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.
Ice-Breakers:
[01:08] - Q: What is your favorite color?
A: Gray (Jeff), Royal/Navy Blue (Taylor)[02:19] - Q: What is your favorite book of the Bible and why?
A: OT - Ecclesiastes / NT - Romans (Taylor), OT - Ecclesiastes / NT - Revelation (Jeff), James (Matt)[04:40] - Q: What Christian book has made an impact on you that you would recommend to others?
A: See TBD - TBD
The Bible:[06:35] - Q: Does God still speak to us today?
A: See Hebrews 1:1-2 - Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.[10:06] - Q: Do you guys know anything about why certain books were included and others weren’t, such as other books found in Dead Sea scrolls? And what about books mentioned in Bible such as Enoch?
A: TBD
Old Testament:[12:22] - Q: Who was the third person on earth?
A: Cain[12:45] - Q: If Cain killed Abel, who did Cain marry? How did humanity continue?
A: His sister[14:05] - Q: Genesis 5:4 - The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died. Who or what are the Nephilim?
A: See TBD[18:25] - Q: What is your stance on Psalm 83? Is it a war, a lament? If you believe it to be a war, is it a past war or yet future?
A: See TBD - TBD
New Testament:[19:55] - Q: In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus talks about narrow & wide gates, one that leads to destruction & one that leads to life. He indicates that there will be few who find the narrow gate that leads to eternal life. Is Jesus revealing in these verses that proportionally speaking that most people born throughout the ages will go to hell compared to those that truly come to salvation through Jesus?
A: See TBD - TBD[24:25] - Q: The Bible says “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matt 7:1), but there are other places like I Cor 2:15 where God says “but he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one”. Can you explain the seeming contradiction between these two verses?
A: See TBD - TBD[28:28] - Q: Can you discuss the Bema seat? I know it is a judgment for believers (good and not so good) that will take place post rapture for how we spent our lives on earth, but since God forgives our sins past, present, and future and wipes them from his memory once we confess our salvation in Him, why do we stand in judgment for things we did that are not so good?
Or is it just situations where we could have shared the gospel or helped someone and didn't do anything that will be called out and judged?
A: See 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 - According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
2 Corinthians 5:10 - For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Potluck:[31:05] - Q: With as flawed, hypocritical, & inconsistent as we are as believers, why would God choose to limit Himself in such a way to effectively share the truth of His message to the lost world?
A: See - TBD[33:40] - Q: What does the Bible say about the use of Western Medicine example anti depressants, pain killers, medical marijuana, etc.?
A: See Proverbs 31:6 - Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress...[35:15] - Q: Is drinking alcohol, using tobacco/ marijuana, or gambling all sins? Should a born again believer stop these activities?
A: See TBD - TBD[On the Blog] - Q: Why does God allow trials in my life to test my faith, if in His sovereignty He already knows how I’ll respond (positively or negatively)?
A: See 1 Peter 1:6-9 - In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.[On the Blog] - Q: Can you explain what Jesus means in Luke 14:26-27 where He says we can not be His disciples unless we hate our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, children? This seems totally contradictory to His message for us to love one another as He has loved us.
A: See Matthew 10:37 - Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
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
-
Jeff:
00:01-00:03
All right, so Q&A day.
Jeff:
00:04-00:04
Ground rules, right?
Jeff:
00:05-00:10
The ground rules are we can only answer the question that we think you're asking, right?
Jeff:
00:11-00:18
So if you submitted the question and we answer, you're like, "That's not what I meant at all." We're taking our best stab at what we think you're asking.
Jeff:
00:18-00:23
We're gonna give the shortest possible answer because really every one of these things could be a sermon series.
Jeff:
00:24-00:30
And whatever we don't get to today, Pastor Taylor will put on our blog on our website, right?
Taylor:
00:30-00:31
I suppose so.
Jeff:
00:33-00:35
I did it for the first 11 years.
Taylor:
00:35-00:36
I'll happily do it, I'll happily do it.
Jeff:
00:36-00:40
I did it for the first 11 years of the church, you can take the next 11 years, right?
Jeff:
00:40-00:41
Isn't that how it works?
Taylor:
00:41-00:41
Sounds good to me.
Jeff:
00:41-00:43
Okay, all right.
Jeff:
00:44-00:46
So, are we gonna set the timer too?
Jeff:
00:47-00:51
All right, so, keep us honest here.
Jeff:
00:54-00:56
All right, what do we got, Fulzi?
Jeff:
00:56-00:59
Let's get going. I gave you my notes, so I'm totally trusting you.
Matt:
00:59-01:01
Yeah, I do. So you want me to start with the icebreakers, correct?
Jeff:
01:01-01:04
Oh, yeah. Let's start with the icebreakers. Let's go through those pretty quick.
Matt:
01:04-01:06
All right. Let's get really deep here to start.
Matt:
01:08-01:10
What is your favorite color?
Taylor:
01:10-01:12
I don't know if I can answer that one. That's pretty deep.
Jeff:
01:12-01:13
That is pretty deep.
Taylor:
01:13-01:15
I guess gray is my favorite color.
Matt:
01:16-01:17
Gray?
Taylor:
01:17-01:18
Gray. Yeah.
Taylor:
01:19-01:21
What kind of answer is that?
Taylor:
01:21-01:23
It works well. Living in Pittsburgh, it's gray most of the time.
Taylor:
01:25-01:28
If I look at most of the colors I wear, I guess it'd be gray.
Matt:
01:28-01:29
Yeah, that's fair.
Matt:
01:31-01:32
Better answer than gray.
Jeff:
01:33-01:35
You're not gonna believe this.
Jeff:
01:35-01:36
Erin, what's my favorite color?
Taylor:
01:40-01:42
That's why you hired me.
Jeff:
01:42-01:43
It's true. It's true.
Jeff:
01:44-01:45
Gray is my favorite color too.
Jeff:
01:46-01:47
What's your favorite color?
Matt:
01:47-01:48
Why? Why gray?
Jeff:
01:49-01:50
I just like gray.
Taylor:
01:51-01:51
It looks good with everything.
Jeff:
01:52-01:52
Yeah.
Matt:
01:53-01:53
Yeah.
Jeff:
01:53-01:54
What about you, Cole?
Matt:
01:54-01:58
I think mine's blue, like, you know, dark blue, royal blue.
Jeff:
01:58-01:59
Goes good with gray.
Matt:
01:59-02:01
Goes good with gray, I guess, yeah.
Taylor:
02:01-02:03
Who else has their favorite color as gray?
Taylor:
02:05-02:07
All right, Laura's awesome.
Jeff:
02:09-02:09
Laura is my twin sister.
Taylor:
02:09-02:10
McKenzie, okay.
Taylor:
02:11-02:12
The four of us are pretty great people.
Matt:
02:14-02:17
All right, next question, if we can recover from that.
Matt:
02:18-02:22
Your favorite book of the Bible and why?
Taylor:
02:22-02:24
I'm gonna cheat here a little bit.
Taylor:
02:25-02:26
Say Old Testament, New Testament.
Taylor:
02:26-02:27
That's really hard to do.
Jeff:
02:27-02:28
Oh my goodness, okay.
Taylor:
02:28-02:29
You can cheat too.
