WWUTT 300 Rapture, Oaths, Salvation, and Women Teachers?

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What does it mean when the Bible says we will meet the Lord in the air? Is it wrong for Christians to swear oaths like, say, for President of the
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United States? How can we know that we are saved? Answers to these questions and more when we understand the text.
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Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty.
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Visit our website at www .wutt .com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.
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Thank you, Becky. And greetings, everybody. Always a pleasure to join you on the broadcast. And today we're reaching into the e -bag, taking questions from the listeners.
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You can submit a question to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com. And you can ask about anything, whether it's something you heard on the broadcast, something you saw on a what video, or just any theology question you've wanted to ask and get an answer to.
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And for whatever reason, you want to know what I have to say about that. The email address, once again, whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.
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And all of the questions that I'm responding to today come from our email inbox. I'll be honest with you.
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I had a difficult time getting motivated to do this episode today. I'm sincere when
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I say it is always a pleasure to be with you, but I am tired. I mentioned that last week we started some renovations on the church.
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We had a church come and join us from McBain, Michigan, Northland Community Church. Thank you guys so much for all the work that you did for us and with us.
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But they kind of got the ball rolling on the renovations that we've needed to do for a long time, and we wanted to keep those things going.
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So all this week we've still been doing work on the church, and I took it upon myself to begin a project of building a pulpit.
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So if you follow me on Twitter, I've posted some of the pictures. My handle is Pastor underscore
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Gabe. I'm sorry, username. For whatever reason, we got out of using that term handle.
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It's username now, twitter .com slash Pastor underscore Gabe. That's where you can find me on Twitter.
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Anyway, I've posted some pictures of this pulpit that I've been working on. I was working on it last night. I came home really late, realized, man,
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I still have to do the podcast. Took me a while to get motivated. I was kind of piddling around on the
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Internet for a little while until I could finally say, all right, now it's time to record this. It's not getting done by itself.
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So I grabbed some questions out of the email inbox. Some of these I've already responded to, and others
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I'm responding to for the first time right here. In fact, this first question is one of them.
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This is Alex, who first begins his email by quoting First Thessalonians 417.
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After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
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Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. So Alex presents his question.
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I don't believe in a secret rapture, but can you please explain to me this verse and its meaning?
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I was debating with a friend on it. Okay, first of all, let's go to First Thessalonians chapter four.
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We'll look at this in context. Beginning in verse 13, Paul says, but we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, talking about those who have died, but they haven't perished.
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They're asleep that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
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Now Paul is talking to a Greek people, and the Greeks believe that when a person died, their soul was basically just annihilated.
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There was no afterlife. They didn't go on to exist anywhere else. They just died.
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And so the Thessalonians still with kind of this Greek mentality are curious about those brothers and sisters in the
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Lord who have died before the day of the Lord, because they had this understanding that we were all going to be together on the day of the
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Lord. Yet we've had these brothers and sisters in Christ who have already died, and that day hasn't occurred yet.
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So what's going to happen there? Some of them might have even been in despair that their brothers and sisters had perished and their souls were gone.
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Boy, they didn't get to see the day of the Lord. What's going to happen to them? So Paul is meaning to encourage them in this.
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They haven't died. They haven't perished. The soul has not been exterminated. This is why he uses a more gentle term here.
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They have fallen asleep. Just like Jesus described Lazarus in John 11, after Lazarus died, he said to his disciples, our friend
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Lazarus has fallen asleep, and I go to wake him up. The disciples didn't understand what he was talking about, and so he finally put it point blank.
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Okay, Lazarus has died. You guys aren't getting it, but he's dead. That's what's happened. I'm going to go raise him back to life.
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So let's go. Let's go do that. Let's go do that now. So Paul is kind of using that term also with the
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Thessalonians here. These brothers and sisters of ours have fallen asleep so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
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Those who think that those who have died just now cease to exist. That's a hopeless mentality, but that's not the way that we as Christians believe.
