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.
[00:21] - Q: Why was Zechariah “punished” for questioning God, but others- Gideon- were not?
[01:58] - Q: How old do you believe the earth is? If man has been here since the first week, did we coexist with dinosaurs?
A: Based on the genealogies recorded, 6-10K years old. Yes, according to Gen 1:24-31 God created dinosaurs and man on the same day living together. A fossil record also supports both man and dinosaur living together.
[08:58] - Q: Where do animals go when they die?
A: See Eccl 3:21 which alludes to the concept of the spirit of man and beast. Rev 21:6 notes that we will be fully satisfied in heaven. Book suggestion by Randy Alcorn “Heaven”[12:01] - Q: Do you have any suggestions on Bible reading programs for the start of the new year? What works, what doesn't, etc? And how do you guard against this discipline becoming just a mechanical exercise?
A: Read what you’re in the mood for from the bible to keep yourself engaged.[14:29] - LIVE AUDIENCE Q: Why is demon possession primarily mentioned in the New Testament versus the Old Testament?
[15:20] - LIVE AUDIENCE Q: Do you think there is anything the church has failed to do with our societal confusion with sexuality and gender confusion situation?
A: See the excellent sermon from Pastor Jeremiah on homosexuality and how we’re to respond as Christians.[22:01] - Q: Short-term vs long-term missions work, what the right balance between the 2 should be, when does helping sometimes hurt (in the case of short-term trips being more about the people going than the ones being served, a team coming in with their own agenda rather than local partnership... etc).
[25:50] - Q: After a spouse dies, does the surviving spouse love in the same way again? If there is another love, will it be the same or will it be a different love?
[27:51] - Q: Why do you think church people struggle with those who might not be led by the same life choices? Ex (view-meaning) married people to singles: When are you going to settle down and marry? or Parents to Newlyweds: When are the babies coming? Maybe that isn't where the Lord is leading.
[29:10] - Q: When I'm struggling with a life situation where God doesn't seem to be answering, why do people tell me, "you just need to have more faith"? It just makes my pain worse.
A: It’s not about the amount of faith you have, but whom you have your faith in. See Matt 17:21
[31:24] - Q: In Job 38:7 the Bible says the morning stars sang together. Jesus and Lucifer are both referred to as "the morning star" in Revelation and Isaiah, so who is being mentioned here?
A: The morning star in this context refers to God’s angels in a general sense, no specific angel or person. Job 38:7 specifically is a reminder to Job that He is God and we are not![32:51] - Q: What is the church's response on protecting kids from sexual immorality NOW in this sex driven culture? Some possible ideas; promote early marriage to avoid temptation? Also what can parents do to help?
A: Parents are the disciple-makers of their children. The source of authority is always God’s Word and it’s the parents’ responsibility to sow God’s Word into their own children’s hearts.
[35:45] - Q: Do you think today’s church has replaced Israel?"
A: No, see Romans 11[37:01] - Q: What was the reason/symbolism/significance of baptism when JTB was baptising? Was baptism a new thing? How did the aspect/act of getting baptized help? Repentance of sins was encouraged. What did the priests/sanhedrin/pharisees think about JTB doing this? How did JTB create baptism? Was he the first or was this a new thing?
A: John’s baptism was for repentance and to prepare the way for the Messiah, see Acts 19:4 and Luke 3.[39:52] - LIVE TXT Q: When we pray, are we only to address God the Father, or can we also pray to Jesus and the Holy Spirit?
A: We are praying to God the Father in Jesus’ name while the Holy Spirit also prays with us.
[40:36] - LIVE TXT Q: Who / what are angels?
A: Eternal beings that God created for His glory.[41:35] - LIVE TXT Q: What are your thoughts about people who claim to cast out demons or perform exorcisms?
A: See Eph 6[42:44] - LIVE TXT Q: Luke 11:12-14 tells of Jesus cursing the fig tree for not having figs. However, it was not fig season. Why would Jesus do this? How is this different from Christians not having a specific spiritual gift, such as teaching? Are we still expected to teach?
A: The Holy Spirit gives gifts as God provides them. See the sermon on the fig tree from Pastor Jeff as we studied the book of Mark.
See James 3 on a warning to teachers and a fantastic sermon on this topic by Michael Wolski.[44:36] - LIVE TXT Q: Due to abortion being a so controversial, and in my opinion a human rights issue, ...1. what does the Bible say about pre-born life? (Psalm 139, Jeremiah 1:5). 2. The church does need to speak truth in love, but is this an instance, like slavery, where we need to get more involved directly?
A: This is a modern day version of child sacrifice to demons as outlined in the Old Testament
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:
00:00-00:04
I'll tell you what, you want to say like 35 or 40 minutes, is that reasonable?
Mark Ort:
00:04-00:05
Sounds good.
Pastor Jeff:
00:05-00:06
40 minutes? Okay.
Pastor Jeff:
00:07-00:07
He'll pack me
00:07-00:08
right
Mark Ort:
00:08-00:10
on. - Are you using the Pac-Man alarm?
Pastor Jeff:
00:10-00:11
That's the only one I use.
Mark Ort:
00:11-00:12
Good.
00:14-00:14
Alright, you
Pastor Jeff:
00:14-00:16
ready? - I think
Mark Ort:
00:16-00:16
so, go ahead.
Mark Ort:
00:16-00:17
You all ready? - I'm ready.
Mark Ort:
00:18-00:20
Okay, here we go. First question.
Mark Ort:
00:21-00:27
Why was Zechariah punished for questioning God, but others like Gideon were not?
Pastor Jeff:
00:27-00:29
That is a really good question.
Pastor Jeff:
00:29-00:32
And some people put their name on the questions and some people did not.
Pastor Jeff:
00:33-00:36
So I don't know, unless you put your name on it, I don't know who asked what question.
Pastor Jeff:
00:36-00:38
But I thought that was a great question.
Pastor Jeff:
00:38-00:42
And the best answer that I could come up with is this.
Pastor Jeff:
00:43-00:48
Jesus Christ referred to God repeatedly as a heavenly Father.
Pastor Jeff:
00:49-01:00
And I just know from my parenting experience and other parents that I know, You don't always handle every kid and every situation the same way, right?
Pastor Jeff:
01:00-01:08
I was talking to Mark about this stuff earlier this morning, because Mark's a little further down the road than I am in parenting, right?
Pastor Jeff:
01:09-01:11
I still know
Mark Ort:
01:11-01:11
nothing about it.
Pastor Jeff:
01:12-01:13
Okay, well, great.
Pastor Jeff:
01:14-01:16
Anybody know anything about parenting can help us out here.
Pastor Jeff:
01:17-01:19
But you have two sons and a daughter.
Pastor Jeff:
01:19-01:20
We have two sons.
Pastor Jeff:
01:21-01:27
I know in every scenario, we don't always discipline in the same way.
Pastor Jeff:
01:27-01:28
Correct.
Pastor Jeff:
01:28-01:43
So if you're like, "Okay, well then, what's the difference in the scenario?" I would say, sort of tongue-in-cheek, that the task that God had Gideon to do required him to speak and hear.
Pastor Jeff:
01:43-01:45
He had to defeat the Midianites with a tiny army.
Pastor Jeff:
01:45-01:51
The task that God had Zechariah do didn't require him to speak.
01:53-01:54
So...
Mark Ort:
01:54-01:56
Good question and good answer, Jeff.
Mark Ort:
01:56-01:57
Next one.
