August 4, 2025 • 56 mins
Pastors' Perspective is a one-hour call-in program where listeners can call in and get answers to questions about the Bible, Christianity, family, and life. The program is live Monday through Friday from 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Pacific. You can call 888-564-6173 to ask your questions.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:16):
Hello and welcome to Pastor's Perspective. I'm your host, Brian Perez.
It is Friday. We would love to speak with you.
We'd love to chat with you, love to answer the
questions you have about the Bible and the Christian faith.
If you weren't able to call in yesterday, we're here
again today. Brian and Cheryl Broderson of Calvary Chapel, Costa
Mesa will be here this hour.
(00:37):
To answer your questions, and, uh, then they'll be gone
for a few weeks. So if you've got a question
specifically for Brian or Cheryl, call in today at 888-564-6173.
We'll do our best to answer your question. You can
also send in your questions online on the pastor's perspective Facebook,
using Messenger or DM us on the pastor's perspective Instagram.
(00:58):
Go to kwave.com, look for the pastor's perspective page, or
if you're watching us on Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram right now,
you can scan that QR code at the bottom of
the screen, and that'll take you right to the pastor's
perspective page on Kwave.com. How are you guys doing? So
many ways to get in touch nowadays. Nowadays. It's rhymes. Yeah, yeah,
(01:21):
we're doing, we're doing well. We, uh.
Visited our two youngest grandchildren today for a little bit
and that was sweet. Yeah, but we, our granddaughter, our
youngest granddaughter is 2 months today, 2 months today and
boy they change so much in 2 months. It's amazing
because now she's looking at you and she's almost trying
(01:43):
to talk, so cute.
Well,
Maybe not talk, but no, she's trying to talk to me.
She's trying to say, I really, really love you. This
is a good relationship. Spoil me. That's what she's saying.
I know. I want candy. I want candy. All right,
here's a question that was sent in online to start
(02:04):
us off as we wait for you guys to call
in to 888-564-6173.
Uh, Instagram, and the question is, is it wrong to
ask God for a specific woman in my life to
be my wife? Brian, a specific woman, like he's already
got one in mind, is that it? Like give me
Flora for my wife. Yeah, well, um.
(02:29):
Uh, if you know, if all the circumstances are right, that's,
that's perfectly fine to do. Um, did you specifically ask
for me, provided she's not married to somebody else, uh,
provided that she's a believer.
Uh, so those two things are definitely I don't know
about specifically. I think it's better to say, Lord, give
(02:49):
me the woman that's your will. Yeah, but let's just say, um,
I saw you and thought, wow, she's amazing, and I
got to know you and I thought, oh Lord, give
me her to be my wife. Would that have been
the wrong prayer? Well, in this instant, but let me
(03:10):
say this.
Years ago my dad came skipping into the office and
gave my mom a kiss and my mom said, what's
going on, Chuck?
And my dad said, Well, let me tell you something.
There was a girl and actually her name was Flora, Florence,
I think, and he had prayed, Lord, let me marry Florence.
(03:34):
He prayed and he used to pray all the time
and he had just seen Florence and greeted her at
the back door of the church and when he was
greeting her.
He said to the Lord, Lord, thank you that you
didn't answer that prayer, and you gave me Kay instead.
And Garth Brooks had a song about that. Did he really? Well,
(03:57):
I wanna say this, that my dad loved to tell
that story, but he didn't use the real names but
um I think that God has a way. Oh, is
that the song right? Yes, I'm looking for the lyrics
but unanswered prayers.
But God has, yeah, that was kind of the point
that he was making. So I would say a better
(04:20):
prayer is, Lord, give me the right woman. And if
she's the right one, and if she's the right one, Lord,
let me marry her and if she's not.
Yeah, I, I don't think, but I think specific, I
want to just say this, Brian, I had some guy say,
I am praying.
That I can be your husband. So I'm, I'm saying
it from the other perspective. I'm like.
(04:42):
I'm 19 years old. I'm not quite ready for that,
you know, so, and you know, I never prayed that prayer.
I never prayed that, uh, you could be my wife.
I just took it for granted that that's what God
was leading us toward. I think that it's better to
say it, yeah, that I think it's better to say, Lord,
(05:03):
if this is your will. I agree. And I think,
you know, honestly, the Lord's will is.
The best. And I think that we should leave those
kind of decisions.
Yes, but remember, let's just, let's just say 2, because
she wasn't quite the angel that I remembered in my dreams,
and I could tell that time had changed me in
(05:24):
her eyes too, it seemed. We tried to talk about
the old days. There wasn't much we could recall, I
guess the Lord knows what he's doing after all. And
as she walked away while I looked at my wife,
and then and there I thanked the good Lord for
the gifts in my life. Sometimes I thank God for unanswered.
Prayers remembering when you're talking to the man upstairs that
(05:48):
just because he may not answer doesn't mean he don't
care cause some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered. Some
of God's greatest gifts are all too often unanswered. Some
of God's greatest gifts are unanswered. I, you know, it,
I think, is it, is it possible that Garth Brooks visited?
(06:08):
He did. He was at a couple of times. Wait, wait, wait, what?
I wonder if he was here during that story. Yeah,
I wonder, I wonder that was the, that song came
out in 1990 according to this. It was around 1990
that he was, uh, he was seen at Calvary there
was a rumor that no, no, my dad greeted him
(06:29):
at the back door. What? Well, now we know the
inspiration behind the song. Yes.
But let me let me just say this, Cheryl, because
Um, OK, I'm already going to disagree, you know. No,
you're not, because you're gonna agree that there has to
be along with God's will, there has to be desire
(06:52):
and attraction and those things because we have both known
people that said, well, I never really loved this person.
I was never really attracted to him, but it, you know.
I, it was God's will that I get married to him,
but let me tell you, we, we, yes we did,
but let me tell you the other side of the
coin when I was when I worked at the Bible
(07:13):
College and I was teaching, I'd have these girls come
up to me and say, I'm praying that this I
think he's the one, and I'd get those stories all
the time and I'd say, you know, it's better to
pray for the Lord's will than that and then let
me say I once had a girl who came to me.
And her Bible was filled with sticky notes and they
(07:34):
were all about how the Lord was going she was
going to marry a certain person and she knew his
name and she had so many promises and it seemed
like every promise in the Bible was all saying she
was gonna marry this guy she did not she's happily
married to somebody else so I think.
That it is better to pray the Lord's will, you know,
(07:58):
than to pray specifically for a certain woman that you've
met to be your wife. That's no, no argument here.
Praying for God's will is the best way to pray.
It took a lot of convincing. I finally got him
there yours be done. That's right.
Had to get you there though, Bray. So there you go, Instagrammer.
(08:19):
Thank you so much for sending in your question. Instagram. Yes,
he wanted to remain anonymous just in case, I guess
that other girl is listening right now. Yeah, no, no, no, no.
Or she's saying, oh, if only I'd known, could be
like a hallmark.
Hallmark movie could be like a Hallmark movie. You never know.
(08:40):
All right, here's another question that was sent in online.
It is from Flor. I don't think it's the lady
we were talking about, uh, and, uh, she writes, Hello,
I've been visiting my stepdad recently because he can't work
due to the loss in his vision caused by diabetes.
During my visit, I try to help him around the
house and just let him know that I'm there to
help in any way. On my last visit, I noticed
(09:02):
he was listening to conspiracy theories.
And I just asked him directly if he believed in God.
He said no. I always thought he did, since he
would take us to church when I was young. I'm
scared for him. How can I help him in this area?
And please pray that God heals his body and that
he finds Jesus like I did. What do you guys
say to Fleur?
(09:23):
Oh, I think there's so many ways. I think you
could tell your own testimony, tell your own story of
how you found God. Talk to him about how you
found God. I find that one of the best ways
to share my faith is to share my faith, to
share how what Jesus means to me and, you know,
what he's done for me, just to tell your story
(09:44):
and why it's important. And you could even say, oh,
I thought you knew Jesus because.
Used to take us to church and that meant so
much and that I know Jesus and this is what
he's done for me. So I think sharing your own
story is one way to start. You might also say, hey,
do you want to listen to this pastor or do
you want to listen to K wave, a pastor's perspective
(10:05):
and just, uh, listen to it. I, I like this
show and I wrote into them and maybe you'd like
this show.
Those are a couple ways. What, what about you, Brian?
With the LA
Hat on
Well, I think that uh that's good, good, solid counsel.
(10:26):
I mean, you might, depends on, I think your relationship
or you know, can you have a conversation with your uncle? Uh,
could you say, um, yeah, I noticed you were listening
to this, um, what, what do you think about that,
you know, whatever the conspiracy theory might be, and but I,
I like what you said too, Cheryl, about um
(10:49):
Maybe even just inquiring about, you know, when you used
to take us to church.
And I just wondered, you know, I just, I thought you,
I thought you would believed in God because we went
to church and then, you know, you're, you're kind of
just probing and you know, we, we often we talk
about evangelism sometimes we, it's kind of like fishing, you know,
(11:09):
you're sort of, you're just throwing out uh the lure,
you know, sometimes you're using live bait, you know, some
you're just trying to get something.
In front of them that is going to um spark
their interest or their curiosity, and so you can have
a conversation and that's not always easy. I, I, we've
(11:35):
all kind of had that experience where, you know, you're,
you're like, you've thrown out every single thing in the
tackle box and still they're just, you know, I, I've
been fishing before where you're
You know, you've got your lure, you're literally setting it
almost on the head of the fish and the fish
is just like, you know, what what is this thing?
(11:55):
You know, what are you bothering, and then they swim
away and sometimes sometimes potential, uh, you know, people that
we want to share the gospel with us just like that,
and you're just OK, I, I tried everything I know, uh,
but always pray because that's where
Uh, I found, you know, that times it's like, OK, Lord,
(12:15):
you know, open, open some kind of a door here. So, anyway.
Flor, thank you for sending in your question online through
the pastor's perspective page on Kwave.com. 888-564-6173 is the number
to call us today, and here's three questions for the
price of one sent in by Mark. How does God's
(12:36):
presence comfort us in times of hardship? What are the
consequences of living a life not mindful of God's presence?
And how can we cultivate a greater sense of God's
presence in our daily lives?
Well, it's question number one again. I forgot. How does
(12:58):
God's presence, OK, let's just take them one at a time.
How does God's presence comfort us in times of hardship?
I think that's personal. I think that like.
I don't you think God's presence um comforts us in
a variety of ways depending on.
Um,
The situation I I used to, I love to tell
(13:21):
this story when I was a little girl. The first
thing that I ever memorized was from.
Isaiah 41:13, and it was for I the Lord thy God,
will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not,
I will help you. And when I used to get scared,
I would put my right hand outside of my blankets
and say, Jesus, will you just hold my hand? And
(13:42):
I would feel His presence, and he would hold my
hand and I would fall asleep. And I remember telling
that story to my Sunday school class, and my granddaughter
happened to be in that class, and a couple of
weeks later she's like, Grandma.
