Guy Talk: Ask your Bible questions

0:00Hi, I'm Bill Arnold. Thank you for listening to this podcast. There are many more podcasts available at myfaithradio.com. Your support makes this possible. Thank you. And now for the guy that didn't go to broadcasting school in the event you couldn't tell. Oh, don't you know it's the Bill Arnold show. It's Bill. And a warm welcome to the Bill Arnold show. So all the way from Minnesota to Sarasota and all parts in between. It is Guy Talk Day or Guys You Talk. And the way this works is you text the questions over to the show. And we do our very best to answer them.

1:00The text line for you to send your questions is 877-933-2484. Why do we have any business to take care of before we start? I don't. We usually do, don't we? What do you mean? Well, one of the... Oh, I'd like to tell people what's going on right now. Yeah, that's helpful. It's helpful for us to do. Price podcast was one of the things we want to let people know about today. Okay. So if they're not familiar about that, it's an Easter audio epic that's coming out on Monday of Holy Week, which is March 30th, I believe. So a couple of weeks away from that, you can get all the information by either visiting myfaithradio.com or theChristPodcast.com. And be sure to check that out. Again, that's the Christ podcast. You can learn more at myfaithradio.com. And once again, I will say it, why it matters. I appreciate that Bill. Good to be here. So my panel is, I've got a professor, a pastor, and a Sunday school teacher. I have Dr. Dr. Greg Borgon. Hello, Greg. Hello, Bill.

2:01It's good to do. So nice to have you here. Pastor Tom Parrish. Good to be with you, guys. Sunday school teacher Jeff. Burdorn. Hello, Jeff. Good afternoon, Bill. Great, great to be together. As always, this is two hours I just love. I love the fellowship. I love the chance that we can be together and have conversation. And we usually are very respectful. But if you choose to yell at each other, that's good for ratings. So it doesn't matter if you guys get off the rails with each other. But we're always looking forward to being together. And Tom, I think you've said this before, but this kind of getting together and having this kind of conversation just doesn't happen very often. It doesn't. This is unusual. For my 50 years of ministry, I wish I had pastors. I was doing with this all the time. Yeah. It's not there. But it is here. And that's why I'm here. And I absolutely love it. Well, the questions are just flying in. So let me get started. The first question comes from Gary and Ginny. And the question is this, in 1 Corinthians 15,

3:02it gives us a summary of the gospel, which mainly centers on the fact that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. And he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. So if we go to the gospel, there are several places in the New King James version where it says, Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom and refers to the gospel. For example, Matthew 4.23, Matthew 9.35. Since Jesus had not died for our sins yet, what was the gospel that Jesus was teaching in the books of Matthew and Mark? Let me take a stab at this. First of all, the term the gospel and the gospel of the kingdom are central to Christian theology and they derive from the New Testament. So the word gospel itself, though, translates from the Greek, you and Jellion, meaning good news.

4:03So broadly, the gospel does refer to the message of salvation through Jesus Christ's life, death, and resurrection and offer eternal life to humanity. The gospel of the kingdom has described in the passage that the questioner referred to, Matthew 4.23, as well as Mark chapter 1, verses 14 and 15, emphasizes the announcement of God's sovereign rule, the kingdom of God or kingdom of heaven as being near calling for repentance and belief. So it's good news. There's good news that we normally associate with the gospel because we focus so much on it, which is the death burial and resurrection. But the gospel of the kingdom, just in the context, shows you that that is a little different. It's still good news, but it's he's announcing the kingdom of heaven and what that looks like. Yeah, it's a new picture of the kingdom of heaven from the Old Testament. Now, the Old Testament was depicting that,

5:04but many people didn't understand it. Jesus comes along and basically says, let me clarify this for you. This is what the kingdom of God is like. And then he explained it. He lived it. He expressed it becoming human. And he died of rose again. And that gospel still goes on today through his people who believe in him. And that's what we're called to be about sharing that good news. Yeah, absolutely. I think that was a both of those are good summaries. I always think of it as the gospel of the kingdom being here's the good news that the king is with you. He's come to earth, God incarnate and he's here. That's that's the good news. Now, remember, you're still saved by faith, right? But this was before the death, the burial and resurrection of Christ that ushered in then the gospel of salvation, if you will. The gospel that Paul is talking about that Christ died for us in. According to the scripture, he was buried and he rose again. That good news is that for whosoever believes

