F4F | Ask a Pirate Episode 1

Fighting for the Faith

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05:20

Welcome to another installment of fighting for the faith. My name is Chris Roseboro. I am your servant in Jesus Christ This is the channel that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the

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Word of God So we're doing live streams now The reason why we're able to do them is because they put fiber optic cable in my neighborhood and we're now

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It's not even cable fiber optic internet and in our neighborhood and because we have the extra bandwidth

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We thought we would add this to the mix So you if you've noticed we have our prophecy bingos are live now and from time to time

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We're gonna do segments like this where I'm not gonna come to the fighting for the faith

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What should I call this the pirate cave? I'm not gonna come to the pirate cave with a pre -planned

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Episode in mind y 'all are going to pick the episode by asking questions

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I figure that a little bit of audience Participation and the ability for you to ask

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Questions is a good idea. And by the way, I don't mind if you're gonna like throw out like a high inside fastball at my head

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You can do that. That's totally fine. So what we're gonna do we are going to start off with questions, you'll note the questions need to go in the chat and I'm going to I'm going to throw them up.

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But let me do this real quick. I got a Whirl up the desktop and yeah, that's a recent photo

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I took while I was in London and I like the way the framing works on that again If you if you want to follow my photography, which is has nothing to do with heresy

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Head over to instagram .com Forward slash pirate Christian and you can follow me there and see the things that I'm working on.

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But let me let me bring my My Bible program up and I'm gonna move this over just a smudge.

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Yeah, I figured that'd be a good idea there we go, it's over just a smudge and Let me let me throw the first question up and you'll note that we'll go for about an hour

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We're not gonna be able to answer all the questions, but let's add this question

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Question and let me see if I can move this to where we can see it. Hey, hang on a second here

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I'm having a hard time seeing it against the the white backdrop. So I'm gonna I'm gonna hide this. Here's the question

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Question should Christians participate in the Jewish feasts the answer to the question in scripture

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Is is that you have the freedom to and you also have the freedom not to let me explain what

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I mean by this so When Christians sit there and they'll say things like we can't celebrate

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Christmas We have to get back to the Hebrew roots of Christianity folks like that are engaging in a form of Judaizing but So we'll start off with kind of the the kind of the routine place that I like to go and that's in Colossians chapter 2 so if we go to Colossians chapter 2

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I always like this passage because it gives me an opportunity to preach the gospel and in fact, hang on a second here

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Let me see if I can now move the question. There we go Colossians chapter 2 wonderful section that having been buried with Christ in baptism which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead and You who were dead in your trespasses in the uncircumcision of your flesh

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God made alive together with him with Christ Having forgiven us all of our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands this he set aside

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Nailing it to the cross He disarmed the rulers and authorities put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him

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So all of that being said we're forgiven in Christ. We don't earn our salvation either

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At all by our works works are the sign that faith is alive in us, but then watch where Paul goes next he says therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a

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Shabbat a Sabbath and Paul says these are a shadow of the things to come but the substance belongs to Christ So the the church at Colossae is primarily composed at this point of Gentile believers

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And so are the Christians required to keep the feast days?

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No They're not they're not required to keep them at all Now did

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Paul keep them? Even after his conversion, you'll note the Apostle Paul when he was arrested in Jerusalem He was there for particular

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Jewish things and he was permitted to be there because he was Jewish And so the idea then is is that we as Christians have the freedom if you want to go to a

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Seder dinner You can do that if you want to remember You know the the the types and shadows as it as it relates to the

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Jewish feast days So for instance the Day of Atonement, okay Yom Kippur Important day right the

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Day of Atonement, but here's the thing Paul says these are a shadow of the things to come but the substance belongs to Christ So so many people today are saying oh, we got to get away from all this

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You know these these holidays that were invented by the evil wascally woman

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Catholic Church, right? This is how they talk. And so we need to celebrate Yom Kippur Yom Kippur is a type and shadow pointing us to the crucifixion of Christ the real

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Day of Atonement the once -for -all sacrifice for all sins is

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Christ's death on the cross and Christians have always celebrated that as Good Friday and so so the idea here is is that you have freedom to to celebrate or do not celebrate and And then the

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Apostle Paul, let me see if I can remember what the passage here considers one day

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One day, hang on a second. I'm doing a little bit of Here we go. Romans 14.

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Sometimes I you know, my brain can't remember the exact zipcode for certain biblical texts, so Romans 14, let's see what this says

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Okay, so don't pass judgment on one another as for the one who is weak in faith

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Welcome him but not to quarrel over opinions one person believes he may eat anything

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While the weak person eats only vegetables. I always crack up there Paul considered vegetarians to be weak

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But you're not supposed to quibble with them and if you want to be a vegetarian you want to go vegan you go right ahead

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Right, let no one who eats despise the one who abstains Let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats for God has welcomed him

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Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another it is before his own master that he stands or falls and he will

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Be upheld for the Lord is able to make him stand one person esteems one day as better than another

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While another esteems all days alike each one should be fully convinced in his own mind

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The one who observes the day Observes it in honor of the Lord the one who eats eats in honor of the

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Lord Since he gives thanks to God while the one who abstains a abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God For none of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself for if we live we live to the

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Lord and if we Die, we die to the Lord. So then whether we live or die we We are the Lord's for this is for this and Christ died and lived again that he might be both

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Lord of the dead and of The living so the basic principle is this you want to fall you you want to you know

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Do a study and maybe even like Celebrate the Jewish feast days remembering the types and shadows that point to Christ.

