WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:01:18.000 Welcome to the live stream. My name is Mike Winger, here to help you learn to think biblically about everything. First question for today. Is it possible that something's missing in the sufferings and, uh, the pain and the sacrifice of Jesus? Colossians 124 says that something is, quote, lacking in the afflictions of Christ. Some people say this verse teaches, Paul is going to suffer for the salvation of others. Can we help pay for other people's sins? That's the question. Now, this is kind of connected to the roman catholic doctrine of the treasury of merit, this belief that there are, there actually are people who are out there, saints, like, they're ones who have more than enough good works in their life to merit their own salvation. They take the blood of Jesus plus the things that they've done, and this is what gets them into heaven, right? Initial forgiveness, but final justification that comes with their works, um, added to what Jesus did. And so then you die, you avoid, you avoid purgatory, or you finish dealing with purgatory, you get into heaven, you're officially a saint according to the Catholic Church. And then we have these works that you've done that have helped pay for the temporal punishments of other people's sins. And this is one of the verses I've heard used to support that. Let's look at the verse now together. 2 00:01:18.000 --> 00:04:07.000 Paul, uh, says here in Colossians 124, now I now rejoice in my sufferings for you. This is Paul saying he's suffering for them. Does that sound salvific, like he's suffering? Well, read on and fill up in my flesh, what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the church. This is standalone. This is a verse I've heard used by Roman Catholics, uh, to say, in even conversation, to say, hey, look, Paul himself is suffering for others. This is, this connects to our doctrine of the treasury of merit. Let me briefly explain a little bit more about that treasury of merit thing, and then we'll talk about this verse in context and answer the question. Does the Bible support the idea that other, that you suffer for the payment of other people's sins to expiate their sins? Might be a fancy way to put it. So, in roman catholic doctrine, there are certain people who have, um, they've made it all the way to heaven, not just because they've died, because there's plenty of people who died who may still be in purgatory. On catholic doctrine, um, though many modern Roman Catholics treat purgatory like it's just an instantaneous thing. Um, that's not the classic understanding of purgatory, and it's a little bit in conflict with their doctrine of what saints are, what official saints are. At any rate, there are certain people who've sort of done enough good works. Their initial justification came through Jesus, but then their final justification, because they split salvation into those two categories that came not only through the works of Jesus, but also through their own merits. Paul is a saint, right? Mother Teresa is, I believe, a saint. Right? Put in the canonization status of saint, these people have done enough good merits to not only have themselves in heaven, but to have extra works that are then shoved into, like, think of it as a spiritual bank account, this treasury of merit. And the treasury of Merit is used to help other people get out of purgatory and sort of get, you know, get rid of the temporal punishment for their sin so that they might get into, ultimately, heaven, God's presence. How do you get access to this treasury of merit? How do they unlock. They open this. It's got Jesus's works, it's got Mary's works, and it has the works of all the saints who've done more than enough in their own, you know, justification. They. They take the keys. Remember, the pope has the keys. He takes the keys. This is all metaphorical. He unlocks and opens the treasury of merit, and he dispenses out the good works of Jesus, Mary and the. The saints to help people, say, cut down their time in purgatory to get what's called indulgences. Now, many think that in, um, Roman Catholicism, there are no indulgences. Uh, no, that's not true. They've reformed since Martin Luther's day, they've reformed some of the ways they sell indulgences, the ways that those things are transacted. Um, but the indulgences themselves are still part of catholic doctrine. 3 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:14.000 Just Google catechism of the catholic church indulgences, and you'll see it's right there. Modern. This is modern teaching. 4 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:39.000 That's what the treasury of merit does. The treasury of merit is like the spiritual currency, um, that is used to help pay for the temporal punishments of people who are currently in purgatory. This is why, at a roman catholic funeral, you're going to pray for the dead. The prayer for the dead is like, lord, let them out of purgatory. This is part of the reason for the prayer for the dead. Let's get some indulgences for them. 5 00:04:39.000 --> 00:05:15.000 This verse is what's used to support that doctrine, at least by some Catholics. Okay. Not every Catholic uses it. Some would probably say, no, I would never you that verse, but some have. And so let's, let's address it and let's find out. Is colossians talking about Paul paying for the sins of others in some sort of sacrificial sense, like the things he's suffering are paying for the things that others have done wrong. So biblically speaking, the background of this is that the sacrifice of Jesus is finished. We're going to look at Hebrews ten as you guys are loading all your questions in. I'm going to take ten questions today. This is the first one. Hebrews ten. 6 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:22.000 Uh, sorry. Verse ten through 18. Let's read this to get an idea of the finality of the sacrifice of Jesus. 7 00:05:22.000 --> 00:06:14.000 Is there anything left to pay for sin? And the answer is going to be no. But let's look at the verse of scripture to establish this, because I'm going to argue that the Colossians passage is about suffering, not about sacrifice. It's about pain, but it is not about propitiation. It is not about expiation. It's not about those fancy words to mean paying for sin. It is about suffering. But not all suffering is payment for sin. When I stub my toe, I'm not paying for sin, even though I am suffering. There's a difference. So here in verse ten of Hebrews ten, it says, but by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. Once for all. I've been sanctified once for all. Let's read on. There's a finality in what Jesus did for us. This is beautiful news. This is wonderful news. This is liberate you from the fear of paying, uh, for your sins after you die, if you're in Christ, if you truly know Jesus Christ. 8 00:06:14.000 --> 00:07:18.000 Verse eleven says, and every high, every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. This is a description of the Old Testament priest, the old covenant priest, who just always there's another sacrifice. Always there's more to do. Never ends. Morning sacrifices, evening sacrifices, feast sacrifices, people bringing different kinds of offerings, free will offerings and sin offerings and all sorts of different things. It never, ever ended. But this man, after Jesus, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. Now the parallel here is between standing and sitting. The priests stood. There was no sitting in the, in the temple. Jesus, after he sacrificed, he sat down, meaning he's done. He's done from that time, waiting till his enemies are made as footstool. Four by one offering, he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. Ah, uh, I'm still being sanctified. God's still working in my life to purify my. My life, my behavior, my obedience. I still deal with sin. I still deal with pride. I still deal with all those same issues. 9 00:07:18.000 --> 00:09:23.000 But I don't need to pay for my sins. I don't need to suffer to pay for my sins, to expiate my sins, to be. To be cleansed in a salvific sense, in a sacrificial sense. There's none of that, because Jesus has perfected forever those who are even still being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witness, witnesses to us. We read on, for after he had said before, now quoting the Old Testament, uh, the scripture, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts and into their minds. I will write them. Then he adds their sins and their lawless deeds. I will remember no more. Now, where there is remission of these. Remission of what? Sins and lawless deeds. There is no longer an offering for sin. You catch that? There's nothing to add. You can't add anything more to what Jesus did. Paul could suffer all day long, and he would not be presenting an offering for sin in any way, shape or form, because his suffering is not salvific. Because Jesus finished that on the cross, you know, in John, 1930, where Jesus says it is finished on your screen there, this is. This is the clear proclamation that it's done. What jesus did on the cross, his death was enough to pay for every sin, all sin, period. Not just sins before you knew Jesus, not just sins that the day you got saved and baptized, not just the sins you did last week, but the sins you haven't even done yet. What Jesus did stands as the continual, ongoing solution to sins that have not even yet happened. Uh, it's this one ultimate pillar of grace and forgiveness that we just look back to. We just look upon the cross, and there is enough grace for us today. Beautiful stuff. Beautiful stuff. So then what is going on when Paul says he's filling up what's lacking in the afflictions of Christ? What is this talking about? Well, here's where there's actually kind of a cool trail in scripture to talk about this. In acts nine, when we read about Paul, um, getting saved. 10 00:09:23.000 --> 00:10:05.000 Um, let me just give us a little bit of the backstory for Paul. He's persecuting the church. Um, he's attacking christians, and he encounters Jesus. And there's something that Jesus then says to him that gives you context for what Paul's talking about in Colossians, when he says, I am suffering the afflictions. What's lacking in the afflictions of Christ? So Saul's breathing out threats. He's taking letters to go to synagogues in Damascus, to find anyone there and bind them like in chains and ropes and bring them to Jerusalem to be prosecuted. Verse three. As he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? 11 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:19.000 Do you catch this? Jesus says, uh, Saul, you're persecuting me. Yet Saul's persecution of the church takes place after the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus. Jesus is not physically around. Who's Paul persecuting? 