Participants:
Series Code: TDYQA
Program Code: TDYQA210028A
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00:01 As you're well aware,
00:02 we're living in unprecedented times. 00:05 Join us now for today's special program. 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:18 Mending broken people 00:23 I want to spend my life 00:29 Removing pain 00:34 Lord, let my words 00:39 Heal a heart that hurts 00:44 I want to spend my life 00:50 Mending broken people 00:55 I want to spend my life 01:00 Mending broken people 01:13 Hello 01:15 and welcome to another 3ABN Today Bible Q&A. 01:17 We're so glad that you have joined us. 01:19 You know, we look forward each week to spending 01:21 this special time with you. 01:22 And we know you love Bible study. 01:24 I know we do here at 3ABN, 01:26 and it's just a blessing to open the Word of God 01:29 and find the truths that are just hidden. 01:31 It's like a treasure chest. 01:33 And we just want to say thank you 01:34 for your participation too. 01:35 We've just been flooded, this is a good problem, 01:38 with your questions and comments. 01:41 So if you've never submitted a question to this program, 01:43 we want to encourage you to do that. 01:45 And this is how you can do it. 01:46 Several ways you can text us at (618) 228-3975, 01:51 (618) 228-3975 01:54 or you can always email us your questions or comments. 01:57 And that is BibleQA@3abn.TV 02:01 That's BibleQA@3abn.TV 02:04 And it's just great because we know 02:06 that you're interested in studying the Word of God, 02:08 and just thank you for sending us your questions. 02:10 I knew there's one thing I forgot, 02:12 and that is Instagram. 02:13 We have some people that are submitting questions 02:15 via Instagram. 02:16 And you can do that at 3abn_official. 02:20 So that's 3abn_official and ask through Instagram. 02:23 We're getting a few more questions 02:25 via that way. 02:26 But, you know, we just want to encourage you to look 3ABN 02:27 upon many different social media sites. 02:29 We're on Facebook and Twitter and, of course, Instagram, 02:32 things like that, but thank you so much again for your prayers 02:35 and financial support for the Ministry of 3ABN. 02:39 I love flashlights and I have this really cool one 02:43 that I bought on Amazon. 02:44 And it's got like this massive battery pack, 02:47 to me, it's pretty massive and it goes on my head. 02:49 I probably look kind of weird, 02:50 but I got these like bands that go around, 02:52 and this battery on the back 02:53 and this giant light in the front. 02:55 And we bought it 02:56 because our cat tends to not want to come in at night 02:59 and she likes to hide way out in the field. 03:01 And so I've got this beam. 03:03 I mean, it's like a locomotive. 03:05 I mean, I'm pretty proud of this thing, right? 03:06 So I could just... 03:08 Yeah, all right, Pastor Ryan. 03:09 So I got these like different options. 03:11 I can click it to like the brightest beam. 03:12 I mean, it seems like it goes for miles. 03:14 Of course, it doesn't, but it's a long ways out there. 03:16 And I can just say Pebbles. 03:18 I don't know why she does it. 03:19 Every time she does it, she turns her head 03:21 and I can see her two little eyes 03:22 way out there in the field reflecting the light. 03:26 When I am thinking about the Word of God, right, 03:27 Psalm 119:105 talks about God's Word being a lamp 03:31 unto our feet and a light unto our path. 03:34 So, wow, that's powerful. 03:36 God's Word is great, right? 03:38 But it's a light to our path. 03:40 And so today we're hoping 03:43 to get through maybe 15, 16, 17 of your questions, 03:46 and we want God's Word, 03:48 the light to shine on our path through His Word. 03:51 So my name is Greg Morikone. 03:52 I've got sitting next to me, my beautiful wife, Jill, 03:55 so good to have you on today's program. 03:57 Thank you, sweetheart. 03:58 I love opening up the Word of God, 04:00 love doing programming with you, 04:01 I love sharing with you at home as well. 04:02 Oh, yeah, it's fun opening the Word of God. 04:04 Jill enjoy studying the Word of God 04:05 as each person does here. 04:07 Pastor Ryan, good to have you on here, brother. 04:08 Amen. 04:10 It's always a blessing to be a part 04:11 of this wonderful program. 04:13 And I like flashlights, too. 04:14 Brother, that's great. 04:16 Another thing we have in common. 04:17 That's awesome. 04:18 Yes. Okay. 04:20 Pastor James, good to have you on too. 04:21 Relatively, new participant to Bible Q&A. 04:23 Yeah. 04:24 But good to have you on this program. 04:26 What a blessing. 04:27 Amen. Amen. Getting the hang of it. 04:29 And I need to get some flashlights. 04:30 Yeah, okay. 04:31 All right. 04:33 Pastor Ryan, maybe we should actually donate 04:34 some of ours to him. 04:35 Yeah. 04:37 I think we have enough. 04:38 We can share some. 04:39 Kind of a quick format. Isn't it? 04:41 Two minutes, three minutes. 04:42 Very fast. 04:44 Yeah. Yeah. 04:45 Goes by in hurry. 04:46 Yeah, we're getting hang of it. 04:48 We're getting the hang of it too. 04:49 Right. 04:50 Gradually. 04:52 So why does the Word of God mean something to you, 04:53 Pastor James, 'cause I know that it's been your life 04:54 since you were converted, 04:56 but you've studied the Bible for years. 04:57 Why does it mean something to you? 04:59 It's changed my life. 05:00 I can't even imagine where I'd be right now 05:01 without the Word of God. 05:03 And to be honest with you, when I first got a Bible, 05:04 my mom sent it to me she said King James only, 05:05 I could not understand it whatsoever. 05:07 You know, I was raised Catholic, 05:09 only knew the Lord's Prayer. 05:10 And I started reading the gospel of John. 05:12 By the time at the end of the chapter I thought, 05:14 "This is for the priest like I can't understand it." 05:16 So it was a miracle for the Holy Spirit to come in. 05:20 And for those of our viewers 05:21 who may be struggle with understand the Bible, 05:23 we're new to it. 05:25 God works the miracles through His Holy Spirit. 05:26 That's the inspiration of the Bible, 05:28 He works in miracle to change our ability to understand it, 05:32 and it'll change our lives. 05:33 I like that because there's someone 05:35 maybe today that's viewing like, 05:36 "Oh, this Bible it is complicated. 05:37 I have so many questions, 05:39 you know, there wouldn't be enough time 05:40 to answer them all," 05:42 but in other words, you didn't give up, 05:43 hard to understand, just kept reading. 05:45 It was hard. 05:46 It was painful, but I just said, 05:47 "No, I got to get this." 05:49 Praise God. 05:50 Wow. 05:51 Amen. That's great. 05:53 Well, before we go into the first question, 05:54 Pastor James, why don't you open us 05:55 with a Word of Prayer, please? 05:57 Thank you. 05:58 Father in heaven, we just want to thank You again, 06:00 for this opportunity 06:01 for our viewers, and for us to study Your Word. 06:03 And I've just been blessed by the perspectives 06:06 that others bring to some of these questions. 06:09 And they always are unique to who we are in our life, 06:12 our situation, and they help us to recognize 06:15 that Your words are living, 06:17 breathing Word that pours life into us 06:21 as we studied as we search it, as we seek to understand it. 06:24 So draw us to you through your spirit, 06:27 the inspiration of the Word of God, 06:29 and guide each one of our viewers we pray, 06:31 in Jesus' name, amen. 06:32 Amen. 06:33 Thank you so very much. 06:35 Pastor Ryan, I'm gonna start with you. 06:36 Sure. 06:38 This is a good question. 06:39 And it comes from Lily. 06:40 She says, "I work at a mining company 06:43 and we work on Saturdays. 06:45 I feel guilty going to work on Sabbath, 06:49 but I'm still working while looking for another job. 06:52 My question is this. 06:54 If I give all my pay rates for each Saturday 06:57 that I work as an offering to God, 06:58 is it okay to keep working on Sabbath 07:01 when I'm on a shift?" 07:02 Good question. 