WWUTT 1965 Q&A (Part 2) Christian Patriotism, Bikinis in Public, Grape Juice or Wine, What is Biblicism, Pastors on X

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Does a Christian have a greater obligation to show charity to unbelievers than fellow

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Christians? What does your church serve at the Lord's table? And is Biblicism wrong?

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The answers to these questions and others when we Understand the Text. This is

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When we Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Tell all your friends about our podcast, and if you listen through Apple, be sure to leave a five -star review.

00:35

Here, once again, is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. You're welcome. Surprise, everybody.

00:41

Surprise. We are shadow dropping an unannounced episode on Friday. And because I don't want to do – all of the numbers on Friday have been divisible by five.

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Yes. So I didn't want to do a different number on Friday. So this is just part two of the last episode that we did at the end of June.

01:03

Yes. Carrying over. We were not on at all in July. Longest hiatus we've ever been on.

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Well, this is kind of like our personalities, though. You haven't seen us in such a long time, but we'll pick right back up wherever we dropped off.

01:18

That's right. We're just picking right back up where we left off. Speaking of that, so on Friday, we've been going through a little bit of the

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Psalms, Psalm 68 in particular. It's been a while since I've been in Psalm 68, but let me pick up reading here in verse 19.

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Sure. Blessed be the Lord who daily bears our burden, the

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God who is our salvation, Selah. God is to us a

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God of salvation, and to Yahweh the Lord belong escapes from death.

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Surely God will crush the head of his enemies, the hairy skull of him who goes on in his guilty deeds.

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The Lord said, I will bring them back from Bashan. I will give them back from the depths of the sea, that your foot may crush them in blood.

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The tongue of your dogs may have its portion from your enemies. I want to see

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Reptoons draw that God will crush the head of his enemies, the hairy skull of him who goes on in his guilty deeds.

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Paul Cox, I'm passing it to you now. You got to draw that. That's your next

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Reptoon right there. Oh, dear. Oh, what a good word, though.

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Our God of salvation will deliver us from our enemies, and justice will be poured out on his enemies, so repent of your sin and turn to Christ, lest you perish with those who oppose him.

02:47

On the Friday edition of the broadcast, we take questions from the listeners, and you can submit those questions to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

02:56

Since this is a shadow drop of an episode, and by the way, folks, I had to explain to my wife what shadow dropping was.

03:02

Yeah. You might explain to our audience. Yeah, it's just, we did not announce this at all, it's just boom, here it is.

03:11

It's called a shadow drop. There was some streaming service recently that just shadow dropped a new episode of something,

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I don't remember what it was, and like people on social media were going crazy, whoa, so -and -so just shadow dropped this episode, you know, that's.

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Is that where you got the idea? No, I just wanted to do it. Oh, okay. I didn't really get the idea that,

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I was just, I was ready to get back on. I didn't want to wait until next week to do this with you.

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That's very true. July's over, we're ready to do this again. Nice. So let's open up the mics.

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Now, we're not going to respond to questions today, I'm going to save questions that we've been getting until next week, because shadow dropping this also meant

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I didn't do hardly any prep. Right. So we're just opening the mic and chatting here.

03:58

So what I'm going to do instead is I'm going to go through some polls. Yes. So over the course of the month of July, on Twitter, oh yeah, since we've been gone,

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Twitter changed its name. Yep. It's not even called Twitter anymore. Nope.

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It's called X. X. It's X Twitter. Or as I've been, as I've taken to referring to it as Twix.

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Twix. Nice. It's Twitter and X. Nice. So yeah, Twix. I like it. It's about the best name. It's X -pired.

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There you go. That's a good one. I didn't think of that one. Twitter is X -pired now. Yes. It's just X.

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It's X. So I don't know that I'm going to get used to calling it that. It was Twitter when I did these polls, so we're going to call them

04:46

Twitter polls. Fair enough. I'll let it slide. Through the month of July, I did various polls, and I've got eight of them here.

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So I'm going to read the results of these polls, and we'll chat about them a little bit. Sure. And if you want, if you are on Twitter slash

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X, Twix, then look up www .utt .com.

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That's the account where I'll post these polls. Yes. I don't do the polls on Facebook. I'll post the results on Facebook.

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Oh, okay. Yeah. So you can't actually vote there. You have to be on Twix in order to...

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You hesitate every time. I do, because I can't do it. You have to be on X. It's like it's

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Twitter, but it's not Twitter. Anyway, yeah, Twitter .com slash, I guess it's not even that anymore.

05:33

I guess it's X .com. Is it? You know, it was Elon Musk, of course, that bought Twitter, so he owned it, changed it to X.

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Back in the 90s, he bought X .com. Oh, yeah. So he has always owned that website and has held onto it for 20 plus years.

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That's crazy. 25 years or so, however long it's been. And so now he's had the chance to utilize it.

05:57

Now it's Twitter. Twitter has become X .com. All right. So I guess in order to find us on Twitter, you now have to do

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X .com slash www .utt .com. Okay.

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Because that's the username. Yeah. Anyway, but that's where I post the polls. That's where you can vote, things like that.

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I have eight of them here. So here we go. This is the first poll, which I did on July the 4th. So obviously you'll notice the patriotic theme here.

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American Christians, are you grateful to be from and live in America?

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Yes or no. This was just a simple yes or no poll. Yes. You are? I am.

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You are grateful to be from and live in America? Yes. Why? Because we have freedoms here that I would not have anywhere else.

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Amen. And I feel like I am able to go to church without being hunted down and have to go into hiding or anything.

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And we're able to share the gospel freely. I mean, it's as many faults as America has.

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Don't hear me say that we're perfect. Yeah, absolutely not. But we do have a lot in place law -wise to protect us.