You know that thing you said you do and you
did when you were a kid and I was like, what?
And she's like, no, you know that thing you said
(14:02):
you did. I said what did I say? And she said,
how you said you would put your hand out. I said, yes, um,
and she said, I do that and I feel like
the Lord holds my hand and I can go to
sleep at night. And it was really interesting because at
the time they had like a 3 story apartment.
And her room was all by itself on the bottom
floor and so I was thinking that's a really good idea,
(14:26):
you know, because, and she said she did it and
I was telling another Sunday school class and I had
the cutest little girl say, Teacher, I started doing that
very thing and that's one of the ways that I
felt the Lord um comfort me um I remember when
I was um during COVID.
(14:47):
I had a um an emergency situation and I couldn't
stop throwing up and I went by ambulance to uh
the hospital and I remember them saying we're losing her,
we're losing her and I kept going in and out
of consciousness and you know they were saying keep your
eyes open and I, I couldn't even talk and I
(15:10):
couldn't open my eyes. My, my body was betraying me
at that moment and.
I just felt a peace and I, I didn't necessarily
feel the presence of the Lord, but I felt this
incredible peace like no matter what happened, I was gonna
be OK, like.
It doesn't matter if I go to heaven, if I
(15:31):
stay on earth, I'm, I'm OK. And it was just
this incredible piece and I was talking to another girl
who was having um a similar situation, our friend, uh, Victoria,
Bobby and Victoria. Victoria was telling me.
And we were comparing kind of experiences and she said
it was the same for me she said I felt
this incredible piece and she said I I knew it
(15:52):
was God but I wouldn't say like I felt God
but I just felt his peace that I was gonna
be OK yeah and.
You know, the Bible refers to God as the God
of peace. And so it could be that that peace
itself is, you know, just the indicative of of God's presence. Yeah.
(16:13):
So what's the, what's the second one question two, what
are the consequences of living a life not mindful of
God's presence?
Well, I, I think, yeah, I mean that that could.
Translate into different things. I mean, it could be just you're,
you're not mindful of God's presence and so when the
(16:33):
moment comes to be comforted or whatever, you, you're kind
of missing it because you're not.
But you know I'm thinking about Jacob, right? that Jacob
goes to sleep. He's unmindful that the Lord's with him, right?
And he goes to sleep and he has this incredible
dream where the Lord come where he sees the Lord
at the top of the ladder and he sees angels
(16:55):
going up and down and he wakes up and he's like, wow,
God was in this place and I didn't know and
I did not.
And so I think sometimes there's a lot of times
that we live retrospectively like we realize oh my goodness,
the Lord was in this place he was helping me
this whole time and I just didn't realize till now
it's it's kind of like I could've had a V8
(17:17):
moment we remember that commercial where they used to, I
could've had a V8.
Yeah, younger, yes, but it's the idea like I could
have I could have had a lot.
Have peace. I could have had a lot more joy.
I could have relaxed because God was with me. Yeah,
(17:39):
and I think too, you know, it it kind of
depends if you're, if you're unaware of God's presence because
of neglect or you're just, you know, you're preoccupied with,
you're a Christian, but it's not a priority to really
seek the Lord, then of course that's gonna be a
problem when you really need.
(17:59):
To sense the Lord, so you, you have to cultivate that.
You have to, um, we can't just expect that we
are never gonna do anything, and then when the moment comes,
it's like, oh yeah, I hear the Lord's presence is
here and everything so you can, you can miss out
because of neglect. So just don't, don't do that. Just
cultivate that by spending time with the Lord and what's
(18:22):
the final one? How do you cultivate it?
How do you cultivate it? Right? So I would say
one way to cultivate is I just talk, just talk
to the Lord, converse, talk to him. Converse. That's good, yeah.
And you know, so when I take my walk, I say, Lord,
let's talk. And one of the things I found that
I like to turn my thoughts into conversation with the Lord.
(18:45):
And that way I'm not hiding thoughts from him. I'm
not like, oh no, I had a bad thought.
You know, I don't want God to see that. I
know God sees him, so I just talked to him
and I just, Lord, let's let's just talk in my thoughts.
I talked to God. I just talk to God all
the time. And you're really good at that. You, you
do that faithfully and that's great. Well, you know what
(19:06):
my parents did that, right? I mean, you'd be in
conversation with my mom and all of a sudden you
were like, oh, we're praying.
Hm
Did you had that experience with my mom like she'd
be like, wait, who else is in this conversation? Oh,
it's Jesus. Yeah, like you'd be like, she'd be like,
Oh dear God, and you realize she's actually praying like,
(19:30):
oh dear God, help us in this situation. We don't
know what to do. And I mean, she would do
that and she would just all of a sudden be praying,
especially if it was bad. She would just all of
a sudden be praying. Remember the story of um.
Oh gosh, who was it who took over the um
(19:50):
After Hudson Taylor passed, who, who, yeah, host, host, yeah.
So he became the head of the China Inland Mission,
and he, he was that guy. People would tell a
story like they would, they would, he would be pouring
a cup of tea. They would go to meet with
him and they're, you know, kind of talking about all
the issues and problems and struggles and
And he would be listening and pouring tea and then
(20:11):
he would just start talking and all of a sudden
the person will realize, oh, I guess we're praying now
because he's talking to the Lord. But I think that's
an excellent way to cultivate the presence of the Lord.
And and and when you're reading God's word and God's
speaking to you and you're, you're speaking back to Him, it's,
it's a dialogue, you know, it's like, oh my gosh, wow, Lord,
this is this, or Lord, you know, why, why did you,
(20:34):
why does it say this here or what does this
even mean? Yeah, and another way too is.
You know, we, there's a nature center not too far
from our house, Talbert Park, and today I was there
and these birds and I'm just like, Lord, thank you
for these birds these birds are amazing. I saw a
rattlesnake today too. I didn't thank the Lord for that,
(20:56):
but I did say Lord, protect me and protect Barnabas
because Barnabas wanted to like sniff it and go near it.
I'm like, no, no, no, no, pull him away and
I stood far enough away and took a picture for Brian,
my Brian.
But oh it was my first rattlesnake I've ever seen
that was not in a uh.
(21:16):
An aquarium or what are they they're not called an
aquarium for for those snake aquarium. No, no, it'll come
to me but a glass enclosure, yes, teranium. That's it
ran ran with the terrain. They have terrain, so that's right,
terranium instead of aqua, which would be water right unless
(21:39):
it's a water snake, but let's not get into that. Mark,
thank you for sending in your question on the pastor's
perspective Facebook messenger. Yes, questions.
All about God's presence, and we archive all of our
episodes on Facebook, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify if you
want to go back and listen later to something that
you heard or share it with a friend. 888-564-6173 is
(22:00):
the number to call Brian and Cheryl Broderson today. And
let's go to Huntington Beach. Here is Stanley. Welcome to
Pastor's perspective, Stanley.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Hi, how are you? Um, first of all, I just
wanna be, uh, let the Lord to protect what I
speak and make sure all the other brothers, sisters listen
to don't offended. I just have a question to ask. Um.
We, we have a, uh, my cousin who died a
(22:33):
month ago and we have a uh billing bill day
on Wednesday and then we have a funeral yesterday for the, the,
my cousin for the officer sergeant.
Um, the question is this though.
Uh, on Wednesday.
Uh, on the bill date and
(22:54):
The father, the Catholic father, because of the, my cousin in-law,
her family is uh Catholic, so they have a Catholic
priest over there and then preaching.
And he baptized, uh, he baptized that.
He, I was wondering, I know, I mean, I wish,
(23:16):
I mean, it's God's grace, God's mercy. He can, we, we,
there's no way I can judge who can go, who
cannot go. It's all Lord's power, authority. Hello, can you
hear me? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1 (23:28):
yeah, we're listening.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Oh, OK. So, um, and a good thing I met a, uh, uh, uh, uh,
police officer, uh, the, the, the, the officer Steve, he said, oh,
he heard the Kwa um uh um before too about me.
So he has the Holy Spirit with him and then
his
Good hand and stuff. So, but I don't understand a person.
(23:53):
I mean, I, if my cousin can go to heaven,
I'm happy. I'm happy. But on my which script in
the world are aligned for the alignment to the
The person who died in the baptize them.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Right,
Speaker 2 (24:12):
right,
Speaker 1 (24:13):
yeah, yeah, we don't, we don't, we don't, we're with
you on that, like, um.
I don't think that does any good.
I think they, what are they like the last rites
that like I mean I mean the last rites, you know,
when you're, yeah, but they'll even do them over the dead. Yeah,
(24:34):
I think you know, the, the thing that you can
trust in is that your, if your cousin had had
faith in Jesus, then he's, he's fine. He's with the Lord.
Um, the, the Catholic Church doesn't have a real clear
(24:56):
biblical understanding of, of salvation, how it takes place, and
because of that, they are often trying to help things along. Well, look,
you know, just in case.
Uh, we, we need to go through this ritual or
or something like that. The the Bible teaches that once
(25:19):
you believe in Jesus, the moment you put your trust
in him, he's the savior. He died for you, he
rose again from the dead. You acknowledge, I am a
sinner and I need a savior, and I received Jesus
as my Savior. Once you do that, your, your sins
are forgiven. There's nothing else that needs to be done.
There's no further.
(25:40):
Um, cleansing that.
Needs to take place. You are um fully justified at
that very instant. Now, you're gonna go on living and
growing and becoming more the person that God wants you
to be to the power of the Holy Spirit through
(26:00):
a process of time and the technical word of sanctification, um.
But you don't, you don't need to do anything else,
so you don't need to have a priest help you.
But the Catholic Church doesn't, you know, a lot of, unfortunately,
a lot of people in the Catholic Church, they don't
understand the simplicity of salvation, so they've got all of
these additional things to try to make sure that
(26:22):
OK, you know, we did this and and we got
the priest, they did that, and then in some cases, well,
you know, they're probably in purgatory, so we're gonna pray
some prayers to, so they don't have to be there
that long. We're gonna light some candles, we're gonna give
a donation.
And you know, all of that is just betrays the
(26:42):
fact that they don't understand the free gift of salvation. Now,
I'm not saying that that's the case with everybody who's Catholic,
but it is the case with many and it is
kind of the theological position of the church in
The the bigger sense of the church. I think a
lot of people don't realize that you grew up Catholic
too so this was, this was, you know, your life
(27:04):
and you had the cousins and yeah I mean I
I had the experience of trying to save myself because
that's pretty much what the church was.
Teaching me to do and I also had the experience
of of failing over and over and realizing like this
is this is never gonna work if if this is
left up to me, I'm this is not a good thing.