07:04 That is a great question, Lily. 07:05 And I can relate to that. 07:07 Because I once had a job 07:08 way back in the day and of all times, 07:09 the Lord wanted to reveal the Sabbath truth to me, 07:11 it was during the time 07:13 when I was the only one working in my family 07:14 and trying to bring money in and put food on the table 07:18 for my family during a time of hardship. 07:20 And I had to make a decision 07:21 because I was so convicted as you were. 07:24 And so I want to be very direct in this answer. 07:26 God does know your heart, but at the same time, 07:28 God knows what we know and what we don't know. 07:30 And James 4:17 reminds us that he that knows to do good 07:34 and does it not to him it is sin. 07:36 And so I want to encourage you to trust in the Lord. 07:39 If you know the truth about the Sabbath, 07:40 you feel guilty because the Holy Spirit's 07:42 convicting you trust in God, 07:45 many times that new job won't come 07:47 until you step out in faith and say, "Okay, 07:48 God, I'm gonna trust You." 07:50 That's what I had to do. 07:51 I finally had to go up and turn in my badge and my uniform 07:53 and say, "I can't do this anymore." 07:55 I put the ball in God's court. 07:56 I said, "Lord, You've asked me to trust in You. 07:58 You've told me to believe in Your Word, 08:00 and to obey You at all costs. 08:02 Lord, You find me a job. 08:03 Within two weeks, I had a higher paying job, 08:05 better hours, every Sabbath off." 08:07 So that being said, let's get to the Bible on this 08:09 'cause I have already wasted a minute 08:11 of this time doing this, but Proverbs Chapter, 08:13 not waste, but still my time, pray for that clock. 08:16 Proverbs 3:5-6, 08:18 "Trust in the Lord God with all your heart, 08:19 lean not on your own understanding, 08:22 in all your ways." 08:23 That's important. 08:24 "In all your ways acknowledge Him, 08:26 and He will direct your path." 08:27 Go read Deuteronomy 28:1-2 08:30 talks about the beautiful blessings 08:32 that God will pour out on you if you obey Him, 08:34 but when you get down to verse 15, 08:36 it talks about all these curses. 08:37 And if you read Deuteronomy 28, I encourage you to read it. 08:40 When we obey God, God blesses us abundantly 08:43 but when we choose not to obey God, 08:45 we know the truth, and we choose not to obey God. 08:48 Verse 15, and onward is the result 08:50 of pushing God away and not obeying Him. 08:52 It's because the enemy now has access to us 08:54 because we have forsaken God's will. 08:58 Also, it's a love issue. 08:59 John 14:15. 09:00 Jesus says if you love Me, keep My commandments. 09:02 And you know, it's a test. 09:04 This is a test for you, Lily, 09:05 it was a test for Israel in Exodus 16, 09:07 the test of the Sabbath, 09:09 we often have to go through this test. 09:11 And so just pray to God and ask our Lord, 09:13 "Give me faith and help me step out in faith." 09:16 Quit that job if you have to, 09:18 and say, "Lord, this is on you. 09:19 I want to be obedient to you." 09:21 And you know what, the Lord will open the door 09:22 if your heart is sincere. 09:24 Amen. 09:25 Wow, thank you for the answer from the Word of God, 09:26 but also for sharing part of your testimony. 09:28 That's powerful. 09:30 Jill, this doesn't say where it's from, 09:32 but a great question. 09:33 "I was listening to a presentation 09:35 by Pastor Steve and Tammy Conway, 09:38 very informative. 09:39 I've been married for 29 years now 09:41 and my mother-in-law Adventist, by the way, 09:44 doesn't like me at all. 09:46 She has told me straight in my face 09:48 that she hates me." 09:49 Oh, that's strong. 09:51 "Is it a sin for me to step back and live my life 09:53 and have nothing to do with her? 09:55 She has caused so much pain in my life and sadly 09:58 it has affected my children in a very big way. 10:01 I want to go to heaven." 10:03 Wow, thank you for that question. 10:04 So, my sister, I don't know your name, 10:06 but now that the Lord Jesus knows you and loves you 10:08 and we'll be praying for you in the midst of this situation, 10:11 but the thing that I want to give you 10:12 is two words. 10:14 One word is forgiveness. 10:15 The other word is reconciliation. 10:18 You see, forgiveness only requires one person 10:20 to extend it. 10:21 Reconciliation takes two people. 10:24 Forgiveness does not mean 10:25 that we automatically trust again 10:27 or lead a person into our life 10:30 but reconciliation means healing in a relationship. 10:34 Forgiveness is essential for salvation. 10:37 Reconciliation is not 10:38 because we cannot force the other person. 10:40 Now forgiveness is biblical, 10:42 our salvation is dependent on it. 10:44 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, 10:46 He is faithful and just to forgive us 10:48 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 10:50 So we need to go to God and ask for forgiveness. 10:53 Matthew 6 is probably one of the Scriptures 10:55 you're referencing verses 14 and 15. 10:58 Part of the Sermon on the Mount. 10:59 Jesus says, "If you forgive others, 11:01 then God will forgive you. 11:02 But if you don't forgive others, 11:04 then God will not forgive you." 11:07 And that is very clear that it's very biblical. 11:09 God calls us, now we can't conjure up forgiveness 11:14 in our own heart and life. 11:16 Forgiveness comes from God, 11:17 you can go to God and ask Him for that forgiveness. 11:20 But let's touch on reconciliation. 11:22 Reconciliation is also biblical. 11:23 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 says, "All things are of God, 11:27 who has reconciled us to Himself 11:29 through Jesus Christ, and has given to us 11:32 the ministry of reconciliation." 11:35 You see sin when Adam and Eve sinned, 11:37 there was this gap or chasm between us and God. 11:41 And we were separated, 11:42 but Jesus came to restore us to the Father. 11:45 Now was everyone reconciled to God? 11:47 No, because everyone has a choice to make. 11:50 Do they want to be reconciled? 11:51 So in this situation, I don't know. 11:54 Does your mother-in-law want to be reconciled? 11:55 Does she want to heal that relationship? 11:58 That choice is on her. 12:00 Your job, your only job is to extend forgiveness 12:04 and if God allow God to work in her heart 12:08 to do that reconciliation process. 12:10 Wow, thank you very much. 12:12 I love that reconciliation, forgiveness. 12:14 Excellent. 12:15 Thank you so very much. 12:17 Pastor James, this is another great question. 12:19 This comes from Kimmy from Jamaica. 12:22 So thank you so much for your question. 12:23 "Can a good person 12:25 that's an unbeliever/atheist be saved?" 12:28 Great question. 12:30 This one is going to require a little bit more time I think, 12:33 but there are three scriptures I want to give, 12:34 three references I want to give 12:36 just in case we run out of time. 12:37 The first one is in Romans chapter... 12:39 Actually, before we give those references 12:40 let me just answer the question simply, yes. 12:42 Questions is... 12:44 The answer to that question is yes. 12:45 Okay? 12:47 So three references I want to give 12:48 the first ones in Romans 2. 12:50 And we could go all the way from verse 1 12:53 all the way through to verse 16. 12:56 And then the second reference is going to be 12:57 in Zechariah 13:6-7. 13:00 And the third reference is going to be Psalm 87. 13:03 All right, so those are the three references. 13:04 Now the first one in Romans 2 is really powerful. 13:08 Context, don't judge people. 13:10 So one of the things that's really important for us 13:12 is to recognize that God is judge, 13:14 Christ is judge. 13:15 It reminds me of a poem that I memorized years ago, 13:17 "I dream death came the other night. 13:19 And Heaven's gate swung wide 13:20 with kindly grace an angel ushered me inside. 13:23 And there to my astonishment 13:25 stood folks I had known on earth. 13:26 Some I judged and label, Unfit or of little worth. 