6:05will be born again, receive the Holy Spirit, have eternal life and so on. So it's it's it's a similar message just an emphasis on a little bit different thing. One is the good news that Jesus, the king of all is here right now and he's going to fulfill what the gospel says he's going to do, which then after the gospels are completed and the death, the own resurrection happens, then the gospel of salvation is preached. And that's what we preach today, by the way. Well done, gentlemen. All right, my next question is this. To me, among the eight scariest words in the Bible are, but he, Samson, didn't realize that God had left him. How are we today able to know if or when God has left us? Did God send warning signs to Samson before he left him? How much reflection and repentance do you think Samson did after his eyes got taken out

7:08while he was doing the humiliating work of a livestock animal? He's certainly at time. First of all, God never leaves us as believers in Jesus Christ. It says that no one in Scripture can snatch us out of his hand. We have broken fellowship with him when we commit sin and we need to confess that sin, which is simply acknowledging what I've done, Lord, is against your standards, against your moral code, against your will. And I want to restore my fellowship with you. But he never leaves us. He never forsakes us. Most importantly, he resides in us through the Holy Spirit. So he is never going to leave us. He is here permanently the minute that you receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. In the Old Testament, guys, the spirit was not an indwelling spirit. So guaranteeing your inheritance

8:09because of the death, bell, and resurrection of Christ, the gospel that we just talked about in the last question. On this side of the cross, once God seals you with His Holy Spirit, you have the Holy Spirit for all of eternity. It's a done deal. That's not true in the Old Testament. So you see David actually in Psalm 51, lamenting, do not cast me from your presence. Do not take your Holy Spirit from me. The question asked about Samson. And actually Saul is another one. Remember Saul, King Saul, God did take his spirit from King Saul. The spirit came on people in the Old Testament to anoint them for kingship, to be a prophet, even to work in the temple or for specific roles or specific times. But nobody in the Old Testament had the guarantee that you would receive the Holy Spirit. And as Jesus said, the Holy Spirit will be with you forever. And Greg, as you said, now after the cross, God will never, ever leave us, never forsake us, never take a spirit from us.

9:10And the real key for us is believers is the Lord's not going to leave us. And I'm not saying we leave him, but we drifted off a lot. And in that drifting, I often ask Christians, when was the last time you repent it? When was the last time you confessed your sins to somebody? When was the last time you witnessed and tried to bring somebody to Lord Jesus? Well, who was the last person you discipled? Now, that's not to create a legalistic system. That's a heavy burden people can't carry. But that is to be our identity, that is who we are. And too often people will say, well, I don't feel the Lord's presence. You know, well, as believers, that's ridiculous. The word says he's there. The issue is the Lord's wanting our presence to show up and do as well. And so the problem is never the Lord Jesus or the Holy Spirit. The problem is me. Yeah, if you look at Ephesians 1, 13 and 14, that's proof that when he takes up residence, it's sealed. It says, in him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him,

10:12were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. So if an individual feels that there is some golf between them and God, it wasn't that God separated himself from us. It's that we have separated ourselves from the awareness of God in us because of this sin in our life. And there's so many of these passages, by the way. First Peter, in addition to Ephesians 1, great, there's first Peter that says he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last day. In other words, your salvation is kept by God in heaven,

11:15shielded by his power. That's why he can say no one can snatch you out of my hand. That's powerful. Thank you for all of that. That's great. All right, gentlemen, next question is absent from the body as present with the Lord. Does this include sleep? Does this include coma? I think you need death for this to be absent from the body. Yeah, I would agree, Bill. I think the promise that we actually talked about this last week, quite a bit, and the promise of scripture is that the moment you as a believer in Christ Jesus die and are separated from your physical body, this earthly body, we are immediately in the presence of the Lord. I don't know that definitely not sleep. Sleep is not death, but I don't even think of coma. I think there's too many instances where someone in a coma, when they come out of it, can recount the some of the things that were happening to them while they were in the coma.

12:15And so there's still an awareness. The person is still living and alive. So I don't think that separation between body and soul has happened during a coma. So I think this is for death as you mentioned. Agreed. Yeah, all right. My next question is this gentleman because God is not bound by time. Does that give us an open door to pray for those who have passed on before us? Or were we created for such a time as this and are to pray within the time parameters we live in? That's a very interesting question. Wow, I agree. Let's see if we can parse this a little bit. First of all, the inquire is absolutely right. God is not bound by time, but he chooses on occasion to enter time. For instance, we've talked about on the show before that God's superintendent, our formation, our normal mother's womb, he knew us before he ever worries at the number of days that we would walk this earth. And he enters time in the essence of when we are born.

