October 13, 2024 • 29 mins
Discernment
Is there a difference betweeen the soul and spirit
Is there a difference betweeen the soul and spirit
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand discernment.
We have people call up every single week talking about discernment,
and it's an important question and each case may pose
a different look at the word and the action of discernment.
(00:22):
But today I want you to think about the day
to day circumstances that you have to judge, both spiritual
and physical, and how to fine tune yourself to that
place of good discernment, that place of having the sense
of an old cow and eating the hay and leaving
(00:45):
the sticks. Sometimes it's it's not always as cut and
dry as you'd like, And to develop the ability to
sift through things is a it's a great tool. So
(01:07):
today I want to talk about what scripture has to
say about discernment. Often, discernment is talked about in scripture
as judging, having the wherewithal to make a decision between
two or more options or things. But that word judge
or judgment takes on a negative connotation sometimes and people
(01:32):
get the word confused. One Corinthians two fifteen says, but
he that is spiritual judges all things. Matthew seven to
one says, judge not lest you be judged and people
(01:52):
get caught up in that, and the believer looks around
and says, okay, I'm not supposed to judge. And unfortunately
the world looks at this and they remember only the
parts of scripture that they can use in some sort
of defense of their own ways and actions. They remember
this and they say, look, see it says, don't judge.
(02:13):
But you need to learn to know the difference when
scripture uses the word judgment and how it's meant. Does
it mean discernment or does it mean criticism? The Late
Great New Testament scholar F. F. Bruce pen this judgment
(02:35):
is an ambiguous word in Greek, as it is in English.
It may mean sitting in judgment on people or even
condemning them, or it may mean exercising a proper discrimination.
In the former sense, judgment is depreciated. In the latter sense,
it is recommended. So knowing the difference of when to
(03:00):
of what discerning is, and if you're in judgment or
in criticism versus you're actually analyzing a situation, discerning when
something is good for you or bad for you, or
good for the situation or bad for the situation. You
(03:21):
need to look deep into things it's very easy to
get to that place where where you kind of just
look at the surface. You concern your things yourself with
the things that are our surface or topical, rather than
digging deep. Tewod Corinthians ten to seven warns against this.
(03:43):
It says that you are looking only at the surface
of things that doesn't have benefit. John seven twenty fours
is stop judging by mere appearances and make a right judgment,
implying there that a right judgment is not made simply
by appearance. That's when judgement becomes a problem, when it's
(04:10):
it's you only looking at the the most surface part
of the issue and making a judgment, trying to jump
to a quick conclusion, rather than really understanding what's taking
place and why. And this becomes a huge part of discernment,
(04:32):
understanding and making that conclusion or judging things properly. You
know this by testing things, by examining everything as first
Thessalonians five twenty one says, examine everything carefully, hold fast
to that which is good. We talk about that constantly
(04:56):
on the program to test all things, holding fast to
that which is good. It's okay to examine, to probe,
to ask questions, even about your own faith, because in
doing so, it shows one its value and that you
care about it enough to know the question to be curious.
(05:20):
But two, it's it's you not just giving into the surface.
As John seven said, You're not judging by mere appearance.
You're trying to make the right decision and the right judgment,
and that comes from examining everything, looking at all sides.
How many times on this very program does someone call
(05:42):
up about a job situation that's a tough decision, and
oftentimes there's moving involved, more money involve, less money involved,
changes to the family lifestyle. These things should all be
looked at when you want to come to a conclusion
or using proper discernment as to what that decision should be.
(06:05):
Good discernment, although can be craft at ability that can
be honed for speed or to be more efficient. That
it shouldn't be something you rush into. Just like looking
at the appearance of something or scratching at the surface
(06:26):
of a concern a situation, you don't want to rush
into things. Proverbs nineteen two says that it's not good
to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and
miss the way, because these things are important. Every little
(06:49):
bit of an issue is part of what you should
be looking at, examining is this knowledge so important? Why
is taking the time so important? Because ignorance can bring destruction.
(07:11):
It's not just a lack of knowledge. Ignorance is the
absence of more tools that knowledge that will help you
make the proper decisions that will help you through that
road of discernment. Hoseiah four to six is my people
are destroyed for lack of knowledge, that kind of ignorance
(07:36):
that leads you to a bad decision, or leads you
down a bad road or something not healthy or productive.
It is what you are trying to steer away from.
