:52,080 right. But at the same time, if you if 596 00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:57,560 you desire to fix the relationship, don't do it while 597 00:32:57,560 --> 00:33:00,440 you are together to allow him to continue to abuse you. 598 00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:04,480 Take advantage of some separation so that you both can 599 00:33:04,480 --> 00:33:08,600 reflect on reconciliation. Come back and get that right 600 00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:11,880 again. All of this is caveated with the 601 00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:15,720 understanding that you need to speak to a pastor or somebody 602 00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:18,480 who loves the Lord, who knows the word of God, who has a 603 00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:20,680 healthy marriage that will be able to walk you through this. 604 00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:22,320 And I think that's very, very important. 605 00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:25,240 You shouldn't just based on what I say, go and run off. 606 00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:27,920 I think it's really important. However, I will say this 607 00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:31,440 something you should do based on what I say, get out of an abuse 608 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:33,440 situation. If you're being abused, there's 609 00:33:33,440 --> 00:33:36,200 no situation where it's justifiable for you to stay 610 00:33:36,200 --> 00:33:37,880 somewhere and continue to be abused. 611 00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:40,680 OK, But do it with the heart of reconciliation. 612 00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:44,200 But again, those are, there's some caveats there. 613 00:33:44,360 --> 00:33:47,280 So go and speak to a pastor. It's really, really important. 614 00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:50,120 OK. With respect to the other one. 615 00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:57,480 So Kate, just help me out. Can you, can you read that 616 00:33:57,480 --> 00:33:59,560 question to me one more time because I think I'm hearing it 617 00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:01,120 correctly. I think it's kind of an 618 00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:03,120 important, an important thing, yeah. 619 00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:05,680 This reader feels lost in their relationship. 620 00:34:05,680 --> 00:34:07,680 It sounds like they're married because they they mentioned 621 00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:10,520 marriage at the end and they say I can feel so happy and then it 622 00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:12,440 changes quickly and I have doubts in my head. 623 00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:15,000 Is God telling me something? Should I push through and keep 624 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:17,040 trying? God says marriage is meant for 625 00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:19,719 learning to be more God like. Is this what is happening? 626 00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:24,560 Yeah. So let me say this because I 627 00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:26,600 think that this is kind of kind of an important thing. 628 00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:32,120 I, I, and boy, I hope I don't get busted for saying this. 629 00:34:32,120 --> 00:34:34,239 I hope I'm well. Anyway, I'm just going to do it. 630 00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:37,960 I'm just going to say it. I have had the privilege of 631 00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:41,719 being able to counsel lots of really wonderful people over the 632 00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:44,440 years. And through that counseling, 633 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:48,360 I've been able to tell very quickly what a good marriage 634 00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:50,199 looks like and what a bad marriage looks like. 635 00:34:50,679 --> 00:34:54,360 And because I've had an amazing mother and father who 636 00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:57,640 demonstrated very effectively what a healthy marriage should 637 00:34:57,640 --> 00:35:01,960 look like, I can see a healthy 1 a mile away, and I can see one 638 00:35:02,240 --> 00:35:06,720 that's in trouble a mile away. So with that said, let me make 639 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:10,720 let me make a comment on Charlie and Erica. 640 00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:14,920 Now I know it's not fair because Charlie's with the Lord now, OK? 641 00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:17,200 And he's more alive than he ever has been. 642 00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:21,960 But one of the things that I used to love about watching the 643 00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:27,600 two of them together were moments where they for one 644 00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:33,040 another in very unique times, ignored the emotions that they 645 00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:37,120 were feeling in the moment, understanding what the 646 00:35:37,120 --> 00:35:41,760 scriptures taught them to do. And as a result, they were 647 00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:44,600 rewarded for it. OK, let me let me just explain 648 00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:47,480 what I mean when I say this. I knew Charlie and Erika before 649 00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:50,080 they were married. I knew what Turning Point looked 650 00:35:50,080 --> 00:35:53,920 like before they were married. I knew what even these 651 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:57,720 ministries look like, the proclaimed ministry, all these 652 00:35:57,720 --> 00:35:59,840 other things that surrounded them look like before they were 653 00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:03,400 married. They get married and as they 654 00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:07,240 come together they learn to love God more than they love one 655 00:36:07,240 --> 00:36:10,960 another. But in doing so, when 2 lives 656 00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:15,080 come together, you learn something very quickly and that 657 00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:19,960 is you die to self. Now I say this with great pride 658 00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:23,240 in my heart because Erica's a lot like my wife. 659 00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:29,160 My wife is a woman who has given herself to loving her husband 660 00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:32,960 through self denial. And all the conversations I've 661 00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:36,680 had with Charlie, he very much has his heart for his wife the 662 00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:40,200 same way I had for mine. And I bring all of this up 663 00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:45,160 because my church would never be where it is today. 664 00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:51,400 Never if it was not for my wife. When when when my wife came into 665 00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:55,520 my life, Oh my goodness, there was a lot of self denial that 666 00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:57,800 had to happen. There were emotions that were 667 00:36:57,800 --> 00:36:59,760 telling me something different than what was true. 668 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:02,680 There were things that irritated me, things that bothered me. 669 00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:06,000 And I know for a fact it was the same way for Nicole. 670 00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:09,720 But we both denied those emotions. 671 00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:14,240 We did what we knew the scriptures taught us to do, and 672 00:37:14,240 --> 00:37:18,960 our love for one another grew in ways you can't even begin to 673 00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:22,440 imagine. When I first met my wife, our 674 00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:27,000 church was doing well, but it's nothing like it's doing today. 675 00:37:27,240 --> 00:37:29,760 As a matter of fact, we're doing so well we need another 676 00:37:29,760 --> 00:37:31,200 building. We might have an opportunity to 677 00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:32,560 buy one if you guys can think about it. 678 00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:35,760 If anybody looking for a church to give some money to to buy a 679 00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:38,120 new building, we need to come up with some money within the next 680 00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:39,760 few weeks. If you're interested, I just 681 00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:43,960 thought I'd put it out there, but my point behind it is God 682 00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:48,000 has immensely blessed the ministry of Calvary Chapel 683 00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:51,400 Signal Hill, has blessed the YouTube channel, has blessed the 684 00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:55,200 family enterprise, my business, the things that we have, our 685 00:37:55,200 --> 00:37:58,880 business, the family business, our finances, all of it through 686 00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:03,240 the strengthening of our marriage, the same thing can be 687 00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:07,000 very easily argued for. Charlie and Erika look at how 688 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:12,120 they denied themselves that they may obey God in their 689 00:38:12,120 --> 00:38:17,320 relationship and the love that they had for one another was so 690 00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:22,240 unbelievably strong that people who don't know God will look at 691 00:38:22,240 --> 00:38:23,720 it and go, well, that's just, that's fake. 692 00:38:23,720 --> 00:38:26,040 That's just not real. That's, and I know that's the 693 00:38:26,040 --> 00:38:27,680 truth because people do it with me. 694 00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:30,560 Oh, that just can't be real. She's just sticking with him 695 00:38:30,560 --> 00:38:32,480 because it's some kind of an arranged thing and blah, blah, 696 00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:34,920 blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's what they do, right? 697 00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:40,560 But here's the reality, there is a reward that comes from self 698 00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:42,440 denial within the context of marriage. 699 00:38:43,360 --> 00:38:47,560 And in your question when you ask and it is gold. 700 00:38:47,640 --> 00:38:50,920 So gold you say God says marriage is meant for learning 701 00:38:51,240 --> 00:38:53,840 to be more God like. That's one of the reasons that's 702 00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:56,080 exactly what seems to be happening based on what you're 703 00:38:56,080 --> 00:38:58,960 saying. And I can tell you that I am the 704 00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:03,000 man that I am because of my bride, and my bride can say that 705 00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:06,640 she is the woman that she is because of me. 706 00:39:07,560 --> 00:39:12,360 And that's a thing that I absolutely love about what God 707 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:14,280 does through marriage. And by the way, can I just say 708 00:39:14,280 --> 00:39:15,680 this? I'll make this comment. 709 00:39:16,240 --> 00:39:20,240 And look, there's like I'm not in it for anything other than 710 00:39:20,240 --> 00:39:25,480 just an interest to do the right thing When the Lord chose to 711 00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:29,000 bring his servant home on that terrible day in September. 712 00:39:32,360 --> 00:39:35,240 And then it was hard. Look, a lot of us had a super, 713 00:39:35,240 --> 00:39:38,720 super hard time with it. There was some why Lords, there 714 00:39:38,720 --> 00:39:40,600 was there was a lot of that stuff that happened. 715 00:39:41,720 --> 00:39:45,720 But the natural question that everybody began to ask was how's 716 00:39:45,720 --> 00:39:48,760 everything going to go? How's, you know, turning point 717 00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:50,440 going to go away? What's going to happen? 718 00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:52,800 You know, he's gone. He was the center of it and so 719 00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:54,560 on and so forth. And I knew it. 720 00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:57,240 I didn't have to say anything. Matter of fact, my wife asked me 721 00:39:57,240 --> 00:39:59,440 that question. James, honey, how's it going to 722 00:39:59,440 --> 00:40:00,920 work out? I mean, there's so much to take 723 00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:02,640 on. I said you wait and see. 724 00:40:03,120 --> 00:40:05,800 You wait and see. Because of the wonderful 725 00:40:05,800 --> 00:40:10,840 marriage that Charlie and Erica had together and still have it 726 00:40:10,840 --> 00:40:12,120 many ways. I mean, he's with the Lord, 727 00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:15,440 right? That organization is going to 728 00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:16,920 grow. It's not going to, it's not 729 00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:18,640 going to falter. It's actually going to grow. 730 00:40:19,520 --> 00:40:21,160 Because there's a spiritual principle here. 731 00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:25,320 So whatever it is, your hands are in the middle of anonymous. 732 00:40:26,240 --> 00:40:28,680 Go through the difficult labor of marriage. 