WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:37.000
My name is Mike Winger. I'm here to help you learn to think biblically about everything. Which doesn't mean that I'm going to tell you what to think about everything, rather to walk you through the process of learning how to think biblically about everything. That means you're the one doing the thinking, and I'm just hopefully an aid, someone you sort of bounce ideas off of. Actually, that is the approach for the ten question series that we do every Friday here. Um, the first question up is a really challenging one. I don't pretend to have all the answers, and you might be watching this with that mindset of, uh, does Mike answer this question right? I want you to think about it instead with a different mindset, which, um.

2
00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:55.000
Um, says, I'm going to see if I can answer it for myself. And I'll use some of Mike's ideas merely as an aid to help me answer my own question. That's a better approach for today. So, here we go. The first question is this.

3
00:00:55.000 --> 00:01:50.000
If prayer is effective, why do so many prayers seem to go unanswered, especially in desperate situations? Let, um, me read that again. And I want you to think if there's been a time in your life, as there has in my life, um, where you have prayed for something that was so meaningful to you that, um, words are. It's difficult to explain in words how important this thing was, how much was on the line as far as you were concerned on this issue. And you prayed and prayed and prayed, and it seemed as though you got no answer at all. Um. Um. You couldn't think of a reason why God wouldn't help in this situation? It was difficult. It was a challenge to your faith. It was a big issue. Um, a lot of us have gone through that. I've had some situations like that. I don't intend to tell stories right now because. Because it's sad. I don't want to start off like that, but, um, I've had situations like that. God has the power.

4
00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:52.000
He does care.

5
00:01:52.000 --> 00:03:10.000
So why doesn't he do the thing that I'm begging him to do? And you might be start. Start thinking thoughts like, just this one thing. God. Just this, uh, one thing. I wouldn't ask for much. Just this one thing, or, I can't see why you wouldn't do this. And you start to wonder about God's character or his compassion, or his love, or even his power or even his existence as a result. And so I'm going to give you, I think, let's see, five issues to consider, as you're working through this, and I will say it as I talk about it, it might sound like it's an intellectual exercise. There's an intellectual side to it, but it is primarily, uh, a way in which we're trying to address our heart issues. Okay. Because this is about how we feel about our prayers. That, that's, that really is the main thing here. So try to see there's two sides to that. But here's some things to think about as you try to answer your own question on whether or not, uh, or how to explain if prayer is effective. Why do so many prayers seem to go unanswered, especially in desperate situations? Okay, issue number one of five. Number one. Um, it's the issue of trusting God. Um, now, this isn't the only issue that I want to talk about. So please, for those who are skeptics who are watching, because you're looking for clips to pull out, to put on your YouTube channels, to talk about how Mike winger gaslights everybody and he's a terrible human being. Yeah, I know you're there. I don't watch your videos, but I see the thumbnails.

6
00:03:10.000 --> 00:05:33.000
At any rate, um, hear out the whole answer, if you don't mind. So your faith, when it comes to trusting God, your faith should not hang on your prayers and answers to your prayers, ideally. Okay, I'm not saying that's how it really works in your heart. Like, let's just talk about, in an ideal world, your faith is not hanging on your prayers. Rather, your prayers are hanging on your faith. Do you, can, you can see the difference between those two things? I pray because I believe. I don't pray so that I might invoke belief. Um, there are times where someone's faith does rest upon their prayers. I don't think those are great times, but they do happen in people's lives. And it's certainly not ideal. But this is real important. It can't be where you live. Lets suppose that you pray and youre like God. I just want to know youre real and youre praying and youre asking God to show you something, reveal himself to you, and then God answers you powerfully. And that was a moment where your faith, actually, whether you trusted in God, did hang on this prayer. Now, theres other ways to determine the reality of God. You look at creation, it screams that theres a God. You look at mans inner conscience and youre aware that theres a morally good God. Um, you look at your own, um, experiences in life, and perhaps you see God's provision or protection or engagement there. You could look at prophecy. There's all these different things. But if your faith hangs on your prayers, in that one moment, I think everybody goes, I sort of am. I understand that a little bit more. But what this question gets at is not that it's not an unbeliever who's seeking and asking, God, help me see that you're real. This is rather about a believer who is saying, Lord, my faith did not just relate to my prayers at one stage of life. Rather, I am forever needing you to confirm yourself through prayer, because I forever need confirmation again and again and again of your truth. This is a thing that christians, uh, most of us, will experience in life. I believe you have to move to a place where the things God has revealed to you are the anchor so that you have some. Some stability to get through the difficult times in life. There's some point at which that same, say, skeptic who pray was like, God, reveal yourself to me. And then God did something amazing and revealed himself, where 510 years later, they're like, God, I'm doubting you. Reveal yourself again. And maybe at that point, God's like, I already did.

7
00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:40.000
You cannot keep hanging your faith on your prayers. You've got to actually believe based upon the realities you've experienced.

8
00:05:40.000 --> 00:06:33.000
Um, it will create a sense of perpetual doubt. Um, I have great confidence that my wife loves me. This is an analogy for this. I have great confidence that my wife loves me. I'm not looking at her actions every day as though she has to prove it to me over and over again. That would create an instability in our relationship and a lack of trust in my heart. That's not healthy towards her. There's a sense in which you need to look back at, uh, not just moments of prayer in the hardest times of your life, but your entire life. God's faithfulness in scripture, God's faithfulness in the giving of Jesus, his death, his resurrection, the cross itself, proclaiming God's love and care for you. And these things have to take precedence over God doing the thing you want in the most desperate moment of your life. As much as that hurts your. Your faith shouldn't hang on your prayers. Point number one. Your prayers should hang on your faith.

9
00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:41.000
Okay? That's not going to answer everything for everybody. See what you think about that. Consider it. Let's go to number two. Number two is this, um. Um.

10
00:06:41.000 --> 00:07:00.000
My ignorance is something I absolutely have to be aware of as a Christian, as someone who's praying, I have a significant amount of ignorance about the things that are going on, both in, um, um, in my own life, as well as what God is doing in the world around me. How does that factor into unanswered prayer or God saying no to prayer?

11
00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:06.000
I think the story of Hezekiah is a good example of this. Hezekiah was a king who largely did a lot of good stuff.

12
00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:33.000
He was going to die, though. He was like, on his way towards death. Hezekiah, there he is praying, God, don't let me die. Don't let me die. And God extended his life for ten years, according to the scripture. During that ten years, things went downhill steeply, they went badly downhill, and everything really fell apart. You could read about it. You could read about how it had lasting generational impact for a long, long, long time. Bad, bad stuff.

13
00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:54.000
He was going to die. God spared him. Here's a situation that's interesting. Now, obviously God's going to use this for his glory. Hezekiah, though, if he, at the end of that ten years, looked back, I bet he wouldn't have even prayed the prayer that he was desperate for initially, at least, he would have had second thoughts, I imagine, about it.

14
00:07:54.000 --> 00:08:59.000
We don't really know. Even if God does the thing we want him to do, we don't really know how that affects the ripple effect of what goes on in the rest of the world. And so this doesn't mean that you say, I'm, um, just a dummy who doesn't know it. You just have some humility to go, I can't see why God wouldn't do x, he wouldn't do this thing, but that doesn't mean there's no reason, because there can be reasons I don't see. And you just have that bit of doubt about your own doubts here where you go, uh, I am ignorant about a lot of these details. I want him to do this thing, but that is going to affect things. For if Jesus tarries hundreds, thousands, however many years, it's going to have this ripple effect that impacts people in a large way that I cannot even perceive of. Even though I think it's a little thing, just do it for me. Ultimately, God knows what he's doing. So you should recognize that trusting God is, um, also realizing that you're not trusting yourself too much. I am ignorant about these things, and though I genuinely can't see a reason why God wouldn't do it, it doesn't mean that there isn't one. It just means I can't see it. And I acknowledge I can't see it.

15
00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:06.000
Third point, something to juggle as you work through this incredibly difficult issue, to be honest, is I've struggled with it too.

16
00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:32.000
Um, the idea of unacknowledged answers. Some, um, of us, we can move into a habit where we take so much for granted that. That we don't acknowledge the things that God is doing for us on a regular daily basis or has done for us in the past. And so I might look at a situation where, um, I lose a loved one, maybe a child. Uh, I can't even conceive of that pain.

17
00:09:32.000 --> 00:10:03.000
Um, it helps at that moment to also be grateful. Okay, I'm not talking about, like, pretend like you don't have pain or no, no, no, in the midst of your pain, to focus your heart upon the good things that God has done for you, the blessings you have received, the things you can be grateful for. And a lot of parents do this instinctively where they say, well, I'm glad I had that time with my child. I'm glad I had those days. And it's really hard because it's not going to fix your heart. It's not the issue. We're not trying to fix hearts here. We're trying to help, just assist, bring some assistance to ourselves.

18
00:10:03.000 --> 00:10:59.000
And the attitude of gratitude is the point. If you can look upon your situation in life, and I try to do this all the time, um, uh, in little ways. So just being grateful. Often in prayer, I'll thank God that I have working lungs or working arms and legs, that I'm upright, I'm not paralyzed. There's things that I take for granted that I'll thank God for. Try to live for the next hour of your life, assuming, um, you're not just sitting in front of a screen for an hour, um, with only using one arm. Put one arm out of commission and see what life would be like if you had one arm. Try to get dressed in the morning with only one arm, and then you start to go, wow, I'm actually really thankful for this other arm. There's things to be thankful for that God is blessing you with so that you don't move into this very scary mindset where everything God has done for me is like, eh? And the one thing God didn't do for me, that's the pillar in my life that I'm going to focus on.

19
00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:19.000
This ungrateful attitude is actually very dangerous. Scripture warns against it in the book of Hebrews, we see it in the Israelites. They get brought out of Egypt and they have a lack of gratitude towards God for what he's doing. Yes, they're in hardship, but they ignore all the good God's done. And this creates an unbalanced mindset that ends up bringing them harm.

20
00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:34.000
Cry, weep. Have all that. All those issues over the things you've gone through that are hard. But also, please be grateful for what you can be grateful for. In the midst of also crying about the thing that you should, you rightly can cry about.

21
00:11:34.000 --> 00:12:12.000
That will help you. That's the third point. Uh, the book of Psalms says to forget not all of his benefits, and some at this point might say, but, mike, I thought theologically, um, Jesus is a sub point and not part of one of those five points that Jesus said that he would give us whatever we ask for in prayer. Um, I actually have a long video going over that verse by verse, very carefully, very methodically moving through that idea of, does Jesus just give you everything you pray for if you have faith? And there's a link for that down below. We're going over, like, word of faith stuff. And, um, you guys can check that out in the description of this video or podcast or wherever you're watching it. Okay, point number four.

