October 2, 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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Speaker 1 (00:16):
Hello and welcome to Pastor's Perspective. I'm your host Brian Perez,
and it's so great to have you listening and watching today.
888-564-6173 is the number to call in to the program
to ask your questions about the Bible, the Christian faith,
the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity. We can answer all
(00:37):
kinds of questions. Give us a call 888-564-6173. If you're
watching us on Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram, thanks for
Watching, you can share the page on your favorite social
media platforms so we can get more people calling and
engaged and asking their questions. If you have a question,
you can scan the QR code. That'll take you to
the pastor's perspective page on Kwave.com, where you can fill
(01:00):
out that form. That gets your question to us, and
maybe we'll read it on a future episode of Pastor's Perspective.
If you want an answer today before 4, call us, 888-564-6173.
And
Answering your questions today, we've got John Huang, the pastor
of Christ Point City Church in Huntington Beach. How you
doing,
Speaker 2 (01:18):
John? I am doing well. I am so grateful to
be here and I get to be on with and
you're gonna announce.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Oh, you, I was,
I thought you were gonna take
Speaker 2 (01:26):
it away. I, I didn't want to steal your thunder,
but I'm so excited.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
You are. I, I wasn't sure if you guys knew
each other, but apparently you do because you were talking
on the phone beforehand and everything. Bruce Zachary, the pastor
of Calvary Nexus and, as I was saying, the pastor of.
Calvary Nexus in Camarillo, California. He's been with us before, and, uh,
he joins us again on Zoom. Bruce, how are you doing?
(01:51):
I was pretty tired until John got on the air.
I'm pretty pumped. Yeah, he will wake people up. Do
the show with John and, uh, happy belated Brian. It's
always nice to hear someone pronounce John's name correctly.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Should we tell him the story behind that?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah, well, I, yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, it's so endearing.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
OK, well, I mean, it was, it was for years
people pronounce my last name phonetically, right? John Huang. I'm
actually the only person who would pronounce my last name
Huang was Pastor Chuck. And Chuck said, well, that's the
correct way to say it, so I'm gonna say it,
but I for years continued with Huang.
And it wasn't until a staff meeting when Pastor Brian
(02:30):
Broderson said, hey, wait a minute, so John, when you
introduce your mom and dad, how do you introduce them?
And I said, Mr. and Mrs. Huang. I said, that
settles it, you're a Huang.
And so, so before the blink of an eye, it
was being announced on the radio here at Kwave on
Pastor's perspective, and I have been a Huang ever since.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
You were so humble and so gracious and allowing that
for so long, decades, decades it was decades, yes, it was.
But yes, John Huang is here. It took a while
to get used to saying it the right way for
me too, yeah,
yeah for you too. It was like witness protection.
(03:12):
All right, give us a call at 888-564-6173. Let's get
to some questions that were sent in online. Here is
one from Matthew in Bloomington, Indiana. He sent in two questions, uh,
on two completely different topics, but, uh, here's question one.
What does it mean to be broken?
I have a hard time ba balancing brokenness with being
(03:36):
down or depressed. I got saved while in rehab, and
it was more of a reformed theology or a Calvinist thing.
I remember learning tulip, so a lot of my thinking
is that nothing good can come from me, and if
anything good comes from me, it is from God.
I know there's truth in that, but is there some
kind of balance to it? My wife, on the other hand,
(03:57):
doesn't believe in being broken. She feels or knows that
God doesn't want us walking around feeling broken but made
in His image. I guess I'm just struggling with how
God wants me to be and feel about myself. I
was in drug addiction from 16 years old to 37
years old. I'm just trying to figure things out. And
(04:17):
then Matthew's second question was King James a homosexual?
Uh, Matthew says, my wife is struggling to believe the
Bible since there are so many translations, and then this
King James thing came up. I know she still believes,
but now doesn't know if she should believe how the
Western church teaches the Bible. Also, she says, when we pray,
(04:38):
I can't call God heavenly Father because he doesn't believe God,
she doesn't believe God is male or female. John.
What would you answer?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Well, I would say that it's um really important that
that we um define terms and I'm, I'm really glad
that the person is thinking about this and and I
agree with the wife that if brokenness means a constant
state of depression and sadness and darkness, then obviously the
Lord doesn't want us to be living in that condition.
(05:09):
Um, those are real conditions people experience them, but remember
the joy of the Lord is our strength. So, um,
when I, when I think about the word broken, um, I,
this is where we wanna go to different examples and
places in scripture and see where people have expressed their
brokenness before God.
Um, for example, Jacob, you remember when he wrestled with, um, the, um,
(05:34):
the Lord there at the ford of Jaybok and the
Lord had touched his hip and Jacob walked away with
the limp and you remember that Jacob was someone that
was known for his self-confidence, his self-reliance, he was constantly.
Um, trying to make things happen in his own strength
in his own flesh. He was a shaker and a mover,
(05:54):
but in that moment that the Lord touched his hip,
he walked away with the new name, Israel, that means, um,
governed by God or one who overcame. and in that
state of reliance and dependence on the Lord, he was
able to
Walk into a new, um, kind of relationship with God.
Um think about David. When David, um, in his confession
(06:17):
in Psalm 51 when he um was praying to God
and he was broken over his sin that he had
committed with Bathsheba, adultery and then murder and then for
almost a year hiding his sin and he said, Lord,
you desire a broken and a contrite heart.
There, there, there we see brokenness as being there's an openness,
(06:40):
there's a genuineness, there's an authenticity in confession, the word
confess means to agree with God and so there is
a humility that's demonstrated and then one more example I
would cite is in Matthew chapter 5 in the sermon
on the Mount when Jesus said, Blessed are the poor
in spirit.
And I think that that's another great passage where we
(07:02):
can get an idea of what brokenness means in the Bible,
that we're bankrupt of our self-confidence, our self-reliance, but there
is a genuine dependence on the Lord saying, Lord, I
need you.
And so in life, there are gonna be moments where
God allows maybe trials and difficulties, maybe disappointments, maybe hardships
(07:23):
and and even times where the Lord has to discipline
us because of ongoing sin, but it's to bring us
back to that place where we're no longer trusting in ourselves,
but we recognize um who the Lord is that um
like remember Isaiah when he saw the Lord high and lift.
It up and he said, woe is me, for I
am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips and I
(07:43):
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips
a proper view of God resulted in a proper view
of self and in that case, there is that brokenness
where in humility we come before God and, and that
is the place where God wants us to be because
that is when we are in the place that we
can receive grace and mercy and
(08:04):
And, and just to be brought into a deeper relationship
with him. So, so that is how I would explain brokenness.
But if brokenness was to mean chronic, constant ongoing, never
ending depression, no, the Lord wants to rescue us even
though we might go through seasons of that, um, you know, uh,
(08:24):
we may be weeping in the night, but joy comes
in the morning and so there's a beauty in brokenness.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Bruce,
what say you?
Yeah, first of all, I appreciate your response, John, and Matthew,
I'm so grateful for your question, and Brian, I'm so
grateful that we're handling these two-part questions in two separate parts.
That's first of all, but uh the, the question of brokenness,
I agree with uh John that uh
came to heal the brokenhearted. And so in the midst
(08:55):
of our brokenness, the gospel comes to be restorative. And yeah,
it sounds from your testimony, Matthew, that you've experienced, uh,
quite a history of drug use, uh, what you've described
as addiction, and, um,
That may be playing a part in in some of
the emotional experience that you have. And I think it
(09:16):
can be encouraging as John talks about the experience of
Jacob at the Y, to know that that is just a,
a tributary of the Jordan River. It's the, the southern tributary,
and so the name literally means to empty, and, and
so Jacob was being emptied of self-reliance to become reliant
(09:37):
upon God and so
Um, in the process of seeing your own brokenness, and
the sense of seeing spiritual poverty, as Matthew 5 describes it,
blessed are the poor in spirit, as John referred, uh,
that's a really healthy and positive thing. Uh, the experience
with chronic discouragement or depression.
(09:58):
Uh, maybe related to spiritual issues, could be related to
emotional issues, physiological issues. I don't want to be quick
to rule out one or point to another, but I
think it could be encouraging to recognize that even Elijah,
as he fled from Jezebel after defeating the prophets of Paul,
that he was hiding in a cave and he was
(10:20):
just
Calling out to God to end his life. He just
felt so depressed, so discouraged, so at an end of himself, um,
that sense of brokenness, and, and God never condemns him, uh,
for his feelings. He encourages him and seeks to restore.
And this is God's desire in all of us as
we go through seasons of struggle, as John.
(10:43):
Um, just aptly that the joy of the Lord is
our strength, and that Jesus said in John 15 verse
11 that he wants us to experience His joy and
his fullness. And there's a lot in this world that
could cause us to be sad and cause us to
be discouraged or to be depressed, and it is our
(11:03):
growing confidence and trust in him that begins that restorative process. Beautiful.
All right, and the other question, which was, which there
were multiple questions within that question too, it started with
um
Uh, if King James was gay, if, um,
Uh, the different Bible translations and, uh, whether we should
(11:26):
refer to God as a heavenly Father because he's neither
male nor female. What say you, Bruce?
Yeah, so there seems to be some historical argument uh
that James was a bisexual, that he was not only
same-sex attractive, but engaged in the same sex.
Uh, behavior, but that doesn't mean that the King James
(11:49):
translation isn't a helpful and accurate translation. Um, we have
over 25,000 fragments of manuscripts of the New Testament and
the gap between the earliest manuscript written or portion of
manuscript written in about 95 AD and its discovery in, uh,
(12:10):
or excuse me.
Uh, written in 125 AD and its original authorship in
95 AD is a gap of only 30 years, and
so with 25,000 portions of manuscripts, we can compare various
manuscripts from various locations to ensure accuracy, to give you
a sense, Matthew, in regard to other works of antiquity, Homer's, uh,
(12:35):
the Iliad, there's a 400 year gap, and we have
Few copies of uh the Iliad that remain, uh, compared
to portions of the New Testament manuscript. So there's different
translations that are emphasizing a different aspects. Some are dynamic
equivalents that are giving a sense of what, uh, the
(12:57):
original Greek language or in the case of the Old Testament,
what the original Hebrew language would have indicated, and then
there are other translations that are are looking.
To capture the word for word sense. So in the
dynamic equivalence, if you were looking at a basketball story
and it said that LeBron dropped a dime, and you
(13:17):
didn't know what that slang reference meant in the culture
of basketball, it may not be helpful. It may be
more helpful if someone said that LeBron scored 10 games
or 10 points in the game or had 10 assists. Um,
and so that's what dynamic equivalents and different translations provide
for us, but
Uh, probably the best translation is the one that you'll read. That's,
(13:40):
that's always a good one. Most, uh, of our translations
that are available to us today are highly accurate and
very profitable for our learning.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Yeah, and the only thing I would add, and that
was so great, Bruce is, um, you know, just because, um,
King James may have had, you know, whatever the rumors
are about his life, um, it seems like all the
evidence points to the fact that he was an unbeliever,
but he, he simply commissioned um the translation of the
King James. The important thing is that there were 47
(14:13):
men that were all qualified scholars in the Hebrew, Aramaic,
and Greek.
