You Asked For It: Your Questions Answered

Episode Transcript
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(00:11):
Hey, everybody. Welcome to between Sermons. Today is a
very special episode because we are in a series
called you asked for it, where we are answering
questions from our congregation. And the problem is we
answered questions in two services yesterday. I think we
got through maybe 30 or 40 questions in those
two services combined. And that leaves us with another

(00:34):
close to 200 questions to answer today. So we're
not going to be able to do that. We
are going to answer about 70 questions today, so
buckle up. This is probably going to officially be
the longest episode of between sermons ever, so you
might want to chop this up into little bite
sized chunks, listen to it on your way to
work and on your way home for a few
days, and maybe we'll get through all 70 or

(00:56):
so questions, and then we're going to be answering
all the additional questions in some other formats. But.
But for between sermons, we're gonna answer 70 questions.
And I've got my lovely wife, Sol.
And I think that if you wanna just do
it in one sitting, just grab a bunch of
snacks, get some.
Popcorn, get your popcorn ready, just get.
Advice, just get cozy, cozy up with us.

(01:19):
And then I've got our campus pastor, Asa. Thanks
for being here.
No problem. Thank you for inviting me.
So I think the plan is we're gonna throw
all the really hard questions at soul. Makes sense
to me, and then we're just gonna be here
to make jokes and have a good time.
Sounds good. Last I heard, she was kind of
training you in Mexico, so she was first at
this point.
That's right. She was my boss when we first

(01:40):
met, so, you know, makes sense how we roll.
All right, so enough of the chatter. We have
70 questions to go through. Some of these questions,
we're just going to hit them fast. It's going
to be, like, one response kind of thing, and
some we're going to need to kind of argue
about because we might have differing opinions. So let's
jump in. I've got, like, five semi rapid fire

(02:01):
questions we're gonna do right at the top. Does
someone raised Catholic need to get re baptized on
the count of 3120? All right, I guess we're
not doing count of three. So, Saul, you were
raised in Mexico. That's a yes from you?
Yes.
Yeah. I would say if you were baptized in
any tradition where it was a sprinkling or it

(02:21):
was infant baptism before you made a personal decision,
I would highly recommend getting re baptized. It's not
a heaven and hell issue, though. Like, you're not
going to hell because you didn't get baptized the
right way. Yeah. Yeah.
But I think that for us, baptism is a
proclamation. Right. Like you are saying, it's a personal
decision of your. I have decided to follow Jesus,

(02:41):
and I'm gonna show it to the world, and
I think that that has to be conscious decision.
Yeah.
So if you don't have any recollection of it
except for, like, a picture, you should probably do
it.
All right. So rolling with some more questions. Rolling
with some more catholic questions. Because of your background,

(03:04):
why aren't Catholics considered Christians?
Well, for my background, just so you know, I
was never a Catholic. My parents were pastors, but
in a christian church. But.
So are you affirming that Catholics are.
Not Christians if you are hispanic, especially. Because I

(03:24):
have not a lot of. I have not had
a lot of interaction with catholic people here in
the states, but in Mexico, Catholicism is. It is
a different. It's a different religion because you are
not just. Yes, they believe in God and they
believe in Jesus and they believe in the Holy
Spirit, but they also believe in Virgin Mary and

(03:45):
all of the different saints, and they pray to
all of them, you know, and they have all
of these different ideas of rituals and prayers and
things that they need to do in order to
get their sins forgiven and get to heaven, you
know, so a person dies, you have to pray
for them for nine days right after they die

(04:07):
so that they will find their way to heaven.
That is not biblical. You go to the priest
and you confess your sins, and they tell you
what you have to pray and how many times
so that your sins are forgiven. That is not
biblical. You have, you know, like, you want a
boyfriend, you put San Antonio upside down and light
a candle, he will bring you a boyfriend. That's
not biblical. Like, all of these things. So Catholicism

(04:31):
and Christianity, not the same thing. Now, how is
it done here? I'm not sure, but how it's
done where I'm from, it is not the same
thing.
Yeah. And from being there for a few years
doing ministry and things like, there is a real
dividend there, I think that, you know, the short
answer are Catholics. Well, the question was, why aren't

(04:53):
Catholics considered Christians? And by and large, they are
like, I think there's going to be a whole
lot of Catholics in heaven, but there is some
real problematic theology within the Catholic Church that creates
some issues and then how it's practiced in some
countries, especially in Mexico, where there's a lot of
idolatry wrapped up in it. Anytime you're changing the

(05:15):
path to salvation to include additional things, I think
you're in error? Yeah, it's a messy subject matter,
but I think in general, are Catholics considered Christians?
Yes, it's considered a denomination of Christianity, but it's
a denomination that can lead to some problems.
Yeah. What you do? I don't know. I'm still.
You have a hard time with this?

(05:36):
The inside of my heart is like, nah, but
I have.
Will there be Catholics in heaven?
Maybe.
Maybe.
I guess the question, I guess, would.
Go as far as saying, yeah, there will be.
And I guess the question is for one individual
Catholic, have you confessed Jesus as your lord and
savior and believe it in your heart that he
was raised from the dead then? Yeah. Now, do

(05:58):
they go on and practice some of those things
that, some of that ritualistic stuff? Well, some of
our everyday saints, probably in our church, do some
things that would be idolization and things like that
so that don't disqualify them. But I guess to
me, it just comes down to Romans ten, nine
and ten. Is that a part of your faith
or not?
But, you know, like, the thing for me with,

(06:20):
with Catholicism in Mexico, I think there is a
lot of the idolatry, a lot of the fact
that they put the virgin almost higher up than
Jesus, you know? Cause, like, she, she carry him.
So, like, she is. She's a saint. So, like,
their prayers are to marry, you know, like, the
devotion is to marry. Like they. They understand Jesus's

(06:43):
sacrifice. Yeah, they know it. But what, it's Virgin
Mary, right? It's all of this extra people that
they actually go to instead of going directly to
God and directly to Jesus. Like, I think that
is an issue.
Yeah. Unquestionably from a protestant standpoint, there's some problematic

(07:05):
things happening there.
And I would say my one experience since I've
been a pastor with, it was a few months
back here at CLC, where I prayed with the
lady because she was kind of having some anxiety
being in such a big crowd. And then once
we got to the root of it, and I
prayed for her, and she calmed down and everything,
we got to talking about Catholicism and her praying

(07:26):
to Mary and things like that. And I just
kind of walked her through the bible and what
it says and who we need to be praying
to. And it was like, for her, and I've
seen her in this church for a while, but
for tonight, to her, it seemed like a light
bulb moment that. Wait, you mean to tell me
I shouldn't be praying to Mary? And I was
like, no, you shouldn't be. You need to pray
to Jesus. Only. So it's interesting because I've seen

(07:49):
her sitting in this church for a long time
and that light bulb hadn't come on yet, that
it's Jesus is the way, the truth, and the
life. So.
Well, the crazy thing about the. We could have
this conversation for an entire 2 hours and still
not come to, you know, a total conclusion of
the argument. So that rapid fire, you know. So

(08:11):
my quick answer. Why aren't Catholics considered Christians? They
are. They're considered Christians. There's just some problems. All
right, can we speed up a little bit? So
you just talk rapid fire eight minutes later. All
right. Do christians believe that dinosaurs existed? Yes. Yes.
I mean, I don't know why you wanna. What

(08:34):
is your take on the firmament? Firmament? So in.
I think Genesis uses the phrase firmament. Depending on
your translation, I think it's mostly King James. So
this is probably a King James reader talks about
the firmament, which is basically just the sky. It's
the atmosphere. So what's my take on it? I
have no take. It's just another word for atmosphere.

(08:55):
I don't think it has any kind of deep
theme, theological, spiritual meaning. It's just. Yeah, part of
the creation story. All right. Do you think the
eclipse has anything to do with end times? So
the eclipse is happening in like, three or 4
hours from the time of this recording. So we
will know in about 4 hours if we're right
or wrong. But on the count of three, does
it have anything to do with n times? One,
two, three. No.

(09:15):
No. Hasn't it been happening forever?
Yeah, somebody did the math. There's been 1333 of
these since. Since Jesus was resurrected. So if none
of those other 1333 eclipses had anything to do
with end times, then this one probably doesn't either.
And the thing is that a lot of people

(09:36):
really want to know when is the end. Right.
But the Bible tells us that nobody knows. So
trying to come up with this.
But I think a lot of, a lot of
people, we just take that as a personal challenge.
When the Bible says no one's gonna know, I'm
gonna figure it out.
Like, we don't know, so stop trying to decipher

(09:58):
what is happening. Does the Bible talk about signs
in the sky and all of these things? Yes,
but that doesn't mean that that is telling you
the day, the time and the hour. Like, just.
Yeah, ultimately, we're not supposed to be looking for
the signs. We're supposed to be looking for Jesus.
Yeah. So follow Jesus. You'll be all right. All
right. Different gifted intercessors or prophets continue to pray

(10:18):
for anxiety or other things to leave me without
me even needing to express that I struggle with
it. Why doesn't the anxiety leaving happen the first
time it is prayed? Anxiety is the example, but
my question stands for anything that is prayed. So
essentially, how come we can pray for something and
it doesn't happen right away?
I almost think with something like that, the situation

(10:42):
where a prophet is praying for somebody and revealing
something that they know they're dealing with, I think
it's more of an identifier than now, this is
something that you need to get a hold of
the word about, talk to God about, and figure
out his way of healing for you. But just
because they identified it, just because he showed it
to somebody, doesn't necessarily mean that that prayer is

(11:04):
your answer.
I think that answers the prophetic side of it.
Like, is this prophecy accurate or not? But let's
just take prophecy out of it. Let's say I'm
feeling anxiety. And so I come to you and
I'm like, Asa, can you pray for my anxiety?
And you pray and I walk away and I'm
still feeling anxious. So then I go over to
soul and I'm like, hey, soul, can you pray
for my anxiety? And she prays for my anxiety,

(11:25):
and I walk away still feeling anxious. Like, how
come prayer isn't answered immediately?
I think that there is a supernatural side of
it and there's a natural side of it, you
know? And I think that our spirit gets the
strength in the grounding in Jesus that we need.

(11:48):
But if the anxiety or the depression or wherever
it is gripping you still there, that means that
there's something naturally that you also need to do.
Yeah.
You need to be able to look at your
circumstances and say, is there stress in my life?
Is there something, like, specifically that is bringing me
this anxiety that I can either resolve? Like, what

(12:08):
are my situation? Like, is there something that I
can do about it? Is there somebody that I
need to talk to that will give me the
tools? Like a counselor, you know, they can give
me the tools in how to manage all of
these emotions. Maybe I don't know how to do
it and they can show me how to do
it. I think that it has sometimes to be
both things. Like, it is not just, I don't

(12:30):
know how to say it in a way that
it doesn't sound wrong, but it is not. Like
prayer is just the magic bullet, you know? Like,
it's like you just pray and everything just disappears.
That is not how it works. We come to
prayer because that's what the Bible tells us. Be
anxious for nothing, but in everything, bring it to
God. So I know that God is taking care
of me, but also there's times that I have

(12:52):
to actively do something to change my circumstances. So
it is no one or the other, I think,
that we need both.
Yeah, I would just kind of add to that
because you brought up the scripture for anxiety in
particular. At least scripture gives us an indication that
part of anxiety is a choice because the scripture

(13:12):
tells us don't be anxious. Like, if the scripture
is telling me not to do something, then that
means that it is. There's an element of it.
At least that's a choice. And so a lot
of times we suffer anxiety because we have chosen
thought patterns or thought processes or we've chosen to
dwell on something that is increasing anxiety in us.
In a sense, you've actually chosen to have anxiety

(13:35):
and so I would just be cautious of that.
But to answer the broader question there about answering
prayers, I'm going to quote, was it Bruce Almighty,
the movie where Jim Carrey has God powers and
so he's getting all of the prayer requests from
people as emails and he just hits an auto
reply to yes, and he just says yes to

(13:56):
everyone's prayers and the whole world falls apart in
a day. It's like total chaos. It's ridiculous. And
so what's that movie showing us? Well, it's actually
showing us the sovereignty of God is important in
the equation. Just because you pray for it doesn't
mean that it automatically forces God to do whatever
it is you asked. He's not our genie. We're
not forcing his hand by praying. Prayer is about

(14:18):
relationship and connection to him. But the answer to
your prayer could very well be, no, I'm not
going to do that. Why not? Because I'm God
and you're not. Like, the sovereignty of God needs
to be taken into account for any prayers that
we pray. All right, that's going to upset a
lot of people, so we'll move on. Do. Oh,
this is juicy. Do we even have the power

(14:40):
as humans to manifest and they put it in
quotes, something considering God allows it to come true
or is manifesting misunderstood in the modern day?
I'm pretty sure it's misunderstood. And I know that's
a big thing going around these days, but at
the end of the day, to me it's, did

(15:00):
you get it from the word of God? And
then has God spoken into your heart to be
able to have faith for the thing that you
want and is it in line with God's will,
those things might come to pass. Might come to
pass. Now, whatever else you trying, whatever else you're
trying to manifest, I don't know nothing about that,
but no. So I would say no, you lining
up your prayer and your words with God's will

(15:24):
and it actually coming true. Is God doing what
he wants to do more than you manifesting it?
Yeah, I would just say blankly manifestation or manifesting
things is a new age theology. It's not biblical
theology, that's not Christianity, that's new ageism. And there's
a lot of new age that is trying to
bleed into Christianity, especially with people probably in their

(15:46):
twenties and thirties. And we just have to be
really cautious with that. So is manifesting things something
a Christian should do? No, we don't manifest. We
pray, we seek the will of God, we follow
his directions, we read our bibles, but no, we
do not manifest.
And I think that that comes from, from the
whole faith. You know, faith is, is the belief
of things that don't, don't exist as if they

(16:09):
do. And I think that sometimes a lot of
people just grab on to that. Well, that is
manifesting, right? Because like, I'm gonna believe that it's
gonna happen because I believe it's gonna happen.
Manifesting implies that it's your power that made it
happen, not God's.
Exactly.
And so anytime you replace God in your theology,
you're, you're in a bad place. So don't, don't
do that. All right. Is the rapture real or
is it a man made concept created by John

(16:32):
Nelson Darby?
I don't know John Nelson Darby, but it is
in the Bible.
All right, so I guess I'll take this one.
So rapture is both real and man made. So
the word rapture is not going to show up
in your Bible because it's not something that takes
place in scripture. In that terminology, the rapture. Now

(16:55):
there is a moment where Jesus returns, the trumpet
sound, Jesus returns, and we're caught up into heaven
to meet him. So some will say, hey, that's
the rapture. If your definition of that is this,
there's this concept of this like peek a boo
moment where Jesus kind of pokes his head in,
calls up all the christians and then disappears again.