Taylor:
02:30-02:30
All right.
Taylor:
02:30-02:30
To both of you can.
Taylor:
02:31-02:33
I would say Ecclesiastes is my favorite book of the Old Testament.
Taylor:
02:33-02:36
People think it's depressing and like, ugh, but it's really awesome.
Taylor:
02:37-02:38
We did a sermon series on it last year.
Taylor:
02:39-02:43
It really shows you how meaningless life is apart from God.
Taylor:
02:43-02:47
How everything God has given us is a good gift if used for him and his glory.
Taylor:
02:47-02:50
So I think it's an awesome book of the Bible that not enough people really give enough attention to.
Taylor:
02:51-02:53
And the obvious answer for New Testament is Romans.
Taylor:
02:53-02:55
I mean, it's really hard to beat Romans 5 through 8.
Taylor:
02:55-02:57
I think it's like my favorite section of the Bible.
Taylor:
02:59-03:04
All right, since we're doing Old Testament, we can, we still have, don't tell me it's red, I don't like red.
Taylor:
03:05-03:06
They turned you off when you said gray.
Taylor:
03:06-03:07
Yeah.
Jeff:
03:11-03:12
All right, I'll just, oh, thank you.
Matt:
03:13-03:14
We'll just use it, do this then.
Matt:
03:14-03:15
It is red, that's not good.
Jeff:
03:16-03:17
Yeah, that's not, red's not good, right?
Jeff:
03:17-03:17
No.
Jeff:
03:18-03:19
Okay, red is not my favorite color.
Jeff:
03:20-03:21
The Old Testament, you know what?
Jeff:
03:22-03:24
Ecclesiastes. I love Ecclesiastes.
Jeff:
03:24-03:25
I've taught through it many times.
Jeff:
03:25-03:30
And I think Ecclesiastes has an amazing way of just putting life into perspective.
Jeff:
03:30-03:32
New Testament is Revelation.
Jeff:
03:32-03:41
I think Revelation is the most powerful, majestic, to me, just awe-inspiring book in the Bible.
Jeff:
03:41-03:43
I mean, it's all God's Word, yes, absolutely.
Jeff:
03:43-03:49
I absolutely am just, I love Revelation.
Jeff:
03:49-03:50
What about you, Matt?
Matt:
03:51-03:54
I'll just stick to one, since I'm not as scholarly as you guys.
Matt:
03:55-04:04
James, I really appreciate the book of James because it's, well, it's short, which is a bonus, but I think it's very direct, it's very practical.
Matt:
04:05-04:19
I mean, it starts with, "Count it all joy, brothers, "whenever you face many trials," you know, many kinds because it produces steadfastness That I think just sets the tone for the whole rest of the book where it's like, "All right, sometimes life stinks.
Matt:
04:19-04:30
We go through hard stuff, but here's how we live in light of Christ and as a follower of Christ." So, that's where we get quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry.
Matt:
04:31-04:35
So, there's a lot of really practical stuff in there that I appreciate about James.
Matt:
04:36-04:40
All right, the last icebreaker is a Christian book.
Matt:
04:40-04:44
your favorite Christian book that's made an impact on you or that you would recommend to others?
Jeff:
04:47-04:48
Go ahead, Taylor.
Jeff:
04:48-04:49
I gotta take this thing off.
Jeff:
04:50-04:51
It's not working, I just feel stupid.
04:52-04:53
(laughing)
Taylor:
04:53-05:03
I think if I had to only recommend one, the one that impacted me the most in college when I was really growing in my relation with the Lord and feeling called to ministry is The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul.
Taylor:
05:03-05:06
If you haven't read that book, I would encourage all of you to go out and buy it.
Taylor:
05:06-05:12
I actually have an extra copy in my office if you want it and you're actually gonna read it, come see me after service and I'll give it to you.
Taylor:
05:12-05:15
It's a book that really shows that God is so different than us.
Taylor:
05:15-05:21
He is holy, he is beyond us, and the fact that he chooses to love us and save us is astounding.
Taylor:
05:22-05:24
So that's a book I think everyone should read.
Taylor:
05:25-05:28
You know, the one, I can't remember the name of it because I gave it away.
Jeff:
05:29-05:33
Dan and Elisha, what was that book on prayer, Praying the Word of God, what was that called?
Jeff:
05:35-05:36
Was it called Praying the Word of
Taylor:
05:36-05:36
God?
Taylor:
05:37-05:37
I think it's Praying the Bible.
05:40-05:41
>> Well,
Jeff:
05:41-05:44
whatever it was, it had a huge impact on me.
Jeff:
05:44-05:45
Not the title.
Jeff:
05:47-05:48
It's what's on the inside that counts.
Taylor:
05:49-05:51
>> If you're meant to read it, you'll find it somehow.
05:54-05:54
>>
Jeff:
05:54-05:55
So what about you, Matt?
Matt:
05:56-05:59
>> Yeah, I think "Wild at Heart" is one that comes to mind for me.
Matt:
05:59-06:01
I can't remember who wrote that.
Matt:
06:01-06:02
I always want to call him Brad Eldridge.
Matt:
06:02-06:04
>> John Eldridge?
Matt:
06:04-06:08
A former failed Pirates prospect, and that's not actually who wrote the book.
Matt:
06:09-06:11
Right, he's with the Yankees now.
Matt:
06:11-06:22
Yeah. But yeah, that one was really good as far as just, it's geared towards men, but just who God created us to be. So that was really impactful for me.
Matt:
06:23-06:24
Alright, are you ready to get into this?
Jeff:
06:24-06:26
Yes, we are. Go for it.
Matt:
06:26-06:32
Alright, the first one is a simple question, but I think it's a big picture question.
Matt:
06:33-06:36
And that is, does God still speak to us today?
Jeff:
06:39-06:40
Absolutely, He does.
Jeff:
06:40-06:41
He speaks through His Word, right?
Jeff:
06:42-06:43
Hebrews 1.
Jeff:
06:44-06:46
We went through this a while back.
Jeff:
06:46-06:47
Do we have that on the screen?
Jeff:
06:47-06:48
Like I said, I gave you my notes.
Jeff:
06:50-06:51
Yeah, there it is.
Jeff:
06:52-06:53
Hebrews 1.
Jeff:
06:53-06:56
"Long ago, many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.
Jeff:
06:56-07:06
But in these last days, He's spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, whom also He created the world. I believe that God speaks through His Word.
Jeff:
07:06-07:12
So every day, every single time you sit down and read God's Word, God is speaking to you.
Jeff:
07:12-07:21
That's how He has chosen to reveal Himself. It's through the wisdom of His Word and through the power of His Spirit within, that's how He speaks. Taylor?
Taylor:
07:22-07:24
Yeah, there's two different types of revelation, right?
Taylor:
07:24-07:29
There's general revelation, which is God revealing Himself in nature through His creation.
Taylor:
07:30-07:38
The book of Psalms says, "The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies above proclaim His handiwork," that knowledge is being spoken to us day after day after day.
Taylor:
07:39-07:50
And Romans chapter 1 says, "This creation, this general revelation, leaves us without excuse to believe that God doesn't exist and to believe that we're called to live our lives in a certain way." We're all without excuse in that way.
