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.
[02:53] - Q: When was Jesus born? Why do we celebrate on December 25th?
[03:54] - Q: Is celebrating Christmas ordained or supported by scripture?
[06:17] - LIVE AUDIENCE Q: I have a friend who is young in her faith yet she got a tarot card reading. I’ve been mentoring her about her faith and she also has a young daughter. I’m trying to figure out the best way to talk to her about these tarot cards and she’s also asking about her horoscope. How would you confront her in a loving way about this.
A: See 1 Peter[08:23] - Q: I believe that an important aspect of the virgin birth is that in order for Jesus to be sinless, He needed to be free from Adam’s sin. I think that Adam's sin is perpetuated in humanity through the seed of man. By being conceived by the Holy Spirit instead of the seed of a man, Jesus was not conceived with Adam's original sin and can start completely sinless. Do you agree?
A: Yes![09:33] - Q: What is HBC principle on tithe and offering?
A: See 2 Cor 8:3 - For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord…
2 Cor 8:12 - For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.
2 Cor 9:7 - Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Re-listen to the I Love to Give sermon series on God’s view of money.[16:16] - Q: God is always referred as 'He' and 'Father'. Does this gender pronoun and title refer to a physical characteristic of God of His relationship with us? I.E. If the Holy Spirit is God; should we refer to it (Holy Spirit) as 'He'? Typically we don't assign a gender pronoun to spirits in the English language unless were able to assign the spirit to a person's gender.
[19:06] - Q: Why does God forbid women to be an “elder” or hold some authority in church?
A: See 1 Timothy 2:12-14 - I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.[24:45] - LIVE AUDIENCE Q: Can you help me understand the verse (James 2:17, 22-24), “faith without works is dead”? Doesn’t that contradict what we’re taught to believe that we’re just fine “saved” through faith and not works as it says in Romans?
[29:44] - Q: If we came from Adam and Eve shouldn't we all have the same last name and be the same family?
A: See Acts 17:26 - And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place…[32:52] - LIVE TXT Q: How do we guard ourselves against legalism? I.E. If I abstain from drinking, how do I guard against pressing others to not drink or get self-righteous or prideful in my abstinence?
[36:46] - Q: Where did Cain's wife come from?
A: See: Genesis 3:20 - The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
Genesis 5:4 - The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters.[37:58] - Q: At what point during a human's development is it "issued" a soul? At conception? Sometime while in the womb? Or at the baby's first breathe?
A: See Luke 1:41 - And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit…
Psalm 139:13 - For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.[39:44] - LIVE TXT Q: If John knew when the rapture happened (when God showed him) why doesn't it say in the Bible when the rapture will happen?
A: Soon!
Any question that was missed due to time constraints during the service Pastor Jeff will address the answer on the blog.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
-
Mark Ort:
01:04-01:10
What we normally do here at Harvest, if you're new, or if this is your first time here, is we go through a book of the Bible.
Mark Ort:
01:10-01:12
And right now we're going through what?
Mark Ort:
01:12-01:13
Revelation.
Mark Ort:
01:13-01:14
And it's been pretty amazing.
Mark Ort:
01:15-01:19
And, but once in a while we take a little break, and this is one of those times during the year.
Mark Ort:
01:19-01:23
And actually one of my favorite times to come to church is Q&A day.
Mark Ort:
01:24-01:26
As usual, we have how many questions?
Mark Ort:
01:26-01:27
18?
Mark Ort:
01:27-01:29
They're always really good questions.
Pastor Jeff:
01:29-01:30
They are always good questions.
Pastor Jeff:
01:30-01:35
These are questions you submitted, whether it's in person or through the website.
Pastor Jeff:
01:36-01:40
We'll take some time, maybe pass a microphone if somebody has a question live, somebody's visiting.
Pastor Jeff:
01:41-01:44
It's like, yeah, I'm gonna stump the preacher.
Mark Ort:
01:44-01:45
That's pretty dangerous, you know.
Pastor Jeff:
01:46-01:47
I know, I know.
Pastor Jeff:
01:47-01:49
And why don't we go over the ground rules first?
Pastor Jeff:
01:49-01:53
We are, we're answering the questions as we understand them to be asked, right?
Pastor Jeff:
01:53-02:00
So we're just looking at how they were written and we're going to try to answer them according to what we think is being asked, right?
Pastor Jeff:
02:01-02:02
And what are the other rules?
Mark Ort:
02:02-02:04
short answer. It's the short
Pastor Jeff:
02:04-02:06
answer. We're going to give the short answer, right? I probably should have wrote these down.
Pastor Jeff:
02:07-02:17
And I will blog on our website questions we don't cover. Oh, we'll be taking a few select live questions with the microphone via texting during this forum.
Pastor Jeff:
02:18-02:19
Are you ready? I'm ready, go ahead.
Mark Ort:
02:20-02:28
All right, first question, Jeff. And this is a great question because we just came out of the Christmas Eve and somebody wants to know when was Jesus born?
Mark Ort:
02:29-02:32
Why do we celebrate on December 25th?
Mark Ort:
02:32-02:36
Is celebrating Christmas ordained or supported by scripture?
Pastor Jeff:
02:37-02:40
All right, in order, when was Jesus born?
Pastor Jeff:
02:40-02:42
We don't know exactly what birthday is.
Pastor Jeff:
02:43-02:47
He was probably born actually 6 BC when they reset the calendar.
Pastor Jeff:
02:47-02:51
And we think zero is the year he was born, but then they found they were off.
Pastor Jeff:
02:51-02:53
He was probably born like 6 BC.
Pastor Jeff:
02:54-02:56
Why do we celebrate on December 25th?
Pastor Jeff:
02:57-03:00
Well, there was a... depending who you ask, you may have different reasons.
Pastor Jeff:
03:00-03:04
There was a Roman pagan holiday called Saturnalia, the festival of lights.
Pastor Jeff:
03:04-03:16
The Christians sort of adopted that to say, "We're going to use this time, since it's the time of year people were celebrating, and all of that, we're going to use it to celebrate the incarnation of Jesus Christ." Let me look at my notes here.
Pastor Jeff:
03:16-03:26
The first recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on December 25th was in the year 336 during the time of Roman Emperor Constantine.
Pastor Jeff:
03:26-03:28
Is it ordained by Scripture? No.
Pastor Jeff:
03:28-03:35
The Bible doesn't say, "Thou shalt celebrate the incarnation on December 25th." The Bible does not say that. So why do we do it?
Pastor Jeff:
03:36-03:37
I look at it as an opportunity.
Pastor Jeff:
03:38-03:42
It's a time of year, let's just be honest, it's a time of year people go to church that don't normally go to church, right?
Pastor Jeff:
03:43-03:47
And if you came to any of our services last week, what did we do?
Pastor Jeff:
03:47-03:54
We talked about the fact that God became a man, and we talked about what it means that Jesus came and died for our sins and rose from the dead.
