All right, amen. So it looks like we've got our question asker coming this way now. And so we will have our time for Bible questions and answers. Now we did get, I think, everybody index cards ahead of time. But if you still, if you didn't get one or if you would like one, you could slip up your hand. Mr. Ben Johnston has some here. So if you still need an index card and you have a question you want to write down, just slip up your hand. Anyone, anyone? Okay. Okay, I see someone slipping a hint up there. I don't know if Daniel has a question or not, but. All right. But if you have another question at some point in this and you wanna ask it, feel free to try to get Ben's attention. He will be glad to get you a card. And we may also open it up if you prefer to ask your question vocally, we may open it up at the end if there's time. to allow you to do that, but we will see, well, I see a good collection of questions there. That's encouraging. If Lowell is dropping them on the floor, that's probably a good sign. Yeah, all right, that's encouraging. You never want to have one of these where there's like one or two questions, and then it behooves Lowell then to try to come up with questions off the top of his head, and we don't want to have to go through that, so. All right. So we will we will let Lowell go ahead and get us started here with the first question. OK. You can hear me. All right. OK. This kind of relates to your message. Well the thing you had up there on the wall. OK. Sure. At any rate in Ephesians 2 1 it says you have he quickened who were dead and trespasses and sins. And then I think the verses you had again kind of repeated that same raising. So the question here is please clarify who were dead in trespasses and sins. What's what being said. Yeah, so the reference being dead and trespasses and sins, that is our spiritual death. That is our separation, our alienation from God when we come into this world. And so that is the language that scripture uses of the fact that as we come into this world, we are turned away from God. We have a sinful nature. We don't come into this world naturally good. This is evident to anybody who has children. Right? If you have children or even if you've babysat children, you know that you never have to teach children how to lie. You never have to teach children how to steal cookies from the cookie jar. Children do those things on their own because they have a bent towards sin. They have a sinful nature. And man, if left to himself, would always make those kinds of choices. It is only because we have certain constraints in society Of course, we have the constraint of government. We have the constraint of our conscience. We have, of course, for Christians, most importantly, the Holy Spirit. And of course, when we come to Christ, what's being described there in Ephesians chapter two is the fact that God has brought us new life. He's quickened us. So when we come to Christ, we are no longer dead in sin. Now we are alive to God. And we have a relationship with God. Now we're sensitive to spiritual things. There is an interest in the things of God. But that is not true for the unbeliever, because the unbeliever is described there as in a state of spiritual death. So that's what's being described there in Ephesians 1, or excuse me, Ephesians 2, when Paul talks about those who are dead in trespasses and sins. We'll still take we don't have a lot of questions here. So we encourage you to we want to make him earn his check. OK. So that's right. Don't be afraid because he's admitted way back when we started this. I said Pastor you might get some really hard questions. And I like his answer. If I can't answer the question I'll admit it and I'll study and we'll come back and answer it another time. So dish it out, folks. OK, Second Timothy four or five. And I don't have that open at the moment. I can open that up. Yeah, please do. And read that, Pastor. And then I'll ask the question. All right. Second Timothy four or five. I think I know it. But Second Timothy four or five. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. Now, Second Timothy four or five. That's Second Timothy four or five. And the question is, explain that verse in relationship to the spiritual gifts God has given us. So there is a bit of dispute here. I assume, of course, you can't ask a question back to an index card, but I assume the particular reference here is in regard to this phrase here, do the work of an evangelist. And okay, all right, so Ruth, okay, evidently Ruth had the question. All right, so good. And there is a bit of, there are varying understandings of how to understand this expression. Some would take the position that when Timothy is being told to do the work of an evangelist, that that was not actually Timothy's gifting, but he was simply being told, basically we would say, well, he's just being told to be evangelistic in his preaching ministry. I think there is a possibility that Timothy did actually have the spiritual giftedness of evangelism. When we think about the gift of an evangelist we have to admit that we are working with a relatively small number of passages in the New Testament that mention the gift of an evangelist. You have evangelists mentioned here. It is a common misunderstanding by the way, people sometimes call Timothy a pastor. It's not technically what Timothy was. Technically he was Paul's apostolic representative there in Ephesus. So he was doing a great deal of oversight, but he was doing that as Paul's apostolic representative. And so it is possible that the term evangelist might indicate the kind of giftedness that Timothy had. It is when we look at the other passages that describe the gift we have Ephesians 4 11 which mentions that he gave some apostles some prophets some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. You also have mentioned in the book of Acts that Philip who was of course one of the original deacons in the early church he is described as an evangelist. It is, however, admittedly a bit difficult to try to construct a full job description for an evangelist based off of those few passages. So when you think of those that have that title today, of course, the kind of common image that comes to our mind, I mean, you think of the guy that has the motor home and he's going around to different churches and different venues preaching the gospel. And that, I think, is certainly a valid way that that gift could be exercised, but I think we would have to be cautious in pigeonholing things and saying that that's the only way that that gift could be exercised. I think just generally, when you look at the definition of the word evangelist, you're