WWUTT 590 Q&A Contraceptive Heavenly Stones in Palestinian Dwellings?

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What does the Bible say about contraceptives? Will we have a new name when we get to heaven?

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And what did Paul mean when he told the Corinthians, all things are yours? The answers to these questions and others when we understand the text.

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Merry Christmas from your friends at When We Understand The Text. For God so loved the world He gave

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His only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. Visit our website at www .utt

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.com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe. Thank you my dear. You're welcome.

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We do have a Christmas related question today which we'll save for the end. A couple of questions related to R .C.

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Sproul. And I wanted to begin with a couple of very praising emails that were not, didn't include any questions but just wanted to express some thanks and gratitude for the ministry.

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This one is from Giovanni, a Filipino overseas working in Dubai.

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Wow. He says like... Yeah. Hello over there. Hello, hello, hello.

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I came across your YouTube channel searching topics like speaking in tongues, misusing

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Bible verses out of context, etc. It is really helping me a lot in understanding the truth about the

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Word of God. And for that, I am thankful to God that He uses you to reach out to people like me who are lost and blinded by the false teachings of the church.

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Seeker friendly Christian churches here in Dubai, United Emirates, United Arab Emirates.

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That's really sad. That whole seeker friendly mentality is even, I mean, it's global, it's worldwide.

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But I appreciate your email, Gio, and thank you so much for letting us know that the ministry has been helpful to you.

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This next one comes from Sam. I'm not sure where Sam is from, but it was a very short note. He just said, thank you so much for the

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YouTube clips. They are excellent. I am a teacher and would love to use these in devotions in my classes.

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Thank you very much. And we do include on our website a little disclaimer that says you are welcome to use these videos in Bible studies, in Sunday school classes, in church, any of those things.

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And you don't have to ask permission. Right. As long as you're not trying to profit off of when we understand the text.

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They are free to use when and wherever you want. Most definitely. I had a guy that contacted me from California, and he did street evangelism.

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He called the church, and I just happened to answer the phone when he called. But he said, or he asked permission to use the videos on the

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Facebook page that he directed people to whenever he would share on the street with them and they wanted to know more, he would send them to this

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Facebook page. So he just wanted to call me and say, hey, is it all right if I use your videos on Facebook? I said, that was great.

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And I got another guy that had said to me that he uses them on his smartphone whenever he's talking with somebody and they ask a particular question and he knows that he's seen a what video on that.

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He'll go, well, hang on, let me show you this. And he just punches it up real quick on his smartphone and hands it to him and says, here, watch that.

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Very cool. And he said he's had occasions where they'll stand there and watch the video for a minute and a half ago. I had never thought of that, you know.

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So that's great. I had not really thought about when we understand the text being used in street evangelism, but.

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It is mobile. That's right. With people walking around with computers in their pockets anymore.

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Hey. Yeah. I'm glad that could be of use to you. And we also wanted to express thanks to you for helping to support our church here during the holiday season.

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Oh, yes. Thank you so much. I have not seen the complete donation list, but the the treasurer at our church who keeps track of those online donations that come in had said to me on one particular

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Sunday, I remember you mentioning a certain person's name and we're answering a question that was sent in by them.

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Well, they also gave a donation to the church. I just remember that because the name that you mentioned. And so I so thank you for that.

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Yes. We entered into December and a little bit of trouble. And we actually have a great attendance right now with some of the new families.

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Yeah. But they're new. That's right. Right. And sometimes it takes those families a little while to kind of feel comfortable and feel at home or even kind of come to the understanding that this is where you're being fed.

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And so this is where you're giving your tithes and offerings need to go. Right. Not your church back home.

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Right. Because they use the address. They use their their tags and pay their taxes and everything back home.

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So they just assume that their their tithes and offerings still go there. Yeah. The giving that they give to the church needs to go back to their home church.

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Right. Where they grew up. It gets a little murky whenever you're in military. Right. And you move around a lot. So whenever we travel and we decide that we're going to attend a church while we're on the road, we hit a

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Sunday that we're on the road. So we're going to stop in this town. Which is very rare. That's true. Yeah.

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It's only once or twice a year. Maybe. Yeah. At the most. But anyway, we try to stop at a church somewhere and take in a church service to teach our kids.

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This isn't just something we do because daddy's a pastor. Right. But you always need to go to church on Sunday.