(17:16):
And then 1000 years later then he comes back.
There's a lot of just bad theology around end
times and tribulation and rapture and all that. And
if you're getting your doctrine from the left behind
series, you need to put that down and pick
up your Bible and actually read it. But this
is something that theologians will argue about all day
long. It's stuff that's. People will spend their entire

(17:39):
lives dedicated to studying just rapture end times conversations
and still be in a disagreement with each other
on it. So I don't think that the three
of us are gonna solve that problem today. But
the phrase rapture, no, that's not a biblical phrase.
It was coined. I believe it was John Nelson
Darby. I'd have to look up when that. When
it was. It was in the 18 hundreds is

(18:01):
when the concept of rapture became a popular thing.
It was late 18 hundreds. In the 19 hundreds.
Yeah, no, and for me, I was just gonna
say I grew up with all of the left
behind and all.
Of that stuff, you know, flames, heaven's gates.
Like, my dad will make us watch all of

(18:22):
these movies with all of the people. Like, every
single live group was watching it. Right. And I
grew up terrified of Jesus coming back, like, for
years, like, even to my adult years, the book
of revelation was like, no, thank you. Like, it
was. It was like nightmares. Like. Like, legit.

(18:43):
You stopped reading it, jude.
Like legit. Like legit nightmares. Like, jesus is gonna
come back, and we're gonna be left behind, and
the raptor is gonna come. And I realized a
few years ago, like, sadly, they took me that
long, that that is not something that we should
be scared about, but they should. We should be
anticipating.

(19:03):
Yeah.
With joy, you know, that the moment that Jesus
comes is the moment that we're gonna be with
him, you know? And I think that a lot
of times, we weaponize the whole Jesus coming back
and the tribulation and all of this, because in
our best efforts to make people understand that heaven

(19:25):
and hell are real, we are trying to kind
of, like, put the little fear of the Lord
in them, you know, like, just fear hell. So
choose Jesus, which I understand the good sentiment for
it, but I just want people to understand that
you should not be terrified of it. If you
have chosen Jesus as your lord and savior, that

(19:47):
is a moment that you should desire, you know?
So that has taken a lot of time for
me to get to that point, but I just
want to encourage you to not be terrified and
not be looking at, like, when it's just coming
back. And what am I supposed to do? Anticipate
that moment with so much excitement, because that is

(20:08):
the final, the culminating thing of all humanity, where
we are finally going to be united with him.
So, yeah, I like it all right, next question
is another tribulation rapture question. So I'll answer this
one. If you don't believe in the pre tribulation
rapture, why do you believe God would make us
go through his wrath after Jesus took on the

(20:29):
wrath for us with the cross? So I'm going
to address this just because there's a couple of
assertions made in the question. So, one, I don't
know if I'm pre trib or post trib. I've
joked that, like my father, I'm pantrib, which means
I just know it's going to pan out in
the end. And so I'm still a little bit

(20:50):
on the fence. I probably do lean more towards
post trib than pre trib. And for those of
you that don't know these terminologies, that's okay. This
question wasn't for you then, but the idea that
why would God make us go through his wrath
after Jesus took on the wrath for us with
the cross? You're misconstruing two different wraths. So what
happens in the end times is not the wrath

(21:13):
that Jesus bore on the cross. Jesus bore on
the cross. The punishment for our sins, the ultimate
wrath of God, being poured out on the world
for judgment of sins, is different than what happens
in the end times. And so the reason why
I can firmly believe in God and still have
a post trib possible leaning and I'm still on

(21:35):
the fence, would be there is so much scripture,
and this is hard for americans to really wrestle
with, but there's so much scripture about the perseverance
of the saints to persevere in challenges, in difficulty,
in trials, in tribulations. And so the same God
that told the people in that first century church,
hey, the Romans are murdering you right now for

(21:56):
your faith, but stand strong. That same God can
show up in the end times and still tell
christians to stand strong, even in persecution. So I
really don't think. I think that you made a
couple of assertions in the question that I would
disagree with. So I don't think that those two
wraths are the same thing. And I think that
a loving God can still ask his people to
go through suffering on this side of eternity, because

(22:20):
what's coming is so much greater. And so the
peace that we're looking forward to is in heaven.
So this world's gonna have problems.
And I think that for me personally, when you
read about it, the Bible talks about how the
Holy Spirit is gonna be taken away, but there
are still people that are gonna come to Jesus.

(22:42):
But the Holy Spirit is the one that brings
conviction. Right. So if the Holy Spirit is not
on earth, and that's just me, like, I'm not
saying that this is. This is just my logic.
Okay. If the Holy Spirit is not here and
all the people that have believed in Jesus are
gone, how are the people that have never heard

(23:02):
the gospel will be able to make a choice
for Jesus if there's nobody or nothing that it
is bringing that desire in them? I think that
if the Holy Spirit is not here, then the
left ones of us who are still on earth
will be the ones that are actively going and

(23:23):
saying Jesus still the solution today. And that is
just my. One plus one probably equals two, you
know, like, I don't know, because it's end times.
Like, we don't know. But that's just the way
that I. That I can think of that. So
that means that at least some of us have
to be around being able to bring the good

(23:46):
news even in that time.
Yeah. The testimony of the saints, even in that
persecution. Yeah. Yeah. Just close it with just saying,
hey, I'm not a. This is not my area
of expertise. It's not my area of focus. I'm
way more concerned with living for Jesus now and
enjoying heaven later. I don't really care about what
happens right there in the in between. Just not
a priority for me. He's coming back. Like, that's.

(24:08):
That's as much information as I need on the
subject. All right, Asa, you've been quiet for too
long. So this next question's coming at you. When
it comes to healing, what is God's will? Is
it always a matter of faith or timing or
sin or what steps can I take to see
God release physical healing in my life?
So you may not like my answer, because I
know how you feel about it now. My belief

(24:31):
is it is always God's will. When it doesn't
happen, my belief is it's a us more than
it is a him. It's usually, I believe it's
pretty straightforward that if we actually have the faith
and you don't need a lot, all you need
is a mustard seed, then you can be healed.
But I believe that in the midst of that,

(24:54):
when it doesn't work, it's somewhere in there we
didn't have. We were unbelieving in some form or
fashion. So it takes me back to. Can't think
of the scripture, but the disciples asked him why
they couldn't heal the man, and he said, because
of your unbelief so they have faith, but they
had unbelief mixed in there that didn't allow them
to be able to do it. I think we

(25:15):
live in such a world filled with unbelief. It
can be harder than it looks to actually get
yourself in a place where you're in faith, but
you're not in unbelief. So I think it's more
of us unbelief problem than it is. A God
doesn't want to heal somebody problem.
Well, you're absolutely right. I disagree with you completely.

(25:36):
I'm like, here's the fun thing and I love
this. Being able to come out in the podcast
is that we can have a disagreement on something
that's even theologically basic, even. You have scripture for
your side of it, I have scripture for my
side of it, and we can be in disagreement
of it and still be in fellowship. Like we
can still hang out. I have no problem with
you being our campus pastor and holding that belief.
If I ain't here tomorrow. Guys, y'all know what

(25:57):
happens, you're not.
Getting fired over that belief. So and so I
talk about this a lot of like what are
the salvific issues? What are the like, those are
the things that we have to, the salvation stuff,
the heaven and hell issues. We've got to be
in agreement on that. Yeah, all these, you know,
secondary issues, tertiary issues, I think we can have
disagreement. So my disagreement would come in. I don't

(26:19):
think that it is necessarily always God's will to
heal, and the reason for that is Timothy is
sick. He's got tons of faith. Paul's got tons
of faith, but Timothy's sick. Paul tells him, drink
some wine for your upset stomach. Is it Peter's
mother in law that gets sick? I forget, is
New Testament. I think it's Peter's mom you've got.

(26:42):
Paul has his thorn in the flesh. I mean,
if anybody had faith in scripture, Paul had faith.
Well, to me, the thorn in the flesh. Paul
said that Satan gave him the thorn and the
flesh to buffet him. So to me that wasn't
given to him by God.
No, but he also talks about the fact that
he had asked many times to be removed from
him and it didn't.
Yeah, but even that logic there of, you know,

(27:04):
whether it's given by God or.
I thought you were saying that God gave it
to him.
No, not at all. It's just that he has
this infirmity, this issue, which, you know, people have
theorized. What that could be, we have no idea.
But the fact that he prayed and asked for
a healing in this area and it didn't happen,
if it doesn't happen for Paul, then I have
a really hard time saying Paul was lacking faith

(27:25):
in that moment. And so I think that there's,
I put a high price on God's sovereignty. And
so there's some times that, hey, look, illness today
can be a matter of poor choices that we've
made. It could be an attack of the enemy.
It could be just a part of a fallen
world like cancer exists and you can do everything

(27:46):
right and the devil may be nowhere near your
life and not trying to interfere with your life
at all and you still get cancer. Is God
obligated to heal you of your cancer? No. I
think that the moment we put an obligation on
God to always heal, we're misrepresenting the Bible, we're
misrepresenting God. And I think that there is a
little bit of danger, and this is why I'm

(28:07):
pushing back on you a little bit. I think
there is a little bit of danger in saying,
well, it's always God's will to heal. So if
he doesn't heal you, then there's something wrong that
you need to fix. Because I think there's been
a lot of sick people that have gone for
prayer and gotten that kind of message and then
went home going, there's something wrong with me. And
I don't know what it is because I have
faith. But now they're telling me I don't have
enough faith. And so now I'm sick because I'm,

(28:27):
I'm a failure or I'm sick because I messed
up. And I think that that can create a
lot of problems for people's faith.
I have, I have heard, and that's, and that's,
and that is the main reason for me. Well,
one of the reasons for me that I feel
hesitant with that type of response because I have

(28:51):
seen people hurt at a funeral, crying over their
loved one that passed. And sadly, I have heard
pastors say, you didn't have enough faith. You know,
and it breaks my heart to know that now
onto the family, it is this weight of they

(29:12):
died because I didn't believe enough, because I didn't
trust God enough to heal them. And I don't
know, I feel like it's a huge burden to
carry. So, yeah.
Yeah, I have a hard time with a good
God that doesn't provide it. I believe he provides

(29:36):
it. I believe that the word for salvation, which
I was talking about in the devo last week.
Yeshua, the word for it, healing, is a part
of that. So to me, healing is a part
of the name of God. Healing is a part
of Yeshua, salvation. So to me, I don't know,
it's easier for me to see it as it's

(29:58):
a us thing more than it is. It's a
good God withholding something from his children that he
loved. That's just that. That.
Yeah. And I can see that logic. I don't
have any kind of. Any problem with rationalizing a
good God. That also tells me no.
Even.
Even when it's something that should be good or
that that makes sense for me. I think that

(30:19):
it. It's. He's God.
Yeah.
And I don't want to put on somebody that's
hurting more pain.
Yeah.
And then you. Sorry, I keep jumping in. And
then you take into account the New Testament. How
much of the New Testament is written about persecution,
about suffering, about pain, about trials, you know? So
part of that is it develops our faith. I'm

(30:40):
thinking about. There's a girl that had cancer very
early on. She spent a ton of time in
the hospital, and, look, there was, like, a dozen
nurses that got saved because she was in the
hospital. Like, could that have been God's will? Absolutely.
Like, she did great work for the kingdom while
sick. Like, that's a good thing that took place.
Yeah.
And I think that I do, and maybe this

(31:03):
is just a different. A different thing and a
different subject for a different time, but I think
that ultimately everybody gets healed, you know, because once.
Once we go to be with Jesus, there will
be no more sickness, there will be no more
pain. Right. So at the end of the day,
does he want you to be healed? Yeah. Does

(31:24):
that mean that it has to happen on this
side of earth? Not necessarily. You know, like, I
think that I lived that with my mom. Like,
we prayed and we believed and we. We expected
the miracle to happen for so many years. And
I remember the moment that I heard that she.
That she passed. I was in my kitchen, and

(31:45):
I remember just looking up, and just the first
thing that came to my head was, and she's
healed now, you know, so it was not what
I wanted. No. The healing that I was expecting
to see. But at the end of the day,
she's healed, you know, and when we are together
with Jesus in heaven, she will not have lupus

(32:10):
anymore, she will not be in pain anymore. So
healing happens. It's just sometimes we expect it to
happen and to manifest in the way that we
think that it should. And maybe that is not
what God was promising us. You know, he was
saying, yes, you're gonna be healed. And, yes, I
died for your healing. You know, by his stripes,

(32:33):
you are healed. Does that mean here now? No,
probably not. Not always, at least theologically.
No, it doesn't mean there's not a timeframe on
that for on this side of eternity. All right,
let's go ahead and go to another controversial subject
to keep this disagreement going. Actually, we're probably in
agreement with this one, but it's still controversial for
others. Is speaking in tongues essential for a believer?

(32:56):
Yes. Essential. Yes.
Essential. Yes. Required? No.
Yeah. See, and I would take that the word
essential as being a little bit too strong. Like,
would you. Are you a man? Are you a
believer if you don't speak in tongues? Yeah. Yeah.
Can you have an amazing relationship with God, Holy

(33:18):
Spirit, active in your life, without speaking in tongues?
Absolutely. Do I want to be able to, or
do I want to only have to pray in
English? No. Like, being able to pray in the
spirit, like, is extremely beneficial for me. So isn't
an essential? I would probably say no, although I'm
not super hard disagreeing with you. I would say

(33:40):
no just because the word essential kind of implies
that you have to have this, like, essentials to
me, like, if you're doing a packing list, the
essentials are things you cannot live without.
Well, I personally don't think that I could live
without it. Well, you know, I think that's why
I see it as essential. Like, I don't see
it as a requirement for you to be saved
or a requirement for you to have a good

(34:01):
relationship with Jesus, but is it essential for my
life? Absolutely, yeah.
And see, I'm seeing. So for you.
Yeah. For others, you know, I don't know.
And so I'm seeing essential this way. You go
on vacation and you bring toothpaste and you bring
soap. Is that essential to your life?
Yeah.
Okay. But it's. Right, so that's how I was

(34:22):
seeing essential. You was kind of. Seeing essential is
more.
Yeah. Maybe that's because, like, my Colorado background, when
I'm in the mountains, if I forget something that's
essential. Yeah. You die because it's essential. So.
Yeah, but toothpaste and soap, you don't die, but
it's essential. You really need that.

(34:43):
I think it's a semantics thing, and.
To me, I would say, so what about as
a pastor?
Can you be a pastor?
You can. No. You can? No.
No.
That's not the question. I wouldn't even put it
Pastor Brent, as a pastor. So how essential is
the Holy Spirit?
So here's. No, no, no. That's not the question.
No. I gotta be real careful.
I know that's not that question I'm asking you.