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And so I'm thoroughly grateful for that. Yeah. We have a constitution that when the law, when the government infringes upon our rights, we can point to it and say, we didn't break the law.

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You did. Yeah. This is what the law is. Yes. We're not ruled by tyrants. We're not ruled by tyrants.

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At least according to the constitution, we're not supposed to have like a tyrannical ruler who is the law.

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Even they are subject to these laws. We're all subject to laws. There's no one who is above the law.

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That's what the constitution basically tries to frame. That's a Christian framework. Yeah. It's a

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Christian framework. Nobody's above the law. Right. Exactly. We're all subject to the law of God. Yes. So thankful that we live in a country where we can worship freely and we can, we have this opportunity to share our faith with others.

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Now, of course, that right is quickly being taken away from us. Yes. There was a story. We have to protect that. That's right.

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There was a story of some teenagers in Wisconsin earlier this week who were arrested when they were just reading the

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Bible on a sidewalk to a group of people where drag queens were twerking in front of kids.

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Oh, my. And the passage that the young man was reading from was even Galatians. He wasn't even reading a passage that was one of like the verses that we would sometimes hear called clobber verses against homosexuality.

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Right. He wasn't even reading one of those. He was talking about the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5. Oh, wow. And he got arrested for that.

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Wow. But fortunately, he's able to point back to the laws and say, I was not breaking the law.

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You infringed upon my rights by arresting me, exercising what

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I should have been able to freely do in public. Wow. So, all that said, coming back to the question here,

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American Christians, are you grateful to be from and live in America? Five hundred and thirty -two votes on this poll, which all of my polls

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I do at only about twelve hours. Okay. So, it's only like in a half a day, yeah, twelve hours of the day.

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I'll start them in the morning. They'll wrap up in the evening. And if you're on the other side of the world, it's probably the wrong time.

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Yeah, that's in America, by the way, yeah. So, unless you were up late at night, you probably didn't see the poll.

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Ninety -six point six percent said yes. Three point four percent said no.

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I think the three point four need to relocate or go get a little outside world kind of experience.

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Exposure? Yeah. Exposure. Exposure. Exposure. Exposure. Oh, my goodness.

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So bad. And it sounds bad, incidentally, to say I'm on X. Yeah. Now, it sounds like you're doing illegal drugs.

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Yes, it does. You can find me on X. I better not. You're a pastor. Yeah, it's weird. That's right.

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It's a weird thing to say. Okay. So, that was the first poll. Grateful to be from America. Social media.

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Indeed. We can call it social media. Well, that's really broad.

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In Philippians chapter three, verse 20, the Apostle Paul says, Our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly await a

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Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So, our citizenship as Christians, first of all, is we're part of the kingdom of God.

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But while we live here on this earth, those of us who are Americans, we are grateful to live in this country and be able to use these laws that God, by his providence, has allowed us to live under and let us take advantage of that freedom to be able to worship

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God and also tell others the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yeah, and I think it enables us to really reach out to the world because we do have these freedoms.

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Yeah. We can even go abroad. Absolutely. And we are able to still, under the protection of our country, be able to teach those who are not in our country and don't have that protection.

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Yeah, for the most part. Yeah. I mean, there's definitely places in the world. There's still some that we can't reach through the podcast, but…

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Harder to get to than others, yes. It really does allow us that extra freedom to do that, so.

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And by the way, even though we never published a single new episode of the broadcast in July, we were still trending in places like Singapore, Canada, Great Britain, and I can't remember where else.

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I think, oh, New Zealand. New Zealand was one of them. Oh, cool. I wrote them down somewhere, but I didn't think to have that up in front of me.

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So the broadcast was still trending. That's so cool. Thanks, guys. Even though we weren't publishing new episodes, we still had several.

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No, no, no, no, no, no. No. But great to hear that we were trending. Yes. So for those of you who are new,

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I'm only on here because I'm talking to Gabe, and maybe some friends are happening to listen.

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That's right. So I'm explaining a little bit more than just talking to Gabe, but that's how he got me on this podcast.

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Yeah, just nobody else is listening, babe. It's just you and me. Just us. That's it. So he's prohibited from saying any numbers.

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I can't give numbers. It scares her. She walks out. Yep. I'm done. I'll clam up.

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All right. This next poll. I remember this one now. So July 5th. This is the very next day. Okay. And this had to do with a topic that was trending on Twitter at the particular time.

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Uh -huh. It was still Twitter then. It was still Twitter then. That's right. Yes. Do you believe it is biblically acceptable for a woman to wear a typical bikini in public?

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Yes, no, or depends? Okay, say it. Depends. Sorry. Say it one more time.

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I don't know why that tickled you so much. Do you believe it is biblically acceptable for a woman to wear a typical bikini in public?

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Yes, no, or the other answer? 2 ,594 votes total.

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Okay. That's a lot. Yeah. That was a big poll. Like I said, it was trending, so I was able to ask this question while it was trending.

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It was probably showing up in a lot more people's feed at the time. 13 % said yes.

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It is biblically acceptable for a woman to wear a typical bikini in public. 13 % said yes.

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Okay. 75 .7 % said no. Oh, wow. And then 11 .4

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% said depends. Why does that make you laugh?

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I didn't even know the word depends tickled my wife that much. I worked in a pharmacy for quite a few years.

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It just reminds me of a ceremony. Oh, okay. Right, right, right. A certain product. Yes. Yes. And that probably doesn't go well with a bikini.

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No. Okay. Sorry. I hope we're not putting that image in anybody's head here.

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Becky is particularly tickled by this. I can't help it. Okay. So is that acceptable or not?

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I'd say no. I don't feel comfortable. Now, after I asked that poll and we got those results, yeah, you don't feel comfortable, right?