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And whenever we visit that church, I try to give. So we'll we'll give the money to the kids and say, hey, put it in the offering plate when it comes around so that that way we're giving where we're being fed.

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We're supporting that church that is feeding us while we're out on the road. So we thank you for that. And and again, to those who have given to when we understand the text, which you can do when you go to www .utt

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.com, the give tab in the top right corner of the page. But it's not give tab. I changed it. Oh, hey.

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Just this week, I changed it. Nice. It is a give tab. It is the give tab.

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There's still the contact button. But right next to that is give. Awesome. Very smart thinking.

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I split them up. So you can still give online. That's even easier. Right. To keep the two of them separated.

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So you can either send a check to us because the mailing address is on there under the give tab, or you can give online.

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And we have had some folks from a place like Great Britain has contacted us and said, we'd like to give, but because I live out of the country,

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I actually can't give through the through the tab. Oh, yeah. Or the simple give program.

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Yeah, I guess. Wow. I guess if you're. I didn't know it was restricted. Yeah, I don't know. I'm not sure how.

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I've never been out of the country and tried to give. So I don't know.

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I'm not sure how that works. I didn't know if simple give. So if any of you guys know, maybe you can email us and let us know.

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Perhaps. That would be awesome. I could set up a PayPal account when we understand the text email address.

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Maybe. Maybe. I don't know. I haven't decided how to do that yet. But if you live out of the country and you still want to give, something that you could do is buy a book on Amazon, maybe.

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Oh, yes. And have it sent to the church. And that's one way that you could give to us. Most definitely.

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So we're still adding to our library, that little library that we're putting together. Yeah. Which we have a lot of books, and I appreciate that.

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And I've said no more John MacArthur books because we have a lot. We do. We do. But we will take some more

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R .C. Sproul books, because I think all we have is Holiness of God. And I can't remember what the other one is.

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I think there's only two R .C. Sproul books. And even if you duplicate those, I'm sure that'll be okay, too.

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Kids books would be great. Oh, yes. Like Sproul's kids books, because he wrote some children's books.

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We do have some. There have been some people who are very mindful of getting books for our kids, doctrinally sound books for the kids at the church.

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Which is wonderful. Yes. Thank you for sending us kids books. But we could use some more.

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So consider a book gift to our ministry, to our church. And the church website again is, or I'm sorry, the church address is on our website, www .utt

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.com. And the church address is under contact and under give. Very smart.

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You can click on either one of those. There we go. Sometimes. Sometimes I'm thinking. Sometimes somebody needs to contact me and goes, you might want to figure out a better way to do that.

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So appreciate you so much for even sending kind notes and letting us know what the ministry means to you.

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When we understand the text is done for you. Because we do read those letters and emails to members of our church congregation.

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So they know how even the ministry that was born out of our church is continuing to reach people around the globe.

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This next question comes from, well, it's not a question. This also is not a question. But we're going to get an answer.

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Even though a question is not presented, we're going to get an answer from Dr. R .C. Sproul. So this is from John in North Carolina.

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He says, God bless you, Pastor Gabe and Becky. And more and more of these emails that are coming in are spelling your name correctly.

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You guys are so sweet. B -E -K -I. I am a trucker on a dedicated route.

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And it means that I get home for three nights every weekend. That also means that I get to listen to your podcast every day.

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I will say that it continues to be edifying and instructive. I also listen to Ligonier and benefit greatly from Dr.

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Sproul. He is sorely missed. I ran across this video on YouTube and found it quite interesting. Especially Dr.

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MacArthur's statement of God's design. I continue to be amazed when godly men show how

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God naturally deals with things simply. What mankind tries so desperately to circumvent.

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God bless and keep up the great work, John. Well, this video in particular that John sent is

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Dr. Sproul and MacArthur. Dr. Sproul and MacArthur. That would be the correct

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English. Answering a question related to contraception. Is it okay for Christians to use contraception?

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Or are we supposed to just be growing great big huge families? Is that what God intended for us?

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And so this is how Dr. Sproul and MacArthur. Sorry, Dr. Sproul and MacArthur.

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There you go. Answered that question. So I don't have to answer this one.

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It's given to us by the experts here. You know, there's a lot of controversy about that.

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And the creation mandate to be fruitful and multiply and to dress until and keep the earth and everything.