Pastor Jeff:
03:54-03:57
It's a chance that people can hear the gospel that they might not otherwise.
Pastor Jeff:
03:57-04:01
So I look at it as taking advantage of an opportunity.
Mark Ort:
04:01-04:01
Excellent.
Pastor Jeff:
04:02-04:03
I wasn't going
Mark Ort:
04:03-04:05
to bring this up, but I thought it was kind of funny.
Mark Ort:
04:05-04:15
Do you remember, Jeff and I used to do prison ministry together, and every Christmas when we would go in for the Christmas party, there would be some guy that would try to stump us.
Mark Ort:
04:15-04:24
He'd come up and puff his chest out and say, "You know, Jesus wasn't born on December 25th." Trying to like provoke an argument or something.
Mark Ort:
04:25-04:28
And we'd be like, "Yeah, we know." - Mark knew, I was like, "What?
Mark Ort:
04:28-04:29
He wasn't?
Pastor Jeff:
04:29-04:35
What are we doing?" He like, "You know that we're here giving cookies and pop celebrating Christmas.
Pastor Jeff:
04:35-04:39
You know that if you change our mind on this, we're gonna stop doing these Christmas parties."
Mark Ort:
04:39-04:41
And he was probably not born December 25th.
Mark Ort:
04:41-04:45
And actually the Christmas party at the jail was just what Jeff was explaining.
Mark Ort:
04:46-04:52
It was such a good opportunity to go in and share the love of Christ and share with them why Christ came.
Mark Ort:
04:53-04:54
Why did he even come?
Mark Ort:
04:56-04:56
All right, ready for the next one?
Mark Ort:
04:57-04:58
Right, I'm ready for the next one.
Mark Ort:
04:58-04:58
You know what?
Mark Ort:
04:59-05:00
Let's do a live one right away.
Mark Ort:
05:01-05:02
Let's do one right now.
Mark Ort:
05:02-05:05
Well, what happened was when we did live ones last time, I forgot about it.
Mark Ort:
05:05-05:07
And I think we did like one.
Mark Ort:
05:07-05:12
And then I was so intent on the questions that we had that I don't think I asked for a live one again.
Mark Ort:
05:12-05:13
All right,
Pastor Jeff:
05:13-05:16
do we have a extra microphone that we can pass around?
Pastor Jeff:
05:17-05:17
I'm sure somebody does.
Pastor Jeff:
05:18-05:20
All right, what question do you have for Mark?
Questioner 2:
05:21-05:44
So I have a friend who is young in her faith and she taught a tarot card reading and I have, I've been mentoring her like I talk with her about her faith and also about, she's a young daughter and I'm trying to figure out a good way to talk to her about this tarot cards and also she's asking questions about a horse.
Questioner 2:
05:45-05:48
How could you confront the love of the Lord?
Pastor Jeff:
05:49-06:07
Well, when somebody gets involved in those things, I point them to God's word to say, "God is very clear how he feels about "trying to obtain spiritual information apart from him, "whether that's witchcraft or using mediums or whatever." Tarot cards are certainly on that list.
Pastor Jeff:
06:07-06:14
It's absolutely forbidden, Old Testament and New Testament, reason being is God is the source of truth, right?
Pastor Jeff:
06:15-06:16
God's Word is the source of truth.
Pastor Jeff:
06:17-06:26
And the whole idea of tarot cards and horoscopes and all of those things is we're going to try to get spiritual information apart from God.
Pastor Jeff:
06:26-06:34
And when you look at it from that perspective, kind of a big picture, I mean, you see it for the blasphemous thing that it is, right?
Pastor Jeff:
06:34-06:41
God's like, here, here's everything you need to know about me, about life, about the past, about the future, and we're like, "You know what?
Pastor Jeff:
06:42-06:52
I'm going to consult another source." And ultimately, there's demonic things underlying those things.
Pastor Jeff:
06:52-07:00
If this person is a professing Christian, that's the place you need to hit to say, "Look, you believe in Jesus Christ, you trust God's word.
Pastor Jeff:
07:01-07:06
If that's true, then we need to take a look at what God's word says." You already have the source of authority thing as a foundation,
Mark Ort:
07:06-07:07
right?
Mark Ort:
07:07-07:14
And it's 2 Peter 1 where it says that we do have all things pertaining to life and godliness.
Mark Ort:
07:14-07:22
So if we have all things pertaining to life and godliness in God's word, as Jeff was saying, we don't need to resort to those kinds of things.
Mark Ort:
07:23-07:31
Certainly if she's a professing Christian, that should ring true in her mind that, oh, okay, I should go to God's word for these things.
Pastor Jeff:
07:31-07:32
Right, yeah, you get an advantage.
Mark Ort:
07:33-07:34
If she's a professing
Pastor Jeff:
07:34-07:37
believer, you have an advantage because you're like, "Hey, you say you believe in the Bible?
Pastor Jeff:
07:37-07:43
Okay, let's go to it." That's much harder when you have a friend that's not a believer, because then you don't have the same source of authority.
Pastor Jeff:
07:44-07:48
You can certainly warn them, like, "Look, you know what the Bible says?" But to an unbeliever, like, "What's the Bible?
Pastor Jeff:
07:49-07:53
Like, I don't believe that anyways, right?" So, all right, next question.
Mark Ort:
07:53-07:55
Okay, next question is kind of a long one.
Mark Ort:
07:56-08:04
I believe that an important aspect of the virgin birth is that in order for Jesus to be sinless, he needed to be free from Adam's sin.
Mark Ort:
08:05-08:09
I think that Adam's sin is perpetuated in humanity through the seed of man.
Mark Ort:
08:10-08:19
By being conceived by the Holy Spirit instead of the seed of man, Jesus was not conceived with Adam's original sin and can start completely sinless.
Mark Ort:
08:20-08:20
Do you agree?
Pastor Jeff:
08:22-08:22
Yes.
Pastor Jeff:
08:23-08:24
No, I do agree with that.
Pastor Jeff:
08:24-08:27
I mean, whoever wrote that question, that's very well stated.
Pastor Jeff:
08:27-08:28
I do agree with that.
Pastor Jeff:
08:28-08:34
You know, in Genesis, what is it, Genesis 3.15, God promised that the Messiah was going to come through Eve's seed.
Pastor Jeff:
08:35-08:37
Woman is never said to have seed otherwise.
Pastor Jeff:
08:38-08:42
It's weird that God would associate the seed with a woman, but he did very specifically for a reason.
Pastor Jeff:
08:43-08:54
It wasn't man's seed that brought the Messiah, it was through the woman that the Messiah came through the Holy Spirit's conceiving in Mary.
Pastor Jeff:
08:55-08:57
I personally, I agree with all of that.
Pastor Jeff:
08:57-08:58
Well
Mark Ort:
08:58-09:00
worded and we agree.
Pastor Jeff:
09:00-09:02
Yeah, whoever wrote that, you're preaching next week.