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We believe that the soul goes to be with the Lord and is awaiting that day when the bodies will be resurrected into these glorified bodies, and that's what we will all participate in together.
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Those who are alive and those who have fallen asleep, we will be together with the Lord on that day that our bodies will be raised from the grave, reunited with our souls.
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We will have these glorified bodies, and we will be forever with the Lord, and so that's what Paul is going to go on to explain here.
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Verse 14, for since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep.
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For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the
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Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
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Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
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Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.
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So the picture that Paul is painting here is the picture of a king that comes into a city, and when the king comes into the city, whether he's coming as a visitor from another kingdom, for example, or he is coming back from having conquered his enemies.
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The people will come to the city gate and meet him coming in, and then they will travel with him through the city to the place that he is going, which is probably the palace.
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A good picture of this is Jesus' triumphal entry. When he came into Jerusalem on the donkey, the people met him there and traveled with him through Jerusalem, continuing to sing his praises,
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Hosanna, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. So there's a picture of that there. So that's the picture that Paul is presenting also, of Jesus coming back as a king, as a conquering king, and then we meet him in the air as one meets a king that is coming into the city, and then as Jesus comes on that day to issue his judgment, then we are moving with the
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Lord, which is that phrase that Paul uses there, so we will always be with the
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Lord. That day that we meet him with the air, we will always be with him from that point on. So those who had fallen asleep will be with the
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Lord when he comes back. Their bodies will rise up out of the grave and be reunited with their souls, and we will see this happen.
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Those of us who are still alive on that day, who have not died before the day of the
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Lord, but there are Christians who are alive on this earth that day that Christ returns, we will see the bodies reunited with the souls that have preceded us, having fallen asleep and have been with the
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Lord in heaven, their bodies reunited with their souls, glorified, and then we will meet the
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Lord in the air, and then all of us together participating in the day of the Lord, the glorification of our bodies,
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Christ ushering in his peaceful kingdom and issuing his final judgment. All of that happens at once, according to what
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Paul says here. And very clearly, this is all very announced. It's very loud, because notice, the
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Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel and the sound of the trumpet of God.
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Everybody's going to see it. They're going to hear it. It is going to be unmistakable when Christ returns.
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So there is no secret rapture. That's not talked about in scripture. In fact, as Jesus puts it in Matthew chapter 24, it will be as visible as lightning.
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So I hope that has explained to you 1 Thessalonians 4, 17. Alex, thank you for your question.
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This next one comes from Luke in Dade City, Florida. Pastor Gabe, thank you for your work teaching scripture.
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It's refreshing to hear a teacher that respects the Bible as an authoritative text and does not bend or distort the text to fit their own desires or the expectations of society.
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I appreciate the compliment, Luke. Pray for those who are misusing the scriptures and imposing their own meanings and interpretations on the text, that they would be submissive to the authority of God's word and teach what
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God wants his people to know, not what we want the word to say. So continue to mourn for the church in America, that they would hunger for the true, sound words of our
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Lord Christ. Luke goes on. I have a question regarding Christians taking oaths. How do you feel
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James's admonition to not take oaths relates to political positions which require an oath of office to the constitution?
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Is this a violation for a Christian? Thank you. And God bless you. OK, let's come back to the text in James.
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And I also want to read from Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount because he talks about this as well. James, chapter five, verse twelve.
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But above all, my brothers, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
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And now the words of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, chapter five. Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the
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Lord what you have sworn. But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God or by the earth, for it is his footstool or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king.
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And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply yes or no.
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Anything more than this comes from evil. So the question then becomes, if a Christian becomes president of the
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United States, and I do believe that there are Christian men who have been president of the
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U .S., even though we're looking at two candidates president, I'm sorry, almost said presidently.
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We're looking at two candidates presently who are not Christians. They do not have the fear of God.
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They have not been repentant of sin, in fact, continue to live in open debauchery. So you have two people who are going to go through the pomp and circumstance on the day that he or she is going to be sworn in.
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They're going to place their hand on a Bible, which they don't believe in, do not read and certainly do not submit to the authority of.
