Note: The time signatures [00:00] below indicate the start of a question if you'd like to skip to a particular one of interest in the audio file.
[03:02] - Q: How long were Adam and Eve in the Garden before the fall?
A: See Genesis 4:1 - Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord."
[04:13] - Q: Was there pain before the fall?
A: See Genesis 3:16 - ...I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing...
[06:53] - Q: What is your favorite color?
A: Grey (U.K. spelling...it must be a Chicora thing)
[07:19] - Q: God has created us to glorify Himself. What do I say to someone who says this is selfish of God?
A: John Piper - "God's passion for His glory is the essence of His love for us."
[12:00] - Q: Can you explain the basics of what it means to be the spiritual head of the household? How does a man successfully do this? Also, are there any study aids that reference relevant scriptures on this subject?
A: See: 1 Corinthians 11:3 - ...the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband…
Ephesians 5:23 - For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.
Genesis 3:16 - …your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.
1 Timothy 5:8 – But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
[18:20] - Q: What happened to Enoch?
A: See Genesis 5:24 - Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.
Hebrews 11:5 - By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.
[20:17] - Q: In Ezra, 8:15, what is the significance of stating that none of the sons of Levi were present?
A: See Ezra 8:15
[25:00] - Q: Can you please squash the "Abraham's bosom" doctrine so I can share this with people who tell me I'm wrong.
A: See Luke 16:19
[29:03] - Q: As a Christian, do we need to follow the Ten Commandments to be pleasing to God, and to be blessed by Him?
A: See Ephesians 1:3 | 2 Cor 5:21 | Rom 8:1-5
[33:30] - Q: If murder is a sin, does that make the military or killing in self-defense sinful?
A: See Numbers 35:9
[36:06] - Q: What kinds of things did Jesus do for fun? What did he find funny/entertaining?
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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Pastor Jeff:
00:00-00:01
Well, Happy New Year, church.
Pastor Jeff:
00:02-00:07
We have so many great things happening in January that we are so excited about, don't we, Mark?
Pastor Jeff:
00:08-00:14
We've got a whole bunch of new things, great places to jump on, be part of what's happening.
Pastor Jeff:
00:14-00:21
Starting next week, we're going to be doing a four-week sermon series on parenting called Parenting on Purpose.
Pastor Jeff:
00:22-00:32
And next to the last week of the series, on Saturday, January 21st, We're going to be having a family fun night and we'd like to have everybody come to that.
Pastor Jeff:
00:32-00:33
There's going to be a sign-up sheet.
Pastor Jeff:
00:34-00:39
Also this month we're going to be starting men's Bible study and women's Bible study.
Pastor Jeff:
00:40-00:42
There are going to be sign-up sheets for that also on the table.
Pastor Jeff:
00:43-00:51
And we are working on, still getting the details on this, but we're planning on having a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class.
Pastor Jeff:
00:52-00:54
We're looking to have it on Sunday evenings.
Pastor Jeff:
00:55-01:04
And Alex Genetti from our church is a certified Dave Ramsey series teacher, and he's taught it many times in the past.
Pastor Jeff:
01:04-01:06
And he and his wife Stacy are going to be teaching it.
Pastor Jeff:
01:06-01:13
Like I said, we're looking to run it during the same time as youth group, which is Sunday night from 6 to 8, okay?
Pastor Jeff:
01:14-01:15
So, Mark.
Mark Ort:
01:16-01:20
>> We're ready for our traditional Q&A day, right?
Pastor Jeff:
01:21-01:21
>> Not yet.
Pastor Jeff:
01:22-01:25
First of all, do you have any New Year's resolutions?
Mark Ort:
01:26-01:35
No, I typically don't make New Year's resolutions, but this year I think I just want to get some of the clutter out of my mind.
Mark Ort:
01:36-01:39
And that I want to make happen this year.
Mark Ort:
01:39-01:40
And that's just something simple.
Mark Ort:
01:41-01:50
I think if I can get clutter out of my mind, I can think clearly, I can study clearly, I can be a better dad, a better husband, that kind of stuff.
Mark Ort:
01:50-01:54
I think we all have a little clutter we could clean up, not just in our houses, but in our minds.
Mark Ort:
01:54-01:55
And that's the thing I want to do.
Pastor Jeff:
01:55-01:57
And what's your plan to make that happen?
Mark Ort:
01:59-02:08
Simple things like getting off of Facebook, not being on Facebook, not spending time watching TV.
Mark Ort:
02:09-02:11
I don't watch a lot of TV, but things like that.
Mark Ort:
02:11-02:18
I can cut some things out that I think are going to help me declutter, leaving things at work that maybe I bring home, those kinds of things.
Pastor Jeff:
02:19-02:21
That's a lot more noble than my New Year's resolution.
Pastor Jeff:
02:23-02:24
So let's just get into the Q&A.
Pastor Jeff:
02:25-02:26
Yeah, we have a lot of
Mark Ort:
02:26-02:28
really, really good questions this time.
Mark Ort:
02:28-02:34
Not that we don't have them in the past, but this time they're really, you used the word doozies a couple weeks ago.
Mark Ort:
02:35-02:35
Yeah, we have some
Pastor Jeff:
02:35-02:36
doozies.
Mark Ort:
02:36-02:37
They are doozies.
Mark Ort:
02:38-02:38
For sure.
Mark Ort:
02:38-02:39
They're really good.
Mark Ort:
02:39-02:40
So you ready to get going?
Mark Ort:
02:40-02:42
We have a lot of questions in a limited amount of time.
Mark Ort:
02:43-02:45
So, okay, ready?
Mark Ort:
02:45-02:45
You ready to go?
Mark Ort:
02:45-02:46
I'm ready to go.
Mark Ort:
02:46-02:47
Let's do it. - Okay, first question.
Pastor Jeff:
02:48-03:02
Now these are all, for those of you that are visiting, these are all congregation-submitted questions, whether it's through the website or they put in the fishbowl in case somebody's visiting here, you're like, "What are these guys doing?" Normally we do sermon time, but today we're answering some congregation-submitted questions.
Mark Ort:
03:02-03:06
First question, "How long were Adam and Eve in the garden before the fall?"
Pastor Jeff:
03:07-03:16
You know what? The Bible doesn't say how long, but we know that it wasn't long until Satan went after God's creation.
Pastor Jeff:
03:16-03:26
But the only real kind of clue that we have as far as how long were they in the garden before the fall, actually is from Genesis 4.1.
