WWUTT 2200 Q&A Andy Stanley's Politics, Roman Catholic Idolatry, Grab Bag of Questions

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Responding to questions from listeners about recent comments from Andy Stanley, the idolatrous claims of Roman Catholicism, and a grab bag of questions including did God have regret, could Jesus have sinned, are demons territorial, and more. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!

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00:00
How is Roman Catholicism idolatry? Are demons territorial? Why is wisdom a woman in the book of Proverbs?
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And could Jesus have sinned? 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 commentary to help encourage your time in God's Word, that we may grow up in every way in Christ Jesus.
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Tell your friends about our ministry at www .wutt .com. Here once again is
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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. You're welcome. Back to Proverbs. Yes. Proverbs chapter 1 in the
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Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. Wisdom shouts in the street.
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She gives forth her voice in the square. At the head of the noisy streets she calls out.
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At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings. How long,
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O simple ones, will you love simplicity? And scoffers delight in scoffing, and fools hate knowledge.
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Turn to my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my Spirit on you. I will make my words known to you.
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Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention.
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And you neglected all my counsel and were not willing to accept my reproof.
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I will also laugh at your disaster. I will mock when your dread comes, when your dread comes like a storm and your disaster comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.
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Then they will call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me earnestly, but they will not find me.
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Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of Yahweh, they were not willing to accept my counsel, they spurned all my reproof.
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So they shall eat of the fruit of their way and be satisfied with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.
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But he who listens to me shall dwell securely and will be at ease from the dread of evil.
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And where is it that we find wisdom? In the Bible. In God's Word.
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So the way that we studied our study in Proverbs, Proverbs 1 -7, the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge.
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Ignorant fools despise wisdom and discipline. And here you have a picture of wisdom, the personification of wisdom, calling you to pursue wisdom.
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And those who do not love wisdom or do not hear her voice will come to their destruction.
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Now hold on to this picture of wisdom calling out because this actually has, providentially it has something to do with one of the questions that we're going to look at today.
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A neat. I have, let's see, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 questions that we're getting to today.
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Are we sure? Usually we don't get to that many. Yeah, you'll see how this works out and how we end up with that many questions.
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Okay. It's about 12 -ish questions, but only like three emails. Okay. That works.
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Yeah. Well, one of them is a voicemail. And it's not a question, it's a compliment. Oh. But you can send your comments to, questions or comments, you can email them to us when we understand the text at gmail .com
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or send us a voicemail. Go to www .utt .com and you'll see the voicemail tab right there at the top of the page.
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Click on that, record a voicemail either by your phone or by computer.
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Yeah. And we'd love to hear from you, literally hear from you. Yes. Please do.
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On the Friday edition, we take questions from the listeners and you can send those questions to whenweunderstandthetextatgmail .com.
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Email address is the best way to get them to us. Yeah. I'm going to start with a voicemail. Okay.
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This is from John. Hang on, I got to make sure I brought this up. Did I bring this up? Well, email or voicemail,
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I guess. Right. Email or... Either way, it's the best way to get to us. Yes. If you leave a voicemail, it emails me.
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Oh. So... There's the trick. I see it in the email one way or the other.
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That's awesome. So this is from John. Here's John's comment here. Hey, Gabe and Becky. This is
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John from Greenwood, Indiana. I wanted to follow up on my email that you answered on episode 2055 back in December about the plagiarizing pastors.
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My beloved sister and her husband co -lead a church, I know, major red flags out of the gate, and I discovered that they regurgitate
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Andy Stamen sermons practically word for word most Sundays. The other Sundays they do at the movies or take a sabbatical.
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My dad wanted to do a guy's trip this summer with my brother -in -law and our boys. So I had to have the conversation because I couldn't stand to go with looming.
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And much like when you referenced Habakkuk, when my wife emailed you back in April for what episode 2140 about God being in the presence of sin, and he doesn't want to be in fellowship with sin.
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I didn't want to be in fellowship on this trip. So we had the talk, a rebuke was given, and at the end of the day, they are at peace with it.
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They are busy and have lots of duties outside of preaching, and this just works for them. Most in the church know and quote, they're okay with it as well, whatever.
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I do feel like this burden was lifted though. During the trip, I drove the whole way there and back about five hours, Matt Rhodes shotgun, and we talked all things theology.
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Most of the time we find we're more aligned on things like spiritual gifts, and I got him to say, I can't believe the
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Calvinism, John, but you defend it better than anyone I've talked to. I'll take it. Thank you both for all that you do.
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We started listening not quite a year ago and have not missed an episode yet. So blessings from Indy to Casa Grande.
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Take care guys. Bye. Thank you so much, John. Oh, that's awesome. And he knows our episode numbers better than I do.
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I don't remember any of that. I don't either. By the way, I can tell you though, that this is episode 2200, 2200 on the podcast.
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Fun. Yeah. I vaguely remember that question. I think I do remember answering that back in December.
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I wouldn't have remembered it was December, but I'm kind of remembering that now listening to his voicemail.
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Yeah. Quoting Andy Stanley sermons, word for word, merciful heavens.
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Well, Andy Stanley's been back in the news again lately. Has he really? Yeah. I've missed all that. So we, you know, we remember from 10 years ago or so, however long ago this was now when
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Andy was unhitching from the old Testament. It's been that long. It feels like it was just yesterday. I know.
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Like I still can't get over that. Why? Why? Nevermind. Don't answer that. There's no answer. Yeah. Okay.
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Keep going. He's still coming up with new stuff, new ways to be controversial. So here's the latest thing from Andy Stanley.
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This was just last week that this one was hitting the airwaves. Here we go. You ready? No. Political affiliation has become the litmus test for orthodoxy.
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I hope you haven't seen this, but let me just tell you, what I'm about to tell you is not kind of off in a corner. This is mainline speaking and posting and books are written and chapters and books are written about this.
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Okay. So I was kind of quiet when I hit play, but he's saying that your political affiliation has become a test for orthodoxy.
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So whether or not you're truly a Christian might depend on whether or not you're voting Republican or Democrat.
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What? Well, there, you know, going back to what I said on Saturday, if you listen to the special edition of the broadcast where I was talking about, can a
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Christian vote for Trump? And I said in that broadcast that a Christian cannot vote for Biden with a clear conscience because of the platform issues that the
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Democrats have said, these things they absolutely will do if they have power. They will make abortion, the murder of unborn children legal.
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They will codify it into law. Yeah. And you're talking the thousands of unborn children that die every day by abortion in America.
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Yeah. And the Democrats will do everything to make sure that stays legal and happening every single day.
