Why does God let animals suffer? | Bible Night Live (Ep. 3)

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Why does God allow animal suffering before the Garden? What does this tell us about God?

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What does it tell us about the world He has made? Is there something that we're missing here, and is this a problem for the

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Christian faith? We're going to answer that question. I'm going to take your other questions live right now, so let's get into it.

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Welcome back to Bible Night Live, where I sit with you and answer—or at least try to answer—your questions about theology, apologetics, or whatever.

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If you're brand new, my name is Nate Zala, and I'm helping you become the effective Christian that you are meant to be. Make sure to like, sub, and share this video around, but only if it blesses you.

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All right? Let's just jump right into this, shall we? Okay, first question right off the bat, and it comes from Pershing77.

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Basically, what are secondary issues? Okay, yeah, thanks for the question, Pershing. Secondary issues are basically those doctrines and theological beliefs that do not save you.

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I'm trying to shape my words carefully. In the Bible, the gospel is characterized in simple ways.

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It centers around a few key things. Believing in the person and work of Jesus Christ, His life,

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His death, and resurrection for the salvation of sinners—I mean, that's the core of the gospel.

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This is the core of the Christian faith and confession. Now, this core is interrelated to other things that the

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Bible teaches, but nevertheless, what I've just highlighted in the gospel is the non -negotiable that Christians have centered on for thousands of years.

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And it actually comes from Scripture. So I've pulled something up here. Look at this. This is 1 Corinthians chapter 15, so this is the

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Apostle Paul relaying what Christians understand to be the first oral tradition of the gospel message proper.

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This was circulating among the people of God in the first few years of Jesus' death and resurrection.

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Now, watch how all of the elements that I just laid out are present in Paul's words. Look at this, verse 3. For I delivered to you as of first importance what

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I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the

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Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. Then He appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, although some have fallen asleep.

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Then He appeared to James, then to all the Apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born,

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He appeared also to me. Now, notice the phrase, accordance with the

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Scriptures, right? In accordance with the Scriptures. Why does Paul do that? It's because the gospel message is the fundamental component piece to the grand divine story that God is telling.

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This is a story that begins with creation, heads into a fall, and then moves into redemption and consummation.

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All of these pieces are interrelated, but the core remains. The core is primary. In other words,

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Pershing, you can believe other things because you're trying to get God's Word right, and these other things do not undermine or take away from that core, and you're still a

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Christian. So I'm speaking sweepingly here, and there's a lot to explore along these lines, but I'll leave it there because I want to say this.

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Disagreement over secondary issues is not an opportunity to sow division amongst

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God's people. And this is Paul again, actually. So let me show you this.

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So in Romans 14, he talks about the principle of charity with regard to people who don't agree. They have differing convictions, but they all worship the

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Lord. Look at this. Verse 5. One person esteems one day is better than another, while another esteems all days alike.

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Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day observes it in honor of the

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Lord. The one who eats eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains abstains in honor of the

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Lord. You see the theme, right? The through line there, in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God.

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There is a long history, and Paul knows this, of God's people wrestling with the

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Word of God, seeking to understand what it means and how it applies to their lives. By the time

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Jesus walked among the people in the first century, there were multiple factions of Jews that held to differing views on eschatology, right?

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Does that sound familiar? Because that is considered a secondary issue. How you interpret and understand

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Revelation is not a prerequisite for salvation. By the way, I have a question on Revelation coming up here.

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How you interpret and understand God's election is not a prerequisite for salvation.

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Am I stepping on somebody's toes yet? All right, those are my thoughts.

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Pershing, thank you for the question. Let's go to eastofmars6413.

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Where do you guys come up with these names? Anyway, this is what they ask. What is prophesying related to 1

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Samuel? The verse that got my attention was 1 Samuel 18 .10. In the ESV, it says that Saul raved.

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Other translations say Saul prophesied. What was Saul doing at this particular moment? Okay, well, let's go there for reference.

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It says that Saul went to a rave, you guys. Dad jokes. 1

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Samuel 18 .10, this is what it says. The next day, a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day.

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Okay, a couple of things about this contextually. So this is that time that Saul was overtaken by an evil spirit, a harmful spirit.

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Actually, let me back up. This is one of those times. This actually happened before, a couple chapters prior in 1

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Samuel 16, where an evil spirit torments Saul, right?

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I should say, a lot of folks see this as a demonic possession or something akin to it.

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And I'll say this, some see David playing the lyre as a form of exorcism.

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So there's an interesting deep dive to go down here, east of Mars. And by the way, this is not what you asked me.

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But there's an interesting deep dive to do here, where you'll discover that many saw

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David as... So I can't remember if he was the first or one of the first exorcists in the

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Bible. And if that's true, this explains why

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Jesus performs so many exorcisms in the Gospels. This is an implicit communication to the reader, let the reader understand, right, that Jesus is the

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Messiah. Just another one of those things. He is the descendant of David. Anyway, what you asked me about was prophecy, so all right, rein it in,

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Nate. So in my Logos app, I can see that there are a number of commentaries here that tell me

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Saul is actually prophesying. So it's not merely ranting, it's not raving, you know, if you're from the

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South, it's not hooting and hollering, right? Saul is actually prophesying, but on behalf or through the influence of an evil spirit.

