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.
[02:42] - Q: God said it was not good for man to be alone and created women. Why wouldn't God have the same for Himself?
A: See John 17:5, 24 | Ephesians 5:25-32 | Revelation 19:9[05:54] - Q: What is a Christ-like response to people you don't know stopping you on the street and asking for money? What's the best way to show the love of Christ without enabling/hurting more than helping the situation?
A: The safest bet is to offer them food. But always make it an opportunity to share the gospel with them.
[12:20] - Q: The Bible states "absent from the body present with the Lord" but also talks about the dead in Christ will rise at Christ's return and forever be with the Lord. Explain please.
A: See 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 | 1 Corinthians 15:35-55[14:26] - LIVE TXT Q: We are to believe that the Bible is the truth because it is Gods word, and I want to believe this, but the Bible has been translated and copied so many times by so many people. What if the truth has been lost in the process?
A: The test to verify an ancient document, the Biblographical Test. 2nd ancient document, the Homer’s Ilead 600ish copies…the New Testament has 24,000+ ancient copies.[23:29] - Q: Christ tells us to do communion but He also washed feet and told us to do that too. Why do some churches wash feet and not others. (BTW the fact that we don't is not a problem with me.)
A: See John 13:15 - For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.[27:47] - LIVE AUDIENCE Q: Could you talk about eschatology? What the church’s position is on end times. His scripture descriptive of what’s going to happen, what’s already been fulfilled, just generally like that.
A: See Revelation, Matthew 24, Mark 13, Daniel 9 | Last year we covered the entire book of Revelation.[30:50] - Q: Can you please explain to me the meaning of Psalm 108:7-9? thank you.
A: See Psalm 57:7-11 | Psalm 60:5-12[33:39] - Q: To my understanding, the devil was cast from Heaven due to the sin of Pride, is that correct? And if so, I don't understand that as I didn't think sin was possible in Heaven? Thanks.
A: See Revelation 12:4 | Matthew 25:41[35:00] - LIVE TXT Q: How does Harvest reconcile the thought that some parts of scripture are cultural (like head coverings) but others like the role of women in the church are not?
A: See Timothy 2:11-15 | It’s the context of and surrounding the passage as to whether it’s cultural or theological, take out your biases and read the text straightforwardly.[39:21] - Q: Melchizedek. Please Explain.
A: See Hebrews 7 | Psalm 110:4 | Genesis 14
Melchizedek was a “type”, a picture of the Messiah, in at least 5 ways:
1 – His name: my king is Righteousness
2 – His title: King of Salem (Peace)
3 – He was BOTH king AND priest
4 – He was not a Levitical priest (Jesus was from Judah)
5 – No beginning or end. Mel shows up suddenly and vanishes suddenly from the Scriptures, no genealogy or parents mentioned, “resembling Jesus” as a “priest forever”. (Heb7:3)[42:58] - Q: What about white privilege and racism? And what about diversity in our church? How are we supposed to respond as a body and as individuals?
A: Join us next week for a Bonus QnA day! Bring your friends and family as we have a special guest joining the QnA, submit your questions now!
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!
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Pastor Jeff:
00:00-00:18
Good morning again, please welcome up to the platform mr.. Mark Ort
Mark Ort:
00:00-00:18
Good morning
Pastor Jeff:
00:00-00:18
How long do we want to go?
Mark Ort:
00:00-00:18
40 minutes? We normally do 40 minutes?
Pastor Jeff:
00:00-00:18
You want to do for you want to 40 minutes?
Pastor Jeff:
00:19-00:21
Gosh, don't you people have anything else to do today?
Pastor Jeff:
00:23-00:29
Nope? Alright 40 minutes I'm just kidding. I love Q&A day!
Mark Ort:
00:23-00:33
Q&A day is my family's favorite day here.
Mark Ort:
00:33-00:35
They love Q&A day.
Mark Ort:
00:35-00:44
And I had a conversation with my two boys over the weekend, Friday I think it was, with Jesse in particular.
Mark Ort:
00:44-00:50
And one of the reasons why we love Q&A day, I love the answer that my son gave me.
Mark Ort:
00:52-00:56
It's a fun day, but the Bible has answers.
Mark Ort:
00:56-00:58
And you guys have questions.
Mark Ort:
00:58-01:06
And oftentimes, some of those questions may not get answered just because of what we're going through.
Mark Ort:
01:07-01:11
If we're going through the book of John, we might not be answering a question about something else.
Mark Ort:
01:11-01:22
And so, kids, when they grow up, and they're kind of captive audience here, when they get old enough to do their own thing, they often leave the church.
Mark Ort:
01:23-01:27
And they leave the church mainly because the church has not given them answers on things.
Mark Ort:
01:28-01:32
And we know at Harvest that the Bible has answers.
Mark Ort:
01:32-01:42
So that's why I think my family likes Q&A days, because we have answers, and we're ready to do that today.
Pastor Jeff:
01:42-01:43
That's right. That's right, Mark. Thank you.
Pastor Jeff:
01:44-01:47
And I didn't start the timer yet, by the way, so none of that counts.
Pastor Jeff:
01:48-01:58
But we have questions you submitted, and you can actually text your question to this number, 412-324-3147.
Pastor Jeff:
01:59-02:05
And when you text your question, just include "Q&A" or "question" in your text.
Pastor Jeff:
02:05-02:08
And if we have time to get to it, we'll get to it.
Pastor Jeff:
02:08-02:10
We might be passing the microphone around today.
Pastor Jeff:
02:12-02:17
But as usual, we got some really good questions that came in ahead of time.
Pastor Jeff:
02:18-02:23
So without further ado--
Mark Ort:
02:18-02:23
OK, well, I think we're ready to start.
Mark Ort:
02:23-02:24
What do you think?
Pastor Jeff:
02:24-02:25
Timer's going, my friend.
Mark Ort:
02:25-02:31
All right, as usual, the questions are really, really good.
Mark Ort:
02:32-02:37
Jeff sends me the questions ahead of time so I can be a little bit prepared as well.
Mark Ort:
02:37-02:43
And every time I look at the questions, I'm like, "Man, these are really good." So, Jeff, question number one.
Mark Ort:
02:44-02:48
God said it was not good for man to be alone and created women.
Mark Ort:
02:49-02:51
Why wouldn't God have the same for Himself?
Pastor Jeff:
02:51-02:53
That is a really good question.
Pastor Jeff:
02:53-02:55
You hear the Bible talks about that.
Pastor Jeff:
02:55-03:00
We're going through the Gospel of John right now in a series called "Knowing Jesus." And we didn't get there yet.
Pastor Jeff:
03:01-03:05
Actually, we've seen some comments from Jesus already about His relationship with the Father.
Pastor Jeff:
03:06-03:11
But we're going to see it in much greater detail when we get to John 17.
Pastor Jeff:
03:11-03:18
John 17.5, Jesus is praying to the Heavenly Father.
Pastor Jeff:
03:18-03:19
Do we have that verse up?
Pastor Jeff:
03:21-03:23
But this is part of Jesus' prayer to His heavenly Father.
Pastor Jeff:
03:23-03:32
He says, "Now, Father, glorify Me in Your own presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed." And then you jump down to verse 24.
Pastor Jeff:
03:33-03:37
Again, Jesus continues talking about the church praying for us.
