Why Questions Build Faith

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Welcome and thanks for joining us on this episode of the Midweek Podcast, brought to you by a Fresh Wind Church. Each week, our team brings you new content to help you take steps towards Jesus and discover more in Christ. Today's episode is hosted by Pastor Ryan.

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Well, hey, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast. This is Pastor Ryan, and uh this week on the podcast, um, we are going to answer some of the hard questions uh that you guys have sent in during our series, Hard Questions. And uh told you uh during the sermon this past week that I did not have a chance to to get to any of the questions that were submitted last week. So got quite a few to go through this week. And um y'all did it. Sent some uh some tough questions uh for us to kind of wrestle through. And and I love this this time that we're gonna have together um to kind of talk through this. What is what does God say? What does his word say about some of these things? And so I've heard from uh a few people that they love the the heart behind this series because they grew up in a a church or in a denomination, a religious system where you weren't permitted to ask questions, to ask questions like the ones that we're asking in this series were was a sign of of disrespect or unbelief, a lack of faith. And and we we have always taught and believed that questions lead to intimacy, that when we use the questions that we have, and and instead of using them as an opportunity to turn away, we instead turn closer, we we dive deeper. Uh we press into the Lord that that he begins to reveal his heart to us in ways that we wouldn't have have known uh had we not taken the time to really wrestle with these things. And so uh one of Pastor Tim's favorite verses is come let us wrestle these things out, though your ski uh sins may be as scarlet, I can wash them white as snow. Lord, Lord invites us, man, come let's let's argue about this, let's talk about these things. And so that's what we're doing in this series, hard questions, is we're looking at some of those hard questions that people have about God, faith, religion, Christianity, what it means and looks like to follow Jesus in everyday life. And then we're gonna turn to the scripture and say, okay, well, what does what does scripture say about this? And and I'll be honest with you up front, sometimes scripture's silent, and uh when that happens, um, I want to point that out to you. I I don't want to to make up an answer that that sounds good. If I don't know, I'm just gonna tell you I don't know. If scripture uh doesn't give us clarity, I'll I'll just tell you that. If if we kind of have some some verses in scripture where uh people have kind of camped out on two or sometimes three or four different sides of the issue, and and each one kind of pulls a verse uh to to pick their their position and defend it, uh, I'll I'll try to be honest with those things too and and point those out. This isn't this isn't really about getting you to believe necessarily what I believe on these things. Uh some of these things you're gonna have to wrestle with with the Lord and with Scripture and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the deep things of God. And uh I'm praying that He will do that. And so we have some tough questions uh to get through today. Um, like I said, I don't know if I'm gonna get through through everybody's question. If you submitted a question and I didn't get uh to it on this podcast, I'll do my best to get it on the next one as we wrap up the series. But because of the nature of some

A Prayer For Wisdom

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of the uh the questions that came in, because of the the topic that we're doing, I think it would be good for us to start in prayer. And so uh if you don't mind, let me pray for for for you as you listen, for me, as I as I try to to bring God's word to you and and do it faithfully. Um, if you would just let me pray for us. Father, we thank you uh for your word. And I know that it never returns void and that it always produces fruit in due season. And so, Lord, we have a a lot of questions about what it means to live in relationship with you, to follow you faithfully, and to live in a world that is so uh marred by sin and and evil. And Lord, how do we how do we reconcile these things is sometimes uh is so challenging. And so, Father, I pray that you would give me wisdom as I try to work through the questions that we have uh before us today. And Lord, I pray that you would give every person listening to the podcast uh, Lord, that you would give them ears to hear, hearts to to discern, give them discernment to see what's true. And uh and Lord, I pray that you would you would lead us deeper to you, let your Holy Spirit teach and reveal to us the deep things of God. And I pray that these would be opportunities for us to to grow closer to you and uh to know your heart just a little bit more as we discover more in you through these questions in Jesus' name. Amen.