22
00:12:12.000 --> 00:13:08.000
And this is kind of cool because this connects to Jesus in a deep way. It's so cool that as Christians, we don't look at God as just like, sort of this distant, perfect being, although he's perfect, but we don't look at him as merely and only a distant, perfect being who's sort of, uh, disassociated with the struggles that we go through. Instead, we see Jesus, the incarnate son of God. We see him and we go, you went through it, too. So Jesus had a moment of, uh, you might say, unanswered prayer. You're probably familiar with this. You read about it in the garden of Gethsemane, but there's a passage you're probably not familiar with, at least many of you are not in, uh, Hebrews about this. And so, a little preview for months from now when I get to Hebrews five, but, uh, we'll talk about that. So, Jesus in the garden is praying. You, um, know, with. He's. He's in great distress. He's sorrowful unto death. That's the term used in scripture. How much grief is he in? Sorrowful unto death.

23
00:13:08.000 --> 00:14:23.000
Imagine how much grief, stress, strain, hardship he's in at that moment. To say that he is so stressed out that the capillaries of are bursting in his face and he's sweating blood out of his pores, is coming blood, which is a condition that is known for those who are like, say, about to experience the death penalty or under real high stress, uh, situations related to war and things like that. People actually can, uh, they're so strained and stressed, they can sweat blood. This is actually a condition, I've heard skeptics laugh in Luke that describes Jesus sweating blood as being like, obviously myth. This is a real medical condition, but it shows the kind of strain he's under. Then he prays in the garden. Lord, Father, if there's any other way, let this cut pass from me. Yet not my will be done, but yours be done. And usually we think of this as an unanswered prayer. Like, maybe you think of your prayers as unanswered. God, I asked you to rescue my child who was dying. God, I asked you to help my parent who was going through the suffering to do this thing. I asked you to do something. And at least in some cases, I think it can be like Jesus. Okay? In some of those cases. And here it is. Here's how it is with Jesus. The prayer from the garden of Gethsemane looks unanswered.

24
00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:45.000
But when you zoom out and you move to more of a long term perspective, in the moment, it was, it seemed unanswered. He goes to the cross, but when you zoom out, you see the resurrection of Christ, and you go, was it unanswered? Here's what Hebrews five says about this. This is pretty interesting. Hebrews chapter five, verses seven and eight.

25
00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:57.000
In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears. This is the garden of Gethsemane. This is the princess. Multiple times he went to go pray, and he was.

26
00:14:57.000 --> 00:15:09.000
It was deep. This. This has got to be the garden of Gethsemane. Hebrews five is talking about. He offers these prayers to him who is able to save him from death. And you're like, God, you can do it. You love me. You can do it.

27
00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:19.000
But then what it says next is shocking to me. And he was heard. Because of his reverence, he was heard.

28
00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:25.000
Jesus was. His prayer was answered with a yes. But the cup didn't pass.

29
00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:33.000
It was not answered with a yes. You'll avoid the cross. But it was answered with a yes. You will be delivered through this trial.

30
00:15:33.000 --> 00:16:36.000
Sometimes God rescues us from the fire, and some sometimes God rescues us through the fire. And Jesus went through it, and sometimes you go through it. But his resurrection is a way in which we can say that his prayer was not answered in a sense, didn't get the thing he asked for specifically and knew he wouldn't, because he was like, your will be done. And all this, it was all to teach us. But his prayer was answered in another sense, because in the long term, in the eternal sense, there was this final time of peace and reconciliation with all that had happened before, you know, all of the good that came later. Washington was, uh, overshadows any of the pain and suffering he was in at the time. And I think this is a parallel for you and me when we go through our times of prayer. Please, God. Please, God. Please, God. That if I have to look all the way to heaven when I die and stand before God, I will be in his presence, and he will wipe tears away, and there will be a time where I go, Lord, you didn't answer my prayer, but you did answer my prayer. Now that I'm in your presence, it's all okay. It's all okay. I'm good with all of it.

31
00:16:36.000 --> 00:18:14.000
There will come a time when you can say this. And so in this context of Jesus saying, there's, like, answer, showing. Jesus had kind of answered and unanswered prayer in a sense, which I think we often do as well. In Luke 18, he tells this parable, which I often think of when people ask about prayer. Look at the intro to this parable, Luke 18 one, and he told them a parable to the effect. And this is one of the rare moments where the Bible tells you what the point of the parable is. You don't have to figure out, figure it out on your own, that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. This question is about praying and not losing heart. Like, I'm praying. God didn't answer, I'm losing heart. And then the parable is striking and odd to me. It's not what I would have expected, it's not what I would have anticipated from Jesus. But he says this, in a certain city, there was a judge, and this judge is related to God. Now, he's contrasted with God, not compared to God. That's important, but he's related to God in the parable, who neither feared God nor respected man. Then there was a widow, and that's kind of like us praying. We're like the widow and widows when they go before courts are effectively powerless. They don't have the political standing and they don't have the financial standing. This widow, at least it's implied, um, and so she goes kind of powerless to this unjust judge, and she keeps coming to him saying, give me justice against my adversary. For a while he refused, but afterward when he said to himself, though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, bothering me, I will give her justice so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.

32
00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:18.000
You never would have thought if it wasn't for the intro.

33
00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:25.000
This is about always praying and not losing heart. You never would have thought that these verses or teach you to pray and not lose heart.

34
00:18:25.000 --> 00:20:02.000
Um, Jesus parables are often like this. They catch you off guard, because I think it's a way of teaching you better is by catching you off guard making you think. So. The Lord said, hear what the unrighteous judge says and remember he's unrighteous, right? God's not like the judge. The judge is unlike God. That's kind of the point. But there's a contrast that's teaching us. And will not God give justice to his elected, cry to him day and night? Will he, will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give them justice. Give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth? This almost implies that, um, final justice is going to be when the son of man comes. And will he find you continuing to trust, continuing to pray, continuing to seek the parable? Uh, I won't get into all the details, but the parable about always pray, not lose heart. I think one of the main points there is continue being patient and wait. Eventually it will come. And when it comes it's going to rush right in. God's going to do this and he's not like the unjust judge. You're not going to bother God with your continual prayers. You're not going to irritate him. In that sense. Uh, he cares. He cares. Revelation, uh, has a really interesting picture of this. When the incense bowls full of the prayers of the saints and the prayers are actually like goddess, when are you going to deal with these people who are killing us? That's, that's, that's one of the prayers. It's not just God like, um, I love you. There's, these are other prayers about persecution. And then the incense is thrown down in revelation onto the earth. God's judgment finally coming upon those who have killed his people.

35
00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:11.000
Always pray, don't lose heart. That's the main point. So the fifth thing, the last thing I'll say is this, um, psalm 43.

36
00:20:11.000 --> 00:21:12.000
Well, the book of psalms ultimately is the fifth point. The book of psalms teaches us, I think, how to process hardship and difficulty in life and I'll just give you a few examples. These are maybe aren't even the best examples in psalms, but I think psalms is great like that. You could find examples that answer your questions about, um, prayer a lot in the book of psalms. So check out the flow of the psalm. Let's read through psalm 43, the whole thing. Check out the flow of psalm 43 and think about, as we do, the mindset of the author. And, uh, because we're talking about our mindset in prayer. I'm praying God's not answering. Why wouldn't he answer? It starts to make me wonder. I if. If I should trust or whatever. Psalm 43. What's the mindset of the author? Vindicate me, o God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people. From the deceitful and unjust man. Deliver me. Okay, so he's in hardship. That's not his fault. He's being attacked wrongly, and he needs God to defend him. He doesn't have the ability to do it himself. For you are a God in whom I take refuge. Why have you rejected me?

37
00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:34.000
Now, this is important. People go, I can get mad at God in prayer. I can say angry things to God. Look at the psalms. You need to read a whole psalm and not just a verse. If you're going to say, lord, why have you rejected me? You need to say that stuff in the rest of the psalm. Not just. Not just that one thing. I think this is important for your own walk with the Lord, that you don't use God as your punching, uh, pillow in your prayers.

38
00:21:34.000 --> 00:22:22.000
Like it's a rage room where you just take a baseball bat and you break stuff. But rather, you realize this is a guidance, a full process of how to deal with our, uh, troubled emotions in prayer. So, yes, why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning? Because of the oppression of the enemy. It's a genuine question. Why. Why is this going on? You can't even hide your heart from asking these questions. I'd rather process them. Ask them and process them. But that's what psalms does. It doesn't just ask them and leave angry. Maybe you'll feel catharsis and you'll feel restored. We have to be a little more spiritually mature than that. Let's read verse three and see what else we have to do. Send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill, into your dwelling. See, this person is not actually doubting God. He's confused, but he's still believing.

39
00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:29.000
Ah. Uh, that's interesting. Psalms doesn't give us this case, for my faith is hanging on this prayer.

40
00:22:29.000 --> 00:23:17.000
Rather, I'm expressing in this prayer the struggles I'm going through. I'm bringing it to God. So I'm still trusting God. Uh, send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling. Then I will go to the altar of God. To God, my exceeding joy. Can you still say this in your prayers even when you're struggling, that God is your exceeding joy? That's a healthy spiritual mindset. If you can't try to get there, work your way there. Start with thankfulness that both your arms work or both your legs work or maybe just your mouth or whatever your eyes and ears. Start with being thankful for the blessings you've got. And it says, I will praise you with a liar. Oh God, my God. There's a, there's a person who's incredible suffering, doesn't deserve it. Asking God to help, knows God can help, doesn't understand why God won't help and then says, but I'm still going to worship you, God.

41
00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:20.000
There is a spiritually healthy mindset.

42
00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:26.000
Then the, uh, the question turns. Instead of questioning goddess, he questions himself.

43
00:23:26.000 --> 00:24:05.000
This is beautiful. Why are you cast down, o my soul? And why are you in turmoil within me? Hey, you, self. It doesn't make sense. God is still God. He is still worthy of praise. I should not feel this way. I can't just snap myself out of it, but I will position myself out of it. I'll get myself in the right direction. So I will tell myself hope in Goddesse for I shall yet praise him. Which is almost a defiant I'm going to worship God. I'm going to praise God. In spite of what I'm experiencing. I commit to that my salvation and my God. And he doesn't just say God is God, he calls God his salvation.

44
00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.000
God will help me. I don't know when, I don't know how.

45
00:24:09.000 --> 00:24:41.000
Ultimately he'll help me. As a Christian I can always say this because even if I die, to die is gain. So God will help me. And that is a beautiful thing. Take the full mindset. Don't just read one verse and then tell people, I've heard this many times. You know, you can yell at God in prayer and get mad at God in prayer and then leave it at that. We need to be more spiritually mature than that. You can pour your heart out to God, yes, but you also need to adjust your heart as you do or else it's going to lead to some unhealthy things. Um, let's look at psalm ten.