Pastor Jeff:
03:26-03:39
It says, "Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, 'I've gotten a man with the help of the Lord.'" And there's no births mentioned until after the fall.
Pastor Jeff:
03:41-04:02
So it's hard to think that, like, for example, Adam and Eve spent a hundred years in the Garden of Eden and did not procreate until, you know, after the fall. So looking at that kind of tells you that it looks like they weren't in the garden very long before the fall occurred. The Bible doesn't say it was X number of days or whatever.
Mark Ort:
04:03-04:09
Yeah, and just knowing how Satan operates, I imagine he didn't waste a lot of time going after them.
Pastor Jeff:
04:09-04:12
No, no, I don't think he wasted much time at all.
Mark Ort:
04:14-04:16
question was there pain before the fall?
Pastor Jeff:
04:17-04:29
Was there pain before the fall? Now the easy answer to this question is I wasn't there. Is there anybody that was here but anybody here today that was there before the fall that can attest to that?
Pastor Jeff:
04:29-04:39
Actually none of us were but we do have a seminary student Richard Sprunk I liked his answer to that we were talking about that this morning what was his answer?
Mark Ort:
04:40-04:47
He said that there were no Legos before the fall, so there couldn't have been pain. Now if you've ever stepped on a Lego, you know what he's talking about.
Pastor Jeff:
04:47-05:44
And if you've had kids and you've, you know, you've done that checking on the kids middle of the night, step on a Lego, yeah, that makes you want to say words you don't use in church, right? But was there pain before the fall? Well, here's what we do know. We do know that there was no death before the fall. We do know that for sure. But was there pain? Really the only verse, if we're just looking at what the text in the Bible says, the only verse that talks about pain in relation to the fall, Genesis 3.16 when God was telling you know the serpent, telling Adam and telling Eve, here's the consequences of sin, Genesis 3.16 the Lord It says, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbirth." So for God to say, "I'm going to multiply your pain," tells me that there must have been some level of pain as human sensation.
Pastor Jeff:
05:45-06:03
God didn't say, "I'm going to add pain to childbirth." He said, "I'm going to multiply pain." So it tells me that there must have been some level of human pain perception before the fall, because it was multiplied, not added.
Mark Ort:
06:04-06:07
Yeah, and we were talking about this a little bit beforehand this morning.
Mark Ort:
06:08-06:15
God created us complete, so would he add pain receptors later after the fall?
Mark Ort:
06:15-06:18
I think he probably would have put them there from the beginning.
Mark Ort:
06:18-06:25
And if we would have, you mentioned falling out of a tree or smashed your finger with the rock or something, I imagine that that would have hurt.
Mark Ort:
06:26-06:27
We don't know.
Mark Ort:
06:28-06:31
The Bible really doesn't come right out and say that explicitly.
Pastor Jeff:
06:32-06:34
And pain isn't always a bad thing.
Pastor Jeff:
06:34-06:35
You know, pain's a warning.
Pastor Jeff:
06:35-06:40
You know, if your hand's on the stove and you don't feel it, you're going to burn your arm off.
Pastor Jeff:
06:40-06:52
You know, the pain doesn't say, "Hey, something's wrong here." So yeah, I think that there must have been some level of that sensation before the fall.
Mark Ort:
06:53-06:55
Hard question, Jeff, and I love this one.
Mark Ort:
06:55-06:57
I think I know who wrote this, and I don't even see her in here.
Mark Ort:
06:59-07:00
I think my daughter wrote this.
Mark Ort:
07:00-07:01
What's your favorite color?
Pastor Jeff:
07:01-07:02
My favorite color?
Pastor Jeff:
07:04-07:05
My favorite color is gray.
Pastor Jeff:
07:07-07:09
And a lot of people think that's weird, but I want to clarify.
Pastor Jeff:
07:10-07:12
Gray spelled with an E, not with an N.
Mark Ort:
07:13-07:13
Okay.
Mark Ort:
07:13-07:14
Let's make sure we get that straight.
Mark Ort:
07:14-07:15
I see you have a gray shirt on today.
Pastor Jeff:
07:16-07:16
Yes.
Pastor Jeff:
07:16-07:16
It's my favorite.
Pastor Jeff:
07:16-07:18
Erin will tell you, it's my favorite color.
Mark Ort:
07:19-07:20
I like gray.
Mark Ort:
07:20-07:20
That's a great one.
Mark Ort:
07:20-07:21
My favorite color is blue.
Mark Ort:
07:21-07:24
Okay, back to the questions.
Mark Ort:
07:25-07:27
God has created us to glorify himself.
Mark Ort:
07:28-07:31
What do I say to someone who says this is selfish of God?
Pastor Jeff:
07:32-07:33
I've heard this question a lot.
Pastor Jeff:
07:33-07:35
That is a fantastic question.
Pastor Jeff:
07:36-07:46
Because when we think about, you know, in our minds, if somebody wants glory and somebody's bragging, in our minds immediately we're like, "Who do you think you are?
Pastor Jeff:
07:47-08:00
Like why do you think you deserve all the attention?" So then we talk about the Lord, we say the Lord's chief aim is to glorify His name through all the earth and He created us for His glory.
Pastor Jeff:
08:01-08:10
And I think that for some people they hear that and it's, "Wait a minute, is God some kind of a glory hog, like a narcissist?
Pastor Jeff:
08:12-08:21
What do I say to someone who says this is selfish of God?" You know, I thought that that question was worded in a very interesting way.
Pastor Jeff:
08:22-08:26
For somebody to say, "God is selfish." Let's think about that for a second.
Pastor Jeff:
08:27-08:28
God is selfish.
Pastor Jeff:
08:29-08:35
And if we can kind of turn our hearts and our minds towards, can you picture the cross in your mind?
Pastor Jeff:
08:37-08:39
Can you picture Jesus Christ hanging on the cross?
Pastor Jeff:
08:39-08:41
Can you see that picture in your head?
Pastor Jeff:
08:43-09:00
Did you see God become man, hanging on the cross, bleeding and suffering and abandoned by his friends and experiencing the worst kind of torment physically and much more so spiritually than anyone could ever experience?
Pastor Jeff:
09:00-09:01
Can you see that picture?
Pastor Jeff:
09:01-09:04
And now can we talk about how selfish God is?
Pastor Jeff:
09:04-09:10
You know, the cross is forever a testimony of God is anything but selfish.
Pastor Jeff:
09:11-09:16
But if we step out of that and just try to examine, "Okay, well what about this glory issue?
Pastor Jeff:
09:16-09:22
Let's just look at that." John Piper had a great quote that I wanted to share with you.
