WWUTT 2610 Q&A Seeking God's Will, Knowing Good Fruit, How Many Cups, SBC Women Pastors

How can you know God's will for your life? How many cups were passed at the

Passover meal? And is the Southern Baptist Convention finally going to ban women pastors? The answers to these questions and others when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary in the word of God. For faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.

Tell your friends about our ministry at www .wutt .com. Here once again is

Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. You're welcome. Psalm 16, preserve me, O God, for in you

I take refuge. I say to the Lord, you are my God. I have no good apart from you.

As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.

The sorrows of those who run after another God shall multiply. Their drink offerings of blood

I will not pour out or take their names on my lips. The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup.

You hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. Indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

Well, welcome to the Friday edition of When We Understand The Text, even though we're posting this a little bit late.

Yeah, just a wee bit. But so I guess we would call this end of the week slash beginning of the next week edition.

But that's pretty fitting. Yeah, that works. And when we still take your questions, you can send them via email to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com

or you can voicemail us. Go to speakpipe .com

slash W -W -U -T -T. Speak pipe, speak into the pipe,

I guess. I don't know. I don't know where that name comes from. I have no idea. But that's the voicemail service we use.

So you can record a voicemail. You can email either through your phone or through your computer. I only have emails this week.

And in the last half of the program, so we're still doing an hour here, but in the last half, I want to cover the amendment that is going to be voted on at the next

Southern Baptist Convention coming up at the beginning of June, which will be held in Orlando. Albert Moeller announced this past week that he plans on introducing an amendment that will exclude from the fellowship those churches that appoint women pastors or have women that preach on Sunday morning.

So either one, the woman is functioning in the purpose of a pastor, which is contrary to the instruction in 1

Timothy 2, 11 to 12. So anyway, I'll cover that passage, what Dr. Moeller's amendment is, and then responding to some of the objections to that as well.

That'll be the latter half of the program. But in the meantime, getting to your emails, I want to come to this one that we were going to, we were going to answer last week, but I think we ran out of time and I just kind of skipped past it.

So this is from Genesis. Okay. The person Genesis, not the book of the Bible. Noted.

Okay. Hello, Pastor Gabe and Becky. Thank you both for what you do through the podcast. I really enjoy listening to the weekly teachings and the

Friday Q &A. I had a question I've been wrestling with for a while. How do

I know what God's will is for my life? I am currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in biology with the goal of attending veterinary school.

At the same time, I have a strong desire to pursue music, specifically to write songs that could be sung in churches.

I've been praying about this for a few years, but I still feel unsure about what God wants me to do.

I've tried to set the idea of music aside and focus solely on the veterinary path to see if I could just forget the idea, but I haven't been able to shake it or forget about it.

Right now, I'm in the process of writing a worship album and planning a night of worship in July.

I genuinely would enjoy a career in veterinary medicine as I've been working in the field for almost three years.

At the same time, I don't want to pursue something that is outside of God's will for my life. Thank you again for all that you do.

Well, both of those are worthy ventures. Definitely. Wanting to go into veterinary medicine.

I grew up around veterinary medicine. That's not something I've talked a lot about. No, it hasn't.

But when we lived in a little farming town in Southwest Kansas, some of my friends had parents who were vets, and that was a very needed position in a farming community with cattle and horses.

Lots of animals. Even cattle dogs, yeah. All different kinds of animals that needed that kind of care.

And sometimes the family, it would be like vet medicine would run in the family. So both mom and dad would be vets and they would get calls out and have to go help with an animal.

Dad's going this way, mom's going that way. So I remember it. I don't know a lot. Being around it doesn't mean

I picked up something. Yeah. I just remember being around it and how busy it was and how needed it was.

So it is a very needed profession. Definitely. And that's one of the things, AI is not going to replace vet medicine.

Nope. So you've even picked a career that somebody, a person is always going to be needed in that position.

Yes. So that's very good. But with regards to music, yeah, you have that drive, you still want to do music.

Which way should you go with it? Should you do the music or should you do the veterinary medicine?

That's a good question. It is. And which direction is God pulling you toward? Well, I can tell you career -wise, and I'm speaking from experience here, career -wise, the music side is going to be way harder to maintain than having a career as a vet.

I did music part -time for a long time, nearly a decade. And for a while there, thought

I was going to make it my profession until the Lord, through this woman over here, dropped in my lap, becoming a pastor.

Not something that was on my radar at all. But music, I still love. I write songs. The kids and I will do music together.

We have family worship time. I still lead worship at church. As a matter of fact, I'm leading this coming Sunday. Well, by the time this drops, it'll be the next

Sunday. But anyway. So, it is something that your heart can still love and you can still desire to do.

And it can even be your greatest passion. Like you've got another job that you do that puts food on the table and pays the bills, but music still is that thing that your heart loves most.

Yeah. And that's okay. It doesn't mean that you're in the wrong spot. Right. That's a wonderful gift that God has given us, the gift of music.

Martin Luther is an example of somebody who had a great love for music, even though his full -time job, as you might consider it, was to be a pastor.

But he loved music, wrote great songs. A Mighty Fortress is Our God. Yeah. That was a

Martin Luther song. I was just looking at this the other day, and I can't remember where I wrote this down.

I would pull it up and find it. I can't remember where I did this. But I was looking up who were pastors in the past who also had music on the side.

Charles Wesley, that was one of them. Yeah. So John and Charles Wesley, who were both considered to be the fathers of Methodism.