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And they're going to repeat an oath. So is it sinful, even if a Christian were to be elected president of the
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United States, to lay their hand on a Bible and swear an oath or whether they're elected mayor or governor or elected to the
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Supreme Court? You know, you have oaths that are taken by every person that fills these government positions, whether it's laying a hand on a
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Bible or raising your hand or repeating words or something like that. Is it wrong to to do that?
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Is this a violation for a Christian? Well, the short answer, first of all, is no, it's not.
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According to Romans chapter 13, verse one, let every person be subject to the governing authorities.
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For there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God.
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And so a Christian can lay a hand on the Bible and swear an oath for the purpose of letting the men and women that they are serving know this is my commitment to you and then fulfilling the obligations of that office that they have been elected to.
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It's not necessarily that their integrity is based on that oath that they are taking.
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They have already displayed their integrity, which is why they're being elected to that particular office.
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Of course, in the case of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, there is no integrity and yet they're being elected anyway. But but but nonetheless.
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So going through this process, because it's what the law declares, it's what the law dictates.
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This is the law that has been established by men. But these governing authorities have been given by God.
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So it is out of obedience that a person elected to an official position would swear an oath.
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It's the law. I don't know if you're aware of this, but both times that President Obama was sworn in as president of the
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United States, he had to do it twice because Chief Justice Roberts messed up the oath.
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He he kind of stumbled on his words and that sort of a thing. So to make sure that it was all official, they did the swearing in a second time in a private ceremony at the
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White House. And it wasn't that Obama wasn't officially our president until he did the oath the right way.
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It's just that Chief Justice Roberts wanted to be thorough in making sure that it was all done exactly the way that it should have been done so that nobody could accuse either the chief justice or Obama of messing up that oath somehow.
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Let me give you another example here. When John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, Lyndon Johnson, who was the vice president, didn't automatically become the president.
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Once Kennedy died, he had to be sworn in and he was on Air Force One when he was sworn in.
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So so that's the that's the way the law works, the way that it has been written out by the founding fathers of our nation.
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And because we are supposed to be subject to the governing authorities, then a person who is elected to that position needs to obey that law.
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And it's not somehow violating God's word to be sworn in to a position of government.
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There are all kinds of jobs that you can have where you will probably be sworn in and may even have to place your hand on a
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Bible. Now, the interesting thing about that is for the Christian, that's a deeply meaningful gesture to say that the authority that I have been given has been given to me by God.
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And I am under the authority of this word, the Bible that I am placing my hand upon. The person who does not believe that when they are sworn in by placing their hand on a
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Bible, they are actually blaspheming God because they don't actually believe that God is the supreme authority or that the
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Bible has authority over them. Thank you for your question, Luke. This next question comes from Ramsey, actually a series of four questions.
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Number one is listening to music with explicit words, a sin. Number two, how do I know if I'm saved?
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Number three, what is the word of God? And number four, how do I overcome sexual temptation? I'm going to try to do these four questions quick because I still have one more to get to after this.
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Number one is listening to music with explicit words, a sin. If you have to ask
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Ramsey, you probably shouldn't be listening to it. If you are convicted about the songs that you're listening to, then perhaps you need to filter those out and no longer be listening to those kinds of songs, but instead be listening to something that is more uplifting and is even praising to our
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God. Now, is it wrong to listen to any music that's not considered Christian music?
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No, I don't think that's the case because I think there are some kinds of Christian music we probably shouldn't be listening to either.
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Songs that are filled with the wrong kinds of doctrine and that sort of a deal. Now, I do think that there is explicit music out there that very clearly we should not be listening to Beyonce, Jay -Z,
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Eminem. Just to even cite a few examples, throw all of that away. You can't find any enjoyment in that without in your mind meditating on things that are clearly against what
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God has said that the Christian should be meditating upon. But a good verse to consider, speaking of which, is
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Philippians chapter four, where Paul says, finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable.
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If there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
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What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things and the God of peace will be with you.