733 00:40:28,680 --> 00:40:32,200 Marriage is not easy. OK, here's the one thing I 734 00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:35,960 learned about people who attack other marriages, People who 735 00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:39,240 attack other marriages or second guess the motives in other 736 00:40:39,240 --> 00:40:41,360 marriages are people who don't have healthy marriages 737 00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:45,320 themselves. Because marriage is hard. 738 00:40:45,960 --> 00:40:47,400 I know I can say this about my wife. 739 00:40:47,400 --> 00:40:51,280 My wife came to me literally. There was so little that I had 740 00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:53,840 to teach my wife. My wife came to me about as 741 00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:56,280 perfect as a woman can come to any man. 742 00:40:56,520 --> 00:41:00,120 She is the best wife any husband could ever ask for. 743 00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:02,360 And she's beautiful. OK. 744 00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:03,800 Matter of fact, people see me with her all the time. 745 00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:06,000 Like, are you rich? They say. 746 00:41:06,480 --> 00:41:12,840 But here's the thing. I am the beneficiary of somebody 747 00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:16,800 who could not be more perfect. And still, I will say this, 748 00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:19,600 marriage is hard. Marriage is hard. 749 00:41:19,640 --> 00:41:21,440 Why? Because if it's done right, you 750 00:41:21,440 --> 00:41:26,040 have to deny yourself. And the denial of self feels 751 00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:28,680 like the denial of a whole bunch of other things. 752 00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:31,680 But the reward that comes is extraordinary. 753 00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:37,320 And I would not rather have any other way other than the way I 754 00:41:37,320 --> 00:41:41,080 have it with my with my bride. That's, by the way, the reason 755 00:41:41,080 --> 00:41:44,640 why I ask you to continue to pray for Erika because she's 756 00:41:44,640 --> 00:41:47,600 feeling completely, completely at a loss. 757 00:41:47,600 --> 00:41:48,960 Why? Because her husband was 758 00:41:48,960 --> 00:41:52,120 everything right? And I think that's the way it 759 00:41:52,120 --> 00:41:55,960 should be with any widows. This is a huge, huge loss. 760 00:41:56,400 --> 00:41:59,240 Marriage is important. Invest in it, do the hard work, 761 00:41:59,320 --> 00:42:02,560 and God will bless you. Thank you for that. 762 00:42:02,560 --> 00:42:03,680 Sorry, I know that wasn't earful. 763 00:42:03,960 --> 00:42:05,760 I know it wasn't earful, but I think it was important. 764 00:42:06,040 --> 00:42:07,040 It was very. Important. 765 00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:11,400 And I actually want to skip down one question just because, you 766 00:42:11,400 --> 00:42:14,160 know, speaking about Charlie's life, I think this is something 767 00:42:14,160 --> 00:42:18,560 a lot of people are processing right now, Megan says. 768 00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:21,080 God knows our story and the plan for our lives. 769 00:42:21,080 --> 00:42:23,440 He never promised a life without heartache and troubles. 770 00:42:23,680 --> 00:42:26,760 But when someone gets cancer, is murdered or dies in a car 771 00:42:26,760 --> 00:42:28,520 accident, was that his plan for them? 772 00:42:28,520 --> 00:42:30,920 Did he already know the moment they were born that that was 773 00:42:30,920 --> 00:42:33,160 going to be their story? Well. 774 00:42:33,160 --> 00:42:35,360 God would have known the moment they were born that that was 775 00:42:35,360 --> 00:42:37,440 going to be their story. God would have actually known it 776 00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:39,760 before they were born, before they were a thought in their 777 00:42:39,760 --> 00:42:42,440 mother and father's minds. God would have known it before 778 00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:45,800 he created the universe. The problem is we live in an 779 00:42:45,800 --> 00:42:50,360 imperfect world and the Bible says through one man sin entered 780 00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:52,320 the world. That means when Adam chose to 781 00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:56,240 disobey God, then sin was introduced, sin and death. 782 00:42:57,160 --> 00:43:02,320 And so all of these things, murder, cancer, pain, suffering, 783 00:43:02,440 --> 00:43:04,520 that all comes as a result of sin. 784 00:43:05,320 --> 00:43:10,360 And God knew that sin would have its toll on mankind, and God 785 00:43:10,360 --> 00:43:13,720 knew that sin would have its toll on a body that was designed 786 00:43:13,720 --> 00:43:18,480 to be eternal, but stopped being eternal when this happened. 787 00:43:18,960 --> 00:43:24,000 But yet God still in His love for us, found a solution by 788 00:43:24,120 --> 00:43:28,040 sacrificing His Son, which by the way, I would not sacrifice 789 00:43:28,040 --> 00:43:32,640 my son for anybody under any circumstance for any reason to 790 00:43:32,640 --> 00:43:35,600 the fact that God did it with his son, it's, it's mind 791 00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:38,840 boggling to me. He sacrificed his son that we 792 00:43:38,840 --> 00:43:43,240 might be able to have salvation. So yes, you know, death is 793 00:43:43,240 --> 00:43:46,480 painful. Death is hard. 794 00:43:47,280 --> 00:43:52,400 I still personally, I won't forgive hard. 795 00:43:53,360 --> 00:43:57,000 Maybe I'll say I won't forget. Maybe I can forgive, but I won't 796 00:43:57,000 --> 00:44:01,520 forget the dirtbag that sent me the video of Charlie getting 797 00:44:01,520 --> 00:44:04,160 killed. It was the one of the worst 798 00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:05,360 videos I've ever seen in my life. 799 00:44:05,680 --> 00:44:12,440 Just absolutely terrible. But I know for a fact that the 800 00:44:12,480 --> 00:44:16,800 enemy has always hated Charlie, and Erika for that matter, 801 00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:21,320 because of the gospel, because of the introduction to the 802 00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:24,520 things of God. And it's a terrible part of 803 00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:26,360 reality in the world in which we live. 804 00:44:26,560 --> 00:44:30,360 Now, here's the joyful part. When we are taken, whether it be 805 00:44:30,360 --> 00:44:35,560 car accident, cancer, murder, we become more alive than we ever 806 00:44:35,560 --> 00:44:36,600 have been. Why? 807 00:44:36,760 --> 00:44:38,200 Because that's the God that we serve. 808 00:44:39,080 --> 00:44:42,960 And and salvation speaks to something that goes into the 809 00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:46,080 ages. And so Charlie, now, when people 810 00:44:46,080 --> 00:44:48,920 tell you Charlie's dead, you really shouldn't believe that. 811 00:44:49,480 --> 00:44:51,560 OK, let me talk about some cuckoo conspiracy. 812 00:44:51,560 --> 00:44:53,240 Oh, he's off on the wall somewhere hanging out. 813 00:44:53,240 --> 00:44:58,400 No, Charlie is more alive now than he ever has been because on 814 00:44:58,400 --> 00:45:02,880 that day in September, he heard the words well done, good and 815 00:45:02,880 --> 00:45:06,360 faithful servant, and he began to experience the joy that he 816 00:45:06,360 --> 00:45:08,560 wanted to introduce everybody to. 817 00:45:08,560 --> 00:45:10,240 I don't know if you guys noticed that about Charlie. 818 00:45:10,240 --> 00:45:13,400 You know, when Charlie first started his ministry at Turning 819 00:45:13,400 --> 00:45:15,080 Point, it was very, very political. 820 00:45:15,640 --> 00:45:17,520 There was a lot of politics. And of course, that's his, 821 00:45:17,760 --> 00:45:19,760 that's his field. That's kind of where he lived. 822 00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:23,880 He's in the political arena. But as time went on, especially 823 00:45:23,880 --> 00:45:28,480 near the end of his life on Earth, he spent a lot of time 824 00:45:28,480 --> 00:45:30,920 begging people to go get married, to have children. 825 00:45:31,240 --> 00:45:33,400 Why is he asking people to get married and have children? 826 00:45:33,400 --> 00:45:35,680 Because he loved his wife and he loved his children. 827 00:45:36,640 --> 00:45:40,760 And not only did he do that on a regular basis, right, but he 828 00:45:40,760 --> 00:45:43,040 also wanted people to come to know the Lord. 829 00:45:43,040 --> 00:45:45,600 Why? Because the Lord was everything 830 00:45:45,600 --> 00:45:48,240 to him. The Lord changed his life and he 831 00:45:48,240 --> 00:45:50,000 knew it could. He knew the Lord could change 832 00:45:50,000 --> 00:45:52,800 everybody else's life. So it goes back to that. 833 00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:58,280 The sorrows that we experience often times drive us to the joys 834 00:45:58,440 --> 00:46:02,000 which bring us greater reward. And I think that that's a very 835 00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:06,120 simplistic, I'm not going to say simplistic, simple way to look 836 00:46:06,120 --> 00:46:12,200 at it, but it's important because God in his faithfulness 837 00:46:12,320 --> 00:46:15,840 always gives us the better that comes out of the pain. 838 00:46:19,040 --> 00:46:21,400 Thank you, Pastor James. Thank you. 839 00:46:21,560 --> 00:46:26,280 And next we have a couple similar questions and we'll 840 00:46:26,280 --> 00:46:30,480 we'll taper off from lifestyle here in a second, but these are 841 00:46:30,480 --> 00:46:34,040 just really important. This next one comes from Mandy. 842 00:46:34,480 --> 00:46:36,640 I've been feeling the nudge to jump into my faith for some 843 00:46:36,640 --> 00:46:38,280 time. After what happened to Charlie, 844 00:46:38,280 --> 00:46:40,120 I dove in. I walked into church, cried 845 00:46:40,120 --> 00:46:43,080 hysterically, felt the Lord, and have been attending ever since. 846 00:46:43,400 --> 00:46:45,840 Praise God. My question is, I've been 847 00:46:45,840 --> 00:46:48,360 struggling with believing the Bible really happened or that 848 00:46:48,360 --> 00:46:50,880 Jesus is real. I want to believe so badly. 849 00:46:50,880 --> 00:46:54,400 I know I need Jesus in my life, but how do I accept that Jesus 850 00:46:54,400 --> 00:46:56,680 is real? And then we have one other 851 00:46:57,000 --> 00:46:58,600 reader kind of off that same note. 852 00:46:58,600 --> 00:47:01,920 Sophia says when a non believer asks how do I know God exists? 853 00:47:01,920 --> 00:47:04,760 What's the best response? Or how do I prove to them that 854 00:47:04,760 --> 00:47:08,200 he's he's real without without having to use the logic of air 855 00:47:08,200 --> 00:47:10,480 or that we were not created by coincidence? 856 00:47:11,120 --> 00:47:13,200 Yeah. So these are very, very good 857 00:47:13,200 --> 00:47:18,120 questions, and the reality of that is we have to go based on 858 00:47:18,120 --> 00:47:20,560 what we understand and know to be true. 859 00:47:20,920 --> 00:47:23,680 The Bible is true. It is not disproven. 860 00:47:23,680 --> 00:47:25,760 We know the declarations that the Bible makes. 861 00:47:26,120 --> 00:47:29,120 The other issue that you also have to stop and consider is the 862 00:47:29,120 --> 00:47:34,160 fact that God gives us tools that are tangible that we can 863 00:47:34,160 --> 00:47:40,440 use to viably understand the depth of how real he actually 864 00:47:40,440 --> 00:47:42,800 is. OK, Bible prophecy is a great 865 00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:45,320 example of that. All throughout the Bible there 866 00:47:45,320 --> 00:47:48,240 are remarkable predictions that have been made that were 867 00:47:48,240 --> 00:47:52,880 fulfilled absolutely perfectly. So we have Bible prophecy. 868 00:47:52,880 --> 00:47:57,800 We also have what the book of Hebrews describes as faith. 869 00:47:58,040 --> 00:48:02,760 Now, the way he describes faith is he says faith is the evidence 870 00:48:02,760 --> 00:48:05,360 of things hoped for. Let me go back. 871 00:48:05,560 --> 00:48:07,240 I'm I'm just going to read that here. 872 00:48:07,520 --> 00:48:10,520 No, the the substance of things hoped for, evidence of things 873 00:48:10,520 --> 00:48:13,800 not seen. OK, my brain just Jarred a 874 00:48:13,800 --> 00:48:16,360 little bit. Here's the amazing thing about 875 00:48:16,360 --> 00:48:19,520 how this works. God's track record is perfect. 876 00:48:20,240 --> 00:48:23,800 The same person who would make the argument that I don't 877 00:48:23,800 --> 00:48:27,720 believe in God because I don't really see him or I don't see 878 00:48:27,960 --> 00:48:30,080 anything that would seem to point me to Him. 879 00:48:30,560 --> 00:48:34,480 You, you have to look at it from several perspectives #1 the 880 00:48:34,480 --> 00:48:37,120 Bible says it. So you've got to trust that that 881 00:48:37,120 --> 00:48:39,760 is true. Now that might seem abstract to 882 00:48:39,760 --> 00:48:42,720 you because you think, well, how do I trust something that I 883 00:48:42,720 --> 00:48:46,640 really can't tangibly believe or I can't really explain or 884 00:48:46,640 --> 00:48:49,440 understand fully? Well, you turn on a light switch 885 00:48:49,440 --> 00:48:51,680 in a room and you expect the lights to turn on. 886 00:48:52,000 --> 00:48:56,800 Yet the the average person cannot understand or or cannot 887 00:48:56,800 --> 00:49:00,360 describe how electricity works. And even if they can describe 888 00:49:00,360 --> 00:49:03,960 how electricity works, many of them do not have the physicist 889 00:49:03,960 --> 00:49:06,200 background to be able to get to the nitty gritty of it. 890 00:49:06,480 --> 00:49:09,160 And even if they can get to the nitty gritty of it, there are 891 00:49:09,160 --> 00:49:12,200 elements within physics that they just simply don't 892 00:49:12,200 --> 00:49:15,160 understand, nor can they explain. 893 00:49:15,600 --> 00:49:18,720 OK, there's lots of buzzwords in this one, but the reality of it 894 00:49:18,720 --> 00:49:21,080 is there's so many things we just don't know. 895 00:49:21,160 --> 00:49:23,480 Some people say, well, I I've seen electricity, that's why I 896 00:49:23,480 --> 00:49:25,040 believe in it. No, you have never seen 897 00:49:25,040 --> 00:49:27,080 electricity. You've only experienced the 898 00:49:27,080 --> 00:49:28,840 effects of electricity. Well, I've seen lightning. 899 00:49:29,040 --> 00:49:32,200 Yes. That is the effect that comes as 900 00:49:32,200 --> 00:49:34,280 a result of the existence of electricity. 901 00:49:34,680 --> 00:49:36,440 So you have to look at it this way. 902 00:49:36,720 --> 00:49:41,520 If you see a watch on somebody's wrist like my Apple Watch, you 903 00:49:41,520 --> 00:49:44,560 might think, what is the likelihood that this Apple Watch 904 00:49:44,560 --> 00:49:50,320 just evolved on my wrist and then evolved on everybody else's 905 00:49:50,320 --> 00:49:54,880 wrist out of nothing, maybe out of some functional primordial 906 00:49:54,880 --> 00:49:57,240 ooze or whatever. What's the likelihood? 