(27:25):
So the day I heard the the gospel, the good
news that Jesus paid it all, then it was like, OK,
you know, this is a different story, and that's why
it's called the good news.
For sure. I like the way you put it to
where you said that the church might say we're going
to do this just in case, yeah, but it's not
(27:46):
a just in case it just doesn't work that way. Yeah, no,
it doesn't work that way. And again, in the in
the church as long as you are uh in the church,
I mean, there's all different kind of levels of things,
you know, I mean, in some ways.
Uh, Catholicism almost teaches kind of a universalism, like everybody's
gonna be OK through their own, uh, pursuit. You know,
(28:09):
if you're Buddhist, you're gonna be OK through Buddhism. If
you're Hindu, you're gonna be OK through Hinduism ultimately. It
ultimately is all gonna get funneled through Jesus, but this,
this is the path you're on, and God's gonna accept you.
Um, that way. But in the more of a Christian context,
it's it's being baptized into the church, and the idea
(28:30):
in Catholicism is, you know, which is a biblical idea
that we're born into original sin, but the Catholic Church
teaches that that the original sin is cleansed through baptism.
So that's why babies are baptized because, you know, you
need to be cleansed. And so, then once you do that,
You know, everything's unless you just completely apostasize, everything in
(28:50):
the end will be OK, but you're just gonna have
to spend a lot, a lot of years in purgatory, um,
even if you were a good Catholic, because nobody's that good, so.
All right, very good. Stanley, thank you for calling in
today with your question. We're gonna take a break and
then we'll be back with your questions. So give us
a call 888-564-6173. Got the phone lines open for another
(29:15):
half hour and we would love to hear from you.
If you're watching us online, call in. Don't just don't
just be a, uh, spectator, be a participant by calling 888-564-6173.
We're gonna talk to you when we come back from
the break here on Pastor's Perspective.
(30:17):
Welcome back to Pastor's Perspective. 888-564-6173 is the number to
call from your phone or from your parents' phone if
you don't have your own phone. But then again, a
lot of kids do have their own phones now. See,
I love it when the kids call. One of my
problems is that I haven't been on here for a while. I'm,
I'm very sporadic, aren't I?
I don't mean to be sporadic. I think my husband
(30:38):
travels a lot, so that that that makes me sporadic
because I'm only on here with you, but I, I
do my one of my favorite things is when the
kids call. I love kids' questions and of course I
teach Sunday school, uh, first and 2nd grade, and I
taught last Sunday the the kids and it was all
(31:00):
about when David became king, so I did a skit
and we played.
Way back in the 60s, there used to be a
program called To Tell the Truth and three contestants would
come in and pretend to be.
And they would, you know, do the description. This is
(31:21):
so and so and so for mine, one of these
men is the true king. Let's see if you can
figure it out. And so I gave them each a
box at the end, but they stood behind what looked
like a podium, but it was actually a, you want
to tell them what it was because you put them together.
It was a it was a cardboard box, a cardboard
(31:42):
box for moving box, a wardrobe box.
Home Depot from Home Depot and then we wrapped in,
I wrapped in blue paper, contestant #1, contestant number 2,
contestant number 3, and I got two of my grandkids
and a really cool kid named Jacob to be the contestants.
And then I did a lot of props. Brian thought
(32:02):
it looked like a wheel axle, but what I made
was a barbell with uh fake weights to say, I'm
really strong, that's why I should be king.
And then we borrowed a trophy and the other one said,
I win everything. I should be king.
And then the other one was like, well, I take
care of lambs and they do a really good job
(32:22):
and so you know who's gonna be the true which
one was the true and then and then what do
you use for power? What do you use for power
and so one took out all these riches like I
use my money and the other one took out a
sword like I use violence, you know, and I take
things over and then one said, well, I have this
(32:43):
staff and with it I save sheep.
And uh you know, and I drive wolves away and
then the last one was, well, you know what makes
you the best king and one brought out a graduation
cap and said I'm really wise and the next one
brought out uh a globe and said, well, I, I,
(33:04):
you know, I've been all over the world and then
the last one was brought out the Bible and said,
I love the word of God.
And I love God. So anyway, but it was interesting
because the kids were all booing the wrong choices and
they were all cheering the lamb and the stuff. I
(33:24):
didn't expect that reaction. I was like, oh, we actually
have Christian kids out there.
It was really, really, they were so into it. It
was really, really fun. So I was there. It was, yeah,
it was a great response, uh, a great new rendition
of To Tell the Truth. It was, it was To
Tell the king, to tell the truth about the king,
(33:46):
about the king, yeah, it was good. It was really fun.
All right, 888-564-6173. Here's another question that was sent in online.
It's from Bob in Costa Mesa.
Huh, how old is Bob? It doesn't say, but he
has his own Facebook account. Oh, so he's not a kid. No, OK,
at least we hope not.
But Bob's question, when the rapture happens, will we all
(34:08):
be in front of God as we would during judgment time?
When we die, or would we all hold on, start over.
When the rapture happens, will we all be in front
of God as we would during judgment time when we die,
or would we all immediately go to heaven? OK, let
me just say this before, as Brian looks it up.
Years ago,
(34:30):
Brian was doing baby dedications.
In Vista and he brought the baby and he kind
of got this look on his face and he turned
around and went back to the parents and he talked
to them and they shook their heads, yes, and he
was like.
OK, and, and he comes up to the podium and
he says,
This is baby Bob.
(34:52):
And let's bring baby Bob before the lunch. So he
was asking the parents, do you want to call him
Bobby or Robert? And they're like, No, no, Bob. But
he made it worse, but, OK, I imagine like a
3 month old named Bob. You're just like, wait, I
don't know that this really is, but I think you
made it worse when you called him Baby Bob. Bob,
(35:13):
let's pray for baby Bob. Yes, and you guys say, Lord,
we just pray that you would bless baby Bob, and
you know you could hear snickers throughout the whole.
But we were all in agreement. OK, but we have
a question from Bob, Bob. Bob, Bob.
Um, OK.
(35:34):
So, I, I think this is, this is the picture,
I think that is probably a description of that of
that moment. And it's Revelation chapter 5.
And um it's talking about now the the fourth chapter
takes you into the heavenly scene and there's one who
(35:55):
is sitting on the throne and the scroll is in
his right hand and the question is who is worthy
to take the scroll and to loose the seals and
and no one's found worthy um.
But then, um.
The
The angel.
(36:15):
You know, um, 11 like a lamb that has been
slain comes forward. The angel says, don't weep, uh, because
John writes that he's, he's weeping, um, over the fact
that there's no one worthy to take the scroll and
to loose loose the seals, and don't weep. The lion
of the tribe of Judah has triumphed or prevailed.
(36:38):
And so then the next thing we see is uh
one like a lamb, who has been slain, he comes forth,
he takes the scroll, and when he had taken the scroll,
this is what it says in Revelation 5:8. Um,
Each taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the
24 elders fell down before the lamb, each having a harp,
(36:59):
golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of
the saints, and they sang a new song saying, You
are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals,
for you were slain and have redeemed us to God
by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and
people and nation, and have made us kings and priests
to our God and we shall reign on the earth.
(37:21):
So I, I think that this is probably a description
of what is actually going to transpire when the saints
arrive there in on on the heavenly scene and around
the throne of God.
So not a judgment, but rather a coronation.
(37:45):
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's almost like the Daniel
chapter 7 and then then the stone is able to,
you know, start the tribulation to bring all the kingdoms down.
You know, so I like the idea of not a judgment.
The judgment is at the great white judgment, which is
at the end of revelation or at the end of
(38:08):
the tribulation period. So this is the beginning of the
tribulation hasn't begun yet, right? Not till the scrolls are loose.
All right, Bob, thanks for sending in your question on Facebook.
And now here is Michael calling in from Los Alamitos, California,
watching us on YouTube. Hey there, Michael, what's your question
for us today?
(38:28):
Hey, thanks, pastors for taking my call, or Pastor Brian. Uh, so, um,
I had a question regarding the parable of the 10 virgins,
and it, uh, just to quickly summarize, it seems like, um,
all 10 virgins, which seems to be representing, I guess
you could say, the believers, the church, etc.
They're all asleep, right? And then half of them, you know,
(38:51):
when they all wake up, they're all kind of startled.
The bridegroom has arrived and then only half of that,
half of them are, are prepared, right? Prepared with oil
and they're allowed into the wedding feast of the lamb,
and then the other 5 are.
are basically shut out of the, of the wedding feast
and the bridegrooms tells them, so you guys know the parable,
I'm sure. So my question is, my question is, do
(39:13):
you think that's, I mean, because I've heard a lot
of um other ministries, um, and it seems to make sense.
It seems to fit a lot of other ministries seem
to say that like that's kind of like what's gonna
be happening.
Uh, right when the Lord arrives that the, the, the believers,
the church, etc. are many of them will be asleep, right?
We have, you know, obviously we have different denominations, non-denominations, etc.
(39:36):
and then it kind of, I feel like it kind
of coincides like yesterday I asked a question about Hoseh
61 through 3 about the, uh, the Lord coming, and
I just, you know, and, and one thing I did
not get a chance to kind of add to that
question was that, um, you know.
You know, just by itself, I could see how, like,
it could mean, you know, the Lord is coming on
(39:58):
the 3rd day, maybe, maybe not, but there's, I guess
you could say the convergence, the converging signs like Israel's
back in their land, right? As an example, they're hated
almost worldwide, right? You can see how all these battles are,
are revving up.
Even say the recent bombing in Iran with the Iran's
nuclear sites and how that could even be a fulfillment
(40:20):
of Jeremiah 4935. So I just see I feel like
it was the convergence of various signs, you know, Israel
back in the land right now we're at a state
where they're from what I've been hearing that they've
They're pretty much ready to take over the Temple Mount, right?
And that's gonna be huge when it comes to implementing
the daily sacrifices and that, so just Hosea 6:1 through 3,
(40:43):
it's not by, it just that by itself. It's like,
it's a converging of all these other things.
Other verses I can do, but I, I know we
have a limited amount of time with this, um, but
then it goes back to the parable, the 10 virgins where,
you know, all of the churches are seemingly asleep when
it comes to that sort of thing, right? I don't know, just,
I mean, I just want to get your guys' opinion, yeah,
(41:04):
and you know, here, here's there, there is some diversity
of opinion on these kinds of things. Um, I think that.
We, we a lot of times misunderstand parables because I
think we're, we're trying to get more out of the
parable than Jesus actually intended. For example, even the use
(41:26):
of the word virgin, we give a con we give
a spiritual connotation to that, you know, virgin meaning like
pure holy. in in the context, Jesus could have just
easily said young women because that's a virgin, a young woman,
they were synonymous. So,
Jesus is describing something everybody would know. He's he's talking
(41:49):
about what happens in, you know, these, the weddings at
the time.
