WWUTT 975 Q&A Open Letter, Christian Dating, Let the Dead Bury Their Dead, Women Police Officers?

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What is a good biblical ethic for dating? How should we pray for our meals? What denomination should

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I be a part of? And what did Jesus mean when he said, let the dead bury their dead? The answers to these questions and others, when we understand the text.

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This is when we understand the text, a daily Bible study to those sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be saints together with those who in every place from all over the world call upon the name of our

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Lord Jesus Christ. Visit our website at www .utt .com.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. You're welcome. So before starting the recording of this program,

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I gave the last piggyback ride to our seven -year -old son that I will ever give him.

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That's so sad. Yes, because on Friday, June the 21st, he is eight years old.

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Eight years old, yes! So exciting, but so sad. No more piggyback rides for our seven -year -old son.

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Mixed emotional thing. And I'll probably have very few piggyback rides for our eight -year -old son. Right, he's pretty solid.

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Yeah, he's getting bigger and my knees are getting weaker. Yeah. Not a good combination. Now to start things off,

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I wanted to read this open letter to Beth Moore. It's been posted on a few different sites.

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Michelle Leslie is one of the authors, along with Susan Heck, Martha Peace, Elizabeth Prada, Amy Spreeman, Debbie Kespert, and over 150 other signatures on the letter asking for Beth Moore to respond to this.

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Several other Christian resources have shared this letter. So I wanted to begin by reading the open letter to Beth Moore, hoping to further encourage her to respond.

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Yeah. Here's how this goes. Dear Mrs. Moore, hello. We hope this finds you doing well. We as female

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Bible teachers ourselves write this letter to you in hopes of receiving clarification of your views on an important issue, homosexuality.

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In the last few years, particularly since 2016, you have been very vocal in your opposition to misogyny and racism.

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Anytime a story with so much of a whiff of these issues comes to the forefront, you are very quick to speak out.

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The actions of the Covington kids, for example, you said, is so utterly anti -Christ that it reeks of the vomit of hell in a

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January 19 tweet, a tweet that you deleted without apology to the kids once the full video was shown that portrayed a very different reality than what initial reporting suggested.

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It is this Johnny -on -the -spot readiness to engage issues related to misogyny and racism that makes your virtual silence on the issue of homosexuality so puzzling.

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To your credit, in your book, To Live as Christ, The Life and Ministry of Paul, you wrote,

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I met a young man who had experienced freedom from the bondage of homosexuality. It's on page 119.

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This book was first published in 1997 and then republished in 2008, but it seems since then you have said very little, if anything, publicly about this issue.

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Another factor prompting our open letter to you is the very public mutual affection and admiration between you,

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Jen Hatmaker, and Jonathan Merritt. Jen Hatmaker and you regularly exchange affirming posts of one another on social media.

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In just one recent example, Hatmaker on September 17th wrote, Beth Moore will enjoy my respect and devotion forever.

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She is worthy of being a mentor to an entire generation. And friends, I wish you knew how deeply and profoundly she has loved me these last two years.

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In an interview two years before this post, October of 2016, Jen Hatmaker said she was a left -leaning moderate, came out as fully supportive of homosexual marriage, saying that it could be holy, and said practicing homosexuals can be part of the regenerate body of Christ.

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It was then that Lifeway decided to pull all of her books from its shelves. More recently, on April 9th, 2019,

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Jonathan Merritt tweeted, I no longer believe Beth Moore is a human. She is an angelic being having a human experience.

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Jonathan Merritt has admitted to having at least one homosexual encounter about a decade ago. Today, by his own admission, he rejects biblical inerrancy, says a liberal

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Protestant would be an accurate description of him, and says his sexual orientation he no longer views as broken.

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In a crass response to Dr. Owen Strand tweeting, rightly so, that there should never be an occasion in which men cuddle with one another,

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Merritt, on May 1st, 2019, tweeted in response, Come on, Owen, you can be my little spoon.

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Merritt also openly affirms that queer and LGBTQ people are included in God's kingdom, and it is a carrot of false promises that the gospel can make such people straight.

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He supports drag queen story time, in which drag queens read stories to young children in public libraries.

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He even appears to doubt the exclusivity of Christ. Both Jen Hatmaker and Jonathan Merritt are known for their belief that practicing homosexuals can be

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Christians, given that this is such a deeply held conviction that both share, and this conviction, wrong though it is, has cost them both in their standing amongst theologically conservative evangelicals, and that they both praise you so highly.

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It raises the natural question as to where you stand on this issue. Given his beliefs,

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Merritt publicly saying that he believes you to be an angelic being having a human experience, strongly suggests that his high praise of you is, at least partially, rooted in your views on this issue that you have shared with him privately.

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It seems most unlikely that he would be praising you so highly if you had told him that as a homosexual man, he will perish for all of eternity unless he repents.

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It likewise seems unlikely that Hatmaker, a married straight woman, would praise you so highly if you told her that her affirmation of homosexuality and homosexual marriage is sinful and that she must repent.

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When all of this is coupled with your total silence on homosexuality, in stark contrast to your very vocal stance on gender, racial, and abuse issues, it naturally raises the question as to what your beliefs on it truly are.

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With these factors in mind, and knowing that millions of people follow your teachings, we would like to ask you, and here's five questions.

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Number one, do you believe homosexuality is inherently sinful? Number two, do you believe that the practice of the homosexual lifestyle is compatible with holy

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Christian living? Number three, do you believe a person who dies as a practicing homosexual but professes to be a

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Christian will inherit eternal life? Number four, do you believe same -sex attraction is, in and of itself, an inherently sinful, unnatural, and disordered desire that must be mortified?

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Number five, why have you been so silent on this subject in light of your desire to teach the word of God? We ask these questions to you out of genuine concern.

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As Bible teachers, all of us are held to a very high standard and will give an account for how we handle God's word.

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As you know, homosexuality is widely discussed and debated amongst evangelicals and society at large.