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So let me back up. We have to remember, prophesying consists of two types, according to Scripture.

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There is the prophecy of God, because the one who is prophesying is sent by God.

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He's speaking God's words, right? And then there is false prophecy, or prophecy that comes from those who are not sent by God.

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So there are two passages to consider along these lines. Take a look at the first one. This is

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Deuteronomy chapter 18, and this is a promise that God makes, you know? I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put my—here it is—my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

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This is the Lord speaking, you know, and we've hit this before in previous videos. The Lord is looking ahead to Jesus Christ.

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This is about Jesus, the new Moses, right? The one who will lead

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God's people into a new exodus, inaugurated by his own Passover sacrifice, you know?

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By the way, quick plug, if you like this kind of deep dive into Scripture, you're gonna love my new channel. It's called

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Every Word. There's a link for it in the notes, and we're doing a deep dive talking about Jesus as the new

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Moses right now, over there. So definitely check it out. But anyway, notice how the one prophesying will speak the words of God, right?

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That's authentic prophecy. But there's another kind of prophecy. Watch this.

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This is Jeremiah 23, verse 16. Thus says the Lord of hosts, Do not listen to the words of the prophets, who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes.

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They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. These types of folks who speak false prophecies were killed, all right?

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The Israelites were commanded to end these people's lives. But that just reinforces what's happening back here with Saul.

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So again, if we can come back to 1 Samuel 18, right? Saul is filled with a harmful spirit, an evil spirit, and he prophesies as he is being tormented.

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And David, so we have this picture, right? You know, I mean, if you agree with the view that I mentioned earlier, David is exercising

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Saul, which also explains why Saul tries to kill

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David for simply playing the lyre. You know, in verse 11, look at this. Saul had a spear in his hand, that's 10.

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And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, I will pin David to the wall. But David evaded him twice.

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That's weird. Like, you ask the question, like, why would Saul try to kill a guy for just plucking a few strings, right?

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Just trying to play some music, you know? Well, maybe more is going on than we realize.

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Thank you for the question, East of Mars. Let's go to Dr. Belmore.

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They asked this. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that most of the questions I have from the Bible come from Revelation, but my question would be, what messages, aside from end -time prophecy and preparation in Revelation, can, should be taught from the pulpit?

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Or is that understood to be its primary application? It's been a while since I've dug into Revelation myself, so there could be some obvious answers, but I also don't hear much preaching citing

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Revelation. I don't either. So, Dr.

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Belmore, it's funny you ask this question. My pastor at my church just finished a year -long series preaching through Revelation.

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And I actually encourage anyone who's interested in checking out that sermon to go to my church's YouTube channel and taking a look at the series.

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And actually, the links, so I've mentioned links, I'll make sure that they're in the notes. I don't think they are currently during the live stream.

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I'll make sure at the end that they are. And you can go check it out for yourself, you know? Because at first, so when my pastor began to preach through Revelation, I didn't know what his interpretation was.

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I didn't know where, you know, he saw John, what he saw John doing or anything like that, right?

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And he's just kind of getting into it. This is like the first sermon or the second one or whatever. And he's kind of setting the table for the series, right?

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And we went a year through the whole thing. I'm thinking to myself, I'm sitting in there, how is he going to handle this?

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You know what I mean? Like, how is he going to answer those three questions, right?

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So, I've said this before. Any preaching pastor anywhere needs to answer three essential questions from the pulpit.

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What does the Bible say? What does the Bible mean? And how can we all live by it, right? And that's the thing, you know?

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Like, how can you do that with the book of Revelation? You know what I mean? Like, I think for a lot of pastors, those are hard questions to answer, and so they just skip preaching through it, you know?

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Well, the way that you do, the way that you preach Revelation is you do your best to understand what

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John is saying to the original audience. Now, what helps is to know that this audience is seven churches in the area of Asia Minor, so take a look at this.

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This is from Revelation. Oh, let me go back up here.

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Revelation chapter one, and take a look at this.

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This is just a greeting. John to the what? Seven churches that are in Asia. So, John is writing to churches that existed in the first century, and he's going to give them, he's going to relay a revelation that Jesus gave him when he was stuck on the island of Patmos.

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Now, I'm going to try to remain abstract for a moment to comment on strategy, right?

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So, preaching strategy, because that's what you asked me, but then I'm going to give it a specific example of this so you can see what

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I'm talking about. So, big picture, let's zoom all the way out. If you try your hardest as a preaching pastor to understand how the original audience would receive this letter from John, what they would be thinking about, right?

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What cultural references would pop into their mind as John lays out his vision? Well, then you'll start to understand what a lesson might be for the original audience in their own situated context, right?

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In history, you know? And once you do that work, and that's hard. I mean, you know, nobody said it was easy, right?

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But once you can grasp that lesson, you carry that over into your life and the life of your congregation uniquely, because that lesson, whatever that is, is universal enough to apply to all

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Christians for all time. So, what I'm doing right now is this is like basic expository preaching 101, you know?