And they all were men, they were churchmen, they were
faithful believers, and these are the guys that actually worked
at the translation of what we have as the King
James Bible today. And um and and so um and
I think that's really important because I, you know, when,
(14:35):
when people, when people are looking for um a translation
of the Bible to read, one of the things I
encourage them to do is to find an English translation.
That is translated by a committee of people, people, a
team of Bible scholars, I, um, not to say that
there hasn't been
Um, good translations that have been done, you know, when
(14:56):
I think about missionaries that have gone into tribal countries
or places where, you know, languages, I think of William
Carey when he went to India, and so you have
one guy translating the Bible so that the people there
could have the scripture in their language. But for us
in the English language, I mean, we're so blessed to
have so many great translations.
are available. But one of the things I highly recommend
(15:18):
people to do is find a translation that was actually
translated by a team of Bible scholars and people preferably
are those that are committed to the word, they believe
in the inspiration of scripture and um and the King
James is um in that line and so I'm definitely
grateful for that. So, so, um, so I, I wouldn't
(15:39):
be discouraged if you find out some stuff about King
James that he really wasn't the most upright guy.
What matters is that those that team of guys that
did translate the King James, um, they were scholars, they
were equipped for that task and they were men that
committed faith in Jesus.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Bruce.
Yeah, I, I just uh agree with uh John's take,
and Matthew were also really encouraged, uh, as you contemplate
the King James translation, understanding that after the Gutenberg printing press,
this became readily available, like no other Bible had been
available before and none of the uh denunciation of homosexual
(16:18):
behavior in either the old or the New Testament had
been changed.
Uh, in that translation, I think that also points to
its reliability. One, anecdote that uh, is the homage to James. So, uh,
Jewish people don't name their children James. So when we
see the apostles with the name James, it's the name
(16:39):
Jacob or in Hebrew, Yaho. And so that was the
one homage to the king that he would be able
to see his name.
In print, but it doesn't change, uh, any of the,
the truth of the scripture. Matthew, thank you for sending
in your question using the pastor's perspective Facebook page, messenger.
All right, let's go to the phones now. 888-564-6173. We've
(17:03):
got Louis calling in from Santa Ana and watching us
on YouTube. So let's wave hi to Louis. And, uh,
what's your question for us today, Louis?
Uh, I wanted to know, uh, as far as us humans, um,
From the angels from God's creation, are all humans, starting
with Adam, to the last person that is alive, God gives.
(17:28):
Are we all gonna live eternally?
Every human being is gonna live eternally.
Like eternally in heaven or in hell? Well, I mean,
just eternally, like, uh, those that have Christ, which I
do have, uh, I'm, I'm reading up on some things
and so I have a friend that is telling me
(17:49):
that uh
Like the people that are, don't accept Christ, they're gonna
die and that's it. They're not gonna.
So, they're not gonna live on.
Got it. All right, Bruce, what would you say to Louisiana? Yeah, Louis,
I appreciate the question. Yeah, we are eternal beings with
a temporal body, so our souls are eternal. Uh, there
(18:12):
are um some in Christendom who adopt the view of annihilationism,
and that is the view that if you had rejected
Christ in this life, that you would be eternally separated
from God.
Uh, but that you wouldn't be, uh, eternally tormented in
a conscious state, and at the end of this life, um,
(18:32):
your soul would be annihilated so that it would not
be reunited to enjoy eternity with God, but that you
wouldn't be eternally tormented. I think the majority of you
in evangelical Protestant circles is that um the soul would
continue to exist and uh not only be separated from God,
(18:54):
but experienced.
um, the torment that is associated with being separated from God. Uh,
and we see some indication of that in Luke chapter 16,
as Jesus told a parable about two places, one of
conscious torment and and the other of eternal conscious bliss, and, and, uh,
(19:14):
perhaps a, a parallel hinting to that reality. John.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
I think he said it as best as it could
be said. Well done, Bruceachery.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Thank you, John. Yeah.
John's encouragement is never ending.
It was, it was good.
It was a great answer. It's true. He is the
son of encouragement. Yes, he is. We've always said that
about John. Thank you so much, Louie, for calling in
today with your question here on Pastor's Perspective. 888-564-6173 is
the number to call. We're gonna be here until 4
(19:46):
o'clock on this Thursday afternoon, and we would love to
hear from you at 888-564-6173. Here's another question that was
sent in online this one.
On the Kwave.com pastor's perspective page. It's from Matt. OK,
so our first question was from Matthew, this is from Matt.
I'm assuming it's two different people, plus this one's in Orange, California.
(20:07):
I believe Matthew was in Bloomington, Indiana. So Matt asks,
how do you think about assigning different weight and value,
maybe arbitrarily, to the inerrant scripture to say, that's a proverb,
so don't take it too seriously, John.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Well, um, we, we need to start with the basis of, um,
You know, determining how we view the Bible and, and
because that's that's gonna shape um everything that follows. And
so for us who believe that the scriptures and you know,
in our in our Protestant Bibles we have 66 books,
(20:45):
39 in the Old Testament, 27 in the new, um,
we believe that all scripture is God-breathed and that means
that it's inspired by God and, and so we, we
claim that the Bible is the word of God. So
that changes how we read scripture.
And so that means that um as we're reading the Bible,
we're reading it as something more than just the works
(21:06):
of Shakespeare or Homer's Iliad, like we're reading it as
God speaking to humans and and uh and and I
think that one person um said something that's really helpful.
He said the Bible was not written to us, but
it was written for us.
And so when we pick up the Bible in 2025,
we could read what God said to his people, to
(21:27):
the original audience, and yet because it's God's living word, um,
we know that it has application for us and God
is speaking to us today.
Um, and then when we read the Bible, understanding that
it's God's inspired word, we also want to recognize that
there are different genres in scriptures. So there are historical narratives,
there are, um, works of poetry.
(21:49):
And uh and so um obviously if, if a person
is reading the book of Proverbs, those are proverbs, those
are pithy statements, um where um it's to communicate a
spiritual principle and application. And so when we read it, um,
we're gonna read that differently than when we read uh
uh a prophetic announcement in the book of Isaiah or Jeremiah.
(22:13):
Or, um, Ezekiel. And so, um, so it's not so
much placing a value saying that this part of scripture
is worth more than another part of scripture. I think
that there are going to be verses that um may
may be more meaningful to us than other verses because obviously,
you know, reading Romans 8:28, that God works out all
(22:35):
things together for good.
Um, is probably going to be more meaningful to me than, um,
when I open up Leviticus and read about the measurements
of the tabernacle, right? And so, but it doesn't devalue
the worth of what Moses wrote in Leviticus. It's still
in God's word, but we recognize that there are different
(22:56):
genres and they're going to speak to us in different ways. And,
and I think that's also really important because sometimes there's
a lot of confusion.
Um, in, in how people understand passages simply because they
may be trying to read, you know, a historical narrative
like a parable or they're trying to read a prophetic
word like um an allegory and and and even though
(23:18):
the prophets would use allegories at times, it's just, it
just needs to take some time to slow down and
ask the question, OK, so what kind
Of of passage am I reading right now, but um,
but I, I place in every verse of the Bible
in every chapter in every book, the value of this
is God's word and I'm not gonna diminish one and
(23:42):
esteem another, but at the same time I understand that
there are things that God's gonna speak to me in
this book, they that may be more meaningful to me
and just even in different seasons of my life.
Other verses of scripture, but at the end of the day,
I understand this is God's word and and I love
Psalm 130 when God says or in the Psalm says
(24:03):
you have magnified your name and your word above all
things and uh and that's how I want to approach scripture.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Bruce
Bruce.
Yeah, John, again, I love that answer, so, so wise. Um,
in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, we discovered that all scriptures given
by inspiration of God, and it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction, righteousness, that the man or woman
(24:32):
of God might be complete, lacking nothing. and um
Understanding that, as John was alluding to, various genres accomplish
God's purpose of preparation in different ways. For example, when
we read in Proverbs 22:6, Train up a child in
the way that he should go or she should go,
and when they're old, they will not depart from it.
(24:54):
It is a principle. It it is not a guarantee,
it is not a promise, and it's aptly um part
of the proverbs, um.
Um, other literature like Pauline epistles, but didactic doctrinal texts
are to be viewed differently in their instruction for us,
but they're all given by inspiration and understanding when uh
(25:17):
looking at a book such as Job, and we see
Job's proverbial friends, uh, trying to admonish Job or educate Job,
that the wisdom that they're sharing is not the wisdom.
Of God, it's contrast later in the book with God's wisdom. Similar,
when Solomon is writing Ecclesiastes, he talks about wisdom from
(25:38):
above or or godly wisdom, and contrasts that with earthly wisdom.
So we don't want to be viewing the earthly wisdom
in the the same sense that we would view the
lens of, of godly wisdom and and understanding some of
the differences of genres, uh, helps us to
See those nuances and appreciate the nuances, but yeah, all
(26:01):
of the scripture we want to give that same appreciation
that it's profitable to grow us to be mature in
our faith. Amen. Matt, thank you for sending in your
question on the pastor's perspective, uh, no, no, no, he
sent it in on the, uh, well, yes, the pastor's perspective, uh,
page on Kwave.com, which you can get to really easy.
(26:22):
If you're watching on Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram by scanning
the QR code there on your screen. 888-564-6173 is our number.
If you want to ask us a question today. Here's
another one that was sent in online, Kevin in Lake Nascimiento, California.
Can a Christian use medical cannabis for severe anxiety, moderate depression,
(26:44):
back surgery pain, and other pain relief health issues? Bruce,
what's say you?
Yeah, um, so first of all, Kevin, um, if this
is in regard to your own experience, I, I just
first want to express uh compassion towards uh whatever pain
you're just dealing with, um, the
(27:06):
Back when I first started in in pastoral ministry, uh,
the big issue seemed to center around uh alcohol consumption
more than drug consumption because of the illegality of drug
consumption in most jurisdictions. And now, um, with the legalization
of cannabis in many jurisdictions in the United States, it's
(27:28):
become a more relevant issue, uh, for the church, and
yet we get back to the standard, not the, um,
Uh, the consumption, but intoxication being the standard and, and so,
Anything that is compromising uh our ability to yield to
the Holy Spirit, Paul encourages us rather than uh be
(27:50):
uh wasted, uh, we should be filled with God's spirit
or controlled by God's spirit. So it seems that intoxication
is really the standard. It's not that someone couldn't have
a glass of wine, but if they were inebriated, they
were intoxicated.