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Many families are affected by this issue. The most loving thing obedient Christians can do for them is to clearly communicate

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God's truth. We look forward to your clarification on these pressing issues. Thank you.

07:36

Kind regards. And then the women that helped to co -author the particular letter. I believe that that is a good and strongly worded letter and I appreciate the women who were involved in putting that together.

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Oh, yeah. My prediction is that Beth Moore won't respond to it. But I think what this will do is when

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Beth Moore has an opportunity to respond to maybe a higher profile publication, somebody who's doing that interview may want to ask her these questions because of the traction that this letter is getting.

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So I definitely. Yeah. So even if Beth doesn't respond to this letter, I think that it's going to open the door for her to be asked that question and we can find out where she stands on these issues and why she hasn't spoken of them.

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Yeah. Not only is she closely associated with Jen Hatmaker and Jonathan Merritt on social media, but she actually is doing a conference with Jonathan Merritt.

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She is in the conference with him. They are the two headlining persons along with some other individuals.

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It's a it's a workshop on writing, but she's doing this with Jonathan Merritt. Yeah, that's confusing.

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Well, yeah, I don't know. I wouldn't even know how to place it because Jonathan Merritt's not a conservative. Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

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I was like, there's no way he could be. Yeah. So, I mean, if it's if it's just writing, sure.

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But why would you choose somebody so liberal minded? Yeah, I don't know why she's associated with it.

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And I don't understand why any conservative evangelical would want to be part of this conference either.

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The book that Jonathan Merritt just wrote, he published and released last year,

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Learning to Speak God from Scratch. This was a book about him embracing liberal theology.

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And Beth Moore praised it. She said to Jonathan Merritt, a comment on August 25th of 2018,

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Love the book already and only several chapters in. So well written. You did not miss your calling.

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And again, she's talking about a book in which Jonathan Merritt is talking about embracing liberal theology.

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She said, totally engaging concept and that it was eye opening. So this letter that these women have written is not just about a couple of exchanges that have happened on Twitter and Facebook, but rather a very public association between.

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Yeah, definitely. Beth Moore and Jen Hatmaker having spoken at similar things together in the past. And then

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Beth Moore and Jonathan Merritt doing a conference together this year, you know, this summer.

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So I hope there's going to be a response to that. We will wait and see. But ladies, you did a wonderful job putting that letter together.

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Amen. And like I said. Thank you for the hard work. Yes. Over 150 women have signed it as, you know, not like as a co -author, but just, you know, putting their support behind it.

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Yeah. And you can go to MichelleLeslie .com if you would like to add your name to it as well. The reason why

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I say thank you for the hard work is because they really did. They didn't just put together this letter. They went and did the research and they looked into avenues that you wouldn't even think that were associated with it.

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Because I saw Elizabeth Prada saying something on,

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I think it was her on social media about the records for Beth Moore's ministry.

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It's nonprofit. So it's all public. Yeah. And she went and looked at how they were spending their money and stuff.

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And half of it is for the Lifeway plane, charter plane. Yeah, I know. I know that Lifeway flies are around.

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Yeah. So it's right there. Yeah. I mean, she can't deny it. It is there.

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Yeah. So I've seen that article from Elizabeth Prada as well. So you wouldn't lump her in with all of the prosperity preachers per se.

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Right. Because she doesn't have her own private plane. But Lifeway flies are around on their plane.

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But she also pays for half of it. Her ministry does. Oh, yeah. Living Proof Ministries does.

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Yes. Right. That's it. So there's kind of a work around. Yeah. She can't be pegged with owning a private plane, but she does get shuttled around.

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In her own private plane. In her own private plane. Yeah. Essentially. Right. I mean, she doesn't have to do any of the fixings on it if it breaks down.

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So that's the only difference. Yeah, it's not her liability. Yeah. I had contacted

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Beth Moore myself earlier this year. And it was before I did the what video on what's the problem with Beth Moore.

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The contact that I made, and this was a couple of months before I did this video. But there's the slide in the video which shows her connected with all these prosperity preachers.

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Joel Osteen, Victoria Osteen. Of course, there's several photos with her and Victoria. She's done many things with them.

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Interesting. She's spoken at Lakewood, which is Joel Osteen's church. She's done stuff with Brian Houston of Heelsong.

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Of course, Christine Kane, Joyce Meyer, the crouches who are part of TBN.

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She rubs shoulders with prosperity preachers. And yet she has said, and I've quoted her saying on two different occasions, that she does not believe that the prosperity gospel is biblical.

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So why is she rubbing shoulders with all these prosperity wolves? And I asked her that. I posted that slide with her with those individuals and asked her, as a point of clarification, how can you say that the prosperity gospel is not the gospel?

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But at the same time, you're palling around with the worst of these guys who are like the upper echelon of the prosperity teachers.

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How do you reconcile those two things? Never responded to me. I've asked her several questions over the years, and she's never replied to me.

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Oh, but all of her followers do. Oh, yeah. I get bombarded by the

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Bethmorites. Bethmoronites. I don't know what you would call her followers.

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But anyway, and that's the same with Michelle Leslie and some of the others that have been behind this letter.

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They're going to be attacked by those. They have been. Bethmorians. Please, if you sign the letter, be in prayer for them, because they have gotten a lot of attacks.

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They're taking a lot of flack. There you go. Of course. Yes. Anytime you approach these kind of issues, you're going to.

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Yeah. And it could be one of the reasons why Bethmore doesn't speak out about homosexuality, because she doesn't want the flack on it.

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She's going to stay away from the most conservative or the most conservative most. Well, yeah, maybe conservative.

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She's going to stay away from the most controversial topics because she's got a brand to protect. Oh, yeah, definitely. And that's why most of her even even the stuff that she teaches that you might consider to be sound.

