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All right, AI is amazing and terrible, and it's not going away. So let me explain why this first question is being asked. Um, the first question is, like, what's the proper use of AI? Like, what should we be using AI for as pastors preparing sermons? Now, this is not about whether you should use it or not. Um, it's more like rules for how you'll use it. Actually, let me. I forgot to pull this up. Let me pull up the reason why I'm answering this question. It was actually Sean McDowell's question on Twitter. And I replied and then thought, you know what? I think this is a good thing for us to discuss.

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So let me find that question.

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So not ready. I'll tell you guys why all of a sudden, right before the stream, I got distracted. But first, uh, I'll answer the first question. Then I'll tell you that. Then we'll go to the second question.

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What is the right use of AI?

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So the question from, um, Sean, is it gone? Sean, is the Sean question gone? What ethical guidelines should pastors follow when using AI to develop sermons? Okay, that's the question. What ethical guidelines? Now, I think there's actually wisdom in asking this question because I'd prefer to say, I'll be honest, and this is perhaps me showing my age. If you notice the gray in my beard, which doesn't actually show up on camera as much as it's actually there.

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Um, the question. The thing I'd like to say is, hey, pastors don't use AI.

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But I'm going to acknowledge, because I'm old enough to know.

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I'm young enough to. I'm old enough and young enough. I'm in that middle ground to know that I'm speaking from my generation and not realistically about the future. All right, you're going to use AI, Pastors, you're going to use AI.

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You're probably going to use it for. During your preparation and studies. And it's probably better to ask what guidelines you need to have instead of whether you should use it or not. So here are some guidelines I gave six, and I'll read them to you now. Um, these are my opinions, and I will support many of these with specific scriptures or at least with other reasons that I think are consistent with the Word of God.

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Number one, don't fail to comprehend the text because of taking shortcuts. Um, that's the first thing I'll say as you use AI in your sermon prep in some way, some fashion or another, don't fail to comprehend the text. At the end, you need to ask yourself, do I really understand the Bible? Now, there's a simple rule that I try to have and, and I think is healthy for Bible study in general. When you're preparing messages, that is, study the Bible first on your own without significant commentary input.

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Then read commentaries to supplement your personal, actual Bible study.

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That I think is significant. Now, if you look up, uh, the meaning of a word, a Greek term, that kind of thing, I don't consider that like, necessarily commentary. It's, it's definitions of words. But study, because there's such incredible value in really just reading the text of scripture and trying to understand it that you will have insights and things that just. They sit with you and sit inside you, and a day later and two days later. In fact, I recommend, don't prepare your study Saturday night for the Sunday morning message. Prepare it early in the week, um, or at least at least a couple days, you know, at least by Friday, so you have at least a day to just sit with it.

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When you really marinate in the Word and you study it thoughtfully, carefully, on your own, and not just other people's thoughts about it, it hits you totally differently. So there's some scripture I'd like to share with you on this, what we have. I'll give you one example. This is Deuteronomy chapter six.

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Um, just one second.

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Chapter six, verses six through nine.

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And I'll see if this works. To put on your screen just a second. I'll get this lined up. I'll tell you in a minute why I'm so disoriented, uh, at the moment, uh, what happened right before my Stream, um, Deuteronomy 6:6. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and check this out. Shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk, by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

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The idea is that God didn't just want people to have correct answers about what he gave them in the word of God. He wanted them to just be deeply saturated with Scripture. So if a pastor is going to stand before the congregation and teach, he needs to be deeply saturated in the scripture. There's a compliment I heard, uh, R.C. sproul give to, um, give of John, uh, MacArthur. And he said that whenever he hears John speak. And they had some things they disagreed on, and a lot they did agree on. But whenever he heard John speaking, he knew that John MacArthur had been in the text.

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Now I know what he meant by that. For those who've really spent time in the text, like, you're just really studying, you know what. What he meant by that. This is a huge compliment that you're just really going to the word. You're thinking about it. You're sitting there asking questions you don't know the answers to. Reading it again, reading before reading, after reading every related passage. You know it referenced Abraham. Let me just go read three chapters of Genesis now and then come back and read that again and see how that changes my thoughts. And then we'll look at all the parallel verses or references. Anyway, just really spending time with it. That is so powerful. And it seems to be that's the way God wants us to be treating scripture. Let me give you another example. This is so cool. In Deuteronomy, chapter 17, I believe it is verse 18, um. Look at what God commanded for kings in Israel. Now, kings in Israel were not pastors preaching and teaching the word of God to people, but God made them do this.

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And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for, for himself in a book, a copy of this law approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him. And he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes and doing them.

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This is so incredibly valuable. Think about this. A king is surrounded by priests who can answer in. They're better than AI here. They can answer any question about the law that he has. And God says that is not enough.

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He can't just ask them. He has to get in and he has to write every single letter of the law himself. Then that'll be his own copy. And the priests, guess what? They have to approve of his copy by saying, good job, King, you did it, right? Oh, nope, you messed that up. Go back and fix it.

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They had to approve of his copy of the text, and then he was going to keep it with him and read it all the days of his life. Do you not think that King David did this? And that's what caused him to write Psalm 119, which I was thinking recently about doing a video where I just read Psalm 119. That'd be the whole video. I think it'd be one of the best videos I've ever done. So maybe I'll do that. We'll see. Um, but yeah, what I'm saying here is God wants us to be really in the word, not just knowing things about the word. And the use of AI can easily replace you personally comprehending the text because you're taking shortcuts.

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There's other dangers too though. I'm going to talk about these. So um, uh, don't. Number two, my second answer at least to Sean. Now there's other stuff probably and maybe you guys would tweak this. That's fine. Here's food for thought because AI is coming. Here's a quick story. I know of a pastor who's much younger than me and he was talking with other pastors, even probably younger than him. And the question of AI came up in this sort of like group.

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Facebook, uh, group. I think it was some sort of social media group.

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And I had been making the case like don't use AI to prepare your sermons. That was my case. Okay. And that is, that is my preference. But I realize my age is showing there. Okay, I get it, I get it. AI uh, is going to be integrated into our lives in a lot of ways that I have to be realistic about. You're probably going to use it. So let's talk about how you use it. But anyways, when they first heard this, don't use it, this group of guys, my impression was that they were actually a, offended at the idea of not using AI for sermons. Like not just disagreeing, offended by it, and that it hadn't even occurred to them as being a, perhaps an ethical problem or creating ethical dilemmas. The, the usage of AI and I want to say, um, that's where uh, my generation and, and those older can help the younger generation a little bit is to help you go, hey, um, because for us we didn't come up with this, we recognize more quickly the new dangers that it presents. Now because you came up with it, you'll understand it better and you'll probably use it better, but you should probably learn from us even as we learn from you. Let's all learn from each other here.

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So point number two, and this is a no brainer for pastors. Don't fail to verify the truthfulness of something.