And so when something is being prescribed by a physician, uh,
that adds another wrinkle to it. For example, if someone
(28:13):
underwent a significant surgical intervention or had other significant chronic
pain that they were having to navigate, um,
I, I've been a, a cyclist for years. I've been
hit by cars on multiple occasions. I've had fractures, and
when someone was offering me morphine, I wasn't thinking about, gee,
(28:35):
am I going to have all my capacities? It's like, yes, please,
and now. Um, and so if a doctor's prescribing a
medication that is causing, uh, someone.
To, um, lose some of their sense of, of control,
it might be wise to confer with the doctor about
alternative medications that might not cause the same intoxication if
(28:58):
it's available. Uh, but I, I think the issue is
no longer the issue of legalization in our state. It's
now the, the issue of intoxication according to the scriptures. Yeah, John,
30 seconds.
I agree. Oh, OK, so now I get an extra
30 seconds. Uh, very good. Uh, who was that? That
was Kevin. Thank you so much for sending in your
question on the pastor's perspective Facebook messenger. We're gonna take
(29:21):
a quick break and then we'll be back with more
of your questions. What do you want to ask Pastors
John Huang?
And Bruce Zachary. They're going to be here till 4
o'clock and they'd love to hear from you at 888-564-6173.
If you're watching on Facebook, YouTube or Instagram, the number's
right there on the bottom of your screen. Give us
a call 888-564-6173.
(30:19):
888-564-6173. That's the number to call if you've got a
question for us today here on Pastor's Perspective. I'm your host,
Brian Perez. We're going to be in the studio until
4 p.m. We would love to hear from you, so
call in 888-564-6173. We've got Pastor John Huang from Christ
Point City.
Church in Huntington Beach and Bruce Zachary from Calvary Nexus
(30:43):
and Carpenteria. You guys ready to answer some more questions? Yes,
let's do this. All right, let's go straight to the phones.
Here is Eric in San Bernardino, listening on FM 107.9
K wave. Hi, Eric, what's your question for us today?
Well, I finally have another question other than, my God,
my God, why is thou forsaken me, which I've called
(31:05):
in several times on. My question this time is, Paul, uh, the,
you know, who wrote,
2/3 of the New Testament when he was Saul and
a Pharisee. I was wondering is there anything in church
history or in the Bible? I don't think there's anything
in the Bible, but I may have overlooked it, where
(31:26):
he actually was present when Jesus was saying, for instance,
woe to you, Pharisees, you know.
Uh, things like that where he would have heard it
firsthand from Jesus and I was just curious as to
whether he was ever around Jesus when he was speaking
before he had his conversion and spoke to the Lord
(31:49):
face to face, John.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Well, there is no place in the Bible where you'll
um find that kind of information of of Saul being
there among the Pharisees. I mean, obviously there's been speculation
over the years. In fact, there's also been one speculation
that has lasted for years that he was the rich
young ruler, um, that had the conversation with Jesus, but the,
(32:12):
what the basis is for that, um, I don't know.
Um, but you know, I, I think for a lot
of people, it, it, you know, they, they assume that
it's a safe assumption that that Saul, um, could have
been in that crowd, but in, in terms of like
actually having a passage in scripture, um, that says that
Saul was present there during the earthly ministry of Jesus, um,
(32:36):
Um, you're, you're not gonna find that in the Bible.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Bruce, any thoughts? Yeah, I agree with John and Eric.
I appreciate the question. Yeah, you get the sense in
Acts chapter 7, during the martyrdom of Stephen that Saul
at that point is kind of a junior Pharisee. He's
holding the cloaks and, and so, you know, kind of
rookie of the year sort of guy, but uh there's
(33:00):
Undoubtedly he was aware of the rebuke that Jesus had
given to the Pharisees, repeated stinging rebukes to the Pharisees,
whether he was present firsthand to hear them or as
a result of the response of the Pharisees to those rebukes,
he would undoubtedly have been familiar with them.
(33:21):
Eric, thanks for calling in today with your question here
on Pastor's Perspective, 888-564-6173 to Daniel we go. He's in
Granada Hills listening on the Kwave app. Hello, Daniel, thanks
for downloading the app and thanks for calling us today
at 888-564-6173. Uh, re greetings, Big Brother, and God bless
(33:43):
you and, and happy day atonement. Bless the blood of
the Lamb of God.
And my question is regarding the dome of the Rock,
is it a Muslim temple because I don't want to
lift it.
Up in my heart with all we got is the
Western Wall.
What do you mean by lifted up in your heart?
Can you explain what you mean by that? Um, everyone's
(34:05):
praying at the Western Wall and that the temple is
no longer there, and I believe they got Ishmael and
Jacob mixed up.
And that's the Mount Moriah where Abraham apparently buried, but
is it a Muslim temple or is it biblical truth temple?
All right, Bruce, what's say you? Yeah, Dan, I appreciate
(34:27):
the question. So the Western Wall is uh
Just a retaining wall to support uh the Temple Mount
uh during Herod's expansion of what was previously Solomon's footprint
for the temple. And yet it is the holiest site
in Judaism because of its proximity to the temple. So presently,
where the temple existed, you would find uh the dome
(34:50):
of the Rock shrine, which is a Muslim holy site.
And right adjacent to it, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and it
uh is believed that the rock that is enshrined in
the dome of the rock, that that golden uh domed
temple or um
The religious site that you see on the previous site
of where the temple was, uh, was the holy of
(35:13):
holies uh in the temple. There are other scholars that
believe that the temple can be erected on that site
as Ezekiel uh references, I believe in the 44th or
forty-fifth chapter, there would be a wall of division.
Between the profane or the Gentile holy site and the
holy sight of God, and so many believe that the
(35:36):
temple shall be rebuilt, uh, during the 1st 3.5 years
of the Great Tribulation, the 7-year peace treaty time, and
that Israel's temple will again be erected on that mount
adjacent to the Al-Aqsa Mosque or the Dome of the
Rock shrine.
But yeah, those are Muslim holy sites, so the 3rd
(35:56):
holiest site in Islam, I believe. John Huang.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Yeah, um, as Bruce said, being a holy site in
the Islamic faith, um, Muslims look at the Dome of
the Rock as, um, number one, they believe that's where
Abraham offered Ishmael in their theology. And uh and so
um in our Old Testament, we understand that Abraham was
(36:20):
instructed to offer his son Isaac, but in Islamic theology,
it's Ishmael, and they also believe that that is the
site where Muhammad ascended to heaven.
And so this is one of the reasons why the
Dome of the Rock is considered as one of the
the holy sites um in the Islamic religion. But you know,
one of the things I want to encourage you, Daniel, is, um,
(36:41):
remember that wherever, you know, a person might be looking
to to find um the the place where he's gonna
set as the object of worship, it's gonna be Jesus,
it has to be Jesus.
You know, I, when you were asking your question, I,
I couldn't help but think of a conversation that Jesus
had with a woman um in Samaria, and she asked
(37:04):
this question.
Um, where is the right place to worship? Is it
Jerusalem because that's where the temple was and that's where
the Jews, um, encountered God, or is it Mount Gerizim?
Because that's where the Samaritans would go and worship because
the Samaritans weren't allowed to worship in Jerusalem, so they, um, um,
developed their own sacrificial system. They developed their own little
(37:26):
temple up there and, and so that became the raging debate.
Where is the true epicenter of worship?
And then Jesus said, you know, the time is coming
and is now here, when neither on this mountain or
in Jerusalem people will worship, but God, um, he is
seeking those who will worship him in spirit and in truth.
In other words, the what Jesus came to do was
(37:49):
to do something that is not limited to stone and
mortar and and cement and and all and and brick
and and buildings, right?
Um, he wants to bring his presence into the lives
of people. And so Paul the Apostle writing to the Corinthians,
he tells us that we are now the temple of God.
(38:11):
We are the temple of the Holy Spirit because um
the moment a person puts their faith in Jesus.
God the spirit comes to dwell within that individual and
so now we become um God's living temple. In fact,
Peter even describes us as living stones and we're being
(38:32):
joined together with other living stone, other believers, and God
is building this temple um with people. And so, um,
you know, for Jews, the reason why the Western Wall
is so sacred is because
You know, prior to the discovery of the rabbi's tunnel,
that was the closest place they can get to to
(38:52):
what where they believe was the holy of holies. um, and, uh,
and for the Muslim, it's like, um, the reason why
the Dome of the Rock is so important is because
that is where they believe that Muhammad ascended to heaven
and and that is where they have their connection with Allah.
But for us as believers, what an amazing thing it
is that God would now say.
(39:13):
You are my temple. In fact, the reason why we
can be the temple of the Holy Spirit is because
remember Jesus in John chapter 2, he said, if you
destroy this temple, I will raise it up in 3 days.
And he's and John tells us he was referring to himself,
his body. He is the true temple of God, and
you and I being joined together in Christ Jesus, Ephesians
(39:37):
chapter 2 tells us.
We are being built into this temple of God where
God's spirit lives inside of us. So I just want
to encourage you, don't make worship about geographical locations, make
worship about Jesus.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
Bruce?
Yeah, John, uh, I just so greatly appreciate that answer
and the wisdom that you provided to Daniel and others.
I, I think it's fascinating that the very first time
that we see the words worship and love in the
scripture is in Genesis 22, where Abraham is, um, instructed
to offer Isaac at Mount Moria, and, um, in, in
(40:15):
that confidence that God will provide, he, he doesn't name
the Mount God did provide. It, it is the future
forecasting that God will provide himself a lamb.
And that later David would purchase the threshing floor of Arana,
as we discover in 1 Chronicles chapter 3, where Solomon
would erect the temple, and again it's identified as Mount Moria,
(40:39):
and it is that same mountain range, that that same
area where the temple is erected and where Christ is crucified,
that God in fact did provide uh the Lamb of
God for us, as John soaply noted, and it's
At that site, but again, we're not limited to a
particular sight, as Jacob has the experience of the latter
(41:02):
ascending up to heaven and angels ascending and descending and
seeing God in His heavenly abode, and he wakes up
from this vision and says, Surely God was in this place.
And I did not know it in Genesis 28, and
I think frequently we associate God with a particular geographic place,
and we can be so distracted by the things of
(41:25):
this world that we don't realize that surely God is
in this place, wherever we might be at that time,
the omnipresent God.
Daniel, thank you for calling in today at 888-564-6173. And
also thank you for reminding me that yes, today is
the most solemn day on the Jewish calendar. It is
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Bruce Zachary, why don't
(41:49):
you explain the significance of what the day means to
the Jewish community. So on the Hebrew calendar, uh, the
days between Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which was
10 days ago,
Uh, the feast of trumpets, as it's described in Leviticus
23 and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest
day in the Jewish calendar, were considered days of awe.
