This is Apologetics Live.

To answer your questions, your host from Striving for Eternity Ministries, Andrew Rapoport.

Psych.

You thought you were getting Andrew Rapoport, but instead you're getting Drew, Andrew Rapaport's co host.

Yeah, it's been a while since I've been here or since I've actually done a show on my own.

You know, you gotta love it when these things happen.

But Apologetics Live is a podcast ministry from Striving for Eternity where we seek to answer your toughest questions.

And we do have some questions tonight that have already come in that are kind of interesting.

We're gonna do the best that we can to answer them.

Some.

I mean.

I mean, there's not necessarily a Bible text to go through to point to and say, yes, this is right, yes, this is wrong, but we're going to do the best that we can.

Let me bring in my co host for this.

Oh, wait.

Oh, there is Andrew.

Oh, what happened?

Well, you're actually going to run the show because I'm just going to come in for a little bit.

I will say, for the record, it's not.

I mean, some of these questions that we're doing, open Q and A, and whenever we do that, we try to get questions that have come in through email.

And it's not that I'm dumping really hard questions on you, Drew, and then ditching it was that we didn't want to.

For the holidays, we did not have shows for two weeks that we didn't want to not do a third, but we didn't have anything really planned, so we figured open Q and A.

So, folks, if you're watching, this is the time to go to YouTube and put in questions from there so we can see your questions.

Always good to put the word question before your question so we can spot it.

Actually, the best way is if you're on YouTube and you want to give a super chat that guarantees we see it, because it shows up in a.

In our chat and we.

It gives a big thing.

So that's the best way to do it, by the way.

But I will not be here tonight.

I'm just in.

Well, I'm in for a little bit, just because it would have been strange to have a new co host and not have me here to introduce them.

So if you wouldn't mind bringing in our new co host, we have someone new you guys are going to get to see, and it is a brother, Tom Shepard.

He's going to be helping out as Drew has been.

You guys know Drew's been kind of busy trying to get his own.

His own business going.

And so we're waiting for them to be a new sponsor, but we're going to give it time.

We'll give it time.

You know, it's actually by.

By the Lord's providence that I'm here tonight because I was supposed to be in Dallas for work, for a trade, and then when we got the word that there was going to be bad weather in Dallas, and, you know, you and I were talking on the phone yesterday, it was like, I feel like Dallas is like Atlanta.

When we get even a flurry, everything shuts down.

And so we were like, maybe more.

Specifically, I said, people in Dallas don't know how to handle even a little bit of snow.

And you said, yeah, we don't either in Atlanta.

That's right.

Yeah, we have no clue.

And so our boss just pulled the plug, said, okay, well, don't get stuck.

So, okay, let's put this comment up.

Biblical Baptist says, I was hoping for Latent Flowers, but Tom will do.

So Tom's just a step up as a co host versus Leighton Flowers.

Yeah, Leighton Flowers as a co host.

That would be an interesting.

All we would do.

I was.

I was predestined to be a co host.

Yeah.

So.

So, okay.

Years ago, what we used to do on the.

On the YouTube channel was did.

We did a Bible study.

We tried doing an online Bible study.

We went through Ephesians.

Leighton Flowers used to come in all the time, and it was hilarious when I forget which text we're in.

And he made the whole text about responding to Calvinism, and it was like the text had nothing to do with Calvinism, but he had to make it about Calvinism so he could bash it.

And the end result was at the.

At the end, I'm like, what does this have to do with this text have anything to do with what you're saying?

He's like, oh, it doesn't.

Usually what Calvinists do is they make everything about Calvinism.

He makes everything about anti Calvinism.

But I wanted.

I wanted to be able to introduce Tom.

Tom is.

If you've been watching the YouTube channel, you may have seen their podcast that he and Braden Patterson do called Open Air Theology.

We're trying to help them out, get them, you know, just so people know about them.

And we're going to try to actually make their YouTube channel into a podcast.

Crazy idea.

And so we've been.

We're working together.

And so because Drew's been out so much, I was Actually looking to get another co host, and I was thinking of Tom, and then Tom was like, hey, we need some help with the YouTube channel podcast.

And so it worked out very well.

And so we're doing things jointly.

And so if you're watching on the open air theology, you know, because that channel people may be coming over from there.

Welcome to Apologetics Live.

That's what we're gonna do.

We're gonna cross promote for a while.

And so.

Yeah, so.

Yeah, yeah.

So you guys got some great questions.

I know I sent them to you.

We get folks, if you want, email us info at striving for eternity dot com.

Info@restriving for eternity dot com.

That's where we get the questions.

I put them into a folder, I store them up, and whenever we do a live Q and A, I try to answer them.

And so we had some interesting ones, some that had been around for a long time.

One specifically that I know that Drew is waiting anxiously to be able to answer.

I saw this list of questions that you texted us, and I was like, oh, great.

These are.

These are not questions I would particularly throw out there on a podcast, but if someone's asking them, I guess Andrew's not going to be here, so might as well do it.

So you could say what you want.

That's right.

I always have next week to clean it up.

Next week.

I should.

I should mention.

Let me.

Let me just look up what we have on the schedule for next week.

Sorry for moving the camera.

My computer wasn't working in time.

So next week we have a debate.

Just so you know, it will be a debate on ghosts are.

So it's a guy named Matt and Daniel, and they're going to be debating whether ghosts.

Well, one person believes ghosts could be human spirits, and another believes that they are demonic.

And so that will be a.

Interesting debate.

I think it's a good, good debate.

They've done it before, and so look forward to that next week.

Well, in any instance, all you got to do is call Ghostbusters if you want to get rid of them.

That's right.

Actually, one of the guys was a ghostbuster.

Yeah, he was.

He was.

He's on the.

Been on the show before, right?

Correct.

Yeah, he was on the show before when we did the apologetics.

Different apologetics.

Right, right.

And he is.

You know, his background before he got saved was the paranormal.

So he's got a very interesting background.

It'll be a good show.

So with that, guys, hey, I'm gonna leave it to you in Your capable hands, folks.

Get your questions in.

I already saw some that were coming in, and these guys are going to be better than me in answering them.

That's.

That's very true.

Yes.

Yeah.

See you later.

Just remember, I'll be watching.

I'll be.

Listen.

Oh, I hope so.

Yeah.

Especially on this second one.

Yeah, yeah, I was watching.

I.

I looked at the questions right before I was getting ready to go on.

I really didn't pay attention last night when he sent them.

And I looked, I went, oh, Andrew, this is.

This is not a great.

Yeah, I see why you've stayed away from them for so long.

But, you know, it's funny because the fact that I haven't been here for a while, right, and he's been looking for a new co host.

I've also not made it any secret that I've been trying to get out of podcasting for about the past five years or so.

Oh, wow.

Just trying to get out because, you know, me and my buddy Chris Huff, we started the Matter of Theology podcast, which is on the Christian podcast community.

And, you know, it was just a lot of work, right?

I mean, it was.

We would come up with a topic and then we would put the study into it.

I mean, hours a day.

And then when I, my wife and I started having kids, right.

It was, it started taking away from them.

And so I was like, okay, I need to cut back on time.

And then it was like, you know what?

I'm just having more joy over here with my kids and with my family and I don't really want to do a podcast.

But then it was like, we just kept coming up with great ideas and then Andrew needed help with apologetics live, and so of course I was happy to help him out.

So now I'm.

And I'm here now, visited by my 4 year old, soon to be 5 year old.

Hey, buddy.

Hey.

I just heard from Chris, as a matter of fact, on a post that I made on Facebook earlier today.

He's a good guy.

I like him.

I was hoping to see him at Shepherd's Conference this next year, but he said he was unable to grab a ticket in time.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, he goes to Shepherd's Conference.

He really likes it.

He and I, we went the.

For our first time in 2019, and that's actually where we met Andrew for the first time.

Andrew and Justin Peters and I think Chris Honholtz was there as well.

And that was before we actually became friends.

All of us became friends.

But yeah, Shepherd's Conference is great.

If you ever.

If you're a pastor or you're thinking about getting into the pastorate or any form of ministry, go to the Shepherd's Conference.

It's.

It's a blessing to you.

Definitely.

Yeah.

Great fellowship, great preaching, food is great.

It's a fantastic time.

Absolutely.

So, Tom, I'm just going to warn you.

Yeah.

My Internet connection is always very bad.

Oh, wonderful.

And I got a.

I got a.

What is it?

A signal booster for Christmas.

My mom got me one.

Yeah.

Have not been able to set it up yet, so if I just, like, cut out, feel free to just, you know, run with it.

Okay.

I'll do the best I can.

So.

Yeah, I actually told Chris, I said.

I told him, you know, what we were talking about.

We were having a Q A, and then I told him one of the questions, and I was like, this is right in your wheelhouse.

So I was.

I was trying to get him to come on in, but I don't know if he will.

Yeah.

So we'll see.

And I've also invited someone you know very well as well, Pastor Brandon Scalf, who's a good friend.

He is a good friend.

Yeah, he's a good friend.

Great preacher, great pastor.

Yeah.

I'd love to see him.

Yeah.

Brando, where are you, bro?

Right.

Get in here.

Yeah, so I try to get him all the time to come in.

Did you tell him I was coming?

Yeah, I told him me and you were doing a show.

Okay.

And I.

I told him shame on.

Him if he doesn't come.

Right.

That's what I'm saying.

But.

And this is the thing about Brandon is because I've known Brandon for about the past four years, maybe five years.

Yeah.

We've gotten to know each other.

Our wives have gotten to know each other.

And I was this close to moving out to Oklahoma when they moved out there to plant, and we still might, you know.

Now where are you at now?

Now I'm in it.

I'm in Georgia.

I'm in Cartersville, Georgia, which is about 45 minutes north of Atlanta.

Yeah.

So that's great.

I know Brandon needs some elders over there.

Yeah.

He's so low on it right now, and, man, he's.

He's.

He's a hard worker.

He is.

He's a real deal.

And just seeing the growth from him from the.

From since I first met him, I mean, he's one of my favorite preachers.

Yeah.

And just knowing his heart from.

For pastoring his church, it's.

It's an encouragement, you know?

I've never, I've known him for some time now, too.

He's a great friend.

We, we talk.

If we don't talk every day, we're, we're probably texting every day and just cutting up and stuff.

But I, I'll tell you what I'm impressed with him is that he just can't get rattled at all.

Right?

He's, he's, he, he doesn't, he doesn't get shaken by anything.

He just smooth sailing and trusting God for the work.

And God is faithful.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

And it's amazing to see the work that the Lord has done at Heritage Tulsa.

So if you're in the, the Tulsa area and you're looking for a church, visit Heritage Church Tulsa, I think you'll, you'll truly be blessed.

That's where I would go.

Yeah, absolutely.

I told them.

I, I told him, I said, I said if my business takes off and becomes self sustaining and we get enough income coming in to where it's feasible, as I said, we would look to move to Oklahoma.

Yeah.

To be there.

So let's, let's get into some of these questions.

Okay.

Okay.

So the first one, the first one's really good.

And as a pastor, I'm sure you've probably dealt with this question a lot, so.