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So keep this in mind Every one of those Old Testament feast days points to Jesus in one way or another

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So you think of the Passover? Well, Jesus is our Passover Lamb Christ Our Passover Lamb has been slain the scripture says so the

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Passover Lamb is a type and shadow of Christ Okay, Yom Kippur type and shadow of Jesus's death on the cross the

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Day of Atonement The Feast of Booths is to remind us of our temporal, you know temporal

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Wilderness wanderings as we head towards the real promised land, which is what? The the the the new heavens and the new earth so you get the idea here but but I would note that the

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Oftentimes nowadays people will sit there and they'll say all the reason why we have Christmas and Easter These are pagan holidays brought in in order to deceive

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Christians and Christians have been falling for it all along That's just nonsense. It's just that's that's conspiracy theory nonsense

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I mean, this is the kind of stuff that flat earthers believe in KJV only people go for and stuff like this

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It's just false. And so you have the freedom to celebrate Christmas You have the cell freedom to celebrate the resurrection of Christ and no

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Easter is not a an homage to Ishtar That's just bad scholarship but you also have the freedom if you want in a careful study of God's Word to go back to the types and shadows and Glorify God in recognizing how they all pointed to Christ.

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That's what Paul says in Colossians 2 So I don't know if that answered the question, but I hope it did so it's the best way

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I can put it now I'm gonna I'm gonna roll back through here and take a look and see if there's any other questions coming up Oh, there's some super quiet super chats here.

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Hang on a second here By the way, thank you for the super chat KB and David Connell super chat from Daniel C question

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What is your biblical support for whirling up the desktop? You know,

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I I'm beginning to think Daniel that maybe it's heresy to whirl up the desktop there is no biblical There were no desktops to whirl up at the time of the the scriptures being read written.

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So I would note that That being the case this falls under the category of adiophora

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Now if you don't know what adiophora is, adiophora is this idea that something is neither commanded nor forbidden

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See Daniel, I don't know if you were if you were like hoping for an answer along these lines But let me while we're at it since we talked about the feast days there are a bunch of Christians who are heading into all kinds of legalism and Judaizing and nonsense like this and Recently ran across some some

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Christians while I was traveling in Europe who have been let's just say

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Frustrated by family members who now claim that Christians cannot celebrate birthdays

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And you sit there and you go. Oh, I I know this one This is what the Jehovah's Witnesses say and so the question is do

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Christians have the freedom to whirl up the desktop. Do Christians have the freedom to celebrate birthday a

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Birthday and so when somebody says Christians can't celebrate birthdays you sit there and you go. Well, why not?

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Why can't Christians celebrate birthdays? Well Because two times in the Bible birthdays are mentioned and terrible things happen.

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Oh Okay. So what were those terrible things? Well, the first time birthdays mentioned is

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Pharaoh's birthday and remember the chief Baker. He he was hung He was killed on Pharaoh's birthday

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Okay, and what's the second one? Second one is Herod's birthday when

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Herodias his daughter She did that dirty dancing thing and John the Baptist had his head taken off You know and put on a platter see see

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God's trying to secretly tell us that we cannot celebrate birthdays and All I do is say are you not familiar with the

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Romans chapter 4 and what it says and they'll go What do you mean? What do you mean?

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What do you mean? Well Romans 4 says something very Interesting and let me see if I could find it real quick here.

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Here we go Romans 4 15 The law brings wrath But where there is no law there is no transgression

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Where there is no law there is no transgression in order for celebrating birthdays

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To be sinful there has to be an actual command in Scripture that says thou shalt not celebrate birthdays and without that kind of command

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You're free to celebrate birthdays if you want you're free to not celebrate birthdays if you want

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You aren't either commanded to do it nor are you forbidden to do it and anybody who celebrates a birthday as a

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Christian No Christian has the right to condemn another Christian for doing so because where there is no law there is no transgression so the the answer to your question

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Daniel is There is no biblical support for whirling up the desktop

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And since there is no command against whirling up the desktop and no command Telling me to whirl up the desktop this falls under Christian freedom and adi -aphra and where there is no law

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There is no transgression. So there you go. I Hope we like the answer to the question, okay

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Thank You rodeo Empire. Let's see here What is the understanding of the context when we look at first Corinthians 11 1 through 16 specifically head coverings needed today having a

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Having family in an Anabaptist group that must wear them for their church.

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So good good question I'm glad this one came up because we don't get an opportunity to talk about things like this very often in the normal Episodes of fighting for the faith.

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So we're gonna go to first Corinthians 11 and So you'll know we have a whole section called head coverings

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I would note the way to understand this is at the very end of this section and I'll explain so If anyone is inclined to be contentious

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Paul writes we have no such practice nor do the churches of God So you're going to note then verse 16 makes it clear that in the churches of God there is no command to wear head coverings

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Nor is there a command not to that's that so that's how he ends the section But that being the case there's more to consider along these lines.