12 00:10:19.000 --> 00:10:33.000 Anybody who believes in Jesus. Right. Verses one and two. Men or women. Anybody that's believing in Jesus, he's attacking them. Jesus says, uh, if you persecute them, you persecute me. 13 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:52.000 Who is the church? Scripturally, the church is the body of who? Christ. And so when you persecute an attack and when the body of Christ is suffering, Jesus views it as his own suffering, not atoning sufferings. That's all been done on the cross, but ongoing suffering that Jesus is continuing to experience. 14 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:58.000 This is connected to what Jesus says in Matthew 25, verse 40. 15 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:04.000 He says, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me. 16 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:08.000 If you do it to Jesus people, you're doing it to Jesus. 17 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:45.000 That's why he says, Saul, why are you persecuting me? So when I suffer for the. For the cross, when I suffer for my faith in Christ, the person causing me to suffer is persecuting Jesus, and the person suffering me is sharing in the afflictions of Christ, just not atoning for anything, but I am sharing in the afflictions of Christ. So this is also, uh, connected in acts nine, the same chapter, same section where Paul's getting saved, where Jesus says to Ananias, this guy who's going to be sharing truth with Paul soon, he says, for I will show him Paul, how many things he must suffer for my name's sake. 18 00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:56.000 Paul was persecuting Christians and therefore persecuting Jesus. But later, Paul would get saved, and he would be the one person getting persecuted in the name of Christ. 19 00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:03.000 So in Colossians, when Paul says, um, I'm filling up what's lacking in the afflictions of Christ. 20 00:12:03.000 --> 00:14:16.000 He is merely saying, I'm the one now suffering as the body of Christ, as I do evangelism. Let me share with you a bunch of verses from Colossians to support this, because context is king. Context will give us more details. So Colossians 118. Okay, we're backing up a bit. Verse 18, speaking of Jesus, he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning from the first, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have the preeminence. In the context, Paul's already discussing how Jesus is the head and we're the body. When Jesus talks about Paul, it's persecuting him. It's because we're the body and Jesus is the head. Same concept here present in the text. In verse 20 it says, and by him to reconcile all things to himself, by him, whether things on earth or in heaven, that's. This is now about salvation. Jesus is the one who accomplishes our salvation by himself, not by me. Not, not me as his agent even. No, no. Just purely by himself. He's going to reconcile me to heaven having made peace through the blood of his cross. That's past tense, isn't it? The cross, past tense made peace with God, not a temporary ceasefire. Now that God, you know, give me some grace and if I'm good enough, eventually, you know, and if I maybe add some more suffering for my own sins, then eventually I can get to heaven. But none of that. None of that. No, the peace is there. You're at peace with God through Christ. End of story. The full salvation story is accomplished on the cross. Then you've got, um, verse 21. And you who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled. Past tense, has reconciled how? In the body of his flesh, through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight, you get presented with all those qualities, holy, blameless, above reproach. If you just continue in the faith, if you're just a genuine believer, there's a genuineness to your faith. Um, powerful stuff. In verse, uh, 23, we have that statement that it's conditioned on true faith. And this is the same as what we get in two Timothy one eight nine. 21 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:27.000 Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share with me in this, in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God. 22 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:44.000 Paul writes to Timothy. And he's like, hey, Timothy, don't be ashamed of the, of the, of the shame I have. I'm in prison. I'm spoken badly against. People hate me. They believe bad things about me. Um, but don't you dare worry about that shame. Consider that merely suffering for the sake of the gospel. 23 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:46.000 Don't be ashamed of that. 24 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:51.000 Rejoice when you are persecuted for his name's sake, for great is your reward in heaven. 25 00:14:51.000 --> 00:15:07.000 This is the thing. So this whole idea, um, of Paul saying suffering for Christ is very much about, he's experiencing persecution as he preaches the gospel so that other people might get saved. Did you know that colossians is one of the, what's called the prison epistles? 26 00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:10.000 These are epistles Paul wrote when he was in prison. 27 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:43.000 So when he writes these epistles from prison, he often talks about the fact that he's in prison. This could stumble or cause fear for the people reading his letters and thinking about his ministry. And he's like, I have no shame in this. I rejoice that God is using my suffering to proclaim the gospel to others. When he writes to the Colossians and he's in prison for the gospel, he can say to them, I'm filling up what's lacking in the afflictions of Christ, his body, for the sake of sharing the gospel with others, not to save them, but to bring them the message of salvation. So there's just a difference. Not all suffering is salvific is the point. 28 00:15:43.000 --> 00:15:51.000 I could go on. There's other verses I could share, but I think that we get the point. Um, we're saved by the cross. 29 00:15:51.000 --> 00:16:15.000 Maybe I'll, maybe I'll just share this one last verse. Colossians chapter two, verse 13 and 14, where Paul describes salvation in the same book, where some would use it to suggest that there's this treasury of merit thing, and you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he is made alive together with him having forgiven you all trespasses. How many? All of them. 30 00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:43.000 You went from dead to alive in Christ. You were apart from God. Now you're connected to God. You are forgiven all your trespasses. Yes, but Mike, don't, can't I contribute to that or can't make Mary and her good works contribute to that? No. Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, there are no, there isn't even a standard you're violating anymore. There is no judgment for those who are in Christ. Christ has already dealt with it. 31 00:16:43.000 --> 00:17:05.000 When did he do it? Which was contrary to us. He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. The cross is where your salvation is accomplished. It is not in Paul's sufferings, it is not in yours. It is nobody, nowhere else. Beautiful good news, beautiful gospel. Well, then, Mike, aren't people just going to go in sin and do anything they want to do? 32 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:12.000 Christians are not kept from sin through threat of hell. We are kept from sin through love of Christ. 33 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:17.000 We love him who first loved us. That is our motive. That is what we need to emphasize. 34 00:17:17.000 --> 00:18:19.000 Are there still consequences? Can there be such a thing as temporal consequences for sin? Yes, yes, yes. But temporal punishments for sin, where you're expiating your own sin and where you're like, you have a treasury of merit, and the pope and they're opening the vault to bring out indulgences for you because enough people are praying, or maybe perhaps you're donating money. Um, you're doing other good works. You do a pilgrimage, and you take a trip to a special catholic location, or you make sure to follow the pope on Twitter. There was a time where he gave out indulgences for people who would really sincerely follow his social media. Um, this type of thing is not biblical. Not at all, not remotely. So I hope that that helps. Let's go to your guys questions now. And, um, just bringing those up. Question number two. Kelly Drowell says, can you address the belief that churches should only meet in homes, that church buildings are unbiblical and pastors should not be paid, uh, questioning if this is biblical. Thanks. Yeah, there's a bunch of questions there. Let's try to tackle them one at a time. 35 00:18:19.000 --> 00:19:41.000 So there are many out there who are excited about home churches, and that is not a bad thing. I want to preface it by saying this. That is not a bad thing. And I'm not just being diplomatic here. It's not a bad thing to meet in homes and to say, I want to do, like, a home fellowship. I feel like, um, the large churches, we have a tendency to show up and then leave, and we're anonymous and we're not involved, and nobody knows me and I don't know them. And this does happen. It doesn't always happen. It's not like every large church is like that. They're not. And it's not like every family who goes to a large church is that disconnected. But it does happen. Right? It does happen. So some people say, well, home churches, you know, home churches are a solution. Well, they can be, they can be a solution. But I've also noticed this. And the people that I've known who were really committed to the home church movement that, that embedded in that was often a bitterness and a jaded attitude towards anybody who wasn't meeting in a house. And it's not always the case, but it does happen. Okay? And it's, this is just common. Um, I think to humans is that we look and we go, you know, I have a way of doing things that I really love. And so anybody who does it different, they must be wrong and maybe they're wrong and maybe they're doing something very bad in the way they do things different. But it is our tendency to overreact to things. I know this because I'm the same way. Okay? So I try to be aware of it. Like I have this little awareness, little alarm that goes off in my head is what they're doing wrong or am I just not used to that? 36 00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:46.000 Um, yeah, there are no rules in scripture about the size of your building. 