You know, I'm not a pastor.

I thought you were a pastor.

No, no, I, I'm not a pastor.

So I'm a member of Grace Bible Church of Bernie and I do evangelism.

I'm a street preacher.

I go out and do evangelism every weekend with my wife.

The team from the.

Or the evangelism team from Grace Bible Church comes out with me and we do street preaching.

We have an, A whiteboard that says, are you going to heaven?

And then people hand out tracks.

And we've been faithful in that ministry at our church for about a year and a half now.

So.

So evangelism, great.

That's my deal.

Yeah.

Okay.

I don't know why I thought you were a pastor.

I don't know why.

Either way.

Yeah.

In doing evangelism, right.

Being out on the streets evangelizing people, this is still a question that you're going to deal with a lot from non believers.

And the question is, is truth one?

What is truth?

Which we'll get to.

But is truth divisive?

Because you deal in preaching truth, you deal with a lot of confrontation, right?

Absolutely.

So it's divisive.

Yeah, absolutely.

I think all you have to do, you know, when you start sharing the Gospel with somebody and telling them that they need to be saved, it implies that they need to be saved from something, the wrath of God.

It implies that they're doing something wrong, that they need to change, that there needs to be a transformation in their life.

And so truth would be divisive and in that, if.

And offensive, I would even say, because we have a standard to hold by.

The truth is God's standard.

That's holiness.

It's sinlessness.

And so we are not holy, we are not sovereign, we are dependent.

And so, yes, truth is, is divisive in, in many ways.

As a matter of fact, I would even say it divides the church in, in a right way.

So, yeah, absolutely.

I mean, even Jesus himself said, I came to bring a sword.

Right?

I didn't come to bring peace, I came to bring a sword.

And to set mother against daughter, mother in law, son in law, right.

Set everyone against each other.

But the thing that's divisive that he came to bring was the truth.

Right?

So yeah, I would even say Martin Luther said, peace of possible truth at all costs.

Truth at all costs, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So yeah, then we, then that kind of brings in.

If truth is divisive, then that kind of brings up a following question.

And we see, actually see Pilate ask this question to Jesus as well.

What is truth?

That's a.

That's a very good question.

And so it was, it was interesting, you know, what is truth?

So the truth is.

I mean, the, the truth is God is light.

He came into the world and, and the world did not understand it.

It did not comprehend it because we are darkness.

We are dead in our trespasses and sins, as the scripture says in Ephesians.

And we need the light of the world to wake us up.

We need God to intervene on our behalf to make us alive to understand, number one, that.

That we are totally dependent, that there is a righteous standard.

In order to have a relationship with God the Father, we need something to happen.

We need our sins to be forgiven.

We need Christ's righteousness put on our account.

We need to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who He is, what he's done on our behalf, went to the cross, paid the penalty for our sin, was risen on the third day and was in.

Seated at the right hand of the Father, forever interceding for us.

That is the truth and we must obey it.

It is command to believe the Gospel.

Absolutely, absolutely.

You know, now we're in this kind of era that would be, I guess, post enlightenment, right?

Where Everyone, the Enlightenment period, where everyone was trying to get higher knowledge and, and then just asking, you know what, I kind of that question, what is truth?

And then, but in this era we're in now, it's almost as though truth has become relative, right?

You have his truth, her truth, my truth, your truth.

And so everyone brings their opinion and they call it truth.

And then they say, well, you can't disagree with me because this is my truth.

So how do we distinguish, right, like what's relative versus objective and then point someone towards that objective standard.

So I, I think that's the thing is.

So I think it was John Stott who said, we cannot agree on anything unless we first agree how to agree.

So in other words, by what standard?

What is the standard by which we're going to measure all truth?

And so we would say that Scripture is written by the inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and instruction in righteousness.

And the question becomes, can a person live a righteous life without the Scriptures?

God has his revealed willed in the Scripture, which is the scripture, how he reveals who he is and who we are compared to him.

And when we have an understanding, the right understanding of who God is.

And I think that's really the issue.

People have created a God in their own understanding, in their own mind that's going to suit them.

A God that's going to be all loving, all tolerant, that's going to dismiss our sin, that's not going to punish sin.

And basically we've created a God of our own liking, right?

And so, and I, and I'm go back to Romans chapter 9, when the Israelites were had a righteousness of themselves.

In verse 32 it says that.

Let's see here.

Matter of fact, let me go back to verse 30.

It says, Romans verse 9 says, what shall we say then the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness, laid hold of righteousness, even know the righteousness which is by faith.

But Israel pursuing the law of righteousness did not attain that law.

Why?

Because.

Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it was by works.

They stumbled over the stumbling stone just as as it is written, behold, I lay in Zionist a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

And those who believe on him shall not be put to shame.

So here it is in chapter 10, verse 1.

Brothers, my heart's desire and my prayer to God is for their salvation.

For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

For for not knowing about the righteousness of God, seeking to establish their own righteousness.

They did not subject themselves to the righteousness of faith.

And so they had a righteousness of our own.

They had a truth of their own understanding, thinking that they were pleasing with pleasing God, doing, doing, doing, not understanding that in order to be counted righteous, it's by faith in Christ alone for eternal life.

Right?

Absolutely.

You know, you bring up this good kind of counter question when someone says, you know, what is true?

Ask the question, what is truth?

Or they start talking about my truth, truth as though it's relative.

This good counter question, which is, okay, truth, by what standard?

Right.

You know, and, and that's, that's an important, especially in evangelism, right?

To kind of get on the same ground.

So we're speaking in the same terms about the same thing, and we have the same understanding.

By what standard?

Right.

So, yeah, by what standard do you call something true?

By what standard are you measuring truth?

And, you know, that kind of goes back to Jesus's high priestly prayer in John 17, where he's praying for the disciples.

And then by extension, right, church, He.

He says, sanctify them in truth.

Your word is truth.

Right?

So set them apart.

Sanctify them.

Set them apart in the truth.

And your word, meaning the word that God has spoken, the word that we possess today is the standard of truth.

Yes, yes, absolutely.

Yes.

So we have, we have a standard to go by.

So it's kind of like, you know, we have a color chart.

You know, we have something that has a red, blue, and green, and we have an example of what is blue, what is red.

You know, there's a standard of, of a color chart.

So in that same way, you cannot, you cannot go and say, well, that clearly a color that might like my shirt.

It's blue.

I mean, we know it's blue because we could go to a standard, a color chart and say, okay, well, this matches up well, in the same way, anything that we believe about God has to be matched up with the scriptures.

What does God say about himself?

What did the scripture say about itself?

And so, you know, I think it was Melissa Owens said, redefine apologetic.

Apologetics.

God is sovereign over everything, including salvation.

So I would, I would look at that and I oh, there it is.

Presuppositional apologetics.

When you think about.

I'm just going to start off with the standard.

Listen, scripture says that everybody believes in God, right?

They're suppressing the truth.

So God created the heavens and the earth.

I'm going to Start off with that.

I, I, this is, this is an absolute truth.

I don't need to qualify it.

You know, in the beginning, I'm just going to start off with the standard.

God is sovereign.

He created the heavens and the earth and let God do the work in, in people's, you know, just telling them the truth about what God says about how he created the earth, how he's sovereign, you know, what we need to do to have a relationship with him, so on and so forth.

What's up, Haps?

Yeah, you see, you know, it's always, and I know you've been in the chat when we've, when we've pointed this out.

Apps used to have this problem of not getting his name to show up, and now he's gotten it every, every week he shows up and he's got his name up there.

What's up, Abs?

You know, there.

Because you bring up something interesting with that, you know, when you're talking about, right, Colors, right?

We can look at a color chart and we can see what's blue, right?

Your shirt's blue.

How, let's say now you have someone that's colorblind, right?

They can't see blue.

How do you kind of tell them?

And so they don't believe you when they say, well, my shirt's blue.

Okay.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, so, so how, how do I bring someone who can't see what I'm seeing into understanding that I'm telling them the truth?

That what, how they're seeing it is actually wrong?

Well, so, I mean, there's, I think there's a couple ways we could go by everything that we're going to say.

We're going to believe that God's Word, that there's power in God's word.

So number one, anytime we're going out to share God's word, we're going to trust that God is going to do the work through His Word.

His Word will not turn up.

Void.

So there's, number one.

So how do we explain that?

So one of the things, I mean, we can, we can explain it logically, you know, thinking, I mean, just look at the sky, you know, and the scripture talks about that too.

Look at the heavens.

There has to be a creator.

Look at God's design.

There has to be a graver.

And so, and Scripture even talks about that in Romans 1.

It's, you know, it talks about, you know, clearly, you know, God has made evident through, through his own creation that there is a God.

So how would we Explain it.

One of the things that, that we do, if, if, if there's a God and there is, and we would say that there is, and he created all things and he sees all things and he's omnipresent, he's, he's, he's everywhere, would he not get to set the terms on how we ought to live?

And I think logically, I think logically, anybody hears that if you own a business or if you, even if you work for somebody else, the person that you're working for sets your work rules and how they ought to live, how they ought to work.

Well, God being sovereign because he's the Creator, because He's all powerful, he gets to set the terms in, in how we ought to live, including, including how to have a relationship with Him.

And so, you know, we can't, we can't just ignore that if you want, if a person wants to be honest with themselves and say, listen, yeah, you know, I, I would rather live in my sin.

You know, that's, that's one thing.

But you cannot ignore the fact that he gets to set the terms and you are not God.

So, and then you just point them.

I mean, you know, it is appointed once for man to die, and then comes judgment.

You know, were you living by God's standard?

Were you, were you obeying Him?

You know, he.

We, we can't, we can't earn our way into heaven.

It's only by, through Christ.

So it's going through the gospel and telling them the truth of all that.

You know, that reminds me of a quote by Jay Vernon McGee where he said, you may not like what God does, but it's God's universe.

You may have a better way, but you don't have a universe, you know.

That's right.

That's right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think somebody says here, you can't drag anyone to the, into the kingdom.

And, and, you know, and that's, that's really a good point.

What we can do, and matter of fact, what we're required to do and commanded to do is to go out and share the gospel.

Yeah.

And, and, and clearly share the gospel.

Clearly.

And it's going through who God is, who man is.

You know, what we've done, what, what is our condition Just by being born, we are all sinners.

We are all dead in our sin.

And we need a Savior.

We need to be cleaned, we need to be washed clean.

We need to be made alive.

And so, yeah, our job is to proclaim the gospel.

It is God's job to Change the heart.

And we could be confident in that, knowing that God is sovereign, that even if none come to repentance, even if none come to saving faith.

Did.

Did God fail?

No.

He.

He.

He gave them over.

If he's not one of God's elect, He gave them over to their own sin.

He.

He just.

And.

And he's glorified because he's holy and he's just.

And he's righteous in condemning and.

And choosing not to save some.

Right.

Yeah.

And it's when in understanding God's nature and his character, and especially the work of the Holy Spirit through the proclamation of the gospel through God's word, it takes pressure off.

Right.

And so.

So.

So you're not in a position where you think you have to persuade each and every person.