(42:12):
It was a time of introspection, uh, growing up as
an observant Jew, going to an Orthodox.
Uh, synagogue for, um, all of my childhood and most
of my young adult life, that, uh, there was a
certain sense of solemnity, and, uh, people were confessing to
(42:33):
one another, asking forgiveness uh of one another. Uh, the
other 355 days out of the year, it didn't seem
to be going on, but
And people had a sense that during these 10 days,
they were either being inscribed in the book of life
for the coming year, or they would not be. And
there was a certain soberness uh to that, and, and, uh, certainly.
(42:56):
Uh, that sense of our sin being put upon a scapegoat,
who would then take uh the sin outside of the camp, and,
and then the shedding of blood or sacrifice, and that
one day in the whole, uh, Hebrew calendar where the
high priest and the high priest alone could enter into
the holy of holies, and, and that sense that there
(43:17):
was a separation between God and man because of our sin.
And all of that imagery coming into fullness in the
New Testament as we see that the veil has now
been removed, that we've been given access to come boldly
to the throne of grace, to receive grace and mercy
in our time of need, and only as a result
(43:37):
of what Jesus has done for us and through God's
grace and and through faith. And it is a a
beautiful picture of someone who is under now a new covenant.
Um, to have that perspective on the holidays, um, many of, uh,
my family, um, who don't know Christ yet, are, are finding, um,
(43:58):
their observance of this holiday, uh, seemingly from my perspective,
lacking a fullness and a completeness that is available to
us in Christ, a more better covenant. Beautiful.
You kind of answered my next question. I was gonna say,
what do you tell a Christian believer who might have
Jewish friends and how, how do they, how should they
(44:20):
interact with them today or is, is there anything they
can say that maybe will point them to Jesus?
Yeah, I think it it could be really helpful to
ask people uh how their experience was in the synagogue
during the high holidays. Um, most, uh, Jews, whether they're
uh cultural or more spiritual in their orientation, are going
(44:41):
to be attending high holiday services just like many Christians
who would attend Easter and Christmas services.
And to ask them about their experience and what it
was like for them and what they learned about God,
what they learned about life, what they learned about themselves
from that experience, and um
(45:01):
Being able to listen and and listen well and and
I'm just asking questions without trying to be uh combative
and looking for opportunities where perhaps uh Jewish believers, observers
would be asking questions regarding the Christian faith dialogue. It's great.
(45:22):
We have a similar question here. Virginia in Florida, watching
us on YouTube. What did you want to ask us, Virginia?
Hi, I just love to show you guys. Um, I
learned so much from you. I just was, I was,
since we're talking about Jewish, uh, holidays, I was hearing
recently that uh Rosh Hashanah is uh actually the celebration
(45:42):
of a man being created, and that's when they believe
the world was, uh, made, is that what, what's your
view on that? Bruce? Oh, let's give that one to Joan.
I was,
Speaker 2 (45:57):
I was deferring to our Jewish scholar here, um, honestly,
I have never heard that, um, you know, the, the
first time that we see, um, the, the different festivals
and feasts up here in the Old Testament is when
God was.
Um, forming a nation there in the wilderness, um, there
at Mount Sinai, and God gave Moses, um, clear instructions
(46:21):
of the, the seven feast days that the people were
to observe and, and, uh, and there are the springtime
feasts and and probably the most notable would be Passover
and then you had the fall time feast and like
Bruce was um explaining with the feast of trumpets and
the Day of Atonement. Um,
You know, but one of the beautiful things about each
(46:43):
of those feasts is that, um, even though they commemorated
um moments of, of the, the dealings of God with
his people, um, in the wilderness, for example, the Feast
of Tabernacles, you know, the people would remember and celebrate
how God provided for them in the wilderness while they
were all living in tents, um, you know, Passover obviously
(47:06):
in Exodus chapter 12.
Reminding them of their deliverance from Egypt and their redemption
was through the sling of a Passover lamb. Really, the, um, the,
the thing that for us we need to um keep
remembering is that not only are these memorials remembering real
moments in history, but they're also prophetic.
(47:27):
Because these celebrations, they point forward to Jesus himself. And so,
for example, again, going to the Passover in 1 Corinthians
chapter 5, Paul refers to Jesus as Christ our Passover, right?
And, uh, or when you think about the Feast of Tabernacles,
I think of John chapter 1 verse 14 where it
(47:48):
says in and the word became flesh talking about God
the Son who became human, and the word became flesh
and dwelt or literally in the Greek he tabernacled among
us and we beheld his glory, the glory of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
So God literally pitched his tent in human form, in
human flesh and lived among humans in the world. And so,
(48:12):
Um, and then you've got Pentecost, and, uh, and so
when Luke, um, narrating the story there in the Book
of Acts in Acts chapter 2, and we see the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit there on the the day
of Pentecost, the Jews would have gathered there for two reasons.
Number one, they would have been there to commemorate the
giving of the law on Mount Sinai.
(48:34):
But also it was a celebration to um thank God
for the harvest. And so the priest would come out
and he would have two loaves of bread, and he
would wave them. What's interesting about these loaves is that
they had leaven in it.
And uh and so, um, it was in with this backdrop,
you remember that the Holy Spirit was poured out and
um and then as, as people from all over the
(48:56):
Roman world had gathered around where the disciples were 120
disciples out of perplexity or they're asking the question, what's
going on here? And Peter saw the opportunity.
To preach the good news of Jesus, and 3000 souls
were added to the church. And so how fitting that
on Pentecost when they're celebrating the harvest, that that was
the first in gathering post the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
(49:20):
Um, to see people coming, um, into saving faith. And so,
so this is one of the things that's really beautiful
about these feasts that we read about, um, but, but, um,
you're gonna hear different people with different, um, you know,
thoughts and opinions, um, about, you know, such as, you know,
how does it relate to Adam and that I don't
(49:41):
know because I don't see that anywhere in scripture.
Um, it could be drawn out of some rabbinical teachings.
It could be drawn out for, you know, from speculation
or people trying to connect the dot. But I think
that primarily the way that we should understand those feast
days is that it marks a significant moment in Israel's
history that God doesn't want his people to forget, but
(50:02):
also it forecasts the mission of Jesus in the world
because everything from Genesis to Revelation.
Christ is the focal point and especially the Old Testament.
Remember Jesus said in John chapter 5, if you believe Moses,
then you would believe in me because he wrote about
me and uh and there's just something beautiful and powerful
(50:24):
about
that.
Speaker 1 (50:25):
How do you do, Bruce? Uh, fantastic, John, uh, like
the biblical scholar that you are, I, I think, uh,
the tradition that associates creation and uh the
Uh, feast of Rosh Hashanah is the idea that it
is the new year, and because it is the beginning,
there's this association, but as John, uh, very aptly noted,
(50:47):
that is not a biblical reference. It is extra biblical
and so it is speculative at best. You know, as
you contemplate this, John was mentioning major feasts that are described,
the spring feast, the fall feast, as you look at
Leviticus 23.
Uh, the second most sacred day on the Hebrew calendar
is actually the Sabbath, as opposed to, uh, one of
(51:09):
the major feasts, and, and so we are reminded of
God's covenant and His provision of rest and Christ's ultimate
fulfillment of rest for our souls, uh, every week and, and, uh,
a tangible reminder of that sacred covenant that God has
made with His people. Oh, that was great.
(51:29):
Virginia, thanks for your phone call today on Pastor's perspective.
Let's see if we can do one more. We'll do
one that was sent in online. This is from Sarah
in Cullen, Virginia, who asks, Is it OK to use
my tithe money from one of my biweekly paychecks to
sponsor a child monthly? So one check would go to
my church and one would be used to sponsor a child. Bruce,
(51:51):
what do you say to Sarah? Yeah, uh, so first
of all, I appreciate your hardness, Sarah. Yeah, in, uh,
1 Corinthians chapter 16.
And 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and 9, we see in
regard to our giving that we have uh
A lot of of uh permission in terms of encouragement
(52:12):
to be generous, to be proportional, to be sacrificial.
Uh, that giving should not be out of compulsion but
should be of joy as we are laying up treasure
in heaven, and I don't think that there's anything wrong with, uh,
seeking to sponsor a child or seeking to advance God's
mission by supporting a para church organizations or missionaries or
(52:37):
missions movements outside of the local church that
As you're investing in something that you believe it is
advancing God's kingdom or showing uh God's heart of compassion
and grace, um, that, um, you have liberty.
John,
Speaker 2 (52:55):
yeah, and I, I would just add there's something so
beautiful about um financially investing in the church where you
are learning and growing and serving in um because you
you get to actually pull resources together to further the
mission of Jesus in that local church and and one
(53:15):
of the beautiful things about the local church is that.
Um, it, it's more than just paying whatever bills need
to be paid, um, if they're in a building, but
when you think about the, the, the mission vision of
the church locally and globally, um, looking for ways that
you can be helpful in your community locally and globally.
(53:36):
And there's just something beautiful about that kind of coinanea.
In fact, that word coinanea that's so often translated fellowship
and other parts of the New Testament, it's also translated
as partnership.
And so, so this is one thing that I really
want to encourage people not to miss out on because I,
I get how, how, um, rewarding it can be for
(53:57):
us to independently be financially supporting different works and movements,
but there is something special about pulling resources together as
the local church. Um, and in fact, I, I think
about how in Acts chapter.
Um, chapter 5 and 6, it, it talks about how, um,
(54:18):
that the believers, they brought, they, they would sell their
land and they would bring their financial resources and they
would lay them at the feet of the apostles.
And they were trusting their church leadership to say we
want you to hear from the Lord, be directed from
the Lord, and we want to partner together as one
local church family in reaching our community and the world
(54:40):
with the gospel of Jesus. So I just really encourage
people if if and when you are investing in your
local church, trusting your leaders.
To to be making the right decisions, hey, that means
that you need to be praying for your leaders. You
need to be praying that they would just continue to
move forward with clear and fresh vision in the fear
(55:03):
of the Lord with accountability, with faithfulness, because again, the
joy of being able to see God's kingdom being built
and to be able to celebrate together.
Man, isn't that a win for the local church to
celebrate together? So yes, like Bruce said, man, there's opportunities
for us to financially invest in different things, but man,
(55:24):
I want to encourage you, do not neglect in financially
investing in your local church so that we can celebrate
the wins together as the people of Jesus.
Speaker 1 (55:33):
Sarah, thank you for sending in your question today on
Pastor's perspective, and that's.
All the time we have on today's program. If you
didn't get on or couldn't get through, we're gonna be
here tomorrow between 3 and 4 p.m. Pacific time, and
we'd love to hear from you. Let me give you
that number one more time. It's 888-564-6173 for John Huang
from Christ Point City Church in Huntington Beach and Bruce
(55:54):
Zachary from Calvary Nexus and Camarillo. God bless you guys.
We'll talk to you next time on Pastor's Perspective.