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Um, AI has biases and AI also has hallucinations. I know this because I've tested it on subjects where I'm like, I know this subject really well. Like I'm super familiar with this particular subject and I test AI on that subject and um, it fails. So There was something. It was ancient 1st century medical Greek writings. Okay, so we're talking about like ancient dead guys who wrote about medicine and about what the, what the function of the heart was according to this guy versus that guy. I know this is a weird thing that I was studying in my, uh, Women in Ministry series, I think it was.

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So I tested AI on this because I had done a deep dive on this particular topic. I was pretty familiar with all the quotes and I said, hey, did, did, did such and such ever say anything about this issue? And they produced a quote that was fake. It was. He never said it. It was not his quote. Then I told AI that he never said this, this is fake. And they're like, oh, you're right.

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Another time I was checking AI and I said, did this author ever before such and such date acknowledge this thing? I was trying to fact check something about a particular teacher. Did he ever say something about X, you know, this particular topic before the date of blah, blah, blah. And then, you know, AI goes, yes, he did. It's in this book right here. And then I shot back, well, that book was published in 20 years later than the date I gave. Oh, yeah, you're right. It was only by knowing more about the subject than the AI was I able to even test the AI or. Which means that the very thing you're using it for makes it dangerous is when you don't know and you're asking it to give you knowledge. I see it all the time now on social media. I'll post something, somebody will ask AI a question, and then they will just post. They'll just repost whatever answer AI gives. Hey, hey, AI, push back on Mike's statement here and cite scripture to do so. And then they'll just copy and paste it. And now this doesn't mean I'm always right, because I'm not. Surely I'm wrong. Um, and hopefully I'll know when I am and it'll be. And you guys will tell me, I hope. But, but this is such a reckless disregard for the holiness and importance of scripture to just do that. Now imagine a pastor doing that because he's simply lazy. He's like, man, I can prepare. You guys know, I could prepare a full Bible study and tell AI, make it sound like me, make it sound like Mike Winger, and make it, you know, about 40 minutes long and, and have it include these types of elements and it will put it together. And I'm like, 20 minutes. I can prepare my 40 minute study instead of spending 30 hours on it.

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That's, that's nice. I'd like that. You can't do that. So don't fail to check, verify the truthfulness of things because of the bias and hallucinations. That stuff I don't think is ever going to go away. I think that we always have to be think of ourselves as more discerning than the AI we're using. And don't use the AI for your discernment.

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Uh, the third point was, uh, don't turn into a skin deep preacher or one who only pretends to know or mean the things you're asking.

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Please don't do that.

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That's what happens when you start just quoting others instead of sharing insights that are deeply true that you've spent time thinking on and you understand.

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I once had a guy do this with one of my messages. He took. Um, it was funny because it was Leighton Flowers. He didn't do this to my message. Let me tell you the story. So Leighton Flowers sent me a message and here's the backstory he had shared online. This guy did A great Romans 9 Bible study and he shared it online. And then somebody said, hey, Leighton, this is just Mike Winger's Romans 9 study. This guy just took his study and shared it as if it was his own. And then Leighton sent it to me and he goes, hey, Mike, did this guy steal your content?

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And the guy totally did.

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So my notes for most of my Bible studies are freely available online. I think that's a good way to help you keep learning. I, you know, and if someone takes it and plagiarizes it and uses it, I don't care in a sense of being offended or wanting to claim it. Um, but I'm concerned for the integrity of the, of the minister.

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But the, uh, the fact is that they just. The guy just took my notes and he even told a story of mine. It was so funny. He even told a story of mine where I said, I went through this thing and this happened. And it's a good illustration of this biblical point. And he told the story and he goes, a friend of mine went through this thing and he called me his friend.

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He was just reading right off my notes, the jokes even. And my jokes often are just spontaneous. Like I'm just thinking something I think is funny in the moment and share it because it helps keep people focused a little bit more. Um, it keeps things a little bit more enjoyable, which helps people learn. But, uh, even that stuff. So it was just funny, man. Weird. But what happens then is he can't really Preach it with conviction the way he could if he had actually studied it, he actually thought about it, if he'd actually had to make decisions about do I think it means this or do I think it means that. Instead, he just copies and pastes. Now, this is not an AI problem. That's new, right? There's plenty of pastors out there who don't read commentaries to understand them. They read them looking for talking points and quotes. And so they just compile. They got like, their commentaries they like. And they're like, oh, I like, uh, some of this guy. I like some of that guy. Give me a little bit of Matthew Henry in there and I'll mix in some Spurgeon. Maybe I'll get over here and I'll get some Calvary Chapel guys over here, um, and put those in there as well. And now I have my message. And you can do this, but you are now a skin deep preacher. Now, the person who you borrowed from may have been very deep, but you're not. And it will affect. It will affect you, it will affect the teaching, it'll affect the congregation.

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Um, and you'll end up saying things that aren't true as well, because it's all skin deep.

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Um, and it's fake. You. You're pretending to know the stuff you don't know. You're just quoting somebody else. You're pretending to know it and you don't. You haven't checked it.

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So maybe that means you have to say less. And that's okay. You can just say less. But then you can stand behind everything you say. Number four would be not to neglect seeking the Lord in laboring over the word and doctrine. Uh, let me find you the verse on this.

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So Paul's talking about. Actually he's talking about paying, um, uh, paying leaders.

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Sorry, just a second, everybody. I'm making sure my Internet's actually working. Something's going on here.

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It says, um, I'll just quote it to you. Let the. Let the, uh, off. Off memory here. Something's wrong with the, with the, with the computer here.

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Let, um, the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in word and doctrine. And it's talking about, actually remuneration about paying them. But, um, this, especially those who labor over word and doctrine. That this is a special, especially valuable and needful for the body of Christ. But their teaching of Scripture is described not in, it's not described in their preaching. It's described in their study time. I love this. This is a cool insight. The Text describes it in their study time. Oh, here we go. Here we go. It's working. Now I'll put it on your screen.

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Uh, let the elders who ruled well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. I kind of have new King James in my head. Here's new King James who labor in word and the word and doctrine. So the, um, the. I guess, actually, I wonder now here, let's do a real time fact check on Mike Winger. I wonder now. So I have this, the King James in my head, and I wonder if I'm assuming too much about my own understanding of the translation. Labor in word and doctrine. I took this as in the preparation.

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Interesting. But ESV offers a different translation, Preaching and teaching, which. Yeah, word and doctrine. I don't know. It's probably like rhema or something there and then. Or if it's preaching, it might be like Caruso that's proclaiming. I don't know. I don't know. I could look it up. But teaching, you know, that this.

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I'm probably misunderstanding this passage and making a good point. I'm just live, live, live. Fact uh, check. Making a good point, but using the text wrongly to do so. So let me back up and do it right. The elders who direct this is, uh, let's go back to esv. The elders who rule well, let, uh, them be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. I shouldn't try to make the point that the text is highlighting the study time instead of the actual proclamation time. I can make the point to rescue my point and be, uh, accountable here to the text that labor is involved. Um, it is the labor of preaching and teaching. And there are shortcuts we will take to avoid the labor of this. And that's what AI is going to give you. Tons of shortcuts. Tons of shortcuts. It's commentaries do this as well. It makes things easy. It makes things quick. Uh, Bible software does this as well. It's so much easier than all the books I used to juggle. And, you know, you just click, click, click, go right to the exact source you need. But don't fail to labor and to work. If you're using AI to take the effort away, then there's a problem that's happening there. I think so, yeah. Uh, number five. Number five, do not dishonestly posture as if you're doing far more work than you are, thereby deceiving your congregation and opening the door to laziness and sin.