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No. Yeah, right. No, absolutely not. And that's the thing. There are a lot of solid biblical women.

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I think we've had a good response here from this poll with 75 .7

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% saying no. There are biblical women out there that they would feel ashamed if they were wearing that in public.

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Yeah, definitely. Like I'm feeling exposed here. Yes. Yes. Those are for my husband's eyes only.

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Correct. Correct. Which is why I clarified. You believe it's biblically acceptable for a woman to wear a typical bikini in public.

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Yes. Like if you went to a private beach or you have a pool in your backyard. Yeah. And you want to wear what you want to wear in your own backyard.

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Yeah. As long as you have a high enough fence, I suppose. Or you're not in a really crowded neighborhood.

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Yeah, enough privacy. Wear what you want. What difference does that make? But as far as going to a public establishment, like a public pool, a public beach, we still need to think about modesty.

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What it means to be modest even in, and especially in, those environments. Yes. 1

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Timothy chapter 2 is typically the place that we go where we read about a woman adorning herself modestly.

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1 Timothy 2 .9, I want women to adorn themselves. So adorn themselves. Yes. You've got to wear something.

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Yes. A bikini is not that. It's taking your clothes off. And in a lot of cases, it's even skimpier than your normal underwear.

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Yep. I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, with modesty and self -restraint.

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Not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly clothing. But rather, how should a woman be adorned?

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Verse 10, by means of good works, as is proper for women professing godliness.

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I talked about this in the sermon that I did just this past Sunday. Titus 2, 6 through 10 was what

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I was preaching from. But I backed up a little bit and even grabbed some of those instructions that Paul had for the older women, and the older women instructing the younger women.

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I had said to the congregation, and this sermon's online now, so if you go to, it's actually our extra channel on YouTube.

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W -W -U -T -T -E -X -T. Right. Is where I'll upload the sermons, and you can find the sermon there.

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But I said, you know, Tom and I, we've gotten in trouble in the past because we've said publicly that, we've talked publicly about what a woman should or should not wear.

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There's people who get mad at us for that. They'll say, well, being legalistic. And it's kind of like, no matter how we approach this, somebody's saying, well, quit looking, guys.

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Yeah. You pervs, you know. Yes. I mean, we can't win. You can't win with that.

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And I said to the congregation. That was my mentality in college. Yeah, whenever some preacher would say something to one of your

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Christian friends. Well, not even a preacher. It was just anybody. Anybody. I'm like, well, that's your problem. That's right. Why are you looking?

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If you don't like it, then don't look. Right. Exactly. So I said to the congregation, I said, ladies,

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I'll be honest with you. I don't think a pastor's the best person to be telling a young woman what she should or should not wear.

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Yeah. That should be coming from you. Yes. So take some heat off your pastors. Yes. Follow that Titus 2 instruction,

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Titus 2 verses 3 through 5, where the older women are to teach the younger women what is good.

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Yes. So let it come from the older mature women in the church. And there's a reason why Paul sets it up that way.

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He tells Titus to instruct the older men, instruct the older women, and instruct the younger men.

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But it's the older women who are to be instructing the younger women. Yes. And it's not like you're going up to them and telling them they look awful, they need to put something on.

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It's out of love. You might need to. It's out of love. Stop.

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Yes. It is. It is. It's out of love. It's out of love that Tom and I do it as well. Yes. You know, wear what is proper for a woman of God to wear.

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Yes. By means of good works, this is proper for a woman professing godliness.

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All right. Next poll. This one is on July 8th.

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How much of your income would you say that you give to your church?

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Okay. Okay. Now, what's typically the amount that people will say you should be giving to your church?

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Ten percent. Ten percent. That's the usual amount. That's the miracle number. The miracle number. The miracle number.

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Well, it was the tithe in the Old Testament. That's literally what tithe means. It means a tenth. So, the four options were

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I give little or none, about ten percent or less, more than ten percent, or I don't keep track.

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Okay. There's your four options to the poll. How much of your income would you say that you give to your church? 8 .3

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percent. There were 409 votes, by the way. Okay. 409. 8 .3 percent said

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I give little or none. Okay. 43 .5

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percent said about ten percent or less. Okay. 32 percent said more than ten percent.

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Oh, wow. And 16 .1 percent said I don't keep track. I'd be part of the 16.

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So, really somewhere around, you don't keep track, but I do. I know. I have a general idea.

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That's what I'm saying. I don't have an exact number, but I'm pretty sure I know where we're at. Yeah. So, 43 .5

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percent and 32 percent combined. So, yeah, do your math.

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Yeah, that's quite a bit. That's about 75 percent. Yeah, 75 percent. So, is about the ten percent range a little bit less or a little bit more.

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Yeah. That's pretty good. That's great. Yeah. Good response from folks who responded to that poll.

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8 .3 percent saying I give little or none. I hope you're convicted over that.

20:54

Mm -hmm. Now, at our church, we're not going to come hunt you down. We're not keeping track of anybody's finances.

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We are in the sense that, you know, if a person at our church is giving, there is a giving record that's being kept so that you're going to get something, a statement at the end of the year that you can use to deduct from your taxes if you want.

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Right. But there are very select people that know that amount, and the pastors don't.

21:17

Right. I don't know what anybody's giving in the church. Yep. I don't know either. I mean,

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I wouldn't, but I'm just clarifying. So, we're not hunting anybody down and saying, hey, you didn't give, so you're under church discipline.

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Yeah. And that's between you and the Lord, but I hope that you do give something, that you feel convicted to give something to give back to the work of God.

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And in particular, you want to give where you're being fed. Mm -hmm. So, it's your church. You probably have some other ministries that you want to support, and we do.