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And then all the LGBTQ perversions that they fully endorse and say that they will give rights to and special privilege to all these things that, you know,
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Democrats will do if they have the power. Yeah. And Biden outright saying that he will do those things.
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Right. You as a Christian cannot vote for the Democrat Party and do that with a clear conscience.
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I'm not saying you've lost your faith if you have. Yeah. Although you're going to be responsible for that vote that you cast.
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Yeah. And putting those kinds of things in office and giving them political and legal powers.
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You were complicit in that if you vote for that, especially knowing what we know about the Democrat Party.
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Yeah. So indeed, I would say that if a person is voting Democrat, you've done something sinful and you should be confronted about that.
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So Stanley is responding to that sort of thing by saying your political affiliation is now a test of orthodoxy.
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But there's people who don't vote because they're not in America. Now I'm not talking about that.
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OK. Right. Yeah. Well, I was leaving people in America. He was going. Oh, I see.
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I see. Yeah. Well, even in America, if you don't vote, that's your conscience. Right. I get it.
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I get sitting here right now and looking at the landscape and going, my goodness, I don't know who to vote for.
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I get that. Sure. And I totally sympathize with it. I would say that you still need to be aware of like your local stuff that's going on.
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Oh, of course. Because there's all kinds of local elections. President is what gets all the attention. And they're coming up too.
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Yeah. That's this year. That's no, this month. Oh, that's right. That's right. You've got this month, local stuff happening this month, depending on where you are, what state you're in.
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But, yeah, you'll have preliminary stuff. Yeah. That you got to be voting on now. That's already going on now.
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That's right. So the president gets all the attention. Oh, yeah, for sure. Gets too much attention,
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I feel like, but you do need to be aware of things that are happening locally.
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Get an idea of those things and who to vote for, because there are still good politicians out there. Yes. Definitely.
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I know Christian men and women who are making a difference in the political sphere. Yeah. So you do need to know who they are, cast your vote, because it will have an effect.
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Every election has an impact on people. Every one of them. They're all important. Yes. And when we get into this every election season, this is the most important election of our lifetime.
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Yes. Well, they're all important. They are. Yeah. Every candidate that wins slash loses, it's going to have ramifications on the lives of people.
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Huge ramifications. Yeah. But ultimately, we know, as said in Daniel 2, that God is the one who sets up kings and removes kings.
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Yes. He is the one who has appointed these people to these respective positions. And if it is
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God's will that he would bring judgment on this nation because of our wickedness, then he's going to put wicked people in power that are going to bring those things upon us.
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Yeah. So continue to trust in God no matter what, but as we have an opportunity to make a difference, then make a difference.
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Right. So anyway, going on with Stanley here. So now I'm caught up. Okay. Right now, the current thing for the last three or four years is that you can't,
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I was going to put this on the screen, but there are things I should never put on a screen to have a picture taken because, anyway, so.
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He's got a video monitor on screen. This isn't in the corner. These are on the stage. If I named the people who are saying these things, you've heard of most of them.
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You've read some of their books. You can't be a Christian and be a Democrat. You can't possibly be a true
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Christian if you're a Democrat, which is absolutely absurd. But what's even more absurd is as conservative
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Christians, Republicans, demonize Democrats, all
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Democrats, and you can't possibly be a Christian, as they demonize Democrats, they basically go against one of Jesus' primary teachings.
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Instead of loving their enemies, all these lost Democrats, they demonize them.
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They make Democrats the enemy. And what did Jesus tell us to do with our enemies? Anybody remember? Yeah. So let me just say to those of you who are conservative politically like me.
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Okay. Let me stop there. Yeah. Politically conservative like me, Andy Stanley's not politically conservative.
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Yeah. Okay. So I'm going to jump on this, what did
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Jesus say to do to our enemies? He didn't say make them our friends. Right.
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He just said to love them. And how do you show that love? Is you share the gospel with them.
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Yes. And you pray for them. Right. This is not the love is love and all that jazz.
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That's ridiculous, but I'm just - Well, Jesus also confronts the
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Pharisees and says, you wicked hypocrites. Get behind me, Satan. And that was to his friend, you know?
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That was to Peter. We read that a couple of weeks ago. Matthew 23, 27.
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But do remember, he unhitched himself. So, you know. Well, Stanley's unhitching himself from the
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New Testament now. So first you unhitch yourself from the Old Testament. And then eventually you've got to unhitch yourself from the whole
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Bible. But it's, yeah, Matthew 23, 27, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.
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So you outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
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And that's pretty huge to be told that. And knowing that Christ is love, is he issuing that rebuke to the
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Pharisees in love? Of course. Absolutely. And not just to the Pharisees that they would be warned so that those who would repent would repent, but so that the people out of love for the people around him, that they would not be led astray by their false teaching.
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And the reason why we've played clips by Andy Stanley and stuff like that, same reason that you would not be led astray by this false teaching.
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So going on here, this is right after he has said that he is a conservative politically, which is untrue.
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Andy Stanley's pro LGBTQ completely came out with all of that last year. So continuing on here.
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If you do that, stop it. Talking to Republicans. You can disagree, but you don't write somebody off as bad and evil.
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Here's why. You think it's just kind of funny. You study history. All that has to happen in any country is for a majority to decide a minority is evil.
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And once they're evil, they're cockroaches and they're rats. So what is he, what's he saying there?
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What's his reference to cockroaches and rats is what the Nazis called Jews. Oh, I was wondering about that.
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That's what I had popped into my head whenever he was describing, you know, one person. So he's telling, he's telling the politically conservative in his congregation that you're on the verge of becoming
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Nazis. Well, that's helpful. So you can't say anything bad about Democrats, but here's what
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I'm going to tell you. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I'm thinking. Like you can't call me anything, but I can call you everything, but I'm not calling you that.
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I'm just saying. I mean, he went right for the Nazi. He went right for the Nazi argument. You guys are all becoming
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Nazis. Wow. He went right there. Oh man.
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This guy, I tell you. Yeah, I know. That's why
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I avoid most of this stuff. And seriously, has he ever, ever issued a rebuke to Democrats?
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For being on the side of your party is completely through and through wholly devoted to abortion.
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The sacrifice of children that happens over a million a year. Your party's completely devoted to that.
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Has he ever stood up there and warned them about what their party believes in case anybody's got blinders on their eyes?
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Maybe they're blue dog Democrats and they're still thinking the Democrat party that they're loyal to is like the
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Democrat party of 30 and 40 years ago. I mean, does he do anything to confront them and say, you have got to understand what your party is doing in America?