Grief After Losing A Spouse

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All right, we're gonna dive in, and uh the first one is right out of the right out of the gate, uh, a pretty challenging one. And so uh, like I said, I want to try to do this faithfully, um, the best way that I can. So question that came in is this how do I come back from the loss of my wife? One year is approaching and I'm as lost and alone as if it were yesterday. Um so first off, brother, uh I want to let you know that that we are praying for you. Um losing someone you love, especially uh a family member and a wife in particular, a spouse, uh is one of the most challenging things uh that we're gonna go through on on this side of eternity. And I want you to know um you you you don't necessarily come back from that in the way that the world uh uses that term, maybe. Um but you come through it and you come through carrying you carrying her. Um, you know, we when we use that word, how do I come back from this? I I think that what we end up doing is we quietly begin to grade a grieving person against a a test that doesn't really exist. Scripture never puts a clock on on grief, and we never find, as you read through scripture, we never find where uh where scripture rebukes anyone for grieving too long. Uh just did a funeral this past weekend for uh for a guy whose wife just passed away. And uh one of the things I I told the people who gathered for the funeral is like, this is your chance. If if you need to cry, let's cry. Um, we need to grieve, and grief looks different for everybody. Um, but scripture never builds uh structures for grief, it never gives a guideline necessarily. Uh Joseph, he mourned for his father for seven days. Israel wept for Moses for 30 days. Uh Job's friends, they just sat in the dirt for seven days and seven nights and said nothing at all. Scripture says, because they saw that his grief was very intense. And so while scripture builds structures, it doesn't uh give us deadlines. And and the other thing I want you to know is this is God is not distant from you in this. The psalmist said the Lord is near the brokenhearted, he saves those who are crushed in spirit. And so I want you to picture this. It's not saying just that God is is aware uh of your hurt, that he's aware of your pain. It's more than that. He is he's near, he's near to those who are brokenhearted. And so um I I would just ask you to lean over and lean on him. Um he's right there with you, and and he is not he's not about to forsake you in this. He he's gonna help uh carry you through it. And uh what you what life looks like on the other side of that might not be um you know back to what it used to be. Uh there's gonna be, you know, I hate the phrase a new normal. It reminds me of COVID. Um, but in a way, there's a there's a new normal. You come through it, uh, carrying her, uh piece of you is missing, and that means life's gonna look different. Um, but the Lord is he's near you and uh and he'll he'll walk with you through that thing. Um we see that even Jesus, uh, when he was at a standing outside of the grave of Lazarus, his friend, uh, he knows he's he's about to raise Lazarus from the dead. Uh if you if you were with us in our John series, we covered this. But even though Jesus is about to raise Lazarus, he knows what he's getting ready to do. Scripture still tells us that Jesus wept. And so um, even though the resurrection of Lazarus was on the way, it didn't cancel out his grief, right? It it just doesn't, grief doesn't get the last word. And I and I want you to know this grief is not unbelief. The post the apostle Paul doesn't tell us to not grieve. He says, don't grieve like the rest who have no hope. And so our grief just looks different. Um I I was talking to to someone at that funeral uh last week, and they said, Man, I don't I don't know how people get through this without the Lord. And and I think I think that's true. I I'm not sure how people do it because we don't grieve like those who have no hope. Our hope, especially if the person that we loved is was a follower of Jesus, we get to see them again. And uh and that's man, that's that is hope. Uh we're not this isn't the end. Death does not get the last word. And so Christian grief is is not a lack of faith or a sign of unbelief. It's it's grief, but it's grief with hope. And uh I I would tell you to do a couple things. Um, number one, I would encourage you to plan the anniversary. I know you said you're you're approaching one year, and I would I would tell you to get that day planned out, decide now uh where you're gonna be, what you're gonna be doing, who's gonna be with you. And you know, whether you want to spend that day alone or maybe you want some of the the people closest to you to be with you, I I would probably uh tell you to lean that way, but every everybody handles grief different, so I don't want to tell you how to do it. I've never been in that situation. Um, but I would tell you to plan it, make sure you know, and that way when it gets here, you can approach that day with some intentionality, and uh you'll have a plan in place, and I think that'll help help get you through it. And and I would tell um tell a couple people, hey, this date's coming up, it's gonna be hard. Um, would you at least check in on me? Send me a text, something. I think there's people in our life that they want to show up, they want to help, they just don't know how or when if we don't tell them. And people don't know uh what we're wrestling with, especially internally. And so uh find find a couple people, uh, either family members or maybe people in your life group or people in the church, and just say, hey, you mind checking in on me that day? And I know that if there are people who go to A Fresh Wind, I know that they would love to do that. Another thing uh maybe to consider is uh maybe a program like Griefshare. Um it's a it's a 13-week group and it meets in in churches all across the country. Um I I actually looked it up to see if there's any nearby for you. And uh looks like there is one started, oh, it looks like it started this week, but maybe you can still jump into it at Church of the Open Door. So right down the road from us, they have a grief share group that's meeting. Uh, I think the cost is $25. And and I'll tell you this: if the cost is an issue, let me know. Um we'll we'll try to help take care of that for you. Uh, not even help or try, we will. And uh there's also a surviving the holidays event uh coming up on November 23rd. I know that as we head into this time of year, we have Thanksgiving and Christmas and the New Year and all these things, and some of those are going to be a first. Um, and so maybe that would be a good thing to check out. And so you could find all of that at griefshare.org um and try to look up those things, but getting in those groups and finding help again, it's not a sign of of weakness or lack of faith. It's it's taking advantage of the the relationships, the people, um, and and the wisdom instruction that God has given us. And so I would uh I would encourage you to do those things. Um but it but here's I guess the bottom line for this question uh is for this person uh specifically and for anybody else who's in in this boat or a similar uh spot, you're not behind schedule. There is no schedule. And the grave is not the end of the story for for your wife or for your spouse, and you're not moving on from her, you're moving towards her. That's the hope that we have in the gospel. And so um I want you to know praying for you, lifting you up, and uh, I know this is gonna be this is gonna be tough, but I don't want you to expect that life's gonna go just go back one day, everything's gonna feel normal. Um it's gonna be it's gonna be different, and that's okay. The Lord has promised to be with you even then. Question

