Bible Q&A • Episode 64

I don't think it's wrong for him to go to the parents and say, guys, we love you and we want you in our lives, but you need to back off and let us live our lives. And you need to stop telling us what we have to do, need to do, shouldn't do, can't do, or, or whatever. You need to back off. Hey there, welcome back everybody. I'm Pastor Paul. I'm here with my wife, And we're going to tackle some of your Bible questions, questions that you sent in, and we'll show you at the end of this where you can send your questions. But let's see what we have for this week.

All right, the first one comes from Tanya.

Okay.

And she says, I'm afraid because I've never heard the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Okay.

I'm not sure if it's because I don't read the Word consistently or pray consistently. I'm afraid that one day I'll leave this earth and not hear the Spirit or get close to God. Sometimes I feel stagnant. I'm not sure what to do.

You know, if Tanya were sitting here today, I would ask her, Tanya, do you believe that Jesus saved you through his death on the cross, that, that you're a sinner and that you need him as your Savior? And I'm assuming that Tanya would say, yeah, I believe that. And then I would come back and I'd say, well, you've heard the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we have these expectations of what it means to hear the Holy Spirit, and we, we gain those expectations because other people tell us about their experiences.

Right.

And we come away thinking, well, that's never happened to me. Well, the Holy Spirit speaks in incredible ways, and, and for us to even come to a place of recognizing our sinful condition recognize that Jesus is the Savior. That takes hearing the Holy Spirit. And so I would tell Tanya, don't worry about it. Just keep, keep going through the Word of God. Keep studying, keep reading, keep listening to teaching and take notes and just trust that God is going to speak to you through His Word and that the Holy Spirit is going to get through to you. He already has if you're a born-again Christian.

That's right.

And so don't worry about it. And don't be afraid. Listen, you cannot leave this earth and be disconnected from God. You're never going to be disconnected from God anyway, but as a believer, when you die, you're going to go into the presence of the Lord. And so you just need to put your fears aside and keep studying the Bible and let the Lord straighten some things out in your heart.

Very good. Very assuring. Sue says, hi, Pastor Paul.

Hi.

In studying Galatians, I understand we have liberty and freedom in Christ.

Yeah.

Is it wrong to work on Sunday? Not necessarily a job, but yard work.

Okay, first of all, we need to back up here a little bit because we're talking about the Sabbath, and, and the Sabbath is Saturday. Yeah, it has never been Sunday. Never, ever. God told Israel that he wanted them to do no regular work. Okay, that was what he told them, right? I want you to rest on the Sabbath. But he meant specifically do no regular work. Okay, but again, the Sabbath is Saturday. All right, now what we need to understand going forward is that God gave the Sabbath regulations to Israel, right? Not to the church. Those regulations don't apply. We're not under the law in that sense, and we don't have Sabbath regulations. We don't have a command to do no regular work on any particular day of the week. Now, that being said, is it a good idea to take a day out of the week and rest? I think so.

Sure.

I think physically, spiritually, emotionally, it's a good idea. I would encourage people to look at the, the Sabbath regulations God gave Israel as a very practical and good idea. It is not a religious command. It is not a covenant command. In fact, some of the believers in Paul's day, the Apostle Paul's day, were doing this very thing. They were applying some of the Old Testament Sabbath regulations. And Paul wrote them and he said, you know, I'm kind of worried about you guys because you're keeping special days as if one day means more than another day. And, uh, he, he was kind of trying to communicate to them that that's not the covenant that we're under. So I would tell this person, Um, don't worry about it. First of all, Sunday isn't the Sabbath. Second of all, it's not a command that Christians are under. It was between God and Israel, and God makes that very clear, that the Sabbath regulations were between him and Israel.

Right.

Yeah.

Very good. Paul has a question. He says, in Job 1 and 2, Job's devastating circumstances are connected to spiritual warfare, resulting in tremendous loss and suffering.

Yeah.