Pastor Jeff:
09:23-09:44
He said, "God's passion for His glory is the essence of His love for us." Meaning, true joy that we'll have, the best life, the best enjoyment that we will ever have is through that relationship of knowing God and through glorifying God.
Pastor Jeff:
09:45-09:54
And because that's true, it's actually an act of love that God keeps His glory at the center because that's the thing that truly satisfies us.
Pastor Jeff:
09:56-09:57
And I was thinking about this this week.
Pastor Jeff:
09:58-10:02
You know, it would be like if I was hosting a basketball camp.
Pastor Jeff:
10:02-10:03
Could you imagine?
Pastor Jeff:
10:04-10:06
Years ago they asked me to coach this basketball team.
Pastor Jeff:
10:06-10:08
It was church league and I had no idea what I was doing.
Pastor Jeff:
10:08-10:10
I don't know the first thing about it.
Pastor Jeff:
10:10-10:15
I'm just like, get the ball in the hoop, and whatever you've got to do to make that happen, just do it.
Pastor Jeff:
10:15-10:16
I didn't know a thing about it.
Pastor Jeff:
10:16-10:23
But could you imagine if somebody asked me, Jeff, will you hold basketball camp and teach these kids how to play basketball?
Pastor Jeff:
10:24-10:26
And imagine we're all down at the playground.
Pastor Jeff:
10:27-10:31
And imagine at that moment Michael Jordan shows up.
Pastor Jeff:
10:32-10:33
He just shows up at the playground.
Pastor Jeff:
10:34-10:37
And all of a sudden, the kids' attention starts going to Michael Jordan.
Pastor Jeff:
10:38-10:44
Do you think in that context I would stand up and say, I think you guys need to listen to me.
Pastor Jeff:
10:45-10:47
I mean, do you think that I would do that?
Pastor Jeff:
10:47-10:49
Like, hey, hey, hey, OK, Mike, sit down.
Pastor Jeff:
10:50-10:53
Because I'm going to show these kids how to play basketball.
Pastor Jeff:
10:54-10:55
That doesn't make any sense, does it?
Pastor Jeff:
10:56-11:02
Because someone so much greater than me is here, what would I do?
Pastor Jeff:
11:03-11:06
The whole time he's there, I would be pointing to him saying, kids, listen, every word he says.
Pastor Jeff:
11:07-11:08
He's the greatest basketball player of all time.
Pastor Jeff:
11:08-11:09
Just watch what he does.
Pastor Jeff:
11:09-11:11
I'd be pointing to him.
Pastor Jeff:
11:12-11:16
Michael Jordan probably rightly would be like, kids listen to me, Jeff doesn't know what he's talking about.
Pastor Jeff:
11:17-11:18
I know how to play basketball.
Pastor Jeff:
11:19-11:26
And if you kind of take that illustration, pointing to Michael Jordan, now let's talk about matters of life.
Pastor Jeff:
11:28-11:33
Should I be seeking to glorify and exalt myself and make sure that my word is said there?
Pastor Jeff:
11:33-11:36
Or should I be pointing people to God, the author of life?
Pastor Jeff:
11:36-11:37
Say, don't listen to me.
Pastor Jeff:
11:37-11:39
Look at him. Listen to him.
Pastor Jeff:
11:39-11:40
Even John the Baptist got that, right?
Pastor Jeff:
11:41-11:51
When some of his followers were following Jesus, and like, "John, you know, some of your followers..." John's like, "I got a decrease." He's going to increase, because he knew somebody so much greater than him was there.
Pastor Jeff:
11:52-11:57
So it's for our good that God is after his glory.
Mark Ort:
11:58-11:59
Great answer, thank you.
Mark Ort:
12:00-12:04
Can you explain the basics of what it means to be the spiritual head of the household?
Mark Ort:
12:04-12:06
How does a man successfully do this?
Mark Ort:
12:07-12:12
Also, are there any study aids that reference relevant scriptures on this subject?
Pastor Jeff:
12:12-12:16
This is a really good question, and I'm going to give a disclaimer because I don't know who wrote these questions.
Pastor Jeff:
12:17-12:23
So I'm going to give a disclaimer because I have to answer the questions in the way that I think they're being asked.
Pastor Jeff:
12:25-12:44
My disclaimer is, for the man to be the spiritual head of the household, I think we have to say we have to agree when this is possible. This has to happen. Here's what I mean by that. You know my wife has a friend whose husband is very sick right now and in the hospital.
Pastor Jeff:
12:47-13:04
Could that family unit right now perfectly fulfill God's design? Would that man be able to be the provider and be the spiritual head of the household when he's out of commission in the hospital, you see that sometimes different dynamics kind of change that up.
Pastor Jeff:
13:06-13:17
But according to what the Bible says about the man being the spiritual head of the household, man is called to be the head of the home.
Pastor Jeff:
13:19-13:22
As far as gender roles, it's equal but different.
Pastor Jeff:
13:23-13:24
It's like roles in the church.
Pastor Jeff:
13:24-13:33
You know, in the church we have people that have gifts of administration and gifts of speaking and gifts of serving, but there's nobody that's greater than another.
Pastor Jeff:
13:34-13:39
We're all the same, and it's the same in the role of husband and wife.
Pastor Jeff:
13:39-13:42
God has different roles, equal but different.
Pastor Jeff:
13:43-13:45
And what does the Bible say about that?
Pastor Jeff:
13:45-13:50
First Corinthians 11.3 says, "The head of every man is Christ.
Pastor Jeff:
13:50-14:09
The head of a wife is her husband." In Ephesians 5.23, "The husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself the Savior." Now this whole head of the household thing, actually we spent some time talking about the fall of man.
Pastor Jeff:
14:11-14:15
That was going to be a source of conflict built into the fall.
Pastor Jeff:
14:16-14:22
Remember in Genesis 3, verse 16, God said something very interesting to Eve.
Pastor Jeff:
14:22-14:32
He said, "Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." I think if you read that verse, "Your desire shall be for your husband," what's wrong with that?
Pastor Jeff:
14:33-14:34
That sounds like a good thing.
Pastor Jeff:
14:34-14:38
Hubba hubba, your desire should be for your husband, but that's not what that's talking about at all.
Pastor Jeff:
14:39-14:57
look the next chapter, you know, Cain was told, "Sin's desire will be for you." The phrasing means, "desire to rule over." God was telling Eve here in Genesis chapter 3 that there's going to be a struggle in the home about who's supposed to be the head of the household.