Mark Ort:
09:03-09:03
Okay, next
Pastor Jeff:
09:03-09:04
one.
Pastor Jeff:
09:04-09:08
What is Harvest Bible Chapel's principle on tithe and offering?
Pastor Jeff:
09:09-09:10
We did a whole series on this.
Pastor Jeff:
09:11-09:12
How many years ago was that there?
Pastor Jeff:
09:12-09:13
I know it was a few years ago, right?
Pastor Jeff:
09:14-09:14
I Love to Give.
Pastor Jeff:
09:15-09:18
We did a whole series on that that is available on our website, right?
Pastor Jeff:
09:18-09:20
For the low, low cost of, what is it now, Murph?
Pastor Jeff:
09:21-09:22
It's free, right.
Pastor Jeff:
09:22-09:28
If you go on our website, we have a whole series called I Love to Give, and it's all about what we believe about tithes and offering.
Pastor Jeff:
09:28-09:30
I'm gonna give you the highlights there right quick, all right?
Pastor Jeff:
09:31-09:32
2 Corinthians 8.3.
Pastor Jeff:
09:32-09:36
2 Corinthians 8 and 9, that's where the servant-seers came from.
Pastor Jeff:
09:37-09:39
Here's the principles on tithes and offerings.
Pastor Jeff:
09:39-09:51
"For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord." Now here, when Paul was writing 2 Corinthians, he was getting an offering together for the poor church in Jerusalem.
Pastor Jeff:
09:52-09:54
And I believe this was the Macedonians, right Mark?
Pastor Jeff:
09:55-09:56
That they gave...
Pastor Jeff:
09:57-09:59
Paul says this is how they gave, right Mark?
Pastor Jeff:
09:59-10:01
They gave according to their means.
Pastor Jeff:
10:01-10:07
You know, like the commercial, "What's in your wallet?" They gave according to their means, not according to somebody else's means.
Pastor Jeff:
10:08-10:10
I didn't tie the according to how much Mark makes.
Pastor Jeff:
10:11-10:15
According to and beyond their means, they gave extra.
Pastor Jeff:
10:15-10:17
And of their own accord, there was a choice.
Pastor Jeff:
10:18-10:22
Next verse, 2 Corinthians 8, 12, the readiness is there.
Pastor Jeff:
10:23-10:25
It is acceptable according to what a person has.
Pastor Jeff:
10:25-10:27
There it is again, not according to what he does not have.
Pastor Jeff:
10:28-10:31
God is not asking you to give something you don't have.
Pastor Jeff:
10:31-10:34
He wants you to give according to what you do have.
Pastor Jeff:
10:34-10:39
And then here's one of my favorites that just really settles at 2 Corinthians 9, 7.
Pastor Jeff:
10:40-10:43
Each one must give as he has decided in his heart.
Pastor Jeff:
10:43-10:44
This is between you and the Lord.
Pastor Jeff:
10:44-10:47
I don't know what anybody in this church gives outside of Aaron and I.
Pastor Jeff:
10:48-10:49
And other than that, I don't know.
Pastor Jeff:
10:50-10:51
You have to decide.
Pastor Jeff:
10:52-10:54
And here's some, you're like, well, how do I decide?
Pastor Jeff:
10:54-10:56
Well, here's a couple of things to think about.
Pastor Jeff:
10:56-10:59
Not reluctantly or under compulsion.
Pastor Jeff:
10:59-11:01
You shouldn't give to God like, "Hey, you know what?
Pastor Jeff:
11:01-11:05
I'm gonna give this, but I really shouldn't." Don't.
Pastor Jeff:
11:06-11:08
If you're on the fence, just don't give.
Pastor Jeff:
11:08-11:09
Just keep.
Pastor Jeff:
11:10-11:12
Don't give reluctantly, don't give under compulsion.
Pastor Jeff:
11:13-11:15
How many times you guys have been coming to church for a long time?
Pastor Jeff:
11:15-11:20
How many times have I gotten up and given you this, "You better start giving." How many times have I given that speech mark?
Pastor Jeff:
11:21-11:22
Never, zero.
Pastor Jeff:
11:23-11:25
Why? Because people shouldn't give under compulsion.
Pastor Jeff:
11:25-11:28
You shouldn't be like, "Well, I'm gonna give because Jeff made me feel guilty.
Pastor Jeff:
11:29-11:30
This is between you and the Lord.
Pastor Jeff:
11:30-11:36
Giving is an act of worship, just like singing, just like getting into his Word, just like outreach.
Pastor Jeff:
11:36-11:52
Giving is part of worship, and it shouldn't be done under compulsion any more so than I would come over during song time, there's up here leading worship and you're not singing, and I come up and grab you, I'm like, "Dude, you better start singing or we're gonna have a problem." And then you start singing.
Pastor Jeff:
11:53-11:54
Is that really worship then?
Pastor Jeff:
11:54-11:56
That's the same way with giving, right?
Pastor Jeff:
11:57-11:59
So here's the thing, God loves a cheerful giver.
Pastor Jeff:
11:59-12:03
And I love that the word for cheerful in the Greek is where we get the word hilarious.
Pastor Jeff:
12:04-12:06
And I've known some hilarious givers.
Pastor Jeff:
12:06-12:12
They're like, and like giving to them, it's like they're on the inside of the world's greatest practical joke.
Pastor Jeff:
12:12-12:13
Like, this is awesome!
Pastor Jeff:
12:14-12:15
And they're like, right Aaron?
Pastor Jeff:
12:15-12:19
We know people that literally give and laugh while they're doing it.
Pastor Jeff:
12:19-12:21
They're like, give this to the missionaries!
Pastor Jeff:
12:21-12:23
And they're laughing, like holy cow, that's a big check.
Pastor Jeff:
12:23-12:25
but they're just laughing the whole time.
Pastor Jeff:
12:25-12:27
They think it's hysterical.
Pastor Jeff:
12:27-12:28
They're cheerful givers.
Pastor Jeff:
12:29-12:33
And you should give to God that which you can give joyfully.
Pastor Jeff:
12:33-12:37
As far as tithing, we don't live under the Old Testament Israel.
Pastor Jeff:
12:38-12:40
Actually, the Old Testament Israel tithe, that's a whole nother thing.
Pastor Jeff:
12:41-12:42
People think it was 10%, it wasn't.
Pastor Jeff:
12:42-12:46
It was 23 and a third percent, because there were three tithes.
Pastor Jeff:
12:46-12:49
There were the one to the Levites, that was 10%.
Pastor Jeff:
12:49-12:51
Then there was one that went for the festivals, right?
Pastor Jeff:
12:52-12:53
That was 10%.
Pastor Jeff:
12:53-12:59
three years there was 10% that went for the poor, so it was like, you know, 3 and a third percent a year.
Pastor Jeff:
12:59-13:03
Technically, the tithe in Israel was 23 and a third percent.
Pastor Jeff:
13:04-13:13
But we're not Jews living under the Old Testament law, so are we bound by a 10% tithe?