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Yes. We have ministries that we support. But you want to first give where you are being fed, your pastors, those people are helping take care of you and shepherd your soul.

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Right. That's where your first giving needs to go. And then you take care of them. Yeah. Now, we can't give first fruits.

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Here in America, it's nearly impossible to do that. Right. Because the government's taking out their share before you get yours.

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Yep. But it's still good that you're budgeting that. You know exactly what you have, what you're getting, what you want to give to the church.

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And if you can make 10 % a benchmark, as Paul says in 2

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Corinthians 8 and 9, it's not about doing it under compulsion for the Lord loves a cheerful giver. But as Christ gave of himself, we should give of ourselves.

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Yes. Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly, but whoever sows generously will reap generously.

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So as you have it in your heart to want to give, budget it out, give that amount, give a little bit more if you can, and see that the

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Lord won't bless you for that. Not necessarily saying that in terms of the Lord will give you material blessings on this side of heaven.

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Right. But in eternity, great is your reward. Amen. And then I don't keep track.

23:02

I sympathize with you because I don't know the exact amount, like I said. Yeah. I have a general idea.

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But it's good, again, to have a plan, have a system in place. Yes. Because you're making it intentional.

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You make worship. It's part of worship. Exactly. Yeah. It's part of worship. You make worship intentional so you should do the same with your giving.

23:21

That's good, babe. Thanks. Yeah. Let's see here. Next one. This came up on July the 7th.

23:28

Okay. So this one was before. The previous one was the 8th. This is July the 7th. I just don't have them in the right order. Okay.

23:33

How many times in a month on average would you say you attend church, including

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Sunday morning, evening, and any midweek gatherings? Oh. How many times in a week are you going to your church or attending church?

23:49

I didn't include like home Bible studies and stuff like that. Okay. So it's just you're going to church. How many times?

23:56

554 votes. Okay. 3 .2 % said less than one or never.

24:03

Oh, wow. Okay. In a month. 3 .1%, so about the same amount, said one to two times per month.

24:11

Okay. 36 .6 % said three to four times per month.

24:18

Okay. And 57%, which was the vast majority, said whenever the doors are open.

24:25

I like it. Now I had some good comments in there, too. I saw some folks saying it's somewhere between three to four times per month and whenever the doors are open.

24:34

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. But that's good. You want to be with your church. Yes. And that's us. Yes. We love being with our church.

24:42

Yes. And it is just about any time the doors are open. And not just in terms of the doors are open to anybody, but even committee meetings.

24:50

Yes. And stuff like that. I try to be there for that. Now, I've been invited to play basketball several times.

24:56

We've been here two and a half years, and I've still never taken anybody up on that. Nope. But yeah, most of the time, it's whenever the doors are open, we're there.

25:03

Yeah. You're there a little bit more often than usual people. Well, of course. Yeah. Well. Because, you know.

25:09

I go there every day. Kind of have an office there. You have a reason to be there every time.

25:18

But my favorite thing, even more so than working in the office, favorite part about church is Sunday morning.

25:23

Yes. Getting together and worshiping together. Nothing beats it. I agree. So, this next poll, this was on July 13th.

25:32

Do you believe that a Christian has a greater obligation to show charity to unbelievers than to fellow

25:39

Christians? I remember what motivated this poll now. Oh, yeah? So, this was because at the time, something was trending with regards to the least of these.

25:50

It might have been that term exactly. The least of these. Okay. You know where the least of these comes from?

25:55

Yeah. So, that's in Matthew 25 where Jesus is talking about gathering all the nations before the great white throne of judgment.

26:04

Uh -huh. And then he's going to separate one from another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

26:11

Right. The goats are going to go on his left. Uh -huh. The sheep are going to go on his right. And he's going to say to those on his right, come you who are blessed of my

26:22

Father, inherit the kingdom which has been prepared for you from before the foundation of the world.

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For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in.

26:36

Naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.

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Then the righteous will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink?

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And when did we see you a stranger and invite you in or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?

26:57

And the king will answer and say to them, truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me.

27:10

Uh -huh. Okay. Then, of course, he's going to look to those on his left, depart from me, accursed ones into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.

27:18

For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in.

27:25

Naked and you did not clothe me. Sick and in prison and you did not visit me. Then they themselves also will answer saying,

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Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?

27:39

And he will answer them saying, truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.

27:46

And these will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life.

27:52

Uh -huh. So, that's a very famous passage. It is, of course, from that passage we get that statement, the least of these.

27:59

Yes. It was trending on Twitter, I think still called Twitter on July 13th, that the least of these includes all of the marginalized in society.

28:08

Okay. It's whoever is the outcast, whoever is the destitute or the poor.

28:14

Okay. Those are the ones who are the least of these. And I simply pointed out, there was another tweet that I made, which you call them now that it's

28:21

X. There was a… Post? Yeah. An exactment that I made.

28:28

An expression. An extract? I expressed myself. Yeah, I don't know. An extract. Whatever you call them now.

28:35

So, there was a… I responded and I said that the least of these are specifically Christians.

28:42

Jesus is talking about those who are his followers. Right. As he said previously in Matthew 1250, whoever does the will of my

28:51

Father who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother. So, these brothers of mine are followers of Jesus, whoever is doing the will of the

29:01

Father in heaven. That's even the same, what would you call it, test that's given in Matthew chapter seven.

29:10

The lawless are those who did not do the will of the Father in heaven. Right. They're the ones to whom Jesus is going to say, depart from me you workers of iniquity, whoever did not do the will of the

29:20

Father. So, those who are followers of Christ, who do the will of the Father, they are the brethren.

29:27

Yeah. So, when Jesus says, what you did not do to the least of these brothers of mine.

29:32

So, you're talking about those who are followers of Christ and the least of them. That's what it's in reference to.