Pastor Jeff:
03:37-03:52
"I desire that they also whom You have given Me may be with Me where I am to see My glory that You have given Me, because," look at this, "You loved Me before the foundation of the world." So, within the Trinity, there's a perfect relationship.
Pastor Jeff:
03:53-03:55
And you're like, "Can you explain that?" I can't.
Pastor Jeff:
03:56-04:01
Okay, God is one, but He's revealed Himself as three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Pastor Jeff:
04:02-04:05
And I can't explain that any more than a fruitful "I can explain it" iPhone.
Pastor Jeff:
04:06-04:08
I believe it, but I can't explain it.
Pastor Jeff:
04:09-04:12
But Jesus very clearly showed that God was never alone.
Pastor Jeff:
04:12-04:14
It wasn't like God was sitting in heaven, like, bored.
Pastor Jeff:
04:15-04:22
like he had this obvious perfect relationship with the Son that Jesus was referring to here.
Pastor Jeff:
04:22-04:30
And on top of that, you're like, "Well, why doesn't God have a bride?" Well, the truth is, Jesus does have a bride.
Pastor Jeff:
04:30-04:32
And who is the bride, Mark?
Mark Ort:
04:33-04:37
Yeah, you are. The church is the bride of Christ.
Mark Ort:
04:38-04:50
And Ephesians 5 talks about that. We don't have to read all of this, But Ephesians 5, 25-32 talks about the relationship between husbands and wives, and that's the goal.
Mark Ort:
04:50-05:00
In every marriage relationship, the husband is to love the wife the way Christ loved the church, and the wife is to love the husband the way the church loves Jesus Christ.
Mark Ort:
05:00-05:04
And that whole dynamic is to be at play in the marriage relationship.
Mark Ort:
05:05-05:09
But all of that to say, Jesus Christ has a bride for the church.
Mark Ort:
05:09-05:20
And remember, when we went through Revelation, Revelation 19.9 talks about heaven, as we have it underlined here, the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Mark Ort:
05:20-05:21
That's what heaven is like.
Mark Ort:
05:22-05:24
It's like a big wedding party.
Mark Ort:
05:25-05:26
And why?
Mark Ort:
05:26-05:36
It's because the groom has prepared this place for his bride, and now his bride has come to be with him, and they have this big marriage reception.
Mark Ort:
05:36-05:39
And we're going to be a part of that, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ.
Mark Ort:
05:39-05:42
So, does God have a wife? Yes.
Mark Ort:
05:43-05:44
Jesus Christ does have a bride.
Mark Ort:
05:45-05:50
And if you're a follower, if you're a born-again believer in Christ, you are part of that bride, the church.
Pastor Jeff:
05:52-05:53
Amen, Jeff. Thank you for that.
Pastor Jeff:
05:54-05:55
Second question.
Pastor Jeff:
05:57-06:03
What is a Christ-like response to people you don't know stopping you on the street and asking for money?
Pastor Jeff:
06:04-06:11
What's the best way to show the love of Christ without enabling or hurting more than helping the situation.
Pastor Jeff:
06:11-06:15
I think we've all had people approach us and ask us for money.
Pastor Jeff:
06:16-06:17
So how do we respond to that?
Mark Ort:
06:17-06:20
And that's the thing is, you know, you can't...
Mark Ort:
06:20-06:23
I don't think you can judge rightly in this situation.
Mark Ort:
06:23-06:26
You don't know exactly what's going on with that person, what's in their heart.
Mark Ort:
06:27-06:31
And I don't think there is a right and wrong answer here.
Mark Ort:
06:31-06:38
I believe that if you feel like the Spirit is calling you to do something, then I think absolutely you should do it.
Mark Ort:
06:39-06:40
Right? And maybe if this is...
Mark Ort:
06:40-06:51
It sounds like whoever wrote this, this is like part of their regular routine, like maybe something like, "Every day when I go to work, I'm approached by these people." I would encourage, maybe be prepared for that.
Mark Ort:
06:52-06:58
Maybe pack an extra sandwich or pack an extra, you know, foil, pack a Pop-Tarts, right?
Mark Ort:
06:59-07:09
And maybe you leave a little early and sit down and talk to the person, share the gospel with them, hear their story, whatever.
Mark Ort:
07:10-07:15
It is hard because you don't just want to walk around with a wad of 20s and be like Oprah Winfrey, right?
Mark Ort:
07:15-07:21
"Everybody gets a 20!" And is that going to fix anything? Probably not.
Mark Ort:
07:21-07:25
But if you feel like God's calling you to do something, yeah, do something, but be proactive about it.
Mark Ort:
07:26-07:26
Like, have a plan.
Mark Ort:
07:28-07:29
I'm going to share real quick.
Mark Ort:
07:29-07:50
One time I was walking into Walmart in Cranberry and there was a guy sitting by the row of carts outside with a cardboard sign that was like, "Please help." So I stopped and I said, "I'll go into McDonald's right here. What do you want? I'll bring you some McDonald's." And he's like, "Ah, how about a couple of cheeseburgers, whatever?" I'm like, "Great." So I went in, got him his food, and came back out.
Mark Ort:
07:50-07:53
And I had some time, so I sat down with him.
Mark Ort:
07:54-07:56
Just sat down by the carts with him, gave him his cheeseburgers.
Mark Ort:
07:57-08:05
I said, "Well, I want to hear your story. Tell me, you know, what brought you here, why are you here?" and he was telling me, "He doesn't want a home." He goes, "This is how I choose to live.
Mark Ort:
08:05-08:12
I just like to travel, I'm from Georgia, and I go all over the place." And I shared the gospel with him.
Mark Ort:
08:13-08:33
But the funny thing was, as I was sitting there talking to this guy, no joke, there was probably a dozen, 15 people in that short amount of time, as I'm sitting there talking to this guy, walking by, looking at me going, "You poor guy," and then trying to give me money.
Mark Ort:
08:34-08:41
Now, I'm trying to be polite because I didn't want to be like, "Hey, I'm not begging! I have a job!" I didn't want to be like that.
Mark Ort:
08:42-08:44
But how do you respectfully say that?
Mark Ort:
08:44-09:00
So I was just like, "Yeah, why don't you give it to him?" And they're like, "You need to eat too, young man." And I'm like, "Do I look homeless?" And look, but anyways, and so many people came by with bags of food.
Mark Ort:
09:01-09:09
So I stayed a little longer and I left with like $170 that day and, you know, 15 meals from McDonald's.
Mark Ort:
09:09-09:09
No, I didn't.
Mark Ort:
09:09-09:13
I gave everything to that guy, but he made out like a bandit that day.
Mark Ort:
09:13-09:23
But anyways, my point is we look at that guy and we're like, "Oh, poor homeless guy lost his job and we don't know the story." So I just sat down and talked to the guy and he's like, "I choose to live this way.
Mark Ort:
09:23-09:26
"I don't want a home, I like to travel." Like, okay.
Mark Ort:
09:27-09:33
So anyway, shared the gospel with them, and saw the generosity of Cranberry.
Pastor Jeff:
09:33-09:41
I could probably tell a hundred stories about this type of thing, because I did some homeless ministry in the late '90s in Pittsburgh.
Pastor Jeff:
09:41-09:43
And just two things real quick.