37 00:19:46.000 --> 00:20:48.000 There just aren't. And you know, the early church, in acts, they met in homes. That's true. They met house to house. They were meeting. But we also have events where they're meeting in larger locations. So in the upper room in the beginning of acts when the Holy spirit comes, which you would say must have been a great meeting and a great place to be. At least that day, there's, uh, over 100 people, 130 people or whatever crammed into this one room. Probably just a rich dude had this house or this building that they were meeting in the early church, met in those types of homes. And when the church is under persecution, it does continue to meet in homes. That's of necessity when persecution is happening. But they would also speak at the temple. In the book of acts, there were also gatherings at the temple. You don't get a more religious building than the temple. In the courtyard and all these large areas. Jesus himself had gatherings where they would meet, uh, on a hillside and you go, well, there wasn't a building. And I think we're just being pedantic here. He had massive christian gatherings, right? Where he's preaching the gospel, he's healing the sick and he's got feeding 5000 people. 38 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:52.000 Um, those things obviously are not off limits. 39 00:20:52.000 --> 00:23:41.000 The question is not the size of your church. The question then would be the health of your church. Not the building size, but the health of the people, the body of Christ that's there. And realizing that every size church has potential setbacks. The big churches things tend to be shallow. They don't, they're not always, but they tend towards shallowness. They tend towards people who aren't really connected to the body of Christ. They tend towards neglecting the gifts of the people in the body. Because you have 400 people, 1000 people sitting under just a handful of ministers. So that most of the people have sort of dormant gifts. They're not really exercising those gifts. Um, those are things that happen. There's other problems too. Money and power and abuses. Those things can come alongside large organizational churches. Uh, uh, small home churches have problems too. And the problems of, of cliques, of, of, uh, uh, of having certain people that are, that are power hungry. Uh, just because you're only over like a church with like eight people, it doesn't mean you're not a megalomaniac. And so I've seen that happen, too, where, where people get a little off the rails. And maybe because the church is so small, there aren't enough people to really hold leaders accountable. That. I'm not saying that always happens. There's just potential shortcomings in every size church. I think that we need to be aware of that. There's no solution to, um, these problems. That's just going to fix. We're always going to have human issues that show up in any organizational style for a church, in any governmental style of how many elders you have and all that kind of. There's always going to be things that pop up and you have to deal with. So, yeah, we, uh, overreact if we just say small, only median homes, um, pastors should not be paid is another statement that you have there, Kelly, that you've heard. So pastors should not be paid. Scripture actually says the opposite about this. It. Well, okay, let me. It doesn't say the total opposite. Here's the balance. Scripture says, and I'm not. I'm going to move kind of quick for the sake of time here because it's just question number two. But scripture says, um, that we should, in fact be paying people who are, who are working, doing work for ministry. But it also says that those people can't be doing it for dishonest gain and they should not be lovers of money. And so there's the balance. Right? So paying your pastor a fair wage, depending on how much time, this is important. Depending on how much time he spends doing ministry, that's entirely fair. Is he full time doing ministry, then? He should probably get a full time wage that just matches the congregation, the living situation of the people. If you're living in a city, uh, where people are basically poor, why are you living really rich and they're poor? That's not fair. I don't think. If you're living in a situation where people are more wealthy and they're better off, and the cost of living where you live is a lot higher, the pastor should probably be paid more. That makes sense to me. I don't have a hard and fast rule. Those are just some of my own general ideas, but, um. 40 00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:50.000 But they should be paid. Uh, let me give you a scripture on this. 41 00:23:50.000 --> 00:24:01.000 Uh, first Timothy, chapter five. Let the elders who rule well, here it is. Who rule well be counted worthy of double honor. 42 00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:45.000 Double honor is probably a colloquial saying that is talking about payment. Uh, does it mean literally double? Like, you know, the ones we really like, we pay twice as much? I'm not saying it means literally double, but it is suggesting that there's remuneration, financial remuneration, for the elders who spend a lot of time, especially those who labor in word and doctrine. It is a labor to spend time poring over the scriptures and really studying. And you're not just downloading AI sermons from the Internet. You don't deserve a job, but you're actually pouring over the scriptures and you're really spending time on it and energy, and you're there ministering to the body, and you're there for counseling, and you're there for all this stuff. I think that that guy should be paid. 43 00:24:45.000 --> 00:25:41.000 And that's what scripture is saying here for. The scripture says, you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain. This is actually a quote of the Old Testament where, um, it's a law about animal rights in scripture, so treating animals humanely, to muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain is to keep the ox from grazing while it's walking. It just kind of grabs a mouthful of grain and chews the cud. But you muzzle the ox because you're not even going to let the ox do that. This is just considered, um, cruel and not allowed. And Paul's applying it here to pastors. You have a pastor who's laboring and working. He did 40 hours that week. The next week, he did 60 hours. He did 75 hours the next week because he was up with you late at night in the hospital when your. When your daughter got in a car accident. And he came and he spent time with you and pray with you. And he was meeting people, um, after. After normal work time, because he's doing marriage counseling for this family. That's struggling. And then people are like, he shouldn't get paid a dime. 44 00:25:41.000 --> 00:26:24.000 That's an extreme attitude to have to think that people who are working full time jobs, that's a job and you are working full time or more to think that you should do it for free and not get paid. The only thing this does is it causes pastors to not be able to be employed by the church. And so you can only ever have a part time pastor. You got to work full time somewhere else to pay for his housing and his family and everything. And then he does ministry, and if he's really committed, he'll probably, probably be pretty poor. That doesn't seem just. It's not biblical, though. The laborer is worthy of his wages. That's the other quote. And the idea here is, yeah, you should pay people who work. This is just a rule of life. I don't hire somebody to do my lawn and then tell them, you should do this for free. 45 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:43.000 That that would be abuse on my part. I don't bring in a pastor and ask them to minister and serve the congregation full time or even 20, 30 hours, 20 hours a week. Let's say 15 hours a week, every week labor and then think, and you deserve nothing for that. 46 00:26:43.000 --> 00:27:47.000 That would be cruel on my part. That would be cruel on my part. Now, I'm not employed by any church guys. I'm not saying this to secure my own paycheck or wages. Um, my wages come through bible thinker, the ministry, and people who do freely offer to support it. But this is a little different. I don't think that you owe me money because you watch my YouTube videos. I'm not doing local church ministry. I have a much different kind of ministry. I don't think it's the same things relate. All right. You should be, um, paying your local pastors who minister and serve in the congregation, and they. And they're. And they rule well. They're. They're good at. They're good at what they're doing. They're serving God. Well, um, they, they deserve to be paid and they deserve to be paid fairly. If they're doing it to get rich, that is an evil sin in the eyes of God. If you pay them to make them wealthy, you motivate people into ministry through money. So you shouldn't be overpaying leaders either. There's a danger there as well. So the labor is worthy of his wages. That's what the text says. Um, let's see if I can. I think it's one Peter five is the other verse I'd share on this. 47 00:27:47.000 --> 00:28:38.000 The elders who are among you, I exhort. I, who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed. That's such a cool thing to think about. Just stop and think about that, shepherd, the flock of God, which is among you, serving as overseers. I love that even though you're in charge, you're serving. Your power is to serve. It's beautiful. Not by compulsion, but willingly. Not for dishonest gain, but eagerly dishonest gain would be somebody who is putting on any kind of pretense in ministry, doing any kind of fakery in their ministry, doing any kind of manipulation in their ministry to get people to give more money, perhaps because they're seeking to bring in more funds, because then they can have their wages go up. That's something that God will. God will judge. There's a balance there. Um, yeah. All right, I'll move on to Filigapi's question number three. 48 00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:46.000 Mike, how would you convey that we are not worthy of salvation, but we still have worth to God? Thank you for your ministry. 49 00:28:46.000 --> 00:29:10.000 Um, how would I convey that? Um, so in, um, Jonah, in the book of Jonah, we know the story. Jonah goes out to Nineveh. A lot of people don't realize how bad Nineveh was. Nineveh had done some horrible, horrible things historically to the Israelites. Jonah had personal reasons. 50 00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:17.000 He knew the people and stories of all the horrible stuff that they'd done. So Jonah gets called to go out there and reach out to Nineveh. 51 00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:23.000 Uh, Jonah doesn't care about the ninevites the way that God does. God cares about them a lot. 52 00:29:23.000 --> 00:29:34.000 Here in verse eleven of Jonah, chapter four, after everything happens, the whole story, you guys know the story, it says, and should I not pity Nineveh, that great city? 53 00:29:34.000 --> 00:30:00.000 God pities Nineveh, that great city. Is it great morally? No, no, no. It's great in that there's a lot of people there. God values those people. It's a large city, lots of people, in which are more than 120,000 persons who cannot discern between the right hand and their left hand and much livestock. These, I think, is talking, uh, well, I'm inclined to think it's talking here about children. 