13:29 Indignant words came to my lips but never were set free. 13:33 For every face showed stung surprise. 13:36 No one expected me." 13:37 Right? 13:39 So we are as Christians very quick to judge 13:42 who's going to be saved, who's going to be lost. 13:44 And we need to remember that in God's hands. 13:45 That's His prerogative, it's not ours. 13:47 And then when the context of Romans 2 tells us 13:52 that there are Jews and there are Gentiles 13:54 who do what is right and do what is wrong, 13:58 and the Jews do it 13:59 in the context of knowing the law, 14:02 but the Gentiles do it 14:03 outside of the context of knowing the law. 14:06 And God holds Jews accountable to their knowledge of the law, 14:09 and He holds Gentiles accountable 14:11 outside of the knowledge of the law. 14:12 And if those Gentiles do what the conscience says 14:14 is right to do, they will be saved. 14:17 That's what Romans 2 is telling us. 14:19 Now we're also directed to Zechariah 13. 14:22 And these verses are so powerful. 14:24 Again, for shortage of time, 14:26 I'm not going to read the verses, 14:27 but Zechariah 13:6-7, basically tell us 14:30 that there are going to be people in heaven, 14:32 who are going to walk with Christ, 14:33 and then they're going to ask Him as they look at Him, 14:35 they're going to ask Him, they're going to say, 14:36 "What are those wounds in Your hands? 14:38 What are those?" 14:39 And He's going to say, "Those are the wounds 14:41 that I was wounded in a house of my friends." 14:44 And of course, the verse 7 tells us about 14:46 how the sword awakened against the shepherd, 14:48 and the sheep are scattered. 14:50 It's His prophecy of Christ and His crucifixion. 14:52 So they're going to be people in heaven 14:53 who aren't going to know Jesus 14:54 or what He did, He died for them, 14:57 and Jesus is going to explain to them the plan of salvation. 15:00 And then Psalm 87 powerful, basically the context of it 15:03 tells us, hey, there's people in Philistia, 15:05 there's people in Ethiopia, there's people in Israel, 15:08 there's people everywhere, 15:10 and God is going to take into consideration 15:12 when He judges the people, when He writes them up, 15:13 He's going to take into consideration 15:15 where they were born. 15:16 Oh, this person was born over here, 15:18 and that person was born over there, 15:19 and that person was born over there. 15:20 Here's their circumstance, here's their situation. 15:23 And when God takes that into consideration, 15:26 He writes up the people according to the light 15:29 we have the situation we're born in, etcetera. 15:31 So those are the three basic scriptures 15:33 that I think would firm up 15:35 the answer and the answer is yes. 15:36 There going to be people in heaven, 15:38 you have an atheist whatever, 15:39 they lived up to the light they knew, 15:40 they followed what God gave them and... 15:42 Atheist would sense that 15:44 they haven't rejected Christ, right? 15:45 Because I know somebody is probably thinking, 15:47 "But what if they downright rejected Christ?" 15:48 Obviously, that's... 15:49 And here's another point real quick. 15:51 Some people are rejecting the God 15:52 that isn't in the Bible. 15:54 Some people are rejecting Jesus that isn't in the Bible. 15:57 God that burns people for eternity 15:58 is not in the Bible, the God of the Bible. 16:00 And some people reject that and I say, 16:02 Praise God that you rejected that picture of God. 16:03 That's not God at all. 16:04 That's good. Thank you. 16:06 Excellent answer. Yeah. 16:07 Praise the Lord. 16:09 Pastor Ryan, question from Cindy lives in Alabama. 16:11 "Does the Father come back with Jesus?" 16:14 Absolutely. 16:15 There's a quick and simple answer to this question. 16:17 Okay. 16:18 I feel convicted just to go back 16:19 to that previous question. 16:21 Yeah. Please, Pastor Ryan. 16:22 Because Lily had asked, 16:23 is it okay if she gives her offering as an offering 16:25 the stuff that she earned on the Sabbath? 16:28 I just want to quickly address that a little bit. 16:29 I hope you're still watching. 16:31 You know the answer to that is absolutely not. 16:32 It's not like God's going to say, "Oh, you know what, 16:34 I'll overlook the fact that You're, 16:36 you know, disobeying My commandments 16:37 and if You just give Me money." 16:38 That's not how God works. 16:40 Remember, giving tithe and offering 16:41 is a form of worship. 16:42 And remember, Jesus said in Mark 7, 16:46 He said, "In vain they do worship me, 16:48 teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." 16:50 You know, rejecting the commandment of God 16:52 for their tradition. 16:53 So just wanted to highlight that because obviously, 16:56 God does not want just your money, 16:58 He wants you to be fully committed. 17:00 I just wanted to add that in there. 17:02 To answer this question, though, pertaining to... 17:05 Yeah, does the father come back with Jesus? 17:06 Does the father come back? 17:07 Very simply put, Jesus told Caiaphas, 17:09 the high priest, as he was on trial, 17:11 right before he went to the cross. 17:13 They asked him, you know, confirm, 17:15 are you really the Son of God? 17:16 And this is what he said in Matthew 26:64, 17:18 he says, "It is as you say, nonetheless, I say you to you, 17:24 here after you will see the Son of Man 17:26 sitting at the right hand of Power, 17:29 and coming on the clouds of heaven." 17:30 So what is this right hand of power 17:32 that he's sitting on? 17:33 I believe very clearly 17:35 that this is the power of the Father, 17:36 we get this idea of kind of a throne setting 17:39 because the Father has a throne. 17:40 And Jesus even said in Revelation 3:21, 17:43 when He was giving his message to the Church of Laodicea. 17:46 He said, "To him who overcomes 17:47 I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, 17:49 as I have overcame and sat down with My father on His throne." 17:53 The right hand of power. 17:55 But also, I look at this from within the context 17:57 of the seventh seal 17:59 because when the seventh seal is opened right there 18:01 in Revelation 8:1, 18:03 it says, "There was silence in heaven for a half-hour." 18:05 Why is there silence in heaven for a half-hour? 18:07 That comes also within the context 18:09 what we find in the previous final verses 18:12 of the sixth seal found in Revelation 6, 18:15 where we see very clearly there that it's within the context 18:17 of the Second Coming of Christ, 18:19 the reason why there's silence in heaven 18:20 is 'cause there's no one there. 18:22 There's no one there so I very much believe 18:24 that there's plenty of evidence to show that when Jesus, 18:26 even though it's the Second Coming of Jesus, 18:28 the Father will very much be there 18:30 present with Jesus when He comes back. 18:32 Amen. 18:33 Amen. 18:34 What a glorious day that'll be look forward to Christ coming. 18:36 Amen. 18:38 Jill, this comes from Rudy from Newcastle, 18:41 when Jesus comes, talking about when Jesus comes. 18:43 "So when Jesus comes, will you be saved even 18:46 if you have no crown 18:48 and you never bring someone to Christ?" 18:51 It's a great, Rudy. 18:52 I would say, winning people to Jesus, 18:54 the stars we have in our crown, that doesn't save us, 18:57 but it is a natural outgrowth that we are saved. 19:00 It's evidence that we walk with Jesus, 19:03 I want to ask you a question that sort of similar, 19:05 are we saved? 19:07 Are you saved by what we do, or what he did, what saves us? 19:12 And I would say both. 19:15 I would say not just what he did, 19:16 we are saved by grace through faith 19:19 that not of ourselves. 19:20 It's the gift of God not of works, 19:22 lest anyone should boast. 19:23 So grace is a gift, faith is a gift, 19:26 salvation is a gift. 19:27 And if you follow that along in Ephesians 2, 19:30 even the works are a gift that He gives us. 19:35 But we are also saved by what we do. 19:38 Meaning, we have to reach out, we have to accept, 19:42 we have to ask for forgiveness. 