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It really sounds like she loves Jesus and she wants people. She wants other people to love Jesus. She wants women to love

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Jesus. I've listened to many sermons from Bethmore and really just it seems like her drive is for people to love

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Jesus as much as she'll say some things that are wrong. Yeah. But even when you take those teachings, those that at their face value just look like she loves

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Jesus and she wants other women to love Jesus. It's still very, very light fare. It's not deep.

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How do you mean? It's not deep and probing, tough theological subjects. It's really for the most part, it's pull yourself up by your bootstraps and smile because Jesus loves you.

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Gotcha. You know, it's that kind of teaching, that kind of theology. Surface level. Yeah, surface level stuff.

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Right. Very shallow. Yeah. And very bossy. It's that whole girl, wash your face and stop apologizing theology, which even in the titles of those books, it's very bossy.

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I know Rachel Hollis was the author and she took the brunt of the criticism over books like that.

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But Bethmore teaches exactly the same way. You listen to her teaching the stuff she tells women to do.

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She's very bossy about it. Think of her most famous message that she did.

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The one about her being in an airport and she hears Jesus telling her to go brush this man's hair.

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Right. She describes Jesus in that message. She describes him as bossy.

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Yeah. And that comes out in her teaching as well. She bosses women in telling them what to do.

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I don't understand the appeal personally. But anyway, I hope that this letter does expose some things about Bethmore's teaching and we'll see where it goes.

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As for where we're going today in the podcast, this is Friday. And of course, on Friday, we are responding to questions from listeners.

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You can submit your questions to when we understand the text at gmail .com.

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Today, I only have one individual's questions to answer. This was a young man named Chris who sent me a whole flurry of questions.

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And I've already responded to him via email. And I thought I'd just take the row of questions that he gave to me.

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And that would be our podcast for today. So our first question here, Chris says, you're married and I'm happy for you and your wife.

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My question is, how should a boyfriend and girlfriend function?

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Oh, that's a good question. How should they function? Well, in public always.

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That's good. Because there is less. Temptation?

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Yeah, don't don't get yourself into that type of situation. Don't go out at night alone.

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Right. And, you know, you can always be in public and still find those corners where nobody else is.

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But that's still not OK. Keep it on the up and up. And honestly, how your boyfriend treats you, either respectfully or your girlfriend treats you, honoring, honor one another.

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Yes. Respectful of each other. Considering each other's needs ahead of your own. Yeah. First and foremost, above all, honor the

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Lord. Amen. So think about how you can honor Christ with this relationship.

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The affection that I'm showing to this person, the care and the compassion. Want to be careful about the word affection.

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But anyway, the care and compassion that I'm showing for this person is Christian. It's in honor of Christ.

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I'm doing this to honor the Lord, not appease my flesh, not experience romance up to a certain point.

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As long as I don't cross this line, don't be thinking about those kinds of things. Right. You do all things to honor Christ.

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And it's also good to if it's heading towards marriage. Great. Keep dating.

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If it's not heading towards marriage and you're kind of like, well, you know, there's just too many things about this situation that's not working out.

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Cut it off right then and there. It's just too messy after that.

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Yeah. And you're like, oh, I haven't been liking this person for a long time. Well, why are you still dating? Right.

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It's not worth it. Now, when you're getting into the relationship, I think you should be getting into it with the intention of getting married.

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Amen. But it's okay that if in a process of courtship or dating or whatever you want to call it, in the process of doing that, you discover that this just isn't going to work.

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It's okay to break it off. Right. It's better that you recognize those things now. And the sooner the better.

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Yeah. I mean, really. Don't think that just because we've jumped into something means I'm now committed to this forever.

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Right. Now, when you walk down the aisle and you make the vow before God, then it's till death do us part.

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Right. But up until that point, you can decide that something here just isn't working.

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I don't think it's going to work out. Have good accountability around you and people that can even give you advice.

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Right. As to whether or not it's a good idea or not a good idea. And also give grace in it. Because, I mean, you can go through a bad time of life where you're just a grump for a while.

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That's going to happen. So, I mean, that's going to happen when you're married, even. Yeah. So if you don't have the patience for him whenever you're just dating as boyfriend and girlfriend, then you're not going to have that kind of patience whenever you're husband and wife.

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Right. So just. Now, I've said to couples this piece of advice that I remember hearing from Dr.

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James Dobson years ago. But you go into your marriage with your eyes wide open. And then you go through your marriage with your eyes half closed.

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Yes. And whenever I've done marriage counseling with couples that are struggling, of course, in their marriage,

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I will tell them the whole eyes wide open thing is over.

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So that advice doesn't work for you. Right. As we're going through this counseling together, you actually have to be eyes half closed with your partner.

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But you may have to have your eyes wide open concerning yourself. Right. Where in your area of your marriage do you need to repent of sin or change or consider your spouse ahead of yourself?

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You need to examine those things about yourself, not looking at your spouse with your eyes wide open going, well, look at all the stuff that they're doing wrong.

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Right. No, what are you doing wrong? How do you need to repent before God and now show grace to the other because God has given grace to you?

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Right. That's post -wedding advice. Chris asking about dating advice.

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I hope that's been helpful for you, Chris. And I also sent him a link to a Paul Washer video. Awesome. This is a great sermon, the best dating sermon

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I think that I've ever heard. So here's a little bit of that advice from Paul Washer. And then we'll get to our next question here.

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Okay. Recreational dating is heretical. It is not scriptural and it is extremely, extremely dangerous.

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Let me just read for you. The practice of recreational dating is so far removed from scripture that it is not even addressed.

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It is a recent phenomenon that not only is not found in scripture, but is hardly found in the annals of human history.

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It is simply the product of a godless and lawless culture that is motivated by ignorance in the flesh rather than the scriptures of the

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Spirit of God. Why do people date without any intention to marry?

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Now, recreational dating, that's what it means. And recreational dating is exposed in this way.

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Some guy says, I'm going out with so -and -so. And you go, oh, really? What?

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I mean, you know, how did God show you that this is the person that you ought to marry? They go, what?