Divorce, Remarriage, And Staying Faithful

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number two uh another another tough one here, and uh, I'll just tell you right up front, there's a lot of different um different beliefs, different points where people land on this topic. I think there's a general overall consensus, but then what does it look like uh specifically is where where good and faithful Christians start to kind of deviate. But uh here's the question Does God still hate divorce? Some of my friends have divorced their spouse only to upgrade to a more godly one. Their marriages seem to flourish now as a result. They are thriving while I look at how difficult it is to stay faithful to my first love and keep praying for change. Does God care how unfair and how hard this is? Um first off, yes, God God does care. Um and again, He's with you, right? Uh He hasn't left you in these moments, and marriage is one of the things that is supposed to point to God's relationship with us. Um it this this union is a a covenant between us, uh our spouse, and the Lord. It is a covenantal relationship with the Lord, and marriage is something he takes very, very seriously. And so the the way that you you phrase it here, does God still hate divorce? I mean, in substance, yes, God, God hates divorce. He hates it because of what it does to uh uh to people. He hates it because of what it does to families and children and and in large part what it does to to culture and society in general. Um divorce is a horrible thing for for people to have to go through, and it usually comes about, right, through, through human brokenness and sin, and and God hates what that does. Um, a lot of people we use uh Malachi chapter two uh for that verse. Some translation says God hates divorce. The way the CSB translates it is actually a little bit rougher. It says, if he hates and divorces his wife, uh talking about the actual individual, then it says, the Lord uh of armies says that that person covers his garments with injustice. And the instruction is therefore watch yourselves carefully and do not act treacherously. Malachi is talking here about people who are leaving their Jewish spouses and going and marrying uh foreign women. And Malachi is saying, Well, the Lord through the prophet Malachi is saying, you have acted treacherously in that. To say that you, you know, you don't want to be married to this person anymore because you found something new over here. Uh God is is not okay with that and says, Do not act treacherously, that you have covered your your garments with injustice. And so that that's pretty uh pretty strong language. Jesus uh says this, he goes all the way back uh past Moses to creation. He says, What God has joined together, let no one separate. And he points, you know, the people are arguing with him in Matthew chapter 19. They say, Well, then why does Moses then permit uh divorce? And Jesus said, God permitted it because of the hardness of your heart, but it was not like that from the beginning. God's plan was never for this, it was for a man and a woman to be united together in a covenantal relationship for life. And so Jesus says, What God has joined together, let no one separate. Now, in earlier in Matthew, when Jesus is talking about this same topic, uh, there's a I guess an exception um where he he uses the word uh pornea, uh some translations uh uh translate that as sexual immorality, uh some use marital unfaithfulness. And so that's the kind of the exception that that is built in uh to it. Um and so if if you're going to divorce uh for something outside of those things, um Jesus is pretty clear uh that that he is against that thing and tells us not to do it. And so this is again, this is a a hard thing because marriage takes two people who who are in relationship together, and it's really, really difficult when one person is is trying to pursue reconciliation and the other person isn't. The apostle Paul says if an unbelieving spouse wants to leave, then you should let them leave. And and that's like, okay, well, Paul, what am I supposed to do with that? And and line that up with what Jesus says. At the same time, he says, if that person wants to stay, then then you you don't have any grounds to divorce them. And so, okay, so even if they're an unbelieving spouse and and they're not trying to leave, now I gotta stay married to them. Paul's like, well, well, yeah. And so some of this I think is is consequences of of living in a sinful world, right? A fallen world. Jesus was clear, do not be unequally yoked. And you know, I'm not sure. Um in this particular situation, where where you were at, uh, when you got married, were you following Jesus, were you not? Um, Paul would go on to say, whatever situation uh you were in when you found the Lord, he would encourage you, stay in that situation. And so if if you were married when you found the Lord, even to an unbeliever, uh, Paul would say, I would encourage you to stay in that that relationship. And and I know that doesn't make it any easier. Um so here are kind of the positions held by by people, and again, these are people who love who love scripture. They I think most of them genuinely love God and they're trying to figure out what do we do with this. Um, the first position is this is there's no divorce and no remarriage except by death. And so if you do get divorced, then you're not allowed to to remarry unless your spouse has died. Uh, because if you do, uh they would look at um verses where it says that you know you you cause the other person to commit adultery. Um and so that's some pretty strong language, and and it's hard to get around verses like that. And so there's that position. Uh, some would say the only exception is adultery only, so you're permitted to divorce and remarry, um, assuming that there was sexual immorality, there was adultery that had taken place and um marital unfaithfulness, you know, whatever kind of word phrase you want to use there for it. Um, but in those situations that that divorce would be permitted. There's other people that go and and they try to bring in what Paul taught. And so it's adultery plus desertion, right? If the unbeliever leaves, let him leave. Uh Paul said a brother or sister is not bound in such cases. And so if you have a an unbelieving spouse who has kind of said, you know what, I'm I'm on my way out. Uh Paul says that you're kind of free in that. Um, I think that there's a lot of people who kind of end uh end up there. And then there's kind of a broader view that looks