13:19So he picks out a particular point in time according to his plan. He also entered time through the finished work of Jesus on the cross. And he walked and lived on this earth for a period of time. So when it comes to the last part of the question about praying, we are time bound. Even though our future is eternity, we are still time bound. But nowhere in scripture to be more clear does it say we're to pray for people who have preceded us in death. Right. And I don't see that anywhere in scripture. No, I don't either. No, I don't see it there. And death is the final dividing line. And that's why even on your deathbed, like the thief on the cross, if you repent and you ask Jesus, you know, he welcomes you into the kingdom. But after that's happened, I don't see anything in scripture that would give the indication

14:19that we should pray for the dead, that we'll make a difference if we pray for the dead, or that the dead have a second opportunity. I actually had this debate one time with a acquaintance or friend, I guess. And they had just read a book. And I don't remember the name of the book of the author. I think it was a relatively well-known person that made this case that we could pray for those who have already passed away, have already died because God's outside of time and so on. And I said, no, we're in time. These events have already occurred in creation. In other words, yes, I get that God's outside of creation. He's not bound by space time or matter. He knows all things. He knows the end from the beginning and so on. But mankind is within creation. Right. We are in the ribbon of time that continues to flow. So the events that you're praying for have already happened. It's already been determined. God knew it. God knew it was going to happen because he's outside of time. But in the ribbon of time, as time flows,

15:23that's what mankind is in. So as both of you, I think mentioned, there's nothing in scripture. If this would be something that we could do or should do, I think God would have mentioned it in scripture. Really nicely done. Great opening segment. Please send your questions over on the text line, 877-933-2484. Again, 877-933-2484. We'll take a break and be right back in 90 seconds. Hi podcast listener. You know, I'm Bill Arnold and my theme song says what's for dinner. And like when I'm grilling, I'm paying really close attention. And I know that I ideal second to get the food off the grill. Like all good and ideal timings in life right now would be an ideal time to be a cheerful giver to faith radio. Give now to support this podcast so that more people and more places

16:27might come to saving faith in Jesus and grow in their relationship and become a fully devoted follower. Click the link in the show notes or give now at myfaithradio.com. Welcome back to the show. It's Guy Talk Day or guys who talk. I've got Greg B. Tom P. Jeffy. We're here to take the questions you have on your heart and mind. Maybe you heard something over the weekend that you had a discussion with or you heard something at church and you want to get some clarification on a passage and scripture. Let us know what it is. 877-933-2484. Gentlemen, my next question is have all angelic beings experienced the presence of God? I am struggling with the idea of how Satan, how could Satan turn to evil if he had experienced the presence of the Lord?

17:28Well, I think the same thing is possible when you take a look at what's going to be happening during the millennium. Here Jesus is going to be on the throne in Jerusalem. We who have preceded those who are living at that time and death and have received Christ will be there helping to administrate that kingdom. And I agree with the brother or sister who raised this question that I can imagine how somebody could possibly turn their back on Jesus Christ and all of his justice and mercy that will be evident at that time. But that's the insidiousness of sin. Sin will blind you and even the most obvious is not going to be seen by those who are in the middle of sin. Look at the people who witness Christ's miracles while he walked this earth and still questioned his

18:28divinity. So again, that's the insidiousness of sin that it says now we see darkly, then we'll see clearly. But I just think we don't have a real appreciation of the depravity of sin and what it does to the human constitution in terms of our ability to be aware, to be cognizant, to acknowledge. It distorts all of that and corrupts all of that. Yes, I think about that. I grew up being taught that one of the reasons we have free will is so that we can genuinely respond to the Lord and to one another from our heart. That's a freedom we're given. Well, there's an antithesis to that too. We can also turn to ourselves. And even the angels can turn to themselves and determine, I'm going to live for me. You know, I've been in the presence of some wonderful people. And I know this on this side of eternity, it not face to face with the Lord. But as a human being, I can still turn back to myself pretty easy. And I think the angels can do that too.

19:29And that's why the angels are hard to believe. They could be in the presence of God and yet fall. And yet that's what free will can do if you don't focus it in the right place. Yeah, they certainly aren't robots with artificial intelligence. The angels are created beings. They interact. They interact with us on earth. And in several sightings or several encounters in the Old Testament. We don't have a specific passage that tells us what was going on in Satan's mind or his heart. Except we do have a clue. And that is in Isaiah 14. And this is known as the five I will statements. And most theologians, even though this was spoken to an earthly king, the king of Babylon, most believe that it's really being spoken to Satan. So it says, the five I will, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregations. I will ascend above the clouds. I will make myself like the most high God.

