Gino Geraci - Guest Speaker

So, welcome everybody, we're so happy to see you here tonight. I'm going to introduce Gino, who's going to be our opening speaker tonight. Can I just see by a show of hands how many people first heard about GotQuestions .org through Gino's radio show?

Okay, quite a few. It was very interesting, a couple of years ago, my wife and I would wear our GotQuestions .org t-shirts somewhere. And we kept running into people who said, hey, I heard about you on the radio.

The first time, we're like, well, I'm guessing some guy somewhere mentioned us on the radio, no big deal. But about the 10th or 15th time we heard someone say that, we were in the checkout line at Mardell's, and she said, I heard your radio show.

And I'm like, um, I'm the president and CEO, and I'm pretty sure we don't have a radio show unless someone's doing something I'm not aware of. So I actually started to ask her questions, who is this radio show?

She told me, yeah, this guy named Gino something or other. It's on 100 .7 here in Colorado Springs, and I listen to it all the time. He talks about your website. So Melissa and I, my wife started tuning in and listening, and people would call in with the question.

Gino would answer the question, but he'd say, if you want to dig in a little further, please go to GotQuestions .org. And after you hear that about the fifth or sixth time in the same two-hour period, you're like, okay, I need to meet this guy.

So maybe a year and a half ago, we connected, did lunch, and been building a good friendship ever since, and he's had me on the show several times. So I couldn't think of a better person to come speak to us to talk about why is it important that we have answers for people's questions.

So Gino, please come.

Gino Geraci’s Love for Learning and the Ministry of Answers

Well, it really is a privilege to be here, and I love GotQuestions, and I love it for so many reasons, but mostly because I love to learn. So I'm just going to share some things very briefly. This isn't a Bible study or a sermon by any stretch of the imagination.

For those of you who don't know me, I do have a talk show on the Salem Network that's heard here in Colorado, but also elsewhere. I'm also the pastor of Calvary, South Denver. I've been a Calvary Chapel pastor for some 28 years.

I'm also the chaplain for the FBI, which serves this state of Colorado and Wyoming. I spent seven years in social services, four as a clinical caseworker, three as the supervisor of the department. So I have a deep love for and commitment to answering people's Bible questions.

So just what I want to do just very briefly before I begin is to pray for GotQuestions and to pray for you.

So join me in prayer, won't you?

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, what a privilege we have as men and women of God to serve you. And Lord, we thank you for this ministry, and we thank you, Lord, that there are really answers to people's questions.

And Heavenly Father, we thank you for all of the blood, sweat, and tears, prayers that have been poured into this ministry, and not just the thousands, but the tens of thousands, the hundreds of thousands, and now millions of people who have benefited from this ministry.

And so Lord, again, we thank you for your awesome and abundant provision, but Lord, we pray also that you would continue to use this as a ministry tool for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen. I'm going to read from Matthew chapter 27, verse 15 through 25.

It says, Now at the feast, the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished. And at that time, they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, Whom do you want me to release to you, Barabbas or Jesus, who is called Christ?

For he knew that they had handed him over because of envy. While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, Have nothing to do with that just man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of him.

But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said to them, Which of the two do you want me to release to you?

They said, Barabbas. Pilate said to them, What then shall I do with Jesus, who is called Christ? They all said to him, Let him be crucified. Then the governor said,.

Why?

What evil has he done? But they cried out all the more, saying, Let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that atonement was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I'm innocent of the blood of this just person.

You see to it. And all the people answered and said, His blood be on us and our children. I love God questions because I love to learn. And I've spent my whole life learning. Learning usually passes through three stages.

In the beginning, you learn the right answers. In the second stage, you learn the right questions. In the third and final stage, you learn which questions are worth asking. Bernard Lonergan wrote, When an animal doesn't have anything to do, it goes to sleep.

When humans have nothing to do, they ask questions. There are many candidates for the greatest question. And that's what I want to talk with you just about, just very briefly. What is the greatest question that has ever been asked?

I think that the answer is found in verse 22. There are lots of candidates that could qualify. But in verse 22, it says, Pilate said to them, What shall I do with Jesus, who is called Christ? So why do I place this at the top?

Well, I have three reasons. Number one, the question must be answered. It can't be ignored. Number two, the question is time sensitive. It can't be put off, it has to be answered immediately. And number three, the answer to this question determines not only where you will spend eternity, but it also has implications of how you will live right here, right now.

The Unavoidable Question of What to Do with Jesus

So look at the question that can't be ignored. Time and time again, the Roman governor had went out to the crowd. He would come back, he would go in, he would go out, he would question Jesus. But all the while, he was trying to avoid making a decision.

And I think many of you know that for some people, there is a question behind the question. I've spent my whole life answering people's questions. And you can imagine when someone calls me on my program and says, hey, what does the Bible have to say about suicide?