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The second of Ramsey's questions, how do I know if I'm saved? Well, Ramsey, Jesus said in Mark 1 15, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.
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Repent and believe the gospel. If you've turned from your sins and you believe in the gospel of the
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Lord Jesus Christ, you are saved. Acts 16 31, believe in the
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Lord Jesus and you will be saved. Romans 10 9, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is
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Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved, which is a continual confession.
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By the way, it's not a one time confession, but something that we are constantly continuing to express with our mouths, with our thoughts, with our lives, believing that Jesus is
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Lord and that God raised him from the dead. And this is the evidence of our salvation, that this is the belief that we have.
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We also have Jesus saying in John 3 18, whoever believes in Jesus is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he is not believed in the name of the only son of God.
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And of course, a couple of verses before that, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son and whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
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It is Christ who has saved us and it is Christ who keeps us saved.
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Believe in Christ, Ramsey, and you will know that you are saved. Number three, a third question that Ramsey asks, what is the word of God?
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The Bible, everything that is written for us in the Bible is the scriptures. This is the word of God.
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I won't go into greater detail on that, but just take that answer for what it's worth and explore that all the more.
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A couple of books that I could recommend to you. There's a book called the inerrant word. It is edited by John MacArthur.
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That's a great one. Also a canon revisited by Michael Kruger. Both of those books,
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I think will give you a deeper understanding of the Bible as the word of God and Ramsey's fourth question.
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How do I overcome sexual temptation? We returned to first Thessalonians chapter four, verse three, where Paul says, for this is the will of God, your sanctification that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust, like the
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Gentiles who do not know God, that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the
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Lord is an avenger in all these things. As we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you, for God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness, therefore, whoever disregards this disregards, not man, but God who gives us his
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Holy Spirit. We read in James chapter four, which we had studied about last or a couple of weeks ago.
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Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you drawn near to God and he will draw near to you.
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Cleanse your hands, you sinners and purify your hearts. You double minded, be wretched and mourn and weep.
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Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom, humble yourselves before the
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Lord and he will exalt you. So Ramsey mourn over this sin, hate it, hate this sin as God does hate sexual immorality, drawn near to God, praise him, glorify him, be grateful and thankful to the
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Lord for all things that he has given to you. When that temptation arises in your mind, don't dwell on it.
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Do as Paul instructed the Corinthians in second Corinthians chapter 10 verse five, take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.
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Glorify God, meditate on the Lord. When these temptations of the flesh enter your mind, do not dwell on them.
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Do not let the devil have a foothold, rather meditate, focus your mind wholly on the
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Lord. Read the scriptures, sing hymns, quote psalms to yourself, whatever it takes to be sure that this temptation will not seize your mind toward things of the flesh and away from the
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Lord God whom we are to worship and present ourselves as living sacrifices unto the
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Lord. This is your spiritual act of worship. I do believe that we can know that we are saved.
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The apostle John, when he was writing to the churches, he said, I've written these things to you so that you might know that you are saved.
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But Ramsey only you can know that for yourself. I cannot declare you saved. Nobody can, but that you read the word of God, turn from your sins and believe in Christ as Lord.
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There are things that are given to us in the scriptures so that you might know salvation in Christ Jesus.
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All right, last question that I have here comes from Jenny, and I did respond to her email, but I just realized that she actually asked two questions here and I only responded to the second question.
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So her first question was, as I'm unpacking scripture for myself, I find that I need help truly understanding what it all means.
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Are there any hermeneutic books that you would recommend, if not specific books, maybe authors that you trust?
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You know, Jenny, I'm actually asked this question quite a bit, and there is not a book that I know of that's specifically about hermeneutics, at least not one that I've read.
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Now I will tell you there's a DVD that's done by Todd Freel of Wretched called Herman Who? In fact, if you were to type in the word hermeneutics in Amazon, I believe it's the first thing that comes up.