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This is what I'm laying out. So, let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. So, let's just skip ahead to Revelation chapter 3, and take a look at this, right?

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To the church in Sardis. Let me read the first few verses. And to the angel of the church in Sardis, write the words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars,

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I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

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Wake up and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my

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God. Remember then what you received and heard. Keep it and repent. And then he basically goes on to say, man, if you don't do that,

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I'm going to come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you, right? Now, just think about that, you know?

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This church in Sardis has a great reputation. Now, we know that because that's literally what it says, right?

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So, now we're trying to work through what it means for the original audience. They have a great reputation, but they are spiritually deceased.

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By the way, if they had the reputation of being alive, who gave it to them, right? So, these are kind of the study questions you have to ask, you know?

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Clearly, it must have been the other churches, you know? The other brothers and sisters who are thinking of them, looking at what they're doing, and they're saying, wow, you know?

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They're doing a great job, the church in Sardis, right? And how do you think that they would have measured, those locally would have measured the church in Sardis' success?

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On the outside, the church in Sardis must have looked like they were flourishing. How do you think that looked? You know what

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I mean? So, it presents this sort of dichotomy of sorts, right?

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On the outside, it appears that they're flourishing, and we're trying to figure out what that looked like, but on the inside, they're dead. They're deceased.

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One of the answers is, well, maybe their numbers were increasing, right? Oops, that's universally a problem, right?

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So, does this sound familiar today? Maybe the church in Sardis, their numbers were increasing, to which people looked at them and went, wow, look at that, right?

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Does that happen today? Maybe the church in Sardis had favor with the community around them, you know?

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But it doesn't matter spiritually, because spiritually, they're deceased, right? Is that a problem that could happen today?

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So, apparently, Jesus is saying something to Sardis specifically, but actually it applies to all churches, you know?

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It's very possible for a church to have a great reputation with other brothers and sisters, with people in the community, but inside, they are actually dead as a doornail.

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That means that a big congregation size does not automatically give an indication of spiritual health. Favor with the community does not necessarily mean that God is with a church.

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So, you see how there's something that John is saying. We're trying to be careful here. We're trying to pull it out of the actual text of Scripture, and I'm going very fast, so granted, but there's something that John is saying here, that the church in Sardis would receive in their own context, but the lesson is still the same for us today.

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You see that? It applies differently in our own unique circumstances, but nevertheless, the lesson applies, and I would propose to you, you can actually do this throughout the entire book of Revelation.

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I encourage you to take a look at my pastor's series through Revelation, and I pray that it blesses you.

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Dr. Belmore, let's go to Volcom Speed. Let's read the question.

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So, Volcom says, I have a lot of opportunities to preach the gospel to folks in my line of work, praise the Lord, but I'm nervous and worried that I could get fired from sharing the good news of Jesus.

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How can I become less afraid and more confident in the word of God to a large amount of people who live in my city where English is a second language?

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Boy, yeah, yeah. I mean, that's a great question, you know?

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A couple of things here. So, the first thing that comes to mind is, I would do a study of Daniel.

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I would find the time to do a proper, in -depth study. I think

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Daniel, particularly in the first couple of chapters, although, you know, this also spills over into his later years,

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Daniel is a model for us as Christians today, particularly as we try to live out our faith in a culture that is incredibly secular and increasingly pagan.

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And that's not even just true of America, it's true around the world in a lot of places, you know?

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But do the study of Daniel and watch how Daniel carries himself, how he balances this notion of submitting to governing authorities while at the same time living by his own convictions.

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Actually, so there's a moment that I want to highlight in Daniel, and I think it's helpful for the discussion.

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So, take a look at this. This is right here in Daniel 1, verse 20. This is what it says.

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In every matter of wisdom and understanding, about which the kings, this is Nebuchadnezzar, inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom.

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And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus. In other words, he was there for a while. And the them in there is talking about Daniel, not just Daniel, but Daniel and his friends, you know?

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So, a couple of things here. I mean, do you see how Daniel not only retains his convictions about Yahweh, he also becomes ten times better at regurgitating the pagan worldview than all the magicians and enchanters in Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom.

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Now, that's something to chew on because I know some Christians who really want to separate themselves from the secular culture altogether.

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That's a rabbit trail for another time. Watch Daniel's model because you got to think to yourself, how is that even possible, right?

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Daniel is most likely 14 years old, guys, or thereabouts, stolen from his family, taken to a foreign land with a foreign language, right?

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And the answer is, like, how can he do this? The answer is trust. And that's what

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I want to highlight. That's the second thing I want to talk to you about, Volkan. The courage that is required to obey

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God flows easily out of a trust that you have in your God. And that is a key factor in doing things that challenge the bosses at your work, that challenge your specific culture wherever you are in the world, and it might actually get you in trouble where you are.

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But nevertheless, you have to trust the Lord, right? Isaiah 26 says, you keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you, you know?

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We all have to trust the Lord. But not just, like, one time in our lives for salvation.