907 00:49:57,240 --> 00:49:59,720 No, you, you would say it's impossible. 908 00:49:59,720 --> 00:50:01,840 Why? They have trademarks on it. 909 00:50:02,080 --> 00:50:05,640 They all have uniform software. They do the same things, they 910 00:50:05,640 --> 00:50:07,840 react together, they're tied into the same network. 911 00:50:08,320 --> 00:50:12,680 So you believe that about a watch that is sitting on a wrist 912 00:50:13,160 --> 00:50:17,800 that has far more complex electronics within it. 913 00:50:17,800 --> 00:50:21,080 When I say electronics, meaning the nervous system, neural 914 00:50:21,080 --> 00:50:24,680 function, the way electrical signals are sent within the 915 00:50:24,680 --> 00:50:29,520 body, far more complex than anything you will ever find on a 916 00:50:29,520 --> 00:50:33,960 watch that you refuse to believe was not built, manufactured, 917 00:50:33,960 --> 00:50:37,240 created by somebody. So the evidence is there. 918 00:50:37,440 --> 00:50:40,080 We see it. OK, morality. 919 00:50:40,080 --> 00:50:42,680 Where does morality come from? So there's a lot of questions 920 00:50:42,680 --> 00:50:46,160 like that that only the Bible can answer, and it's all 921 00:50:46,160 --> 00:50:48,960 fundamentally predicated upon the existence of God. 922 00:50:50,000 --> 00:50:52,480 So that's how we do it. We do it by what we know. 923 00:50:54,160 --> 00:50:55,640 I love that. I love those analogies. 924 00:50:56,360 --> 00:50:58,280 Are you Speaking of the existence of God? 925 00:50:58,280 --> 00:51:00,880 Are you ready to jump into our Scripture questions, Pastor 926 00:51:00,880 --> 00:51:01,200 James? Yeah. 927 00:51:01,760 --> 00:51:02,320 Yeah, let's do. It. 928 00:51:03,040 --> 00:51:06,800 Caitlin asks in Genesis when discussing creation, where did 929 00:51:06,800 --> 00:51:09,520 God come from? Was he just all alone in space? 930 00:51:09,680 --> 00:51:11,080 He created the heavens and earth. 931 00:51:11,080 --> 00:51:13,920 Does that mean when he created angels or did he? 932 00:51:13,920 --> 00:51:16,840 Or did they already exist? And when was the fall of Satan? 933 00:51:16,840 --> 00:51:18,920 Was it before creating the heavens and the earth? 934 00:51:19,600 --> 00:51:22,280 How much time do we think each day was in creation? 935 00:51:23,360 --> 00:51:26,280 Yeah. OK, So I think that the days in 936 00:51:26,280 --> 00:51:29,240 creation were literal days. I guess we'll go backwards to 937 00:51:29,240 --> 00:51:32,040 this, right? I think they were literal days. 938 00:51:32,040 --> 00:51:35,000 So I'll I'll go backwards from end to beginning. 939 00:51:36,520 --> 00:51:39,240 The fall of Satan. Was it before the heavens and 940 00:51:39,240 --> 00:51:40,880 the earth were created? I don't know. 941 00:51:41,000 --> 00:51:43,560 The Bible doesn't tell us. And by the way, when people 942 00:51:43,560 --> 00:51:46,440 think that there's a gap between Genesis 11 and 1-2 and that's 943 00:51:46,440 --> 00:51:47,920 where Satan felt, I don't believe that. 944 00:51:48,280 --> 00:51:50,680 I actually think that just is a reflection of the fact that they 945 00:51:50,680 --> 00:51:52,800 don't understand the Hebrew language and that's why they 946 00:51:52,800 --> 00:51:56,280 come to those conclusions. So the answer to that one is I 947 00:51:56,280 --> 00:51:58,800 don't know when Satan fell. Now, I do know that we have some 948 00:51:58,800 --> 00:52:01,040 descriptions of it. We know what the implications 949 00:52:01,040 --> 00:52:04,240 were behind it, but that's the way it goes. 950 00:52:04,240 --> 00:52:07,320 Now, when it says He created the heavens and the earth, that is 951 00:52:07,320 --> 00:52:10,400 one that involves a lot more complex of a discussion. 952 00:52:10,680 --> 00:52:15,040 But the reality of it is we get answers from this not only in 953 00:52:15,040 --> 00:52:17,400 the Hebrew language but also in the Greek language. 954 00:52:17,400 --> 00:52:20,080 Now this probably would be a good spot to maybe talk about 955 00:52:20,080 --> 00:52:22,480 how languages work for just a second because it is kind of 956 00:52:22,480 --> 00:52:25,120 important. When we translate languages, we 957 00:52:25,120 --> 00:52:27,440 translate languages in two primary ways. 958 00:52:27,480 --> 00:52:31,440 And yes, I am oversimplifying this, OK? 959 00:52:31,720 --> 00:52:33,920 I'm not going to give you a Wes Huff description. 960 00:52:34,160 --> 00:52:37,560 I'm going to give you an over simple discussion because I 961 00:52:37,560 --> 00:52:40,200 recognize the fact that we are talking with a talking about a 962 00:52:40,200 --> 00:52:42,320 lot of people who are new to the Bible. 963 00:52:42,640 --> 00:52:47,160 But when I speak from a biblical language, there's lots of 964 00:52:47,160 --> 00:52:49,360 problems in interpreting from old languages. 965 00:52:49,360 --> 00:52:52,600 OK, first of all, if a language has been gone for a long time, 966 00:52:52,600 --> 00:52:55,560 it's difficult to be able to understand how it all works. 967 00:52:55,840 --> 00:52:58,640 So we have two different approaches to basically 968 00:52:58,640 --> 00:53:02,520 interpreting language. 1 is what we would call a word for word 969 00:53:02,960 --> 00:53:05,840 method or a thought for thought. Now we know them in other ways. 970 00:53:06,520 --> 00:53:08,400 We can call it word for word, dynamic equivalent. 971 00:53:08,400 --> 00:53:11,000 There's lots of other ways that we can actually describe these 972 00:53:11,520 --> 00:53:14,880 translation processes, but it is a little tricky. 973 00:53:14,920 --> 00:53:18,240 So let me just explain myself when I say this, and I am going 974 00:53:18,240 --> 00:53:20,160 to get to an answer on the Genesis thing, but it'll help 975 00:53:20,160 --> 00:53:24,000 you understand when I say something like this. 976 00:53:24,000 --> 00:53:26,360 And I'll use a language that's modern and that everybody's 977 00:53:26,360 --> 00:53:28,880 familiar with. I'll just speak a Semitic 978 00:53:28,880 --> 00:53:33,560 language like Arabic. If I were to say what I just 979 00:53:33,560 --> 00:53:38,280 asked you literally word for word is go into the ice and get 980 00:53:38,280 --> 00:53:40,880 me something cold. That's literally what I say word 981 00:53:40,880 --> 00:53:43,200 for word. Now, if I were to translate it 982 00:53:43,200 --> 00:53:46,960 in its dynamic equivalent fashion, meaning it's thought 983 00:53:46,960 --> 00:53:50,520 for thought, the translation is go into the fridge and get me a 984 00:53:50,520 --> 00:53:53,680 Coke. Now context determines that, 985 00:53:53,760 --> 00:53:55,600 vocal intonation determines that. 986 00:53:55,920 --> 00:53:58,600 Location can determine that where I'm pointing, like 987 00:53:58,600 --> 00:54:01,200 determine that. And so can be very, very tricky. 988 00:54:01,960 --> 00:54:06,280 Now when you look at the Hebrew language, Hebrew is a language 989 00:54:06,360 --> 00:54:10,280 that demands or necessitates a thought for thought approach 990 00:54:10,840 --> 00:54:13,080 because of the way it is structured. 991 00:54:13,680 --> 00:54:19,320 The Greek language is a word for word approach, meaning it's a 992 00:54:19,320 --> 00:54:22,200 lot more specific. So when those of us are 993 00:54:22,200 --> 00:54:26,680 researching something in the Hebrew Bible and we're having a 994 00:54:26,680 --> 00:54:29,400 difficult time understanding what it means or what it 995 00:54:29,400 --> 00:54:34,640 implies, we will oftentimes go to the Greek translation of the 996 00:54:34,640 --> 00:54:37,520 Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint. Now, why do we do that? 997 00:54:37,520 --> 00:54:39,880 There's two reasons. Number one, we do it because 998 00:54:39,880 --> 00:54:42,680 Greek is word for word, and a lot of the ambiguities that may 999 00:54:42,680 --> 00:54:47,760 exist in a language like Hebrew get erased from what you might 1000 00:54:47,760 --> 00:54:50,840 read in Greek. And the reason why we really 1001 00:54:50,840 --> 00:54:55,720 appreciate that is because the translators of the Hebrew Bible 1002 00:54:55,840 --> 00:55:01,040 that translated it into the Greek Old Testament were a lot 1003 00:55:01,040 --> 00:55:04,160 closer to the days of that language when that language was 1004 00:55:04,160 --> 00:55:06,800 still alive. So they would have had a better 1005 00:55:06,800 --> 00:55:08,560 understanding of what was being said. 1006 00:55:09,360 --> 00:55:14,400 So when you read about accounts concerning the creation of 1007 00:55:14,400 --> 00:55:20,760 mankind, going to the Old Testament using the Hebrew or 1008 00:55:20,760 --> 00:55:24,480 the Greek translators will make a huge difference. 1009 00:55:24,800 --> 00:55:28,680 Now, there's one area where that becomes even more incredible and 1010 00:55:28,680 --> 00:55:33,240 more useful, and that's when you go to an author who writes in 1011 00:55:33,240 --> 00:55:37,760 Greek who was familiar with the Bible about the same subject. 1012 00:55:38,320 --> 00:55:41,720 So if you want to understand where God was when everything 1013 00:55:41,720 --> 00:55:46,320 was created, one of the places I would go to might be John One. 1014 00:55:46,320 --> 00:55:50,080 For example, where John starts off by saying this in Greek, he 1015 00:55:50,080 --> 00:55:54,560 says logos. That's the original language 1016 00:55:54,560 --> 00:55:57,280 that he was written in. In the beginning was the word in 1017 00:55:57,280 --> 00:55:59,440 the word was with God, in the word was God. 1018 00:56:00,200 --> 00:56:02,680 Now this is interesting because of the rendering of the 1019 00:56:02,680 --> 00:56:06,600 imperfect. What we know for a fact is that 1020 00:56:06,600 --> 00:56:11,440 God always existed. Based on the language structure 1021 00:56:11,800 --> 00:56:16,040 of what we read in John 11 and the translation from what we 1022 00:56:16,040 --> 00:56:19,600 read in the Hebrew Bible in Genesis, God was always there. 1023 00:56:20,320 --> 00:56:24,200 He never was not there. That's a long explanation, but 1024 00:56:24,200 --> 00:56:27,280 that's how I can definitively tell you that God didn't just 1025 00:56:27,280 --> 00:56:29,000 come out of nowhere. He'd always been there. 1026 00:56:29,000 --> 00:56:31,040 Now, how does that work? I don't know. 1027 00:56:31,640 --> 00:56:34,600 We were created by God. Our minds, our minds cannot 1028 00:56:34,600 --> 00:56:36,760 contemplate something so significant, if that makes any 1029 00:56:36,760 --> 00:56:39,400 kind of sense. Yep, it goes into the mystery 1030 00:56:39,400 --> 00:56:41,240 box and we're going to know one day? 1031 00:56:43,240 --> 00:56:46,360 Kathy asks. Knowing that God is omniscient, 1032 00:56:46,360 --> 00:56:49,040 why did he create Satan? He knew what would happen. 1033 00:56:49,040 --> 00:56:54,360 I just don't understand. Sweetheart, your, your, your 1034 00:56:54,360 --> 00:56:58,200 question is so good that I can tell you with great confidence. 1035 00:56:58,200 --> 00:57:01,440 I don't know. Got a sovereign? 1036 00:57:01,520 --> 00:57:05,400 I don't know. What I do know is that God is 1037 00:57:05,400 --> 00:57:07,600 just, God is loving, God is caring. 1038 00:57:08,760 --> 00:57:13,080 And whatever God did and why, why ever he allowed it, is a 1039 00:57:13,080 --> 00:57:16,000 much better reason than I could ever contemplate or explain or 1040 00:57:16,000 --> 00:57:18,240 think of, even though I don't know or don't understand. 1041 00:57:19,040 --> 00:57:21,640 And there are gonna be times where we're gonna have to be OK 1042 00:57:21,640 --> 00:57:23,360 with saying we don't know or understand Why? 1043 00:57:23,360 --> 00:57:26,320 Because the God who created us is far greater than us. 1044 00:57:26,560 --> 00:57:28,880 No one wants to worship a God that's less complex than us, if 1045 00:57:28,880 --> 00:57:30,480 that makes any kind of sense. Amen. 1046 00:57:32,520 --> 00:57:36,040 Colleen and Derek both have questions that are kind of 1047 00:57:36,040 --> 00:57:37,720 similar. Colleen says there were many 1048 00:57:37,720 --> 00:57:40,800 people on earth before Adam and Eve as evidence with fossils, 1049 00:57:40,800 --> 00:57:43,040 etcetera. Native Indians in the USA for 1050 00:57:43,040 --> 00:57:45,280 example. I would love to discuss on how 1051 00:57:45,280 --> 00:57:48,880 to reconcile this and Derek says where and when do the dinosaurs 1052 00:57:48,880 --> 00:57:51,000 come into history? We all know that these creatures 1053 00:57:51,000 --> 00:57:52,800 walk the earth. Could it be that the world was 1054 00:57:52,800 --> 00:57:54,520 already present, but in darkness? 1055 00:57:55,240 --> 00:57:57,200 Yeah, so there are a lot of people that make the assumption 1056 00:57:57,200 --> 00:57:59,160 that there were a lot of people who lived on the earth prior to 1057 00:57:59,160 --> 00:58:01,880 Adam and Eve. I completely, categorically deny 1058 00:58:01,880 --> 00:58:06,640 that assertion. I actually believe that Adam and 1059 00:58:06,640 --> 00:58:09,640 Eve were the first people to live on this earth because the 1060 00:58:09,640 --> 00:58:11,640 Bible actually makes that very, very clear. 1061 00:58:12,240 --> 00:58:14,880 The Bible also tells us that through one man, sin entered the 1062 00:58:14,880 --> 00:58:17,240 world and we know, of course, because of sin, then death. 1063 00:58:17,520 --> 00:58:21,200 So it was Adam's sin that introduced all of that. 1064 00:58:22,000 --> 00:58:25,640 I am going to assume that what we know and understand and to 1065 00:58:25,680 --> 00:58:29,440 exist within the fossil record that allows us to make the 1066 00:58:29,440 --> 00:58:32,440 assumption that there were men on Earth billions of years ago 1067 00:58:32,440 --> 00:58:35,960 or millions of years ago or whatever it might be, is all a 1068 00:58:36,080 --> 00:58:39,520 effect of what happened during the flood that we read about in 1069 00:58:39,520 --> 00:58:42,360 Noah later on in Genesis, which would have been after the time 1070 00:58:42,600 --> 00:58:45,920 of Adam and Eve. And there's a lot, and I mean a 1071 00:58:45,920 --> 00:58:49,160 lot to this. The science behind it is pretty 1072 00:58:49,160 --> 00:58:52,360 remarkable. There's so much to say about 1073 00:58:52,360 --> 00:58:57,080 what drives those conclusions and, and it's ever changing the 1074 00:58:57,080 --> 00:58:58,840 science behind it. And every single time it 1075 00:58:58,840 --> 00:59:02,000 changes, it would seem to agree more with what the biblical, the 1076 00:59:02,000 --> 00:59:04,760 biblical description or the biblical record is for it. 1077 00:59:05,080 --> 00:59:06,480 So that's that's how I would answer that. 1078 00:59:07,280 --> 00:59:11,720 And as far as dinosaurs, again, I think dinosaurs were around 1079 00:59:11,720 --> 00:59:14,760 during the time of Adam and Eve. We certainly know they were 1080 00:59:14,760 --> 00:59:18,480 around because Job seems to describe some dinosaurs. 1081 00:59:19,040 --> 00:59:21,600 But I think that when the flood happened, I think it changed 1082 00:59:21,600 --> 00:59:25,800 everything. We got a couple questions about 1083 00:59:25,800 --> 00:59:28,960 the fall. So Jessica says I need help 1084 00:59:28,960 --> 00:59:31,920 understanding the fall. God created Eve, he had to know 1085 00:59:31,920 --> 00:59:33,840 she would sin. He created the serpent. 