like you know, abuse, sustained neglect, you know, what are the are are you permitted in those situations? And and there's there's people who land on On that side that say, Yeah, if there's abuse, I mean definitely um you know that's a a break of the marriage vow. Um if there's sustained neglect, uh a break of the marriage vow, and there's people that that say, okay, in those situations, then you you have grounds for divorce. Um scripture kinda gives support for for a lot of that. It doesn't get too much into the abuse or sustained neglect neglect, honestly. Um and so I I would encourage you to really seek the Lord in this. But uh outside of those things, the call is really for us to stay married, to stay with our spouse, to continue to lean towards them and into the Lord. And I know when the other person doesn't seem to be reciprocating that that that is incredibly challenging. And we look at other people who uh have divorced, have remarried, and seem to be thriving. And we're like, well, why is this fair? How is it fair that I have to to stay in this situation when they've kind of been released and have found a uh a life with the person and now they're flourishing? And my encouragement here would you know maybe be to read Psalm 73. Um, Psalm 73 is not about divorce, but and it's about wicked people. So the situation is not exactly the same, but it's a man who says, you know, I I'm looking at I'm looking at the the wicked people and they seem to be thriving. And I'm not saying that those people, because I don't know those situations and that why they got divorced. I'm not calling them wicked, but they seem to be thriving. And in the psalmist saying, I I'm looking at that and I almost slipped. My steps nearly went astray. I envied the arrogant. I saw the prosperity of the wicked, and and he just talks, I mean, he just spends, I think, nine or ten verses just talking about how good their life seems. And so that's where I feel like we can get, we can look at other people and their situations, we could say, man, I'm so envious because I look on the outside and I can see all of these things. And he says this, he says, when I tried to understand all this, it seemed hopeless until I entered God's sanctuary. Then I understood their destiny. And so he goes on to say, you know, I was envying them, but then when I went into the Lord's sanctuary, then I saw that, man, their end is is destruction. And again, I'm I'm not trying to correlate that to the people that you mentioned here who uh have divorced and remarried. I'm not saying their end is destruction. But I am saying there's this envy that we have looking at the outside, and and really this the psalmist here, his his situation didn't change. The only thing that changed is he went to the Lord's sanctuary and he got a new perspective. And so I would encourage you to spend some time uh just seeking the Lord and and asking him to give you a new heart in these things. Um I'm not I'm not saying that those marriages are gonna collapse or you know there's something wrong with them. I I don't know. Um but I I will tell you that the Lord can can give you a new perspective as as you seek him. And so um let me say this. I I know that the word you used, and it's gonna sound rough for a lot of people listening, uh, was upgrade. You know, they've upgraded. Um scripture does not speak that way, and I think that oftentimes we're tempted to compare our inside and to someone else's outside, right? And so we we look at our situation, we look at our marriage, and we see all the flaws, all the things, all the arguments, all the disagreements, uh the lack of intimacy, all these things, and then we look at somebody else and they seem like they have it all going on. Um, I'll I'll just tell you some of those marriages may have ended for reasons that you've never been told. I don't know. Um, but there's a lot that goes on behind closed doors that that we don't often get to see. And so just to be envious of what you see from the outside, I would encourage you uh not to focus on that, um, but to instead just to pursue the Lord and say, Lord, what does it look like to be a godly spouse in the marriage that I have uh with the spouse that you have given me? And assuming your spouse is a a Christian, uh a follower of Jesus, uh, to pray that the Lord would would also work on on their heart to turn them in. You can't obviously force them to do that, but you can begin to pray for them. Um there's a there's a book I I think it was by Stormy, might have been her first name, uh, called The Power of a Praying Husband. There's also the power of a praying wife. I would encourage you maybe to pick up both of those books and uh just to begin read it, begin reading it, and then uh there's a prayer uh for you to pray every day uh for your for your spouse. And I would encourage you to start doing that because often what'll happen is uh God'll He's not always gonna necessarily change the other person, but he's gonna change your heart and he's gonna soften your heart in those situations. Um, but then as you pray, I I do believe that the Lord is going to work in their life too. And and if you can get them to read this book as well, um, I I think it could could really open both of your eyes uh towards the reconciliation that that the Lord wants for you. And I would encourage you uh to do whatever it takes um to pursue that reconciliation. The apostle Paul told told the Romans, if possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone, how much more so with your wife? Right? And so as much as you can, whatever you can possibly do, live at peace. But that also says some of it doesn't depend on you. And Paul acknowledges that. And so in those situations, I would encourage you to look for uh a good Christian counselor. If you if you need a recommendation, we have some, uh shoot me an email, we'll get that over to you. Uh, there's some great Christian counselors right in this area, and either for you specifically, uh, or or together as as a couple's marriage marriage counseling, I I think that would be great too. And so I would encourage you to do that. And um the the bottom line here, I guess, is um God sees marriage as a covenant lifelong relationship. His design for marriage is that we would stay united with our spouse in in holy matrimony uh until the day we die. And and I would encourage you to pursue that whatever it takes. And and we have no idea uh what the future holds and how God's going to redeem your story, but I'm praying that praying that He will. Question number