19:44 And then as we journey with Jesus, 19:47 He changes us by the indwelling spirit. 19:50 If you read the Word of God, you find evidence 19:53 that we are called to be His witnesses. 19:55 We are called to shine for Him all throughout the Word of God. 19:58 I love Matthew 5:16, it says, 20:00 "Let your light so shine before men, 20:03 that they may see your good works." 20:04 So you notice the Bible doesn't say, 20:05 strive to shine. 20:07 I got to work at winning stars in my crown. 20:09 I got to try harder. 20:10 No, it just says, let your light shine. 20:15 We share Jesus by sharing the Word of God 20:17 with other people. 20:19 We share Jesus by sharing our personal testimony 20:23 that He led us out of darkness into this marvelous light. 20:27 We share Jesus simply by our example, 20:30 think about the thief on the cross, 20:31 he did not have a lot of time to witness 20:32 'cause he was dying when he accepted Jesus. 20:37 And yet his example, 20:40 the words he said at that moment had an influence 20:43 on those around the cross. 20:45 And that was in the final moments of his life. 20:48 So don't worry about who you're winning to Jesus. 20:51 Simply live for Jesus and let him do the rest. 20:54 Amen. 20:56 Yeah. I love that. 20:57 Let your light shine. 20:58 Fantastic. 21:00 Praise the Lord. 21:01 Let's see, Pastor James. 21:03 Good question here, it says, 21:05 "The people met and worshiped on Sunday recorded in Acts. 21:10 Can we worship on both days, Saturday and Sunday?" 21:14 That is a good question. 21:16 And the answer to that question is sure 21:17 you can worship on Sunday and Tuesday 21:20 and Thursday and Wednesday, 21:21 you can worship any day you want to. 21:23 But there is a distinction when you get into the Bible 21:26 when it comes to media and worship. 21:28 And the distinction is this that there is nowhere 21:31 in the Old Testament or the New Testament, 21:33 where God in any way commands worship on Sunday. 21:38 The only day that God is blessed 21:39 in the Bible is the Seventh-day Sabbath. 21:41 He blessed and sanctified, He set it apart. 21:43 In fact, in Ezekiel Chapter 8, God actually tells us 21:47 that we should not be worshiping the sun, 21:49 He shows His people in dark apostasy, 21:53 their backs towards the temple 21:54 and they're worshiping the sun. 21:57 So Sunday worship actually comes from paganism. 22:00 And the paganistic roots of Sunday worship 22:03 crept into the church, 22:05 post the Apostolic age, 22:07 through a compromise that was taking place 22:09 with pagan Roman converts who came into the church 22:13 and Sunday was their day to worship the sun. 22:16 And there was a compromise that took place. 22:18 When you get into the post-resurrection 22:21 time of the early church, what you find is, 22:23 is that the early church 22:25 are meeting together every single day, 22:28 including Sunday, they're breaking bread, 22:29 and they're just talking about Christ. 22:31 They're talking about the great things 22:32 that God is doing, but you never find anywhere 22:35 that God blesses, 22:37 sanctifies or transfers the day of worship, 22:40 from Sabbath to Sunday. 22:42 You don't find that anywhere in the Bible. 22:43 So yeah, you can worship God, 22:45 you can meet together any day of the week, 22:46 but there is one day that God has sanctified, 22:49 blessed, and set aside. 22:51 And that day in accordance with His Word, 22:53 His commandments, that day is the Seventh-day Sabbath. 22:56 That is the only day in the Bible 22:58 where God actually commands us to worship. 23:00 Now in the end of time, there's going to be a conflict 23:03 between specifically the Sunday 23:06 and the worship the God has outlined 23:08 and we see that conflict identified 23:10 in Revelation 13, and Revelation 14. 23:12 So it's going to become a conflict and at that time, 23:14 we need to be really careful 23:16 that we don't actually substitute 23:19 the day that it comes from the pagan roots 23:22 for the day that is in the Bible. 23:23 Amen. 23:25 Thank you so much, Pastor James. 23:26 Great answer. Praise the Lord. 23:28 Pastor Ryan, this comes from Donna, 23:31 and I want to pronounce this accurately. 23:33 Loxahatchee, Florida. 23:36 Not so sure, but you can tell me, 23:38 you can write us and let me know 23:39 if I pronounced that right. 23:41 Good question, though. 23:42 Thank you so much. 23:43 Can you tell me what 1 Corinthians 15:51 means? 23:47 Absolutely. Well, let's read it. 23:49 Okay. 23:50 This 1 Corinthians 15:51. 23:52 And we're actually going to read beyond verse 51 23:54 because the answer is given somewhat 23:56 in the following verses if we allow to say. 24:00 So notice 1 Corinthians 15:51, 24:02 it says, "Behold, I tell you a mystery. 24:05 We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed." 24:08 Okay, so obviously the sleep concept 24:11 here is in connection with death. 24:13 We see right there in John 11, 24:15 where Jesus is talking about the death of Lazarus, 24:17 he says, "You know what, Lazarus is asleep, 24:19 that I'm gonna go and I'm gonna wake him up." 24:20 And the disciples said, "Hey, look, 24:22 Jesus, if he's taking a nap 24:23 why we're going to go wake this brother up?" 24:25 Jesus like, "No." 24:26 He's dead. 24:28 In fact, it says, he plainly says to them Lazarus is dead. 24:30 Speaking of his death as asleep. 24:32 Even Paul often uses this even in 1 Thessalonians 4 24:35 there we see him talking about, 24:37 you know, "I would not have you ignorant, 24:39 brethren, concerning the saints 24:40 who have fallen asleep." 24:41 So this sleep reference here, we shall not all sleep. 24:43 What he's saying is, we're not all going to die 24:45 because are there going to be people alive on this earth 24:48 when Jesus returns? 24:49 Absolutely. 24:50 In fact, you're going to find this within the context 24:52 of the Second Coming of Jesus. 24:53 Again, it says, "We shall not all sleep, 24:55 but we shall all be changed." 24:56 What does that change mean? 24:58 Let's continue reading 24:59 because it gives us an context here. 25:00 Verse 52, it says, "In a moment, 25:02 in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet." 25:04 So this is Second Coming wordage, okay? 25:07 It says, "For the trumpet will sound, 25:09 and the dead will be raised incorruptible, 25:11 and we shall be," there it is again, 25:13 "we shall be changed." 25:14 But what does that mean? 25:16 Verse 53 and 54, 25:17 "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, 25:19 and this mortal must put on immortality." 25:22 So notice we're mortal before, 25:24 but now we're given the immortality by God, 25:25 verse 54. 25:26 "So when the corruptible has put on incorruption, 25:29 and this mortal has put on immortality, 25:31 then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, 25:33 'Death is swallowed up in victory.'" 25:35 This change it is taking place we're being transformed 25:38 literally in body and mind, 25:41 our natures are being changed made like unto Christ. 25:44 In fact, right there in Philippians 3:20-21. 25:47 I love this text. 25:48 It says, "For our citizenship is in heaven, 25:50 from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, 25:53 the Lord Jesus Christ, who will," there it is, 25:55 "transform our lowly body 25:59 that it may be conformed to His glorious body, 26:02 according to the working by which He is able 26:04 even to subdue all things to Himself." 26:06 So we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. 26:09 We will be given immortality, given new glorious bodies, 26:12 new minds, beautiful nature 26:16 made just like unto Jesus Christ, 26:17 it's gonna be awesome. 26:19 Well, that's encouraging, isn't it? 26:20 Yes, it is. Yes, it is. 26:22 Thank you, Pastor Ryan. 26:23 Jill, a question here. 26:24 It says, "What does Paul mean in Philippians 1:15-16? 26:30 Who is Paul referring to in these two texts?" 26:34 So let's read the text. 26:35 I'm going to read Philippians 1:15-17. 