1086 00:59:33,840 --> 00:59:36,840 It just seems like everything in Genesis 3 was predetermined and 1087 00:59:36,840 --> 00:59:38,880 God knew all of this would happen, but then he punished 1088 00:59:38,880 --> 00:59:41,840 Adam and Eve. If God created all, he sees all, 1089 00:59:41,840 --> 00:59:43,880 he knows all. Why go through this entire 1090 00:59:43,880 --> 00:59:46,960 experience with Adam and Eve? Why not just create 2 sinners? 1091 00:59:47,360 --> 00:59:49,680 Did God do all this and create all this pain in the world 1092 00:59:49,680 --> 00:59:51,800 because two people failed to obey him? 1093 00:59:52,920 --> 00:59:55,440 And then Patty asks. I have always wondered why God 1094 00:59:55,440 --> 00:59:58,160 instructed Adam to eat from any tree, but not the tree of 1095 00:59:58,160 --> 01:00:00,560 knowledge of good and evil. Why would God do that? 1096 01:00:00,560 --> 01:00:02,920 It feels like he was setting up Adam for failure. 1097 01:00:03,200 --> 01:00:05,680 And wouldn't God want humanity to have the knowledge of good 1098 01:00:05,680 --> 01:00:07,040 and evil? Yeah. 1099 01:00:07,040 --> 01:00:09,320 So this is very, very important. These are very important 1100 01:00:09,320 --> 01:00:13,880 questions, and I think they rest in understanding a much deeper 1101 01:00:13,880 --> 01:00:17,720 issue. OK, First and foremost, if God 1102 01:00:17,720 --> 01:00:21,280 just went ahead and created sinners as you would describe 1103 01:00:21,280 --> 01:00:24,080 it, Jessica, you would understand this, then we 1104 01:00:24,080 --> 01:00:26,240 wouldn't have the relationship with God that we have today. 1105 01:00:26,480 --> 01:00:29,120 There would be no free will. We would not be where we're at 1106 01:00:29,120 --> 01:00:32,000 today. So unfortunately, the cost of 1107 01:00:32,000 --> 01:00:34,920 allowing people to have free will is the fact that they're 1108 01:00:34,920 --> 01:00:37,280 going to make bad decisions. This is the part, by the way, 1109 01:00:37,280 --> 01:00:38,840 that I hate about being a father. 1110 01:00:40,000 --> 01:00:43,400 I, I love my babies and I don't want my babies to go through 1111 01:00:43,400 --> 01:00:46,840 hard things. I don't want them to fall off a 1112 01:00:46,840 --> 01:00:49,560 tree ledge. I don't want them to climb 1113 01:00:49,560 --> 01:00:52,200 something and get hurt. I don't want them to run really, 1114 01:00:52,200 --> 01:00:53,800 really fast and scrape their knees. 1115 01:00:54,080 --> 01:00:57,400 But the reality of it is, if I'm going to teach them to be people 1116 01:00:57,400 --> 01:01:01,960 who act as free agents governed and submitted to God, they must 1117 01:01:01,960 --> 01:01:05,200 learn how to be able to make these decisions on their own and 1118 01:01:05,200 --> 01:01:07,600 fall into these categories of error. 1119 01:01:08,480 --> 01:01:12,160 And so that would explain the idea behind God allowing to 1120 01:01:12,160 --> 01:01:14,960 happen what happened because they needed to have free will. 1121 01:01:15,600 --> 01:01:20,320 With respect to the serpent, that was Satan infiltrating into 1122 01:01:20,320 --> 01:01:21,920 something that God had made beautiful. 1123 01:01:21,920 --> 01:01:24,480 The Bible says that the serpent was actually something that was 1124 01:01:24,880 --> 01:01:27,560 quite beautiful at the time. And then after it was cursed is 1125 01:01:27,560 --> 01:01:30,240 when it became what we understand or know to be the 1126 01:01:30,240 --> 01:01:33,160 snake. Now, with all that said, let's 1127 01:01:33,160 --> 01:01:37,640 go back to the discussion of why would God, you know, restrict 1128 01:01:37,640 --> 01:01:40,800 one tree? OK, well, it's really simple 1129 01:01:41,120 --> 01:01:45,920 because if there was if, if, if everything was allowed and there 1130 01:01:45,920 --> 01:01:49,080 was no discipline within the context of what could not be 1131 01:01:49,080 --> 01:01:52,560 allowed, then what was allowed would never be able to be 1132 01:01:52,560 --> 01:01:57,640 understood as enjoyable. It would all be regular full 1133 01:01:57,640 --> 01:02:00,720 blown indulgence. It would just be like going on 1134 01:02:00,720 --> 01:02:05,440 one big party binge forever and never really appreciating what 1135 01:02:05,440 --> 01:02:07,120 you have. And this is something that 1136 01:02:07,120 --> 01:02:09,040 Charlie and I used to talk about all the time. 1137 01:02:09,040 --> 01:02:12,280 As a matter of fact, This is why Charlie many, many years prior 1138 01:02:12,280 --> 01:02:16,440 to to to going to be with the Lord many, many years, he just 1139 01:02:16,440 --> 01:02:17,960 chose, I'm not drinking it ever again. 1140 01:02:17,960 --> 01:02:20,720 I'm not going to drink. Why did he have a problem with 1141 01:02:20,720 --> 01:02:22,680 alcohol? No, but he stopped drinking 1142 01:02:22,680 --> 01:02:26,960 because he knew that there was a greater benefit in saying no to 1143 01:02:26,960 --> 01:02:31,040 something like this and experiencing the mechanism that 1144 01:02:31,040 --> 01:02:33,840 that discipline provided and enjoying all the wonderful 1145 01:02:33,840 --> 01:02:37,720 things that God has now. The message of the tree of the 1146 01:02:37,720 --> 01:02:41,120 knowledge of good and evil had nothing to do with them knowing 1147 01:02:41,120 --> 01:02:44,320 good and evil. Satan framed it that way. 1148 01:02:44,880 --> 01:02:49,960 OK, but what it had something to do with is how you understood 1149 01:02:50,080 --> 01:02:52,800 good and evil. The way good and evil was 1150 01:02:52,800 --> 01:02:57,560 understood by Adam and Eve prior to the fall was that evil was 1151 01:02:57,560 --> 01:03:01,720 something that was so dark it was not tangible to them. 1152 01:03:01,720 --> 01:03:05,520 It was not within the realm of possibility when they entered 1153 01:03:05,520 --> 01:03:09,080 into the decision to choose to rebel against God. 1154 01:03:09,560 --> 01:03:13,680 Their knowledge of good and evil changed the relationship of 1155 01:03:13,680 --> 01:03:14,760 their knowledge of good and evil. 1156 01:03:14,960 --> 01:03:17,280 Their perspective on good and evil change. 1157 01:03:17,560 --> 01:03:20,760 At one point it was not even, it was so unacceptable. 1158 01:03:20,760 --> 01:03:22,680 It wasn't in the realm of their thought. 1159 01:03:23,680 --> 01:03:27,640 And then one day later it was part of something they actually 1160 01:03:27,680 --> 01:03:30,280 desired. Now, this goes back to a much 1161 01:03:30,280 --> 01:03:33,800 bigger principle and this actually goes back to one of the 1162 01:03:33,800 --> 01:03:36,160 problems that I'm seeing with this younger generation today, 1163 01:03:36,320 --> 01:03:38,280 which by the way, in my opinion, Gen. 1164 01:03:38,280 --> 01:03:42,760 Z, this younger generation, the smartest generation to ever live 1165 01:03:42,760 --> 01:03:45,160 in humanities history. I really believe that. 1166 01:03:45,200 --> 01:03:48,960 OK, Charlie, believe that. The problem is this. 1167 01:03:49,040 --> 01:03:51,480 The enemy did this at the very beginning in the garden. 1168 01:03:52,120 --> 01:04:00,200 The enemy wanted man to focus so much on what they didn't have 1169 01:04:00,720 --> 01:04:02,320 that they would ignore what they did have. 1170 01:04:02,960 --> 01:04:04,880 And what they had was substantial. 1171 01:04:04,880 --> 01:04:09,960 Think about it like this. God said of every tree you may 1172 01:04:10,080 --> 01:04:14,600 freely eat, but of the tree, the knowledge of good and evil, you 1173 01:04:14,600 --> 01:04:17,880 can't eat it. So in other words, the whole 1174 01:04:17,880 --> 01:04:20,840 world is yours. Just don't eat that. 1175 01:04:21,560 --> 01:04:25,800 If that was me, I I would figure out a way to build Fort Knox 1176 01:04:25,800 --> 01:04:27,960 around that tree. Never touch it, never look at it 1177 01:04:27,960 --> 01:04:28,520 again. Why? 1178 01:04:29,400 --> 01:04:31,800 Because I have trillions of dollars to my name. 1179 01:04:31,960 --> 01:04:34,720 I have the whole world to my name, so long as I don't touch 1180 01:04:34,720 --> 01:04:37,520 that. But the enemy, our enemy, the 1181 01:04:37,520 --> 01:04:42,120 devil, he wants us to focus so much on what we don't have that 1182 01:04:42,120 --> 01:04:46,120 we ignore what we do have and we lose out on the opportunity, on 1183 01:04:46,120 --> 01:04:48,920 what God wants us to do. By the way, this is a principle 1184 01:04:48,920 --> 01:04:51,920 of wealth creation. OK, We talk about this a lot 1185 01:04:52,040 --> 01:04:55,920 when we talk about the the need for us to be able to build into 1186 01:04:55,920 --> 01:04:58,520 our family enterprises and to create wealth. 1187 01:04:59,080 --> 01:05:02,320 You will never be able to create wealth if you spend more of your 1188 01:05:02,320 --> 01:05:06,760 time focusing on what you don't have instead of focusing on what 1189 01:05:06,760 --> 01:05:09,640 you do have. And so the people who are 1190 01:05:09,640 --> 01:05:13,120 constantly complaining, this policy, that policy keeps, I 1191 01:05:13,120 --> 01:05:14,360 don't have enough money to buy this. 1192 01:05:14,360 --> 01:05:15,640 I don't have enough money to buy that. 1193 01:05:15,640 --> 01:05:17,040 I don't have enough money to go buy a house. 1194 01:05:17,040 --> 01:05:18,160 I don't have enough money to do this. 1195 01:05:18,280 --> 01:05:20,800 OK, stop for a second. Stop it. 1196 01:05:20,880 --> 01:05:25,240 Stop focusing on what you don't have and start focusing on what 1197 01:05:25,240 --> 01:05:27,800 you do have. And what most people in Gen. 1198 01:05:27,800 --> 01:05:31,680 Z will realize is they have a whole lot more than they think 1199 01:05:32,200 --> 01:05:35,080 because they've wasted so much time focusing on what they don't 1200 01:05:35,080 --> 01:05:39,360 have that they've been deceived into realizing that what they 1201 01:05:39,360 --> 01:05:41,320 have is not enough to do whatever. 1202 01:05:41,800 --> 01:05:45,280 OK, Elon Musk became the richest man in the world. 1203 01:05:45,680 --> 01:05:48,160 Well, maybe Putin's richer than him, but Elon Musk became the 1204 01:05:48,160 --> 01:05:51,360 richest man in the world not because he spent time focusing 1205 01:05:51,360 --> 01:05:54,360 on the less than $100 he had coming into this country. 1206 01:05:55,000 --> 01:05:57,760 OK, again, what has God-given you? 1207 01:05:57,960 --> 01:05:59,760 What do you have? You have an intellect. 1208 01:05:59,760 --> 01:06:01,760 Do you have this resource? You have that resource, You have 1209 01:06:01,760 --> 01:06:04,600 relationships. When you focus on what you do 1210 01:06:04,600 --> 01:06:09,640 have and you deal with that, only then will you grow into the 1211 01:06:09,640 --> 01:06:12,080 greater thing. And by the way, this is a huge, 1212 01:06:12,440 --> 01:06:14,880 huge principle when it comes to building wealth. 1213 01:06:15,400 --> 01:06:17,760 Huge principle. You will never do well if you 1214 01:06:17,760 --> 01:06:21,640 don't understand this. And so this lesson in Genesis is 1215 01:06:21,640 --> 01:06:25,320 important. It's not to show, excuse me, 1216 01:06:25,560 --> 01:06:28,040 it's not to show. Look at how cruel God is because 1217 01:06:28,040 --> 01:06:29,480 he kept them from having one thing. 1218 01:06:30,080 --> 01:06:32,280 It's to show a very important principle. 1219 01:06:32,520 --> 01:06:36,600 And that is if you want to succeed in your life, understand 1220 01:06:36,640 --> 01:06:39,400 how critical it is to pay attention to what you do have 1221 01:06:39,400 --> 01:06:40,400 instead of what you don't. That's. 1222 01:06:42,160 --> 01:06:45,720 Good, Williams says in the Bible. 1223 01:06:45,720 --> 01:06:49,320 I've read parts of countless. I have read parts of countless 1224 01:06:49,320 --> 01:06:51,920 times. It states lineage so and so 1225 01:06:51,920 --> 01:06:54,560 begot so and so and so and so begot so and so and so, and then 1226 01:06:54,560 --> 01:06:56,080 they're X generations. Now. 1227 01:06:56,080 --> 01:06:58,240 Some of the names are recognizable, some are not. 1228 01:06:58,240 --> 01:07:00,880 What is the purpose of telling the generations? 1229 01:07:01,480 --> 01:07:04,000 Oh. Yes, OK, Go through my study on 1230 01:07:04,000 --> 01:07:06,720 the book of Genesis, because I can spend a lot of time talking 1231 01:07:06,720 --> 01:07:08,240 about that. That is super important. 1232 01:07:08,640 --> 01:07:11,680 The generations are critical. The generations are super 1233 01:07:11,680 --> 01:07:15,400 critical because they relate to understanding the Messiah, OK, 1234 01:07:15,600 --> 01:07:18,960 and who he is and actually establishing the fact that Jesus 1235 01:07:18,960 --> 01:07:21,520 Christ is who the Bible said he would be. 1236 01:07:21,880 --> 01:07:23,520 The genealogies mean something, by the way. 1237 01:07:23,760 --> 01:07:25,760 We have a hard time understanding this in the West 1238 01:07:26,040 --> 01:07:29,400 because in the West we don't name people according to a story 1239 01:07:29,560 --> 01:07:32,600 or according to the family patriarchy that we've 1240 01:07:32,600 --> 01:07:33,880 established. Established, OK? 1241 01:07:34,160 --> 01:07:37,040 We just name people something because all that name sounds 1242 01:07:37,040 --> 01:07:39,840 really pretty, but we don't really understand what they 1243 01:07:39,840 --> 01:07:42,080 mean. All of my children have Hebrew 1244 01:07:42,080 --> 01:07:46,000 names, and every single one of those names speak to a very 1245 01:07:46,000 --> 01:07:48,560 specific issue related to their existence. 1246 01:07:48,800 --> 01:07:52,880 And it's something we will teach them for the rest of their lives 1247 01:07:53,040 --> 01:07:57,320 so that they can appreciate how God for ordained them right? 1248 01:07:57,560 --> 01:08:01,680 How he basically preordained everything about their lives and 1249 01:08:01,680 --> 01:08:04,880 so it becomes critical for them to yield and submit to him 1250 01:08:05,200 --> 01:08:07,920 because of their very names that have been given to them. 1251 01:08:08,160 --> 01:08:10,920 So if you understood that, which most people wouldn't because of 1252 01:08:10,920 --> 01:08:14,240 the way you know, we are here in the West, then you'd understand 1253 01:08:14,240 --> 01:08:17,560 how valuable that is. So go to my study that I do, I 1254 01:08:17,560 --> 01:08:20,880 believe it's Genesis 10 where I, where I, I talk about this for 1255 01:08:20,880 --> 01:08:22,520 the first time. Or even more importantly, go to 1256 01:08:22,520 --> 01:08:25,920 my study on Matthew chapter 1 where I talk about the genealogy 1257 01:08:25,920 --> 01:08:27,840 of Jesus and it'll blow your mind. 1258 01:08:27,920 --> 01:08:29,560 You'll understand why they're very, very important. 1259 01:08:29,560 --> 01:08:30,800 And they are important by the way. 1260 01:08:30,800 --> 01:08:32,840 They are very, very important for that reason, because they 1261 01:08:32,840 --> 01:08:35,479 tell us way more than you can possibly imagine. 