Do you think I should just give them some sort of pat answer, or is there another important question that I need to ask? Do I need to ask them, why are you asking me this question? It could be as simple as my mother has committed suicide, my father has committed suicide, my friend has committed suicide.

And in moments of utter honesty, people will, in a place of desperation, say, I'm thinking about it myself. And so you have to ask another question. And sometimes people ask questions because they want to dodge a more important question.

And that's exactly what Pilate was doing. But the question becomes unavoidable. Every human must make a decision about what they're going to do about Jesus. But remember, Pilate makes every effort to avoid the question.

And again, in that moment of honesty, he says, but what am I gonna do? What shall I do with Jesus, who is called the Christ? You see, there was a time when I avoided this question. I was telling some people earlier, my father was born in Sicily.

My mother was descended from Hungarian Jews. Can you imagine, I walk by a bank, I don't know whether to hold it up or buy it. I lived in constant cultural tension. And I'm not saying my father was in the mafia or anything like that.

But on his income tax return under occupation, he would write, legitimate businessman. I go, dad, that's a red flag.

That's gonna trigger some questions.

So what do we do?

Ignore him, refuse to take a stand, refuse to speak. On many occasions, I have asked people, what will you do with Jesus? What will you do with Jesus? I'm not prepared to have an answer. I don't know what I'm going to do with him.

But remember, in our text, what happens is the crowd screamed, let him be crucified. You see, the governor's response, well, what evil has he done? But they cried all the more, saying, let him be crucified.

And guess what? There are people who don't want to talk about Jesus or who he is or what he means. And so they will ask any other question. Well, what about the heathens who have never heard about Jesus?

Now again, if you're a writer for Got Questions, your job isn't to judge a person's motive. We have to believe that there are people who honestly want to know what people ask. On my program one time, a little boy called in.

And he asked the question, my dog just died. Will my dog go to heaven? You know how I answered the question? I said, well, when you get to heaven, just call him and see if he comes. Yeah, I went for the laugh.

But it wasn't laughter that the boy was looking for. It was comfort and hope. And sometimes we have to pause. And we have to ask an even deeper question. And that is, how can I speak to this person's spiritual concerns at this very moment?

Pilate, in the text, says he took water and he washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person. You see to it. Do you think that just simply washing your hands of Jesus will make his own question go away?

And you'll remember the people's response. They said, his blood be on us and our children. Do actions speak louder than words? Does silence constitute an answer? There are some subjects that we can't remain neutral about.

We can't remain undecided about. You can ignore the question, hey, are you a Republican or are you a Democrat? Or like the ministry team who went to Belfast one time and the American got separated from the group, and he found himself in an alleyway, and he feels a sharp object in his back, and he hears a voice whisper from behind,.

Catholic or Protestant?

It's a pretty important question, and it's pressing, especially when you feel a knife on your spinal cord, and he felt the sharp object in his back. He hears the question, Catholic or Protestant? And the guy says, I'm, well, if I say Catholic and it's a Protestant, so if I say Protestant and it's a Catholic, I'm Jewish.

And he hears a voice behind him whisper, Allah Akbar, who would have thought that I, the only Muslim, would find the only Jew? Yeah, we might try to avoid certain questions. And we might even come up with an answer that we think will suit the circumstances, but we have to ask and answer this question.

The Dividing Question of Whether We Are With Christ or Against Him

Jesus said, in Matthew chapter 12, verse 30, he that is not with me is against me, and he that gathers not with me scatters abroad. In Matthew 12, 30, the psalmist wrote in Psalm 107, verse 2, let the redeemed of the Lord say so.

We will gather people to Jesus or scatter them away from Jesus, and I need you to understand something. Those of you who are writers and those of you who are readers, do you realize that every single thing that you do pushes people a little closer to heaven or away from heaven?

Everyone must answer the question that Pilate poses, the Jewish people who brought Jesus to Pilate and said, crucify him. The Almighty God gave them exactly what they demanded. They asked for blood, and they received blood.

They asked for accountability, and they will receive accountability. It's not only a question that has to be answered, it's a time-sensitive question. Other questions can be delayed or postponed. You can kick the can down the road.

You can refuse to answer, but remember what refusing to answer is. It's an answer. The person might say, I'm an unbeliever. I'm not ready to admit guilt. I'm not ready to trust Christ. But refusal to answer confirms abiding wrath and continued judgment.

And God is a God who deals with the eternal present. Solomon put it this way in Proverbs chapter 27, verse 1. Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Paul said, in 2 Corinthians 6, too, now is the accepted time.

Behold, now is the day of salvation. And I think most of you know that there really is no assurance that you'll.

Have tomorrow.