You just proclaim the truth and you shoot those arrows and you trust that God and the Holy Spirit is going to bring the increase.

That's right.

Yeah.

You never know.

I mean, we go out on the streets in a.

In a touristy city in Fredericksburg sometimes, which is actually a little bit away from our local church, and, you know, you just never know.

But you've heard stories about people coming to faith through a street preacher, through evangelism.

And then you could even look at your own life if you are a believer, where a seed was planted long ago and God has.

It was all a process of God drawing you to himself.

And so, yeah, God is faithful in.

In bringing his elect.

His sheep will hear his voice, the scripture says.

Yeah, so, absolutely.

All right, let's move on to another question.

This one was brought in through the chat, and I think it's a really good, kind of light, fun question.

This is John Beckett, 75, off of Twitter.

He says, top books on Christian or on church history.

Go for it.

I'm.

I'm not a.

I'm gonna let you do that one.

I'll do the evangelism one.

You can answer that.

Okay, perfect.

So.

So the top books, it depends on how deep you want to go.

First of all, if you want a kind of a good survey of church history, Justo, I think his last name is Gonzalez, has its two volumes on church history that a lot of colleges, a lot of Bible colleges, use them.

I think they're really good.

They give a kind of a great overview.

They don't go into a lot.

A whole lot of detail, but they're good kind of starters.

And then if you want to get into a lot more detail, I would say Nick Needham's volumes on church history is called 2000 Years of Christ Power, I think is the name.

I got the set sitting over there, and I think he's actually working on his fifth volume right now.

I don't think it's complete yet.

It might be.

Someone in the chat who might know will have to tell me, and I'll have to get it.

But those are my two recommendations.

Plus you can also get a lot of just old books by old writers, you know, a lot of Puritans, you know, even like I think of Samuel, Samuel Rutherford, his book Lex Rex, which is more on the political aspect on God and king, meaning the relationship between kind of the political sphere of the kings and governments and how they are to relate to God and his law.

Because that gives you kind of a glimpse into that time that Samuel Rutherford was living in and kind of the things that he was dealing in.

So there's a lot of different other avenues you can use to.

To gain some.

Some knowledge of church history.

But I think the first two, if.

If you're really wanting to start to get in Justo Gonzalez, his two volumes, and then if you want to take a lot deeper dive, Nick Needham's volumes on church history are really great.

What would you say to one of the questions that this.

Here I see somebody on the right side talking about God chose not to save some and then saying, that's heresy.

Where would you go in the scriptures talking about that?

Well, I mean, immediately I would go to Romans chapter 9, where it talks about the potter and the clay, right?

Because, I mean, you turn when you went to Romans 9, you know, I just happened to turn there and let's.

See.

Try to find.

Okay, verse 21.

Actually, let's back up a little bit to verse 19.

In chapter nine, Paul says, you will say to me then.

So he's bringing in an objector, right?

So he's just gone through this whole theology of God's electing grace and that it has nothing to do with your will in choosing God.

That's verse 16.

And he.

And we get to verse 19, and he says, you will say to me, then why does he still find fault for who resists his will?

Right.

That's a good question.

On the contrary, who are you, o man who answers back to God?

The thing molded will not say to the molder, why did you make me like this?

Will it or does not the potter have a right over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?

Or some translations say dishonorable use?

What if God, although willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction.

Now, there's a lot in that there is to unpack.

And he just.

He did so to make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy which he prepared beforehand for glory.

What else would you find in the Scripture when it.

Vessels of wrath?

Where might we find scriptures?

What is it talking about?

It's like, I mean, you could go to Exodus.

You could talk about Pharaoh.

We could.

You could go to Ephesians, chapter one, the one that I really like as well.

In Acts 13:48, it says, when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying in the word of the Lord.

And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed, you know, it was an appointment that God predestined some before the.

Before the foundation of the world.

In other words, if, If God has chosen to save some, but to intervene and save any, because we all deserve the wrath of God.

And, and, and I, I would even say, I think it was R.C.

sproul in, in Romans, chapter nine, where he was saying, well, wait a minute here, when he was talking about Esau, because, you know, wait a minute.

I, I can't believe that he would.

He would hate Esau.

And he goes, no, I.

I don't understand how he would love Jacob.

You know, and if.

If God chose to dispense his grace on somebody who didn't deserve it, he.

It's his.

His prerogative.

He is sovereign over all things.

He gets to choose.

Choose who he's going to save.

Yeah, we have a sovereign God, right?

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, and, you know, you see it, you see it clear.

I mean, you mentioned Exodus, which Paul brings in, in the earlier verses of chapter nine, talking about Pharaoh.

It.

Yeah, it does say Pharaoh hardened his own heart, but it also says God hardened Pharaoh's heart.

Yeah, but I mean, just, Just the idea of.

And this goes back to what you were saying about God being in control and being sovereign over his creation.

Does God as creator not have the right to do with his creation what he wills?

And we think.

Right.

We tend to put ourselves on the same level of.

As God.

Yeah, right.

And so we forget we are but the creation.

Yes, absolutely.

So when we talk about that, who did Jesus say to preach to?

So, yeah, he came into the world, he so loved the world, that who would ever believe in him should not perish.

We have to remember that there was a, A different time that when Jesus came in Salvation wasn't only for one people group, you know, it was for all people groups that he so loved the world.

All people group would, would be saved through, through the promised seed, the Messiah, Jesus himself.

And so there, there are some that he would bring.

Remember, for by grace you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves.

It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

The grace is a gift and faith is a gift of God.

It is.

It is God alone who saves.

So Jesus says, you must be born again.

You know, what did we contribute to our natural birth?

Right.

Nothing.

You know, in the same way, we aren't going to contribute anything to our spiritual work.

Yeah.

So yeah, God got, God gets the glory.

And you know, we can also.

That's right.

You know, we can also look at kind of the parallels between the shepherd and his sheep because it's the sheep don't choose the shepherd.

It's the shepherd that chooses his sheep.

But then once the shepherd has his sheep, the sheep hear the shepherd's voice and they love the shepherd's voice.

They run to the shepherd's voice.

Another's voice, they will not follow.

Right.

If they are of that shepherd.

That's right.

Yeah.

Good stuff.

Yeah.

All right, so I guess let's go.

On to this turn into a late hours of debate.

You guys didn't think Layton was gonna show up, did you?

Let's get into this kind of unorthodox question.

I need a sip of my Fresca for this one.

So question number three, I guess that we're tackling tonight's two on our list.

Hold on, let me get there, let me look at the questions here.

Okay.

All right, I'm ready.

All right.

Can Christians donate sperm?

Yes.

Thanks, Andrew, for that wonderful question.

And then leaving.

Yeah.

So can Christians donate sperm?

I, I, I think that there's a lot of issues with that.

Yeah.

I don't know where you stand on it.

I would, I would say that we cannot.

Okay.

I, that's, that's exactly where I would go with it.

I would say no one, it leads into ivf.

Yes.

That's exactly the first thing that came to my mind.

Yeah.

So, you know, we, there are so many babies that are out there that are, that are frozen, that are being frozen right now.

It's actually, you know, let's, let's pick and choose of all these embryos, these are living babies that are discarded.

Discarded.

Yep.

It is, it is a different way, an easy way, a tricking way of actually convincing people that they're selecting a baby of their own choosing.

What they're neglecting to see is that there are living babies that are discarded, they're thrown away, they're, they're being murdered, they're being frozen.

I take a hard stance on that.

It's, it is truly an evil.

It's come in thinking in a, in a, with a, with a glimmer of a little bit of light coming in, saying, hey, if you can't have children, you know, use this method right here.

But that's a, it really is darkness.

It really is an evil thing because there's, there's, there's murder happening right now, whether you see it or not.

Babies are being murdered with ivf.

Yep.

So the donation of sperm and then you look at the method in which it would be carried out.

Right.

Typically, if I, if, if I understand it, and that's not something that I really studied, but more than likely you're given a magazine and you go into a room and, and you, you, you, there you go, you get your, your sperm and it's, and then it's donated and then where does the sperm go?

You have no idea where it's going to go, how it's going to be spread to, to someone who's going to raid that, raise that child.

There's a lot of problems with, with that and is what I see.

Yeah, right.

Yeah, yeah, I, I would agree with that.

And those were the things that, when that question came through, that popped in, in my head, Right.

First was the ivf, for all the reasons you just said.

Right.

There's so many babies that are just discarded.

Right.

And, and for, for ivf.

I mean, you have to take, you, you have to take that specimen and put it in multiple eggs because you don't know if those eggs are going to fertilize.

And so you have to do it into multiple eggs, which produces multiple embryos, multiple living babies.

And then the people just say, well, I want one or I want two, and then the rest are just discarded.

Yeah, that, that was the first thing that popped into my head as well.

And then of course, the methodology, you have to use pornography in order to.

There you go, get the final result.

So you're.

So, for a Christian to do that, they're actually saying, trying to use this as a way to get, I would say get into.

And justify the use of pornographic material.

Sure, yeah.

Yeah.

So plus, it's, it's simply not God's design.

If you, if you want a baby, you know, there, there are babies up for adoption.

You know, what a, what a picture, what a picture of the gospel if you go adopt a baby too.

We have adoptions as sons, don't we?

As, as, as, as you know, we are justified by faith.

The, the scripture says in Romans 5, it says that we have access into this grace in which we stand through faith that we are adopted as sons, you know, and, and we are adoption.

Look at that, look at that picture.

That.

By the way, choosing, there's.

That comes up again.

I'm not going to get into it again though.

But the choosing comes up again.

So.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, great.

I'm glad we were able to settle that question.

I like humble clay here says, says okay, thanks for keeping it pg.

Yeah.

You know, we try, you know, thank Andrew.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Any.

If you have any complaints, direct them towards Andrew.

He gave us the list to go down.

Okay.

Yeah.

So, so this next one, I, I don't understand the first part of it.

So we'll.

It says why do entitled people not see it?

But I'm not sure as in like see what?

Right?

Like what is the it?

And so, but the follow up to that is can Christians be entitled?

So is, is entitled.

Is he saying that in the same way, are we deserving of something?

Because if, if that's the question.

What, what, you know, what do Christians really.

What, what do.

What, what do all men deserve?

You know, you've heard it said before.

Exactly.

Yeah.

We don't want what we deserve.

Right.

You know, we need mercy, we need grace.

You know, we want just the opposite of what we deserve.

So to think that.

I think when I think of entitlement, I'm thinking that would be something to boast about that, right?

That, that I'm, I'm higher, put on a pedestal.

Look at John the Baptist, he said that I may decrease, that Christ may increase.

So I would say, I guess the answer to that question would be no for me.

Can't be entitled.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Christians can't be entitled.

I mean, and when we think about, you know, can a Christian be entitled?

You know, my, I guess my mind kind of.

Because we've seen a lot of.

Enough and having conversations with Justin Peters and of course kind of the.

He deals a lot the health, wealth and prosperity gospel.

And you think of, of a lot of the people that he, you know, is refuting, they would look at people and they would say, well, if you're in Christ, you deserve this, right?

You deserve that.