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Has he ever said anything like that? Nope. He goes right after the conservative. I was going to say,
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I had no idea because I don't follow him. I highly doubt it, but I mean, I could stand corrected.
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So that's where Stanley's at right now. Well, that was the big story from him earlier this week. I'm sure that went over well.
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Folks, pray for America. Yes. Pray for Andy Stanley. We can rant about politics, but America needs prayer and pray for your friends.
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If you've got friends that are Democrats, I do. Pray for them that they would come to understand their errors and that they would turn from the lies and the deceptions that they've been fed.
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They all realize what they're voting for, by the way. And when I say friends that are Democrats, I mean, they know what they're voting for.
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Pray for America. Pray that God would have mercy on this nation, that revival would sweep the land, because if anything's going to transform in America, it has to be that.
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Laws are not going to change our hearts because there's been places where there have been good laws on the books and people aren't following them.
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Here in the state of Arizona, abortion had been illegal since the 19th century. And it was just this year that Arizona decided, hey, wait a minute, we probably should do something about that law.
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They weren't following it. The state of Arizona wasn't following it. So the law can be on the books, but if people's hearts are not inclined toward that law and to follow that law, then what good is it?
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In order to be law keepers, then we have to have hearts and minds that have been transformed by Christ.
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It takes the gospel to sweep this land, and through that work,
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God convicting the hearts of people and turning them back to him. I was really encouraged by Votie Bauckham, who was on the
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Daily Wire this past weekend. Now the reason why I listened to it, I catch the
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Daily Wire only very seldom, I don't listen to it very often. But I caught this one because Megan Basham was interviewing him.
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And so I listened to Votie talk about his brand new book. And he talked about that in the interview with Megan, like laws are not going to be what will change the course of this nation.
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There has to be a change of heart and it will only happen by the mercy of God upon us.
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The part that we do is being out there, sharing the gospel, spreading the good news of the love of God through Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead.
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And that is how you share your love. That's how you love your enemies. That's right.
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Most definitely. And then our enemies become our brothers and sisters in the Lord. That's right. Because we were enemies of God and we have now become children of God.
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Yes. All right. It's exciting. Let's continue on here with this comment from Trevor, Gabe and Babe.
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Okay. Going back to the question that you answered about being made in the image of God.
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Genesis nine, six says, whoever sheds man's blood by man, his blood shall be shed for in the image of God, he made man.
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So I'm with you. It wasn't just Adam who was made in the image of God. All of mankind is said to have been made in God's image even after the fall and even after the flood.
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Thank you for your ministry. Yeah. So regarding that question that I answered from Scott a couple of weeks ago, that was, he kind of suggested that in his question.
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He didn't give the reference to Genesis nine, six, but he talked about how like post -flood he said,
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I can't remember how the question was worded, but he said it in there. And so that's why I didn't give it in my answer, but I probably could have clarified it.
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Yeah. And given the reference to it. Sure. I went to a couple of other places where it says that we've been made in the image of God, but yeah, right there in Genesis nine, six.
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It's explicit. Yeah. Post -fall and post -flood in the image of God.
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God made man. Yes. So yes, we are all made in God's image. Not just Adam. All right.
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I got this, this voicemail here. You'll enjoy this one. I have not played this voicemail for Becky. Yeah. So this is the first time that she is hearing this.
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This is a voicemail that was sent to our church. So this, this was on our church's answering machine.
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Okay. All right. This, this is a, an angry person. Oh, okay.
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Doesn't like. This is why you're giggling. Yes. Doesn't like some of the things I've been saying online. All right.
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But I was just tickled by it. So I'm going to go ahead and play it. Here we go. Okay. Hi. Uh, I believe you're one of your elders of this church is called
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Pastor Gabriel. Uh, yeah. So well, just to make things clear, your, your pastor has been making inflammatory comments about us
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Catholics and especially, you know, the, the Holy Mary, a Holy Virgin Mary, uh, you know, on Twitter, he's been just saying excessive remarks about us
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Catholics and us apparently being pagan idolaters. First off, the
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Catholic church is the original Christian church that was established. Second of all, the
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Pope kind of green -lit backhanding anyone that, you know, insults the Virgin Mary. So I hope you, you know, relay this message to your so -called pastor and, uh, yeah, just tell him to, uh, you know, you know, can it with the anti -Catholic remarks.
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I mean, of course, you know, you American evangelicals have been having a track record of being, you know, discriminatory against Catholics and especially, you know, immigrants that are of Catholic, you know, uh, you know, you know, dissent, um, but yeah, that's pretty much it.
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Yeah. Anathema. In the most loving way, anathema. So he issues anathema in the most loving way, anathema, okay.
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Which is a curse. Yeah. I curse you in love. Okay. Uh, yeah.
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So the Apostle Paul is saying in Galatians chapter one, if anybody teaches a different gospel, let him be anathema.
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I don't think Paul meant that in a, in a loving way that he's, nope, he is, uh, he is removed from the church.
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He is anathema. Loving to those people are being polluted by that kind of false teaching, certainly.
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Yeah. So, uh, yeah, he makes the comment about me insulting the Virgin Mary. I've never said anything online whatsoever, insulting the
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Virgin Mary, nowhere. Nope. What I have said is that Catholics treat
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Mary as an idol. And he just called her Holy Virgin Mary and Mary isn't holy.
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Well, she is now. Now. Now. Yes. Right. But in, in the flesh, she was not.
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In that, in that statement, when a Roman Catholic says that they mean and imply that she was immaculate.
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Right. So she was from her conception without sin. Right. She was holy. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, exactly.
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Yeah. I'm, I'm just making sure everybody else understands. I gotcha. I gotcha. That that doctrine is tied into that. Filling in those blanks. Yeah. So I have said that if a
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Roman Catholic is bowing down to Mary and praying to her, that they are committing idolatry.
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And Exodus chapter 20 verses four and five say, you shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
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You shall not bow down to them or serve them. Now when
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I've quoted that verse over and over again, I'll get Roman Catholics that'll push back at me and say, well, what about the ark of the covenant?
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You had angels on the top of the ark. So apparently God wasn't meaning that you can't ever make anything that is an image of something that is in heaven above.
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And I have to tell them, that's not what I said in quoting Exodus 20 verses four and five. You hear me saying, you shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above.
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And you think that that's the part I'm highlighting. That's not the part I'm highlighting. Yeah. Verse five, you shall not bow down to them or serve them.
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So what are you doing when you're praying to Mary? Are you not bowing to those statues that you have?
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They kneel. Kneel. Yeah. So apparently that makes a difference. I don't know.
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I don't know where the logic is. Well, you were a Catholic. Yeah. I don't know where the logic is. It didn't make sense to me whenever I was learning it either.