29:39

Yeah. So, in light of that, then I ask this poll question. Do you believe that a Christian has a greater obligation to show charity to unbelievers than to fellow

29:48

Christians? Believe it or not, there are people out there who think that you need to be showing charity first to the unbelievers because the

29:56

Christians are already taken care of. Interesting. So, you need to care for unbelievers in order to share the gospel with them because they don't have the gospel yet.

30:06

Okay. Is that what scripture says? No. 1 ,303 votes.

30:13

5 .9 % said yes, a Christian has a greater obligation to show charity to unbelievers than to fellow

30:20

Christians. Okay. 5 .9%. 75 .4 % said no.

30:26

Okay. And they are correct. 16 .2 % said it should be the same.

30:32

Okay. You show the same love to the believer or the unbeliever. And then 2 .5

30:38

% said, Becky's favorite word, depends. And then

30:43

I said, leave a comment in the comment section, but I didn't ever copy down any comments from that. So, what do we have in the scriptures?

30:51

We need to care for the people of God first. Yes. When Paul gives instruction to Titus about being a good steward of the household of God, you're taking care of God's household.

31:04

What is his household? Yeah. The church? It's the church. It's the people in the church. Yeah. That's who you're caring for first.

31:10

They're making lists of widows. When Paul gives instructions about caring for the widows, where do you find those widows?

31:18

It's the widows that are in the church. Yeah. He's not telling Timothy to go out and, you know, find all the widows out there.

31:24

Yeah, take a poll. However many widows there are, write them down on the list and go take care of them. You're taking care of those.

31:30

And he specifically says, those who have washed the feet of the saints. Yeah. That's who these widows are. Yeah. That's who you're caring for.

31:37

So, we're caring first for our own household. Just like you do with your house. Like you make money, you make a paycheck.

31:45

Who's the first people in your life who will benefit from the money that you make from your paycheck?

31:52

Your family. Your family. You're gonna buy food and clothing for your family. Right. You're not gonna go help strangers and then come home and say, sorry kids, you don't get to eat this month because I gave the money away to somebody else.

32:06

You know, if a pastor did that, he would be unqualified. True. Very true. Because the qualifications of a pastor are that he must handle his own, he must manage his own household well.

32:16

And if he's not caring for his kids, then he's unqualified to care for God's church.

32:21

Also in 1 Timothy, it says that if a person does not care for members of his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

32:31

Because even an unbeliever knows you care for people in your own household. Right. So, how much should people who are part of the family of God understand that and do that?

32:42

Now, in Galatians, chapter 6, verse 10, it says, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people.

32:50

And especially to those who are of the household of faith. So, if we have an opportunity to do well for somebody who is outside the body, yes, we should extend charity to other people and use that as an opportunity to share the gospel with them as well.

33:06

Yes. But especially to the household of faith. That is our priority.

33:12

Right. To care for one another in the body of Christ. Amen. So, there you go. There's that poll.

33:18

Thank you for participating in that one. Here is the poll that I did on July 19th.

33:24

When I was probably called X by then. I don't think so. I think it's only been. Has it only been like a week?

33:30

I think it was just last week. I don't have any idea. It was pretty recent. Has your icon on your apps on your phone changed yet?

33:38

Does it say X now? I don't know. Instead of the little blue bird. It's a blue bird. It's a blue bird still?

33:43

Yeah, the little one. The little one when it's far away. Oh, yeah. Okay. Because she has her apps organized in the little boxes.

33:52

Yeah, in like files, if you will. Yeah, whatever they are. But once you click on it, then it shows the

33:57

X. There it is. It's the X. Okay. So, it's kind of weird. We're giving way too much free press to them in this episode.

34:05

It's just odd. You know, it's just something you're familiar with just changes. And you're like, wait a second.

34:11

And you have to adapt, but you're still stuck. Well, it was also apparent that when they were changing it, it wouldn't change for everybody at the same time.

34:20

Oh, yeah. Because it would be like days later, another friend of mine will go, whoa, what's this X? Yeah. Like, where have you been?

34:27

We've already been ranting about this on here. You haven't even paid attention. Anyway, so here was the next poll. This one was on July 19.

34:34

What does your church serve at the Lord's table? What does your church serve at the

34:40

Lord's table? Now, this was a question with regards to, I wanted to know how many were actually using real wine.

34:48

Okay. And there's a conviction among some. It's usually Reformed churches, the

34:55

Lutherans, like really Reformed churches. Okay. Presbyterians, the Lutherans, Catholics, of course, that will use real wine, real fermented wine with alcohol in it.

35:07

Right. So, I wanted to know how many are out there doing that or they're still using grape juice and crackers.

35:12

Okay. That's the good traditional. You make it sound like it's a children's snack. Well, that's what it is.

35:22

Grape juice and crackers. Those that are using real. You're just missing your cheese. Yeah, that's right. Those that are using real wine, that's probably exactly the way that they describe ours.

35:32

You're eating a little children's meal. Grow up and take some real communion here. Funny.

35:39

The Lord turned your grape juice into wine. So, what does your church serve at the

35:45

Lord's table? Here are the options. Grape juice and crackers. That's still too funny.

35:54

Grape juice and bread. Wine and bread or other.

36:02

I actually had some responses on the other. Pizza and soda. Mountain Dew. Really?

36:09

I don't know. I'm just throwing that out there. What's classified as other? I should have looked more intently at those comments.

36:20

1 ,394 votes. Oh, wow. That's quite a few. 52 .1 % said grape juice and crackers.

36:27

So, there's the number one answer. I mean, that's what we do at our church. I know. It still sounds so weird.

36:32

It's the unleavened little bread that we use. And, man, is it really dry.