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It's every single day moving forward in our own journey with the Lord. And when we do that, when we take this trust seriously, he's going to develop it.

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He's going to put us in positions or situations where we must develop our trust in him, and it's for our good.

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That is a promise. But if we do that, you know, if we can trust in the

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Lord no matter what, there is a chance there is another promise that we will have God's shalom. We will have his peace, and it will be given to us as a perfect gift from our

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Heavenly Father. So I encourage you, Volcom, learn from Daniel.

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Develop your trust in the Lord. You know, there's a prayer, let me say this and then I'll go to the last question here.

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There is a prayer that has helped me quite a bit along these lines. I've said it over and over again throughout my walk with the

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Lord. And it kind of goes like this. Lord, you are creator. You are king.

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You are sovereign. You are truly in control, and I am not. I am your creation, created by you to be in relationship with you and to glorify you to others.

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The blood of Christ covers my sins past, present, and future, and I am no longer a slave to sin and to fear.

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I have been set free to be holy and righteous by the power of the Holy Spirit in me. It is only by your pure unmerited grace that I've been adopted into your family.

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There was nothing that I could do to earn such grace. So Lord, give me courage.

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Give me peace. Increase my trust in you so that I can do what is difficult, so that I can obey you, even when no one else will.

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Thank you for the question, Volcom. And we got one last question here, and that is from Reformed Cat 2.

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So apparently there's a Reformed Cat 1 floating around somewhere out in the internet space. Very good.

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Here's the question. Why does God allow animal suffering before the garden? Well, now it's just dawning on me.

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A cat is asking me this question. Why does God allow animal suffering before the garden?

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I see really good evidence for evolution and am skeptical of a literal view of early

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Genesis. Could you please answer this? Yeah, and this is a tough one,

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I will admit. So I'll give you the short answer and the long answer. The short answer is,

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I don't know. You know what I mean? Good night, everybody. Thanks for joining.

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I don't know. But let's try to think through this in a way that's helpful, all right?

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Let's look at the past, you know? He just did a Jubilee video, which, by the way, a quick announcement.

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I just filmed an in -depth breakdown of Alex's comments on the Jubilee video. I sat with one of the

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Christians who challenged him, and we highlight Alex's debate and rhetorical tactics for you so that you can understand what's really happening in real time.

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So stay tuned for that. That's actually going to be the next video coming out, all right? Having said all that, there are a couple of passages of the

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Scripture that it's almost like they open the door to a possible explanation that C .S.

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Lewis gave, that Alvin Plantinga has also given, and even my friend Gavin Ortlund has also provided.

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Now, I've engaged with this, so I'm going to share this with you, and I just want to be up front with you. I'm thinking about it, you know?

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It seems compelling, but I'm relaying this to you now as a possible answer to the question, okay?

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Because it gives an answer that explains what we're seeing with regard to animal suffering, which,

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I mean, it really belongs in the broader category of natural evil.

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So real quick, natural evil is the kind of evil distinguished from moral evil.

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Moral evil is the category of evil explained through a person's free will actions, all right?

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And there are various responses that Christians give to moral evil that entails the fall of mankind in the garden and the necessity of human free will for virtues like love, for example, to thrive, okay?

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I'll just leave it there. However, natural evil is the type of evil where, yes, animals suffer.

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They are torn apart by other animals, or they just succumb to nature, and they are tormented in their last moments, you know?

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And I don't know anyone, and I'm revealing my Western upbringing here.

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I don't know anyone who is not bothered, at least a little, by animal suffering, right?

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It's often horrendous. You do not wish these things upon any creature, you know what

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I mean? So when a nonbeliever addresses this particular issue, this fits into what's called an internal critique of Christianity, you know?

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So in other words, if Christianity teaches certain things about God and his character, that he is a good

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God, that he is a loving God, well, then why do we see natural evils like animal suffering in the world, right?

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So the first point I just want to highlight here for now is this is an internal critique.

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I'm going to let that sit for a moment, okay? We actually talk about this, too, in the Alex O 'Connor

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Jubilee video. So let me say it one more time. This is an internal critique.

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Now, the reason I'm highlighting this right now is if it's an internal critique, then all of Christianity must be considered when coming to an answer.

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So in other words, we can't hokey pokey, you know what I mean? Like, half in, half out.

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We can't smuggle in another worldview in order to do an internal critique because once you do that, it's no longer internal, right?

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Now it's external. So the real question is, if this is an internal critique and the

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Bible does not explicitly give us information to answer this question, then is there anything that we can look at in Christianity or in the

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Bible that can help us to infer an answer? And to that question, the answer is yes.

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So take a look at a couple of passages with me. First, let me just go to the beginning of time, the beginning of the world, right?

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Now, granted, let me just say this, too. This is only going to be compelling if you are not committed to a certain interpretation of Scripture, all right?

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Granted. But let's look at Genesis chapter 1 verse 2. It says, The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the

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Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Okay. The Hebrew language is pictorial.

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I've said this many times. So you are meant to have this picture in your mind, you know?