Pastor Jeff:
09:44-10:24
One person who was asking for money, later on as I was talking, he told our group, he said, "If we ask you for money, give us money because we use the money for drugs for the most part he said what we really need is like health care we need food take us to a restaurant that that was his advice as a homeless person and I thought that was pretty good advice because that helped I think I think we're exercising wisdom when we do that kind of thing instead of just shoving a $20 bill in their face another Another man that I spoke to at -- it was actually the old stadium in Pittsburgh.
Pastor Jeff:
10:25-10:28
He was a panhandler and that was his job.
Pastor Jeff:
10:28-10:32
And he told me that he could make $200 a night at a pirate game.
Pastor Jeff:
10:33-10:45
And I don't know where he lived or anything like that, but instead of the money thing, it might be better to ask if they need something to eat.
Pastor Jeff:
10:45-11:07
I was in a restaurant just a few weeks ago in Butler, and I was waiting for my sandwich with my bandana over my face, and this lady came rushing in with -- she had two bandanas on, and she had a check in her hand, and she wanted the guy behind the counter to cash her check, and he refused.
Pastor Jeff:
11:07-11:09
He said, "We don't cash checks here.
Pastor Jeff:
11:10-11:13
We're not a bank." And she went into a flying rage.
Pastor Jeff:
11:13-11:18
she went into a rage because she wanted money.
Pastor Jeff:
11:20-11:21
And she said, "What am I gonna do to eat?
Pastor Jeff:
11:22-11:41
I don't have," and she's screaming at this point, "I don't have any food to eat." And so before I even had a chance to respond to her on the side, the man behind the counter, and I don't know if he was a Christian or not, he did what we should maybe do, offer food.
Pastor Jeff:
11:42-11:44
offer the food to the woman.
Pastor Jeff:
11:44-11:45
And so he did that.
Pastor Jeff:
11:45-11:53
He said, "Ma'am, you don't have to go flying off the handle." He said, "I'll give you some sandwiches if you need a sandwich for you, your family." And she refused.
Pastor Jeff:
11:54-11:57
She didn't want the sandwich, she wanted to rip them off basically.
Pastor Jeff:
11:57-12:02
So I say all that, just we need to be wise as serpents, right? - Yeah.
Pastor Jeff:
12:02-12:03
That's what the scripture says.
Pastor Jeff:
12:03-12:04
Right. - And Gentiles, doves.
Pastor Jeff:
12:05-12:10
Offer help where we think the Spirit is leading us, but we need to be wise about those kinds of things.
Mark Ort:
12:10-12:11
Yeah, absolutely, we do.
Mark Ort:
12:13-12:17
Let's do one more on here and then maybe see if one got texted in or you want to pass the mic or whatever.
Pastor Jeff:
12:18-12:29
Okay, the Bible states, "Absent from the body, present with the Lord." But also talks about the dead in Christ will rise at Christ's return and forever be with the Lord.
Mark Ort:
12:30-12:30
Please
Pastor Jeff:
12:30-12:30
explain.
Mark Ort:
12:31-12:35
All right, 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 15 through 17.
Mark Ort:
12:38-13:32
says, "For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord that we who are alive who are left until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep." That was a euphemism for death. "The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command with the voice of an archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air so we will always be with the Lord. So this is actually talking about our bodily resurrection which will happen at the rapture. So yeah when you die, if you died today, your soul would be with the Lord. But at the rapture, that's when the dead in Christ receive their resurrected bodies, right?
Mark Ort:
13:33-13:38
And they're glorified bodies that Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
Mark Ort:
13:39-14:14
But Paul says that those who are alive in Christ on the earth at the time, they will, you know, obviously when he returns at the rapture, the dead in Christ will rise first, receive their glorified bodies, then those who are alive at his coming will receive theirs. So, yeah, that's all part of the rapture that Paul, again, also talks about. 1 Corinthians 15, verses 35 through 55, same thing. So, yeah, your soul will be with Christ now, but you will not get your glorified body until the rapture.
Pastor Jeff:
14:16-14:17
Does that make sense?
Pastor Jeff:
14:18-14:18
That makes sense.
Mark Ort:
14:18-14:20
That's a hard question. We get that one a lot.
14:22-14:22
Mike,
Pastor Jeff:
14:22-14:25
do we have any texted questions?
Mark Ort:
14:26-14:28
This one's texted in. All right, Mark, go ahead.
14:30-14:30
"We
Pastor Jeff:
14:30-14:41
are to believe that the Bible is the truth because it is God's Word, and I want to believe this, but the Bible has been translated and copied so many times by so many people.
Pastor Jeff:
14:41-14:45
What if the truth has been lost in the process?"
Mark Ort:
14:45-14:49
Right. That's a really good question, and one we get a lot.
Mark Ort:
14:49-14:51
Here's the answer to that. It's an easy answer.
Mark Ort:
14:52-14:53
Because there's a test for this.
Mark Ort:
14:54-14:58
The test is how do you verify the accuracy of an ancient document, right?
Mark Ort:
14:58-15:04
How do you know that what we have in our hands today is actually the same as was originally written?
Mark Ort:
15:05-15:06
That's the question, right?
Mark Ort:
15:07-15:09
And the answer is what's called the bibliographical test.
Mark Ort:
15:10-15:11
And what's the bibliographical test?
Mark Ort:
15:11-15:22
It's when you take as many ancient copies of a document as you can, and you compare them, one with another, to see if they're all saying the same thing, and then you can kind of sort of compare what we have today.
Mark Ort:
15:22-15:28
Does it line up with the comparison that we have of all the ancient documents?
Mark Ort:
15:28-15:37
Now, the number two ancient document that passes the bibliographical test is the Iliad by Homer.
Mark Ort:
15:38-15:38
Not Homer Simpson.
Mark Ort:
15:39-15:41
Homer the poet, all right?
Mark Ort:
15:41-15:46
But there were 600 and some ancient copies of the Iliad.
Mark Ort:
15:46-15:57
So if you were to go to a university professor, an English professor, and say, "Ancient... who teaches Homer? Is that literature? Ancient literature?" - Literature, English, philosophy.
Mark Ort:
15:58-16:07
If you were to go to some guy in some school somewhere, and say, "Do we have a reliable copy of the Iliad?" He would laugh at you and say, "Well, of course we do, because we have 600 and some ancient copies.
Mark Ort:
16:08-16:11
So we are absolutely sure that what we have today...
Mark Ort:
16:11-16:13
Now, Iliad's number two.
Mark Ort:
16:14-16:18
Do you know what the number one ancient document is that passes the bibliographical test?
Mark Ort:
16:18-16:18
Do you know what it is?
16:19-16:19
What
Pastor Jeff:
16:19-16:19
could it be? - The
Mark Ort:
16:19-16:20
New Testament.
Mark Ort:
16:21-16:24
Iliad had 600 and some. Do you know how many is the New Testament?
Mark Ort:
16:24-16:26
It's like 24,000.
Mark Ort:
16:27-16:33
Okay, so we have like 20-some thousand ancient copies of the New Testament that we can compare one with another.
Mark Ort:
16:33-16:35
So the answer is, yeah.
Mark Ort:
16:35-16:45
We are absolutely sure that the Bible we have in our hands is really, really almost exactly what was written.