Charles Wesley was also a pastor. John Wesley, I think, gets credited with that more. But Charles was a pastor.

He wrote like Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Oh, yeah. So a pastor who also loved music.

So there are those who have careers of other kinds, but then they also have that passion for music, like Horatio Spafford, who wrote

It Is Well With My Soul. Oh, yeah. Was not known as a musician. He was a businessman. But after something happened in his life, pens the words to that song, ends up being like a top five greatest hymn of all time.

Yeah, definitely. So you can still have that passion. You can still pour your heart into it. You can still wanna do a night of praise and worship.

One thing I would encourage you to do, and whenever I had musicians come to me, when I was like a career musician at the time, whenever I would have musicians come to me and ask me, how can

I do what you're doing? Like, how do I even get started? One thing I would tell them is learn an instrument.

So whether piano or guitar, some chord instrument that you can play and you can sing along with, and then go down to the nursing home.

Yeah. And play and sing for the folks that are there. Yeah. They will love everything you do.

And it's a great place to hone in on that skill, to get used to being in front of audiences.

Genesis, it sounds like you're already used to that. But then on top of that, just having a humility about it and loving people and sharing with people who are often forgotten and still need to hear the

Lord. Still need to hear about the Lord and sing praises to him. Yeah. So that's a great thing to do, a great way to exercise that love more often and even to share it with people.

I love painting. I didn't make that my profession. Yeah. But I do love to keep up with it.

And I love your painting. Aw, thanks. And, but I do put it off to the side and then

I bring it back out whenever I'm feeling, you know, inspired, if you will. Yeah, sure.

And so there's nothing wrong with that either, you know, just doing as you're feeling called and feeling able and inspired, if you will.

And I don't know another way of a word that. Yeah, inspired is good. I mean, sometimes you're going to, sometimes you're gonna feel like it and sometimes you won't.

Right, exactly, yes. Yeah. Sometimes there are things that will happen in your life that bring certain lyrics out of you.

I mean, that's the case with David in the Psalms. Yeah, and there's, I mean, there's times that I sit down to paint and I just can't.

Sure. So I just, you know, I put it to the side again and then I come back to it whenever I can.

Yeah. And I feel like that's another artistic way of an artistic outlet, if you will.

I recommend that you keep the music, even if it's not your first go -to, go ahead and keep it and praise the

Lord with it. Yeah, absolutely. Like you're what you're doing. Right. It's wonderful. Remember 1 Corinthians 10 31, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it to the glory of God.

Whether you're a vet or you're a musician, do it all to the glory of God. Yes. And then 1

Thessalonians 5 18, give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

You know, sometimes trying to figure this out, we're looking for some sort of fortune cookie answer.

Oh yeah. So what do I do? Am I supposed to be a vet? Am I supposed to be a musician? Am I supposed to get married or how many kids am

I supposed to have? I mean, David was even a shepherd and musician. Yeah, right.

True. He had multiple professions. Well, he's what, like when you listen to R .C. Sproul talk about David, he would say

David was a Renaissance man. So he was - So true. Right. He had all kinds of things he did and whatever he did, he did it really well.

Right. That was - That is so true. Yeah. That was David. I mean, it's perfectly fine to have a passion that's even outside of your career, your job.

I got a friend of mine who's a mountain climber and you can't make a profession out of that, but it's what he loves the most in his life as a mountain climber.

So yeah, you have all different kinds of things like that. And so we will look for that fortune cookie answer.

What should I do? But really no matter what it is that you do, give thanks in all circumstances.

That's what God's will is for you. Exactly. And also Proverbs tells us there's much wisdom with many counselors.

So Genesis, I appreciate you asking this and it is our pleasure to just, excuse me, it's our pleasure to evaluate based on what you said, where you're at in your life and what it is that you want to do.

And we can certainly offer you counsel in that way, but the people who will give you the best counsel are the people who know you best.

So look for those who know you, a pastor, some other spiritual mentor that you look up to, somebody that knows what

Genesis's interests are and the direction that your life is going, is more familiar with you and the path that you're on and can also give you probably better insight into this than we can.

But I certainly appreciate you trusting it with us and asking this question. We go to the next one from Audrey.

This is good morning, Pastor Gabe. It was sent in the AM. I recently discovered your Hear the

Word of the Lord scripture reading on Spotify. I have been looking for an LSB audio for over a year.

When I found yours, I was praising God for you. I was wondering if you plan to continue it.

Yes. No, I'm done. That's it. What, really? No, I'm just kidding. I was gonna say. No, what happened was

I've been a teacher for the last year and a half. Yes. And that took up way more time of my life than I thought it was going to.

So my last class was this past Thursday and I'm done. Yep. That's it.

And I - Well, kind of. Well, yeah, okay. I've still got the kids to teach, but yeah, it's not the same.

Not the same. Not like I'm having to spend an hour prep beforehand, teaching an hour, grading papers and doing it.

I don't have to do all that anymore. Yes. So it was a great season. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I'm done with it.

And now with that off my plate, I'm ready to go back to the things that I was able to do before when

I had the time to do them. Yes. So my goal is starting in June, which will be

June 1st, that's a Monday, I'm gonna be back on the Legacy Standard Bible reading.

Okay. So that's the goal. So everybody pray for his voice, please. Yeah, right.

Oh yeah, so I also have a dental problem going on. Yes. That is true. I have a tooth extraction that is coming up.