(35:04):
No, no, no. What I mean by that is
we can't just equate having the Holy Spirit and
having tongues. Those are.
Oh, okay. Yeah, I got you.
Because there's some. And the reason why I'm trying
to contradict bad theology or bad teaching, where if
you've been taught that you don't have the Holy
Spirit unless you speak in tongues, that is false.
That's false doctrine. That's bad teaching. Yeah. And so

(35:24):
I just wanted to ask, so. So can Brent
be as effective as a pastor if he does
not speak in tongues? My answer to that would
probably be no. Based on my relationship with God,
my relationship with the whole Holy Spirit. I have
pastor friends that don't speak in tongues, and some
of them, I would say, you're clearly a better

(35:46):
pastor than I am. You're more knowledgeable, you care
for people better. You've got. All your sermons are
better than mine. So, like, can you be a,
like, top tier, amazing believer and not speak in
tongues? 100%. Absolutely. That's why I don't like the
word essential in there. Is it essential for me?
Yes. Is it essential for every believer? No. Would

(36:08):
I highly recommend it or highly encourage it? Absolutely,
yes.
Yes.
We got the semantics out of the way. All
right, keep going, please. Talk about speaking in tongues.
In service, or in personal prayer. As a sign
or as a prayer language, and then we'll tie
it into the next question, which is, what is
speaking in tongues? Was it actually human language in

(36:29):
the Bible? Is it what we see in random
outbursts, in service? Is it a prayer language? How
do you see it? So speaking in tongues?
I could jump in. It was so much there.
So there's the personal prayer language, which is for
you in prayer, and then there's the gift of
tongues for a service, where, according to the word
of God, if a gift of tongue is given,
it needs to be an interpretation. So to eliminate

(36:52):
confusion and things like that. So those are two
different things, which is why you won't see us
a lot of times praying the tongues from the
stage, because the Bible is pretty clear that your
personal prayer language needs to be there. The gift
of tongues is to edify these people, and if
they don't understand what you just said, there's not
going to be any benefit. So that's my thoughts

(37:12):
on that portion. There was a lot to that
question.
Yeah. I think that the Bible is very clear
about having order. We are not trying to use
our speaking in tongues as a look, what I
can do. It is about our connection with. With
God. So I think that that is why it

(37:33):
is important for those of us who are able
to pray in tongues to do it privately. I
know for me, there's times that when I am
in prayer, kind of like, words fail you. You
don't fully know how to pray or what to

(37:54):
say or. Or how to even go at stuff.
And that is the moment where I realize how
much my prayer language comes in and just kind
of takes me the extra mile, you know? And
when I am praying in tongues, like, I. There's
a different feeling. There's a different, like, I don't

(38:17):
know, like, a different release of what is happening
in my soul. There's times that, while I'm praying
in tongues, like, different things come to mind that
I'm like, oh, now I can pray about this.
Like, I do believe that even in that, like,
God is speaking. So. So I think that it
is very important to do it in order. So,
like, if you. If. If there's gonna be anything

(38:40):
that is happening on a microphone, then it better
be constructive for everybody, not just for everybody to
hear that you can do it. But. But if
it's happening on the microphone, then there has to
be interpretation, as you said it, you know, like,
this has to be able to edify everybody else.
And if that is not the case, then do
it privately, because God has given it to you

(39:01):
for a purpose. So I think that. Yeah, it's
just order.
Yeah, I remember this was like when I was
a little kid, but I remember there was a
lady that would constantly interrupt services with tongues. Like,
she would just shout them out as loud as
she could and wait for an interpreter, but she
would do it, like, every service, and it was
so disruptive, and it was always just about her.

(39:21):
There was never interpretation for it. There was never
anything else. It was just. It was her way
of, like, creating this moment for herself. And, like,
the church leadership at the time literally had to
go to her and say, hey, if you're going
to stay here at CLC, you cannot do that
anymore. And she ended up leaving the church. But
it was like, look, we have to have order
to this. So to answer the question, is it

(39:42):
actual human language in the Bible? Yes, I think
that it's also. There is a conversation about heavenly
language, and so whether that's only an earthly language
or heavenly language? I don't know. I think that
you can kind of go both ways with it.
That also means, you know, every dialect that's ever
been spoken on planet Earth. So there's thousands of

(40:02):
those. So you may not recognize it as Italian
or German or French, you know, the popular languages.
It could be a very dead language. It could
be a language from 2000 years ago. But one
bad theology, I just want to jump in because
we're going to make this an eight hour podcast.
One bad theology that I wanted to address though
is there's a lot of people that will argue

(40:23):
against the charismatic gift of speaking in tongues. Praying
in tongues by saying it was only used for
evangelism. The tongues were there so that if you
didn't speak the same language as somebody else, the
Holy Spirit could give you the gospel to teach
them. And they bring that from acts two. After
the moment in the upper room, Peter goes out

(40:44):
and he preaches, and 3000 get saved that day.
Or 4000, I think it's 3000 people.
Are saying, I can hear them in my language.
Yeah, in my own language. So people have taken
that to equate. Okay, it's used for evangelism. However,
that's bad cultural and contextual understanding of that passage
because Peter goes on to preach the gospel in

(41:05):
Greek, the language that everybody gathered there spoke. So
when the gospel is actually presented, it's in a
language they understand. He's not praying in tongues anymore.
And so to say that tongues is only used
for the sake of evangelism negates so many passages
where Paul talks about praying in tongues and the
purpose of it. And you're grabbing just one instance.

(41:26):
But it's not even an accurate description of the
one instance because yes, the tongues gathered the crowd,
but what was the response from the crowd to
the tongues for them saying all these things in
their own language? It was, these guys must be
drunk, right? So it didn't draw them to Jesus,
it made them go, what is, what is going
on, man? It's like three in the afternoon. Why

(41:46):
is everybody drunk? Like, this is weird. So it
drew a crowd, but it was not the presentation
of the gospel. The presentation of the gospel happened
after that moment where he actually preached the gospel
and said, hey, that guy you crucified, that was
your messiah. So, yeah, just careful with that bad
theology. All right.
And also, sorry, just really, really quick. If that

(42:10):
is something that you desire and you go to
somebody to help, you know, like pray for me
for, for tongues and stuff, you gotta be very
careful to only speak what you feel in your.
In your. I don't know how to say, like,
in your insight to say, because I have heard
people say, repeat after me. Like. Like, no, this

(42:31):
is not a repeat after me situation. It is
not like, whatever comes out of my mouth, you
say it, too, because that is not how it
works. It is not about just do as I
do. It is a gift that God places inside
of you, and that is what you speak. It
is not, just do it like me. That is

(42:52):
not accurate.
Your spirit gives you utterance.
Yes.
You don't have to fake it to be one
of the cool kids. You already are in relationship
with Jesus, and you have the Holy Spirit in
you, so you're already one of the cool kids,
so don't fake something else to be a cooler
kid. I guess. I don't know. It's weird. Don't
do that. All right. Is it necessary to be
baptized to go to heaven.

(43:15):
And be baptized? I think obedience is always good,
but I don't know. I know it's.
I would just say, is it necessary to be
baptized to go to heaven? No. There's. There's instances
where people. I mean, the. The thief on the
cross. You'll be with me in paradise today. They
didn't get off the cross. Go get baptized in
the river. And some might say, well, that's the

(43:35):
one exception. Yeah, maybe. I think that is baptism
something that you should do. Absolutely. 100%. Because, like,
Asa just said, you know, go and be baptized.
Like, follow the instruction. Go do it. Plus, it
is your public declaration of that faith decision that
you've made. It is. We talked about it on
Easter. You know, you're being buried with Christ. You're

(43:55):
coming up in new life with Christ. There's symbology
to it. Like, get baptized. Absolutely. Are you gonna
go to hell if you didn't get baptized? No.
Are you gonna go to hell because you didn't
get baptized the right way or the pastor didn't
say the right words when he did it? No,
it's not a salvation thing.
And let me jump in there. It's interesting. So
I've been baptized three times when I was younger.

(44:16):
I don't know how old. I remember some of
the services, and then when I left college at,
like, 23, I got baptized because I was acting
a fool. For years, I was a believer, but
I was not acting like it. Right? So I
got baptized. I was strong in the word for
about four years, and then I drifted through some
disobedience for about a decade. So I got baptized

(44:39):
again. Right. So once I got into this space
where now I'm talking to people about these things
in growth track, I had to ask God, okay,
why did I get baptized this third time? What
was that about? And I believe this is how
God showed me. And this is a me thing.
I believe he showed me that. That doing it,
that third. Well, actually, the third time when I
did it, I didn't just go do it. I

(44:59):
kind of was in the service, and they did
an altar call, and I was like, but I'm
saved, jesus. I felt like there was this nudge
to just go. So I went. And then I
just did the whole process. Got baptized. Cause they
baptized you right there. So it was kind of
like, okay, lord, I believe you nudged me to
go in that moment. What was that about? That
was my question. And I feel like he showed

(45:21):
me that it was for me to help me
with the guilt, that moment, to go do this
again, so you can see the symbology of what
Jesus has done so that you can understand that
you're free from that ten years of running from
me, from all of it. Of course I love
it. But from that moment where you ran, when
you knew better, go get baptized, so you can

(45:43):
identify with that and say, oh, yeah, I'm free.
I ain't gotta feel bad about that ten years.
So for me, it was kind of that symbology
of it is just a great reminder that, man,
I was this, and I got a new walk
with Christ, and I was a believer already.
I got baptized three times, too. Yeah. How many
times you get baptized, Saul?
Twice.
Only twice?
Only twice?
She's better than us.
You never got baptized in Mexico? In the river?

(46:06):
No, I've been baptized.
I got baptized in Mexico. In the river? Like,
why not?
I got baptized when I was 17 years old.
That was my first. Like, the, I'm gonna live
my life for Jesus. And then I got baptized
when we went to Israel and we were in
river Jordan. The coldest and dirtiest water I have

(46:26):
ever been in.
It's such a beautiful moment, but it's also disgusting.
But it's like, you're in Israel, you.
Gotta get a thousand people getting baptized.
Like, yes, but that's it.
Yeah, I did three. I got baptized when I
was five. That was when I made a faith
decision filled with the Holy Spirit. I was speaking
in tongues, and they're like, all right, get this
kid baptized. So I got baptized at five. Barely

(46:49):
remember that moment. So then in Mexico, we're at
the river, and it was like, you know what?
I got baptized when I was a kid, I
know why I got baptized, but it didn't have
that same adult decision moment. So I got baptized
in the river there in Mexico, and then we
went to Israel, baptizing the Jordan river. So much

(47:10):
fun. Get baptized many times you want. Why isn't
everyone saved? Quick answer. Why isn't it?
You gotta choose.
You gotta make a choice. Yep, Jesus didn't.
It's your choice. God don't force you to do
anything.
Yep. Jesus died for everyone, creating an opportunity for
everyone to be saved. But his death doesn't save

(47:30):
everyone, saves the people that choose to accept it.
Yeah.
All right. What happens to those who have committed
suicide and didn't hear the gospel say the same
thing that happens anybody else that dies without hearing
the gospel, I would agree. I don't think that
you need to use suicide as a qualifier for
that one. It's suicide, isn't. I think maybe there's
some qualities there will sin and. No, it's not.

(47:53):
Suicide is not the unforgivable sin. I think that's
a catholic teaching. Maybe not. We bash on Catholics
too much. It's got to be a protestant teaching.
I grew up with that. Like our church did
mention, see?
Yeah, look, we bash everybody. We're fair.
Yeah. They said, you know, if you commit suicide,

(48:14):
you go to hell.
Yeah. And the concept there is a lot of
people say that, well, you can't go to heaven
if you have sin in your life, and if
you're killing yourself, it's murder. You're committing sin as
your final act, so you can't be forgiven. But
that's just bad theology.
If I die overweight, I'm shot, I'm out of
luck, because that's, gluttony is a sin, people. Yeah,
so, yeah, so I think we.

(48:36):
Have a question about gluttony a little bit later.
I'll let you answer it. So, yeah, is sexting
okay to do between you and your spouse? Yeah,
go for it. Have fun. After marriage, what is
the biblical way to handle finances?
I'm blocking am already.
Wow. Soul. After marriage, what is the biblical way

(48:57):
to handle finances? Do each of us contribute down
the path of separate budgets or is everything combined?
There is no biblical way to handle finances in
a marriage in that way. I would say combine
everything is just better marriage. Is it wrong to.
Sorry, I'm trying to get through some.
Of these because we're coming with us.
Is it wrong to marry someone who isn't a

(49:17):
christian example, someone who is Muslim? Yes. Yeah, that's
a bad idea. Really bad idea. Do not be
unequally yoked. Definitely would apply in that situation, because
then, and there's a question later on about raising
kids in split religion homes, and that's the problem.
What is your standpoint? Oh, we've got like five

(49:38):
divorce questions, so get your divorce hats on and
I'll combine a couple of these. What is your
standpoint on divorce that is now very rampant in
Christendom? Is there any scripture that supports or speaks
against someone remarrying after divorce? What does the Bible
say or teach about second marriages? If your first
spouse cheated and was abusive, can you divorce and

(49:59):
eventually remarry to someone else? Am I cursed? Because.
Well, let's do those three first. So, yeah. Standpoint
on divorce rampant in Christendom. Is there any scripture
that talks about remarrying after divorce? What about if
the person cheated on you and is abusive?
I don't like divorce. I really don't.

(50:20):
Neither does God.
Yeah. Right. I think that it says in the.
Bible, God hates divorce.
I've seen so many families just hurt because. Because
of it, you know, it is, it is, it
is. I think that it's a very complicated question

(50:40):
that I personally don't necessarily feel like right to
answer because I think that everything depends also on
your own set of circumstances. You know, I think
that everybody doesn't necessarily live the same, the same
story for you to just be able to just
have one blank statement for everybody. But I think

(51:02):
that as much as it is in your possibilities,
trying to come up with something that the two
of you can agree on and, like, restore marriages
and all of that stuff, I think that that
should be the way to go. I think that
divorce should be the last resort, that you have
already tried everything else, you know, because I believe

(51:26):
that God can restore marriages. I believe that God
can restore relationships and that even when you feel
like there's no hope, I believe that God can
do it. But of course, that is different circumstances
have different, different answers. So, yeah, I know a

(51:48):
person, and she was going through a divorce, or
she was planning on divorcing, and she called me
and she said, I don't know what to do
because I know that the Bible is not very
friendly with divorce. It's very clear about you should
not divorce. But this person was telling me, I
already tried to commit suicide three times because I

(52:10):
cannot be in this relationship anymore. So she was
asking me, so what do I do? So at
that point, for me, it was, I think that
God would rather you be alive than being this
in this marriage. Right. So I don't know. It's
hard. Yeah, it's hard.
I think. I think we talked about this on
a podcast a while back. But biblically speaking, there's

(52:32):
three a's for divorce or grounds for divorce. I'll
start with an a. There's a fourth one that
we could throw in there that also starts with
a, and it connects to the other three, but
it's in cases of abuse, case of abandonment. Paul
talks about that and adultery. And then the fourth
one that you can kind of slip in there
is addiction. Because a lot of times with addiction,

(52:54):
there's abuse and there's adultery and there's abandonment. Like,
it kind of encapsulates all three of the other
a's. So even though the Bible doesn't say something
directly about addiction being the cause, because addiction ties
into those other three things, I think we can.
From a biblical standpoint, we can add that fourth
a. But the idea here is God hates divorce.