Taylor:
07:50-07:56
But there is special revelation, which is, like Jeff said, God speaking to us through His Son and through His Word.
Taylor:
07:56-08:00
Because you know what? As much as we love a beautiful sunset, You can't look at a sunset and come to Christ.
Taylor:
08:02-08:03
A tree won't tell you the gospel.
Taylor:
08:04-08:07
You have to be told who Jesus is and what He has done through His Word.
08:08-08:08
What
Matt:
08:08-08:12
are your guys' thoughts on an audible voice of God?
Matt:
08:12-08:19
Because I've heard people have said that they actually heard the voice of God or they heard a voice that they thought was God that was speaking to them.
Matt:
08:20-08:21
Is that a thing?
Jeff:
08:23-08:25
I haven't experienced
Matt:
08:25-08:25
it.
Jeff:
08:26-08:28
I can't affirm or deny what somebody said their experience was, right?
Jeff:
08:29-08:32
All I can affirm is what God said in His Word.
Jeff:
08:32-08:40
Do I believe that God has spoken to me through His still, small voice in ways that I couldn't fully articulate?
Jeff:
08:40-08:41
Absolutely.
Jeff:
08:41-08:48
But to say that God speaks audibly, like I said, that's an experiential thing.
Jeff:
08:49-08:59
I can't say, "No, He didn't." I, like I said, he's, he speaks to me, but like I said, it's not through words.
Jeff:
08:59-09:00
He doesn't write it on the clouds.
Jeff:
09:00-09:07
He doesn't leave me voicemails on the phone or anything, but somehow his spirit very clearly communicates.
Jeff:
09:07-09:10
And it's, you know, it's ultimately through his word.
Taylor:
09:12-09:15
I think some people can use it as a trump card to do whatever they want.
Taylor:
09:15-09:15
Oh yeah.
Jeff:
09:16-09:16
I know
Taylor:
09:16-09:19
Jeff, you've shared before, someone said, you know, God told me to leave my spouse.
Taylor:
09:20-09:20
No, he didn't.
Jeff:
09:20-09:21
No, he didn't.
Taylor:
09:21-09:23
because the Lord already told you to not do that.
09:25-09:25
So...
Jeff:
09:25-09:34
Or I had a woman tell me one time, she said, "The Holy Spirit said you're supposed to come "to my house by yourself." Like, he did not say that.
Taylor:
09:37-09:41
And the audible voice thing, I preached on this a couple of weeks ago, but Peter was there for the transfiguration.
Taylor:
09:41-09:43
He hears God the Father speak out of heaven.
Taylor:
09:43-09:45
Awesome, awesome experience.
Taylor:
09:45-09:46
But what does he say in his first epistle?
Taylor:
09:47-09:52
He says that we have something better and more sure, the Word of God, the prophetic Word.
Jeff:
09:53-09:53
Right on.
Matt:
09:55-09:56
All right, let's move on.
Jeff:
09:56-09:57
We better speed these up, we're not working everybody.
Jeff:
09:57-09:58
I know, sorry.
Jeff:
09:58-09:59
No, that's okay, we're
Taylor:
09:59-10:01
just like two in, we're almost out of time.
Taylor:
10:01-10:03
I'll just be blogging a lot this week.
Matt:
10:04-10:05
Yeah, you'll be-- - Get blogging.
Matt:
10:06-10:11
All right, do you guys know anything about why certain books were included and others weren't?
Matt:
10:12-10:14
Such as other books found in the Dead Sea Scrolls?
Matt:
10:15-10:17
And what about books mentioned in the Bible, such as Enoch?
Jeff:
10:18-10:19
Go ahead, Taylor.
Jeff:
10:20-10:22
This sounds like a good one for you.
Taylor:
10:23-10:28
An important thing to realize is that nobody decides what books are in the Bible.
Taylor:
10:28-10:35
We recognize which books are authoritative. And this process of recognizing which books are authoritative is called canonization.
Taylor:
10:35-10:56
So in the New Testament canon we have 27 books. In the Old Testament canon we have 39 books. And people will say, "Well what about the Apocrypha?" You know, in the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Churches there's extra books that people have in your Bible, things like Enoch, 1st and 2nd Maccabees, Tobit, and even this weird additions to Daniel where he fights like a dragon slash lizard type of thing.
Taylor:
10:56-10:58
It's really, really strange.
Taylor:
10:58-11:03
And once you read it, you're like, yeah, I get why this wasn't in the Bible, 'cause this doesn't make sense whatsoever.
Taylor:
11:03-11:08
But books like 1st Maccabees make it clear that they're not divinely inspired like the rest of scripture.
Taylor:
11:09-11:12
They say the prophets have been silent for a long time.
Taylor:
11:12-11:15
Other books have clear errors historically.
Taylor:
11:15-11:20
Some have clear theological errors that contradict the Old and New Testament.
Taylor:
11:20-11:25
Also, there's a lot of fake gospels written in the second century AD, like the Gospel of Thomas.
Taylor:
11:26-11:29
It's really weird stuff. Jesus curses people.
Taylor:
11:29-11:36
He curses a kid's parents to go blind. He makes these pigeons out of clay and makes them come to life.
Taylor:
11:36-11:38
It's really, really strange stuff.
Taylor:
11:39-11:44
And they were never widely accepted by the church a long time ago.
Jeff:
11:44-11:46
Didn't he have like a synagogue teacher scold him?
Jeff:
11:46-11:48
And he was like, "Bam, you're blind."
Taylor:
11:48-11:50
He loved to make people blind in that gospel for some reason.
Taylor:
11:50-11:51
He loved to do that. - It's
Jeff:
11:51-11:52
just goofy stuff, yeah.
Taylor:
11:53-11:58
But when it came to the New Testament, the early church had three marks, three qualities for recognized books.
Taylor:
11:58-11:59
One is apostolic authority.
Taylor:
12:00-12:03
It was written by an apostle or someone closely tied to an apostle.
Taylor:
12:04-12:08
Second, it had church-wide acceptance that people recognize, yes, this is the word of God.
Taylor:
12:08-12:10
And then finally, it has correct doctrine.
Taylor:
12:10-12:14
It didn't have anything that contradicted the Old or New Testament books.
Matt:
12:16-12:17
Sufficient for you?
Jeff:
12:18-12:19
Yeah, that works.
Matt:
12:19-12:21
All right, we'll move on then.
Matt:
12:22-12:23
Who was the third person on earth?
Jeff:
12:24-12:24
Oh, I got this one.
Matt:
12:26-12:26
Cain.
Jeff:
12:28-12:30
Cain, and we studied him in Hebrews 11.
Jeff:
12:30-12:31
He murdered his brother.
Jeff:
12:31-12:33
And do you know why he murdered his brother?
Jeff:
12:34-12:34
Because he was able.
12:36-12:36
(audience laughing)
Matt:
12:41-12:43
Did I get the trombones or the, all right.
Matt:
12:43-12:44
Moving right along.
Matt:
12:45-12:49
All right, so if Cain killed Abel, who did Cain marry?
Matt:
12:50-12:51
How did humanity continue?
Jeff:
12:52-12:55
Well, he had to have married his sister.