And so, here's the question. The question is, is this
parable teaching us uh a lot of different things here about,
you know, some had oil and some forgot their oil, um, or,
(42:11):
or is it or is there like a one big lesson,
and I, I personally think with the parables, all of
them have one big lesson. So I think the
I think the details are just, it's just the story
that Jesus is using to illustrate the point. What is
the point? The point is be ready, because the Son
of Man is gonna come when you don't expect it.
(42:31):
That's the point. And so he uses the story to
a story that everybody would be familiar with.
And then they would go, oh wow, yeah, we, we
wanna be ready. That's, that's what we want to be,
not like, OK, so the there's 10 virgins, but 5
of them, some people said, well, they're they're all Christians,
they're all believers, but, you know, some of them are
filled with the Holy Spirit, that's the oil. The oil
(42:53):
is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Well, that's, I think
it's taking it further than the Lord intended. So that's
my personal.
Conviction on these parables is that for the most part,
all of them have one main point and Jesus is
using the circumstances that everybody's familiar with to illustrate the point.
(43:13):
And don't you think part of that is every, every
one of these parables also tells you.
That you know like the master goes away for a
long time and I think what Jesus is saying, remember
there were some that expected the Lord to return immediately
and we even see that in Thessalonians that those people
(43:34):
thought they were being told that the rapture had already
come or uh that you know and so that they
had missed it because.
Every generation has had that sense of the Lord is coming,
and I think Jesus is saying, I want you to
stay prepared whether you think I'm coming tomorrow or in
(43:56):
10 years. I want you to be ready at all
times and live with that sense of anticipation. What does
it say? And he who has this hope purifies himself
even as he is pure, and the thought that Jesus
could come at any moment.
Purifies the church and one of the reasons I think
(44:16):
that the church gets, you know, um, impure or you
know Jesus said, you know, the person who thinks that
the master is delaying and begins to beat his servants
or return to the old life and the old ways
to that person when he comes it'll be a scourge
and so I do think that you're right in that.
(44:37):
We lose sometimes because we want to look at the
minutia and we wanna figure out more, you know, like
what is he really saying? You know, it's interesting because
you can, you can go back to when he said
to the disciples, beware the leaven of the Pharisees. He's
getting on a boat with the disciples and he's just
been arguing with the Pharisees and they're like,
(44:58):
OK, just show us a sign and you know they
don't mean it because they want to control Jesus and
he gets on and he looks at his disciples says
beware the leaven of the Pharisees, and they turn to
each other and they go, oh, it's a secret message
we forgot the bread and he's trying to get through
to us and who's whose fault is that that we
(45:19):
forgot the bread.
And Jesus said, Why are you talking to yourselves about
the bread? Did you forget, like, I just fed 5000
with 5 loaves and 2 fish, and then I fed 4000.
And how many basketfuls did you take up? And he said,
are your hearts hardened? And I think that sometimes when
our heart gets hardened that we don't understand and we
(45:43):
start trying to read into like even the parables more than.
That's there. The main message is be ready. Yes, Israel
is a nation and that should put all of us
on high alert. I don't think we have to look
at the minutiae like, oh, Iran was bombed, or I
(46:06):
think sometimes we're reading too much or they're gonna take
the Temple Mount and then you get to Israel and
they're like, no, that we're not.
to take the Temple Mount, that would, that would be catastrophic.
And there are people in Israel that are like, no,
that won't happen. Yeah, there's a group of fanatics that
are like, yeah, we're going to do it, we're going
to do it, and everybody else is going, you don't,
please don't, right. And so I think that and you know,
(46:29):
we'll hear reports and then we have friends in Israel
and we'll say, is any of this? We have friends
who know.
People that are influential in Israel and they'll say that
is not true and so I think that sometimes when
you go into the minutiae and you're trying to read
into things that's very dangerous you know I was just
(46:52):
reading in the scripture, Isaiah, God says, Isaiah, do not
call it a conspiracy what everybody else is calling a
conspiracy and I'm thinking.
Wow, could the Lord be any clearer than that? Don't
go into conspiracy theories, Isaiah. He's a prophet. He's prophesying
that Babylon is gonna take over right then. Babylon did
(47:13):
not look like a threat Assyria did, and people had
so many conspiracy theories.
Even then and he's saying, Isaiah, don't you fall into that.
Don't you get into conspiracies. I tell you so clearly, Isaiah.
I speak so clearly. The Bible says things so clearly
stay in the clear. Yeah, exactly. And I, and I
think too along that, that same line of what you're saying, um,
(47:38):
you know, here's, here's the thing, and so we talked
with Michael yesterday and the, you know, we were looking
at Hosea.
Um, chapter 6, you know that passage where, um, two
days I have forsaken them on the 3rd day I
will raise them up, and the question about is this
like the prediction of the 2000 years of, you know,
God setting aside Israel and then, you know, bringing them
(47:59):
back in. So here we are 2000 years later, gosh,
it seems to fit and, and yeah, that I mean
that seems like it could be, but, but then
What you said, Cheryl, I think is so important. We,
we need to be careful. It's, it's great to get
excited about prophecy, but we need to be careful not
to read more into things that actually than actually is there.
(48:23):
So Israel is back in the land, but they're not
fulfilling prophecy right now. So when you think of, yeah,
maybe that's Jeremiah, what happened in Iran. No, it's not
Jeremiah what happened in Iran, um, because all of those
things happen.
In what we commonly call the tribulation period, this is
when God renews his very specific dealing with Israel. Right now,
(48:48):
Israel is in the land. What you, I think the
best way to understand that they are providentially in the land.
God has providentially put them there, not in fulfillment of
any one specific scripture at the moment, um, maybe part
of Ezekiel 38, but
Um, for the fulfillment of prophecy in the future, right,
(49:09):
and not because they're righteous and not because they're doing righteously,
because they are still rejecting Jesus. They are there providentially
to fulfill the greater plan of God that during.
In the tribulation, he will bring them all to the Messiah,
and they will come to recognize the one they appear.
(49:30):
So as much as we love Israel and we recognize
the word of God and we recognize that God does
have a future plan for for the nation, we also
have to recognize that right now it is not, it's
not that time. Um, they are presently God says to
them in Hosea, we talked about Hosea yesterday.
(49:51):
Uh, you are not my people and I will not
be your God. And so they're, they're in the not
my people stage right now. And he says, but in
the place that they, he told them, you are not
my people, in that same place, they will be called
the sons of the living God. But, but this is future,
this hasn't happened yet. So,
Um, you know, we, we can look at, we can
see the stages being set, we can see a lot
(50:12):
of things that are, uh, I think are preparing for
an ultimate fulfillment, but we have to be careful not
to overstate um what is presently happening, and then reading
everything that goes on, uh, you know, if you, I,
I read a book and I'm actually rereading it, it's a,
it's a book called Jerusalem A Biography.
(50:35):
Um, and it's written by, uh, Simon C. Begg Montefiore. Uh,
Simon Monteore is not a Christian. He's a Jew. Um,
his ancestors were very involved in settling in Jerusalem in
the 1800s, but he writes his history on Jerusalem, and
if you, if you read, sometimes I think we, you know,
we need to read a little more broadly. You, you
(50:57):
read a little more.
Uh, broadly, and you get to understand all of the factors,
and you realize what we see happening right now, this
has been happening since, you know, the 1850s is where
this whole thing that we are kind of seeing.
Continue to fold out. It all really began in the 1850s, uh,
(51:20):
with the British, uh, you know, some British evangelicals in
the government feeling like we're gonna get the Jews back
in the land so the Messiah can come again. And, um,
so that's kind of where a lot of this stuff started.
Now, and, you know, then you have, you have Theodore Herzl,
you have Zionism, you have the desire to move back,
(51:41):
you know, for the Jews to move back into a homeland.
And of course, this was, um, this was all, um, what,
what's the word I'm thinking of it, speed, speed when
you speed something up expedited.
Uh, with the, with the Second World War and the
Holocaust and and all of that. So, but even when
you're reading that book, you do realize this is all
(52:02):
providential because Israel lost almost every war. Yeah, I mean,
you read it and you realize, OK, one thing that you,
you will, I think come away with is like it's
a miracle that they're in the land, um, and it's the,
it's a providential thing, just like people talk about America
being like, you know,
When we talk about America being, you know, like established
(52:25):
by God and so forth, we're talking about Province, that
this is God providentially raises up this nation doesn't mean
everything we did was the right way and he did it. He,
he raised it up because we were so good that
he couldn't help but bless us. That's a.
lot of mythology that that's factored in. God raises up
a nation providentially just like, here's a, here's a great
(52:47):
biblical example. God says he raises up Nebuchadnezzar. He raises
up Babylon, and that wasn't a righteous nation. God raises
up Cyrus and so this is what we're living in
right now. We're living in.
The providence of God because God has a big plan.
He has a big, big, and he uses people in this,
(53:08):
in this time that don't even have the slightest idea
like Cyrus, he didn't know he was being used by God.
Isaiah wrote about him, but what about this? Uh, like,
what about Hebrews chapter one where, where the Lord says
we got off on a tangent. The Lord said to
my lord, sit at my right feet.
Uh, right hand, my right hand till I put all
(53:28):
your enemies under your feet, and I think what we're
seeing is all the enemies, everything coming in place right
now so that, um, so that God can bring the
world back to himself so Jesus can come and rule
and reign on this earth and I think that he
(53:49):
is um.
We're hearing about a college students on the East Coast
coming to Jesus Christ right now and it's so, so exciting,
you know, so anyway, OK, that was a long answer.
That was a long answer and I think we're just
about out of time and we'll know you should not
get baptized for the 4th time. Um, you just need
(54:10):
to take your discipleship seriously, get yourself plugged into God's word,
get yourself plugged into the people of God, the church.
Um, turn away from, you know, maybe the sin that
keeps tripping you up and really be serious about your
walk with the Lord.
(54:31):
Got that, Will?
Yes, I did. Awesome.
Sometimes you don't even have to ask your question. We
just see it on the screen and we take it
from there. But that's because we were running out of time,
otherwise we would have loved to have talked to you, Will,
but God bless you. Thanks for calling in today here
on Pastor's Perspective. We're gonna archive today's episode on Facebook, YouTube,
Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
(54:52):
in case you missed any part of it, or just
want to share it with your friends, and then we'll
be back next week on Monday to answer the questions
you have over the weekend as you're doing your Bible
study or if you're reading books or going to church,
write those questions down and then call us up on Monday.
All right, you guys, Godspeed. Are you, are you leaving too?
(55:12):
I'm painting. You're painting, but you're leaving on a jet plane.
I'm on a plane. Don't know when I'll be back again.
It's on the calendar I do, yes, on the calendar.
That's why Garth Brooks songs you can go with, but
maybe not others. That was Peter, Paul and Mary.