Pastor Jeff:
01:58-01:58
How old do
Mark Ort:
01:58-01:59
you believe the Earth is?
Mark Ort:
02:00-02:05
If man has been here since the first week, did we coexist with dinosaurs?
Pastor Jeff:
02:06-02:08
That is a really good question.
Pastor Jeff:
02:08-02:13
I believe the Earth is somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 years old.
Pastor Jeff:
02:14-02:21
And I know people are going to say, "That's ridiculous." But let's...
Pastor Jeff:
02:23-02:26
We let the horse out of the barn there, so just humor me for a second.
Pastor Jeff:
02:27-02:28
The idea of millions of years, where did that come from?
Pastor Jeff:
02:29-02:30
That
02:30-02:41
came from secular science. It came from people that wanted a story of origins that didn't involve God's personal creation.
02:41-02:49
So for people that don't want to know God and don't respect God's word, do I really give a rip what they think? I don't.
02:50-02:55
Okay? So when they're like, "Well, the Earth is millions of years old, and that's that way, we don't have..." I don't care.
02:56-02:57
I care what God says, all right?
02:58-03:00
So, and I don't believe
Pastor Jeff:
03:00-03:01
that the Bible's anti-science.
Pastor Jeff:
03:01-03:09
In fact, do a little research on how many branches of science were founded by Christians who used the Bible as their starting place.
Pastor Jeff:
03:09-03:12
But I would say this, here's what I'd say about the dinosaurs.
Pastor Jeff:
03:13-03:16
Do I believe that dinosaurs existed with people? Absolutely, I do.
Pastor Jeff:
03:17-03:20
Now, again, we let the horse out of the barn, so ride this one with me, alright?
Pastor Jeff:
03:22-03:33
Let's tell the story of the dinosaurs purely from a biblical standpoint. Let's forget all the stuff you hear about 4.5 billion years ago and, you know...
Pastor Jeff:
03:33-03:33
Jurassic Park.
Pastor Jeff:
03:34-03:39
Jurassic Park and all the stories about Dinosaurs were killed by, I've heard everything.
Pastor Jeff:
03:39-03:40
They were killed by meteors.
Pastor Jeff:
03:41-03:43
They were killed by the Earth overheating.
Pastor Jeff:
03:43-03:51
I heard they were killed by, you know, they had a lot of gas and they like farted themselves to death.
Pastor Jeff:
03:51-03:52
Have you heard that one?
Pastor Jeff:
03:53-03:55
It's just like, okay, like we're grasping at straws here.
Pastor Jeff:
03:57-04:00
But let's just look at the story from a biblical perspective.
Pastor Jeff:
04:00-04:08
If the Bible's true, and I believe it is, but if the Bible's true and we take it straightforwardly the way God presents it, and I believe that's how we should take the Bible.
Mark Ort:
04:08-04:10
You mean like a day is actually a day?
Mark Ort:
04:10-04:11
I
Pastor Jeff:
04:11-04:14
believe that the days in Genesis were literal days, and there's a lot of reasons for that.
Pastor Jeff:
04:15-04:19
But if the Bible's true, and I believe it is, then when were dinosaurs created?
Pastor Jeff:
04:19-04:22
They were created with the other sea and land animals, right?
Pastor Jeff:
04:22-04:29
So that would mean that necessarily man and dinosaur coexisted at some point.
Pastor Jeff:
04:29-04:32
Now there's actually geologic evidence for that.
Pastor Jeff:
04:32-04:38
They found through digs dinosaur tracks and human tracks and bones and things.
Pastor Jeff:
04:39-04:39
Fossils together.
Pastor Jeff:
04:40-04:42
So there is evidence that supports that.
Pastor Jeff:
04:43-04:48
I believe the dinosaurs coexisted with humans, so the question is, where did the dinosaurs go?
Pastor Jeff:
04:49-04:50
Here's where I believe the dinosaurs went.
Pastor Jeff:
04:52-04:54
Again, this is coming from a biblical standpoint.
Pastor Jeff:
04:55-05:00
The Bible says wickedness was so bad on the earth, by the time you get to Genesis 6, what happened?
Pastor Jeff:
05:01-05:10
Judge the earth with a flood right and he killed every animal and every person that wasn't on Noah's Ark Correct. Is that what the Bible says?
Pastor Jeff:
05:10-05:14
That's what the Bible says. That's what that's what we're going with here, right?
Pastor Jeff:
05:14-05:24
So I believe that Noah and his family took two of every kind of animal seven of some on the Ark as the Bible Described you're like, well, how did he get a dinosaur in the Ark?
Pastor Jeff:
05:24-05:31
That's yeah I'm sure when the Lord told Noah to put the animals on the Ark Noah was like, "Well, we can't put the dinosaur on the ark,
Mark Ort:
05:31-05:34
right?" You can't go and pick the biggest one.
Pastor Jeff:
05:34-05:35
You can pick
Mark Ort:
05:35-05:36
some small ones, right? Some babies, maybe?
Pastor Jeff:
05:37-05:38
That certainly seems reasonable.
Pastor Jeff:
05:38-05:49
I said that to somebody who asked me that question one time, and she said, "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." I'm like, "Wow, you don't get out much." I've heard a lot more ridiculous things than that.
Pastor Jeff:
05:49-05:56
I believe that Noah took young baby dinosaurs onto the ark with him.
Pastor Jeff:
05:56-05:58
Nothing's born full-size, right?
Pastor Jeff:
05:58-06:01
You know, my mother's certainly thankful for that.
Pastor Jeff:
06:01-06:03
Nothing is born full-size.
Pastor Jeff:
06:03-06:06
I believe that he took babies onto the ark with him.
Pastor Jeff:
06:06-06:07
Like, well, what happened...
Pastor Jeff:
06:08-06:13
Oh, and by the way, by the way, Noah's flood is really the only story that accounts for the fossils.
Pastor Jeff:
06:14-06:15
It's the only story.
Pastor Jeff:
06:15-06:20
Because you understand that when an animal dies, it doesn't instantly become a fossil, right?
Pastor Jeff:
06:20-06:24
Like, if you're driving down the road and you hit a deer, it's not like, boom, fossil!
Pastor Jeff:
06:24-06:26
somebody's going to find that in a million years.
Pastor Jeff:
06:26-06:29
What happens? It lays on the side of the road and the birds pick at it.
Pastor Jeff:
06:29-06:32
It decays and rots and eventually it's gone.
Pastor Jeff:
06:32-06:34
So how does an animal become fossilized?
Pastor Jeff:
06:34-06:36
It has to be quickly covered and preserved.
Pastor Jeff:
06:37-06:43
So my question is, how do you quickly cover and preserve an animal bigger than your car?
Pastor Jeff:
06:44-06:46
It would have to be one heck of a rainstorm.
Pastor Jeff:
06:46-06:48
You know the Bible talks about one heck of a rainstorm?
Pastor Jeff:
06:48-06:50
Genesis chapter 6, right?
Pastor Jeff:
06:50-06:51
Noah's flood.
Pastor Jeff:
06:51-06:59
I believe that it was that cataclysmic flood that the Bible clearly describes that fossilized the dinosaurs.
Pastor Jeff:
06:59-07:04
I believe the dinosaur fossils are a forever testimony to the truth of God's word.
Pastor Jeff:
07:05-07:06
How else are you going to fossilize a dinosaur?
Pastor Jeff:
07:06-07:14
I mean, it's sprinkling this morning, but no rain that we had this year would be capable of burying a dinosaur.