Mark Ort:
16:45-16:58
Yeah, there's going to be some nuances in words and meanings because languages change over time, but the overall meaning and message and words of the New Testament, we are really sure about that. Like, really sure.
Mark Ort:
16:59-17:07
So it's not a question of, "Does it say what it originally said?" The question is, "Do you believe what it actually says?" So, yeah, that's a really good question and one that we get asked a lot.
Pastor Jeff:
17:07-17:10
And we can study things like discoveries.
Pastor Jeff:
17:11-17:18
I'm thinking in particular like the Dead Sea Scrolls that were discovered, what, in 1951 or 1950?
Pastor Jeff:
17:19-17:20
'47? Yeah.
Pastor Jeff:
17:21-17:46
So, you know, 70 years ago or whatever, they found these documents in caves that were rolled up in little scrolls in these containers, these glass containers, And they found different pieces of the Old Testament, and in particular, the biggest piece that they found was almost the entire book of Isaiah.
Pastor Jeff:
17:47-17:56
And so they unraveled these things and they looked at them and they discovered, wow, it's almost word for word what we have right now.
Pastor Jeff:
17:56-18:05
And so those kinds of archeological digs and discoveries confirm what we already believe to be true about the Scripture.
Mark Ort:
18:05-18:18
And you read, before we had like printing presses and Xerox and copy machines, if you've ever done any studies on how people copied the ancient manuscripts, it's insane.
Mark Ort:
18:19-18:31
Like I read stories literally where you would have these people that were like professional copyists, they would do a letter at a time, and they would copy a letter, and then they they would go take a bath.
Mark Ort:
18:32-18:38
And then they would come back, because they were like ritually clean enough to do it again, and they would copy another letter.
Mark Ort:
18:39-18:41
And then they'd go take another bath.
Mark Ort:
18:41-18:43
And then they'd come and they'd copy another letter.
Mark Ort:
18:43-18:45
How long do you think that would take, right?
Mark Ort:
18:46-18:47
Like they were really clean people, right?
Mark Ort:
18:48-18:55
So, but there's other stories like that where it was a painstaking process.
Mark Ort:
18:55-18:57
It wasn't just eyeballing.
Mark Ort:
18:57-19:06
Oh, and then the other thing is, If you, in the process, if you accidentally copied a letter down wrong, you had to take it and...
Pastor Jeff:
19:06-19:07
You had to trash the whole book.
Pastor Jeff:
19:07-19:07
You had to
Mark Ort:
19:07-19:11
trash it, you had to actually bury it, because it was too holy to throw it away.
Mark Ort:
19:11-19:18
So you had to like roll it up and you had to like ceremonially like bury the thing because you wrote a letter down wrong.
Pastor Jeff:
19:19-20:01
And I don't want to belabor the point on this particular question, another element to this question that probably would take a whole sermon, but however many people there are in here, there may be six or seven or eight English translations. I mean, we have the New Living Translation, we have the New American Standard, we have the King James, the New King James, the NIV, and the list goes on. And part of this question may be that, like, how do we know which one of those is the most accurate, or which one should we be reading, which one's a better study Bible, which one's more literal, which one's more... and we can ask all those questions.
Pastor Jeff:
20:02-20:23
But I think the principle is that there were principles of translation that godly scholars had used in developing these newer translations. And we could go through the history of all those and when they came out and why they came out and who worked on them.
Pastor Jeff:
20:24-20:27
And I did look into that stuff in great detail some years ago.
Pastor Jeff:
20:28-20:36
And there are reliable translations like the NIV, the scholarship that went into the NIV and the New American Standard.
Pastor Jeff:
20:37-20:46
And like these guys were, and most recently probably the ESV, I think it's Justin Taylor was on the ESV translation board.
Pastor Jeff:
20:46-21:01
And if you've read anything by Justin Taylor, a godly individual who wants to be accurate, and they would meet in these committees, and, you know, is this what the original language was actually trying to say?
Pastor Jeff:
21:02-21:04
What did they mean when they were writing these things?
Pastor Jeff:
21:05-21:16
And so we have to have faith in the Lord that he's going to preserve his word down through to the generations in a language that we can understand.
Mark Ort:
21:17-21:23
Right on. And there are some translations that are better than others, but I'm not going to split hairs on that, because let's be honest.
Mark Ort:
21:24-21:30
And the English translations that we have, can you read them and get the message of the gospel?
Mark Ort:
21:30-21:34
Like, yeah, you can. Except maybe the message.
Mark Ort:
21:34-21:38
I'm not sure about that one. But the other ones...
Mark Ort:
21:38-21:41
I just really offended somebody here, but...
Mark Ort:
21:41-21:41
I think,
Pastor Jeff:
21:41-21:46
I mean, when you bring that up, Jeff, the message is a paraphrase.
Pastor Jeff:
21:46-21:47
It's a paraphrase, right.
Pastor Jeff:
21:47-21:53
So it is somebody's, and actually the message individually, and if you have the message, I'm not condemning you.
Pastor Jeff:
21:54-21:55
No, we're not condemning you.
Pastor Jeff:
21:55-22:02
But it's a paraphrase from somebody who, that's his take on what the Bible says.
Pastor Jeff:
22:03-22:06
But there's a difference between a paraphrase and a translation.
Pastor Jeff:
22:06-22:13
And we wanna make sure, I think, that we are getting a translated copy from the original language.
Pastor Jeff:
22:13-22:27
And just to throw some out there, if you have an ESV, if you have an NIV, if you have a New American Standard, if you have a New King James, if you have a King James for that matter, I mean, those are translations from the original.
Pastor Jeff:
22:27-22:37
And a paraphrase like the Living Bible, not the New Living Translation, but the Living Bible that I think was popular in the '70s is a paraphrase.
Pastor Jeff:
22:38-22:41
And I would just recommend steering away from those.
Pastor Jeff:
22:41-22:45
But if you have one and it helps you, I'm not going to say that you're...
Pastor Jeff:
22:45-22:46
You can still
Mark Ort:
22:46-22:47
get the message of the Gospel.
Pastor Jeff:
22:48-22:48
Exactly.
Mark Ort:
22:48-22:49
Through that.
Mark Ort:
22:49-22:50
So we're not condemning you.
Mark Ort:
22:52-22:53
But I'm not going to split hairs.
Mark Ort:
22:53-23:02
I know some people are King James only, and some people are like, "NIV? You mean the newly inspired version?" Like, okay, whatever.
Pastor Jeff:
23:03-23:14
And if we study the translation principles people used in all these versions, I think we have again a greater appreciation for each individual translation.
Pastor Jeff:
23:14-23:15
I
Mark Ort:
23:15-23:17
just don't have the energy to fight about that.
Mark Ort:
23:17-23:19
I know some people do, but that's just not me.
Mark Ort:
23:19-23:24
I'm like, read the Bible, be a Bible student, use different translations.
Mark Ort:
23:25-23:27
But that's a fantastic question.
Mark Ort:
23:27-23:27
It's
Pastor Jeff:
23:27-23:28
a really good question.
Mark Ort:
23:29-23:29
How about
Pastor Jeff:
23:29-23:30
this one, Jeff?
Pastor Jeff:
23:30-23:36
Christ tells us to do communion, but He also washed feet, and told us to do that too.