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I was just like, oh, okay, why do we do this? And then some people could answer me.
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Some people couldn't. And it was just like, okay, we just do because we do. And then that was basically it.
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That's all I got out of it. Another criticism that I've made with regards to Roman Catholics and idolatry is concerning the
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Eucharist because they believe in their doctrine of transubstantiation. They believe that the bread and the cup in their communion literally becomes the actual flesh of Jesus and his actual blood.
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Yeah. I had a hard time taking communion after I learned that. It was so gross.
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Every time I got up there, I was like, oh, yeah, they take Jesus. I'm not sure how this is supposed to go.
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They take Jesus' words in John 6, if you want to enter the kingdom of God, you must eat of my flesh and drink of my blood.
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They take that as, okay, literally, yeah, we're going to literally cannibalize Jesus then. Not necessarily cut him up, but apparently these things just miraculously become these wafers become his flesh.
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And I'm like - Yes, it's at the - But they're still wafers. They don't change. The consistency doesn't change, the look doesn't change, nothing changes about the wafers.
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So I just, I don't know if it was just my logical mind or what, but I just, that was probably the
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Lord saving me a lot of headache later on in life whenever I learned the truth.
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But, you know, it's okay. Well, in our own statement of faith concerning the
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Lord's table, it actually does say in our statement, it's just common sense that this does not transform into the literal body and blood of Jesus.
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So this is the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. That's our confession.
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Right. Chapter 30, paragraph 6, that doctrine, which maintains a change of the substance of bread and wine into the substance of Christ's body and blood, commonly called transubstantiation, by consecration of a priest or by any other way, is repugnant, not to scripture alone, but even to common sense and reason, as it overthrows the nature of the ordinance and has been and is the cause of manifold superstitions, yea, of gross idolatries.
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Yes. Because they don't just eat the Eucharist and drink the cup. They worship it because they think it's literally become
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Jesus. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I had a hard time with that. Yeah. I really did struggle.
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And, I mean, I think I was in high school and I learned that that's what they believe it actually became.
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Right. And I was like, whoa, whoa, what? And so, you know, you're in the area, you have the fields, you have, you know, the traditions, you're used to this, this is life.
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So you try to adapt to what they're saying. And I just couldn't do it.
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I couldn't. I was like, yeah, no, I'm just going to, you guys believe what you want to believe. I'm going to believe that this is still a wafer and, you know, wine.
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Yeah. Because it's Catholic. So they had wine. You weren't catechized to believe this is, this is actually literally the flesh and blood of Jesus?
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Oh, probably. I just didn't pay attention. You just didn't pay attention to any of it. Yeah. But, no, it was when
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I was confirmed that I learned. I see. More, and I guess paid it more attention.
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I don't know. Right. Maybe had a better teacher. This was more than just, I'm attending now because of my parents, I actually have to learn this.
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Yeah. Right. Sure. Well, you get an honest Catholic every once in a while, and even they will admit, yeah, if this doesn't become the body and blood of Jesus, then we're idolaters.
29:48
You ever heard of Mike Schmitz? One of the most popular Catholic teachers out there right now.
29:54
You've heard of him. You've seen his videos before. Oh, really? Yeah. Because there's people that email them to us.
29:59
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So, this is him, and he's doing like a virtual mass, and this is his homily prior to taking the
30:09
Eucharist and drinking of the cup. Okay. So, here's what Mike Schmitz says about whether or not
30:15
Roman Catholics are idolaters because of the Eucharist. We run a camp every summer with our junior high students, and high school students work there, college students and adults.
30:25
We all work together. It's an incredible couple of weeks. It's not a Catholic camp. The camp we put on is
30:30
Catholic, but the grounds are not. They belong to another Christian denomination. At one point, the director of the camp, he came up to me and said, yeah, you know,
30:38
Father, the board of directors, we had a meeting, and they're really concerned that we host
30:43
Catholics at our camp. I was like, oh, how come? And he said, well, because one of the members of the board stood up and said, you know, that they believe, those
30:54
Catholics believe that at every mass, that really is Jesus. They worship bread and wine as if that is
30:59
God. They're committing idolatry on our campground, in our facility.
31:04
Do we really want people to commit idolatry in our buildings, at our camp?
31:12
And he was like, and I told him, no, it's not that big of a deal. Actually, I looked at him. I was like, he's actually correct.
31:18
Those are the stakes. You're right. He's right. But that what we do, if it's not really
31:26
Jesus, then we are the worst idolaters in the history of humanity.
31:35
That's a pretty big admission. Yep. That's pretty huge. Yeah. Yeah. If that doesn't become the actual flesh and blood of Jesus in the mass, then
31:50
Roman Catholics are the worst idolaters in the history of humanity. Huh.
31:56
I didn't think about that whenever I was, you know, attending. Well, now you've got it from a priest.
32:01
Yep. There you go. So, like I said, every once in a while, you'll get somebody who will honestly answer some of those questions.
32:08
Yeah. And really, when I've had conversations with Roman Catholics in private, they'll say stuff like this.
32:14
They'll acknowledge that. You don't typically see that being the general course of conversation in public.
32:20
Right. But every once in a while, you can find those things. They'll say those things to you. I've heard even weirder stuff than that on a private level.
32:28
Yeah. But avoid Roman Catholicism, folks, from their own mouth. Pray for them.
32:34
Yeah. If it doesn't become the body and blood of Jesus. Yes. They are not partners on the mission field.
32:40
They are the mission field. Yes. So, win them out of this idolatrous religion that they are in by sharing the gospel and showing them what scripture actually says.
32:50
Now, for those who have been the most indoctrinated into their catechisms and things like that, that's going to be the, that will be the most difficult.
32:59
Because they've been brainwashed by all their false doctrine. And sometimes, the deeper you go into Roman Catholicism, it's almost like if they can twist the scripture, they will.
33:09
And so, it can be a very arduous labor, but a labor of love.
33:15
Yes. I know it took me a long time to figure out what is what and what is not.
33:23
And I think I'm still figuring out what I did wrong, you know, back whenever I was, before I was saved.
33:30
And it was just eye -opening about how much was wrong. Yeah. I mean,
33:36
I'm sure it's the same way with charismatics, too, is like, you just believe and you just do because that's what everybody's doing and that's what you've always done.
33:44
So, I'm sure it's... Yeah, everybody caught up in a false teaching. That's exactly what it is.
33:49
It's the only thing I've ever known. Yeah. It's the warning that Paul gives to Timothy, they are deceived and being deceived.
33:55
Yes. Yeah. And it's hard to rewire your brain to the truth.