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That does not preclude the opportunity for in the subduing of the earth to come up with medicinal cures to diseases.

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Some people take it to the extreme. It's saying that we are to live by nature and die by nature.

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And so to use artificial medicinal remedies for our diseases is a violation of the creation mandate.

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And so people would say no. And so in response to that they say contraceptive is a legitimate form of treating us from the potential ills of overpopulation and everything.

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And so that we ought to be able to use them. The Roman Catholic Church, on the other hand, has taken a very grim view, a narrow view about contraceptive.

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And we disagree with it because they say the only legitimate use of sexual intercourse in marriage is with the view of the propagation of children.

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I don't agree with that. Luther didn't agree with that. Calvin didn't agree with that. And therefore then we jump to the conclusion that therefore it's okay to use artificial means of contraception.

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Now, there are many different kinds of contraceptive devices, many today of which are frankly abortive.

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I don't think there's any question in my mind at all about the evil of using such things.

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But you're asking now about legitimate forms, I mean, not abortion, but actually anti -conception devices, right?

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Now, I don't die on this hill, and I don't, you know, make this the central point of my teaching or preaching.

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I personally have a big problem with contraception because part of it is the attitude that we have in our culture that since we're no longer an agrarian society where lots of kids helped economically on the farm, now they're a tremendous burden to us to take care of them legitimately, and so we ought to regulate the size of our family.

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That's a value that I hear coming out of the secular world. I don't find it in the Bible. In the

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Bible, a large family is seen as a tremendous blessing from God, and the more arrows you have in your quiver, the better is the blessing.

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And I don't know anything in history that has changed that value judgment that God has placed upon the family.

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Now, I'm in a minority on that, and I may even be in a minority up here before you this morning, but I've never been comfortable with artificial birth control.

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Yeah, I think I would just add one very quick thing to that. When God designed a woman so that there's only a certain period of time every month that she can become pregnant,

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God handed to every couple the discretion of having children.

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In other words, if God expected you to have nonstop babies, then women would be capable of that. So I think the fact that God has limited that to a certain time and that that is manifestly obvious, generally speaking, that God has put that decision in your control, and it's a decision you make mutually before the

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Lord as to how many children you want to have.

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And I think that is the best methodology to just follow the pattern that God has designed.

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I wouldn't be against the other things, but I think that's where we see the discretion indicated in the creative structure of the woman and how much time each month is time when she could be pregnant.

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So the decision is in our hands. What I think is great about that answer from Drs.

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Sproul and MacArthur is that their understanding of the Bible has equipped them to be able to respond to questions like that.

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That it really is our full authority in all matters of life and godliness.

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Even when it comes to answering a question like that, which would be in a more modern context, their understanding of the

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Scriptures has equipped them to be able to respond to such questions. And so there really isn't an issue that cannot be addressed from a godly perspective or a biblical perspective on what

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God has said in His word. And so I thank you for the example that has been set forth.

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The example that was set forth by Dr. Sproul and what Dr. MacArthur continues to labor in as he is still pastor of his church out in California.

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It was very sad listening to Dr. MacArthur's memories of Dr.

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Sproul at the memorial service this past Thursday, which I watched online.

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One of the things that Dr. MacArthur said is that of the three men that defended the gospel against a more ecumenical position, which was the

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Protestant and the Catholic Church kind of coming together and working together, there were three men that stood opposed to that approach.

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And it was Dr. MacArthur, Dr. Sproul, and D. James Kennedy, Dr. Kennedy. And those two men are gone,

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Sproul and Kennedy, and Dr. MacArthur is all that's left. And so we're watching as that generation of great preachers who held fast to the inerrancy of God's word and preached the gospel with all faithfulness, unapologetically, not holding anything back, passionately.

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We're starting to see that torch being handed to another generation of pastors. And it's sad to think about because of what

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Drs. Sproul, MacArthur, and Kennedy have all meant to me.

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I was listening to Dr. Kennedy before I had ever found Sproul or MacArthur because where I was born in Columbia, South Carolina, that's who we had,

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D. James Kennedy. He was the big sound doctrinal teacher in our areas right there in my own city.

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And then it was years later that I came into the other great teachers. So very sad that Dr.

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Sproul is no longer with us and is not offering any new material. But quite honestly, I could probably continue to listen to Ligonier or RefNet for several more years.