20:32So you have here a picture of someone who was rebelling against the authority of God and set out to set his throne above that of God's. Well, that's not a very good thing to do when you have an omniscient and omnipotent God, right? And so I guess the only answer. And I totally agree with the listener here. I have always kind of struggled. What was his motivation? But scripture says that pride goes before a fall, a haughty spirit, before destruction, Proverbs 16 says. So I think it's simple. I think the answer, the simple answer is pride. It got to him. It went to his head and he tried to take over the throne of God. And that's not going to work out very well. The eye will always bend its knee to the great I am. Ah, good line. And it's so true. If we stand on our haunches and say, I'll do this, I will do this.

21:35Like Satan, just as you mentioned, Jeff, ultimately the knee will bend to the great I am, which is God. Nicely done. All right, my next question is how and when did Jesus become a rabbi? Well, they called him teacher, but I don't think he, I don't know of any form. It goes to your nation ceremony. Oh, nothing like that. No, but I think that it is a compliment, a huge compliment, because you have this guy that didn't go through rabbinical school, you know, wasn't under Gamaliel or any of those great teachers. And yet by age 12, he had a, he was, they were astounded in the temple by what he said about the word of God. So people saw him very quickly as kind of the pinnacle of what it means to be a rabbi or teacher of the word. I don't think that the term rabbi had any specific academic qualifications, if you will.

22:37Greg has a doctor, a doctor, actually, you have two doctorates. Doctor, doctor, Greg, well, you had to work and study in order to achieve that title. I think rabbi in the first century, and I just, I can't remember exactly what I'm referring to, but I remember reading. It's just a title bestowed on people who were, you know, smart, who were leaders, who were masters. Remember Jesus spoke with authority to the people, and the people recognized that, and called him rabbi or teacher. Well done. All right. My next question is this, if we have the Holy Spirit, how do we truly know what signs and things should we see? I have seen nicer and more kind non-believers. Well, the Holy Spirit doesn't take you over. He takes you where you invite him. He's your teacher, he's your consular.

23:39He's the one that communicates your truest feelings. And so you sense his presence in your life by what happened in the before, by comparing it to the after. What do I mean by that? In most cases, people before they come to Christ, even though they may be sensitized to consider the gospel, most of scripture is a mystery to them. After they come to Christ, in a progressive fashion in terms of sanctification, all of a sudden, it makes sense. Well, that's the work of the Holy Spirit as our teacher and our guide. The fact that you are convicted of your sin, sin that you may have committed before you came to Christ and didn't bother you at all, even if your conscience was pricked a little bit, because all of us were given that gift at, when God again superintendents reformation.

24:39But why now are all of a sudden you so sensitize to committing a sin that you had no problem with prior to coming to Christ? That's the Holy Spirit. So those are two instances that are evidence, in my view, of the existence of the Holy Spirit in your life. Well, keep in mind that Jesus is the perfect Savior. We, as believers in him, are still not perfect people. And as a result, Christians can go up and down in the process. Now, there are lots of stories of Christians going out of their way to sacrifice their life for others, to serve others, to go beyond the above the call of duty. I knew of one woman who literally had never been married, drove the same car, where the same couple of dresses to church, died in her 80s. And yet she had accumulated nearly a million dollars through her work and put it away and used that money to bless people and the congregation. And when she died,

25:40she was broke. But her sister got up at the funeral and said, you know, when you couldn't make your house payment and that check came from the bank, that was my sister who did that. So Christians do these things, but we often run into the people that are the irritation and call them self-Christians. It's too easy to look at them and there's a pastor ever and into a few of them along the way. One Bible scholar put it this way, he said, that God, the Holy Spirit, serves as the supplier and perfector of divine work, proceeding from the Father and Son to convict, regenerate, sanctify, and empower believers, describes the Spirit as personal and divine, not an impersonal force with functions, including teaching, guiding, comforting, interceding, and glorifying the Son. He indwells believers, seals their inheritance and Christ and facilitates the application of salvation in daily life and the church. So how do we know? Romans 8 says that the Spirit that