Pastor Jeff:
13:14-13:20
No. But I would challenge people with this to say, "Grace, we live under grace.
Pastor Jeff:
13:20-13:23
Grace always goes beyond the law every time, right?
Pastor Jeff:
13:24-13:30
So when people say, "Do I have to give 10%?" They're thinking, "Can I get away with giving less?" That's not grace thinking.
Pastor Jeff:
13:30-13:34
Grace thinking is, "How can I give more than that?" Grace goes beyond the law, right?
Pastor Jeff:
13:34-13:36
So, but it's between you and the Lord.
Pastor Jeff:
13:37-13:39
Give as much as you can give joyfully and cheerfully.
Pastor Jeff:
13:40-13:51
And listen to I Love to Give because there's so much motivation to give because of the way God gives back to you, because of the way it blesses people, interrupts in a praise of Thanksgiving.
Pastor Jeff:
13:51-13:55
There's so much in there about why we should be rightly motivated.
Mark Ort:
13:57-14:01
Let me just take this question a little bit farther here.
Mark Ort:
14:01-14:03
And you don't need to spend a lot of time on this.
Mark Ort:
14:03-14:06
But I was thinking about this a little bit as I looked at the questions.
Mark Ort:
14:07-14:25
What would you say to the person that wants to give more and wants to give hilariously, but they've fallen into circumstances where they're under an avalanche of bills, or something has happened in their life where right now is not a real good time for them to do that.
Mark Ort:
14:27-14:39
Would you say, continue tithing and let the bills build up or let's go with our obligations and we'll get back, what do you think about that?
Pastor Jeff:
14:39-14:42
Somebody like that I would advise to get some financial counseling.
Pastor Jeff:
14:42-14:50
I would say you need to talk to somebody to get a plan together because if your bills that piled up in the scenario that you painted, then you might need some coaching.
Pastor Jeff:
14:51-15:04
You might need a Christian financial counselor to come alongside and say, "Look, we need to get your obligations done, but not at the expense of, I'm not going to worship by giving to God.
Pastor Jeff:
15:04-15:11
You can't just, I'm not going to worship you until I get my bills paid." I think you need a counselor to help you get that all sorted out.
Pastor Jeff:
15:11-15:13
Let's get a plan together.
Pastor Jeff:
15:13-15:19
Again, I think if you're in a state where the bills are piled up, maybe it's because you haven't really had a plan.
Pastor Jeff:
15:21-15:28
That might require things like looking at getting a different job or another part-time job or whatever.
Pastor Jeff:
15:28-15:33
So, I think you need to get some counseling to get a solid plan together.
Pastor Jeff:
15:33-15:34
I don't think it should
Mark Ort:
15:34-15:34
be one or the other.
Mark Ort:
15:35-15:35
Good.
Mark Ort:
15:37-15:43
We'll do one more question off of the pre-submitted questions, and then we'll pass the mic for for another live one, how's that sound?
Mark Ort:
15:44-15:50
Okay, God is always referred to as he and father.
Mark Ort:
15:51-15:58
Does this gender pronoun and title refer to a physical characteristic of God, of his relationship with us?
Mark Ort:
15:59-16:05
That is if the Holy Spirit is God, should we refer to it, Holy Spirit, as he?
Mark Ort:
16:06-16:15
Typically we don't assign gender pronouns to spirits in the English language unless we are able to assign the spirit to a person's gender.
Pastor Jeff:
16:15-16:19
All right, I'm gonna look at my notes here because I wanna make sure I cover all of these things.
Pastor Jeff:
16:22-16:24
Succinctly, but I don't wanna miss any of the topics.
Pastor Jeff:
16:25-16:28
Why do we refer to God as he?
Pastor Jeff:
16:28-16:30
Because that's how he revealed himself.
Pastor Jeff:
16:31-16:32
That's just how he revealed himself.
Pastor Jeff:
16:32-16:42
I don't think God is male or female in the way that we, We think of male and female based on physical characteristics and genetics and things like that.
Pastor Jeff:
16:42-16:44
I don't think God...
Pastor Jeff:
16:44-16:51
Jesus said He's God of spirit, He's invisible, but He's revealed Himself in the masculine form.
Pastor Jeff:
16:52-17:00
And I don't think there's any more clear understanding of that as when Jesus taught us to pray to our heavenly Father.
Pastor Jeff:
17:01-17:16
Jesus didn't say, "Pray to your heavenly mother, your heavenly aunt, or your heavenly father/mother," or one of these hybrid pronouns that we use, like "shim" or whatever, Jesus said He is a heavenly Father.
Pastor Jeff:
17:16-17:20
So because that's what Jesus said, I'm going to go with that.
Pastor Jeff:
17:20-17:22
Does anybody have something that can trump what Jesus said?
Pastor Jeff:
17:23-17:29
So God has never revealed as manifesting Himself or expressing Himself as being feminine.
Pastor Jeff:
17:30-17:39
There's times in the Bible where God says, "Like a mother, I carried you." but he's not saying, "I am a mother," he's just saying how nurturing he was.
Pastor Jeff:
17:40-17:41
Jesus called him Father.
Pastor Jeff:
17:41-17:43
As far as the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is a person.
Pastor Jeff:
17:45-17:47
The Holy Spirit is clearly a person.
Pastor Jeff:
17:47-17:50
The Holy Spirit is not like Star Wars, like the Force.
Pastor Jeff:
17:51-17:53
The Holy Spirit is a person.
Pastor Jeff:
17:53-17:57
We know he's a person because he can be lied to.
Pastor Jeff:
17:57-18:01
Acts 5, remember Ananias and Sapphira, they lied to the Holy Spirit.
Pastor Jeff:
18:01-18:04
You can't lie to a thing, right?
Pastor Jeff:
18:04-18:05
You can only lie to a person.
Pastor Jeff:
18:06-18:09
And the Holy Spirit can be grieved, Ephesians 4:30.
Pastor Jeff:
18:10-18:13
You can't grieve a thing, but you can grieve a person.
Pastor Jeff:
18:15-18:29
And because God the Father is known as in the masculine, he's our Father, Jesus, obviously, a man, Holy Spirit, third member of the Trinity, I think he is the most appropriate pronoun for the Holy Spirit.
Mark Ort:
18:30-18:31
Good, thank
18:31-18:31
you.
Pastor Jeff:
18:32-18:36
Let's do the next one before you pass the mic because it goes with the same gender
Mark Ort:
18:36-18:37
issue thing.
Mark Ort:
18:38-18:38
Yeah, let's do it.
Mark Ort:
18:40-18:45
Question, why does God forbid women to be an elder or hold some authority in the church?
Pastor Jeff:
18:45-18:50
All right, let's look at the text here because this is the text that people get hung up on.
Pastor Jeff:
18:51-18:56
1 Timothy 2, verses 12 through 14.
Pastor Jeff:
18:57-19:00
This is what Paul, old preacher, I want to give a praise to Timothy, a young preacher.