46
00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:50.000
Psalm ten. Okay. We're looking at more because scripture is good. Learn to think biblically by, you know, actually looking at scripture.

47
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:59.000
Okay. Nothing gets fixed in this psalm. I, uh, want you to notice that. Why, o Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

48
00:24:59.000 --> 00:25:37.000
In arrogance, the wicked hotly pursue the poor. Let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised for the wicked. Boasts of the desire of his soul and the one greedy for gain. Curses and renounces the Lord in the pride of his face. The wicked does not seek him in his thoughts. All his thoughts are, there is no God. Interesting here is, um. Some might think this is about an atheist. It would obviously include an atheist and an atheist. Thoughts? There is no God. But, um, the person who sins as though they will never stand before God and be accountable, they are effectively, their thoughts are, there is no God. I will sin as though there is no accountability for what I do.

49
00:25:37.000 --> 00:26:47.000
Um, his ways prosper at all times. The wicked man, your judgments are on high, out of his sight. As for all his foes, he puffs at them. In a sense, it's like saying God, yes, you have the standard of justice, but it's not coming down to earth to affect this guy. He's living his wicked life. It's his best life. Now, this evil man, he says in his heart, I shall not be moved throughout all generations. I shall not meet adversity. How does this guy get away with this stuff? His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression. Under his tongue are mischief and iniquity. He sits in ambush in the villages, uh, and hiding places. He murders the innocent. We're not talking about a jerk here. We're talking about a criminal who's succeeding in his wicked schemes and getting away with it. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless. He lurks in ambush like a lion in his thickethe, he lurks that he may seize the poor. He seizes the poor. When he draws him into his net, the helpless or crushed sink down and fall. By his might, he says in his heart, God is forgotten. He has hidden his face. He will never see it. Now, you might think it's the psalmist who thinks this.

50
00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:58.000
It's not the one who thinks God isn't helping and will never help. God isn't bringing justice and will never bring justice is the wicked.

51
00:26:58.000 --> 00:28:48.000
God is forgotten. He's hidden his face. He'll never see it. That's the wicked's mindset. What is the psalmist's mindset? Even though he started with like, lord, why are you hiding? It says here in verse 13, arise, o Lord. O God, lift up your hand. Forget not the afflicted. There's still an appeal to God. You're still the solution. I'm not giving up on you, God. I'm going to continue praying, even though I'm struggling with all of this discouragement in my. Even in my prayers. Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, you will not call to account? But you do. See, this is. This is the kind of affirmations that a Christian should be giving is, but, God, you are in control and you are good, and you do love me, and you are watching these things, and you will take action. Please do it now. I don't know why you're waiting. I pray you do it now. But you do see, for you note the mischief and vexation that you may take it into your hands. To you, the helpless commits himself, himself, and you have been the helper of the fatherless. He just discussed the fatherless or the poor, the people being oppressed and killed by this wicked person. But he still knows that God has been the helper of the fatherless, that he knows that this is who, this is God's character and this is nature. And for whatever reason, it's not happening in this scenario. But I still trust him. It's a beautiful attitude. And then, of course, there's this verse that a lot of the guys, like, break the arm of the wicked. An evildoer call his wickedness to account till you find him. Breaking the arm. Obviously, I'm sure he'd be happy if it happened physically. But the idea is the arm is the metaphorical representation of your ability to affect people and things in the world. Breaking, you know, like, God has a long and outstretched arm. Uh, how long does Pharaoh think his arm is that he can do this? Those types of phrases. So breaking the arm of the wicked is stopping them. He's like, don't let them do this stuff. Stop their ability to do this. Let's keep reading. The Lord is king forever. The nations perish from his land.

52
00:28:48.000 --> 00:29:19.000
Again, a straight affirmation of permanent truths that should comfort the heart when you're going through. Why won't God answer my prayers? God is king forever and ever, and the nations will perish from his land. As in, the wicked won't be able to last, o Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted. I know you hear me, you will strengthen their heart. You will incline your ear. He's going to eventually hear you. He'll do it. Why? Because he's holy. To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed. So that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.

53
00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:27.000
Bottom line in that psalm, nothing got better except the attitude of the psalmist.

54
00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:48.000
Nothing got better but the attitude of the psalmist. And this is often what prayer does. Prayer is often the way to fix your bad attitude through, uh, with prayer is by praying like this, open about the problems, landing solid on the reality of who God is and what God does and what God will do, and then choosing to wait and trust in him.

55
00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:59.000
There's other psalms we could go through, psalm 13, where it talks about praising God for past blessings. Uh, psalm 17, verse 15. Here, I'll just take you to one verse.

56
00:29:59.000 --> 00:30:34.000
As for me, there you go. On your screen. By the way, psalm 17 gives this, uh, desperate prayer about the wicked, kind of like what we just read. And many of us have never experienced oppression, like the stuff that's being written about here in psalm 17, we use the word oppression, and we're, like, talking about. Someone looked at me sideways. They don't like me because there's something about me. And, you know, the Bible is usually dealing with more serious forms of oppression than that. And, uh, verse 15, here's response to that and says, as for me, I shall behold your face and righteousness. When I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.

57
00:30:34.000 --> 00:31:18.000
A psalm that speaks of eternity. That's a theological thing because a lot of more, uh, well, let's just say a lot of people out there say that, uh, the Old Testament, at this stage, didn't believe in an afterlife. There was no afterlife. Um, not true, of course, but they often say it, and they're very, very confident about it. And people don't know their old testament, so they go, okay, I guess so. Whatever you say, boss. So, yeah, the psalmist looks for eternity. This is the last thing you can do when hardship. You're facing hardship. Yeah, you look at the past of what God's done, and you thank him for it. You look at the things you can be grateful for now, and you thank him for it. You continue praying, but you land on permanent facts and reality about who God is that you can rest on, even though it doesn't make sense with your current situation.

58
00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:38.000
And then you finally say, and one day I will awaken in your likeness. One day I will be standing before you, every tear wiped away, everything resolved. I hope this answers, uh, some of your question and some of the issues that are going on there. Um. Um. If prayer is effective, why do so many prayers seem to go unanswered, especially in desperate situations?

59
00:31:38.000 --> 00:32:14.000
I mean, obviously God knows. Um, um, but, uh, uh, but I hope these five things I discussed help. There's other stuff too. We could talk about how in the book of acts, we don't see prayer answered positively every single time. Um, um. It seems like it comes in waves. Uh, we see Paul healing people. Then we see him not seeing healing, either for his own issue thorn in the flesh thing, or for, say, epaphroditus or someone else who, like, almost dies and he leaves, leaves him sick. Because obviously he prayed for healing and that didn't happen. And he moved on and trusted God, so we shouldn't always expect that. But, yeah, check the link below if you want more on that. Let's go to question number two.

60
00:32:14.000 --> 00:34:02.000
All right. Moving lightning fast today, as always, Jake Gentiles says, how are children in the eternal kingdom on earth? Okay, how do they exist? How is it that children are in the eternal kingdom on earth? Isaiah eleven six nine. We'll read the passage in a second. Any child resurrected would mature during the millennium, right? Does this mean there could be protection on the new earth? Thanks. So, for those who believe in a literal millennium, as I do, um, whether it's exactly a thousand years or something very close to a thousand years. I mean, I don't care whether it's an approximation or if it's, if it's like exact to the second, I don't care. But I do believe that there is a millennium coming. I could be wrong. Um, maybe I've misunderstood something in scripture there. That's, that's my reading of it. And, um, here, this text talks about what may be maybe the millennium, right? There's debate on this. Some people would suggest, well, it's not the millennium. It's talking about something else. Um, but let's suppose it is, then. Let's analyze it with the. I, uh, stress this hypothetical that Isaiah eleven six nine is talking about the future thousand year reign of Christ. Okay. That's how we're going to analyze it, tentatively. Because a lot of these issues about eschatology I hold much more loosely personally. So that's why I handle it tentatively. So the wolf shall dwell with the lambda and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat and the calf and the lion and the fatted calf together, and a little child shall lead them. This is speaking obviously about safety. That these animals that are normally predator and prey relationship have this harmonious relationship. A child leads them, suggesting that it's even safe for a kid, uh, in that environment. Um, does this have to be literal, symbolic?

61
00:34:02.000 --> 00:34:05.000
The point is that it is, um.

62
00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:19.000
Ah, a time of harmonious safety in the God's natural world. Something different than what we see in, um. Wait, what am I doing wrong? Sarah? She texted me. I must have made a mistake somewhere.

63
00:34:19.000 --> 00:34:32.000
Procreation, not protection. Oh, thanks. I misread the. I said protection of the question. Does this mean there could be procreation on the new earth? Thank you. See, I knew she. She caught me. Good job, sir. Okay.

64
00:34:32.000 --> 00:35:14.000
Eleven seven says, the cow and the bear shall graze again to contrary, uh, predator prey relationship. Their young shall lie down together and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. Then it says in verse eight, the nursing child shall play over the whole of the cobra and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. Total safety. There's no more predator prey. There's no more danger in creation, uh, at least in this kind of. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as waters cover the sea. So the question is, okay, in the thousand year reign of Christ, are there actually children?

65
00:35:14.000 --> 00:37:38.000
And there's a couple different ways to approach this. One is. Well, there's maybe three ways. One, you just say, hey, this isn't about the millennium in the first place. Um, another one is you say, um, not like you get to pick and choose. I'm just saying, whenever you're studying scripture, it's good to survey what are the possible ways to understand this? And then you analyze the passage, the greater context, and you try to. You try to whittle away the ones that are possible. But no, no, that's not really what it means. So, possible. Um, uh, you say it's not about the millennium in the first place. In which case, in case you kind of dodge that question, one is you say, well, the main point is about the, um, is about the harmony in creation and that there is no longer a danger from the created world, but we're in like this perfected harmony. And then you say, well, that doesn't require that there's actually lions, like sitting down with, say, an ox or like a wolf and a lamb sitting together and hanging out. You don't actually have to hang out. But the point is that there's this harmony. There doesn't have to be nursing children actually physically playing over the whole of a cobra for this to be fulfilled. It can just be that environment that would allow for that potentially. That's one possibility that I'm okay with that, um, personally. But let's suppose that it is real children. Okay, sorry for hedging my bets here. I don't have a solid answer that I know is absolutely true. So we walk through how to walk through it. So if it's about nursing children, and we will see nursing kids in the millennium. The way I've heard a lot of christians respond to this is to simply say, um, that there will be people who, during the seven year tribulation, who, after all the judgments come, they survive and live on into the millennium. And then there are the saints who are resurrected and given new bodies. Now in the new bodies they're given. This is the way that people parse this out, and this is very much. We're stringing together various biblical ideas, but we're not. But this is where it becomes. There's some intuitive guesswork that's happening when you try to tie all this stuff together. We should acknowledge that maybe, right? But it's still there. So then, uh, you have two groups of people. You have sort of the christians who receive new bodies, and then you have other people who are effectively not christians who survived through the tribulation, went into the millennium and continued populating the earth.

66
00:37:38.000 --> 00:38:19.000
This is one view. So they continue to populate and have kids, and those kids will experience this sort of blessing. Maybe some of them will get saved, maybe a lot of them. Maybe a lot of them won't. At the end of the thousand years, you have a much larger population than you did at the beginning of the thousand years. Then Satan's released and he raises up a bunch of people to rebel against God. Well, there certainly aren't saints that are turning now from Christ who received, like, you know, entered into. Entered into glory, but rather we're talking about now, um, uh, children of non glorified humans who survived and then continue to repopulate.

67
00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:44.000
And maybe they have extended lifespans. But I feel like this, we're just getting several steps away from what I would consider things I solidly know from scripture. So it's so much conjecture. I just want to acknowledge it as that there's one potential answer. People who focus more on eschatology will absolutely be able to answer this question better than me. I'd encourage you to look up answers, but I would just encourage you guys one thing.

68
00:38:44.000 --> 00:39:09.000
Look up an answer, but consider looking up a second answer, even someone who sees it differently when it comes to eschatology, this is like a healthy practice. Just be aware that there's different views. That awareness will help you get along with christians, because the post male believers who are going to be like, Mike, I don't interpret it that way at all. Um, that's fine. Maybe go hear their interpretations and consider them. They're my brothers, sisters in Christ.

69
00:39:09.000 --> 00:40:02.000
Amil. Yep, brothers and sisters in Christ. I wouldn't cause division or try to create tension over those issues, because that, I think, is concerning. Um, this morning we, uh, was looking at one corinthians, chapter one. I'm of Paul, I'm of apollos, and it makes me think partly of eschatology, turning that into a divisive issue. Well, you know, Jesus comes back, okay, we receive new bodies, we enter into his eternal presence, the eternal kingdom. We don't need to make every other little issue there a divisive issue. In that regard, eschatology is a challenging topic. Okay, number three, uh, Olutomi says, hi, Mike. Greetings from Australia. Greetings, mate. I recently read Mark for the parable of the sower and was convicted about not having my roots deep enough in Christ. What are practical ways of achieving this?

70
00:40:02.000 --> 00:40:03.000
Mhm.

71
00:40:03.000 --> 00:41:23.000
So in the parallel of the sower, youve got these four different soils that are discussed, and only one of them is really good soil. And the roots go deep and they get a lot of nutrients and stuff like that. Um, I think that in the parable, the idea of roots going deep, when you think about the different soils, one of them is rocky soil and the roots don't go deep. That's probably the best contrast to the deep root soil. And this person receives the word with joy and they immediately spring up and it has a lot of upward growth. So plants with shallow roots, they can't put as much of their energy into growing roots. So they shoot up right where they grow, where they can grow and they grow quickly, but they tend to burn out or die. I whatever. So then this is, um, analogy of the person who receives the word, but then, um, it gets persecution. Ah, I think is the thing that messes that soil up. Then there's one grown among the weeds, which would also have a root problem and gets choked out by the weeds. The desire for other things and the love of this world choke that out. And then there's the one that goes on the, uh, pathway, and the birds of the air, like, like Satan, effectively stealing away the seed of the gospel from their lives.

72
00:41:23.000 --> 00:41:49.000
So if you want to ask what grows you deep. I think you compare yourself to the other two soils, and not this one on the path, but the other two in particular, the shallow one and the one that got choked out by the weeds. And you say, well, how do I handle persecution? Or perhaps being ashamed of Christ, being pressured not to speak of Christ, not to represent Christ, not to be public about my Christianity, not to talk to people about it.

73
00:41:49.000 --> 00:42:09.000
Can you stir up more boldness and more openness in your Christianity, such that you are known as a Christian in your workplace, in your family, in the environments you're in, even if that costs you among your friends, that they don't just know you're a Christian, they know you are a Christian who wants them to be Christians.

74
00:42:09.000 --> 00:42:40.000
That's a different thing. Because persecution chokes it out, right? But also the desire for riches, the love of other things, the distractions of the world. Those things also choke you out. So then that can be something that you ask yourself, are there in my life things that are. The desires for pleasure and entertainment, um, and material goods, are they somehow replacing pursuit of God's kingdom?

75
00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:55.000
I can't do, um, like, you're not able to serve the Lord, perhaps in your local church, to help out and volunteer with your food ministry or something like that, because you want to work a second job and you don't really need the money. You just sort of really want to have more stuff?

76
00:42:55.000 --> 00:43:36.000
That would be an example of that. Um, there's other things there, too, but the best is going to be your own introspection. So reread the parable of the sowers. My counsel to you. Look at the soils that don't do so good and ask yourself, is there any area of my life that relates to the thing that kept that soil from having roots that grow deep? Let me deal with that in my life. That would be my initial counsel to you. Um, there's plenty of other stuff that can be shared. But since, like, the lord seems to be drawing your attention to this parable, why don't you camp out there? Why don't you really read that and reflect on your own life and be very open and respond in prayer? Pray, lorde, show me in my life where there are the desires for other things.

77
00:43:36.000 --> 00:43:39.000
Help me have wisdom, m to see that for what it is.

78
00:43:39.000 --> 00:44:06.000
Help me have courage to confront it and deal with it. Okay, I have a quick announcement before we go to question three. I m announced this earlier, but I didn't. So quick announcement here. I'm going to go like this. For our counter, just to make it easier for, uh, us to do. Uh, however, we're going to do this later. Um, okay, so we have a men's conference coming up at my local church. I just want to let you guys know about. Um, I'll be there, but I don't want you to come for me. And let me explain what I mean by that. This isn't a false humility thing.

79
00:44:06.000 --> 00:44:26.000
I also don't want to create false expectations in you. So, um, the men's conference is at my church, which is grace evangelical free church, um, in la Mirada, California. And it's a one day conference, Saturday, uh, October 5. I think it is. Let me just make sure, because I didn't write that down. I just had it in my brain.

80
00:44:26.000 --> 00:45:19.000
Um, Saturday, October 6. Excuse me. October 6. And here's what you would need to know real quick. Give me 30 seconds. I'll run through it. Um, the theme is becoming God's man. Or skip ahead if you're not interested. Becoming God's man. Uh, because there's these sort of like two polar opposites we see in our culture today. There's those who abandon manliness, like the effeminate, weak men who don't know their place or role. And they feel like almost like if they try to step into their role, they're oppressing people, or they're being mean or rude, or they have to almost fight against a biblical, manly role. Then on the other side, there's kind of like the manosphere, where people have carnal manliness, and they have narcissism, and they have cruelty and abuse, and, um, their focus on machismo. And these men often act like children, like large children, and it's not healthy and it's not good. And they find inspiration from people who are not committed to biblical virtues and values.

81
00:45:19.000 --> 00:46:21.000
So what do we do? We have these two problems. Well, we navigate this to become God's men is the idea. That's what the conference is about, is trying to fix that and focus on men having courage, manliness that is spirit filled and not carnal. That's kind of the main idea. It's, um, a one day conference. So, yeah, Saturday, October 6 from 830 to about 03:00 p.m. and, uh, we will have the habit there, the food truck from the habit there for you guys. I mean, I'm interested in knowing what's for lunch. So the habit will be their food truck. Uh, the speakers are Paul Felix, who I don't know Paul Felix. I'm not the one making the conference happen. I just wanted to tell you about it. I'm sure he's probably great, but I've never heard him before. But I will that day. Eric, um, Thomas, who's one of the pastors at my church where I'm not a pastor, I'm just one of the members. And, um, he's going to be speaking. I'm sure that he's going to do a fantastic job. I feel like he balances these things really well. And then I will be there as part of a Q and a panel at the end of the day. So, like 115 on the schedule.

82
00:46:21.000 --> 00:46:38.000
I will be there just for a Q and A. Okay. I'm on a panel with other people. You will not hear that much from me. If you're coming to hear me, don't come. If you're coming because the conference sounds interesting to you and you want to growing in that, I would want you to come. Okay, men, we need this, especially California men.

83
00:46:38.000 --> 00:47:10.000
We might need it more than the rest. Let's be real. So I hope you guys will consider coming if you can. And, um, if not, no worries. So there's a link in the video description, in the podcast description, or you can go to grace evfree.org ministries, forward slash men's ministry, forward slash. That's the website. You guys can check it out. Um, yeah, that's the announcement. Okay, so let's go to question number four.

84
00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:52.000
Sinna C I n a says, where does the Bible teach that the deity of Jesus is a salvation damnation issue? For example, in Athens, acts 17. It seems weird that Paul didn't explicitly teach this. John eight, perhaps? Um, so, well, let's look at the Athens in acts 17 passage, so that we can ask the question when we say something is a central doctrine, is it a good idea for us to say, I should expect to find that central doctrine in each time the gospel is presented in the book of acts? And I want to push back on that a bit before we answer the rest of your question. So let's go to this.

85
00:47:52.000 --> 00:48:14.000
Um, acts 17 one. Now, when they had passed through M. Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days, um. Um, he reasoned with them through the scriptures. Is this. I think in acts 17, you met. You met further down. Let me just make sure.

86
00:48:14.000 --> 00:48:19.000
I think you met Athens, right? You said Athens. Where's your question?

87
00:48:19.000 --> 00:49:31.000
In Athens, right? Yeah. So starting verse 16. Okay. Now when Paul. While Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and devout persons and in the marketplace every day with those who happen to be there. First off, Paul, uh, reasoned with them every day. He had a lot of conversations we don't know anything about. Then it says, some of the epicurean and stoic philosophers also conversed with him, and some said, what does this babbler wish to say? Others said, he seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. That's interesting. Foreign divinities. Um, because he was preaching Jesus. This might be a subtle implication that he was speaking about Jesus as a deity, potentially. Um, I don't know how strong that is, but it seems like it may be there. Verse 19 says, and they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, may we know what this new teaching is that you're presenting? These guys would go to the Areopagus, and they would argue and debate stuff. It was kind of what they did. This was. It was normal. It was desired. This was a debate stage going to the Areopagus, where the smart people would try to prove how smart they were. Um, I mean, learn. I mean, they would try to learn.

88
00:49:31.000 --> 00:49:52.000
Verse 20 for you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know, therefore, what these things mean. Now, all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. This is not really meant to be a compliment, I don't think. Um. But, yeah, it was. It was an open door for getting the gospel to them a bit.

89
00:49:52.000 --> 00:49:55.000
Don't mind my coffee slurping sounds. I apologize.

90
00:49:55.000 --> 00:49:58.000
I need to learn how to be more stealthy.

91
00:49:58.000 --> 00:50:09.000
So, Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said, men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed by the way, this was a compliment. It was not an insult.

92
00:50:09.000 --> 00:50:36.000
They had false religion, but just the fact that they were religious was not considered an insult. I have to remind us this nowadays because we think that word is a bad word. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription. To the unknown God. What therefore you worship is unknown. This I proclaim to you the God who made the world and everything in it, being lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man. This is the ontology of God.

93
00:50:36.000 --> 00:50:39.000
He's like, hey, God, made everything.

94
00:50:39.000 --> 00:51:46.000
Therefore, he is not constrained by creation. Like, he has to have a temple to exist or to live in. Nor is he served by human hands. I mean, obviously my hands serve God, but not as though he needed anything. It's not like God needs me to give him something so he can have that thing. This is an, uh, offer of love, of service to God in a different fashion. Not like he's some sort of finite being with needs, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. He's trying to distinguish God from pagan gods. God almighty, omniscient, omnipresent, all these wonderful things, transcendent compared to all the deities that they are worshipping at the Areopagus. And he made from one man every nation of mankind. To live on the face of all the earth, having determined, allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place. That they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being. So he is so far just getting at theology of monotheism. That's what he's getting at so far. Monotheism versus pagan polytheism. That's the emphasis of Paul's preaching so far.

95
00:51:46.000 --> 00:52:19.000
If you take this, you could stop here and go, well, then all we need to do is make people monotheists. But we know Paul preached more than that. But let's read on. Even some of your own poets have said we are indeed his offspring. Being then God's offspring. Not his children, exactly, but his offspring, his creation. We, uh, are adopted to become his children. We're not inherently God's children. We ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone. An image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all people everywhere to repent. Repent of what? Paganism.

96
00:52:19.000 --> 00:53:33.000
Now he tells them to repent of several things. But this is the focus here is paganism, polytheism. Because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness. By a man whom he has appointed. And of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. This is the very m moment he finally mentions Jesus resurrection. And the crowd responds when they heard of the resurrection of the dead. Some mocked, but others said, we will hear you again about this. So Paul went out from their midst. He was cut off. And some are like, well, listen to more. Implying Paul had more to tell them. There was more information that was lacking that was just in this short dialogue that they had was not enough. It was not enough for you to say, we've learned everything we need to know about the gospel. So I can't take acts 17 and go, the minimal gospel is whatever the smallest amount of information is in one of these preachments in the book of acts. We also have a problem in that these are not likely word for word. These are probably summary statements of a lot of the preaching that went on. Um, they're in quotes because that's an english convention where you put things in quotes. We try to determine what's a direct quote of versus maybe a summary. They didn't have those conventions back then, so there's a mixture of that in the scripture.

97
00:53:33.000 --> 00:53:50.000
Why would I then say, um, that the deity of Christ is actually of central value as a Christian? I think a Christian, a person can okay, this is going to get me in hot water, but, um, hopefully it'll be understood and not misunderstood if I say it quickly.

98
00:53:50.000 --> 00:54:00.000
I believe that a Christian can, uh, get saved. A person can be saved without knowing the deity of Christ, but not while rejecting it.

99
00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:10.000
See, there's the difference. There's things about you I don't know Jesus, but I embrace you as you are, versus there's central aspects of your nature that I reject.

100
00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:16.000
Which implies what? I don't actually have faith in you. If I believe in you.

101
00:54:16.000 --> 00:54:25.000
Let's say your name is, um. Well, would you put Cinna in there? So let's say your name is Cinna, short for cinnamon, cinnabon.

102
00:54:25.000 --> 00:54:40.000
Um, and I say I believe in Sina, but I describe you as a twelve foot tall, 300 pound gorilla, you're gonna say, uh, you're using my name, but you are not believing in me. You're describing somebody else.

103
00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:59.000
If you say, I believe in Jesus, and then I go, and he's definitely not God with us, I am m actually fundamentally rejecting the nature of Jesus, his eternal nature, his actual godhead. Imagine saying I worship God, but I don't believe God is God. I believe God is a flying spaghetti monster.

104
00:54:59.000 --> 00:55:27.000
You're not worshiping God, you're just using the word God. If I believe in Jesus, but I reject his death and resurrection, then I'm not really believing in Jesus, am I? If I believe in Jesus but I reject his deity, not just am ignorant of, but reject his deity, I'm not really believing in him. And this is why the, the, um, connection to the gospel is important. When you say believing in Jesus is the way of salvation, then you have to have the right Jesus.

105
00:55:27.000 --> 00:55:36.000
You can't just believe in anyone named Jesus, right? Like, I know, I've met, I've lived in California, I've met plenty of people named Jesus in my life.

106
00:55:36.000 --> 00:56:29.000
I don't, believing in any of them will not work. Does that make sense? So, um, there's other scriptures we could bring into the mix here. When the apostles talk about Jesus and who he is and his nature, they're also talking about, this is the guy you have to believe in to be saved. And these are the things that are true about him. And so denying the deity of Christ would be a denial of a central, central aspect of Christ's character. What's a central versus peripheral aspect of Christ's character? Um, maybe like, if you believe that Jesus was six foot two, blond hair, blue eyed, you'd be wrong, but you wouldn't be so wrong as to have rejected the true Christ. I don't think, I mean, God knows. He's the judge. I'm just, we're just trying to make the best wisdom on these issues as we can.

107
00:56:29.000 --> 00:56:40.000
If you believe that Jesus was, um, let's see. For some weird reason, you thought Jesus had 15 disciples instead of twelve the apostles, right?

108
00:56:40.000 --> 00:56:52.000
You'd be wrong, but you wouldn't be so wrong as to, uh, actually have faith in the wrong Jesus. But let's say that you believe, as like the Lds church does, that Jesus was not always God.

109
00:56:52.000 --> 01:00:35.000
He became God at some point. He was not always God from eternity, that God himself was not always God from eternity, that, um, uh, the very nature of this person who they say they believe in this Jesus, who they say died and rose, is so different. As to ontology, what's the difference between being God and not God? That's an infinite difference. God and not God. That's their description of Jesus going in time past. He wasnt even the first God or the second or the fifth or the 3,000,000th. Theres just like this infinite progression of gods. So theres an actual denial of a central aspect of Christ. I believe, and I think that all the scriptures that declare who Jesus is, that he is God, whether youre looking at John eight or if youre looking at Philippians two, or if youre looking at Colossians one, or all these different places one, Peter, I think its chapter three, uh, just calls him God. Um, that all weighs in. Okay, let's go to question number five. This is from Zane Christensen, who says, hi, Mike. My parents are Mormon and I'm an 18 year old Christian. They don't want me to go to a christian church. How do I confront them or ask them to go back? Any advice would be great. Uh, this is a real challenge. Um, um, I want people to, I don't know, identify with Zayn, understand these things, and also recognize, like m Mormonism. This has been coming up a lot recently on x of all places, for whatever reason. Partly because I've been posting stuff, but also partly because there's a group of Mormons that are, um, slandering me on a regular basis, um, making, um, stuff up about me. Uh, uh, and not, not all Mormons are doing that already. This is just one particular group of really, like, um, um, interesting guys. So the, the issue of Mormonism, um, um, such that it, it's funny that you say this, right as I'm answering your question randomly before you, that I talked about Mormonism. Um, um, Mormonism is, is not Christianity. And the two are actually incompatible. And Joseph Smith knew this, and the apostles of the church, church knew this. And the teaching of the church was this up until very recently where they're trying to say, we're just another christian religion. We are compatible with Christianity. That's an important word I'm using, compatible because Mormons will say we're Christians. But if you look at their actual theology and the grounding of Mormonism and the actual teaching of their leaders throughout the years, you realize when they say we're christian, um, the hidden premise in there is and you're not, because either it's us or it's you. Uh, all denominations are apostate. All of our beliefs, our creeds, the things that we believe in are an abomination before God. That's Mormon theology. That's not a christian belief or claim. And certainly if Mormonism is true, then Christianity, after, basically after the New Testament was written, died, um, and came back when Joseph Smith showed up. And everybody who follows the tradition or the, the sort of the belief that either Protestant, Catholic, orthodox or anybody else has, they're an abomination before God. That's the Mormon, that's official Mormon teaching now. They're like, shh, let's not talk about that right now. We're all Christians, we're all good. And so mormonism has this internal tug of war. Like, if you were, uh, if I was a Mormon, I would be the one who says, no, your creeds are an abomination. Because if our beliefs are true, then what Joseph Smith actually taught has to be true. You can't just pick and choose to and morph into a new religion in 2018. You can't just do that. You have to actually be consistent. If you're true, you're true all the way through.

110
01:00:35.000 --> 01:00:53.000
Um, so I would have. I'd be an old school Mormon if I was one, because it's the only chance mormonism can be true. At any rate, all that to say, Zane, I think your parents understand a little bit of this because they're like, we do not want you going to that church because that is not really, it's not really church.

111
01:00:53.000 --> 01:02:42.000
It's an abomination before God. So they're really going to feel very, very strongly about this. I think, um, the bottom line is that Jesus does say, if, uh, any man comes after me and does not hate his own flesh, his own, his father and mother and all these things, and this doesn't mean actually hate them. Okay. Jesus is, the language that's being used there in the Greek, is talking about choosing one over the other. If you come after m me and you don't prefer me, you don't see me as more important, even then, father, mother, family, then you're not worthy to be my disciple. This is a hard hitting thing. Um, but it is what Jesus said, and I'd encourage you in that, that Christ wants you to follow him, and there will be costs, but to do this in the most gracious and loving way you possibly can, where you say, you know, parents, I love you and I want to honor you, but I really believe that I have to put Jesus first. And so it breaks my heart that it's causing a rift between us, but I'm going to do this because I don't see any other way. I have to obey my conscience before God. And that's language that a Mormon is going to probably actually respect. Um, as strange as that might sound to a non Mormon, um, to say, uh, this is what I really believe I have to do to honor God, and I'm going to do it. And I know it's going to cause a rift between us and hardship between us. And I'm sorry, but I also would say, Zane, I don't know what your parents are like, and they may be like, get out. Um, then I would start networking with the people at your church and say, hey, if I get kicked out, can I maybe stay here for a while while I get on my feet and find a place to stay and talk to the pastor and see if the body of Christ there can help you out and be there with you. But you need to extend as much love and grace to your parents as you can in the midst of the tension that goes on there, so you can be a true model of evangelism for them.

112
01:02:42.000 --> 01:02:49.000
Um, may God help you through this. Zane man, I pray the Lord helps you through it.

113
01:02:49.000 --> 01:03:10.000
Um, let's go to question number six. Rebecca says, hi, Mike. Is it appropriate to say a non believer to a non believer? May God bless you. For example, in a greeting card or in a new endeavor, it could be perceived as, may God give you good stuff. Thanks so much. Um, hmm.

114
01:03:10.000 --> 01:03:29.000
Um, well, I have a rule for myself. I came too many years ago, which is never say God bless you unless I mean it. Um, that's a rule that I think all christians should have. Never, um, say God bless you unless I mean it. So can I say God bless you to a non believer and mean it?

115
01:03:29.000 --> 01:03:30.000
Yes.

116
01:03:30.000 --> 01:03:58.000
Um, Jesus himself says, bless those who, what, persecute you. Pray for those who spitefully use you and mistreat you. I'm to pray for them? Does that not also involve potentially praying for God to help them, to bless them? But as a Christian, I realize that when I say, God bless you, they don't want my Christianity perhaps, right? They just want. Maybe. Maybe they'd be cool with God giving them, like, you know, health and wealth.

117
01:03:58.000 --> 01:04:09.000
So when I say, God bless you, maybe they interpret it that way. As I'm saying, God bless you, I'm like, oh, yeah, God, fill your pocket with money. Um, and who doesn't want that?

118
01:04:09.000 --> 01:04:59.000
But at least in my own heart, when I say, God bless you, I'm thinking about actually blessing you. Like, may the Lord bless you. I don't know, bring people into your life to evangelize you, show you that the word of God is, in fact, God's inspired word, give you a. An interest in Jesus, open your eyes to see the truth of Christ, and also protect your health and well being. But oftentimes with unbelievers, um, I'm praying things like, Lord, please let them be protected so they would have longer to receive Christ. But I also. It's okay to just pray, Lord, please, please bless them. He's going through hardship. Please help him through it. But I also add to that and let him know it was you that helped him, let him know it was you that provided him that aid and that assistance and that hard time. Yes, protect their kids, keep them healthy. But I pray, Lord, that you show them it's you that's doing it, so that they can actually grow in the knowledge of God in Christ.

119
01:04:59.000 --> 01:05:52.000
So in that sense, you can say, God bless you. But context is always important here. I want to make sure I'm not doing things in a way that, uh, communicates a Joel Osteen style, conditionless God who just blesses you without requiring or asking anything of you. So them knowing that the gospel is important in the context of me saying God bless you, is that they actually know there's a gospel, some conflict between your life and following Jesus Christ. And I'm praying that you would. You would come to know those things. So if the God bless you turns into that, like, sort of osteen, like, God, um, has no conditions. He just does things for everybody who, like, does. Says the magic words, then I can't do it. Um, so, yeah, use wisdom there. Let's talk about number seven.

120
01:05:52.000 --> 01:06:07.000
Uh, corinthians six. Let me just back up and say one last thing. Um, okay, so there are things where, in the psalms, I was just thinking about this, where there's specific prayers like, lord, stop them, break the arm of the wicked and all that.

121
01:06:07.000 --> 01:06:41.000
That can be a blessing, too, because when the wicked is stopped from committing their sin, they a have less sin to account to God for. And Bjorndev, that. That humbling and that stopping might bring them to Christ. It might. It might not, and. But it is entirely appropriate to pray for that, for people's own good and for the good of the people they're hurting to pray things like that. Uh, number seven, Becky Stark. Becky Stark says two. Um, corinthians 614 16. Is it okay to go to a wedding when you know they're not equally yoked?

122
01:06:41.000 --> 01:06:42.000
Okay.

123
01:06:42.000 --> 01:06:56.000
Um, second, let's look at the passage. Can I go to a wedding of, say, a believer and a non believer? That would be the strongest example of two people who are not equally yoked.

124
01:06:56.000 --> 01:07:07.000
I just thought of this in terms of, uh, weightlifting. Like, you're one buff guy, and then you got, like, a girl who doesn't work out at all. They're not equally yoked.

125
01:07:07.000 --> 01:07:13.000
That's not what it's about, though. Okay, so here's the verse.

126
01:07:13.000 --> 01:07:51.000
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what accord has Christ with belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said, I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore, go out from their midst and be separate from them, says the Lord. And touch no unclean thing, then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you. You shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord almighty.

127
01:07:51.000 --> 01:08:23.000
Um, does this imply marriage? Yeah, uh, inclusively, it could be connected to other things as well. Not even going to date a non believer. Right, but, but, but it definitely applies to marriage. I'm not going to join into a business partnership with someone, at least, who has, um, doesn't, um, perform in business as if they were a Christian and that sort of thing. So these are important things, so don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Um. Um. Can I go to their wedding, though, if they're getting married?

128
01:08:23.000 --> 01:08:30.000
Uh. Uh. This is understandably a challenge for people, in my view.

129
01:08:30.000 --> 01:08:51.000
When I've been to weddings, you guys have two, to be honest, right. Where you think these people shouldn't be getting married, but they are. And then we sort of have this. We're sort of caught on offense because on one side, if we had our preference, these two would not be getting married. Now, maybe we're wrong, maybe we're judging wrong, and we should just keep it to ourselves, and we often should keep it to ourselves.

130
01:08:51.000 --> 01:08:58.000
But let's say we're right in this case, let's just say hypothetically, we're very much correct. Like, this is a very bad decision. These two should not get married.

131
01:08:58.000 --> 01:09:27.000
Um, then we're on offense. Okay. A, they shouldn't get married. B, when they do get married, you should be supporting their marriage as much as you possibly can. So I don't. I'm, um, resist, um. In my heart, at least, my heart's resisting your marriage up until the point at which you say, I do, and then I go. Now, I really. I'm rooting for you. I want you to do great. And guess what? The wedding is the shift between a and b here. It's the shift. You're walking over the fence at the wedding.

132
01:09:27.000 --> 01:09:56.000
While you might think of the wedding as I'm supporting your initial marriage, going to the wedding is also largely about supporting their ongoing marriage. And for that reason, I think christians can and should go to a wedding of two people who shouldn't be getting married, because once they get married, you don't want to leave forever. In their mind, this idea of I'm opposed to your marriage, even if you were opposed to their wedding, maybe you shouldn't even have told them. Maybe you should just keep it to yourself. I'm just talking about your internal thought process.

133
01:09:56.000 --> 01:12:45.000
Um, I will go a step further and say, pastors, um, don't have a right to tell people who they can and can't marry. There's nothing in scripture that suggests, I think, that a pastor can tell a couple, you can get married, you can't get married. And so pastors who are asked to perform a wedding, that they go, I don't think this is advisable unless it's very extreme. I don't even think they have a right to do that. I mean, they can always pull their own involvement out and be, I'm, um, not going to be part of that. But I just, I just feel like God gives us this free will. You decide who to marry. There's a, there's, there's a, it's a good idea, bad idea. Either way, it's your decision. You get married and now make it work. And I think that's the hard part. And that's where I want to involve myself in supporting people to make it work. I know that the couple that I thought shouldn't get married is going to need the most help making it work, and I'd like to be involved in that and helpful in that and supportive of that, because all the people who blindly were like, get married. Just do it. Who cares what anybody says? They're also going to be the same ones going, just leave him, just divorce her, get rid. Because these people don't understand. They don't get it. So having stable, godly people involved in those families and those relationships is healthy. They, uh, may never forgive you for not going to the marriage because they feel like it means you don't support their current marriage when you do. So I would lean towards going now, some would say, but Mike M, are you talking about, what about gay marriage? You can never support a, uh, homosexual union, not during, not at the wedding and not after. There's no fence here. I'm not, I can't support it years later. I don't want you to stay together. I don't want you guys to make it. This is bad, this is hurtful. It's hurtful to you, it's hurtful to the culture, it's a sin against God. It's harmful to families, to the, it's, everything about it is wrong. And the love that you feel for each other, the compassion you feel for each other is a distorted compassion. It's misdirected. It'd be like a father and daughter getting married, and you go, I know you guys really care about each other, but this is wrong. And I can't support it. Not before, not during, not after. And so, yeah, you can't go to that wedding. Um, as a Christian, um, the only caveat I would give with the gay wedding thing, for those who want to think about this, is, um, and it's a really rare caveat. Like, I don't even know if it's realistic in real life. Maybe it's just hypothetical, um, but life is so varied. There's got to be someone in this situation. Let's suppose you know, a gay couple who's going to be, uh, getting married, which I use that phrase in quotes because they're not, it isn't real marriage. You're not actually married. You're just living in constant fornication that there's no such thing as a male and male marriage, male female, female marriage that doesn't exist. It's not a marriage because what God joins together, let non man separate. But God isn't joining these two together.

134
01:12:45.000 --> 01:13:00.000
God is the designer and inventor and sustainer of marriage. He doesn't, didn't design, invent or sustain those relationships. So it's not even a divorce if you guys break up. It's just, it's just a good godly move.

135
01:13:00.000 --> 01:13:14.000
At least this is, this is, if nothing else, people should recognize. This is the christian position. This is a position christians have held throughout time. And it has been a blessing to societies because family and the family unit is the core of society.

136
01:13:14.000 --> 01:13:19.000
And, uh, uh, same sex marriage ultimately, um, destroys that.

137
01:13:19.000 --> 01:13:23.000
It destroys it in the lives of everybody who partakes in it.

138
01:13:23.000 --> 01:13:58.000
So that being said, under what conditions could you like, say, attend a same sex wedding? Only under the condition that, because the fear is that my attendance messages that I am in support morally of something that is immoral. So only under the condition that everybody there knows I'm not in support of this. And this is like a pretty rare scenario where like, you showing up shows I love you guys, but I disapprove of this. I disapprove of your staying together, I disapprove of every day that you're together. They know this and your attendance doesn't message to them anything different.

139
01:13:58.000 --> 01:14:20.000
This is a hypothetical scenario. Is that really going to happen? Maybe, I don't know, one in a million maybe, if that more likely, the general rule for christians should be not to attend. And they're, but Mike, they're going to think you don't love them only because they've made a standard. If you don't support this immoral thing I'm doing, you don't love me, but you cannot support the thing.

140
01:14:20.000 --> 01:14:42.000
Now, if they say, well, you hate me, that's their delusion. You can't fix it, at least not this way. You can't fix it by supporting the thing or pretending to support the thing. Ultimately, you're cowing your moral values to the accusations that you're hateful and you're a bigot. And they're just going to have to think it about you.

141
01:14:42.000 --> 01:14:53.000
They're just going to have to think it about you. You can do whatever you can other than, um, abandoning your moral principles to try to fix that problem. But it's their problem, not yours.

142
01:14:53.000 --> 01:16:00.000
God help us. Uh, let's go to the next question. Number eight. This comes from J Towles Q, who says, hey, Mike. In acts 19 two, Paul asks the disciples, if they received the Holy Spirit. How would they know they received the Holy Spirit? Was there an evidence then that we don't necessarily see today? That's a good question. Let's look at acts chapter 19. And this ties into the idea of. Not that this is your perspective, uh, at all, because your question doesn't suggest that, but this ties into the question of, can, um, we say that the gift of speaking in tongues is necessary to prove that you have received the spirit. So there are those who teach, everybody who gets filled with the spirit speaks in tongues, and then they, um. This is part of one view within pentecostal theology. I don't agree with it, but one view which says after you get saved, you need a second experience of being baptized in the spirit, and then that will be evidenced by speaking in tongues. Some even go so far as to say you're not even saved if you haven't spoken tongues, because that means you don't have the spirit, and the spirit is the one who seals.

143
01:16:00.000 --> 01:16:09.000
I disagree with that as well, but let's look at the passage. Acts chapter 19.

144
01:16:09.000 --> 01:16:56.000
Um, I'll back up a little bit. So, verse one. And it happened that while apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. Notice he didn't disciple them, he didn't make them disciples. He didn't evangelize them. He shows up and there's already some christians that are there. Someone else did this evangelizing of them. And he said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Now, it's not like Paul just starts his conversations that way. Right? Hey, what's your name? I'm, um, Paul. Paul, good to meet you. Did you receive the spirit when you believed. That's, that's not what we're getting. We're getting a truncated. There was something in their dialogue that caused Paul to see a red flag and go, did you guys receive the spirit when you believed? And they said, no, we've not even heard that there is a holy spirit.

145
01:16:56.000 --> 01:18:08.000
Ah. Uh. These were not what Pentecostals, in some cases, will often talk about and talk about a Christian who believes in the Holy Spirit, who is indwelt by the spirit, who, um, is educated about christian doctrine, those things, this is rather people who are like, we believe it in Jesus, but we don't really know much else about him. And they go, he asks him about the spirit, and they're like, we don't even know that there is a spirit. Who's the Holy Spirit? They had received this, like, um, it'd be like when they find a papyrus and it's got holes through it and you're trying to piece together what it means, and you're like, jesus, okay, he died for me. Got it. Something about God, like, I don't really know, but I believe it. It's like that. Apollos was probably the guy who taught them, by the way, and he himself had to be taken aside by Priscilla and Aquila to be taught the ways of God more thoroughly because they ultimately knew, like, John the Baptist, leading people to Jesus. John the Baptist was preaching about the one who would come after him and all this stuff. But. But there's so much more that people needed to know. So, yeah, we haven't even heard there is a holy spirit. And he said, into what then were you baptized?

146
01:18:08.000 --> 01:18:11.000
And they said, into John's baptism.

147
01:18:11.000 --> 01:18:27.000
Right. Because if they were baptized as Christians, there's a good chance they would have heard, you know, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit in Matthew. So, yeah, what were you.

148
01:18:27.000 --> 01:19:21.000
Paul's fishing. He's like, what? Wait, hold on. Slow down. What is it that you guys don't know here? There's basic knowledge you guys are missing. Tell me about your baptism. We were baptized into John's baptism. Oh. And then Paul goes, oh, I got to sort of pick up with John and teach you a bunch of new stuff. I'm affirming everything John said, but there's more. So John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who is to come after him, that is Jesus. It actually seems as though they didn't even know that much about Jesus at this point. Um, there's just, they're disciples, but disciples of what and how much knowledge they have. They're almost like Old Testament believers who are almost having fully received the gospel, but not yet. So on hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.

149
01:19:21.000 --> 01:19:52.000
Um, so this is similar, but different than the thing that Pentecostals will often suggest. Like, you have to speak in tongues to prove you're filled with the spirit. Does genuine tongues, if they're real tongues, does that prove the Holy Spirit has filled you? Yeah, I mean, it seems like a good proof, a good piece of evidence. Is it necessary? Uh, no. Paul didn't say, did you speak in tongues? He asked, did you receive the spirit? And they had a theological answer, not even experiential. They were like, we don't even know about who's the Holy Spirit.

150
01:19:52.000 --> 01:20:24.000
They didn't have the doctrine in place. It wasn't just an experience they lacked, it was also the theology they lacked. So, um, yeah, it was evidence with tongues. Tongues, indeed, can be an evidence. To elevate this to tongues has to be the evidence of the filling of the spirit, I think is incorrect. All do not speak in tongues. That is implied in one corinthians. When Paul writes to them and he goes, do all prophesy, do all speak in tongues? The rhetorical no. Is there implicit in the text? No, they don't. Of course not. And, um.

151
01:20:24.000 --> 01:20:38.000
Yeah, there was something else I was gonna say, but I forgot it already. So I'll read your question one more time, uh, just to make sure I answered it. Jay Towell said, in acts 19 two, Paul asks the disciples if they received the Holy Spirit. How would they know they received the Holy Spirit?

152
01:20:38.000 --> 01:21:48.000
The, um, text doesn't tell us how they would know. It assumes they would. It doesn't tell you how they would know. I can fill in the blank and say, well, if they'd spoken in tongues, they would have known. But is that the only way to know? What about if the Holy Spirit entered them and they were being sanctified in their lives and seeing the fruit of the spirit in their lives, maybe other gifts like prophecy or something, but maybe just the fruit of the spirit. Love, joy, patience, gentleness, all those good things. What if it was in romans eight? It says, the spirit, uh, cries out from within us. Abba, Father. And basically affirms, uh, to us that we're children of goddess, the work of the Holy Spirit internally in us. And this is an experience that you have as a Christian, that, um, not that you always have it in the same way every day, but it's an experience you have as a Christian. So those are other things, um, as well as just the theological knowledge where the apostle comes, or whoever the teacher comes, and he tells you, I'm going to baptize you. You're going to receive Christ. When you believe in him, you receive his spirit, you are indwelt. And then you go, I am, because I believe the gospel. So there's all these ways in which they could have potentially known, and none of them seem to have been true in their case at this point.

153
01:21:48.000 --> 01:22:22.000
But we're later. All right, if you're going to challenge me on this, I encourage you, don't miss my logic, that there are these variety of ways, and they're all affirmed in different places in scripture. And they, potentially, any of them could have applied to acts 19 of how they didn't know. All right, Georgina Everglass has a question. Everyone seems to have their way of sharing the gospel. Street preaching, pastoring, etcetera. How do I know how God has called me to share the gospel? I'm not good socially, but I want to reach people. Um, I think, Georgina, um.

154
01:22:22.000 --> 01:22:42.000
Uh, I would want to de romanticize this idea for you. And it's really good if we don't romanticize sharing the gospel, because then we get disappointed pretty quick and just be super pragmatic and be like, what? Well, what am I better at than bad at? Let me try that.

155
01:22:42.000 --> 01:23:07.000
Maybe you cannot. Not emotionally, cannot. Like, you're just bad at starting conversations and getting conversations going with people. And you've tried. You've actually tried. You're not just afraid to. You've tried. It's just, you're like, man, I'm bad at this. But maybe you hand out tracts and, uh, you try to get people to read them. Okay, that's one way of getting the gospel out. Or you incorporate, um, this into some other skills that you have.

156
01:23:07.000 --> 01:23:31.000
But I don't want you to think of the gospel, and I don't think we should think of the gospel as. I am a unique person with one special avenue by which I will share the gospel. And Mike's found his avenue, and it's through online preaching. And I certainly get the gospel out to more people that way than any other way I've ever been able to do it before.

157
01:23:31.000 --> 01:23:41.000
Mine, um, will be this niche, this or niche. Do you guys want to argue over niche and niche? You can put in the comments. How do you pronounce it? Niche. Niche.

158
01:23:41.000 --> 01:23:46.000
I don't care. I just get irritated when people argue about it.

159
01:23:46.000 --> 01:24:15.000
So pick your niche and figure out your. Your niche, and you go with that instead, I think you should emphasize the area in which you're better at Georgina, and you should be open to doing it in every way. And anyway, so just telling somebody, like, man, can I tell you something I think is really important? And you just tell them and you, that didn't go well. Maybe I'll try it a little different next time, or maybe it just didn't go well and it's fine, and I'll just do it again the same way. And sometimes it doesn't go well.

160
01:24:15.000 --> 01:24:56.000
This way. You don't limit yourself to some narrow band of how you would. You will evangelize people, but rather, you're very much open. You're sort of evangelistic in your mentality towards all things. The other thing I would recommend, georgina, is, um, the people who you see that are good at sharing the gospel probably were bad at it for a long time, and they just kept doing it. Anyways, that would be my encouragement to you. Just, um, go for it, and you will find out if you're better at it by just trying it. But don't think of it as, like, when I share the gospel, I have, like, a static level of I'm. My skill is set in stone.

161
01:24:56.000 --> 01:25:00.000
Let me give you an analogy with guitar. Okay? So I play guitar.

162
01:25:00.000 --> 01:26:43.000
Not, uh, as much as I once did, but I do play guitar. And when I first tried to play guitar, just holding chords for any length of time was very difficult. The strings really hurt on my fingers, and I didn't understand the finger coordination of doing all these chords, you know, like d and e minor and, like, e over g sharp and all this stuff. It was super hard. And I could have easily said to myself, I guess I'm just not a guitar player because it didn't come easy and natural. But I persisted at it, and I got better at it. And I'm a decent acoustic, you know, player at this point. Uh, for, like, rhythm style guitar mostly, um, evangelism can be like this, too. You actually get better at it over time. Jesus even did this with his disciples. So he takes them and they follow him around, and he's preaching to crowds, and he's evangelizing. Then he sends them two by two into communities, right? They have a partner. They're not alone. And they're going to copy what he does. They're going to do it door to door to door to door in m different places then, right? They're are the ones leading others and being the example for others. So this is like evangelism is not just an innate ability you're gifted with, although there are those who are called to be evangelists. It's a skill you develop over time and doing it and having it go poorly is a major part of that skill and you develop your ability to do it more. Um, so anyways, I don't know how much that applies to you, Georgina. Some of the stuff I said might apply to somebody else who's watching from like Arizona or something. I don't know. Hopefully it ministers to you guys again. When you send these questions in, I try to not only answer them for you, but for everybody else who might be sharing some of the similar issues that you're talking about.

163
01:26:43.000 --> 01:26:52.000
You will find what you're good at by doing it a lot, but you will get better at all of it by doing it a lot. So I would just say do it a lot.

164
01:26:52.000 --> 01:27:02.000
Don't be afraid to mess up and you'll get better over time. As long as you can learn from those conversations, don't just feel like you have to be perfect every time. Just learn from it and grow.

165
01:27:02.000 --> 01:27:18.000
Number ten. Question ten. And this one comes in from one thing who says, hi, Mike, I'm so blessed by your ministry. I'm grateful to hear that. What are your thoughts on churches playing a secular song before worship? They've defended this practice with one corinthians nine.

166
01:27:18.000 --> 01:27:21.000
And then the end of your question says, what?

167
01:27:21.000 --> 01:27:24.000
I don't know if part of that got cut off.

168
01:27:24.000 --> 01:27:26.000
What?

169
01:27:26.000 --> 01:27:31.000
That's a good, that's a good answer there. What? First Corinthians nine.

170
01:27:31.000 --> 01:27:51.000
How are they using one corinthians nine? Um, for this, I'm just going to skim through it. Um, what even in this chapter could possibly be used to defend? I'm going to play certain kinds of songs in worship.

171
01:27:51.000 --> 01:27:53.000
I'm skimming through.

172
01:27:53.000 --> 01:28:00.000
You guys can skim through one corinthians nine as well if you like.

173
01:28:00.000 --> 01:28:09.000
It's about paying, you know, for those who are making their living by sharing the gospel, by promoting Christ.

174
01:28:09.000 --> 01:28:38.000
Um, it's about boasting necessity, man. I really would like post it in the comments. I'm going to answer your question. Post in the comments. One thing, if you're still listening, what verse in one Corinthians nine were you thinking of? Um, or is it this? I'll bet you I can guess. Is it here? Hold on. Verse 22 to the week I became weak, that I might win. The week I've become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.

175
01:28:38.000 --> 01:29:08.000
Is this the idea? Like, we're going to play a secular song? I predict this is the answer. I hope you'll answer in the live chat. I predict this is your answer. The church is like, we're becoming all things to all people. So when they first come in, we, like, they're thinking like, oh, I don't feel comfortable. Church is kind of weird. It's like a whole community of people that I'm not part of. They're very religious. They got, like, this whole smiling thing they're doing. And, um, there I am, listening to you play some nice Taylor Swift song that I really like.

176
01:29:08.000 --> 01:29:31.000
I wouldn't know a Taylor Swift song if I heard it personally. Um, but let's say that's the agenda. That's the goal of that. We're going to play a song. It's going to break their barriers down and show them that we're loose and we're not uptight, and we're like, chill people so that we can become all things to all people, that by all means, I might save some.

177
01:29:31.000 --> 01:29:38.000
So what was Paul talking about in context? In one corinthians nine, let's assume this is the verse you're referring to.

178
01:29:38.000 --> 01:30:02.000
So in one corinthians nine, he's talking about when he goes to the Jews, he takes on the burdens of their kosher and laws and all that stuff. And he becomes a very Jewish outwardly when it comes to ceremony, ceremonial things, even things that are just tradition, that are not, like, bound by scripture at all in the Old Testament. And he does this because he's like, sure, I'll take on this unnecessary burden in order to minister to you.

179
01:30:02.000 --> 01:30:09.000
Then you've got, um. Hold on 1 second.

180
01:30:09.000 --> 01:30:24.000
18 seconds. Just wait. Yes. Okay. That is the verse. All right. It's confirmed. It's confirmed. All right. One thing. This is the verse. All right. I was able to suss it out. There's a phrase I don't get to use often enough. It was able to suss. To suss it out.

181
01:30:24.000 --> 01:30:33.000
Of course, young people just think I'm talking about suspect, but that's not, that's not.

182
01:30:33.000 --> 01:31:09.000
It's not what I meant before that video game. Okay, so, um, Paul's like, when I go to the jews, I'll take on all their burdens when I go to the gentiles. I'll. I'll eat pork. I'll do the things that. That are cultural, that are not. This is key, not reflective on my gospel message, but that are culturally neutral, as he understands that all things are clean to those who are in Christ. Right? He's like, I'll take on the burden, or I'll take on the liberty that will allow me to reach and minister to these people so that it was a, uh, social involvement in the.

183
01:31:09.000 --> 01:31:54.000
In their communities that was barred. If he didn't do those things, if Paul didn't do the koshery stuff when he entered to the jewish community, he wasn't going to get to even talk to them. If Paul, um, brought all that stuff with him when he came to the greek community, it would have genuinely barred his involvement in their lives. Is that a parallel with playing, say, a Taylor Swift song in church or a secular song? Maybe it's just like, um, you got a friend in me, or I'm, uh, sure someone's in the comments going, you don't know how bad that song is, Mike. Maybe I don't like. My point is maybe it's a neutral type song, right? Like, any example I give, I know someone's gonna be like, that one's bad, too. Pretend there's one. Like, I see skies blue. Like, maybe it's that song, I don't know.

184
01:31:54.000 --> 01:32:05.000
And they just play a neutral song. Um, I mean, I don't like it.

185
01:32:05.000 --> 01:32:10.000
I'm just being honest. I wouldn't leave my church over it, but I don't like it.

186
01:32:10.000 --> 01:33:32.000
Um, I think that what we've done is something that is not neutral in the sense of Paul eating pork when he's with gentiles, but is something that it does feel as though we have devalued the emphasis and the focus that we have upon God in our churches by doing this. I do think that this is a unintended negative effect. Unlike, say, eating pork, which is neutral, this is unintended negative effect. When your worship team is learning and practicing and then playing and performing these songs, it does not bring glory to God. It is purely for entertainment purposes. It is not remotely about Jesus Christ. It is meant to not be about any of those things. Like, that's by design. You're literally saying our church is first foot. The more I think about it, the less I like it. Our church's first foot forward to non believers will be we just like you and people, I don't think, need to be pandered to like that. I think that they can be told we're totally different. And that's that. That's the reality that you're being called to. Sometimes non believers going to church and feeling, this is different than me and my life is a positive thing for the gospel. They go, whoa. I can't just say, walk out and be like, I'm christian, too. I realize they mean something when they say it. They're not just going, I have positive vibes about Jesus and God.

187
01:33:32.000 --> 01:33:42.000
It's more than that. So, um, I would not say it's like a sin, exactly.

188
01:33:42.000 --> 01:33:53.000
It seems unwise, and yes, it might break down some barriers for some people, but it doesn't come without baggage. It's going to have other effects as well.

189
01:33:53.000 --> 01:34:19.000
I don't think it's a positive thing. Um, I think that those who want to hear a secular song in their churches on Sundays will probably hear me say all this and think that I'm being legalistic. By which I would say, you didn't actually listen to my answer, did you? Um, in church, imagine if your pastor, every third Sunday he does a godless sermon, and that's the Sunday you bring your non believing friends.

190
01:34:19.000 --> 01:34:29.000
And that Sunday he does just. It's purely like a puff piece. Like a, like, make your life better, encourage you in your pursuits, make you feel good about yourself. And it's not.

191
01:34:29.000 --> 01:34:49.000
It doesn't contradict the Bible exactly. It just sort of leaves holes, like the way Joel Osteen often does. It just leaves holes in your theology. So we'll leave that unfilled so that we can just focus on positive messages. And every third Sunday, your pastor's like, I'm going to do this is going to be called the nonbeliever comfort zone Sunday.

192
01:34:49.000 --> 01:34:53.000
Would this effectively make non believers feel more comfortable in your church?

193
01:34:53.000 --> 01:34:56.000
Yes, it probably would.

194
01:34:56.000 --> 01:35:02.000
Would it be honest about what church is? No.

195
01:35:02.000 --> 01:36:09.000
Would it be honest about what we're trying to do when we evangelize people and what we're calling them towards? Not really. Would it be a proper representation of what it means to be a disciple of Christ and to call others to follow him? Not really. That's an extreme example. But I just want to say, for those who are inclined to, like, say, yeah, let's just play a secular song each Sunday that, um, you are arbitrarily throwing this into the verse on screen. Become all things to all people. But you don't realize how far your logic will take you because a lot of the churches that do this are like, we don't talk about hell we just don't. Why? Because we're going to become all things to all people. We want to be like what it says right here in the scripture, all things to all people. And people are not really ready for that. You know, maybe they can. Look, we'll do like a separate. Now you start segregating your church. The people who want to be biblical can meet on, like, Tuesdays in that smelly room over there, and then they can talk about hell and all they want. Okay, all that. But we're trying to be all things to all people. Paul obviously didn't mean becoming pagan to pagans.

196
01:36:09.000 --> 01:36:41.000
He's still going out there. And like we read earlier in acts 17, his first conversation with this crowd, he's, he's calling them to repent of their, of their idolatry in the middle of all their idols. He did not, he was not afraid to confront. So it's a slippery slope. Um, it's a real slippery slope. And how do I know? Because all the churches, well, the few churches I know who do like to play secular songs are also the same churches that compromise on other issues because they want to be all things to all people in other ways, such that they are not being christians to all people.

197
01:36:41.000 --> 01:36:59.000
And that's obviously not what Paul was getting at. So I'm opposed to it. Wouldn't, wouldn't want to. I don't want to say every church that does it is absolutely that. That's like the red flag where you just write off the whole church. People can make mistakes, okay? People do make mistakes. I've made mistakes.

198
01:36:59.000 --> 01:38:24.000
Um, but it doesn't seem healthy, and it doesn't seem like it's the kind of thing Paul gets at all things to all people is more like, I'm going to go witness to Hindus, and so I'm going to be vegetarian while I witness to them and spend time with them and engage with them. And, uh, even though I don't want to be vegetarian and meat is my favorite part of the meal, I will not be eating meat, even though it might actually cause me some health challenges, I won't do it because I'm going to evangelize them and I want to be all things to them. But you know what I won't do? I won't bow down to their idol. I won't put a little coin in front of their buddha. I won't do any of that because that's not all things. That's a compromise of my christianity. There's a balance here, there's wisdom here, and we cannot take away the confrontive nature of the christian message, and that seems to be the direction that churches go when they do this sort of stuff. There's my thoughts on that. Please share your thoughts below. Learning to think biblically about everything is not about learning to copy. Mike's thinking about everything. I might be wrong. I'm probably not thinking of every angle right now. Maybe you can add to it. Maybe you can bring some correction, even appreciate it. Now, for those who are interested, October 6. There's a link below to the men's conference. If you guys want to come join, be part of it. I'm not, like, getting a kickback for telling you guys about this. Um, I'm just doing it because I think it might benefit you. I think men need it, and men who live close enough to La Mirada to come check it out. Um, I'll see you there. All right, that's it. Um.

199
01:38:24.000 --> 01:38:26.000
Let's pray.

200
01:38:26.000 --> 01:38:34.000
Lord God, we thank you for your word, and we thank you for prayer, answered prayer, and for even sometimes when you just tell us, wait, um.

201
01:38:34.000 --> 01:38:52.000
That feels much like a no. Until the day we see you in heaven and we see what you did with it, and we see, ah, lord, you were doing your will. You were doing good. You were helping. I just didn't see it. We thank you, lord, and we trust you. We choose to rest in you and for our souls, we say, why are you cast down? Place your hope in God.

202
01:38:52.000 --> 01:39:12.000
And to you, Lord, we say, um, we will yet praise you, worship you for whatever blessings we have in life, family, or friends that we still have bodies, the parts of our bodies that are still working and functioning in our minds. We're grateful for those things, and we give you thanks for the restoration that will one day come.