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I mean, they're like, what are you talking about? Well, yes, as God showed you, there's a possibility of marrying this young woman.

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Well, no. Well, then why are you going out with her? Well, because why?

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Let me give you a few reasons. One, to satisfy the lust of the flesh, either through immorality or entertainment.

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You're just dating this person. What are you getting out of it? What commitment are you making? What are you doing?

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Secondly, to satisfy heartfelt passions that may be biblical, but not seeking them in God's way.

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What do I mean by that? In the context of a lifelong commitment to God and embracing, and embracing without the sacrificial demands of such a commitment.

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And what I mean by that is this. Is wanting to enter into a relationship that requires no long -term commitment whatsoever.

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So that you can take off at any time. Okay, let me give you a few examples.

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Even in marriage, a young guy will walk into my office and he'll say, Brother Paul, I'm in love. I go, well, what do you mean?

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Why do you want to marry this girl? Well, man, she's just beautiful. Okay. And I just love being around her.

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Great. We can talk. And I just feel like she completes me. She just fills me. I mean,

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I just, just want to be with her. And I go, wow. Okay. So, you know, but let me just throw that back at you.

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Make sure I'm understanding you. You want to be with this girl because she meets all your selfish, self -centered passions and desires.

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Is that what you're telling me? No, that's not what I mean. But son, that's what you're telling me. You want to be with her because she's beautiful.

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Fine. What happens when she's not beautiful anymore? Secondly, what happens when someone else comes along who is more beautiful than she is?

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And that person will come along. You want to be with her because you can talk with her.

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Okay. What happens when you can't talk with her anymore? What happens when someone else comes into your life that you can talk with?

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You're leaving her. You want to be with her because she's lovely. What happens when she's not lovely?

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Do the unlovely not need love to tell me, son, I'm confused. Help me out here. Do you see?

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So much of what we participate in is not true. The whole idea of love. Have you ever heard people say, well, almost every song you've ever heard, we fell in love.

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You ever heard that? Can you go to scripture for me on that one? It's not even a biblical concept.

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You fell in love like you fell through a manhole. What did you, I mean, what does that mean?

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You fell in love. I'll tell you what it means. Or, man, it was just bigger than the both of us.

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It overpowered us. Was bigger than the both of us. Do you know what that kind of language does? It allows you to get involved in a relationship you shouldn't be in and consider yourself a victim.

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It was too big for me. It just, it just took a hold of us both. What did? What? Chemistry.

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Oh, okay. What do you mean by that? What do you mean by chemistry?

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Well, I'll tell you what it is, my friend. The Word of God has a word for it.

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It's lust. Lust, which at its root is just selfishness.

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She had what I wanted. I fell in love. No, love is not something you fall into.

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It's not this power that controls the universe. It is a thing. It is a commitment.

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I love my wife and I think my wife is beautiful. Matter of fact,

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I love my wife now more than when we met. But here's what

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I want you to see. The difference in Christian love. I believe God called me into the ministry.

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And if I don't fulfill that ministry, I will be outside the will of God. I also believe that ministry is an irrevocable calling.

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My marriage is much of the same thing. What do I mean by that? Oh, I think my wife is beautiful.

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I love being with her. But the basis of my marriage is this. God has called me with an irrevocable, inexcusable calling to lay down my life for one specific woman all the days of her life and to serve her unconditionally whether she deserves it or not.

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Do you see that? You say, well, that's just entrapment. I mean, you could throw your whole life away doing that.

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What did Jesus say? What was it? Those who lose their life for my sake. Well, I don't think he meant that.

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Well, then what did he mean? Because where you're going at has no cost. That's Paul Washer. And if you are looking for that particular message, it's entitled

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Dating, Courtship, and Marriage. You can find it on YouTube. There's also another message that Paul Washer did.

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I listened to this one as well called, Are You Ready for a Relationship? Oh, that's a good one.

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And maybe you might need that sermon as well before jumping into a relationship with somebody else. And also,

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I would take the time to establish in saying that last one, whether or not you're ready, is it really that important to have someone?

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Or is it you're just trying to fill the void of where you need to grow in Christ? Yeah.

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So just make sure that everything is on the up and up and you are ready. I mean, if there is an area of your life where there's a void, just like you were talking about, if that's something that needs to be filled by Christ, don't then be trying to fill it with another person.

28:10

Right. Because then you're putting them on a pedestal. Oh, that's terrible. Yeah. Or making an idol out of that person and expecting them to meet your expectations.

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And then it's all downhill. Yeah. Oh, so bad. And when they don't, it turns into a disaster and it's not their fault.

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No, and it's not. It's really not. And you know, whenever you have that void to fill, you are just looking around and searching and not being able to be satisfied where you're at.

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And that is usually a good indicator that you need to turn to Christ. Amen. Next question.

28:44

My other question. Next question. My other question is, how should I pray for a meal?

28:50

I looked up Unlearn the Lies and he said in Deuteronomy, it says to thank the Father for the land after the meal.

28:57

Well, first of all, don't listen to Unlearn the Lies. That is a heretical YouTube channel.

29:03

Okay. Don't watch those videos. I was going to say, I haven't even heard of them. Well, I've done a what video about them.

29:09

Oh, oh, okay. That guy. Yeah. Okay. It's Hebrew roots. It's all Hebrew roots movement stuff.

29:14

Don't watch them. He'll hit some keen points every once in a while. But most of the time, it's a whole swallowing a gnat and straining out a camel.

29:24

Yeah. Or swallowing a camel and straining out a gnat. Either. It could go one way or the other with that guy, honestly.

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When it comes to giving thanks to God for a meal, that's simply what you're doing. You're giving thanks for the meal.

29:37

Yeah. It doesn't have to be long. And I'm sure most of the people around the table don't want you to be long.

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Right. You're just saying, Lord, thank you for this food. Thank you for providing for us.

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Bless this food to our bodies. Bless our time of fellowship together and help us to give thanks to you for all things.