You deserve that house.

You deserve that.

You know, I'm in a.

I'm in a on Facebook, a Smith Wigglesworth group.

And it is the absolute worst group I have ever seen because you get so many.

And there's people in there who call themselves apostles and prophetesses and all this stuff, but they make these posts in there that are like, you know, God said your success is going to come into full in 2025.

And I'm like, what does that even mean?

Yeah, right.

I mean, I've already been threatened with being suspended once, so, you know, but.

I don't think I'd last long in that group.

Yeah, I keep pushing the boundaries, you know, but it's just, you see some of the, the craziest stuff of people that think we do deserve something.

Right.

And.

Right.

You guys have heard the hymn yet?

Not I, but Christ and Me.

You know, it's when we think about that, when, when we think about the truth, you know, being adoption sons.

I think it's Kathy here who said, not entitled, but we have precious promises.

Absolutely.

Oh, yeah, but that's not what we deserve.

That's a benefit.

Yeah, yeah, it really is.

In, in being in Christ.

Look at the benefits, you know, of being in Christ, that we have an inheritance incorruptible, you know, unperishing, you know, at one day we're going to be in heaven in glory, seeing Christ face to face without even the knowledge of sin, or even being in the presence of sin, not being able to sin, having a peace beyond all measure.

Yeah, that's, that's a benefit.

That's not what we deserve.

Right?

Yeah.

And that's, it's not entitlement.

I would say real quick, that's not entitlement.

That's, that's, that's.

Christ gets the glory for that.

Right?

Yeah.

Right.

And so, I mean, I, I guess when, when, you know, that kind of what came before that is, you know, why do entitled people not see it?

So I guess people who already have something that think they deserve something, why do they not see.

And I'm going to go along the lines with what you were just talking about.

Right.

Why do they not see, you know, maybe their, their need for Christ, why do they not see that entitlement is wrong?

You know, you know, this leads to pride.

Sure.

Right.

As well.

And you know, when we, when we think about those things, Right.

The, that, the promises that Kathy mentioned.

Right.

And you, like you just said, those things are not things that we're deserving of, but they are things that as children of God, he bestows upon us.

And, and, and the, the real Thing the real, I think about Abraham.

God made a promise to Abraham.

Right.

For his descendants.

Right.

So the generations that would come after him and Abraham never got to see the fulfillment of that promise.

Right.

It's still being worked.

So even though, and, and I, and I think about promises that God has made to his children, to us through His Word, those may not be things we even see, but yet they're things we can rejoice in.

And there are also things we don't deserve.

Right.

So when we think about the promises of God and entitlement, the promises should humble us when we understand who we are before a holy God.

Right?

Yeah, yeah.

I would even say when we're cast down and in despair, we have a hope.

Our, our hope is that this world is not our home.

You know, things like that.

Yeah, that, that's wonderful.

We don't, we don't deserve anything.

We deserve his wrath because we're rebels.

We're rebels.

I mean even think about it, everybody who's watching, who's a Christian right now, there's a, there's a puritan book called the, the Valley of Vision and a prayer and that it's continual repentance.

And he's even, he's saying that, you know, even in his deepest longing prayers, that his prayers are stained with sin, his, you know, impure thoughts and stuff like that.

And so even as Christians, there, there's remaining sin, not reigning sin.

The Christian didn't have a reigning sin, but we do have remaining sin in our lives.

But one day, you know, one day we're, we're going to be, we're going to be saved from even the presence of sin.

So that's our John Owen has his work indwelling sin in the believer.

Right.

Which leads to the mortification of sin as well.

So.

Right.

Yeah, good stuff, good stuff.

So now talking about sin, can sin be present in heaven?

And this just seems like a no brainer.

It does, yeah.

So when we talk about when God declares us righteous and we are positionally sanctified on this earth, you know, we, we have become redeemed.

His isn't.

We're his people, we're his children and we are saved from the penalty of sin.

And then, and then of course we're saved from the very power of sin.

That a Christian no longer has to be slave of sin, that you have power over sin.

And then thirdly, lastly, when our glorified state, we're going to be saved from the very presence of sin.

And, and so no there we won't even know what sin is.

We won't be tempted.

There will be no sin.

So I, I can't even imagine what that's going to be like.

Right.

Eye has not seen the ears, not heard, nor has entered into the heart of man.

What, what heaven will be like.

You know, I mean, it's just going to be.

It's going to be incredible not to, not to have to worry about hurt or pain or.

Yeah.

People talking about you.

Right.

Yeah.

Right.

You know, and because when I think about sin, let's say sin and repentance, and this kind of goes back a little bit to what we were talking about when previously talking about sin and then the indwelling sin in the believer.

One of the ways, you know that you are saved is when you sin, you have a hatred for that sin.

Right, Right.

And so we can see that in the works of Thomas Watson in his book on repentance.

We can see that in John Owen's works, the mortification of sin.

Basically, if you read any puritan talking about sin, Ralph Venning.

Right.

They're going to talk about how the Christian must hate his sin.

Yeah.

And we don't hate sin.

One, we don't hate it enough in our own life.

But the reasons we, the reasons we hate sin is not because, you know, the consequences of sin, but we hate it because it displeases our Lord.

Right.

Now why does it displease our Lord?

Because our Lord hates sin and sin cannot dwell in his presence.

So if sin cannot dwell in his presence and he resides in the heavens, then sin is not present there.

And so one, I love how you said, you know, our positional sanctification, I usually call it, we're positionally holy.

Yeah, we're positionally holy.

And then we work out a practical holiness, the sanctum, you know, practical sanctification.

Living out, being conformed into the image of God until the day of glorification.

Yeah.

When sin no longer remains because we are in the presence of our Lord.

Yeah.

And he has, he has taken it away from us and he has brought us in and he has said, well done, good and faithful servant.

And now we get to worship with the body of believers that came before us and those who come after us in the presence of a holy God.

Yeah.

Amen.

I mean, what could be more joy.

That, you know, and I really like the, the whole idea of the, the process of sanctification too.

The process of God making us righteous after he's declared us righteous, now he makes us righteous.

And you know, that's one of the things that we actually use in evangelism, too.

A lot of people, you know, have the affections of your heart changed.

It's not just having that knowledge, praying a prayer, you know, receiving Jesus into your heart because you prayed a prayer, you know, have the affections of your heart changed where you're waking up in the morning?

Or at least.

At least Christians should wake up in the morning with the purpose of seeking.

Seeking Christ.

How can I please him?

And.

And in killing our sin, you know, we need Christ in our life.

We need the gospel every day in our life.

And where I was going with the sanctification, you might be able to see my finger on this.

When you.

When you talk about justification right here.

There we go.

Justification right here.

And we're going to be glorified up here.

And in this process right here, we have a sanctification as we're growing, growing, growing, growing.

But it's not a gradual step by step.

It's more like this in our life, if we think about it, you know, but we're finally ending up.

And so there's peaks and valleys in our sanctification.

You know, we struggle at times with the remaining sins, so.

But we have First John 1:9, don't we?

That's right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, and humble clay right here says sanctification is a long, hard road.

And it really is, because we are right.

You mentioned we have a new nature, Right.

When we come to Christ, we have a new nature.

So now we hate the things we once loved, which is sin, and we love the things we once hated, which is God and his righteousness.

But we still, as I think.

I think it's Paul in Ephesians as he talks about, right.

We still battle the old man.

Yeah, right.

The old man still wants to come up, and our job is to beat him back down.

And that's tough because, you know, as you're on this road of sanctification, things that you have left behind that you hate, sometimes they rear their head and they look pleasurable, right?

They.

Well, and then we start to make, you know, kind of these excuses.

Well, what if I just dabble in this a little bit?

You know, I can come back, you know, when.

That's when all the more we need to be fighting.

No.

And we need to run to the Lord in prayer, right?

That's when the battle really begins.

Why?

Because what's that doing that's actually mortifying and putting to death that sin when it rears its head.

And the more we continue to put it to death, the less of an effect it's going to have on us.

Now, that doesn't mean we're not going to have other struggles, but.

Right.

The more we keep putting beating the ones that are behind us.

Right.

The less effective they're going to be.

And then we can focus on.

On the struggles that lie before us.

And we beat those with prayer and diving into scripture, surrounding ourselves with members of the local church who can encourage us and lift us up and carry us up, leaning on.

On.

On Christ.

Yeah.

So In Romans, chapter 12, talking about the sanctification, now that you've been justified in 12, 1, it says, therefore I exhort you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice, living holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual, spiritual service of worship.

And then this in verse 2, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may approve what is the will of God, what the will of God is in, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

And so when we think about that sanctified life and waking up in these spiritual disciplines that Puritans used to call them duties, you know, it is duty, but it's not in a burdensome way.

It's a freeing way, filling up our minds with Christ, filling up our minds with the word of God, listening to sermons, you know, and if we're busy doing those things, it's going to really help us kill our own sin in our heart and those things that are.

That are attractive to the flesh.

Right.

Yeah.

And, you know, I'm.

I'm glad you brought in Romans 12, because that do not be conformed to the world.

Right.

Well, that's something active that, that we are to do.

Right.

And for the listeners, that means do not be pressed into the mold.

Yeah.

Of the world to be shaped as to look as the world looks.

And so I, I always.

I'm always beside myself when I am talking to someone and they're professing to be a Christian, and yet the most vulgar things come out of their mouth.

Yeah.

And I go, I don't know about that.

Which, you know, I was listening to the interview that Wesley Huff did with Joe Rogan.

Right.

Yeah.

And it's tough listening to Joe Rogan because he spits out, you know, all the, the profanities and stuff.

Yeah.

But Wesley was talking about, you know, where the term vulgate came from.

And the word vulgar comes from a Latin word name that's called vogate.

I think is how you say it in Latin, but it just means the language of the people.

Right.

And so when you think about people speaking vulgar and you think about them, think about it as the language of the people.

Well, as Christians who are supposed to be set apart, we're not to use the language of the people.

Right.

Of, of the modern day people.

Our language is to be holy, it is to be above reproach, it is to be different.

Yeah, yeah, that's good.

That's good stuff.

Yeah, we, you know, me and Chris Huff, a couple years ago we did an episode called watch your mouth and we were talking about a guy.

Well, we were talking about Mark Driscoll one, but then we were also talking about a guy that we call Dollar General.

Mark Driscoll.

It's a guy he and I both know personally.

And just the things that would come out of his mouth from the pulpit right there, it wasn't profane, but it was crass.

Yeah.

And it was like a Christian should not be saying those things from, especially from the pulpit to the congregation.

Oh yeah.

So, yeah, definitely.

You know, and yeah.

Humble Clay, you know, said it's a hard habit to break it.

It is.

Yeah.

But I, I think that if you set your mind on doing it because you do have the Holy Spirit, you do have the power of God.

And again, what are we filling up our minds with?

You know, if we are, if we aren't filling up our minds with scripture and sermons, then it's going to be easier to, to fall back into that habit.

But if we, the more we immerse ourselves in the scriptures and let God work, let God's word transform your heart in your mind.

I, I think it, I think you're going to be.