26:38 "Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, 26:41 and some also from goodwill. 26:43 The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, 26:46 not sincerely, 26:47 supposing to add affliction to my chains, 26:50 but the latter they preach out of love, 26:52 knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel." 26:54 So your question was, who is Paul referring to? 26:56 And we'll address that, 26:58 but I also want to look at what is Paul referring to 27:01 or what is the present-day application 27:03 we could make for this, 27:04 but let's look at who was Paul referring to. 27:06 Of course, we know this would be a Prison Epistle. 27:09 Paul wrote it while he was in prison. 27:12 And it's he's referring to his opponents, 27:14 who tried to gain control over the territory 27:17 and converts during his absence. 27:19 We see him something similar happened in Galatians. 27:22 It seems like he would go to different places, 27:24 he would witness he would leave, 27:25 and other people would come in, 27:27 and try to undo the work that he had done. 27:30 We see that in Galatians 1, 27:32 you can look that up in six and seven. 27:34 He says, "I marvel 27:35 that you were turning away so soon, 27:37 from him who called you in the grace of Christ 27:39 to a different gospel, 27:41 which is not another, 27:42 but there are some who trouble you 27:44 and want to pervert the gospel of Christ." 27:46 So this happened over and over again 27:48 in Paul's ministry, 27:50 but what is Paul referring to? 27:51 You know, I believe that doing the right thing 27:53 is really important 27:55 but doing it with the right motivation 27:57 is equally important if not more important. 28:01 As Christians, we must not only do the right work, 28:04 but we need to do it with the right attitude. 28:06 If you are a preacher, 28:08 you can preach from the wrong attitude 28:10 from an attitude of strife, from an attitude of self-will, 28:14 from an attitude of pride, or an attitude of ambition. 28:17 Ask yourself, "Do I care more about winning arguments 28:20 or witnessing for Jesus? 28:22 Do I care more about numbers or about the needs of others? 28:27 Do I care more about converts or Christ?" 28:30 To me, those are questions that we need to ask 28:33 as Christians every single day, 28:35 why do I do what I do? 28:38 That's what I get from that passage. 28:39 Wow. Amen. 28:41 Thank you, Sweety. 28:42 Yeah, great answer. Praise the Lord. 28:44 Pastor James, this doesn't say who it's from. 28:46 Good question though. 28:48 Okay. 28:49 "If you are not baptized with water, 28:51 will you not go to heaven?" 28:54 So if you're not baptized with water, 28:55 will you not go to heaven? 28:57 This is a great question. 28:59 And the reason why this is a great question is 29:00 because Jesus is pretty emphatic about this. 29:03 Let's just read a verse here in John 3:5. 29:07 Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, 29:09 he's talking about how we get to heaven, basically. 29:11 And Jesus says, "Verily, verily, 29:13 I say unto you," John 3:5, 29:15 "except the man be born of water," 29:17 referring to baptism, 29:19 "and of the spirit referring to the Holy Spirit, 29:22 he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." 29:25 So we know here that the Bible wants baptism 29:30 to be part of this plan of salvation. 29:32 It's very significant, very important, 29:34 but the question is asked, 29:35 "If you were not baptized with water, 29:37 will you not go to heaven? 29:39 And the answer to that question is, 29:41 no, that's not actually true. 29:44 We know that 29:45 because of the thief on the cross. 29:46 The thief on the cross put his faith in Jesus 29:50 on that day just before he died, 29:52 he was sentenced to death along with Christ 29:54 and the other thief and one of the thieves 29:56 put their faith in Christ. 29:57 They said, "You know, remember me 29:59 when you come into your kingdom." 30:00 And Jesus said, "I will remember you, 30:02 I'm telling you, you're going to be with Me in paradise." 30:05 And so that thief was guaranteed salvation, 30:07 but he couldn't be baptized. 30:09 What are we going to do now? 30:10 The Bible says we should be baptized. 30:12 Jesus says you can't be. 30:13 So the only answer to that happens to be 30:17 the righteousness of Jesus Christ. 30:19 The righteousness of Jesus Christ is actually 30:21 how we're saved by his life, 30:23 his perfect life and his substitutionary death. 30:25 So when Jesus goes to John the baptizer, 30:28 he actually says to John, "I want you to baptize me." 30:31 And John the baptizer says, "No way. 30:33 I'm not even going to touch your shoelaces." 30:35 He says, "No, no, we have to do this 30:37 to fulfill all righteousness." 30:39 In other words, Jesus Christ has filled up 30:41 all of the righteousness that we need to be to be saved. 30:45 The thief on the cross got his baptism, 30:47 he got his righteousness, we all get his righteousness. 30:50 Now we live lives in post-righteousness 30:53 of Jesus Christ, and that those lives are lives 30:56 that are filled with the fruit of that righteousness, 30:58 but we're not saved by the fruit. 30:59 The fruit testifies that we put our trust 31:01 in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. 31:03 So we are going to be baptized, we need to be baptized, 31:05 but if we can't be baptized, 31:06 we have Christ's righteousness 31:08 and Christ's righteousness is how we're saved. 31:10 And, of course, our lives will bring forth. 31:11 If the thief could have come down off the cross, 31:13 he would have been baptized. 31:14 Yeah, that's right. 31:16 Absolutely. Wow. 31:17 So much pressure, James. 31:18 Yeah, great answer. 31:20 Whoo! 31:21 It is happening fast, isn't it? 31:22 All these answers from the Word of God. 31:24 I'm just taking a breath right here. 31:25 Maybe you are too at home. 31:27 I want to encourage you 31:28 that you can always go to 3abnplus. TV 31:30 to watch these programs video on demand, 31:32 which means you can watch it later. 31:34 It's there you can play it, you can pause it, 31:35 you can go back, reverse if you want to say that 31:38 and watch it again like, "Wow, that was great," 31:40 because to write all these answers down 31:42 and whoo it's a lot happens really quick. 31:43 And I can see everyone here, 31:45 we almost need oxygen masks to keep up. 31:47 But it's fun, right? 31:48 The Word of God is alive and well ad wow, 31:50 it's just encouraging. 31:51 If you want to submit a question to us here 31:53 at 3ABN Today Bible Q&A, 31:56 you can do it at (618) 228-3975. 31:59 You can text it 32:01 or you can also email at BibleQA@3abn.TV 32:06 we always welcome your questions 32:07 and comments here for this program. 32:10 Pastor Ryan and Jill, we have several questions 32:12 on like marriage, family, sexuality, and things. 32:14 So, Pastor Ryan, I want to go to this one here. 32:16 This comes from Marguerite from Transylvania. 32:20 It says, "I am a..." Let's see here, 32:22 it's a pretty long question, comment. 32:24 "I'm a 28-year-old woman 32:26 just recently came to the truth. 32:28 My question is if it is not good for a man to be alone, 32:32 and I'm assuming that the same goes for women, 32:34 and I do have the desire to get married, 32:37 will God bring someone into my life 32:39 when I'm ready? 32:41 Or does He give you the desire but not fulfill it?" 32:44 Wow! 32:46 "For some reason, I get very discouraged 32:48 by what Paul says about staying single, 32:50 I do desire to get married 32:52 and without sounding too desperate here. 32:54 The fact of the matter is that I'm almost 30 years of age. 32:58 Some Christians used to tell me 32:59 that God might want me to stay single 33:01 and never get married, 33:03 but then why should I have such a strong desire for a husband? 33:06 If it just doesn't make sense to me, 33:08 please help me out." 33:11 That's a beautiful question, Marguerite. 