Jeff:
12:55-13:01
The Bible tells us that Adam and Eve had other sons and daughters.
Jeff:
13:02-13:07
And the Bible also says that Eve is the mother of all the living.
Jeff:
13:07-13:12
You know, some people think that God created Adam and Eve, but then he created other people, other places.
Jeff:
13:12-13:17
But the problem with that is the Bible says sin is passed down ultimately from Adam and Eve.
Jeff:
13:18-13:24
And so did God create other people who weren't part of the fall, part of the curse?
Jeff:
13:25-13:26
You just don't see that biblically.
Jeff:
13:26-13:27
Eve is the mother of all the living.
Jeff:
13:28-13:31
So he would have had to marry his sister.
Jeff:
13:31-13:42
And I know in our day that sounds very gross, but you were prohibited from marrying close relatives not until the Mosaic Law.
Jeff:
13:43-13:55
So up until then, people were marrying close relatives because you didn't have some of the genetics problems that we have as a result of things decaying because of sin.
Jeff:
13:55-13:59
But that's a whole nother story, but that's not what that's asking.
Jeff:
14:00-14:01
It's asking who did he marry?
Jeff:
14:01-14:03
He had to have married his sister.
Matt:
14:04-14:13
I was gonna ask you about that as far as genetics of how that all worked, because certainly not working the same way now.
Matt:
14:13-14:13
Right,
Jeff:
14:13-14:26
yeah, Adam and Eve would have been, they were created without the mark of sin on them at first, right, so they wouldn't have had the mutations and some of the genetic problems that we have today, right?
Jeff:
14:27-14:42
So, you know, when, like when somebody has a chromosomal problem and they have a child with somebody who maybe doesn't have that problem in their chromosomes, it like overshadows the weak one, right?
Jeff:
14:42-14:50
But the problem is when relatives marry, and they have that same chromosome, it doesn't cancel out, right?
Jeff:
14:50-14:54
So that birth defect is often manifest that way.
Jeff:
14:54-15:00
So there's much more likely to be birth defects and things like that when close relatives marry.
Matt:
15:02-15:05
And the other question I had just real quickly as a follow-up to that.
Matt:
15:05-15:14
I mean, we always, when we read that part, and we look at how long people lived, what is up with that?
Matt:
15:15-15:18
800 years, 930 years, is there a reason for that?
Jeff:
15:20-15:20
I have a theory on
Taylor:
15:20-15:21
that.
Taylor:
15:21-15:21
Taylor, go ahead.
Taylor:
15:22-15:25
I think your theory is probably the same as mine, so you should go ahead, yeah.
Taylor:
15:25-15:27
We talked about this before, so I think it is-- - Water canopy?
Jeff:
15:28-15:41
Okay, well, I believe that before Noah's flood, the earth would have had a water canopy around it and increased atmospheric pressure, which results in better health conditions, right?
Jeff:
15:42-15:48
Like athletes that use a hyperbaric chamber, you know, there's so many health benefits that come from that.
Jeff:
15:48-15:54
I believe the whole earth was under that condition pre-flood, which accounts for the long, long years.
Jeff:
15:54-15:56
'Cause you see a drop off after the flood.
Jeff:
15:56-15:59
You see it start to whittle down.
Jeff:
15:59-16:00
Yeah, definitely
Taylor:
16:00-16:03
had something to do with the flood because life expectancy goes way down after that.
Matt:
16:05-16:06
Interesting, all right.
Matt:
16:07-16:10
Who or what are the nephilim?
Jeff:
16:12-16:13
I don't know, rock monsters?
Taylor:
16:15-16:18
Yeah, according to the Russell Crowe Noah movie, nephilim are just rock monsters.
Taylor:
16:19-16:25
I walked out of that movie years ago very disappointed and someone comes up to me in the theater and says, oh, did you see Noah?
Taylor:
16:26-16:27
And I said, yep, I did.
Taylor:
16:28-16:29
He said, what'd you think of it?
Taylor:
16:30-16:35
I said, "Well, it was 'Transformers' meets the Bible." And they said, "Cool!" and they ran in.
Taylor:
16:35-16:37
And I was like, "That's not what I meant." It wasn't a good thing.
16:38-16:38
(laughs)
Jeff:
16:38-16:40
Yeah, you're like, "Not in the good way."
Taylor:
16:40-16:41
Yeah, not, no, that wasn't a cool thing.
Jeff:
16:42-16:45
So go ahead, why don't you kick that off and then I have some things.
Jeff:
16:46-16:46
There's
Taylor:
16:46-16:47
a lot of debate about who the Nephilim are.
Taylor:
16:47-16:49
We're not really exactly sure who they are.
Taylor:
16:50-16:56
They're first talked about in Genesis 6, 4 as the wickedness of the earth as described before the flood.
Taylor:
16:56-17:02
Nephilim in Hebrew means fallen ones, but many Bible translations translate this as giants.
Taylor:
17:03-17:12
And the only time we ever see this is Numbers 13, 33, as the spies are spying out the promised land, and they see giants and they're scared of them, and they don't want to try to conquer them.
Taylor:
17:13-17:16
So we're not exactly sure who they are, but we do know that they're mighty men, as they're described.
Taylor:
17:17-17:20
They fall on people physically, and they're really intimidating warriors.
Jeff:
17:21-17:27
Right, and another theory is based on New Testament, what are the New Testament verses I have written down there?
Taylor:
17:28-17:28
New Testament
Matt:
17:28-17:33
verses 1 Peter 3 and 19, and 2 Peter 2.4?
17:34-17:34
Yeah,
Jeff:
17:34-17:45
if you look those up, kind of compare them to the Genesis 6 account, it seems that there were demons that somehow inhabited men trying to procreate with human women.
Jeff:
17:46-17:57
And it was such a grievous sin, obviously it was one of the things that led to the worldwide flood, but also it resulted in demons incarcerated into a prison called the Abyss.
Jeff:
17:58-18:01
If you read about Luke 8.31, it's all through Revelation.
Jeff:
18:02-18:07
It was such a horrible crime that God imprisoned those demons that tried to do that.
Jeff:
18:07-18:21
So some people believe, and I kind of lean in this direction based on what Peter says in 1 and 2 Peter, that this was a demonic revolt that God put the kibosh on.
Matt:
18:25-18:28
So what is your stance on Psalm 83?
Matt:
18:29-18:31
Is it a war, a lament?
Matt:
18:31-18:36
If you believe it to be a war, is it a past war or a yet future war?
18:37-18:38
You
Jeff:
18:38-18:39
know, we were talking about that this week.
Jeff:
18:39-18:46
I could not think of, and you couldn't either at the time, maybe you did since, I couldn't think of any eschatology in the Psalms.
Jeff:
18:47-18:58
There's a lot in the Psalms about the first advent of Christ, but is there anything in the Psalms, Rich, can you think of anything in the Psalms that deals with eschatology, second advent, Armageddon.
Jeff:
18:58-18:59
I couldn't think of anything and neither could
Taylor:
18:59-19:00
Pastor Taylor, so.
Taylor:
19:01-19:11
Like you said, it's very heavy on Christ's first coming of how he died, his garments being divided, all these other different things that predicts crucifixion before he's even invented, but it doesn't really speak to his second coming.