34:02
Keep reading the Bible and keep asking questions about scripture to someone trustworthy.
34:09
And speaking of asking questions, this next one, we've got quite a few of them here. All right. But first, a correction. I said they are deceived and being deceived.
34:16
I said the same thing twice. So... Yeah. The actual statement is this.
34:22
So it's 2 Timothy 3, verse 12, Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
34:30
That guy that just issued an anathema on me, that's what he wants to do.
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While evil people and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
34:43
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
34:59
And then we get to these two famous verses, all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
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Yes. Exactly the imperative you gave, that the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work.
35:16
Yes. All right. Now let's get to this series of questions here. So this is from Lori. She says, Hello, Gabe and Becky.
35:23
So this is going to be like a grab bag of questions. Awesome. Every once in a while when
35:28
I think of a question, I jot it down in my phone to ask my pastor. Well, I thought I could pass these questions your way and see how you would answer them.
35:36
All right. I'm just copying and pasting from the notes on my phone. Answer all or some of them if you like.
35:43
And there's 22 questions. We're going to do just about 10.
35:48
Okay. So I'm just going to knock out a few of them here. So why is 22 a number?
35:54
Didn't we answer 22 questions? Somebody else sent us something with 22 questions. I don't remember.
35:59
Didn't they? I have no idea. I thought it was that one episode late in the day for my brain to be working that well.
36:06
It was that. It was that. I think they were like biographical questions. Okay. It was like, what's your favorite?
36:12
This? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. I'm pretty sure the number was 22. I have no idea. I don't remember the number, but I remember that email.
36:20
Yeah. Seems to be a thing. 22 questions. Anyway. So number one, if God is sovereign and has foreordained all things, then why does
36:28
God say in Genesis 6, 6, that he has regretted that he made man on the earth?
36:35
Or why does he say in 1 Samuel 15, 11, that I regret that I have made
36:41
Saul king? Yeah. I remember having that question too.
36:46
And I remember you giving me the answer of, it's not the same regret that we experience.
36:52
Right. It's, how did you word that? So in 1
36:58
Samuel 15, 11, the Lord says to Samuel, because Saul had been disobedient, he did not do what the
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Lord told him to do. Oh, right. So God says, I regret that I have made Saul king for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.
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And then at the end of the chapter, very last verse, verse 35, Samuel did not see
37:20
Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul and the Lord regretted that he had made
37:26
Saul king over Israel. So you have that statement at the beginning of the book or the beginning of the chapter rather.
37:33
And you have that statement at the end of the chapter that God regrets that he made Saul king. But in the middle of the chapter, when
37:42
Samuel and Saul are speaking with one another, Samuel says to Saul, the
37:47
Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.
37:54
And who's he referring to? David. And also the glory of Israel will not lie or have regret for he is not a man that he should have regret.
38:06
That's Samuel talking to Saul. Even though God said at the beginning, I regret that I have made
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Saul king. And it said at the end that the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.
38:18
So how is it that Samuel then says to Saul that God is not a man that he should have regret when
38:24
God said that he did regret? Well this is just to help us see that God's favor is no longer with Saul.
38:32
When Saul was obedient and he was doing as the Lord wills, then
38:37
God's favor was upon him. But when Saul was disobedient, then God's favor is removed from him.
38:43
God's disposition towards Saul changes. Yes. And of course God says the same thing to Israel.
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If you obey my commandments and you do my laws and you keep my statutes, then
38:54
I will bless you. But if you disobey me, then all the plagues that I had put upon Egypt will come upon you.
39:01
That's the warning that they're given in Deuteronomy before they're entering into the promised land. Right. So it's not like God changes his mind.
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It's that Saul was disobedient now. And so God had kept to his promise of, if you're obedient, then
39:17
I follow or not follow. If you're obedient, then I bless you. And then if you're disobedient, then you don't have my favor anymore.
39:25
Exactly. You won't receive God's blessings. So the one who changed here was not God. It was
39:30
Saul at one point obedient and now he's not following. So therefore God's favor upon Saul is not there anymore.
39:39
Right. And he has now looked toward another who is going to ascend to the throne of Israel.
39:45
And that is David, the man after God's own heart. Now at this point in the narrative,
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Samuel has not even yet gone to Jesse's house and anointed David. But God's favor is on David already anyway.
39:59
Because as we read in scripture, God foreknows. He has placed his affection on us before we were even born.
40:06
And so that's the way that this is worded in such a way that we can see how...
40:14
Respite a little bit better. Yeah. Exactly. Right. For our sake, it's worded this way. Right. That we can see that God's favor was with Saul at one point, but now it's changed.
40:24
And the reason it's changed is not because God has gone, oh, well, you know what? I think somebody else is better.
40:30
That's right. I think I'm going to go with Saul. I got tired of you. You're not interesting to me anymore.
40:36
I have a new favorite player. Yeah. So I'm going to go with him instead. I'm going to draft him into my fantasy team.
40:42
Oh, my goodness. That's not the way God's mind works.
40:48
So the statement that Samuel says to Saul in the middle is absolutely true.
40:54
The glory of Israel, who is God, will not lie or have regret for he is not a man that he should have regret.
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God has known what he was going to do and the purposes that he was going to fulfill from even before the foundation of the world.
41:07
Yes. But great question. So then Laurie's next question, number two, could Jesus have sinned?
41:14
Now an interesting question that you bring this up because I was asked this once years ago on the podcast.
41:21
We answered this question a long time ago. And I said this following an answer that R .C.
41:28
Sproul had given in one of those Ask R .C. segments. Where he was asked, could Jesus have sinned?
41:34
R .C. said something to the effect. I'm not going to be able to recall it the same way that he said it. But he said something like, in his spirit, no, because he is
41:43
God. So he never would have sinned. But in his flesh, yes, he could have potentially sinned.
41:49
So I went with that answer and I gave that answer. I did also say that in the end, it ultimately doesn't matter because it was foreordained exactly what
41:59
Christ was going to do. It was prophesied in the Old Testament. So he wasn't ever going to sin.
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There wasn't ever going to be a point where God's plan was going to fail because Jesus was tempted.
42:11
He was tempted. Yes. And yet without sin, as said in Hebrews. In the flesh, he was tempted. That's right. Yes. He was made like his brothers in every way.
42:18
He was tempted yet without sin, as said in Hebrews. So this, of course, is the answer that I gave based on what
42:27
I heard R .C. Sproul say that I got some pushback from that. We had some emails going, no,
42:33
Jesus never could have sinned. And I said, we can agree to disagree on that.