Pastor Jeff:
14:58-15:00
"Your desire shall be for your husband.
Pastor Jeff:
15:00-15:06
You'll want to rule over him, and he shall rule over you," because that's the way God designed the home to be.
Pastor Jeff:
15:07-15:11
I would like to remind you that authority is not about lording it over.
Pastor Jeff:
15:11-15:27
As soon as you talk about things like submission and authority, things like that, immediately people start tensing up, like, "Oh, this is a patriarchal church, and this is, you know, antiquated thinking." And authority is not about lording it over.
Pastor Jeff:
15:28-15:29
Like, I'm the authority.
Pastor Jeff:
15:29-15:30
That means I'm the boss.
Pastor Jeff:
15:32-15:33
I define authority this way.
Pastor Jeff:
15:34-15:40
Authority means I need to make decisions to protect and bless the people that are entrusted to my care.
Pastor Jeff:
15:41-15:42
That's what authority is.
Pastor Jeff:
15:42-15:43
I have the authority in the home.
Pastor Jeff:
15:43-15:48
What that means is I have to make decisions that are going to benefit Aaron and Owen and Cade.
Pastor Jeff:
15:48-15:50
I have to think of them when I make decisions.
Pastor Jeff:
15:51-15:58
You see, if I'm making decisions based on what do I want, what's going to make me happy, and now you people fall in line for that, that's lording it over.
Pastor Jeff:
15:58-16:00
That's misuse of authority.
Pastor Jeff:
16:00-16:09
But if I'm like, hey, I have to make decisions group T. Miller here that's going to benefit all of us, that's proper use of authority.
Pastor Jeff:
16:09-16:14
It's loving, it's discipling, it's protecting, it's blessing the family.
Pastor Jeff:
16:14-16:18
We're going to be talking about that in the coming weeks with this Parenting on Purpose series.
Pastor Jeff:
16:19-16:20
But it's also about provision.
Pastor Jeff:
16:22-16:26
One of my favorite verses in the Bible, I just love the subtle humor here.
Pastor Jeff:
16:28-16:49
First Timothy 5.8 says, "If anyone does not provide for his relatives, especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." So the Bible says that if you do not provide for your house and the burden's on the men, guys, if something's not working out at home, we're looking at you.
Pastor Jeff:
16:50-16:56
And the Bible says that if you don't provide for your household, you've denied the faith.
Pastor Jeff:
16:56-17:11
And I love this phrase, again, subtle humor, "You are worse than an unbeliever." God's like, "Here's the hierarchy." It's like there's pagan and heathen, and then the guy that says he's a Christian but doesn't take care of his family is way down here.
Pastor Jeff:
17:11-17:15
You are worse than an unbeliever if you don't take care of your own household.
Pastor Jeff:
17:17-17:18
Yeah, it is.
Pastor Jeff:
17:18-17:21
As far as the question, are there any study aids?
Pastor Jeff:
17:21-17:22
There are.
Pastor Jeff:
17:23-17:30
There's a book written by Stuart Scott called "The Exemplary Husband." Chapter 6, page 75.
Pastor Jeff:
17:31-17:33
He has a whole section on this.
Pastor Jeff:
17:33-17:36
And whoever wrote this question, if you want to borrow that book, just see me.
Pastor Jeff:
17:36-17:37
I have it sitting on my shelf at home.
Pastor Jeff:
17:38-17:41
I read it, it's an excellent book, and I'll be glad to give it to you.
Pastor Jeff:
17:42-17:45
So he has a whole big section dealing with this very thing.
Mark Ort:
17:46-17:56
And I am by no means an expert in this subject of spiritual head, but the things that I've found that work for me are in the word of God.
Mark Ort:
17:56-18:06
And I would encourage guys to just get into the word of God and develop a study habit or go through the word methodically.
Mark Ort:
18:06-18:18
And when you start to understand the word of God and you have it up here and in here, you become that person that God wants you to be just by virtue of being in the word.
Mark Ort:
18:19-18:21
Okay, let's move on to another question.
Mark Ort:
18:22-18:23
What happened to Enoch?
Pastor Jeff:
18:24-18:25
What happened to Enoch?
Pastor Jeff:
18:26-19:07
Well, Genesis 5.24 says, "Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." It's interesting, if you read Genesis 5, it talks about the genealogy, and over and over it says, "And he died, and he died, and he died, and this guy lived, and he died, and this guy lived, and he died." And then you get to Enoch, and it says, " Hebrews 11.5 says, giving a little further explanation, "By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death.
Pastor Jeff:
19:08-19:12
And he was not found because God had taken him.
Pastor Jeff:
19:13-19:20
Now before he was taken, he was commended as having pleased God." So what happened to Enoch?
Pastor Jeff:
19:21-19:24
I guess the term we would use is he was raptured.
Pastor Jeff:
19:25-19:31
He was just walking along one day and God says, "You're coming to heaven." The Bible says he just took him.
Pastor Jeff:
19:31-19:33
Man, what did that look like?
Pastor Jeff:
19:33-19:33
I don't know.
Pastor Jeff:
19:33-19:34
I wasn't there.
Pastor Jeff:
19:34-19:38
But I'm going to be looking for him when I get to heaven and I'm going to hear about this story.
Pastor Jeff:
19:39-19:40
Don't you want to hear how that happened?
Pastor Jeff:
19:41-19:42
I want to see the video of that too.
Pastor Jeff:
19:43-19:48
Yeah, maybe somebody had a selfie with Enoch flying to heaven or something.
Pastor Jeff:
19:50-19:53
But there was another guy in the Bible that did that too, remember?
Pastor Jeff:
19:54-20:00
God took him. He didn't die. And anybody remember who that was? Elijah, right.
Pastor Jeff:
20:00-20:13
2 Kings chapter 2. Same thing. That's how I want to go. Anybody else? Like if you had a choice on how you want to go, that's how I want to go. All
Mark Ort:
20:13-20:16
right, let's go to the next question here in Ezra. We're gonna go to the book of Ezra.
Pastor Jeff:
20:17-20:23
This was a really, really, really good question. I spent a lot of time doing some digging on this question.
Pastor Jeff:
20:24-20:30
And again, I don't know who asked it, but I was pretty impressed by the nature of the question.
Pastor Jeff:
20:31-20:31
Go ahead.
Pastor Jeff:
20:31-20:31
Yeah,
Mark Ort:
20:31-20:37
in Ezra 8.15, what is the significance of stating that none of the sons of Levi were present?