29:54

And thank the hands that prepared it too. Yeah. Because that takes, I mean, that's from the work in the soil on up.

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Everybody who helped put this food together. Yeah. Helped to bring it from the ground to your table.

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Give thanks to the Lord for that. Praying for the land, thanking

30:12

God for the land. Sure, you can do that if you want to. Right. You don't have to. As long as you hit all these points, make sure you say this in your prayer.

30:19

I don't necessarily think it needs to be that. You're just thanking God for the food. Okay. The only right way to pray is from your heart and that you really mean what you say.

30:31

And that you are thankful. And let your heart and your mind be informed and guided by the word of Christ.

30:39

Mm -hmm. Definitely. When it comes to expressing thanks to God for what he has given you,

30:45

God, praise God, has actually given us the way and how to do that. Yeah.

30:50

And it's in his word. Yep. So we can take the words that we find in the scriptures, expressing thanksgiving from the

30:57

Psalms or otherwise, and turn that into our prayer of thanks. I was going to say the Psalms have a lot. Yeah, right.

31:03

1 Thessalonians 5, Paul says in Philippians 4 that we need to give thanks to God in all circumstances.

31:12

For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. So it's not just mealtime, but it's all the time.

31:17

Yeah. Next question. Also, do we have to kneel down when we pray sometimes? Sometimes if you like, but it isn't necessary.

31:24

Yeah. You don't always have to be on your knees to pray. You can stand with your hands open. Mm -hmm. To pray if you want.

31:30

You can bow your head and close your eyes, fold your hands. Yeah. That's what we teach our kids to do because they get distracted.

31:36

Yeah. They even get distracted with their hands. With the hands folded. Yeah, right. Together and eyes closed.

31:42

Yeah. Our oldest two know how to make action figures with their hands.

31:48

Yep. And have them combating each other, even while they have their hands folded. So sometimes that doesn't necessarily work.

31:55

Nope. But that's just how we're teaching our kids to pray. So that they're not being distracted by outside things, but they're learning that through prayer, we are talking to God and he deserves our attention.

32:09

I'm not letting my attention be distracted by all these other things. Right. If for you, it helps adopt a posture or a mentality of humility coming before the

32:20

Lord by being on your knees to pray, then maybe that is the way. That is, maybe that is the way to pray.

32:27

I've been on my knees in prayer before because I couldn't help it. You know, it's like the grief or the anxiety hit me so much,

32:37

I couldn't stand. Mm -hmm. And, you know, I'm on my knees or I'm laying on the floor, prostrate, crying.

32:43

Mm -hmm. And talking to God. There are some ways in which your physical posture is going to take on a certain demeanor just because that's the mood or the stress or the anxiety or the attitude that you have at that particular time.

32:55

If you feel like jumping up and down and praising God, waving your arms in the air, do that. Yeah, definitely.

33:01

Not necessarily in church. Well, yeah. Next question.

33:07

I use the Christian Mingle app. I see that there are so many different types of Christians. I need help figuring out the right one for me.

33:14

And Christian Mingle, of course, is a dating app. Yes. I just love the Bible and our Lord Jesus Christ.

33:20

Amen. Is that called a Christian or non -denominational? What kind of church do you go to?

33:26

Well, non -denominational means that you don't have a particular church denomination that you're a part of, like, you know,

33:31

Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, et cetera. I'm a pastor of a Southern Baptist church, and we're kind of more reformed in our teaching.

33:41

At least I am. When my wife and I met, we were both part of a Wesleyan church. Yeah. We got married in a

33:47

Wesleyan church. We did our reception in the church that I currently pastor.

33:53

Yep. So married in a Wesleyan, reception in the Southern Baptist. And now I'm still pastoring that church where we had our reception.

34:00

Yeah. Probably not a lot of pastors can say that. Probably not. But anyway, and that was like when we got married, that was our transition.

34:09

We went from Wesleyan to Southern Baptist. Yeah. I really was non -denominational, though, even when I was a part of that Wesleyan church and I led the worship there.

34:17

I wasn't really wholly devoted to Wesleyan. I think for you, you were, though, wasn't it?

34:23

That's the denomination you came into right out of Roman Catholicism. Wasn't it Wesleyan? Yeah, it was.

34:31

I didn't know much about the religion part, like the difference.

34:36

The denomination. Yeah. And so I was just learning the Bible and that's where I learned it. And Wesleyan church worked.

34:42

Yeah. And your dad is still a pastor of a Wesleyan church. There are some denominations to stay away from if they're

34:51

Pentecostal, Episcopalian. Mormon. Well, I wouldn't even call that a denomination.

35:00

They're considering themselves to be Christian, right? They will call themselves that, right. I don't know how it is set up on the dating website, but just as a -

35:08

Heads up. Yeah. Mormon is not okay. Jehovah's Witness is not okay. No.

35:13

I would highly doubt Christian Mingle has Jehovah's Witness on there. I don't know. Anyway, I could be wrong.

35:19

I've never been on Christian Mingle. I have no idea. Putting it up. When it comes down to it, it doesn't matter the denomination.

35:26

You want to find someone who loves the Lord. Oh, amen. Who loves Christ, loves his word, desires to abide in Christ and have his word abide in them, are learning according to the

35:39

Bible each and every day. That's the kind of person that you're looking for. Yeah. Next question. Can you elaborate on the,

35:46

I am my brother's keeper verse? Well, the only place that this is mentioned is in Genesis chapter four, and it's after Cain has killed

35:55

Abel. So remember Cain is jealous of Abel because Abel was offering up unto the

36:02

Lord that which delighted the Lord, but Cain was not giving his best. He was giving his sloppy seconds and God didn't care for what it was that Cain was offering to the

36:13

Lord. Cain was kind of looking at this with a kind of an envy and a kind of jealousy. If I can just take Abel out of the picture, then maybe

36:19

God will like me instead of Abel. And so he rose up against his brother Abel in the field and killed him.