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I think that There are pastors, I'll be honest here. I think there's pastors who they take prepared sermons that they buy online.

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There are services that will, that you can pay and that will just give you a package sermon, or they steal sermons from other leaders, but they let their staff and their church think that they're spending like 20 hours a week preparing the message and that 20 hours a week, they can do whatever they want with it. This is just the weakness of human nature. You have to stop, you have to start devoting yourself to the actual labor of the word and don't take shortcuts that allow you to present this. Number five is about not lying to the congregation and to your staff and stuff. It's deceiving them into thinking you're working when you're not. And pastors have to be very self driven because on Sunday morning you don't know if the pastor spent 30 hours in study and prep, 20 hours in study and prep. He spent, you know, his six counseling sessions that week and he went and visited somebody and prayed for them and he took care of the affairs of the church or if, or if he told everybody he needed his study time because the preaching of the word is the most important thing, but he spent most of it on the golf course playing video games.

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You just don't know. So pastors, you gotta not do that. That's lying to everybody if you do that.

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Number six, last one.

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Okay. I've been using GPS navigation for several years now.

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Um, I remember before we had it and then we did MapQuest and you'd print up these maps. I still sometimes say MapQuest when I'm referring to using GPS or whatever, you know, the navigation on my phone. Um, so I've been using GPS for years now and I am, as a result, I recognize this. I'm actually worse at remembering how to get to places. I am worse at driving to specific locations than I used to be because I am reliant upon the map.

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There's a lesson to learn here that can happen to you. If you rely on AI or other sources to tell you what scripture says and you're not actually studying it for yourself, you will actually get worse at understanding Scripture. This, to me is the biggest issue with AI.

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It will make you worse at understanding everything because you will only know whatever AI tells you. You don't actually have understanding. You just have the ability to parrot and quote what it said.

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This is a super big danger. It violates what God's telling us to do with his word, to dig in and really understand and go deep to have the preaching and teaching of the word, to give attention to the reading of the word.

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So I'm, um, worse at getting to places that's not that big of a deal. But, man, you cannot get worse at knowing the scripture. It'll cause all manner of problems. So please don't do that. That's tough. Is the biggest danger of AI, um, which I probably. That should have been the thumbnail, right? The biggest danger of AI for pastors. I don't know. I'm not that good at YouTube sometimes. All right, well, I'm gonna go to your guys. Questions. But before I do that. Okay, Here, um, before I hit the button and go to number two, I just want to tell you guys what. What happened right now, because this is a quick little update, um, for transparency sake, on the, uh, my Michael Brown video and Mercy culture and how this stuff played out.

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So, um, my Michael Brown video just dropped. Um, it stands there. And if you have. If you want to look at it, you're interested, you can check it out. Um, it's dealing with issues that need to be addressed, I believe. And I'm doing it, uh, with a clean conscience before the Lord and hopefully in a way that is right. I'm not a hero for doing this. And it's not like, oh, woe is my. How hard is it for him? There's a lot of you guys out there who can tell I'm sort of wiped out and tired. Don't worry about me. I'm okay.

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Just tired. Um, just. That's just how life is.

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If there's any concern, it should probably, probably be directed towards the witnesses that were, um, lied about and shamed. And Mercy Culture and their podcast, demonized, attacked, mocked. Um, them, uh, again, I want to center them in this scenario because that's who was.

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Those are the hurt parties that we should be talking about.

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Um, it's Sarah. It's Kim, uh, who's now with the Lord. It is her husband and her daughter. Those people. So anyways, um, and Ron was slandered, too, and lied about. Um, but those who don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry about it. I'll be over here in just a second. But the. When I uploaded my Michael Brown video, I put it on. On the Internet as an unlisted video, as a draft, so I could send it to witnesses and fact check and go back and edit and change little things to make sure everything was exactly true and right.

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And, um, Mercy Culture copyright claimed My video, which they had no justification for doing that, but they did it. Then I uploaded a second draft and they copyright claimed that one as well.

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And then I uploaded my final video that just went live last night, um, which maybe you've seen, maybe you haven't.

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That video just got copyright claimed again. Now in the midst of this, I actually got on the phone with them yesterday. Well, first I made a video a couple days ago telling, uh, them, uh, I was in rare form telling them, take, uh, me to court, uh, I won't stand for this. And the copyright looked to me to have been a malicious intention, intentional attempt to take control of my video. I don't know now if I was right about that discernment. Um, I, I think maybe I was wrong. So I took the video down. I put another video up after talking with them where they were like, no, look, this was not intentional. It seems to me as though they were.

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Maybe I'm wrong here, maybe I'm being too benefit of the doubt, but I'd rather err on that side and then I can come back later and get stronger if I have to. But basically they were just. They have a. It seems like their policy is to just copyright claim everything.

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I kid you not. No matter whether it's valid or not, which is a larger issue, which is a legal issue. I think my understanding of the law is that's a legal issue as well as a moral issue. And um, as if to confirm this, my video got copyright claimed again like half an hour ago, 25 minutes ago, something which is what happened right before I went live on the stream. So I was act now. They've got their info, their contact, I can have a guy I can text. I was like, hey man, you guys copyright claim me again? And here's the thing that made me want to say this to you. I promised in that video. I know it sounds convoluted, but I'm almost done. I promised in that video that it would not be monetized. And this was an integrity thing, I thought, because those who've made videos of the kind I'm making have been accused even by Mercy Culture of doing it for money. Of doing it for money. Now, I don't make the money off the videos. The monetization that does come in when they're monetized doesn't go to my pocket, doesn't affect my paycheck. It goes into a 501C3, right? And it's by policy not able to affect my paycheck. If, if a billion dollars Went into monetization, which never would. Uh, I wouldn't get a penny more in my paycheck at the end of the day, nor would any. Not my wife, not some back door way of doing it. Right. Nothing, nothing like that would happen. We probably just donate more money to other ministries. Um, um, that being said, I still didn't monetize the video just to be above reproach. And I promised it wouldn't be monetized. But when Mercy Culture dropped their claim recently, just earlier today, they monetized the video because when they claim the video, this is the back end of YouTube, they can monetize it and then they're getting the money from the monetization, which is so weird because they were accusing us of making videos for money. And I made a video that was not monetized.

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And they're, they're seemingly automatic system. Okay? Automatic. Their default position is to grab everything they can and monetize it for themselves.

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That's just what happened.

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I've asked them to change their policy. I told them I had another video coming. Don't monetize anyway. I could give a whole case for it. But I won't share all that with you here. I share all that so that you'll understand kind of where it's at. Clear there. And, um, they've already dropped the monetization. So it wasn't, it wasn't for very long. It was. I don't know how long it was, it was monetized, but I know that it was getting a lot of views pretty quickly. So a lot of people got ads on a video that I promised would not be monetized, which makes me look like I'm a liar. And I want to make sure to clear the air there.