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Anybody who has engaged the text of the Old Testament, particularly, but also New Testament, you should have pictures in your mind of what is being described, right?

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Now, that phrase, without form and void, it comes back up again and again in the

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Old Testament, and not by accident. As a matter of fact, the phrase becomes this picture of cosmic chaos and disorder after God brings about judgment upon nations.

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And the question is why, you know? Like, how could the Bible say that the people of Judah, for example, could return to this

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Genesis 1 -2 pre -creation period? And the answer is because there's something else being communicated about this particular time.

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It is a time where the physical world has become corrupted due to some of God's angelic beings.

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So what I'm referring to now is something called angelic fall hypothesis. And like I said,

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C .S. Lewis held to a form of this view, Alvin Plantinga, and my friend Gavin Hortland as well, and it's the idea that the fall of angels, particularly

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Satan, you know, introduced corruption into the material world, leading to natural disorder, physical disorder, suffering, animal predation, right?

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And this all happened before the human fall in the Garden of Eden, because we don't see that until a couple of chapters later.

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So this explains, for example, God apparently pointing out that He has sovereignty over animal predation.

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So there are a couple of chapters in Job where God lays these things out. I think it starts in, like,

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Job chapter 38, and then moving ahead a few chapters. And the reason for that is, it appears, that God is showing that He's bringing order to these things.

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But that seems to be in line with what God is doing everywhere else, you know, particularly with this original concept of cosmic disorder all the way back in Genesis 1 -2, in the beginning.

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You tracking me so far? Because I'm going fast, right? So, I mean, the point is, it's not

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God who has introduced this physical evil, this natural evil.

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It's actually Satan who fell and, with his legion, introduced corruption into the physical world.

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And this explains the origin of animal suffering. Now, the question is, okay, even if that is the case, what is

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God doing about it now, you know? Well, interestingly, in the Scripture, apparently God makes a couple of promises or indications that He's setting all things right, including physical creation, including the animals, okay?

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Look at this. This is Isaiah chapter 11, talking about the time one day, right?

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One day the wolf shall dwell with the lamb. One day the leopard shall lie down with the young goat.

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One day the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together. The cow and the bear shall graze.

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Their young shall lie down together. The lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child's gonna play over the whole of the cobra, nightmares.

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The weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den, another nightmare. I hate snakes.

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You see, you know what I mean? You get this picture, in other words, of animals no longer feeding on each other in this type of animal predation that we see now.

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There is new harmony. There is peace that is promised between animals. Why? Because there will come a day, and this is what

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Isaiah is getting at, you know, where all of these things will happen. Now watch how the

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Apostle Paul puts it in Romans chapter 8. Take a look at this, because this is interesting, you know what

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I mean? So Romans 8 verse 21 says, The creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

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For, verse 22, we know the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

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Now again, if you're committed to a certain interpretation of Romans chapter 8, then this is not going to be compelling for you.

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However, it appears that the whole physical world, all of creation, is groaning to be freed from its bondage, its corruption, the bondage that took place when some angelic beings fell and corrupted it.

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And if that's the case, and God is redeeming not just man's soul, but his entire physical creation, then there is an answer that addresses animal suffering.

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Animal suffering, like man's suffering, is not wasted. It will be redeemed.

36:51

All right, hope that helps Reformed Cat 2. Thank you for the question. Let me turn to the live audience right now.

36:56

I have about 20 minutes here, and let's party. Let me take some of your questions. If you can, to help me, just go ahead and throw in the word question ahead of your question, and then

37:06

I'll try to find it in the comments, and then I'll answer your questions, and we'll have a great time. I should say after this, I'm heading to a conference in Nashville, so I have a hard out here in about 20 minutes.

37:18

I just realized I didn't plan this very well. But anyway, I got some time. Let's hang out. All right, so yeah, let me see here.

37:33

Question, question. Thank you, Angela. Question before you post.

37:40

I have a question. Can you put question before your question? And that's about as good as the dad jokes are going to get today, ladies and gentlemen.

37:48

Okay, so Mary Nan. I am so bad with names, guys. Are there any

37:55

Franks in the audience? Are there any Teds? I can handle the pronunciation of monosyllabic names.

38:04

I can't handle Mary Nan, apparently. Question, might animals be reincarnated in heaven forever?

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So let me be very careful with the word reincarnated. That imports a pagan religion that Christianity absolutely rejects.

38:20

So if you're asking the question, do animals go to heaven? I think the door is left open for that to be yes in the

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Bible. Maybe I'm wrong, you know? And let me go ahead and let you hear me say the angelic fall hypothesis might be incorrect, right?

38:36

But what I'm trying to do is not just make something up, okay? What I'm trying to do is

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I'm trying to go to certain passages of the scripture, and I'm trying to wrestle with what they mean, especially as we try to put them together, okay?

38:52

So yeah, maybe, you know? And I can tell you right now, that would please my mother to no end.

38:58

Hi, Mom. All right. Yeah, Joy Lynn asked the same question. Do you believe the Lord will bring animals back to life?

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I mean, if we think of redemption, the way that God is bringing shalom back to the whole world, bringing order back to chaos, and we see how that uniquely applies to human beings.