1262 01:08:37,479 --> 01:08:39,520 Next question comes from Jessica. 1263 01:08:39,840 --> 01:08:43,120 Where did people go when they died before Jesus came? 1264 01:08:43,840 --> 01:08:45,479 I think they go to heaven. If they were righteous, they'd 1265 01:08:45,479 --> 01:08:50,279 go to heaven if if they if they were not, they would go into 1266 01:08:50,279 --> 01:08:53,439 some kind of place that resembled hell, Not the lake of 1267 01:08:53,439 --> 01:08:55,800 fire, but some some place of punishment. 1268 01:08:55,800 --> 01:08:57,200 But actually heaven. How do I know that? 1269 01:08:57,760 --> 01:09:03,120 Because Jesus, as he is looking at the thief on the cross and 1270 01:09:03,120 --> 01:09:05,080 the thief on the cross, is asking for redemption. 1271 01:09:05,279 --> 01:09:08,319 He says today you will be with me in paradise. 1272 01:09:08,359 --> 01:09:11,319 OK, that word is heaven. He's talking about the place 1273 01:09:11,319 --> 01:09:15,800 where God abides. So that same word, by the way, 1274 01:09:15,800 --> 01:09:18,720 is the same word that we would use for Abraham's bosom when 1275 01:09:18,720 --> 01:09:22,120 that story is told. So understand this doctrine of 1276 01:09:22,120 --> 01:09:25,439 like a purgatory type structure where there's like a temporary 1277 01:09:25,439 --> 01:09:31,240 holding tank is not a biblical, is not a biblical precedent. 1278 01:09:31,439 --> 01:09:34,000 It's actually something that's based on something mythological 1279 01:09:34,160 --> 01:09:37,800 more than biblical. But I, I believe they're right 1280 01:09:37,800 --> 01:09:40,880 in heaven. Now where they stand in heaven 1281 01:09:40,880 --> 01:09:42,080 is a little bit different, right? 1282 01:09:42,160 --> 01:09:45,399 You know, the Saints that were prior to the time of Christ are 1283 01:09:45,399 --> 01:09:47,080 going to be in a slightly different category than the 1284 01:09:47,080 --> 01:09:48,920 Saints after the time of Christ, right? 1285 01:09:49,200 --> 01:09:51,600 And then of course, in the Jews, that will be dealt with 1286 01:09:53,240 --> 01:09:56,800 beautifully by the Lord, by the way, they will be in a, in a, in 1287 01:09:56,800 --> 01:09:59,280 a different category. So there's different people in 1288 01:09:59,280 --> 01:10:01,280 different categories from different dispensations. 1289 01:10:01,600 --> 01:10:03,080 But that's that's how that works. 1290 01:10:04,800 --> 01:10:06,840 Our next question comes from Fauna. 1291 01:10:06,840 --> 01:10:09,320 I've always thought that all of the references to any of the 1292 01:10:09,320 --> 01:10:12,440 Godhead were to be capitalized, but when reading, I kept coming 1293 01:10:12,440 --> 01:10:15,160 across a lot of he's and hymns that were lowercase that 1294 01:10:15,160 --> 01:10:17,240 reference God. Why is this? 1295 01:10:18,040 --> 01:10:21,120 Yeah. Typically the way it would work 1296 01:10:21,120 --> 01:10:25,760 with respect to capitalizations is you would see this typically 1297 01:10:26,160 --> 01:10:29,320 within the context when Jehovah God was being referred to. 1298 01:10:29,600 --> 01:10:33,240 Then you would see capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D 1299 01:10:33,960 --> 01:10:37,800 and there are many contexts in which the H for he referring to 1300 01:10:37,800 --> 01:10:41,480 God the Father would be used, but God the Son and God the Holy 1301 01:10:41,480 --> 01:10:44,000 Spirit sometimes not. And that just depends on the the 1302 01:10:44,000 --> 01:10:45,920 translation and how it was actually worded. 1303 01:10:46,120 --> 01:10:48,320 But that that would be the case right there, that would be the 1304 01:10:48,320 --> 01:10:51,160 reason. Next question comes from 1305 01:10:51,160 --> 01:10:53,560 Jasmine. How did people live to be more 1306 01:10:53,560 --> 01:10:55,800 than 700 years old? In Genesis 5? 1307 01:10:55,920 --> 01:10:58,000 We had a lot of people asking about the ages. 1308 01:10:58,640 --> 01:11:01,200 It's a it's a great question. And quite frankly, we just don't 1309 01:11:01,200 --> 01:11:05,960 know what our best guess is. Radiation affects the way that 1310 01:11:05,960 --> 01:11:09,880 we live, longevity. And the belief is, is that prior 1311 01:11:09,880 --> 01:11:13,560 to the flood, the canopy that existed around the earth, the 1312 01:11:13,560 --> 01:11:16,000 firmament that the Bible is talking about, filtered out the 1313 01:11:16,000 --> 01:11:17,840 kind of radiation that affected aging. 1314 01:11:18,360 --> 01:11:21,680 And it's very likely that they lived that length of time 1315 01:11:23,120 --> 01:11:25,320 basically because of that effect. 1316 01:11:25,360 --> 01:11:27,720 Now, it could have nothing to do with that, and it could be that 1317 01:11:27,720 --> 01:11:29,680 God just snapped his finger and said man will no longer live 1318 01:11:29,680 --> 01:11:32,840 this long anymore. That's something that God just 1319 01:11:32,840 --> 01:11:35,760 created, and it's just part of the ecosystem that he built in 1320 01:11:35,760 --> 01:11:37,800 this world. But my guess is it's probably 1321 01:11:37,800 --> 01:11:39,800 related to the firmament that existed prior to the flood. 1322 01:11:41,280 --> 01:11:44,920 Speaking of the flood, Jennifer says if God promised he would 1323 01:11:44,920 --> 01:11:47,720 never flood the earth again, does that mean that he regretted 1324 01:11:47,720 --> 01:11:50,040 doing so? If he regretted doing so, that 1325 01:11:50,040 --> 01:11:51,520 would mean God thought he made a mistake. 1326 01:11:51,520 --> 01:11:54,080 And God does not make mistakes, Yeah. 1327 01:11:54,440 --> 01:11:57,720 I think the regret is a different the word the word 1328 01:11:57,720 --> 01:12:00,640 regret here it would not be. I wish I never made that 1329 01:12:00,640 --> 01:12:03,200 mistake. The word regret is this is 1330 01:12:03,200 --> 01:12:05,640 regretful for me. In other words, I am saddened 1331 01:12:05,920 --> 01:12:09,320 that this happened. But we cannot conflate regret 1332 01:12:09,440 --> 01:12:13,000 for necessity or or or lack thereof. 1333 01:12:13,240 --> 01:12:18,240 So the idea here is that God was saddened by it, but that was the 1334 01:12:18,240 --> 01:12:19,600 case. Now what's important to 1335 01:12:19,600 --> 01:12:23,920 understand is God promised he wouldn't destroy the world by 1336 01:12:23,920 --> 01:12:26,000 flood again, but we know he's going to destroy the world by 1337 01:12:26,000 --> 01:12:28,440 fire. So it's just the way that he 1338 01:12:28,440 --> 01:12:31,480 chooses to destroy the world. That's kind of where that all 1339 01:12:31,480 --> 01:12:33,440 that went. By the way, that has a lot to do 1340 01:12:33,440 --> 01:12:35,800 with Babel and a bunch of other things that happened a little 1341 01:12:35,800 --> 01:12:38,160 bit after that time, which again, we could spend hours 1342 01:12:38,160 --> 01:12:39,640 talking about. But I think that's that's 1343 01:12:39,640 --> 01:12:40,800 probably the gist of it right there. 1344 01:12:42,080 --> 01:12:44,960 Thank you. We're going to skip down a 1345 01:12:44,960 --> 01:12:48,840 couple of questions down to Freda's question. 1346 01:12:48,840 --> 01:12:51,480 We had a couple in a row that were kind of similar. 1347 01:12:51,480 --> 01:12:54,520 So Freda says, I've wondered why some interpretations of the 1348 01:12:54,520 --> 01:12:58,040 Bible say you shall not kill, while other versions say you 1349 01:12:58,040 --> 01:13:00,560 shall not murder. Is there any historical evidence 1350 01:13:00,560 --> 01:13:02,960 that supports 1 interpretation over the other? 1351 01:13:03,280 --> 01:13:06,120 And then Marianne asks, please explain the difference between 1352 01:13:06,120 --> 01:13:09,080 the commandment, thou shall not kill and an eye for an eye. 1353 01:13:09,760 --> 01:13:11,320 Yeah, OK. Both very good questions. 1354 01:13:11,480 --> 01:13:15,680 First of all, murder is the term that we would understand. 1355 01:13:15,880 --> 01:13:17,920 Sometimes in translations you will see kill. 1356 01:13:18,920 --> 01:13:24,960 Kill is a word that tends to be more all all inclusive for us, 1357 01:13:25,720 --> 01:13:29,000 but the function is the premeditation tied to it. 1358 01:13:29,000 --> 01:13:33,360 So again, there are situations where you are justified in 1359 01:13:33,360 --> 01:13:36,280 taking another life and the Bible is not prohibiting those 1360 01:13:36,280 --> 01:13:41,520 moments where that takes place. And that's a very big massive 1361 01:13:41,520 --> 01:13:44,560 language issue that which by the way, when I go in that section 1362 01:13:44,560 --> 01:13:48,080 of Genesis, I cover. So that's kind of an important 1363 01:13:48,080 --> 01:13:53,080 thing to to be mindful of. OK, then also thou shall not 1364 01:13:53,080 --> 01:13:55,440 kill and an eye for an eye. They're do completely different 1365 01:13:55,440 --> 01:13:56,640 things. I just talked about thou shall 1366 01:13:56,640 --> 01:13:59,360 not kill an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. 1367 01:13:59,360 --> 01:14:01,200 Let me just tell you what that means. 1368 01:14:01,720 --> 01:14:09,720 It is not God saying that if you pluck out an eye that your eye 1369 01:14:09,720 --> 01:14:12,160 now must be plucked out. That's not what that says. 1370 01:14:12,600 --> 01:14:16,680 OK, the command eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, or that 1371 01:14:16,680 --> 01:14:21,520 statement eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, means if my eye gets 1372 01:14:21,520 --> 01:14:25,600 plucked out, I'm not allowed to cut a guy's head off. 1373 01:14:26,680 --> 01:14:32,200 In other words, the maximum infliction of retaliation that 1374 01:14:32,200 --> 01:14:35,360 can be brought would be the removal of his eye because of 1375 01:14:35,360 --> 01:14:42,600 the eye that he removed from me. It prohibits going beyond that. 1376 01:14:43,360 --> 01:14:46,360 OK, So I would never be good with the eye for an eye command 1377 01:14:46,360 --> 01:14:49,800 because you know, I'm, I'm, I can be a vindictive person. 1378 01:14:49,800 --> 01:14:52,120 So it's like, you know, you slap me in the face, I might throw 1379 01:14:52,120 --> 01:14:53,480 you on the ground and just keep kicking you. 1380 01:14:53,480 --> 01:14:55,760 You know what I mean? But the Bible says, no, you 1381 01:14:55,760 --> 01:14:58,840 don't do that. It's literally, you cannot go 1382 01:14:58,840 --> 01:15:00,200 beyond that which they did to you. 1383 01:15:00,200 --> 01:15:01,760 Then that's what that that's what that means. 1384 01:15:03,920 --> 01:15:06,840 Taylor asks. God doesn't punish or discipline 1385 01:15:06,840 --> 01:15:10,280 kids for their parents sins, so how was the 10th plague which 1386 01:15:10,280 --> 01:15:13,800 caused the death of Egypt's first born OK, Do these things 1387 01:15:13,800 --> 01:15:16,040 contradict each other? No. 1388 01:15:16,040 --> 01:15:17,600 They. Actually do not contradict one 1389 01:15:17,600 --> 01:15:19,800 another. The problem is this. 1390 01:15:19,800 --> 01:15:25,640 The problem is we oftentimes default to blaming God for what 1391 01:15:25,640 --> 01:15:29,840 He inflicts on people, when in reality we are the ones who 1392 01:15:29,840 --> 01:15:33,320 inflicted it upon ourselves. With respect to the plague of 1393 01:15:33,320 --> 01:15:37,760 the first born dying, the one caveat that most people don't 1394 01:15:37,760 --> 01:15:41,560 catch is the one that actually created the celebration of the 1395 01:15:41,560 --> 01:15:45,480 Passover, and that's this God said I'm killing the first born 1396 01:15:45,480 --> 01:15:48,600 of everybody. I'm taking it from the people in 1397 01:15:48,600 --> 01:15:52,480 Goshen, meaning the Jews and the Egyptians. 1398 01:15:53,120 --> 01:15:57,000 But anybody who does not want their first born to be killed 1399 01:15:57,920 --> 01:16:01,880 can kill the perfect lamb, put the blood on the doorposts of 1400 01:16:01,880 --> 01:16:04,560 their home and the death Angel will Passover. 1401 01:16:05,480 --> 01:16:11,080 So the people of Egypt who did not believe in the God of 1402 01:16:11,080 --> 01:16:16,200 Abraham, Isaac and Jacob made a decision to put their faith and 1403 01:16:16,200 --> 01:16:19,280 trust in a God that could not save them. 1404 01:16:19,920 --> 01:16:23,960 And as a result, they were the ones that added or allowed the 1405 01:16:23,960 --> 01:16:25,960 infliction of the pain of their children. 1406 01:16:26,240 --> 01:16:28,000 So you've got to think about it like this. 1407 01:16:31,160 --> 01:16:34,440 As parents, we make decisions that will bring grave 1408 01:16:34,640 --> 01:16:39,480 consequences to our children. And if we allow ourselves to do 1409 01:16:40,240 --> 01:16:44,600 those things, we are now held viable for what happened to our 1410 01:16:44,600 --> 01:16:47,800 children because our bad decision allowed our children to 1411 01:16:47,800 --> 01:16:49,760 be judged. I'll give you 1 great example of 1412 01:16:49,760 --> 01:16:52,280 this. My sister one day wanted to go 1413 01:16:52,280 --> 01:16:56,920 on a ride along with with me when I was a police chaplain in 1414 01:16:56,960 --> 01:17:01,000 Southeast Los Angeles County. And I called up one of my 1415 01:17:01,000 --> 01:17:03,240 partners and I said, hey, can we take her on a ride along? 1416 01:17:03,240 --> 01:17:05,200 I'll, I'll go with you. I'll jump in another unit. 1417 01:17:05,720 --> 01:17:07,840 Well, one of the very first calls my sister went to, 1418 01:17:07,840 --> 01:17:09,600 unfortunately, was a triple homicide. 1419 01:17:10,480 --> 01:17:14,040 The oldest victim of that triple homicide was 12 years old. 1420 01:17:14,040 --> 01:17:15,760 The youngest victim was six years old. 1421 01:17:16,880 --> 01:17:19,360 All three of those children had weapons in their hands. 1422 01:17:20,320 --> 01:17:23,160 All three of those children were present at a gangster party. 1423 01:17:23,880 --> 01:17:27,040 All three of those children were killed at the same time at 1:00 1424 01:17:27,040 --> 01:17:29,400 in the morning. The question that you have to 1425 01:17:29,400 --> 01:17:36,560 ask is where are the parents? If parents allow their children 1426 01:17:37,160 --> 01:17:40,560 to be put in those in those situations because they're bad 1427 01:17:40,560 --> 01:17:45,400 decision makers, you can't blame God for judging children for the 1428 01:17:45,400 --> 01:17:48,360 sin of their parents. The sin of their parents will 1429 01:17:48,360 --> 01:17:50,120 have consequences on the children. 1430 01:17:50,480 --> 01:17:53,640 As a matter of fact, God in His grace and His mercy often times 1431 01:17:53,960 --> 01:17:57,400 saves children from the consequences of their parents 1432 01:17:57,400 --> 01:17:59,600 terrible decisions more than He doesn't. 1433 01:18:00,200 --> 01:18:02,880 So it's it. There's a big difference between 1434 01:18:02,880 --> 01:18:06,280 God judging a kid because of their parents and parents doing 1435 01:18:06,280 --> 01:18:08,320 something that puts their children in immediate danger, if 1436 01:18:08,320 --> 01:18:10,600 that makes any kind of sense. It does. 1437 01:18:10,840 --> 01:18:12,720 It does. It's really good example. 