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So they responded quickly. They quickly removed this third immoral and I think illegal copyright strike. I think it's illegal, um, and uh, copyright claim. Excuse me. And we'll move forward from there. Um, the bigger issues in the copyright claim is Mercy Culture's actual video that they did with Michael Brown. And I'm asking them to take it down and to publicly apologize to, uh, to. To Rey, for Kim, for Rey, for their daughter, uh, to apologize to Sarah Monk, to apologize to the other witnesses, like Chris and other witnesses whose names I will not share that. And then apologize to, um, Ron Cancer because they, they took him out of contact context in a way to mislead, uh, people about him in, in ways that would assassinate his character for them.

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And then they should apologize to the body because that whole Video is deceptive and gaslighting.

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I stand by that because that's their public video they put out to the world. If you watch it, you'll see. Anyways, go check out my Michael Brown video. And there's a link to their video in the description of my video.

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And that's all I'm going to say about that. So there's the update. Back to more pleasant things, I think from that.

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Question number two. Um, thank you sir, for sending in the questions. Always does an awesome job. Hot wax93 says.

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How do we reconcile the Old Testament use of soul for a whole person with statements by Jesus implying that a soul is a separate entity? He seems to be contradicting what the Old Testament teaches.

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Um, I've spent a little bit of time on this and not a lot of time, so I, I don't have a definitive answer for you here. I'll just share with you kind of like some of the thoughts I've had and you can think about them and just consider me. It's like a peer to peer kind of chat.

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Um, uh, I was, I once tried to figure out the difference between spirit and soul.

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Um, and there's two ways to do it. And I tend, I, I like the second way. But the first way is you come up with your definition of spirit and you come up with the definition of soul and they seem like they work together and it's useful in language. And you go, oh, well, spirit refers to this and soul refers to that.

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Um, that is challenging and difficult, but it can be done. What I find actually more challenging is the second method, which is what I prefer. So the second method is you grab every time the word soul is used and every time the word spirit is used and you try to have a definition that's consistent across all those times. So let's say I come up with a definition of spirit, like the immaterial part of a person or soul, the seat of emotions or cognition or something like that. Um, and then I go to all the different places in the Bible where I see soul, and in my head I read it as the seat of cognition or the center of personhood or something. Whatever definition you have for soul. These are probably lame definitions, but you read each passage where the word soul comes up and you use that definition. Now here's what I found in my own incomplete study of this is I don't have a definition that I can use consistently across all of the Old Testament and New Testament here for these words, which to me implies that the authors of the Scripture are not always using them in the same ways that sometimes they'll use the word soul to refer to one, one thing. Sometimes they'll use it to refer to something slightly different.

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Sometimes soul and spirit seem like they are like interchangeable terms. Occasionally they seem that way to me. Maybe I'm wrong. And other times they seem like they're very distinct things.

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Very distinct things. And, um, I'm reminded of Hebrews that says the word of God can divide between soul and spirit. And I think I can't divide between soul and spirit. I'm not really sure.

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So I'll read your question again with that background. Um, how do we reconcile the Old Testament use of soul for a whole person with statements by Jesus implying that a soul is a separate entity?

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Um, I'll say, I don't know how to provide you with a super consistent usage of the word soul. That's different than coming up with a theological concept of a soul. I'm talking about the usage of the word. I hope that makes sense. Guys, you can have a solid theological concept that's consistent with all of Scripture. And. But that doesn't mean that that word you're using, soul, will always be used to reference that theological concept you're discussing.

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That's a little bit. It's a little bit difficult to explain or take in. But think about it, play it back. Consider it. It's kind of like I have a theological definition, justification. But that doesn't mean every time the word justified is used, it's referring to justification, the theological concept to get. See how the concepts are different from. Than the usages in the New and Old Testament. Um, I will say one thing. I'm not sure that Jesus ever refers to souls as separate entities. I know that, you know, um, like David, for instance, he says, like, why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you disquieted within me? But I don't think that this language is meant to imply the soul is a separate entity from me. I am one entity who's made up of body, mind, soul, spirit, and how those words, what those words mean. And then when you move into theological definitions, um, that's. That's still only one entity, though. So I would actually kind of question, why would I think Jesus is using soul to refer to a separate entity?

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So, yeah, there's a thought for you.

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Number three. Caleb McMurtry says, hi, Mike, I love your ministry. Uh, thank you very much. Caleb, I know in the past you've been negative toward open theism. Why is the idea of a non completely settled future, unbiblical. I lean toward open theism due to God's freedom.

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I, um, think that I'm super straight with you. I think that it's rhetoric to suggest that open theism is about the freedom of God.

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I think that it's rhetoric. It's rhetorical. I see no power behind the idea that if God knows the future, then, then it's, then it's somehow he's unable to be free to do what he wants because it, this is super in the weeds. But it makes it feel like the future is this thing that is fixed, external to God, that God simply knows about.

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And he is then forced to behave in certain ways that conform to that fixed thing. Instead, what God knows is, is all things, including his own free actions. And because his actions are free, just because he knows them doesn't make them not free.

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I know I'm going to click in stream in a little while here. That doesn't mean I don't have freedom to do it.

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So I think it's a rhetorical thing where the open theist moves the topic away from what ultimately, um, is a, uh, limitation on God. We're limiting his foreknowledge, we're limiting his omniscience, we're limiting him. But we don't want to say that because rhetorically that sounds bad. That sounds like heretical or at least not true about God, you know, so we'll instead say, no, no, we're giving God a new attribute called freedom, and you're limiting him by taking his freedom away. I see this as like, it's like the pro choice, pro life argument. Pro life, that's legitimate. I'm for not killing this baby. And there's like pro choice, intentionally vague about a choice. Like people like free, free choices. They like making choices. We'll be pro that. But they're purposely trying to do a rhetorical thing to keep from describing it the way it really is. That's my take on that.

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And, um, yeah, so I see open theism as a, as a, as a significant issue.

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All right, let's go to number four.

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Don Miguel. I think it was Don Miguel.

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I remember. I mean, you guys, I get a lot of the same people sometimes here. So I think it was Don Miguel, but here it's text. It says Don Migueli. All right, can you share your insight on how to get over the feeling that it's somehow wrong to pray for personal blessings objectively? I know it's not, but the feeling often creeps in as if it's selfish.

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Hmm. Hm. Maybe, Don, maybe.

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Maybe that's a good feeling.

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Um, not maybe entirely good, like you don't want it to move to paranoia. But let me just say there's something healthy about being aware that as you're requesting things from God, that you are not doing it for selfish reasons. Let me give you a scripture on this that I think speaks pretty directly to it. James, chapter three.

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Um.

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Oh, James, chapter four. Sorry. What causes quarrels and fights among you? Is it not your passions that are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder, you covet and cannot obtain. So you fight and quarrel. And then he goes into why you don't have. He goes, you don't have because you don't ask. Now, a selfish person would just take that and run with it.