Pastor Jeff:
07:15-07:16
I believe Noah's flood did it.
Pastor Jeff:
07:17-07:18
So what happened afterwards?
Pastor Jeff:
07:18-07:20
I believe the dinosaurs starved to death.
Pastor Jeff:
07:20-07:21
Why do I think that?
Pastor Jeff:
07:21-07:25
I believe that food wasn't as abundant after the flood.
Pastor Jeff:
07:25-07:31
Why? Because God told Noah, after the flood, that he could kill and eat.
Pastor Jeff:
07:31-07:35
Right? So, apparently everybody was vegetarians before that.
Pastor Jeff:
07:35-07:40
But after the ark, it was like, you can totally go to keto if you want.
Pastor Jeff:
07:41-07:44
And I believe the reason for that is food was not as abundant.
Pastor Jeff:
07:45-07:47
And how much food would it take to feed an animal that large?
Pastor Jeff:
07:47-07:49
I would think a lot.
Pastor Jeff:
07:49-07:51
So I believe that dinosaurs start...
Pastor Jeff:
07:52-07:54
And the Bible actually does speak of dinosaurs.
Pastor Jeff:
07:54-08:07
In the book of Job, it talks about behemoth, it talks about leviathan, and it describes creatures that some people want to say, "Well, that was an elephant." No, you look at the description, it couldn't possibly be an elephant or a rhino or a pachyderm, of which we are familiar.
Pastor Jeff:
08:08-08:14
So I believe that the dinosaurs did coexist with man, and Job actually described some of them.
Pastor Jeff:
08:15-08:16
That's what I think happened in the Bible.
Pastor Jeff:
08:16-08:20
And that all comes from believing the Bible straightforwardly.
Pastor Jeff:
08:21-08:25
And somebody would say, as somebody has said, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.
Pastor Jeff:
08:25-08:38
I would say, "Okay, well, let's hear your story." "How do you think the dinosaurs got fossilized?" "Let's hear it." "I have reason for believing what I believe." "So let's hear your story." Like, I still think the gas thing.
Pastor Jeff:
08:39-08:44
I'm just saying that that doesn't line up with God's Word, and it certainly doesn't line up with what we see in the fossil.
Pastor Jeff:
08:44-08:45
We could
Mark Ort:
08:45-08:46
talk about that for millions of years.
08:47-08:47
[laughter]
Pastor Jeff:
08:49-08:51
Or we could talk about it for one 24-hour day.
Pastor Jeff:
08:51-08:52
Exactly.
Mark Ort:
08:54-08:56
This is a great question. This is from Emma Ingram.
Mark Ort:
08:57-09:02
She asks, "Where do animals go when they die?" I love that question.
Pastor Jeff:
09:03-09:04
I love that question, too.
Pastor Jeff:
09:05-09:09
And I'll be honest with you, it's a tough one, because the Bible doesn't really talk about that.
Pastor Jeff:
09:09-09:19
You know, there's one verse in the Bible that sort of alludes to the concept, and that is, if you're writing this down, Ecclesiastes 321.
Pastor Jeff:
09:20-09:28
He makes reference to the spirit of man ascending upward, the spirit of beast or animal descending downward.
Pastor Jeff:
09:28-09:32
And the problem is Ecclesiastes isn't written from a perspective.
Pastor Jeff:
09:32-09:36
Solomon wasn't like, here's your systematic theology book.
Pastor Jeff:
09:37-09:47
He was more like a philosopher looking at life under the sun and the meaning of life apart from God, how there is no meaning apart from God, and how God brings meaning to life.
Pastor Jeff:
09:47-09:58
I think the philosophical nature of Ecclesiastes, I don't take that verse as build your whole theology on the death of animals around this.
Pastor Jeff:
09:59-10:05
All I can say for sure is Revelation 21.6 tells us that we are going to be fully satisfied in heaven.
Pastor Jeff:
10:06-10:11
And if there's anything that you need to be fully satisfied, it's going to be provided in heaven.
Pastor Jeff:
10:12-10:13
What all that entails, I don't know.
Pastor Jeff:
10:14-10:26
I just know that you're not gonna be walking around in heaven for eternity saying, "I'm eternally sad because my dog's not here with me." God's going to satisfy every need that you have.
Pastor Jeff:
10:27-10:32
But as far as what happens to the animals, the Bible just doesn't really talk about that.
Mark Ort:
10:33-10:40
One of the things that I found helpful is a book by Randy Alcorn about heaven.
Mark Ort:
10:40-10:43
It's called "Heaven." And he does make mention in there.
Mark Ort:
10:43-10:45
I found him to be a reliable source of information.
Mark Ort:
10:45-10:52
There's so much things on the internet you could read about this, but he does ask some good questions.
Mark Ort:
10:53-10:57
For instance, he'll ask a question about this particular topic.
Mark Ort:
10:58-11:16
Would God give you something like an animal who's your companion and your friend and possibly like your, we'll say like your service dog, that's been such a big help, would that animal be created just for destruction?
Mark Ort:
11:17-11:19
And it's a good question to ask.
Mark Ort:
11:19-11:20
It is a good question.
Mark Ort:
11:20-11:20
We don't know.
Mark Ort:
11:21-11:22
Yeah, the Bible
Pastor Jeff:
11:22-11:35
certainly spends a lot of time talking about how God redeemed man, but there's just not a lot of material in the Bible or really not really any material about what happens to animals when they die.
Mark Ort:
11:36-11:38
Yeah, we do see animals in the Bible, like horses.
Mark Ort:
11:38-11:40
There's abundance of horses.
Mark Ort:
11:40-11:41
And Jesus
Pastor Jeff:
11:41-11:45
returns to the earth on a horse, right?
Pastor Jeff:
11:45-11:47
According to Revelation 19.
Pastor Jeff:
11:48-11:53
So animals, you know, my usual answer to that, all dogs go to heaven.
Pastor Jeff:
11:54-11:54
And?
Pastor Jeff:
11:56-11:57
Cats, not so much.
Mark Ort:
11:57-11:58
All right, next question.
Pastor Jeff:
11:59-12:01
They go back from whence they came.
Mark Ort:
12:01-12:06
Okay, Jeff, do you have any suggestions on Bible reading programs for the start of the new year?
Mark Ort:
12:07-12:09
What works, what doesn't, et cetera?
Mark Ort:
12:10-12:16
And how do you guard against this discipline becoming just a mechanical exercise?
Pastor Jeff:
12:17-12:18
For me personally.
Mark Ort:
12:20-12:23
I thought that was a really good question, by the way, because
Pastor Jeff:
12:23-12:24
I submitted it.
Pastor Jeff:
12:24-12:27
I'm sure, yeah, I was gonna say, I'm sure you thought that was a great question.
Pastor Jeff:
12:27-12:28
I often have
Mark Ort:
12:28-12:30
permission to speak honestly.
Mark Ort:
12:31-12:38
I often have trouble with my Bible reading discipline becoming mechanical.
Mark Ort:
12:39-12:40
And I don't want it to be that. So,
Pastor Jeff:
12:41-12:41
tell me how.
Pastor Jeff:
12:42-12:48
For me, obviously, part of my job requires intense study of God's Word.
Pastor Jeff:
12:49-12:56
So, personally, I'm always reading something in the Bible that I have zero intention on teaching.
Pastor Jeff:
12:56-13:04
And it's just for me. It's for God's Word to feed me, because I never want the Bible to be like a work manual for me.