Pastor Jeff:
20:38-20:40
That is a really good question.
Pastor Jeff:
20:42-20:43
Anybody have an answer to that one?
Pastor Jeff:
20:45-20:47
Here's the issue, just to kind of give you a little bit of an on-ramp.
Pastor Jeff:
20:47-20:57
What's being asked here, You remember, because of persistent rebellion, God punished Israel by sending other nations to drive them out.
Pastor Jeff:
20:58-21:02
It happened with the Assyrians around 700 BC, conquering Northern Israel.
Pastor Jeff:
21:02-21:07
What happened with the Babylonians conquering Judah or Southern Israel around what, 586?
Pastor Jeff:
21:08-21:11
And so Israel, they were exiles, they were refugees.
Pastor Jeff:
21:12-21:17
And well, when the Persians got into power, the Persians were like, hey, you know what?
Pastor Jeff:
21:17-22:01
We'll get along a lot better with these people let them go into their own land and kind of live how they're used to living and they were a lot more peaceful with people that they conquered so under Cyrus's rule the Israelites were going back to Israel okay and what does this have to do with Ezra well Ezra led the second of three waves of Jews going back into Israel. And what does this have to do with the question? Well, in Ezra 8, verse 15, it says that none of the sons of Levi were present. So why was that a big deal?
Pastor Jeff:
22:02-22:15
Because Israel was going back into the promised land. And you can imagine the nation of Israel at that time thinking, "We've got another chance. God gave us, He's restoring us, and God's going to let us start over.
Pastor Jeff:
22:15-22:22
We're going back, we're going to rebuild the walls, we're going to rebuild the temple, and we're going to sort of start over, right?
Pastor Jeff:
22:25-22:30
Well if you're going to do that, aren't you going to need everybody there to start over?
Pastor Jeff:
22:31-22:42
It would be like if you're taking a family vacation and you guys are pulling out of the driveway and Kristen says, "Hey Mark, where's Livvy?" And you're like, "Well, do we really need
Mark Ort:
22:42-22:47
her?" - You know, she's not even in here to appreciate this because that actually happened before.
Pastor Jeff:
22:50-22:55
I knew that that actually happened and I gave you total opportunity to confess there.
Pastor Jeff:
22:55-22:59
So everybody, let's commend one of our elders here for his honesty.
Pastor Jeff:
23:00-23:04
But you can imagine, like if you're like, "Oh, we don't need Livvy.
Pastor Jeff:
23:04-23:07
We got most of the family." What would Kristen say?
Mark Ort:
23:07-23:09
She wouldn't be too happy with me.
Pastor Jeff:
23:09-23:11
Christa would say, "We're bringing all the family, Mark!
Pastor Jeff:
23:11-23:15
We're bringing all the family!" And that's exactly what was happening in Ezra.
Pastor Jeff:
23:15-23:18
Like, well, we got most of the Jews.
Pastor Jeff:
23:19-23:20
Do we have Levites?
Pastor Jeff:
23:21-23:23
No, we really don't.
Pastor Jeff:
23:24-23:25
Go get me some Levites.
Pastor Jeff:
23:25-23:31
It was sort of like Exodus is happening over and no Jewish person left behind.
Pastor Jeff:
23:31-23:38
So that really, I think Ezra just wanted to make sure that all Israel was represented as they're repopulating their land.
Mark Ort:
23:39-23:43
And we did pick, like, we didn't get the whole way out of the driveway before I realized.
Mark Ort:
23:44-23:46
So we picked her up and we went on our way.
Pastor Jeff:
23:47-23:47
Right.
Pastor Jeff:
23:48-23:50
Yeah, we, holy cow, that could have been bad.
Pastor Jeff:
23:50-23:55
I just move on and people are like, "Wow." Yeah, you didn't get out of the driveway.
Mark Ort:
23:55-24:01
Well, she asked me yesterday, actually, "Dad, did you really, did you know I was in the garage?
Mark Ort:
24:01-24:04
Did you do that on purpose?" So that actually, the question actually came up yesterday.
Mark Ort:
24:04-24:07
So that happened a couple years ago.
Pastor Jeff:
24:07-24:08
Well, you know that happened in our family, too.
Pastor Jeff:
24:09-24:15
We came home, remember, there and mom-- we came home from church, and mom's making lunch, and we're just like hanging out.
Pastor Jeff:
24:15-24:25
And all of a sudden, our little brother, who's seven years younger than me-- I was a kid at the time, so he was a little kid-- he just like walks in the front door.
Pastor Jeff:
24:26-24:31
And when he walked in, everybody looked at him, and everybody's like, oh, yeah, Jared!
Pastor Jeff:
24:32-24:34
That's right, we did have another brother.
Pastor Jeff:
24:35-24:35
Yeah.
Pastor Jeff:
24:36-24:37
Anybody else done that? Come on.
Pastor Jeff:
24:38-24:40
We're confessing. Anybody else?
Pastor Jeff:
24:41-24:43
Oh no, Pastor Jeff, we keep track of our children.
Pastor Jeff:
24:44-24:45
We're good parents.
Pastor Jeff:
24:46-24:49
We're actually kind of hoping that you learn something in this parenting series.
Pastor Jeff:
24:51-24:51
All right.
Pastor Jeff:
24:53-24:54
Thanks, Mrs. Brady.
Pastor Jeff:
24:55-24:57
Sorry, Mark, I guess we're the only bad parents here.
Mark Ort:
24:59-25:07
Can you please squash the Abraham's bosom doctrine so I can share this with people who tell me I'm wrong.
Mark Ort:
25:07-25:12
And this is referencing Luke 16 about the rich man and Lazarus.
Pastor Jeff:
25:12-25:23
Yeah, the reason this question is worded this way is because I do have a good idea of who asked this question because this person several months ago had asked me about this.
Pastor Jeff:
25:24-25:26
What's the Abraham's bosom doctrine?
Pastor Jeff:
25:27-25:28
How many people have heard this?
Pastor Jeff:
25:28-25:39
There's people that teach that the Old Testament saints who died did not go to heaven, but they went to this spiritual realm called Abraham's bosom.
Pastor Jeff:
25:39-25:41
How many people heard that talk?
Pastor Jeff:
25:41-25:42
Okay, a few of you have.
Pastor Jeff:
25:44-25:51
It was like a holding tank, like a spiritual realm, and the realm was called Abraham's bosom.
Pastor Jeff:
25:52-25:55
And all of that comes - if you have your Bibles, open up to Luke 16.