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But let's balance it out with verse three.

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You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions.

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Now, it's not necessarily wrong to ask for things you want. I mean, I don't want to get weird about this.

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Who asks for things they don't want?

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Lord, I ask for the salvation of my family member. That's obviously, I want that. Is it selfish now to ask for it? No, of course not. So I'm not saying don't, but there's your passions here in James, chapter four is referring to, like, sinful desires, selfish desires, carnal desires, and, Lord, make me famous, make me rich, make me healthy and strong, and all these.

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There's a danger in these types of prayers, even when we were really good with it. Like, lord, let me be a father who provides for his kids. And then by that, what I really mean is, I want to be rich. I want to be rich.

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We have to guard our hearts because. Because, uh, the flesh is always there seeking to get, to get control, seeking to direct our passions away from the Lord. And so there is a danger of, yes, ask, but don't ask, you know, with. With carnal sort of angles and directions and purposes. So I think we have to be careful with that. So there's, in a sense, Don, I want to say, um, Don. Or Miguel. Or Miguel. Whichever it is, I want to say, try to find the balance where when you're praying for things, it's all ultimately for the glory of God.

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And this is tricky. So I've seen this in prosperity preacher type circles. They'll say it's for the glory of God, but let's be honest, it's actually for themselves. And the glory of God is Merely the leverage they're using to get the things they want.

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But what if my actual desire is God's glory, my actual desire is his will, Then I know this because then I'm willing to suffer for him and I'm willing to have lack and I want him to say no to my request if that is in fact his will and for his glory. And so that sense of my overriding concern, God, your will and your glory, that's what helps keep me from praying selfishly and carnally. So I want to encourage you to have an awareness there, but don't let it move to a bad place. When you're praying for things, for God's will and God's glory, pray boldly, pray confidently. Um, but it's good to ask the question of whether you're being selfish.

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We turn into people who are so self affirming that we're affirming our flesh and that would be the danger. Let's go to. Am I going the wrong way? Huh? Huh? Let's go to question number no, that was the right way. Sorry. You know what it is? It's always number five that throws me off because on my screen it's reversed and it says two. And I always think I should probably have learned that by now. All right, Johann van Vuren has a question.

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Is the title Lord used in the same capacity in the New Testament as in the Old Testament? For example, John 13:13.

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Interesting question. Is a little complicated actually.

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John 13:13, you call me Teacher and Lord. Lord and you are right for so I am. Yeah, this would be. If it's used the same as the Old Testament, then it's going to be a direct call to uh, to Deity. Here Jesus be saying I am, I am Yahweh, I'm God. So in the Old Testament we have the word Lord and you'll see it capital L, O R D. Or it'll be like a big capital L and then like a small capitalized O R N D.

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This is uh, a way in which the translators are showing you this as actually the name of the God in the original language.

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And I'll skip the long version there of the story, but they'll just use the word Lord to substitute for the name of God. Um, probably Yahweh.

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And that term Yahweh is always a reference to God, always and only a reference to God. But then there's another term that's translated as Lord, such as Adonai, um, and other terms called Lord. You know, Sarah, um, calls Abraham, uh, Lord. But they're not. She's not calling him Yahweh. So the word Lord in the Old Testament is. There's a variety of words that are being translated as the word Lord, and they have different meanings.

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The word in the New Testament is a little bit of almost the way I understand it. It's kind of a mix of those. Now, it's sometimes the word Lord is used to just refer to anybody who's a boss or who's in charge. And we see that in the New Testament. But the way in which it's.

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It's used of Jesus, it is sometimes implying he's Yahweh.

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Okay, Sometimes it implies he's Yahweh. Now, is this passage, John 13:13, implying he's Yahweh? Not to my knowledge. The context here is he's teacher and Lord.

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He's their Lord and teacher. That isn't like a clear call to deity. But there's other times where Jesus is referred to as Lord, and it kind of is a clear call to deity. So Hebrews 1 is a good example.

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Let me take you there.

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Speaking of Jesus, I'll start in verse three, um, and I'll read a little bit. He's the radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he's inherited is more excellent than theirs. For which to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son, Today I've begotten you. Or again I will be a father. I'll be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all the angels, let all God's angels worship him. Of the angels, he says, he makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire. But of the Son, he says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever.

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And the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. And then we get all the way. You get the context there, right? You see how exalted Jesus is here. Then we get to verse 10. And you, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

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Jesus is still the subject here. This is still what The Father says to the Son, and he is called Lord here. And in the Greek, it's just Kurios, which is like a generic Greek term for Lord. You're the kurios, you're the Lord. But the Old Testament verse that's being quoted here is Yahweh.

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So here we have the New Testament using kurios to clearly call Jesus yahweh in Hebrews 1:10. That's significant. Yeah. Okay, well, here it means the same thing as the Lord meant, the capital L O, R D meant in the Old Testament. This is one example of that.

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Um, the other nuance I'll add is there is a favoring of the term Lord as not just he is the Lord, as in boss, but using Lord with this sort of connotation implied. In the New Testament, the Father's call called God, and the Son is called Lord. And they're aware that that word kurios, using it consistently like this in the context they do, it has an implication that ties it, I think, to the deity of Christ, to the Yahweh of the Old Testament, the Lord. So I think that's your answer. It's just a subtle thing that has. Sometimes it's more pronounced and other times less. Hebrews 1:10. Extremely pronounced. There's my thoughts for that. But Ballad of Looks says you've been calling out leaders publicly lately. Do all Christians need to publicly confess our sins, or is it only leaders? Is confessing to God and repenting enough, or should we tell each other? This is a really tough question. Um, the answer is no. All Christians do not need to publicly confess their sins. And I don't even think all leaders need to publicly confess their sins. I think that when you have a leader who has committed a sin and failed, and then they go and they confess and they deal with it, it's not like everybody has to know about that. I don't think that's appropriate. I don't think that's required or called for even in scripture.

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Um, first Timothy 5, let's go to the passage.

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It says here, do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all. Okay, so leaders, if they're persisting in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all.

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So does the sin have a kind of quality of persistence that looks like it needs to be addressed?

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This is not just a black and white issue. This is an issue of wisdom. You know, um, different sins are Different.

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And one thing for me that causes me to want to rebuke in the presence of all. Like, some of the videos I made recently are. Uh, I'll give you guys some of the qualifiers. One, what is the actual reach of this leader? Because if he's only having an effect on the local church, why would I make a video about him to a broader audience than that? Why would I make his rebuke? I take the presence of all to be the presence of the people in which he has leadership.

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Like this is. This is the people he leads. So if he's got 50 people he leads, why is he going to be rebuked in front of a million? That doesn't make sense.

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So that's one qualifier. Um, everybody I rebuke in this sense. Um, I'll use that word review, because it is. It is accurate. I need to have them. They need to have, like, an actual online reach. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense for me to do an online thing. I wouldn't do it if a pastor at my own church who didn't have. I'm not going to make a video about that. You're a pastor. I'm not going to make a video about that stuff. This is something I'm slow to do, something I think I should be very cautious about. I should be making sure there's no plank in my own eye.