When you deal with discernment, you're dealing with getting all
(07:56):
of the information you can, ping it in front of
you and examining it, not being surfaced, but going below
and truly analyzing and dissecting what's beneficial for you, what's
beneficial for the whole, for the family, for the group
(08:17):
or community. Even when people start to separate themselves and
just think selfishly, is when greater problems arise. The things
that I command of you, or request or even demand
in scripture are not just to be some sort of
(08:41):
control freak. It really comes down to knowing what's best
for you, knowing what's best for the whole, and asking
you to participate in these things or not to participate,
as the case may be, so that so that you
can be a part of the whole, not in some
(09:02):
strange metaphysical sense, but truly knowing that you are to
communicate worship with one another, spend time with one another,
and even be held responsible for the decisions each person makes.
This is why discernment is so powerful, so potent, so important.
(09:28):
Don't get lost in just your way. In this sense,
in Hoseiah that an entire people are destroyed due to
lack of knowledge, true discernment becomes most valuable. The importance
of discernment cannot be understated, nor can it be overstated.
(09:52):
The importance of being able to discern how you deal
with any situation or any decision or choice in life
is important. However, often people will look beyond scripture and
not really understand that the majority of your decisions can
(10:14):
be understood and applied to the things of Scripture. It's
funny how God does that right, and throughout scripture it
points to ways and understanding and tools to be used
when discerning. Don't look at the surface things. Don't judge
by appearance. Test everything, hold fast to that which is true,
(10:38):
which you can know. Judge using your spiritual knowledge based
on scripture. Know the difference between judgment as far as
criticism versus judgment, as far as discernment, that ignorance can
(10:59):
bring destructure. So to educate, educate yourself, show yourself approved
is imperative. True discernment is is kind of a big
picture thing, not just what's in front of you, but
observing everything around you. This is an interesting verse. Matthew
(11:20):
sixteen three says, and in the morning there will be
a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.
Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky,
but cannot discern the signs of the times? And this,
this verse is asking you to pull away from from
(11:42):
just those things that you're seeing or understanding, and using
them as tools to understand the bigger picture, not just
the storm in front of you, but what the season
is or the sign of the times, often a reference
to things that are to come. And you're to discern
(12:05):
things by God's standards. You know the difference to immerse
yourself in God's word is the key John eight fifteen sixteen.
You judge by human standards. But if I do judge,
(12:29):
my decisions are right because I am not alone. I
stand with the Father who sent me. I have much
to say in the judgment of you, but he who
sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from him.
I tell the world that relationship of understanding between that
which you read and known scripture, and that how that
(12:51):
in which you use to apply to everyday life scripture
will help guide you into discernment Hebrews four to twelve. Well,
the Word of God is living in active. It judges
the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Eric, Welcome to
(13:11):
the Jesus Christ Show.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yes, hello, I've got a very serious question for you.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Okay, I'll give you a very serious answer.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
What is the meaning of our being here? And the
reason I'm asking that is I ran to a crisis,
lost everything that I had. I had a business, had
a nice truck, I had lots of toys, everything like that.
It all went down. So I was just like, what
am I going to do now? So what I ended
up doing I talked to an old friend of mine,
(13:40):
came back to where I grew up, and I tried
to start a charity to help save the lives of
dogs and cats. Fifteen thousand are being utilized every year,
and nationwide it's three or four million every year, and
these are innocent lives. So I tried to certin charity,
(14:00):
you know, to try to change that, and I got
such a negative response from people. It just shocked me.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
What what do you mean by negative response?
Speaker 2 (14:12):
I talked to people on the phone and they said
they empathized with the situation, but they did nothing to
help me help these animals. So, I mean, I ended
up having to shut it down, get a job, and
I've been struggling ever since to just try to make,
you know, a living for myself while this is going on.
(14:34):
So what I'm wondering is, I mean, I totally devoted
everything that I had to stop this evil that's going on,
and I got absolutely no support from anybody.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Well, I mean, there's a lot of charities and a
lot of good causes out there, wouldn't you agree here?
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Of course?
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Okay, there's a lot of and people are bombarded by
them on a daily basis, and many people have already
through the maturity their decisions had in their lives have.
You know, they already have charities that they work with
or and sometimes they can't do anything. And something that
is your passion may not be other people's passions as well.
(15:13):
And the whole point I would imagine the purpose of
doing this is not only to stop it, but to
make people aware of it so that it eventually stops
as well. So it's not like just making it stop
in that one moment. It's that building awareness is part
of the purpose of any charity work or anything that
is noble is to build that awareness first. And there's
(15:36):
no one around saying that you didn't do that. As
far as the meaning of life, and I know that
that was your first question, but it was more of
a segue into your life situation. I will tell you this,
it's quite simple, Eric. The meaning of life is to
use your gifts and abilities along lines of excellence to
(15:57):
the edification of yourself and the edification of into the
glory of God. That's it. And that doesn't say anything
about success. That doesn't say anything about you're going to
make money, and it doesn't make anything say any of that.