All right. God bless you guys. We'll see you at
church on Sunday. Thanks for watching and thanks for listening
(55:33):
to Pastor's Perspective.
Hello and welcome to Pastor's Perspective. I'm your host, Brian Perez.
It is Friday. We would love to speak with you.
We'd love to chat with you, love to answer the
questions you have about the Bible and the Christian faith.
If you weren't able to call in yesterday, we're here
again today. Brian and Cheryl Broderson of Calvary Chapel, Costa
Mesa will be here this hour.
(00:37):
To answer your questions, and, uh, then they'll be gone
for a few weeks. So if you've got a question
specifically for Brian or Cheryl, call in today at 888-564-6173.
We'll do our best to answer your question. You can
also send in your questions online on the pastor's perspective Facebook,
using Messenger or DM us on the pastor's perspective Instagram.
(00:58):
Go to kwave.com, look for the pastor's perspective page, or
if you're watching us on Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram right now,
you can scan that QR code at the bottom of
the screen, and that'll take you right to the pastor's
perspective page on Kwave.com. How are you guys doing? So
many ways to get in touch nowadays. Nowadays. It's rhymes. Yeah, yeah,
(01:21):
we're doing, we're doing well. We, uh.
Visited our two youngest grandchildren today for a little bit
and that was sweet. Yeah, but we, our granddaughter, our
youngest granddaughter is 2 months today, 2 months today and
boy they change so much in 2 months. It's amazing
because now she's looking at you and she's almost trying
(01:43):
to talk, so cute.
Well,
Maybe not talk, but no, she's trying to talk to me.
She's trying to say, I really, really love you. This
is a good relationship. Spoil me. That's what she's saying.
I know. I want candy. I want candy. All right,
here's a question that was sent in online to start
(02:04):
us off as we wait for you guys to call
in to 888-564-6173.
Uh, Instagram, and the question is, is it wrong to
ask God for a specific woman in my life to
be my wife? Brian, a specific woman, like he's already
got one in mind, is that it? Like give me
Flora for my wife. Yeah, well, um.
(02:29):
Uh, if you know, if all the circumstances are right, that's,
that's perfectly fine to do. Um, did you specifically ask
for me, provided she's not married to somebody else, uh,
provided that she's a believer.
Uh, so those two things are definitely I don't know
about specifically. I think it's better to say, Lord, give
(02:49):
me the woman that's your will. Yeah, but let's just say, um,
I saw you and thought, wow, she's amazing, and I
got to know you and I thought, oh Lord, give
me her to be my wife. Would that have been
the wrong prayer? Well, in this instant, but let me
(03:10):
say this.
Years ago my dad came skipping into the office and
gave my mom a kiss and my mom said, what's
going on, Chuck?
And my dad said, Well, let me tell you something.
There was a girl and actually her name was Flora, Florence,
I think, and he had prayed, Lord, let me marry Florence.
(03:34):
He prayed and he used to pray all the time
and he had just seen Florence and greeted her at
the back door of the church and when he was
greeting her.
He said to the Lord, Lord, thank you that you
didn't answer that prayer, and you gave me Kay instead.
And Garth Brooks had a song about that. Did he really? Well,
(03:57):
I wanna say this, that my dad loved to tell
that story, but he didn't use the real names but
um I think that God has a way. Oh, is
that the song right? Yes, I'm looking for the lyrics
but unanswered prayers.
But God has, yeah, that was kind of the point
that he was making. So I would say a better
(04:20):
prayer is, Lord, give me the right woman. And if
she's the right one, and if she's the right one, Lord,
let me marry her and if she's not.
Yeah, I, I don't think, but I think specific, I
want to just say this, Brian, I had some guy say,
I am praying.
That I can be your husband. So I'm, I'm saying
it from the other perspective. I'm like.
(04:42):
I'm 19 years old. I'm not quite ready for that,
you know, so, and you know, I never prayed that prayer.
I never prayed that, uh, you could be my wife.
I just took it for granted that that's what God
was leading us toward. I think that it's better to
say it, yeah, that I think it's better to say, Lord,
(05:03):
if this is your will. I agree. And I think,
you know, honestly, the Lord's will is.
The best. And I think that we should leave those
kind of decisions.
Yes, but remember, let's just, let's just say 2, because
she wasn't quite the angel that I remembered in my dreams,
and I could tell that time had changed me in
(05:24):
her eyes too, it seemed. We tried to talk about
the old days. There wasn't much we could recall, I
guess the Lord knows what he's doing after all. And
as she walked away while I looked at my wife,
and then and there I thanked the good Lord for
the gifts in my life. Sometimes I thank God for unanswered.
Prayers remembering when you're talking to the man upstairs that
(05:48):
just because he may not answer doesn't mean he don't
care cause some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered. Some
of God's greatest gifts are all too often unanswered. Some
of God's greatest gifts are unanswered. I, you know, it,
I think, is it, is it possible that Garth Brooks visited?
(06:08):
He did. He was at a couple of times. Wait, wait, wait, what?
I wonder if he was here during that story. Yeah,
I wonder, I wonder that was the, that song came
out in 1990 according to this. It was around 1990
that he was, uh, he was seen at Calvary there
was a rumor that no, no, my dad greeted him
(06:29):
at the back door. What? Well, now we know the
inspiration behind the song. Yes.
But let me let me just say this, Cheryl, because
Um, OK, I'm already going to disagree, you know. No,
you're not, because you're gonna agree that there has to
be along with God's will, there has to be desire
(06:52):
and attraction and those things because we have both known
people that said, well, I never really loved this person.
I was never really attracted to him, but it, you know.
I, it was God's will that I get married to him,
but let me tell you, we, we, yes we did,
but let me tell you the other side of the
coin when I was when I worked at the Bible
(07:13):
College and I was teaching, I'd have these girls come
up to me and say, I'm praying that this I
think he's the one, and I'd get those stories all
the time and I'd say, you know, it's better to
pray for the Lord's will than that and then let
me say I once had a girl who came to me.
And her Bible was filled with sticky notes and they
(07:34):
were all about how the Lord was going she was
going to marry a certain person and she knew his
name and she had so many promises and it seemed
like every promise in the Bible was all saying she
was gonna marry this guy she did not she's happily
married to somebody else so I think.
That it is better to pray the Lord's will, you know,
(07:58):
than to pray specifically for a certain woman that you've
met to be your wife. That's no, no argument here.
Praying for God's will is the best way to pray.
It took a lot of convincing. I finally got him
there yours be done. That's right.
Had to get you there though, Bray. So there you go, Instagrammer.
(08:19):
Thank you so much for sending in your question. Instagram. Yes,
he wanted to remain anonymous just in case, I guess
that other girl is listening right now. Yeah, no, no, no, no.
Or she's saying, oh, if only I'd known, could be
like a hallmark.
Hallmark movie could be like a Hallmark movie. You never know.
(08:40):
All right, here's another question that was sent in online.
It is from Flor. I don't think it's the lady
we were talking about, uh, and, uh, she writes, Hello,
I've been visiting my stepdad recently because he can't work
due to the loss in his vision caused by diabetes.
During my visit, I try to help him around the
house and just let him know that I'm there to
help in any way. On my last visit, I noticed
(09:02):
he was listening to conspiracy theories.
And I just asked him directly if he believed in God.
He said no. I always thought he did, since he
would take us to church when I was young. I'm
scared for him. How can I help him in this area?
And please pray that God heals his body and that
he finds Jesus like I did. What do you guys
say to Fleur?
(09:23):
Oh, I think there's so many ways. I think you
could tell your own testimony, tell your own story of
how you found God. Talk to him about how you
found God. I find that one of the best ways
to share my faith is to share my faith, to
share how what Jesus means to me and, you know,
what he's done for me, just to tell your story
(09:44):
and why it's important. And you could even say, oh,
I thought you knew Jesus because.
Used to take us to church and that meant so
much and that I know Jesus and this is what
he's done for me. So I think sharing your own
story is one way to start. You might also say, hey,
do you want to listen to this pastor or do
you want to listen to K wave, a pastor's perspective
(10:05):
and just, uh, listen to it. I, I like this
show and I wrote into them and maybe you'd like
this show.
Those are a couple ways. What, what about you, Brian?
With the LA
Hat on
Well, I think that uh that's good, good, solid counsel.
(10:26):
I mean, you might, depends on, I think your relationship
or you know, can you have a conversation with your uncle? Uh,
could you say, um, yeah, I noticed you were listening
to this, um, what, what do you think about that,
you know, whatever the conspiracy theory might be, and but I,
I like what you said too, Cheryl, about um
(10:49):
Maybe even just inquiring about, you know, when you used
to take us to church.
And I just wondered, you know, I just, I thought you,
I thought you would believed in God because we went
to church and then, you know, you're, you're kind of
just probing and you know, we, we often we talk
about evangelism sometimes we, it's kind of like fishing, you know,
(11:09):
you're sort of, you're just throwing out uh the lure,
you know, sometimes you're using live bait, you know, some
you're just trying to get something.
In front of them that is going to um spark
their interest or their curiosity, and so you can have
a conversation and that's not always easy. I, I, we've
(11:35):
all kind of had that experience where, you know, you're,
you're like, you've thrown out every single thing in the
tackle box and still they're just, you know, I, I've
been fishing before where you're
You know, you've got your lure, you're literally setting it
almost on the head of the fish and the fish
is just like, you know, what what is this thing?
(11:55):
You know, what are you bothering, and then they swim
away and sometimes sometimes potential, uh, you know, people that
we want to share the gospel with us just like that,
and you're just OK, I, I tried everything I know, uh,
but always pray because that's where
Uh, I found, you know, that times it's like, OK, Lord,
(12:15):
you know, open, open some kind of a door here. So, anyway.
Flor, thank you for sending in your question online through
the pastor's perspective page on Kwave.com. 888-564-6173 is the number
to call us today, and here's three questions for the
price of one sent in by Mark. How does God's
(12:36):
presence comfort us in times of hardship? What are the
consequences of living a life not mindful of God's presence?
And how can we cultivate a greater sense of God's
presence in our daily lives?
Well, it's question number one again. I forgot. How does
(12:58):
God's presence, OK, let's just take them one at a time.
How does God's presence comfort us in times of hardship?
I think that's personal. I think that like.
I don't you think God's presence um comforts us in
a variety of ways depending on.
Um,
The situation I I used to, I love to tell
(13:21):
this story when I was a little girl. The first
thing that I ever memorized was from.
Isaiah 41:13, and it was for I the Lord thy God,
will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not,
I will help you. And when I used to get scared,
I would put my right hand outside of my blankets
and say, Jesus, will you just hold my hand? And
(13:42):
I would feel His presence, and he would hold my
hand and I would fall asleep. And I remember telling
that story to my Sunday school class, and my granddaughter
happened to be in that class, and a couple of
weeks later she's like, Grandma.