26:41you received, you don't live in fear any longer. You received through it adoption of sonships so we can cry out, Abba, Father, then 816 says that the Spirit Himself testifies with our Spirit that we are God's children. So how do you know? I think the question started if we get the Spirit. Well, we know that if we believe we do have the Spirit, it's not a question of if. And how do we know that we got the Spirit? Because God says that His Spirit testifies with our Spirit. So look, how do you tell a believer in Christ? Since we can't see the heart, God gives us actually a number of tests. Do you confess that Jesus is Lord? Do you believe in your heart that He's been risen from the grave? Do you love one another? I give you this command to love one another? Do you have fruit? Do you have the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? Do you see fruit in

27:46somebody's lives? Because we can't see the heart. We have to look at these external things to see. But for ourselves, God's Spirit should be testifying with our own Spirit that we are actually His children. You can know that you know that you know. And by the way, the more you study His word and read passages like verse John 5 that says, I write these things to those who believe that you may know that you have eternal life. The more assurance you will have of your salvation. Well done, gentlemen. I'm going to take a little break and come back. Keep the questions coming. Boy, great questions. As always, it happens every week. We are looking to get your question as well. We'll get it on the on the list of questions to ask today. So 877-933-2484 is the text line. And we'll be back with lots more guide talk in just a minute.

28:52Okay, the last thing I heard before we came back on the show was Dr. Dr. Greg Borgon saying, my wife thinks I need counseling. But I love it. But I love it. Boy, doesn't that pick your interest? What possibly could we have been talking about, Tom Parrish? I have no idea. Yeah. Well, let me inform everyone that listening is the reason my wife thinks I need counseling is because my favorite time of the year is winter. So the threat of all of the snow that's coming here, I've got happy feet. Yeah, there's a chance here in the Twin Cities we could get what, 11 inches of snow? Oh my goodness. Something like that. Yeah, it's crazy. And Greg's happy. Yeah, I got happy. That's why you always carry a carrot around it in a charcoal so you can build a snowman. I've been wondered how to make a friend's. Just so you know, you're not making friends. All right, we might need more than counseling. Intervention. Intervention is around. My next question, gentlemen, is could you describe a few views of the Lord's Supper? A few views. Yeah. I mean,

29:57the Catholics have a certain teaching of the Eucharist and there's different views out there. Yes. On the Lord's Supper. So there's three, there's three main views. Yeah. So Transubstantiation was basically what the Catholic Church taught. And generally speaking, it means that Christ, that the elements, the wafer and the blood, become actually become the physical body and the physical blood of Christ without appearing to become flesh and blood. The Luther took exception to that and in the Lutheran Church and pastor, you can expand on this in a minute here, believe in generally believe in what's called the Transubstantiation that with his presence is with the elements, even though they don't actually turn into the elements. So Christ's presence is with the wafer and with the blood, but don't become it. The traditional evangelical view is that the elements are simply reminders. They are to take bread. I'm a memorial. We take

31:02bread, we drink wine, and we do that to remember what Christ did. And there's nothing spiritual or mystical or any special presence or anything in the bread and in the wine. Yeah. The basic Lutheran views, since I grew up that way, Luther used the term that the bread remains the bread and the wine remains the wine. But in, under and through, the bread and the wine is the real presence of Jesus and is covenant. And yeah, that's a hard one. I think for people to grasp, I know my friends who were Roman Catholic grew up understanding that they, they were not given the wine because they didn't want to spill any of the blood on the ground. And that's why a priest drinks all the wine at the end of the Eucharist. The bread is the body of Christ and the priest puts it in your mouth. You don't pick it up. So they're, they're a variety of views. The issue is, you know, whatever view you're taking, how do you sense the real presence of Jesus, the transforms your thinking so you become like him and live under his covenant. And that's really

32:05what it should be. We're under the covenant. We live for him. We live for his will. We do what he wants. And I think that that, I'm happy when anybody does that. Although I, I, yeah, I kind of lean more towards the concept of differentiation. So can we just read the passage by the way in 1 Corinthians 11, where it says, for I receive from the Lord, what I also pass on to you, the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you, do this in remembrance of me. So that particular line when it says, this is my body, we know that the wafer wasn't actually his body. It's a symbol of his body that is now going to be broken. And, and so, and then what is Paul's admonition? Do this in remembrance of me in the same way he takes the cup. This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it, remember me. For whenever you ink this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. So that's why, uh, uh, evangelicals believe that