54 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:29.000 The issue, though, is that they have this, uh, value. Here's kids who, by any standard, any christian standard, have fallen sinful nature, yet they still have this value before God, where he cares for them, he pities them, he loves them. I think that we should see that as value, but they're not worthy. Like, they can earn their own salvation. They, you know, there's still sin just invading and pervading every human. 55 00:30:29.000 --> 00:30:33.000 I think that we see that. That's kind of how God treats us. 56 00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:53.000 Um, there's an, there's a sense in which we're worthless, and that is in the sense of presenting myself as righteous, earning my own forgiveness, earning my salvation, trying to stand before God and say, I don't deserve to be judged. I have no value there. I have nothing to present. I am spiritually, morally in debt, but I am made in the image of God. 57 00:30:53.000 --> 00:31:13.000 I am created in God's very image. And there's great value that's there in every person for that reason. It's just not a moral value that can be exchanged for salvation. Does that make sense? There's different kinds of value. So I look at somebody like, you could use the ultimate example everybody seems to agree on is Adolf Hitler. 58 00:31:13.000 --> 00:31:15.000 Horrible, um, horrible human being. 59 00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:21.000 The fact that he died without, to my knowledge, without repenting and putting his trust in Christ is still a tragedy. 60 00:31:21.000 --> 00:32:11.000 He had, you know, will suffer judgment for his sins and punishment for all he did. But it's still sad that someone made in the image of God did such wicked things and then went that route. But he deserves it, but it's still a tragedy. This, um, is where God, even himself says, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Why wouldn't, that's a text of scripture that says that why would God have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but would rather them turn and live? It's because they do have value, just not currency of righteousness that they can give. I hope that that explains. That's my understanding of it, you guys. I hope that, uh, people can work through this because some of the rhetoric that we get, especially from the calvinist side, can present people as though they are, in fact, without value. 61 00:32:11.000 --> 00:32:40.000 Another, um, example of this, though, in scripture, I say some of the rhetoric catch. I'm not saying Calvinism teaches that people have no value. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying some of the rhetoric that's on that side can come across that way. Um, but another verse for this would be God's, uh, laws about murder here. Long after the fall of man, some with, some would try to say we lost God's image in the fall. I think most christians would not say that. But long after the fall of man, we have God giving the law to Israel and he says, you shall not murder. 62 00:32:40.000 --> 00:33:55.000 Right? In fact, this is even something that comes before the law, something that comes in the time of Noah. So the rules that God gives, sort of Noah right after the ark stuff, and he's like, hey, if a man murders another man, his life will be taken, right? Because why? Because man has value. You don't have to look at the guy and go, is he saved? Then he has value. Or is he a pagan? Then he doesn't have value. It doesn't matter. You murder somebody, you have murdered a person made in the image of God. They have immense value. You kill, uh, a cow and eat it. That is not the same as doing that to a person, because our value is there. I hope that makes sense. This is one of the great contributions to the world that Christianity has brought culturally is this idea of human value, that humans have intrinsic, incredible intrinsic value. Being made in God's image. We're fallen, we're sinful, we have incredible moral debt before God that we need grace for, but our value is still there. We have amazing value. That is not the case in other worldviews. I was just reading an article about, uh, the hindu caste system and how they just genuinely view some people as of lower value, part of their karmic understanding of reincarnation and all that. And it's all wrong, but it treats certain humans as, like, the dal, eat the untouchables. It's like, is it even worth educating you people? 63 00:33:55.000 --> 00:34:06.000 You're of lower value than us. And things have moved in positive directions, but that's probably because of the influence of Christianity bleeding into the worldview of many people in India. 64 00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:10.000 So human value, that's a big deal. 65 00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:17.000 Question, uh, number four, what sacrifices and offerings is Gabriel talking about in Daniel 927? 66 00:34:17.000 --> 00:35:02.000 Let's look at Daniel 927. And if you guys haven't checked it out, I encourage you, please check out. And if you're up for it, share my video on Benny Hinn. I did one big video called, like, benny Hinn, 30 years of spiritual deception. And that video, I would like to see it continue getting traction because, um, as long as his ministry is still alive, then I want hopefully that video still be shared. Um, there's people being hurt all the time, and if we. If we can help make people aware of not only that Benny Hinn is, like, a bad guy, but what's wrong with his ministry. The specific details, you see what's wrong with his ministry. If people start to see that, then they'll get eyes to see it, and they'll see it all over the place. They'll see it when they look at other people's ministries. They'll look at Kenneth Copeland and go, oh, you're like. 67 00:35:02.000 --> 00:35:29.000 You're like of the same cloth. They'll look at others doing the same thing. And then as, uh, that awareness pervades culture, pervades even christian cultures, like in South Africa, where they desperately need to know this stuff, they'll start to realize that their local pastor has been going down that same route. And then they'll be endorsing and supporting more biblical and more godly leaders. I really feel it will have a big impact in a big way. So I hope that stuff gets shared. All right. Daniel 927. 68 00:35:29.000 --> 00:36:51.000 This is deep in prophecy here. Deep, deep in prophecy here. It says, then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. But in the middle of the week, he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even the consummation which is determined. Until the consummation which is determined is poured out on the desolate. Okay, this is a q and a, so I'm going to shortcut the explanation here. I take a premillennial view of in time events, meaning that I think Jesus is going to be reigning, uh, on the earth for a thousand years, and that event has not yet happened before that time. There is a tribulation that does take place. I do think that is the biblical view. I could be wrong. I will link below a video I have on. I think it's five different christian views of the end times where I go through five very different perspectives. I have that dispensational progressive, dispensational premier view. Yeah, that's complicated. But basically thousand years is coming. Most of you probably are in this camp, at least the majority, I think. So I don't need to explain it in too much detail. Uh, this to say here, this I take, is talking about that tribulation period, right? This antichrist tribulation period. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. But in the middle of the week, that seven year period. That one week is a seven year period. I could explain why, but that's another video for much longer. But that the days are years and the weeks are weeks of years in Daniel, I think that much is very clear. 69 00:36:51.000 --> 00:37:20.000 Um, but in the middle of the week, so about three and a half years in, he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And what is that about? That's your question. Um, so I would view it this way. My short answer in the seven year tribulation time, there is a rebuilding of the temple in Israel. That's why a lot of people are talking about the red heifer and the temple Institute in Israel. They're like, is this in times? Maybe it is. I don't know. I don't indulge in as much speculation as many do because I've been burned before. 70 00:37:20.000 --> 00:39:17.000 Um, it'll happen in God's timing. I don't make assumptions about that stuff, but I do think it'll happen. I think that there will be that temple rebuilt in Jerusalem and then sacrifices will start taking place. This temple, however, if my understanding of eschatology is right, is not a temple done in honor of God, so that it is actually ends up being kind of not the great thing that a lot of people think it is. So the sacrifices that are taking place there come because of a treaty made with the Antichrist, who's. They're basically saying, hey, you let us do our thing and we'll bring you, we'll give you support. And he's like, yep, you got your deal. But partway through this time, three and a half years in heavy, he cuts off their sacrifices, he won't allow them to exercise this stuff in the temple, and he starts persecuting the Jews and the. And all sorts of people. It just starts getting real bad. This is the part that people in my camp would call the great tribulation. I hold this stuff a bit loosely, meaning that I'm 100% sure the Bible's right. I'm not 100% sure I'm right about the Bible. On the topic of eschatology and second coming thing, events that surround the second coming. I mean, Jesus is coming back. That's 100%. But everything else, um, I'm saying here I hold a little bit loosely. So this, you could connect to the great tribulation stuff that Jesus talks about in the gospels. You could also connect it to revelation that talks about this, like, about three and a half year period, and it all sort of interconnects. And in a way, that, to me, is pretty impressive. And some would say it doesn't connect as well as you think, Mike. Maybe they're right, but that would be my view. The sacrifice and offering here is probably talking about renewed sacrifices at a rebuilt, you know, new temple in Israel that'll be ultimately temporary, uh, during the end times event. Maybe it'll happen in my life. Uh, maybe it will happen many, many, many years from now, long after everybody's forgotten that I ever existed? Possibly. I don't know. God knows. All right, question number five. 71 00:39:17.000 --> 00:39:31.000 Anonymous question. Do you think the warning in James three one has implications for evangelism? I think all christians should be ready to share their testimony when asked first. Peter 315. But not all should street preach. 72 00:39:31.000 --> 00:39:42.000 Hmm. M what an interesting set of ideas you put out right there. I'm really interested in this. Okay, so let's look at James three one and ask first, is this about evangelism? 