On the 1st. Well, no, no, no. No, no, no, it's in June. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, yeah. They're looking at,

I think on the 1st, they're looking at it. Right, that's what I meant. The extraction won't be until much later. The extraction's not then. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I'm about to lose a tooth.

I'm old, parts of me are coming out. That sounds weird.

And so my teeth, not one of the things

I'm gonna hold on to every single one of my teeth until I die. Apparently that's not God's will for me.

No. This tooth though, this one that's coming out, it's been bothering me since I was a teenager.

Yeah. That's how long I've held on to this, this messed up tooth. Troublesome. Yeah, it has been troublesome for me all this while.

It really is not my age. I just got a bad roll of the lot with this particular tooth,

I think. So anyway, that one's coming out. And I'm always leery about this, even when

I had like my deep clean done, or even when I get a filling,

I still get leery about you poking around in my mouth and not you, you, but you know.

I'm just looking at you. I didn't take it to heart. You never get in my mouth. She cleans the kid's ears, she does not poke around in her husband's mouth.

I'll let you pick your own teeth. TMI for everybody,

I think. But anyway, what was I saying? I don't know what I was talking about now.

Oh, you get leery of people poking around in your mouth. I mean, anything in my mouth. My dad had an injection one time, a

Novocaine injection, because he was having some dental stuff done, and they hit a nerve and it messed it up.

And he managed to recover, but it still, it was kind of scary for a little while. And of course, radio was still his career at the time.

So was that going to cause permanent nerve damage in his mouth? And then he would not be able to speak the way that he spoke before.

So I'm always, since my voice has been my life, everything I've done my whole life has needed my voice.

And so I'm always kind of leery about anybody sticking stuff in my mouth or removing a tooth.

I mean, is this going to be something that will end up having some permanent effect? You're just going to have to trust the

Lord. I know, I know. I'm just informing the audience that here's my concerns in the matter.

And I'm just being Captain Obvious over here. So that I can say, so that I can say, pray for me, because I'm going to have to have a tooth extraction.

And it's always so funny whenever, and it's always been the Bible reading stuff. Whenever I've gotten in on the

Bible reading stuff, something dental happens. It's something every time. You've lost your voice completely.

Oh yeah, there's been that. That's happened too. There's always something. And it's always the Bible reading.

It's so weird. Nothing else has stopped me from the podcast, except I might have to take a week off and jump back on.

But it's with the Bible reading, there's always something. Now when I'm committed, I'm going to come back on June 1st.

Oh, guess what? We're probably going to have to take your tooth out in June. Of course you are.

So anyway. At least this one you know in advance. Right. It's not an emergency.

I still have, you know, there's issues going on with the tooth, but the dentist looked at, are you fine? Yeah, I'm okay. All right, well, we won't do anything until your kid's appointments.

We're waiting for their appointments. And then that's when he'll recommend and schedule the tooth extraction.

Anyway, so pray for me, appreciate it. And be looking forward to.

Hear the word of the Lord. More hear of the word of the Lord. It's coming back. So anyway, that was not even, that wasn't even what

Audrey was getting at. Oh, okay, I thought that was the point. That was her first question in the first paragraph. We got another paragraph here.

Here we go. So you didn't know, Audrey, you were going to launch into my dental history there. Main question.

I've heard people, including pastors, saying only God knows people's hearts when regarding whether someone is saved.

I keep recalling a verse, you will know my people by their fruit. I am having difficulty finding either of these in my

Bible. Am I wrong? Could you give me some clarity on this? I probably put the emphasis in there wrong. But anyway, she said,

I keep recalling a verse, you will know my people by their fruit. So where is that in the

Bible? Love in Christ. Well, I appreciate you, Audrey. Wonderful to hear from you. And I am glad that you found the

LSB Bible readings and that you've found them helpful. Not just you, but other people have written and say, when are you going to resume that again?

So hearing from folks saying that has been motivation for me to, okay, I need to. It is definitely something to finish.

Yes, I need to jump back into it and get it done. So I do plan on continuing that series.

And like I said, June 1st, I hope to be. Lord willing. Lord willing,

I get through this dental thing and Lord willing, I start up the, hear the word of the Lord again. So anyway, the verse that you're looking for is in Matthew 7.

It is true that only God ultimately knows the heart, the Bible is very clear that genuine saving faith will always be manifest in observable fruit.

So while God knows the heart, we can tell who is saved and who is not. So just a moment ago,

I quoted from 1 Thessalonians 4, or sorry, chapter 5. Let me go back to chapter 1, where Paul says there, we know brothers loved by God that he has chosen you.

1 Thessalonians 1 .4. How does Paul know that God has chosen those

Thessalonians that he is writing to? Well, because he's an apostle. So an apostle has insight into that? No, he says in verse 5, because our gospel came to you, not only in word, but also in power and in the

Holy Spirit and with full conviction. So we can see in your lives, you believe it.

We preached it to you and you believe it. And so seeing it demonstrated that they have faith in Jesus because of the gospel that was proclaimed to them,

Paul is able to say, your God's chosen. God shows you for salvation and we can see it because you believe in the gospel message that came to you.

So yes, we will be able to look at those and see, I just preached on this weekend as a matter of fact.

So like in Romans chapter 11, where Paul gives the illustration of the cultivated olive tree.

Well, that cultivated olive tree represents the visible church. Right. You can see who is in Christ and you can also observe that person does not belong in the body of Christ.

Now, are there gonna be false converts? Sure. Of course. But we're not gonna know that until the fruit becomes manifest or the bad fruit becomes manifest in that sense.