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Oh my goodness, there's so much information. There really is. He has so much knowledge. He has such a library of stuff that he's done over more than 30 years, like 44 decades at least.

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And so I know I'm still going to be listening to new stuff from Dr. Sproul for a long time. Oh, yes. But anyway,

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I thank you for your question. Well, again, your email, John, and that question that was presented and the video that you shared reminding me the importance of knowing the word and studying the scriptures so that I might be able to respond to questions just like that, that somebody secular might otherwise say, well, see, the

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Bible can't respond to something like this. Right. Well, Dr. Sproul and Dr. MacArthur showed that it could and they didn't even hesitate is the thing.

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Yeah. So the question was presented and Dr. Sproul just jumped right into it. Right. It wasn't like, well,

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I don't know. Let me think about that. So these men in their study of godliness and biblical truth have actually sat down and pondered those kinds of questions.

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They have thought about that or because of their experience in their churches, members of their congregation have already presented those kinds of questions.

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Right. Because we get them, too. We get them at First Southern Baptist Church. People ask questions like that also.

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So I know that having to think about that and respond to those questions is equipping me also to respond to that a little more readily because I've given it the study and the thought according to what

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God's word says. So let us be all the more faithful to the scriptures and commit ourselves to submitting to that authority.

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God's word, the Bible. Next question comes from Celia. Do you remember Celia? I do. Hello. And she spelled your name correctly also and gave you a big smiley face.

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Oh, so sweet. Hi, Gabe and Becky. I am saddened by the loss of R .C.

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Sproul, but I'm happy knowing that he died believing in Christ and dedicated many years living for him.

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In thinking about heaven, I was wondering, are we going to know each other in heaven?

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Like recognize each other and know each other by name? Oh, wait, won't we have a new name?

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I have always wondered this. If I will know people in heaven or remember faces or will that not matter to us because God will be there and nothing or no one else will matter.

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Well, when we read in the book of Revelation, the picture that we have of worship that's there is all of the saints around the throne of God together.

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Right. So it's not that other people don't matter. It's true that what we're going to be there for and what we're going to be celebrating is the glory of God.

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Right. And all the questions that you thought you were going to ask God when you got there, I would imagine you're going to forget.

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Right. Because you're going to be there in God's glory. Or it's just going to make sense because you're there. That could be that, too, because we.

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Right. And we will have all eternity to explore those things and marvel in God's glory and the ways that he used the smallest and tiniest of details to bring about the salvation of his elect.

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Right. So those are the things that we'll be celebrating for all eternity in glory and heaven. And it won't be, we won't have the selfishness, the sinful selfishness that we're fighting now, which is, oh,

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I miss them. Oh, I, I, I. It's all about me and my feelings and how I am. And it's going to, it's not going to be about us.

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Right. It's going to be about God. And so we won't have that longing,

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I guess. Well, yeah. We won't have that loss. That's what I mean.

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Yeah. Yeah. We certainly won't have a loss of anything anymore. Right. Because we will be completely fulfilled in the presence of Christ.

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Right. And, and certainly rejoicing in the multitude, the numbers of people who will be there who have been saved.

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And I think that sometimes in our, in our limited scope, in the, the context in which we live, we can sometimes feel like, man,

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I'm the only one. Oh, yeah. There doesn't seem to be any righteous people anywhere.

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How many people are really going to be making it to heaven? Boy, it sure just feels like there's so few people out there that are really faithful to the word.

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It is. But we're going to get into glory and see that over the whole expanse of time that God had been calling his elect to himself, that it was a number greater than what we could calculate or count.

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Right. Which is what John presents in Revelation chapter seven. Then I looked and I saw a multitude that no one could count or number.

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Right. And so, it's going to be millions and millions, if not billions of people that will be present around the throne celebrating for all eternity.

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And that's going to be amazing to us. It will be very exciting. Yeah. That's one of the things we will glory in God in are the numbers that he brought to himself, that he saved by his grace and his mercy.

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All of these things that God will get the glory for. And so, because there will be such a great multitude of people, it's not that they don't matter.

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It's just that, like you said, some of those selfish things that I think that we held to ourselves. Okay, I'm finally going to get answers about this or I'm finally going to get to see this person again or some of those things.

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It's me first. Right. Yeah. The checklist that we had of the customized heaven for ourselves.