Those Who Never Heard About Jesus

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three. Uh, this one goes along a lot with a little bit of what we were talking about on this Sunday, this past Sunday. And here's the question. He says, say someone was born in a land where Christianity was not spread, and they realize that God has to exist, but have no way of finding him. In order to try to seek him, they make something like an idol because they know one has to exist but have no moral of wrongdoing, uh, or no moral of wrong due to their lack of the Bible. Are they wrong for seeking God? Will they go to hell due to this? And so here is, I guess, kind of the short answer to this. Uh, first off, this question contains two assumptions that scripture pretty directly denies. First, is that the person has no way of finding God. We we talked about this on Sunday. Uh, what can be known about God is evident because God has shown it to them. Uh, his eternal power and divine nature has been clearly seen through creation. And so, as a result, people are without excuse. And so they have a way to know God. God has made that known to them. The second one is they have no sense of right or wrong. Well, here's the other thing. Uh, scripture teaches uh against that well, because not having a Bible does not mean not having a conscience. Uh, Romans chapter 2, verses 14 and 15 says that the Gentiles without the law are a law to themselves, so that they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts and their consciences, confirm this. And so every culture we've ever found all across the planet, whether or not uh they have a Bible, has found a word to describe something that's unfair or unjust, right? Just about anybody knows murder is wrong. There's something in us, even if we've we haven't read scripture that knows if I go and I steal this thing from that person over there, there's something wrong. And Paul's saying that that law is written on our hearts. And so what I said on Sunday is nobody is condemned for a message they never heard. People are condemned for sin they actually committed against the light they actually had. And so God has revealed himself, he has made himself known through creation, through all that he has done. He has written his law on our hearts, and we are accountable to that. And so what we're condemned for is the sin that we commit in light of what God has already revealed to us. The other thing is Paul does not describe our geography as an accident. Um, he actually says this is part of the design. And we talked about this again on Sunday, that he has made every nationality, he has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live. And he did this so that they might seek God and perhaps they might reach out and find him, though he's not far from any of us. And so God has actually placed people in those specific places and locations and times so that they might seek him and find him. And so being in a remote country or a land where Christianity has not spread or somewhere where they don't have the Bible is not a flaw in God's plan or design. It's actually part of what God is doing so that they might reach out and find him. Now, the idol situation is where the search stops a little bit, not because carving is an unusually awful sin. Um that that's not really the problem here. It's what Paul says in Romans 1.25, where he calls it an exchange, where we trade the truth about God for a lie. And so as soon as we begin to manufacture something and then we look to that thing as God, that's where it becomes problematic because the manufactured God answers every question you ask it and never tells you anything you didn't already believe. And so you start looking at the that thing and praying to that thing instead of to the creator, and and that I I think is is problematic. Are they going to hell? Um that that is for the Lord alone to to know and decide. Um Abraham asked this question, we talked about this on Sunday too. Won't the judge of the whole earth do what is just? And the obvious rhetorical answer to that is yes, of course, the judge of the whole earth. He's going to do what is just. And so God alone knows that person's heart and and where they're at. And unfortunately, scripture never shows us a person who who genuinely sought after God and was left alone in that searching. Uh, rather, the opposite uh uh happens, and and that's what we see. Paul just told us in Romans there is no one who seeks God. Um, so nobody generates seeking on their own. And so when someone in this scenario starts seeking or reaching, that isn't a person impressing God uh from a standing start that that's grace already at work, kind of upstream in that person's life. And so the seeking is evidence that God has moved, not the payment that makes God move, if that makes sense. And so um here here's, I guess, two examples of that. First is Acts chapter 10 and Cornelius. God's response wasn't to grade Cornelius on his sincerity, instead, God dispatched a preacher. And so there's this angel, there's this fruit top vision, messengers are sent 30 miles, and and Peter has to go and walk. Uh, that's an enormous amount of machinery to get one man the message. And so Cornelius is having this vision, and God sends Peter to go and declare the gospel to Cornelius. The second is in Acts chapter 8, there's an Ethiopian official who's uh sitting reading the book of Isaiah in the middle of the desert, and God picks up Philip and moves him across the country so that he can run alongside this this moving cart, and he comes up to the man, and then he just begins to open the scriptures and to present the gospel to the Ethiopian man. And so here's again a man who was searching, didn't have the answer, and God sent someone. And so here's the tough part in that. In Acts chapter 11, verse 14, the angel tells Cornelius that Peter will speak a message to you by which you and all your household will be saved. This seems to imply that Cornelius, so even though he's devout, he's praying, he's generous, he's all these things, he was not yet saved before he heard the message. And so, um, again on Sunday, I said, How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news. But we don't ever really have a picture where someone is is seeking God in scripture, where someone is seeking God, and God does not send somebody to share the message with them. And so we have a few different positions where where people kind of come down on this. Um, some of them I think are are faithful positions that you know Bible-believing, Jesus-loving Christians can can can come on or come down on. Uh, first is the exclusivism uh that you must hear and believe, right? Uh, how how can they believe unless they hear? So unless you hear the name of Jesus and you call upon his name, uh, then you then you won't be saved. You have to actually do that specifically. Then there's the universal sending position. This is kind of what we see with Cornelius, that God ensures the gospel reaches any anyone who genuinely responds to the light that they have. And so when you look out at creation and you see, okay, God has created something, he's done something, there's something out there, and and there's a seeking person somewhere, God sends someone to share the gospel with that person. And I'll I will tell you this: having grown up in church and followed Jesus for as long as I have, I have heard countless stories where this exact thing has happened, where remote villages and remote tribes and in places all across the globe, uh, there have been groups of people who were searching and God sent them a missionary, someone to go and share the gospel with them. And so there's there's people who end up there. Uh the next would be inclusivism. Uh, this is that people may be saved by responding to general revelation without hearing. Uh, and so this is kind of the idea, you know, no one comes to the Father except through Jesus. But they're saying, okay, well, even if you don't have the name of Jesus because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross, uh, those people, if they they look up to the heavens and say, well, certainly there is a God, and they they remain and live accountable to that God, then because of what Jesus has accomplished on the cross, they can be saved whether or not they ever hear his name necessarily. And so I think that's a position that, again, faithful Christians throughout history have have landed on. The last one is pluralism, uh, and and this is where many religions save. I I think that this is a very I well, just frankly, I think this contradicts scripture. Um we talked about that on Sunday. There is only one way to the Father, and not all roads lead lead to him. It is through Jesus alone. He is the way, the truth, and the life. And so I I think that the first three, uh, exclusivism, universal setting, or inclusivism, uh, those three, um, faithful Christians can kind of come down on one of those. Uh, I would say, oh, for me, golly, probably depends on the last book I read, um, but probably um lean more in that universal setting. I think that God calls um no one comes unless God calls. And if God's going to call uh an individual, then he's going to make a way for that person to hear the gospel. And I think that that balances what Paul said in in Romans chapter 10, 14. How then can they call on him uh they have not believed in, and how can they believe without hearing about them or hearing about him, and how can they hear without a preacher? And so I think that it's important uh that that someone goes and shares the gospel with those people. But I think that Paul raises this question and he answers it not with a theory, he answers it with a job title. And so the question is often asked, and not here, I think again, the person who's asking this question is genuinely wondering about this, but oftentimes this question is built to put God on trial for someone on the other side of the world. But what Paul does with the question is he turns it around, he hands it back to the church. And so, what about those who have never heard has always had one Christian answer for sure? Go and tell. Go and tell. And so I would encourage you if if this is something that's weighing heavy on your heart, and I'm not saying you have to sell everything, pack up, you know, everything into a U-Haul trailer and you know, move to to some remote region in our country or fly to some remote village. Now, maybe, maybe that's true. Um, but maybe I would encourage you to at least look into a mission strip for for you or your family to go and be a part of, and then you can be a part of taking the gospel to those places where people don't have that opportunity, and you never know that God maybe sent you at at such a time as this, so that that person who is seeking out and reaching for him, that they can find that he's not far, that he sent someone from Oleary, Ohio, or Amherst, Lorraine County, Ohio, wherever you're listening this from, all the way to them, uh, so that they could hear the good news. Question