thinking of somebody who has a giftedness in giving the gospel. So there's a bit of a different perspective. When you think of the gift of the pastor, the giftedness of the pastor is primarily to serve as an overseer, as a shepherd to a local congregation. So the way that I am thinking of my ministry is primarily in terms of the needs of the saints that are under my care. An evangelist tends to have a bit of a different focus, that yes, he might come into a context like this, but his aim is always evangelistic. He's always thinking about the lost and gearing his messages and his preaching toward the unsaved. So certainly pastors are to be evangelistic in that sense, but I think that there is a special gifting of people that have unique skill, unique clarity. in explaining the gospel message and probably also in equipping Christians in this area. Beyond that I would be very cautious in trying to give an extensive job description just again because scripture gives us very limited information about this particular gift. So we just have to take the definition of the word itself and I think beyond that there's probably some wiggle room in terms of how specifically that gift might be exercised in the context of the church. And Ruth does that answer your question or was there something else you were getting at? Right. Right. Yeah. OK. Yeah. And I think that's a good point. We do all have a responsibility as Christians to be witnesses. And of course, that's in the Great Commission that we are given that task. Now, I think that we do have to recognize that the way that we accomplish that task, it might differ from person to person. You might have somebody that has the gift of the evangelist, that feels comfortable standing on a street corner and preaching. I wouldn't necessarily expect that from the average church member, right? Every church member has some avenues of influence, right? Whether it's our workplace, loved ones, relatives, our neighborhood, whatever that sphere of influence is, we all have a sphere of influence and we all have ways that God has enabled us to share the gospel. I think the emphasis in the New Testament is not so much, you know, specifically what that methodology might be in terms of getting the gospel out, but simply the fact that we are to be witnesses and we use whatever gifts God has given us to be able to accomplish that task. So, yes, the fact that there is a gift of an evangelist doesn't negate the fact that we all are called to be involved in the work of evangelism. Does that answer your question? OK. Good. I'll take on a thought with that. And is it kind of the same thing. We're given the gift of pastor teachers. That's a gift God gave to the church. And yet we're all exhorted in Colossians 3 16. Sorry had it lost it got it back. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching. and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord. So that's everyone. That doesn't mean we're giving as a gift to the church, and yet we are to do that. It's instruction. Right. Absolutely. OK. Yep. I think, too, that's something where some people, when they think of doing certain things, like when you think of the ministry of teaching, Okay, some people have the mentality that, well, you know, I just need, you know, I need the pastor to come ask me to teach a Sunday school class. Well, sometimes we just need to take advantage of the open doors we already have. It may not be something formal like a Sunday school class. Maybe it's getting in a conversation with two or three other brothers in Christ after the service and teaching them something that you learned in your devotions. It might be doing an informal Bible study at your house. But you seize those more informal moments and then you wait for the Lord to open those doors when you might be able to formally exercise gifts in the church. But I think there is a valid point that we all have opportunities to do these things, even if it's not specifically where we would consider our areas of gifting. So and we saw a picture of that in our men's prayer meeting Saturday. Yep. Right. We're trading back and forth, instructing one another with the scriptures. And it was it was a blessing. Amen. Blessing. OK question regarding church government. Sure. What's the biblical basis for why we vote. That is the congregation versus pastors elders deacons making final decision. This is an area where I think there does have to be some liberty that we have in terms of our application of church government because scripture really does not give us the kind of precise detail on these issues that we might like. What we do have in scripture is the indication that ultimate decision making has been granted to the congregation as a whole. A couple of specific examples of that. You do have, as we talked about recently in Matthew chapter 18, with the process of church discipline. Of course, you start with that individual confrontation, brother to brother. From there, you move to you know, the two or three witnesses. From there, then, it says that you tell what? The church. And if he refuses to hear who? The church. Let him be a heathen and a tax collector, right? So there is decision-making that is given to the whole church. You think of In 1 Corinthians, when Paul addresses the matter of that brother that was, the so-called brother, that was living in sin with his stepmother, he writes that to the whole congregation, that they are responsible to purge out this leaven from their midst. So he's not just addressing the pastors, the deacons in that church, he is addressing the congregation as a whole and holding the congregation responsible for decision-making in that set of circumstances. You know, when you think of the fact that in Acts chapter six, when the first deacons are appointed, that the apostles, they go to all the disciples and they say, you choose from among you seven men who have the Holy Spirit and wisdom to appoint over this task. So we do see a pattern of decision making that is granted to the entire congregation. On the other hand, there is a recognition that God gifts certain men to be pastor teachers, okay, and that is a, one of the terms that is given for the pastor in the New Testament is the term bishop, which has the idea of an overseer. So there is, as the pastor of this assembly, I am given oversight, so there is leadership responsibility that is expected of me. I would also argue that the office of deacon, even though we think of a deacon as a servant, the office of deacon is also a secondary office of leadership in the church. It is not simply, you know, when we think of, you know, a deacon, we might think, well, you know, this guy, he's