It just means you're called to utilize those gifts and
abilities in a way that's beneficial to yourself and to
(16:18):
others in a healthy way, and that it glorifies God.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
So how do I project that to other people? I mean,
we're talking about something that's a very serious problem, and
it's something that people can help with, but.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
They choose not to.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
And it's I mean, how can you see something that
horrible and not do something about it? I know, I
know people have their own limitations, but the response I
was getting was so discouraging. It was just unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
How many charities do you donate to?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Eric? Myself? I don't have the means right now to
do that.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Okay, so they may not have the means either.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Well, that's that's not true. I mean in terms of
the people.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
I mean, I e, how many how many charities do
you donate your time to?
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Eric? Well at the well? I full time to the
one I started?
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Okay. So there's there's there's limitations in all things. And
I know that people get on their pet causes and
this is your focus and it should be and you
should be passionate about it and you should want to
see things done. But there are there are hundreds of
thousands of charities, both both large and small throughout the
United States, UH and the globe that need attention, and
(17:39):
your main goal above all else is to articulate this
need in a way that motivates, motivates people of like
minds or interests to participate. If you didn't do that,
there's only one of two things happening. One they're not
interested and won't be interested, or two you didn't aticulate
(18:00):
it well enough for them to understand the need. So
both of those can be addressed with. If the person
isn't interested, you tip your hat and you move along
to the next And if they are, would be interest,
but you're not provoking that or lighting that fire, then
you need to look at the way you're setting up
and explaining the need and what's going on. Those are
(18:22):
the only real options. It's very easy to put it
on the rest of the world and say, well, the
rest of the world doesn't have love in their heart
for these things. That's not true because there wouldn't be
hundreds of thousands of charities to boot, there wouldn't be
all these things around. You can't just you sound like
you're pouting, like you didn't get it your way the
way you expected it. And I don't think that that's
(18:43):
the healthiest way to do it.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
The thing that disappointed me was just the sheer level
of just non response. It was just ex floored me.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
I mean, did you look to see if there was
any other charities working towards that goal at all, either
in the area or.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
In another There are tons of them everywhere.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Then how come you didn't sign up with one of theirs?
How come you didn't go and volunteer and participate in
an organization that was already started Because they.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Don't go to the root of the problem. They're treating
the symptom. As an example, there are people that I
know that have fifteen dogs or cats in their house
and try to save their lives, but doesn't stop where
these animals are coming from. And so there's there's nobody
out there that's really solving the problem.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
But maybe they went And I'm with you on that,
because there's nothing more frustrated than people putting band aids
on things that need to be amputated. But Eric, the
bigger concern here, Eric, is that maybe maybe they've tried
going down that path. Maybe they've gone down the path
you've gone down and found it to be unproductive. And
they said, Okay, we're going to work backwards now, and
(19:53):
we're going to try and triage the situation and help
where we can, and then work our way back to
a better understanding.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
So that people are never ending.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
You know, life is that way.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Rescue organizations save two thousand animals a year in Tucson,
and fifteen thousands still get killed every year and the
number keeps rising.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
But that's an education issue as well, because you have,
you know, movies coming out that have you know, puppies
in it or chihuahua's in it, and every child goes
that runs out and says, mommy, daddy, I wanta dalmatian,
I wanna a chihuahua, and the parents don't have the
fortitude to say no, that that having an animal in
(20:38):
your in your focus and in your care is a
huge thing and it's an undertaking and it's not about
they're here for you. It's about your here for them,
and it's education. But it starts at that most simple
level that every time a movie comes out with animals
in it, that's when you should be flying, and that's
(21:00):
when you should be educating, that's when you should be talking.
There's there's a process to it. Eric, that's powerful and
that will work. All you're telling me is that the
process you tried didn't work. It doesn't mean that it
won't work. You know, you walk out in the middle
of the movie and they all have bad endings. You
have to play this one out. And just because it
didn't happen overnight doesn't mean that it won't That the
(21:23):
problem didn't happen overnight. Eric, this is you.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Have to find a different path to the root of
the problem.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Yeah. I think your passion is right on. I mean,
you definitely have a passion and that passion comes from God.
To be that focused, laser focused and desiring to to
do something like this is huge and I commend you
on that. But that doesn't mean every way you go
to execute it is the right way. You see people
(21:50):
do this all the time. People execute things poorly all
the time. So you go back and you say, well,
that didn't work. Whatever it was you were doing didn't work.
So now point two is uh, finding out why you
think it didn't work and and go back to education.
Education is always going to be the key. Uh, you know,
(22:11):
muscling this situation is that's been growing for a long
time and it's not just in Arizona, it's all over
the place. So uh, trying to muscle that you're you're
gonna lose. There's because ignorance is a pretty strong beast,
and it's out there everywhere in hordes, and.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
It goes to a fun it goes to a fundamental process.