Pastor Jeff:
13:04-13:06
Like this is where I go to get lessons.
Pastor Jeff:
13:06-13:11
Like, so I'm always reading something I have no intention on teaching anytime soon.
Pastor Jeff:
13:12-13:15
So this is my scientific approach to that.
Pastor Jeff:
13:15-13:15
You ready?
Pastor Jeff:
13:15-13:17
I read what I'm in the mood for.
Pastor Jeff:
13:18-13:27
And sometimes it's a narrative, sometimes it's prophecy, sometimes it's Proverbs, sometimes it's like the straight instruction from the New Testament, like the pastoral letters.
Pastor Jeff:
13:27-13:33
I just read what I'm in the mood for, because I find when I do that, it's not a chore.
Pastor Jeff:
13:34-13:48
Like, "Oh, I gotta sit down and read this, "and I don't really feel like..." I'm really in the mood for God to feed me from His Word in this way, so it makes me more naturally inclined to go after it, and it makes me more able to learn when I do it.
Pastor Jeff:
13:48-13:51
So that's how I do it.
Pastor Jeff:
13:51-13:59
I'm usually, personally, I'm usually somewhere in the Old Testament and somewhere in the New Testament in addition to whatever I'm preparing to teach.
Pastor Jeff:
13:59-14:00
And you use a
Mark Ort:
14:00-14:00
checklist, right?
Pastor Jeff:
14:00-14:05
Yeah, I use one of those Bible reading chart things just to help keep track of what I've read.
Pastor Jeff:
14:05-14:09
You can download them online and-- - Plenty of apps that can help you.
Pastor Jeff:
14:10-14:19
There's apps that help you with that if you're one of those people that like the, the app will tell me what to read, my daily reading of the day.
Pastor Jeff:
14:20-14:23
I'm sure there's lots of great Bible programs out there for that kind of thing.
Mark Ort:
14:24-14:25
You ready to pass the mic?
Pastor Jeff:
14:25-14:26
Yeah, you wanna pass the mic?
Pastor Jeff:
14:26-14:27
Anybody have a question?
Pastor Jeff:
14:27-14:28
Anybody have a question?
Audience Question:
14:29-14:32
Why is demon possession only mentioned in the New Testament and not in the Old Testament?
Pastor Jeff:
14:33-14:34
Demon possession?
Pastor Jeff:
14:35-14:37
It is mentioned in the Old Testament.
Pastor Jeff:
14:39-14:44
Like for example, King Saul, he was afflicted by an evil spirit.
Pastor Jeff:
14:46-14:54
It says that God sent an evil spirit, interestingly it says God sent the evil spirit to torment Saul and his downfall.
Pastor Jeff:
14:54-15:01
So we do see some of that in the Old Testament, but yeah, it seems a lot more prevalent in Jesus' day.
Pastor Jeff:
15:02-15:05
Like when Jesus was on the earth, it was like literally all hell broke loose.
Pastor Jeff:
15:07-15:13
And we see more straightforward discussion on demonic possession.
Pastor Jeff:
15:14-15:19
But yeah, it's in the Old Testament, but it's not as frequent as what we see during the Gospels.
15:20-15:20
Do
Audience Question:
15:20-15:30
you think there's anything that we as the church have failed to do regarding promoting marriage and promoting gender that lead us in this crazy world that we live in?
Audience Question:
15:30-15:34
Is there anything on the churches that we should be reflective on and do differently?
Pastor Jeff:
15:35-15:36
That is a really good question.
Pastor Jeff:
15:37-15:37
Mark, what do you think?
Pastor Jeff:
15:39-15:40
As a church?
Pastor Jeff:
15:40-15:41
As a church, yeah.
Mark Ort:
15:42-15:55
Well, I know, and this kind of leads into one of the other questions, but parental instruction with your children, And maybe that is augmented by the church.
Mark Ort:
15:55-16:03
Maybe we have classes or teaching or sermons based on the scriptures that help in that area.
Mark Ort:
16:04-16:14
I don't know how that looks as far as a church program or teaching outline or whatever.
Mark Ort:
16:15-16:23
But I know for us, it's all about instruction, in the home from God's Word.
Pastor Jeff:
16:23-16:23
Right.
Pastor Jeff:
16:24-16:34
To clarify, Dan, your question, do you mean, like years ago we did the thing tighten the knot, where we talked about marriage for a month and then we had the big marriage event and things like that.
Pastor Jeff:
16:34-16:36
Do you mean the church doing more things like that?
Pastor Jeff:
16:37-17:05
Or do you mean the church more in the public forum as the culture is denying, yeah, we live in a day that, it's funny to me, that very issue, Dan, Because for somebody to think it's not a spiritual issue, it's crazy because you know, like the Bible, in the beginning, Genesis 2.24, "For this purpose, a man shall leave his father "and mother and cleave to his wife, "and the two shall become one flesh." God says marriage is to be one man and one woman.
Pastor Jeff:
17:06-17:08
And the culture says, that's not true.
Pastor Jeff:
17:09-17:22
And the insanity we're seeing now, the culture's taking it even to a more perverse and more insane level, because the Bible says God created them male and female.
Pastor Jeff:
17:22-17:24
And the culture says, that's not true.
Pastor Jeff:
17:25-17:27
How many gender distinctions are there now?
Pastor Jeff:
17:27-17:30
There's like, last I heard was like 71 or something like that.
Pastor Jeff:
17:30-17:31
Like, what?
Pastor Jeff:
17:34-17:37
Like, it's a direct affront to the word of God.
Pastor Jeff:
17:38-17:42
And here's my knee-jerk answer, response to that, Dan.
Pastor Jeff:
17:42-17:50
My knee-jerk reaction to that is, I'm not sure how much we as a church can do to disciple those people out there.
Pastor Jeff:
17:50-17:57
My concern is to disciple people in here that are going to go out there and carry the truth of God's Word.
Pastor Jeff:
17:57-18:12
So from a church standpoint, I would see our job is to encourage people to hold to the foundation of God's Word in your workplaces, in your communities.
Pastor Jeff:
18:13-18:13
You take that with you.
Mark Ort:
18:14-18:14
Absolutely.
Mark Ort:
18:14-18:14
And you stand there.
Mark Ort:
18:15-18:17
And we need to be like bold about it.
Mark Ort:
18:18-18:25
I mean, we can't be concerned, in my opinion, we can't be concerned that we're gonna hurt somebody's feelings.
Mark Ort:
18:26-18:29
Although we gotta share with people the truth and love.
Mark Ort:
18:30-18:30
You know what I'm saying?
Mark Ort:
18:31-18:39
You know, whenever they start talking at my kid's school about this stuff, and all of a sudden now they're haters just because they speak the truth.
Mark Ort:
18:39-18:41
Like, no, we're not haters.
Mark Ort:
18:41-18:43
we're actually haters by not speaking the truth.
Mark Ort:
18:44-18:47
We gotta speak the truth and speak it in love.
Mark Ort:
18:47-18:53
People need to know where we stand as Christians and we need to be bold about it.
Mark Ort:
18:53-18:55
And if people are gonna hate, they're gonna hate.
Mark Ort:
18:56-19:02
But the ultimate form of hate is withholding the truth because somebody's feelings are gonna get hurt.
Pastor Jeff:
19:03-19:27
Right, I one time invited a man to church and then just a guy that I had met actually on an airplane, He was, I said, "Is Pittsburgh your home?" He goes, "Yeah, that's my final stop." And I invite him to church and he said, "You wouldn't want me at your church." And I said, "Why?" And he said, "Because I'm a homosexual." And I said, "Well, absolutely you're invited to our church." You know, it opened up this door for this whole discussion.