When a Christian experiences an unusually concentrated series of severe hardships, is it biblically possible that some or all of these circumstances could involve spiritual warfare rather than being simply the ordinary consequences of living in a fallen world? And how can we distinguish biblically between suffering that is simply a consequence of living in a fallen world and suffering that may involve direct spiritual opposition Or warfare?

Well, that takes discernment in the Spirit. I don't think we can know apart from the Holy Spirit opening our understanding related to those things, because we do live in a fallen world, and we do live in a world where things happen just because of the fallenness of creation after sin came into, into play. However, that being said, I believe the answer is yes. Sometimes devastating circumstances, painful circumstances can in fact be spiritual warfare. That's why Paul told us in Ephesians to be, you know, and Galatians, elsewhere, to be on our guard and to know that when the day of evil comes, that we need to put on the full armor of God and take our stand against the schemes of the devil. So, yes, spiritual warfare is real, but so is just basic fallen world circumstances.

Right. Sure.

So how do we know the difference? Through prayer. You say, Lord— and you know, sometimes I think sometimes people don't pray about it. They assume. They assume that everything bad is spiritual warfare. I think that's wrong. I think that some people assume that everything is just living in a fallen world and the devil has nothing to do with it. I think that's wrong. I think that it could be one or the other. Sometimes it could even be a combination of both, but only through the Spirit. If we have a sense in our heart that there may be some spiritual dynamic to what is happening, um, we just need to go to the Lord in prayer and get a confirmation of that. I'll just say from my own personal experience that in the times in my life that I later discovered were spiritual battles, right? I wasn't aware of it at the time. I had to be made aware.

Sure.

There's— and you know what I'm talking about— there's one particular event in our lives that we were dealing with some very, very severe spiritual warfare.

And oblivious in the moment.

I was totally oblivious to it, and I had to be made aware. And so, you know, I don't think there's anything wrong either with just praying and saying, Lord, If, if, if the enemy is attacking me, please make me aware of it. Please make me aware. Meanwhile, meanwhile, we are to consider all hardship as discipline. We're to consider that whatever is going on in our lives, whether it's spiritual warfare, whether it is just the hardship of living in a fallen world, we're to consider it discipline, the discipline of the Lord. And the word discipline doesn't mean punishment.

Yeah.

It means training.

Yep.

God is training us through the things we endure. So we're to consider everything, uh, training from the Lord. So even if it is spiritual warfare— but if it is spiritual warfare, we're told to resist the devil. Yeah, you know, resist him. Fight— that means fight back and use the word and put on the full armor. And during those times of spiritual warfare, you gotta just make up your mind that you're going to battle in prayer because our battle isn't against flesh and blood, right? It's against spiritual principalities when that is in fact the battle.

Yeah, yeah, good. The next question is from Randy, and he says, I'm a member of First United Methodist Church. Our pastor has a passionate, caring soul but was trained in progressive thinking and teaches that hell is not a real place, that God is inclusive and will provide a good place for everyone, etc. Do I leave my church family of 50 years and the positive work that we have done in our local community, or do I find a way to deal with this?

This is hard stuff, isn't it?

Yeah.

A lot of churches in the United States and elsewhere around the world have, um, gone liberal, progressive.

Well, and what has happened is the church has left the people in terms of spiritually.

Yeah.

And so, and it's very difficult because you've planted yourself there and you've become loyal to the people and loyal to the ministry of the church, and then the church has left theologically.

Yeah, so it is really hard. And, you know, I think what this person is asking is, you know, I've got 50 years experience with this church. It probably wasn't that way when he first started attending the fellowship 50 years ago, and now things have turned progressive. They're really not teaching what's truly in the Bible anymore. And yet he knows that there are good things that are being done by the church, by the members of the church. And what should he do? You know, I can't tell anyone what to do. You have to ask the Holy Spirit what to do and do what he tells you to do. I will just say this. It's very, very difficult to kick against the goads. That's something that Jesus told the Apostle Paul. And what I mean by that is that if your denomination is moving in a progressive direction, and they've really kind of become unmoored in terms of their connection to the Word of God, it's very, very hard. You're probably not going to succeed in getting them to come back.