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So let me give you an example. All right Because I understand the role that head coverings played not only in the ancient world but also plays in current in certain cultures today if I decided in the

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American context that I was not going to wear a Wedding ring anymore, but I'm still married.

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Okay, so I have a wedding ring and Good luck getting this thing off my finger I Was skinnier when

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I got married and getting these things off It might take the jaws of life at this point, but my wedding ring is right here

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So if I decided I wasn't gonna wear a wedding ring anymore There is no command in Scripture to wear a wedding ring none whatsoever

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But if I decided I wasn't gonna wear a wedding ring anymore, would I risk?

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Scandalizing people especially Christians or people that I'm serving as their pastor. The answer is absolutely

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I would risk scandalizing them. Here's the reason why is because in the American culture

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Wearing a red a wedding ring is the cultural norm to signal that you are not single but that you are married and and so like if you were to go out to a restaurant and And you know being the the hunk of manhood that I am

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That's just a joke you know if I were to go to a restaurant and and and you know and I was eating my lunch and I didn't have

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My wedding ring on it and being the the attractive male that I am some woman saw that I didn't have a wedding ring on She might think oh, he's single and decide that she's gonna gonna chat me up But then come to find out that I'm not single she would feel like I deceived her

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Right. That's kind of the point is so the idea then in the ancient world in the ancient world

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And in many cultures today, especially like Middle Eastern cultures and other places The way you signaled that a woman was not single but that she was married is that she wore a head covering common practice in the ancient days common practice and So at the time that Paul wrote this if I'm not mistaking it was one of it was the

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Caesars wife Who was trying to lead some kind of feminist rebellion against this idea of having to wear head coverings and it impacted?

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The church at Corinth. That's kind of the backstory behind all of this So the idea then is is that even though it's not commanded nor forbidden

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There are other things you have to take into consideration when when practicing your Christian freedom

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So here's what Paul says now I I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you

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But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ and the head of a wife is her husband and the head

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Of Christ is God So he's trying to remember, you know point things out here the way God has created the families now real quick I always have to mention this here is that it is absolutely true

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That that the husbands are the heads of their wives, but it is false to then somehow turn that into toxic like abusive woman you need to submit kind of patriarchy because in Ephesians chapter 5 it says that husbands are to love their wives the same way

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Christ has loved the church and that's sacrificially, so when when when we think about power

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Because of sin we think about who's on top and who's in control and who's in charge

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Well, if we're gonna follow the example of Christ, you'll note that Christ King of Kings and Lord of Lords he he loves his bride by Sacrificing himself for her by laying down his life for her

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And so when we talk about head coverings We you know, this is a cultural thing at the time of the

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Apostle Paul and still is in some cultures today Paul's reminding him listen Here's how headship works

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But see Ephesians 5 to make sure you men understand you're not to some somehow just tyrannically rule over your wives and say

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Woman, I'm the head and you need to submit that that ain't that ain't Christian patriarchy

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Christian patriarchy looks like Christ laying down his life bleeding suffering dying for his bride and then

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Washing away her sin Cherishing her and then clothing her in splendor and presenting her to himself in that glory and splendor

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So the that that's what that's what real Christian patriarchy looks like you want to know what the patriarch of the universe did

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He died on the cross for his bride. So keep all of this in mind So we talk about headship You got to have to you have to bring the gospel to bear here.

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So the head of Christ is God Every man then who prays or prophesies with his head covered

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Dishonors his head but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head Since it is the same as if her head were shaven for if a wife will not cover her head

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Then she should cut her hair short But since it's disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or to shave her head

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Let her let her cover her head. So Paul's basically saying listen This is not a bad practice

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This is this is kind of an ordered of Society kind of thing man ought not to cover his head since he is the image and glory of God But a woman is the glory of man.

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Now. I know a lot of feminists are gonna screech here Just get over it This is just how

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God made us get you know Wake up and stop trying to put your opinions and how you think the universe should operate on on us

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We're gonna go with what God says man was not made from a woman, but woman was made from man

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That's why humanity is called Mankind not womankind neither was man created for woman, but woman was created for man

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That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head. So he's saying listen, that's that's a good thing

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Okay, because now because of the angels now Here's where a lot of people are gonna get confused because of the angels you mean those

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Cherubim and seraphim that a woman has to have a symbol of authority. Oh, no Okay Angelos here in Greek is talking about the pastors

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Okay, so the idea here a married woman not wearing a head covering

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Legitimately could cause a pastor to stumble or to you know to like shake his head and not know what to do

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That's that's the point here So Angelos here is not referring to heavenly creatures, but actually referring to the pastors in the congregations

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Nevertheless In the Lord a woman is not independent of man nor man of a woman for as a woman was made from man

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So man is now born of woman note that we're interdependent upon each other and all things are from God So judge for yourselves.