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Right. That's not even going to matter. None of that stuff is going to be there. And it's whatever heaven is, it will be far greater and far more glorious than anything we could possibly imagine.

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Oh, no doubt. Because they were trying to describe it in the Bible by using human words. I mean, there's no human words to describe what it is.

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And so, I think we're just going to be happily surprised. And even

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John experienced more of heaven than any other figure in the Bible. Like if you were to rate it according to time, he spent more time there.

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Okay. Or the vision that he received of heaven. He got a broader vision than anyone else did.

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And it was surely difficult for John to put things in a perspective on a timeline, stuff that's happening outside the realm of time.

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So, anyway, we could go into all of that. But to come back to Celia's question here.

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So, will we recognize people in heaven? I think that we will. Well, I mean, they were able to recognize

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Jesus after he came back when he allowed them to. Right. When he opened their eyes to see that it was him.

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And so, I don't see why there would be any reason not to open their eyes in heaven. Because everything is revealed.

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You also have in Luke 16, you have the story that Jesus tells about the rich man and Lazarus. Right.

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And the rich man who is across the chasm, he's across the divide, looks into heaven and sees

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Father Abraham. Right. And knows that's him and even addresses him by that name.

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And he recognizes Lazarus as well. So, whatever kind of individuality that we have in heaven will be recognizable.

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And there will be names. That's a good point. That we know each other by. Yeah. Now, one of the things that Salia mentioned, she kind of throws it in there as a realization.

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Oh, won't we have a new name? Well, that comes from Revelation chapter 2. And there it says,

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Revelation 2 .17, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

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To the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.

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One of the things we need to understand about the book of Revelation is it is a book of prophecy. And a lot of the things that are mentioned there are symbolic.

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And this being handed a white stone, this goes back to, well, there's a couple of different interpretations or understandings of the white stone.

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Okay. In a Greco -Roman culture, if you were declared innocent of a crime, you were handed a white stone.

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Oh, that's neat. So, that was your declaration of innocence. Then in Old Testament times, we read about casting lots.

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And oftentimes, in the stories of casting lots, we have a reference to two stones, Amim and Thamim.

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And Amim and Thamim may have been yes or no stones. Oh, okay.

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So, when it came to casting lots, like with a person's name on it or something like that, you would have multiple lots in a jar or, you know, jug or something like that.

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But if it was just a yes or no sort of a question and you were casting lots to find yes or no or deciding between two different people, like in Acts chapter 1, when the apostle is being chosen to replace

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Judas. Oh, right. And it just came down to two men. Right. So, when you're deciding between two things or it's a yes or no sort of a deal, then you just have two stones.

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One would be white and one would be black. Yes is white, no is black. Or this person is represented by this stone and this person by the black one, you know, that sort of a thing.

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So, the yes is white. And whenever that stone would come out, you know, it would be a yes to the question.

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And so, that's likely the reference to the white stone. It's either, yes,

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I am receiving this person, so therefore they have the white stone, or it's the declaration of innocence.

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They have received the righteousness of Christ. They are justified before God. And so, having received that white stone is symbolic of their justification.

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So, what does it mean by they're the only ones that know? Okay. So, then on that stone is a name written that no one knows except the one who receives it.

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What this is symbolic of is the grace of God that only you know and no one else knows.

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There is a grace that is unique to your experience. And no one else knows the grace of God that you have received except you.

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Do you understand what I mean by that? That makes sense, yeah. Because everybody's experiences are different. Exactly.

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The sins that you have committed against God are different. Right. And so, you know how you have rebelled against God.

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The Spirit has convicted your heart to know in what way you've rebelled against God, in what way you need the grace of God.

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And so, when you have received that stone that is unique to you with a name on it that only you know, it's because only you know the grace that God has given to you in the way that he has gifted you with it.

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Wow. And so, that's what that means. Because we have in Revelation 19 when

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Jesus is returning on a white horse. Right. I think we just talked about this. We did. Last week or the week before.

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So, Revelation 19 11, So, here's verse 12.

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And what this means is that only Christ knows what it's like to be Christ.

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Right. His glory is his own and he shares it with no one else. So, no one knows what it's like to be

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God but God. And even though we read in 1 John 3 that we will see him as he is because we will be made to be like him.

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That doesn't mean that we're made like God or, you know, God ourselves.