(53:15):
That's scriptural. They ask him, why did Abraham allow,
or why did Moses allow divorce? And Jesus says,
because of the hardness of your hearts. Because y'all
are just. You have a really hard time following
our commandments. So he gave you permission for it.
But even then, the Bible talks about if you
do get divorced for those three, as then you

(53:38):
have to remain unmarried after that. The scripture clearly
talks about. So it's such a touchy subject, because
in Christianity, in culture, divorce is just seen as
a no big deal. The problem is, marriage is
supposed to be a representation of God and the
church, Christ and the church, the bride and the

(53:59):
groom. And so when we rip that apart in
divorce, we're ruining this image that God had set
up. So it's something that God created to point
to him. And so when we abuse it, that's
not good, right? And so I would say, though,
that there is. I think the best advice I've
given people for this is they got divorced, they

(54:21):
remarried. They're like, what now? Like, I'm reading scripture.
Am I committing adultery every time I sleep with
my new wife? And I think that this is
one of those cases where you recognize what you've
done, you repent, and then there's grace on that
relationship, because I don't think that the solution to
a sin is to commit a sin. So if
God doesn't want you to get divorced, then the

(54:43):
solution to living with your new wife shouldn't be
to get divorced, right? If that makes sense. And
so, man, I get that this is. And we've
got a lot of divorced couples in the church.
And so it is a very sensitive, hard subject
because there is a lot of scripture that talks
about it, but there's a lot of scriptures that
talk about it in, like, almost like a gray
area where it's not quite as black and white.

(55:05):
But divorce sucks. I think that's the bottom line.
Yeah.
Anything you'd add?
No. I'm surely not a fan of staying in
an abusive relationship.
100%.
And I. And I. But I 100% feel you
two soul where God can do it, but you
gonna need two parties that want it to be
done for God to do it, so he can

(55:27):
do it. But if he done moved in with
the next one, God probably ain't doing that one.
So, you know.
All right, Saul, I'm gonna throw this one at
you. Give it. Give it a brief answer, but
doesn't have to be super fast, because this person
needs some help. I am cursed. Am I cursed?
Sorry. Not a definitive statement. It's a question. I

(55:47):
apologize. Am I cursed because I am a divorced
person and I have no one that wants to
marry me? I'm going into my senior years alone,
and I'm lonely. Did I do something wrong in
my life to cause this fate? Is there hope
for me, or will I forever be alone?
First of all, I am so sorry that you're
going through that. You know, I think that there

(56:09):
is. I cannot. I cannot say that there's something
wrong with you. I think that is a huge,
heavy burden to carry, to try to just feel
like everything has been your fault. I think that
maybe you can go back into your relationship and
see, well, maybe I didn't do this part right,

(56:31):
but that doesn't mean that everything has fallen on
you. It takes two people to make or break
a relationship. So you cannot just think that it's
you when it was only you. As far as
are you forever gonna be alone? That is not
something that I can tell you. But what I
can tell you is that even though what you

(56:54):
are longing for is probably a romantic connection, there's
another. There's other ways that you can have community
that maybe don't involve that romantic feeling, but you
don't have to go around your life feeling alone.
You can have good relationships, good friendships, people that

(57:15):
are building you up. They will be able to
feel that. That void in your heart that is.
That is longing for companionship. And it doesn't necessarily
have to be a romantic one, you know? So
don't. Don't block all of the other relationships that
you may have with friends, with. I don't know
if you have children, but maybe with children, with

(57:37):
grandchildren, with your church family. Don't put all of
those things away and just don't give them any
value because they are valuable. And sometimes we focus
so much on the one thing that we don't
have that we exclude everything that we do have.
So if you have those connections, use them and

(57:58):
enjoy them and love them and cultivate those relationships,
and if you don't have them, look for them.
You know, don't. Don't just be so narrow focused
that you are only looking for one thing when
you can have so many other ones that can
give you that happiness and that companionship that you

(58:19):
are longing for.
Yeah, that's good. Thank you, soul. We love you,
whoever you are that asks that question. If my
spouse, who isn't a Christian, leaves me and files
for divorce, should I agree and sign the papers?
If they refuse to go to counseling or talk
to me, or should I wait for the divorce
to be finalized without signing anything? Man, that's probably

(58:42):
a tough question. You really need to talk with
somebody about. I feel a little bit. It would
be inappropriate, I guess, for me to offer advice.
I will say if I'm in that position, I
would probably sign the papers. I don't think I
would want to prolong that any longer than it
needs to, especially if the person's refusing counseling, refusing

(59:05):
to even talk to you. But I would say,
pray, ask the Holy Spirit what you should do
and really just trust him because he may be
saying, hey, don't sign the papers because there's going
to be restoration that happens, or this thing may
be dead and over, and it just. It needs
to let it. Let it be dead and over.
Don't. Don't drag it out. And, man, as somebody

(59:26):
just reading a question on a screen, that's a
hard one. I would love to actually talk with
that person and get more details, anything about. Yeah,
it's good. All right. You're going to love this
one. My partner and I have been together 16
plus years. It's a long time to be together.
They have four children together, but he has no

(59:47):
interest in marriage. But marriage is important to me.
It's also important to God. You should have done
the marriage thing before the kids thing. I feel
like I've waited long enough. Yeah. Should I leave
this relationship? They've been together for 16 plus years
with four children together, not married.

(01:00:13):
So, man, that's so tough. Because for the kids
sake, horrible. But do you continue to live in
sin for the kid's sake. No, I don't have
the answer. Yeah, I don't think you do.
I think I would have to. Yeah, I would
have to just say, look, I love you, but
you made a lot of bad decisions to get

(01:00:34):
to where you are. Don't keep making more bad
decisions in order to stay where you are. So,
yeah, you should. You should leave that relationship, but
you need to talk with somebody. Don't just take
somebody's podcast and be like, all right, this is
what I'm doing. Talk to somebody. Get in touch
with a pastor. If you're part of ClC, email
us. Let's. Let's sit down and talk through this.

(01:00:56):
But, yeah, 16 years with somebody, four kids together,
but you're not married. That's like sin on top
of sin on top of sin on top of
sin. Not healthy, not good. And if he's not
interested in marriage, it's because you already gave him
everything else. Why would he need to get married?
Yeah, I will say, you know, also pray for.

(01:01:16):
Pray for him. You know, pray that. I don't
know if he is. I believe it or not,
but if he is, then he has the holy
spirit in him, you know? So pray that God
will move his heart to do the right thing.
Pray that God will show him how important it
is to do things in a proper way. I

(01:01:38):
don't think that it is just about just head
out the door, but have real conversations, you know?
Like, I understand that you don't believe in marriage,
but, hey, if the two of you are christians,
say, but the Bible says, you know, and I
believe that if we are going to be following
Jesus and we're going to be true disciples of

(01:02:00):
Jesus, this is what needs to happen. Because nothing
in this question, and I don't know your relationship,
but nothing in this question is talking about not
loving each other or not having a good relationship.
So there might be a lot of good foundation
in there. They just need to have the final

(01:02:23):
stamp of approval from God, you know? So if
that is the case, you don't want to just
throw it all away, but you want to make
sure that you do everything that you can to
do the right thing and to take the right
step. So that's good, Saul. So, yeah, so I
will say talk to people and talk to each
other and pray that God will move his heart

(01:02:45):
to do the thing that needs to be done.
All right, for this question, we're gonna do kind
of three. And I want you to blurt out
your yes or no answer. Is it okay to
date someone for their potential and having faith that
they will better their lives spiritually? Or is it
generally not worth dating off of potential? So is

(01:03:05):
it okay to date someone for their potential? Three,
two, one. No. I hope that came across crystal
clear. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever date somebody
for potential. You're not dating who they might be
one day. You're dating who they actually are right
now, which also means don't marry somebody because you

(01:03:27):
see a lot of potential in them. Potential is
not where it's at. It's what is actually happening
right now. Because, look, I fail to live up
to my own potential all the time. That's not
a good standard for relationship.
And what kind of potential are we talking? Are
we talking potential in their character? Are we talking
potential they about to go to the NFL? What

(01:03:47):
kind of potential are we talking about here? But
I mean, if they're not showing signs of good
character now and they know the word of God,
what potential are we seeing? And if you're trying
to go on potential of finance, that's just not
gonna work.
I would even say. So that last part of
the question, is it generally not worth dating off
of potential? No, it's not generally not. It's 100%

(01:04:09):
of the time not worth dating somebody off of
potential. Date them for who they are. And if
they're not up to the standard, then find somebody
that is. All right, we're gonna do some rapid
fire all on morality. So yes or no is
after these. Is it considered a sin to drink?
No.
No to drink? No. Soul's pretty hardcore, which is

(01:04:35):
great for our relationship.
Cause neither is I am black or white like
you do or you don't.
Yeah.
Are you in or you're out?
And I feel like yesterday, I know this rapid
fire, I was sitting there waiting on you to
say, but to be drunk is a sin. But
you didn't, which is okay, I thought I did.
You kinda didn't. You mentioned that you don't do
it because one gonna turn into two and it's
gonna turn into passed out the drunkenness. But the

(01:04:58):
sin is just for clarity.
If I didn't yesterday, yes, to be drunk is
a sin. So, yeah. And how many drinks does
it take to get drunk? When you're tipsy, are
you drunk? There's a line that it's like, okay,
you know, are you. Are you flirting with the
line? Are you trying to get really close to
it?
That's probably not a good idea, in my opinion.
My opinion, we should be different from the world.

(01:05:20):
If I am doing everything that the world does
just in moderation, am I really being different? So
I'm in or I'm out? Am I. Am I.
Am I close to Jesus or I'm not?
It's one of those things. Where. Is there freedom
in scripture to drink? Yes. Because Paul recommended wine
for Timothy's upset stomach. Jesus poured wine at the

(01:05:43):
last Supper. Wine is the first miracle Jesus performs.
So is alcohol a sin? No. Is drunkenness a
sin? Absolutely.
I think that I have seen, in my 39
years on this earth, I have seen the pendulum
swing, you know? And it was, at least for

(01:06:04):
me, like, what I've experienced, that there was a
time where it was, oh, the standards. You have
a standard once you confess Jesus and you don't
do any of this. And then somewhere along the
way, it came to the, you can be christian,
but you can be cool. Right. And, like, the
cool christians can have a glass of wine and,

(01:06:25):
like, the cool christians, like, because we're not getting
drunk. Like, the Bible doesn't say. And now you're
just kind of like a. Well, we're not that
type of Christian. So I think that that's for
me. What? Kind of, like. No.
Yeah.
Like, it's. Sometimes we are doing it just to
show that we can, and I don't think that
that's right. So I think that it is in

(01:06:45):
the matters of the heart, but for me, it's
in and out.
Yeah. And that's how we've both lived our lives.
And it has cost us friendships. There's relationships with.
With people that we couldn't develop because everything was
drinking related, and then there's relationships that kind of
fell apart because it became. Everything was about drinking
to them, so, yeah, fun times. Is it a

(01:07:07):
sin to watch secular tv shows or media?
No. No.
Is smoking nicotine a sin? Yeah.
Is that sin?
I wouldn't say, like, you taking that temple and
you. You messing up the temple. That. So?
Yeah.
Gluttony to me, it's a sin for me to
overeat.
Yeah.

(01:07:27):
Because it's damaging my body and.
Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. I can.
To invite cancer. I can't.
That argument. Yeah. Is it something you should do?
Absolutely not. Is it a sin? Maybe? Like, if
you're unrepentant of smoking cigarettes, are you going to
hell?
Well, so we're never gonna repent for everything. So

(01:07:49):
that part is. I don't. I didn't say. I
don't know that. I don't think it's that.
Yeah.
Jesus died for our nature of sin, we ain't
gonna be able to repent for everything we did
before that time.
But there is something about willfully, like, living in
sin, I would be uncomfortable.
And the thing is that it is also an
addictive behavior. Yeah, right. Like, it is not like,
though. Well, I just did it once or wherever

(01:08:11):
it is. The fact that how many people are
out there actively trying to stop smoking and their
body is just craving the nicotine. The nicotine, I
think that is dangerous. Like, anything that can get
you addicted and they can make you crave this

(01:08:34):
one thing that is other than Jesus. It's bad.
It's bad news.
Yeah. And that's clear in scripture that anything you
place above God is an issue. So if, like,
if you can't focus in a church service because
you need to go have a smoke break. Yeah.
Yeah. That's become a sin issue in your life.
So by default is a sin. It's probably more
gray for me, but the addiction to it. Absolutely.

(01:08:56):
All right.
Is it many cigarette smokers, you know, that aren't
addicted?
I know a few. I know a few. Usually
not cigarette. Usually cigars. Like, it's. Yeah, but anyways,
no, it's actually a lot of reformed guys. Reformed
guys love their, their. I don't think it's whiskey.
What do they usually drink? I don't know. Whiskey

(01:09:17):
and cigars. Those reformed guys. All right. Is it
sinful? This one's for soul. Is it sinful to
wear clothes that show a little skin?
There you go.
How much is a little? What's your definition of
risky? I mean, I'm sure that that person is
not talking about your forearm.
Oh, is it sinful? Probably not. Is it what

(01:09:40):
you should be doing? Definitely not.
Could be problematic.
I think that. I think that we should be
modest. I think that everything that should be covered
should be covered. I don't think that wearing clothes
are tighter and more revealing are necessarily the way

(01:10:01):
to go. I think that it's just, it's just
many different layers. It. That they go even beyond
just. Is it sinful? But is that the attention
that you want to attract to yourself? You know,
do you want people to just see you for.
For your body or for your skin? Do you
want people to. To turn their head and have

(01:10:24):
unpleasant thoughts with you?
I'm sure they're very pleasant thoughts.
Is that looking, you know, like it. Is it.
Is that the type of attention that you are
seeking or you want people to see you for
you, for the things that you bring to the
table, for how smart for how charming, funny, wherever

(01:10:45):
it is that you are. Don't you rather have
people to see you for your character than to
just see you because of how much you're showing
around? I think that it's just. I don't know.
And real quickly, I think it's something to the
scripture that talks about not causing a brother to
stumble. If you're a believer and you know that
dressing a certain way is gonna be a challenge

(01:11:08):
for somebody that's looking. Are you causing that brother
to stumble?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
Are you causing your sister to stumble.
These days or any day?
The gray sweatpants and the, you know, the tight
fitting shirt. Trying to make this gender neutral. All
right. Is it sinful to visit temples when traveling?

(01:11:30):
No, I wouldn't call it sin.
No. I found myself in a temple on my
last vacation. I didn't even put together that I'm
going to see a replica of. Oh, now of
the Parthenon. They have one in Tennessee. And it
wasn't until I got inside and this big, gold
giant statue was sitting, I was like, oh, yeah,

(01:11:52):
that's where I am. This is the greek God.
So, you know.
Yeah, yeah. I don't think it would be sinful.
I think that there is. Depending on where you're
traveling, there could be some dangerous things about that,
from a spiritual standpoint, demonic activity and all that.
Like, that can be a very real thing. So
is it sinful? No. If you get a bad
feeling, get out of there.