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And this offer extends to the physical world as well. Like I said, I mean, I see the door being left open for this to apply to animals.

39:31

I don't know. I used to be a hard no. Like, what are you talking about? This is crazy, right? John Piper, I think, holds to this view a little.

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And again, I mean, this could be totally wrong. So you got to take what I say with a grain of salt. But I think the answer could be yes. Yeah, any other questions here?

39:52

Santiago Loyola says, can a divorced woman remarry and not have her husband be living in constant adultery?

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Can a divorced woman remarry? It depends on the circumstances of the divorce.

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Right? So, I mean, you can look at Matthew. It's Matthew chapter 19.

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And it seems that Jesus really seems to shut the door on almost every excuse for divorce imaginable.

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So let me close that. Actually, let me open this back up. There you go.

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Matthew chapter 19. And I'll just do this really fast. Have you not read—so the

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Pharisees come up and they want to test him. Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause? Now, you have to understand the historical moment here is—and the attitude is, yeah, you can, you know?

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And there's all kinds of crazy excuses that men in the first century would use to, quote unquote, lawfully divorce their wives.

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This did not please the Lord. And so what Jesus is doing is he's trying to—he's trying to reorient the ship.

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I'm probably ruining a metaphor here. But anyway, so he says, verse 4, have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female?

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Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and the two—somebody needs to hear that—the two shall become one flesh.

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So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together let not man separate.

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You know, you have this picture of something that should not be torn apart, you know?

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So that therefore a torn piece can then go to another torn piece and then, you know, just claim that they are one, you know?

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Certainly not in the eyes of God. Jesus leaves, I believe, no room for this, for divorce, except for this.

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So they say, well, why didn't Moses command to give a certificate of divorce to Jesus and to send her away?

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He says, well, because of—verse 8—because of your hardness of heart, you know? So then Jesus says,

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I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery.

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Now, there's a question about what sexual immorality means. You know, this phrase, is the category broad, more broad than we think, or is it more narrow than we think, you know?

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I don't know. I think we should also consider what Paul says in 1

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Corinthians 7, right? He says to the widows, to the unmarried,

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I say it is good for them to remain single. Then he says in verse 10 to the—sorry, that, you know, sounds a little depressing, but imagine what you can do—and

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I don't want to sound disrespectful at all—when you are one person, you know?

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Not having to provide for and care for multiple members of a family, but you are one person, bags packed, ready to go when

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God says, go to the other side of the world. You know what I mean? You know what I'm getting at here? When God providentially says, do this, do that, and your responsibilities are not split in that way.

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Imagine the kind of work that you can do. I mean, this is what, you know, the apostle Paul, presumably single, was doing.

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This is what he means, right? The wife—but here's what he says in verse 10. To the married, I give this charge.

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The wife should not separate from her husband, but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband, and the husband should not divorce his wife.

43:44

Okay, there are principles in here, Santiago, that I do believe leave the door open to certain exceptions, okay?

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But principally speaking, can a divorced woman remarry and not have her husband be living in constant adultery?

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The general principled answer that Jesus provides and the Bible gives is if the divorce was not on the circumstance of, what is it, sexual immorality, the divorce is not seen in the eyes of God as justified.

44:24

Now, I understand this makes some people upset. If you want, I can go into a much more in -depth answer next time.

44:31

So let me go ahead and grab, because I have a few more minutes here, one more question or maybe two, and then we'll get going.

44:43

Chloe—whoops. Hey, Chloe. Oh, you guys are—some of you are going through the flu.

44:53

That's horrible. Yeah, question. Any questions here? Okay, here we go. Chase McCurley says, if a believer can believe evolution, then why does

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Bible say, Lion and Lamb lying down together is the future restoration.

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If suffering has existed before the fall, there is no ideal to restore back to. Yeah, I mean, so just to be transparent with you all,

45:14

I don't believe in what is called macroevolution. I don't—so

45:21

I'm not a theistic evolution guy. I just don't see the evidence for it.

45:26

And I certainly don't see how that fits into the characterization of the scripture. So yeah,

45:33

I see the point that you're making here, Chase, you know. It's a new concept for me that I'm still sort of wrestling with, because I—like I said,

45:45

I made a joke about my mother. I think my mother and I had a conversation about a year ago where she's like, I wonder if animals—or no, she didn't.

45:52

She was more forceful than that. She was like, animals go to heaven, Nate. And I'm like, nah. You know, like,

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I don't see it. I don't see it in the scripture. So I'm sure right now she's very happy jumping up and down to hear that I've shifted on this.

46:09

But to go back to Pershing's question from the very first, this is a secondary issue, obviously, right?

46:14

So my salvation is not contingent on whether or not, you know, I get the right view of animals and animal predation.

46:23

Let's see. Another question.

46:32

Ooh, Aslan Rising, hey there. Good to see you here. I'm having a glitch on my—oops, oh, here we go.

46:43

Radio Lady, question. First time studying the Bible, just finished Matthew. What book should I study next? Yeah, you know, so this is actually a really good question.