Taylor:
19:11-19:14
Now, big parts of the Old Testament do, but the Psalms--
Jeff:
19:14-19:17
Yeah, the Psalms really don't that I could think of.
Jeff:
19:17-19:21
Somebody's probably Googling that right now, but I'm just saying off the top of my head and Taylor's.
Jeff:
19:21-19:22
I would
19:22-19:22
say
Taylor:
19:22-19:26
that it does, but nothing that I can say myself.
Jeff:
19:26-19:28
And some scholars think...
Jeff:
19:28-19:29
What do I have written down there, Matt?
Jeff:
19:29-19:31
Is it 2 Chronicles 20?
Jeff:
19:31-19:31
20,
Matt:
19:31-19:31
yep.
Jeff:
19:32-19:36
Okay, the events from Psalm 83 are from 2 Chronicles 20.
Jeff:
19:37-19:47
And some people sort of take all of those enemies listed just as sort of general representatives of the enemies of Israel kind of thing put to poetry.
Jeff:
19:48-19:52
So, I don't believe it's eschatological in nature, personally.
Matt:
19:54-20:01
Alright, so in Matthew 7, 13 and 14, Jesus talks about narrow and wide gates.
Matt:
20:02-20:05
One that leads to destruction and one that leads to life.
Matt:
20:05-20:10
He indicates that there will be few who find the narrow gate that leads to eternal life.
Matt:
20:11-20:21
Is Jesus revealing in these verses that, proportionately speaking, people born throughout the ages will go to hell compared to those that truly come to salvation through Jesus.
Taylor:
20:22-20:22
Yes.
Taylor:
20:24-20:26
Yeah, it seems to be exactly what he's saying.
Taylor:
20:26-20:36
He says, "The gate is wide and the way is easy "that leads to destruction, "and those who enter by it are many, "for the gate is narrow and the way is hard "that leads to life and those who find it are few."
Jeff:
20:36-20:38
You know what, let's be honest.
Jeff:
20:38-20:41
It's a hard thing to think about and talk about, and it's emotionally charged.
Jeff:
20:42-21:15
I remember September 11, all the emails and some of the images going around about all the thousands of people that went to heaven that day. And it's a hard thing to think about, but probably not, right? Jesus talked about that, what is it, Luke 13? That, you know, we want to think, well, these were people who died innocently and they were good people so they went to heaven, but that's not what the Bible says.
Jeff:
21:16-21:18
The Bible says men love darkness because their deeds are evil.
Jeff:
21:19-21:22
And that's what keeps people from wanting to come to God.
Jeff:
21:22-21:25
We prefer sin over Jesus.
Jeff:
21:25-21:28
And that is the condition of all of us.
Jeff:
21:28-21:33
And it's according to Jesus, the few that repent from that.
Taylor:
21:35-21:40
And Christianity is still by numbers considered the number one religion with 2.4 billion people.
Taylor:
21:40-21:43
Islam is quickly catching up with 1.9 billion people.
Taylor:
21:43-21:46
But out of those 2.4 billion people, are all of them saved?
Taylor:
21:47-21:51
Now, I can't see into the human heart or judge who's saved or who's not.
Taylor:
21:51-21:52
It's not my job.
Taylor:
21:52-21:58
But I don't think that the 2.4 billion people in the world who claim to be Christians necessarily mean that they are Christians.
Taylor:
21:58-21:58
No, and
Jeff:
21:58-22:00
according to Jesus, absolutely not.
Jeff:
22:00-22:01
There's wheat and tares, right?
Jeff:
22:01-22:04
They look like it, but we won't know until the end.
Jeff:
22:04-22:14
So, yeah, from Jesus, I'm not judging anybody's heart either, but from Jesus' own assessment, there are going to be people that look the part that hear "Depart from me, I never knew
22:14-22:16
you." Like
Taylor:
22:16-22:25
I talked about in my sermon last week about how we don't talk about hell because we hate people, we talk about hell because we care about people and we want them to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Jeff:
22:25-22:26
Right, absolutely.
22:26-22:26
What
Matt:
22:26-22:42
would you say to people that would say, "Well, if God is such a loving God, then why would He allow for, as we're saying, pretty much more than half of all people that have ever lived to not spend eternity with them.
Jeff:
22:42-22:44
Oh, I have something ready for that.
Jeff:
22:44-22:47
I say, oh, God's love is not in question here.
Jeff:
22:48-22:49
What did God do?
Jeff:
22:49-23:01
God took the form of man, came and lived among us 33 years, and was rejected, insulted, mocked, spit on, publicly humiliated and executed in the most painful possible way.
Jeff:
23:01-23:01
Why?
Jeff:
23:02-23:04
So that our sins could be forgiven.
Jeff:
23:04-23:06
God's love is not in question here.
Jeff:
23:06-23:10
You know, God's love, You can take that off the table.
Jeff:
23:10-23:11
How can a loving God...
Jeff:
23:11-23:16
God has demonstrated, Romans 5, He has demonstrated His love.
Jeff:
23:17-23:20
The question really is, why would you reject a God like that?
Jeff:
23:21-23:25
"Who spared not His own Son, but gave Him up for us all." That's the issue.
Jeff:
23:27-23:29
And then I follow up with something like this.
Jeff:
23:29-23:38
If you live your whole life, you don't want anything to do with God's truth, God's people, worship, You don't want anything to do with that.
Jeff:
23:38-23:40
Do you know the worst place in the world you can end up?
Jeff:
23:41-23:41
It's heaven.
Jeff:
23:43-23:43
Because what is heaven?
Jeff:
23:43-23:45
God's truth, worship, God's people.
Jeff:
23:46-23:52
You mean you spent your whole life wanting nothing to do with that, but all of a sudden you die, and that's what I want to do for eternity.
Jeff:
23:52-23:52
No.
Jeff:
23:53-24:06
You've lived your life saying, "I don't want anything to do with this." So God puts you in a place, apart from Him, apart from His people, apart from, you know, worshiping before the throne of the Lamb.
Jeff:
24:06-24:10
He puts you in a place, a part, He's given you exactly what you want.
Jeff:
24:11-24:14
So, you know, God's love isn't in question here.
Jeff:
24:14-24:15
That's what I tell people.
Jeff:
24:17-24:20
Don't you dare turn that back on Him like, "God's not loving, ah,
24:20-24:22
no." Might
Matt:
24:22-24:23
be the best answer yet.
Matt:
24:25-24:32
Alright, the Bible says, "Judge not that you be not judged." It's in Matthew 7, verse 1.
Matt:
24:33-24:46
But there are other places like 1 Corinthians 2.15 where God says, "But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one." Can you explain the seeming contradiction between these two verses?
Taylor:
24:48-24:51
I would say there's a big difference between judging someone's heart and judging someone's behavior.
Taylor:
24:52-25:02
Like I said earlier, I can't see into someone's heart and say what their motives are, but I can see by their behavior, their words, their reactions, that there is something going on there that I'm concerned about.
Taylor:
25:03-25:12
And even in 1 Corinthians, Paul is just blown away the Corinthian church hasn't kicked the guy out of the church who is having a sexual relationship with his mother-in-law.