Hello and welcome to Pastor's Perspective. I'm your host Brian Perez,
and it's so great to have you listening and watching today.
888-564-6173 is the number to call in to the program
to ask your questions about the Bible, the Christian faith,
the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity. We can answer all
(00:37):
kinds of questions. Give us a call 888-564-6173. If you're
watching us on Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram, thanks for
Watching, you can share the page on your favorite social
media platforms so we can get more people calling and
engaged and asking their questions. If you have a question,
you can scan the QR code. That'll take you to
the pastor's perspective page on Kwave.com, where you can fill
(01:00):
out that form. That gets your question to us, and
maybe we'll read it on a future episode of Pastor's Perspective.
If you want an answer today before 4, call us, 888-564-6173.
And
Answering your questions today, we've got John Huang, the pastor
of Christ Point City Church in Huntington Beach. How you
doing,
Speaker 2 (01:18):
John? I am doing well. I am so grateful to
be here and I get to be on with and
you're gonna announce.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Oh, you, I was,
I thought you were gonna take
Speaker 2 (01:26):
it away. I, I didn't want to steal your thunder,
but I'm so excited.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
You are. I, I wasn't sure if you guys knew
each other, but apparently you do because you were talking
on the phone beforehand and everything. Bruce Zachary, the pastor
of Calvary Nexus and, as I was saying, the pastor of.
Calvary Nexus in Camarillo, California. He's been with us before, and, uh,
he joins us again on Zoom. Bruce, how are you doing?
(01:51):
I was pretty tired until John got on the air.
I'm pretty pumped. Yeah, he will wake people up. Do
the show with John and, uh, happy belated Brian. It's
always nice to hear someone pronounce John's name correctly.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Should we tell him the story behind that?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah, well, I, yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, it's so endearing.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
OK, well, I mean, it was, it was for years
people pronounce my last name phonetically, right? John Huang. I'm
actually the only person who would pronounce my last name
Huang was Pastor Chuck. And Chuck said, well, that's the
correct way to say it, so I'm gonna say it,
but I for years continued with Huang.
And it wasn't until a staff meeting when Pastor Brian
(02:30):
Broderson said, hey, wait a minute, so John, when you
introduce your mom and dad, how do you introduce them?
And I said, Mr. and Mrs. Huang. I said, that
settles it, you're a Huang.
And so, so before the blink of an eye, it
was being announced on the radio here at Kwave on
Pastor's perspective, and I have been a Huang ever since.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
You were so humble and so gracious and allowing that
for so long, decades, decades it was decades, yes, it was.
But yes, John Huang is here. It took a while
to get used to saying it the right way for
me too, yeah,
yeah for you too. It was like witness protection.
(03:12):
All right, give us a call at 888-564-6173. Let's get
to some questions that were sent in online. Here is
one from Matthew in Bloomington, Indiana. He sent in two questions, uh,
on two completely different topics, but, uh, here's question one.
What does it mean to be broken?
I have a hard time ba balancing brokenness with being
(03:36):
down or depressed. I got saved while in rehab, and
it was more of a reformed theology or a Calvinist thing.
I remember learning tulip, so a lot of my thinking
is that nothing good can come from me, and if
anything good comes from me, it is from God.
I know there's truth in that, but is there some
kind of balance to it? My wife, on the other hand,
(03:57):
doesn't believe in being broken. She feels or knows that
God doesn't want us walking around feeling broken but made
in His image. I guess I'm just struggling with how
God wants me to be and feel about myself. I
was in drug addiction from 16 years old to 37
years old. I'm just trying to figure things out. And
(04:17):
then Matthew's second question was King James a homosexual?
Uh, Matthew says, my wife is struggling to believe the
Bible since there are so many translations, and then this
King James thing came up. I know she still believes,
but now doesn't know if she should believe how the
Western church teaches the Bible. Also, she says, when we pray,
(04:38):
I can't call God heavenly Father because he doesn't believe God,
she doesn't believe God is male or female. John.
What would you answer?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Well, I would say that it's um really important that
that we um define terms and I'm, I'm really glad
that the person is thinking about this and and I
agree with the wife that if brokenness means a constant
state of depression and sadness and darkness, then obviously the
Lord doesn't want us to be living in that condition.
(05:09):
Um, those are real conditions people experience them, but remember
the joy of the Lord is our strength. So, um,
when I, when I think about the word broken, um, I,
this is where we wanna go to different examples and
places in scripture and see where people have expressed their
brokenness before God.
Um, for example, Jacob, you remember when he wrestled with, um, the, um,
(05:34):
the Lord there at the ford of Jaybok and the
Lord had touched his hip and Jacob walked away with
the limp and you remember that Jacob was someone that
was known for his self-confidence, his self-reliance, he was constantly.
Um, trying to make things happen in his own strength
in his own flesh. He was a shaker and a mover,
(05:54):
but in that moment that the Lord touched his hip,
he walked away with the new name, Israel, that means, um,
governed by God or one who overcame. and in that
state of reliance and dependence on the Lord, he was
able to
Walk into a new, um, kind of relationship with God.
Um think about David. When David, um, in his confession
(06:17):
in Psalm 51 when he um was praying to God
and he was broken over his sin that he had
committed with Bathsheba, adultery and then murder and then for
almost a year hiding his sin and he said, Lord,
you desire a broken and a contrite heart.
There, there, there we see brokenness as being there's an openness,
(06:40):
there's a genuineness, there's an authenticity in confession, the word
confess means to agree with God and so there is
a humility that's demonstrated and then one more example I
would cite is in Matthew chapter 5 in the sermon
on the Mount when Jesus said, Blessed are the poor
in spirit.
And I think that that's another great passage where we
(07:02):
can get an idea of what brokenness means in the Bible,
that we're bankrupt of our self-confidence, our self-reliance, but there
is a genuine dependence on the Lord saying, Lord, I
need you.
And so in life, there are gonna be moments where
God allows maybe trials and difficulties, maybe disappointments, maybe hardships
(07:23):
and and even times where the Lord has to discipline
us because of ongoing sin, but it's to bring us
back to that place where we're no longer trusting in ourselves,
but we recognize um who the Lord is that um
like remember Isaiah when he saw the Lord high and lift.
It up and he said, woe is me, for I
am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips and I
(07:43):
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips
a proper view of God resulted in a proper view
of self and in that case, there is that brokenness
where in humility we come before God and, and that
is the place where God wants us to be because
that is when we are in the place that we
can receive grace and mercy and
(08:04):
And, and just to be brought into a deeper relationship
with him. So, so that is how I would explain brokenness.
But if brokenness was to mean chronic, constant ongoing, never
ending depression, no, the Lord wants to rescue us even
though we might go through seasons of that, um, you know, uh,
(08:24):
we may be weeping in the night, but joy comes
in the morning and so there's a beauty in brokenness.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Bruce,
what say you?
Yeah, first of all, I appreciate your response, John, and Matthew,
I'm so grateful for your question, and Brian, I'm so
grateful that we're handling these two-part questions in two separate parts.
That's first of all, but uh the, the question of brokenness,
I agree with uh John that uh
came to heal the brokenhearted. And so in the midst
(08:55):
of our brokenness, the gospel comes to be restorative. And yeah,
it sounds from your testimony, Matthew, that you've experienced, uh,
quite a history of drug use, uh, what you've described
as addiction, and, um,
That may be playing a part in in some of
the emotional experience that you have. And I think it
(09:16):
can be encouraging as John talks about the experience of
Jacob at the Y, to know that that is just a,
a tributary of the Jordan River. It's the, the southern tributary,
and so the name literally means to empty, and, and
so Jacob was being emptied of self-reliance to become reliant
(09:37):
upon God and so
Um, in the process of seeing your own brokenness, and
the sense of seeing spiritual poverty, as Matthew 5 describes it,
blessed are the poor in spirit, as John referred, uh,
that's a really healthy and positive thing. Uh, the experience
with chronic discouragement or depression.
(09:58):
Uh, maybe related to spiritual issues, could be related to
emotional issues, physiological issues. I don't want to be quick
to rule out one or point to another, but I
think it could be encouraging to recognize that even Elijah,
as he fled from Jezebel after defeating the prophets of Paul,
that he was hiding in a cave and he was
(10:20):
just
Calling out to God to end his life. He just
felt so depressed, so discouraged, so at an end of himself, um,
that sense of brokenness, and, and God never condemns him, uh,
for his feelings. He encourages him and seeks to restore.
And this is God's desire in all of us as
we go through seasons of struggle, as John.
(10:43):
Um, just aptly that the joy of the Lord is
our strength, and that Jesus said in John 15 verse
11 that he wants us to experience His joy and
his fullness. And there's a lot in this world that
could cause us to be sad and cause us to
be discouraged or to be depressed, and it is our
(11:03):
growing confidence and trust in him that begins that restorative process. Beautiful.
All right, and the other question, which was, which there
were multiple questions within that question too, it started with
um
Uh, if King James was gay, if, um,
Uh, the different Bible translations and, uh, whether we should
(11:26):
refer to God as a heavenly Father because he's neither
male nor female. What say you, Bruce?
Yeah, so there seems to be some historical argument uh
that James was a bisexual, that he was not only
same-sex attractive, but engaged in the same sex.
Uh, behavior, but that doesn't mean that the King James
(11:49):
translation isn't a helpful and accurate translation. Um, we have
over 25,000 fragments of manuscripts of the New Testament and
the gap between the earliest manuscript written or portion of
manuscript written in about 95 AD and its discovery in, uh,
(12:10):
or excuse me.
Uh, written in 125 AD and its original authorship in
95 AD is a gap of only 30 years, and
so with 25,000 portions of manuscripts, we can compare various
manuscripts from various locations to ensure accuracy, to give you
a sense, Matthew, in regard to other works of antiquity, Homer's, uh,
(12:35):
the Iliad, there's a 400 year gap, and we have
Few copies of uh the Iliad that remain, uh, compared
to portions of the New Testament manuscript. So there's different
translations that are emphasizing a different aspects. Some are dynamic
equivalents that are giving a sense of what, uh, the
(12:57):
original Greek language or in the case of the Old Testament,
what the original Hebrew language would have indicated, and then
there are other translations that are are looking.
To capture the word for word sense. So in the
dynamic equivalence, if you were looking at a basketball story
and it said that LeBron dropped a dime, and you
(13:17):
didn't know what that slang reference meant in the culture
of basketball, it may not be helpful. It may be
more helpful if someone said that LeBron scored 10 games
or 10 points in the game or had 10 assists. Um,
and so that's what dynamic equivalents and different translations provide
for us, but
Uh, probably the best translation is the one that you'll read. That's,
(13:40):
that's always a good one. Most, uh, of our translations
that are available to us today are highly accurate and
very profitable for our learning.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Yeah, and the only thing I would add, and that
was so great, Bruce is, um, you know, just because, um,
King James may have had, you know, whatever the rumors
are about his life, um, it seems like all the
evidence points to the fact that he was an unbeliever,
but he, he simply commissioned um the translation of the
King James. The important thing is that there were 47
(14:13):
men that were all qualified scholars in the Hebrew, Aramaic,
and Greek.