Which means it takes a little bit of time. Sometimes. Yeah. And Paul says that too. Like sometimes good deeds are conspicuous, but then they're known.

And likewise with bad deeds. Sometimes a little bit later on, we see that a person was not truly bearing fruit in keeping with repentance.

So it's in Matthew 7 verses 15 to 20, where Jesus says, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

You will recognize them by their fruits. The whole time I've been doing when we understand the text, 11 years now, can you believe that?

No, that's crazy. So the whole time I've been doing this, I have examined teachers and showed you how they're sound teachers or how they're false teachers.

And every time I call out a false teacher, every time without fail, somebody will say, judge not.

Right. Or you don't know their heart, something to that degree. No, Jesus clearly said, you will recognize them by their fruits.

Are they demonstrating fruit in keeping with righteousness or is it bad fruit that shows that they're not truly in Christ?

Jesus says, are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles. So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.

A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits. Now, like I said, this is specifically in regard to false teachers, but there are times when we will be able to recognize when a person claims to be a

Christian and isn't really a Christian, though it isn't always evident. So again, that verse that I mentioned, 1

Timothy 5 .24, the sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later.

And the Apostle Paul also says, do not associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler, not even to eat with such a one, 1

Corinthians 5 .11. So how would you know if somebody is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler?

Well, you can look at their lives and you can see the kind of fruit that they are producing. Yes. Do they show themselves to be in Christ or do they show themselves to be rather in the world?

And I mean, you also have to be kind of cautious with that because a baby in the faith is not going to be mature right away.

So, you know, have patience and be careful, but yes, there's a difference between repentance and I'm just going to say,

I'm sorry to smooth this over. Yeah, right. Kind of thing. Does that make sense? Yes. Okay. So like 1 Corinthians 3, where Paul says, you know,

I couldn't address you as spiritual people because you're still fleshly, you're still in the flesh. Though there are some things that in Christ, it should be evident that a person is putting away.

Definitely. They cannot continue to live a life of sin. Right. And so Paul's saying in chapter five, if he calls himself a brother, but he's living in this way, have nothing to do with him.

And we must also keep watch on ourselves. 1 Corinthians 10, 12. Galatians 6, 1.

So I appreciate your question, Audrey. And I hope that was helpful.

Every time I say that name, I have to like, what's the letter that's coming next? Is it a B or a

D? Yes. I have to do that every time. I've mixed up Audrey and Aubrey so many times in my life, but this is an

Audrey. Yes. So thank you, Audrey. Next one from Neil in Kentucky. Pastor Gabe and Becky, thank you so much for the various ministries of what?

And PRBC. Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Arizona.

I'm not sure how you accomplish all of those in such a timely manner. I don't know either. Which is why

I've not been doing the Hear the Word of the Lord broadcast. So by the way, he says,

I've been following your revelation series since the beginning and enjoying it greatly. Oh, that's awesome.

I just finished another one on the church in Pergamum in Revelation chapter two. This is gonna be a long, slow.

Yes, it is. Grind through revelation, yes. So here's my quandary, Neil says,

I have been studying the Passover meal that Jesus shared with his disciples and his initiation of the

Lord's supper at that time. My study Bible of choice is Johnny Max ESV.

That's a good one. In the commentary, it mentions the Passover cedar, S -E -D -E -R always involved four wine cups being passed.

But this doesn't seem to be the case in Luke's account. Not that I believe this to be error, but there must be significance to the meanings of each of the four cups.

Was Judas offered a specific cup from that of the other disciples? Do you care to explain what exactly was going on that evening at Christ's table?

Growing up in the church, we were taught the meanings of the bread and wine, but never that there were four cups at that last

Passover meal. Any light that you could shed on this would be appreciated. We'll actually have done quite a bit of study on this.

And here's the reason why. So when I would reference Matthew 26, when I would be talking with Roman Catholics and just your typical like lay person,

Roman Catholic, not arguing with priests or deacons, anybody that would hold some sort of office in the church, but just your casual lay person,

Roman Catholic. And when we would be going back and forth about Catholicism or Protestantism, they would say, well, we have the true communion.

And well, okay, what do you mean? Well, we have the body of Christ. You don't have the body of Christ. You don't even say that it's the body of Christ, which is not true, we do.

It is the body and blood. The bread and the cup are the body and blood of the Lord. That's even in Protestantism.

Real presence is something that you find in the reform confessions too. That's not just something that exists in Roman Catholicism.

But of course, when they use real presence, they're talking about transubstantiation. They're talking about how the bread actually transforms into the real flesh of Christ.

And the cup really transforms into his blood. And you know this because you grew up Roman Catholic.

Yep, and I was really grossed out by that. Yeah, it is bizarre. And the butt of a lot of jokes.

As you'll hear this time and time again, like some cartoon character, for example, will be taking communion and drink the cup and go, well, that was the blood of Christ?

Man, he must have been smashed drunk. Oh dear. Yeah, it's irreverent. It is.

But so is the mass. It is blasphemous. It's a blasphemous partaking of the

Lord's Supper. It isn't a true communion because they will worship the bread, believing that it actually has transformed into Jesus.

He actually is in that bread. And then it goes into the little tabernacle. You have the host that's there, and then they bow to that and genuflect.

And yeah, I know you know. Yeah, I'm going through the motions in my head. I still have it.