46:51

So I—well, and obviously I'm biased, so—because I'm going to tell you what I'm doing right now. So I went through Matthew with the

46:59

Patreon community, and when I finished, I had this same question, like, okay, where do we go now, right?

47:06

We noted so many connections to the Old Testament. My first thought was, we should go back to the beginning, right?

47:13

We should do Genesis. And I'm sure at some point we will, you know what I mean? However, I was like, wait a second,

47:18

Jesus gives his Great Commission, and it's like the story is still being told here.

47:25

We need to see what the apostles do with that, what the disciples do with that, right? How they internalize, how they've learned from what

47:33

Jesus has taught, because clearly we find in Matthew and in Mark and Luke, you know, they're stumbling around not understanding

47:40

Jesus a lot of time, right? So it would be good to see the theology applied, right?

47:49

The teachings of Jesus to his disciples applied so that we can see the birth of the

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Church. So right now, the Patreon community is going through Acts, and I encourage you to do the same. I think that's just logical.

48:00

However, technically, you can go anywhere. I mean, my goodness, you know? I think it's great, you know?

48:06

Some people will tell you, first time studying the Bible? John. Gospel of John, then go 1 John, you know, or something like that.

48:13

I'm not as stringent with all those things. Okay, so Boring Accountant asks a question.

48:23

I think I've got time for one more. How can Church organizations... How do I... There we go.

48:29

This is what I was looking for! Yeah! I don't know technology! Okay, I'm sorry.

48:34

I'm my own worst critic. Boring Accountant asks, how can Church organizations help the body of Christ with the testing of faith that produces steadfastness leading to completeness as described in James 1?

48:50

So let's go to James 1 for reference. So he says,

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Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

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Let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Okay, I have a clarification question for you,

49:15

Boring Accountant, and I'm not sure if you can answer this or if you're still there, but when you say, how can

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Church organizations help with this, what do you mean?

49:25

Do you mean in terms of like, putting people in positions or situations where they can be tested?

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Or are you talking about once people are tested, is there some kind of structure that you're hoping to put in place after the fact?

49:43

And maybe I'm answering your question, you know what I mean? So for example, a lot of times, so when

49:49

I was a pastor in Las Vegas, I would sit with people who absolutely were being tested, you know?

49:56

They were of all kinds of trials, and it's usually like, you know that saying, like, they come in threes? It's like, my goodness, it's not just one thing, it's like three things, for some people it was like 15 things they were struggling with, you know?

50:10

Just feeling beat down, not knowing where to turn, right? With those situations,

50:16

I would encourage every pastor, but not just pastors, you don't have to rely on your leaders to do this, right? If you know your brother sitting next to you on a

50:25

Sunday morning, right, is struggling, I think it's incumbent upon you to go and go to his home.

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Go where he is, go be with him, and walk alongside him and love him well, you know?

50:38

The number one thing that people need in the moment is they need to be heard. They need to speak about what they're struggling through, what they're struggling with, and they need somebody to hear them, you know?

50:51

I tell my boys this quite a bit, and who knows if anything's being retained, let me be real with you just for a moment, but a man,

51:03

I say this because I have sons, right? I would say the same thing with, if it were, if I had daughters, but I say it this way, a man needs two things.

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He needs something to believe in, and he needs somebody to believe in him, you know?

51:21

At the lowest moment that people have, they need somebody to believe in them.

51:28

They need somebody to come alongside them, to love them well, to remind them of the promises of God.

51:34

They need encouragement, you know? These are the injunctions that are given to us as brothers and sisters, you know?

51:41

Edification, right? That's precisely what must take place during these moments of testing and trial.

51:49

Now, I've said this before, I think it was when we were going over Job, but there are moments, and you have to be able to read the moment well, right?

51:57

But there are moments where nothing should be said. Depending on the circumstance, depending on the severity of the trial, sometimes the best thing to do is to say nothing, but to still be there, you know?

52:10

Your presence is incredibly important. So, Boring Accountant, if what you're saying is, should a church organization create a structure where that can take place in church?

52:23

I dig that. I like where that's headed, you know what I mean? That's a good idea, because let's face it, if you're not struggling through a test today, you will probably tomorrow, you know?

52:34

And vice versa with others among you in church. So, I think in terms of the preaching pastor at the pulpit, it's always good, as a reminder, to remind the congregation from the pulpit that these things take place, that they should be mentally prepared, right?

52:54

This is all probably part of counting the costs that Jesus talks about, right? Picking up your cross. So, the preaching pastor can sort of set the tone from the pulpit along those lines.

53:05

Beyond that, I don't know what more to say here.

53:13

So, I should probably... Oh, Boring Accountant says, I mean, in leading or activities...

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So, I think I'm touching on it, unless I'm not, in which case you can tell me. I think these would be the ways to do this kind of a thing, because again,

53:27

I mean, we're trying to capture the spirit of what James is saying right here. When you meet...

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Which, by the way, somebody needs to hear this. It's not if you meet trials. When you meet trials of various kinds, count it all joy.