33:12 And thank you so much for submitting that. 33:14 I'm going to do my best to answer it 33:16 in the time I'm given. 33:17 And so I just want to remind you, 33:18 much of the council that we received from Paul 33:20 about marriage to couples that are married, 33:24 and also couples that are unmarried, 33:25 is found within we're in 1 Corinthians 7:40. 33:28 And the fact that you referenced 33:30 that you were kind of discouraged by what Paul says 33:32 I'm sure you're familiar with these verses, 33:33 but perhaps I can bring some encouragement 33:35 and straighten some things out here 33:37 in this next couple of minutes. 33:39 I want to highlight the fact 33:40 that what we read in the majority 33:41 of this passage, and we have to be reminded by this, 33:44 and this is not any way I want to give a disclaimer, 33:46 this is not in any way diminishing or trying to say 33:48 that this passage is not inspired by God 33:50 because I believe it is, 33:51 but we also have to remember 33:53 that even Paul himself admits 33:55 three or four times in the same passage 33:57 that some of the council that he's given 33:58 is his own opinions and not necessarily from the Lord. 34:01 Let me highlight a few of those. 34:02 1 Corinthians 7:6, he says, 34:05 "But I say this as a concession, 34:07 not as a commandment." 34:09 So he's highlighting the fact that, 34:10 you know, hear what I'm saying, 34:11 but it's not necessarily to the letter of the law. 34:14 1 Corinthians 7:12, he says, 34:17 "But to the rest I, not the Lord, say." 34:20 Okay, so he's highlighting the fact that it's him saying, 34:21 not the Lord. 34:23 1 Corinthians 7:29. 34:24 Again, he says, "But this I say, brethren." 34:26 Again, he's highlighting the fact I say this. 34:28 And then, of course, the big one, 34:29 1 Corinthians 7:40, he says, 34:31 "But she is happier if she remains 34:33 as she is according to my judgment. 34:36 I think also I have the Spirit of God." 34:38 So he's highlighting the fact that some of these are his, 34:41 you know, spiritual opinion. 34:43 And but we still need to take it 34:44 'cause I believe there's great beautiful counsel, 34:46 and I believe it still is inspired by the Lord. 34:48 So that being said, let's start back 34:50 and read a couple of these texts here. 34:52 1 Corinthians 7:8-9. 34:54 Let's read what it says here. 34:55 He says, "But I say to the unmarried 34:57 and to the widows. 34:58 It is good for them if they remain even as I am, 35:01 but if they cannot exercise self-control, 35:03 let them marry. 35:05 For it is better to marry than to burn with passion." 35:07 So he's highlighting the fact that, 35:08 you know what if we absolutely 35:10 can't, then we need to be married, 35:11 it's better to be married than to burn with passion 35:13 and fall into an immoral sexual type relationship. 35:16 1 Corinthians 7:25-26, he says, "But now concerning virgins, 35:21 I have no commandment from the Lord, 35:22 yet I give judgment as one whom the Lord of His mercy 35:25 has made trustworthy." 35:27 And verse 26, he says, 35:28 "I suppose therefore that it is good 35:30 because of the present distress, 35:33 that it is good for a man to remain as he is." 35:35 He's saying, according to this distressing time, 35:38 Paul lived during the time of the time of Nero, 35:41 when Nero was, you know, killing Christians. 35:43 And it was a very troubling time 35:45 of tribulation for Christians. 35:46 So Paul is saying a lot of the saying 35:48 remain as he is single, based on the fact that, 35:51 you know, you don't need any distractions. 35:52 In fact, he's going to say that in just a moment, 35:54 talking about distractions, 35:56 you don't need any distractions. 35:57 It's good to remain single, if you can, 35:58 but he also says it's not a sin, if you marry. 36:02 Notice, 1 Corinthians 7:28, 36:04 he says, "But even if you do marry, 36:06 you have not sinned," there it is, 36:07 "and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. 36:09 Nevertheless, he goes such will have trouble in the flesh, 36:13 but I would spare you." 36:14 In other words, he says, "You know what, 36:16 I want to spare you of this because in this marriage time, 36:19 in this time of distress, 36:20 you might experience some trouble. 36:21 And then I've got to add this last text here, 36:23 1 Corinthians 7:35, it says, 36:25 "And this I say for your own profit, 36:27 not that I put a leash on you." 36:30 He says, "But for what is proper, 36:32 that you may serve the Lord without distraction." 36:35 There it is. 36:36 Paul is not saying it's a sin not to marry. 36:38 In fact, I want to encourage you, 36:39 Marguerite, to ask the Lord, if you desire a good husband, 36:42 I believe a good woman deserves a good man and the Lord. 36:45 And a good man deserves a good woman. 36:47 But, you know, again, we shouldn't just make 36:48 that our number one priority. 36:50 I think that's what Paul is saying 36:51 to become a distraction 36:52 during these distressful times, 36:54 especially in the last days, 36:55 we need to make sure our focus is first on God, 36:57 and then, of course, praying humbly and sincerely saying, 37:00 "Lord, if you have a good woman or a good man, for me," 37:03 whichever case it is, 37:04 if you're a man or a woman, in this case, say, "Lord, 37:06 please give me that spouse 37:08 that you would have me to have." 37:09 Amen. 37:11 Wow, yeah, thank you so much. 37:12 So there's a whole lot more that can be said but... 37:14 Thank you so much. 37:15 Talking about marriage and sexuality. 37:17 I want to just give a little disclaimer 37:18 on this next question, it's coming to Jill. 37:19 This one has some description 37:21 pertained to some sexuality and things. 37:22 So if you have someone in the house that you're like, 37:24 "Well, I'm not sure I want them to hear this question." 37:25 Just giving a little forewarning here. 37:27 And this person, actually, Stephen says, 37:30 "It's a little embarrassing to ask this question, 37:31 but I'm sure I'm not the only one 37:33 that has this question." 37:34 So thank you so much for submitting this. 37:35 So, Jill, the question is, "I agree that the commandment 37:38 could be better stated as thou shalt not have sex 37:42 with anyone you're not married to, 37:44 but the sex includes such things as oral sex, 37:48 mutual masturbation, 37:49 what the massage books term sexual massage, 37:52 and even really passionate kissing and embracing 37:56 what does the Bible have to say about this?" 37:58 Thank you, Stephen, so much for that question. 38:00 You know, I would say first and foremost, 38:02 that purity is not a line in the sand, 38:05 where we say we come this far, and we can't go any further. 38:09 Purity is a state of heart. 38:10 In fact, Jesus talked about it 38:11 when he gave the Sermon on the Mount. 38:13 If you look at Matthew 6, Jesus said that, 38:16 "I did not come to destroy the law and prophets, 38:18 I came to fulfill, and not only fulfill 38:21 but to magnify and to elevate the law." 38:24 In Matthew 6:27-28. 38:26 He said, "You have heard that it was said of old, 38:28 'You shall not commit adultery.' 38:30 But I say to you that even if you look with lust 38:33 on someone that is the same as having committed adultery." 38:37 So we say the physical act of adultery is sin, 38:40 but to be honest with you, 38:41 thoughts of lust is sin in God's eyes as well. 38:47 So if we look at it, from 2 Timothy 2, 38:51 this is Paul giving counsel to his son in the faith. 38:55 2 Timothy 2:22. 38:56 He says, "Flee also youthful lusts, 38:59 but pursue righteousness, faith, love, 39:02 peace with those who call on the Lord 39:04 out of a pure heart." 39:05 We are called to flee sexual temptation not to pause 39:10 and dally with it, 39:11 not to flirt with it, but to flee sexual temptation. 39:16 Now this is just being very frank right now 39:18 but heavy petting, passionate kissing. 39:22 You mentioned mutual masturbation, 39:25 we call that foreplay, 39:26 and that leads to sexual intercourse. 