Thank you for joining us for this edition of the Friends of Israel Today. I'm Steve Conover, Executive Director of the Friends of Israel, and with me is our host and teacher, Chris Katulka. Steve, I think it's been a moment since we've told our listeners that they can go to our website, foiradio.org, because it's there that you can connect with us here at the Friends of Israel Today radio program, but also with the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. When you get to that website, foiradio.org, we have over a decade of content featuring all of this great biblical teaching about Israel and the Jewish people that includes biblical teaching and also various interview guests. Again, you can go to foiradio.org. Now today on our program, Dan Price, the director of international ministries here at the Friends of Israel, is going to join us to discuss his article, Why Shouldn't I Live the Way I Want? in our most recent issue of Israel, My Glory, which is called He is Sovereign. Again, this is both comforting and complex to think about. So today Dan's gonna show us how daily choices reflect humanity's broader struggle with God's sovereignty and how true freedom and joy are found in submitting to our creator. We look forward to having Dan Price with us today, but first in the news, top Israeli officials praised outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams as he visited Israel just weeks before finishing his term. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed gratitude for Adam's steadfast support, thanking him, quote, for his great support for Israel and for being a true friend of the Jewish people. Steve, here's my take. New York City is the second largest Jewish population in the world, and the incoming mayor, Mayor-elect Zoran Mamdani, has a history of anti-Israel remarks and anti-Semitic statements he refuses to take back, like, globalize the Intifada. A threatening statement to any Jewish person living anywhere in the world. I'm thankful that Eric Adams had a moment to visit the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. Hi, I'm Chris Katulka. I'm the host of the Friends of Israel Today radio program and editorial writer for our magazine, Israel My Glory. Israel My Glory is an award-winning Christian magazine that teaches all about God's love and plan for Israel and the Jewish people. Biblically. If you don't receive Israel My Glory, in a little bit, I'm gonna share with you a way that you can get a one-year free subscription to Israel My Glory magazine, something that you don't wanna miss out on. So stay tuned as we talk more about Israel My Glory. Now, today we actually have Dan Price. He's the director of International Ministries. Remember, the Friends of Israel isn't just a magazine. It's not just a radio program. Actually, it's ministry that's touching the lives of Jewish people all around the world. And Dan Price has the privilege of leading an amazing team that's serving all around the world. And we're going to be talking about his article. In this most recent issue of Israel, My Glory, which is called, Why Shouldn't I Live the Way I Want? That's found in this issue called, He is Sovereign, a look at God's supremacy over all creation. Dan, great to have you. Chris, it's great to be here. Thank you. Dan, you and I have something in common. We have four kids. You have four kids. I have four kids. Absolutely. You have three boys, I have three boys, and we both have one daughter, and we need a lot of prayer, right? We need a lot of prayer. And coffee. And coffee, and lots of coffee. And so, you know, when I was reading through your article, you open with a Christmas morning experience with your kids, and I can tell you as a fellow parent, You know, I've seen how these moments with our kids can kind of shape the way that we think about God, our Heavenly Father. Could you share more about that story and how it helped you see humanity's broader rejection of God's sovereignty? Yeah, absolutely. My kids reject my sovereignty all the time. So that's an easy connection to make. No, but seriously, I mean, God created this institution of parent and child, right? Like this is his. And so we see these really interesting truths come out of this relationship. And this is just one example of all the ways that we can learn about God from our relationship with our kids. And both kind of go in both ways, right? Like I learned something about God by trying to figure out how to be a parent to my kids and failing miserably. because he's a perfect parent and I am absolutely not. And then the other direction, you know, you learn a lot about what it means to be a child of God from watching how your kids interact with you. And, you know, so it's just a divinely inspired institution for learning what a relationship with God is like and in some very practical ways. So, yeah, but in this instance, my kids, My kids don't always respond to things the way I want them to. A hundred percent. And you hope for the best, you train for the best, and yet sometimes they say, no thank you, I would rather respond this way. And in this instance, it was a Christmas morning, and my son was upset because he didn't get what he wanted. It was actually a computer. And I tried to console him, I tried to help him learn gratitude for all the things that he had received, but man, he was just determined to pout in the corner. Yep. During Christmas. During Christmas, family Christmas morning, you know. And he more or less turned to me at one point and he said, look, why can't I, I didn't get what I wanted. Why can't I be upset about this? Why