As a matter of fact, I'll pay a quick story here.
I was riding my bicycle home. I stopped at a
fast food place and there was a bird that was
sitting on a rail and it didn't budget didn't fly away.
There's obviously something wrong with it. Long story short, I
was riding away and I said, I can't just leave
this bird here, right, So I tried to get help.
(22:52):
I was on a bicycle and I needed to take
this thing five miles away. I tried to stop six
or seven people, even got a police officer to try
to help you with this little injured animal. Even the
police officer would.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Not help me because it's not it's not in their language, Eric,
it's not in their language.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
That But that's really what my problem.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
But you're you're you're stamping your foot saying you don't
believe like I do. And that's not that's not a healthier,
productive way to do it. They'll look at you like
your nuts. That cop is you know, on the on
on call for all kinds of different things and sees
heinous things every day and says, you're you're really gonna
stop me to go take care of that bird right now.
That's not gonna motivate anybody. You can't just stomp around
(23:37):
and say you've got to you've got a care. That's
not how it works. You know, the the the early
Church didn't go around stopping saying you have to believe.
As a matter of fact, when uh, the Church in
its youth had leaders, had people that that you know,
were kings or leaders, governmental leaders that became Christians and
(24:02):
then felt, oh now people have to believe and started
for forcing it on people. You got pollution and polluted Christianity,
which is you know, part of the garbage that exists today.
There's there, there's the pure line is is tossed out
because there was so much ugliness and forcing of people
(24:22):
to believe the Inquisition, these types of things ugly. It
doesn't produce faith or Christianity. It produces an ugly heritage
of forcing people to believe and you can't do that.
You have to woo them with information and desire to
let them see the problem, own the problem, and cure
the problem. Angel. Welcome to the Jesus Christ Show.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Hello, Holy host, thank you for.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Taking my car my pleasure. What's on your mind?
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Well, I don't I don't know my Bible very well.
I recommitted my life to God last summer, and I
did read the Bible. I read through the whole Bible
this year. But you know, I believe it's going to
take lots of study before I unders you know, understand
(25:19):
it better. My question is, and I've had some friends
that our non Christians asked me this, also, what is
the difference between your soul and your spirit? You know,
because it's used in the spiritual world and the secular world.
(25:40):
And I'm really curious and I really would like to
know what the.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Difference is between those two. Yeah, it gets into a
lot of sticky theology. So I'll go through that quickly
and then point you to some scripture. Uh, the word
actually translates to mean the breath of life. And when
you deal with the word soul, Now there's a couple
of different views theologically, and this is where people get
(26:10):
kind of caught up. There's something called dichotomists and trichotomists. Okay,
the dichotomists hold that the soul and the spirit are
two same names, you know, are two names for the
same thing. And they think that that basically it comes
down to the diconomists is just what it sounds like
it means. It means that you believe that there is
(26:32):
the body and the soul, and the soul and spirit
are kind of the same thing. Well, there's a different
group that are trichotomists that believe that there's actually three parts,
that there's the body, the soul, and the spirit. So
theologians go back and forth and debate this all the
time as to if the soul and the spirit are
two different things. I will point you to a couple
(26:53):
of verses, including Hebrews four to twelve, which is interesting.
Listen to these words very quickly, For the world of
God is living an active sharper than any two edged sword.
It penetrates even to divide soul and spirits, joints and moorrow.
It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. So
(27:14):
there it sounds like it's separating the two or that
they at least can be separated. So some theologians believe
that the soul is the essence of humanity's being, their beingness,
and it is essentially who you are, and the spirit
is the aspect of humanity that connects with God that
makes it possible to have a relationship with God. So
(27:36):
those are some ideas. I will also recommend looking at
first Corinthians to eleven, James two twenty six, Colossians one
point nine, also Colausians three sixteen, and maybe that'll give
you a little place to start and to look around.
But keep in mind, this is one of those things
(27:57):
that that theologians do kind of argue back and forth
because of the way it appears in scripture. Sometimes they
seem interchangeable. But ultimately the truest understanding is that when
it's speaking of the spirit and when it's speaking of
the soul, it is referring to the immaterial part of
(28:18):
the body, the immaterial, that facet of your humanness that
is separate from the body, and that's what goes to
be with God, and that's what defines and makes that
relationship possible. So I pray that helps and that you
(28:38):
can go and do some more studying. I love the
fact that you're studying Angel and that you're getting into
the Word of God. Keep in mind it is a journey,
don't expect it to end soon. And to spend the
time to ask those questions, to learn, to poke around
to you know, good word studies is always helpful. Learning
(28:59):
and getting lexic and a good concordance that you can
go back and forth and study words is always helpful.