Pastor Jeff:
19:28-19:34
I said, "Look, we can disagree about what we believe "about that without hating each other.
Pastor Jeff:
19:35-19:38
"But my intention is I want you to come and meet Jesus.
Pastor Jeff:
19:38-19:44
I want you to come and know what God has said in His Word and the transforming power of the gospel.
Pastor Jeff:
19:45-19:52
But I think just taking that message out like you're saying, Martin, being bold, not shrinking back to say, you know, we're not jerky about it.
Pastor Jeff:
19:52-19:56
We're like, look, this is what God said, and here's what we believe.
Pastor Jeff:
19:57-20:03
But I can just tell you, Dan, as a pastor, my concern is that the people in here get it, right?
Pastor Jeff:
20:04-20:07
My concern as a pastor isn't for the people that aren't here.
Pastor Jeff:
20:07-20:26
My concern is for the people who are here to say, "Look, you are going to be going into your communities and workplaces, you stand firm in the word of God, you be filled with the Holy Spirit, you be the evangelist where God sends you because you go places I'll never go." So that's my perspective on it as a pastor.
Mark Ort:
20:26-20:38
Yeah, and the challenge we have as a church is, okay, yeah, we wanna be bold, but Pastor Jeremiah Canfield was here and preached convicting message about this topic.
Mark Ort:
20:38-20:47
And his challenge to us at the time was, yeah, we're gonna be bold, but we need to learn how to love people that don't know the truth.
Mark Ort:
20:48-20:55
We need to learn how to love people from that community who have had Christians look down their nose at them.
Mark Ort:
20:56-21:01
And we need to learn to love them 'cause they're never gonna hear us if we don't love them.
Pastor Jeff:
21:02-21:10
Right, and I think like Westboro Baptist Church and people like that, I think the culture looks at that as representative of the church.
Pastor Jeff:
21:10-21:12
God hates homosexuals.
Pastor Jeff:
21:15-21:17
I think it's a gross misrepresentation.
Pastor Jeff:
21:17-21:21
Like no, God so loved the world that he gave his son.
Pastor Jeff:
21:21-21:24
And the transforming power of the gospel is for everyone.
Pastor Jeff:
21:25-21:27
So I think you're right, Mark.
Pastor Jeff:
21:27-21:28
I think it has to start with
Mark Ort:
21:30-21:32
genuinely loving the people
21:32-21:33
before
Pastor Jeff:
21:33-21:37
you, you're loving them and you're praying for them even before you talk with them.
Mark Ort:
21:38-21:39
Dan, thanks for that question.
Mark Ort:
21:39-21:40
That's a very serious thing.
Pastor Jeff:
21:40-21:45
It is, and I think that question is going to be more and more relevant.
Pastor Jeff:
21:46-21:50
Doesn't look like things are backing off in that area any time soon.
Mark Ort:
21:50-21:51
Did we do the short-term mission question?
Mark Ort:
21:52-21:52
No, we didn't.
Mark Ort:
21:52-21:54
Okay, let's go on to the next one.
Mark Ort:
21:54-21:57
And we had Mandy up here talking about missions.
Mark Ort:
21:57-21:59
I love this about our church.
Mark Ort:
21:59-22:00
we are a missions-minded church.
Mark Ort:
22:01-22:03
Short-term versus long-term missions work.
Mark Ort:
22:04-22:06
What the right balance between the two should be.
Mark Ort:
22:07-22:09
When does helping sometimes hurt?
Mark Ort:
22:09-22:19
In the case of short-term missions, trips being more about the people going than the ones being served, a team coming in with their own agenda rather than local partnership, et cetera.
Pastor Jeff:
22:20-22:21
This is a really good question.
Pastor Jeff:
22:21-22:31
And I think this is extremely wise thinking regarding missions because I think a lot of short-term mission trips are about me.
Pastor Jeff:
22:32-22:40
I went to this place and I got to do this and it's like, hey everybody, applaud me because of what I did.
Pastor Jeff:
22:41-22:44
And I remember one time hearing somebody talk about a mission trip that they went on.
Pastor Jeff:
22:45-22:46
Like, well, tell me about the trip.
Pastor Jeff:
22:47-22:50
And they said, oh, we went to this beach for a while and it was really nice.
Pastor Jeff:
22:51-22:54
And then later we went to this other beach and it wasn't as nice as the first one.
Pastor Jeff:
22:54-22:59
So the next day we went back to the first one and they were just talking about...
Mark Ort:
22:59-22:59
Their vacation.
Pastor Jeff:
23:00-23:01
Yeah, I'm like, beach?
Pastor Jeff:
23:02-23:04
Like, that's what it means to be a missionary?
Pastor Jeff:
23:05-23:06
Like, where do we sign up for that?
Pastor Jeff:
23:07-23:15
So I think the point is, I think a lot of it was, I'm not here to serve, I'm here to vacation.
Pastor Jeff:
23:15-23:28
And I know there are a lot of trips being taken from harvest people associated with other ministries, And I know each mission and ministry is gonna have sort of its own strategy.
Pastor Jeff:
23:29-23:33
What I can speak to regarding this mainly is our strategy with Thailand.
Pastor Jeff:
23:34-23:44
Our missionary friend over in Thailand has 20 some churches in the mountain jungle region, the Lisu Bible Institute, which trains pastors and evangelists, and three children's homes.
Pastor Jeff:
23:45-23:54
And what we do in our partnership with Thailand isn't just short term, get in, get out, make a big splash for a week and leave.
Pastor Jeff:
23:56-24:01
What we are working on is investing in the people that do the work over there.
Pastor Jeff:
24:01-24:09
Because honestly, if I walked into one of those villages, I couldn't speak the language, but they're not gonna listen to me.
Pastor Jeff:
24:09-24:17
They're not gonna listen to chubby white guy that they don't know, but you knew they will listen to.
Pastor Jeff:
24:17-24:18
They'll listen to their neighbor.
Pastor Jeff:
24:19-24:52
They'll listen to somebody from their own tribe their own language. So when Justin and Rich and Dan and I went over, we poured into 50 or 70 or something like that, however many people were there, we poured into those people and then they went back to their villages with like, loaded for bear. They had all this extra ammunition now and tools to be used for ministry and we look at that as being much more effective, you know, pouring into those people who are going to go out into their respective churches.
Mark Ort:
24:52-24:55
That's a big bang for your buck when you can multiply the message like that.
Pastor Jeff:
24:55-24:55
Right.
Pastor Jeff:
24:56-24:56
It is.
Pastor Jeff:
24:56-24:57
It is.
Pastor Jeff:
24:57-25:01
And we realized that it's not, that is not dependent upon us.
Pastor Jeff:
25:01-25:06
You know, that's, that's stuff that's going to have a ripple effect for generations.
Pastor Jeff:
25:06-25:08
So our goal is to do that every couple of years.
Mark Ort:
25:09-25:11
I liked what Mandy said when she was up here.
Mark Ort:
25:11-25:16
She said how it impacted her going on the missions trip.
Mark Ort:
25:16-25:21
And, you know, these four guys that went to Thailand, um, that changed your life.
Mark Ort:
25:21-25:21
Right guys?
Mark Ort:
25:21-25:24
I mean, that's a thing that changes your life.