73 00:39:42.000 --> 00:39:49.000 My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive stricter judgment. 74 00:39:49.000 --> 00:40:17.000 Then it goes on with a warning about just speech in general. We all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he's a perfect man, also able to bridle the whole body. Indeed, we put bits in horses mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Uh, just talking about the power of, like, a small thing in the mouth to control the whole mouth. A ship is controlled, so even the tongue, like this is a good word for us today. I'm going to keep reading because it's a really good word for all of us on social media, myself included. 75 00:40:17.000 --> 00:41:15.000 Um, look also at ships. Although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so, the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. Now, he gives an analogy of this. See how great a forest. A little fire kindles, and the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body. As Jesus said, what comes out of the mouth defiles a person and sets on fire the course of the nature. The course of nature. And is itself set on fire by hell. This is a warning to christians that our tongues can be set on fire by hell. It's dangerous. The things that we say. We should always, always, uh, have a filter. There should never be a moment where I don't have a filter. As a Christian, I should always be watching what I say, because my flesh is right there alongside my spirit, seeking to invade and mess things up. 76 00:41:15.000 --> 00:42:15.000 It goes on for every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison. With it, we bless our God and father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the similitude of God, speaking of man's value right out of the same mouth. Proceed. Blessing and cursing my brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear all of us, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus, no spring yields both saltwater and fresh water. Powerful stuff. You get the idea why? He says, let not many become teachers. So I have to have two answers to your question. Uh, uh. James three. One is not about evangelism in the public square, like, just telling, going out and preaching the gospel, because teaching is not the same. Becoming a teacher, that phrase, become teachers is talking about people who are like elders in the body of Christ who go out and they teach, proclaim. That's what James is talking about. 77 00:42:15.000 --> 00:43:39.000 But if we're going to apply it fairly, we need to recognize two things. One, the entire chapter. James three is not just about teaching. Teaching is just one example of things that you should be wary of, because the whole chapter is about the danger of your tongue. So street preachers better be careful how they use their language, just like everybody better be careful. And what James three one tells us is that when your language is used to influence others, not only to say things to others, but to lead and direct them and influence them, you, uh, get judged extra for that because you have changed their lives. This 100% applies to me. I have trepidation about my own ministry because of this verse. I'm accountable for how my words impact you. Now, there's times where people will misunderstand, and that might be my fault. It might be their fault or some mix of both. There's times where people will twist what I say and to try to use it as a dagger against me, and that's their fault if they're doing that. But there are times where maybe I say something wrong and then somebody makes a life decision. You know, I have a video on divorce and remarriage. Divorce and remarriage. And there. That is such a huge issue. If somebody watches that video and rightly understanding me, gets led astray and wrongly divorces somebody, I am hugely accountable for that. Before God, like this is, I should have fear and trembling. I do all the time. 78 00:43:39.000 --> 00:44:03.000 I want to do it right. I want to do a good job. I want to be very careful. Um, uh, not just for the eyes of man, but to stand before God and know that when I'm evaluated, I will enter heaven by God's grace. I will not be going to purgatory for years of punishment or something like that, but the works that I present to say, lord, here's all I did in your name, some of that's going to get burned up because I'm sure everything wasn't perfect. 79 00:44:03.000 --> 00:44:17.000 Hopefully not much. And, uh, I want to have trepidation about that. So, a street preacher who goes out and they share their testimony and they tell people about Christ, they are judged. But here's the problem. Paralysis is not a solution. 80 00:44:17.000 --> 00:44:58.000 If you say, well, then I just. I'll never tell anybody about God. Don't you know that not saying things is also a use of the tongue so that never telling anyone about Jesus is also a problem? If I see my friend falling and failing, and I think, I want to tell him in the name of God, like, don't do that. That is against God. But I won't say it, because what if I get it wrong? Mike said I might be judged strictly for what I say. Yeah, but by saying nothing, you can be judged for that, too. We live in a morally weighty world where the things we do and don't do all bear moral consequences before God. I'll only ever make it by the grace of Christ into heaven. But I do have a responsibility to not just fail to say the wrong thing, but to actually say the right things. 81 00:44:58.000 --> 00:45:39.000 We see this example in the book of Ezekiel when God gives Ezekiel an analogy of a watchman on a wall. So, in an ancient city, a watchman would be sitting there because people would come and invade a city at night, maybe kill people, steal things, and then run away real quick. The watchman was there to warn people, like, oh, they're here. And then the people could wake up and get weapons and stuff, and then it would stop the invasion from happening, hopefully. So God gives him this, uh, analogy of the watchman, and he says, ezekiel, if there's a watchman on the wall and the city's being invaded and he doesn't cry out, he doesn't yell and warn people, then it's on him. It's on him that that city was invaded and nothing happened. Uh, and nothing was stopped. Like, people were hurt or injured or killed. 82 00:45:39.000 --> 00:45:58.000 But if that watchman cries out and he says the invaders are here and the people don't listen, the city ignores him, then it's only on the city. It's their fault, because they ignored the warning. So God's giving him, um, him an analogy to let him know. Ezekiel, if you don't cry out, there is guilt in that, too. 83 00:45:58.000 --> 00:46:54.000 This is sobering to think about. I don't want to go too far with it, but how dare I not go far enough with it for all the same reasons I just mentioned, christians who don't ever share their faith, there may be some guilt in them never telling people about Jesus, never warning people, because they just think nobody's going to listen anyway. We need. We need to risk the shame and the embarrassment and the social awkwardness and possibly lost relationships to tell people about Jesus. Because if we never tell them, there's some share in our part that we have guilt there. Now, it's not like you're the watchman in the wall. Analogy is not perfect for this because a watchman is the only person who can warn them of the impending doom, whereas salvation and coming, uh, to Jesus, it doesn't fully fit that analogy. Every analogy breaks down. There's plenty of, perhaps other people that have told him about Jesus, that their own conscience working on them, things that they've just happened to have come across in life, that brings them the awareness of their sin and their need for a savior. 84 00:46:54.000 --> 00:47:02.000 But we shouldn't realize, shouldn't think for a second that abstaining from talking about God is the safe bet. 85 00:47:02.000 --> 00:47:07.000 Now we just. 86 00:47:07.000 --> 00:47:13.000 Pardon me. We just need to be true to Christ, honor Christ. Not, uh, all of us are called to be teachers. 87 00:47:13.000 --> 00:47:21.000 So James is like, yeah, don't everybody seek to be a teacher? That. That's a good application. 88 00:47:21.000 --> 00:47:23.000 I'm joking. 89 00:47:23.000 --> 00:47:27.000 The tongue is a dry, sandy desert. 90 00:47:27.000 --> 00:47:33.000 Chokes me out. Okay, so your question. I'm gonna read it one more time. Um. 91 00:47:33.000 --> 00:47:38.000 Oh, good. I'm glad I did. 92 00:47:38.000 --> 00:47:43.000 Should have water here and not just coffee. 93 00:47:43.000 --> 00:47:48.000 First. Peter 315, you. You had asked about this as well. 94 00:47:48.000 --> 00:47:52.000 I think. I think someone's getting me water. Thank you. 95 00:47:52.000 --> 00:47:56.000 I always have water in front of me, and today I forgot. 96 00:47:56.000 --> 00:48:10.000 So the, uh. You said, I think all christians should be ready to share their testimony when asked first. Peter 315. But not all should street preach. That's this verse right here. Thank you, pretty lady. 97 00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.000 Uh, that was my wife. Oh, what a blessing. 98 00:48:14.000 --> 00:48:25.000 So. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. 99 00:48:25.000 --> 00:49:24.000 This verse is often misunderstood to be basically a witnessing verse or an apologetics verse. I think it could apply. You could apply to those things. But sanctifying the Lord God in your heart, um, has to do with your entire life being in obedience to Christ. This is your whole witness. The way you treat your family, the way you treat your friends, your actual godliness in practical living. It's all of that, including the way you talk about God, the way you tell people. So let me read it to you in context. Sanctify God in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense. That is an answer, right? Uh, not just a verbal answer, but a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you. With meekness and fear, I'm to be able to give a. This is why I believe. But also look at my life. Look at how my life exhibits the reality of Christianity through the way I live. It's that, too. It's both having a good conscience that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. 100 00:49:24.000 --> 00:49:38.000 Ah. Uh, so your conduct, not just your verbal explanations of the gospel. Uh, they're being talked about there in that verse. There's more that can be said about it. I just think sometimes we miss the multiple applications of one. Peter 315. 101 00:49:38.000 --> 00:49:44.000 Should all christian street preach? No, I don't think we have all called a street preach. Um. 102 00:49:44.000 --> 00:50:10.000 Should no christian street preach? No. We would obviously be abandoning something if nobody's doing it. Just like not all christians need to teach, but we need teaching christians. But all christians should proclaim Christ. That's part of what it means to be a Christian. How many people do you do it to and what level, on what stage that's open for each one? Number six, green is great. Has a question. 