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Is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? Probably not does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair, it's a disgrace for him

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Todd white But if a woman has long hair it is for her glory for her hair is given to her for her covering and Jill Note here then

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Paul isn't even talking about an additional covering, you know a scarf on top of that He's saying listen long hair on a woman is sufficient for a covering but note again how he ends if anyone is inclined to be

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Contentious we have no such practice nor do the churches of God This is a cultural thing being discussed and as a result of it

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Paul is praising the the benefits of the practice and noting that Bucking against the practice, although it's not commanded could legitimately lead to some confusion and some scandalizing

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So that's the idea. I think that's a bet. That's a better way of Understanding what's going on regarding the head coverings now,

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I would note something here. So Historically then because this goes goes all the way back into antiquity

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It just got carried over into Christianity until really recently so so for instance, what are the things

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I was I Really been taken aback by is is the fact that that women wearing head coverings in church was common up until Late 60s early 70s

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I one of the things that struck me so on a trip I made a few years ago back to London I went to the the

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Churchill's war war bunkers. I thought that was an interesting fascinating museum to visit and to see the place where you know, we're you know the the war cabinet met and all that kind of stuff and as part of the the museum there they have a they they have a repeating reel of Winston Churchill's funeral and one of the things that Absolutely struck me

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Watching the the footage of Winston Churchill's funeral it was at st.

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Paul's in London is that every woman including Queen Elizabeth when they got into the church put a head covering on in a scarf and One of the congregations

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I served so I'm the pastor of Kang's of Inger Lutheran Church in Oslo, Minnesota I also serve a small,

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Missouri Synod congregation in Radium, Minnesota and And so there's some of the older saints there when when this question came up in a

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Bible study. They said oh, yeah, we remember when the the church

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Transitioned from having women wearing head coverings to not wearing head comfortings and there was one woman in particular

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She died long before I was serving that congregation She was very incensed that the sexual revolution was leading to women taking head coverings off and And she was a holdout until the late 70s early 80s

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And finally she said I I'm done. I've had enough and so I would note that as a historic practice within the church

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It there's some beauty to it And and then I would also add into the mix that my daughter -in -law

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Nicole y 'all see her on prophecy bingo. She is a Repentant feminist if you've ever read her story, and I wonder if we can dig that up It's it's it's published out there somewhere.

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Yeah, maybe even on the pirate Christian website, but she's a repentant feminist she used to build you know should believe in feminist theology and all this kind of stuff and she's since repented and As and for her she will never attend a church service without wearing a head covering now she doesn't legalistically say that other women have to but that's her way of saying

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I have a Husband and he God has made him my head. And so she always wears a symbol of authority during the church service

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And so I I just think it's absolutely just beautiful And so you you will note the scripture say there is there's this is not a required practice

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But that doesn't mean that it's a practice that doesn't have meaning so I would I would push back against anyone who say women have

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To and then I would also push back against anyone who say that women shouldn't I would say no historically

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This is a good right and salutary practice But if you're going to practice it practice it for the right reasons

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For the meaning that it has it shows a symbol of authority and in today's day and age where toxic

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Feminism is ruining society as well as the church. I think it's a great counter rebellion

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That's just my personal opinion. So Anyway, I yeah, so I hopefully we all have just look we're out of here.

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We're done with Rose, bro Yeah, I get it if you do Okay so Let's see here

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Chasers gave a super chat. Thank you again for all of you supporting us this way The question is my spouse is concerned about cremation.

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Are there any issues with Christians doing that? I would note historically Christians have not engaged in cremation that if you were to just look at it historically

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That's a practice of Hinduism and and the reason why it's a practice in Hinduism is due to the fact that the goal of Hinduism and like all

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Gnostic pagan religions is to escape the wheel of reincarnation and then become one spiritually with the universe or whatever the and so monism and so Christians historically have not engaged in cremation because it's a physical

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Confession that their body being put into the grave That that Christ is going to raise that body from the grave and so One of the things that I quickly learned as a pastor is that not only is it a common practice for Christians to be buried

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But they're buried in such a way that when Jesus returns in glory to judge the living and the dead That when they rise from the grave, they will be facing

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Jerusalem So it's kind of an interesting practice but all that being said we can't bind people's consciences as to whether or not they need to be buried or cremated and Let me give you a text.

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Let me see if I can find this real quick here see and I'm gonna do a and and Dead hang on a second here

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Let's see here. Ah, here we go So in the book of Revelation chapter 20 Describing what happens when

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Jesus returns in glory The sea gave up the dead who were in it death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them and they were judged each

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One of them according to what they had done so I like to point to this passage and say that you know, if if you are in a situation where Legitimately, have you noticed how expensive funerals are and stuff like that now and caskets and things like this

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You know, the funeral industry has become an industry and it's super expensive nowadays. And if you're in a situation where like you're gonna die or family member has died and you've looked at the price of cremation and you've looked at the price of like coffin and burying the person and you sit there and go we don't have the budget for For the for the the normal Christian burial and you decide to go with cremation

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You're totally free to do that. Okay, and I would tell people don't sweat it because here's the thing

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How many bazillions of people have died at sea since human is since since the creation?

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I would note, you know, there's notable number of people who've disappeared at sea.

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There's ships have gone down They've been blown overboard and stuff like this and what happens to their corpses.

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They become fish food, right? Right, and so here's here.