Mark Ort:
25:24-25:35
You know, I had the privilege of going on one missions trip while I've been here, and it did something inside of me, making me aware of just how things are somewhere else.
Mark Ort:
25:35-25:45
I mean, we're blinded a lot of times in America to what's going on somewhere else, and it does something to you.
Mark Ort:
25:45-25:45
Right.
Pastor Jeff:
25:46-25:47
It certainly does.
Mark Ort:
25:48-25:49
Okay, next question, Jeff.
Mark Ort:
25:50-25:55
After a spouse dies, does the surviving spouse love in the same way again?
Mark Ort:
25:56-25:59
If there is another love, will it be the same, or will it
Pastor Jeff:
25:59-26:00
be a different love?
Pastor Jeff:
26:02-26:07
This is a very hard question because I've never experienced this.
Pastor Jeff:
26:08-26:13
So it's very hard for me to speak to this because I have zero first-hand knowledge.
Pastor Jeff:
26:14-26:22
I have a lot of second-hand knowledge because I know people that had a spouse die and get remarried and I've never asked them.
Pastor Jeff:
26:23-26:33
I just never thought it appropriate for me in asking how does your love for your current spouse compare with previous.
Pastor Jeff:
26:33-26:35
I really can't speak to that.
Pastor Jeff:
26:36-26:40
All I can say is I can't imagine it being the same.
Pastor Jeff:
26:40-26:56
And again, I'm speaking, I couldn't imagine loving anyone else anywhere near or like I love Aaron. I just can't imagine that. So I just can't imagine it being the same.
Pastor Jeff:
26:57-27:05
I would think it would almost have to be different if a person got remarried or fell in love after a spouse passed away.
Pastor Jeff:
27:05-27:06
It would have
Mark Ort:
27:06-27:22
to be because I think we do love people in differing degrees. To lose spouse would be a horrible thing and to have someone else enter the picture that's a difficult thing to adjust to.
Pastor Jeff:
27:22-27:37
And I think just by very nature I think would have to be different because maybe you know the things that you loved about your spouse maybe this this new person doesn't have those same qualities and you love different things about them but...
27:37-27:38
I
Mark Ort:
27:38-27:45
don't think it would be a better or worse kind of thing, I think it would just be a different kind of love.
Pastor Jeff:
27:45-27:50
That would be my best guess. Again, I just couldn't imagine, but that'd be my best guess on that.
Mark Ort:
27:50-28:11
Okay, why do you think church people struggle with those who might not be led by same-life choices? And an example would be married people talking to singles, "When are you gonna settle down and marry?" Or parents talking to newlyweds, "Hey, when are the babies coming?" Maybe that isn't where the Lord is leading.
Pastor Jeff:
28:12-28:18
Right, I don't think people who ask questions like that are trying to be malicious.
Pastor Jeff:
28:18-28:21
When those questions come up, I don't think somebody's like, "You know what I'm gonna do?
Pastor Jeff:
28:22-28:27
"I'm gonna hurt this person's feelings "and I know just how to do it." I don't think it's intentional.
Pastor Jeff:
28:28-28:31
I think, here's the mindset that I imagine.
Pastor Jeff:
28:31-28:33
When somebody asks those questions, they probably think, "You know what?
Pastor Jeff:
28:34-28:42
"You're a nice person and I think you'd make or a nice husband for someone, or a nice wife for someone, and I'm just having conversation with you.
Pastor Jeff:
28:42-28:48
I don't think it's meant to be malicious, but I do think the answer is right here in the question.
Pastor Jeff:
28:49-28:50
Maybe that isn't where the Lord is leading.
Pastor Jeff:
28:51-28:55
If that question bothers you, I think that's the response you have to have.
Pastor Jeff:
28:56-28:58
They say, "When are you going to get married?" Well, that's up to the Lord.
Pastor Jeff:
28:59-29:01
"When are you guys going to have kids?" Well, that's up to the Lord.
Pastor Jeff:
29:01-29:05
But I don't think the questions are ever asked maliciously.
Mark Ort:
29:06-29:07
I agree with that, Jeff.
Mark Ort:
29:08-29:09
Next question.
Mark Ort:
29:10-29:17
When I'm struggling with a life situation where God doesn't seem to be answering, why do people tell me, you just need to have more faith?
Mark Ort:
29:17-29:19
It just makes my pain worse.
Pastor Jeff:
29:20-29:21
Yeah, the people that say that are wrong.
Pastor Jeff:
29:22-29:27
You need to have more faith because it's not about the amount of faith that you have.
Pastor Jeff:
29:27-29:30
It's about who your faith is in, right?
Pastor Jeff:
29:31-29:37
Because Jesus in Matthew chapter 17, verse 20, was talking about faith.
Pastor Jeff:
29:38-29:52
And he said, "For truly I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed." That was the smallest edible seed or seed to produce something edible in the world.
Pastor Jeff:
29:52-29:56
And Jesus said, "You can have faith that tiny." Have you ever seen a mustard seed?
Pastor Jeff:
29:56-30:03
I know sometimes like, you know, Christian tools of affirmation or whatever, put one in a pendant or whatever.
Pastor Jeff:
30:05-30:16
But Jesus goes on, he says, if you have faith even that big, he says, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you.
Pastor Jeff:
30:16-30:25
So Jesus said, it's not about how big your faith is, it's about who your faith is in, like our ice skating friend, right?
Pastor Jeff:
30:25-30:29
You know, I've told the story a couple times, little boys ice skating, you know the story?
Pastor Jeff:
30:29-30:30
You're like, please don't tell it again, okay.
Pastor Jeff:
30:31-30:37
Oh yeah, okay, okay, the kids, The pawn freezes, he's all excited, he wants to go ice skating, so he goes running down, all excited, all excited.
Pastor Jeff:
30:37-30:39
He jumps on, but the pawn didn't freeze and he falls through.
Pastor Jeff:
30:40-30:47
Week later, another freeze, pawn frozen, the kid runs on, but he's not so anxious this time because of his accident last time.
Pastor Jeff:
30:47-30:52
So he very gingerly steps onto the ice and oh, it holds and he skates and he has a jolly good time.
Pastor Jeff:
30:52-30:57
And the point of that story is this. The first time, he had a lot of faith, but what his faith was in was very weak.
Pastor Jeff:
30:58-31:01
The second time, he had very little faith, but what his faith was in was very strong.
Pastor Jeff:
31:01-31:05
So it's not about how much faith or how big your faith is, it's about what your faith is in.
Mark Ort:
31:06-31:07
That's a great word picture, Jeff.
Mark Ort:
31:08-31:12
And by the way, mustard seeds are one of God's greatest creations.
Pastor Jeff:
31:14-31:15
Right up there with the hot dog seed, right?
31:16-31:17
(laughing)
Mark Ort:
31:17-31:18
Absolutely.
Pastor Jeff:
31:18-31:19
The hot pretzel seed.
Mark Ort:
31:21-31:22
Okay, next question.
Mark Ort:
31:23-31:24
Lost my place here.
Mark Ort:
31:24-31:36
In Job 38, seven, the Bible says, "The morning stars sang together." Jesus and Lucifer are both referred to as the Morning Star in Revelation and Isaiah.
Mark Ort:
31:36-31:38
So who is being mentioned here?
Pastor Jeff:
31:38-31:42
I was impressed with the academic level of this question.
Pastor Jeff:
31:42-31:58
Again, I don't think this one was signed, but I'm like, "Hey, that's a really good question." So I'm back in red Job 38, and if you read Job 38 7, there's a couple of phrases there, and they both just refer to God's angels in general.