36:26

And then the Lord said to Cain, where is Abel your brother? And Cain replied, this is

36:31

Genesis four, nine. I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper? And Cain was just making an excuse as though to say, it's not my responsibility to know where he is.

36:42

Of course, he knew exactly where he was. Right. But he thinks that he can fool God. Right. And the

36:47

Lord responded to him. What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.

36:53

And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.

37:00

And so the Lord cursed Cain because of the murder that he had committed, the first murder in the

37:06

Bible against his brother. In asking this question, am I my brother's keeper? You know, again, that's

37:13

Cain saying, am I responsible for this guy? Yeah. Kind of like a brother thing to say, do

37:19

I always have to look after him? Yeah. Am I supposed to know where he's at? Am I supposed to be keeping track of his every move?

37:26

When it comes down to it, though, we are our brother's keeper. We are to be our brother and sister's keeper in the body of Christ.

37:33

For everyone who is a Christian is a brother or a sister in the Lord. And we have been told to look after one another.

37:42

Yeah. I would assume that's why they want the baptisms public and the weddings public, because, you know, you share in those delights and everybody takes that seriously in the matter of keeping you steadfast and accountable.

37:58

Yeah. When you see somebody's marriage getting rocky that you were a witness to when you saw them exchange their vows, then you go to them and say, hey,

38:09

I heard you say till death parts us and I'm going to hold you to your vow. When you see somebody baptized and they make a confession of faith unto the

38:19

Lord, you say, hey, I was there when you were baptized and you confess to loving Christ and wanting to follow him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

38:28

Now you're in this place right now where you're in sin and I'm calling you to repent. Yeah. And return back to the path of righteousness.

38:34

It's in Colossians 316, where we are told that we need to teach and admonish one another with all wisdom.

38:42

Right. And so in this way, we are to be our brother and sister's keeper. Next question.

38:48

I also wonder if you can talk about the verse, he that dwelleth in the secret place.

38:55

Is this talking about the Holy Spirit? Well, that's the beginning of Psalm 91. And he that dwelleth in the secret place is that's a

39:04

King James rendering. I was going to say, I think that that would be. If you couldn't tell by the language in something like the

39:12

New American Standard or the English Standard Version, you would read it like this. He who dwells in the shelter of the most high will abide in the shadow of the almighty.

39:21

I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom

39:27

I trust, for he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.

39:32

He will cover you with his pinions or with his feathers. And under his wings, you will find refuge.

39:38

His faithfulness is a shield and buckler. So once again, he who dwells in the shelter of the most high,

39:46

I talked a moment ago about abiding in Christ and having his word abide in you.

39:51

This is simply what that means, that you would follow according to his word and that you would know God and draw near to him by obeying what the

39:59

Lord has said, by loving Christ, by worshiping him, by desiring to do what he has commanded of you to do.

40:06

As Jesus said to his disciples in John 14, 15, you will show me that you love me when you obey my commandments.

40:14

And that's what it means to dwell in the shelter of the most high. Or if you prefer the King James, to dwelleth in the secret place.

40:22

It's secret in the sense that it's not visible. Right. We love Christ with our spirits.

40:29

We obey him with our whole bodies. Romans 12, 1, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing unto the

40:37

Lord. And this is your spiritual act of worship. So we love him with even our body, but the connection, drawing near to God, this happens spiritually.

40:47

So it kind of has that secret place motif about it.

40:53

Yeah. Motif, is that the word? I don't know. It's spiritual. Yeah. That's basically what I was drawing to.

40:59

Gotcha. So that's why it says, he that dwelleth in the secret place. And we understand that God is invisible. And Paul refers to him as the invisible

41:07

God. And we sing in the great hymn, immortal, invisible, God only wise. So we do worship

41:13

God who is not visible to our physical eyes. But as we also sing in the hymn from Horatio Spafford, Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight.

41:24

Yes. We love. Now we follow God. We have faith in him, a faith in that which we cannot see.

41:32

But a day is coming if we endure to the end where we will see him and will dwell in the glory of the most high forever.

41:40

He who dwells in the shelter of the most high will abide in the shadow of the almighty. Okay. Before we go into the next question,

41:47

I want to go back to the Christian mingle. Christian, you want to go back one?

41:53

I do because. You want to go back two. I want to go back two because as I'm thinking about it, he says that he doesn't know what denomination he is, that he's just, is it called a

42:06

Christian whenever you read your Bible? So I was thinking maybe he doesn't go to church.

42:13

There is a denomination question coming up. Oh. And he also does say that he's looking for a church right now.

42:21

Oh, okay. And that's how we were going to finish. We were going to pray for him. Well, I'm glad I'm on the same page.

42:30

Hey, critical thinking. Yes. You're getting there. I'm getting there. All right. Okay. So next, now

42:35

I got to scroll back down two questions. Let's see. One, two. Yes. Okay. He asked this question.

42:41

And we'll get back to that. We'll get back to that. Yes. Okay. Can you talk about Cain and Abel and their importance?

42:47

Well, Cain was the first murderer in the Bible. He was the first one to persecute a faithful man of God.

42:54

And he is referenced several times in scripture, including by Jesus in Matthew 23, and also in Hebrews 11.

43:02

In 1 John 3, 12, we are told that whoever does evil is like Cain, and whoever loves righteousness is like his brother

43:10

Abel. Yeah. The seed of the devil, who is Cain, and the seed of the righteous, who was

43:17

Abel. And the promised seed, though, was not Abel, because he didn't have offspring.

43:22

The promised seed was from the line of Seth, who was given to Adam and Eve, because Cain had killed

43:29

Abel and killed Abel, his brother. So the significance of that story is that we should be faithful like Abel and not evil like Cain.

43:37

That's how we should understand that as we read it. Hebrews 11, 4, by faith, Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous,

43:49

God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.

43:57

Next question. What does it mean when Jesus said, let the dead bury the dead?