53:43

That means you need a brother, you need a sister to come alongside you and help you to count it all joy.

53:50

Because I'll tell you right now, I don't... I'm not psychic, and I don't need to be, to know that when trials come, that's not your default reaction.

53:57

Joy! That's not it. You know? Your default reaction is fear, it's anxiety, it's frustration, it's anger.

54:07

It's a spectrum of emotions that does not include joy. You need to be reminded of the things that you know to be true, and that's where the brothers and sisters come in.

54:15

You know? Anyway. Ooh, I have one last question, one last question.

54:27

Oh, well, got a question from Angela. Angela, thank you so much for all you do.

54:32

I got a question, how can we pray for you? Well, pray for me. Thank you.

54:38

Yeah, so I have a number of projects that I've completed and that I'm working on.

54:46

So it's almost like I'm done with that, I'm going to put that away, and then I'm picking up a new thing.

54:52

I need the endurance to do the things that I've set out to do this year.

55:01

You know? I announced this with my Patreon community yesterday, but I have completed the debate series.

55:09

We're kind of tentatively calling it the debate masterclass. And man, what a—when

55:16

I finished the last—I made a joke with my wife. When I finished the last episode, filmed it, handed it over to my editor,

55:24

I told her, I'm going to walk out my front door and scream at the top of my lungs. This project has taken over a year from inception to completion.

55:35

It's taken over a year to complete. And so it was quite an ordeal, you know, and waiting and waiting and waiting.

55:41

Anyway, so that's done. It's fully edited, and so hopefully, God willing, that will be made available very, very soon.

55:51

Like, hopefully, again, I don't know, a few weeks? I mean, that would be my timeline.

55:56

Anyway, we'll see what happens. I'm meeting with people, and I'll—when I know, I'll definitely make announcements. Anyway, so that's done, but I intend to increase and kind of ramp up my speaking engagements, because I kind of took a year off for some reasons last year.

56:12

And so one of the things that I'm doing is I'm going to Oceanside, so I'll be at Ruslan's conference, and I'll be speaking there.

56:19

So if any of you are in the California area, Southern Cal, Oceanside area, San Diego, I would love to connect with you.

56:25

I would love to shake your hand, talk to you, get to know you. So definitely come on out. I'm going to bring my whole family.

56:31

We're going to have fun. So that's happening, but I'm going to try to do more of those across the year, just across the country.

56:37

And so I'm just—I'm trying to think through, like, okay, how do I do this? Because what I do intend to do—and

56:44

I can say this with you all—is to write a book. How do

56:49

I do what I do? How do I see something in the zeitgeist and then go, oh, that's James 1 too.

56:54

That's Exodus. That's Deuteronomy 8. That's Matthew 4 .4. You know, how do

57:00

I do that? I think there's a way to relay this to other people who are interested, and I think that would make the content of a wonderful book.

57:10

And so that's the goal, is to kind of ramp up speaking engagements this year that would then become the basis of a structure of chapters for a book for 2026.

57:19

And so these are just a lot of pieces that are floating around in my mind, and I just need prayer to think through all of those things.

57:25

I certainly do not want to do anything just because. Like, I'm trying to be a blessing.

57:31

I'm trying to be sensitive to what the Lord has put on my heart to do. Psalm 37 .4 says, Delight in the

57:37

Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. And so I trust that the desires I have now is there because God wants them there, because yes,

57:44

I do delight in the Lord. So yeah, I just could use prayer with all of those pieces, and when they all sort of start to happen,

57:53

I'll definitely let everybody know. Well, listen, I would love to pray with all of you, and then I need to jet because there's a speaking of conferences

57:59

I have one to go to in a little bit. So let me close in prayer. Thank you so much for all of the questions and the engagement.

58:06

We're going to do it again next week, so if I didn't get to your question, hit me up on Monday. Okay. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this time.

58:14

Thank you for my brothers and sisters. Lord, I pray uniquely for each and every single person in the chat, those who would watch later.

58:21

I pray that you are blessing them. Lord, I pray that you are walking with them, that they are walking with you.

58:28

Lord, I pray that they would feel your real presence in their lives. I pray that you would send them brothers and sisters that would then wrap their loving arms around them, and in this moment, they would recognize that it is as if you are wrapping your loving arms around them.

58:43

Lord, give us your peace. Keep our minds stayed on you as we trust in you so that we can receive your peace.

58:53

Lord, use us. We are surrounded by folks who refuse. They not only refuse you, they reject you.

59:02

They are hostile to you. Lord, allow us favor.

59:09

Give us wisdom and discernment to know how to proceed, to know how to speak, to know how to engage. To be effective, to be winsome.

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Lord, guard our hearts. Let us, as we put one foot in front of the other in our journey of following after you, display the fruits that you desire to see in us, the fruits that line up to mercy, humility, radical forgiveness, generosity, love.

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Let us be known by our love, Lord, so that people can recognize that you are in us and that you are real.

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We love you very much. I thank you for this time. I thank you for technology. And it's in Jesus' name

59:55

I pray. Amen. Thank you so much, everybody, for being here, and I'll see you on the next one.