Find that you'll have an easier time doing it.

So you can do it, man.

You can do it.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

I mean, I, I agree it is, it is a hard thing to break.

And I mean, even times where like when I was doing FedEx, I did FedEx for a long time as a driver, it was some of the most frustrating work because you've got this truck that's full of all these packages and they just get bigger and they get heavier.

And then you see, like, because I was delivering out in the country and you see all these people with all these big trucks and they look very pretty and I'm like, how about you put that truck to use and go to the store and get your own package?

Package?

Yeah.

You know, but it's like, you know, the first thing that would go.

Would be my mouth when I saw some of the most just ridiculous things.

Like I, I remember walking on my truck one day and I saw this Walmart package and I, I picked it up and it was just a thing of paper plates.

Yeah.

And I was just like, you've got to be like paper plates.

And the address was a house that was right across the street from a Walmart.

And I was like, you just, you gotta, you gotta be kidding me.

But yeah, it is the, the language thing.

I would say the language thing is a.

Is a really hard thing to break because as we're growing up, right before salvation has taken place.

Right.

As adolescents, as kid.

Middle schoolers.

Right.

I remember being a middle schooler and everyone thought it was just the coolest thing when you were speaking vulgarities.

Yeah.

All over the place or you're listening to the music that.

That's all they talk about.

And you know, so.

And then you turn on tv, right.

And it's all on tv and every show even more so now.

Every show, every movie.

Right.

You can't get away from it.

Yeah.

And so it is one of those hard things.

Right.

Because you've been ingrained in it.

Sure.

For so many years, day in and day out.

But I will say, you know, when the Holy Spirit does take hold.

Right.

There should be a conviction there.

Yeah.

Matter of fact.

And, and as you grow and most of the Christians here, I, I would assume that you guys would be able to testify to this.

Especially if you've been a Christian for any time.

It probably grieves you to hear GV now, you know.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

You know, I mean, my wife, you know, we'll just be walking, we'll just listen to it and, you know, we'll hear somebody rude in the store or something like that.

Just, you know, just cussing up a storm.

And it's just like, you know, and it's to the point now I'm just gonna say, hey, man, just cool it.

Cool.

Cool down the language.

You don't have to talk like that around public and stuff.

Yeah, but.

Yeah, man, it's.

But, you know, what would we expect the world to do?

I mean, that's what they do.

But yes, I mean, you should be grieved when we hear your certain words, things that, that displease God.

And it's like you said earlier, that you hate the things that you once loved.

And even better that we should hate the sins that God hates, you know, so.

The same way.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

I mean, I'll Go a step further even.

Yeah.

Hearing someone say GD really just.

It irritates me.

But hearing professing Christians.

Oh, using omg oh, yeah, yeah.

And taking the Lord's name in vain.

Even the acronym, it bothers me now sometimes.

What was it?

The.

The.

The L, A M O F or whatever.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I.

I see that.

And it's like, what does that stand for?

Stop it.

You know, Stop.

Right.

You know, just say you're laughing.

Right?

You know that's right.

Yeah.

I don't.

I don't have to.

So I'll say a lot of times someone will send me something, and it might be funny, it might not.

I don't know.

I'll just put lol Right.

Whether I'm laughing or not.

Yeah, I do it.

I got in the habit of doing it to my wife, and she says, you're not really laughing.

And I'm like, well, yeah, I didn't know what to say, but, you know.

Yeah, but I don't need to tell someone, you know, add all of these extra adjectives in my laughing and, you.

Know, and I even think that some of those.

Like the what?

I don't even know.

What is it?

LMOF or something like that or AF or whatever it is and everything.

I think a lot of people put that down, not even thinking.

I think it just means laughing to them.

But what does it stand for?

You know, type of thing.

Yeah, yeah.

So, yeah, Christians, come on, we got to do better.

We really.

We need to come up with our own emoji.

Somebody who's good with computers.

Start the own Christian emojis.

Yeah, yeah.

All we have is the.

The same prayer hands that.

That everybody else.

Right?

Yeah, that's it.

All right, next question.

It says small sins and large sins have a payment yet.

Colossians 2.

All sin was paid at the cross, so how can there be a difference?

So my first question to the person that sent this in would be, I don't have enough information to go and to answer your question, like, I don't exactly know what you mean.

Are there.

Are there small sins?

Are there large sins?

I mean, to the sinner.

Yeah, there are.

Right?

Because we would say the little white lie is not the same as committing a murder.

Right, Right.

So.

But at the end of the day, all sin is worthy of death, right?

So.

So while we put categories on small and large in the eyes of God, we would say, okay, yeah, but they're all deserving of death.

All sin sent Christ to the cross.

Right?

So.

So I would say there is no difference in sin because the penalty is the same.

Right.

We've offended an all powerful holy, holy, holy God.

One sin.

You know, if we've committed one sin, we are guilty of them all.

All.

And even, even more so than that, it's we, we have a broken relationship because Adam was our representative.

He was our covenant head.

Are you covenantal, by the way?

Yes.

Okay, so he was our covenant.

Sometimes when you say federal head and some people think that that just means a, a representative.

It's more than that, that Adam was our covenant head in the garden.

He was our representative.

Presented there are.

The sin was imputed to all of mankind in the fall.

And anybody born of natural generation from the time of Adam on has inherited Adam's sin guilt.

Through Adam we, we've inherited his sin guilt.

And so it is by nature.

It is by nature we are children as wrath.

The scripture says.

Psalm 51:5 said, David said, behold, I was shaping an iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me.

So we by nature, we are guilty.

Our position before God is guilty.

So that's the issue.

It's because we've inherited Adam's sin guilt.

So what's the wages of sin?

It's death, the scripture says.

And so we need the better Adam, who is Christ to come in.

He, he, he did what Adam could not do.

He, in his act of obedience came into the world born of a virgin conceived by the Holy Spirit.

He didn't have a human nature that Adam did.

So he didn't inherit Adam's sin like the rest of all mankind.

Right.

And he walked this earth and he lived the life that we are required to live in perfect obedience, being tempted in every way as we are yet without sin.

And he went to the cross and he took on the sin that was deserved me, the punishment that I deserve.

And it was put on him.

And, and you know, and he, he made that sacrifice for sin in his, in his passive obedience.

And then his righteousness is being put on your crown.

And if you're covenantal, which, which Drew says he is, as goes the king, so go the people.

And so if you are in the king, if you are in Christ, you know, so goes the people.

The people are going to fall.

So that was, that's what it means to be in, in Christ, in unity with Christ is that, that we have the benefits of being in him as our new covenant head, the better covenant head.

Right.

You know, I'm glad you brought up Romans 5, because in the Smith wigglesworth group today, someone posted this thing about Charles Finney.

And I was like, oh, goody.

And so I, I just happened to put a quote or not a quote, but a comment in there.

And I said, charles Finney, he denied original sin.

He denied justification by faith.

He denied the imputed righteousness of Christ.

He denied.

What is it?

It was the progressive sanctification.

So he.

He viewed as sanctification as our need to work to maintain justification.

Right.

So, so I put in all these things that he.

That he denied.

Right.

Core Christian beliefs.

And so he, by that he's an admitted Pelagian.

And someone came in and said, you know, are you a Calvinist?

And I said, well, what does that matter?

Like, what does that matter whether I'm a Calvinist or not?

And he said, well, because you're.

You're using these words that didn't exist until Augustinian, Calvin, Calvinistic thought came into being.

And I was like, no, actually, if you just read the Bible, yeah.

You can get these.

Yeah.

And so I took him to Romans, chapter five, and, you know, just talking about, you know, original sin and how we are affected and, you know, and here's where we get, you know, through Adam, Paul sinned.

That's right.

Because Adam sinned.

We all sin, so we are born sinners.

That's our nature.

And because that's our nature, right.

We need a Savior because we by default cannot live out the righteous requirement of Christ.

So we need a Savior that is not tainted by sin, that is not born of man, but rather born of a virgin, so he doesn't have that sin nature.

Right.

So that he can live out the requirement for us.

And then on the cross, right.

We get the atonement.

Right.

Once we believe, we get the atonement.

So we're covered in Christ's righteousness.

Christ's righteousness is impugned to us, so it's credited to us.

So that now when God looks at us, he doesn't see us in our sinfulness.

He sees us clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

And then he looks at the cross and he sees our sin paid for because our sin was then imputed to Christ on the cross.

Wow.

And so, I mean, it's like you to.

To say that you.

You want to follow Charles Finney and that he denies knowing that he denies this, the original sin.

Yeah.

And how our nature is sinful.

If that's the case, we have no need for a Savior because that means we then have the ability to live out God's law.

And, and procure that righteousness on our own.

Right?

Yeah, yeah.

If there was any other, if there was any other way other than Christ's death on the cross, I mean, would not God, would not God provide that way or make a provision like that and everything?

But that's not the case.

He crucified, he poured out the entirety of hell on his only begotten Son.

And so that's why if we reject such a great salvation of that, I mean, he cannot, he's not going to let you slide.

And if he poured out his wrath on his only begotten Son, that the sacrifice has been made.

So either I'm going to pay the penalty for my sin or Christ did it on the cross.

Well, Christ did it on the cross.

If I pay the penalty for my sin, it's, it's eternal damnation.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, and that's what, so we did family discipleship.

We do it on Sundays because on Sundays we go to my parents house and my mom cooks for everyone and then we do Bible study after we eat.

And so we were in, I think we were going through first Corinthians.

I think we were in first Corinthians, chapter one.

And we were, and I was just going, just kind of phrase by phrase, you know, section by section, reading it, explaining it, asking questions.

And I was, I was telling them, I said, so can I pay the penalty for your sin, right?

Can I die for you and your sin so that you would be saved?

And everyone said, no.

And I said, that's right.

You know, I can't die for you.

I don't have the righteousness to give you.

I can't die in your place.

I'm not a worthy sacrifice.

Right?

I said, now can I die for myself?

If I were to die for myself, can I procure my own salvation?

No.

And I said, that's right.

Because that's just called justice.

Then I'm just getting the wage I deserve anyway, right?

Absolutely.

Yeah.

The, the work, the working of sin that I did in my life, for me to die for myself is just the, the payment that's owed, you know, the death is owed.

Right.

So I need that.

I, I need that sacrifice that stands in my place.

Right?

And I need that representative, right?

Because we were talking about Adam as our representative, right?

I need someone to represent me to God.

So that's it.

So it's, it's not just, it's not just Christ taking our guilt and our shame and nailing it to the cross without Christ's righteousness On our account, we're still not counted righteous.

Right.

So in other words, being forgiven is not enough.

We need.

Yeah, we need Christ righteousness.

Yeah.

Coming back, taking your.

Taking your.

Your bank account from the red.

Right.

And canceling it out your negative credit and bringing it to zero doesn't help you.

Right.

You need it to be in the black.

Right.

You need the positive righteousness that's in order to stand before God.

And that's what Christ does as our representative because he represents us to the Father so that, you know, when God looks at us, he sees Christ.

Right.

So, yeah, you look at the requirements that Jesus had to live.

Notice how God didn't send forth his son as an adult.