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So look for that DVD Herman Who? And Todd Freel has also done a book called
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Jesus Unmasked. So the book is not specifically about hermeneutics, but it will show you how to find
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Jesus in both the Old and the New Testament. There's a hermeneutic approach there, even if the book is not specifically about hermeneutics.
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OK, now Jenny's second question. I also have a question about women teaching men as it pertains to First Timothy 2 12.
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And just as a reminder, that's the passage that says, I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man.
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Rather, she is to remain quiet. Jenny says, I currently attend a youngish couples
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Sunday school class and obviously a coed class. Our teacher, a woman, is phenomenal at handling the word, preparing for class, and honestly, one of the best prepared teachers
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I ever had. She's approximately 20 years older than us as well. With that being said,
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I was asked to substitute teach the class. And in that same week, you mentioned First Timothy in an older podcast.
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I was reading an article about Beth Moore, and there it was again. And it came up on Sheologian's podcast as well.
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As I read it through myself, I feel the answer is no for me. But I also feel like it should be no for the current teacher, too, that she should not be leading the
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Sunday school class, even though she is older and even though she does a fantastic job. What is your take?
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Sorry for the long winded email. Let Becky know that I love to hear her lovely voice on the podcast as well.
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Congrats to you both on baby number four. Thank you so much, Jenny. Yeah. End of January is our due date.
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And I know for Becky, that day can't come soon enough. Anyway, the question about Sunday school class, a woman teaching a
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Sunday school class has always been more complicated than answering the question about women in the position of pastor.
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It just seems easier to say, well, according to First Timothy to 12, a woman cannot be in the position of pastor.
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I'll tell you that at First Southern Baptist Church, a woman can only teach a women's class.
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If the class is coed, it must be led by either a man or a married couple.
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For example, we've done marriage, parenting and finance classes that have been led by couples. But when a couple is leading, it's understood that's a class mostly geared toward couples.
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And the husband being the head of his wife is still the head of that class. The authority that we read about in First Timothy chapter two, verse 11 through chapter three, verse 13.
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So talking there about authority in the church. This is not positional authority, even though instructions are given pertaining to the positions of elder and deacon.
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What holds the authority in teaching is not that a person is called a teacher, nor is it the title of the position they hold.
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That's not where the authority is. The authority is in the word of God. Whoever is responsible for handling the word is the one who speaks with authority.
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Therefore, even in a smaller setting like a Sunday school class, the instruction of First Timothy 2 .12
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would still apply. Now, as I'm sure that you've observed, there is a great need for solid women teachers.
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And I hope that having to respond to these kinds of issues does not discourage a woman who is gifted with teaching from exercising her gift, even though she should not be teaching men.
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I think that this debate has distracted from this need for women gifted in teaching and sound in doctrine to teach other women.
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We have that instruction given to us clearly in Titus chapter two. So there is a need for solid women teachers, but to teach other women in the church not to have authority over men.
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If you have the opportunity and through counsel and prayer, you believe it is your gift.
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I hope that you as a woman will teach as you are led. We need solid men teachers as well.
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Both men and women need a solid teacher who is a man filling the role in the pulpit, who is submissive to the authority of the word of God and teaches it according to the way that the scriptures are supposed to be taught.
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What the Holy Spirit wants us to understand, not what we want the scriptures to say.
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And that authority, the authority of a pastor or an elder or a bishop in the church is meant for men to fill.
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And women need to sit under the teaching of that man that is in that position of pastor in the church.
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However, there are some things men shouldn't teach that are granted for a woman to teach other women, even in the administration of sound teaching.
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May we still be submissive to the instructions given to us by the word of God as to who is supposed to be what teacher in what position.
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Otherwise, the teaching can't exactly be very sound if we're not even willing to follow the instructions that have been given there on who is supposed to teach.
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Thank you again for your question, Jenny, and for all who submitted questions today. Again, if you want to send a question to us, whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.
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God bless. I'm going to go to bed. We'll be back to teaching on Monday, beginning in the book of 1
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Peter. This is the protection of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas. Find us on the web at www .utt