You know, I seem to be a disaster magnet. My church is located just a few years ago, well, 10 years ago. It was a block and a half from Columbine High School. Many of our families were involved. As a matter of fact, one of the families in our church, his son tragically died that day.

You know how he found out that his son had died? He opened the front page of the Denver Post, and there on the front page was his son lying dead on the sidewalk.

Can you imagine?

That's how you found out that your child had died? I remember him saying to me, I remember the last thing that I said to Daniel. He said to me, Dad, I'll see you soon. And his dad said, I love you.

I'll see you soon.

Several years later, of course, many of you are familiar with the horrible events that took place on September 11th. I spent 10 days there doing 12-hour shifts. 3 ,000 Americans died suddenly and quickly.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina came. My family lived in New Orleans. The place where my family lived in Chalmette was one of the most hardest hit, and everything was lost by my family. Many people lost their lives in that horrible circumstance, but none of us are guaranteed even one more minute or one more month.

And for those people who hope to delay, or postpone, or defer to the last moment, but then also there's one other thing that I want to tell you about this question, and that is it's the answer that satisfies.

Christ as the Only Answer That Satisfies the Human Heart

Your answer to the question determines not only where you will live now, but where you will live later. Because as you know, once you come into a right relationship with God and Christ, once you believe that Jesus can forgive your sin, and that he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, you guess what?

Everything is different. Everything changes. Salvation may come quietly, but we don't remain quiet about it. A friend was walking with Alfred Lord Tennyson in his garden, and the friend challenged the poet.

He said, what do you do with Christ? And after a reverent pause, the poet said, look, here is a flower. What the sun is to the flower, Christ is to me. What Jesus is to the believer is what an advocate is to us.

An advocate to plead for us, beauty to adorn us, comeliness to perfect us, to deliver us, an emancipator to free us, fullness to satisfy us, grace to strengthen us, and a hand to use us, an indweller to sanctify us, joy to fill us and thrill us, and kindness to bless us, a lover to inspire us, a maker to mold us, a name to charm us, an overcomer to cheer us, a power to keep us, a quietness to calm us, a redeemer to ransom us, a sovereign to rule us, truth to sanctify us, an upholder to sustain us, a vine to fructify, a wall to protect, excellence to attract us, a yoke to unite us, zeal to inflame us.

Picasso took a scrap of paper and doodled a drawing, and all of a sudden, the page becomes worth thousands of dollars. Bill Gates can sign his name to a check, and all of a sudden, a piece of paper could be worth a million or even a billion dollars.

That's capital. Uncle Sam can take gold and stamp an eagle and, God, we trust on it to satisfy debts, public and private. That's money. A craftsman can take steel and glass and turn it into a watch or a car.

That's skill. An artist can take a relatively inexpensive piece of canvas and turn it into an image that captures the imagination. That's art. But Jesus, and only Jesus, can take a sinful life, a life without joy, and a life without peace, and a life without purpose, and wash it and cleanse it by his blood, and put the Holy Spirit inside of us, and make us fit for heaven.

And eternity. I wanted to share one last thing with you, particularly if you write. This is a list that I keep close by me. Every day I do a two-hour program, and I keep this list next to me. It's called Principles of Biblical Interpretation, and it's from Dr. R .A. Torrey.

He wrote a book called The Importance and Value of Proper Bible Study. And this is sort of a summation between pages 55 to 90. But it's something that has proved helpful to me, and I hope and pray that it proves helpful to you.

He said, the very first thing that you do when you get ready to answer a question, number one, get absolutely right with God yourself by the absolute surrender of your will to him. You know where answers begin?

It begins with you.

Being right, cleansed, attached, a part of the vine. And again, in the interpretation, he says, number two, be determined to find out just what God intended to teach, and not what you want him to teach.

And number three, get the most accurate text. And number four, find the most exact and literal meaning of that text. And number five, note the exact force of each word. And number six, interpret the words used in any verse according to the Bible usage.

And number seven, interpret the words of each author in the Bible with a regard to the particular usage of that author. And number eight, interpret individual verses with regard to the context. And number nine, interpret individual passages in light of parallel and related passages.

Number ten, interpret obscure passages in light of the ones that are perfectly plain. And if I could just tell you this, the text can never mean what it never meant. I'll repeat it. The text can never mean what it never meant.

Number 11, interpret any passage in the Bible as those who were addressed would have understood it. Number 12, interpret what belongs to the Christian as belonging to the Christian. What belongs to the Jew as belonging to the Jew.

What belongs to the Gentile as belonging to the Gentile. And number 13, interpret each writer with a view to the opinions that that writer.

Opposed.

And number 14, interpret poetry as poetry and prose as prose. And number 15, the Holy Spirit is the best interpreter of the Bible. What you do matters. The contribution that you make is enormous. It is my privilege to be able to partner with you in reaching the entire world.

Hey, God bless you. Thanks for having me.