33:09there's no special anything with the bread and the wine. They're just symbols of Christ's body and blood that were spilled for us. And we do this to remember his sacrifice for us. I can challenge that because what does it say? This is my body. And so what do we do with the is? You you jumped on the right word, remembrance as a memorial, but what do we do with the is in that sentence? He didn't say this represents my body. This looks like my body. This is kind of like my body. He said, this is my body. So there is a, I think a theological division on what that means based on the same text and both looking at it. And so my attitude is this. If you want to believe it's a memorial, fine, honor Jesus, then from that moment on, repent of your sins honor him. If you believe it's really that, um, then it should like just the people believe in the memorial. It should change the way you react and do things. But I think the problem is, yeah, this is where we have a theological

34:09problem with texts because he doesn't say this represents. He says this is. And if he'd said something like this represents my body, then we'd be in the memorial thing all the way around. There's a slide. Can I wait? Wait, wait, wait, can I counter? Because it's so please do lines. So I'm going to come back and counter. And I said, and I totally agree because I recognize the is Tom, right? And so, but he also said a number of other things that he proclaimed. He said, I am the bread of life. Yes. I am the light of the world. I am the gate. I am the good shepherd. I am the resurrection. I am the way I am the true vine. We know that Jesus was not a true vine. We know he was not a gate. We know he is not bread. And so I see the is in the same way that I see some of these other statements by Jesus that it's symbolic. It's representing his body. I understand your sense. Yeah. I do. Okay. Let me throw a little into the game here. Most would add that Christ is

35:11present spiritually with and in the believing recipients, if not in the bread and wine. So in other words, Christ is present, but not in the elements. He's present in the recipient. And I think that's where Luther was trying to get to. I'm not sure he said it as well as I'd like it. But in and through, he's simply saying, when you bow and receive this, when you receive the bread and the wine, you're really receiving Jesus. And that's who you should be honoring. It's not the bread and the wine, because most churches that have concepts of satiation, the bread goes back in the bag when it's over. And I don't know what they do with the rest of the wine. I never do care of that. But yeah, we don't know. Well, you know, in my understanding, it Jesus isn't in elements. And it's a good thing. Because when I was an altar boy, I got caught eating unbless hosts in the classic locker was benched for six months as an altar boy. And so those wafers were really

36:13good. They were tasting. And I thought, if I hit in the lock of that priest was never going to find me, sure enough, welcome back. He opens the door. There he is. Wow. That explains the great deal. Yeah, I know. This is a special edition of guide. I think they wrote bottom line for all of us. And I think we'd all agree. We've got to get focused on Jesus when we do this. Just like when we get the word, we need to focus on the Lord. What is he saying to us? What is he saying, you know, in this covenant? And once we do that, then the rest of it is kind of what they buy would call adiapra. It's not as big a deal. It's a secondary type of thing. And in my mind, it's not a hill I want to die on. What's that word? Adiapra means it doesn't have any real substance or any real demanding belief system. So it's called adiapra. Can I throw one more wrench into this, if I may? Because later in 1 Corinthians 11, after describing to this remembrance of me, Paul

37:14goes on to say in verse 27, so that whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, this is also debated over the centuries. We'll be guilty of sinning against the body and Buddha of the Lord. I take that, and I just thought I'd throw this out here and expand the question a little bit. I take that as meaning the person is not a believer that their heart isn't in the right place. They don't have the presence of the Lord. And that is why they're eating it in an unworthy manner. All right. Thank you for that lively exchange. Why was there a tension in the room? A little bit, but you did ask for this earlier. I did ask for it, but you did say it would help the ratings. We follow our leader. Exactly. Let me check the ratings. Oh, yep, first bite. That's good. Well, you know, Bill, honestly, this has created so much division and Christianity. I think the four or the five of us are here to say, stop that part of it. It doesn't have to be a divisional issue. The issue is, are you focusing on Jesus and letting

38:17him take control of your life? And if we're not doing that, then it doesn't matter what you're taking, you're missing the point. There are some differences, though. And yeah, the stakes are different. Well, it depends on if you like, you get in trouble for eating the host. I'm blessed, holster. I'm blessed. Yes. But it was still host. Yes. You know, yeah, if you go to those extremes, you get in trouble. What the priest should have done, and I can't speak for the priest, but I'll be a priest anyway. The priest should have done is said, you know, talk to you about the real presence of Jesus in your heart. And why that's important. And now and not got caught up in the way for itself or in the wine or the grape juice. By the way, we have, we're Lutheran, we use grape juice in our church. We don't use wine. All right. Next question, gentlemen, were the Jews allowed to carry out capital punishment? Why did they ask the governor pilot to get the Lord crucified? But a short time later, they stoned Stephen to death with Paul in attendance. Well, first of all, they do not have the authority to publicly replace Rome's authority