It brings scripture to life and lets it breathe a
little more.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Kf I am six forty on demand
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand discernment.
We have people call up every single week talking about discernment,
and it's an important question and each case may pose
a different look at the word and the action of discernment.
(00:22):
But today I want you to think about the day
to day circumstances that you have to judge, both spiritual
and physical, and how to fine tune yourself to that
place of good discernment, that place of having the sense
of an old cow and eating the hay and leaving
(00:45):
the sticks. Sometimes it's it's not always as cut and
dry as you'd like, And to develop the ability to
sift through things is a it's a great tool. So
(01:07):
today I want to talk about what scripture has to
say about discernment. Often, discernment is talked about in scripture
as judging, having the wherewithal to make a decision between
two or more options or things. But that word judge
or judgment takes on a negative connotation sometimes and people
(01:32):
get the word confused. One Corinthians two fifteen says, but
he that is spiritual judges all things. Matthew seven to
one says, judge not lest you be judged and people
(01:52):
get caught up in that, and the believer looks around
and says, okay, I'm not supposed to judge. And unfortunately
the world looks at this and they remember only the
parts of scripture that they can use in some sort
of defense of their own ways and actions. They remember
this and they say, look, see it says, don't judge.
(02:13):
But you need to learn to know the difference when
scripture uses the word judgment and how it's meant. Does
it mean discernment or does it mean criticism? The Late
Great New Testament scholar F. F. Bruce pen this judgment
(02:35):
is an ambiguous word in Greek, as it is in English.
It may mean sitting in judgment on people or even
condemning them, or it may mean exercising a proper discrimination.
In the former sense, judgment is depreciated. In the latter sense,
it is recommended. So knowing the difference of when to
(03:00):
of what discerning is, and if you're in judgment or
in criticism versus you're actually analyzing a situation, discerning when
something is good for you or bad for you, or
good for the situation or bad for the situation. You
(03:21):
need to look deep into things it's very easy to
get to that place where where you kind of just
look at the surface. You concern your things yourself with
the things that are our surface or topical, rather than
digging deep. Tewod Corinthians ten to seven warns against this.
(03:43):
It says that you are looking only at the surface
of things that doesn't have benefit. John seven twenty fours
is stop judging by mere appearances and make a right judgment,
implying there that a right judgment is not made simply
by appearance. That's when judgement becomes a problem, when it's
(04:10):
it's you only looking at the the most surface part
of the issue and making a judgment, trying to jump
to a quick conclusion, rather than really understanding what's taking
place and why. And this becomes a huge part of discernment,
(04:32):
understanding and making that conclusion or judging things properly. You
know this by testing things, by examining everything as first
Thessalonians five twenty one says, examine everything carefully, hold fast
to that which is good. We talk about that constantly
(04:56):
on the program to test all things, holding fast to
that which is good. It's okay to examine, to probe,
to ask questions, even about your own faith, because in
doing so, it shows one its value and that you
care about it enough to know the question to be curious.
(05:20):
But two, it's it's you not just giving into the surface.
As John seven said, You're not judging by mere appearance.
You're trying to make the right decision and the right judgment,
and that comes from examining everything, looking at all sides.
How many times on this very program does someone call
(05:42):
up about a job situation that's a tough decision, and
oftentimes there's moving involved, more money involve, less money involved,
changes to the family lifestyle. These things should all be
looked at when you want to come to a conclusion
or using proper discernment as to what that decision should be.
(06:05):
Good discernment, although can be craft at ability that can
be honed for speed or to be more efficient. That
it shouldn't be something you rush into. Just like looking
at the appearance of something or scratching at the surface
(06:26):
of a concern a situation, you don't want to rush
into things. Proverbs nineteen two says that it's not good
to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and
miss the way, because these things are important. Every little
(06:49):
bit of an issue is part of what you should
be looking at, examining is this knowledge so important? Why
is taking the time so important? Because ignorance can bring destruction.
(07:11):
It's not just a lack of knowledge. Ignorance is the
absence of more tools that knowledge that will help you
make the proper decisions that will help you through that
road of discernment. Hoseiah four to six is my people
are destroyed for lack of knowledge, that kind of ignorance
(07:36):
that leads you to a bad decision, or leads you
down a bad road or something not healthy or productive.
It is what you are trying to steer away from.
When you deal with discernment, you're dealing with getting all
(07:56):
of the information you can, ping it in front of
you and examining it, not being surfaced, but going below
and truly analyzing and dissecting what's beneficial for you, what's
beneficial for the whole, for the family, for the group
(08:17):
or community. Even when people start to separate themselves and
just think selfishly, is when greater problems arise. The things
that I command of you, or request or even demand
in scripture are not just to be some sort of
(08:41):
control freak. It really comes down to knowing what's best
for you, knowing what's best for the whole, and asking
you to participate in these things or not to participate,
as the case may be, so that so that you
can be a part of the whole, not in some
(09:02):
strange metaphysical sense, but truly knowing that you are to
communicate worship with one another, spend time with one another,
and even be held responsible for the decisions each person makes.