Pastor Jeff:
23:37-23:39
Why do some churches wash feet and not others?
Pastor Jeff:
23:40-23:44
By the way, the fact that we don't is not a problem with me.
Pastor Jeff:
23:45-23:47
And I say, Amen.
Mark Ort:
23:50-23:56
That disclaimer really helped me narrow down who I think asked the question.
Mark Ort:
23:57-23:58
Oh, here's the thing.
Mark Ort:
23:59-24:05
This comes from John 13, where Jesus washed the disciples' feet.
Mark Ort:
24:06-24:09
In verse 15, Jesus gives the reason.
Mark Ort:
24:09-24:16
He says, "For I have given you an example that you also should do, just as I have done to you." Why do some churches wash feet?
Mark Ort:
24:17-24:19
Because they take this very literally.
Mark Ort:
24:20-24:21
Jesus literally meant that.
Mark Ort:
24:22-24:29
In Jesus' culture, foot washing was the job of the lowest slave.
Mark Ort:
24:30-24:37
Why? Well, living in the Middle East in the first century, wearing sandals, people's feet would get dirty.
Mark Ort:
24:39-24:40
Just by walking around everywhere.
Mark Ort:
24:40-24:46
They weren't driving in their cars, they were walking in the dirt all the time.
Mark Ort:
24:46-24:49
So that was a very common problem. People had dirty feet.
Mark Ort:
24:49-24:55
and the lowest slave in the house, it was their job to clean the feet of guests that came to the house.
Mark Ort:
24:56-25:04
So understanding that as the backdrop, that gives you the significance of John chapter 13, that Jesus would do the job of the lowest slave.
Mark Ort:
25:04-25:16
That Jesus wasn't like, "Hey, son of God, that's a little beneath me." Like when they came, Jesus said, "I will serve in the most degrading way possible.
Mark Ort:
25:17-25:32
I will do the job of the lowest of the low." And I think that's what Jesus meant when He said, "Now I've left you an example." I don't think it's about washing feet as much as it's about being willing to take on the lowest job.
Mark Ort:
25:32-25:43
So in our culture, you might say, "Hey, Pastor Jeff, I want to help in the church." And what if I said to you, "Hey, I want you to take the garbage out after service." You're like, "Well, you don't know who I am, Jeff.
Mark Ort:
25:43-25:57
I'm the CFO of a major company and I don't take the garbage out." Like, "Oh, you know the son of God washed feet. Did you know that?" You're like, "Well, how can I help?" "Well, you know, we need somebody to help clean the bathrooms." "Oh, you don't understand, Pastor Jeff.
Mark Ort:
25:57-26:10
I am a medical doctor and I don't clean bathrooms." I'm like, "Well, God washed feet, so you're too good. Why?" I think that's the whole meaning behind this.
Mark Ort:
26:10-26:18
As Christians, we see ourselves as being willing to humble ourselves to do any job.
26:19-26:20
Yeah,
Pastor Jeff:
26:20-26:21
that's a really good question.
Pastor Jeff:
26:21-26:28
I was at a wedding once where the bride and the groom washed each other's feet.
Pastor Jeff:
26:29-26:40
And I thought that was, at first, when I saw them getting ready to do it, I'm thinking to myself, this is really weird, because I grew up in a church that did foot washings like twice a year.
Pastor Jeff:
26:41-26:43
And even as a 10 year old, I thought it was kind of weird.
Pastor Jeff:
26:45-26:52
But as I sat and watched the thing happen at the wedding, I thought about what you're saying here, Jeff.
Pastor Jeff:
26:53-27:03
The bride and the groom were showing in that act their love and mutual respect for one another and submission to one another.
Mark Ort:
27:04-27:04
And it was
Pastor Jeff:
27:04-27:05
a beautiful
Mark Ort:
27:05-27:05
picture.
Mark Ort:
27:05-27:07
And as a symbolic act, yeah, absolutely.
Mark Ort:
27:07-27:08
I don't have a problem with it.
Mark Ort:
27:08-27:09
Yeah, it was a beautiful
Pastor Jeff:
27:09-27:12
picture, just like baptism is a beautiful picture.
Pastor Jeff:
27:14-27:22
But it was, like you said, Jeff, it was Jesus's way of saying, do these kinds of things.
Pastor Jeff:
27:22-27:28
You don't have to actually go out and wash somebody's feet, but if they ask you to take the garbage out, you might want to consider.
Pastor Jeff:
27:28-27:28
But it might
Mark Ort:
27:28-27:29
include that.
Mark Ort:
27:29-27:30
I mean, you know what I mean?
Mark Ort:
27:31-27:44
I think there's a broader principle here, Because we can make it just about foot washing, and then we're like, "Hey, I need you to help clean the bathrooms or take the garbage out." Like, "Well, Jesus didn't do that." Well, I think there's a principle there.
Pastor Jeff:
27:46-27:46
Thanks, Jeff.
Pastor Jeff:
27:47-27:49
All right, any questions out here?
Pastor Jeff:
27:50-27:50
Yes.
Mark Ort:
27:52-27:56
Could you talk about eschatology, what the church's position is on end times?
Mark Ort:
27:57-27:59
Is scripture descriptive of what's going to happen?
Mark Ort:
27:59-28:02
What's already been fulfilled, just kind of generally like that?
Mark Ort:
28:04-28:05
Yeah, absolutely.
Mark Ort:
28:05-28:08
We went through the book of Revelation last year.
Mark Ort:
28:09-28:10
And that's the long version of the answer.
Mark Ort:
28:10-28:24
The short version is I believe that the events that are laid out in Revelation and are discussed like in Matthew 24, Mark 13, I believe those are going to happen.
Mark Ort:
28:24-28:27
I believe there's a future seven-year tribulation that's coming.
Mark Ort:
28:29-28:34
Preceding that tribulation, I believe there's a rapture when God removes His people from the earth.
Mark Ort:
28:34-28:38
And I believe that with the removal of the church and the earth, you're going to see the seven years of hell on earth.
Mark Ort:
28:38-28:40
Those are the seven years of tribulation.
Mark Ort:
28:40-28:46
Revelation, and Christ returns to establish His thousand-year kingdom on the earth.
Mark Ort:
28:47-28:51
And then after the thousand-year kingdom is the great white throne judgment.
Mark Ort:
28:51-28:55
So I believe that the events of Revelation point to a seven-year period.
Mark Ort:
28:56-28:59
And then Daniel, also Daniel 9, talks about this.
Mark Ort:
28:59-29:05
But I believe these are future events that are going to happen literally as they're laid out in the book of Revelation.
29:07-29:07
Yeah,
Pastor Jeff:
29:07-29:12
I think you even addressed this in your Revelation sermons, and I remember this.
Pastor Jeff:
29:13-29:19
I think it's, "We see the church in Revelation 1, 2, 3, and 4."
Mark Ort:
29:19-29:24
Well, you see, Revelation 2 and 3 is the church, the church, the church.
Mark Ort:
29:24-29:27
The seven churches, Revelation 4 and 5, you see worship in heaven.
Mark Ort:
29:28-29:30
And then there's no mention at all of the church throughout the entire tribulation.
Pastor Jeff:
29:31-29:32
That's
Mark Ort:
29:32-29:33
one reason I believe the church is raptured out.