can't I pout, in effect, is what he's saying. And all of my parental advice just like water off a duck's back. You know, he was not hearing any of it. But, you know, that was a moment where I could see, you know, his rejection of what is true, his rejection of, you know, how we should handle some of these things. And he just wasn't ready to submit to God's authority in his life about how to think about this situation. And we do that a thousand times a day, right? Like, we reject God's right to tell us, live this way, think this way, behave this way. It's, you know, it's better for you. And yet we want to go our own way, you know? So, you can see that in all sorts of different ways. But that Sunday, or that Christmas, was a special one. And you, I've had the same situation with my kids and you've probably handled it much better than I did too. So, you know, when we think about this title of your article, why shouldn't I live the way I want? You really emphasize God's sovereignty as both the creator, the redeemer and judge, which I really appreciated the way that you laid those out. You know, which of these three aspects do you believe people struggle to accept the most in our current cultural climate? And I want to ask why, because I really think that when we think about the world that we're living in today and the culture that we're living in, you know, you're, we're seeing, you're presenting God to us as a creator, as a redeemer and as a judge. But, you know, when we think about how we want to live, sometimes we might accept one characteristic of who God is, but we reject another. And a lot of times the cultural climate that we live in can shape those things as well. So maybe you want to touch on that a little bit. Yeah, yeah. There's a phrase that my kids like to use sometimes going back to what we learned from our kids. They say, don't judge me. Yeah. That's right. Don't judge me as though I as a parent don't have any right. Well, you know, I think the Bible presents God as the creator of the universe, the redeemer of the universe, and then ultimately says that those things that he is not only the owner, not only has all the power to be able to create the universe, not only has a legal right as the owner of the universe, but then he goes even further and he is working to redeem the universe. And in all of that, so he has the legal, the power, the intrinsic right, and then he also has the moral excellency, the moral right to be able to say, this is right, this is wrong, I'm gonna judge this. So all of it is God's right as the owner, creator, sustainer, redeemer of all things to say, I'm going to tell you the best way to live. And we come up against it probably hardest as a culture when it comes to the idea of judgment, I think. The idea that God created all things, it's not as difficult for a lot of people. And certainly the idea that God redeems all things, that's fantastic. People love that idea. But man, when it comes down to the right to judge, that trips folks up sometimes, right? Well, and Revelation makes this beautiful case, Revelation 4 and 5, before we get into all the judgment that's going to happen throughout the rest of the book of Revelation 6 through 19. In those two chapters, The Bible presents God as the creator of everything, and then the redeemer of everything, and he's the one who has the right to judge. And the way that it does it is by saying, man, who's worthy? Who's worthy to open the scrolls that's going to play out God's judgment on the planet? Who's worthy to judge? And the search is made in heaven, and John cries because there's no one yet found worthy. And then, Jesus comes on the scene. Jesus is worthy. He is, as God, he is worthy to judge. And even in our cultural climate today, too, I like what you're saying because a lot of times people have this thought about God, whether believer or unbeliever. is that he's just this big guy in the sky telling me how I should live, the do's and don'ts of life. Absolutely. And which again is, you're saying biblically God wants to give Christians especially the pathway to having a life that is as full and abundant as it can possibly be in Christ. And yet again, the world though, the culture, the climate is kind of looking down. God is this big guy sitting up there telling me what I can and can't do. His big wet blanket in the sky. That's exactly right. Yeah. Putting a damper on everything, but that's not what God wants. And that's why, you know, I kind of laughed out loud when you were comparing God's sovereignty to putting the wrong kind of fuel in your car, because I've done that. It didn't happen, but I came close like you and it was with a rental car. So I was like, thank you, Lord. But I want to know, you know, could you share some more examples of how this misfueling, if you will, shows up in everyday life, both for believers and unbelievers? Sure, sure. I mean, ultimately, what we're talking about is the idea of trying to live independently of God. Right? So if he doesn't have the right to tell me how to live, all of those little moments of living independently or on my own or in contrast to what God wants, every single one of them is a moment of rejecting God's sovereignty and saying, I can live the way that I want to. So everything from like, I love college football. I know you're a Michigan fan, big time, big blue. I watch it, I listen to podcasts, I read posts, I read blog posts. So I spend so much time thinking about this and yet. The Bible says that the best way to live is to not love the things of this world, right? And that's a very temporary thing. It's not a bad