Paradise, Hades, And Old Testament Saints

SPEAKER_00 41:44

number four. Um, this one goes back to actually I think it would it was week one in the September 9th podcast uh that we did. Oh, that might have that might have been before the hard question series then. Uh, but the person asked this where in the Bible does it say that Jesus took Abraham, Daniel, etc., up to paradise after he was crucified. I'm confused because of Abraham, Abraham being in heaven with the beggar Lazarus and him having a conversation with the rich man who's in hell. Didn't that happen before Jesus' crucifixion? You're absolutely right. Uh Jesus tells that story before he is crucified, um, but that was the point that we were trying to make. There is a not any longer, but before the resurrection of Jesus, kind of this intermediate state that that people went to, um, Hades and Paradise. Uh, I think the old King James called it Abraham's bosom or Abraham's side, I think is how the CSB says it. Um, that they could not enter into heaven until Jesus had died on the cross. And so the point that Pastor Tim and I were trying to make on that podcast, and we read about this in 1 Peter, um, I believe it's 1 Peter where it says that he went and he preached uh to the saints of old, um, that he had to go and he had to set the captives free, is this idea that those people who believed and had faith, uh Hebrews talks about this, um, that they were um approved through their faith. And so those people in the Old Testament who had a f had faith, Hebrews says they did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not be made perfect without us. And so um they ended up in this intermediate state, like I said, Hades or um paradise, and they could not make it to heaven until Jesus uh died on the cross. And then when Jesus died, was buried in the tomb, it was then that he went and he essentially said, Hey guys, everything you were looking forward to, that was me. I've done it, let's go, and he he leads them home. So the parable that Jesus is telling, where Lazarus is talking to the other man, is is In that intermediate state. And so there's this chasm between them, and you can't come to me, and I can't come to you. And the real point Jesus is making in that is you know, all these people they already have the the prophets, they have the scriptures. Uh are they going to believe in them? Um, so that's kind of the point that he's making. He wasn't talking so much about the the layout, I guess, of of Hades, but there's this story there, right? And that's what we're wrestling with. Um, but it is a picture. We don't have, I guess, an exact verse, and so we're kind of taking a couple different um verses or ideas throughout scripture to kind of build this point. Um but most people kind of end up in this where where I guess what Pastor Tim and I were teaching, and and I think this has been long held throughout church history, is this intermediate kind of state before heaven that the the Old Testament saints who believed they couldn't make it to heaven without uh what Jesus did on the cross. And so they were there, then after Jesus dies, uh is buried, rises again, then he he takes them home. And so that was the point we were making on that September 9th podcast. Question number