42:39
But after some time went by, I remember back to that question years later. I remember thinking, yeah,
42:46
Jesus couldn't have sinned. Like, I'm on y 'all's side now. You're right. Jesus could not have sinned because he was conceived of the
42:55
Holy Spirit. He did not have a sin nature. Right. And so could not have sinned.
43:02
And you might disagree with that, too. And I might get some pushback now from that angle. Yeah. Somebody saying, no, he would have had to have been able to sin.
43:10
I mean, Adam. And then he sinned. Right. But Adam's not the son of God. No, he's not.
43:16
This is very true. This is God in the flesh. That's a very good point.
43:21
Yeah. This is God incarnate. So no, he could not have sinned. But if he was just man and he was born without sin, then yes, he could sin.
43:33
But since he was God and man, fully God, fully man, then no. Correct.
43:39
Yeah. Okay. I agree with that. Yes. So Jesus could not have sinned.
43:45
He is the better Adam. And he is the better Adam, the second Adam, as Paul talks about Romans 5, 1
43:52
Corinthians 15. He's the better Adam in the sense that he even being the God man was not ever going to sin.
44:00
Adam was going to fall. Right. And it was inevitable that Adam was going to fall because Adam was not
44:05
God. Right. But Jesus is God, be God man. And so he doesn't sin.
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He fulfills everything Adam couldn't accomplish. He does right everything that Israel failed at doing.
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So he becomes the better Adam and the faithful Israel, the greater Moses, the greater
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David as Hebrews talks about, the better prophet, the better word. All of that is Christ.
44:29
Perfected. Exactly. Yes. And Christ accomplished in his flesh, very
44:35
God and very man, but accomplished in his flesh the righteousness that was required to be that perfect spotless lamb that takes away the sin of the world.
44:45
Right. As John the Baptist said. So that when we put our faith in Jesus and being clothed in his righteousness, it's not just our sins that are forgiven, but we are even given a righteousness that we may walk in obedience to God.
44:58
Yes. By living in his righteousness. Yes. Because that's the only way that I was able to overcome my sin in my life is.
45:07
Is in Christ. Yeah. Once I was saved, I was like, oh, I can actually not do that sin anymore.
45:13
That's a miracle because there were so many times that I knew that it was wrong and I tried not to do it, but then, you know, you just, you fail.
45:21
Yeah. So, yeah. Well, Romans 8 says those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Right.
45:27
They cannot keep God's law. Yeah. It's not possible for us to keep God's law. Jesus did keep
45:33
God's law and did it perfectly because he was conceived without sin.
45:38
Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Yeah. It's in that, it's understanding the virgin birth and that he is not conceived by the seed of Adam, by the seed of man, but by the
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Holy Spirit. It's only now that his being perfect matters.
45:55
Yeah. Like, it wasn't just that he was obedient his entire life and then attained that perfection.
46:01
He was perfect from his conception. Right. Right. And it's the, it's through the conception of the
46:08
Holy Spirit that he's even conceived without sin and so therefore lives without sin.
46:14
Right. Now, I thought these questions were going to go a little bit faster than this. These aren't exactly as rapid fire as I thought when
46:20
I first looked at them. But I'm here and I'm chatty, so, you know. That's great. Number three, will people go to hell for not believing in Jesus even though no one has ever told them about him?
46:32
Yeah. Yeah. The answer is yes to that. So as it said in Romans 10, 13, everyone who calls on the name of the
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Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?
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And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
46:52
And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news?
47:00
So it's being said there explicitly that, yeah, you have to hear the gospel. You have to hear the good news of Jesus Christ in order to believe it and so be saved.
47:10
Yeah. So there are people that are going to perish and go to hell who did not hear the name of Christ. Now, it's not that that's something unfair.
47:20
Well, that's why weren't they given a chance? Maybe when they die, they can stand before God and somebody can preach it to them there, you know.
47:28
Well, Romans previously said in Romans 1, 18, that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
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For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them.
47:47
For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made.
47:56
So they are without excuse. Yes, which is why there's so many pagans that worship the sun and worship the
48:06
Mother Earth and all of these things, because they know that something is divine there, but they think that it's – they just warp it because –
48:17
Well, it's out of the rebellion that is inherent in their hearts to rebel against God that they worship the sun and the moon and everything else.
48:27
There's some theologians that will try to say, well, if he's worshiping the sun, he's just doing the best that he can.
48:32
He sees the sun in the sky, so he worships the sun thinking that he's worshiping God. No, he worships the sun because that is the outworking of his heart that is in rebellion against God.
48:45
Yes. So he worships the created things rather than the creator, which is what
48:50
Romans 1 goes on to explain. Right. So a person that will perish having not heard the gospel is still going to get what they deserve.
49:00
It's not like it was unfair. It was inevitable. Right. They were still in rebellion against God either way.
49:08
And God in his providence knows even if they had heard the gospel, they still would have rebelled against it.
49:15
God is all -knowing. He knows that. Yes. But if anybody is going to come to salvation, it will be because the gospel was preached to them.
49:22
And that should motivate us to get out there with the gospel so that they will hear and believe and be saved.
49:30
So then question number four, can a Christian be demon possessed? We've answered that one a few times.
49:36
Yeah, we have. And I would say no. Right. Not possessed, but oppressed. Yes. You can be oppressed by a demon, but not living within you and therefore controlling your thinking.
49:48
Because we have the Holy Spirit. Right. And they can't coexist that way. Exactly. Yeah. The Holy Spirit, way more powerful than a demon.
49:54
Right. And it's not going to share that living space with Satan's minions. Nope. Number five,
50:01
I've heard that demons are territorial. Is that true and why? Well, that would be a much longer explanation.
50:10
But yeah, they are. And at the same time, probably not. There are probably demons that go everywhere, but there are also demons that are territorial.
50:19
It's like they want to stay in one place. You think of the exchange that Jesus has with Legion in Mark 5, 9.
50:28
Jesus asked him, what is your name? And he replied, my name is Legion for we are many. And he begged him, the demons begged
50:35
Jesus earnestly not to send them out of the country. So they didn't want to go out of the region that they were in.
50:43
They were kind of territorial to that spot. Legion was territorial of the region?
50:48
Yeah, Legion in the region. You also had the situation that happened with Daniel, where a vision was given to him.
50:57
Gabriel was supposed to come and explain the vision, but Gabriel was delayed. And he said, I was delayed by the
51:03
Prince of Persia. And referring to some sort of demonic or satanic entity that would have been there that prevented
51:10
Gabriel from getting to Daniel, Michael had to come and intervene so that Gabriel could get there.
51:16
So that was apparently a reference also to Satan or some other demonic force that was territorial to Persia.