Pastor Jeff:
25:56-26:00
All of it comes from really just one or two verses.
Pastor Jeff:
26:02-26:07
Luke chapter 16, and we're going to be about verse 19.
Pastor Jeff:
26:09-26:16
Jesus said, "There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and who feasted sumptuously every day.
Pastor Jeff:
26:17-26:26
At his gate was a lady, a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table.
Pastor Jeff:
26:27-26:32
Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores." Okay, here it is.
Pastor Jeff:
26:33-26:39
The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side.
Pastor Jeff:
26:40-26:47
Some people take that verse to mean that he went to this spiritual realm called Abraham's bosom.
Pastor Jeff:
26:48-26:52
Now, I believe in just reading the Bible straightforwardly.
Pastor Jeff:
26:53-26:56
Okay, so let's just look at what it says.
Pastor Jeff:
26:57-27:01
Let's try to shelve our preconceived notions or things that we heard.
Pastor Jeff:
27:02-27:09
It says, "The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side." Just reading that verse, what does that tell you?
Pastor Jeff:
27:09-27:12
That he went to where?
Pastor Jeff:
27:14-27:19
He went to, well, we know for sure, according to this verse, he went to wherever Abraham was, right?
Pastor Jeff:
27:20-27:22
It says he was at Abraham's side.
Pastor Jeff:
27:22-27:25
My translation doesn't even use the word bosom.
Pastor Jeff:
27:26-28:09
says the rich man also died was buried in hades being in tour many lifted up his eyes and saw abraham far-off and lazarus at his side there it is again reading this straightforwardly i don't see jesus teaching that there was some spiritual holding tank for old testament saints until the work of the cross was complete and it's it just doesn't say that Literally, all it says is, "This poor man, Lazarus, this poor man died and he was at Abraham's side." Now to the Jew that was hearing this, where would they have assumed Abraham was?
Pastor Jeff:
28:11-28:12
He was in heaven, right?
Pastor Jeff:
28:13-28:14
Every Jew knew that.
Pastor Jeff:
28:14-28:14
He's in heaven.
Pastor Jeff:
28:15-28:18
You're like, "Hey, do you think Abraham's in heaven?" Like, "What are you talking about?
Pastor Jeff:
28:18-28:30
Of course he is." The Old Testament says, and Paul quotes in Romans chapter 4, "Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him, or it was credited to him as righteousness." Every Jew knew that Abraham had saving faith.
Pastor Jeff:
28:31-28:37
So when Jesus says, "Okay, Lazarus ended up at Abraham's side," what would they have heard?
Pastor Jeff:
28:38-28:47
"Oh, he was in heaven with Abraham." So this idea of this weird spiritual holding tank thing, it just, the Bible just doesn't say that.
Pastor Jeff:
28:48-29:00
you know it just nothing is said about a temporary Old Testament Satan holding tank all it says is in the story he was with Abraham
Mark Ort:
29:01-29:10
thanks Jeff for clarifying that next question as a Christian do we need to follow the Ten Commandments to be pleasing to God and be blessed by Him
Pastor Jeff:
29:11-29:28
do we need to follow the Ten Commandments to be pleasing to God and be blessed by Him the answer is no And the idea that I have to do things in order to make God happy, that's kind of old covenant type thinking.
Pastor Jeff:
29:28-29:43
You know, in the old covenant it was, you have to keep the law, you have to keep all of the law, and if you fail to keep the law, you have to sacrifice a blood sacrifice for your sin, and God will bless you if you keep the law, and you'll experience God's cursing if you don't.
Pastor Jeff:
29:43-29:47
And that's very Old Testament type thinking.
Pastor Jeff:
29:48-29:53
We live under the completed work of Jesus Christ.
Pastor Jeff:
29:54-30:00
He perfectly fulfilled the law, and He gave us the perfect righteousness of God.
Pastor Jeff:
30:00-30:16
You know, my favorite verse in the Bible, 2 Corinthians 5.21, "God took Jesus, who knew no sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God." When you receive Christ, God literally gives you the righteousness of Himself.
Pastor Jeff:
30:17-30:21
That's my favorite verse and it's also the most mind-blowing thing in the entire Bible to me.
Pastor Jeff:
30:22-30:24
God sees you as righteous as himself.
Pastor Jeff:
30:25-30:30
And it's not because you kept commandments or whatever, it's because you trusted Christ.
Pastor Jeff:
30:30-30:33
You received, you made a, you know, there's an exchange that took place.
Pastor Jeff:
30:34-30:38
Jesus takes your sin and he gives you his righteousness.
Pastor Jeff:
30:40-31:05
So as I'm understanding how this question is being asked, do we, do we get like extra blessing from God or we we make God happier if we follow the Ten Commandments? The truth is in Christ, if you're in Christ, there's nothing you can do to make God love you anymore. And there's nothing you can do to make God love you any less because His love for you is already established and perfect because of what Christ did on your behalf.
Mark Ort:
31:06-31:20
Yeah, one of my favorite passages, Jeff, on that topic is in Romans 8. It says, "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus "has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
Mark Ort:
31:21-31:29
"For what the law could not do," there it is, "weak as it was through the flesh, "God did, sending his own Son "in the likeness of sinful flesh.
Mark Ort:
31:29-31:40
"And as an offering for sin, "he condemned sin in the flesh, "so that the requirement of the law "might be fulfilled in us, "who do not walk according to the flesh, "but according to the Spirit." And there you see it.
Mark Ort:
31:40-31:50
I mean, Jesus came in the Sermon on the Mount, and he says, "I didn't come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it." It's still good not to kill people.
Mark Ort:
31:51-31:53
It's still good not to commit adultery.
Mark Ort:
31:53-31:55
Those commands are good.
Mark Ort:
31:57-32:00
We need them. We need to obey them, I guess.
Mark Ort:
32:00-32:01
But we're not saved by them.
Pastor Jeff:
32:02-32:04
The commandments reveal the heart of God.
Pastor Jeff:
32:04-32:08
The reason God says you shouldn't lie is because He's the God of truth.
Pastor Jeff:
32:09-32:13
Those commandments represent Him, and if we're going to be His people called by His name, we should represent Him.
Mark Ort:
32:14-32:20
It's in Galatians, I think, that talks about the law actually being our tutor to lead us to Christ.
Mark Ort:
32:21-32:23
We need the law to show us how sinful we are.
Mark Ort:
32:23-32:24
We can't obey them.
Mark Ort:
32:25-32:29
But this passage here says that for what the law could not do, God did.