Adult.

Right.

He sent him.

Or as a.

He sent him as a baby.

He sent him growing in knowledge and.

And living a full life.

Why?

Because he was a complete substitute.

He was circumcised on the eighth day because that's what the law required.

And so he.

He fulfills the law and all of that in his act of obedience with us, fulfilling the life that we are required to live.

It is.

I mean, no man can make up this whole story.

It's just absolutely incredible.

Right?

I mean, that's why when you look at every other religion, what is it?

It's you having to work to God.

Yeah.

But yet here it's.

It's God coming down, taking your place, doing it for you, and then inviting you in to say, just repent of your sin and believe on me.

Right.

And you will be credited with my righteousness.

And you will be an adopted son and adopted daughter.

And not only an adopted son or an adopted daughter, but an heir.

Yes.

Meaning one who is equally worthy to receive the glory.

That's.

That's incredible.

Yeah, yeah.

No man.

No man can make that up.

And meditate on that.

Right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Good stuff.

Good stuff.

It's a good thing Andrew's not here.

Yeah, we.

We wouldn't be talking about covenant theology.

I know.

What about half is he.

He's dispensationalist, isn't he?

He would.

He would say he's a leaky dispensationalist, like jump.

That's where he would fall.

Hey, who we got here?

Oh, yeah, hold on.

Hey, brother.

How are you, man?

Man, I'm glad to see you.

We communicate on Facebook all the time.

Yeah, so, yeah, just.

Yeah, he just confirmed everything that you just said.

Christ not only came to die on our behalf, but he also came to live on our behalf, thus securing the innocence and the righteousness of God requires the passive and active obedience of Jesus Christ.

That's the gospel.

Amen, brother.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's good stuff.

Yeah, that should.

Just thinking about that aspect, right?

Yeah.

The gospel as a whole.

First, just the guy.

Because every aspect of the gospel, you can take and you can break down and take it deeper.

Yeah, right.

I mean, you can never.

And this is why I get frustrated with preachers, that they just.

They come Sunday morning and that, you know, I just didn't know what to preach.

Well, preach the gospel, because every aspect of the gospel, you can go deeper and deeper and deeper, and you can never exhaust its riches.

Yeah.

And so thinking and meditating, which is one thing Christians don't do anymore either, is meditation.

Right.

Meditating upon the gospel should always bring you to a place of worship.

Absolutely, absolutely.

You know, when we were talking about sanctification either earlier, and you think about meditation, you know, what do you just meditate on the cross?

Meditate on.

On the suffering?

Meditate of Christ in the garden when he goes before the Father broken.

You know, meditate on.

On that.

God demonstrates his love towards us even while we were yet sinners.

God came as a man to live as a man, to die as a man for men.

I mean, it's.

Meditate on that.

And.

And then.

And then think about your sin.

Yep.

It should kill it.

It should kill it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I like this comment, right.

Bible care and share Fellowship says I don't claim that leaky stuff.

And so.

So one of the things I always tell Chris Huff is whenever he says that is I said, look, I worked in plumbing for a little bit, and I know that if something's leaking, that means it's broken and you should probably fix it.

That's right.

See, Andrew ain't here.

We could do this.

See, now, next week he's gonna come back in and he's gonna clean it up.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

You know, he just did.

Andrew just did a show with Keith Oski.

Did you watch that on.

So Keith Oski did a show on asking different dispensationalists, you know, their views and stuff.

It's interesting that the three of them didn't agree.

Yeah, there.

There was.

There was one guy.

I can't remember what his name was, but yeah, there was.

There were leaks all over all sports, put it that way.

There are three leaks.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Weird.

Weird.

Yeah.

So.

All right, let's get to.

Let's get to this last one here.

And then if anyone has any in the.

In the chat, you know, feel Free to put them in and we'll address them because we've got what, another 40 minutes to go.

This one says, is blood transfusion biblical.

I don't see it in the Bible.

I, I don't see it in the Bible either.

And you know, it's, that's kind of one of those questions.

Actually, we do have one more question that Andrew, that Andrew sent us.

Oh yeah, we do.

I just remember the thing of like blood transfusion.

So you're taking blood from one source and putting it through your body so that you can live.

I mean, I don't see it in the Bible.

I don't know that that would be sinful.

Right?

I, I don't, I don't see it sinful.

Matter of fact, I would, I would say, you know, God has given us, you know, doctors and, and medicines that, that weren't spoken of in the scriptures and.

Right.

And, and medical remedies that weren't spoken of in the scriptures that we use.

I think as long as it doesn't violate anything that he has said, probably.

I mean, I, I don't know if that would be the argument I would want to make.

I don't, I, I can't see it in scripture being sinful.

I would think that it might be a grace.

Yeah.

Right.

Because I mean, you think about if, especially if you are a Christian, right?

And maybe you're suffering from some kind of disease, you know, something's going on where you need a blood transfus, a brother or sister who matches your blood type steps in and says, I will give you my blood.

Right.

So, so that you can fight this, so that you can stay alive.

Right?

Yeah, that's absolutely a grace even.

What about organ transplants?

If we expand it a little bit.

Yeah, see, see, I'm for organ transplant, right.

I'm an organ donor on my license.

That way if I die, you know, if something happens to me, my organs can be harvested to help save someone else's life.

Sure.

Matter of fact, and that would take away from fetal harvesting, you know, as well, you wouldn't need, I think that the stem cell harvesting that they do.

Right.

So yeah, I think that that would be.

I don't see here what is.

I'm reading one of the comments here.

Oh, the 11th Commandment.

He's just joking.

Okay.

But bond, servant for Jesus, Melissa, she says isn't Christian science people against that.

So Christian science, which is neither Christian nor science, they are, they're against medicines, they're against going to doctors, they're against, they're against any form of that.

And so, yeah, they would.

They would be against that.

And, you know, the.

The strain.

Christian Science has done a lot of damage to people.

So, you know, I think of one person who's.

Who's actually a rock star.

His name is Miles Kennedy.

He's a singer.

And so he.

He actually partnered with Slash, the guitar player from Guns N Roses, you know, like, years ago and went on tour together.

And as a singer, I think he has one of the best voices ever.

But I was listening to him do some interviews, and he was talking about some things in his life from when he was growing up, because if you listen to his songs, a lot of them are like anti God.

And, you know, that just happened to be one of the things I picked out.

And I was wondering, like, why is he so anti God?

Like, there's a hatred there.

And I was listening to an interview he gave about when he was younger and growing up.

Well, he was a part of Christian Science, and his dad got cancer and the Christian Science, because they don't believe in doctors and medicines, he wasn't allowed to go to hospitals in order to get chemo and things like that that would, you know, possibly cure the cancer.

And his dad ended up dying.

And that's where he got this hatred for Christians in the church.

And I wanted so badly and one, an old church I used to.

I used to go to our sound tech actually worked in a recording studio in Atlanta.

And sorry I had to do it.

Because it's the Braves right now and we're upset, of course, but.

But he worked at a recording studio in Atlanta, and he got to meet Miles Kennedy, work on some projects he was doing.

And I was like, man, if you ever get a chance to work with him again, let me know, because I would love to talk to him about this and tell him how that's not Christianity and how he's upset about it with a God that he doesn't know and then give him the glories of the gospel.

So, yeah, Christian Science, you know, does a lot, just like every other cult, you know, it does a lot of damage to a lot of people.

Sure, Definitely.

All right, so I think we're on to the next question, which was the last.

Is the last one.

And let me pull it up.

What?

He's that number seven?

Yep, Number seven.

He says, can a woman sing on stage during a worship service?

Depends how good of a singer they are.

No, I'm just so.

Oh, where'd you go?

Oh, my gosh.

He.

He clicked off or something like that.

So he said that his, he said that his, his Internet might fail.

So it is.

So.

So it's on me answering the question.

Hopefully he's coming back.

I think he's trying to.

There he is.

All right.

Oh, bro, you just got raptured.

Yeah.

So usually before, like anything cuts out, it'll start slowing down and cutting in and out and then it'll drop.

This just like immediately dropped.

It was the weirdest thing.

So, yeah, it depends on how good a singer.

Yeah.

So this is where I, I'm gonna go.

So I could tell you again, I'm not a pastor.

I'm.

I, I attend Grace Bible Church of Bernie.

We do have.

I gotta be careful.

We do have a, A female singer.

We have.

One of the elders actually leads the music of the church, which I am wholeheartedly in agreement with.

It's a TMS church, so the guys have graduated from the master seminary.

So the elder leads the music.

He's one of the guys that's singing.

We don't have a choir.

We're really not big enough for that.

And then we do have a person that sings on the side and she is on stage.

I'm.

I hold to 1689 federalism.

I would probably prefer not.

I would not go with that route if, if I was the pastors.

But this is the church and the elders that I submit to.

So they've made that decision and they allow it.

That would not be something that I hold to.

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah.

So because I did worship for a long time, me and Chris Huff played together at church.

And then before that I was eight years or so with another church as a guitar player.

And so I've been in a lot of different settings.

Right.

Yeah.

And I previously, I've never saw an issue with it.

Never had a problem with it because I played with some fantastic singers.

Right.

Yeah.

The problem with that is you're getting into the performance base rather than the worship base of what the singing is supposed to be about.

Amen.

And so we have to look at what scripture says.

And I mean, scripture is very clear as the role of the woman inside the church.

Now, I would say there's many places within the church where women can serve, and I think they do serve faithfully.

The more I grow in this area because I am pro head covering.

Right.

I'm pro head covering.

We did a three hour episode on Matter of Theology about head coverings.

I, I think that the role should be for men singing on the state.

Now, I don't.

Darren Said he might disagree with me and where I land.

So I'm not sure where Darren.

I mean, Darren 1689.

So.

Yeah, so I.

I think so where I would go, probably Ephesians.

Let me go to Ephesians 5.

One sec.

Let me get my phone out.

Singing homes, singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.

Yep.

That.

That is a.

That is teaching.

There is a teaching aspect of.

Of ministry.

And so when you look at.

When you look at that, what does scripture say about who the teachers are?

That number one, they're authoritative.

There are men in the church.

Singing and worship is.

Is a.

Is a ministry of teaching.

Teaching.

And when a woman, you know, as you're worshiping corporately and in song, in hymns and spiritual songs, singing about these words, when you're pondering, when you're meditating on the words that are being sung in worship, it is also feeding your own soul.

Feeding your souls corporately.

It's teaching.

And so that.

That role, according to scripture, has been given to men.

So that's.

That's exactly why I would.

I would say that that's where I would lean.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Now the hard part is most churches have men and women both singing on stage.

Yeah.

And I think it's because they view it as.

It's okay to lead in singing.

Now I.

Because for.

Because as I've progressed in this area.

Right.

I was okay with women singing.

Well, first I was okay with women leading the worship service as songs.

Right.

As the worship leader.

Then I progressed and matured and I was like, well, no, if you're leading, it needs to be men.

That.

Because that's a role that.

First of all, the chief worship leader is the pastor.

He sets the tone.

And then the one leading who's doing the call to worship, who's leading the songs should be a man.