just going to mop the floors and whatever. No, there really is leadership that's exercised, and I think that's evident when you look at the qualifications in 1 Timothy 3, that it mentions that the deacon is to rule well his own household. So that suggests that the deacon also has a ruling function in the church. So you do have admittedly a bit of a tension here that there is leadership that is exercised by pastors, by deacons. You also have decision-making that is exercised by the congregation as a whole. Now there is, as I mentioned at the outset, some liberty I think in the implementation of that. You know when you think of a church of say a thousand people, I mean, you might be much more limited in all that you can vote on as opposed to a church that's this size, right? Probably we are in a position where we can do a lot more of that just given the size that we have. But if things got much more complex, if we had a church staff that had several people on it, Things could easily get so complicated that it would just become burdensome to bring everything up for a church vote. And even in our circumstance, I mean, we don't vote every time we need more paper towels, right? I mean, that would just get ridiculous. So the way that our Constitution designates it is that Brother Lowell and myself, we have the ability to spend up to $1,000 in a given month beyond what is budgeted for us in the yearly budget. So there is some flexibility that as we see needs that arise, that we can take the initiative and meet those needs without having to burden all of you with a vote every time, right? But at the same time, we don't have the ability, Lowell and I, to suddenly decide, oh, we're gonna pay $100,000 for this piece of property across town. There's a recognition that for something of that magnitude, that we need a consensus from the church body to be involved in that decision. So there is, I think when we look at the biblical data, we're having to balance the fact that pastors and deacons have a legitimate leadership role, but we're also recognizing that there is a decision-making role that is given to the congregation as a whole. And I don't know that there's such a thing as a perfect balance on that front. We just simply, I think, have to deal with those two biblical realities, and I think we have to use our best wisdom and judgment to try to bring both of those poles together the best that we can. So I hope that that answers that question, whoever raised that. And again, a reminder, anybody got more questions coming in? We don't have a lot today, so. But here's another one, Proverbs 11, 15. This is one I'm glad the pastor's answering the question. I'll read the verse, Proverbs 11, 15. Yeah, I'll turn there as well. Yes. He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it, and he that hateth suretyship is sure. Who would like to explain that verse? Okay, please explain what this verse means. Yeah, so we're talking here about the practice of cosigning for a loan. And specifically here is referencing the dangers specifically of co-signing for a stranger and the possibility of getting entangled in something that could end up being a significant burden and of course ultimately being a trap for you financially. I think something we need to mention, okay, This is something I think that's important to recognize when we consider biblical interpretation, is that there is a difference between law and wisdom. These are two categories that are very closely related, but there are some distinctions between them. So when we think of the category of law, we're dealing with something that is an absolute under all circumstances. Thus saith the Lord, thou shalt not commit adultery. We acknowledge that there are no just grounds to commit adultery, right? That is a law from God that is binding absolutely on our consciences. When you deal with wisdom, okay, like what you have in the book of Proverbs, you're dealing with a category that includes some of those universal timeless laws, but you're also dealing with the general guidelines that simply allow for life to work best. So when we think of the practice, for example, of borrowing money, there are some that are just very adamant that scripture teaches that you can never borrow money under any circumstances whatsoever, that that's always evil and wrong. Well, I think we have to be careful. The indication I think we have in Proverbs is that getting entangled in debt falls in the category of wisdom. Now, that's where we have to, of course, whenever you make a decision in that regard, whether you're going to get a mortgage or a car payment or something, you have to use wisdom to exercise, OK, is this something that is going to get me entangled in something that I can't get out of? And so certainly Proverbs issues very strong warnings about that. And certainly the dangers of co-signing, especially in this case, you know, the dangers of co-signing for a stranger, that could get you in a world of trouble, especially when you're thinking of somebody you don't know. And incidentally, Proverbs also warns about the dangers of even co-signing for a friend. Because sometimes, you know, people, we think our friends are not as, you know, loyal as we might imagine sometimes. So Proverbs gives great dangers about these things, but I do think we want to be careful that, you know, sometimes I think like the Dave Ramsey type of thing, it might present some of this data like it's just so absolutist, like going into debt would be the same as committing adultery or something. And I don't think that biblically those two are in the same category. This is an issue of wisdom And I think we certainly need to be wise and we would do well to heed these warnings. But at the same time, I don't think we want to cast scorn on people that have gotten in debt and maybe that are struggling. And I don't think we wanna say that they're on par with somebody who has been unfaithful to their wife or something of that nature. So hopefully that answers that question. Okay. Looking for cards, folks, looking for cards. OK. Matthew 15 13. Well the language the whole verse is not written out here or maybe it is every plant that the heavenly father have not planted shall be rooted up. What does that mean that the heavenly father have not planted. Yeah, you do have language that is used, and this is not in the same chapter, but you do have in Matthew chapter 13 that kind of imagery. Of course, you have those series of parables that Jesus gives there, that a lot of those take on this agricultural metaphor. You have the parable of the soils with the seed planted on four different types of ground. You have the parable of the