Pastor Jeff:
19:00-19:05
He says, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man.
Pastor Jeff:
19:06-19:12
Rather, she is to remain quiet." And do you know the number one objection I've heard to that verse every time?
Pastor Jeff:
19:13-19:14
That was a cultural thing.
Pastor Jeff:
19:15-19:21
The reason that women didn't speak in those days in the church or be pastors in the church, it's a cultural thing.
Pastor Jeff:
19:23-19:24
But look at the next statement.
Pastor Jeff:
19:26-19:28
Adam was formed first, then Eve.
Pastor Jeff:
19:28-19:29
Does that sound cultural?
Pastor Jeff:
19:30-19:31
That sounds theological.
Pastor Jeff:
19:32-19:37
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.
Pastor Jeff:
19:38-19:49
OK, so you have to see clearly from the text that Paul's reason, whether you agree with it or not, you have to see that his reason is theological, not cultural.
Pastor Jeff:
19:50-19:53
He's basing it on order of creation.
Pastor Jeff:
19:53-19:56
He's also basing it on the fall.
Pastor Jeff:
19:57-20:02
So why are women not in position of elder or pastor?
Pastor Jeff:
20:03-20:07
I would just say, that's just the way God designed it.
Pastor Jeff:
20:08-20:11
God's all about an authority structure.
Pastor Jeff:
20:12-20:18
And in the same way, the man is charged with being the authority in the home.
Pastor Jeff:
20:18-20:20
Why is man the authority in the home?
Pastor Jeff:
20:21-20:22
Because that's how God ordained him.
Pastor Jeff:
20:23-20:39
Now, I think when we hear this, I think a lot of people, when they hear the word "authority," they think authority is, "I'm in charge, I'm the boss, you do what I say." That's not the biblical understanding of authority whatsoever.
Pastor Jeff:
20:41-21:10
What is authority? The definition I came up with, authority is, "God has called me to make decisions to bless and protect those under my care." authority, right? So it's not, authority is not, I'm making decisions about what's best for me. Authority is, I need to make decisions about what's best for the people under my care, right? That's what you do in your home. Don't you make decisions based on what's best for Kristen and for your kids?
Mark Ort:
21:10-21:11
Absolutely. Yeah,
Pastor Jeff:
21:11-21:15
that's authority. Authority is, you do what I say. That's not authority.
Pastor Jeff:
21:16-21:34
Authority has the idea of, I've been entrusted to bless and protect a group of people, and that's just what God said in his Word, is the position is to be held, the role of elder, pastor, shepherd, bishop, all the same term, is to be held by a man.
Pastor Jeff:
21:34-21:53
And he goes on to tell Timothy that in 1 Timothy chapter 3. But I want to say a couple other things about that. You know, we encourage women to be involved in every aspect of ministry that the Scripture permits, and the only one that I can see biblically that a woman is not to be in that role as that of a pastor or elder.
Pastor Jeff:
21:53-21:54
That's the only one I see biblically.
Pastor Jeff:
21:55-22:01
So if the idea is, oh, at that church, it's just the men are in charge and just run everything.
Pastor Jeff:
22:01-22:04
We have a lot of female leaders at this church, actually, don't we, Mark?
Pastor Jeff:
22:04-22:12
We have Crin's head of our hospitality ministry, Julie Crin's head of our hospitality ministry, our leader of our children's ministry is Mandy.
Pastor Jeff:
22:13-22:18
And when we were making decisions as far as expansion and remodeling and all of those things.
Pastor Jeff:
22:18-22:23
Interestingly, we had all of these women leaders in the room to discuss making these plans.
Pastor Jeff:
22:24-22:36
So the idea that when we just have a guy that calls all the shots and all of the women in the church are just told to shut up and mind their own business, that's not really how it plays out here at Harvest, is it?
Pastor Jeff:
22:37-22:43
There are women leaders involved in a lot of the decision-making, but the restriction is clear.
Pastor Jeff:
22:44-22:50
Paul says he doesn't permit a woman the exercise of authority over a man, and that's in that pastoral role.
Pastor Jeff:
22:50-23:01
The other thing I find interesting about that is, you go back to the Garden of Eden, God told Adam and Eve, "You can eat off every tree except one." Remember that story? Every tree except one.
Pastor Jeff:
23:02-23:07
And then the enemy shows up, and what does the enemy convince Eve of?
Pastor Jeff:
23:08-23:09
God's being restrictive.
Pastor Jeff:
23:11-23:26
"You can't eat off any of the trees in the garden." and Eve was like, "No, we can't eat off..." He said, "Don't touch this one." And Satan got Eve to think that God was restrictive because he did not allow them to eat off of one tree.
Pastor Jeff:
23:27-23:29
And I think there's a sense in which that happens today.
Pastor Jeff:
23:30-23:33
I know this might sound offensive, but that horse has left the barn.
Pastor Jeff:
23:33-23:36
Women can look at all the roles in the church that they can serve.
Pastor Jeff:
23:38-23:41
Children's ministry, and worship, and finance, and AV ministry.
Pastor Jeff:
23:41-23:45
There's all these roles in which you can serve, except for the role of being a pastor.
Pastor Jeff:
23:46-23:47
They're like, that's the one that I want.
Pastor Jeff:
23:48-23:50
You're so restrictive that I can't do that one thing in the church.
Pastor Jeff:
23:51-23:52
That's just God's design.
Pastor Jeff:
23:53-23:58
And I would just say take it up with him, but his word's really clear on the matter.
Pastor Jeff:
23:59-24:01
You're saying that men and women aren't equal?
Pastor Jeff:
24:01-24:05
No, I believe men and women are equal, but equal does not mean the same, right?
Pastor Jeff:
24:06-24:07
Equal does not mean the same.
Pastor Jeff:
24:07-24:08
God has given us different roles.
Pastor Jeff:
24:10-24:15
I'm so glad Aaron and I are equal, but I'm more glad that we're not the same, right?
Pastor Jeff:
24:16-24:17
So that's all I'm gonna say about it.
Mark Ort:
24:18-24:19
Excellent, all right, who has a live question?
Questioner 1:
24:20-24:24
Can you help me understand the verse, faith without works is dead?
Questioner 1:
24:24-24:30
Doesn't that contradict what we're taught to believe that we're justified through faith and not works, as it says in Romans?
Pastor Jeff:
24:31-24:33
Right on, that is a really good question.
Pastor Jeff:
24:34-24:41
That is a really good question, Will, and did you know the book of James was almost not included in the Bible over that verse, right?
Pastor Jeff:
24:42-24:43
They almost did not include it.
Pastor Jeff:
24:44-24:45
Faith without works is dead.
Pastor Jeff:
24:46-24:51
And the reason it was almost not included is the same reason that you gave.
Pastor Jeff:
24:51-24:52
People thought, well, that contradiction.
Pastor Jeff:
24:52-24:55
We are saved apart from good works.