103 00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:17.000 Ah. In numbers 19, can you explain if and how the ashes from the red heifer point to Jesus? 104 00:50:17.000 --> 00:50:23.000 Um, and you say, especially verses six, nine through ten and eleven through 13? 105 00:50:23.000 --> 00:50:28.000 Um. Let's just look at that chapter and we'll think about it together. 106 00:50:28.000 --> 00:50:43.000 Now, the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, this is the ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying, speak to the children of Israel, that they bring to you a red heifer without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which a yoke has never come. 107 00:50:43.000 --> 00:51:26.000 You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it outside the camp and it shall be slaughtered before him. And Eleazar the priest shall take some of the blood with its finger. With his finger, scroll down, um, and sprinkle some of the blood seven times directly in front of the tabernacle of meeting. Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight, its hide, its flesh, its blood and its ophel shall be burned. Everything so its whole thing. And the priest shall take cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet and cast them into the midst of the fire, burning the heifer. Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe in water. And afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the evening. 108 00:51:26.000 --> 00:51:35.000 And the one who burns it shall wash his clothes in water. Bathe in water and shall be unclean until evening. Then a man who's clean. 109 00:51:35.000 --> 00:52:03.000 It's kind of neat stuff when you think about the procedure of this. Then a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and store them outside the camp in a clean place. And they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel, for the water of purification. It is for purifying from sin. And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. It shall be a statute forever to the children of Israel and to the stranger who dwells among them. 110 00:52:03.000 --> 00:53:24.000 Then, um, you also mention all the way up through verse 13, he who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean seven days. And here's a procedure of how you'll use this water from these ashes. He shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the 7th day, then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the 7th day, he will not be clean. Okay. So it's a procedure of how to go from being unclean to clean. Verse 13, whoever touches the body of anyone who has died and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him. His uncleanness is still on him and it goes on. Um, so your question is, uh, can you explain if and how the ashes from the red heifer point to Jesus? Yeah. So the ashes here. Okay. The red heifer, special animal, is taking kind of a. One of a kind, rare animal. Okay. I think that this speaks to Jesus as being the one and only begotten son, him being the unique one. Okay. I could build a longer case for this. I have a series, uh, called finding Jesus. How to find Jesus in the Old Testament. I'll link it below. You guys can check it out. There's amazing stuff. I get through the five sacrifices in Leviticus and talk about each picture Jesus. It blows my mind. It's beautiful. It's not my ingenuity here, it's God's ingenuity. It's just so cool seeing that in the scripture. So I'll link that below you guys can check it out. The series, how to find Jesus in the Old Testament. 111 00:53:24.000 --> 00:53:58.000 So, briefly, though, I think. I think that the uniqueness of the animal speaks to the uniqueness of Jesus, the one and only son of God. He's one among many whose different. You know, he's different. Um, then it has to be without blemish. The bread heifer. Without blemish or spot. No defect, nothing wrong with it. That speaks to the holiness of Jesus, that he lived a perfect life to be our sacrifice. Then you take the heifer and there's all of this sort of procedure around it that has to do with creating a barrier between clean and unclean. So unclean things can touch the heifer. 112 00:53:58.000 --> 00:55:06.000 Um, let me. Let me reword this, put this different way. You gather the heifer, bring it outside the camp, and they're outside the camp of the people, far distant from the people. Just as Jesus dies outside the camp, so to speak. Um, there the heifer is slaughtered and killed. Then he's brought, but he's ceremonially burned. The whole heifer is destroyed and burned, fully consumed. A full burnt offering. Just as Jesus offered his entire self, his entire life for us. The ashes of this are then brought in and added to water that they might be used to wash people. So that Jesus's sacrifice, what he did for us, his death for us, is then symbolized, combined with the idea of baptism in the reception of what Christ has done for us. So the ashes, the full sacrifice of Jesus, combined with, uh. Then our faith and trust in him, symbolized in baptism, is connected, I think, to that. You've got the clean and unclean dynamic where you deal with the heifer. But then you're unclean for the end of the day. You have a clean guy who gathers the ashes, he takes them, puts them outside, but then he's unclean till the end of the day. You have all these things where it's just every bit of uncleanness cannot touch this heifer. 113 00:55:06.000 --> 00:55:15.000 Catch this. Every bit of uncleanness cannot touch the heifer. So that one day the unclean can touch the heifer and become clean. 114 00:55:15.000 --> 00:56:05.000 That's kind of like Jesus, right? Every bit of sin, every bit of carnality, of compromise, of any kind of sin issue, didn't touch Jesus. He was tempted in all ways, as we are, yet without sin, so that then sinners can come to him and become clean and become cleansed. Then it's the ceremonial thing with the ashes, uh, being added to the water. It's beautiful stuff. Uh, it's amazing stuff. I'm sure that there's more that could be said there, but I think that this is how Jesus is pictured continually in the sacrifices of the Old Testament. It's just constantly representation, as Jesus said in the volume of the book, it is written of me. Um, if you believe Moses, you believe me because he wrote of me. Jesus says, he explains in the road to Emmaus, to the disciples, like how the scriptures were all about him. He goes through all the scriptures expounding how it's about the son of God, like exciting. 115 00:56:05.000 --> 00:56:09.000 Good question. Thanks. Alright, let's go to question number seven. 116 00:56:09.000 --> 00:56:24.000 Hope Johnson says a couple with a prophetic ministry came to my church and gave a word of knowledge to all who asked. I don't see prophecy on demand in scripture. Is this a proper use of the gift of prophecy? 117 00:56:24.000 --> 00:56:44.000 Um, okay. Biblically, I'm open and hopeful about the use of prophecy in the church, meaning not open and ooh, I'm open theoretically, but don't do it. I mean hopeful. Like I want to see that. I pray for that on a semi regular basis. I'm praying, God, please stir up these gifts more, um, in the church. 118 00:56:44.000 --> 00:56:47.000 So that's where I'm coming from. 119 00:56:47.000 --> 00:57:08.000 But I want to have everything bound by the word of God. I'll use the word bound by the word of God, limited where scripture limits it instructed and guided and walls and barriers and boxes placed upon these issues that God has given us. Right. I don't put God in a box, but I will always use the boxes that God has provided. 120 00:57:08.000 --> 00:57:33.000 Does that make sense? I'm not going to limit God, but God will absolutely be honored when he says, and here's the limits and so of when prophecy happens, there are limits, there are rules about it. So two or three at the most and let the others judge. That's what scripture says. First Corinthians, read not just in one corinthians twelve and 13, but read on to 14. Read about how the gifts are handled. 121 00:57:33.000 --> 00:58:02.000 If somebody comes and a couple with a prophetic ministry came to my church, first off, I would like to know if they're not from my church, they have no, uh, no sort of credibility. That's through our, us really knowing them. They have a prophetic ministry. I'd like to know a little bit, little bit about their prophetic ministry. I like to see if it's legitimate, see if it's real, see how solid it is. And I hope that your pastor does the diligence before inviting someone like that. But when they do come and they offer a prophetic word. Here's how it's supposed to happen. 122 00:58:02.000 --> 00:58:29.000 In fact, I should really just read the text of scripture to you. Let's just go to it. We'll do that. Um, okay. That's about tongues. Let's look at the prophecy. Verse 29 of one corinthians 14, let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. This is a procedure. 123 00:58:29.000 --> 00:58:48.000 When they come and they say, here's a prophetic word, you then stop and you evaluate it. Uh, particularly, in particular, leaning on the leaders, the elders, those who are sort of, like, confirmed. They know the word, they're trustworthy. They will evaluate the word. You don't just receive it like it's automatically God's word. You evaluate it before receiving it. Let the others judge. 124 00:58:48.000 --> 00:58:58.000 And if anything's revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silence. You don't have everybody doing it all at once, for you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and be encouraged. 125 00:58:58.000 --> 00:59:05.000 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, meaning, don't act like you're. Like, I can't control it. God's making me talk. It's not what he's saying. 126 00:59:05.000 --> 00:59:22.000 Um, for God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. And then he talks about particular, I think, men, elders, effectively being the ones who are testing and judging that word. Now, let me explain how I think that this has failed to happen in some churches. I have a friend who was part of an assemblies of God church. 