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Yeah, we are God. It's not what that's meaning at all. But simply that we have been clothed in his righteousness and we have been made holy to stand in his presence.

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And so, then we will see him with eyes that we cannot look upon him with now. Because we have not yet attained that perfect sanctification which we will receive on the day of Christ.

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So, Christ himself knows his own glory and what it's like to be

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Christ and no one can know that. Nobody shares that glory with him. Nobody can have the name that he has.

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And so, that's the reference there in Revelation 19. So, it's the same in Revelation chapter 2.

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As we receive a stone on it with a name that only we know. It is the name of God our

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Father that we have received as his children. But only we know the forgiveness that we had received to be adopted into his family as his sons and daughters.

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That's something that is unique only to you that no one else shares.

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I love it. So, yeah. That's what that means with the new name that only you know on that stone.

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All of that stuff is just beautiful to consider. Oh, it is. It is wonderful. In Revelation in particular because you've got so much symbolism that's used in that book.

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This is the book that I'm studying through with our high school students at our church right now. Oh, that's right.

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Wednesday nights. We're booking. We've spent a whole semester and I think we're up to chapter 8.

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Oh, my goodness. We're going through it very quickly here. So, from August to December we've only covered.

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I don't even think we've gotten all the way through chapter 8. So, now we're on a Christmas break. We get back together on January 3rd and jump right back into the book of Revelation again.

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All right. So, and the kid's parents are jealous of the fact that we're going through Revelation.

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They should sit down with them. They're like, hey, Gabe hasn't gone through Revelation with us yet. So, we have.

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We actually have some parents that have come to that class and have sat in. I believe it. We want to hear this. So, that's been great.

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That's been fun. And then they get to go home and talk about it with their parents and everything. So, let's see. What was next? Okay, another question.

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Yes. We've got one more left. So, no, I take that back. Two more. We've got two more. So, this one comes from Daniel and it is related to the passage in 1

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Corinthians chapter 3 verses 21 through 23, which says, so let no one boast in men for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future.

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All are yours and you are Christ's and Christ is God's. So, Daniel says,

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I have heard 1 Corinthians 3 21 through 23 used in many contexts from all the teachings of the saints are available to you.

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So, utilize them to name it and claim it because all things are yours. Could you do a 90 second video on the actual meaning of this passage in context?

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Thank you for all that you do. I appreciate your quick coffee break suitable format presenting refreshing truth from God's word.

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Oh, that's a neat way of looking at it. Love it. Coffee break suitable. That's fun.

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Very clever. There's actually a very simple explanation to this. So, there's not a long answer to this.

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Becky's happy because she's getting tired. It simply means that God has given all things to us to be used for his glory as a blessing to his people.

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So, all the experiences that we have in the world, all of the knowledge that is at our fingertips, all of these things are available to us because it is

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God's blessing to his children that we might grow in an understanding of who he is in our knowledge of God through his word and give him glory in all of our experiences and all of the blessings that God has given to us.

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Amen. So, whether that's Paul or Apollos or Cephas, these men who had been gifted with the word of Christ to teach the people of Christ his instructions, what he has said, and also the promises of God through Jesus Christ, or the world, or life, or death, how could death possibly be a blessing to us?

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Well, as Paul said, to be absent in body is to be present with the Lord. Very true. So, it would be better for me to die so that I get to go be with Christ, to live as Christ, to die as gain.

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So, in that case, life is a blessing because we can use our lives to glorify God. Death is even better because then we get out of this world and we go to be with our

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Lord forever. Or the present or the future, learning in the present, looking forward to the future, the hopes and the promises that have been given to us in Christ, all are yours.

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You are Christ's and Christ is God's. And as Jesus said, God who is greater than all has given them to me and no one will snatch them out of my father's hand.

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So, this is all just to say that all things have been given to us, blessings from God that we might give him glory in all things.

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And finally, final question here, here's our Christmas question. Yay! Christmas question, am

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I saying it right? Yeah. It almost felt like I said Christmas question. It sounded like you could have, but I don't think you did.

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I managed to catch myself, good. All right, so Michael says, hello, I enjoy your videos, but I have one issue.

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In the video, Jesus was born in a barn. You referred to people's homes as Palestinian homes.

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They were not Palestinian. The Philistines were not around and it was the land of Judea.