36:39

Yes. You're really waiting for Tom to get done with his explanation of the cup so I can wash down this cracker

36:46

I just ate. It's much more reverent in practice when we do it. But, yeah. So, it's grape juice and crackers.

36:53

Grape juice and bread. I mean, even what we do could be. It's technically grape juice and bread. Yeah. It's just the unleavened bread and it's just extremely dry.

37:02

It's a wafer. Now, in the church that Becky and I met in, we had, it was kind of semi -fermented.

37:10

It wasn't really heavy alcohol, but you could tell it was like a little bit better than grape juice.

37:15

Right. A little bit more than grape juice. More, yeah. Yeah, more fermented than grape juice. Because, see, grape juice has fermentation in it, too.

37:23

Yeah, it's just not sat long enough. Right. It's not as far along in the process. And we had real bread.

37:29

So, it was like a big loaf of bread. Yeah. And you had to peel off a piece. Yeah. And dip it in the cup. Which, that could get messy.

37:37

Yeah, it did. But that was legitimate, you know, kind of grape juice slash wine and bread.

37:43

And then there's wine and bread. That was 18 .5%. I don't know if I said, grape juice and bread was 24 .5%.

37:51

Wine and bread was 18 .5%. And then other was 4 .9%.

37:58

So, 5 % of people out there are eating pizza for the Lord's table, I guess. I don't know what they're eating on that one.

38:05

Maybe they have like a whole table full. I don't know. But the main argument regarding this was there are some that say to do it right and to do it obediently unto the

38:16

Lord, you have to use real wine. Because Jesus used real wine with his disciples. I don't doubt that.

38:23

But where in Scripture does it say, prescription -wise, as far as how we're supposed to utilize these elements at the table, where does it say we have to have fermented wine at the table?

38:37

Where does it say that? Yeah. Because Jesus said, when he partook of this with his disciples, he called it the fruit of the vine.

38:45

True. So, grape juice would still be the fruit of the vine. Yeah. It's just not fermented. And it's not fermented to the place that wine is.

38:53

Like I said a moment ago, it is fermented. There is alcohol in grape juice.

38:59

Yeah. It's just of such a minuscule amount that they don't have to require you to show ID in order to buy it.

39:06

Right. But it is fermented. That process is happening even within a bottle of grape juice, which is why

39:12

I think this argument is really semantic. How far along in that process, before it becomes something that's actually holy enough to be used in …

39:22

Once it's sanctified. Yeah. Or glorified, rather. It now qualifies to be part of this table.

39:28

Because somebody put a label on it? Yeah. I mean, at what point does that become acceptable? Which is why

39:34

I think this argument is semantic. Use real wine if you want. Really, though,

39:40

I'm on the side of not using real wine. Oh, yeah. Because of people who have had struggles with alcohol.

39:46

Yep. And I've seen it. And I know people. Personally, in my life, I know people.

39:52

Even that taste of a little bit of wine in that cup would be enough to now make them,

39:58

I want … Crave. I want a beer again. Yeah. Or I want something harder. I want something else.

40:04

It's just the taste of that. To stay away from it, I think it's just better to go with grape juice. Yeah. So not to cause anybody to stumble.

40:11

The instructions on how we're to use the Lord's Table, how the elements are to be shared, is in 1

40:18

Corinthians 11. This is the main passage which we come to because this is where Paul gives the instructions about how we are to do this, how we are to practice this.

40:31

So chapter 11, verse 23, For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the

40:37

Lord Jesus, in the night in which he was being betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said,

40:44

This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, he took the cup also after supper, saying,

40:54

This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

41:00

Paul just calls it a cup here. And in Matthew, Jesus refers to it as the fruit of the vine.

41:06

Nothing ever explicitly calls it wine. Now we know that it was. But nothing's ever explicitly said that it has to be wine of a certain alcohol content.

41:16

That's never said. It's just called the bread in the cup. And here, Paul doesn't even specify whether it should be leavened or unleavened bread.

41:24

And we know that if this was the Passover meal, which it was, it would have been unleavened bread that they were eating. But there's nothing that explicitly says you have to use leavened or unleavened bread, or you have to use grape juice or wine.

41:36

So this is why, again, I argue this is a semantic argument. And we are to be fully convinced in our own mind, as Paul says in Romans 14, and not quarrel over opinions.

41:49

Right, because, I mean, when the Bible is particular, it gets specific.

41:55

Right. So if it's not specific, then it's left up to your own convictions.

42:02

Yeah, your convictions, right. What you as a church have decided, this is what we're going to do with the Lord's table.

42:07

Right. Yeah. Major in the majors and minor in the minors. Exactly. All right.

42:13

This next one is not the last one. I thought it was. We're up to, I guess, is this poll seven?

42:18

Yeah. Okay, poll seven here. This was on July 20th. Is Biblicism wrong?

42:27

Okay, wait. Explain Biblicism. Yep. Biblicism needs some explanation. So Biblicism...

42:33

Define your terms. Right. Biblicism is just basically the understanding that we can know and understand what

42:39

God expects of us, what He requires of us, because it's right here in the Bible. Okay.

42:45

We can find anybody who has the Holy Spirit of God is capable of reading the Bible and understanding it.

42:51

This is Paul talking in 1 Corinthians 2. We who are spiritual can understand spiritual things.

42:57

The naturally minded man cannot understand spiritual things for they are spiritually discerned.

43:02

Right. So it is possible for the person who has the Holy Spirit to read the Bible and understand it.

43:08

Yes, I get being a part of the church, having the church help you in that as brothers and sisters in the

43:13

Lord, helping to build one another up. God gave the prophets and the apostles, the evangelists, the shepherds and the teachers, this is

43:22

Ephesians 4 .11, to prepare the saints for the work of ministry. So God gave those teachers to teach us the way that we should go, certainly.