127 00:59:22.000 --> 01:00:39.000 A, um, guy loved the Lord. And I think a lot of the people at the church loved the Lord, too. I don't doubt that at all. And there was, uh, a lady who was known in their circles, in their assemblies of God's circle, as being, like, a prophetess. She showed up at the church, like the description you gave as a guest. And she came. And there was a time after the service when they're playing music and everybody's having a good time. And this lady went around kind of in a circle to different people in the church. It's not a very big church. It's just like a smaller, um, church, 50 people, something. And she kind of went around from. From group to group, just giving prophecies over people. Like, God's showing me this about you, God's showing me that about you. And then she came up to a guy, and I think, if I remember the story right, this is many years ago, there's a black guy holding a white baby, and she walks up to him, and she sees him with this baby and she says, God is telling me that one day he's going to make you a father and you're going to have your own baby. And she could tell she was excited. This is how my friend Josh told me the story. She was so excited, and it was really great for her. But everybody in the room knew that was his baby. It was just a black guy with a white wife, and the baby came out looking more white. And so she, she was, in other words, she was creating prophecies out of what she saw. She would look at somebody, size them up, and then give a prophetic, hopeful declaration that was meant to be encouraging. That was not from God. 128 01:00:39.000 --> 01:00:41.000 What happened next is worse. 129 01:00:41.000 --> 01:00:59.000 What happened next? He said, everybody that was there just got kind of quiet, and it all felt awkward because we're a small church, everybody knows each other, and so they all just got kind of quiet. And he says, she just continued to go on prophesying to more people that same day. 130 01:00:59.000 --> 01:01:29.000 I've thought a lot about that story after it happened, and I thought, uh, especially because I was on staff for many years as a pastor, I thought, what if that happened in my church? How would I respond? What would the right way to respond be? And I remember the scripture, let the others judge the moment that she said this about him having a baby that was his own. Right now, some of you are thinking, well, she probably just prophetically realized it wasn't really his child that his wife had cheated. And I just want to say something's wrong with you. 131 01:01:29.000 --> 01:02:11.000 Stop. But, um, at any rate, uh, the right thing I think, to do would be, maybe if I had had time to reflect on it, hopefully what I would have done was if I had been there, is to stop and say, hey, hold on, everybody. I want you to know what she just said was not from the Lord. Apparently she's hearing from her own heart, but not from God. Any prophecy that you guys have heard from her, you all should probably know that that may not be from God either. And, uh, we need to stop. This is not going to be honoring the Lord if we continue doing this. And I would probably tell other pastors about the same lady who is apparently on a circuit going from church to church doing this, and I would call them and warn them, hey, just so you know, something's wrong here. 132 01:02:11.000 --> 01:02:36.000 If you have a church where you can't stop false prophecy, then you don't have a church where you can say you have real prophecy. And that's one of the problems within the charismatic movement is, um, not all of them are like this. Believe it or not, there are churches who would do this. There are churches that would stop and confront her right then and there. But there is a problem that there aren't enough churches doing that. Following what scripture says about judging prophecy, I think that that's the right attitude to have hope. 133 01:02:36.000 --> 01:03:00.000 If your church is off the wall and doing this and your pastor is bringing people in who are just. They just, like, size you up and say something encouraging. Like, they can see that you look kind of sad, and they're like, God will bring joy back to your heart and restore your peace in the light of your life. Like, if they look at you and they think, like, man, that person looked like a new believer, looks pretty happy, God's gonna use you to witness to the nations. Like, right. Are they doing this, like, sort of fabricated thing? 134 01:03:00.000 --> 01:03:44.000 If you're in a church where that's happening, it's not healthy. It's not okay. Scripture does put limits on it. Hopefully things will grow and change. It doesn't mean your church isn't christians. It doesn't mean it's all demonic, but it doesn't mean something's not right and not healthy. And I hope. I hope that helps. I really do hope it helps. Uh, the body of Christ can be immature in a number of different ways, and we can get off the wall in a number of different ways. And, uh, we always need scripture, scripture, scripture to bring us back to truth and back to safety, back to clarity, back to real moves of the spirit, and away from all the fake stuff. All right, let's go to question number eight. Oceanfrank says, how should I balance mercy and justice as a Christian? 135 01:03:44.000 --> 01:03:54.000 How do you know when. Which one is appropriate? When it. When is it wrong to apply mercy and grace? Or when does it become injustice to do so? 136 01:03:54.000 --> 01:04:05.000 Um. Um. So, ocean Frank, that's a super tough question, because I can imagine the scenarios in life where this becomes a challenge. 137 01:04:05.000 --> 01:04:14.000 Your, um, your neighbor always does things to irritate you. Sounds like a mercy grace situation. 138 01:04:14.000 --> 01:04:23.000 Um, your pastor has been preaching false doctrine and is getting weirder and weirder every week. 139 01:04:23.000 --> 01:05:37.000 At some point, that ain't mercy and grace, right? It's not mercy and grace anymore, because if you extend mercy and grace to this leader, you're actually harming the people. At some point you have to say, wait a minute, I'm in a conflict here. In fact, perhaps it is gracious to actually call him out. Um, and maybe that's part of the boundary there. I'm not sure if I have a quick answer for you here. Um, I'll say there's a few things that help when it comes to people breaking the law. There are enforceable crimes that they've done that I think a Christian is. It's entirely appropriate for them to call the police, press charges, and forgive the person. That may sound wrong to some, but I think that that is appropriate. It is entirely right to say, I'm going to press charges because of the crime you did. That is, um, also a whole thing that affects the whole culture and the whole community and all that other stuff. But I can extend grace and forgiveness to you now. You might say, well, my God, that's not how God forgives us. Um, well, God eternally forgives our sins, but there are still sometimes consequences for the things we do. Okay, there are, like I mentioned in the first question of this video, there are temporal consequences for sin. You're just not going to expiate those sins in purgatory. That's not the biblical, um, Romans talks about the government bearing the sword and not doing so in vain. 140 01:05:37.000 --> 01:05:44.000 We don't want to. At the same time, Paul talks about in Corinthians, he's like, don't go to court before unbelievers. 141 01:05:44.000 --> 01:06:25.000 But what he doesn't say is, don't resolve your issues. He says, don't go to court before unbelievers. Um, but then he goes on to say, isn't there somebody in your own church who can decide the matter? Meaning what? That even though we're in a church community full of grace and mercy, there can still be someone who arbitrates and says, hey, you really should buy that guy a new lawnmower, or whatever the thing is, and then sort of pushes for that to happen. So, yeah, I don't know that I have a quick answer for how to balance all that. Um, we always offer eternal mercy, but there are times where we call for temporal justice, and those don't have to be in conflict. 142 01:06:25.000 --> 01:06:40.000 You can do both at the same time, even. And I pray God gives you wisdom on how to handle the different situations. I don't have quick and easy, like, rule, like a rule of thumb where you say, ask this question, and then you know what to do. That's a tough one. 143 01:06:40.000 --> 01:06:49.000 Melissa Dickinson says, how were records kept and passed down before Moses? How did Moses write about Abram? 144 01:06:49.000 --> 01:07:11.000 So there's a couple answers to this that I'm aware of. Okay. I'm not an ancient historian. They could give you a lot more details on this than I could, than I possibly could but the things that I have learned over time are one. Um, that there. There's most writings from history have been lost. And so Moses could have probably, in fact, definitely had access to things that we don't have access to, written things. Um, that's the case. 145 01:07:11.000 --> 01:07:41.000 So I don't know if that includes writings about Abraham or not. I really don't know. There's people who will debate that sort of thing, and they'll talk about Genesis and Exodus and Leviticus and possible other literary precursors in some respect to those things. And some people do that, um, in a way to challenge the authority and authenticity of the text, and others do it as a way of just saying Moses didn't live in a vacuum. Yeah, he had sources he was aware of, and he. He may have been thinking about those as the Holy Spirit was using him to write scripture. 146 01:07:41.000 --> 01:07:45.000 Um, I'm just saying that that's all factors to consider. 147 01:07:45.000 --> 01:07:51.000 But oral tradition is another aspect of this. Um, we live in a written culture. 148 01:07:51.000 --> 01:09:02.000 We don't really live in an oral history culture, and so we emphasize writing. But let me give you an example of how good people's memories are. When you live in a culture that is based upon remembering and retelling the same stories, it's incredibly good. Like, they even have these people they call, like, the guaranteers of tradition or the guarantors of tradition, and these are people who in the culture have this official role of making sure the story is being told right. Because without writing, it's hugely important that they do this. So you have this guy sits around the campfire and he tells the story, and he tells the same story every time. And these people have heard it for years, some of them many years. Maybe they're the ones who are going to start telling the story soon. And the others around there are there to check, no, no, it was three, not four. And they can actually affirm and make sure that this stuff gets. Gets told just right. Oral tradition is very strong, and things can change in oral tradition. But it's not the telephone game. Not at all. The telephone game is. Is a foolish analogy to apply to any historical thing. A very, very unwise. The telephone game is what scoffers say to try to lower the iq of people thinking about history. 