39:26and cause somebody to be crucified or to die in a public fashion. Yeah. And so stoning is a part of the Hebrew tradition. We can disagree with it simply because of its intensity. But I think it's two different things. It wasn't that they had the mindset, well, we're going to commit capital punishment by stoning Stephen. It was out of anger that he was calling on God and all the rest of it. But the bottom line is they did not have Jews, did not have the authority to administer capital punishment. But if I was a Jewish leader at that point and I felt that Jesus was a heretic and he had insulted the ones who God, Yahweh, and I wanted to get rid of him, I would want to humiliate him publicly in the best way I could. And we were talking in the green room. Most people don't realize is that when Jesus was crucified, they stripped people of all their clothes. They hung on this cross naked. Jesus was beaten. They usually didn't happen.

40:31Beating was enough in itself. And then to publicly do that. Now, Stephen is a spontaneous response to what Peter didn't like. Stoning is in the history of the Jews. But it doesn't talk about him being stripped or beaten or anything else. He was stoned to death. So remember, so there's a a prophecy in the Old Testament that the the scepter will depart from Judah. And that authority to rule and to exercise the death penalty on your subject departed from Judah. Some say different times. But around 6 BC, prior to Christ, just before Christ was born. So by the time Jesus is an adult, the Sanhedrin, the authority of the Jewish people did not have the authority to execute anyone. They needed to get Rome's permission for a crime like blasphemy. They couldn't do it. So that's why we see that the Jews trumping up charges against Jesus, then bringing that to Pilate. He's saying, I don't see anything wrong with this. And they demand that they that he crucify

41:32him. And we have the rest of the story. Stephen was not the result of the Sanhedrin executing someone. That was, if you read the story, this is the mob. This is simply the mob in the streets, committing a stoning. This is not the Sanhedrin executing their authority over the people or fighting, you know, trying someone and then judging them and sending them to death, which they didn't have authority to do. This was mob rule. This was mob rule. All right. We're going to take a break and come back. Boy, great question's coming in. Keep them coming. We'll get to them. If not in this hour, the next hour, there's still lots more guy talk ahead. So eight, seven, seven, nine, three, three, two, four, eight, four is the text line. Eight, seven, seven, nine, three, three, two, four, eight, four. We'll be right back.

42:34Welcome is a word said universally all over the world. Every language on the planet has their own way of making a friendly greeting. At Faith Radio, when we welcome, we really mean it. Learn more about us by requesting a free welcome pack gift. Text the word welcome to eight, seven, seven, nine, three, three, two, four, eight, four, or visit myfaithradio.com to request your welcome pack today and a warm welcome to you. We're back with guide talk or guys who talk Greg B. Tom P. Jeffy. We're here to answer your questions to the best of our ability. So thank you for your patience. And if you sent a question over, if we don't get to it in the next 10 minutes or so, there's a really good chance I'll show up in hour two. Not to repeat myself, but you can always check the podcast at myfaithradio.com. My next question, can the guys give practical examples of how believers can nurture their love for God? Well, one of the ways to nurture our love for God,

43:46is not related to emotion. It's just simply being obedient. If you love me, do what I ask you to do. That's action. Yeah. It's action oriented. And so how we demonstrate our love for God is directly proportional to our obedience to Him. And that's how I've always seen love. The emotion can be up and down depending on what's happening in Q during a day. I'm not suggesting that it's wrong to have an emotional feeling towards God. That's wonderful. But the type of love that God really honors is obedience that may produce a deeper emotional love for God when you are obedient to Him. So that's how I would see it. I like it. Go ahead, Jeff. Yeah. Well, I think if you love somebody in this world, what do you want to do? You want to spend time with them, right? So when you first meet that special person in your life, you can't spend enough time with them. And I think it's the same way with the Lord. It's a different