(01:12:12):
Yeah.
Is listening to secular music sin lead to it,
but ain't always good for you, either. Is it
a sin to be racist to family and friends?
Yes.
Yeah, it's a sin to be racist, period.
To family and friends. I qualify that. Racism is
bad people.
Why would you do that to your family and

(01:12:33):
friends?
Like my mother hating my wife.
Hey, maybe this person was like, hey, making, like,
racist jokes to family and friends and stuff. I
don't know. Don't be racist to anybody, but definitely
not to your family and friends, but don't be
racist to strangers, either. Racism is stupid. All right,
how do I. So, we just went through all

(01:12:53):
these, sin or no sin. So how do I
quit sinning? I want to, but my mind keeps
overcoming what my heart wants to do, which is
praise God and be faithful to his word. Sounds
a lot like what Paul said.
I was about to say. You are in good
company.
You are in good company.
The thing that I want to do is not
what I do, and the thing that I don't
want to do is what I do. That's what
Paul said.
Do we ever 100% quit sinning? I don't think

(01:13:16):
so. I don't think that that would be biblical.
You know, that's the goal. That's what we're striving
towards, because anything that's sin in our lives is
keeping us away from God. And our whole goal
of life is to get as close to God
as possible, and sin keeps that from happening. And
what happens is we identify, or the holy spirit
helps us identify, hey, there's a sin issue in
your life, and so we need to address that

(01:13:37):
one, and we work on that one. And once
we conquer that sin issue, then he's like, hey,
by the way, you also have this sin issue.
And so, you know, it may start off as
big, obvious things like, you know, maybe it's being
drunk, maybe it's adultery. You've been. You've been sleeping
around, and it's like, okay, I'm gonna. I'm gonna
conquer that sin of adultery in my life. Well,
after that, then he's got another sin of, you

(01:13:59):
know, gluttony that you need to work on or
pride or envy or, you know, there's always something
in us because it's sin nature that's part of
us. So, as Paul said, you know, I don't
do the things I want to do. I do
the things I don't want to do, and that's
Paul.
Yeah. And I think it's important, though, to remember
the things that you put in your heart in

(01:14:19):
abundance are going to come out. So I was
thinking about this all the way back to the
anxiety question. There's some physical aspects to it, because
the more things that you put inside that are
going to cause anxiety. For instance, if all you're
watching is scary movies and people dying and bad
marriages, that's gonna fuel some anxiety in your life

(01:14:42):
over the course of ten years. Let's just use
a range. You've been feeding yourself all of this
junk. All of this junk. It's gonna be hard
to separate. And you have some of those things
in your life. If you're going through a bad
marriage and all you watching is stuff about bad
marriages, it's gonna be hard for you to see
good in that. So it's probably gonna be some
anxiousness around that type of thing. So I guess
I say the more you feed yourself foolishness, the

(01:15:06):
more you'll probably end up in more sin than
you want to be in. The more you can
renew your mind of God's word, the better you'll
be walking it out, but you're still going to
sin. So you do have a part to play.
Focus on Jesus. Conquer one sin at a time.
And what I would say, too, is to be
accountable to somebody because when we just promise to

(01:15:27):
ourselves we're not going to do it again, it
is very easy to be like, well, nobody knew,
right. But when you, when you actually are accountable
to somebody and say, I am struggling in this
area and I just need somebody to walk with
me, to pray with me, to ask me how
you're doing, that kind of gives you a little.

(01:15:48):
A little more ground to be able to say,
okay, no, like, I have. I have to do
better because I know that tomorrow they're going to
ask me how I'm doing, and I cannot give
the same answer that I've been giving for three
weeks.
Well, and just don't add lying to your accountability
partner to the list of sins that you're right.
Right. Be careful there.

(01:16:09):
But, you know, like, we are supposed to crucify
our flesh. We are supposed to deny ourselves. So,
like, we all have things that. That we want
to do that displease God. So we are supposed
to say no to ourselves. Like, I know that
that is not the easy thing. That is not

(01:16:29):
the pleasant thing. That is not what you want
to do, but that's what we have been called
to do, to say no to us and to
cling to God. So in that order. Right, like,
you're saying no, this is what I, what I
want to do right now is, I don't know,
wherever. So instead of that, I'm going to listen
to some worship music. So you have to kind

(01:16:49):
of not just sit there just struggling, but you
have to replace it. You know that you have.
You have to replace the behavior. So if what
I want to do is watch stuff that is
not beneficial for me. So instead of that, I'm
gonna go where there's no electronics and I'm just
gonna pick up my bible. You know, like, you
have. You have to start reframing things. You have

(01:17:10):
to, at that moment, call somebody and say, hey,
I'm struggling right now. Like, if you don't talk
me off the ledge, the tv goes on, you
know, you need somebody walking with you, and you
need to not just have it as something that
I wish I could do, but you have to
replace it. You have to constantly actively do something

(01:17:31):
about it.
I think it's great advice. All right, we're going
to go through a couple of these really fast.
Should Christians own guns? Only if you want to.
Can Christians drink alcohol? Yes. Unless your soul. How
can christians drink alcohol but drunkenness still be a
sinner kind of soul's problem with that whole thing.
It's because the. The mark is drunkenness is the

(01:17:51):
sin. The thing that leads to drunkenness wouldn't necessarily
be a sin unless you take it too far.
Moderation is, and the Bible talks about us being
sober minded. Like, I'm sorry, but the people that
are like, I just need one so that I
can be brave for this. Like, you're not being
sober minded. Like, come on.
Yeah. You could say the same thing about the
fact that you need a cup of coffee in

(01:18:11):
the morning before you're sober minded.
It's a warm hug.
It's a warm hug. All right. Does God forgive
adultery? Yes. Can christians go to the club if
they are not engaging in inappropriate character? Yes. I
wouldn't recommend it, but, yes, you can. I know,
right?
No.
If you and your partner have already had sex,

(01:18:32):
how do we recover and make God the center
again? So stop having sex and, you know, there
you go. Any other advice for that? Repent, ask
for forgiveness. Stop doing it again. Make some guardrails,
some boundaries in your life so you don't keep
doing it.

(01:18:52):
Yeah. Be real with one another and say, okay,
like, we messed it up.
Yeah.
But from this moment on, this is what we're
gonna do and agree to do your new set
of boundaries.
Yeah. And you need those boundaries. You need to
be able to say, okay, we're not gonna be
alone in this environment. We're not gonna be together
at this time. We're gonna stay as separate as

(01:19:13):
possible in these things. We're gonna bring other people
into the relationship as far as accountability and making
sure that we're not doing the things that we
shouldn't do. Yeah.
And I just realized that now. I have a
problem with that word partner. It's you. You're not
married. So you make the decision to do it
right. That other person, hopefully they'll make the decision

(01:19:33):
to do it right. But you kinda need to
worry about yourself at this point. You're not married.
You need to do it right. The partner is
you're married or you're not to me, because you
can't. There's nothing you can do for this other
person. You have to. You choose Jesus, and then
if they choose Jesus, then y'all partner up and
get married.

(01:19:53):
And I'm gonna be, like, a little more mean.
I guess. You have to really think about the
relationship. Do you actually see yourself marrying this person?
Person because if the answer is no, even just
putting parameters and stuff, it is just, it's just

(01:20:13):
not as fire, you know, like if, if this
is not the person that you can actually see
going for 40 years, just gotta cut and go,
you know? Cuz I don't know, it's just, there's,
there's no need to just be entertaining a relationship,

(01:20:34):
especially after you have crossed the line.
Yeah.
You know, if this is not the person that
you are, know for sure that, yes, we will
be getting married at some point. So let's actually
work in getting this relationship stronger and doing things
right and, and get to the finish line together.
Yeah.
Then bye, boy.
All right. Why do Christians, sorry, we gotta keep

(01:20:55):
moving, girls. Why do Christians or those who attend
church feel if you're gay, smoke, drink or look
a certain way, you can't attend church or God
doesn't love you? He said to come as you
are.
Yes, God loves you.
So why do Christians or those who attend church
feel that way? I don't know, because that's not
how we feel at this table, that's not how

(01:21:17):
our church operates. Jesus said that he didn't come
for the healthy, he came for the sick. So
church is for those who are in sin, who
have issues, who have problems, and God loves everybody.
And I think my only thing is you put
an exclamation point of, he said to come as
you are with an exclamation point there. I would

(01:21:40):
probably put a comma there, not an exclamation point
because he does invite you to come to him
as you are, but he always tells you to
leave different. So if we take those things that
you listed out, you're gay, you smoke, you drink,
you look a certain way. Right. If you take
those qualities, which some of those are kind of
weird, like, I don't know what you mean by
look a certain way, but if you take those
qualities and you come to Jesus with them and

(01:22:00):
then you keep them, you haven't really come to
Jesus. And so that would be the line that
we would draw. I would just, you put an
exclamation point where I'd put a comma.
Yeah. He said, go and sin no more.
Yep.
You know, so they, he was, he was open
arms for people to come to him, but as
they were leaving, he said, your sins are forgiven,

(01:22:21):
go and sin no more.
Yeah, we changed. It's good. All right. There's some
parenting kids questions. We all got kids at the
table, so a couple of quick ones. Soul, quick
ones, soul, quick one. How does God view christians
who allow our children to participate in pagan aspects

(01:22:41):
of christian holidays, like Santa Claus and eggs, Easter
egg hunting. I would just say that those aren't
pagan, pagan, pagan. Those aren't pagan aspects of those
things. Like, Santa Claus is St. Nicholas. Like, that's
a catholic saint. Like, it's not a pagan part
of the holiday. Easter egg hunting. Please stop with
the whole ishtar stuff. Like, that's not true. It's
not real. Stop. Listen to TikTok or Instagram. Wherever

(01:23:04):
you saw that, it's. It's. There's no historical evidence
for that. So, yeah, the Easter egg stuff, it's
fun for kids. Is it pagan? No, we're not
worshiping pagan deities when we do those things. So,
yeah, just be all right. Follow your. But follow
your convictions. Because I know christians that are like,
look, I just don't want my kids interacting with
that. That's totally fine. No shame. I don't. I

(01:23:25):
ain't knocking you at all. In fact, our next
question, soul and I disagree on this next one.
What are your thoughts on christian children participating in
trick or treating?
Yeah, I will say no.
Yeah, our kids do trick or treat. Cause I
win. Because I like candy.
So I have.
There's a cultural.
I have mixed feel. Yes. Part of it is

(01:23:45):
cultural, for sure, because for us in Mexico, it
is not even about. Halloween is about the day
of the dead. And those are two different things.
Like, but they come kind of packaged together, you
know, because Halloween is October 31, the day of
the day is November 1, and second, and that's
all of it kind of gets wrapped together, and

(01:24:06):
it's. It's. It's quite dark, you know, like, thinking
that the spirits of your loved ones are gonna
come to your house and they're gonna eat your
food, and you're putting flowers and candles together and
all kinds of things. So it is. It is
all combined in really not good things. However, since
we moved in 2020, I don't go out, trick

(01:24:31):
or train with my kids because I really don't
believe in it, but I do pass candy. And
I've noticed how many people actually come and are
receptive to talk to you and to. It's a
great way to meet neighbors and to spend time
with you and to just, you know, like, you
say how you're doing, and you're able to tell

(01:24:53):
them, oh, God bless you, and all of this
stuff, people that you were not able to see
otherwise. So I usually either sit outside, depending on
the weather, or just stay in the house. And
I am the one that it is kind of
interacting with the parents and the kids as they
come. And I've seen how relationships have formed, how

(01:25:15):
I was able to talk to people. So I
think that's supposed to be.
A short answer, by the way.
Oh, yeah. He told me to stop talking, but,
you know, like, I think that.
Who invited my wife on the show? Come on,
now.
But you're welcome. Forget what he's talking about.
You know, like, I think that. I think that
we can still be a light in those. In

(01:25:35):
those spaces, but, yeah, I don't like it.
Just, yeah. And. But the same is true when.
When I'm walking with Kelsey around the neighborhood, we
end up combining with some other families in the
neighborhood. I've had. I've had longer conversations with neighbors
walking Kelsey around the block than probably any other
moment.
So I will never allow my kids to dress
as something creepy, though, or demonic.

(01:25:57):
Yeah.
Like, there's no mommies or anything like that.
We put. We put boundaries on things.
Yeah.
And we use wisdom with it, but, yeah, follow
your convictions. All right. What advice would you give
to parents of an atheist teenager? Your teenager is
atheist. What do you do? Love on them.
Represent Jesus through your actions.
Yep. I love it. Ask questions and encourage them

(01:26:20):
to ask questions. So at that point, you need
to become an apologist. That doesn't mean you say
sorry a lot. It doesn't turn you canadian. Apologetics
is just defending the faith. It's having answers to
faith questions. And so if you're not familiar with
that terminology or those ideas, go to the school
of YouTube, because there's a lot of great christian

(01:26:42):
apologists that put a lot of their content onto
YouTube as a way of informing and educating. And.
And so you're going to need to ask questions
and answer questions. And it's very possible that they
just have a teacher that influenced them that way
or they got a hold of a book or
something. And so learn why they're an atheist. Learn
what they mean when they say that they're an

(01:27:03):
atheist. Ask questions to probe into that, and then
give them the space and the freedom to have
their doubts and have their questions. But always be
prepared. As scripture says, be prepared to give an
answer for. For the faith that you have the
hope that you have.
And I will say, just do it with love.
It is not about winning an argument.
No.
It is about winning their souls. So the more

(01:27:25):
that we are trying to fight and prove that
we're right and you're wrong, the more we're gonna
push them away. So I think that you need
to be able to love on them and to
show them Jesus in a way that can be
felt and not as an argument to win.
So following up with your statement there, soul, how
do you think we can avoid turning our children

(01:27:46):
away from God or away from Christ? How do
we teach our children to follow Christ without pushing
them to rebel? So don't cause them to rebel.
So what do you do?
Like, it's hard. It's hard. Somebody that has a
14 year old.
Yeah, we got a teenager. That's teenager really hard
at home right now. Like, he's not going atheist
yet, as far as we know. But, you know,

(01:28:08):
the conversations have definitely gotten more capsule out.
Capsule out. No, but seriously, I think that it
is by showing them that Jesus is real to
bringing faith into as many conversations as you can

(01:28:30):
in a way that is not pushing, because I've
noticed in my own personal life with my son
that the more I push for him to do
things and be in church and listen to the
worship music and hear the Bible verse, it's like,
okay, okay, got it. Right. And the more that
I give this space and we ask questions, and

(01:28:51):
the more that I just do it in a
loving way, instead of making it feel like you
have to believe like I do, the more that
he's receptive to it. So I know that when.
When you see your kids not being at a
level spiritually, that you wish they were, at least
for me, I get into panic mode, and I

(01:29:12):
want to just fix it. Like, right now. We're
gonna fix it today.
She does. And then I talk off the ledge.
All the time, and I feel like when I
do that, I do more damage than good.
Yeah.
So you pray for them. You show them with
your life, and with a true example what a
life that loves Jesus looks like. You don't make

(01:29:33):
church an option. Like, I'm sorry, but you come
in church because that's what we do, and because
we follow Jesus. And you explain it, you know,
and you set expectations for them to follow. You
bring God to everything that you do, so you.
You give as less room as possible for them