Pastor Jeff:
29:34-29:42
Yeah, it's a really good point, because if the church was in that period, you would think that there would be something said to them.
Pastor Jeff:
29:42-29:43
There would be a mention.
Pastor Jeff:
29:43-29:45
An encouragement, a warning, something.
Pastor Jeff:
29:45-29:46
Nations, unbelievers,
Mark Ort:
29:46-29:55
Israel, all of them are mentioned, but you don't see not one mention, not a word, not a passing comment, nothing about the church during that time.
Mark Ort:
29:55-30:05
And some people say, "Well, I don't believe the church is raptured out because why would God's people be exempt from suffering?" And I would say, "Well, look at God's track record.
Mark Ort:
30:05-30:06
Look at the Bible.
Mark Ort:
30:07-30:13
Every time God brings judgment on unbelievers, He removes His people every time." Remember Noah's flood? What happened?
Mark Ort:
30:13-30:15
Judgment, God removed His people.
Mark Ort:
30:15-30:17
Remember Sodom and Gomorrah? What happened?
Mark Ort:
30:17-30:19
Judgment, God removed His people.
Mark Ort:
30:19-30:21
Look at Israel in the wonders of the wilderness.
Mark Ort:
30:21-30:24
When people would rebel against God, what did God tell Moses?
Mark Ort:
30:25-30:30
"Hey, get your people out of there, because I'm about to torch some people." He'd remove his people.
Mark Ort:
30:30-30:36
So it's not unreasonable to think when the end times come, God's bringing judgment on the earth, what's the first thing he does?
Mark Ort:
30:36-30:37
Remove his people.
Mark Ort:
30:38-30:45
So I believe the church is not going to be here during the events of the seven-year tribulation.
Pastor Jeff:
30:46-30:48
Thank you. Is there another question out here?
Pastor Jeff:
30:49-30:49
Before we move on?
Pastor Jeff:
30:51-30:58
Okay, "Could you please explain to me the meaning of Psalm 108.7-9?"
Mark Ort:
30:58-31:02
Yeah, this is a really good question. Let's look at the verses here, and then I'm going to do a little explanation.
Mark Ort:
31:03-31:03
Okay.
Mark Ort:
31:05-31:18
"God has promised in His holiness, 'With exultation I will divide up Shechem and portion out the valley of Sukkoth, Gilead is mine. Manasseh is mine. Ephraim is my helmet.
Mark Ort:
31:19-31:23
Judah is my scepter. Moab is my washbasin.
Mark Ort:
31:24-31:38
Upon Edom I cast my shoe. Over Philistia I shout in triumph." Now interestingly, Psalm 108 is a combination of Psalm 57 and Psalm 60.
Mark Ort:
31:39-31:43
The first five verses are from Psalm 57, verses 7-11.
Mark Ort:
31:44-31:50
verses 6-13 and Psalm 108, or from Psalm 60, verses 5-12.
Mark Ort:
31:51-31:53
Here's the question. What's going on here, Ani?
Mark Ort:
31:55-31:56
Explain to me what's happening.
Mark Ort:
31:57-32:01
Well, alright. Verses 7 and 8, here's what's happening.
Mark Ort:
32:01-32:14
It's God's very poetic way of saying, "Israel belongs to me." Now understand, Israel has always been the focal point of attacks and enemies and invasions, and always, even until today, right?
Mark Ort:
32:14-32:16
So Israel has always been the focal point.
Mark Ort:
32:16-32:22
This is God's way of saying, "Israel's mine." "She's mine. She belongs to me." And it doesn't matter what all these nations are doing.
Mark Ort:
32:23-32:27
"Israel belongs to me," is what God is saying.
Mark Ort:
32:27-32:31
And verse 9 refers to the enemies of Israel.
Mark Ort:
32:31-32:34
That's Moab, that's Edom, that's Philistia.
Mark Ort:
32:34-32:35
Those are enemies.
Mark Ort:
32:35-32:38
And God is using poetic language for the enemies.
Mark Ort:
32:40-32:46
He says, "First of all, Moab is my wash basin." That's a picture of humility. Moab thinks they're big and tough.
Mark Ort:
32:47-33:01
God's like, "I brush my teeth and spit in Moab. That's how tough Moab is." And He says, "Eat them before I cast my shoe." It's a picture of walking into somebody's house and taking your shoes off, and the servant's there.
Mark Ort:
33:01-33:07
It's like, "Hey, servant, take care of these shoes for me." God's like, "The mighty Edom, that's what Edom is to me.
Mark Ort:
33:07-33:13
Hey, hey, take care of my shoes, boy." And Philistia, "I shout in triumph." I mean, that's pretty self-explanatory.
Mark Ort:
33:14-33:18
Philistia, the Philistines, you know, long history of oppression on Israel.
Mark Ort:
33:18-33:24
God's like, "They're going to know who's really in charge here." So that's what's happening there.
Mark Ort:
33:24-33:31
It's two things, God claiming ownership of Israel and claiming ultimate triumph and humility over the enemies of Israel.
Mark Ort:
33:33-33:35
Somebody's been studying their Psalms.
Mark Ort:
33:36-33:37
That's a really good question.
33:38-33:38
I
Pastor Jeff:
33:38-33:39
like that question.
Pastor Jeff:
33:39-33:46
"To my understanding, the devil was cast from heaven due to the sin of pride. Is that correct?
Pastor Jeff:
33:46-33:52
And if so, I don't understand that, as I didn't think sin was possible in heaven."
33:52-33:53
Well,
Mark Ort:
33:53-34:00
it seems that the angels had one choice, to remain faithful to God or to go with the devil.
Mark Ort:
34:00-34:05
The Bible says a third went with the devil We call those angels demons.
Mark Ort:
34:05-34:08
We see this in Revelation 12.
Mark Ort:
34:09-34:13
Verse 4, talking about the devil as a dragon.
Mark Ort:
34:13-34:27
"His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth." So, our understanding, putting the Scriptures together, is a third of the angels rebelled with Satan.
Mark Ort:
34:27-34:29
And we call those angels demons today.
Mark Ort:
34:30-34:32
And their day of judgment is coming.
Mark Ort:
34:32-34:40
Actually, Jesus said in Matthew 25, 41, that the lake of fire was prepared for the devil and his angels.
Mark Ort:
34:41-34:43
Interesting way of phrasing that.
Mark Ort:
34:44-34:53
But ultimately, everyone ends up in the lake of fire with the devil and angels who don't receive the gift of salvation that Christ so generously offers.
Mark Ort:
34:55-34:56
Do we have any more that were texted
Pastor Jeff:
34:56-34:57
in?
Pastor Jeff:
34:57-34:58
Yeah, I was just going to ask Mike.
Pastor Jeff:
35:00-35:02
All right, let me read that to you, Jeff.
Pastor Jeff:
35:02-35:12
"How does Harvest reconcile the thought that some parts of Scripture are cultural, like head coverings, but others, like the role of women in the church, are not?"
35:12-35:12
That's
Mark Ort:
35:12-35:13
a really good question.
Mark Ort:
35:13-35:14
It's the context of the passage.
Mark Ort:
35:16-35:19
Like, for example, it's context of the passage.