Right, you still remember all that. So I'm just kind of sharing that with everybody else. But when I would have those conversations and I would try to show them that even, because the argument would be, well,

Jesus says, this is my body. This is my body. So who am I going to believe, Jesus or you?

That was a common argument that I would run into. And so I would show them from Matthew 26 that Jesus says, even after he calls the cup his blood, he still says it's the fruit of the vine.

It has not changed the substance. The substance of it hasn't changed. It's still metaphorical.

You know, and it was funny when I would say that. It's metaphor. Well, he doesn't use like or as. No, that's simile.

Yes. Metaphor does not use like or as. Anyway, this is like my body.

He doesn't have to, because then that wouldn't be a metaphor. But take and eat, this is my body.

And he took a cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them saying, drink of it all of you for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

That's Matthew 26, 28. Here's verse 29. I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when

I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. So yes, it's his blood. It's still the fruit of the vine.

It doesn't really as a substance turn into the blood of Jesus.

It is metaphorically his blood. It is metaphorically his body. Okay. Now still, like I said, we believe in the real presence.

Jesus is actually in those things, but they don't become his body and become his blood.

So Roman Catholicism claim is we have the true communion because you have to actually eat his flesh and drink his blood as Jesus said in John six, in order to enter the kingdom of God.

Now he's being metaphorical there as well. Well, when I would respond with that,

I had one Roman Catholic tell me, no, no, no, no, no. That cup in Matthew 26 was a different cup.

That's not the one that turned into his blood. Even though when you read it, the verses are back to back. This is my blood, which is poured out for the forgiveness of sins.

I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine. Okay. It's, he hasn't changed cups here.

But the argument that came to me then was Luke 22, because in Luke's account, there's two cups.

So one cup stays the fruit of the vine and the other one actually becomes his blood.

So I went to that passage and I studied that one. And it says in Luke 22, 17, he took a cup and when he had given thanks, he said, take this and divide it among yourselves.

For I tell you that from now on, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.

So there Jesus refers to that cup as the one that he will drink with them again in glory from the fruit of the vine.

He's not gonna drink his own blood. Right. So he's drinking of the fruit of the vine when we all enter into glory, when the kingdom of God comes.

So then verse 19, he took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them saying, this is my body, which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me. And then verse 20, and likewise the cup after they had eaten.

So the argument that was presented to me was, see, there's two cups. Jesus presents one cup, that's the fruit of the vine.

Then he presents another cup saying, this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is on the table. So then the argument, again, that's made is, there's two cups.

One is the fruit of the vine. The other one is the blood. And when I looked at that and I take this

Roman Catholic person to it and show it to them, I say, it's the same cup. There's one cup. It's not two cups.

It's one cup. What does he say the first time? Take this and divide it among yourselves.

They don't drink it. Then they eat the bread. Then he comes back to the cup and says, this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

It's still one cup. The cup hasn't, it hasn't picked up one cup and then picked up another cup. The first time he divided the cup.

And then the second time was, now let's drink the cup. It's always the same cup. Like pouring it out of a pitcher kind of thing.

But it's pouring it out of a cup. So where does this four cup thing come from? Well, I hate to argue with John MacArthur.

And I don't know if he ended up changing his view on this later on or not. But we don't actually know that there were four cups that were used by the

Jews at the time that Jesus and his disciples were partaking in the

Passover meal. We do not know that traditionally there were four cups. There's nothing in the Bible that says there's four cups.

That does get incorporated into cedar meals later. And it is a long time tradition that has been going on for a while.

But there's no evidence that that is tied back to the - That it says. Exactly, yes.

That could very well have been a post -temple practice. So after the temple was destroyed and you have the pharisaical teachings and the

Talmud and all these other kinds of things that will get picked up and carried on later, it could be that in there, they come up with the four -cup cedar meal.

But there's no evidence that it ties back to the way that the Jews were partaking in the

Passover meal at the time of Jesus and his disciples. So there really is not four cups.

Nothing in the text indicates four cups, not in the Passover requirements that are in the Old Testament, not in the description of the table that we have in the

New Testament. This is likely that something that comes later. Yeah, could be. Yeah.

Or it might not, but we're not told. Right, we're not told enough that I would be able to tell you here.

Right. The answer to your question. So either way, we don't know. Yeah. But I definitely lean on the side of, this was a later tradition.

This wasn't what they were partaking in in the Passover that Jesus had with his disciples.

It was just one cup. And as you observe, Neal, there isn't multiple cups being used at the

Lord's table the way that we have it in the gospel accounts given to us. So great question. Yeah.

Appreciate you asking, and thanks to everybody for sending in a question. Again, you can send your questions to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com,

or you can send us a voicemail, speakpipe .com slash WWUTT.

All right, to close things out, we're gonna jump to this amendment proposition from Dr.

Albert Moeller, which he is gonna present at the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida this

June. And I'm also gonna respond to objections that people have raised against this amendment.

This was a WUTT video, by the way. Okay. So the WUTT video as you can find it online.

Go search it. That's right, on our YouTube channel. You just pull it up and watch the video if you like. Yeah.

Or you can just hear it right here. So thank you so much again for joining us. Yes, thank you.

God bless, and hope to chat with you again next week. In 1

Timothy 2, 11 to 14, we read, "'Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness.

"'I do not permit a woman to teach "'or to exercise authority over a man.

"'Rather, she is to remain quiet. "'For Adam was formed first, then

Eve. "'And Adam was not deceived, "'but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.'"

So, because Adam was formed first and the woman was the first deceived, she is prohibited from being a pastor, elder, or overseer in the church.