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Here's the idea then Christ it's it says on the last day that the sea gives up the dead who are in it

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So despite the fact that your body may have been consumed by a bazillion little fishies and there is nothing left of you

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That Christ is still going to raise you from the dead So I would note that you know that it's it's it's good right and salutary practice for Christians to engage in Being buried.

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My intent is to be buried it's it's a it's my act of defiance against death and it's a physical way of saying

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I'm gonna be raised from the dead in the meantime, my body's gonna take a nap here and And wait for Christ to return in glory

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But if you don't have that ability and you you or you just it's not something that you really is is feasible

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Don't sweat it. It's if Christ can raise the dead When they're they've been lost at sea

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I'm pretty sure he can put the cremated remains of somebody back together on the last day as well So, you know, so keep in mind we have lots of freedom when it comes to these things.

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Um Let's see here. Let's Okay Okay.

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So What is your biblical opinion on Christians participating? This is a super chat question from Matthew B What is your biblical opinion on Christians participating in And or what extent in Halloween bonus?

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Will you be celebrating the Dodgers winning the World Series this year? Okay, let's start with the easy one of the

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Dodgers. So I gotta tell you this I I am a diehard Dodger fan really it was sad to hear the news of the passing of Fernando Valenzuela He played a pivotal role in 1981 with the

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Dodgers Beat the Yankees those dirty rotten Yankees. He beat the Yankees in the

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World Series. It was absolutely amazing I mean Dodgers go to Yankee Stadium first two games.

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They got their clocks cleaned by by the Yankees it looked like it was gonna be a just a repeat of the previous

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World Series and then in game three Fernando gets up and Wins and then the

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Dodgers win the next three games in a row. It was it was a wonderful Great memory. So but here's the thing as I've gotten older.

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I'm beginning to believe I may be suffering from baseball PTSD Let me explain what

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I mean So when the normal season when the regular season is on I feel like everything is right with the world

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Okay, I love tuning into games. I love checking the box scores I love seeing what's going on and but then when it gets to be the postseason

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I get diarrhea, you know You know cuz you you you you when you pay attention to your team

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Throughout the the normal season, you know, everyone's strengths and you know, everyone's weakness and you're praying

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Please God don't let this guy screw up and go on a cold streak now because otherwise we're gonna get eliminated

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We're gonna lose the series and stuff like this. So I found that the postseason is high anxiety time for me

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So I'm still gonna watch it, but I I do not have a prediction I got to tell you both the

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Dodgers and the Yankees are amazing teams and I think either one of them could win and I wouldn't be

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I wouldn't be sad if the Yankees won I wouldn't be sad at the Dodgers won or vice versa, you know, if they either of them lost

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I think it's gonna be a great series I really am hoping it'd be one for the for the record books, but that that's a whole other thing

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So anyway, that's that now about about Halloween Here's the thing with Halloween and that is is that there's a lot of like false information

38:25

About it, but at the same time there's also some problems with it and so it this is it's it's one of these things that you have to teach if you're going to if you're going to Observe it or not observe it.

38:38

So remember Peep Christians are free. There is no Prohibition in Scripture that says thou shalt not celebrate

38:46

Halloween and there's no command to it. So the question then is Where does it come from?

38:53

What is it all about? So this is going to require you to know a little bit about church history and how the historic lectionary worked

39:01

Okay, so in when Christianity got up and running this was not a

39:06

Roman Catholic thing This was a thing that was put together by the church fathers There was a standard liturgy that was a modification of the

39:15

Jewish liturgy from the synagogues and then there was an annual set of readings there were 52 set readings for each single

39:25

Sunday of the church year and then there were feast days and other things like that that sometimes would come and fall on Certain days all of that being said

39:33

The goal of the of the of the one -year lectionary was to teach the full

39:39

Council of the Word of God in 124 Not 24 one 12 month year.

39:46

That was the idea in one year You're gonna get the entire full council the Word of God from creation to fall to redemption

39:53

To you know, all of the other doctrines in between including the doctrine of the Trinity the the outpouring of the

39:59

Holy Spirit everything You're gonna be taught that in these these standard readings and then at the end of the year you would then start all over again

40:07

And so as the church got close to the end of the church year

40:12

And so the end of the church year is going to be like the last or second to last Sunday in November depending on how the calendar falls and so the church has always dedicated the last few weeks of the church year to deal with eschatology and so leading into that you have a major feast day on November 1st called all

40:35

Saints and All Saints is a is is to commemorate those who have died in the faith in the previous year a few years, but also to comfort

40:47

Christians with the assurance of the resurrection and Comfort Christians that those who have perished in this in this earth who have faith in Christ That they are present with Jesus before his throne so the readings have to do with the the worship of the

41:03

Saints before the throne of Christ in the book of Revelation and it's it's a beautiful beautiful thing

41:09

And it makes a wonderful transition then for the remaining three weeks of the church year to then deal with Christ's teaching

41:15

Regarding the end of the world the great apostasy and then his return and glory to judge the living and the dead

41:20

So it's it served this wonderful transitionary period and so the night before I'll Hallows Eve be you know, that's what it was called all

41:29

Hallows Eve Halloween Halloween hallow means to make it holy, but here's the thing is