You know that thing you said you do and you
did when you were a kid and I was like, what?
And she's like, no, you know that thing you said
(14:02):
you did. I said what did I say? And she said,
how you said you would put your hand out. I said, yes, um,
and she said, I do that and I feel like
the Lord holds my hand and I can go to
sleep at night. And it was really interesting because at
the time they had like a 3 story apartment.
And her room was all by itself on the bottom
floor and so I was thinking that's a really good idea,
(14:26):
you know, because, and she said she did it and
I was telling another Sunday school class and I had
the cutest little girl say, Teacher, I started doing that
very thing and that's one of the ways that I
felt the Lord um comfort me um I remember when
I was um during COVID.
(14:47):
I had a um an emergency situation and I couldn't
stop throwing up and I went by ambulance to uh
the hospital and I remember them saying we're losing her,
we're losing her and I kept going in and out
of consciousness and you know they were saying keep your
eyes open and I, I couldn't even talk and I
(15:10):
couldn't open my eyes. My, my body was betraying me
at that moment and.
I just felt a peace and I, I didn't necessarily
feel the presence of the Lord, but I felt this
incredible peace like no matter what happened, I was gonna
be OK, like.
It doesn't matter if I go to heaven, if I
(15:31):
stay on earth, I'm, I'm OK. And it was just
this incredible piece and I was talking to another girl
who was having um a similar situation, our friend, uh, Victoria,
Bobby and Victoria. Victoria was telling me.
And we were comparing kind of experiences and she said
it was the same for me she said I felt
this incredible piece and she said I I knew it
(15:52):
was God but I wouldn't say like I felt God
but I just felt his peace that I was gonna
be OK yeah and.
You know, the Bible refers to God as the God
of peace. And so it could be that that peace
itself is, you know, just the indicative of of God's presence. Yeah.
(16:13):
So what's the, what's the second one question two, what
are the consequences of living a life not mindful of
God's presence?
Well, I, I think, yeah, I mean that that could.
Translate into different things. I mean, it could be just you're,
you're not mindful of God's presence and so when the
(16:33):
moment comes to be comforted or whatever, you, you're kind
of missing it because you're not.
But you know I'm thinking about Jacob, right? that Jacob
goes to sleep. He's unmindful that the Lord's with him, right?
And he goes to sleep and he has this incredible
dream where the Lord come where he sees the Lord
at the top of the ladder and he sees angels
(16:55):
going up and down and he wakes up and he's like, wow,
God was in this place and I didn't know and
I did not.
And so I think sometimes there's a lot of times
that we live retrospectively like we realize oh my goodness,
the Lord was in this place he was helping me
this whole time and I just didn't realize till now
it's it's kind of like I could've had a V8
(17:17):
moment we remember that commercial where they used to, I
could've had a V8.
Yeah, younger, yes, but it's the idea like I could
have I could have had a lot.
Have peace. I could have had a lot more joy.
I could have relaxed because God was with me. Yeah,
(17:39):
and I think too, you know, it it kind of
depends if you're, if you're unaware of God's presence because
of neglect or you're just, you know, you're preoccupied with,
you're a Christian, but it's not a priority to really
seek the Lord, then of course that's gonna be a
problem when you really need.
(17:59):
To sense the Lord, so you, you have to cultivate that.
You have to, um, we can't just expect that we
are never gonna do anything, and then when the moment comes,
it's like, oh yeah, I hear the Lord's presence is
here and everything so you can, you can miss out
because of neglect. So just don't, don't do that. Just
cultivate that by spending time with the Lord and what's
(18:22):
the final one? How do you cultivate it?
How do you cultivate it? Right? So I would say
one way to cultivate is I just talk, just talk
to the Lord, converse, talk to him. Converse. That's good, yeah.
And you know, so when I take my walk, I say, Lord,
let's talk. And one of the things I found that
I like to turn my thoughts into conversation with the Lord.
(18:45):
And that way I'm not hiding thoughts from him. I'm
not like, oh no, I had a bad thought.
You know, I don't want God to see that. I
know God sees him, so I just talked to him
and I just, Lord, let's let's just talk in my thoughts.
I talked to God. I just talk to God all
the time. And you're really good at that. You, you
do that faithfully and that's great. Well, you know what
(19:06):
my parents did that, right? I mean, you'd be in
conversation with my mom and all of a sudden you
were like, oh, we're praying.
Hm
Did you had that experience with my mom like she'd
be like, wait, who else is in this conversation? Oh,
it's Jesus. Yeah, like you'd be like, she'd be like,
Oh dear God, and you realize she's actually praying like,
(19:30):
oh dear God, help us in this situation. We don't
know what to do. And I mean, she would do
that and she would just all of a sudden be praying,
especially if it was bad. She would just all of
a sudden be praying. Remember the story of um.
Oh gosh, who was it who took over the um
(19:50):
After Hudson Taylor passed, who, who, yeah, host, host, yeah.
So he became the head of the China Inland Mission,
and he, he was that guy. People would tell a
story like they would, they would, he would be pouring
a cup of tea. They would go to meet with
him and they're, you know, kind of talking about all
the issues and problems and struggles and
And he would be listening and pouring tea and then
(20:11):
he would just start talking and all of a sudden
the person will realize, oh, I guess we're praying now
because he's talking to the Lord. But I think that's
an excellent way to cultivate the presence of the Lord.
And and and when you're reading God's word and God's
speaking to you and you're, you're speaking back to Him, it's,
it's a dialogue, you know, it's like, oh my gosh, wow, Lord,
this is this, or Lord, you know, why, why did you,
(20:34):
why does it say this here or what does this
even mean? Yeah, and another way too is.
You know, we, there's a nature center not too far
from our house, Talbert Park, and today I was there
and these birds and I'm just like, Lord, thank you
for these birds these birds are amazing. I saw a
rattlesnake today too. I didn't thank the Lord for that,
(20:56):
but I did say Lord, protect me and protect Barnabas
because Barnabas wanted to like sniff it and go near it.
I'm like, no, no, no, no, pull him away and
I stood far enough away and took a picture for Brian,
my Brian.
But oh it was my first rattlesnake I've ever seen
that was not in a uh.
(21:16):
An aquarium or what are they they're not called an
aquarium for for those snake aquarium. No, no, it'll come
to me but a glass enclosure, yes, teranium. That's it
ran ran with the terrain. They have terrain, so that's right,
terranium instead of aqua, which would be water right unless
(21:39):
it's a water snake, but let's not get into that. Mark,
thank you for sending in your question on the pastor's
perspective Facebook messenger. Yes, questions.
All about God's presence, and we archive all of our
episodes on Facebook, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify if you
want to go back and listen later to something that
you heard or share it with a friend. 888-564-6173 is
(22:00):
the number to call Brian and Cheryl Broderson today. And
let's go to Huntington Beach. Here is Stanley. Welcome to
Pastor's perspective, Stanley.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Hi, how are you? Um, first of all, I just
wanna be, uh, let the Lord to protect what I
speak and make sure all the other brothers, sisters listen
to don't offended. I just have a question to ask. Um.
We, we have a, uh, my cousin who died a
(22:33):
month ago and we have a uh billing bill day
on Wednesday and then we have a funeral yesterday for the, the,
my cousin for the officer sergeant.
Um, the question is this though.
Uh, on Wednesday.
Uh, on the bill date and
(22:54):
The father, the Catholic father, because of the, my cousin in-law,
her family is uh Catholic, so they have a Catholic
priest over there and then preaching.
And he baptized, uh, he baptized that.
He, I was wondering, I know, I mean, I wish,
(23:16):
I mean, it's God's grace, God's mercy. He can, we, we,
there's no way I can judge who can go, who
cannot go. It's all Lord's power, authority. Hello, can you
hear me? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1 (23:28):
yeah, we're listening.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Oh, OK. So, um, and a good thing I met a, uh, uh, uh, uh,
police officer, uh, the, the, the, the officer Steve, he said, oh,
he heard the Kwa um uh um before too about me.
So he has the Holy Spirit with him and then
his
Good hand and stuff. So, but I don't understand a person.
(23:53):
I mean, I, if my cousin can go to heaven,
I'm happy. I'm happy. But on my which script in
the world are aligned for the alignment to the
The person who died in the baptize them.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Right,
Speaker 2 (24:12):
right,
Speaker 1 (24:13):
yeah, yeah, we don't, we don't, we don't, we're with
you on that, like, um.
I don't think that does any good.
I think they, what are they like the last rites
that like I mean I mean the last rites, you know,
when you're, yeah, but they'll even do them over the dead. Yeah,
(24:34):
I think you know, the, the thing that you can
trust in is that your, if your cousin had had
faith in Jesus, then he's, he's fine. He's with the Lord.
Um, the, the Catholic Church doesn't have a real clear
(24:56):
biblical understanding of, of salvation, how it takes place, and
because of that, they are often trying to help things along. Well, look,
you know, just in case.
Uh, we, we need to go through this ritual or
or something like that. The the Bible teaches that once
(25:19):
you believe in Jesus, the moment you put your trust
in him, he's the savior. He died for you, he
rose again from the dead. You acknowledge, I am a
sinner and I need a savior, and I received Jesus
as my Savior. Once you do that, your, your sins
are forgiven. There's nothing else that needs to be done.
There's no further.
(25:40):
Um, cleansing that.
Needs to take place. You are um fully justified at
that very instant. Now, you're gonna go on living and
growing and becoming more the person that God wants you
to be to the power of the Holy Spirit through
(26:00):
a process of time and the technical word of sanctification, um.
But you don't, you don't need to do anything else,
so you don't need to have a priest help you.
But the Catholic Church doesn't, you know, a lot of, unfortunately,
a lot of people in the Catholic Church, they don't
understand the simplicity of salvation, so they've got all of
these additional things to try to make sure that
(26:22):
OK, you know, we did this and and we got
the priest, they did that, and then in some cases, well,
you know, they're probably in purgatory, so we're gonna pray
some prayers to, so they don't have to be there
that long. We're gonna light some candles, we're gonna give
a donation.
And you know, all of that is just betrays the
(26:42):
fact that they don't understand the free gift of salvation. Now,
I'm not saying that that's the case with everybody who's Catholic,
but it is the case with many and it is
kind of the theological position of the church in
The the bigger sense of the church. I think a
lot of people don't realize that you grew up Catholic
too so this was, this was, you know, your life
(27:04):
and you had the cousins and yeah I mean I
I had the experience of trying to save myself because
that's pretty much what the church was.
Teaching me to do and I also had the experience
of of failing over and over and realizing like this
is this is never gonna work if if this is
left up to me, I'm this is not a good thing.
(27:25):
So the day I heard the the gospel, the good
news that Jesus paid it all, then it was like, OK,
you know, this is a different story, and that's why
it's called the good news.