51:26
Yeah. So then she says, why? I've heard demons are territorial. Is that true?
51:32
And why? I don't know. Yeah. No idea. We'll know on the other side of heaven. Yeah. I have some theories, but we're trying to do this rapid fire and not getting it very rapid fire.
51:41
Number six. So this goes back to when I read the section in Proverbs from Proverbs chapter one.
51:48
In the book of Proverbs, why is wisdom a woman? Well, there's two reasons.
51:55
Number one, and this is probably the most obvious reason why wisdom is personified as a woman in the book of Proverbs.
52:02
Not just here in Proverbs one, but even later on in Proverbs nine. The most obvious reason is because the
52:09
Hebrew word for wisdom is feminine. Oh, okay. We in English don't have masculine and feminine words.
52:15
No. But in most other languages, they do. Yeah. And in Hebrew, there's masculine words and feminine words.
52:21
So since Solomon is personifying wisdom, making wisdom into a person, because the wisdom is feminine, it's just obvious to make wisdom a woman.
52:31
Right. Because otherwise, if you're using the word - It would be odd. Yeah. You're using a feminine word, but then tying in masculine pronouns -
52:39
That would be very confusing. It would sound kind of strange. Yeah. So that's the obvious reason why. But then the other reason is also because she's contrasted with the woman folly.
52:49
Oh, okay. So you have the woman that is a prostitute, an adulterous woman trying to entice the man, the woman folly, the way that she's depicted in chapters five, six, and seven with this wicked woman.
53:03
And so contrasting that woman, Solomon is instructing his son, don't go after that woman, go after wisdom.
53:10
Yeah. Love wisdom and pursue her. So that would be the second reason why. Oh, and also because he's talking to his son about pursuing -
53:18
Yes, right. Pursue a woman. Right. Not a man. That's right. Just kidding.
53:25
Question seven. I'm not touching that one any further. I was told that I had to speak in tongues to show that I have the
53:32
Holy Spirit. I don't think that's true. I'm so sorry. But where does that idea come from? Well, it comes from the book of Acts when somebody receives the
53:41
Holy Spirit and then they speak in tongues. But it is a narrative thing in Acts.
53:50
And as the adage goes, narrative is not normative. Right. So just because you see that happen in Acts doesn't mean this is what has to happen for a person to prove or to show that they actually have the
54:03
Holy Spirit. In fact, in Acts, there are only three times in the entire book of Acts where anybody even speaks in tongues.
54:12
Yeah. So it's not common to receiving the Holy Spirit or showing an evidence of a person having the
54:19
Holy Spirit or being saved. Well, like whenever they talked about the 3 ,000 being baptized -
54:25
At Pentecost. Yeah. They didn't speak in tongues. No, the people that had received the
54:30
Holy Spirit at the end of Acts 2 weren't speaking in tongues. Yeah. You don't see it there. You see it with the apostles -
54:37
Yeah. Receiving the Holy Spirit and then going out into Pentecost and speaking in tongues. But you don't see it among those people that are converted by the gospel that they preached.
54:45
Right. They don't speak in tongues. In Acts chapter 10, this is the second occasion of speaking in tongues.
54:51
It's when the Gentiles at Cornelius's house - Okay. Received the Holy Spirit and show it by speaking in tongues.
54:57
But this was to demonstrate to the Jews that God's purpose in the preaching of the gospel was that even the
55:03
Gentiles would come to salvation. So they could literally see it. You have the
55:09
Holy Spirit, too, because you're speaking in tongues. We can see that. Yeah. That was the purpose of it. Because we're a little thick -headed.
55:16
Stiff -necked people, as God described them. And then as Stephen rebuked them for being, too, also in his speech -
55:24
Yes. In Acts chapter 7. And then Acts 19 is the other one where Paul meets those disciples outside of Ephesus, and he lays hands on them, and the
55:35
Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. But they're about to go with the
55:40
Apostle Paul into Ephesus and all the rest of that region sharing the gospel. So they demonstrate the power of the
55:47
Holy Spirit that they now have because of the Spirit coming upon them. It's not an evidence of their salvation.
55:52
Right. It's to demonstrate the gift that they've been given for the purpose of doing the ministry with Paul of going out and sharing the gospel in Asia Minor.
56:01
Yeah. So those are the only three occasions for speaking in tongues in Acts. Acts 2,
56:07
Acts 10, and Acts 19. And in none of those occasions is it meant to be understood, this is what must happen for you -
56:14
Right. That's what I was thinking, too. In order to have the Holy Spirit. Right. Question number eight, I read someone say that Paul's thorn in the flesh was homosexuality.
56:24
I guess that Paul was gay. All right. I don't believe it, but do we know what
56:29
Paul's thorn in the flesh was, or will it always be speculative like this? Everybody just throwing their own theories out there as to what
56:37
Paul's thorn in the flesh was. No, we know exactly what his thorn in the flesh was because it's in chapter 11.
56:43
It's the false teachers, those super apostles that he was warning the Corinthians about in chapter 11.
56:48
Yeah. They're his thorn in the flesh. And you just see the way that he refers to them as a messenger of Satan to torment me.
56:55
In chapter 11, he called them messengers of Satan. Yeah. So that's who he's talking about. It's the false teachers.
57:01
Yeah. To keep him from becoming conceited, the Lord humbled him by giving a thorn in his flesh.
57:07
And it's that these Corinthians that he's labored so much for, even given his body for, and has been persecuted to bring the gospel to them, and here they're going after these false teachers.
57:18
Yeah. And it's something to keep Paul humble and to keep coming back to the Lord, God take this away from me, so that Paul would be reminded my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.
57:32
Question number nine, I heard a radio host on a charismatic Christian talk show say that because Isaiah 53 5 says, by his stripes, we are healed.
57:41
Then that means Jesus' death on the cross means that we will receive healing.
57:46
Is that what that means? By his stripes or by his wounds, in some translations, we are healed.
57:53
I know the charismatics love to use that to say that because Jesus died on the cross for your sins, now you can be healed from your diseases.
58:01
But that's a spiritual application. I was going to say. We're healed of our sins.
58:06
Yeah, not ailments. Yes. Now, you will be healed from your ailments in glory.
58:14
Yes. Amen. We will receive glorified bodies because he suffered and died for us and rose again from the dead, so we will receive the same.
58:23
But the wounds that we have that need healing is the sins and the transgressions that we have committed.
58:32
That's the sickness that we need to be cured of. Yes. That Jesus heals us of when we believe in Christ because of his atoning sacrifice for us.
58:41
And then lastly, number 10, are Christians obligated to tithe?