As you continue on in that passage into chapter three, you see instructions given that only qualified men can be pastors.

This enrages the egalitarians, the feminists, the liberal progressives, but those who are in submission to the word of God, will obey it.

Recently, Dr. Albert Moeller, who's the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said he was going to introduce an amendment at the next

Southern Baptist Convention that would amend the constitution to say, "'If a church is ordaining women as pastors, "'or if they are letting women preach "'to the gathered congregation of men and women, "'then they are not in good standing "'with the

Southern Baptist Fellowship.'" Here is what Dr. Moeller said. It is for the cause of our unity in the truth that I intend to bring a motion to the

Southern Baptist Convention in Orlando to amend the constitution of the Southern Baptist Convention.

I'm going to move that the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in June 2026 amend the constitution of the

SPC to add an enumerated sixth item under Article III, Paragraph 1, defining composition.

This new language would make clear that a cooperating Southern Baptist church does not act to affirm, appoint, or endorse a woman serving in the office or function of a pastor, elder, overseer, such as preaching to the assembled congregation.

I will move the suspension of Standing Rule 6 so that the Committee on the Order of Business may schedule this motion for debate and consideration at this very 2026 annual session.

Now, this is being referred to as the Law Amendment 2 .0. There was an attempt to do this a few years ago.

It was called the Law Amendment, and it was narrowly defeated, even though the overwhelming majority of messengers who come to the annual meeting are in favor of something like this.

When Rick Warren's Saddleback Church was disfellowshipped because they were ordaining and appointing women pastors, they were removed from the

SPC by a margin of 88 to 12. And that is, that's a huge majority.

And it takes a two -thirds majority to amend the constitution. So why can't this get passed? Well, it's because, unfortunately, there's some bad actors that are convincing the majority of messengers, well, convincing enough messengers,

I should say, that such an amendment is not needed. And because this amendment is not being made, then we just bring it back to the floor and keep debating on this year after year, spending valuable time at the annual meeting having to remove churches that appoint women pastors, because there's nothing in the constitution that is automatically excluding those churches from the fellowship because they ordain women pastors.

So this is a great idea. I'm praying for its passage when it comes to Orlando in June of 2026.

Of course, Dr. Mueller's announcement had stirred all kinds of commotion and opposition, especially by people who aren't even in the

Southern Baptist Convention. And one of those persons was Dr. Meredith Stone, who is the executive director for the

Baptist Women in Ministry. Now, she felt the calling to be a pastor herself when she was 17 years old.

And in her bio, she says that in her late 20s, she had her first encounter hearing

God identified as she, rather than the proverbial he or father or king.

And she says, I remember how liberated it felt when I truly discovered that God does not have to be a he, she says excitedly.

Women need to know God values them in a different way, thus her work as a pastor began.

She got her PhD from Bright Divinity School and her doctorate is in, as Michelle Leslie pointed this out, it's in biblical interpretation.

Hold on to that because that might amuse you here. Let's listen to the response that Dr.

Stone made to Dr. Mueller. Y 'all, I'm tired of this. And I know you are too.

If you're tired of it, you'll repent. But since you're not going to repent, then keep your feminism out of the

Southern Baptist Convention. But yesterday, this guy announced that he's gonna be the one to propose the constitutional amendment prohibiting women pastors at the

Southern Baptist Convention this year. And he's adding a phrase to the previous attempts to pass it.

The new amendment will say that a Southern Baptist Convention church does not affirm, endorse, or appoint women to the office of or in the function of pastor, such as preaching to the assembled congregation.

Right. And he is very awesome for introducing the amendment exactly that way, because that's exactly what the text says.

Let's go back to it here. So 1 Timothy 2, verse 11, let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness.

Now, first of all, that phrase is great, because a lot of women were excluded from being able to learn in the synagogue.

Here in the church, it's being said that she can learn. She should be welcomed in to learn.

So that's an amazing thing that's being said there in 1 Timothy 2, 11. But understanding, she learns quietly with all submissiveness.

She is to be in submission. And the context here, as I had said in the very beginning, is to those qualified overseers, which can only be qualified men.

It goes on to say in verse 12, I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man.

Rather, she is to remain quiet. So there's nothing here that says, I forbid a woman from being a pastor.

It's not worded in that way. Rather, Paul is sure to say that she cannot hold the office, nor can she even function in that office.

I do not permit a woman to teach. When you go to the qualifications for an overseer in chapter three, what must he be able to do?

He must be able to teach. That is the skill that an overseer must have, a pastor, an elder in the church.

He must be able to teach the flock of God. But I do not permit her to teach over a man or exercise authority over a man.

So she can't function in that role as a teacher, and she can't hold the office as an authority either.

So this is worded very smartly by the apostle

Paul. Of course, we know it's the Holy Spirit who is speaking through him, but this is worded in such a way to say that she can't hold the office, nor can she hold, or nor can she even function in what that office is supposed to be able to do as an overseer of the church, teaching and guiding the flock of God according to the word of God.

So let's continue on. He's calling it the truth and unity amendment.

Amen. Well, here's the truth. Oh boy. All across this country on Sundays, women are pastoring children, youth, adults of all ages.

And if there are women who are doing that, they are in biblical disobedience. If there are women who are in the position of pastor over the gathered assembly of men and women, then they are disobeying what

God has explicitly said in his word. And women are standing in pulpits and proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ to assembled congregations in places just like this.

I don't know that she knows what the good news of Jesus Christ is. And the reason why

I say that is because I've actually listened to a sermon of hers and it contained no gospel at all.

So whatever she thinks women are doing in pulpits all across the country, it's not delivering the good news of Jesus Christ, which is what the gospel is.

Gospel means good news. Now I'm gonna come back to that in a moment because there's another thing that she mentions here.

I'll draw attention to that sermon that I listened to. And because of their ministry, people are finding the love and grace of God.

Why anyone who's a follower of Jesus would wanna stop this from happening is beyond me.

And really the opposite is true, right? She's the one who's trying to prevent the preaching of and the obedience to God's word.

She wants to use the pulpit for her own purposes, not God's purposes. And I've mentioned this many other times before, but this is never the only doctrinal issue, right?

There were a bunch of other problems that a church had before they got to the point of putting women in the pulpit.

It's not like, well, we're a sound church and they're a sound church, except they have a woman as a pastor.

Oh, if only they had a man as a pastor, then we could be in good fellowship with one another. No, no, no, this is an indication that there's a lot of other bad doctrines that are going on in that particular body or held by that particular person.

I mean, we just heard in the woman's bio at the beginning that the thing that launched her into wanting to become a pastor was finding out, oh,

I can refer to God as she, I don't have to call him he. So she has a bunch of other false teachings in her doctrine, not just that she's a woman as a pastor.

She does not care about the women that she is appealing to because she doesn't wanna lead them in the truth.

She's gonna lead them in lies. Women in these positions are not leading people to God's word, they're leading people away from it.

And you know what's also the truth is that women were preachers in the New Testament. The women were called to be the first preachers of the good news of the resurrection when they showed up at the empty tomb the first Easter morning.

There is nothing in Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John that says that the women were preachers, the women who found the empty tomb and they were told by the angel, go and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead.

There's nothing in there that says they preached anything to anybody. As a matter of fact, at the end of the book of Mark, it says that they were too afraid to say anything to anybody.

I think that's Mark 1, 8. And so there's nothing in there that says they go and preach even to the disciples, though that's the way that Dr.

Stone is gonna paint this. And in 1 Corinthians 11, verse five,

Paul says that when women pray or prophesy that they should cover their heads.

And do you know what prophesying is? It's preaching. We get so caught up in this head covering business that we miss the fact that Paul acknowledges that women were preaching to the assembled congregations in the

Corinthian churches. No, I would challenge her to show where Paul was actually approving of that passage because that's not what we read there in 1

Corinthians 11. Let's go to it. This is 1 Corinthians 11, five, just as she referenced it. Every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, who is her husband, by the way,

I'll come back to that, since it is the same as if her head were shaven.

Now, this is a passage that is about submission and authority. Go back up to verse three.

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

God. So if a woman is praying and prophesying with her head uncovered, who does she dishonor?

Her head, who is her head? Her husband. So praying and prophesying with her head uncovered dishonors herself and her husband.

You can't get from this passage that Paul is approving of the practice. The only thing that you could get out of that verse, even though we're taking it in isolation here, but the only thing you would be able to get out of that verse is that Paul is actually prohibiting women from praying or prophesying, especially with her head uncovered.

So she's inferring from the text that women were able to pray and prophesy in the church, but she does not compare this to what

Paul says later in 1 Corinthians 14, verses 33 to 35. Let's read that.

As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches, exactly what we said in 1

Timothy 2, for they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the law also says.

Paul, again, goes back to the created order that is established in the law, just as we saw it in 1

Timothy 2. Adam was formed first and then Eve. So she is not permitted to be an overseer of the church or have authority over men.

And Paul refers to the same thing here. He comes back to the law. This is the way that God has established it.

And so Paul goes on to say, verse 35, if there is anything that they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is shameful for a woman to speak in the church.

This comes right back to what we read in 1 Corinthians 11. She dishonors her head when she prays or prophesies with her head uncovered.

It's already shameful for her to be praying or prophesying in front of the gathered congregation.

But if she does it with her head uncovered, then she brings shame even upon her husband.

That's the point that Paul is making there. Now, Dr. Stone has used this passage to say that what's said here in 1

Corinthians 11, 5, gives permission to women to be pastors over the church. Well, does

Dr. Stone preach over the gathered assembly with a head covering?

Let's find out. So this was a sermon that she preached less than two weeks ago.

Let's look. But here's the thing, with this act, Jesus not only heals the man from his blindness,

Jesus also begins to free him. You see, in the religious culture of this day, blindness was not only a physical impairment, but it would have also been a cause for religious and social exclusion as blind men were not allowed inside the temple enclosure.

I don't see a head covering there. So she's using that verse to say that women have permission to speak to preach in the church, even though that's not what that verse says.

But what it does say is that a woman who has her head uncovered, brings dishonor to herself and to her husband.

And that's exactly what Dr. Stone is doing. So she follows the verse the way that she interprets it, but not according to what it explicitly says, all right?

So then let's continue on. And again, this is why I said earlier that knowing that she has a doctorate in biblical interpretation was going to be amusing to you because she does not understand the text.

So as I mentioned, we are all tired of the Southern Baptist Convention berating women who faithfully follow

God's call of the churches who affirm them. You know, there are many, many women. There will be many thousands of women, actually, who come to the annual meeting that's going to be in Orlando.

And many thousands of those women are going to be raising ballots in favor of this amendment. This is not a men versus women issue.