(01:29:55):
to choose something else. But at the end of
the day, each and every one of us gotta
make their choice, have to choose to follow Jesus.
And I can do all of the things right,
and that is what, in a way, kills me,
that I can do everything right and he can
still choose not to. And that is. And that
is the thing that you have to pray about,

(01:30:18):
and that is the thing that you have to
say. God you know, and understand that as much
as you want your children to follow Jesus, jesus
want them to have a relationship with him even
more. So, the more that you pray for them,
the more that you bring Jesus into everything, the
more that you show them that this is the
way, the more chances you have of them realizing

(01:30:42):
it's right, like I should do that. Don't put
the whole weight of their salvations on your shoulders,
because it's not for us to save them. It
is just for us to show them who can.
And as you're loving them and as you're walking

(01:31:03):
that out and being an example for them, you
gotta play the long game. What you want in
the end is that they get it before it's
too late. Now I get it that we don't
know when it's. You invite a lot of stuff
into your life as you go through life without
Jesus. I get that. But at the end of
the day, if they get it before it's too

(01:31:25):
late, that's ultimately the goal. I mean, you would
love for them to follow Jesus and do things
the right way, and more than likely, life would
probably be better for you. I get it. Christians
have some horrible lives, too. I get that. But
other times, we cause it. There is. It's the
long game. I mean, and you have to cast
it on God, put your trust in him, continue

(01:31:45):
to pray for him, continue to be that example,
and God wants it more than you do, so.
All right, 27 more questions. Let's see if we
can do this. Why doesn't the church talk about
sex?
I think that church does talk about sex. I
think that church doesn't do it right. Usually, at

(01:32:09):
least for me, growing up, it was just don't
you will die kind of thing. Right. But I
think that it is because we haven't felt prepared
for real questions and real conversations for a long
time. I think that the church is changing, and

(01:32:31):
I think that the church is being a little
more risky in the. In the topics that now
that we are not just ClC, but, like, church
as a whole, the things that we tackle, you
know? But I remember back, back in the day,
that was just a don't, period, don't ask questions.
So.
And the standard is still the same. Like, it's,

(01:32:53):
if you're not married, then what's the conversation about
sex? Don't have it. Yes, but then you do
end up with christians like they asked on Sunday,
you know, can you have oral sex with your
spouse? And so questions like that come up because
we haven't talked about it enough now. I would
just say, and then we're going to keep rolling.

(01:33:13):
So I know you want to talk so much
more, but no, you're going.
To kick me out.
People, I think the one thing that you have
to understand is sex is the world's obsession. Sex
is not the church's obsession. Sex is not God's
obsession. In fact, God is totally fine with you
never having sex your entire life. Like you would

(01:33:35):
still live a full life in that scenario. And
so we make sex way more of a focal
point of our lives than scripture does. So as
a church, why don't we talk about sex? Well,
we do not as much as the world talks
about sex, because the world talks about sex way
too much. So there's a balance.
Yeah.

(01:33:55):
Why do we have church on Sunday if the
Sabbath is on Saturday? Church isn't about the Sabbath.
Sabbath was a practice in the Old Testament to
keep a day holy. It was about rest from
the work. Jesus becomes the Sabbath in the New
Testament because his death on the cross removed our
need for works to get to salvation. So Jesus

(01:34:16):
fulfills the Sabbath. Of the ten commandments that are
listed in the Old Testament, only nine are reaffirmed
by Jesus and by the disciples. Guess which one
is not. The Sabbath is the only one that
isn't, because we don't follow the Sabbath. So why
do we have church on Sunday? We have church
on Sunday because Jesus rose on Sunday. The early
church. So first century church, they gathered together on

(01:34:37):
the first day of the week, which was Sunday.
So we have church on Sunday, not on the
Sabbath, because church and Sabbath were never connected. It
was never part of the equation.
And I would just, if I may, I will
say that.
See how she never listened to me?
It is about gathering together to, you know, like

(01:35:00):
prioritizing the communion and the remembrance of Jesus. You
can have church on Tuesday, you can have church
on a Thursday night.
That's actually the next question was, why do people
focus so much on whether church should be a
Saturday or Sunday when we should worship daily?
Yeah, I think that it is just kind of
like the global day that has been accepted. But

(01:35:23):
if you open a church and have all of
your services on a Tuesday night, it's no different.
And it used to be a lot less people
working on Sundays. Nowadays, everything's open. When I was
a kid, every restaurant wasn't open. Car dealerships wasn't
open. Like, it was a lot of things. Stores
wasn't open on Sunday, so most people were off

(01:35:43):
work.
Should churches require ministers to take biblical interpretation classes
before becoming ordained? Absolutely, yes. Biblical interpretation is sorely
lacking. I'm actually finishing up a class tomorrow night
on an introduction to biblical interpretation that I'm teaching.
So we got like 4 hours worth of content
you can get online pretty soon. We're last class

(01:36:04):
is being recorded this week. So.
And I will say not even just for ministers,
but anyone, if you are leading a small group,
if you are having any type of, I'm gonna
record videos on YouTube explaining bible verses. Make sure
that you have right biblical interpretation because it is

(01:36:26):
not just something that is important for pastors, it
is important for anyone that is trying to explain
the Bible to anybody.
For anybody, period.
For yourself. Yes.
Any believer needs to have an introduction to biblical
interpretation. Now for I think people that are communicating
the Bible, they need to take that beyond just
the introductory level. But everybody needs to at least

(01:36:46):
know some rules about. Okay, why do we pay
attention to grammar here? Why do we pay attention
to history here? What is the context of this?
Because the man, Christians for generations have loved being
able to do, I can do all things through
a verse taken out of context, I think is
the coffee mug. And so context is king. So

(01:37:07):
you gotta, you gotta interpret the Bible correctly. Why
don't the church talk about the Moors? Because they
have no relevance to church. So the Moors, so
it was in, I think it was north african
Muslims during the crusades. So it was a term
used by, I think the Greeks, the Romans and
Europeans to describe Africa. Significance of muslim heritage. It's

(01:37:31):
not even something that Africans would choose for themselves.
It's like a. It was almost, it became a
derogatory term for Muslims in that time period. But
it's part of the crusades. So why don't we
talk about the moors? Because it literally has zero
impact on Christianity or Jesus or relationship.
We are a culture. Asa, let's leave.

(01:37:52):
I'm sorry.
It sounds like a candy or something.
No.
All right. Anyways, so yeah, we don't, we don't
talk about it because we also. We don't talk
about a lot of things that we don't need
to talk about. I have friends that don't believe
that it is necessary to attend church because they
have a relationship with God and that's what really
matters. Should Christians attend church?

(01:38:13):
Yes.
Yes.
The Bible tells us to simple, do.
Not forsake the gathering together. And so yeah, church
attendance is actually really, really vital in your relationship
with God. Because if it's just your relationship with
God and you have no church, then when you
are misinterpreting scripture. Who corrects you when you are
sinning in something and you are blind to that

(01:38:34):
sin, or you are just complacent in that sin,
who is challenging you? Yeah, you need church. Being
a Christian without attending church would just be a
really horrible way to try and have a relationship
with God. Don't recommend it. Based upon one John
227. Is it healthy for a pastor to provide
spiritual, spiritual guidance solely based upon their biblical interpretation

(01:38:57):
and research gifts? Or should they supply their congregation
with biblical references and encourage their congregation to rely
on the guidance of the Holy Spirit? We talked
about this a little bit earlier because I wanted
to look up one John 227, and it's actually,
it's funny because it has nothing to do with
the question. So the context of one John 227
is talking about false teachers that's using the phrase

(01:39:19):
Antichrist, but not like the Antichrist that you're thinking
of as like the one combatant against Jesus, but
as anyone who has false teachings was considered an
Antichrist, so somebody that teaches something against Christ. And
so John is actually just talking about bad teaching,
not good teaching. So the scripture doesn't apply to

(01:39:39):
the question, but the question is still a good
question. And my answer would be both. And pastors
should be providing spiritual guidance based on, and I
don't like the word solely there because I think
there's more to it, but based on their biblical
interpretation and research gifts, that's what I do practically
every week. But in addition to that, you should
be getting the resources, the tools to go and

(01:40:01):
learn on your own and to be guided by
the Holy Spirit yourself. I tell our people all
the time, if the only bible you get is
on Sunday morning in a sermon, then you are
not having a good relationship with God. It's not
a good way to. To walk with Christ. So.
And then I've told people multiple times, don't believe
it just because I say it, because I could
be wrong. I could be misinterpreting something. So if

(01:40:21):
I reference a scripture, man, read, read the whole
chapter afterwards, did Brent use that scripture correctly? And
I hope that I have. And if I haven't,
message me. Let's talk about it.
Yeah, you need both.
Yeah.
And you really should be spending a lot more
time with your bible and the Holy Spirit than
with Pastor Brent or Pastor Asa. That's once a
week, maybe twice. But it should be a daily

(01:40:43):
thing with your bible and God.
Know your bible so well that when a preacher
says something that's wrong, you recognize it immediately. Okay.
All right. When coming from a place of extreme
church hurt. How do you know when a church
home is right for you when you fear plugging
in again? So we talked about church hurt on
Sunday a little bit, but I like the. The

(01:41:05):
addition here of how do you know after you've
been hurt? Is this the right place for me
when I'm a little bit afraid of plugging in?
I would say church hurt, or any decision for
that matter, I'm a big proponent of. Okay, how
do I feel from a holy spirit standpoint? Do
I feel peace in this decision I'm making? Is
the Holy Spirit clearly giving me red flags not

(01:41:27):
to do this? Is it a stop sign and
not to do this? Obviously, whatever I'm doing needs
to line up with the word to begin with.
But when it comes to picking a church, is
there peace? Is there, or are you feeling a
nudge to go somewhere else? So, I mean, follow
the holy spirit. Whether you got church hurt or
not, you need to be at the church that
the Lord would have you be at. You could

(01:41:48):
love a church, but it not be the place
where God wants you to be, and that's not
the place for you.
Look for the red flags. Like, if you've got
church hurt, you can probably look back and say,
man, there were some warning signs or there were
some things that they did. So look for those
red flags. Is that happening at the place you're
at now? And if it is, you know, talk
with somebody, I would say is the first step,
because what you may perceive as a red flag,

(01:42:09):
you may be colorblind. And that happens after trauma,
after abuse, after, you know, church hurt, you could
be seeing things that aren't actually there. So I
wouldn't say just because you see something and you
determine it's a red flag doesn't necessarily mean that
it is. But at that point, I would definitely
start talking with somebody, bring in a friend from
outside the church or talk to the church leadership.
And, you know, a lot of times, if. If

(01:42:31):
you accuse a church of a red flag, their
response to the accusation is probably going to be
a good indication of whether or not that was
a red flag or not. Like, they're. If they
get super defensive and angry at you and yell
at you, then you were right. Run.
And I will say to just make sure that
when you are plugging in into a team, you

(01:42:51):
feel like you are valued as a person and
that it is not just being used for your
gifting, you know, because you can immediately know the
difference when somebody just wants what you can offer
or when somebody cares about you as a person,
you know? And I think that that's something that
we try here at CLC so hard. Like, we

(01:43:13):
want people to be and to serve and to
do what is gonna replenish their soul. What is
when they are serving is like, this is the
best day ever, because I get to do what
I love to do, right? Instead of just saying,
well, you are good at this, or just do
it. I think that there's a difference there. And

(01:43:33):
when you are using your gifting and you know
that the people around you are celebrating the fact
that you are a part of the team and
the you are growing and that they are pouring
into you, then you can sense the difference and
you can even see growth in your own life.
So I think that that will be a good
indicator of, are they here for me or they

(01:43:54):
are here to get something from me?
Yep, 100%. All right, two questions we're going to
combine. What are the differences between hearing your voice
versus hearing God's voice? And how do I know
if God is talking to me or if it's
just. Just in my head? So hearing the voice
of God versus hearing your own voice, what do
you got?
Take it to scripture. See if it lines up.

(01:44:16):
Usually the way to go. Sometimes I hear it
like, I gave the example of God telling me,
you big dummy. Well, I watched a lot of
Fred Sanford when I was a kid, so probably
hearing it in Fred Sanford's voice, but I feel
like it was the holy spirit land thing, but
it lined.
Up with what's true and what you're supposed to
do. Yeah, yeah. Start with scripture, then bring in

(01:44:37):
a multitude of counselors. There's wisdom. So, hey, don't
be afraid to say, hey, I don't know. I
don't know if this is God. I don't know
if this is just my voice. I don't know
if this is just intrusive thoughts. I don't know
what's going on. Let me. Let me look at
this. Take what I'm hearing and does it align
with scripture? Because if it contradicts scripture, then it
ain't God. And then bring it up to other

(01:44:59):
people and they may say, you know, that's an
interesting thought. I had somebody one time, you know,
give me their. Their dream interpretation. They had a
dream, they interpreted it, they brought it to me,
and I was like, man, it sounds like you
just had bad pizza. Like, it just. It felt
weird. Like it was random, like it didn't. It
was like, no, I don't think there's anything biblical
about that. I think you just had a weird
dream, and it's okay to have weird dreams. No
big deal. It happens. You have weird dreams. That's

(01:45:20):
cool.
And I will say to filter your biases out,
you know, because there's a lot of times when
we ask God for direction or for an answer
on something, but we really want him to say
yes. Or you just like, oh, but I really
believe that he said to go ahead. I'm like,
it really is. Or is that what you just
wanted to hear? So I think that sometimes we

(01:45:40):
need to filter our own biases out and say,
okay, God, what do you want? And I've noticed
in my personal life that a lot of times
the voice of God is actually challenging. It is
not just my, oh, yeah, baby. Everything is going
to be so good, and it's going to be
so easy, but it is more the, oh, no.
Like, I definitely need God to be able to

(01:46:02):
stand strong on this one or to be able
to do that. I've noticed that a lot of
times the voice of God really require the power
of God to see it through. So sometimes when
we feel like it's God and it is all,
like, it's all rainbows and butterflies, and that's exactly
what I wanted to hear anyway. That. That a

(01:46:22):
lot of times is just me, me with wishful
thinking.
I got another one that's gonna upset some people.
Here's what you don't do. Don't put out a
fleece, man. It drives me crazy when I hear
christians say, well, I'm just gonna put out a
fleece to see if this is really God or
not. Please understand that that passage of scripture is
being used out of context. That passage of scripture

(01:46:43):
is, first of all, it's descriptive. It's not prescriptive.
It's telling you what happened. It doesn't tell you
to go and do likewise. His doubts of whether
or not God was using it, he was being
a coward. He was being afraid. He was trying
to get out of doing the thing that God
was clearly telling him to do. So him putting
out a fleece is not a model for us

(01:47:04):
to follow, of, hey, I'm going to go put
out a fleece. And if the fleece is wet
and the ground is dry, then this is really
what God's saying. And then. And he comes back
and does it a second time but reverses it.
Like, this is. This is equivalent to Samson, like,
going off and marrying a woman that he's not
supposed to have any kind of contact with. Like,
this is a judge that is doing something bad