Taylor:
25:12-25:13
He's like, what are you doing here?
Taylor:
25:14-25:17
And he says this to them, for what have I to do with judging outsiders?
Taylor:
25:17-25:20
He's talking about non-Christians, people not in the church.
Taylor:
25:20-25:20
That's not my job.
Taylor:
25:21-25:25
Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?
Taylor:
25:25-25:29
God judges those outside, purge the evil person from among you.
Taylor:
25:30-25:36
He's saying this person needs to be cast out of the church so that they will repent and be restored in the future.
Jeff:
25:37-25:40
And we are commanded to judge actions, right?
Jeff:
25:40-25:41
Judgment begins in the house of God.
Jeff:
25:42-25:44
You talked about the trump card, God told me.
Jeff:
25:45-25:47
That's another trump card in the church, is don't judge me.
Jeff:
25:48-25:49
It's like, hey, you know what?
Jeff:
25:49-25:56
You're married, you shouldn't be like flirting and dating with other women, like, well, don't judge me.
Jeff:
25:56-26:02
Like, we're not judging you, but we are commanded to judge action, right?
Jeff:
26:02-26:03
We're not judging your heart.
Jeff:
26:03-26:05
We're not saying, "You're a terrible person.
Jeff:
26:05-26:06
You're a lustful person.
Jeff:
26:07-26:19
You're a hell-bound person." What we're saying is, "What you are doing is wrong." But again, people get that so messed up in the church, that you're not even allowed to point out a wrong action, because that's judging.
Jeff:
26:19-26:22
And that is complete nonsense.
Jeff:
26:23-26:27
So we're just supposed to walk around affirming everything that everybody does.
Jeff:
26:27-26:28
That is not biblical.
Jeff:
26:29-26:34
We love you, we want God's best for you, but it is our job to say what you are doing is wrong.
Matt:
26:36-26:39
And there's a process of how you keep people accountable, right?
Matt:
26:39-26:42
I mean, is it Titus where it's found?
Matt:
26:42-26:49
I don't know if there's other places where it's found as well, where there's steps that a church will take to keep people accountable.
Jeff:
26:49-26:54
Right. And like Taylor mentioned in 1 Corinthians 5, Paul goes, "Kick him out of the church.
Jeff:
26:55-27:04
Grab him by the seat of the pants and the scruff of the neck and throw him right through the stained glass." Somebody that is living in flagrant, unrepentant sin, he says, "Hand him over to Satan.
Jeff:
27:04-27:13
Get him out of the church." And with, "Oh, that sounds so harsh." He says, "No, get him out." We're not judging the person, and apparently in 2 Corinthians it looks like the dude was restored.
Jeff:
27:14-27:17
But he says, "You can't have that." He was judging the guy's action.
Jeff:
27:17-27:22
A guy that does something like that flagrant, unrepentant sin is not welcome in church.
Jeff:
27:23-27:36
And there have been a handful of times over the course of my ministry where we've had to do that and it is heart-wrenching and painful, but there have been times that we're like, hey, you are not welcome to come here until you repent of this sin.
Jeff:
27:37-27:41
So that's not judging the person, that's judging the action, right?
Jeff:
27:42-27:43
We are commanded to do that.
Taylor:
27:44-27:52
In Galatians 6, 1, Paul says this, "Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, "You who are spiritual should restore him "in a spirit of gentleness.
Taylor:
27:53-27:59
"Also keep watching yourself, lest you too be tempted." That Greek word for restore is like setting a broken bone.
Taylor:
27:59-28:07
You're helping that person heal, grow, and develop by pointing out their spiritual injury and helping them to heal.
Taylor:
28:07-28:11
It's not loving to see that and be like, ah, that's too weird to say something, I feel judgmental.
Taylor:
28:11-28:14
No, help them, call that out in a loving and gentle way.
Taylor:
28:14-28:19
Keeping watching yourself, you're making sure you're not like ignoring the log - Oh, absolutely.
Taylor:
28:19-28:22
By picking out the speck in your brother's eye.
Taylor:
28:22-28:23
Yeah, absolutely.
Matt:
28:24-28:25
How we doing on time, we good?
Taylor:
28:26-28:26
Yeah, we're good.
Matt:
28:26-28:26
All right.
Matt:
28:28-28:29
Can you discuss the Bemis Seat?
Matt:
28:30-28:37
I know it is a judgment for believers, good and not so good, that will take place post-rapture for how we spent our lives on earth.
Matt:
28:37-28:57
But since God forgives our sins, past, present, and future, and wipes them from His memory once we confess our salvation in Him, why do we stand in judgment for things we did so good or is it just situations where we could have shared the gospel or help someone and didn't do anything that'll be called out and judged
28:57-29:00
and
Jeff:
29:00-29:03
that's we could spend a lot of time on this one you have
Matt:
29:03-29:04
notes on here so
29:04-29:05
do
Jeff:
29:05-29:06
I have those right here
29:06-29:07
a
Matt:
29:07-29:08
good bit of them
Jeff:
29:08-29:09
did I write that
29:09-29:09
I
Matt:
29:09-29:11
don't know somebody did no wasn't me
Jeff:
29:11-29:18
um yeah there's different levels thanks Matt there's different levels of hell, we know that.
Jeff:
29:18-29:20
The more you know and the more you reject, the worse hell is for you.
Jeff:
29:21-29:22
There's different levels of heaven too.
Jeff:
29:23-29:28
And we are judged by Christ for rewards in heaven.
Jeff:
29:28-29:52
And some people get more rewards and some get less, but the Bible is clear that there is a reward handed out based on what was done truly motivated by glorifying Christ and what was done, you know, empowered by Christ versus what was done like in the flesh, selfish motive, you know, there's no reward for that stuff.
Jeff:
29:52-29:58
The rewards come from what is truly done like for and because of and empowered by Jesus.
Jeff:
29:58-29:58
Taylor?
Jeff:
29:59-29:59
Yeah, the
Taylor:
29:59-30:09
Greek word bima, where we get the bima seed from, it speaks to like a Roman courtroom or the elevated platform at the Olympics where you receive your crowns, you receive your rewards.
Taylor:
30:10-30:14
And so it has nothing to do with our sin because that was fully taken upon Christ on the cross.
Taylor:
30:14-30:15
A sin was judged on the
Jeff:
30:15-30:16
cross.
Jeff:
30:16-30:16
Right, all of
Taylor:
30:16-30:19
God's wrath for our sins has been poured out upon his son and taken care of.
Taylor:
30:20-30:21
This is just for rewards.
Taylor:
30:21-30:24
And this calls us to live our lives seriously.
Taylor:
30:25-30:30
The Bible calls us not to set our minds upon the things of this world, but to set our treasures in heaven.
Taylor:
30:30-30:32
Now people ask, what are these rewards?
Taylor:
30:32-30:33
We don't know.
Taylor:
30:33-30:38
The Bible doesn't say, but I do know they're gonna be awesome because God never gives bad stuff.
Taylor:
30:38-30:39
He only gives good gifts.
Taylor:
30:40-30:41
So they're worth living for.
Taylor:
30:42-30:42
Amen.
Matt:
30:43-30:48
So judgment day for us shouldn't be something that we fear.