wheat and tares. And I think the indication here, you think when you go back to that parable in particular, is that ultimately the wheat, those would be the plants that God himself has planted, the true conversions. Whereas those that are not done by the Heavenly Father, those would be more or less the kind of superficial types of conversions. And you have indications of that in Matthew 13. For instance, that stony ground here, right, where the seed falls on the stony ground and it springs up, but there's no fruit, right? When the sun comes out, the plant dies, it withers. We've all seen those types of situations, right? You've seen cases where you've had somebody that makes this profession of faith, they're super excited about it, and then once they start professing faith, they find that it doesn't take all their problems away, right? They discover that, you know, yeah, they continue to have problems with finances, with their families, And they maybe experience hostility because of professing Christianity at work. And so they quickly wither away when the troubles, when the trials come. So I think the danger here when we think about our church ministry is to ensure that we're being very careful. Now, we will not ever be able to eradicate all false converts, right? And even Jesus indicates that in those parables in Matthew 13, you know, the wheat and the tares they grow up together and there's an indicator that You will always have those tears present. We do our best to be faithful. You know, we practice church discipline, but there's always a recognition that there will be false converts alongside the truth. But certainly we don't want to encourage that. We always want to explain the gospel clearly. We always want to indicate that coming to Christ, it's not just something that, you know, you pray this prayer and all your problems in life are going to be solved, but there is really coming under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It's a life-transforming thing, and it's going to cost you in the long term as you profess faith and as you live out the Gospel. So I think that we want to be clear about those things to try to minimize having those plants that the Heavenly Father hasn't planted within our congregations. But there's always the recognition. I mean even among the disciples, right? Jesus told the disciples have not I chosen you twelve and one of you is a devil even among the twelve there was one that was a false convert and Of course this comes from the Lord Jesus Christ who made that perfect selection of his twelve disciples, right? so if Jesus has a false convert among his disciples, certainly we can expect no less in our churches, right? But we always have to be careful. We don't know who those are, right? The Lord knows, and we ultimately have to leave that judgment to him. But we do our best to be faithful. We deal with, again, church discipline. We try to purge out the leaven as much as we can. But ultimately, in the final analysis, we recognize that that judgment is reserved for God alone. All right, first Peter 2 9 if you want to turn there, okay Here to 9 I'll go ahead and read that verse 2 9 but ye are a chosen generation a royal priesthood and holy nation To your people that you should show forth the praises of him who have called you out of darkness into into his marvelous light and we're asking here for an explanation in relationship to old age and speaking of the wondrous works of our God OK I'm sorry can you take that question from the beginning again I'm not quite sure I quite got it OK explain 1 Peter 2.9 in relationship to old age and speaking of the wondrous works of our God. Okay. Well, I mean, of course, we recognize, I mean, this is, 1 Peter 2.9 is a responsibility that is binding upon all Christians. Okay. Not just those that are in old age, necessarily. I suppose that in old age, you probably have a greater recognition of how God has been faithful in the past. You can point to personal testimonials over time of things that you've seen the Lord do for you and your family And I think we do have a scriptural principle about the idea of memorials, right? You think back to Joshua chapters three and four when the children of Israel, when they crossed the Jordan River and God dries up the Jordan River so that they can pass through on dry ground. And you remember that they were to select 12 stones from the river and they were to erect those as a memorial to God's faithfulness. And that's, of course, just a simple thing. For example, Ruth Baumgartner has talked to me about scrapbooking. And for those of you, I mean, probably men, I can't imagine men in here scrapbooking. Probably not up our alley, right? But if that's, you know, if you're kind of the crafty type of person, that's a great way that you can go back and you can think back to how God has been faithful in the past. And, you know, maybe you have little trinkets, photographs and things that you can collect and you have a record to remember, hey, this is how God was faithful back at this time. And so, yeah, I think that there are all kinds of ways that we can do that to give praise to God who has done such wondrous works for us. Of course, the language in 1 Peter, you know, this comes back to kind of what we were talking about this morning, this distinctive identity that we have as Christ's people. The chosen generation, royal priesthood, holy nation, peculiar people, the idea they're a people for God's own possession. And so because we have that unique identity, then we're motivated to go out and to proclaim God and His wondrous works to those around us. And so, again, though, you know, in old age particularly, you might have more testimony of how God has done that, that you can be faithful to communicate to the next generation. So, I don't know if I fully got the answer that you were looking for. I hope I did, but there you go. All right, looking at the, well, this is coming out of a question out of John. Okay. Chapter eight. And we've been reading through the recently spoke on it. The verse being referred to is eight thirty four, which says Jesus answered them. Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committed sin is the servant of sin. If we back up to verse thirty one, he said to them, if you continue in my word, Then are you my disciples indeed and you should know the truth and the truth shall set you free. And they reacted to that and they said Hey we've never been slaves anybody in a bondage man what are you talking about. But then he makes a statement again eight thirty four. Rarely rarely I saying to you whosoever committed sin is the servant of sin. So this broken down into two questions actually one being is this speaking of believers or unbelievers or both as far as whosoever committeth sin is a servant of sin. Yes, I would say this is unbelievers. And one of the important things to recognize in this context here in John 8, because this is one of those things that might confuse us at first when we're reading through this chapter. But if you go back to verse 30 and you find Jesus, he's having this dialogue here with the Jewish religious leaders. It says in verse 30, as he spake these words, many believed on him. Now, many of us, when we see that word believe, we are immediately inclined to think that this is saving faith. However, I would point out that we have other references in the Gospel of John where believe refers to something less than saving faith. Let me give you the prime example. If you go back a few chapters to chapter 2 and verse 23, John chapter 2 and verse 23, It says there, now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which he did. Now again, you might look at that and you say, well that's obvious, you know, they had saving faith because all throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus is pointing to the need to believe on him. Whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life, right? Well, look at verse 24. But, Jesus did not commit himself unto them. because he knew all men. So you have these, quote, believers, and I think we could put believers in quotation marks, to whom Jesus did not commit himself. He did not entrust himself to these. So this goes back to what we were talking about in Matthew 15 with those plants that the father, you know, will root up because he's not the one that planted them. That you have some who believe on a superficial level They profess faith, but they don't truly possess faith. And what John indicates here is that those with this superficial type of faith, Jesus did not commit himself to them. And so I would argue that much the same thing is occurring in John 8. And the reason we know that, I think with pretty clear certainty, is because of what we read in verse 44. Notice this same group. where it says that many in this group believed on him. Notice what he says in verse 44. Ye are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father ye will do. So he's acknowledging that these who quote believed are actually children of the devil. Again, that points to the fact that this, whatever this is, this isn't saving faith. This is a superficial type of belief. And so what Jesus indicates here is, in verse 31, that if there is true saving faith, it will be evidenced by the fact that they continue in Jesus' word. If there's no continuance in Jesus' word, there is no saving faith. The indicator in verse 47, he that is of God, heareth God's words. There's this long-term thing where there is a receptivity to the words of God and a continuance in those. If there isn't that, then we have to question whether the faith was ever genuine to begin with. So when we come to this statement in verse 34, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin, I would argue that really this is analogous to what we have in 1 John. And you can go back, you can listen to it on sermon audio, the message that I preach in 1 John chapter three. That language that John uses throughout 1 John, you have this stunning statement in 1 John 3, 9, that whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. Now, we're tempted to correct John, right? Have you met any Christians recently, John? I know plenty of Christians that are still committing sin, right? Well, what John has in view there is not isolated acts of sin, because he acknowledges in the very same letter that if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So John acknowledges that Christians continue to sin, but what he's speaking of there is continuing in this unbroken pattern of sin. And what Jesus is indicating here is that that type of pattern evidences that one doesn't truly belong to God, but instead that one is a slave to sin. All right, so that's the first part. So maybe I hit the second part as well. I don't know. I kind of got carried away. I was preaching there. That's right. Well, you know you're getting paid for this. That's right. That's right. And by the way, when I put in my little two cents along the way, I'm not getting a dime for it, folks. It's all free. It's all three. It's not worth much anyway. Okay. Servant of sin. Please explain when it says, let's just read 34 again. Whosoever committed sin is the servant of sin. Yeah. I mean, this, the indicator again, this type of unbroken pattern of sin. Again, we're not thinking of sin in terms of the fact that we all continue to sin, but in terms of this commitment, this lifelong unbroken pattern of behavior, that if that is evident in a person, then that means that that person is actually under the dominion of sin. Sin is that person's master. You see language like this in Romans chapter six. In Romans chapter 6 you have the indicator, of course, in verse 7, he that is dead is freed from sin. So when we come to Christ we are freed from the slavery of sin. But you have here, of course, in verse 14, sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the law but under grace. The indicator is really that because we've come to Christ, we are not slaves of sin. We are no longer under the dominion of sin. But those that are not believers, sin is their master. And when you think about the lifestyle of an unbeliever, sin is really unavoidable. I mean, everything that the unbeliever does is ultimately blasphemous against God. Every breath that unbeliever takes is in rebellion against God. And so that unbeliever is ultimately enslaved to sin as a master. And so you have to have conversion through Christ to break those chains of sin's bondage. Thank you again, Pastor. Okay, going to Old Testament. Genesis chapter six. Okay. Verses three and four. Give you a moment to get there. Sure. And I'll read the verses and the question. Genesis six, three and four, starting with three. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man for that. He also is flesh. Yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years. Verse four. There were giants in the earth in those days. And also after that were the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bared children to them, and the same became mighty men, which were of old, men of renown." And the question is, who are the sons of God? It's easy. Some people's favorite question in Bible interpretation, right? OK, so there are differing opinions on this. There are some who make the argument that the sons of God that are referenced here refer back to those that are mentioned in the genealogy in Chapter 5. And you have, Chapter 5 is commonly called the graveyard chapter. That, you know, so and so, you know, live X number of years, he bears a son, he lives X number more years, and then he dies. And, you know, you continue that pattern all the way through the chapter, of course, with the exception of Enoch. And the indication is that the sons of God then would be the godly line of Seth intermarrying with the ungodly line of Cain. That is one view that is taken. That tends not to be my view, and this is something that I have shifted a bit. I am actually more inclined to take the language of the sons of God more in keeping with how this language is used elsewhere in the Old Testament. And I'm inclined to actually see these as fallen angels who have come down to men and actually intermarried with the human population. So, and I know this is a bit of a controversial type of view, but it seems to be supported when you look at the language that the New Testament uses when reflecting back on this event. When you look, for instance, in 2 Peter and in Jude, it seems to confirm this understanding that you actually had fallen angels that were intermarrying with human beings. and producing this sort of obscene offspring that is referred to here as giants, in Hebrew, the Nephilim. Ultimately, this resulted in this type of mass corruption that took place on planet Earth. Is this the article of faith that I would die a martyr's death over? Not necessarily. But I would argue, however, that what we have been inclined to do in our 21st century context is that we have been very inclined to minimize the supernatural in the scriptures. That we tend to see things that if they seem weird to us, we tend to throw it out. And I think we have to be very cautious of that. that God doesn't always work according to what we think might be rational or normal. That there are weird, if we want to use that term, and unusual things that happen in human history. And rather than just discounting those and saying that those couldn't happen, I think we have to recognize that the Bible is a supernatural book. The Christian worldview is a supernatural worldview. And so we should expect that there would be supernatural things that would take place in human history. Thanks for tackling that. I do my best. OK, this is one. Yes, sir. That could be. I think that's very possible. Yeah, and that would, I mean, we obviously recognize that when you think of normal human capacity, you would never expect something like that, right? But yeah, there could be an explanation here that that's why you have such a thing taking place, that there is this supernatural element involved where you've got kind of these monstrosities that are inhabiting the earth, right? And if you're at all curious about this, my mentor, Dr. Mark Monte, has gotten very much into these types of things. I don't know that I buy into all the stuff that he's into. He's real into this Bigfoot and all this stuff. I don't know what I think about all of that. But just suffice to say, I do think that there are more supernatural things in scripture that might seem a bit weird. I mean, you think in Hebrews, right? People meeting angels unawares. And the natural inclination we have is to say, well, that could never happen. Well, why not? I mean, God is still the same God, right? So I think sometimes we're just too quick to dismiss those types of things just because they seem odd to us and they seem unusual. Really, I think a lot of our worldview that we have in the 21st century has been shaped by the Enlightenment, where we view everything on a very naturalistic type level. But when we come to scripture, we realize that the authors of scripture did not share that worldview. They viewed things in very supernatural terms. So I would just suggest that maybe we need to be more open to that. Yes? Right. I wouldn't discount the possibility. And the question could be, and there's a whole, there's this guy named Michael Heiser that's done research. I've not read all of his work. He's inclined actually to see these type of angelic incursions to go even beyond this pre-flood period and to see like with the Amalekites, for example, in the Old Testament, that you would have races like that, that would kind of be this mixed angelic human type of thing. I don't know what I think of all of that, but I just, I would say we shouldn't discount entirely the possibility that there are angels and demons, right, that are at work. And they might do things that maybe we've not even imagined. You know, you think in Ephesians chapter six, this is, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world. And even in this room, you know, we don't know the angelic forces that might be present here. We don't know what they're doing, but we know that they're there, right? And you think of in Second Kings with Elisha's servant. Right? That, you know, Elijah asks, you know, Lord, open his eyes, you know, and he sees, you know, all those chariots and all the angels surrounding, right? So there is that unseen world that we are not aware of, but Paul says that it has everything to do with the Christian life that we live on a daily basis. And we need to be sensitive to that, I think. So, good questions. Yes, indeed. Okay. You got us thinking, Pastor. Okay, this is a famous verse maybe you've heard all your life. I'm still looking to see where it is in the Bible. This was quoted to us years ago. And that is, and we might be talking about some person who has, I came up with this as I was hoping for more questions. As you might be looking at somebody that isn't doing too hot in life. And the great verse that was quoted, or the great truth that was quoted from wherever it's coming from is, God helps those who help themselves. Now, that seems in quite contrast to reaching to your message today, your morning message. You made this statement. We cannot fix what is wrong with us. God must do a work in our lives. So if you could just add clarity to that. Yeah, I mean, the statement God helps those who help themselves, that's included in poor Richard's almanac that Ben Franklin wrote. And that statement may very well predate Ben Franklin, I don't know. It's certainly not found in the Bible. The religion of the Bible is a religion of grace. And when we think of grace, we think of unmerited favor. So favor that we do not earn and that we do not deserve from God. But really, that statement that Ben Franklin gave, that is the essence of most world religions. that, you know, God, I'm going to go this far and then I expect you to come this far. But that's not biblical Christianity. Biblical Christianity says