43:31

But anyone with the Holy Spirit can read the Bible and understand what it says. Right. That's basically Biblicism. Okay.

43:38

Now there are going to be different interpretations of that. So you got to be careful when everybody starts throwing this word around, where are you coming from when you use that term

43:46

Biblicism? Yeah. Because some people will criticize Biblicism, defining it as a person who just rejects all the creeds and confessions.

43:56

No creed but Christ. Okay. Or no creed but the Bible. No confession but the Bible. And so it's like, you know,

44:01

I just have the Bible. That's not what I see Biblicism as being. Okay. I've made fun of that view, and I don't call it

44:08

Biblicism. Right. A Biblicist, a true Biblicist, in my view, in my understanding, will love biblical creeds and confessions.

44:16

But they still understand, and I've heard Votie Bauckham say this. We understand that those creeds and confessions are not

44:25

God's word. They do not have authority over God's word. God's word has authority over them.

44:32

So even your creeds and confessions, you have to read and understand and test according to what the

44:37

Bible says. The Bible is still the authority here. And as far as I'm concerned, that's Biblicism.

44:43

Okay. Right? Sure. You're trusting what the Bible says. You're interpreting what that says and seeing everything else through the lens of Scripture.

44:50

But like I said, there's others. You're being a Berean. Yeah. Yeah. Being a good Berean. Right. Like out of Acts chapter 17.

44:58

The Thessalonians, also good to test all things according to the Scriptures. Right. So is

45:03

Biblicism wrong? If you're going to define it that way, then know that it's not. If you're defining it as no creed but Christ, yeah, that's incorrect.

45:10

Because you've even contradicted yourself. No creed but Christ is a creed. Yeah. So I asked this question.

45:18

There were 435 votes. 11 .5 % said yes, Biblicalism is wrong.

45:24

Okay. Those are the Matthew Barrett followers and listeners of the Pactum, I would imagine. Little jesting guys.

45:32

36 .6 % said no, Biblicalism is not wrong. 52 % said, what's

45:38

Biblicalism? Yeah, that would have been my answer. And really, that's a good question to ask if somebody asks you that.

45:44

Right. Is Biblicalism wrong? Well, define Biblicalism for me. What do you mean by that? Yeah. Because know what they mean with that term.

45:50

Well, any more. Everybody has a term for something and it means something totally different. It could be the same word but different meaning behind it.

45:58

Different things to different people. Yeah. So you really, in order to have a conversation, don't get heated over it before you've defined terms.

46:08

That's right. And really, you shouldn't get heated over it anyway. But, I mean, like, you can't get into a deep discussion about anything until you've defined terms.

46:18

And you know what each other means. Well, yeah, just make that part of your deep discussion. Right. Yeah. Well, I mean, you don't know where each other's coming from.

46:24

Like, somebody says, I'm tired of a term, you know.

46:30

Babe, you're assuming people on social media are going to actually communicate with one another. Well, that's the idea of social media is that you actually talk.

46:42

Yeah. Socialize. Well, it should also be our desire as Christians to communicate and be charitable with one another and know each other well.

46:51

And that's not the way that goes either. No. I mean, a lot of fighting, which I'm trying to avoid. I didn't quite accomplish it.

46:57

I think it was on Wednesday. I definitely fell into that answer a fool according to his folly and you'll be liking me yourself.

47:04

I felt like I kind of fell into that. So, yeah, I try to avoid that. Just stay away from it.

47:09

I don't even want to be tempted by it. But I gave into it on Wednesday. Yeah, I don't like drama. So, I've been away from,

47:17

I just, I step back. Wherever drama I see developing, I'm like, nope, I got to go over here.

47:25

And if they want to follow, then great. I can chat with them there. But I don't stick around very long.

47:32

And Becky doesn't let me tag her in anything because she doesn't. No. Because I don't want drama. She doesn't want my critics tracking her down.

47:41

Oh, goodness, no. All right, last question here. The poll question was on August the 1st.

47:49

So, this was, what, Tuesday? Yeah. How do you feel? Anniversary. Yeah, that was.

47:54

That was our anniversary. Yeah. Happy anniversary. Happy anniversary. So, we celebrate our anniversary, our wedding anniversary in August.

48:02

We also celebrate the anniversary of this podcast in August. Yes. This month.

48:09

In fact, it would be this week, exactly. We've been on the air for eight years.

48:17

Wow. That's crazy. This podcast has been on for eight years. We have far exceeded the number of average episodes most podcasts will have.

48:31

I can't remember what it is. It's like 30 or 40 episodes or something like that. Oh, wow. It's like the average number of episodes the average podcast will have.

48:41

Yeah. We're way past that. Now, if we had still been on in July, then here in the month of August, we would be hitting our 2 ,000th episode.

48:52

Oh, wow. We're not going to hit it this month. We'll hit it next month, God willing. And probably right around the time, we're heading to Georgia for G3.

49:00

Oh, nice. That'll be fun. It'll be pretty close to that. Pretty close to 2 ,000 episodes.

49:07

Eight years doing this podcast. That's crazy. 2 ,000 episodes. Hey, we would not be doing this still if it wasn't for you guys.

49:16

That's right. So we thank you so much for listening. Yes. All your prayers and support, your kind messages.

49:21

And while we were off the air. Yes. Still getting tons of messages from folks. I just read a comment to Becky the other day of somebody saying,

49:28

I miss Becky's laugh. When are you guys back on? Yeah, I love it.

49:34

So we love your encouragement. And don't forget that email address, whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com. Get us your questions because we will go back to responding to questions from the listeners next week.