Right.

Once groups become progressive, they move that direction, and unfortunately, they usually dissolve after they do, you know. So I guess the question really here, the questions that this person needs to ask is, first of all, how should I think about being fed by the Word? Because if I'm not getting that at my church, how am I going to get it? Secondly, yeah, I think we can do good things by being involved with a church that's doing good things, but, you know, social service organizations do good things too, but they don't have the Gospel.

Right.

So, you know, what's the difference between what your church is now doing and a social service organization? if Jesus is kind of left out of it or if the Word of God is kind of being neglected. So those are things to think about. I would just really encourage this person to pray, keep praying. I know it's hard. I know it's hard. People become very devoted and loyal to a particular church body and they'll stay even when the Word of God isn't being taught anymore.

Yeah.

Well, You have tough questions ahead of you, tough issues, tough decisions, and I, and I pray that the Lord will lead you in the way that you are supposed to go.

Yeah, absolutely. And Natalie said, I recently attended a church with a family member that invited me. It began with worship music, then praising the Lord, and continued into inviting the church to bring the offering and/or tithing to God, where you get up and go to the front and give whatever is in your heart to give. Is it necessary to remind people about this every Sunday service, or should giving be done privately?

Well, you know, the Bible says that our giving should be done privately. You know, the left hand is not supposed to know what the right hand is doing as it relates to giving. We're to give in secret. We're to give in such a way that we are not rewarded by men, that they don't see those sorts of things, because the Lord who sees in secret, we're told, will reward us accordingly. You know, it is extremely common in churches today for there to be a section of the service where they either take an offering or remind the people about giving an offering. And those things are perpetuated through tradition. They're sometimes perpetuated— I'll tell you, as a pastor, they're perpetuated by fear that we're not going to get enough money to pay our bills this week, but we don't want to tell anybody, so we're just going to remind them to give.

That's right.

I once told you this. I once attended a church down south in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

This was like 40 years ago.

Oh, this was a long time ago, but they took an offering at the relative beginning of the service, came back later and said they had counted it and it wasn't enough and they were going to do it again. And so, they took a second offering.

I think that probably set a tone for your life of ministry going forward.

Well, that helped. Yeah, that helped. You know, at Calvary Chapel Ontario, We not only didn't take an offering, we never talked about it. We never introduced a time of giving. We never reminded— I shouldn't say we never reminded. We had a silent slide that simply told people how to give.

It gave the details, right.

And the only reason we did that is people kept asking us, how do you give here at this church? And I got kind of tired of answering people's questions, so we put it up on a slide because we had different ways. You could mail your, you know, tithe in, you could, you could do it in the offering box. We even had a number you could text and give that way. Just, we wanted to make it easy and convenient and private.

Sure.

But we never talked about it. We never— yeah. And I think it really went well. And the Lord blessed.

Yeah, he sure did.

And if there are any pastors who are listening to this podcast, can I just challenge you? Stop talking about money.

Yeah.

Stop reminding people about giving. Remind the Lord of your needs in prayer, and, and, and put out— put an offering box somewhere in the building or, or in a couple of places, and just tell your people, hey, listen, from, from now on, we're not going to talk about it anymore. There's the offering box. You want to give, that's where you give. And if you don't, God bless you. That's your business. That's between you and the Lord.

Yeah.

You know, and just leave it alone. People are so tired of hearing about it, and I believe that it, it, um, it can become a hindrance.

Sure.

To people who are trying to set— to prop up excuses why they shouldn't come to church or embrace God and the gospel. Yeah, these people are always talking about money. And you know what? Sometimes they're right. We got to stop talking about money.

Yeah.

I believe that very sincerely.

This is another, another area where technology has helped us to become more biblical. Because, you know, with being able to give online and that sort of thing, that sure privatizes the whole thing.

Totally private.

And it also makes it to where, you know, a person can tithe on payday and, you know, you can truly do the first fruits timing-wise and things like that.