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The Romans gave the name of Palestine to this area after the Bar Kokhba revolt in 132 to 135

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AD. I know that you try to be careful with scripture, but the issue of the name of Palestine replacing

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Israel as a satanic thing brought about by Rome, insulting the

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Jewish people and should not be legitimized by Christians. Satan would love for you to erase

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Israel from history. Jesus was not a Palestinian. He was the Jewish Messiah. God bless.

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This is actually a complaint I get about that video quite a bit. Oh, I'm sure. Well, quite a bit.

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I've had it more than once. In the video, it was

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Jesus born in a barn. It mentions the average two -story

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Palestinian home there in the first century. What that would have looked like. And so I mentioned that it was a

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Palestinian home, not an Israelite home. Because that word Palestine is not specific to a state.

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It is a region. And that word was used about 500 years before Christ.

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So it's been around for a long time. It's not a new word. It didn't come about in the second century.

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It didn't come about when the state of Palestine was established in 1988. It's a word that's been used for 2500 years to describe a particular region in the

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Middle East that includes Israel. And the average home in that region, the average two -story dwelling, was not exclusive to Israel, but was the common home that was in the

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Palestinian region. So that's why I said two -story Palestinian home. I really did not think that in putting that video together, that that was going to be so controversial.

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Had no idea. Well, now you know. I may have chosen a different word if I could have done that another way.

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But nonetheless, it's accurate. And it's in no way trying to say that Jesus was

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Palestinian. Right. Because it's describing a region. Not a people. Not an ethnicity.

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It's just a geographic region. And when you look up that word, Palestinian, that's the most common use of the word.

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It's not the state of Palestine. The state of Palestine that was established there recently.

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Within my lifetime. Okay, gotcha. It's the Palestinian region.

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Anyway, I hope that that answers the question for you. And thank you for your email.

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And thank you, everybody, for listening to When We Understand the Text. And we will,

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I was going to say we'll be back next year. But no, I'm still teaching next week. Yeah. We're still on. Yeah.

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So I'm coming right back to First Timothy, even on Christmas Day. Yes. We'll still be doing our usual devotions.

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Tune in. Tune in. Yeah, that's. Don't touch that dial, folks.

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That's a radio expression. I don't even know that we need to say that anymore. Sure. Click in.

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I mean, that doesn't have the same ring. It's like dialing a number on your smartphone. Yeah. Don't dial a number.

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Well, sometimes. No, you punch. Well, no, that's true. You just tap it. Yeah. Tap the number.

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Tap. Tap. Tappity tap. Oh, stop. We did have one more request.

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Oh, we did? Yes, that you and I would sing a Christmas carol. Oh, we did. Yeah. Miss Sonia wanted us to sing a

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Christmas carol together. Thanks, Sonia. Instead, what I'm going to do. This was a song that I recorded.

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I don't know how many years ago now, but it became part of a Christmas cantata that we did at our church.

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Forgive the crudeness of the recording. I'm not much of a producer when it comes to putting together my own stuff.

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But this was taken from Isaiah 9, a song that never really had a title.

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So I just called it Isaiah. But the lyrics are straight out of Isaiah 9. And also an interlude with joy to the world.

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At the very end, you will hear our oldest daughter, Annie, reading from Isaiah 9 in her little four or five -year -old voice.

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I can't remember how old she was when I did this particular recording. So anyway, hope you enjoy.

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Have a Merry Christmas. And God willing, I'll talk to you again Christmas Day. Unto us a son is given.

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Unto us a child is born.

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Unto us a son is given.

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Unto us a child is born.

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And he'll be called the wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, the everlasting

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Father. And he'll be called the wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, the

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Prince of Peace.

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Government is on his shoulders, and his peace will have no end.

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He will reign o 'er all his kingdom with justice and righteousness.

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And he'll be called the wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, the everlasting

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Father. And he'll be called the wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, the

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Prince of Peace.

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Joy to the world, the Lord is come.

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Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare

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Him room. And heaven and nature sing.

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And heaven and nature sing. He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness and wonders of His love, and wonders, wonders of His love, and wonders, wonders of His love.

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Unto us a Son is given.

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Unto us a Child is born.

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Unto us a Son is given.

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Unto us a Child is born.

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For unto us a Child is born. Unto us a Son is given. And the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called

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Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

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Of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end. Upon the throne of David, and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever.