WWUTT 1035 Q&A 120 Years, Chris Pratt, Meditation in Public Schools?

Genesis 6:3 and the Meaning of 120 Years

Does Genesis 6 -3 mean that God will destroy the world in 120 years, or man will live to be 120? Is Chris Pratt a Christian, and what do we need to know about meditation in public schools? The answer is when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily study in the word of Christ, that we may be steadfast in the faith and not tossed to and fro by every shifting wind of doctrine. For more resources, visit our website at www .tt .com.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. You're welcome. Are your throat nice and clear, ready to go here?

For about five minutes, maybe, if I'm lucky.

We have had just a crazy amount of rain this year, and that's made the ragweed really bad. Yeah.

Everybody, everybody, I don't care who you are, is allergic to ragweed at this amount. Yeah.

You have to be. It's like you walk outside, and it's like, oh, look, ragweed. Yes. It's like you feel it. Yeah.

You're breathing it in. Yeah. It's burning your eyes. Oh, yeah. I can't hardly see outside, hardly at all.

We never get this much rain in a year. We were talking about how there was like one time, was it 20 years ago or something? It was in 93. Okay.

Yeah. So 25 years ago. It was when I moved from one side of the state to this side of the state. Oh, really? Yeah. It was that year.

I was living in southwest Kansas at the time. We had like this low-lying area out back behind our church. It was where the road dipped down. One of the few places in southwest Kansas where there's actually a valley.

Yeah. Okay. And it was only like two blocks long. It wasn't even much of a valley, but anyway, it filled up with water. Oh, no. I remember that. And nobody could pass through that. They had to block it off.

I remember that rain, and I've never seen rain in Kansas to this degree, this amount. Until or since then, 25 years ago when I was in middle school. Yeah. Was I younger than that? 93. That was middle school.

Yeah. Yeah. I think I was in middle school then. Yeah. Anyway, so now we've had just a massive amount of rain. Things have even been so flooded, they've had to shut down, like businesses have closed down.

Yeah. And there's this big sinkhole that they've had to close off a road in Manhattan. Yeah. I heard about that. Yep. And two places, I think. It was two roads, because it just keeps getting bigger. It's for the sewer line or something, or right next to the sewer line, but it's caused by all this rain.

Yeah. And so ragweed is real bad, end of August, beginning of September. That's when it's the worst, and this year is like the worst it's ever been. There was a day when Becky woke up, and she was like a totally different person.

And it took like two days for it to catch up with me, but then I started getting hit with the same thing. I'm like, okay, something's wrong. And we thought there was a particular plant outside our house that was causing the problem, but it's the ragweed.

Yeah. It must have been growing around our house, too. Yeah. Because I could not go on the north side of our house. My eyes would just start watering and scratching and itching and everything, and it would swell them shut.

Yeah. And I'm like trying to walk around the house to get back inside, and I'm like, I can't see anything. Using the inside of my shirt to clean my eyes, so that way it's not the outside, you know, to put more pollen and stuff on.

Yeah, right.

Because I've done that. I learned. There's been days I've felt pretty good. Yeah. Until I walk outside.

Yep. Every time you've walked outside today, by the way, I don't think you've noticed, but you have sneezed. Every time you come back in, you are sneezing.

Pretty sure I was sneezing when I was outside, too. Yeah.

Well, it could have been. But before you walked out, you were all fine, and you come back in, you're like sneeze, sneeze, sneeze. It was really gross.

I feel really gross. I mean, I feel for you. Yeah. I've got the Hughes schnoz, the big old Hughes nose. And yeah, just like my dad, who was always susceptible to the ever-changing allergens and pollens every year, I inherited that from my father.

Genesis 6:3, the Flood, and the Limits of Interpretation

Yeah. Good fun. This first question that we got actually has somewhat to do with this, somewhat to do with talking about my allergy problems. Okay. So this is from Jordan. Okay. And he says, Pastor Gabe, last week you quoted Genesis 6 -3 when discussing the death of dinosaurs, and the context was how old Abraham was when he died, and how people and animals do not live as long as we used to.

In the way you quoted Genesis 6 -3, I inferred that you hold that passage to mean that God limited the lifespan of mankind. When I listened to Pastor MacArthur go through Genesis, he explained that Genesis 6 -3 is not a set lifetime for man, but that it took 120 years to build the ark, and it was a warning that in 120 years, God would blot out man.

What are your thoughts? Also, any update on when we can look forward to the literal word audio? Yes, there it is. Thanks for all you do, Jordan. So the answer to that last question, my allergies are going to have something to do with that, but I'll come to that here in just a moment.

So let's go back to Genesis 6 -3. This was, I can't remember what we were talking about, it was about two weeks ago.

It was a question that was asking about dinosaurs. Right.

Oh yeah, I was talking about how the way things are on earth now is different than the way things used to be. And Peter talks about that even in 2 Peter 3, he says, what is now is not what was. And it was ever since the flood, things about the earth have changed.

And just as God had previously destroyed the world in a flood, he has promised he's never going to do that again, but the heavens are being stored up for fire for the day of judgment. So another judgment is coming, but it will be by fire and not by water.

So in the process of giving that answer, I had made reference to, though I did not directly read, Genesis 6 -3, where it says, then the Lord said, my spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh, his days shall be 120 years.

Now there are two ways to come about this particular passage. There are two more popular ways that this tends to get interpreted. And one of them is that this was in reference to the building of the ark and the floodwaters that would come upon the earth, which would be 120 years from the time that God was saying this.

And then the other way to understand that is that God would limit the age of man to be shorter than what it was at the particular time that he made this mention. And so gradually we see mankind's lifespan diminish.

And do we ever see anybody live over 120 years? No. No. There was a woman in France several years back. I believe they say that she died at the age of 126. I can't remember her name. And at the time, she was the oldest person on the planet, the oldest person of record.

No one had a record of anybody living longer than 126 years. But it's been since her death, they've actually discovered that she may have been lying. But yeah, you don't see people living to 120 years.

And it doesn't mean that if somebody lives older than 120 years, then Genesis 6 -3 is wrong. Because, again, the other possible interpretation of that is that God was just referencing that 120 years from now, I'm going to destroy the world in a flood.

And that's how long it's going to take to build the ark. Honestly, I say you could take that either way. And it's a very tertiary sort of a matter. It's not something you necessarily have to fall on your sword over.

And it's not like you would disagree with... I don't disagree with... MacArthur. Yeah. MacArthur.

MacArthur. MacArthur. With John MacArthur. Yeah. I don't disagree with him on that. Yeah. We might interpret that a little bit differently. I think I've read it both ways, honestly. I think I've even taught it both ways.

So it's in reference to the Lord is going to destroy the world 120 years from now, or does it mean that mankind is not going to live as long as he used to live? The removing of the spirit is interesting.

Genesis 6, 3, the Lord said, my spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh. His days shall be 120 years. That's one of the reasons why I lean in the direction of it talking about that a man's lifespan will not be longer than 120 years because he's not going to live forever.

The earth has been cursed. Death is the result of that curse. And so that occasion or penalty of death is going to creep closer and closer to man the older and older he gets, or the more generations of man continue on the earth.

And I was thinking it would be maybe less towards the getting done in 120 years with the Ark because it mentioned dwelling him, the spirit dwelling in man. Yes. Right?

My spirit shall not abide in man forever.

Another way for that. But that would mean that the men that he's destroying are good and they weren't. Right. So that would make me think about it.

It's also, the other way that that's interpreted is that my spirit shall not contend with man forever. Okay. Well, then that changes things. Right. It's interpreted either way. And your Bible will have that in the footnotes.

Interesting. Your Bible, the translation you have either says, my spirit shall not contend with man forever, or it says, my spirit shall not abide in man forever. Whichever reading you have in the footnotes, it'll have the second reading because it could be interpreted either way.

I wonder how that was actually meant. I know. That's curious, sir.

Continue to study. Yes. Go back to Genesis 6 -3, read it for yourself and see what you come up with. Yeah. So the second part of Jordan's question, also, any update on when we can look forward to the literal word audio?

Yeah, your voice has got to go back to normal. It does.

It doesn't last very long because of allergies. That's part of the problem. I typically record at the end of the day, but because of my allergies at the end of the day, my voice is mostly gone. It's been tough even to record the podcast.

Even that has been difficult. And there has been a couple of times where I've thought, you know, maybe I'll just take a week off. You will also notice that you're seeing fewer what videos. I only did one in the month of August.

I've done one in September. I think I've got one more coming up here in the next day or two. But yeah, all of this stuff has progressed very, very slowly. And it's not just because of allergies. That is definitely one problem.

But this has been a really, really hard year. It's just amazing to me the things that have come upon us this year that we don't ever really face or have never faced. And it seems to all be around the agreement to want to do the audio Bible.

And then there was even at one point where Becky said to me, babe, can you go ahead and finish this? So maybe all this stuff will stop happening. I did.

So anyway, as you're listening to all this, we are not complaining. No, we are very grateful to do the Lord's work and we will continue doing the Lord's work. But if you would pray for us, that would be wonderful.

Yeah, we would greatly appreciate it.

I am greatly honored that literal word asked me to do this. I don't want to say it's necessarily a dream come true, but it kind of is. I've always wanted to do something like this. I've wanted to do an audio Bible.

There was at one point I was working on it with the ESV and it was just doing it just because and then my kids would have it. And so, you know, maybe grandkids even somewhere down the way pulls up grandpa's audio Bible when he had recorded through the entire ESV.

But then when this chance arose to do the new American Standard Bible and do it for the literal word app, I talked with the folks at literal word and they were excited about wanting me to do it. And so now I was doing it for something other than just, you know, future posterity or my own posterity.

And so it was great. I love the chance, the opportunity to be able to do it. But the progress has been very, very slow. And it's been because of a whole number of factors. I really couldn't give you an end date on when I'm going to finish this up.

I will say it's taking longer than I thought it was going to. And I think the estimates that I had originally set forth for myself were accurate. Oh, yeah, definitely. But it just is doable. Yeah. It's just that all this stuff's been going on.

It's just been really tough. I'm trying to get it done before we head to the Truth Matters conference in October. I know I'll have the New Testament done by then, but whether or not I'll have.

And it'll be good to see you after October.

That's right. We've got some other things going on, too, but there's stuff going on like I do during the day. I wouldn't be able to record then anyway. Yeah. But yeah. So like like we said, if you could be praying for us, we'd sure appreciate it.

Oh, definitely. We're so grateful for all of the wonderful and kind encouragement that we've been getting in ministry just yesterday. Well, Wednesday, this would have been Wednesday. I was at the church and at two thirty in the afternoon, the phone rang and I wasn't in the office.

I had to run to the office to get the phone and always look at the caller ID before I answer it. Yeah. And it was a really long phone number. Oh, I had never seen so many digits in a phone number before.

And so I picked up the phone and answered it. And it was a man with an Indian accent.

OK. And so whenever you like India.

Well, yeah. From India. From India. Right. So when you when you get calls and there's a person on the other end with an Indian accent, what's your first thought? Usually they're trying to sell you something.

Right. Exactly. Yeah. Didn't you get a call like the IRS?

Yep. And it was a guy in the IRS. Yep. And they were telling me that I owe all this money for back taxes. And I did taxes wrong and everything. Right. And they wouldn't let me talk to my husband because it was secret.

And I would get in trouble and get arrested. Yeah, it was it was a big one. Which was a total scam. Yeah, totally. Yes. But I started crying and they're like, oh, please don't cry. Here's my boss. I was like, OK.

Yeah. We want to rob you, but we don't want you to cry.

Right. I was bawling.

Yeah. And and I took the phone from her and had some stern words for the individual. Yeah. But the so so this fellow calls and he has an accent. And so the first thought was, OK, this is going to be a sales call.

And I almost just hung up. But he introduced himself. He said who he was and where he was from in India. Yeah. And he said, I watch all your videos. Oh, and I listen to your sermons online. Oh, that's sweet.

And I just wanted to call and tell you how much I appreciate what.

You do. Oh, my goodness.

And that it was it was for me, it was very, very touching. Tears welled up in my eyes. And it was only 60 seconds. Oh, it was just 60 second phone call. It's probably very expensive for him.

Probably. Yes, without a doubt. To make that call.

But but he was so sweet and kind and said, I just wanted to encourage you to keep doing what you do. And you have people who listen to you in India.

Oh, that is amazing.

And and see those those kinds of kinds and kind encouragements. Yes. Have helped to motivate and push us along as we feels like we trudge through this sometimes. Yeah, but it is a desire that we would serve the Lord and his kingdom in this way and be able to offer this Bible teaching.

I wouldn't know compared to somebody like John MacArthur, who we were just talking about in this question. I'm not going to call myself, you know, anywhere on the same level that he is at. Yeah. But that we're able to use this platform to minister to and to touch people and that there are people that this does reach and they appreciate it.

It is the blessing of God that we've been we've had. We're able to do this in the first. Right. Yeah. We've had the opportunity to do this from our little basement room down.

Here. It's amazing in Kansas. Yeah. Of all places that we could reach so many different nooks and crannies of the.

World as I hit the shelf for like the third time.

Yes. Just put this away.

And and Becky's got her own little fan club now, even people don't like the Friday podcast if she's not on.

Oh, stop it. You're just trying to make me blush at this point.

It's very sweet. All right, let's go to the next question. Please. Dear, dear Becky. I love it. Hello and how are you? I have a question about the inseparable love of God. I'm not sure if you know who Chris Pratt is.

Becky, do you know who Chris Pratt is? Oh, it sounds so familiar. Yeah. Another name. Yeah. You think you got this name? No. Is he a singer? Nope. No, not a singer. Well, I guess I have heard him sing.

It was in an interview. But no, that's not what he's known for. No, I have no idea. Is that name Chris Pratt claims to be a Christian. And I'm sure there are a lot more who claim this is Isaac's email here.

And yet he is in many movies where he does a lot of vile stuff, swearing, taking the Lord's name in vain. He even supported LGBTQ. And I'm sure he does all kinds of other things that we might consider to be ungodly.

However, he does claim to be a Christian. And Romans 8, 38 through 39 backs him up, saying, for I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

I'm not convinced that he is actually a true believer, but I guess what I'm getting at is, please explain Romans 8, 38 through 39. Thanks, Isaac. P .S. I love your work. Any idea who Chris Pratt is now?

No. Jurassic Park, The Lost World.

Oh, that's how I know. OK, never mind.

Yes. OK, there was a space. There was a movie that I watched with Chris Pratt in it. It was a PG -13 film. I did not read anything on the movie before I watched it. And there was a very inappropriate scene in the film.

Oh, OK. And and it was Chris Pratt with another woman who was not his wife. And so, yeah, I mean, that is that's akin to adultery. That would be the same as committing adultery in that sort of a situation.

So for to call Chris Pratt a Christian, he says that he is. If he is, he is very, very immature. There are still a lot of things in his life that he has not yet gotten rid of. But I hope that if the spirit is indeed in his life, he's being convicted over those things.

Maybe his Christianity is very new. Maybe that movie was filmed before he claimed to be a Christian. I don't know the timetable for all of this stuff. I don't know any of that. I know that the church he was attending was Carl Lentz's church, not Carl Lentz.

I'm sorry. It was Chad Veach. Carl Lentz is in New York. Chad Veach is out in L .A. He's one of those superstar pastors.

Well, I was going to suggest that even if he is saved, he and he's been saved for a while, he might not be hearing the convictions. That it might just be that he's getting fed milk stuff.

Well, I know. Yeah. Under Chad Veach's teaching, I don't know Chad Veach that well. I've never listened to a Chad Veach sermon, but I know he's a prosperity preacher. OK, so he's not only getting, you know, the fluffy stuff, which which, as you described as being milk, but he's also getting heresy.

Yeah. If Chad Veach is doing any prosperity preaching.

So he might believe that he's a Christian, but he might not be.

We don't know. I don't know that for sure. I haven't met the man. Yeah. I've always been very skeptical of anyone in Hollywood who calls themselves a Christian. Yeah, I'm sure there are Christians in Hollywood.

Right. But any of these major actors that call themselves Christians always tends to make me skeptical. I do know that Chris Pratt says some things that are fairly conservative. OK, and it's nice to have that kind of voice whenever he appears at some sort of award show.

I don't watch those things, but I'll hear about it. Hey, did you hear what Chris Pratt said? It's such and such a reward show or something like that. That's nice. I'm glad that there's somebody saying those kinds of things, at least being able to provide some different kind of voice than all the liberal trash that tends to pour out of those things, whether it's the Oscars or MTV Awards or anything like that.

So he's kind of a different voice in the midst of all of that garbage that comes out. Yeah, it's tough to take a stand like that. Yeah, definitely. He's even been caught by the edit police. You know, he was.

What does that mean? He was doing a speech, receiving an award. I think it was one of the MTV Awards. OK, one of the big popular award shows that I think fans vote on. Oh, OK. But he was giving a speech and I watched it on YouTube.

This is a year or two ago. And the speech was clipped. At one point it was clipped. And I could tell I grew up in radio. I've done all of this. I know about editing video. I know how to spot that stuff.

So I could tell there was an edit that happened there. So there was something that happened in his speech. They didn't want him saying they didn't want it coming out on the air that way. And there's no video of what was cut at all.

Oh, really? So, yeah, they they nabbed it. They cut it out and the original is not found anywhere. Interesting. So I've heard I've seen him nabbed by the edit police before. OK, clearly the like the conservative voice that he gives in the midst of liberal Hollywood doesn't rub Hollywood the right way.

They don't like it that much. So, again, I like that there's somebody that's out there that's doing that. That doesn't mean, though, that just because there's a superstar Hollywood guy that's doing that kind of thing means that Christians should now hop on board.

Well, we got to support this guy. Right. So let's start watching the movies and the TV shows. Don't do that. Don't do no, no, no, no, no, no. Especially considering the film, like I said, that I came across that I did not know.

Had that scene in it. Yeah, that would be. Yeah. Anyway, so explain Romans eight thirty eight and thirty nine, then.

So let's go to Romans eight. I'm going to start in verse thirty one, which I actually even read on in the sermon that I did this past Sunday. So. Oh, cool. This week, if you've been listening to the audio that gets uploaded to the the podcast page, then you've already heard me read this this week.

But Romans eight, starting in verse thirty one, what shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies who is to condemn Christ. Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us, who shall separate us from the love of Christ, shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword as it is written.

For your sake, we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all of these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Now, who we're talking about there is very specifically the elect of God. And that was back in verse 33, who shall bring any charge against God's elect. It is God who justifies. So those whom God has justified, he is also sanctifying and they will never be separated from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Okay, so explain to them what sanctifying is. Sanctifying is growing in holiness. So, so what are some things that we would see in our lives as we're growing through?

Grow, what, what sort of evidence will a person show to demonstrate? There we go. Yeah, it just wasn't coming out right. That they are growing in the Lord and that they are growing in holiness. Yes. So there should.

Pretend that I asked that. All right. Well, what was it R .C. Sproul said to Johnny Mac, to John MacArthur? He said, why is it Johnny Mac, that I always have to explain what you mean?

Some of you probably says gift is interpretation.

That's right. Not communication, just interpretation. So what we should see in the life of a believer that demonstrates the fruit of salvation that they have in Christ, we should be seeing a growth in their knowledge of God.

So they're growing in the knowledge of God. You're growing in your love for God and your knowledge of him. And where do we get that from? We get that through Bible reading and prayer. Right. So you read your Bible to hear God speak to you and you pray that you may speak back to the Lord.

And this is how you grow your relationship with God. And it's in love of the Lord that you not only grow in knowledge of him according to his word, but you are convicted even to obey this word. So there is, first of all, going to be a growth in the knowledge of God and your love for him.