For sure. I like the way you put it to
where you said that the church might say we're going
to do this just in case, yeah, but it's not
(27:46):
a just in case it just doesn't work that way. Yeah, no,
it doesn't work that way. And again, in the in
the church as long as you are uh in the church,
I mean, there's all different kind of levels of things,
you know, I mean, in some ways.
Uh, Catholicism almost teaches kind of a universalism, like everybody's
gonna be OK through their own, uh, pursuit. You know,
(28:09):
if you're Buddhist, you're gonna be OK through Buddhism. If
you're Hindu, you're gonna be OK through Hinduism ultimately. It
ultimately is all gonna get funneled through Jesus, but this,
this is the path you're on, and God's gonna accept you.
Um, that way. But in the more of a Christian context,
it's it's being baptized into the church, and the idea
(28:30):
in Catholicism is, you know, which is a biblical idea
that we're born into original sin, but the Catholic Church
teaches that that the original sin is cleansed through baptism.
So that's why babies are baptized because, you know, you
need to be cleansed. And so, then once you do that,
You know, everything's unless you just completely apostasize, everything in
(28:50):
the end will be OK, but you're just gonna have
to spend a lot, a lot of years in purgatory, um,
even if you were a good Catholic, because nobody's that good, so.
All right, very good. Stanley, thank you for calling in
today with your question. We're gonna take a break and
then we'll be back with your questions. So give us
a call 888-564-6173. Got the phone lines open for another
(29:15):
half hour and we would love to hear from you.
If you're watching us online, call in. Don't just don't
just be a, uh, spectator, be a participant by calling 888-564-6173.
We're gonna talk to you when we come back from
the break here on Pastor's Perspective.
(30:17):
Welcome back to Pastor's Perspective. 888-564-6173 is the number to
call from your phone or from your parents' phone if
you don't have your own phone. But then again, a
lot of kids do have their own phones now. See,
I love it when the kids call. One of my
problems is that I haven't been on here for a while. I'm,
I'm very sporadic, aren't I?
I don't mean to be sporadic. I think my husband
(30:38):
travels a lot, so that that that makes me sporadic
because I'm only on here with you, but I, I
do my one of my favorite things is when the
kids call. I love kids' questions and of course I
teach Sunday school, uh, first and 2nd grade, and I
taught last Sunday the the kids and it was all
(31:00):
about when David became king, so I did a skit
and we played.
Way back in the 60s, there used to be a
program called To Tell the Truth and three contestants would
come in and pretend to be.
And they would, you know, do the description. This is
(31:21):
so and so and so for mine, one of these
men is the true king. Let's see if you can
figure it out. And so I gave them each a
box at the end, but they stood behind what looked
like a podium, but it was actually a, you want
to tell them what it was because you put them together.
It was a it was a cardboard box, a cardboard
(31:42):
box for moving box, a wardrobe box.
Home Depot from Home Depot and then we wrapped in,
I wrapped in blue paper, contestant #1, contestant number 2,
contestant number 3, and I got two of my grandkids
and a really cool kid named Jacob to be the contestants.
And then I did a lot of props. Brian thought
(32:02):
it looked like a wheel axle, but what I made
was a barbell with uh fake weights to say, I'm
really strong, that's why I should be king.
And then we borrowed a trophy and the other one said,
I win everything. I should be king.
And then the other one was like, well, I take
care of lambs and they do a really good job
(32:22):
and so you know who's gonna be the true which
one was the true and then and then what do
you use for power? What do you use for power
and so one took out all these riches like I
use my money and the other one took out a
sword like I use violence, you know, and I take
things over and then one said, well, I have this
(32:43):
staff and with it I save sheep.
And uh you know, and I drive wolves away and
then the last one was, well, you know what makes
you the best king and one brought out a graduation
cap and said I'm really wise and the next one
brought out uh a globe and said, well, I, I,
(33:04):
you know, I've been all over the world and then
the last one was brought out the Bible and said,
I love the word of God.
And I love God. So anyway, but it was interesting
because the kids were all booing the wrong choices and
they were all cheering the lamb and the stuff. I
(33:24):
didn't expect that reaction. I was like, oh, we actually
have Christian kids out there.
It was really, really, they were so into it. It
was really, really fun. So I was there. It was, yeah,
it was a great response, uh, a great new rendition
of To Tell the Truth. It was, it was To
Tell the king, to tell the truth about the king,
(33:46):
about the king, yeah, it was good. It was really fun.
All right, 888-564-6173. Here's another question that was sent in online.
It's from Bob in Costa Mesa.
Huh, how old is Bob? It doesn't say, but he
has his own Facebook account. Oh, so he's not a kid. No, OK,
at least we hope not.
But Bob's question, when the rapture happens, will we all
(34:08):
be in front of God as we would during judgment time?
When we die, or would we all hold on, start over.
When the rapture happens, will we all be in front
of God as we would during judgment time when we die,
or would we all immediately go to heaven? OK, let
me just say this before, as Brian looks it up.
Years ago,
(34:30):
Brian was doing baby dedications.
In Vista and he brought the baby and he kind
of got this look on his face and he turned
around and went back to the parents and he talked
to them and they shook their heads, yes, and he
was like.
OK, and, and he comes up to the podium and
he says,
This is baby Bob.
(34:52):
And let's bring baby Bob before the lunch. So he
was asking the parents, do you want to call him
Bobby or Robert? And they're like, No, no, Bob. But
he made it worse, but, OK, I imagine like a
3 month old named Bob. You're just like, wait, I
don't know that this really is, but I think you
made it worse when you called him Baby Bob. Bob,
(35:13):
let's pray for baby Bob. Yes, and you guys say, Lord,
we just pray that you would bless baby Bob, and
you know you could hear snickers throughout the whole.
But we were all in agreement. OK, but we have
a question from Bob, Bob. Bob, Bob.
Um, OK.
(35:34):
So, I, I think this is, this is the picture,
I think that is probably a description of that of
that moment. And it's Revelation chapter 5.
And um it's talking about now the the fourth chapter
takes you into the heavenly scene and there's one who
(35:55):
is sitting on the throne and the scroll is in
his right hand and the question is who is worthy
to take the scroll and to loose the seals and
and no one's found worthy um.
But then, um.
The
The angel.
(36:15):
You know, um, 11 like a lamb that has been
slain comes forward. The angel says, don't weep, uh, because
John writes that he's, he's weeping, um, over the fact
that there's no one worthy to take the scroll and
to loose loose the seals, and don't weep. The lion
of the tribe of Judah has triumphed or prevailed.
(36:38):
And so then the next thing we see is uh
one like a lamb, who has been slain, he comes forth,
he takes the scroll, and when he had taken the scroll,
this is what it says in Revelation 5:8. Um,
Each taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the
24 elders fell down before the lamb, each having a harp,
(36:59):
golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of
the saints, and they sang a new song saying, You
are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals,
for you were slain and have redeemed us to God
by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and
people and nation, and have made us kings and priests
to our God and we shall reign on the earth.
(37:21):
So I, I think that this is probably a description
of what is actually going to transpire when the saints
arrive there in on on the heavenly scene and around
the throne of God.
So not a judgment, but rather a coronation.
(37:45):
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's almost like the Daniel
chapter 7 and then then the stone is able to,
you know, start the tribulation to bring all the kingdoms down.
You know, so I like the idea of not a judgment.
The judgment is at the great white judgment, which is
at the end of revelation or at the end of
(38:08):
the tribulation period. So this is the beginning of the
tribulation hasn't begun yet, right? Not till the scrolls are loose.
All right, Bob, thanks for sending in your question on Facebook.
And now here is Michael calling in from Los Alamitos, California,
watching us on YouTube. Hey there, Michael, what's your question
for us today?
(38:28):
Hey, thanks, pastors for taking my call, or Pastor Brian. Uh, so, um,
I had a question regarding the parable of the 10 virgins,
and it, uh, just to quickly summarize, it seems like, um,
all 10 virgins, which seems to be representing, I guess
you could say, the believers, the church, etc.
They're all asleep, right? And then half of them, you know,
(38:51):
when they all wake up, they're all kind of startled.
The bridegroom has arrived and then only half of that,
half of them are, are prepared, right? Prepared with oil
and they're allowed into the wedding feast of the lamb,
and then the other 5 are.
are basically shut out of the, of the wedding feast
and the bridegrooms tells them, so you guys know the parable,
I'm sure. So my question is, my question is, do
(39:13):
you think that's, I mean, because I've heard a lot
of um other ministries, um, and it seems to make sense.
It seems to fit a lot of other ministries seem
to say that like that's kind of like what's gonna
be happening.
Uh, right when the Lord arrives that the, the, the believers,
the church, etc. are many of them will be asleep, right?
We have, you know, obviously we have different denominations, non-denominations, etc.
(39:36):
and then it kind of, I feel like it kind
of coincides like yesterday I asked a question about Hoseh
61 through 3 about the, uh, the Lord coming, and
I just, you know, and, and one thing I did
not get a chance to kind of add to that
question was that, um, you know.
You know, just by itself, I could see how, like,
it could mean, you know, the Lord is coming on
(39:58):
the 3rd day, maybe, maybe not, but there's, I guess
you could say the convergence, the converging signs like Israel's
back in their land, right? As an example, they're hated
almost worldwide, right? You can see how all these battles are,
are revving up.
Even say the recent bombing in Iran with the Iran's
nuclear sites and how that could even be a fulfillment
(40:20):
of Jeremiah 4935. So I just see I feel like
it was the convergence of various signs, you know, Israel
back in the land right now we're at a state
where they're from what I've been hearing that they've
They're pretty much ready to take over the Temple Mount, right?
And that's gonna be huge when it comes to implementing
the daily sacrifices and that, so just Hosea 6:1 through 3,
(40:43):
it's not by, it just that by itself. It's like,
it's a converging of all these other things.
Other verses I can do, but I, I know we
have a limited amount of time with this, um, but
then it goes back to the parable, the 10 virgins where,
you know, all of the churches are seemingly asleep when
it comes to that sort of thing, right? I don't know, just,
I mean, I just want to get your guys' opinion, yeah,
(41:04):
and you know, here, here's there, there is some diversity
of opinion on these kinds of things. Um, I think that.
We, we a lot of times misunderstand parables because I
think we're, we're trying to get more out of the
parable than Jesus actually intended. For example, even the use
(41:26):
of the word virgin, we give a con we give
a spiritual connotation to that, you know, virgin meaning like
pure holy. in in the context, Jesus could have just
easily said young women because that's a virgin, a young woman,
they were synonymous. So,
Jesus is describing something everybody would know. He's he's talking
(41:49):
about what happens in, you know, these, the weddings at
the time.
