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

Seeking God's Will in Vocations and Gifts

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 wanna cover the amendment that is gonna 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 wanna come to this one that we were gonna, 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.

Aw.

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. 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.

And that's okay. It doesn't mean that you're in the wrong spot. 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. 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. 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. 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, 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. So you can still have that passion. You can still pour your heart into it.

You can still want to 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 and play and sing for the folks that are there.

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.

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, but I do love to keep up with it.

And I love your painting.

Aw, thanks.

But I do put it off to the side and then I bring it back out whenever I'm feeling inspired, if you will.

Yeah, sure.

And so there's nothing wrong with that either, 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, 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 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 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 Jesus, 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.