41:38

That within Roman Catholic circles and circles where they do not understand their

41:43

Bible They were never instructed on how or why the church year was constructed and stuff like that everybody knew that all

41:51

Hallows Eve that that was the day before we Celebrated the dead and so there became this macabre macabre

42:01

Practices where you know, you think of dia de los muertos in in Mexico and things like this that The focus wasn't on the

42:10

Saints worshiping before the throne the focus then focused on Death and the dead in in a really kind of Weird way it became it became almost paganized is the best way

42:26

I can put it and so And in some ways the the practices regarding Halloween and the dia de los muertos they um, they almost are a mockery of the of what was the original intention of the of All Saints Day and so I would note that has to weigh in to your decisions about You know, are you going to celebrate

42:51

Halloween or not? Because in its inception it you know, it was not what this was and it became this other thing

42:59

That that just has weird practices No, so the claims regarding witchcraft and demons and all this kind of stuff that that's just not the history of all

43:09

Hallows Eve That's not what the history is. And so then you'll note them by the time it gets to 21st century

43:16

America The only thing that's left is like kids going out and and you know trick -or -treating wearing costumes and stuff like this it's become completely secularized

43:28

I would note that the secularized version of Halloween is very akin to the secularized version of Christmas and it just misses the real history behind it

43:41

And so I would say that if you're not gonna celebrate it have good reasons

43:46

Why but saying it's about witchcraft and stuff like that. That's not really accurate Okay, maybe there are witches and things like that to think it's the bee's knees now, but that's not what it was in its inception if you want to kind of bring back this idea that hey, listen, this is all

44:03

Hallows Eve and Tomorrow we're going to read this beautiful text about the

44:08

Saints worshiping before the throne of Christ and we're gonna remember You know our family members and friends who've died in the

44:16

Christian faith tomorrow That that bringing that that meaning back to it adds a whole other thing

44:22

So so the idea then you have the freedom to send your kids out wearing costumes and and trick -or -treating

44:28

You you have that freedom and you have the freedom to not do it What I recommend is don't judge people if they do and don't judge people if they don't and then recognize

44:37

That what it is now is in in some real ways and I'm gonna use a strong word, it's a bastardization of the the church's observance of all

44:48

Saints and And that that that should probably play into your decisions one way or another

44:53

So hopefully you found that to be a helpful answer, but that that's my that's my answer and I'm sticking to it

44:59

Okay, so Joanne asked the question Question I wasn't baptized a past Wasn't baptized a pastor people to telling me

45:09

I should okay. So Joanne if you haven't been baptized You need to be baptized

45:15

Okay but it's it's not for the reasons that a lot of people would say and and so here's what

45:21

I would note if Somebody believes in Jesus Christ, and they're not baptized. They're still saved

45:27

Okay, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ. The question then is why should we get baptized now?

45:34

The the standard answer in evangelical churches it goes something like this Well baptism is the thing you do to show the world that you've made a decision for Jesus baloney, there is no text that says that what

45:48

I have found as a pastor is That over and again when somebody has faith in Christ and they haven't been baptized

45:57

That Satan uses that as an occasion to niggle and to kind of question whether or not they're truly

46:04

Christians And so what happens is they don't have something tangible that they can hang on to so, you know

46:10

The idea then is is that what? So when people say you have to do it because it's an ordinance

46:16

Christ commanded it Well that turns it into the law You have to do it to show the world that you've made a decision for Jesus the world doesn't ever show up when people are

46:24

Baptized. What are you talking about? They're sleeping in on a Sunday. Okay, what's the reason why we're baptized because there's promises in Baptism, let me explain.

46:34

So in the gospel, not gospel, in Romans chapter 6, so for instance, okay

46:39

Paul asked the question. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may abound?

46:47

No It's like you're gonna turn the gospel into a license to sin are you nuts right but watch

46:55

Paul's argumentation He says by no means. How can we who died to sin still live in it?

47:00

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus? We were baptized into his death and I can hear people saying it means

47:09

Symbolized the word symbolized isn't there. I Gotta understand this the way the church historically has read

47:16

This text is it says what it means and it means what it says. Well, how is that possible? I don't know.

47:22

How did God create the world in six days by speaking it into existence, right? So, how is that possible?

47:28

I don't know God can do stuff because he's God and so the idea then all of us who've been baptized into Christ We were baptized into his death

47:37

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory

47:43

Of the Father we too might walk in newness of life so when you look at the biblical text regarding baptism baptism is for the forgiveness of sins the receiving of the

47:53

Holy Spirit that's Acts 2 Romans 6 says Baptism in baptism, we were buried with Christ and were raised with Christ Paul and in Acts It says our sins are washed away.

48:02

So the idea then is is that there are Promises associated with baptism and when you haven't been baptized you are constantly going

48:13

Am I saved or not? And the thing is you're what are you left to look at? Well, has there been enough progress in my sanctification?

48:22

I Would note there are some great periods of progress in my sanctification and then there are times

48:29

No, it just it's like the stock market. There's bear markets and bull markets and things go up and down That's that's no way to determine whether or not you're saved.