Whether it's a tithe or an offering.

Sure.

And the difference, by the way, just in case anybody knows, a tithe, the word tithe means 10%.

Yeah.

And that's where that word got started. It's an Old Testament word. The Bible does not in the New Testament command us to tithe.

Right.

We're told each person is to give what he has decided in his heart to give, and he's to do so cheerfully. But tithing is a word we use just to kind of speak of offerings. But actually, an offering is different because a tithe is 10% of your income, and an offering is really above and beyond. And a lot of people do that. A lot of people give 20, 30%, and so they give tithes and offerings. And that's the difference there, just in case anyone was wondering.

Sure. Courtney says, hi, Pastor Paul and Sue.

Hi, Courtney.

I enjoy watching your Q&A. Regarding Matthew 5:32, is it a sin for New Testament believers to marry someone who has had a divorce? And is it a sin for New Testament believers who have been divorced to remarry someone else?

It depends on how they got divorced. If someone is divorced because their spouse was unfaithful, maritally unfaithful, they are free to remarry, and there's no sinful act for that person to marry or for someone to marry them. But if someone got a divorce for other than biblical grounds, that person is not to remarry because they are still married, really, in the eyes of the Lord, even though they've dissolved their marriage legally or they're no longer living together. Those things don't break a marriage bond. Just if I were to say to my wife, here to you, I don't want to be married to you anymore, and I went and got a legal divorce, and I went to go live somewhere else, I would still be your husband.

Yeah.

And you would still be my wife, because there was, there was a biblical reason that I had for me trying to end the marriage. We cannot— we can no more end a marriage than we can make a marriage. A marriage is made by God when 2 people come together, make promises to one another before witnesses to love, honor, and cherish till death do they part. That's when God— that is a marriage in God's eyes, and he makes the 2 one, right? We don't make the 2 one again. We can't separate them. What only separates a married couple, according to the Bible, is marital unfaithfulness. And that refers specifically to sexual unfaithfulness. And I know that whenever I say that, I'm inundated with notes with people saying, what about—

Sure.

What about this? What about that? All I'm telling you is what the Bible says.

Yeah.

Okay, that's it. I'm not— I'm not going to entertain the what about questions because I'm not going to try to tell you something the Bible doesn't say. What about this? What about that? No, the Bible says except for marital unfaithfulness, which Paul further defines in his letter, uh, in 1 Corinthians as an unbeliever abandoning a married— their spouse who is a believer. That's another form of marital unfaithfulness, um, in a larger sense, right? So, yeah, that's the situation.

Circumstances get very complicated, and people really need to go to a trusted pastor and work it through.

They really do, because you're right, it is complicated, because there are situations, there are extenuating circumstances to everything. You might be dealing with somebody who got a divorce or was divorced when they were they and their former spouse were both unbelievers, and now they've come to Christ, and the Bible says the old is gone, the new has come, you're a new creature in Christ. Then what? Yeah, you know, am I held to what I didn't know before I was a believer? Those are, those are circumstances that we have to work through.

So the answer here to the question, is it a sin for New Testament believers to marry someone who has had a divorce?

The answer is maybe. It is yes and no, and according to— based on the circumstances.

Yeah, very good. Katie says, at what point do I defend my liberty in Christ to someone who is constantly accusing me of doing something that they believe I shouldn't do, such as wearing jewelry, how many children I should have, or what church I attend? The people in question are my husband and my parents. Uh-oh.

And that really—

Uh-oh. I'm sorry, Katie.

Yeah, that really, uh, causes even further— I mean, It's one thing if it's like you have a nosy neighbor.

Yeah.

You know, who comes over and makes comments about your jewelry and you should— Christians shouldn't be doing that.

Yeah.