This is why discernment is so powerful, so potent, so important.
(09:28):
Don't get lost in just your way. In this sense,
in Hoseiah that an entire people are destroyed due to
lack of knowledge, true discernment becomes most valuable. The importance
of discernment cannot be understated, nor can it be overstated.
(09:52):
The importance of being able to discern how you deal
with any situation or any decision or choice in life
is important. However, often people will look beyond scripture and
not really understand that the majority of your decisions can
(10:14):
be understood and applied to the things of Scripture. It's
funny how God does that right, and throughout scripture it
points to ways and understanding and tools to be used
when discerning. Don't look at the surface things. Don't judge
by appearance. Test everything, hold fast to that which is true,
(10:38):
which you can know. Judge using your spiritual knowledge based
on scripture. Know the difference between judgment as far as
criticism versus judgment, as far as discernment, that ignorance can
(10:59):
bring destructure. So to educate, educate yourself, show yourself approved
is imperative. True discernment is is kind of a big
picture thing, not just what's in front of you, but
observing everything around you. This is an interesting verse. Matthew
(11:20):
sixteen three says, and in the morning there will be
a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.
Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky,
but cannot discern the signs of the times? And this,
this verse is asking you to pull away from from
(11:42):
just those things that you're seeing or understanding, and using
them as tools to understand the bigger picture, not just
the storm in front of you, but what the season
is or the sign of the times, often a reference
to things that are to come. And you're to discern
(12:05):
things by God's standards. You know the difference to immerse
yourself in God's word is the key John eight fifteen sixteen.
You judge by human standards. But if I do judge,
(12:29):
my decisions are right because I am not alone. I
stand with the Father who sent me. I have much
to say in the judgment of you, but he who
sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from him.
I tell the world that relationship of understanding between that
which you read and known scripture, and that how that
(12:51):
in which you use to apply to everyday life scripture
will help guide you into discernment Hebrews four to twelve. Well,
the Word of God is living in active. It judges
the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Eric, Welcome to
(13:11):
the Jesus Christ Show.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yes, hello, I've got a very serious question for you.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Okay, I'll give you a very serious answer.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
What is the meaning of our being here? And the
reason I'm asking that is I ran to a crisis,
lost everything that I had. I had a business, had
a nice truck, I had lots of toys, everything like that.
It all went down. So I was just like, what
am I going to do now? So what I ended
up doing I talked to an old friend of mine,
(13:40):
came back to where I grew up, and I tried
to start a charity to help save the lives of
dogs and cats. Fifteen thousand are being utilized every year,
and nationwide it's three or four million every year, and
these are innocent lives. So I tried to certin charity,
(14:00):
you know, to try to change that, and I got
such a negative response from people. It just shocked me.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
What what do you mean by negative response?
Speaker 2 (14:12):
I talked to people on the phone and they said
they empathized with the situation, but they did nothing to
help me help these animals. So, I mean, I ended
up having to shut it down, get a job, and
I've been struggling ever since to just try to make,
you know, a living for myself while this is going on.
(14:34):
So what I'm wondering is, I mean, I totally devoted
everything that I had to stop this evil that's going on,
and I got absolutely no support from anybody.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Well, I mean, there's a lot of charities and a
lot of good causes out there, wouldn't you agree here?
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Of course?
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Okay, there's a lot of and people are bombarded by
them on a daily basis, and many people have already
through the maturity their decisions had in their lives have.
You know, they already have charities that they work with
or and sometimes they can't do anything. And something that
is your passion may not be other people's passions as well.
(15:13):
And the whole point I would imagine the purpose of
doing this is not only to stop it, but to
make people aware of it so that it eventually stops
as well. So it's not like just making it stop
in that one moment. It's that building awareness is part
of the purpose of any charity work or anything that
is noble is to build that awareness first. And there's
(15:36):
no one around saying that you didn't do that. As
far as the meaning of life, and I know that
that was your first question, but it was more of
a segue into your life situation. I will tell you this,
it's quite simple, Eric. The meaning of life is to
use your gifts and abilities along lines of excellence to
(15:57):
the edification of yourself and the edification of into the
glory of God. That's it. And that doesn't say anything
about success. That doesn't say anything about you're going to
make money, and it doesn't make anything say any of that.