(01:47:25):
or wrong, and God's still using them anyways. So
don't use him as your model to follow. Please
and thank you.
Amen.
And I know that some people like, but I
love putting out my fleece. Just stop it, all
right? Keep it in context, people. How do you
navigate life in your. If your family and friends
have abandoned you similarly to Joseph and Jesus, if

(01:47:49):
your family abandons you, how do you navigate life?
Find other places that you can get meaningful connections,
whether it's church or work or things like that.
If we're just talking relationally, if it comes to
abandonment, as far as your survival, then you know
there's places that can help you with housing and
things like that. But it sounds more relational to

(01:48:11):
me.
Yeah, I would say a couple things with that
one, Joseph's story and Jesus story. The point of
the story is not about family abandonment. So probably
don't try and look for so many similarities in
their stories to yours. Cause that's not really the
point of it. But if you do want to
look for similarities, what's interesting is that in both
cases, the family actually does return. So, like, Joseph

(01:48:32):
ends the story with a great relationship with his
family. Jesus family relationships ends with his two half
brothers writing books of the Bible. So, like, his
family didn't believe he was the messiah at the
beginning, but they sure did at the end. And
Joseph's family threw him aside, but they came crawling
back to him, and there was relationship that was

(01:48:53):
restored in both cases. They wept together. They loved
each other. Beautiful moments. So how do you navigate
your life with your family and friends have abandoned
you? Don't give up hope. You know, there is
still chance of restoration in that. But in the
meantime, your church body should be a family for
you. So get plugged into a small group and

(01:49:13):
a life group if you're here at ClC. But
find other relationships, because you do need people in
your life and sometimes family and sometimes our friends
let us down, and so we need to find
better friends. You can't necessarily find a better family,
but you can find a church family that helps
too. All right, what do you do when you
don't know which way to go or what to

(01:49:34):
do and know if it is God or you?
Even if they are both good options. So somebody's
got two options in front of them. They don't
know if they should go with option a or
option b. God doesn't seem to be telling them
option a or option b, and both options seem
good. What do you do.
Pick one.
Amen. Go with something. Make a decision.
Yeah. Like, if you don't have a. A downside

(01:49:58):
for one, or, like, there is no lack of
peace or lack of the guidance from God, and
both options look good, then just pick one.
Pick one? Yep. That's the scariest thing in life.
But sometimes you just got to pick it. Pick
a route and go with it. I told a
friend of mine one time, he's like, hey, I've
got an option to go and I've got an
option to stay. Both of them seem good. Both

(01:50:19):
of them are godly. Both of them seem like
great opportunities. I just don't know which one to
do. And I just told them, hey, maybe God
hasn't said anything because he's willing to bless you
if you stay, and he's going to bless you
if you go. So you just go or stay.
It's up to you.
And similarly, I've heard it said, maybe God trusts
you to make the decision. Maybe you've earned his
trust at this point to make a good decision.

(01:50:39):
It's funny, when we were buying a house, my
wife was sweating as usual, and I was calm.
She couldn't sleep all night. And I'm in the
shower and I'm talking to God about this, and
I'm like, lord, what do we do about this
house? Like, we gotta jump quick. And I believe
he said, asa, there's a lot of good houses
out there. If you want this house, get it.
I'm thinking, well, you could have been a little

(01:51:00):
more clear than that. Like, okay, so I get
it. But it was like, if you wanna get
it, there's a lot of good houses out there.
So I just had to say, God said, if
we wanna get it, I mean, we got it.
There you go.
We've been there a couple years and it's been
good.
All right, what are some practical ways to see
breakthrough and freedom in a season of spiritual warfare,

(01:51:20):
attacks in health, family, finances, and intimacy with the
Lord.
By staying close to God. You know, we are
not the ones that fight all of those battles.
You know, God is fighting for us. And I
think that the closer that you are to God

(01:51:41):
and the closer that. That your relationship is with
him, he will give you the strategies that you
need for your specific situations. You know, he will.
He will show you when to speak on, when
to be quiet. He will. He will show you
when you need to get up and pray and,
you know, just make sure that you are having

(01:52:01):
a sensitive heart to the Holy Spirit. And when
you feel something. Act on it.
Yeah. I would add to that perseverance.
Yeah.
Scripture says that you will reap a harvest if
you don't give up. Right. Like, if you don't
quit, like, so, if you're in a season of

(01:52:21):
spiritual warfare, somebody smarter than me one time said,
if you feel like you're going through hell, don't
stop. Keep going. Don't, don't, don't camp out. And
so, yeah, if you feel like you're in a
season of spiritual warfare, keep pressing on, keep getting
close to God. Keep praying. Keep worshiping. Keep believing.
Keep reading your bible. Keep persevering. Just don't quit.

(01:52:44):
Asa gave his nod of approval.
Amen.
All right, so how can dogs go to heaven?
She wants to laugh right now because I read
her this question when it came in, and she
had a very snarky remark.
Yeah. I said, if you kill it.
Oh, yeah.
That's my wife, ladies and gentlemen. My wife. If

(01:53:06):
you want a dog to go to heaven, you
need to kill it. No, that is not our
answer for the question. But here's the problem. We
have two dogs at home. We love our dogs.
Not bad boys, though.
They got too much sin in their life.
Unless one of them repents, they got a lot

(01:53:26):
of hope. Here's the thing. The Bible doesn't tell
us about animals going to heaven. It talks about
people going to heaven because they make a decision
to put Christ first in their lives and receive
the gift of salvation. So do all dogs go
to heaven? I feel like dogs have a much
better chance than cats of going to heaven, personally.
But I don't think that either is taking place.

(01:53:48):
But here's the cool thing. In the new heaven
and the new earth, there's a newness that's created,
and God is an amazing God. He's a creative
God. And the reason why we love our pets
and we have great relation with them now is
because I was created by God. He created companionship.
You don't get to say right? Because you don't
have to.
You don't have a dog.
Get out of here.

(01:54:08):
I was agreeing that that's why y'all love y'all
pets, right?
We're gonna give him one.
We are very pro dog. We're on our.
His birthday. We're gonna give him a puppy.
We're on our third. We're on our third dog.
Oh, Lord.
But we love our dog. But I don't expect
to see any of my dogs in heaven. But
I would love to be surprised by that, because

(01:54:30):
I think I do have an amazing heavenly Father
that created dogs and animals and all of this
for a reason. And so in the new heaven
and the new earth, I think that we're going
to get something even better. A dog that doesn't
pee in the living room. Hallelujah.
I take one of those.
We have a puppy that we're still potty training,
so he's doing much better. You came home, he

(01:54:52):
was in rebellion when you were gone. Another heaven
question for you. When we die, do we go
to heaven or remain asleep until Jesus returned? You
go to heaven, you're dead. Drop dead. Are you
with Jesus immediately, or am.
I with Jesus immediately, or are you.
In a. I don't know.
What's the answer to that?
The terminology. There would be a soul sleep. Right?

(01:55:13):
Like they put asleep in quotes. The phrase for
a lot of denominations is, we go into a
soul sleep until the end times.
So I can see both. So I really don't
know. So Jesus is on the cross, and he
tells the guy, like, today, you will be with
me in paradise. So to me, that means you
go astray with him. Right. But we also read

(01:55:35):
in the Bible that those who were sleeping, when
he comes back, they will raise from the dead.
So, yeah, I don't know.
That's a very biblical answer. The answer is, I
have no idea. This is something that's still argued
today by scholars and historians.
I like to believe that I'm gonna be with
Jesus the moment that I'm not here.

(01:55:56):
Yeah.
But that might be just me wishful thinking. Right.
What I would say, here's how I've reconciled this,
because, you know, it is something that I've been
asked and I've thought about and stuff. To me,
there's no difference between the two, because when I
fall asleep in my bed, I wake up and
hours have passed. I was not aware of the

(01:56:16):
hours that passed. Like, it just. It's like, oh,
I'm awake. Like, so is it as soon as
you die or do you sleep for a while
and then you're with Jesus? I think from your
perspective, they're both the same, so who cares?
Yeah.
Great answer.
Okay. All right. Bible questions and these. This is
our final questions. There's still, like, a dozen. We're

(01:56:39):
getting there. We're so close. All right. Some rapid
fire ones. Was Adam and Eve. African ace. I
feel like you have to answer this.
I don't think.
No reasoning for that at all. I have no
justification for why you should be the one to
answer that question.
I don't think they were african?
Yeah. No, there's nothing in the Bible that tells
they were edenites. They were from the Garden of

(01:57:00):
Eden, which is where? We have no idea. The
Bible doesn't tell us. Some people theorize Africa, so
that's probably where this came from. But that's a
theory. That's not. There's no biblical evidence or fact
behind it. It's just a guess. And I think
it's a guess based on a lot of different
things. But anyways, was Adam and Eve African? We
don't know if the people in the old Testament

(01:57:22):
was black. When did it switch over to arabic
descent?
That's another one for me.
Yes.
Who said they were black? And who cares? I
don't know. I'm just up for who cares? I'm
on that side. I don't care. I like everybody.
I have no hangups.
It is an interesting question. I'm curious where they
got the premise for their question, because they start

(01:57:43):
off with this assertion that the people in the
Old Testament were black. Where did you come to
that conclusion? Because the Bible doesn't tell us that
anywhere. Yeah, it does talk about african believers. There
was the ethiopian eunuch that hears the gospel. And
so there's, there's a lot of, there's a couple

(01:58:03):
other stories in the Bible that talks about somebody
from Africa, but, um. Yeah. When did the switch
happen? I don't know that there ever was a
switch. I would, I would probably lean towards. There
wasn't a switch that it was because the whole
region is talked about is very middle eastern. So
Arabic, but not even Arabic. That's not even the
right phrasing because that would be not israeli. Arabs

(01:58:25):
and Israelis are not the same thing. So there's
a lot of things that I disagree with that
question about. Anyways. Are there foods christians shouldn't eat,
like what's mentioned in the Old Testament? No, no,
no.
What the Lord have called clean.
Yeah. No sushi.
Don't need that.
So the dietary restrictions, the only dietary restrictions we

(01:58:48):
have in the New Testament, I break all the
time because it says, don't be gluttonous, but if
you put a piece of pizza in front or
a whole pizza in front of me, gluttony comes
out of me and I need, I'm repenting of
that. I need coaching, I need help. I need
to lose some weight, people. But yeah. So the
food laws in the Old Testament, that was part
of the ceremonial law. It was about keeping Israel

(01:59:11):
separate from the people around them. There's also some
dietary health reasons for that. There are nomadic people.
They're traveling. But there was a bigger thing going
on, which was a lot of the foods that
are outlawed in the Old Testament were actually part
of pagan worship rituals. And so God was trying
to keep them away from those things, because if
they started indulging in some of those foods, it

(01:59:33):
brought them into some of the philistine culture and
some of the other religious practices around them. And
God was trying to keep them separate.
It was the setting apart.
Yeah, it's part of the setting apart. So those
food laws that you read about in the Old
Testament, we don't carry those into the New Testament,
partially because it was jewish law, and we're not
jewish, we're christian. There's a difference. And we have

(01:59:53):
New Testament teaching to support that. All right, is
there biblical? Do we already answer this? Oh, maybe
we did, but it's in here again. Is there
biblical meaning behind the eclipse? Is this truly a
sign of Jesus coming back? No, there's no biblical
meaning behind the eclipse unless you equate the fact

(02:00:14):
that God created the heavens and the earth and
he set it all in motion. And so there's
an eclipse because God made it happen. But that's
the extent of it. This is not the end
of the world as far as I know. But,
hey, we finished recording in a little bit, and
then the eclipse happened. So this would be really
funny if I'm wrong and then we publish this.
It won't be published. It'll be over.
Well, I mean, there's probably somebody on our team

(02:00:35):
that's not making it all.
Right, or somebody listening. If you hear about this
in a few days and we're no longer here.
This recording, post it on YouTube. That'd be hilarious,
especially with this whole moment. I love our team,
by the way. I think you're all going to

(02:00:55):
heaven as long as you make Jesus the Lord
of your life before it's too late. This is
what happens. We've been together for 2 hours now,
but we're right here at the finish line. We
got a few questions we can go through together.
But last, rapid fire. What does the Bible say
about blended families and how they come together in
God's way? Blended families in the Bible?

(02:01:17):
From my understanding, nothing. But that's because you mentioned
it earlier.
Yeah, that's from my perspective, and this isn't something
that I've studied a lot. But there's nothing in
the bible about blended families because the bible has
a very strong stance on don't get divorced. And
if you are divorced, don't get remarried now, even,
like, the whole widow widower stuff, it's complicated. There

(02:01:40):
is one. One law about, you know, if your
brother dies and he hasn't had any kids, then
you need to sleep with his wife to provide
a kid. But even that wasn't about blending the
families. That was actually about keeping the families separate
because the firstborn was required to keep the deceased
brother's name because it was about land rights, not

(02:02:01):
about blending families. So there are probably a lot
of principles in scripture that would be good for
guiding blended families about love and grace and forgiveness
and all of that. But is there anything directly
about blended families in the Bible? Not that I'm
aware of, but I would love to be corrected
on that. It's just not something I've approached the
Bible for.
Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. I think

(02:02:21):
that you can just. If you are creating a
new family, right. You should just look for what
the Bible says about family and use that because.
Yeah. Your blended family is.
It's now a family. Yeah.
There's complications with it that are different, but.
Yeah, but, yeah, but the same way that you're

(02:02:42):
gonna love the children and how you're gonna instruct
them in the ways of the Lord and all
of those things should still. Yeah, it.
Yeah, we actually have elders at our church that
are heavily involved in blended family ministry, and so
they may have some better ideas than I do
because that's a focal point for their ministry.

(02:03:02):
Yeah.
What they do. All right, we got six questions.
Three of them are about tithing, and then three
of them are general Bible questions. So here we
go. If we're using context about women preachers. So
we answered a question on Sunday. So this is
probably a follow up where I talked about the
importance of context, and that's how we come to
our. Our stance of women preachers are okay. Even

(02:03:23):
though there's parts of the New Testament that says,
I don't allow a woman to teach, how do
we reconcile that? We use contextual clues, context, historical
and cultural context, to come to that conclusion. It's
still up for debate among many christians. I view
it as a secondary issue. But anyways, if we're
using context to teach about women preachers, why not
use context with ties with tithes? Which it would

(02:03:48):
be to imply that tithing is no longer a
principle. So the context around that. That we're in
error for teaching it. Why do some. This second
question similar. Why do some churches teach on proper
biblical interpretation? This may be the same person asking
it a different way. But don't use context when
teaching on tithes. So those two questions together, is

(02:04:10):
there context around tithes and teaching it?
I would say that you could be correct, I
guess. Do you need to tithe? They're not correct,
by the way, but to me, like, do you
need to tithe? Maybe not, but you need to

(02:04:31):
live a life of generosity, and that's what we
teach. And, you know, like, I think that it
is understanding that we are in kingdom, you know,
and that everything belongs to God.
Yeah.
So it is not just your 10%. It is
not just your 11%. It is everything. So I

(02:04:52):
think that it is just a different mindset.
Yeah. I usually upset people on both sides of
the whole tithing conversation with this, but are christians
supposed to tithe? No, you're supposed to do more
than tithe. So, in scripture, every law, every command,
Jesus makes it more intense. He adds to it.