This is an obeying the word of God issue. And there are many godly women who understand this and know that the position of pastor,

God intends only for faithful, qualified men to fill. But we cannot let them question women's value to God and not say something about it.

In the same way that we have to keep speaking out against oppression, against threats to humanity and to freedom, we have to keep speaking out against harmful theology and its enforcement.

So she's saying here that if you don't let women be pastors, then you don't understand their value.

And again, what she's speaking against is not Dr. Mohler. It's not against this amendment or what's going to be decided at the

Southern Baptist Convention. She's opposing God. She's opposing what God's word explicitly says.

And again, twisting this to say, if you don't let women be pastors, then you are not valuing them.

My friends, there are many men who are not qualified to be pastors. It's not about all men get to be pastors, but all women don't.

It's what God's word says. And we are in obedience to that and in submission to him because Christ is the authority over the church.

And she is usurping that authority and being like the snake in the garden who is saying, did

God really say? Did God really say that women can't be pastors?

I need that meme that has the speech bubble from Satan over her head here.

So that's who she's speaking on behalf of. It's not God. So Baptist Women in Ministry wants the women in the

Southern Baptist Convention who need to know that someone sees them, that someone believes them when they say that they are called who need to be encouraged that they have equal value to God.

We want them to know that we are all made in God's image, that in Christ, there is no distinction.

We are all one. Where it says there's no distinction in scripture is

Romans 3, 22 to 25. For there is no distinction for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom

God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. There's no distinction.

All have sinned. All are saved by faith in Jesus Christ. Men and women together.

We are all fellow heirs of eternal life through Jesus Christ. That is where we're definitely equal.

But there's still distinctions between men and women. It doesn't erase sexual distinctions or our earthly distinctions, or even that God's word explicitly says that a husband is ahead of his wife.

That command still follows. And there are things that a man must do. There are things that a man is called to do and a woman is called to do.

Women are very, very valuable in the church. And I've preached this time and time again. If you don't have godly women in a church, you have a dysfunctional church.

A healthy church is not just full of all men. You also need women there. And we see instructions regarding men and women in Titus chapter two, which you'll notice women like this don't follow.

I never hear a feminist woman, self -proclaimed pastor like this go to Titus two, three through five, which says, older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine.

They are to teach what is good. Lookie there, we've got it in the Bible that older women can teach, but there is a context in which they are permitted and even instructed to teach.

Verse four, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self -controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

And that's exactly what Dr. Stone is doing. She reviles God's word. She reviles what it says.

She's not angry at Dr. Moeller. She is angry at what God has said in his word. Now, as I said before,

I don't think Dr. Stone even knows what the gospel of Jesus Christ is. Why do

I say that? Well, I listened to that sermon that I referenced from her a moment ago. It's not very long.

It's less than 20 minutes. And she preaches from John chapter nine.

This is where Jesus heals the man, the blind man and his disciples asked him about this man who had been blind from birth.

Does that mean that he sinned or his parents sinned that he should be blind like this?

And Jesus replied, it was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

And then of course, heals the blind man of his blindness to demonstrate that Jesus has the power to restore the blind and he also gives sight to those who are spiritually blind.

But that is not what Dr. Stone took that story to mean.

That's not the way that she exposited that narrative. She did not talk about sin.

Well, she did, but you know, yeah, she twisted it. Anyway, she didn't talk about our sin and need for a savior and that Jesus opens our eyes to see our sin and see that he is the one who forgives us our sin and reconciles us to God.

We are saved from God's wrath when we put our faith in Jesus who died for us, who rose again from the dead so that all who believe in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

We are reconciled to the father through what the son has done for us. That's the message of the gospel and she doesn't share it there.

Even though John 9 perfectly sets it up for her to be able to share that message, that's not what she thinks the gospel is.

What does she think the gospel is? Well, she twisted that story to say that Jesus was setting the blind man free from religious and social marginalization.

And I'm not even joking. That's exactly the words that she uses. And at about two thirds of the way through the sermon, she gets to the point she really wants to make.

And that is we need to overthrow the system of Christian patriarchy so that women can be set free.

That's how she interprets John 9. Again, a woman who has a doctorate in biblical interpretation.

And that's how she twists the text. She did not preach the gospel that you can only be forgiven your sins and be reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ.

She didn't say anything about that. She was talking about our responsibilities to free people from social oppression.

And that's what her gospel is. It's a social gospel or it's even influenced by liberation theology.

It is not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. So let's finish up what she has to say here.

That Jesus came so that all might have abundant life with no restrictions on what that abundant life looks like and on who can have it.

No restrictions? An abundant life with no restrictions?

That's a dangerous thing to say. What does Titus 2, 11 and 12 tell us? For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self -controlled upright and godly lives in the present age.

So yes, my friends, there are restrictions on the Christian abundant life that we would turn from ungodliness and live in godliness.

But this woman wants to lead you away from that. As said in 2 Timothy 3, there are those who have the appearance of godliness but deny its power.

She denies the power of God by not preaching the gospel, instead by preaching a message of social liberation.

Avoid such people, the spirit tells us, for among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

And that is this woman. That's the truth, y 'all. Stay away from wolves in shepherd's clothing like this and be in submission to God's word.

As Charles Spurgeon said, go to a church where the gospel is preached and go often.

Be in prayer for the Southern Baptist Convention as they come into this annual meeting in June of 2026.

Pray that something like this passes, but most of all that the word of God would continue to be upheld and the gospel proclaimed through faithful biblical churches when we understand the text.