149 01:09:02.000 --> 01:09:22.000 It's not how it works. Okay. I've played a telephone game many times as a youth pastor. People deliberately change the story. You tell it from one person to one person. You only say it once, you whisper it, and you probably say it muddled on purpose because it's more fun that way. The next person has no motive to say it, right, and has significant motive to change it. And they whisper it to the next person and it goes on and on and on. 150 01:09:22.000 --> 01:09:38.000 The oral tradition is entirely different. There's several people listening. They repeat the stories. There's different communities that know the same things. Okay, all that to say, Moses, yeah, he had access to both of those things. More writings than we're aware of in oral history. That was a robust thing at the time. 151 01:09:38.000 --> 01:09:59.000 Also, he had the Holy Spirit guiding him as he wrote the text of, uh, scripture. And God simply reveals certain things and opens the door and shows them things. We see this, that it's not dictation where God says, now write this word, now this word, now this word. But the Holy Spirit's inspiring the authors in such a way that it guarantees the text itself. 152 01:09:59.000 --> 01:10:35.000 The way it works is like this. You can approach the Bible trying to say, I'm going to prove the Bible's historical by using uh, archaeology or other types of things, that this event really happened. And that's legitimate and that's important. And I'm glad people do that. I do that sometimes. There's another aspect where you say, I'm going to show that the Bible is God's inspired word through maybe fulfilled prophecy. The person of Jesus, the salvation I've only, I've experienced myself is a demonstration to me of the validity of the text because it's this whole, the Holy Spirit has rejuvenated me when I put my faith in Jesus and this is his book. And look at Jesus. Jesus himself says that all of this is scripture. 153 01:10:35.000 --> 01:10:42.000 Um, once you realize it's holy spirit inspired, you have a very, very strong reason to trust what it says. 154 01:10:42.000 --> 01:11:21.000 Even if you didn't understand all the historical stuff. That's a logical, strong reason to trust the Bible is because you believe in Jesus, right? And many people, that's how it happened. They came to believe in Jesus and then they trusted the scripture as a result. I think that's fair and entirely logical. I don't see a rational argument against that, actually. Okay, number ten, anonymous question here says, I'm struggling to understand how we can understand Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. Personally, when it was 2000 years ago. I'm in the Bible and in prayer all the time, but still have no peace or assurance. 155 01:11:21.000 --> 01:11:26.000 Um, I hope my answer to you brings you some help. 156 01:11:26.000 --> 01:11:54.000 I'm not going to shoot so high as to give you as to solve all the problems that are going, that you have going on in your heart. But I'd like to give you a couple of lifelines. Okay. Some things you can go, hey, I'm not fixed, but this is something that's helpful. This is something that makes me a little better, I hope at least to do that. Okay. So I want to set your expectations low, but, um. Because our hearts are like this and you're talking about peace and assurance, those are internal sensations that are important, very important. And that God, I think, wants you to have. 157 01:11:54.000 --> 01:12:12.000 But I can talk about the things that help provide that, but I can't make it happen in your heart. So I hope this helps. Um, okay. Why should I think that Jesus dying on the cross for 2000 years ago for sins in general is, for me, personal in any way? 158 01:12:12.000 --> 01:12:17.000 There is something that is entirely biblical and it's a word called election. 159 01:12:17.000 --> 01:13:02.000 Election is a biblical doctrine and some people think it's a purely calvinistic doctrine. Nope, there's a calvinistic doctrine of election. But election is the idea that God, knowing, knowing you before Jesus even walked, before Abraham, was called by God, that God knew you and had chosen you. Now, the basis of that election and all that, that's a whole debate. But the fact of it, that God elect people, that he's like, I know you, I choose you. And I would say that our free will is integrated into that. So we do make a real choice. But, but still, the fact of election, that's solidly biblical. Plenty of people would disagree with me about the how and why. That's fine. I don't want to worry about that right now. Okay. The fact of election, that's a biblical doctrine, okay? God has elected you. 160 01:13:02.000 --> 01:13:50.000 You know what this means? Uh, whatever, uh, your name is, okay? Because you're anonymous. Question whatever this. What this means is I don't know your name, but God knows your name. That to God you were not anonymous. You were chosen by him when he created the universe. He could have made it slightly different and you would not have existed, but he knew you and he knew you would exist and he knew you would come to faith in Jesus Christ. He chose you. That's entirely personal. It's impersonal. Because you're in your head. You're thinking that Jesus doing something far from you is like you doing something far from someone else 2000 years from now. But come on, we're talking about God in the flesh, not just a generic person who did good. Jesus died on the cross for you. 161 01:13:50.000 --> 01:13:53.000 He foreknew you. 162 01:13:53.000 --> 01:13:56.000 That's huge. 163 01:13:56.000 --> 01:14:08.000 If you had been one of the twelve disciples, if you had been John who is walking with Jesus and then seeing Jesus getting crucified. 164 01:14:08.000 --> 01:14:47.000 And then Jesus appears to you afterwards and shows himself, see, I'm alive. It would not be more personal than it is right now with Jesus 2000 years ago dying. If you had been one of the people in the book of acts upon whom the Holy Spirit fell, it would not be more personal and individual, your salvation, than it is right now, 2000 years later. That's just in your head. That's not, uh. The biblical doctrine is solid, okay? God knows you. He's called you, he's chosen you, and if he saved you, he has individually filled you with his spirit. That's personal, that's individual. Okay? You individually get filled with the Holy Spirit. When you put your faith and trust in Christ. That is incredibly, deeply personal. There's nothing impersonal about salvation that happened 2000 years ago. 165 01:14:47.000 --> 01:15:03.000 Absolutely nothing. Do you know that Hebrews says that Jesus ever lives? Let me read this because this will help you realize the presentness of the sacrifice of Christmas. 166 01:15:03.000 --> 01:15:52.000 Speaking of Jesus, he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. This intercession, people think of Jesus as praying for me. Jesus is praying for me. That's not what he's talking about. This is intercession in a priestly sense, in a sacrifice sense. Jesus lives now, he died and he rose again and he's alive at this very moment. And his life is there interceding for you in the salvific sense, meaning you can be saved right now, this at the second, because Jesus right now is in heaven representing you. Jesus right now is standing there in your stead saying, he's in me, she's in me. She saved in me. Her sins are washed away in me. I have secured their salvation. It's personal, it's intimate, it's present, it's right now. 167 01:15:52.000 --> 01:16:06.000 That's 100% reality. Any part of you that didn't believe that was just you being theologically incorrect and emotionally distraught, but, but not true. It's all, it was all in your head. 168 01:16:06.000 --> 01:16:49.000 You also said, I'm in the Bible and in prayer all the time, but I still have no peace or assurance. Um, um, there's, there's two things that, two main things that I think of that harm our peace and sense of. Sense of assurance. One is legitimate sin and rebellion against God. Where you look at your life and you go, I don't just struggle with sin, I'm just full in it. Right? Like my life is just in rebellion to God. Jesus is not lord of my life at all. And that's good that you don't have assurance, because you shouldn't have assurance. If you live a life completely contrary to the things that you say you believe, maybe you don't really believe those things and that this unsettling lack of assurance is meant to be a red alert. Get your, get your awareness up where you go, boy. I'm going to put my real faith in Jesus. I'm going to actually trust in Christ. I'm going to actually be saved. 169 01:16:49.000 --> 01:16:52.000 That's, that's an important thing. 170 01:16:52.000 --> 01:16:57.000 On the other hand, you could have lack of assurance. 171 01:16:57.000 --> 01:17:49.000 That is simply because you're just scared. You're a genuine Christian. Yes, you deal with sin issues like we all do, right? But you are a genuine believer who really does believe and who really has had your life transformed and changed by Christ. But for some reason, you just won't give in to the grace that God's given you. You just won't let your heart feel the peace that he has given you. And then that's, that's like you don't want to be in that place. You want to be acknowledging the grace that God's given you. You want to say, okay, yeah, it's true. I believe it. I actually trust in the love that God has given me for this. I think as you read the text of scripture and you come across verses that are promising you salvation, that are assuring you of God's love for you, right? Behold what manner of love that God, that God has given unto us, that we should be called children of God. As you read that, you just have to believe it for yourself. It's the same as your question about how do I know Jesus? It's personal for me. Oh, it's personal. For some reason, you're struggling with that. 172 01:17:49.000 --> 01:18:07.000 Bringing that knowledge of the personalness of Jesus's sacrifice for you, of the impartation of the bringing of the Holy spirit into your life, is going to hopefully bring you that peace, because you know that it's all just what Jesus has done for you and there's nothing you add to it. I hope that this helps, gives you some things to hold on to. 173 01:18:07.000 --> 01:18:41.000 I hope it makes a difference for you. I really, really do. So let me, uh, let me close this in prayer, you guys, and say, um, I think there's something else I want to talk to you about. I don't remember. I apologize. I shouldn't even say it if I don't remember it uh, but, yeah, let's close this in prayer. Father, we thank you for the salvation we have in Jesus, that we have nothing to offer you for our salvation other than what Jesus has done. And that's more than enough. What Jesus has done is more than enough. Our assurance is in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Our peace is accomplished in the cross. 174 01:18:41.000 --> 01:19:31.000 We pray that our hearts would recognize that, that we would be people who see, uh, our unjustified fears. And we say, I don't believe you as much as I believe the cross. I don't believe you as much as I believe in Jesus. We ask that you help us to be confident people, people at peace. And if there is anybody watching who their life is truly in rebellion to God, and they've been kidding themselves about being a Christian, we pray they would not get discouraged, but they would get motivated and they would give their lives to Christ so they could have that peace, too. In Jesus name, amen.