Pastor Jeff:
24:55-24:59
Therefore, how can you say faith without works is dead?
Pastor Jeff:
24:59-25:01
It's a cart before the horse kind of thing.
Pastor Jeff:
25:02-25:14
And what James is saying is that if you truly have faith, and this is his point, if you truly have faith, it results in good works. True faith results in good works.
Pastor Jeff:
25:15-25:22
He's not saying that if you have works, that proves that you have faith, because people are working all the time.
Pastor Jeff:
25:22-25:24
There's all kinds of people doing works that aren't saved.
Pastor Jeff:
25:25-25:39
Jesus said that, right? Matthew 7, "Many appeared before me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not cast out many demons in your name, and prophesy in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?'" Jesus will say, "Depart from me, I never knew you." So there's people that can do works that don't have faith.
Pastor Jeff:
25:41-25:42
That's not the point James is making.
Pastor Jeff:
25:42-25:47
James is saying, if you truly have faith, then it will always result in good work.
Pastor Jeff:
25:47-25:54
He said, show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
Pastor Jeff:
25:54-25:57
That's the proof that my faith is genuine.
Pastor Jeff:
25:57-25:59
It's like smoke and fire, right?
Pastor Jeff:
25:59-26:05
Like the smoke comes from the result of the fire being real.
Pastor Jeff:
26:05-26:08
James is saying, if your fire is real, If your faith is real, it's always going to result in smoke.
Pastor Jeff:
26:09-26:15
So, good works are not the means of salvation.
Pastor Jeff:
26:17-26:20
James' point is they are the evidence of salvation.
Pastor Jeff:
26:21-26:33
So the Christian that's like, "Yeah, I'm saved, but I'm not involved in any aspect of ministry whatsoever." James would say, "Are you really saved?" How could you be saved, be transformed, regenerated?
Pastor Jeff:
26:33-26:34
God's Holy Spirit lives within you.
Pastor Jeff:
26:35-26:40
You live in the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Pastor Jeff:
26:40-26:51
You live by the power of the Holy Spirit, and you have no function whatsoever to serve the Lord." James would say, "That sounds a little fishy." He'd say, "No, your works do not save.
Pastor Jeff:
26:51-26:53
You are saved by grace.
Pastor Jeff:
26:53-27:09
But when you are saved by grace, you are transformed, and not only do you receive the fruit of the Holy Spirit, you receive a gift from the Holy Spirit that you already used to edify the church." Again, works is not the means of salvation.
Pastor Jeff:
27:10-27:14
James's point is works are the evidence of salvation.
Pastor Jeff:
27:14-27:15
Does that make sense, Will?
Pastor Jeff:
27:16-27:17
You wanna add to that, Mark?
Mark Ort:
27:17-27:25
Yeah, one thing that helped me through this passage, and this is in James chapter two, and the verse that you mentioned was in 17.
Mark Ort:
27:26-27:29
Even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead being by itself.
Mark Ort:
27:29-27:36
If you go further down into verse 22 and 24, James uses the phrase, you see.
Mark Ort:
27:37-27:41
He says, you see that faith was working with his works.
Mark Ort:
27:42-27:45
And as a result of the works, faith was perfected.
Mark Ort:
27:45-27:51
And then in verse 24, it says, you see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
Mark Ort:
27:52-27:56
And looking at that passage, it looks like a contradiction of Romans.
Mark Ort:
27:56-28:03
But the you see part on there helps me out because who sees our faith clearly?
Mark Ort:
28:03-28:04
God sees that, right?
Mark Ort:
28:05-28:10
But who can't see our faith unless we're doing good works, other people.
Mark Ort:
28:10-28:17
So I think that the two words you see is really helpful, at least for me in that passage.
Pastor Jeff:
28:17-28:18
Yeah, that makes sense.
Pastor Jeff:
28:18-28:21
Yeah, only God knows where you truly are in relation to him.
Pastor Jeff:
28:22-28:25
James's point is true faith always results in good works.
Pastor Jeff:
28:26-28:30
You know, there's no such thing as a Christian called to be a bench warmer, you know.
Pastor Jeff:
28:31-28:32
that might've been me in little league.
Pastor Jeff:
28:33-28:37
Like we have a position for you, Jeff, right there on the bench.
Pastor Jeff:
28:38-28:38
Really?
Pastor Jeff:
28:39-28:41
Yeah, eating oranges and riding the pine.
Pastor Jeff:
28:42-28:43
And some people think that's what God does.
Pastor Jeff:
28:43-28:45
He hasn't really called me in anything, but that's not true biblically.
Pastor Jeff:
28:46-28:50
God has called and equipped every true believer for the work of the ministry, not for salvation.
Pastor Jeff:
28:51-28:56
You know, that's our mission as Christians, as redeemed people is to be ambassadors for Christ.
Mark Ort:
28:57-28:57
Excellent.
Mark Ort:
28:58-29:04
Okay, now this question that's coming up, how long have I been doing this with you?
Pastor Jeff:
29:05-29:06
You've been a long time.
Pastor Jeff:
29:07-29:09
Yeah, this is number 10, all right.
Mark Ort:
29:10-29:15
Okay, this next question is by far the best question in my opinion that we've ever had.
Mark Ort:
29:15-29:17
And it's from Evan.
Mark Ort:
29:18-29:20
Evan, perk up buddy, here's your question.
Mark Ort:
29:20-29:32
It says, "If we came from Adam and Eve, "shouldn't we all have the same last name "and be from the same family?" That is a great question and the answer is yes, we should all be Millers.
Pastor Jeff:
29:32-29:35
Now I know some people are like that's pretty self-centered, but hear me out.
Pastor Jeff:
29:36-29:45
Hear me out. How many times in my life you think people have asked me to spell my last name? Zero. I bet you you've had people ask how to spell your last name.
Pastor Jeff:
29:45-29:46
It's got three letters.
Mark Ort:
29:46-29:48
Every time. Every time.
Pastor Jeff:
29:48-29:51
I don't even wait.
Mark Ort:
29:51-29:53
I don't even wait for them anymore. I just I just spell it.
Pastor Jeff:
29:54-30:15
See? I have twice as many letters in my name and I have never had people ask. So when people find out I'm a pastor and they ask me like what my last name is I mess with them a little bit. I always say Miller spelled like the beer and then they're like we get we get our jollies in where we can. That's a great question Evan. That's a great question.
Pastor Jeff:
30:16-30:31
But here's something a lot of people don't realize this. The fact is I mean for those of you who don't know Evan is my nephew so we are blood but did you You know, the Bible says, literally, not even technically, literally, everyone is related.
Pastor Jeff:
30:32-30:34
Every single person on the planet...
Pastor Jeff:
30:34-30:54
So when you're questioned, "Shouldn't we all be the same family?" The answer is, "Yeah, we are the same family." Acts 17.26, "And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place." Technically, we are all in the same family.
Pastor Jeff:
30:54-30:59
Don't think about that too hard, but the truth is if you're married, you are married to a relative.