you and I are in such a mess. Going back to that earlier question, we are dead in trespasses and sins. And what we need is this quickening work that makes us alive. But we don't have any ability to conjure that up through the works of the flesh. And so we need a work of divine grace to intervene and to deliver us. So yeah, I would argue that ultimately that statement, it's not true. God helps those really who realize that they can't help themselves, right? It's really the reverse of what the famous saying says. Okay, we're on the last question. Any more? Getting scribbled out there? Okay. Yes, ma'am. I think that, yeah, it's, there is a drive that we all have, you know, it's even the drive you see in the little kids, right? I did it all by myself, right? We have that drive to do, to accomplish things. Really, grace is inherently offensive to human beings. You think even in Luke chapter 15, when Jesus tells the parable of the prodigal son, that when you look at that parable, from a human perspective, it's profoundly unfair, right? You've got this guy, he's gone off, he's taken his father's inheritance, he's squandered everything, right, on riotous living and on prostitutes. He comes back and, you know, he initially, you know, he asks to be made as one of his father's hired servants, but the dad cuts him off, he says, you know, bring forth the best robe, you know, put shoes on his feet, kill the fatted calf, and he's received with honor. That's a picture of grace. But it's inherently not fair, right? Because here you have this guy that did nothing to deserve any of that, and yet he's given all this favor. And there's something in human nature that bristles against that, because it bristles against our pride. So I think, yeah, the idea of self-sufficiency, that really is an affront to human pride, because it or the Bible's take on that, I should say, you know, the take of grace. Because, yeah, we want to say that I can do it all on my own. You know, I don't need help from any creator, right? I'm a self-made man. But what Scripture makes clear is that every breath we take is a gift from Almighty God. So we can't do anything apart from God. We are not self-made people, and we are in utter need of God to intervene in our situation if we're ever going to be saved. While we are independent Baptists, we want to be dependent Christians, don't we? That's what we're really called, have recognized. We are that whether we know or not. Okay, this is the last one I have in hand. Still take another thing, but he's got it. How many signs are left to happen before the rapture and what are they? I would say zero. Now, this is a controversial answer, but the rapture is an imminent event. So when we talk about the rapture, we're talking about an event that could take place at any moment. And you find the New Testament regularly using this language, you know, in James chapter five, this idea of the Lord drawing near. This is an overhanging thing that it could take place at any time. You know, the analogy of, you know, the coming of the thief and so forth. So when you think of Jesus coming in the rapture, it is something that is imminent. It could take place even before this service is out. But it's interesting that when you look at the language that Paul uses in 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul actually assumed a possibility that the rapture could happen in his lifetime. Because when you look at what Paul says there, he says, we who are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord. Paul had the hope that he might be one of those that was alive at the coming of Jesus Christ. Now, of course, it was not to be. And we know that he, Paul, has already gone on to be with the Lord. And of course, he will be one of those who is asleep in Jesus, whom God takes with him, right, when Jesus returns. So, I would argue that there are no signs that have to take place before the rapture of the church. Now, where you have the sign language coming into place is particularly in regard to the events of the tribulation, in regard to Jesus' actual visible appearing when he comes and he judges his enemies and sets up his kingdom. You certainly do have signs associated with that. And you could read in Matthew chapter 24, you'll find all manner of signs that Jesus describes in that chapter. I think that what you're witnessing today, because sometimes we are prone to get some bad theology. in some of those that are a bit more sensationalistic about some of the headlines. Well, we're seeing prophecies fulfilled before our very eyes. Well, not really. What we are seeing, I think, are probably, I want to say, foreshadowings of things that are going to happen in the tribulation period. Now, we know, you know, with Israel gathered back in the land, I mean, that gives us an expectation, certainly, that we are getting much closer to the rapture, right? Because now we have a greater understanding of how there can be a temple in the tribulation period, of how you can have the Antichrist making a treaty with the nation of Israel. You do have previous generations of Christians that would not have understood those things because you didn't have a nation of Israel gathered back in the land. But we do have to be very careful and keep ourselves from thinking that you have to have those things in order to have the rapture. Ultimately, the rapture is an imminent event. And how the other things work out, I mean, that's ultimately in God's timetable. But I would argue that those signs are associated with tribulation events and particularly with the visible appearing of Christ on earth. So I hope that answers that question. So possibly we won't even make it home today. That is possible. That is possible. That's the blessed hope, right? And that's the language scripture uses. Actually, that was terribly misspeaking. We'll actually make it to our real home. That's right. There we go. That's right. There we go. Thank you for your questions. Got another question. I think I see something else coming. This is good. And a delivery girl. All right. Oh, actually. Oh, I can't read. I'll show you, it'll be a good joke for you. Okay, and let's turn to Acts 19. Acts 19, all right. Acts 19, and then you can all laugh at me and then we'll go on. Oh, I tell you. When I misread it, I thought, boy, this is gonna be fun to hear Pastor answer this one. Okay, is it Christian's responsibility to perform exercise or is that only for apostles? That's not what it says, exorcism. Exorcism, I assume, yeah. Oh my, only apostles can do exercise, okay. No, we'll read it correctly. Is it Christian's responsibility to perform exorcisms or was that only for apostles? And