1438 01:18:13,920 --> 01:18:17,240 Madeline has a question about the tower, Tower of Babel. 1439 01:18:17,600 --> 01:18:20,360 She says I'm confused about why a chapter in Genesis mentions 1440 01:18:20,360 --> 01:18:22,760 how there were many different languages and then it says later 1441 01:18:22,760 --> 01:18:25,560 how there was only one language. So I think Madeline's referring 1442 01:18:25,560 --> 01:18:28,840 to Genesis 10 five that says from these coastline people 1443 01:18:28,840 --> 01:18:30,160 spread their lands, each with their own language. 1444 01:18:30,160 --> 01:18:32,320 And then Genesis 11, the whole earth had one language. 1445 01:18:32,880 --> 01:18:34,640 Yeah, so. Madeline there's just been a 1446 01:18:34,640 --> 01:18:37,200 little bit of a, of a conflation there, maybe a little bit 1447 01:18:37,200 --> 01:18:39,360 backwards. They started speaking one 1448 01:18:39,360 --> 01:18:43,240 language and God and his grace and mercy broke them up from 1449 01:18:43,240 --> 01:18:46,480 speaking one language to making them speak multiple languages. 1450 01:18:46,640 --> 01:18:48,280 That's what the Genesis account says. 1451 01:18:48,440 --> 01:18:51,520 And by the way, that's a very important thing to keep in mind 1452 01:18:51,720 --> 01:18:54,320 because when they were building the Tower of Babel, God said 1453 01:18:54,520 --> 01:18:57,040 they will do anything they put their minds to. 1454 01:18:57,040 --> 01:18:59,400 Why? Because it was the combination 1455 01:18:59,400 --> 01:19:02,320 of all human intelligence that existed at that time. 1456 01:19:02,480 --> 01:19:04,120 And they were, they are all speaking one language. 1457 01:19:04,400 --> 01:19:08,120 And God and His grace and His mercy decided to judge them by 1458 01:19:08,120 --> 01:19:11,160 breaking up their languages. So they would not be able to 1459 01:19:11,160 --> 01:19:14,800 achieve what they knew or what we know to be the spirit of 1460 01:19:14,800 --> 01:19:17,560 Antichrist. Literally absolving themselves 1461 01:19:17,920 --> 01:19:21,000 of God's judgement because they themselves wanted to assume the 1462 01:19:21,000 --> 01:19:22,520 role of God. By the way, the reason why they 1463 01:19:22,520 --> 01:19:25,400 built that Tower of Babel, Josephus tells us, is because 1464 01:19:25,400 --> 01:19:28,760 they wanted to avoid a consequence of another flood. 1465 01:19:29,040 --> 01:19:31,400 And that's why they built it so tall, so they could avoid that 1466 01:19:31,400 --> 01:19:34,080 consequence and thus continue to maintain the role in the 1467 01:19:34,080 --> 01:19:36,560 position of God. God said, I'm going to stop you 1468 01:19:36,560 --> 01:19:38,600 from doing this by breaking up your languages. 1469 01:19:38,600 --> 01:19:40,760 That's why the time in which we Live Today is really scary, 1470 01:19:41,040 --> 01:19:44,120 because with AI, we all speak one language now. 1471 01:19:44,160 --> 01:19:46,240 And by speaking all one language, intelligence is 1472 01:19:46,240 --> 01:19:48,440 growing faster and faster and faster and faster. 1473 01:19:48,600 --> 01:19:51,760 But the way God will deal with this, this time eventually is by 1474 01:19:51,760 --> 01:19:53,320 destroying the world. And we know that that's going to 1475 01:19:53,320 --> 01:19:56,560 happen sooner than later. So Pastor James, would you say 1476 01:19:56,560 --> 01:19:59,800 just to elaborate on this, because I think Madeline's 1477 01:19:59,800 --> 01:20:04,600 issues maybe with the chronology that the multiple languages is 1478 01:20:04,600 --> 01:20:08,360 discussed in Genesis 10, but then it's Genesis 11 that talks 1479 01:20:08,360 --> 01:20:11,360 about one language. So could you speak to the 1480 01:20:11,360 --> 01:20:13,200 chronology there for her? Yes, thank you. 1481 01:20:13,640 --> 01:20:15,840 Thank you for the I, I misunderstood the question. 1482 01:20:16,520 --> 01:20:19,920 Yes, that's very easy. So let me explain how this works 1483 01:20:19,920 --> 01:20:22,240 because this also is very, very important, OK? 1484 01:20:23,600 --> 01:20:25,560 Genesis 10 is the table of nations. 1485 01:20:26,040 --> 01:20:29,920 It it tells us where everybody went and the languages that they 1486 01:20:29,920 --> 01:20:33,880 ended up speaking, OK? Genesis 11 is the story that 1487 01:20:33,880 --> 01:20:38,280 tells us how they got there. So Genesis 10 is the story of 1488 01:20:38,360 --> 01:20:40,120 these are who all these people are. 1489 01:20:40,600 --> 01:20:43,680 Genesis 11 goes back and tells us how it all began. 1490 01:20:44,200 --> 01:20:47,200 By the way, this is very common in Hebrew chronology. 1491 01:20:47,240 --> 01:20:50,600 OK, One great example of this Genesis chapter 1. 1492 01:20:50,960 --> 01:20:52,520 God created the heavens and the earth. 1493 01:20:53,080 --> 01:20:57,520 Then Genesis chapter 2, God begins to describe what he did 1494 01:20:57,520 --> 01:20:58,640 in creating the heavens in the earth. 1495 01:20:59,120 --> 01:21:00,640 God is the one who created heavens in the earth. 1496 01:21:00,720 --> 01:21:03,840 Well, he started with the earth becoming VO afoot, without form 1497 01:21:03,840 --> 01:21:05,320 and void. That's Genesis chapter 2. 1498 01:21:05,960 --> 01:21:09,000 Then in Genesis 1 we see the whole account of everything that 1499 01:21:09,000 --> 01:21:12,320 He created mankind, all the animals, all that stuff. 1500 01:21:12,680 --> 01:21:16,200 And then God goes back to the story of the creation of mankind 1501 01:21:16,440 --> 01:21:18,320 by explaining how Eve came about. 1502 01:21:18,640 --> 01:21:21,040 So God says he. The Bible tells us in Genesis 1503 01:21:21,040 --> 01:21:22,680 one that God creates man and woman. 1504 01:21:22,920 --> 01:21:28,400 But then later on in Genesis chapter 2, we see an account of 1505 01:21:28,480 --> 01:21:33,080 Adam existing before Eve was created, even though Genesis 1506 01:21:33,080 --> 01:21:37,720 chapter 1 says she was created. So what this is what happens if 1507 01:21:37,720 --> 01:21:39,720 think about it like if you're watching a modern day movie 1508 01:21:39,720 --> 01:21:41,240 today. You ever watched a movie or at 1509 01:21:41,240 --> 01:21:43,840 the very beginning of the movie you see like a police chase. 1510 01:21:44,040 --> 01:21:46,920 It's there are all kinds of crazy things going on and then 1511 01:21:46,920 --> 01:21:49,800 they get in an accident, some big crazy thing happens, an 1512 01:21:49,800 --> 01:21:53,000 explosion happens, all kinds of weird high action type stuff 1513 01:21:53,000 --> 01:21:54,560 happened. And then the screen goes black 1514 01:21:54,920 --> 01:21:58,920 and then it says 45 days earlier, and it takes you back 1515 01:21:58,920 --> 01:22:00,120 to something that happened in the beginning. 1516 01:22:00,320 --> 01:22:01,640 That's exactly what's happening here. 1517 01:22:01,800 --> 01:22:05,360 And by the way, that is very common for Hebrew storytelling, 1518 01:22:05,720 --> 01:22:07,960 which is actually what drove the way we ordered the books in 1519 01:22:07,960 --> 01:22:10,400 Genesis or the books of the Bible for your reading. 1520 01:22:10,680 --> 01:22:12,560 But it's the same thing. That's exactly what happened 1521 01:22:12,560 --> 01:22:13,680 here. Thank you, by the way, for that 1522 01:22:13,680 --> 01:22:15,400 clarification. I, I did not understand it 1523 01:22:15,400 --> 01:22:16,080 correctly. Yeah, No. 1524 01:22:16,360 --> 01:22:19,040 No problem. Our next question comes from 1525 01:22:19,040 --> 01:22:20,920 Lori. This one goes back to the book 1526 01:22:20,920 --> 01:22:22,920 of Job. God made a deal with Satan and 1527 01:22:22,920 --> 01:22:25,440 allowed him to ruin Job's life in order to test his faith and 1528 01:22:25,440 --> 01:22:28,520 prove that, prove that Job is faithful to God. 1529 01:22:28,880 --> 01:22:31,360 Do you think that all of our hardships in life are a result 1530 01:22:31,360 --> 01:22:33,360 of the spiritual war between God and Satan? 1531 01:22:33,360 --> 01:22:35,960 And if and that if, we are going through tough times, it's 1532 01:22:35,960 --> 01:22:37,640 ultimately God testing our faith. 1533 01:22:38,560 --> 01:22:40,680 Yeah, I think it's a little bit of all of that, believe it or 1534 01:22:40,680 --> 01:22:42,880 not. But now, is it Satan 1535 01:22:42,880 --> 01:22:45,040 specifically conspiring to destroy you? 1536 01:22:45,040 --> 01:22:48,440 No, probably not. I think it could be a demon. 1537 01:22:48,440 --> 01:22:49,640 I think it could be something like that. 1538 01:22:49,640 --> 01:22:52,080 But I think everything starts in the spiritual realm and I I 1539 01:22:52,080 --> 01:22:53,560 think we can improve that biblically. 1540 01:22:53,840 --> 01:22:55,360 So that's a. That's a great assumption to 1541 01:22:55,360 --> 01:22:57,400 make because it's predicated on truth. 1542 01:22:59,600 --> 01:23:02,040 Lynn asks. I'm curious about the priesthood 1543 01:23:02,040 --> 01:23:04,600 from the Old Testament. As I understand, the priest came 1544 01:23:04,600 --> 01:23:07,320 from the tribe of Levi and had to be descendants of Aaron. 1545 01:23:07,840 --> 01:23:10,840 Jesus, our great high Priest, is from the tribe of Judah and I'm 1546 01:23:10,840 --> 01:23:13,400 wondering why the change in tribe such a. 1547 01:23:13,400 --> 01:23:15,880 Phenomenal question. What a great You are a Bible 1548 01:23:15,880 --> 01:23:17,200 student. I love that, Lynn. 1549 01:23:17,400 --> 01:23:20,800 OK, Hebrews answers that question for us because that was 1550 01:23:20,800 --> 01:23:23,160 the question that the author of Hebrews is making. 1551 01:23:23,160 --> 01:23:25,960 You know, Paul, when he's writing this, which I believe it 1552 01:23:25,960 --> 01:23:28,920 was Paul that wrote it, he begins to make this argument 1553 01:23:28,920 --> 01:23:31,600 with the Hebrew church because these are Jews that he's writing 1554 01:23:31,600 --> 01:23:33,880 this letter to. And the problem with the Jewish 1555 01:23:33,880 --> 01:23:36,920 church at this point is they were saying, OK, we believe in 1556 01:23:36,920 --> 01:23:40,400 Jesus as our Messiah, but just in case, we're going to still go 1557 01:23:40,400 --> 01:23:41,720 to the temple and make sacrifice. 1558 01:23:42,200 --> 01:23:44,720 And the apostle Paul was saying, well, that sacrifice isn't going 1559 01:23:44,720 --> 01:23:48,560 to mean anything because Jesus is the superior sacrifice. 1560 01:23:48,880 --> 01:23:53,880 He's superior to the angels. He's the superior sacrifice that 1561 01:23:53,880 --> 01:23:58,400 you might experience redemption. And then he says that Christ is 1562 01:23:58,400 --> 01:24:02,360 the superior priest. Now, how could that be? 1563 01:24:03,440 --> 01:24:06,000 Jesus comes from the tribe of Judah. 1564 01:24:06,760 --> 01:24:10,280 You could not be a priest unless you came from the tribe of Levi 1565 01:24:10,720 --> 01:24:14,320 with the argument that the apostle Paul makes is that Jesus 1566 01:24:14,320 --> 01:24:17,840 did not come from the Aaronic priesthood, meaning from Aaron. 1567 01:24:18,080 --> 01:24:20,600 Why? Because Jesus came from what was 1568 01:24:20,600 --> 01:24:22,520 called the Melchizedekian priesthood. 1569 01:24:22,640 --> 01:24:25,480 We read about Melchizedek in Genesis. 1570 01:24:25,640 --> 01:24:29,320 Little bit later from the right around, I'd have to go back and 1571 01:24:29,320 --> 01:24:31,120 look at it. But you know, early Genesis we 1572 01:24:31,120 --> 01:24:35,880 read about Melchizedek. He was a priest that served by 1573 01:24:35,880 --> 01:24:37,400 the way. It's interesting. 1574 01:24:37,800 --> 01:24:40,480 He was interesting thing about Melchizedek. 1575 01:24:42,160 --> 01:24:48,680 He was actually called the king of Salem, OK, Melchor Shalom, 1576 01:24:49,240 --> 01:24:53,000 which basically Jesus is called the king of peace, the Prince of 1577 01:24:53,000 --> 01:24:54,400 Peace. Eventually who will become the 1578 01:24:54,400 --> 01:24:59,520 king of peace? What the what the writer of 1579 01:24:59,520 --> 01:25:03,680 Hebrews was saying was that Jesus did not come from the 1580 01:25:03,680 --> 01:25:08,560 Eronic priesthood because the Eronic priesthood is not a 1581 01:25:08,640 --> 01:25:11,680 priesthood that represents somebody who did not have to 1582 01:25:11,680 --> 01:25:15,480 sacrifice for himself. In other words, if the Eronic 1583 01:25:15,600 --> 01:25:18,640 priesthood existed, they had to make sacrifice for themselves. 1584 01:25:18,640 --> 01:25:21,240 We read about this in Leviticus early on in Leviticus, matter of 1585 01:25:21,240 --> 01:25:24,520 fact, the Leviticus chapter 8 and on you start looking at the, 1586 01:25:24,600 --> 01:25:26,440 the, the ceremony of consecration. 1587 01:25:26,440 --> 01:25:29,240 The priests had to sacrifice for themselves because they were 1588 01:25:29,240 --> 01:25:31,680 sinners in order to be able to sacrifice for everybody else. 1589 01:25:32,280 --> 01:25:35,080 The only priest that never had to do that would have been 1590 01:25:35,080 --> 01:25:38,480 Melchizedek. And what the argument that the 1591 01:25:38,480 --> 01:25:42,240 author of Hebrews is making is that Jesus comes from the 1592 01:25:42,240 --> 01:25:45,560 Melchizedekian line, not from the Auronic priesthood. 1593 01:25:45,840 --> 01:25:48,640 So Jesus came from the order of Melchizedek, which by the way, 1594 01:25:48,640 --> 01:25:52,000 it's interesting because Melchizedek is the only one 1595 01:25:52,240 --> 01:25:54,520 understood to be a priest who was also a king. 1596 01:25:55,280 --> 01:25:57,920 So he came from the line. And that order, which a lot of 1597 01:25:57,920 --> 01:25:59,960 people believe, Melchizedek, was actually an Old Testament 1598 01:25:59,960 --> 01:26:03,080 appearance of Jesus. So that's how that authority 1599 01:26:03,080 --> 01:26:05,040 gets established. And it's interesting because 1600 01:26:06,000 --> 01:26:09,360 when people say Jesus is king today, let me just explain 1601 01:26:09,360 --> 01:26:11,200 something that's very, very important. 1602 01:26:12,720 --> 01:26:17,240 Jesus in this moment is still the priest. 1603 01:26:18,080 --> 01:26:23,520 He becomes the king later on in Revelation where he rules in 1604 01:26:23,520 --> 01:26:29,080 perpetuity as a result of the Davidic promise made in the Old 1605 01:26:29,080 --> 01:26:31,280 Testament. That's why there are some people 1606 01:26:31,280 --> 01:26:35,880 right now who say Jesus is king as a way of basically brushing 1607 01:26:35,880 --> 01:26:40,240 off Jews because their mindset is well he's not your king 1608 01:26:40,240 --> 01:26:41,800 anymore because you guys are not valid. 1609 01:26:42,160 --> 01:26:43,840 Well, nothing could be further from the truth. 1610 01:26:44,480 --> 01:26:47,000 Christ is our high priest right now after the order of 1611 01:26:47,000 --> 01:26:50,840 Melchizedek, who will one day rule and reign as king forever 1612 01:26:50,840 --> 01:26:53,600 and ever. So it's a, it's a, it's a 1613 01:26:53,600 --> 01:26:57,000 complicated yet simple thing, but that's why it is what it is. 1614 01:26:57,040 --> 01:26:59,640 And that's it, Lynn, That's a brilliant question, by the way, 1615 01:26:59,960 --> 01:27:01,880 absolutely brilliant. I love that question. 