thing, but I shouldn't have the same love for the things of the world as I have for the things of God, and I spend a lot of time loving college football. And yet God is saying, I want to lead you into what will bring you true life, true meaning, what will make your life into something that is redemptively beautiful, right? And sometimes, some Saturdays in particular, I push that back and I say, but I want to sit here and watch 12 hours of college football and ignore my children. You know, so in that sense, we all push back on God's sovereign right to tell us not only how to live, but what is going to bring life to you? Like, what makes life work best? All of God's instructions are for that purpose, not just to be a wet blanket, not just to tell us what to do, not just to be the one in charge, but because this is the way life works best. You wrote that even believers sometimes reject God's sovereignty in pet sins. How would you advise Christians to recognize when they're subtly doing this in their own lives right now? It's that subtle part, that's the hard part, right? Because it's easy to identify rejecting God's sovereignty when it's the gospel. God has laid out one way of salvation. It's Jesus and Jesus alone. You gotta come through Christ. And that's the one way of salvation. And those who would reject the exclusivity of the gospel in that sense are clearly rejecting God's plan of salvation. So it's easy to say, that's sovereignty rejected. But man, we do the same thing when we say, I don't want to follow this command. I want to take a break from that one. you know, that one may or may not really apply to me, you know, and we hold on to some of those, what I've called pet sins here, lots of people refer to it that way, things that we kind of want to be able to do, even though it might fly in the face of some of God's instructions for us, or worse yet, habitual sins that we just aren't using the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome and mortify, right? Yes. The way that we recognize this, number one, is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one who convicts of sin. No article and no preacher is going to do the conviction for you. The Holy Spirit is the one who convicts. Everybody knows what their pet sins are, if we give it five seconds to think about it, right? The question is, as a matter of Christian maturity, do we trace back the reasoning for it and our sinful thought patterns that are gestating it, so to speak, to borrow kind of James's imagery, where sin doesn't just pop out. It takes time to grow inside of us, and then it comes out, almost like birthing sin. Right? And so if we take the time when we recognize, when God convicts us, when we recognize that we're sinning, to go back and say, okay, what led me to this place? What was a sinful thought pattern that got me here? In order to be able to, next time, start to identify it earlier and start to derail that independent streak and the prideful streak in my heart saying that I can usurp the king and live however I want right now. And then doing that work that Paul identifies in Romans 7, of we have to kill that sin before it kills us, right? So that's the work of Christian maturity. The Holy Spirit is the one that points it out. We have to submit to that work of the Holy Spirit. You know, you kind of remind me of, I think there might be some people thinking, boy, these guys don't really, they're not really talking about grace a lot. Where's the grace of God in all of this? And, you know, my mind goes to Romans chapter six, verse one, where Paul says, what shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning that grace may increase? And Paul says, by no means, that doesn't mean grace, isn't sufficient for our lives today, but that in the midst of the pet sins, in the midst of the sins that maybe we're dealing with in life, the grace is there to encourage us to not continue to live in sin, as Paul is saying, but to turn back to God and to kind of realign our lives with his word. And I think that's where grace is the most evident is that God provides the way back through repentance and forgiveness to again, fall into his arms again. And that's grace to me. Absolutely. You know, there was a phrase that early on in my Christian walk that a mentor was talking about this issue with me. And he said that God is the God of endless second chances. And that really opened my eyes to the extent of God's grace in my life, no matter how many times I reject His instructions, no matter how many times I pursue my own sinful desires, no matter how many times I fail. His grace is always there to catch us, right? And so grace is the beginning, the middle, and the end of our story. That's it. It's all by God's grace. And yet, in the process, grace changes our hearts. It changes us at a heart level. so that we don't want the sin as much anymore, that we're learning how to handle the sin as God has given us the tools through the power of the Holy Spirit and his word and those Christians around us who can help hold us accountable as God gives us these gracious ways to help change our behavior, but it's all based on what he has done in our hearts because of that grace. We live from the inside out, not the outside in. You know, here's my last question as we're wrapping up here. At the end of your article, you describe joy and freedom that comes from submitting to God, which almost feels like the opposite. You would think, I think for a lot of the people, the culture that we live in, following God actually feels like you're being imprisoned. where you're saying, according