And they all were men, they were churchmen, they were
faithful believers, and these are the guys that actually worked
at the translation of what we have as the King
James Bible today. And um and and so um and
I think that's really important because I, you know, when,
(14:35):
when people, when people are looking for um a translation
of the Bible to read, one of the things I
encourage them to do is to find an English translation.
That is translated by a committee of people, people, a
team of Bible scholars, I, um, not to say that
there hasn't been
Um, good translations that have been done, you know, when
(14:56):
I think about missionaries that have gone into tribal countries
or places where, you know, languages, I think of William
Carey when he went to India, and so you have
one guy translating the Bible so that the people there
could have the scripture in their language. But for us
in the English language, I mean, we're so blessed to
have so many great translations.
are available. But one of the things I highly recommend
(15:18):
people to do is find a translation that was actually
translated by a team of Bible scholars and people preferably
are those that are committed to the word, they believe
in the inspiration of scripture and um and the King
James is um in that line and so I'm definitely
grateful for that. So, so, um, so I, I wouldn't
(15:39):
be discouraged if you find out some stuff about King
James that he really wasn't the most upright guy.
What matters is that those that team of guys that
did translate the King James, um, they were scholars, they
were equipped for that task and they were men that
committed faith in Jesus.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Bruce.
Yeah, I, I just uh agree with uh John's take,
and Matthew were also really encouraged, uh, as you contemplate
the King James translation, understanding that after the Gutenberg printing press,
this became readily available, like no other Bible had been
available before and none of the uh denunciation of homosexual
(16:18):
behavior in either the old or the New Testament had
been changed.
Uh, in that translation, I think that also points to
its reliability. One, anecdote that uh, is the homage to James. So, uh,
Jewish people don't name their children James. So when we
see the apostles with the name James, it's the name
(16:39):
Jacob or in Hebrew, Yaho. And so that was the
one homage to the king that he would be able
to see his name.
In print, but it doesn't change, uh, any of the,
the truth of the scripture. Matthew, thank you for sending
in your question using the pastor's perspective Facebook page, messenger.
All right, let's go to the phones now. 888-564-6173. We've
(17:03):
got Louis calling in from Santa Ana and watching us
on YouTube. So let's wave hi to Louis. And, uh,
what's your question for us today, Louis?
Uh, I wanted to know, uh, as far as us humans, um,
From the angels from God's creation, are all humans, starting
with Adam, to the last person that is alive, God gives.
(17:28):
Are we all gonna live eternally?
Every human being is gonna live eternally.
Like eternally in heaven or in hell? Well, I mean,
just eternally, like, uh, those that have Christ, which I
do have, uh, I'm, I'm reading up on some things
and so I have a friend that is telling me
(17:49):
that uh
Like the people that are, don't accept Christ, they're gonna
die and that's it. They're not gonna.
So, they're not gonna live on.
Got it. All right, Bruce, what would you say to Louisiana? Yeah, Louis,
I appreciate the question. Yeah, we are eternal beings with
a temporal body, so our souls are eternal. Uh, there
(18:12):
are um some in Christendom who adopt the view of annihilationism,
and that is the view that if you had rejected
Christ in this life, that you would be eternally separated
from God.
Uh, but that you wouldn't be, uh, eternally tormented in
a conscious state, and at the end of this life, um,
(18:32):
your soul would be annihilated so that it would not
be reunited to enjoy eternity with God, but that you
wouldn't be eternally tormented. I think the majority of you
in evangelical Protestant circles is that um the soul would
continue to exist and uh not only be separated from God,
(18:54):
but experienced.
um, the torment that is associated with being separated from God. Uh,
and we see some indication of that in Luke chapter 16,
as Jesus told a parable about two places, one of
conscious torment and and the other of eternal conscious bliss, and, and, uh,
(19:14):
perhaps a, a parallel hinting to that reality. John.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
I think he said it as best as it could
be said. Well done, Bruceachery.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Thank you, John. Yeah.
John's encouragement is never ending.
It was, it was good.
It was a great answer. It's true. He is the
son of encouragement. Yes, he is. We've always said that
about John. Thank you so much, Louie, for calling in
today with your question here on Pastor's Perspective. 888-564-6173 is
the number to call. We're gonna be here until 4
(19:46):
o'clock on this Thursday afternoon, and we would love to
hear from you at 888-564-6173. Here's another question that was
sent in online this one.
On the Kwave.com pastor's perspective page. It's from Matt. OK,
so our first question was from Matthew, this is from Matt.
I'm assuming it's two different people, plus this one's in Orange, California.
(20:07):
I believe Matthew was in Bloomington, Indiana. So Matt asks,
how do you think about assigning different weight and value,
maybe arbitrarily, to the inerrant scripture to say, that's a proverb,
so don't take it too seriously, John.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Well, um, we, we need to start with the basis of, um,
You know, determining how we view the Bible and, and
because that's that's gonna shape um everything that follows. And
so for us who believe that the scriptures and you know,
in our in our Protestant Bibles we have 66 books,
(20:45):
39 in the Old Testament, 27 in the new, um,
we believe that all scripture is God-breathed and that means
that it's inspired by God and, and so we, we
claim that the Bible is the word of God. So
that changes how we read scripture.
And so that means that um as we're reading the Bible,
we're reading it as something more than just the works
(21:06):
of Shakespeare or Homer's Iliad, like we're reading it as
God speaking to humans and and uh and and I
think that one person um said something that's really helpful.
He said the Bible was not written to us, but
it was written for us.
And so when we pick up the Bible in 2025,
we could read what God said to his people, to
(21:27):
the original audience, and yet because it's God's living word, um,
we know that it has application for us and God
is speaking to us today.
Um, and then when we read the Bible, understanding that
it's God's inspired word, we also want to recognize that
there are different genres in scriptures. So there are historical narratives,
there are, um, works of poetry.
(21:49):
And uh and so um obviously if, if a person
is reading the book of Proverbs, those are proverbs, those
are pithy statements, um where um it's to communicate a
spiritual principle and application. And so when we read it, um,
we're gonna read that differently than when we read uh
uh a prophetic announcement in the book of Isaiah or Jeremiah.
(22:13):
Or, um, Ezekiel. And so, um, so it's not so
much placing a value saying that this part of scripture
is worth more than another part of scripture. I think
that there are going to be verses that um may
may be more meaningful to us than other verses because obviously,
you know, reading Romans 8:28, that God works out all
(22:35):
things together for good.
Um, is probably going to be more meaningful to me than, um,
when I open up Leviticus and read about the measurements
of the tabernacle, right? And so, but it doesn't devalue
the worth of what Moses wrote in Leviticus. It's still
in God's word, but we recognize that there are different
(22:56):
genres and they're going to speak to us in different ways. And,
and I think that's also really important because sometimes there's
a lot of confusion.
Um, in, in how people understand passages simply because they
may be trying to read, you know, a historical narrative
like a parable or they're trying to read a prophetic
word like um an allegory and and and even though
(23:18):
the prophets would use allegories at times, it's just, it
just needs to take some time to slow down and
ask the question, OK, so what kind
Of of passage am I reading right now, but um,
but I, I place in every verse of the Bible
in every chapter in every book, the value of this
is God's word and I'm not gonna diminish one and
(23:42):
esteem another, but at the same time I understand that
there are things that God's gonna speak to me in
this book, they that may be more meaningful to me
and just even in different seasons of my life.
Other verses of scripture, but at the end of the day,
I understand this is God's word and and I love
Psalm 130 when God says or in the Psalm says
(24:03):
you have magnified your name and your word above all
things and uh and that's how I want to approach scripture.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Bruce
Bruce.
Yeah, John, again, I love that answer, so, so wise. Um,
in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, we discovered that all scriptures given
by inspiration of God, and it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction, righteousness, that the man or woman
(24:32):
of God might be complete, lacking nothing. and um
Understanding that, as John was alluding to, various genres accomplish
God's purpose of preparation in different ways. For example, when
we read in Proverbs 22:6, Train up a child in
the way that he should go or she should go,
and when they're old, they will not depart from it.
(24:54):
It is a principle. It it is not a guarantee,
it is not a promise, and it's aptly um part
of the proverbs, um.
Um, other literature like Pauline epistles, but didactic doctrinal texts
are to be viewed differently in their instruction for us,
but they're all given by inspiration and understanding when uh
(25:17):
looking at a book such as Job, and we see
Job's proverbial friends, uh, trying to admonish Job or educate Job,
that the wisdom that they're sharing is not the wisdom.
Of God, it's contrast later in the book with God's wisdom. Similar,
when Solomon is writing Ecclesiastes, he talks about wisdom from
(25:38):
above or or godly wisdom, and contrasts that with earthly wisdom.
So we don't want to be viewing the earthly wisdom
in the the same sense that we would view the
lens of, of godly wisdom and and understanding some of
the differences of genres, uh, helps us to
See those nuances and appreciate the nuances, but yeah, all
(26:01):
of the scripture we want to give that same appreciation
that it's profitable to grow us to be mature in
our faith. Amen. Matt, thank you for sending in your
question on the pastor's perspective, uh, no, no, no, he
sent it in on the, uh, well, yes, the pastor's perspective, uh,
page on Kwave.com, which you can get to really easy.
(26:22):
If you're watching on Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram by scanning
the QR code there on your screen. 888-564-6173 is our number.
If you want to ask us a question today. Here's
another one that was sent in online, Kevin in Lake Nascimiento, California.
Can a Christian use medical cannabis for severe anxiety, moderate depression,
(26:44):
back surgery pain, and other pain relief health issues? Bruce,
what's say you?
Yeah, um, so first of all, Kevin, um, if this
is in regard to your own experience, I, I just
first want to express uh compassion towards uh whatever pain
you're just dealing with, um, the
(27:06):
Back when I first started in in pastoral ministry, uh,
the big issue seemed to center around uh alcohol consumption
more than drug consumption because of the illegality of drug
consumption in most jurisdictions. And now, um, with the legalization
of cannabis in many jurisdictions in the United States, it's
(27:28):
become a more relevant issue, uh, for the church, and
yet we get back to the standard, not the, um,
Uh, the consumption, but intoxication being the standard and, and so,
Anything that is compromising uh our ability to yield to
the Holy Spirit, Paul encourages us rather than uh be
(27:50):
uh wasted, uh, we should be filled with God's spirit
or controlled by God's spirit. So it seems that intoxication
is really the standard. It's not that someone couldn't have
a glass of wine, but if they were inebriated, they
were intoxicated.