And that— and it's tough when it's your own family and family. And I'll just say this, parents love to pull the honor card and they'll say something to their grown child and they will say, you know, the Bible says you need to honor your mother and father. And what they are interpreting that as, you need to obey me. Here you are, you're grown, you're married, you're out of the home, but you need to obey me. I believe that that is a misstep of parents to do that. You know, the Bible says a man will leave his father and mother and he will cleave to his wife, be united to his wife, and the two become one. And they are now a new family. In situations like this, You have to have a husband who has a backbone.

Well, that's what I was going to say is the first thing. If Katie were here having a cup of coffee with me and said this, the first thing I would ask her is, what does your husband say?

Exactly. And, and unfortunately, there are a lot of husbands who wouldn't think of standing up to his parents or her parents because maybe they're stronger personalities and maybe he's not a super strong personality. But thing is, is he has to protect his wife. He's called to protect his wife emotionally, spiritually, physically. And honestly, it falls to the responsibility of the husband. I don't think there's anything wrong with a husband who has now taken on a wife who is being— what word do we want to use? Challenged. by their parents in such a way that she's explaining, I don't think it's wrong for him to go to the parents and say, guys, we love you and we want you in our lives, but you need to back off and let us live our lives. And you need to stop telling us what we have to do, need to do, shouldn't do, can't do, or, or whatever. You need to back off.

Yeah.

And let us live our lives, and that is not a violation of honoring our parents.

Right.

We will continue to honor you and love you and have you in our lives, but we are adults now.

Sure.

And it's time for you to let us live our own lives and to stop all of this pressure, because you need to know you're ruining the relationship. And we want this relationship to be good, but you're ruining it. So I'm telling you, I'm asking you, back off. Leave my wife and me alone. We're gonna do what we feel is best in the Lord.

Yeah.

And if what we believe is not best in the Lord, it is our consequences to bear.

Right.

I know you love us. but leave us alone in that respect. That's a hard conversation to have.

But that's very good advice.

You know, and, and yeah, there'll probably be some emotional fallout, but there already is emotional fallout.

Sure.

I mean, this woman is writing to me because she's emotionally under it because of what's going on with the parents, and the husband needs to step up and take care of it.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Okay, Joy is from Michigan. Seems like we get a lot of letters from Michigan.

Really?

Uh, did the Israelites build a temple while they were traveling through the wilderness? wilderness to the Promised Land? If so, did they carry it throughout their journey?

Well, they didn't build a temple, they built a tabernacle, and it was a tent. And so it wasn't— I mean, it took a lot to put it up, but that was the, the job of the Levites. And, um, they carried it by basically tearing it down. It was kind of almost like these mobile army hospitals, these MASH units. They would, uh, throw up the tents and do surgery, and then if the fighting got close, they'd tear it down and, you know, go somewhere else. And that's kind of the way the Israelites did it. So it wasn't— the temple refers to the permanent structure, right?

And there was a lot of similarities between— the temple has a pattern from—

Yeah, there was a pattern that they followed for both.

And the Lord gave detailed instructions for who was to do what in tearing down The tabernacle and carrying it and reassembling it.

They all had their jobs.

Yeah, very— there was a manual for how to do it.

There was an owner's manual that went with it for sure. And yes, but it was a tabernacle, which basically meant a tent, and that's where they would do the sacrifices and so on and so forth. And, and then it later became a temple, uh, when Solomon built the first temple, right, for Israel. Yeah.

And that's a wrap for—

That's a wrap for this episode. Wow. Okay, well, there's, uh, the answers to your questions. If you have a question you'd like to get us to tackle, send it in to us by email. The best way is questions@lifebibleministry.com. And by the way, check out our website. You know, I keep running into people who have not been to the website. They only listen to our stuff through YouTube.

Yeah, yeah.

Listen, on the website you can get so much more. There's not only the YouTube videos, but there's audio only. You can find transcripts, you can find study guides, you can find, uh, all, all kinds of resources, images like the last days timeline. So many things.

Right.

Articles that you've written, that I've written, and so forth. So much more at lifebibleministry.com. Be sure and check it out today. And until we get with you again, God bless you. Have a good rest of your day. Bye-bye.