1616 01:27:01,880 --> 01:27:04,720 That's that's a thinking, thinking person's question right 1617 01:27:04,720 --> 01:27:06,640 there. Go, Lynn. 1618 01:27:08,520 --> 01:27:11,120 We have Pastor James a handful more of questions. 1619 01:27:11,120 --> 01:27:12,960 I think we can power through them. 1620 01:27:13,360 --> 01:27:14,480 Let's do it. I mean, they're happy to. 1621 01:27:14,480 --> 01:27:18,160 They're big, but we can do it. But this first one comes from 1622 01:27:18,160 --> 01:27:19,800 Lexi. There are men in Genesis that 1623 01:27:19,800 --> 01:27:22,080 had multiple wives and servants they had children with. 1624 01:27:22,080 --> 01:27:24,120 Was God OK with that? Was it because there weren't 1625 01:27:24,120 --> 01:27:28,040 very many people on Earth yet? He wasn't OK with it because he 1626 01:27:28,040 --> 01:27:30,120 later let us know that he wasn't OK with it. 1627 01:27:30,320 --> 01:27:32,440 But men are imperfect and they do lots of things where they 1628 01:27:32,440 --> 01:27:34,520 walk in disobedience. And actually as early on in 1629 01:27:34,520 --> 01:27:37,760 Genesis we saw the consequence of men taking on multiple wives 1630 01:27:38,000 --> 01:27:40,480 and how that was a a detriment to them and how it created lots 1631 01:27:40,480 --> 01:27:42,480 of problems even though God worked despite it. 1632 01:27:44,360 --> 01:27:46,720 You'll find everyone, if you haven't cracked open the Bible 1633 01:27:46,720 --> 01:27:49,080 before, there's a lot of stories about a lot of people. 1634 01:27:49,080 --> 01:27:50,600 They're doing things they're not supposed to do. 1635 01:27:51,200 --> 01:27:53,320 Oh yeah. Yeah, God features the good, the 1636 01:27:53,320 --> 01:27:55,040 bad and the very ugly, that's for sure. 1637 01:27:56,680 --> 01:28:00,640 This question comes from Dee, why did God require sacrifices 1638 01:28:00,640 --> 01:28:03,960 of animals for atonement? So, and this was one Pastor 1639 01:28:03,960 --> 01:28:06,280 James, we've had a lot of new believers asking just to 1640 01:28:06,280 --> 01:28:10,040 understand animal sacrifice. Yeah, super important because 1641 01:28:10,040 --> 01:28:14,000 there's a consequence for sin, and sin requires death, and life 1642 01:28:14,000 --> 01:28:16,640 is in the blood. And actually, scientifically, we 1643 01:28:16,640 --> 01:28:19,120 know that now, right? You don't have life if you don't 1644 01:28:19,120 --> 01:28:21,240 have blood, and your blood doesn't work if you don't have 1645 01:28:21,240 --> 01:28:23,320 oxygen. And it's that whole ecosystem. 1646 01:28:23,720 --> 01:28:27,560 So the idea is animal sacrifice had to take place because blood 1647 01:28:27,560 --> 01:28:31,040 had to be shed in order to restore life where sin took that 1648 01:28:31,040 --> 01:28:34,240 life away. And that's why Jesus Christ, the 1649 01:28:34,240 --> 01:28:37,800 perfect Lamb of God, who took away the sins of the world, was 1650 01:28:37,800 --> 01:28:41,160 so critical, because he was the last time a lamb ever had to be 1651 01:28:41,160 --> 01:28:43,560 sacrificed in order for us to find redemption of sins. 1652 01:28:45,800 --> 01:28:50,320 Stacey wants to know Matthew 1820 is confusing for her. 1653 01:28:50,480 --> 01:28:52,400 She says, I thought God is with us always. 1654 01:28:52,400 --> 01:28:55,880 Why does it say if two or more gathered God is with us, isn't 1655 01:28:55,880 --> 01:28:58,440 he already there? And so for everyone that's not 1656 01:28:58,440 --> 01:29:01,240 got their Bible out, Matthew 1820 says for where two or three 1657 01:29:01,240 --> 01:29:03,520 are gathered in my name, there I am among them. 1658 01:29:04,240 --> 01:29:07,800 By far one of the most misquoted passages ever quoted. 1659 01:29:08,600 --> 01:29:11,320 I hear this all the time. Guys in ministry say, Lord, you 1660 01:29:11,320 --> 01:29:13,080 say we're two or three are gathered. 1661 01:29:13,080 --> 01:29:17,840 You're here in the midst wrong. That's not a that context has 1662 01:29:17,840 --> 01:29:20,760 nothing to do with God always being with us. 1663 01:29:21,240 --> 01:29:25,520 That passage has everything to do with confrontation. 1664 01:29:25,760 --> 01:29:27,880 It has everything to do with going to somebody and 1665 01:29:27,880 --> 01:29:32,080 confronting them for their sin. And the and the idea is you go 1666 01:29:32,080 --> 01:29:35,280 to that one-on-one. If they have erred, OK, If they 1667 01:29:35,400 --> 01:29:38,160 if that person that you confront does not receive what you're 1668 01:29:38,160 --> 01:29:40,320 saying, you bring in another witness. 1669 01:29:40,360 --> 01:29:43,840 If they don't receive, you bring in the church and if they don't 1670 01:29:43,840 --> 01:29:46,480 receive, then in essence, you have nothing to do with them. 1671 01:29:46,480 --> 01:29:48,360 Why? Because we're two or three are 1672 01:29:48,360 --> 01:29:50,040 gathered. I am there in the myths. 1673 01:29:50,040 --> 01:29:53,520 In other words, as you go to confront them, I will be with 1674 01:29:53,520 --> 01:29:55,920 you. I will be backing you as you go 1675 01:29:56,120 --> 01:29:58,040 confront. In other words, you will put the 1676 01:29:58,040 --> 01:30:02,440 weight of my acceptance to this behind you. 1677 01:30:02,880 --> 01:30:06,480 That's what that. Means. 1678 01:30:07,320 --> 01:30:08,680 Can I? Can I Can I also really quickly 1679 01:30:08,680 --> 01:30:10,440 comment on this because it is kind of an important thing. 1680 01:30:10,600 --> 01:30:11,920 I just want people to understand this. 1681 01:30:13,320 --> 01:30:17,360 When Moses goes before the burning Bush and God tells him 1682 01:30:17,360 --> 01:30:21,680 to go to the Pharaoh, Moses asks a question that I think is 1683 01:30:21,760 --> 01:30:24,360 really important. Some people say he must have 1684 01:30:24,360 --> 01:30:26,360 been crazy asking this question because it's obvious. 1685 01:30:27,080 --> 01:30:30,480 He says if I'm going to go to the Pharaoh basically, and I'm 1686 01:30:30,480 --> 01:30:33,640 paraphrasing this, tell me who sent me? 1687 01:30:33,720 --> 01:30:36,440 Who should I tell him sent me that? 1688 01:30:36,440 --> 01:30:38,120 Some people say what a crazy question. 1689 01:30:38,880 --> 01:30:41,920 Well, it's not a crazy question because here's the question that 1690 01:30:41,920 --> 01:30:44,640 I would ask. When is the only time that a 1691 01:30:44,640 --> 01:30:48,200 private has more authority then maybe a general? 1692 01:30:49,680 --> 01:30:52,320 Well, the private has more authority than the general when 1693 01:30:52,320 --> 01:30:54,440 he acts on the word of his commander in chief. 1694 01:30:55,920 --> 01:30:58,880 So if I'm, if I'm a guy that has no authority, but yet my boss 1695 01:30:58,880 --> 01:31:02,160 comes to me and says I need you to go do this, I will actually 1696 01:31:02,160 --> 01:31:04,440 have more authority than all the other people that rule over me 1697 01:31:04,600 --> 01:31:06,760 because I'm going on the authority of the one who carries 1698 01:31:06,760 --> 01:31:10,920 the ultimate decision making. So the same thing happens here. 1699 01:31:11,400 --> 01:31:15,000 Jesus is saying when you go and do this confrontation, I will be 1700 01:31:15,000 --> 01:31:18,360 with you because in other words, I want you to know you have my 1701 01:31:18,360 --> 01:31:19,720 authority when you confront them. 1702 01:31:19,720 --> 01:31:20,960 That's what that basically means. 1703 01:31:22,320 --> 01:31:25,760 And Pastor James, you brought up Pharaoh, and I did respond to a 1704 01:31:25,760 --> 01:31:29,560 lot of emails from readers about why God, you know, the passage, 1705 01:31:29,560 --> 01:31:32,000 what describes God hardening Pharaoh's heart? 1706 01:31:32,320 --> 01:31:34,600 So I don't have a specific reader here that asked that, but 1707 01:31:34,600 --> 01:31:36,920 I know that's on a lot of people's minds, and I suspect 1708 01:31:36,920 --> 01:31:39,120 there are many wondering if you want to touch on that, too. 1709 01:31:39,360 --> 01:31:41,200 Yeah, the. Subject of God hardening 1710 01:31:41,200 --> 01:31:42,320 Pharaoh's heart was really simple. 1711 01:31:42,320 --> 01:31:45,680 Let me give you the language translation for this so it's a 1712 01:31:45,680 --> 01:31:48,440 little bit easier to understand. Linguistically speaking. 1713 01:31:48,440 --> 01:31:51,280 What it's saying is God made hard the position that Pharaoh 1714 01:31:51,280 --> 01:31:53,080 already had. That wasn't going to change. 1715 01:31:53,920 --> 01:31:56,760 OK, In other words, Pharaoh, you're stubborn. 1716 01:31:56,880 --> 01:31:58,120 You don't want to change your mind. 1717 01:31:58,280 --> 01:32:01,240 No problem, I will encapsulate it into eternity. 1718 01:32:01,360 --> 01:32:03,120 Here you go. I'm honoring what you have to 1719 01:32:03,120 --> 01:32:04,800 say. I'm hardening your position. 1720 01:32:05,840 --> 01:32:07,000 That's that's basically what he's saying. 1721 01:32:07,000 --> 01:32:09,240 So it's not saying that God took Pharaoh, who had a soft heart 1722 01:32:09,240 --> 01:32:12,560 and made it hard. It was no, I am making permanent 1723 01:32:12,720 --> 01:32:14,720 the decision that you have made to harden yourself. 1724 01:32:14,720 --> 01:32:17,600 That's what that means. Thanks for touching on that. 1725 01:32:17,600 --> 01:32:19,120 I think that's going to help a lot of people. 1726 01:32:20,000 --> 01:32:23,640 Marlise wants to know why is it that Jesus so often tells the 1727 01:32:23,640 --> 01:32:25,400 people he healed not to tell anyone? 1728 01:32:25,640 --> 01:32:28,200 Isn't the goal for everyone to know Jesus and be able to 1729 01:32:28,200 --> 01:32:31,400 recognize him as the Son of God? And these works would be evident 1730 01:32:31,400 --> 01:32:34,160 of that, yes. Today, that would absolutely be 1731 01:32:34,160 --> 01:32:35,640 the goal. At the time that Jesus's 1732 01:32:35,640 --> 01:32:38,800 ministry was going on, it was very important that the timing 1733 01:32:38,800 --> 01:32:42,440 of many things were happening in a very, very specific way 1734 01:32:42,600 --> 01:32:45,680 because the chronology of what Christ did while he was on this 1735 01:32:45,680 --> 01:32:48,120 earth was super critical, especially as it relates to the 1736 01:32:48,120 --> 01:32:51,040 fulfillment of Bible prophecy and so many other areas, which 1737 01:32:51,040 --> 01:32:53,040 is why Jesus would say don't do this right now. 1738 01:32:53,200 --> 01:32:59,680 It would be for that reason. Kathy asks about circumcision in 1739 01:32:59,680 --> 01:33:01,160 the Bible. What does it mean? 1740 01:33:01,160 --> 01:33:03,920 I've seen passages about an uncircumcised heart or 1741 01:33:03,920 --> 01:33:06,680 uncircumcised lips. I think this is symbolic, but I 1742 01:33:06,680 --> 01:33:08,840 don't understand the symbolism. Please help. 1743 01:33:09,600 --> 01:33:13,800 Yeah, really simple. So as a Jew, if you were a male 1744 01:33:14,000 --> 01:33:16,560 on the 8th day, you were supposed to be circumcised. 1745 01:33:17,280 --> 01:33:19,640 It was something that was actually required. 1746 01:33:19,880 --> 01:33:24,400 And early on, those people who were first made as Jews, they 1747 01:33:24,400 --> 01:33:27,440 would be circumcised. Very painful thought to think 1748 01:33:27,440 --> 01:33:29,560 about it. And so the idea here was the 1749 01:33:29,560 --> 01:33:33,520 circumcision of a Jew was to show that you belonged to the 1750 01:33:33,520 --> 01:33:36,280 God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It was a symbol of your 1751 01:33:36,280 --> 01:33:39,600 commitment. And so the idea here regarding 1752 01:33:39,600 --> 01:33:42,640 the circumcision of the heart means you're removing the 1753 01:33:42,640 --> 01:33:46,200 foreskin, so to speak, of your heart, the, the, the, the 1754 01:33:46,200 --> 01:33:49,880 worldliness of your heart in order to dedicate yourself to 1755 01:33:49,880 --> 01:33:52,240 the Lord. And that's what the circumcision 1756 01:33:52,800 --> 01:33:55,680 of Christ would be. That's the picture that's being 1757 01:33:55,680 --> 01:33:58,040 created. Circumcised of heart means that 1758 01:33:58,040 --> 01:34:01,280 you are now dedicating yourself to the Lord, allowing your heart 1759 01:34:01,280 --> 01:34:03,840 to be renewed. It's a symbol of dedication. 1760 01:34:05,840 --> 01:34:09,240 Jennifer says the conversation of hell has come up many times 1761 01:34:09,240 --> 01:34:11,200 recently. Whether or not there's even a 1762 01:34:11,200 --> 01:34:13,200 hell and if it's an eternal consciousness for the 1763 01:34:13,200 --> 01:34:15,680 unbeliever. In the Old Testament, when she 1764 01:34:15,680 --> 01:34:18,120 all is mentioned, it is my understanding it is a place for 1765 01:34:18,120 --> 01:34:20,680 both righteous and unrighteous bodies were often placed. 1766 01:34:20,920 --> 01:34:23,640 It is also my understanding that she all is referring to hell. 1767 01:34:23,840 --> 01:34:26,400 What are the best scriptures to reference and what is the best 1768 01:34:26,400 --> 01:34:29,200 way to explain to someone who does not believe in hell that 1769 01:34:29,200 --> 01:34:33,160 hell exists? OK, so this is a long study. 1770 01:34:33,240 --> 01:34:36,280 I do have multiple studies on hell that I would recommend that 1771 01:34:36,280 --> 01:34:39,360 you go over at jameskadis.com. You could just go there and 1772 01:34:39,360 --> 01:34:43,040 search hell And, and, and I talk about this. 1773 01:34:43,920 --> 01:34:46,640 There are some assertions made in this question that are not 1774 01:34:46,640 --> 01:34:49,600 accurate. Like for example, many people 1775 01:34:49,600 --> 01:34:52,440 believe that hell would refer to a place where good and bad 1776 01:34:52,440 --> 01:34:55,040 people existed. That is not the general belief 1777 01:34:55,480 --> 01:35:00,920 that existed in in Judaism. Now, again, there are lots of 1778 01:35:00,920 --> 01:35:05,440 arguments that go back and forth, especially in different 1779 01:35:05,440 --> 01:35:08,480 writings by different rabbis who thought about different things. 1780 01:35:09,120 --> 01:35:11,000 But hell, let me just simply say this. 1781 01:35:11,160 --> 01:35:13,520 Hell is a place that Jesus talked about more than heaven. 1782 01:35:13,640 --> 01:35:15,120 The Bible talks about more than heaven. 