Matt:
30:48-30:48
No,
Jeff:
30:49-30:53
no, this isn't a fear-based, punishment-based, not at all.
Jeff:
30:54-31:00
It's evaluating the works that we had done as believers and rewards given out proportionally,
Matt:
31:01-31:01
right?
Matt:
31:04-31:17
All right, with this flawed, hypocritical, and inconsistent as we are as believers, Why would God choose to limit Himself in such a way to effectively share the truth of His message to the lost world?
Jeff:
31:17-31:19
I've said many times I have no idea.
Jeff:
31:20-31:26
To me it sounds like, I don't mean this irreverently at all, but to me it sounds like a bad business strategy.
Jeff:
31:27-31:37
You know, God using pieces of garbage like me to preach His eternal awesome holy word, like, I don't get it.
Jeff:
31:37-31:54
But I would say I'm thankful for the privilege of partnering with Him, but why He would choose to use people, the only possible thing I could think of is to demonstrate the power of transforming lives through His Holy Spirit.
Jeff:
31:55-31:56
Putting that on display, right?
Jeff:
31:56-32:04
What is it in Ephesians talking about how God is demonstrating the glory of the Gospel through people?
Taylor:
32:06-32:09
God just loves to use his people for his purposes.
Taylor:
32:10-32:12
He loves to have his children work alongside him.
Taylor:
32:12-32:15
And the example I give for this is back in third grade, my dad came for a career day.
Taylor:
32:16-32:20
He was an orthopedic salesman, and he brought in his scrubs, his beeper, these different instruments.
Taylor:
32:20-32:22
He brought some for me, too.
Taylor:
32:22-32:26
He even brought my own beeper for me to wear to help him explain to the class what he did.
Taylor:
32:26-32:27
Now, did my dad need me to do that?
Jeff:
32:27-32:29
You might need to explain what a beeper is.
Jeff:
32:30-32:30
(laughing)
Jeff:
32:32-32:32
I'm just kidding.
Jeff:
32:34-32:34
Go look it up.
Jeff:
32:34-32:34
He'll
Taylor:
32:34-32:35
blog about beepers.
Taylor:
32:35-32:36
Yeah, go look it up.
Taylor:
32:37-32:41
But anyway, it was a joy to work alongside my dad that day, even though he didn't need me to.
Taylor:
32:41-32:42
In the same way, God doesn't need us.
Taylor:
32:42-32:47
God could save whoever he wants without us, but he chooses to use us.
Taylor:
32:47-32:55
And this is all throughout scripture, the disciples, Paul, Israel, all these different, God used these people for his purposes, for his glory.
Taylor:
32:56-32:57
That's just his MO.
Jeff:
32:57-32:57
Yeah.
Taylor:
32:59-32:59
What a privilege,
Jeff:
33:00-33:00
right?
Jeff:
33:00-33:01
To be able to partner with God.
Jeff:
33:01-33:04
He doesn't, you're right, Taylor, he doesn't need us.
Jeff:
33:05-33:08
We're just so thankful as His children to be able to like, wow, really?
Jeff:
33:08-33:09
You want to save people?
Jeff:
33:09-33:11
And you want to use us to be part of that?
Matt:
33:13-33:28
Yeah, I felt that hypocritical is good word in that question, because even times like at Arrow and teaching, it's like, I'll say something and immediately feel that conviction because I'm like, wow, that's something that I don't do well or whatever.
Matt:
33:28-33:34
You know, I can feel very hypocritical at times because I know that I come up short on a lot of these things.
Matt:
33:34-33:39
We do all right. We got four more. I think we can power through You better be quick. All right here. We go
Jeff:
33:39-33:41
like 30 seconds per
Matt:
33:42-33:46
What does the Bible say about the use of Western medicine example what being?
Matt:
33:47-33:49
antidepressants painkillers medical marijuana
Jeff:
33:50-34:04
What's the what's the verse I have up there's it's Proverbs 31 yeah there it is Proverbs 31 says give a strong drink to the one who's perishing and wine to those in bitter distress Well anybody comes to me for counseling the first thing I tell them to do is go see a doctor to get a checkup I'm not a doctor.
Jeff:
34:04-34:06
I don't prescribe medications.
Jeff:
34:07-34:10
I can't recommend them or tell people not to take them.
Jeff:
34:11-34:12
But here's what I will say.
Jeff:
34:12-34:14
Obviously, these things are abused.
Jeff:
34:15-34:19
The Bible even says the one who's perishing, the one who's in pain, should be given strong drink.
Jeff:
34:20-34:21
Why? To numb the pain.
Jeff:
34:21-34:25
So these things have an appropriate place and usage.
Jeff:
34:26-34:29
The problem is people abuse and misuse them.
Jeff:
34:29-34:32
So in the right place?
Jeff:
34:33-34:34
Yeah, absolutely.
Taylor:
34:37-34:39
Yeah, I totally agree with what Jeff said also.
Taylor:
34:39-34:43
Like half the New Testament was written by a doctor, Luke.
Taylor:
34:43-34:46
So obviously that's something that is beneficial and is needed.
Taylor:
34:46-34:46
Right.
Jeff:
34:47-34:49
Yeah, people has like antidepressants and stuff like that.
Jeff:
34:50-34:56
You know, there are people that have real, like whether it's a chemical imbalance or issues that require that, absolutely.
Jeff:
34:57-34:59
But there's a lot of people that take that stuff that don't actually need it.
Jeff:
35:02-35:04
So that's a sermon for another time.
Jeff:
35:04-35:12
But obviously some people need medicine and need to take medicine, but we have strong biblical instruction for that.
Matt:
35:13-35:24
And along the same lines, as far as some people abusing these things, is drinking alcohol, using tobacco, marijuana, or gambling all sins?
Matt:
35:25-35:27
Should a born again believer stop these activities?
Jeff:
35:31-35:32
We have 30 seconds left.
Matt:
35:34-35:36
We should have put this to the front of the list.
Jeff:
35:37-35:44
If I just sit here and go, well, that's a good question, Matt.
Jeff:
35:44-35:45
Ding, ding, ding.
Jeff:
35:45-35:47
You got 16 seconds.
Taylor:
35:47-35:49
Let me read 1 Corinthians 6, 12.
Taylor:
35:49-35:52
Paul says, "All things are lawful for me, "but not all things are helpful.
Taylor:
35:53-36:01
"All things are lawful for me, "but I will not be dominated by anything." So the things on this list, Can you be dominated by any of them?
Taylor:
36:02-36:02
For sure.
Taylor:
36:02-36:06
We all know people who, a Pac-Man, don't leave me alone.
Taylor:
36:06-36:07
Jeff's Pac-Man music's coming on.
Taylor:
36:08-36:10
There's people who are enslaved to certain things.
Taylor:
36:11-36:13
Alcohol, gambling, smoking.
Taylor:
36:13-36:13
Right.
Taylor:
36:15-36:15
They're not beneficial.
Taylor:
36:16-36:16
Right.
Taylor:
36:16-36:22
Now, we have to be careful about that because the Bible says, know whether you can't smoke, that you can't drink.
Taylor:
36:22-36:29
You have to be careful about those kind of things and live to your, convict your own personal conviction, but also recognize these things can lead to major issues in your life.