Pastor Jeff:
32:29-32:35
That's part of the new covenant is we don't follow a law written on stone tablets.
Pastor Jeff:
32:35-32:54
God says, "I'm gonna write the law in your heart." So when you're walking in the Spirit, you know, the Bible says, When you're walking in the Spirit, you're going to naturally do those things that reflect God's character in the law anyways, right?
Pastor Jeff:
32:54-33:01
Like, if I truly love you in the way that Christ empowers me to love someone, am I going to steal from you?
Pastor Jeff:
33:02-33:03
Of course not.
Pastor Jeff:
33:04-33:07
If I truly love you, am I going to murder you?
Pastor Jeff:
33:07-33:07
Of course not.
Pastor Jeff:
33:08-33:11
So they're fulfilled in the spirit of God.
Pastor Jeff:
33:11-33:18
in the sense of His Holy Spirit empowers us to be who He's calling us to be.
Pastor Jeff:
33:18-33:26
But it's not a matter of, "Okay, here's the rules, you've got to keep the rules." We don't live under old covenant anymore.
Pastor Jeff:
33:26-33:29
We have the law inscribed in our heart.
Mark Ort:
33:30-33:33
Okay, next question, and this is one of those doozy questions you were talking about, I think.
Mark Ort:
33:34-33:41
"If murder is a sin, does that make the military or killing in self-defense sinful?"
Pastor Jeff:
33:41-33:42
The answer is definitely no.
Pastor Jeff:
33:43-33:47
Military or killing in self-defense is not sinful.
Pastor Jeff:
33:47-33:55
Murder refers to a hate-inspired act of violence intended to take a life.
Pastor Jeff:
33:55-33:56
That's murder.
Pastor Jeff:
33:56-34:04
That's I hate you, and I want to harm you to the point of even taking your life.
Pastor Jeff:
34:04-34:05
That's murder.
Pastor Jeff:
34:07-34:10
But self-defense, for example, no.
Pastor Jeff:
34:11-34:17
You know, when Jesus told his disciples to take a sword, I believe that that was for self-defense.
Pastor Jeff:
34:18-34:20
I don't think it was to butter your toast with it.
Mark Ort:
34:20-34:22
Yeah, they weren't cutting down like weeds.
Pastor Jeff:
34:22-34:24
Yeah, to cut down your weeds or trim your toenails with it.
Pastor Jeff:
34:24-34:26
I think it was for self-defense.
Pastor Jeff:
34:27-34:32
You know, somebody would try to break into our house and it's gonna get down to them or me.
Pastor Jeff:
34:32-34:33
It's gonna be them.
Pastor Jeff:
34:34-34:36
You know, I'll do whatever it takes to defend my family.
Pastor Jeff:
34:36-34:37
That's not murder.
Pastor Jeff:
34:37-34:41
Murder is a hatred-inspired act.
Pastor Jeff:
34:41-34:46
And even the Bible distinguishes these things.
Pastor Jeff:
34:46-34:52
For example, jot down Numbers 35, verse 9, just as an example.
Pastor Jeff:
34:53-35:03
Under the Old Testament law, one of the things that God established for these cities of refuge that if you accidentally killed somebody, there was a place that you could go to be safe.
Pastor Jeff:
35:03-35:09
My point in that is even the Bible differentiates between what is murder and what is manslaughter, right?
Pastor Jeff:
35:10-35:16
God says very clearly, you know, that was the first man-to-man law, that if a man murders another then he should be killed.
Pastor Jeff:
35:16-35:20
That was the first law that God gave Noah when he got off the ark.
Pastor Jeff:
35:20-35:24
It was the first man-to-man enforced governmental law, so to speak.
Pastor Jeff:
35:25-35:27
But under the Mosaic law, even God differentiates.
Pastor Jeff:
35:27-35:27
No, no, no.
Pastor Jeff:
35:29-35:30
Manslaughter is different.
Pastor Jeff:
35:31-35:43
Over and over in that passage it says, "but was not intended, but was not intended, not intended." It was very clear that the heart motivation wasn't to kill somebody, you know, so the person shouldn't be dealt with in that way.
Pastor Jeff:
35:44-35:45
And our laws sort of reflect that.
Mark Ort:
35:46-36:00
Yeah, and the military aspect of that, I mean, you see in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, that God had given the state the right to wield the sword, and they sometimes would misuse that, and we misuse that today.
Mark Ort:
36:01-36:05
He does give that authority for government.
Mark Ort:
36:05-36:07
This will be the last question for today.
Mark Ort:
36:08-36:10
And I really wanted to hear your answer on this.
Mark Ort:
36:11-36:13
What kind of things did Jesus do for fun?
Mark Ort:
36:14-36:16
What did he find funny or entertaining?
Pastor Jeff:
36:17-36:20
That is a really good question, and honestly, I don't know.
Pastor Jeff:
36:20-36:23
Because the Bible doesn't say.
Pastor Jeff:
36:24-36:28
Do I think that Jesus laughed and had fun and enjoyed living?
Pastor Jeff:
36:28-36:30
Absolutely, I do.
Pastor Jeff:
36:31-36:39
But as far as asking what kinds of things amused Jesus, what did he do for fun, I can't speak with any kind of authority on that because the Bible doesn't say.
Pastor Jeff:
36:40-36:41
It just doesn't.
Pastor Jeff:
36:42-36:55
The reason the Bible doesn't say is because under inspiration of the Holy Spirit obviously, when biographies were being written in this day, they didn't write down every single thing about a person.
Pastor Jeff:
36:55-36:59
They mainly were concerned with what can I learn from this person.
Pastor Jeff:
37:00-37:01
how biographies were written.
Pastor Jeff:
37:01-37:08
They didn't care what color the shutters were in your house, or did you like raisin bran or cornflakes for breakfast?
Pastor Jeff:
37:08-37:09
They didn't care about that.
Pastor Jeff:
37:10-37:13
When they did biographies in this day, they were like, what can we learn from this person?
Pastor Jeff:
37:14-37:20
And I believe that that mindset was one of the things the Holy Spirit actually used as he inspired scripture.
Pastor Jeff:
37:21-37:25
That's why we have those accounts of Jesus teaching it.
Pastor Jeff:
37:25-37:26
Here's who he was.
Pastor Jeff:
37:26-37:28
Here's what he did.
Pastor Jeff:
37:28-37:31
here's what he taught, you know, the cross, the resurrection.
Pastor Jeff:
37:32-37:35
We don't see any fluff in the Bible when it comes to Jesus.