And women can sing on stage.

And then the.

But the more I've come into.

Right.

Looking at worship as a teaching aspect, because before I didn't really view it as a teaching aspect.

Yeah.

And now I do.

That should be for the men.

Right?

Yeah.

And.

And so I think Darren brings it up.

That's a.

Can I.

Yeah.

So he's looking at it as a woman is accompanying a man.

And so what our church does, we have the elder up there and he's leading the singing, and then there's a lady there.

Right.

But then you get into the entertainment aspect too.

Why is it necessary?

I don't.

I don't think so.

I mean, she has a great voice.

The.

The women that we have that sing.

But like, in terms of teaching, and then when you're worshiping corporately, there's also men in there.

Well, what does the scripture say about teaching?

And can she, you know, participate in that?

So.

But, you know, that's a.

That's a tough one.

It is, yeah, it is.

Yeah.

Especially with all the stigma now.

That's because.

Oh, so.

Because we say that, right?

And then.

And then someone's gonna take that and go, oh, so you hate women.

Yeah.

No, we never said that, actually.

Yeah, exactly.

So what about women?

You know, you have a women's conference and stuff like that.

That's them singing up there before, you know, they're obviously teaching it.

I.

What.

I don't even know your position on women teaching.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm.

I'm definitely against women preaching.

Yeah.

I personally, I don't think there's a need for women's conferences because I think all.

Everything that's taught in a woman's conference can be taught local church.

Yeah.

You know, so there's no end.

Plus, when you look at women's conferences, when we see a lot of the things that have been brought into the church, like crt, they have come in through women's conferences because they get those speakers that are well known, and, you know, they.

They have that.

That they're connected with the world also.

And so they're looking at kind of these racial tensions and all that stuff, and they get easily influenced by.

By false gospels and then they bring that into a conference, and then the people take that back to the pastor's wives, take that back to their pastor.

Oh, we learned this.

This great thing that we need to be incorporating.

And before you know it.

Right.

You have Acts 29.

Yeah.

And I think that's the issue.

I think even if the intention isn't.

Isn't to.

To draw attention away from men and stuff like that.

When you think about a woman's conference or women teachers, and then you have women who are listening to these women teachers who come in, and even if they're teaching truth, and they very well might be, but then there might be an aspect of.

Of a person who's in the congregation saying, well, wait a minute, she's a woman.

I'm going to listen to her because she can assert.

She.

She's a woman.

She knows how I'm feeling.

She knows the.

She knows what it's like to raise a child, you know, be a mother and.

And have all these things to do.

And.

And I'm gonna.

I click better with her.

She.

She knows me better.

I'm gonna be able to.

And so then they look to a woman teacher instead of what the Bible prescribes, more so than.

Than what the Bible prescribes.

Now, there's.

There is an aspect I will say, because Bible.

The Bible teaches about older men discipling younger men, older women discipling younger women.

And so when I look at someone like Michelle Leslie, Right.

Michelle Leslie is a friend and she's got a podcast.

I think she does great stuff on her.

On her podcast.

I don't always agree with kind of her views and stuff, and we've talked about that, her and I, but I think she does a great job with what she's doing with her podcast and being able to disciple younger women and teach them theology.

Yeah, because women don't need the fluff.

They need theology, and they need to know who Christ is, who they are, who God has made them to be as women in Christ.

And I think, you know, someone like Michelle Leslie, I think she does a great job with that.

Yeah, absolutely.

Kathy, you're right.

Susan Heck is.

Is fantastic.

Martha Peace is another one.

Oh, yes.

Susan Heck.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, these are godly women.

You know, when you look at Titus and it talks about them, you know, how.

How, you know, women are to teach women.

If you tighten that down, I mean, somebody can make an argument that what are they teaching them?

Them, you know, how to be godly women, how to be.

How to submit to their husbands, how to raise up their children.

But you can't do that apart from theology.

I mean, you have to know who God is.

What does God say about submitting to your husband, you know, and stuff like that.

So, yeah, there's.

There's definitely women can contribute to.

To discipling other women, for sure.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Now, we.

We do have a comment by Leslie Lady Hawk here that says, whoa, women's conferences are just fine.

Grace Community has one, doesn't it?

So, so the thing about women's conferences is we're not saying that women's conferences in themselves are bad.

We're just saying things that are talked about in women's conferences.

A lot of them can be discussed in the local church.

You don't have to have a separate women's conference.

But, you know, there are some aspects, you know, because, you know, Susan Heck does conferences.

Right.

Michelle Leslie does conferences where they can be beneficial.

If you have.

I would say if you have the right women teachers who can teach theology to younger women and disciple them or even teach them that teaching Them how to disciple other women in their church.

Church.

I think those things can be beneficial, but those are also things that should be taught in the local church.

Right.

So why do we have conferences?

Right.

We, we have big conference movements and we would, you, I'm sure you would agree.

You've gone to conferences, I've gone to government.

Conferences aren't bad, but at the same time, I think they take away from the local church.

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Yeah.

Good stuff.

Yeah.

So we're not against conferences, but no, you know, at the same time, you know, the local church should be doing it.

Right.

Why do we have seminaries?

Because the local church has quit raising up men and teaching them theology.

So instead they ship them off to seminary for someone else to train them and then they get upset when they come back and their views, theology have changed.

Right.

Well, you didn't raise up the men in your church to, to be able to take over for when you're gone.

Yeah.

And that's a, that.

Oh, that's another conversation in itself.

There's a, there's a local church here and I, I text the pastor, the pastors, he's very elderly, had a couple of heart attacks, almost died a couple years ago, and they don't have very good theology.

And, But I text him and I said, hey, you know, do you have a plan in place?

Right.

Because we're not guaranteed tomorrow.

You more than anyone know that.

You know, your time could be up.

Right.

Do you have a plan in place for who's going to fill the pulpit and you know, when you're gone, you know, are you, have you raised up any godly men to be able to lead Christ Church when, when you're gone?

And his response was one of the most heartbreaking I'd ever seen because he said, he said, well, I have no control over what happens when I'm gone.

Which tells me there's no plan.

And it tells me he doesn't care.

Yeah, yeah, you have.

I mean, you hit when, Golly.

I mean, the number one responsibility of the pastor is to care for a sheep, which includes when you, if something was to happen to you.

You know, when you think about pastoring and shepherding, what are you doing?

For Ephesians, chapter four talks about building one another up, teaching them, equipping men.

These gifts are given to the church to build one another up to, to, to help each other grow in sanctification.

And so there should be.

The number one plan should be to equip men to lead their homes.

Right.

To, to, to go out there and share the gospel and.

And to.

To build up one another in the church, to edify one another in the church.

So there should be somebody in line, several people in line to step up in case something happens to them.

Yep.

You know, you, you, you mentioned being able to equip men to lead their households.

Well, yeah, because.

And I think about conferences like we were talking about, because Leslie says, which I think we already addressed, then why have men's conferences, you know.

Yeah, why have men's conferences?

Because what do we have men's conferences about?

How to be a husband, how to be a father.

Right.

How to do these things.

Well, if.

If your pastor is preaching expositionally through the scriptures.

Right.

That means he's going to come to verses that talk about how husbands should be husbands and fathers, and he's going to equip them.

So there's no need for a church for, For a conference on how to be, you know, a godly husband.

It should be being taught through the scriptures.

Yeah.

By the pastor.

Yeah, for sure.

Definitely.

So let's see.

Let me see if there's anything, any questions that kind of came in that I possibly missed.

Yeah, I had a feeling that women's one was gonna cause a stir.

It caused a couple of ripples.

Not a huge.

Not a bunch of huge waves.

Let's see.

I don't really see any.

All right.

See, Kathy says the local church is the most important.

I would agree.

I think there's a lot that has been taken away from the local church because I think there's a lot of responsibilities now, especially in the mega church movement.

Right.

With some of these prosperity pastors that we've seen.

People like the Stephen Furticks of the day, people think that they can just go become a pastor and then they're going to be rich and then they don't have to do anything else.

Right.

And then they get their.

Where do they get their messages from?

They get their messages from the Holy Spirit on a Saturday night.

Right.

The night before.

But there's no equipping.

And when you look at these churches, you can see they don't have biblical worship.

Right.

They don't hold to the regulative principle.

They want to get away with what they can get away with.

They're all pragmatic when it comes to their services.

And then they just kind of farm out stuff that the local church should be doing.

Right.

Like counseling people.

Right.

Like.

And this is one of the things that we mentioned, Brandon, at the beginning of the show.

This is one thing That I love about Brandon Scalf because if there's something going on in his church, he knows.

He, he, and he's so good about this.

Stopping whatever is less important outside.

Right.

Of the church and then going and dealing with whatever the, you know, a member of their congregation has.

Right.

Whatever need they have.

And he will sit with them and talk with them and pray with them and give them the scriptures and point them to Christ.

Right.

Churches have gotten so, so far away from being biblical churches.

Right.

It's, it's a culture shock when we see one actually pop up.

Right.

And I think it's important too that you notice that it was the shepherd, the one who was appointed to actually shepherd the flock that like, like Brandon to actually, he didn't, he didn't delegate that responsibility to somebody else in the church.

Right.

You know, he, he has the shepherd.

Yeah.

Took it upon, upon himself to care after the soul of the person that is in trouble or needed counseling.

So I think that's, there's a big biblical counseling movement that's going on right now.

And, and I think, yes, it's, it's, it's necessary to come alongside the people in your church to build them up to, you know, older men, teach younger men how to be fathers, you know, teach them, walk them through the scriptures and stuff like that.

But when it comes to sin issues, that's what the shepherds are for.

That's what the elders are for.

That's what they're equipped for.

It's what they're trained for.

Right.

That's why they're, they're appointed by God.

So it's important for that too.

Also.

Just prioritizing, like you were saying, prioritizing the local church.

It's great to listen to other sermons of men.

I, I listen to Jeffrey Johnson a lot.

I listen to Brandon's sermons.

But what is my local church doing?

What is my pastor preaching on?

You know, we have the Internet right now where they didn't have that, you know, even 50 years ago, where we could go examine everybody else's preaching and, and have a preference to go.

You, you belong to your local church.

What are they teaching you?

What is God teaching you through that local church?

That's the way God designed it.

Yeah.

Not, not through Internet and worshiping, through having church on Internet.

So, yeah, we need to be faithful church members and, and, and trust the elders that have been charged over us.

Yeah.

You know, there's a lot of good things you touched on in there.

First, if anyone wants a good book on the church.

Jeffrey Johnson's book, the Church is really good because he goes over the nature and the function and the purpose of the church.

Tom, you'll probably remember, like, a couple months ago, I was reading through the church and I was posting quotes from Jeffrey on.

On Facebook.

Yeah.

And because it's just so good, the detail that he goes into in describing the church, and he does so biblically.

Yeah.

So, yeah, we.

We need to understand the local church.

We need to get back into it and put a focus on it.

And like you're saying, the Internet has really done a disservice, you know, and that's kind of the, like the catch 22 with the Internet.

There's a lot of good things we have on there because it's great to go listen to other people's sermons, and I love doing it, and I'm edified.