And so when something is being prescribed by a physician, uh,
that adds another wrinkle to it. For example, if someone
(28:13):
underwent a significant surgical intervention or had other significant chronic
pain that they were having to navigate, um,
I, I've been a, a cyclist for years. I've been
hit by cars on multiple occasions. I've had fractures, and
when someone was offering me morphine, I wasn't thinking about, gee,
(28:35):
am I going to have all my capacities? It's like, yes, please,
and now. Um, and so if a doctor's prescribing a
medication that is causing, uh, someone.
To, um, lose some of their sense of, of control,
it might be wise to confer with the doctor about
alternative medications that might not cause the same intoxication if
(28:58):
it's available. Uh, but I, I think the issue is
no longer the issue of legalization in our state. It's
now the, the issue of intoxication according to the scriptures. Yeah, John,
30 seconds.
I agree. Oh, OK, so now I get an extra
30 seconds. Uh, very good. Uh, who was that? That
was Kevin. Thank you so much for sending in your
question on the pastor's perspective Facebook messenger. We're gonna take
(29:21):
a quick break and then we'll be back with more
of your questions. What do you want to ask Pastors
John Huang?
And Bruce Zachary. They're going to be here till 4
o'clock and they'd love to hear from you at 888-564-6173.
If you're watching on Facebook, YouTube or Instagram, the number's
right there on the bottom of your screen. Give us
a call 888-564-6173.
(30:19):
888-564-6173. That's the number to call if you've got a
question for us today here on Pastor's Perspective. I'm your host,
Brian Perez. We're going to be in the studio until
4 p.m. We would love to hear from you, so
call in 888-564-6173. We've got Pastor John Huang from Christ
Point City.
Church in Huntington Beach and Bruce Zachary from Calvary Nexus
(30:43):
and Carpenteria. You guys ready to answer some more questions? Yes,
let's do this. All right, let's go straight to the phones.
Here is Eric in San Bernardino, listening on FM 107.9
K wave. Hi, Eric, what's your question for us today?
Well, I finally have another question other than, my God,
my God, why is thou forsaken me, which I've called
(31:05):
in several times on. My question this time is, Paul, uh, the,
you know, who wrote,
2/3 of the New Testament when he was Saul and
a Pharisee. I was wondering is there anything in church
history or in the Bible? I don't think there's anything
in the Bible, but I may have overlooked it, where
(31:26):
he actually was present when Jesus was saying, for instance,
woe to you, Pharisees, you know.
Uh, things like that where he would have heard it
firsthand from Jesus and I was just curious as to
whether he was ever around Jesus when he was speaking
before he had his conversion and spoke to the Lord
(31:49):
face to face, John.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Well, there is no place in the Bible where you'll
um find that kind of information of of Saul being
there among the Pharisees. I mean, obviously there's been speculation
over the years. In fact, there's also been one speculation
that has lasted for years that he was the rich
young ruler, um, that had the conversation with Jesus, but the,
(32:12):
what the basis is for that, um, I don't know.
Um, but you know, I, I think for a lot
of people, it, it, you know, they, they assume that
it's a safe assumption that that Saul, um, could have
been in that crowd, but in, in terms of like
actually having a passage in scripture, um, that says that
Saul was present there during the earthly ministry of Jesus, um,
(32:36):
Um, you're, you're not gonna find that in the Bible.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Bruce, any thoughts? Yeah, I agree with John and Eric.
I appreciate the question. Yeah, you get the sense in
Acts chapter 7, during the martyrdom of Stephen that Saul
at that point is kind of a junior Pharisee. He's
holding the cloaks and, and so, you know, kind of
rookie of the year sort of guy, but uh there's
(33:00):
Undoubtedly he was aware of the rebuke that Jesus had
given to the Pharisees, repeated stinging rebukes to the Pharisees,
whether he was present firsthand to hear them or as
a result of the response of the Pharisees to those rebukes,
he would undoubtedly have been familiar with them.
(33:21):
Eric, thanks for calling in today with your question here
on Pastor's Perspective, 888-564-6173 to Daniel we go. He's in
Granada Hills listening on the Kwave app. Hello, Daniel, thanks
for downloading the app and thanks for calling us today
at 888-564-6173. Uh, re greetings, Big Brother, and God bless
(33:43):
you and, and happy day atonement. Bless the blood of
the Lamb of God.
And my question is regarding the dome of the Rock,
is it a Muslim temple because I don't want to
lift it.
Up in my heart with all we got is the
Western Wall.
What do you mean by lifted up in your heart?
Can you explain what you mean by that? Um, everyone's
(34:05):
praying at the Western Wall and that the temple is
no longer there, and I believe they got Ishmael and
Jacob mixed up.
And that's the Mount Moriah where Abraham apparently buried, but
is it a Muslim temple or is it biblical truth temple?
All right, Bruce, what's say you? Yeah, Dan, I appreciate
(34:27):
the question. So the Western Wall is uh
Just a retaining wall to support uh the Temple Mount
uh during Herod's expansion of what was previously Solomon's footprint
for the temple. And yet it is the holiest site
in Judaism because of its proximity to the temple. So presently,
where the temple existed, you would find uh the dome
(34:50):
of the Rock shrine, which is a Muslim holy site.
And right adjacent to it, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and it
uh is believed that the rock that is enshrined in
the dome of the rock, that that golden uh domed
temple or um
The religious site that you see on the previous site
of where the temple was, uh, was the holy of
(35:13):
holies uh in the temple. There are other scholars that
believe that the temple can be erected on that site
as Ezekiel uh references, I believe in the 44th or
forty-fifth chapter, there would be a wall of division.
Between the profane or the Gentile holy site and the
holy sight of God, and so many believe that the
(35:36):
temple shall be rebuilt, uh, during the 1st 3.5 years
of the Great Tribulation, the 7-year peace treaty time, and
that Israel's temple will again be erected on that mount
adjacent to the Al-Aqsa Mosque or the Dome of the
Rock shrine.
But yeah, those are Muslim holy sites, so the 3rd
(35:56):
holiest site in Islam, I believe. John Huang.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Yeah, um, as Bruce said, being a holy site in
the Islamic faith, um, Muslims look at the Dome of
the Rock as, um, number one, they believe that's where
Abraham offered Ishmael in their theology. And uh and so
um in our Old Testament, we understand that Abraham was
(36:20):
instructed to offer his son Isaac, but in Islamic theology,
it's Ishmael, and they also believe that that is the
site where Muhammad ascended to heaven.
And so this is one of the reasons why the
Dome of the Rock is considered as one of the
the holy sites um in the Islamic religion. But you know,
one of the things I want to encourage you, Daniel, is, um,
(36:41):
remember that wherever, you know, a person might be looking
to to find um the the place where he's gonna
set as the object of worship, it's gonna be Jesus,
it has to be Jesus.
You know, I, when you were asking your question, I,
I couldn't help but think of a conversation that Jesus
had with a woman um in Samaria, and she asked
(37:04):
this question.
Um, where is the right place to worship? Is it
Jerusalem because that's where the temple was and that's where
the Jews, um, encountered God, or is it Mount Gerizim?
Because that's where the Samaritans would go and worship because
the Samaritans weren't allowed to worship in Jerusalem, so they, um, um,
developed their own sacrificial system. They developed their own little
(37:26):
temple up there and, and so that became the raging debate.
Where is the true epicenter of worship?
And then Jesus said, you know, the time is coming
and is now here, when neither on this mountain or
in Jerusalem people will worship, but God, um, he is
seeking those who will worship him in spirit and in truth.
In other words, the what Jesus came to do was
(37:49):
to do something that is not limited to stone and
mortar and and cement and and all and and brick
and and buildings, right?
Um, he wants to bring his presence into the lives
of people. And so Paul the Apostle writing to the Corinthians,
he tells us that we are now the temple of God.
(38:11):
We are the temple of the Holy Spirit because um
the moment a person puts their faith in Jesus.
God the spirit comes to dwell within that individual and
so now we become um God's living temple. In fact,
Peter even describes us as living stones and we're being
(38:32):
joined together with other living stone, other believers, and God
is building this temple um with people. And so, um,
you know, for Jews, the reason why the Western Wall
is so sacred is because
You know, prior to the discovery of the rabbi's tunnel,
that was the closest place they can get to to
(38:52):
what where they believe was the holy of holies. um, and, uh,
and for the Muslim, it's like, um, the reason why
the Dome of the Rock is so important is because
that is where they believe that Muhammad ascended to heaven
and and that is where they have their connection with Allah.
But for us as believers, what an amazing thing it
is that God would now say.
(39:13):
You are my temple. In fact, the reason why we
can be the temple of the Holy Spirit is because
remember Jesus in John chapter 2, he said, if you
destroy this temple, I will raise it up in 3 days.
And he's and John tells us he was referring to himself,
his body. He is the true temple of God, and
you and I being joined together in Christ Jesus, Ephesians
(39:37):
chapter 2 tells us.
We are being built into this temple of God where
God's spirit lives inside of us. So I just want
to encourage you, don't make worship about geographical locations, make
worship about Jesus.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
Bruce?
Yeah, John, uh, I just so greatly appreciate that answer
and the wisdom that you provided to Daniel and others.
I, I think it's fascinating that the very first time
that we see the words worship and love in the
scripture is in Genesis 22, where Abraham is, um, instructed
to offer Isaac at Mount Moria, and, um, in, in
(40:15):
that confidence that God will provide, he, he doesn't name
the Mount God did provide. It, it is the future
forecasting that God will provide himself a lamb.
And that later David would purchase the threshing floor of Arana,
as we discover in 1 Chronicles chapter 3, where Solomon
would erect the temple, and again it's identified as Mount Moria,
(40:39):
and it is that same mountain range, that that same
area where the temple is erected and where Christ is crucified,
that God in fact did provide uh the Lamb of
God for us, as John soaply noted, and it's
At that site, but again, we're not limited to a
particular sight, as Jacob has the experience of the latter
(41:02):
ascending up to heaven and angels ascending and descending and
seeing God in His heavenly abode, and he wakes up
from this vision and says, Surely God was in this place.
And I did not know it in Genesis 28, and
I think frequently we associate God with a particular geographic place,
and we can be so distracted by the things of
(41:25):
this world that we don't realize that surely God is
in this place, wherever we might be at that time,
the omnipresent God.
Daniel, thank you for calling in today at 888-564-6173. And
also thank you for reminding me that yes, today is
the most solemn day on the Jewish calendar. It is
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Bruce Zachary, why don't
(41:49):
you explain the significance of what the day means to
the Jewish community. So on the Hebrew calendar, uh, the
days between Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which was
10 days ago,
Uh, the feast of trumpets, as it's described in Leviticus
23 and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest
day in the Jewish calendar, were considered days of awe.
(42:12):
It was a time of introspection, uh, growing up as
an observant Jew, going to an Orthodox.