39:30 So if you are engaging in behavior 39:33 where the end result will lead to that, 39:36 the Word of God says 39:38 we are called to stay away from that 39:39 because God calls us to have a pure heart, 39:43 pure thoughts, pure mind before Him. 39:47 1 Corinthians, he says, "Flee sexual immorality," 39:50 that's 1 Corinthians 6:18-20. 39:53 And that's the highest standard and when you look at it, 39:55 it might seem impossible, 39:57 but we don't do it in our own strength. 39:59 We don't grit our teeth and try harder. 40:02 We don't say, "Okay, I just lost it. 40:03 I can't do that again or I just did this." 40:06 Go to the Lord Jesus, seek His grace, 40:10 seek His strength, and seek His deliverance. 40:13 He's the one who gives us purity when we fallen. 40:16 He's the one who covers us when we've stepped into sin, 40:20 and He's the one who pulls us out, 40:22 and enables us to walk in purity. 40:25 Wow. Thank you so much. 40:26 Yeah, thank you so much again 40:28 for that question that you submitted. 40:30 Pastor Ryan, I'm gonna actually come back to you 40:31 because in the last few questions 40:33 with Pastor James and Jill has to do 40:34 with like diet and foods and stuff. 40:36 So, Pastor Ryan, this one comes from Marion, Oregon. 40:39 "Is it idolatry to have a picture of Jesus 40:42 in the church or my home?" 40:44 Yeah, you know, it could be depending 40:45 on how you idol it or worship it. 40:49 I think it's no more a sin 40:51 as having a picture of your family, 40:52 your wife, your husband, you know, your children, 40:54 anything like that, but I think the key is that 40:56 we stick to what the commandment 40:58 actually tells us in relation to this. 41:00 So Exodus 20:4-5, let's read it within context. 41:04 It says, "You shall not make for yourselves 41:05 a carved image of any likeness, 41:08 anything that is in heaven above, 41:10 or that is in the earth beneath, 41:11 or that is in the water under the earth." 41:13 But notice verse 5 it goes with that. 41:15 It says, "You shall not bow down nor serve them. 41:18 For I, am the Lord God, am a jealous God." 41:21 We have to understand this from a worship 41:23 an idol worship perspective. 41:25 The reason why God gave this is 41:27 because there are many people in the world 41:28 who they set up certain things as an idol, 41:30 and they worship these things. 41:32 And that is what God is addressing here. 41:34 I actually had a gentleman, you know, you mentioned this, 41:36 I think at the beginning of the program 41:38 or maybe a previous program, 41:39 where you had, you know, you had pictures 41:41 and, you know, had statues and things 41:43 you pray to pictures of Mary and Jesus 41:44 I actually had a gentleman in Louisiana, 41:46 one of my meetings who came, 41:48 he was full practicing Catholic. 41:50 And he came to me toward the end of the meetings, 41:52 as he had seen all of the truth. 41:53 And he had made a decision for Christ 41:55 to come out of the Catholic Church 41:57 and to join the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 41:58 he brought me this couple of interesting pictures, 42:00 he showed me his little shrine he had in his home. 42:03 And it wasn't just, you know, beautiful artwork 42:06 of Jesus of some kind. 42:07 It was actually pictures of Jesus, 42:08 statues of Jesus in a crucifix, 42:11 pictures of Mary and all these different saints, 42:12 statues of the saints, 42:14 you know, laced with gold and silver, 42:15 and these precious claws and things. 42:16 And he had it set up in his home, 42:18 and he showed me, "So this is my shrine, 42:19 I would bow to these and I would pray to them 42:21 because we were taught, you know, in Catholic Church, 42:23 that it's okay to that." 42:25 I think that's what Jesus is saying here. 42:26 I've had people to challenge, you know, at my meetings, 42:28 and they'll see an artist's portrayal 42:31 of what Jesus might have looked like, 42:32 we don't know what Jesus looks like. 42:34 But they're artists' portrayals. 42:35 And I've had people come there. 42:36 Oh, that's an image, 42:38 you're breaking the commandments, 42:39 you know, an image and artwork of some kind, 42:41 that's different having it then completely worshiping it 42:44 or bowing down to it, serving 42:46 as the type of idol or God. 42:47 And that's what we have to stick to 42:49 is notice what the commandment says and what it doesn't say. 42:51 In this sense, it's okay to have a picture 42:53 as long as you're not worshiping it. 42:55 Okay, good. Yeah. 42:57 Thank you very much, Pastor Ryan. 42:59 All right, Pastor James, good question here 43:01 from Debbie from Washington. 43:02 Thank you so much. 43:03 "Regarding foods, 43:05 please explain Mark 7:18-23." 43:10 All right, Mark 7:18-23, 43:13 is where Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees. 43:17 And He has been eating, 43:20 but He forgot to wash His hands. 43:22 Oh-oh. 43:23 Oh-oh. 43:24 And so the Pharisees get on about this 43:26 because they had their rules and regulations 43:29 that were added to what God had laid out. 43:32 And it was a big no-no for him to do this. 43:35 And so they got on Him. 43:36 And so Jesus responds, 43:37 and the verses that Debbie is asking about, 43:40 verses 18 to 23, we just read those. 43:42 "And He said unto them, 43:44 'Are ye so without understanding also? 43:45 Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing 43:47 from without entereth into the man, 43:50 it cannot defile him. 43:51 Because it entereth not into his heart, 43:53 but into the belly, and goes out into the draught, 43:55 purging all meats? 43:56 And this verse, these verses that we've just read 44:00 are the key verses, they're very difficult. 44:03 And the reason why they're so difficult, 44:04 and I really appreciate this question, 44:06 Debbie, 'cause I coming from a Catholic background again, 44:09 eating meats all my life, 44:10 I struggled with this because some of the newer translations 44:13 of the Bible actually translate this incorrectly. 44:17 They take a little bit of liberty here, 44:20 and they translate this little phrase 44:23 that we just read, 44:24 "Insane this Jesus declared all foods clean." 44:28 That's what you have in the NIV, the Amplified, 44:30 the NASB, the ESV, the ASV, the RSV, 44:35 you have a statement 44:36 that isn't actually supported by the Greek. 44:38 And the problem with that, of course, 44:40 is that you're adding to the Word of God, 44:41 Jesus, nowhere in this chapter 44:44 is Jesus talking about clean and unclean meats. 44:47 In fact, Debbie, what he's talking about, 44:48 what they're talking about is eating with unwashed hands. 44:51 That's it. 44:52 And Jesus is saying, you know, "If I don't have clean hands, 44:54 and I eat something, 44:55 it's just going to go into my belly." 44:57 But your thoughts, the things 44:58 that you're thinking and the things 45:00 that you're judging Me about 45:02 those are really actually going to defile Me. 45:04 You're saying that eating with unclean hands defiles, 45:06 but it's not eating with unclean hands 45:08 that defiles in this situation. 45:10 It's the thoughts. 45:11 It's the thing that your thinking 45:14 and the critical words that you have, 45:16 and the critical thoughts that you have. 45:17 They're really defiling you. 45:18 Excellent. 45:20 Thank you so much, Pastor James, 45:21 you have a great answer. 45:23 Now, Jill, this is a question from Joel, 45:24 "Why should we fast 45:26 and how long should we fast for?" 45:29 Thank you so much, Joel. 45:30 In my mind, Christian fasting has two sides of the same coin. 45:34 On one side of the coin in fasting, 45:36 the purpose of fasting is to draw us closer to Jesus. 45:39 On the other side of the same coin, 45:41 the purpose of fasting is to push away. 45:44 It's like a weapon against the enemy 45:46 to push away anything that's pulling us 45:49 from Jesus or any idol that's in our life 45:52 that's pulling us from Him. 45:54 If you look at the Word of God, 45:55 there's so many purposes for fasting. 