Will Pets Be In Heaven

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five Will pets who have died be in heaven? Uh short answer is this uh scripture doesn't promise it, but it also doesn't forbid it. And um I think if you go all the way back to creation, uh, we see animals matter to God. It's one of the things that He creates. Uh when God floods the earth, he tells you know Noah to bring uh two of every kind of living creature with him birds, livestock, all the wildlife of the earth. Um and so God forms this covenant with Abraham, and then sorry, I just got a text and I lost my train of thought. God forms this covenant with Abraham or Noah, and then it it includes these animals that he has to bring on the ark with him. This psalmist uh said this in Psalm 36, 6, Lord, you preserve people and animals. Uh Luke tells us not one sparrow is forgotten by God. The I the prophet Isaiah, when he's describing uh the new Jerusalem, this renewed world that we're gonna live in, uh, he says the wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, and a child will lead them, if you can imagine that. Um so here's here's what I think. Um verse in scripture that we read has an individual animal being raised. Nothing says animals have a soul surviving death, and we know that animals don't bear God's image. Uh only humanity does that, and that the promise of resurrection is given to those who are in Christ, which animals would would not have to do. And so we don't see that. The Bible, uh, Solomon in Ecclesiastes, he kind of asked the question, um, but we don't get an answer here. Solomon said, Who knows that the spirits of the children of Adam go upward and the spirits of animals go downward to the earth? That's not a doctrine that Samuel's or uh Solomon's laying out, it's a statement really about the limits of observation. We don't know. It all looks like we came from the same thing, we same breath, same dust, you know, we die the same way. Who knows if we go up and the animals go down, but it doesn't answer it. Um and so I would say this uh it's more than likely that animals will be in heaven. I think we could almost say that with certainty. Will yours, and I know that's kind of the question that is really probably being asked here, will your uh dog be in heaven? Will your cat be in heaven? Will will your bird? I don't think scripture gives us certainty on that. Um, I know you know, some of us we got dogs that's like, man, I really hope he'll make it. You know, our family, we love Benny and Millie, and it'd be great if they could come with us. Uh, there's some animals that were like, oh Lord, I can't spend another, I can't spend all eternity chasing Toby around heaven, you know, like and so I I get that too. Um, but I think a lot of times when we ask this question, it's it's a it's really a sign that um there's something that we loved and and we feel the loss of that. And and sometimes, you know, particularly when it comes to animals, it might be a little embarrassing by how kind of hard the grief hits us in those situations, but grief is it's it's a measure of love, right? And loving a creature that God has made and put into your house isn't a misfire, it's the the design working. This is how we are designed, and and God has called us to be good stewards of the planet, and that includes the animals. Um, and so when we have these these animals in our house, I know they become a part of the family, and losing them is hard. Will they be in heaven? Your specific animal, I don't know. There's no promise to that, but there's also no prohibition. Um, there will be animals, I believe. Uh Revelation 21, 5 says, Look, I'm making everything new. That means everything. Um, and and we have these portraits of of animals roaming about heaven uh in the New Jerusalem. And here's uh I'll end on this. Uh, nobody in history has ever arrived to heaven and found God less generous than they were hoping. Um, it is a place that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind could even conceive all that God has prepared for those who love him. And so, whatever it's going to look like, whatever it's gonna be, it's better than you think. And whether that means Benny makes it, I don't know. But there's gonna be something better. It's better than we think. Question

Can Christians Eat Halal Food

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number six Should Christians eat food certified as halal? Uh they they mention this if it's blessed under another name that goes against God. This one might be a little bit surprising because the short answer is yes, and with a great deal of freedom. Now, you need to we we kind of got to break these down a little bit because there's packaged goods uh labeled halal, and there was nothing ever prayed or said over those things. It's particularly the meat. Um, and and that's kind of where everybody is is a little tied up. Uh, and so halal meat is where a uh Muslim uh slaughterman who would slaughter the meat uh speaks an invocation at the moment of that slaughter. Now, here's what they say and what it means. The formula, what they say is Bamala Allahu Akbar. What it means is in the name of God, God is the greatest. Now, in Muslim teaching, this everyday slaughter is not framed as an offering made to a deity, to God, to Allah. Um, it's an acknowledgement that the animal's life belongs to God and a thanksgiving uh to God for the I guess the sacrifice of the meat, but it's not a sacrifice to God or to a deity, I guess if that makes sense. And so the the popular Christian line that halal me is sacrificed to Allah is not how a Muslim would describe that happening. Um this is just an acknowledgement that this animal's life belongs to God. And so when it comes to that, you're I think you you're you're pretty free um just in that alone, right? There this isn't a a sacrifice to an idol, to another God, so you don't really have to worry about it. Um it's their way of acknowledging that that that animal belonged to God. Now, the other thing to take note is is the word Allah is simply uh the Arabic word for God, and um Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews used it even before Islam existed, and so the Arabic Bible uses it still. Uh, if you were to look it up, they just don't have another word for it. But that settles just the language question, right? Not the theological one. We know that uh Muslims and Christians are are not describing the same God. Um and so the question then still is kind of a theological one. Is it okay? And this is where I said it's a lot freer than than you would expect. Um if you go back to early church history, um, and I'm talking like all the way back to when Paul is around and he's teaching, uh, a great deal of the meat in Corinth's markets had come through pagan temples. And so animals were killed in sacrificial rituals, uh, a lot of times to actual named gods, and then the leftovers of those sacrifices were sold publicly. Um, and so scholars argue about the proportion of that, but everyone agrees it was enough that you often couldn't know exactly what you were buying and what had been part of a sacrifice, what had been offered up to an idol, what had not. And so what Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, he says, eat everything that is sold in the meat market without raising questions for the sake of conscience, since the earth is the Lord and all that is in it. If any of the unbelievers invites you over and you want to go, eat everything that is set before you without raising questions for the sake of conscience. So he says, Eat everything and don't ask. So uh you get a you get quite a bit of freedom. And the his reason for this is pretty simple. The earth is the Lord's, right? The cow was always God's cow. And so a man saying words over it didn't transfer the title. It all belongs to the Lord. And so nobody can consecrate to a false God something that was never theirs to consecrate to begin with. Now, there are two kind of limits uh that that Paul does draw. First off, don't participate in the worship act. And so if you know that this is part of a sacrifice um and you're part of it, you should not be participating in that. You shouldn't even be part of the worship act at all, let alone eating the meat. Um, buying meat isn't worship, attending the ceremony as a worshiper is. And so Paul would say, don't do that. The second thing Paul kind of cautions is this. He says, if someone points it out, then you also should not eat it. And it but his reason is a little shocking. He says, Don't eat it for their sake. So, not even for yours. He says, Don't do it for them. You're free, but as soon as someone points it out in their mind, that meal has become about allegiance and for you to partake would affect that person. And so Paul says, in light of their conscience, it would be better for you not to eat it. Beyond that, eat. Don't ask. Uh, you don't have to worry about it. The the Lord owns everything, it's all his. And so if someone, um, you know, if you have a Muslim family that that invites you over for dinner, uh, Paul would say, Man, that that was a door that took courage to open. And uh here's an opportunity in front of you. Go eat. You don't have to interrogate the meat and what was said over it. Um, you can eat it with a clear conscience. Um, and so you you don't have to worry about it. So can you eat it? Absolutely. Number seven. I