Mark Ort:
35:20-35:23
Let's talk about the role of women in the church, because we get this one a lot.
Mark Ort:
35:26-35:27
1 Timothy 2.
Mark Ort:
35:29-35:31
in verses 11 through 15.
Mark Ort:
35:33-35:35
But the context determines that, right?
Mark Ort:
35:36-35:40
Because there are some things that are obviously, in the context of the passage, they're cultural.
Mark Ort:
35:41-35:48
Like, okay, he's talking to a particular people in a particular city at a particular time about a particular thing.
Mark Ort:
35:48-35:54
But some things are not cultural in nature, they are theological in nature.
Mark Ort:
35:54-35:57
And that's why I want to bring this to your attention.
Mark Ort:
35:59-36:06
1 Timothy 2, verse 11, Paul says, "Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness." He's talking about in the context of church.
Mark Ort:
36:07-36:10
But look at what he says in verse 12.
Mark Ort:
36:11-36:15
This is where it gets dicey for some people.
Mark Ort:
36:16-36:22
He says, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man.
Mark Ort:
36:24-36:29
Rather, she is to remain quiet." And people right there say, "Yeah, that was a cultural issue right there.
Mark Ort:
36:29-36:34
That was cultural. The reason he said that was cultural." Well, look at the next verse.
Mark Ort:
36:35-36:39
He says, "For Adam was formed first, then Eve.
Mark Ort:
36:40-36:44
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.
Mark Ort:
36:45-36:54
Yet she will be saved through childbearing, if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control." So the question is, Paul's reasoning.
Mark Ort:
36:55-37:00
Is his reasoning cultural, or is his reasoning theological?
Mark Ort:
37:02-37:07
Just take out your biases and look at the text straightforwardly.
Mark Ort:
37:07-37:17
He didn't say, "Because Timothy and Ephesus, the culture doesn't permit women to..." He doesn't go into anything cultural.
Mark Ort:
37:18-37:22
He goes straight into - this is a theological thing, it goes all the way back to creation.
Mark Ort:
37:24-37:31
You get a look at the context of the passage, and that determines, are we talking about a theological issue, or a cultural issue?
Mark Ort:
37:32-37:34
Are there principles that are to be carried on, like the foot-washing thing?
Mark Ort:
37:35-37:38
Or is it something that obviously pertains to just the people in that setting?
Pastor Jeff:
37:40-37:47
Just the head covering in specific, and maybe you already alluded to this, but why don't we wear head coverings here?
Mark Ort:
37:48-37:50
I think that was more of a cultural thing.
37:53-37:53
What
Pastor Jeff:
37:53-37:53
do you think?
Pastor Jeff:
37:54-37:58
I thought, based on what I read, I think it's cultural.
Mark Ort:
38:00-38:00
Right.
Mark Ort:
38:01-38:04
So, obviously I didn't study that one as much as the first one.
Mark Ort:
38:05-38:07
But hey, that's what happens when you get these ad hoc questions.
Mark Ort:
38:10-38:12
I'm just going to do that from now on.
Mark Ort:
38:13-38:16
If I don't know the answer, I'm just going to say, It was cultural.
Mark Ort:
38:19-38:21
No, I'm kidding aside, I really think that was cultural.
Mark Ort:
38:22-38:25
Have I done in-depth studies on head coverings? No.
Mark Ort:
38:25-38:27
Not any time in the last 15 years, probably.
Pastor Jeff:
38:29-38:44
Well, I don't know if this probably doesn't add anything to the conversation at all, but we belonged to a church a long time ago where they started going that route, where somebody saw that, hey, women are wearing head coverings in the scriptures, so we need to do that.
Pastor Jeff:
38:45-38:48
And so there was a contingent of people that started wearing head coverings.
Pastor Jeff:
38:48-38:58
And we would talk to them and ask them why, and there wasn't a real good explanation other than the fact that they saw some things happen in the Bible with head coverings.
Pastor Jeff:
39:00-39:03
That's not something that we participated in.
39:04-39:04
What
Mark Ort:
39:04-39:05
is that, in 1 Corinthians?
Mark Ort:
39:06-39:06
Is that right?
Mark Ort:
39:07-39:08
I believe
Pastor Jeff:
39:08-39:08
it is.
Mark Ort:
39:08-39:11
It has been a long time since I studied that, so yeah.
Mark Ort:
39:12-39:13
I'm not as up to speed on that.
Mark Ort:
39:14-39:17
But I know the women's authority in church thing is theological.
Mark Ort:
39:18-39:18
I know that.
39:21-39:21
All
Pastor Jeff:
39:21-39:23
right, next question on our sheet here.
Pastor Jeff:
39:24-39:30
This is the shortest Q &A question that I've ever seen, and I love it because it's only three words.
Pastor Jeff:
39:31-39:33
Melchizedek, please explain.
Pastor Jeff:
39:36-39:37
If only the answer were that
Mark Ort:
39:37-39:38
short.
Mark Ort:
39:39-39:39
All right.
Mark Ort:
39:42-39:46
Melchizedek. I'm going to look at my notes here because we're running low on time.
Mark Ort:
39:47-39:50
Oh, we are under a minute. Let me see if I can do it in under a minute. Ready?
Mark Ort:
39:51-39:53
Hebrews 7 talks about Melchizedek.
Mark Ort:
39:53-39:57
Jesus the Messiah was promised to be a part of Melchizedek's order, not in the order of the Levites.
Mark Ort:
39:57-40:01
That comes from Psalm 110, verse 4. A very key verse in the Old Testament.
Mark Ort:
40:02-40:40
"The Lord has sworn he will not change his mind. You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek." Melchizedek. Genesis 14, he was the king of Salem. He blessed Abraham and Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything. He paid him a tithe. Melchizedek was a priest. This is a significance. In the Old Testament law, you couldn't be both priest and king, but the Messiah was prophesied to be both priest and king, so he would be in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of the Levites. Melchizedek predates the law. It was even greater than Abraham, therefore he was greater than the Levites, Abraham's eventual offspring, proved by the fact that Abraham gave Melchizedek the tithe.
Mark Ort:
40:41-40:46
I didn't do it. I'm out of time. I'm sorry.
40:47-40:48
You
Pastor Jeff:
40:48-40:48
are loved.
Mark Ort:
40:48-40:49
You are loved.
Mark Ort:
40:53-41:02
Okay, the point of Melchizedek, Jesus came from his line of priests, not the Levitical line of priests.
Mark Ort:
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And that's absolutely significant.
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Because the whole point of Hebrews is God has fulfilled and finished everything from Old Testament law in the person of Jesus Christ.
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And his point is Jesus wasn't even a Levitical priest.
Mark Ort:
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To keep that going, Jesus was a priest from the line of Melchizedek.
Mark Ort:
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He was a picture, or a type of Jesus in five ways.
Mark Ort:
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His name, Melchizedek, means "my King is righteousness." His title, he was the king of Salem, like Jerusalem, or Shalom, that means peace.
Mark Ort:
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He was the king of peace.
Mark Ort:
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He was both king and priest, which under the Old Testament law you were not allowed to have both offices.
Mark Ort:
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Melchizedek did, Jesus does.
Mark Ort:
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He was not a Levitical priest, again, because the Mosaic law was fulfilled, now obsolete according to Hebrews.