reference to when the sons of Serva, were laughed at when they attempted and that's Acts 19, 13 through 19. You want to go ahead and read that Pastor? Yeah, I could read that 1913 in Acts and then certain of the vagabond Jews exorcists took upon them to call over them which had the evil which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus saying we adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth and there were seven sons of one Sceva a Jew and chief of the priests which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye? and the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them and overcame them and prevailed against them. So they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus and fear fell on them all. And the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many that believed came and confessed and showed their deeds. Many of them also, which used curious arts, brought their books together and burned them before all men. And they counted the price of them and found it 50,000 pieces of silver. Yeah, there is a disagreement among Bible scholars about the practice of exorcisms. Is this something that was limited to the apostles? Was this considered, in biblical terminology, is this considered a sign of the apostle, right, that is associated with their ministry? Or is this something that is granted more broadly to Christians today? I don't know that I'm 100% dogmatic on this question. My inclination is to say that probably, okay, probably this was limited to the apostles and those that were living in the first century before we had the completed canon of scripture. I do think that people are demon-possessed today, so that much I don't discount. But what would I do if I had somebody who came into my office that was demon-possessed? I just don't feel confident that I have the authority to stand there and rebuke the demons in the name of Jesus. I think what I would do is preach the gospel of Christ. and trust the Holy Spirit to break through those barriers of the demonic forces and to enable that person to see the light of the glory of God. But I really don't have confidence that I have the giftedness to be able to do anything with evil spirits. And you know, I know that there's a We have an appeal of those sorts of things, but I think it's kind of a fleshly type of thing. A lot of pastors think, boy, that'd be cool if I had someone come into my office and I could pronounce some kind of hocus pocus and get the demons out. The power is not in my office as pastor. I don't have some kind of mystical hocus pocus that I can perform just simply because you could put a reverend ahead of my name. Any authority that I have comes from here. Power is in the scriptures, it's in the power of the gospel. And I think that's what I would do if I were in that situation. So again, I don't know that I'd be 100% dogmatic on that answer, but that's what I'm inclined to say. And would you clarify, you had the phrase in there, not since the canon was completed of the scriptures. And what are you saying when you say that? So there's a recognition that before We had this, right, before we had all 66 books of the Bible completed, that you still had in the early church, you still had the ministry of the apostles. When you look, we talked about this morning, Peter, you know, given that title of apostle, that's a sent one by Jesus Christ. And the apostles held unique authority in the early church. And what you find, for instance, at the end of Mark's gospel in Mark chapter 16, that there are all these signs that are associated with the apostles in their ministry in the early church, that the apostles authenticated that they were real messengers of Christ by doing miracles. Now, I am not an apostle. I do not have the authority that the apostles had. So because of that, I don't have the ability to do the signs that they did. I would argue, this is why at this church we take a position that we call cessationism. That we believe that there are certain gifts that were associated with the early church and with the ministry of the apostles that we believe have now ceased because of the fact that we have the complete scriptures. But in the early church, before you had the completed scriptures, you did have certain gifts being exercised. You had the gift of tongues, for example, the gift of prophecy, where there was ongoing revelation from God. You had signs of an apostle. You do find in the book of Acts of the apostles doing healings. You find Paul even raising the dead. We mentioned that, right? With Eutychus, who had fallen out of the third story window. I don't have that ability, so please don't Don't come with, you know, the broken arm or the ringing in your ears or whatever and think that I'm going to do anything about it. Right. I don't have that gift. That is a gift that I believe was unique to those early stages of church history before we had the completed scriptures. But now that we have the completed scriptures, we no longer need those signs to authenticate the apostles because we already have their words in the scriptures. And that is why I'm inclined to think that Christians probably don't have the ability to perform exorcisms today, because I think that is most likely a sign of the apostle. So I hope that answers the question. I'm not finding scripture. I should know where it is. It's in John. OK. But right along with that, as far as the miracles go, Jesus even said, you don't believe in me, but at least believe in the works that the Father sent. So he was given that grace. doing those miracles. Right. Right. Absolutely. Yeah. Jesus, of course, all those signs that he did, it wasn't just, you know, it wasn't just hocus pocus. It wasn't just to attract a crowd. All of those signs that Jesus did, you find in the Gospel of John, they were designed so that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ and that believing we might have life through his name. So that's why Jesus did his signs, and that's why the apostles did theirs, so that they could be demonstrated that they were Jesus-appointed legitimate successors in ministry. But since we don't have apostles today, apostles had to be eyewitnesses to the resurrected Christ, okay? Since we don't have anybody that fulfills those qualifications today, we no longer have apostles, and we have no need for ongoing signs in the present era, is what I would argue. Last call. Any itchy question you were afraid to bring forth? Now you're emboldened. No. Thank you for your participation. Thank you all. Pastor, thank you. Good job. It was a good session. Appreciate it. All right. Come on, Pearl. All right, let's stand, turn to number 359, pastor talk.