58:53
Why or why not? Now, I was leaving some time at the end of this broadcast that I was going to play our what video to answer that.
59:00
It's one of the longer what videos and one of the first ones that I ever did. But I'm not going to answer that because we're already in an hour.
59:09
So come back next time and we'll start with that question and I'll play the video that answers it.
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Or you can just go ahead and go to our YouTube channel and watch it yourself. There you go. WWUTT on YouTube.
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You type in WWUTT and tithe, it'll take you right to the video. Yes. It's one of the more popular ones we've done.
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Well, that is our show for this week. Do you have anything else you want to add? No. Just pray for our house to sell, please.
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Pray for our house to sell. Okay. So on that note, I'm going to Texas this week.
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Actually, God willing, at the time that you hear this, I'm already in Texas. So I have gone to East Texas to work on the house a little bit.
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I'm preaching in Marshall at Providence Baptist Church in Marshall, Texas. If you happen to be in the area, east side of Texas, want to join us for church on Sunday morning, it's like at 1030,
01:00:03
I think is when church starts. Sunday school beforehand, worship starts at 1030. We'd love to see you.
01:00:09
Yeah. We'd love to have you. I won't be there, but definitely say hi. Yes. And then of course,
01:00:17
I'm preaching in the Philippines tomorrow, Saturday. Yes. Which is also
01:00:23
July 14th. Yes. Because they're so far ahead. Yeah.
01:00:29
It's Saturday, this side of the world, it will be Sunday over there. So it is their worship service.
01:00:35
But if you're living stateside, you can pray for me Saturday, because my sermon will be preached there in the
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Philippines. Yeah, that day, I'm confusing myself, that day stateside,
01:00:48
Saturday, but it will be Sunday over in the Philippines. And I'm preaching from Matthew chapter 16 on what it means to live a cross -centered life where Jesus says,
01:00:58
Matthew 16, 24, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
01:01:05
And that's what my sermon will be on as the focus of their anniversary service.
01:01:12
Their eighth Thanksgiving anniversary, it's living the cross -centered life at the Master's Work Church. There in Teguig City, I don't think
01:01:21
I knew quite how to pronounce that. Oh, yeah. It's outside of Manila. But yeah, Teguig City. And my appreciation to Pastor Neil and the rest of the church there for asking me to do it.
01:01:31
Yeah, that is so awesome. That will be via video. My sermon in Marshall, Texas will be live.
01:01:38
I will actually be there at Providence Baptist Church. So be in prayer for me and my son,
01:01:44
Zachary, who's with me as we are in East Texas. And because I'm in East Texas, the
01:01:50
Friday Q &A next week will probably be late. It may not get on Friday.
01:01:56
It might be Saturday. We'll still try to do one. Yes, definitely try to do one.
01:02:02
Just bear with us. Yeah. If you're used to getting them early in the morning, like when you get up and there's the
01:02:07
Q &A, that one probably won't be ready by then. Sorry, Fred. Right. Fred's going to have to go on his
01:02:14
Friday run without us next week, I think. But we'll try to get all that put together.
01:02:22
Want to thank some of the very kind people who have sent us donations. Yeah. I just saw another one here.
01:02:30
I know some of you don't want recognition. That's fine. But Norma. So this gift that we just received from Norma.
01:02:36
Thank you so much for blessing us. Because things are going to start to hit kind of a crunch time for us again when we get to September.
01:02:44
Yeah. I think we're good for the rest of the way through the summer, but then things are going to start to get - It's going to get tight.
01:02:49
Yeah. And we're trying to be frugal now. Lord willing. Yeah. The house will sell.
01:02:55
That would be great. It would be a godsend. It would be, yeah. Just amazing.
01:03:00
I'm going to do a few things that I didn't do when I left. That you wanted to do anyway. That I wanted to do anyway.
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So that's what I'm there for, to kind of get a few things finished so certain things don't look undone.
01:03:12
I just thought the house would sell. Yeah. I didn't think this would be that big a deal. But maybe with the competition that's going on, this will help sell the house a little bit better.
01:03:22
It's a cute house. It really is. Great location. A very in -demand neighborhood, but apparently not in -demand enough right now.
01:03:30
I don't think there's enough buyers. Yeah. They said that the buyers that are coming in, that were coming in, have slowed down.
01:03:38
Well even when - There's not as many. The number of showings that we've had, people that have come and looked at the house.
01:03:43
I talked to another realtor kind of in that area and she told me, no, it sounds like you guys are normal.
01:03:49
Yeah. Sounds like you're experiencing the same sort of traffic flow that everybody else is. Yeah. So disappointing.
01:03:56
Yeah. It just takes the right person to come along and it's all in the Lord's hands. Yes. And it's just one.
01:04:02
Just one. Just one. Just the right person. And that's all we're praying for. We thought the right person had put a bid on the house back in April, but it wasn't meant to be.
01:04:12
Yeah. So anyway, if you want to send us a gift, you can PayPal us the money.
01:04:18
When we understand the text at gmail .com, that same email address will get the donation to us.
01:04:25
Yes. Trying to set something up on our church website, I wasn't able to do that before this.
01:04:30
So you could also give through our church page. But anyway, if you give via PayPal, that's how it'll get to us.
01:04:37
Yeah. When we understand the text at gmail .com. That's also the email that you use to give us a question.
01:04:42
Yes. Or you can drop us a voicemail by going to www .utt .com and click on the voicemail tab.
01:04:49
Yes. Up there on the page. All right, Becky, I think we're good. All righty. Now we're sinners in need of a savior.
01:04:56
That is definitely true. But good for this episode. It's over.
01:05:01
Let's pray. Yes, let's. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the time that we have each of these weeks to open up your word and hear your truth and answer these questions and think about life and the things that you do for us and how you are working all things together for good for those who love
01:05:18
God and are called according to your purpose, Romans 8, 28. And I pray that we would be encouraged by these things, continue to look to Christ in the midst of all that is happening in our world.
01:05:28
We do not get discouraged for we know that Christ is King. You still reign.
01:05:34
You are still sovereign and everything is happening exactly as you would ordain it to happen. Whatever happens in our lives, may we not despair, but it just causes us to cling all the more to Christ and look all the more for that glorious kingdom that we will enter into on the day that we shed off this mortal coil and enter into eternity.
01:05:57
Come quickly, Lord Jesus, we pray in his name. Amen. Amen. What? In God's word, that we may grow up in every way in Christ Jesus.
01:06:18
Amen. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utd .com, dot com, dot com.
01:06:26
Here once again, it's past again. Me! Oh, I am so tired.