49:44

Yes. And, oh, I was just going to tag on there. And in August is also your ordination anniversary.

49:51

That's right. Yeah. So as of August 15th, I've been a pastor for 13 years. Yeah. Yeah.

49:57

We consider that one, even though I started at the church in April earlier in the year. Right. But I was ordained on August 15th.

50:04

So we consider that my pastoral ministry anniversary. Definitely. Yeah. Thank you.

50:09

There's nothing I enjoy more than being able to preach. All right. We have one last poll question.

50:15

We haven't even gotten to this poll question yet. Yeah. Here we go. So August 1st. Uh -huh. How do you feel about your pastor being on Twix?

50:25

Twitter slash X. So by the time I did this poll, it was X. It was definitely called X. Yes. And shout out to Violet of Berean Babes, who was the first person who posted this poll.

50:37

Okay. She didn't get a whole lot of votes. I thought I could do it, and we would get like a broader spectrum.

50:44

I got more votes, but really the percentages came out about the same. Oh, interesting.

50:49

Pretty close to the same thing that she got. 501 votes on this question. Wow. How do you feel about your pastor being on Twitter?

50:57

33 .5 % said, I like it. Okay. Cool. 2 % said, I don't like it.

51:03

Okay. 9 .6 % said, I prefer if he wasn't. That's a funny answer.

51:11

54 .9 % said, my pastor is not on Twitter. Oh, wow.

51:17

So there you go. Now, one option I wish I had put in there was, I don't care. Yeah.

51:24

I don't care if he's on there or not. Yeah. As long as he's representing Christ, you know, just like he should out in the community or anywhere else, that would have been a good answer.

51:32

I would have liked to have seen what people said to that. And there were some folks that said that in the comments as well.

51:38

I'm surprised on the pastor not being on Twitter. Yeah. More than half.

51:43

So much. More than half of respondents. Percentage. Just because I know how many people are on Twitter, I'm surprised.

51:51

It's a smaller percentage than you think. Is it? Yeah. I remember seeing, like, statistically, out of all

51:58

Americans, it's still only like 2 % to 3 % of America or something like that is on Twitter. Oh.

52:05

Way more on Facebook. Oh, okay. That's interesting. But as far as social media platforms go, nothing even comes close to YouTube.

52:15

Oh, yeah? Way more people are on YouTube. I'm not surprised. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter combined still doesn't even total the number of people that are on YouTube.

52:25

Interesting. Now, that was a statistic that I saw. It was a couple of years ago. And TikTok has become way bigger since then.

52:32

Huh. Okay. So, I wonder how TikTok factors into that. I'm not on TikTok. I don't care for it.

52:39

But you can find us on YouTube. Yes. YouTube .com slash WWUTT.

52:45

It's still called YouTube. They didn't change their name. Thankfully. What a mess.

52:51

But that is, of course, the main channel where you can find most of our videos. I'm hoping to get some more up here pretty soon.

52:58

We're back on the air. Yes. Thanks for welcoming us in. Yeah. We have like 90 second videos.

53:06

Well, a lot of 90 second videos on there just answering Bible questions and Bible verses that are taken out of context and all sorts of information.

53:18

Tons of Bible topics. In fact, if you were to type in – if you go to YouTube and you do a search and you type in WWUTT and whatever

53:25

Bible topic that you have a question about, chances are we did a video on it. Yeah. And that's what's going to come up.

53:32

Yeah. So appreciate you watching, sharing those videos on social media because that's what they're made for. I want to give a shout out to Abolitionists Rising.

53:40

Thank you so much, guys, for the work that you're doing defending unborn lives and even the lives of women through this ministry.

53:47

You can find out more about it by going to AbolitionistsRising .com. Great videos that are a combination of heartbreaking and encouraging.

53:57

Nice. But it's good hard work and you're saving lives and still sharing the gospel even while they're out there doing the work that they do.

54:04

Remember, Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of God, is coming back again to judge the living and the dead.

54:15

Whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. Amen. Let's pray.

54:20

Yes, let's. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this opportunity to be able to talk about your truth and the wonderful things that you have given to us in scripture that we may live lives of godliness and holiness in these present days.

54:34

Make us more like Christ. Help us to love one another, looking out for each other and helping one another along on this path of righteousness until the day of Christ.

54:45

May we all finish well. May we all hear from him when we are gathered to him. Well done, good and faithful servant, for great is your reward.

54:54

We know that you will bring your sheep into your kingdom. Not one of us will be lost. So, teach us to love one another and help one another on that way as you have willed for it to be in your church.

55:06

Thank you for your love and your guidance. Forgive us our sins. Lead us in paths of righteousness for your name's sake.

55:12

It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Man, it's been like a month.

55:29

A month. Have we gone a full month before? Nope. Not a full calendar month.

55:35

Right. I think we did. I think we were off a month from like end of October to end of November in 20 when we moved here.

55:43

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think so. But it wasn't a full calendar month. Right. Oh, sorry.

55:51

So, yeah, it's the first time we've been off an entire calendar month. Not one new download in...

56:02

In how long? In July, all of July. No, no, no. Like how long have we been doing the podcast?

56:08

This month is eight years. Eight years. Oh, wow. I was... Eight years. I was going less.

56:14

I was thinking five -ish. It's been so long. It's been long.

56:20

Nope, it's eight. Eight years this month. That's awesome. Yeah. Well, all right.

56:28

All right. You ready to go? Maybe. I need to wake up. I'm tired. Just like old times.

56:36

It's been a long day, and it's going to keep getting longer. All right. This is

56:42

When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Tell all your friends about our podcast, and if you listen through Apple, be sure to leave us a five -star review.

56:52

Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Go ahead and do that again. I thought that was weird. You were just fine until you hit that review word.