And so, here's the question. The question is, is this
parable teaching us uh a lot of different things here about,
you know, some had oil and some forgot their oil, um, or,
(42:11):
or is it or is there like a one big lesson,
and I, I personally think with the parables, all of
them have one big lesson. So I think the
I think the details are just, it's just the story
that Jesus is using to illustrate the point. What is
the point? The point is be ready, because the Son
of Man is gonna come when you don't expect it.
(42:31):
That's the point. And so he uses the story to
a story that everybody would be familiar with.
And then they would go, oh wow, yeah, we, we
wanna be ready. That's, that's what we want to be,
not like, OK, so the there's 10 virgins, but 5
of them, some people said, well, they're they're all Christians,
they're all believers, but, you know, some of them are
filled with the Holy Spirit, that's the oil. The oil
(42:53):
is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Well, that's, I think
it's taking it further than the Lord intended. So that's
my personal.
Conviction on these parables is that for the most part,
all of them have one main point and Jesus is
using the circumstances that everybody's familiar with to illustrate the point.
(43:13):
And don't you think part of that is every, every
one of these parables also tells you.
That you know like the master goes away for a
long time and I think what Jesus is saying, remember
there were some that expected the Lord to return immediately
and we even see that in Thessalonians that those people
(43:34):
thought they were being told that the rapture had already
come or uh that you know and so that they
had missed it because.
Every generation has had that sense of the Lord is coming,
and I think Jesus is saying, I want you to
stay prepared whether you think I'm coming tomorrow or in
(43:56):
10 years. I want you to be ready at all
times and live with that sense of anticipation. What does
it say? And he who has this hope purifies himself
even as he is pure, and the thought that Jesus
could come at any moment.
Purifies the church and one of the reasons I think
(44:16):
that the church gets, you know, um, impure or you
know Jesus said, you know, the person who thinks that
the master is delaying and begins to beat his servants
or return to the old life and the old ways
to that person when he comes it'll be a scourge
and so I do think that you're right in that.
(44:37):
We lose sometimes because we want to look at the
minutia and we wanna figure out more, you know, like
what is he really saying? You know, it's interesting because
you can, you can go back to when he said
to the disciples, beware the leaven of the Pharisees. He's
getting on a boat with the disciples and he's just
been arguing with the Pharisees and they're like,
(44:58):
OK, just show us a sign and you know they
don't mean it because they want to control Jesus and
he gets on and he looks at his disciples says
beware the leaven of the Pharisees, and they turn to
each other and they go, oh, it's a secret message
we forgot the bread and he's trying to get through
to us and who's whose fault is that that we
(45:19):
forgot the bread.
And Jesus said, Why are you talking to yourselves about
the bread? Did you forget, like, I just fed 5000
with 5 loaves and 2 fish, and then I fed 4000.
And how many basketfuls did you take up? And he said,
are your hearts hardened? And I think that sometimes when
our heart gets hardened that we don't understand and we
(45:43):
start trying to read into like even the parables more than.
That's there. The main message is be ready. Yes, Israel
is a nation and that should put all of us
on high alert. I don't think we have to look
at the minutiae like, oh, Iran was bombed, or I
(46:06):
think sometimes we're reading too much or they're gonna take
the Temple Mount and then you get to Israel and
they're like, no, that we're not.
to take the Temple Mount, that would, that would be catastrophic.
And there are people in Israel that are like, no,
that won't happen. Yeah, there's a group of fanatics that
are like, yeah, we're going to do it, we're going
to do it, and everybody else is going, you don't,
please don't, right. And so I think that and you know,
(46:29):
we'll hear reports and then we have friends in Israel
and we'll say, is any of this? We have friends
who know.
People that are influential in Israel and they'll say that
is not true and so I think that sometimes when
you go into the minutiae and you're trying to read
into things that's very dangerous you know I was just
(46:52):
reading in the scripture, Isaiah, God says, Isaiah, do not
call it a conspiracy what everybody else is calling a
conspiracy and I'm thinking.
Wow, could the Lord be any clearer than that? Don't
go into conspiracy theories, Isaiah. He's a prophet. He's prophesying
that Babylon is gonna take over right then. Babylon did
(47:13):
not look like a threat Assyria did, and people had
so many conspiracy theories.
Even then and he's saying, Isaiah, don't you fall into that.
Don't you get into conspiracies. I tell you so clearly, Isaiah.
I speak so clearly. The Bible says things so clearly
stay in the clear. Yeah, exactly. And I, and I
think too along that, that same line of what you're saying, um,
(47:38):
you know, here's, here's the thing, and so we talked
with Michael yesterday and the, you know, we were looking
at Hosea.
Um, chapter 6, you know that passage where, um, two
days I have forsaken them on the 3rd day I
will raise them up, and the question about is this
like the prediction of the 2000 years of, you know,
God setting aside Israel and then, you know, bringing them
(47:59):
back in. So here we are 2000 years later, gosh,
it seems to fit and, and yeah, that I mean
that seems like it could be, but, but then
What you said, Cheryl, I think is so important. We,
we need to be careful. It's, it's great to get
excited about prophecy, but we need to be careful not
to read more into things that actually than actually is there.
(48:23):
So Israel is back in the land, but they're not
fulfilling prophecy right now. So when you think of, yeah,
maybe that's Jeremiah, what happened in Iran. No, it's not
Jeremiah what happened in Iran, um, because all of those
things happen.
In what we commonly call the tribulation period, this is
when God renews his very specific dealing with Israel. Right now,
(48:48):
Israel is in the land. What you, I think the
best way to understand that they are providentially in the land.
God has providentially put them there, not in fulfillment of
any one specific scripture at the moment, um, maybe part
of Ezekiel 38, but
Um, for the fulfillment of prophecy in the future, right,
(49:09):
and not because they're righteous and not because they're doing righteously,
because they are still rejecting Jesus. They are there providentially
to fulfill the greater plan of God that during.
In the tribulation, he will bring them all to the Messiah,
and they will come to recognize the one they appear.
(49:30):
So as much as we love Israel and we recognize
the word of God and we recognize that God does
have a future plan for for the nation, we also
have to recognize that right now it is not, it's
not that time. Um, they are presently God says to
them in Hosea, we talked about Hosea yesterday.
(49:51):
Uh, you are not my people and I will not
be your God. And so they're, they're in the not
my people stage right now. And he says, but in
the place that they, he told them, you are not
my people, in that same place, they will be called
the sons of the living God. But, but this is future,
this hasn't happened yet. So,
Um, you know, we, we can look at, we can
see the stages being set, we can see a lot
(50:12):
of things that are, uh, I think are preparing for
an ultimate fulfillment, but we have to be careful not
to overstate um what is presently happening, and then reading
everything that goes on, uh, you know, if you, I,
I read a book and I'm actually rereading it, it's a,
it's a book called Jerusalem A Biography.
(50:35):
Um, and it's written by, uh, Simon C. Begg Montefiore. Uh,
Simon Monteore is not a Christian. He's a Jew. Um,
his ancestors were very involved in settling in Jerusalem in
the 1800s, but he writes his history on Jerusalem, and
if you, if you read, sometimes I think we, you know,
we need to read a little more broadly. You, you
(50:57):
read a little more.
Uh, broadly, and you get to understand all of the factors,
and you realize what we see happening right now, this
has been happening since, you know, the 1850s is where
this whole thing that we are kind of seeing.
Continue to fold out. It all really began in the 1850s, uh,
(51:20):
with the British, uh, you know, some British evangelicals in
the government feeling like we're gonna get the Jews back
in the land so the Messiah can come again. And, um,
so that's kind of where a lot of this stuff started.
Now, and, you know, then you have, you have Theodore Herzl,
you have Zionism, you have the desire to move back,
(51:41):
you know, for the Jews to move back into a homeland.
And of course, this was, um, this was all, um, what,
what's the word I'm thinking of it, speed, speed when
you speed something up expedited.
Uh, with the, with the Second World War and the
Holocaust and and all of that. So, but even when
you're reading that book, you do realize this is all
(52:02):
providential because Israel lost almost every war. Yeah, I mean,
you read it and you realize, OK, one thing that you,
you will, I think come away with is like it's
a miracle that they're in the land, um, and it's the,
it's a providential thing, just like people talk about America
being like, you know,
When we talk about America being, you know, like established
(52:25):
by God and so forth, we're talking about Province, that
this is God providentially raises up this nation doesn't mean
everything we did was the right way and he did it. He,
he raised it up because we were so good that
he couldn't help but bless us. That's a.
lot of mythology that that's factored in. God raises up
a nation providentially just like, here's a, here's a great
(52:47):
biblical example. God says he raises up Nebuchadnezzar. He raises
up Babylon, and that wasn't a righteous nation. God raises
up Cyrus and so this is what we're living in
right now. We're living in.
The providence of God because God has a big plan.
He has a big, big, and he uses people in this,
(53:08):
in this time that don't even have the slightest idea
like Cyrus, he didn't know he was being used by God.
Isaiah wrote about him, but what about this? Uh, like,
what about Hebrews chapter one where, where the Lord says
we got off on a tangent. The Lord said to
my lord, sit at my right feet.
Uh, right hand, my right hand till I put all
(53:28):
your enemies under your feet, and I think what we're
seeing is all the enemies, everything coming in place right
now so that, um, so that God can bring the
world back to himself so Jesus can come and rule
and reign on this earth and I think that he
(53:49):
is um.
We're hearing about a college students on the East Coast
coming to Jesus Christ right now and it's so, so exciting,
you know, so anyway, OK, that was a long answer.
That was a long answer and I think we're just
about out of time and we'll know you should not
get baptized for the 4th time. Um, you just need
(54:10):
to take your discipleship seriously, get yourself plugged into God's word,
get yourself plugged into the people of God, the church.
Um, turn away from, you know, maybe the sin that
keeps tripping you up and really be serious about your
walk with the Lord.
(54:31):
Got that, Will?
Yes, I did. Awesome.
Sometimes you don't even have to ask your question. We
just see it on the screen and we take it
from there. But that's because we were running out of time,
otherwise we would have loved to have talked to you, Will,
but God bless you. Thanks for calling in today here
on Pastor's Perspective. We're gonna archive today's episode on Facebook, YouTube,
Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
(54:52):
in case you missed any part of it, or just
want to share it with your friends, and then we'll
be back next week on Monday to answer the questions
you have over the weekend as you're doing your Bible
study or if you're reading books or going to church,
write those questions down and then call us up on Monday.
All right, you guys, Godspeed. Are you, are you leaving too?
(55:12):
I'm painting. You're painting, but you're leaving on a jet plane.
I'm on a plane. Don't know when I'll be back again.
It's on the calendar I do, yes, on the calendar.
That's why Garth Brooks songs you can go with, but
maybe not others. That was Peter, Paul and Mary.
All right. God bless you guys. We'll see you at
church on Sunday. Thanks for watching and thanks for listening
(55:33):
to Pastor's Perspective.
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