Pastor Jeff:
31:58-32:06
And I think, and it boils down to, again, approach to scripture and view of source material and how you read the Bible.
Pastor Jeff:
32:07-32:09
And I know I've shared this with you before.
Pastor Jeff:
32:10-32:15
I believe in reading the Bible straightforwardly, that you just read it as it's presented.
Pastor Jeff:
32:16-32:21
So when you read Job 38, basically it's God saying to Job, "Hey, where were you when I did this?
Pastor Jeff:
32:21-32:22
"Where were you when I did this?
Pastor Jeff:
32:22-32:30
"Where were you when this happened?" God was telling Job, "Hey, I am God and you are, Not, right? That's Job 38.
Pastor Jeff:
32:32-32:36
So really, that's all he's referring to here, is he's just talking about angels in general.
Pastor Jeff:
32:36-32:39
You know, it's not really about, is he talking about Satan?
Pastor Jeff:
32:39-32:40
Is he talking about Jesus?
Pastor Jeff:
32:41-32:43
He's just making a general statement.
Pastor Jeff:
32:44-32:47
It's like, hey, where were you when the angels...
Pastor Jeff:
32:47-32:49
So I think it's just a general statement.
Pastor Jeff:
32:49-32:50
Okay,
Mark Ort:
32:51-32:51
here we go.
Mark Ort:
32:51-32:52
We got
Pastor Jeff:
32:52-32:53
30 seconds, let's go quick.
Mark Ort:
32:53-33:00
Oh, what is the church's response on protecting kids from sexual immorality now in the sex-driven culture.
Mark Ort:
33:01-33:05
Some possible ideas, what about promoting early marriage to avoid temptation?
Mark Ort:
33:06-33:07
Also, what can parents do to help?
Pastor Jeff:
33:08-33:09
Oh gosh, I don't know, next.
Pastor Jeff:
33:10-33:11
No, I'm just kidding.
Pastor Jeff:
33:12-33:14
Parents are the disciple makers of their own children.
Pastor Jeff:
33:15-33:21
And they need to not only teach them, but I would also encourage parents, especially teenagers, monitor phone and internet use.
Pastor Jeff:
33:22-33:31
I know that doesn't sound very popular, but I think you need to safeguard covenant eyes or things like that, especially for your kids.
Pastor Jeff:
33:32-33:36
I would like to ask, and this is again on the spot, but hey, we're put on the spot.
Pastor Jeff:
33:37-33:44
Dan and Alicia Thompson, what have you guys done with the youth ministry to talk about these types of issues in any of your talks or messages?
Pastor Jeff:
33:45-33:49
'Cause you guys have been in youth ministry forever, 4.5 billion years or whatever.
Pastor Jeff:
33:50-34:02
So, (laughs) only six to ten thousand years. You guys have been in youth ministry. What are some things that you guys have done in teaching the kids? Thank you,
Audience Question:
34:02-34:27
Corinne. So I think it's similar to the answers that you've given before. I mean, relying on what does the scripture say, right? And being, teaching that the source of authority here is God's Word. And so you can decide for yourself, but there's consequences when you decide. Just like if you choose to not, you know, change the oil in your car at 3,000 miles, you don't have to, but there's consequences for that.
Audience Question:
34:27-34:34
And so we try to give word pictures and examples and consequences, talk through things.
Audience Question:
34:35-34:40
Alicia does a really involved retreat for the girls.
Audience Question:
34:40-34:41
I'll let her talk about that.
Audience Question:
34:43-34:51
But then the other side of it is just there's self-confidence and a self-esteem aspect to all of this.
Audience Question:
34:51-35:17
I mean, the parents obviously can have the biggest influence there in terms of reminding your children that they are valued by God and that God has a plan for them and that God has boundaries and all those things that give them a sense of confidence and assurance that aren't necessarily directly there, but they are always the leading reason that people go and look for satisfaction in other ways like that.
Pastor Jeff:
35:18-35:18
Right.
Pastor Jeff:
35:18-35:19
No, that's good.
Pastor Jeff:
35:19-35:20
That's good.
Pastor Jeff:
35:21-35:25
Thank you. We are like out of time, but there's two questions left.
Pastor Jeff:
35:26-35:28
You want to do them or nah? Okay.
Pastor Jeff:
35:28-35:30
One came in through...
35:30-35:31
I don't know how it came through.
35:31-35:39
Brooke, how did that question come in, "Did the church replace Israel?" That came online? Okay. Somebody asked...
35:39-35:41
Hang on, I'll get it exactly right here.
35:42-35:44
I have a minute and a half still, Mike.
35:45-35:55
Okay. It says, "Do you believe the church has replaced Israel/the Jewish people?" The answer to that question is emphatically, absolutely not.
35:55-35:57
The church has not replaced Israel.
35:58-35:59
Romans chapter 11 is all about
Pastor Jeff:
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that.
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You can go read that.
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Romans chapter 11, Paul says, "Look, I know that Israel has not been abandoned "for three reasons.
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"God has always had a remnant.
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"God has a remnant now.
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"And God always will have a remnant.
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"And the day's coming when all of Israel will be saved." And we talked about some of that stuff in Revelation.
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"I do not believe the church replaced Israel many churches do, and I think that is dead wrong, and I will fight you to the death on that.
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Did you have another question, or are we gonna go with the
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one on here?
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Yeah, we'll go with the one on here.
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That was the only one I knew of that wasn't on
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our list here.
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Okay, so this will be the last one.
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And did anybody text a question?
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Oh, we got three texted questions.
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Three texted questions.
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Five texted questions.
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Do I hear six?
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Do we have them up on the screen?
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Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, it didn't do Pac-Man.
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We'll have to start that over, Darla.
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Another 40.
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All right.
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While they're looking for that-- - Let's go quickly here.
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Yeah, what was the reasoning, or what was the reason, symbolism, significance of baptism when John the Baptist was baptizing?
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Was baptism a new thing?
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How did the aspect or the act of getting baptized help?
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Repentance of sins was encouraged?
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That's okay.
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What did the priests, Sanhedrin, the Pharisees, if they think about John the Baptist doing this.
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How did John the Baptist create baptism?
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Was he the first or was this a new thing?
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So a lot of questions rolled up.
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You know what, people
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criticize me when I do the small group questions, when there's more than one question in a line.
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People criticize me.
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This guy better not ever criticize me.
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I think I know who asked this one, so.
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And he's a small group leader, if it is who I think it is.
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Okay, here's the short answer.
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John's baptism was for repentance.
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And John's baptism specifically was to prepare people for the coming Messiah.
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Acts chapter 19, verse four talks about that.
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Now in the history of Israel, there were a lot of ceremonial cleansings.
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Read Leviticus chapter 15.
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Israel, that was part of their ritual, part of their ceremony.
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One of the biggest ones was when Gentiles converted to become a Jew, there was a baptism-like cleansing that took place.
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But John the Baptist thing was, I would say it was taking sort of an old concept, the cleansing thing, and it had a very new and specific meaning for him because he was the one appointed to announce the Messiah.
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We talked about that at Christmas.
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He jumped for joy, that was his first announcement, in the womb.
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So his thing was kind of new.
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in that sense, because nobody else would have been preparing for the Messiah the way he did.
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But the act of baptism took on new significance with the baptism of Jesus and the birth of the church.
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And then the question, what did the pre-Sanhedrin Pharisees think about John the Baptist doing this?