Jeff:
36:30-36:31
Yeah, that was something Pastor Bob had taught me.
Jeff:
36:32-36:41
The 1 Corinthians 6, 8, 10 principle was it's 6, 12, 8, 12 and 13, 10, 31, something like that.
Jeff:
36:41-36:44
But when there's a gray area, there's five questions you could ask.
Jeff:
36:45-36:46
Is it permissible?
Jeff:
36:46-36:47
Is it beneficial?
Jeff:
36:48-36:49
Could it get me under its power?
Jeff:
36:49-36:51
Could it cause a brother to stumble?
Jeff:
36:52-36:53
And is it glorifying to God?
Jeff:
36:54-36:56
And any of the gray areas, you just run them up the pole, right?
Jeff:
36:58-36:59
Let's take smoking, for example.
Jeff:
37:00-37:01
Is it permissible?
Jeff:
37:01-37:03
Yeah, if you're over, was it 18?
Jeff:
37:03-37:04
You're over 18?
Jeff:
37:05-37:06
I'm asking Taylor like he smokes.
Jeff:
37:07-37:07
Yeah, I know.
Taylor:
37:08-37:10
I left my pack in the car, sorry, I don't have it.
Jeff:
37:11-37:12
He probably doesn't know.
Jeff:
37:13-37:14
Anybody, is it 18 to buy cigarettes?
Jeff:
37:15-37:17
You're like, "We don't know, Pastor Jeff." Come on, somebody here knows.
Jeff:
37:20-37:21
It's 21? - 21.
Jeff:
37:22-37:23
I don't, okay, whatever.
Jeff:
37:24-37:25
Is it permissible?
Jeff:
37:25-37:28
Yeah, if you're over a certain age, You can buy cigarettes.
Jeff:
37:28-37:29
Is it permissible?
Jeff:
37:30-37:32
Okay, what about is it beneficial?
Jeff:
37:34-37:35
Hmm.
Jeff:
37:36-37:37
Now we see a problem.
Jeff:
37:37-37:38
Is it beneficial?
Jeff:
37:38-37:40
The third one is could it get me under its power?
Jeff:
37:42-37:44
Is it possible to get addicted to cigarettes?
Jeff:
37:47-37:47
Okay.
Jeff:
37:48-37:50
The fourth one is could it cause a brother to stumble?
Jeff:
37:52-37:58
And yeah, it could possibly, if somebody's trying to quit smoking and whatever.
Jeff:
37:58-38:01
And then the last one is, is it glorifying to God, right?
Jeff:
38:01-38:02
Can
Taylor:
38:02-38:08
you light up saying, "God, this is for you." - I think the one that we have to also be careful about is.
38:09-38:09
(laughing)
Jeff:
38:12-38:12
Imagine
Matt:
38:12-38:13
somebody and like,
Jeff:
38:13-38:14
yeah.
Jeff:
38:14-38:19
There's somebody sitting here or watching this that smokes that's gonna do that every time.
Jeff:
38:19-38:21
Like, "God, this one's for you."
Taylor:
38:21-38:26
I think a big one too is the alcohol question because there's a lot of people who say, you can't be a Christian and drink alcohol.
Taylor:
38:27-38:29
Show me one verse in the Bible that says that.
Taylor:
38:29-38:32
Now there's a lot of verses that say about drunkenness being a big issue, of course.
Taylor:
38:33-38:37
I remember the seminar I went to, we all had to sign that we wouldn't drink while we were in seminary.
Taylor:
38:37-38:40
And I thought to myself, how do you have the power to do that?
Taylor:
38:40-38:41
The Bible doesn't say that.
Taylor:
38:42-38:47
So it's one of those things where we have to be careful not to get too legalistic and go the other direction.
Jeff:
38:47-38:48
Absolutely, yeah.
Jeff:
38:48-38:56
So it boils down to personal conviction and I think those five questions are questions you sort of have to ask and evaluate for yourself.
Jeff:
38:56-38:57
I can't enforce that, right?
Jeff:
38:57-38:58
That's where you get into legalism.
Jeff:
38:59-39:01
If you come to this church, you're not allowed to drink alcohol.
Jeff:
39:01-39:05
Like that's, you know, that's malarkey, Jack.
Jeff:
39:06-39:06
(laughing)
Jeff:
39:09-39:10
Sorry, that's legalism.
Jeff:
39:10-39:11
You're having a lot of fun today.
Jeff:
39:11-39:12
(laughing)
Jeff:
39:13-39:21
Anyways, yeah, we want to avoid every, you know, legalism, trying to enforce rules that make you more spiritual, things like that.
Jeff:
39:22-39:31
I think a matter of personal conviction like that, you have to really seek the Lord and do what you really believe He's calling you to do.
Jeff:
39:32-39:34
In those gray areas, that is.
Jeff:
39:34-39:37
Some things are just black and white, like should I have an affair?
Jeff:
39:39-39:40
No, obviously not, right?
Jeff:
39:40-39:49
The Bible's clear about the covenant of marriage, but when it comes to cigarettes or scratchy lotteries or whatever, Taylor, that's their gray areas, right?
Jeff:
39:50-39:52
So that is our time.
Jeff:
39:53-39:55
How many did we have left?
Matt:
39:55-39:56
We have two left.
Jeff:
39:56-39:57
We have two left, all right.
Jeff:
39:57-39:57
Two
Matt:
39:57-39:59
just for Taylor and his blog.
Jeff:
39:59-39:59
Pastor Taylor,
Taylor:
40:00-40:01
you know, maybe we'll each take one.
Matt:
40:03-40:03
Whenever you say.
Taylor:
40:03-40:03
All right.
40:04-40:05
(audience laughing)
Matt:
40:05-40:06
Taking on a lot of work.
Taylor:
40:08-40:09
Hey, you're the one who wears the crown.
Taylor:
40:10-40:11
Heavy as the head to wear the crown.
Taylor:
40:11-40:12
Surprised it took you this long.
Taylor:
40:12-40:13
That's true.
Jeff:
40:15-40:15
What's that?
Jeff:
40:16-40:17
Angle it like Jughead.
Jeff:
40:18-40:18
(audience laughing)
Jeff:
40:20-40:28
We want to thank everybody who submitted questions, and like I said, Pastor Taylor and I, we'll, maybe we'll each take one and blog the ones that we didn't get to.
Jeff:
40:29-40:34
But would you please, Pastor Taylor, pray for us, and then we're going to have our closing announcements.
Taylor:
40:37-40:40
Father, we thank you for who you are.
Taylor:
40:40-40:44
We thank you for what you've done for us and what you continue to do for us, Lord.
Taylor:
40:45-40:49
I pray that every single person in this room would submit themselves before your authority.
Taylor:
40:50-40:53
we would submit ourselves before the authority of your word.
Taylor:
40:53-40:59
We wouldn't trust in ourselves, our hearts, our own opinions, Lord, that we would trust in you and you alone.
Taylor:
41:01-41:09
And Lord, I thank you for what you're able to accomplish today in this service, and I pray that we would take the rest of this week to honor, glorify, and live for you.
Taylor:
41:10-41:11
In Jesus' name, amen.
Jeff:
41:12-41:12
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!