Uh, synagogue for, um, all of my childhood and most
of my young adult life, that, uh, there was a
certain sense of solemnity, and, uh, people were confessing to
(42:33):
one another, asking forgiveness uh of one another. Uh, the
other 355 days out of the year, it didn't seem
to be going on, but
And people had a sense that during these 10 days,
they were either being inscribed in the book of life
for the coming year, or they would not be. And
there was a certain soberness uh to that, and, and, uh, certainly.
(42:56):
Uh, that sense of our sin being put upon a scapegoat,
who would then take uh the sin outside of the camp, and,
and then the shedding of blood or sacrifice, and that
one day in the whole, uh, Hebrew calendar where the
high priest and the high priest alone could enter into
the holy of holies, and, and that sense that there
(43:17):
was a separation between God and man because of our sin.
And all of that imagery coming into fullness in the
New Testament as we see that the veil has now
been removed, that we've been given access to come boldly
to the throne of grace, to receive grace and mercy
in our time of need, and only as a result
(43:37):
of what Jesus has done for us and through God's
grace and and through faith. And it is a a
beautiful picture of someone who is under now a new covenant.
Um, to have that perspective on the holidays, um, many of, uh,
my family, um, who don't know Christ yet, are, are finding, um,
(43:58):
their observance of this holiday, uh, seemingly from my perspective,
lacking a fullness and a completeness that is available to
us in Christ, a more better covenant. Beautiful.
You kind of answered my next question. I was gonna say,
what do you tell a Christian believer who might have
Jewish friends and how, how do they, how should they
(44:20):
interact with them today or is, is there anything they
can say that maybe will point them to Jesus?
Yeah, I think it it could be really helpful to
ask people uh how their experience was in the synagogue
during the high holidays. Um, most, uh, Jews, whether they're
uh cultural or more spiritual in their orientation, are going
(44:41):
to be attending high holiday services just like many Christians
who would attend Easter and Christmas services.
And to ask them about their experience and what it
was like for them and what they learned about God,
what they learned about life, what they learned about themselves
from that experience, and um
(45:01):
Being able to listen and and listen well and and
I'm just asking questions without trying to be uh combative
and looking for opportunities where perhaps uh Jewish believers, observers
would be asking questions regarding the Christian faith dialogue. It's great.
(45:22):
We have a similar question here. Virginia in Florida, watching
us on YouTube. What did you want to ask us, Virginia?
Hi, I just love to show you guys. Um, I
learned so much from you. I just was, I was,
since we're talking about Jewish, uh, holidays, I was hearing
recently that uh Rosh Hashanah is uh actually the celebration
(45:42):
of a man being created, and that's when they believe
the world was, uh, made, is that what, what's your
view on that? Bruce? Oh, let's give that one to Joan.
I was,
Speaker 2 (45:57):
I was deferring to our Jewish scholar here, um, honestly,
I have never heard that, um, you know, the, the
first time that we see, um, the, the different festivals
and feasts up here in the Old Testament is when
God was.
Um, forming a nation there in the wilderness, um, there
at Mount Sinai, and God gave Moses, um, clear instructions
(46:21):
of the, the seven feast days that the people were
to observe and, and, uh, and there are the springtime
feasts and and probably the most notable would be Passover
and then you had the fall time feast and like
Bruce was um explaining with the feast of trumpets and
the Day of Atonement. Um,
You know, but one of the beautiful things about each
(46:43):
of those feasts is that, um, even though they commemorated
um moments of, of the, the dealings of God with
his people, um, in the wilderness, for example, the Feast
of Tabernacles, you know, the people would remember and celebrate
how God provided for them in the wilderness while they
were all living in tents, um, you know, Passover obviously
(47:06):
in Exodus chapter 12.
Reminding them of their deliverance from Egypt and their redemption
was through the sling of a Passover lamb. Really, the, um, the,
the thing that for us we need to um keep
remembering is that not only are these memorials remembering real
moments in history, but they're also prophetic.
(47:27):
Because these celebrations, they point forward to Jesus himself. And so,
for example, again, going to the Passover in 1 Corinthians
chapter 5, Paul refers to Jesus as Christ our Passover, right?
And, uh, or when you think about the Feast of Tabernacles,
I think of John chapter 1 verse 14 where it
(47:48):
says in and the word became flesh talking about God
the Son who became human, and the word became flesh
and dwelt or literally in the Greek he tabernacled among
us and we beheld his glory, the glory of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
So God literally pitched his tent in human form, in
human flesh and lived among humans in the world. And so,
(48:12):
Um, and then you've got Pentecost, and, uh, and so
when Luke, um, narrating the story there in the Book
of Acts in Acts chapter 2, and we see the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit there on the the day
of Pentecost, the Jews would have gathered there for two reasons.
Number one, they would have been there to commemorate the
giving of the law on Mount Sinai.
(48:34):
But also it was a celebration to um thank God
for the harvest. And so the priest would come out
and he would have two loaves of bread, and he
would wave them. What's interesting about these loaves is that
they had leaven in it.
And uh and so, um, it was in with this backdrop,
you remember that the Holy Spirit was poured out and
um and then as, as people from all over the
(48:56):
Roman world had gathered around where the disciples were 120
disciples out of perplexity or they're asking the question, what's
going on here? And Peter saw the opportunity.
To preach the good news of Jesus, and 3000 souls
were added to the church. And so how fitting that
on Pentecost when they're celebrating the harvest, that that was
the first in gathering post the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
(49:20):
Um, to see people coming, um, into saving faith. And so,
so this is one of the things that's really beautiful
about these feasts that we read about, um, but, but, um,
you're gonna hear different people with different, um, you know,
thoughts and opinions, um, about, you know, such as, you know,
how does it relate to Adam and that I don't
(49:41):
know because I don't see that anywhere in scripture.
Um, it could be drawn out of some rabbinical teachings.
It could be drawn out for, you know, from speculation
or people trying to connect the dot. But I think
that primarily the way that we should understand those feast
days is that it marks a significant moment in Israel's
history that God doesn't want his people to forget, but
(50:02):
also it forecasts the mission of Jesus in the world
because everything from Genesis to Revelation.
Christ is the focal point and especially the Old Testament.
Remember Jesus said in John chapter 5, if you believe Moses,
then you would believe in me because he wrote about
me and uh and there's just something beautiful and powerful
(50:24):
about
that.
Speaker 1 (50:25):
How do you do, Bruce? Uh, fantastic, John, uh, like
the biblical scholar that you are, I, I think, uh,
the tradition that associates creation and uh the
Uh, feast of Rosh Hashanah is the idea that it
is the new year, and because it is the beginning,
there's this association, but as John, uh, very aptly noted,
(50:47):
that is not a biblical reference. It is extra biblical
and so it is speculative at best. You know, as
you contemplate this, John was mentioning major feasts that are described,
the spring feast, the fall feast, as you look at
Leviticus 23.
Uh, the second most sacred day on the Hebrew calendar
is actually the Sabbath, as opposed to, uh, one of
(51:09):
the major feasts, and, and so we are reminded of
God's covenant and His provision of rest and Christ's ultimate
fulfillment of rest for our souls, uh, every week and, and, uh,
a tangible reminder of that sacred covenant that God has
made with His people. Oh, that was great.
(51:29):
Virginia, thanks for your phone call today on Pastor's perspective.
Let's see if we can do one more. We'll do
one that was sent in online. This is from Sarah
in Cullen, Virginia, who asks, Is it OK to use
my tithe money from one of my biweekly paychecks to
sponsor a child monthly? So one check would go to
my church and one would be used to sponsor a child. Bruce,
(51:51):
what do you say to Sarah? Yeah, uh, so first
of all, I appreciate your hardness, Sarah. Yeah, in, uh,
1 Corinthians chapter 16.
And 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and 9, we see in
regard to our giving that we have uh
A lot of of uh permission in terms of encouragement
(52:12):
to be generous, to be proportional, to be sacrificial.
Uh, that giving should not be out of compulsion but
should be of joy as we are laying up treasure
in heaven, and I don't think that there's anything wrong with, uh,
seeking to sponsor a child or seeking to advance God's
mission by supporting a para church organizations or missionaries or
(52:37):
missions movements outside of the local church that
As you're investing in something that you believe it is
advancing God's kingdom or showing uh God's heart of compassion
and grace, um, that, um, you have liberty.
John,
Speaker 2 (52:55):
yeah, and I, I would just add there's something so
beautiful about um financially investing in the church where you
are learning and growing and serving in um because you
you get to actually pull resources together to further the
mission of Jesus in that local church and and one
(53:15):
of the beautiful things about the local church is that.
Um, it, it's more than just paying whatever bills need
to be paid, um, if they're in a building, but
when you think about the, the, the mission vision of
the church locally and globally, um, looking for ways that
you can be helpful in your community locally and globally.
(53:36):
And there's just something beautiful about that kind of coinanea.
In fact, that word coinanea that's so often translated fellowship
and other parts of the New Testament, it's also translated
as partnership.
And so, so this is one thing that I really
want to encourage people not to miss out on because I,
I get how, how, um, rewarding it can be for
(53:57):
us to independently be financially supporting different works and movements,
but there is something special about pulling resources together as
the local church. Um, and in fact, I, I think
about how in Acts chapter.
Um, chapter 5 and 6, it, it talks about how, um,
(54:18):
that the believers, they brought, they, they would sell their
land and they would bring their financial resources and they
would lay them at the feet of the apostles.
And they were trusting their church leadership to say we
want you to hear from the Lord, be directed from
the Lord, and we want to partner together as one
local church family in reaching our community and the world
(54:40):
with the gospel of Jesus. So I just really encourage
people if if and when you are investing in your
local church, trusting your leaders.
To to be making the right decisions, hey, that means
that you need to be praying for your leaders. You
need to be praying that they would just continue to
move forward with clear and fresh vision in the fear
(55:03):
of the Lord with accountability, with faithfulness, because again, the
joy of being able to see God's kingdom being built
and to be able to celebrate together.
Man, isn't that a win for the local church to
celebrate together? So yes, like Bruce said, man, there's opportunities
for us to financially invest in different things, but man,
(55:24):
I want to encourage you, do not neglect in financially
investing in your local church so that we can celebrate
the wins together as the people of Jesus.
Speaker 1 (55:33):
Sarah, thank you for sending in your question today on
Pastor's perspective, and that's.
All the time we have on today's program. If you
didn't get on or couldn't get through, we're gonna be
here tomorrow between 3 and 4 p.m. Pacific time, and
we'd love to hear from you. Let me give you
that number one more time. It's 888-564-6173 for John Huang
from Christ Point City Church in Huntington Beach and Bruce
(55:54):
Zachary from Calvary Nexus and Camarillo. God bless you guys.
We'll talk to you next time on Pastor's Perspective.
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