44:03

Well, in Matthew chapter 8. That's a great question. In Matthew chapter 8, a man said that he wanted to follow

44:10

Jesus, but first he needed to bury his father. And Jesus said, follow me and leave the dead to bury their own dead.

44:19

Now, does this mean his father was already dead or his father was dying or he was just kind of waiting?

44:26

We don't know that for sure. I would imagine it means, though, that he was still alive, but near death.

44:33

Okay. And was soon to die. Okay. The man was saying, I want to follow you, but I have to wait for my father to die first.

44:40

And when was that going to be? Nobody knows. Right. Jesus earthly ministry could have been done by the time.

44:47

Very true. His father had died and then, yeah, couldn't follow Jesus anymore at that point. Well, at least not along with his disciples.

44:55

Physically. Right. Couldn't strap on his sandals and head out the door and go follow Jesus. The point

45:01

Jesus was making was that the call to follow him was more important than any other relationship.

45:08

It's not that Jesus was saying something like funerals are not important. Don't have any more funerals.

45:13

Let the dead bury the dead. Let unbelievers bury the dead. You know, it wasn't like Jesus was saying something like that.

45:20

Right. The point here, along with in the context of what we're reading about in Matthew chapter eight is

45:25

Jesus saying that the most important relationship that a person can have is with Christ, as he says in the gospel of Luke.

45:32

And not to wait. He's saying, you know, like, why are you waiting? You're going to follow me. Right. Right now.

45:38

Let's go. Let's go. Yeah. In Luke chapter 14, starting in verse 26,

45:43

Jesus said, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

45:57

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

46:02

So I'm supposed to hate everybody and be angry. Exactly. Be hateful and spiteful and malicious.

46:09

No, absolutely not. Not true. Again, the point that Jesus is making there is that our love for Christ should be so total and so devoted that any other relationship that we have by comparison would look like hatred.

46:27

Yeah. Our love for God would be so great that though we are going to have family members and friends whom we love, it looks like hatred by comparison to the devotion that we have to Christ.

46:37

Nothing will separate us from our relationship with Christ, though there may come times when we would have to break fellowship with even father and mother in order to be devoted to Christ.

46:49

If you've got members of your family who are not Christians, for example. It's gonna happen. It will.

46:55

And your devotion has to be to Christ and not first and foremost to your brother or sister who does not know the

47:02

Lord. Next question. What did you mean when you said when a man corrects a woman's behavior?

47:09

Okay, this goes back to a certain what video? Let me go ahead and play this video.

47:15

It's the one that a couple videos ago where I was talking about microaggressions.

47:21

Okay. So let me go ahead and play the video. We'll play it in context and then I'll respond to the question right after that. All right.

47:29

Are you familiar with microaggressions? Subtle forms of prejudice, casual exchanges that are perceived as communicating derogatory remarks, whether intended or not.

47:39

You might be a homophobe or transphobe, sexist or racist and not even know it. If a man corrects a woman's behavior, if you ask someone what they are, make stereotypes of any kind or say you're colorblind and see everyone is equal.

47:53

These are examples of microaggressions, perceived slights that supposedly reveal a larger pattern of injustice, but it's either making a mountain out of a molehill or making something out of nothing.

48:04

These aggressions only go one way. Someone can accuse you, but you can't retaliate or that's victim shaming, which is a microaggression.

48:11

See how this works? It's a shame game with no end where players think little of others and are driven by feelings and prejudice.

48:19

This is not how Christians should regard each other. The Bible says, if one has a complaint against another, forgive as the

48:25

Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. Put on love with the peace of Christ in your heart.

48:32

Let your speech always be gracious. If anyone is teaching something different, they have an unhealthy craving for controversy and quarrels about words, producing evil suspicions and constant friction.

48:43

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God, without blemish in a crooked and twisted generation, among whom we shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life.

48:56

When we understand the text. So it was there in the video where I was saying that it is not a, it is not aggressive behavior for a man to correct a woman in anything.

49:09

But our culture does perceive that as like toxic masculinity. Right. Or that it is inappropriate for a man to quote unquote mansplain something to a woman.

49:20

Yeah. And just because a man has to tell a woman that she's behaving inappropriately, maybe that she's even dressing inappropriately.

49:28

Maybe a man has to, in some tasteful manner, communicate that to another woman or correct something that she has said that is wrong.

49:37

Just because a woman might be embarrassed because another man had to correct her in these things, that doesn't mean that he did anything wrong.

49:44

Right. So a man correcting a woman's behavior is not aggressive behavior.

49:50

That's simply the point that I was making with it. That's just one of many examples of things that people tend to term as microaggressive behavior.

50:00

Small aggressions. Yeah. That are supposed to reveal some larger systemic problem.

50:06

Right. And right now it's one of the big things in addition to like the racial issue that seems to be discussed a lot is that men are in control and they need to step out of the way and let women have some of those roles.

50:20

Right. Next question. Should you sum up the commandments as only loving your neighbor or preach every commandment?

50:29

So every commandment pertaining to how we treat one another can be summed up with this. Love your neighbor as yourself.

50:35

That's what Jesus said. Right. On this hinges all the law and the prophets. When someone says, what does loving your neighbor look like?

50:43

Then you can go to the other commandments. Right. And you can show like, here's what it means to show kindness to one another.

50:49

Even though it's not a part of the 10 commandments or it's not a part of the law. When Paul says to the

50:56

Philippians in Philippians chapter two, consider others needs ahead of your own. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

51:05

That is a commandment. Yes. In second Thessalonians chapter three, where he says, each of you should do your own work with your own hands, minding your own business, just as we taught you to do.

51:17

That's a commandment. Yes. You must work to earn your own living. And if somebody,

51:23

Paul even goes on to say, if somebody won't do that, if they won't work to earn their own living, they're an able -bodied individual who can labor, but they don't do it.

51:33

Then don't give that guy any bread. Don't give him any food. Do not even eat with him yourselves so that he will be ashamed and he'll repent of his sin.