Secondly, there's going to be a growth in obedience to the commands of God. So it doesn't mean you do that perfectly. When you first become a Christian, you will mature and get better in that as you grow.

Right. And that's all by the guidance and the power that is given to you in the Holy Spirit. It is not a reliance upon yourself to keep the commands of God. It is continued reliance upon the Lord that you are growing in holiness and in obedience to his word.

Right. So there's a growth in the knowledge and love of God. There's a growth in the holiness of God. You're maturing in holiness and godliness. And the word godliness very simply means you're growing up to be like God.

That's what you want to be like. You want to you want to be as your savior. You're growing in Christ likeness. Romans 8 29. So just a few verses back before this that we are being conformed into the image of his son and those whom he predestined.

He also called those whom he called. He also justified those whom he justified. He also glorified.

And Christ said, if you know me, then you know my father. Right.

For the father. And Jesus also said to his disciples, John 14 15, you will show me that you love me when you obey my commandments. Right. So obeying the commands of God and growing in holiness is demonstrating that growing love for God as well.

So then the third thing that we're going to demonstrate is a growing love for the people of God. And in this, we're also going to mature. So there's going to be a certain way that you will understand loving one another in the body of Christ when you first become a Christian.

And then that understanding is even going to grow and perfect itself and mature. The more Christians you love, the more you weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. Right. The more you labor with each other in preaching and teaching and singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and encouraging and admonishing one another and preaching and teaching, not meaning that you need to have the ability to preach and teach to others, but rather that you are sitting with them, your fellow fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, as you are learning from the Lord and learning from him together.

This is there's another reason why your maturity in the body of Christ cannot be done through the Internet. Right. Exactly. It cannot be done through watching Internet sermons or listening to Christian podcasts like this one.

Yeah, you are growing in a knowledge and love of God as you are relying upon other teachers to help guide you through this.

But the exercise, the use of it is not being demonstrated like you can't show grace to somebody else. I mean, through the computer. Yeah. Through the computer. It's like, oh, yeah, I'm just going to not respond to this.

But, you know, they don't know that. So, I mean, they don't see grace or mercy or any of those.

We should demonstrate love and grace, even with those that we interact online.

Well, yes, of course. But they don't really see that if they can feel that you care.

Right. There's just a personalness that doesn't exist online. Yeah. That has to exist personably between people. And this is why we go to church. We grow together in the knowledge of God, singing songs together, learning from the preacher together.

Yeah. These things are essential. It's necessary for the body of Christ to meet in this way.

Right. And the Bible tells us that.

Right. So your growth in love with one another is going to be a demonstration of your sanctification. This is part of the fruit that you will show as somebody who is maturing in Christ Jesus. So what does this all have to do with Chris Pratt?

You know, bringing this to the Chris Pratt question. Well, Romans 8, 38 through 39 doesn't necessarily deal with this issue with Chris Pratt right here. OK, this is this is about those whom God has elected.

And if God has elected this person and they're confirming their election, as Peter talks about in Second Peter, Chapter one, then they are they are going to be among those of whom it is said nothing will separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.

There are others who will claim to be Christian, but they're not really. Right. Is that Chris Pratt? We don't know. We don't know. But we should pray for the man and that the corruption of Hollywood will not dissuade him from growing in the love of Christ the way that he needs to.

If if he truly is of Christ and says that he loves him and is growing in a knowledge of who he is, the fruit will show. That's right. If there's no knowledge of God's word, what he's saying is his Christian walk is is only being said in vain.

If there's no knowledge of God's word and he's not growing in the knowledge of that word, then there is no real fruit being produced from the the seed of the word that would supposedly have been planted in his life.

It's just tough to say or determine one way or another from not knowing the man personally. Yeah. You know what I mean? Because when you're there with them, you know what their struggles are and you know that when they do sin, that they're working on that and they're repented of that.

But we don't know that we don't we don't see that side of Hollywood at all in or see.

That side of his personal life or that.

Yeah. Even so, it's it's just kind of the thing where we can't really decide from not knowing. Yeah. And we don't know what is edited out either. So you could be saying the gospel and we just don't know what got edited out there.