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I, um, should be very gracious when possible. But also, here's another factor. Victims add another dynamic to the sin issue that needs to be dealt with more openly. So a pastor who, let's say, has a drinking problem, um, a pastor who say, um, uh, he lied on his tax returns or something, is different than a pastor who abused a member of his church.

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That's so different.

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When you abuse a member of your church, that is a direct betrayal of your role as a leader. You've undermined your leadership role in a very unique and different way. And so that requires, I think, a more extreme response, partly because. Because that's, uh, you know, reciprocal accountability. You're being accountable for what you've done. But also because, um, there needs to be a warning that goes out, like, we're to protect people, we're to speak up for those who don't have a voice and to protect others. And if you have a pastor, let's say there's a pastor who, like Mike Bickle, who gave false prophecies, told women God showed me that my wife was going to die. And I've never made a video on this guy, but, I mean, I Could easily. And maybe I should have. Um, I don't know. I haven't. I don't know. There's too much. There's not enough time in the day for all these guys.

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Um, but the, uh, the thing Mike Bickle did was he told women, God showed me, my wife is going to die and you're going to be. You're going to replace her. And so then he would start pushing boundaries with these women. He did this with a number of different women over the years.

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That kind of behavior has. We have to. Everybody has to be warned about this guy. We have to loudly warn. And his own leaders wouldn't do it. M. Not that none of them would, but as a. As a whole, they did not protect their own people from this guy. When they started getting wind of it, of what was going on, um, there was people who were outside pushing for it, but internally, my understanding is they didn't. And so that requires the body in general to get up and scream. That really does. So, yeah, there's an element there. Um, yeah. Are you a danger to others? Um, with personal confession, you, you know, you say, do all Christians need to confess our sins publicly? No. The general rule that I've heard that I like is private sins confessed privately, public sins publicly.

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You know, how far has. Where has the sin gone and who has it hurt?

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Have you addressed it with those people? That's like a nice general rule of thumb. And every situation can be a little different.

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Um, but leaders are judged more strictly.

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Leaders are because the scripture tells us. It says, uh, in fact, in the passage I accidentally went to earlier, James, chapter three, not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. And this applies to me, too.

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If I, um, if I solicit donations from you guys and I use them to buy myself, say, a three and a half million dollar parsonage, then I should probably be called out for that, don't you think? Like. Like I'm not. I'm not safe. And this, this is the thing Scripture's telling leaders, you are not safe. Just because you're a leader doesn't mean you're safe from rebuke, from correction, and from accountability. In fact, you'll be judged with greater strictness.

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So, yeah, maybe you don't want to be a teacher. That's okay. You don't have to. But me, with my ministry, my outreach, some people are looking at the things that I'm doing and they go, mike, you're going to be accountable too. You're going to be held to the same standards. And I go, yes, I know that's scary, but that's how it's supposed to be.

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I could fail and fall and then someone's going to grab this clip and play it later. And I would say you did what was honest in integris by calling me out if I fall into those types of things.

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Now at the same time, a pastor who comes to you and he goes, hey, I've been neglecting my duties as a pastor. I haven't been in the word. I've been feeling really depressed recently.

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I don't think I have to rebuke that guy in the presence of all. I think, let's do some care for him. Let's, you know, help him.

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But especially when they're a harm to others, when they present an actual danger to others, then I think they have to be called out more publicly.

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And, um, I don't know the perfect way to do this. I struggle with it, okay? But I know doing nothing has been the answer for too long. And this allows predators to thrive in the church and to continue to harm people and people lose their faith over it.

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Christians have to be the ones who stand up, you know, who has to expose mechanical believers. And you know, one of the things that grieves me about the Ravi Zacharias situation back in the day, just be very straight with you guys, was that it was not Christians, to my knowledge, that spearheaded him being exposed. It was non believers. And to my knowledge, that's the order of events.

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Um, it was like atheists.

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Now, maybe they saw him for what he was more easily because they were suspicious of him. And they think the same thing of me and everybody. They think we're all corrupt.

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But to attack them from on those, on the basis of those kinds of things is just more cover up culture. Here's the reality.

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Non believers participated in significant ways doing the thing that Christians should have done. And after that event, I thought, I wish it had been believers. I wish Christians had called him out. I wish we were the ones who spearheaded it. I wish it was people inside his own organization who said, we won't stand for this. We love you, but you can't do this and we're going to stop you. That would have been so beautiful and such a good witness to the world. And we need believers to be the ones who stand up against these things. And then that would help undo some of the harm that's being done. But if we not only see abusers in our midst, but if we cover up for them.

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I forgot to turn off my ac. Sorry about all the noise. Um, if we cover up for them, we're adding more pain and injury. So I think that it's something that has to be done.

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That's, um, gotta be done. It's gotta be done. I hope I'm doing it well. I'm trying.

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Um, you know, the text in front of you says, um, the evidence of two or three witnesses.

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I'm really. I'm, um, high. The stuff I'm bringing to you guys is, I believe, evidenced. Highly evidenced. It's beyond this.

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And, um, I often try to reach out to people individually, um, and get no response. Before we made this video about Michael Brown, I approached Michael Brown individually. I tried to confront him, and he just gave me more spin.

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Um, I reached out to Mercy Culture when they did their video with him, this horrible, horrible video, and I said, please, can you please get on the phone with me? And they decided not to. They decided not to talk to me.

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So what other avenue have I got than to just come out and share as I did? I don't see a better choice. Um, it's easy to say nothing, but I think it's. I think that's happened too much.

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I hope that helps answer your question to some degree. All right, let's go to Tyler. Alexei. Who says Alexei? Alexey, I don't know. Why was it so important for Jesus to be born from Seth vs. Cain, Isaac vs. Ishmael, since he came to save all mankind?

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Um, I don't know if I have a good answer for that, Tyler. Um, obviously God could have chosen to go down different lines.

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Um, we can talk about Seth and Cain and Isaac and Ishmael specifically, and see how some of the qualities of those individuals speak something true about Jesus. And we can say, hey, maybe that's the reason or part of the reason.

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But Seth and Cain, what we have with Cain is we have, um, the firstborn, who's also the first one to shed blood. We have one who was basically sinful.

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And then with Seth, what we have is like a son who is there almost to replace another son. A son who died is being replaced by this son. And we almost have, like, a death and a new life theme going on between these two. And then Cain picturing sin and rebellion against Christ.

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So there's elements there that feel like, could be messianic and could be symbolic of Jesus and what he did, um, with Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac is repeatedly called the Son of the Promise. And if you read Galatians. You'll see specific things where Paul talks about this. He's like, hey, we have the son of the promise, we have the son of the slave. We have the son of these different things. And these are used as allegories to refer to basically pictures of Jesus in the Old Testament using these actual characters.

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So these different individuals. Often I think that there's, like, themes, you know, sometimes God deals in history. It seems the way that, like, a screenplay writer deals with a large story or where they're going to have things happen for symbolic value and to communicate meaning. And he does this with the lives of real people. And it's amazing. Um, so I recommend my Jesus in the Old Testament series to you. I'll put a link below to that for anybody who's interested. I love that series. If you find the first video, like, boring, that's because I'm laying the groundwork for it and so it is more boring. But just watch the second video then. Um, but I'll link the videos below. Um, all right, let's go to the next one.

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This comes in from Anonymous. Okay. As a kid, even after apologizing, I felt my parents shame, disappointment, anger in the room until a period of time would pass. I know my sin harms intimacy with God, even though Romans 8:1. So I can't get over the awkward feeling in the room, um, when I try to pray or draw near to God after sinning. Should shame linger for a period of time? This is okay.

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This hits home for so many people. I'm glad you asked this question. I had the same experience as a kid, um, after you did something wrong, you were not welcome.

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Not welcome for a season. Now, this is not like, oh, poor Mike, he was traumatized.

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I'm not saying any of that. I'm m just saying I had that experience.

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And I did notice that it translated into my relationship with God. So I had another buddy who, um, I found it remarkable. I still think about all the time. Who? Um, uh, uh, Pastor Mac. He's in Arizona now. Um, who. When he disciplined his kids, I remember when they were real little and he would discipline them.

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You know, they're acting up. Stop that. Stop that. Then he'd go into the room and he would discipline them and then come back to the living room. And I kid you not, his kid comes up and curls up on his lap and just cuddles with their dad.

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And I remember seeing that, thinking, I would never have done that as a kid. Are you kidding me? Go be affectionate with the one who Just disciplined me. I would never do that. But there was something he had done because he. Because what he experienced growing up, he established new and different patterns for his own kids. There's something he had done there that allowed them to know, even after discipline, they were, like, truly loved and received and put that image in your head. I'm still ashamed of what I did.

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That's okay. To still feel a sense of that was wrong. But the actual guilt, like, when I say guilt, I don't mean, oh, I feel bad about that. I mean guilt. I have guilt over this. I have moral, you know, debt. That's gone. When you turn to God and you. You come with repentance, you. You come and you ask for his grace. That actual guilt is actually gone, and he welcomes you in. And you can think of the prodigal son running. The father running to the son. My son, he was dead, and now he's alive. Um, when you come humble the Lord, in fact, scripture says he draws near to you. He draws near to you is the text that it actually says. So we have Hebrews that tells us to come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may find grace and mercy to help in time of need. Do you get the idea that the scripture, with these different stories and examples and passages, is actually.

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The Holy Spirit is cognizant that your problem is a human problem and that we all need to know when you sin and you repent, God receives you immediately. Not a day later, not a year later, not a week later. So I would say worship and praise him, even when you feel that way, and go, lord, I know that the shame I feel is, in a sense, appropriate because I blew it.

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But I also know that I am right with you, and I'm going to thank you and praise you for it. Thank you for your closeness to me. Thank you that right now you are drawing near to me, because that's what scripture says.

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All right, let's go to the next question, number nine. Anonymous question as well. A church I know has an intellectual property document that staff signs, and it says they can't pursue personal creative projects without the leadership's permission. Is this biblical?

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I guess. I don't know the full details.

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Um, I don't know the full details. Like, what are they being hired for? What would a personal creative project be? I will admit that off the cuff. I immediately think that's lame. Um, why would you do that? Is this just, like, one of these things where.

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Let me just.

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I've been trying to think about the psychology that goes into these kinds of decisions where leaders are just impossible to correct because they feel like the entity that they serve is so good that they can just bulldoze over people in the name of the entity.

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This happens a lot, right? And the NDAs, uh, those of you who don't know, I've been dealing with lots and lots of victims of spiritual and other kinds of abuse over the past several months. I've interviewed a lot of people privately and still, um, have more content I'll be making on this topic for a season. And I'd like to get back to Hebrews eventually. Uh, it'll be probably next year, to be honest.

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Um, but I will do it. But, uh, the thing is, they will bulldoze over people with the full confidence of their own righteous actions.

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So I'll have you sign.

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There was an NDA somebody sent me from a big, mega church that said that. I can't remember right now the name of the pastor. I'd share it with you, but that said, um, you will honor the image of the pastor, of the senior pastor, and if you ever leave our church, you will not speak against this pastor or join with anybody who does.

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This is what a contract that they made them sign said. And people actually wrote this up, typed it, handed it to people, had them sign it, put it in a file, kept it, and then that hung over the heads of people as they would leave the church. And they could say, well, I know that they did some stuff that was wrong, but I can't say anything because then they might sue me.

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And there's those of you going, well, you can't sue people if they're exposing truths and this and that. You don't understand how it really works in the real world. They don't need to win in court.

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They just threaten you with a lawsuit. And now you cower. Now you're spending $10,000 on attorneys just to start the process of defending yourself. And depending on what state you're in, depending on how the case plays out, you might win, but have to mortgage your house.

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Church NDAs, in my opinion, have to stop. So I would say. Sounds sketchy. Let me read your question again, and then I'll, uh, give my conclusion. As a church I know has an intellectual property document that staff signs, and it says they can't pursue personal, creative projects without the leadership's permission. Is this biblical?

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Um, okay, short answer. Is it? I guess that's easier to answer. Is it biblical? No, it is not biblical for churches to control your, you know, what you're allowed to do with the rest of your life pursuing creative projects on your own. Like you can't start a YouTube channel in your basement because you work at this church without the permission of the leadership. That's weird. Um, biblically, there's nothing that gives a leader that kind of authority in your life where pastors are like, able to tell you what creative projects you're allowed to pursue in your life. There's no biblical reason to support that. If anything, it's what Jesus warned against when he said, um, the rulers of the gentiles will lord it over them, but it will not be so among you. You'll be like servants. This is different.

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This seems like a conflict of that. Um, but I think that in general churches requiring, and most churches don't requiring NDAs or uh, non compete agreements like Jesus image does, as I've heard reportedly from a witness of their students.

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Um, and uh, NDAs that this is an immoral practice that churches are engaging in and they feel, to get back to my earlier statement, they feel it's okay because they feel that the entity is so good that it's okay for them to do this to people.

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So I'm pushing against that. And I think we need to stop church NDAs. I should really do a video on this. I've just been way too busy. I want to do a video just on NDAs and show you guys examples and, um, we can talk about that. Um, people don't realize what's happening there and how it affects people behind the scenes. And it's not enough to say, well, they can't sue you, uh, if you're not violating the NDA. In reality, legally you're protected. It doesn't matter, guys, that's not how our court system really works.

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You can ruin people's lives with lawsuits that aren't legit. And the NDA gives you the ability to do that.

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All right, let's go to the next question.

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Dean Peterson says, how can someone draw closer to God?

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Um, in a sense, this is like one of the simplest questions in the world. And then that's exactly what makes you feel like it's one of the hardest. Um, how does one draw closer to God when it comes to sin issues? That's one of the first things to confront.

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And scripture says, um, here, I'll just take you to the passage. Um, uh, uh, let me get you there.

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This passage talks about drawing near to God and it sort of describes it. Let me, um, let me just read the whole. Gosh, I'm Going to reread this. I read part of this earlier, but let's reread it. Let's get saturated in this. In this passage of scripture. I love it when the same passage comes up multiple times, times in one live stream. That's kind of neat. But let's read it again and imagine for a second that this is all. Everything I'm about to read is a setup for how God is telling you how to draw near to him, at least in one of the ways. What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you. Is it not this? That your passions are at war within you. You desire and do not have, so you murder, you covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. Hold on, before we come to why you don't have an ask and all that, um, human relationships can affect your relationship with God. Jesus says, if you come and you have your altar, your gift, you bring it before the altar and you remember your brother has something against you. Um, or you have something against your brother. I think it was the other way around, now that I'm thinking about it. But he says, go and be reconciled to your brother. Leave your gift, then come and offer your gift. God cares about your relationship with individuals. And so one way in which you can help set up for your life to draw near to God is by clearing the slate with other individuals to just say, hey, here's something I need to apologize for, or here's reconciliation that needs to be happening. And you cannot always create reconciliation. Right? This is why Romans says, as much as it's possible for you, as much as it depends on you, live peaceably with all people. So you're not going to really reconcile with every human. But you can say, as much as depends on me, I'm living peaceably with all people. And then you come and you draw near. Um, but he says, you don't have because you do not ask. You ask and you do not receive, because you ask wrongly to spend it on your own passions. You adulterous people.

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Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

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Interesting. So here's where sin comes in. And I realize sin isn't just me making God mad.

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Um, there's a. There's. I'm not saying God doesn't get mad at sin, because he does. But there's a side of sin as well that is me betraying God's friendship.

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Man, that hits that hits hard in my heart to think of it that way, but that seems accurate and biblical that when I sin, I'm betraying the friendship of God, I'm drawing away from God.

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Or do you suppose it says to no purpose that the scripture. It is to no purpose that the scripture says he yearns jealously over the Spirit that He has made to dwell in us, but he gives more grace.

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Therefore it says, God opposes the proud. And here's your tips for drawing near to God, but he gives grace to the humble. Are you humbling yourself before God?

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Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

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You can choose to draw near to God. This might be a time of reading the Word. This might be a time of prayer. This may be going to church. This might be talking to a friend and praying with a friend and seeking the Lord in these different ways. Uh, setting down something sinful, putting away something from your life that you know you've been allowing for a season and you just keep making excuses and you set that thing aside. That is part of drawing near to God. And that's why he says here, cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.

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And then the sorrow that goes with that, be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you, man. He's going to lift you up, you're going to get sorrowful over your sin, set it aside and God will lift you back up.

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That will be you drawing near. So the sin issue is one of the ways in which we draw near to God. But there's another way in which I'll highlight, and it's a verse I actually referenced earlier. Um, um, just a second.

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I think it's Hebrews 4:16.

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I'm just going to double check and make sure I'm getting to the right passage.

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Yeah, all right.

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Logos software. Okay.

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Hebrews um, four.

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Let me start in verse 14. This is a different issue. This is. Yes, it's related to sin, okay, but it's not about the sin so much. It's not the emphasis. The emphasis is your confidence towards God. Drawing near to God requires humility in your heart, but boldness and confidence about his heart.

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Do you get that? Humility towards me? No self righteousness, no worthiness on my end, but boldness and confidence about his heart towards me. That's important to have. So let me read Hebrews 4, starting in verse 14.

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Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our confession. The nature of a high priest is this is a person who makes a way for you to draw near to God. That's what the high priest does for you. So you're going, why do I get to draw near to God? Because Jesus is. Is doing it for me. He's made the way for me. He's my great high priest.

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For we do not have a high priest who's unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Do you know God sympathizes even with your weaknesses?

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Ah, it's a little. You don't want to overdo this a little too much. But to think that even in my sin, when that sin is connected to my own weaknesses, there's. There's a sympathy that God has for me. I think that's amazing.

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That's, uh, amazing doesn't excuse my sin in any way, shape or form, but that's really does a good thing for my heart. But one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. And then here's that verse. Let us then, with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Confidence, confide with faith.

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This is. That's what it means, right? I'm gonna. With. With confidence, I will draw near. Why? Because he's my high priest. Because he intercedes for me. Why? Because he has made the sacrifice for me. Why? Because he sympathizes with me. Why? Because it's. It's not just his throne of judgment. It's his throne of grace that I draw near to. And I'm gonna do what there. I am going to confident. I'm confident I will receive mercy and find grace. Grace to help in my time of need.

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So, yep, deal with sin. But you've got to have incredible confidence towards the grace and mercy and love of God for you so that you can draw near in that regard. There's some things. I'm sure there's more that could be said, but I hope that that helps you in some way. I really do. Dean. I hope that blesses you in some way. Man. Draw near to God. You may not do it perfectly. And. Okay, last thing I'll add.

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Don't use your emotions to measure whether you're successful or not. Nothing here says and you will Feel warm fuzzies. Now, you might, okay, but you might not. Just draw near. Draw near and have confidence and trust that God is with you because his word says that he is.

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That's enough. Um, that's all I say about that. All right, guys, listen. Um, the stuff that's coming down the pipe for my ministry, still several more videos on this sort of season where I'm dealing with, um, people that it seems will not be dealt with any other way.

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And I do this with trepidation before the Lord. I will stand before God for every video I'm making.

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Um, and I'll stand before God if I don't.

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So I hope I'm doing it well. I think. I think I am.

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And you may hate this, and it's okay if some of the videos I'm making aren't for you. No worries, man. Maybe you're like, mike, I really wish you were doing this other stuff, and I understand that. And for you, that would be the best thing for me to do for you. But that doesn't mean it's the best thing for me to do as I serve and honor the Lord.

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There's a time to teach people to think biblically about those who are persisting in sin, rebuking the presence of. Of all. There's a time to think biblically about that. There's a time to think biblically about raising your voice for the oppressed, which Scripture talks about quite a lot. There's a time to think biblically about how my ministry might be able to help change a lot of churches in really primarily the next generation of leaders when they see the train wreck and they go, okay, we're going to do it differently because we can see where it went wrong. And I think I can be part of that. And there's a time where the world gets to see. See Christians standing up and holding our principles consistently.

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And I'm not perfect, and I have my own sin issues, and you have your own, and we all do. But there's times where people cross a line, especially when they're leaders, especially when they're hurting people, and especially when they will not respond to any attempts to fix things, to correct things, to graciously work through the issues with them. And then finally you say, we've got. Okay, we've got to raise our voices because their impact is too big. And, uh, I think that time is now.

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So let's pray.

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Um, Father God, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your guidance and pray for your guidance in all things. We ask, Lord, that you would build up your church and strengthen it. And that, um, those who've been spiritually abused, wounded, that they would start to see, um, that that's not the whole church that did that. That's individuals in the church that obviously it's not you who did it or Jesus who did it. But may they see in the body of Christ there is a safe place for them. In Jesus name, Amen.

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Amen.

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All right, guys, I'll be back with you next Friday or so the plan is.

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And um.

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Yeah.

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Mhm.

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Sam.