Right.

But at the same time, it draws the focus away from your local church pastor because you've set in your mind your own standard of what your pastor should sound like.

Yeah.

Rather than focusing on, okay, my pastor is faithful.

He is teaching from the scriptures.

He is a godly man.

He is demonstrating, you know, through his life and through his preaching what it means to be a godly husband, a godly father, a godly leader in the church.

Right.

You know, I can see the way he lives.

And he's above reproach.

Right.

Because, you know, for a long time, and our listeners know this, my oldest son, who, you know, kind of came in here before bedtime.

Yeah.

His name is Lawson, and he's named after Steve Lawson.

Yeah.

And for, you know, and it was listening to Steve Lawson's sermons that actually built up the unction.

The Holy Spirit, I will say, use Steve Lawson to build up that unction in me to preach.

Sure.

To become a preacher and get into ministry.

And then what do we see?

Well, we see his sinfulness.

Right.

We see that he is but a man.

But what happens.

Right.

I.

For a long time, I was viewing churches that we visited or anything like this.

I was saying, Steve Lawson's the standard.

You need to meet him.

Right.

Yeah.

Well, that is such a disservice.

You know, and now I have.

I.

You know, even before Steve Lawson's fall, there had been a.

You know, I hadn't listened to him in a long time because there's other people I.

That.

That I truly benefit from, like Dr.

John Snyder.

I truly benefit from.

From his teaching and, of course, Brandon.

But when I look at the church that my wife and I go to, so we're going through the process now of becoming members of that church.

And.

But we had been visiting for a while before then, and I look at the preacher and, and I told him this.

I said, you know, some of these mess, these texts you're, you're preaching, I've already, I've preached them.

And you.

And the way you start, I go, I don't know why he started there, but then by the end of the message, I'm so edified and I'm so pointed to Christ.

Yeah.

That I'm going, oh, that was a great message.

Yeah.

You know, it's interesting you say that because I, I've been.

And just admittedly I'll be guilty of, of I was a lost.

And I would, would listen to him.

You know, when you look at the nuts and bolts of preaching, the man was it.

Yeah.

And, and, and he was, he was useful.

He was useful to the kingdom.

God used them for the kingdom until he disqualified himself, unfortunately.

But then there's others like Vodi Bakam and stuff like that.

But the one thing.

And all these guys are, you know, including Alistair Begg.

Listen, he's listening.

John MacArthur, I mean, Jeffrey Johnson, another one.

We listen.

We're going through Ephesians, through Jeffrey Johnson's right now, my wife and I.

And.

But one thing that they can't do is, is I can't look at them face to face on every Sunday and see the compassion of the heart of my pastor, Michael Beck at Grace Bible Church, who has, who was a, who was a loving husband, who is a loving shepherd, and you could see his life and his doctrine and the way, the way he is.

You know, in a matter of fact, it was Brandon who said this to me one time.

He said, tom, look for an elder in your life that if something was to happen to you, would care for your children's souls and you, you would fully trust in that.

And I can say that, and that that should be the standard is that when you're going to look for a church, look for an elder that if something was to happen to.

He's going to care for the souls of your children.

Yeah.

Advice from Brandon scalp right there.

And you know, we found that in, in, in our church right now.

And like I said, I don't agree with them doctrinally 100%.

Right.

But I can tell you this, that, that the man is a faithful man and God has put him over me and it's, it's a blessing.

I mean, we, we need to, we need to be staying faithful To.

To the church that we belong to.

Yeah, yeah.

Amen.

Amen.

Yeah.

And that is a good word.

And you know what?

I think that's a good word to go right into our sponsors because we haven't mentioned them all.

Show.

We've just been kind of going through some of these questions.

So if you need a pillow, if we've put you to sleep talking about all this gospel stuff and this Bible stuff and church stuff, go to my pillow.

Right.

MyPillow.com use the discount code SFE and you get some sort of a discount.

I don't know what it is, but, you know, you get a discount.

I think it's like 15 or something.

Like Andrews, you know, I.

He's probably watching this whole time.

Yep.

Brayden Scalvis, the bomb.

You know, I tried to get.

I've text Brandon.

I told him he should come on now.

When we get done, I'm gonna text and be like, hey, we pretty much talked about you the whole show.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He's in deep trouble.

Yeah.

I'm gonna take a picture of a cigar.

I'm gonna.

I'm gonna tell him that you're mad at him that he didn't show up.

Absolutely.

Definitely.

Yeah.

He sent me a picture.

I think it's like in the snow.

In the snow.

Snowing in Tulsa right now, I guess.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's probably making its way here to Georgia.

But if you need a.

If you need a good, comfortable pillow, you know, get you a.

My pillow.

I know Andrew talks about their mattress stoppers.

Supposedly they're good, I guess, you know, get one and try it.

Let me know.

I only have Andrew as a reference to go off of.

So I need, you know, a little more reliable one.

The slippers, I hear.

Fantastic.

So go ahead and grab you some of those.

Just go to mypillow.com use the discount code SFE.

If you're looking to wake up from, you know, sleeping on your Mypillow and you need that extra kick in the morning, get you a cup of Squirrelly Joe's coffee.

Right.

Go.

You know, I don't know.

Squirrelly Joe's website, probably squirrellyjoes.com I think that the discount code.

There's SFE also, but, you know, get you some coffee.

I know he's got colorful names for him.

Integrity, Honesty, which apparently is the name of decaf, which isn't very honest because it's not really coffee, I don't think.

Right.

But he's.

Now, I.

I do want to get some because from Everyone I've heard that's tried it.

They've said it's amazing, that it's really good.

So I'd like to get some and, and try it.

I like really strong coffee.

Do they have whole beans?

Do you know?

I.

I've not.

I don't.

To where you grind them yourself.

Yeah.

So like we just got a espresso machine and.

And I think we're trying another cop.

I won't, I won't mention it.

To.

I don't want to step on squirrels.

I don't know if they have whole beans.

That's a good question.

Yeah, that's a good question.

But I would like to try some of their coffee on the Squirrely Joe's.

And then if you are looking for some good Bible software, go to Logos.

Logos Bible software is good discount code.

SFE I have Logos.

I use it whenever I'm.

If, if I'm preaching and I'm preparing a sermon.

I, I love their word study that.

That comes there so I can go through a text.

Oh, Andrew says yes, they do have whole beans.

Cool beans.

So yeah, it's a lot of beans flying around.

That's right.

But Logos is, is a really great.

Especially if you want to want a digital library because you can grow your library.

They have so much stuff in there.

Almost every commentary you you can think of.

It's great.

You can pull up multiple resources on the same page and have it all just right in front of you.

It's really great.

Okay.

Andrew gave me the website here.

Strivingforeeternity.org Coffee and you can get your Squirrely Joe's coffee.

Boom.

I like it.

I like it.

I mean personally I don't really drink a whole lot of coffee.

I'm more of an energy drink guy.

Which is way bad for you.

Yeah.

But I mean every now and then I get coffee.

It's usually a weekend thing for me.

I gotta try.

You know, now that I'm a co host, I.

I should be getting some samples.

I'm thinking.

Right.

You would think.

But I've been a ghost and I haven't even gotten any samples.

Nothing.

Not even a pillow.

Not even.

No slippers.

I've got a pillow.

Andrew sent me a.

So me and a couple years ago, me and Jim Osmond did a show where we were having a discussion about pre millennialism and post millennialism.

And who won?

Nobody.

Millennialism won the day.

All millennialism won the day.

There we go.

But Andrew actually sent me and Jim my pillow and I have it.

And then it got stolen from me by my wife.

And then.

So I got another one.

I got another one.

I.

I did go and I used the.

The code SFE to get the discount on the pillow.

And then when that pillow arrived, it got stolen again from my.

By my son.

So he sleeps on my, my pillow every night.

Wow.

Yeah.

So they must be good.

Sounds like they're good.

They are.

They are really good.

And then like throw them in the dryer, fluff them up, you know, it's.

It's great.

They are really comfortable.

I like them.

And then apparently my wife and my kids like them too, because they keep stealing it from me.

So.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I have to try some of these other things though, like coffee.

Yeah, I hear.

I hear people.

People like coffee.

I love coffee.

Yeah, we gotta.

Gotta do the coffee thing.

Yeah.

Is it taste like what?

So we just got the espresso machine and it's a learning curve using it and everything.

But now, wow, game changer for the coffee.

So my wife makes something called the flat white, and it's espresso.

She steams up the milk and puts in there.

So I'm on.

My wife and I are on carnivore diet like Brandon.

Okay.

And so we, we added that.

So we use cream instead of milk on that.

And I mean, man, it's just so good and kind of a higher jolt now with the, with the caffeine there.

It's good, good stuff.

And if you smoke cigars, it's great with cigars.

The.

The espresso.

Yeah.

Yeah, really good.

I haven't had a cigar in a long time.

No, I'd really like to have one.

Yeah.

So, yeah, we gotta.

We.

I'll meet you in Tulsa and we'll hit up Brandon, go to cigar lounge.

Perfect.

Yeah, that's what we got to do.

That sounds good.

Yeah, I like that.

I like that plan.

Let's do it.

You know what?

Now.

So in my.

In my job, I think I get two weeks of vacation time.

We plan something.

Yeah, that sounds good.

I like it.

Let's do it.

All right, ladies and gentlemen.

Well, that has been our apologetics live, going through some questions that Andrew received a while back.

We were running through those tonight.

Hopefully our answers were satisfactory to you.

But I mean, what we wanted to do, of course, is point you towards Christ, magnify Christ in all that we do.

So next week, Andrew's going to have a debate that's going on about the paranormal.

So ghosts, are they spirits?

Are they demons?

Who knows?

I don't know.

I Never.

Never got into the whole ghost thing.

We'll see, I guess.

I guess we'll see what the outcome is.

You'll have to tune in, but until then, strive to make every day a.

Oh, goodness, I haven't done this.

It's tough.

Strive to make each day an eternal day for the glory of God.

Do you have to say that every time?

You don't have to.

So the very first.

Look, the very first time I hosted the show by myself without Andrew, I went to say it, and I couldn't remember what it was at all, and I just completely butchered it.

Kind of like I just did now.

Yeah.

And then I learned it, and then I kept doing it.

I think there was a little tweak of what Andrew usually says, and then I would say that.

But, yeah, that's the first time I've said it in a while and completely butchered it.

So that's okay.

Yeah, that's okay.

You know, you're the new co host now, so you get to learn it.

Wonderful.

Hey, man, it was great being on with you.

Yeah, it was good.

Likewise, brother.

I know we've, you know, commented back and forth on Facebook, you know, for a couple months, so it's good to.

To be able to talk to you and especially, you know, teach Christ to others and point others to him.

So I.

It was.

It was a joy and a blessing for me, brother.

Me too, man.

Yeah, thanks.

Thanks for having me.

Yeah.

Look forward to seeing you soon.

Likewise.

Likewise.

All right, we're gonna get out of here.

So until next time, you.

You'll see Tom and Andrew probably, rather than me, so we're getting out of here.

Bye.