48:36

So the idea then is is that The church historically and Lutherans in particular will sit there and go.

48:42

Hey, listen, are you struggling with whether or not you're saved? Let's come back to the basics You are baptized and let's go back to the promises that God has made you in the waters of baptism

48:52

And so that's the idea It gives your faith something to hang on to because there are promises associated with it

48:59

And although you believe in Christ and you are already saved these promises are

49:04

Important for you because from them you're able to you know to build on your certainty and confidence that you're forgiven and saved in Christ But then

49:12

Paul continues on and watch what he does in Romans 6. He uses baptism as a weapon against the temptation to sin

49:22

If we have been united with him in a death like his Paul says and that's in our baptism

49:27

We shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his We know that our old self was crucified well when

49:34

When we were baptized with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be

49:40

Enslaved to sin for one who has died has been set free from sin. Now.

49:46

The question is when did I die? When you were baptized you were buried with Christ, right?

49:52

Now if we have died with Christ and we have if we're baptized we believe that we will also live with him

49:58

We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again death no longer has dominion over him for the death

50:04

He died he died to sin once for all but the life he lives he lives to God So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ.

50:12

This is a Baptismal reality so let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions don't present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness instead present yourselves to God as those who've been brought from death to life and Your members to God as instruments for righteousness for sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under the law

50:35

But you are under grace. So what then are we to sin because we're not under the law but under grace?

50:40

No by no means do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves You are slaves to the one whom you obey either of sin which leads to death or of obedience which leads to righteousness

50:50

But thanks be to God that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to Which you were committed and having been set free from sin have become slaves of righteousness

51:00

When were we set free from sin when you died? When'd you die when you were baptized and so all of this is

51:09

Comprehended apprehended and applied by faith and so the idea then is is that Christians if you're not baptized get baptized because these promises are for you and your baptism and they make a powerful weapon

51:22

Against the temptation to despair of your own salvation and temptation to sin

51:27

So when sin comes knocking on your door, hey, you want to play you say, sorry sin

51:32

I'm I don't need to obey you anymore because I've been set free because I died. Oh, when did you do that when

51:38

I was baptized? That's what the text says So the idea here is is that you should get baptized because these promises you need them

51:46

We all do and so let's not do this by law Let's do this by the gospel because in baptism, it's all gospel all promises.

51:54

And so who wouldn't want those promises? For themselves as a Christian, okay

52:03

Vita Asante says There's a sticker of a fan character dressed in all cheerleading jumping up in the air

52:10

Let's see Clarence says hope this helps your ministry. Thank you Clarence.

52:15

Absolutely Just to let you know we we legitimately can't do what we do at fighting for the faith without your support

52:20

It's it's just not possible. So we always appreciate that Okay, so here's the question so Jeremy Rodriguez says

52:31

Is is Jesus appearing to Muslims and dreams and visions now? I'm fully aware that the cessationist will say no.

52:40

Okay. I'm fully aware of that It's somehow that God doesn't operate in these ways as a

52:46

Lutheran Lutherans are not hard cessationists They believe that certain gifts were foundational gifts but because there's nothing in scripture that says that they will permanently cease that still

52:56

God is able to give a prophecy if he wants to But you have to test the prophet and things like this so I have a slightly different view on this and that is if you go back into the archives of the podcast of fighting for the faith

53:09

I interviewed a fellow by the name of Uwe Simonetto and this was probably more than a decade ago and And Uwe is a confessional

53:17

Lutheran like I am and Uwe was an Associated Press Reporter he was on the ground at the

53:23

Tet Offensive in Vietnam. And in so, you know, this this storied reporter just an amazing life and he did the research on this and and having read his article in his research regarding this

53:37

I I put this into the category of a firm maybe It's the best way

53:43

I can put it because I'm not a hard cessationist So this is within the realm of possibility. The question is you have to test the fruit and so When Uwe did this

53:53

I forget the name of the of the church There's a confession small confessional

54:00

Lutheran Church and there's one similar to this one in Berlin But I think this one was near Heidelberg, but I'm doing this from memory

54:07

So my details are fuzzy and one of the things that was very interesting is is that he interviewed these confessional

54:14

Lutheran pastors These are pastors who are not Associated with the State Church of Germany. They still hold to the same faith that the

54:22

Lutheran Reformers held to Which is very hard to find in Germany. And what they were finding is is that these

54:29

Muslim immigrants One at a time sometimes two at a time were showing up on a

54:34

Sunday morning and they would say something like this I Had a dream and in that dream

54:40

Jesus appeared to me It wasn't Esa Esa is not real but Jesus appeared to me and he told me to come to this church and listen to the message and so I'm here and that is consistent if you ask me with with truth and So these people then these

54:58

Muslims show up and they hear the gospel They hear the gospel because in these churches that the dreams tell them to go to They are going to hear the gospel because the pastors rightly handle

55:11

God's Word. They preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins They they preach about man's sinfulness and wickedness in need of salvation and they create preach

55:19

Christ in him crucified for our sins And what ended up happening in these congregations and it's not a lot of them

55:25

It's just like a couple of them is that is that these Muslims come they hear the message