1783 01:35:15,520 --> 01:35:18,800 It's a very real place and is a place for eternal punishment and 1784 01:35:18,800 --> 01:35:20,400 judgement. And the Bible makes that very 1785 01:35:20,400 --> 01:35:24,480 clear. We've got four more scripture 1786 01:35:24,480 --> 01:35:27,520 questions left. Four more questions I should say 1787 01:35:27,520 --> 01:35:30,520 because a couple are from YouTube, but our last reader 1788 01:35:30,520 --> 01:35:34,680 submission is from Jennifer. Why doesn't God talk to us 1789 01:35:34,680 --> 01:35:37,240 audibly anymore like he did with Moses or Job? 1790 01:35:37,680 --> 01:35:40,600 Reading Genesis and Exodus, it feels so direct back then. 1791 01:35:40,800 --> 01:35:43,440 What changed? And reading the Bible does 1792 01:35:43,440 --> 01:35:45,440 really show God talk to people out loud. 1793 01:35:45,720 --> 01:35:49,160 First time reading for the Bible for this beginner or from 1794 01:35:49,160 --> 01:35:51,120 beginning to end and this really stands out to me. 1795 01:35:52,000 --> 01:35:55,440 Yeah, so this is awesome. The Bible actually tells us what 1796 01:35:55,440 --> 01:35:57,520 happened. The book of Hebrews says that 1797 01:35:57,520 --> 01:36:01,960 God spoke through prophets and spoke in essence, the audible 1798 01:36:01,960 --> 01:36:03,320 way in which you're describing today. 1799 01:36:03,320 --> 01:36:05,880 He speaks through his word. Now, can God still speak to 1800 01:36:05,880 --> 01:36:07,320 somebody audibly? Of course he can. 1801 01:36:07,320 --> 01:36:08,800 He's God. He does that. 1802 01:36:09,000 --> 01:36:10,800 Does he speak to us still to this day? 1803 01:36:11,000 --> 01:36:13,880 Absolutely. He does through a still small 1804 01:36:13,880 --> 01:36:16,800 voice often times. But I do want to encourage you 1805 01:36:16,800 --> 01:36:19,480 with one thing, and that is don't make the mistake of 1806 01:36:19,480 --> 01:36:22,240 assuming that God spoke audibly to every single person that we 1807 01:36:22,240 --> 01:36:24,680 read about in the Bible that God spoke to Jeremiah. 1808 01:36:24,680 --> 01:36:28,040 For example, we know for a fact how God spoke to Jeremiah. 1809 01:36:28,280 --> 01:36:31,360 God spoke to Jeremiah by putting up thought in his mind and then 1810 01:36:31,360 --> 01:36:33,760 confirming the circumstance. And we actually have evidence of 1811 01:36:33,760 --> 01:36:36,440 that when Jeremiah went to go buy that piece of land. 1812 01:36:36,640 --> 01:36:37,840 And by the way, I have a study on that. 1813 01:36:38,040 --> 01:36:39,880 You can go online and you can read that as well. 1814 01:36:40,120 --> 01:36:42,040 So that's the story there. And I think it's a very 1815 01:36:42,040 --> 01:36:44,480 important one. They didn't have what we have 1816 01:36:44,480 --> 01:36:46,760 today. And that is the complete counsel 1817 01:36:46,760 --> 01:36:49,400 of God, that we might be able to understand His voice in any 1818 01:36:49,400 --> 01:36:52,560 situation or any circumstance. Thank you. 1819 01:36:53,480 --> 01:36:55,560 We've got three questions from YouTube. 1820 01:36:55,840 --> 01:36:58,800 We don't have names on these with people's usernames, 1821 01:36:58,800 --> 01:37:01,480 obviously. So the first one says, do you 1822 01:37:01,480 --> 01:37:04,040 believe in having a prayer journal or just speaking to God 1823 01:37:04,040 --> 01:37:06,920 only? I think it's good for both. 1824 01:37:07,520 --> 01:37:11,320 I tend to be one that speaks to God and doesn't really journal 1825 01:37:11,320 --> 01:37:14,280 much in terms of my prayers. I did it early on, but the way 1826 01:37:14,280 --> 01:37:17,800 my brain works, I see my words and my thoughts in my brain. 1827 01:37:18,120 --> 01:37:20,920 Lots of people don't. I know there's lots of people 1828 01:37:20,920 --> 01:37:22,920 who actually journal and it's very good for them. 1829 01:37:24,160 --> 01:37:27,760 And so I think it's a, it's entirely up to you on that one. 1830 01:37:29,520 --> 01:37:32,600 We touched on this a little bit, but this reader says it's my 1831 01:37:32,600 --> 01:37:34,720 understanding that there were two forbidden trees. 1832 01:37:34,720 --> 01:37:37,400 One was the Tree of Knowledge and the second was the Tree of 1833 01:37:37,400 --> 01:37:38,520 Life. Is that true? 1834 01:37:39,960 --> 01:37:42,040 Well, no, they're being conflated. 1835 01:37:43,480 --> 01:37:45,240 It's kind of an interesting thing. 1836 01:37:45,240 --> 01:37:47,360 The tree of life is a different tree than the tree of the 1837 01:37:47,360 --> 01:37:52,280 knowledge of good and evil, which there is even debate as 1838 01:37:52,280 --> 01:37:54,840 into whether or not it's located in the same garden. 1839 01:37:54,840 --> 01:37:58,440 We read more about the tree of life in in Revelation. 1840 01:37:58,440 --> 01:38:03,400 There is a direct connection there, but the the one that is 1841 01:38:04,440 --> 01:38:07,160 forbidden is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 1842 01:38:07,160 --> 01:38:12,600 Now the tree of life there, The tree of life is a, is a, is an 1843 01:38:12,600 --> 01:38:19,480 issue of accessibility. Obviously, those who refuse to 1844 01:38:19,480 --> 01:38:21,640 put their faith and trust in Christ are not going to be able 1845 01:38:21,640 --> 01:38:23,640 to touch the tree of life. They're they're forbidden from 1846 01:38:23,640 --> 01:38:26,240 doing it. And they that in and of 1847 01:38:26,240 --> 01:38:28,160 themselves will perish as a result of their decision to 1848 01:38:28,160 --> 01:38:32,280 reject God. And the last question here, what 1849 01:38:32,280 --> 01:38:34,560 is fasting and why is it important? 1850 01:38:36,080 --> 01:38:38,840 Fasting is denying yourself of something that you would 1851 01:38:38,840 --> 01:38:41,960 normally consume in order to keep your mind on the spiritual 1852 01:38:41,960 --> 01:38:44,080 issue. So it could be you skipping out 1853 01:38:44,080 --> 01:38:45,800 on one meal. It could be you skipping out on 1854 01:38:45,800 --> 01:38:47,720 multiple meals. It could be you simply not 1855 01:38:47,720 --> 01:38:51,160 eating for a period of time. And the idea of doing that is at 1856 01:38:51,160 --> 01:38:54,080 the moment that you are refraining from eating the food 1857 01:38:54,360 --> 01:38:56,200 that you are keeping yourself from eating. 1858 01:38:56,480 --> 01:38:59,800 It should cause you to focus a little bit on your hunger and 1859 01:38:59,800 --> 01:39:03,280 then motivate you to pray. By the way, I've always noticed 1860 01:39:03,280 --> 01:39:04,760 this. I believe it's true. 1861 01:39:04,760 --> 01:39:08,640 I believe it's real. Fasting causes you to gain a 1862 01:39:08,640 --> 01:39:12,800 certain level of clarity spiritually, and that's why it's 1863 01:39:12,800 --> 01:39:15,960 so important on so many levels. It's a spiritual activity, and 1864 01:39:15,960 --> 01:39:18,200 it's one that God rewards and honors. 1865 01:39:19,800 --> 01:39:22,880 All right. And that's a wrap for these. 1866 01:39:22,880 --> 01:39:23,680 We did it. Yeah. 1867 01:39:23,800 --> 01:39:26,880 We got there all our scripture questions, YouTube questions. 1868 01:39:27,280 --> 01:39:30,480 We got plenty more lifestyle. So for all of you who asked, 1869 01:39:30,480 --> 01:39:32,640 we're going to do our best to get those in the future, but 1870 01:39:33,440 --> 01:39:34,920 these were great questions. Awesome. 1871 01:39:35,560 --> 01:39:41,880 That that is great and I know that God is going to be with you 1872 01:39:41,880 --> 01:39:44,280 guys as you dig in and you dig deep. 1873 01:39:44,320 --> 01:39:49,040 And you know, I mentioned this before I even said it when we 1874 01:39:49,040 --> 01:39:51,920 were at Amfest, I, I had brought it up. 1875 01:39:52,280 --> 01:39:56,440 And that is the fact that there is this real opportunity to put 1876 01:39:56,440 --> 01:40:00,040 more faith and trust in the Lord, gain trust in the Lord by 1877 01:40:00,040 --> 01:40:03,920 studying Bible prophecy. And, and that's a tool that God 1878 01:40:03,920 --> 01:40:08,400 has made available for us in his word. 1879 01:40:08,600 --> 01:40:11,560 And we, I do believe we have tools available for this online. 1880 01:40:11,560 --> 01:40:14,240 I think there's a link to my book that I just wrote on 1881 01:40:14,600 --> 01:40:16,760 Revelation. That you can grab. 1882 01:40:16,760 --> 01:40:20,240 We even have it on paper book, a paperback that will walk you 1883 01:40:20,240 --> 01:40:22,800 through the Old Testament as you're going through the Book of 1884 01:40:22,800 --> 01:40:26,240 Revelation Part 2 comes out by the way, later on this later on 1885 01:40:26,240 --> 01:40:28,680 at the end of the month. But we have lots of resources 1886 01:40:28,680 --> 01:40:32,160 like this that will help you be able to better understand the 1887 01:40:32,160 --> 01:40:37,520 word of God and just find faith and trust in what he has to say 1888 01:40:37,800 --> 01:40:41,080 because the promises he makes are real and, and they and they 1889 01:40:41,080 --> 01:40:43,760 absolutely come true. I also want to say this, if it's 1890 01:40:43,760 --> 01:40:46,560 OK, if I, if I can take the liberty to do this really 1891 01:40:46,560 --> 01:40:52,800 quickly, please pray. Please pray for Erica. 1892 01:40:53,480 --> 01:40:56,000 Please pray for the team at Bible and 365. 1893 01:40:56,000 --> 01:40:58,880 Please pray for the folks at Turning Point. 1894 01:41:00,680 --> 01:41:02,080 I'm going to just simply say this. 1895 01:41:02,160 --> 01:41:05,200 I think the devil absolutely hates Erica. 1896 01:41:05,600 --> 01:41:08,840 I think the devil hates the people at Bible in 365, 1897 01:41:09,520 --> 01:41:13,160 especially Bible in 365. And yes, Turning Point, because 1898 01:41:13,160 --> 01:41:18,440 I think that the enemy does not want people reading the Bible. 1899 01:41:18,840 --> 01:41:21,480 The enemy does not want people getting closer to the Lord. 1900 01:41:21,960 --> 01:41:25,520 The enemy does not want people coming to a saving knowledge of 1901 01:41:25,520 --> 01:41:29,040 Christ. Please pray, spend time praying, 1902 01:41:29,280 --> 01:41:33,840 spend time asking God to protect them because they have a very, 1903 01:41:33,840 --> 01:41:35,880 very difficult job. If you can think about it. 1904 01:41:36,280 --> 01:41:39,720 Pray for the whole team at Bible in 365 and there's some really 1905 01:41:39,720 --> 01:41:44,800 amazing people. Pray for all of Erica's team and 1906 01:41:44,800 --> 01:41:47,920 Erika herself and the children. We do it every night. 1907 01:41:48,080 --> 01:41:53,840 We, we pray every single night by name for all of these people 1908 01:41:53,840 --> 01:41:55,920 that I'm talking about because it's important. 1909 01:41:56,080 --> 01:41:57,600 And I want to ask you guys to do that. 1910 01:41:57,840 --> 01:42:01,280 And I also want to say this, and I know I speak on behalf of 1911 01:42:01,280 --> 01:42:05,080 Erika when I say this, we're so honored to serve you. 1912 01:42:06,200 --> 01:42:09,160 Like I just wish you would know how much we love you and, and 1913 01:42:09,160 --> 01:42:13,640 how much of an honor it is for me to be able to do what I do in 1914 01:42:13,840 --> 01:42:19,240 loving on you and ministering to you and giving you, showing you 1915 01:42:19,240 --> 01:42:22,960 the grace of God. You are all very special people, 1916 01:42:23,360 --> 01:42:27,720 and we will forever be grateful for the honor and the privilege 1917 01:42:27,720 --> 01:42:30,800 that we have to bring this to you, that you might be able to 1918 01:42:30,800 --> 01:42:34,120 grow in your walk with the Lord. Absolutely. 1919 01:42:34,240 --> 01:42:37,920 I feel the exact same way. And and just know all of you, 1920 01:42:38,600 --> 01:42:41,560 we're praying for you too. And like Pastor James said, you 1921 01:42:41,560 --> 01:42:46,000 know, the enemy wants nothing more than to get the Bible away 1922 01:42:46,240 --> 01:42:49,160 and out of people's hands. And so especially, you know, 1923 01:42:49,160 --> 01:42:51,520 I've received several emails personally, I'm sure other 1924 01:42:51,520 --> 01:42:54,040 members of our team have gotten them, but we've had people have 1925 01:42:54,040 --> 01:42:56,720 reached out already worried that, you know, maybe they're 1926 01:42:56,720 --> 01:42:59,280 falling a little behind or they feel a little discouraged 1927 01:42:59,280 --> 01:43:01,440 because they don't understand everything yet. 1928 01:43:01,760 --> 01:43:05,040 And I know Pastor James, me, the whole team, just want to say 1929 01:43:05,080 --> 01:43:09,000 absolutely just stick with it. Stay in the word, keep learning. 1930 01:43:09,000 --> 01:43:11,840 It's OK that you, I mean, listen, Pastor James is very 1931 01:43:11,840 --> 01:43:14,520 smart and you heard him say himself, there's things he 1932 01:43:14,520 --> 01:43:18,520 doesn't know, you know, And so just don't be embarrassed, Don't 1933 01:43:18,520 --> 01:43:21,320 be discouraged. It's just wonderful that you're 1934 01:43:21,320 --> 01:43:25,040 reading and God is going to continue to reveal himself to 1935 01:43:25,040 --> 01:43:28,600 you in his word. And so just just be encouraged 1936 01:43:28,600 --> 01:43:31,240 and and stick with it. It's we're here to serve you. 1937 01:43:31,680 --> 01:43:34,360 We're all in. This is a community together, so 1938 01:43:35,360 --> 01:43:37,800 we're praying for you too. And Pastor James, would you pray 1939 01:43:37,800 --> 01:43:39,520 for our community and, and pray us out? 1940 01:43:40,280 --> 01:43:41,560 Absolutely. Let's do that. 1941 01:43:41,560 --> 01:43:43,440 Father. I just thank you so much, Lord, 1942 01:43:43,440 --> 01:43:45,240 for your goodness and your faithfulness, Lord. 1943 01:43:45,680 --> 01:43:48,960 I thank you, Lord, for the fact that you are so good to us, 1944 01:43:48,960 --> 01:43:52,320 Lord, Your love and your mercy continues, Lord. 1945 01:43:52,320 --> 01:43:55,120 To never be cut short from us, Lord. 1946 01:43:56,000 --> 01:43:59,200 Lord, I just pray, God, for all of the words that have been 1947 01:43:59,200 --> 01:44:02,200 shared, that they will have been your words, Lord, not mine. 1948 01:44:02,320 --> 01:44:04,440 That Lord, you'd be honored through this time that we've had 1949 01:44:04,440 --> 01:44:07,080 together as a fellowship of believers. 1950 01:44:07,520 --> 01:44:10,640 Lord, we also pray for your hedge of protection upon all of 1951 01:44:10,640 --> 01:44:13,800 these, your people, Lord, that you would watch over them and 1952 01:44:13,800 --> 01:44:15,520 protect them. Lord, we thank you so much, 1953 01:44:15,520 --> 01:44:18,560 Lord, for Kate and the team. Pray that you would bless them. 1954 01:44:18,560 --> 01:44:21,800 We thank you so much for Erica, Lord, we pray your blessing upon 1955 01:44:21,800 --> 01:44:25,880 her and upon the babies. I pray that you would bind Satan 1956 01:44:26,440 --> 01:44:30,080 from seeking to destroy any of them Lord, and that Lord you 1957 01:44:30,080 --> 01:44:32,840 would have your perfect way in all of this. 1958 01:44:33,000 --> 01:44:34,280 So Lord, we love you and thank you. 1959 01:44:34,280 --> 01:44:36,680 We look to you and we ask these things now. 1960 01:44:36,680 --> 01:44:38,640 In Jesus name we pray. Amen. 1961 01:44:39,400 --> 01:44:41,920 Amen. Thank you, Pastor James. 1962 01:44:41,920 --> 01:44:45,320 We're so grateful for you. It's an honor, love you and I 1963 01:44:45,320 --> 01:44:48,760 cannot wait to do the next one. We won't keep doing these Q and 1964 01:44:48,760 --> 01:44:51,680 as they're going to be fun, yes. Everybody, we will get you a 1965 01:44:51,680 --> 01:44:54,360 date as soon as possible. But yes, way more to come. 1966 01:44:56,600 --> 01:44:57,560 God bless you guys.