51:42

And he'll obey the commandments that we've given. If there's anybody who does not obey what we say in this letter, rebuke that person, not as an enemy.

51:50

Don't treat them as an enemy, but warn them as a brother. Yes. That's a commandment. It doesn't have to be listed in the 10 commandments in order to be a commandment.

51:59

But even that commandment can be summed up with, love your brother. Yeah. If you're loving one another, love your neighbor, love all.

52:07

If you're fulfilling that, if you're loving one another, then you will do your own work and not mooch off of other people, not become a burden to others to have to take care of you when you can be taking care of yourself.

52:18

Right. And you're also loving your brother in the sense that when you see somebody going their own way who needs correction, you show love to give correction to another person.

52:28

And this is the fulfilling of the law. Next question, are non -denominational churches bad?

52:35

No, just make sure that they have a good statement of faith. They preach about sin in the gospel and the pastor is preaching from the

52:42

Bible. I would say you should be going to an expository church. Yes. The preacher is preaching through the scripture, not doing topical things, just whatever interests him.

52:52

But he's bringing the entire church under the authority of the word of God. Yeah, like how you go through a passage at a time and even sometimes break that passage down into different sermons too.

53:06

But we're going through. We just finished Galatians. Yeah, that's what

53:11

I was going to say. We're about to go to Ephesians. We're about to go to Ephesians. And that's the way it should work. You go through an entire book of the

53:19

Bible, not just, oh, today's topic is, you know. Just that or the other.

53:24

Yeah. There can be some topical things that need addressed. Occasionally, sure.

53:30

Right. But not every Sunday. Yeah. The majority of Sundays should be, let's go through this book of the

53:36

Bible. The bulk of your diet should be expository preaching. Yes. The majority of your church's diet should be verse by verse going through the scriptures in that way.

53:45

And that would be a healthy church. And by the way, non -denominational churches are really just Baptist churches that don't want to admit they're

53:51

Baptist. Next question. Can a woman be a police officer?

53:57

It's not preferred. Yeah. I mean, there are women police officers out there. I've had women police officers in my congregation before.

54:04

Yeah. Personally, I don't think that they should be. But I mean, we're not going to church discipline somebody because they are.

54:11

Yeah. Just my own personal opinion. I don't think a woman should be in that position. I think that that kind of position should be.

54:17

It's a really tough position. Should be done by a man. And not saying they can't. It just, it's tough.

54:24

Yeah. And women usually function differently than men. And with the whole compartmentalizing with men and putting that.

54:32

But with women, it all kind of spaghettis together. Well, I'm not just thinking of it just in terms of like.

54:39

And it would affect like what you see on the job. It would affect your entire life. Yeah. But I'm not just thinking of it in terms of mentally or emotionally reacting to the things that they're going to have to deal with.

54:52

I'm also thinking of in terms of they're just not physically equipped for it. Oh, yeah. The woman is the weaker sex.

54:58

And the Bible does say in first Peter chapter three, that she is the weaker vessel. This is a

55:04

I mean, for all intents and purposes, the job of a police officer is a combat situation.

55:10

Yeah, definitely. You would not put women in military combat. Well, you shouldn't.

55:17

There are women in military combat. I don't think that should be the case. But just as a woman shouldn't be on the front lines in a war.

55:23

I don't think that she should be a police officer either with some of the things that they have to face and deal with.

55:28

Right. And more people are going to block me on Twitter now because I said that last question, last request.

55:36

We'll say this. Chris says, pray for me and my family, for we can't seem to find the right church for us yet.

55:42

Oh, let's talk. Just as you had asked about earlier. Yeah. There are some websites that have done the work for you.

55:49

Yeah. So what were those? I would just tell you to go to our website, WWUTT .com.

55:55

And if you click on links, the first thing that I've got listed on there under links are the databases that you can access to find a church.

56:04

Okay. So you're going to enter your zip code or the city that you live in or something like that. And it will show you, according to those databases, where the sound, doctrinally sound churches are that are nearest to you.

56:15

Right. And I've only picked those databases that will give you churches that we know would be preaching the gospel, talking about sin and telling you about the gospel and preaching the scriptures and even being expository and going verse by verse through those things.

56:31

So that's the database links that we provided for you again at WWUTT .com.

56:37

Utilize those if you haven't done that yet. Yeah. So thank you again, Chris. If anybody else would like to submit questions to the broadcast, the email address is when we understand the text at gmail .com.

56:50

Let's conclude with prayer. Yes, let's. Our heavenly father, we thank you for our time together and we thank you that we can come to your word and find the answers that we need that pertain to life and living in godliness and being able to submit ourselves to Christ and what it means to be a

57:08

Christian in this world. And I pray that we would take these words. They would be written upon our hearts and that we would live obediently to them with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

57:20

I thank you for Chris for providing all these questions for us today and that you would give him and his family a good place to be able to go to church where they can hear the word of God preached, where they can grow together with other like -minded brothers and sisters in the

57:34

Lord, learning to be more like Christ, having the mind of Christ as we daily live.

57:41

I thank you for his willingness to want to ask questions and know the answers according to what scripture says.

57:47

May we all be diligent to come to the Bible to know the response should be to this question or that question, whether it's something minor, something that's going on in our lives, or something that may even pertain to how we live in this culture and how we respond to the culture.

58:03

May we know how to rightly discern your word, rightly dividing the word of truth. And it's in Jesus' name that we pray.

58:10

Amen. Hello.

59:20

Okay, we are still kind of going to get close to it. No, no, ma 'am.

59:26

Just teasing. No snoring in the microphone. I know it's got like a little soft cover on it.

59:33

It's like its own little pillow. That's not a pillow. No. But it is.

59:38

No, it's not. It's a little bitty pillow. No, my dear. This was not for you to rest your head on.

59:47

Aw, but it's so inviting. It's to pick up your voice. It's supposed to be inviting to encourage you to talk.