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I would just encourage you to read Luke chapter three.
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John the Baptist was not exactly Joel Osteen, okay?
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People showed up, like some of the Pharisees And some of the religious people of John's day would show up to be baptized, and John's like, "Who warned you of the wrath to come, you bunch of snakes?
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Like, you are loved, right?" So he was very confrontational.
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In fact, that's how he died, because he told Herod, "Hey, you shouldn't have your brother's wife.
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Like, what you're doing is wrong, pal." So he was imprisoned and ended up being beheaded.
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a whole horrific ending to the man's life.
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But yeah, you can imagine how that went over.
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I think we have the questions.
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Do we have the questions?
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Yeah, I think we have them.
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All right.
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Can you guys throw them up on here?
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Here we go.
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Yeah, let's get through them quickly.
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When we pray, are we only to address God the Father, or can we also pray to Jesus and the Holy Spirit?
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Again, depends on what you believe about your source material, the Bible.
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You see no example in the Bible of prayers being directed to Jesus or the Holy Spirit.
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Biblically, the consistent teaching and pattern and example was we pray to the Father.
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Now also biblically, we pray to the Father in the name of Jesus, and the Bible says the Holy Spirit actually prays with us.
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So all three members of the Godhead, so to speak, are involved in prayer.
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But who do we direct our prayer to?
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Biblically, God the Father.
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Okay, next one.
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Who or what are angels?
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Who or what are angels?
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Angels are created beings that are, they were created by God actually to minister to us.
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You know, Hebrews has a verse in there about to minister to those who inherit salvation.
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And we went through Revelation, we saw that a third of the angels rebelled with Satan.
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and that is who we refer to as demons.
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But they are eternal beings that God created to serve and glorify him.
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So is there such a thing as a guardian angel?
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As a guardian angel, a strong case can be made for that based on, there's a verse in Matthew about a child's angel always seeing the face of God.
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So yeah, I think a case can be made for that, that there are angels that, and we know that again, from Hebrews, that they minister to those inheriting salvation.
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Well Jeff I don't see any more questions up on the screen over there. Wait a minute. Do we have another one? Yeah but you had to read it really quick. Oh okay.
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What are your thoughts about people who claim to cast out demons or perform exorcisms?
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I believe that this stuff is real. I believe a lot of times it's fake, but I believe a lot of times it is real at the same time. I believe demonic affliction and possession, I believe those are real things and I believe that God still has the power in the name of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit to drive those out. Like I said, I think a lot of times it's fake, but I do believe that these things are real.
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Yeah, there is a real thing here I think based on some passages in Ephesians. We don't wrestle against flesh and blood, right?
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Yeah, against principalities and strongholds.
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And it's a spiritual war.
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That's why Ephesians says, well, Ephesians 6 put on the armor of God, right?
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Right.
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So any other questions?
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We answered every question.
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Okay, Luke 11 tells of Jesus cursing the fig tree for not having figs.
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However, it was not fig season.
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Why would Jesus do this?
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How is it different from Christians not having a specific spiritual gift, such as teaching, are we still expected to teach?
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Wow, there's a lot of really good questions here.
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We did a whole sermon about the fig tree.
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It was actually a pronouncement of judgment against Israel.
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When we went through Mark, we did a whole sermon on that and the reason that Jesus cursed that fig tree.
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And there's a lot of teaching about prayer and stuff that followed up.
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What is that, Mark?
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Is that Mark chapter 11?
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We did a whole thing on that.
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As far as Christians not having specific spiritual gifts, the Bible makes it so clear that the Holy Spirit gives gifts as God decides.
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So if you don't have a spiritual gift, there's nothing to feel bad about because the Lord determines who gets what gifts.
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You know, the Holy Spirit gives everybody a gift to be used for the edification of the whole body.
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So if you don't have that gift, then I don't think you're expected to teach.
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In fact, doesn't James 3 give a warning, not many of you should be teachers?
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Like, hey, think twice before you do that.
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I think Wolski did a sermon on that last summer, didn't he?
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You, about not many of you should be teachers.
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Didn't you preach about that?
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That was part of your message from James 3.
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Okay, so you can look that one up online too.
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But the fig tree thing, yeah, we had a whole sermon on that, But ultimately that was a pronouncement of judgment against Israel.
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And did you also know that figs are also one of God's greatest creations?
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Am I right, Jesse?
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Fig Newtons?
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Fig Newtons.
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So do we have any more questions?
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Go ahead, read that one.
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Due to abortion being so controversial and in my opinion, a human rights issue, one, what does the Bible say about pre-born life?
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Psalm 139 and Jeremiah 1:5.
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And two, the church does need to speak the truth in love, but is this an instance like slavery where we need to get more involved directly?
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Okay, pre-born life, yeah.
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I believe that life is a life from the moment of conception.
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Those are good references there, Psalm 139, Jeremiah 1.
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Another one is our Christmas message about John the Baptist sleeping in the womb, obviously full of the Holy Spirit.
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He was obviously a person in the womb, and I think the church should do everything that we legally can to be directly involved in fighting abortion, yes.
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And we can legally vote for people who are pro-life.
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That's a start.
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Yes, I think the church should do everything the church can, and I think slavery's a good example of that, the way the church getting involved and the way the gospel can change a culture.
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I think the church should do everything.
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This is a whole other subject, but I believe the whole abortion thing, we talked about this a little bit in Revelation, I believe it's just a modern day child sacrifice to demons.
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Like you look at biblically, a lot of the pagan religions require that you kill your child to appease them as an offering to them.
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And I believe this abortion thing, I think it's just a modern day version of let's kill our babies.
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It's satanic at its very
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root.
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It is.
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And I'm not saying that anybody who's had an abortion or considered an abortion is evil.
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I'm saying the act is wrong because you're taking a
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human life.
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And there's surely forgiveness from Jesus Christ.
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That's why he died, to save people.
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Yeah,
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there is absolutely.
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From the guilt and the stain of those kinds of
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things.
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Yeah, absolutely there is forgiveness.
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But the whole idea of late-term abortion and abortion on demand and tax-funded abortion, I think that is one of the most wicked things a culture can do, period.
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Yeah, and there is a narrative out there, and I'm sure you're all aware of, "Well, if the baby's going to be born, then it's going to be in a worse condition than if we just abort it." And that argument is horrible.
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It's like, "Okay, so it's a problem, so let's just kill it.
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let's kill the baby.
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Or the other part of that is, well, you Christians, you want the baby to live, but then you're not willing to do anything when the baby's born.
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And that's just not true.
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Because I don't know anybody in my circle of friends or in my church that would not help somebody that has a baby that maybe was conceived in an affair or however it was conceived.
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I don't know anybody, do you know anybody that wouldn't help this mother or this baby?
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I think we would all do that.
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Right, yeah, I have a very good friend that adopted three babies that came from three unwanted pregnancies where the child would not have had much of a life or an opportunity.
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Yeah, and I think the way to get more involved directly is to get on our knees.
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We need to be praying about this stuff right here.
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It's a spiritual thing.
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It's, you know, we can dress it up with talking about freedom of choice and call it healthcare or whatever.
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You can dress it up any way you want, but at the end of the day, it is child sacrifice.
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Guys, do we have any more questions?
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We hit them all.
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Well, that's good because it is like 11:30 and people are gonna start throwing things at us if we don't wrap it up.
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So, our worship team would make their way up onto the platform and close us in song.
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Thank you everybody for submitting your questions and hopefully we got answers from God's word for these questions.
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!