(02:05:14):
He starts with, you've heard the law, don't murder.
And I'm saying, don't even be angry. He takes
the law, and he elevates it. So what he
does with tithing is he elevates it to the
level of generosity. The problem is, in a lot
of christian circles, we like to devalue it instead
of increasing the value. So we take tithing, and
we change it to generosity, and we make generosity

(02:05:36):
less than tithing, when, in fact, in my understanding
of scripture, generosity would be a step above tithing.
Tithing was just obeying the lowest command. Like, you
must give at least 10%. And so how could
generosity be anything less than the minimum that was
given to the Israelites? And so, for me, I

(02:05:57):
always teach, generosity actually begins at 11%. And so
it's when you have offering on top of the
tithe. So, technically speaking, do christians have to tithe?
No, that's. That's not a. Not a law. Now,
here's the issue. A lot of people, when they
bring up this context question around tithing, it's. They
use the argument that tithing was all about food
and grains and those things, not about money. My

(02:06:20):
problem there is, from cultural context, you're using context,
but you're not using cultural context. From a cultural
context, that was money, that was currency, that that
was how trade was enacted. So if you wanted
to buy this thing, you didn't give them coins.
You could in some cultures and some societies, but
earliest on the culture was, I want this fabric.
I'll give you this goat. I want this goat.

(02:06:42):
I'll give you this grain. Right? So it was
monetary transactions. So since we don't do that today.
That's not how we do it. But I know
some, like, deep down south churches where, like, the
pastor's like, yeah, no, my people, they come with
a carton of eggs, and that's their tithe because
they got a chicken coop and the chickens laid
eggs, and their tithe is the chicken eggs, and,

(02:07:03):
hey, look, that would be biblical. That would be
right on. So the context question there. Yeah. It's
being misappropriated in a lot of circles. So is
tithing a command for today? There's argument there. I
can see it both ways. Jesus said you should
tithe. He also said that before the cross. So
you know that there's controversy there. But, yeah, in

(02:07:27):
general, I think that, no, you're not commanded to
tithe. You're commanded to be generous. And if your
idea of generosity is less than a tithe, you're
not being generous. Did I sufficiently upset everyone?
Good.
All right, beautiful. All right, still on tithing. Last
question on tithing. What does the Bible say about
tithing? Does the tithe always go directly to a

(02:07:48):
church, or can it go to missions or someone
in need? If you feel led by the spiritual?
My thought is it goes to the church. The
scripture that's bringing all the tithes into the storehouse,
they're going to be beating my house. The storehouse
was at the church or at the temple. So
that's my understanding of it, yeah.
Yeah. I don't have a problem with that. I

(02:08:09):
think there's probably. I would not be such a
hard stance on whether or not it has to
go directly to the church. I think that it's
probably good practice for it to go to the
church. If there's moments where it's like, hey, I
can. I can give my tithes to the church
right now, or I can bless this family in
need. Personally, as a pastor, I would prefer you
bless the family in need. That's.

(02:08:31):
And I was gonna say, like, if the. The
part on the question says the spirit is leading,
you know, so if the spirit is leading you
to something, then that's why you follow. You know,
if it is just trying to just be random
here and there, that might be a different thing.
But when God is the one saying, do this,

(02:08:54):
you say, yes, sir.
You know, the only question I have there is,
was God telling or the Holy Spirit leading you
to give your tithe to that, or was he
leading you to be generous with that?
True.
Because the scripture goes on and says so that
there may be meat in my house, I don't
know how you think churches function, but if no
one gives, there's no church. I mean, so, you

(02:09:18):
know. But I know that's hard coming from a
pastor who lives off of someone else is giving,
but that's what. That's what Malachi says.
I will say if anybody's curious, salaries at our
church don't go up or down based on giving.
So it's not like you gave more this week.
So we all get more. More paycheck this week.
Like, we have set salaries based on our overseers,

(02:09:40):
and so. Yeah. All right, the last three questions.
Let's see if we can finish this under 230.
When reading the gospels, why are the same stories
told over? So, when reading the gospels, why are
the same stories told over?
Because there were different people writing them. You know,

(02:10:02):
all of them were experiencing the same circumstances, and
they decided to write their experience. And. And I.
That's, you know, like, if you were to tell
my whole family, okay. Right. About what you have
experienced so far, we're gonna probably have some of
the same things, but just from different points of

(02:10:23):
view.
Yeah. You and Bennett just got back from a
trip to London with his soccer club, and so
if I had you write down your experience, and
I had him write down his experience, there's. It
would probably end up a lot like the four
gospels, where there's some love, there's some stories that
are the same. There's some stories that are different.
He. You might tell me about Buckingham palace. He
might not mention Buckingham palace at all, but you

(02:10:46):
both might mention the tour of Tottenham. Right. So,
like, that. That's what we would expect when four
people shoot, share their experience, because that's what the
gospels are. It's four people. But I would also
say that each of the four have a different
purpose and a different audience in mind. So one
might be writing to a greek audience, one might

(02:11:06):
be writing to a jewish audience, one might be
writing to describe the miracles of Jesus in more
detail, one might be more obsessed with all the
details, and one might be trying to rush to
the crucifixion. John's gospel talks about the crucifixion more
than anything else. I mean, it's like he rushes
to get there. And so there's a great course

(02:11:28):
that Carleton taught on the four gospels that hopefully
we'll have available online soon. But each of the
four gospels, they tell some of the same stories.
They also tell very different stories, and there's reason
for that. There's also variants in eyewitness testimony that
actually adds value to. To the authenticity of the
testimony. If the three of us tell a story,

(02:11:50):
and it's identical in every detail, that means that
the three of us rehearsed it. We came together
and said, okay, what are we gonna say? But
when we all tell a story, and, you know,
we may be talking about recording this podcast, and
Asa may be talking about, you know, it was
just the three of us in the room talking
about this stuff. And I might say, yeah, the
three of us. And there was several times when

(02:12:11):
Tyisha was sitting on the couch, she was just
rolling her eyes at me, like, why are you
saying the things that you're saying? Right. So is
Ty'esha in the story? In my version of it,
yes. Is she in the version you told? No.
Does that mean she wasn't in the room? No,
it just. You highlighted the three people at the
table. I highlighted four people in the room. Neither
of us talked about the fact that Joanie's off

(02:12:32):
in the corner working on stuff. So, like, yeah,
there's variations, but there's also similarities. And one of
the cool things, and then we can move on.
One of the cool things, too, is when there's
a story that's told in all four gospels that
adds to its significance.
Yes.
Right. Because if it's something that's so important that
Matthew wrote about it, Mark wrote about it, Luke

(02:12:54):
wrote about it, John wrote about it, it's something
that is vital importance to the church. It's neat
to go do a book study and see which
stories, which miracles are repeated in all four gospels,
because there's not a lot, surprisingly.
And it is really interesting, too, to just even
see their personality as they are writing, you know,

(02:13:16):
because they were different type of people, they had
different type of education. All of that is perceived
in the way that they wrote about stuff.
Luke was a doctor, and you get way more,
like.
All of this stuff.
You're like, okay, you get medical terms and Luke

(02:13:36):
that you don't get in others. You get descriptions
of people's illnesses that are being healed where, like,
john may be like, and then Jesus healed the
sick, and Luke's like, and this guy had leprosy
and the sores and the, you know. Yeah. So
it's interesting.
And you surely get fuller details with all of
them, because I've been studying. Studying it chronologically for
a little while now, and I'm in my notes,

(02:13:58):
I'm writing down what one said, and then within
the. I'll put all three. Let's just say three.
Three of the gospel said it this particular story,
I'll, you know, put all three there, take what
I got from one and put bullet points, and
then I'll add from the next one what's additional.
Add from the next one what's additional. And it's
cool because it's three story, same story, but they

(02:14:19):
all give you the same and a little bit
more.
Yeah.
Or a little bit less. Yeah. It's their perspective,
so it's really cool.
Yeah, yeah. All right. What does the Bible have
to say about christians judging people?
Did they should.
Judge not. Yes. Lest you be judged, soul.
You know, but it also says that you have

(02:14:40):
to focus on yourself first.
Yeah.
So that then, yeah, you can rightfully judge.
Yeah. This has become a real popular thing in
modern times of, like, you can't judge me. Only
God can judge me. Like, the Bible even says,
don't judge me. The Bible talks a lot about
making judgments. Like, hey, identify false teachers and call
them out. Hey, if your brother sins against you,

(02:15:01):
like, bring them into correction. Like, you have to
make judgments on people in order for that to
take place, so. But I do think that as
christians, our judgment should be focused on brothers. So
it should. It should be like my judgment really
ultimately should be. I've got a brother in the

(02:15:21):
faith that's allowing a sin issue to continue in
his life. I need to bring correction to my
brother. I'm not trying to fix the world's sins.
I'm trying to point the world to Jesus. Once
they have Jesus, then we can start addressing some
of the other things. So are we supposed to
judge 100%?
And I will just say, that is not a

(02:15:42):
permission to be rude and mean. I know judgmental,
I guess, you know, like the judge judgmentally. But
it should be done in love and with the
purpose of building people up to bringing people to
a life that is transformed by the power of
the Holy Spirit. It is not about saying, you

(02:16:05):
bad, I'm good because I noticed it and you're
doing it wrong. If that's the heart behind it,
then just don't.
Yeah. The whole point of that lesson of, you
know, take the plank out of your own eye
before you remove the speck in your brother's eye.
The whole point of that is, first of all,
humility to recognize. Hey, I'm looking at all the

(02:16:27):
problems in Ace's life, and I'm ignoring the problems
of my own life. And I may be even
nitpicky about, man, he's got this one little thing
that he's not doing right, and I've got like,
this massive issue in my life. And so there's
humility in saying, hey, look, I'm not perfect. Right?
And then there's this call to, I'm gonna. I'm
gonna fix myself. And we do that with the
Holy Spirit. We do that with Jesus. But it's

(02:16:50):
this idea of, I need to deal with my
stuff and not just be okay with it. Right.
So, like, a Christian who's okay with their flaws,
okay with their sin, is not a healthy Christian.
Like, we shouldn't be okay with those things. We
should be doing whatever we can to remove the
planks in our eyes so that we can. I
love the word. So that anytime you find a.
So that in scripture, it's do this thing so

(02:17:12):
that this thing will happen. Right. And so you
remove your plank so that you can help your
brother in need. So, yeah. What does it Bible
say about christians judging people to do it? Yeah,
but do it the right way.
Yeah. It's not a gossip. It's building people up.
All right, people. Can you believe it? We have
our last question.
This is number 70.
Made it all the way to the end. I

(02:17:33):
might have skipped one somewhere. I hope I didn't.
I tried not to, but my eyes went cross
eyed because we've been here for 2 hours and
17 minutes. What does scripture say about prolonging God's
processes in our lives? I think of the Israelites
wandering in the desert and wonder if healing, freedom,
and growth in my life is being prolonged, like

(02:17:55):
the Israelites were prolonged in getting to the promised
land. So what does the scripture say about prolonging
God's processes in our lives?
I should say, asa, I don't know.
What it says about prolonging, but I just know
it says, obey. Do it now. What does it
say about prolonging?
Yeah, well, the interesting thing is they talked about

(02:18:16):
the Israelites getting to the promised land, and I
think that there's some christians that have taken that
as, like, that was the original plan. Like, that
was the. Like, I've heard people there for 40
years. Right? Like, I've heard people talk about, like,
yeah. And they needed to be in the desert
so they could learn to rely on God. And
those 40 years was for this and that. It's
like, no, that was punishment.
Yeah.

(02:18:37):
Like, it was. It was. Somebody did the math.
It was like an eight day journey. Like, it
should have taken eight days to travel from Egypt
to. Is it eight or seven?
I'm not sure. I'm not sure.
Somebody did the math. I love it when people
do the math. But then I forget the numbers
and. But somebody calculated out how long it would
take for this crowd of million people to walk
from Egypt to the promised land. It was like

(02:18:58):
a few days, and yet it took them 40
years. Why? Because they sinned. It was a judgment.
It was a preacher.
God said, none of this generation is going to
die.
She's going to die. Except for two guys. There's
two guys that I'm happy with. Everybody else, you're
done. And Moses didn't even get to go in.

(02:19:18):
Moses sinned, too. So, yeah, so I think that
that would say to me that we can prolong
God's process in our lives through sin, through rebellion,
through disobedience. And so if you don't want to
prolong God's process in your life, be obedient. Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.

(02:19:39):
Now, for some, though, you might be going through
a process, and it's not the desert process. Like,
it's. It's not. That's not what's happening. It's. It
is a matter of refining you. It is a
matter of developing you. I think there's a lot
of times when we want something now, and God's
basically saying you're not ready for it now. Like,
you need some. You need to gain some wisdom.

(02:20:00):
You need to gain some experience. You. There's some
connections that you don't have right now. And so
if I just gave you what you're asking for
now or what you're wanting right now, it would
fail. And so, for me, that that process, you
just have to trust God and continue being obedient.
So in both cases, just be obedient. Is the
prolonging punishment, maybe? Is the prolonging actually the process?

(02:20:23):
And it's not a prolonging of the process. It's
just the default nature of the process, maybe, yeah.
And are you obeying that last thing? If you're
doing the last thing he told you, if it
takes 40 years for him to give you the
next thing, if you were doing the thing, you're
in obedience. So. And if you're not doing the
thing, you're probably prolonging him. You know what I

(02:20:43):
mean? So, yeah, that's the key.
All right, that's it, people. That is 70 questions
down. We only have, like, 130 more to go.
So I'm going to tackle another 50 or so
in a video with just me and the camera,
and then we're actually going to answer the leftover
questions over the next three weeks, kind of at
the start of between sermons before we get into

(02:21:05):
that Sunday's subject matter, but hopefully we answered your
question or at least gave you some help. If
we upset you, just go ahead and email me
and let me know how much I upset you
and we can debate and talk and it'll be
great. It'll be awesome.
Yep.
I love giving answers. It's our job as pastors
to give answers to people's questions. So that's what
we're here for.
Yeah. And I just. I just want to say

(02:21:26):
thank you for being so open and so, so
real, you know, like, there's a lot of times
where people are going around with all of these
questions because they don't feel like they can actually
ask. And so just thank you for actually asking.
Yeah. And if you have more questions, you can
always ask them. You can call the church, email
the church. Actually, our CLC app has a really

(02:21:48):
cool feature. There's like this AI tool in our
app where if you have a question, you can
type it in and it will automatically scrub through
all of our video teachings on YouTube and it'll
find a timestamp for answers to your questions. So
if we've taught on it, you can find answers
that way. It's a really cool thing. And if
you want to know more about that, you can
ask Joanie. And if you don't know who Joni
is, then you can't ask her. But I'm glad

(02:22:10):
you were hanging out with us today. I hope
to see you again next week as we continue
this you asked for it series. We'll see you
there.

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