Pastor Jeff:
30:59-31:01
Just gonna let that settle in for a minute.
Pastor Jeff:
31:02-31:03
But it's true.
Pastor Jeff:
31:03-31:13
If the Bible's true, and I believe it is, and here again in Acts 17, God made from one man, that's Adam, every nation of mankind.
Pastor Jeff:
31:14-31:15
We all came from the same parents, right?
Pastor Jeff:
31:16-31:20
And the Bible says Eve, what is it, Genesis, what, 320?
Pastor Jeff:
31:20-31:21
Eve is the mother of the living.
Pastor Jeff:
31:22-31:23
So yeah.
Pastor Jeff:
31:23-31:24
Oh, there it is.
Pastor Jeff:
31:24-31:27
The man called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all living.
Pastor Jeff:
31:28-31:29
So yeah, we are all.
Pastor Jeff:
31:30-31:31
So why don't we all have the same last name?
Pastor Jeff:
31:33-31:39
Well, because if everybody's last name was Miller, and I'm like, Evan Miller is in a lot of trouble today.
Pastor Jeff:
31:39-31:41
Maybe I'm not talking about you.
Pastor Jeff:
31:41-31:43
Maybe I'm talking about the guy we know as Evan Gates.
Pastor Jeff:
31:44-31:44
Isn't he here?
Pastor Jeff:
31:45-31:46
Oh, he left.
Pastor Jeff:
31:46-31:47
Now he's in trouble.
Pastor Jeff:
31:47-31:49
See, we'd have two Evan Millers right here.
Pastor Jeff:
31:51-31:53
So last names are just like a label, right?
Pastor Jeff:
31:55-31:57
So we are in the same family though.
Pastor Jeff:
31:57-31:58
Everybody is in the same family.
Pastor Jeff:
32:00-32:04
Different, when we talk about different races, there's not different races.
Pastor Jeff:
32:04-32:06
There's one race, there's the human race.
Pastor Jeff:
32:06-32:12
We might have different shades of skin color, whatever, but we're all in the same family, all in the same blood.
Pastor Jeff:
32:13-32:15
One man, don't some translations say one blood?
Pastor Jeff:
32:16-32:17
I believe so. - In Acts 17.
Pastor Jeff:
32:17-32:19
So, okay, what do we got?
Mark Ort:
32:19-32:22
How do we guard ourselves against legalism?
Mark Ort:
32:22-32:32
That is, if I abstain from drinking, how do I guard against pressing others not to drink or get self-righteous or prideful in my abstinence?
Pastor Jeff:
32:32-32:40
That is a seriously good question because when we have personal convictions about things, it's so easy for that to become legalism, isn't it, Mark?
Pastor Jeff:
32:41-32:45
I have a conviction that I, we'll take this one for example, just use that one.
Pastor Jeff:
32:45-32:48
I have a conviction, I don't think Christians should touch alcohol.
Pastor Jeff:
32:48-32:52
That's my conviction, and it's so hard for me to not enforce that.
Pastor Jeff:
32:53-32:54
And that's what legalism is.
Pastor Jeff:
32:54-32:59
I think whoever wrote this question, I think they're one step ahead of the game in that they're recognizing it, right?
Pastor Jeff:
32:59-33:05
Because I know a lot of people that are just like pounding their beliefs and convictions on people, not even thinking about legalism.
Pastor Jeff:
33:06-33:16
But legalism, just to define that, it's when you think that doing things or not doing things are what make you spiritual, make you holy.
Pastor Jeff:
33:17-33:19
If I do this, God's happy with me.
Pastor Jeff:
33:19-33:20
If I don't do this, God's happy with me.
Mark Ort:
33:22-33:22
Works-based.
Pastor Jeff:
33:23-33:24
Yeah, it's all works-based, right?
Pastor Jeff:
33:25-33:28
Then we get back to the opposite of what you were talking about, Will, right?
Pastor Jeff:
33:29-33:35
You think that God's only happy with me when I keep the rules, and then we make these rules, and then we try to enforce these rules.
Pastor Jeff:
33:35-33:40
That's legalism, and the Bible speaks so much about that.
Pastor Jeff:
33:40-33:46
My suggestion, my advice, as the person that abstains from drinking, First, I want you to understand that's a personal conviction.
Pastor Jeff:
33:47-33:49
The Bible doesn't forbid drinking.
Pastor Jeff:
33:49-33:53
The Bible does warn against drunkenness, right?
Pastor Jeff:
33:54-33:57
But the Bible doesn't say never to drink.
Pastor Jeff:
33:57-34:00
If you choose to not touch alcohol, good for you.
Pastor Jeff:
34:00-34:01
That's your conviction.
Pastor Jeff:
34:01-34:01
Awesome.
Pastor Jeff:
34:02-34:03
If you're like, you know what?
Pastor Jeff:
34:03-34:06
Once in a while, I have a beer or a glass of wine.
Pastor Jeff:
34:06-34:07
Never gets out of control.
Pastor Jeff:
34:08-34:10
Once in a while, I'll just-- with my wife, we'll sit down.
Pastor Jeff:
34:11-34:11
Good for you.
Pastor Jeff:
34:12-34:13
The problem is when you start enforcing that.
Pastor Jeff:
34:14-34:17
So how do I guard against pressing others?
Pastor Jeff:
34:17-34:20
I would say, again, keep in mind it's a conviction.
Pastor Jeff:
34:20-34:24
The other thing is, where other people land on that conviction really is your business.
Pastor Jeff:
34:25-34:30
If they ask you, you can tell them, "Here's why I choose not to drink." This is why I choose.
Pastor Jeff:
34:31-34:33
I'm just telling you, here's why I choose not to drink.
Pastor Jeff:
34:33-34:35
What you do with that's between you and the Lord.
Pastor Jeff:
34:36-34:40
It's not my business. Self-righteous or prideful in my absence.
Pastor Jeff:
34:40-34:44
Your righteousness comes from Christ alone, through His work on the cross.
Pastor Jeff:
34:44-34:47
Okay? You do nothing to make God happy with you.
Pastor Jeff:
34:48-34:54
God loves you infinitely because of who you are in Christ, not based on your performance.
Pastor Jeff:
34:55-34:59
Your salvation is not performance-based by any stretch of imagination.
Pastor Jeff:
34:59-35:15
So that's where being really familiar with the gospel and in God's Word keeps your focus on, "My righteousness is from Christ, not my performance." So I think that reminder there, God's not happy with me because I don't drink.
Pastor Jeff:
35:16-35:16
Yeah,
Mark Ort:
35:16-35:31
whenever I read through the Gospels and I see things that are mentioned about the Pharisees and how Jesus would look at the Pharisees with disgust because of their legalistic attitude.
Mark Ort:
35:31-35:40
And then I look at myself and I'm like, "I'm just like them." And so that kind of keeps me grounded, I guess.