44:52kind of love, obviously, but when you love the Lord, if you want to nurture that love for God, I think one of the best ways is to spend time with Him. And how do we do that? Well, He's written you a whole book. He's written you a whole love letter. So get to know that. And by the way, He says you can talk to Him at any time, you know, through prayer. So there's God talking to you and you talking to Him through prayer. So those are the two main things that if you really want to nurture your relationship, you spend time with the Lord, you spend time studying His Word and praying to Him. I agree. I'll add one more thing to that. The body of Christ. I think today that's become optional for a lot of people. I'm praying to the Lord. I'm studying my Bible, but I really don't want to go to church. I really don't want to be around those Christians. We don't have a choice on that. The church was not my idea or your idea. It was the Lord Jesus' idea. And what he means by that, and that's why, and I've been working through this, those 59 and one another passages in the New Testament are a commands to us as to how to interact with one

45:57to another, to serve one another, to love one another. And when we do that, I think that's where the world begins to see the reality of Jesus. And that's what we need to do more of. It's not only in our heart, believing we have to do that, but then it has to be expressed outwardly, and that's through the body of Christ and then caring for others. All right, gentlemen, here my next question, kind of a head scratcher, for sure. So I'm looking at Exodus chapter four, verse 20, that says so Moses took his wife and his sons and had them ride on a donkey and went back to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the staff of God in his hand. And the question is, Moses's sons were how old? If he'd been in midi and 40 years, he put the three on a donkey? That's a really interesting question. Yeah, I'll hang up and listen. I'm going to listen to one of these deep

47:00theological questions, right? It's like a donkey. You know, we don't know how old they were, I don't think. I mean, I'm just looking at the rest of the context here about the timing of this. And you know, the other question is, why does God even say this? What's the importance of this? Is the donkey symbolic of something later on? You know, we do see a donkey that comes up later, obviously with Christ. I don't know. I've never connected this donkey with the Jesus' donkey. So I'm not employing that at all. But yeah, I mean, donkeys were, don't remember, they didn't have SUVs back then, right? They had donkeys primarily, some horses, but they were the work horses. So you put everything on these donkeys. And if you've ever seen a pack donkey or been on a hike with pack donkeys, oh my goodness, they can carry hundreds of pounds pretty easily. Who's to say that it was one donkey? Oh, good. Put them on a donkey and start it back to Egypt. So they mean each had

48:02a their own donkey. I mean, I'm just looking at the text here. So Moses took his wife and his sons and had them ride on a donkey. That's a great insight, Greg. Was one of your doctorates in donkeys? Some might say that. Yes. All right, we've got time for one more. If you meet God, can you stay the same? Better not. No, you better not say the same. It should dramatically impact you. I don't think you really can. It just then depends on how far you want to progress in that relationship. I mean, I've got a couple of people that are in prison right now that I'm ministering to and they're one just got out of one as soon as get out. It is amazing. As you all know, how many people come to grips with the Lord when they're in prison? The question is, after they get out of prison, do they continue to walk with the Lord? And some do praise the Lord. But too often they can drift back into their own lifestyle. So our goal is to help nurture them

49:05and guide them. And that's why I think you cannot meet the Lord without having an impact. But how that impact is carried out is another matter. Any other closing thoughts? Because we're coming up on the end of our one plenty of show left, because we still have our two with Guy Talk. And there are really a lot of questions coming in today. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the incoming weather. I was just thinking that they're all starting right now. And you are getting you are getting some support on the text line of other people that like winter. Oh, good. So maybe there can be group comment. My brothers and my sister. But if you send a question over, I promise that we'll get to that question in an hour two. I say that with all hope because we don't know what's going to happen in hour two. Holy Spirit's going to lead us. But boy, there are wonderful questions that have come in. So thank you for sending them over. 877-933-2484 is the text line. And why it'll have us back in a few minutes.

50:15Thanks for listening. Programming like this is made available through your support. Information available at myfaithradio.com. Coming this Easter, an epic four-part audio podcast series, The Christ. My hour has not yet come. My son, your hour was written before time. Starring David O'Yellowow, who claims to be a king, Tom Palfrey. My kingdom is not of this world. Paul Walter Hauser. He is the light, the true light. With narration from John Rhys Davies and Patricia Eaton, The Christ, wherever you listen to podcasts. Bart Millard, lead singer of Mercy Me, says there was a season when his faith felt anything but strong. Literally feel like I was hanging by a thread. Like even the stuff is as simple as God is good all the time. All the time God was good. Like saying these things, you know, I didn't believe that. That's what would get the biggest amen if I said it from a crowd.

51:18So if I did the right things on the outside, no one would interfere with the inside. In one of the hardest times, Bart learned God's love is secure. And so is his identity in Christ. Here, Bart Millard's story on this week's episode of The Unfolding on Apple and Spotify. And at MyFaithPodcast.com.