55:31

They believe in Jesus they get baptized They go through adult

55:37

Confirmation class they become active members of the congregation And so I look at it like this is that is since I'm not a hard cessationist

55:46

That this is within the realm of possibility and when you check the fruit the fruit on some of these things

55:52

Legitimately checks out because these people come as Muslims they come to hear the message faith comes by hearing hearing by the

56:01

Word of Christ and then they become Christians and then and those Congregations what ended up happening is they they became and they still are to this day majority

56:11

Muslim convert confessional Lutheran churches and so, you know, I Is it possible yes, is it probable maybe

56:22

And so I can't I can't condemn it where it fits with with scripture and then where the fruit of it leads to you know to legitimate people repenting of Of the idolatry of Islam and becoming

56:36

Christians. So that that's my answer and again Uwe Simonetto wrote an article about this probably a decade ago and his name is spelled

56:46

Uwe Uwe that's kind of the German way of saying and then Simonetto it spelled the way it was but I would read his article on this and so I know this puts me at odds with like Justin Peters and that's okay

56:59

You know, Justin Peters is a hard cessationist I'm more of a soft cessationist, but not not cessationist in the hard sense and either way both cessationists the hard cessationist hard cessationist that we all believe that God still performs miracles today and so I would note that the

57:16

Charismatic self are saying all those cessationists they don't even believe God does miracles today. That's a flat -out lie it's just it's just an absolutely gobbledygook nonsense and it's a it's a straw man and the reason why they lie this way is because They can't actually deal with the nuance of what it is.

57:32

The real cessationists believe so you get the idea here All right. Let's see here how we do it on time.

57:38

This might be the last question Is D &D Dungeons and Dragons okay for a

57:43

Christian to play? I know it's worldly and has themes of sorcery However, it's a game an entirely fantasy.

57:49

Is it okay to partake in a campaign? I I would again, I don't know why all of these things are dealing with audiophora

57:57

I again, I would come back to Romans 4 where there is no law. There is no sin

58:03

Where in the scripture does it say you can't play Dungeons and Dragons? I Don't know of it seriously.

58:11

I and here's the thing I grew up in you know in the Nazarene Church and we weren't allowed to dance drink smoke

58:19

Chew play cards, we were not allowed to play cards and we weren't allowed to date girls who do and I was required as a

58:29

Nazarene to burn all of my secular music albums and I was kind of bummed because when

58:35

I was in high school I owned every one of the Beatles albums and I burned them. It's just as annoying but But you know all that being said and what did

58:44

I replace it with? Petra I Sorry, so I know for a fact that there is an overreaction among legalistic forms of Christianity when it comes to these things and saying you can't do these things because But the thing is you're not really casting spells.

59:09

It's a Game just like when you play a video game there you could play a video game where there's magic and and stuff like that It's not going to make you go out and burn candles and join the

59:21

Wiccan Church, okay This is not this this idea and if it if for some reason

59:27

Doing this tempts you along those lines then you shouldn't you know, this is this is up to Christian freedom

59:34

Do you want if you can do this without hurting your conscience go for it? If you can't do it without hurting your conscience, then don't do it but don't judge people who do and judge people who don't and turn it into a a standard of orthodoxy, you know

59:51

Orthodoxy is determined based upon your beliefs and I would note beware of like counterfeit

01:00:00

Tests regarding orthodoxy a counterfeit test would be somebody says anybody who took the the kovat vaccine

01:00:07

They're not really a Christian Where's that in the Bible?

01:00:12

Okay, because I know people who took the kovat vaccine out of love for their neighbor and Whether or not the vaccine turned out to be, you know a hoax or not that that's beside the point

01:00:24

Their motivation was love for neighbor and I know people who refuse to take the vaccine because they distrusted the the rhetoric of the politicians and Fauci and stuff like this and they were making good arguments one way or another and I You'll note

01:00:39

I didn't condemn people for doing I didn't condemn people for not doing it But when you turn that into a standard for orthodox

01:00:44

You're not really a Christian if you took the vaccine or you're not really a Christian if you didn't

01:00:50

I sit there and go Yeah, that's not the test for whether or not somebody's a Christian you have freedom in these things

01:00:56

So same same with D &D okay if you can do it without it pricking your conscience or you you being tempted to go down the lines of Becoming a sorcerer yourself go for it

01:01:08

And if you can't then don't this is the best way I can put it again where there is no law there is no

01:01:16

Sin, so practice your freedom in a way that doesn't Doesn't hurt or wound the consciences of other

01:01:22

Christians But also at the same time doesn't give in to any legalism or things like that. Sometimes you have to break rules, you know when

01:01:30

When when the rules, you know say that you can't do this and it still be a Christian and it's a man -made rule

01:01:36

Well, then we got to break that rule. So, you know, you get the idea So, all right, great questions everybody, and I hope that you found this to be a helpful type of installment

01:01:46

I intend to do more of these types of episodes in the future So keep an eye on your on your feed there and YouTube and you know

01:01:55

I think we could probably commit to maybe doing this like what maybe once a month or something like that But this was loads of fun, and I hope that you found it helpful

01:02:03

So until next time may God richly bless you in the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ and his vicarious death on the cross