45:57 We see that David fasted 45:59 for the healing of a sick child. 46:00 Nineveh fasted in an act of repentance. 46:03 Nehemiah fasted in grief. 46:05 The Israelites fasted to gain victory. 46:07 Esther fasted to gain supernatural favor 46:10 with the king. 46:11 Saul termed Paul later, fasted to gain clarity. 46:15 Daniel fasted to gain further understanding from God. 46:19 And there's many more examples of fasting in the Word of God. 46:23 Motive is super important. 46:25 We don't have time to get into that, 46:26 but that's very important. 46:28 We can fast for all the wrong reasons 46:29 to try to earn favor with God 46:31 or become more spiritual or be it's a prideful thing. 46:35 We want other people to think better of us 46:37 because we fast so there's many motive, 46:40 it's super important as we look at fasting. 46:42 As we look at types of fasts, there are many types of fasts, 46:45 I just want to highlight a couple. 46:46 There's what we call an absolute fast 46:48 with no food and water. 46:49 Moses experienced this. 46:51 This was when he was upon the mount with God, 46:53 you can look it up in Exodus 34, 46:55 he went 40 days with no food and no water. 46:59 This is before the giving of the Ten Commandments. 47:01 Now we know he had supernatural strength from God 47:05 in order for this to take place. 47:07 Esther fasted for three days, with no food and no water. 47:11 We have what I call the Daniel fast. 47:13 This is Daniel in Daniel 10. 47:16 He's fasting for three weeks, 47:17 and the Word of God said he ate no meat, 47:20 no wine, nor pleasant food. 47:22 This is a fast of certain foods, 47:24 not a complete fast, 47:25 but maybe picking certain foods that you would fast. 47:29 We talked earlier about sexuality, 47:32 there's actually, a sexual fast, 47:34 you can find that in the Word of God as well. 47:36 The Israelites engaged in that. 47:39 This is Exodus 19, 47:40 prior to the giving of The Ten Commandments, 47:42 and if you look at 1 Corinthians 7, 47:44 there's a little reference to that as well. 47:46 We have corporate fasting. 47:48 You see, Ezra and the children of Israel, 47:50 this is, of course, the second return 47:52 from Babylon back to Jerusalem. 47:54 They fasted and prayed for God's protection. 47:56 We have the early Christian church 47:58 fasting and setting apart Saul and Barnabas 48:01 for the first missionary journey. 48:03 And they fasted corporately before that took place. 48:07 We also have what I call soul fasting, 48:09 this is not food fasting. 48:10 This is fasting things are out of balance in your life, 48:13 or maybe something that takes a lot of your time. 48:16 This could be fasting social media 48:18 for a certain amount of time, 48:20 fasting the radio, I've done that 48:22 I'm going to drive in the car, 48:23 I won't listen to the radio instead, 48:25 I would take that time to pray 48:27 and spend with God it could be fasting magazines 48:30 or the Internet or even chocolate. 48:33 Okay, I said that. 48:34 So there are many different things 48:36 that we can choose to fast, 48:37 but the purpose of it is to draw us closer to Jesus. 48:41 Amen. 48:43 Amen. 48:44 Thank you so very much yeah, great explanation on fasting. 48:45 Yeah, I love that. 48:47 Pastor James, let's go to this question here it's... 48:50 They want to know an explanation 48:52 pertained to Romans 14:2, 48:56 only the weak eat vegetables only. 48:58 Okay. 49:00 So Romans 14:2 says, 49:01 "For one believes that he may eat all things 49:03 in other who is weak eats," King James, "herbs." 49:06 And this is a very significant 49:11 conflict that Paul is dealing with here in Romans 14. 49:15 Actually, it's one that we talked about earlier. 49:17 Judaizers would follow him wherever you went. 49:19 They tried to undermine his ministry 49:20 and their main focus was to get new believers, 49:23 new converts, Gentile believers 49:25 to start keeping the ceremonial laws, 49:28 which included Sabbath 49:29 that were extra to the Seventh-day Sabbath 49:32 and included eating certain foods, 49:34 certain herbs, and certain foods 49:35 during the special occasions, these convocations, 49:38 these special days that God had set up. 49:41 All of these ceremonial laws were fulfilled in Jesus Christ, 49:44 and all of them were shadows and types 49:46 of the plan of salvation. 49:47 Some of them we still look at today 49:49 even like the Day of Atonement, 49:50 for example, in which we are living. 49:52 So Paul is dealing with believers in the church. 49:55 Those that are in the faith, some of them are weak, 49:57 who are the weak ones. 49:59 They happen to be the Jews. 50:00 Why? 50:01 Because they've kept the ceremonial laws 50:04 for generations. 50:05 Okay, and now all of a sudden, what Moses gave them, 50:08 they've got to let go of? 50:09 Ooh, that's not going to be easy. 50:11 The Gentiles they're coming in. 50:12 They're like, "Ceremonial laws what are those? 50:14 Oh, don't worry about those. 50:15 Oh, okay, we don't have to worry about those? 50:17 Let's not worry about those." 50:18 So they're the stronger 50:19 because they don't have to worry about 50:21 what the Jews are really struggling with. 50:23 And so Paul basically says, "Listen, 50:25 don't despise those who aren't keeping 50:28 eating these herbs and keeping these, 50:30 Jews, and don't judge those that are Gentiles. 50:33 We're all in the faith, we're all going to stand 50:35 before the judgment seat of Christ, 50:37 don't put a stumbling block 50:38 before your brother, your sister, 50:40 let everyone be fully persuaded in their own minds." 50:42 And I love that because that's a principle 50:44 that we need in our society today. 50:46 Let people have a little bit of freedom, 50:47 a little bit of wiggle room to make a decision 50:49 based on their conscience 50:50 and what they're convicted of. 50:52 And this is especially talking about people in the faith. 50:55 So that's my understanding of the context of Romans 14. 50:58 Amen. 50:59 Thank you so much. 51:00 We have just like 50 seconds left, 51:02 I'm going to put a little challenge out there. 51:03 All of you can make a comment on this. 51:04 I'm going to summarize this question quickly 51:06 comes from Addie. 51:07 "How do we study the Bible, understand it, 51:09 and connect scriptures 51:11 from different books of the Bible?" 51:13 Thank you, Addie. 51:15 Strong's Concordance is what worked for me 51:17 and it's fantastic. 51:18 You can get an app, you can download it, 51:20 you can use a hard copy, it changed my life. 51:22 I don't know if you want to add something to it. 51:23 No, absolutely. 51:25 That's exactly where I was going as well. 51:26 For someone who's, you know, 51:28 not an advanced student of the word, 51:29 get to a Strong's Concordance, 51:30 either the book or the app, 51:32 you can cross-reference all those words. 51:33 It's powerful, powerful tool. 51:35 In this question, they asked about a study Bible. 51:37 I know you like... 51:38 I love my Android Study Bible. 51:40 Hands down, it's my favorite, 51:41 but I was going to say I like Bible Hub. 51:43 It's an app and I love it and you can do the same. 51:45 You get the Strong's and all that too. 51:46 Excellent. Good job. 51:48 Wow, 50 seconds. 51:49 All right, we're going to take a quick break 51:51 and we'll be right back. 51:52 If you're enjoying our 3ABN Bible Q&A, 51:55 then tell your friends. 51:57 Each Monday, we'll bring you a fresh program 52:00 answering the Bible questions you send us 52:02 using God's Holy Word to shed light on those texts 52:05 that seem difficult to understand. 52:07 To have your questions answered on a future program. 52:10 Just email them to us at BibleQA@3abn.TV. 52:15 That's BibleQA@3abn.TV. 52:19 You may also text your questions 52:21 to (618) 228-3975. 52:25 That's (618) 228-3975. 52:29 Be sure to include your name and where you live, 52:31 and then watch 3ABN Bible Q&A for answers from God's Word. |
Revised 2021-10-07