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And he had no beginning or end.
Mark Ort:
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Melchizedek wasn't timeless, he just means "on the page." He shows up suddenly, and he vanishes suddenly from Scripture.
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There's no genealogy, we don't know who Melchizedek's parents were, but they were great at picking names.
Mark Ort:
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And it says he resembled Jesus as a priest forever.
Mark Ort:
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So, using just sort of the...
Mark Ort:
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He's like, yeah, Genesis 14, he kind of comes from nowhere, and he sort of vanishes.
Mark Ort:
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He's like, "That's kind of like Jesus, he's timeless." But there's a lot of other ways, like Jesus, and that's what, under Holy Spirit inspiration, prompted the psalmist to say about the Messiah, "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind." The Father is saying this about the Son.
Mark Ort:
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"You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." That is a really good question, and it would take us several weeks to really plumb the depths of everything about Melchizedek.
Pastor Jeff:
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>> Well, listen, we had a couple other questions that we're not going to get to.
Pastor Jeff:
43:03-43:06
And you're probably going to write some things about that on the blog, right?
Pastor Jeff:
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>> Yeah, I'll put
Mark Ort:
43:06-43:07
them on the blog, yeah.
Mark Ort:
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But there was one other question you wanted to bring up.
Mark Ort:
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>> Yeah, I had another
Pastor Jeff:
43:10-43:11
question that came through.
Pastor Jeff:
43:11-43:20
It was actually the first question that Jeff had texted me whenever Q&A day was mentioned in planning.
Pastor Jeff:
43:21-43:26
The question, and I don't have it in front of me, but you'll get the gist of it.
Pastor Jeff:
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What about white privilege and racism?
Pastor Jeff:
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And what about diversity in our church?
Pastor Jeff:
43:33-43:39
And so I started to research where the term came from.
Pastor Jeff:
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Obviously, the race issue is all over our televisions and our news feeds and things like that in recent days.
Pastor Jeff:
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and that was a question that came in, like how can our church address, what do we do as a church to address these things?
Pastor Jeff:
43:57-44:10
How are we supposed to respond as a body and maybe as individuals to these really important and serious questions that are in our country today?
Pastor Jeff:
44:11-44:15
And we are going to attempt to answer that next week.
Pastor Jeff:
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Yes. - In part two of Q&A.
Mark Ort:
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We are taking a whole session on this, and here's why.
Mark Ort:
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We got that question submitted, and I know the men in our small group, we share a little Google Hangout box, but it generated a lot of interesting discussion, even among us, like about diversity in the church and response to racism.
Mark Ort:
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And I was hearing of other conversations happening, like, yeah, I have some questions about that too.
Mark Ort:
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So we thought instead of, you reached out to Tiffany because she's Libby's dance instructor, And we're asking her some questions about this.
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As a black woman and as a Christian, what's your perspective on this?
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You know, raised by white parents, I mean, she has a whole, you know, wild story.
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And Mark, you had shared with me some of the things that she had shared with you.
Mark Ort:
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I called and talked to her and got to hear from her.
Mark Ort:
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And we thought, after talking to the elders of the church, we thought it was just too much good communication to try to squeeze it in on Q&A day.
Pastor Jeff:
45:18-45:23
And for us to relay to you what she told us, you're gonna hear it secondhand from us.
Pastor Jeff:
45:23-45:30
So for you to hear directly from her, I think is really gonna be a gripping and compelling session next week.
Mark Ort:
45:31-45:42
Right, and a lot of people have race-related questions and it's gonna be better coming from her instead of like, here's two middle-aged white guys schooling us about racism.
Mark Ort:
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It's going to be much better coming from her.
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She has such a powerful perspective, and very articulate, and Christ-centered gospel focused.
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Not just jumping on some bandwagon of hysteria, but her perspective as a black woman is just very Christ-centered.
Mark Ort:
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She's like, "Here's what the Bible says, therefore here's how the church should respond." It's very refreshing to hear that in our day of just screaming and chaos.
Pastor Jeff:
46:18-46:34
That was our goal in inviting her, was to hear solutions and perspectives from somebody who is going to be reaching into the Word of God rather than the hysteria that we see going on.
Pastor Jeff:
46:35-46:41
And that's our goal, as always, with any of these questions, is we want to be biblical about it.
Pastor Jeff:
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We said at the beginning, the Bible has the answers to our questions, including the tough ones about racism.
Mark Ort:
46:48-46:50
And we're going to be opening the floor.
Mark Ort:
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If you want to ask her a question or text a question, she is willing to take some Q&A time just ad hoc like this to maybe ask her about the head coverings.
Pastor Jeff:
47:03-47:03
Sounds good.
Mark Ort:
47:04-47:07
All right, and any of these other questions, I wasn't sure what was going on.
Mark Ort:
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But that's why we have Mark.
Mark Ort:
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Mark, why don't you pray for us and thank you everyone for the questions.
Mark Ort:
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And you've had conversations with people about race and things.
Mark Ort:
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Invite them next week, right?
Mark Ort:
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And we'll set up more chairs if we need to.
Pastor Jeff:
47:21-47:23
Yeah, absolutely, invite them, like seriously.
Mark Ort:
47:25-47:31
Excellent, why don't you pray for us, Mark, and the worship team will come up and we'll close our time with a word of worship.
Mark Ort:
47:31-47:32
All right,
Pastor Jeff:
47:32-47:32
bow your heads, please.
Pastor Jeff:
47:33-47:37
Thank you, Lord, for just a beautiful day, a beautiful Sunday morning.
Pastor Jeff:
47:38-47:41
You've been abundantly kind to us.
Pastor Jeff:
47:41-47:50
You've been good to us, not just with the weather and how you provide for us and things like that, but you've been good in every other way.
Pastor Jeff:
47:52-48:05
You've planted within us your word and you've given us friends that care about us and you've given us a certain amount of stability and we thank you for our health.
Pastor Jeff:
48:05-48:11
And we are grateful for all of these things, our homes and our food.
Pastor Jeff:
48:11-48:15
And Lord, thank you for all of that.
Pastor Jeff:
48:17-48:26
But we thank you most of all for the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all of our unrighteousness, that takes away the guilt and the stain of our sin.
Pastor Jeff:
48:27-48:33
We stand here today, Lord, as those who know you, as people who stand in grace.
Pastor Jeff:
48:33-48:38
And we are so grateful for that this morning and we never wanna take that for granted.
Pastor Jeff:
48:40-48:57
We thank you that we are back in church and worshiping with one another and hearing from your word together and seeing each other's smiles and sharing each other's victories and hurts and things like that in this corporate setting.
Pastor Jeff:
48:57-49:03
And Lord, I thank you for a group of like-minded believers who love one another.
Pastor Jeff:
49:04-49:07
And so Lord, we give you all the glory this morning.
Pastor Jeff:
49:08-49:24
I thank you for Q&A day where we can just have a little bit of fun, where we can dig into your word and get answers to the things that puzzle us or things that confuse us.
Pastor Jeff:
49:24-49:31
And Lord, I pray that this morning was a fruitful time for those in attendance and listening this morning.
Pastor Jeff:
49:33-49:35
Again, Lord, we thank you for your goodness to us.
Pastor Jeff:
49:36-49:38
And we pray these things in Jesus' 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!