It just means you're called to utilize those gifts and
abilities in a way that's beneficial to yourself and to
(16:18):
others in a healthy way, and that it glorifies God.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
So how do I project that to other people? I mean,
we're talking about something that's a very serious problem, and
it's something that people can help with, but.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
They choose not to.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
And it's I mean, how can you see something that
horrible and not do something about it? I know, I
know people have their own limitations, but the response I
was getting was so discouraging. It was just unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
How many charities do you donate to?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Eric? Myself? I don't have the means right now to
do that.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Okay, so they may not have the means either.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Well, that's that's not true. I mean in terms of
the people.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
I mean, I e, how many how many charities do
you donate your time to?
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Eric? Well at the well? I full time to the
one I started?
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Okay. So there's there's there's limitations in all things. And
I know that people get on their pet causes and
this is your focus and it should be and you
should be passionate about it and you should want to
see things done. But there are there are hundreds of
thousands of charities, both both large and small throughout the
United States, UH and the globe that need attention, and
(17:39):
your main goal above all else is to articulate this
need in a way that motivates, motivates people of like
minds or interests to participate. If you didn't do that,
there's only one of two things happening. One they're not
interested and won't be interested, or two you didn't aticulate
(18:00):
it well enough for them to understand the need. So
both of those can be addressed with. If the person
isn't interested, you tip your hat and you move along
to the next And if they are, would be interest,
but you're not provoking that or lighting that fire, then
you need to look at the way you're setting up
and explaining the need and what's going on. Those are
(18:22):
the only real options. It's very easy to put it
on the rest of the world and say, well, the
rest of the world doesn't have love in their heart
for these things. That's not true because there wouldn't be
hundreds of thousands of charities to boot, there wouldn't be
all these things around. You can't just you sound like
you're pouting, like you didn't get it your way the
way you expected it. And I don't think that that's
(18:43):
the healthiest way to do it.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
The thing that disappointed me was just the sheer level
of just non response. It was just ex floored me.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
I mean, did you look to see if there was
any other charities working towards that goal at all, either
in the area or.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
In another There are tons of them everywhere.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Then how come you didn't sign up with one of theirs?
How come you didn't go and volunteer and participate in
an organization that was already started Because they.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Don't go to the root of the problem. They're treating
the symptom. As an example, there are people that I
know that have fifteen dogs or cats in their house
and try to save their lives, but doesn't stop where
these animals are coming from. And so there's there's nobody
out there that's really solving the problem.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
But maybe they went And I'm with you on that,
because there's nothing more frustrated than people putting band aids
on things that need to be amputated. But Eric, the
bigger concern here, Eric, is that maybe maybe they've tried
going down that path. Maybe they've gone down the path
you've gone down and found it to be unproductive. And
they said, Okay, we're going to work backwards now, and
(19:53):
we're going to try and triage the situation and help
where we can, and then work our way back to
a better understanding.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
So that people are never ending.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
You know, life is that way.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Rescue organizations save two thousand animals a year in Tucson,
and fifteen thousands still get killed every year and the
number keeps rising.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
But that's an education issue as well, because you have,
you know, movies coming out that have you know, puppies
in it or chihuahua's in it, and every child goes
that runs out and says, mommy, daddy, I wanta dalmatian,
I wanna a chihuahua, and the parents don't have the
fortitude to say no, that that having an animal in
(20:38):
your in your focus and in your care is a
huge thing and it's an undertaking and it's not about
they're here for you. It's about your here for them,
and it's education. But it starts at that most simple
level that every time a movie comes out with animals
in it, that's when you should be flying, and that's
(21:00):
when you should be educating, that's when you should be talking.
There's there's a process to it. Eric, that's powerful and
that will work. All you're telling me is that the
process you tried didn't work. It doesn't mean that it
won't work. You know, you walk out in the middle
of the movie and they all have bad endings. You
have to play this one out. And just because it
didn't happen overnight doesn't mean that it won't That the
(21:23):
problem didn't happen overnight. Eric, this is you.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Have to find a different path to the root of
the problem.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Yeah. I think your passion is right on. I mean,
you definitely have a passion and that passion comes from God.
To be that focused, laser focused and desiring to to
do something like this is huge and I commend you
on that. But that doesn't mean every way you go
to execute it is the right way. You see people
(21:50):
do this all the time. People execute things poorly all
the time. So you go back and you say, well,
that didn't work. Whatever it was you were doing didn't work.
So now point two is uh, finding out why you
think it didn't work and and go back to education.
Education is always going to be the key. Uh, you know,
(22:11):
muscling this situation is that's been growing for a long
time and it's not just in Arizona, it's all over
the place. So uh, trying to muscle that you're you're
gonna lose. There's because ignorance is a pretty strong beast,
and it's out there everywhere in hordes, and.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
It goes to a fun it goes to a fundamental process.
As a matter of fact, I'll pay a quick story here.