Pastor Jeff:
37:35-37:37
Like, well, that was kind of a meaningless section.
Pastor Jeff:
37:38-37:40
That was kind of a pointless little anecdote about his life.
Pastor Jeff:
37:42-37:47
And I don't think it would really benefit us spiritually if we had that.
Pastor Jeff:
37:47-37:49
Like, this is what Jesus did for fun.
Pastor Jeff:
37:50-37:54
And if he told a joke, if Jesus told a joke, it would probably be so funny.
Pastor Jeff:
37:55-38:00
We would probably tell that joke every week in church, we'd probably all laugh, because it'd be like the perfect joke, right?
Pastor Jeff:
38:01-38:02
But we just don't know.
Pastor Jeff:
38:03-38:05
So it's hard to speak with any kind of authority on that.
Pastor Jeff:
38:05-38:18
But I'm sure that Jesus wasn't some kill joy and no fun to be around, because the Bible certainly teaches opposite, doesn't it?
Pastor Jeff:
38:18-38:23
People were just trampling over each other to be near him, because he was so engaging.
Pastor Jeff:
38:24-38:26
So do I think he enjoyed life?
Pastor Jeff:
38:26-38:27
Absolutely.
Pastor Jeff:
38:28-38:31
Did he do things for fun or find some things funny or entertaining?
Pastor Jeff:
38:31-38:33
I would have to think that he did.
Mark Ort:
38:34-38:43
As sinful humans, I guess, often find humor in things that are crass or off color or whatever.
Mark Ort:
38:44-38:47
And if Jesus found humor in things, it wouldn't be like that.
Mark Ort:
38:48-38:52
It would be things, I mean, we were created in God's image.
Mark Ort:
38:53-38:59
And if we have things that make us laugh and make us smile, I mean, those are human emotions.
Mark Ort:
39:00-39:03
And Jesus was 100% man and 100% God.
Mark Ort:
39:03-39:08
So we share some emotions that Jesus shared.
Mark Ort:
39:08-39:17
You know, he felt sadness at times, and he felt compassion, and he had these different emotions that he would display.
Mark Ort:
39:18-39:20
Certainly he would have displayed humor, I believe.
Pastor Jeff:
39:21-39:21
Absolutely.
Pastor Jeff:
39:22-39:27
That's one of those things we can talk with Him about when we get to heaven.
Pastor Jeff:
39:28-39:30
But I'm sure...
Pastor Jeff:
39:30-39:35
You know, there was a few years ago, Aaron and I were walking somewhere, it was winter time.
Pastor Jeff:
39:35-39:40
You remember this? I jumped over the little guardrail and there was a patch of ice that I didn't see.
Pastor Jeff:
39:41-39:45
I jumped and did a half spin and I had my arms out and I was going to make it look really fancy.
Pastor Jeff:
39:46-39:50
When I hit that patch of ice, whoop! I did, I biffed it so bad.
Pastor Jeff:
39:51-40:15
and i just have a feeling when i get the heaven jesus can be like the i thought that was fun you asked me i thought was funny that time you get that when you don't have a guardrail trying to impress aaron hilarious hilarious i will what what did you pray to a close our time as the worship team comes up that are a and then what closing worship that we have a couple questions we didn't get to will put them on the blog and website
Mark Ort:
40:15-40:17
yeah when's the next you may be because i i really like i
Pastor Jeff:
40:17-40:25
was like you know know, June or July or something, but yeah, we have, we've been scheduling two a year, so, um, it's June or July, something like that.
Mark Ort:
40:25-40:26
Then next week we start the parenting, right?
Pastor Jeff:
40:27-40:40
Next week is parenting on purpose, so make sure you're inviting people. We're gonna be spending four weeks digging deep into God's Word concerning, you know, what does the Bible call us to do as parents, and, um, what does it mean to disciple your children.
Pastor Jeff:
40:40-40:44
So, yeah, we're gonna be getting into that headfirst next week.
Mark Ort:
40:44-40:46
Good. Thank you, Jeff. Let's pray.
Mark Ort:
40:47-40:51
Heavenly Father, we want to thank you for all that you're doing in our lives.
Mark Ort:
40:52-41:02
We're thankful that we're able to come together this morning and sing praises to you this morning and hear answers to questions that the congregation had this time, Lord.
Mark Ort:
41:02-41:05
And we know that the Bible was sufficient for us.
Mark Ort:
41:05-41:09
And the Word of God has all things pertaining to life and godliness.
Mark Ort:
41:10-41:18
So Lord, we can have confidence in looking into your word and knowing that you have our best interests at heart.
Mark Ort:
41:19-41:22
We can look into your word and find the things that we need, Lord.
Mark Ort:
41:22-41:28
I think about this question on being a spiritual head and a spiritual leader.
Mark Ort:
41:29-41:31
Certainly we can go to your word and find out how to do that.
Mark Ort:
41:31-41:38
And Lord, so I pray for that person who asked that question that they would become the spiritual leader that they need to be.
Mark Ort:
41:39-41:52
And Lord, these other questions were, the answers were beneficial to us, and certainly we pray that you are honored in the answering the questions, using your word, and Lord, we wanna thank you for that.
Mark Ort:
41:52-41:56
I thank you for this new year, January 1st, 2017.
Mark Ort:
41:57-42:05
I pray, Lord, that we would use each day this year for you, that we would clean out the clutter like we talked about earlier.
Mark Ort:
42:06-42:25
I pray, Lord, that we would make room for you, and make room for our studies and for our memorization and for our prayer time and make room for other people, Lord, that we would visit people and minister to people and evangelize to people that need to hear from your word, Lord.
Mark Ort:
42:26-42:29
Thank you for your great love for us and we thank you for your great salvation.
Mark Ort:
42:30-42:32
We could not enter your presence.
Mark Ort:
42:33-42:38
We could not have a place in heaven were it not for the blood of Jesus that was shed for us.
Mark Ort:
42:39-42:41
And we're eternally grateful for that this morning, Lord.
Mark Ort:
42:42-42:44
Thank you for all you're doing.
Mark Ort:
42:44-42:46
We thank you for being the great God that you are.
Mark Ort:
42:47-42:51
We thank you, Lord, for just loving us and caring for us.
Mark Ort:
42:51-42:56
We pray these things in the strong name of your one and only son, Jesus, amen.
Mark Ort:
42:57-42:57
Amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Review and discuss any of the questions and answers given on Sunday's Q&A day together. Have you found any additional biblical support for the answers given?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.