Mark Ort:
35:40-35:40
We
Pastor Jeff:
35:40-35:41
can all do that.
Mark Ort:
35:42-35:42
Exactly.
Mark Ort:
35:42-35:42
We can all
Pastor Jeff:
35:42-35:43
do that.
Pastor Jeff:
35:43-35:47
We can judge people for these superficial reasons.
Mark Ort:
35:48-35:52
And when we remember that Jesus looks upon that as abomination, I guess.
Mark Ort:
35:53-35:55
It makes him want to vomit.
Pastor Jeff:
35:55-36:06
It is interesting how Jesus was so compassionate and welcoming to sinners and tax collectors and prostitutes, but it was the ultra religious people that he was constantly slamming.
Pastor Jeff:
36:07-36:12
He's like, "You guys don't even know the Bible, do you?" Like, "Whew." Like, serious business.
Pastor Jeff:
36:13-36:17
Okay. (laughs) Where did Cain get his wife?
Pastor Jeff:
36:17-36:17
All right.
Pastor Jeff:
36:18-36:20
We already talked about everyone came from one man, right?
Pastor Jeff:
36:20-36:21
Acts 17, 26.
Pastor Jeff:
36:21-36:23
He's Eve's mother of all the living.
Pastor Jeff:
36:23-36:27
Genesis 5, 4 tells us where Cain got his wife.
Pastor Jeff:
36:28-36:34
It says, "The days of Adam after he fathered Seth for 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters.
Pastor Jeff:
36:35-36:37
I didn't see the part where Cain got his wife.
Pastor Jeff:
36:37-36:39
Well, Cain married his sister.
Pastor Jeff:
36:39-36:56
Now I know that sounds so gross and weird to us, but if the Bible's true, and I believe that is, if we all came from the same parents, if Eve is the mother of all the living, if everyone came from one man, Acts 17.26, Cain married his sister.
Pastor Jeff:
36:56-37:02
You're like, "Wait, doesn't the Bible forbid that?" Well, no restrictions were put on marrying close relatives until the Old Testament law.
Pastor Jeff:
37:03-37:10
And I believe that was for genetic reasons because close relatives having children have a higher risk of birth defects.
Pastor Jeff:
37:11-37:17
The chromosome problems not canceled out because of the genetics being so close.
Pastor Jeff:
37:17-37:21
When you marry distant relatives, you don't have the genetic problems.
Pastor Jeff:
37:22-37:25
So I believe that that's why that was introduced to the Old Testament law.
Pastor Jeff:
37:25-37:31
I know in our culture it seems very strange, but if the Bible's true, Kate would have married a sister.
Pastor Jeff:
37:31-37:32
Yeah, do the next one.
Pastor Jeff:
37:33-37:33
At what
Mark Ort:
37:33-37:37
point during a human's development is it issued a soul?
Mark Ort:
37:38-37:42
At conception, sometimes while in the womb, or at the baby's first breath?
Pastor Jeff:
37:43-37:46
I believe 100% that it is at conception.
Pastor Jeff:
37:47-37:55
Biblically, Luke 141, it says when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, Remember, Elizabeth was Mary's relative.
Pastor Jeff:
37:55-37:56
She was pregnant.
Pastor Jeff:
37:57-38:04
And it says, "The baby leaped in her womb." And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Pastor Jeff:
38:05-38:13
If that was just a blob of mindless tissue, a blob of mindless tissue doesn't leap for joy, right?
Pastor Jeff:
38:13-38:23
But apparently, John the Baptist, even in the womb, leapt for joy at the coming of God the flesh while he was still in utero.
Pastor Jeff:
38:23-38:40
And also, Psalm 139, verse 13, "You formed my inward parts, you knitted me together in my mother's womb." You know, the psalmist is very poetically pointing out that God knew him while he was forming inside his mother.
Pastor Jeff:
38:41-38:59
And he didn't say, "You knew me after I gave birth and started crying and I had my first breath, that's when you knew me." He says, "God, you knew me while you were putting me together." And I like that knitting terminology, it's so intricate and creative.
Pastor Jeff:
38:59-39:01
God was putting you together.
Pastor Jeff:
39:01-39:08
He says, "God, you knew me while you were putting me together." So I believe that that soul comes at conception.
Pastor Jeff:
39:08-39:10
We did have one more question come in today.
Pastor Jeff:
39:11-39:15
And it's, "When do you think Jesus will come back?" And the answer is soon.
Pastor Jeff:
39:15-39:23
The answer is soon, because Jesus said, "Behold, I'm coming soon." And our series in Revelation is called "Coming Soon," because that's what Jesus said.
Pastor Jeff:
39:24-39:27
And that means we always have to be ready.
Pastor Jeff:
39:28-39:30
It could be today, it could be tomorrow.
Pastor Jeff:
39:31-39:38
Jesus himself said he didn't know the time, so I'm not going to be presumptuous and even taking a swing at it.
Pastor Jeff:
39:38-39:40
He just said soon, so I'll go with that.
Pastor Jeff:
39:41-39:42
Would you pray for us, Mark?
Pastor Jeff:
39:42-39:42
Sounds good,
Mark Ort:
39:42-39:43
sure.
Mark Ort:
39:44-39:50
Heavenly Father, thank you so much for allowing us to come here and sing praises to you earlier.
Mark Ort:
39:50-40:02
And Lord, just to jump into your word a little and answer some questions and just fellowship with our friends and like-minded believers.
Mark Ort:
40:02-40:04
Lord, you've been so good to us.
Mark Ort:
40:05-40:09
2018 may or may not have been a good year for some of us here.
Mark Ort:
40:10-40:14
And we look forward with anticipation for the coming year.
Mark Ort:
40:15-40:16
Lord, help us to be ready.
Mark Ort:
40:17-40:21
Help us to be people who are ready to go out and do your work.
Mark Ort:
40:23-40:25
Help us to be people who are generous.
Mark Ort:
40:26-40:35
Lord, help us to be people who are eager to get into your word and study and grow closer to you, Lord.
Mark Ort:
40:36-40:48
Thank you so much just for being our God, for sending your one and only son all those years ago on a date that we don't know, but we thank you for that.
Mark Ort:
40:49-41:03
That baby, that child that grew up and was eventually beaten and spat upon and a crown of thorns crushed into his head bled and died for us.
Mark Ort:
41:03-41:26
And Lord, help us to feel the weight of that and to just to understand exactly what he did for us, shedding his own blood so that we might become redeemed and saved and delivered from the sin that will damn us to hell.
Mark Ort:
41:27-41:29
Now, Lord, we can spend eternity in heaven with you.
Mark Ort:
41:30-41:34
And we thank you for that great promise and that great hope.
Mark Ort:
41:35-41:37
Thank you for your great love for us in doing that, Lord.
Mark Ort:
41:38-41:40
And we pray these things in your strong name, amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Review the questions submitted above. Discuss any of these that stuck out to you, or that maybe your group finds particularly interesting.
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another!