I was riding my bicycle home. I stopped at a
fast food place and there was a bird that was
sitting on a rail and it didn't budget didn't fly away.
There's obviously something wrong with it. Long story short, I
was riding away and I said, I can't just leave
this bird here, right, So I tried to get help.
(22:52):
I was on a bicycle and I needed to take
this thing five miles away. I tried to stop six
or seven people, even got a police officer to try
to help you with this little injured animal. Even the
police officer would.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Not help me because it's not it's not in their language, Eric,
it's not in their language.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
That But that's really what my problem.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
But you're you're you're stamping your foot saying you don't
believe like I do. And that's not that's not a healthier,
productive way to do it. They'll look at you like
your nuts. That cop is you know, on the on
on call for all kinds of different things and sees
heinous things every day and says, you're you're really gonna
stop me to go take care of that bird right now.
That's not gonna motivate anybody. You can't just stomp around
(23:37):
and say you've got to you've got a care. That's
not how it works. You know, the the the early
Church didn't go around stopping saying you have to believe.
As a matter of fact, when uh, the Church in
its youth had leaders, had people that that you know,
were kings or leaders, governmental leaders that became Christians and
(24:02):
then felt, oh now people have to believe and started
for forcing it on people. You got pollution and polluted Christianity,
which is you know, part of the garbage that exists today.
There's there, there's the pure line is is tossed out
because there was so much ugliness and forcing of people
(24:22):
to believe the Inquisition, these types of things ugly. It
doesn't produce faith or Christianity. It produces an ugly heritage
of forcing people to believe and you can't do that.
You have to woo them with information and desire to
let them see the problem, own the problem, and cure
the problem. Angel. Welcome to the Jesus Christ Show.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Hello, Holy host, thank you for.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Taking my car my pleasure. What's on your mind?
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Well, I don't I don't know my Bible very well.
I recommitted my life to God last summer, and I
did read the Bible. I read through the whole Bible
this year. But you know, I believe it's going to
take lots of study before I unders you know, understand
(25:19):
it better. My question is, and I've had some friends
that our non Christians asked me this, also, what is
the difference between your soul and your spirit? You know,
because it's used in the spiritual world and the secular world.
(25:40):
And I'm really curious and I really would like to
know what the.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Difference is between those two. Yeah, it gets into a
lot of sticky theology. So I'll go through that quickly
and then point you to some scripture. Uh, the word
actually translates to mean the breath of life. And when
you deal with the word soul, Now there's a couple
of different views theologically, and this is where people get
(26:10):
kind of caught up. There's something called dichotomists and trichotomists. Okay,
the dichotomists hold that the soul and the spirit are
two same names, you know, are two names for the
same thing. And they think that that basically it comes
down to the diconomists is just what it sounds like
it means. It means that you believe that there is
(26:32):
the body and the soul, and the soul and spirit
are kind of the same thing. Well, there's a different
group that are trichotomists that believe that there's actually three parts,
that there's the body, the soul, and the spirit. So
theologians go back and forth and debate this all the
time as to if the soul and the spirit are
two different things. I will point you to a couple
(26:53):
of verses, including Hebrews four to twelve, which is interesting.
Listen to these words very quickly, For the world of
God is living an active sharper than any two edged sword.
It penetrates even to divide soul and spirits, joints and moorrow.
It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. So
(27:14):
there it sounds like it's separating the two or that
they at least can be separated. So some theologians believe
that the soul is the essence of humanity's being, their beingness,
and it is essentially who you are, and the spirit
is the aspect of humanity that connects with God that
makes it possible to have a relationship with God. So
(27:36):
those are some ideas. I will also recommend looking at
first Corinthians to eleven, James two twenty six, Colossians one
point nine, also Colausians three sixteen, and maybe that'll give
you a little place to start and to look around.
But keep in mind, this is one of those things
(27:57):
that that theologians do kind of argue back and forth
because of the way it appears in scripture. Sometimes they
seem interchangeable. But ultimately the truest understanding is that when
it's speaking of the spirit and when it's speaking of
the soul, it is referring to the immaterial part of
(28:18):
the body, the immaterial, that facet of your humanness that
is separate from the body, and that's what goes to
be with God, and that's what defines and makes that
relationship possible. So I pray that helps and that you
(28:38):
can go and do some more studying. I love the
fact that you're studying Angel and that you're getting into
the Word of God. Keep in mind it is a journey,
don't expect it to end soon. And to spend the
time to ask those questions, to learn, to poke around
to you know, good word studies is always helpful. Learning
(28:59):
and getting lexic and a good concordance that you can
go back and forth and study words is always helpful.
It brings scripture to life and lets it breathe a
little more.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Kf I am six forty on demand
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