to the scriptures, following God actually frees you, it liberates you. I'd like to hear your thoughts on that. And then what would first steps be for somebody, if you're encouraging somebody who's reading the article or listening to this right now, that they would realize that they've been resisting God's authority and his word in some areas of their life, what would you encourage them to do? So I'll leave you with that. So when we talk about our relationship with God and the way that life works best, Jesus talked in John 15 about how he is the vine, we are the branches, right? And without him, we can do nothing. All the way through the Bible, all the way through the New Testament, the major theme that we see is the idea of what does it mean to live in communion with God? What does it mean to have a constant connection to him like that vine and the branch? What does it mean to actually do life with the knowledge and the understanding that God is indwelling us now? Like we are in constant communion and fellowship with the God of the universe. How do we live this out? And I'm of the opinion that submitting to God's authority through His word and His instructions for our lives, learning to live life the way that He calls us to is part of having that fellowship, that communion, that constant connection to the vine. And if we don't follow God, if we don't live according to what God tells us is best, then there's no way to have that connection. It's a constant breakage in connection and fellowship. You've felt it in relationship with friends and family and wives, like I've felt it with... So it's very normal that we would see a break there, but... If we learn to submit ourselves, if we learn to connect ourselves to God constantly, there is a freedom in connection with God that makes all of this spin on its head. So it's a beautiful thing, learning how to submit ourselves to God. It's a painful thing sometimes, but it's a beautiful thing. How would you encourage somebody who is resisting God's authority? What would you encourage them to do? And how would you kind of guide them if they were asking, how do I get in alignment with God? Well, first and foremost, if they've already recognized that need and that the Holy Spirit is already convicting them, maybe in a particular area with a particular sin, the first step is submitting to it, obviously. Repent. That's what the Bible calls repent. And so, we would repent of that sin and then we would maybe bring some other folks into that because that's what the body of Christ is supposed to be for, for the encouragement and the accountability and bringing each other along in our walk with God. This is a journey in our connection to God. It's not once you stumble, then you're out. It's having that communion together and also pursuing God together in that community. So, I would encourage you, submit to God's Word, repent of the sin, keep diving back into the truth of God's Word, and also bring that community of believers around you. That's the New Testament pattern for how to handle sin. and really an understanding that God is sovereign overall. And that is the reason why I want to encourage you, if you've been waiting and you'd like to know how you can get your hands on Israel My Glory magazine, it's very, very simple. Just go to IsraelMyGlory.org forward slash subscribe. And there you can get a one-year free subscription to our award-winning Christian magazine, Israel My Glory. You know, maybe you're just dipping your toe into the water of Israel with all the events that are going on in the world, or maybe you're an expert on Israel biblically. It doesn't matter. We would like for you, if you've never subscribed, to get your one-year free subscription. And while you're there, you can even get a digital version of Israel My Glory. And that way you can get Israel My Glory and the last 50 years of publications right at your fingertips. To study God's word, understand his plan and program for Israel and the Jewish people, again, go to IsraelMyGlory.org forward slash subscribe. It was so good to hear from Dan Price today in our interview. And thanks for joining us for today's episode of the Friends of Israel Today. Chris, where are we headed next week? Well, Steve, believe it or not, we're getting into Christmas. And so we're going to start a three-part series on the three songs of Christmas that can be found in the Gospel of Luke. Actually, the three songs come from three different people. Mary, the mother of Jesus, had a song. Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, had a song. And then Simeon, a priest in the temple, had a song. And you know what's amazing? All of them route back to a promise that God made to Abraham. All of them remember Abraham in celebrating the birth of the Messiah. We look forward to that, and as we've mentioned throughout the program, you can visit us at foiradio.org. Again, that's foiradio.org. Our mailing address is FOI Radio P.O. Box 914, Belmar, New Jersey 08099. Again, that's FOI Radio P.O. Box 914, Belmar, New Jersey 08099. You can call our listener line. That number is 888-343-6940. Again, that's 888-343-6940. Today's program was engineered by Bob Beebe, edited by Jeremy Strong, who also composed and performs our theme music. Lisa Small is our executive producer. Sarah Fern is our associate producer. Chris Katulka is our host and teacher, and I'm Steve Conover, executive director of the Friends of Israel. The Friends of Israel today is a production of the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. Passion for God's word, compassion for God's chosen people.