Finding Peace Without Full Answers

SPEAKER_00 55:30

know we are coming up to it. I think I only got two more that I'm gonna try to get through. I'll I'll do my best. Uh, question seven, how do you personally find peace in those moments when you're struggling with those questions or just struggling through things in life? This is one of the big things I took away from the message, and this goes back to week one, is that God may not always answer the questions we have with the answers we want. And sometimes we might never see the answers we want in our entire lives. How do you find peace in that? The short answer is this peace doesn't arrive through understanding, which means you don't have to have understanding to have peace. Paul said this. He said, the peace of God, which surpasses all understandings, will guard your hearts and minds. And so we hear that as a compliment, like, what a peace. Um, but that's not mainly what it's saying. It means this peace does not reach you by way of understanding, it is beyond your understanding. It surpasses all understanding, it doesn't come downstream of comprehension. It's not what you finally feel once the explanation or the answer shows up. If peace was required for understanding, it would be the peace of understanding. But what Paul calls it is the peace of God, and it surpasses all understanding. And so in that uh sermon, week one, we were looking at Habakkuk and Habakkuk. Oh, there I go again. And what we find is he brings these complaints to the Lord, and and he all he doesn't really get good answers in his lifetime. But he instead of walking off and using that as a reason to stop trusting the Lord or to walk away or to be angry, he takes up a post. He says, I will stand at my guard post and station myself on the lookout tower. I will watch to see what he will say to me and how I should reply about my complaint. And so peace did not require him to put that complaint down. And then he says this: he says, I heard and I trembled within. My lips quivered, rottenness entered my bones, I trembled where I stood. Now I must quietly wait for the day of distress. Well, two verses before he says, Yet I will celebrate. So despite all of this, he says, I will celebrate. And so this is a man who is physically shaking and yet choosing to celebrate in the moment peace and panic in the same body at once. And so anyone waiting to feel peaceful before believing they have peace should know what that Havakak never got that. He got the peace while trembling. Lamentations uh 321 uh says this. He says, Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope. Because of the Lord's faithful love, we do not perish, for his mercies never end, they are new every morning. And I want you to to look at the verb, the action there. I call this to mind. Peace is is truly an act of deliberate recollection. When you can't see what God is doing, it's so important that you rehearse what he's already uh done. In those moments, I think we find that we begin to get peace. It's when we keep looking at the unanswered questions that we we feel the anxiety and the worry. But as you begin to call those things to mind, that hope and peace begins to grow again. And the apostle Paul, I mean, what a prime example. He has this thorn in his side, he's pleading with the Lord uh three times that he would take it, and and God didn't say, All right, I'm gonna take it, and then you'll finally be better. He said, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness. And so he never got the thorn explained or removed, but he got a no and then he got a person, my grace, and it's sufficient for you. It is enough. And so here's uh a couple practical things I I think you can do. Number one, stop chasing the feeling and practice the posture, right? Peace in scripture is far more often something you do than something you feel. And so take up, post up on that tower, wait for the Lord, um, and and practice the posture of peace instead of chasing the feeling. Feelings come and go, and it's a hard thing to build a foundation on. Um, but you can have the peace of God, which surpasses your understanding, and that's what's going to guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Uh, number two, shrink the time horizon. Jesus, when he was teaching us to pray, said, give us today our daily bread. So you don't need peace about the next 20 years. You need peace for today, and then you need peace for tomorrow, and then peace for the next day. And so shrink the timeline and just say, Lord, I help me have peace today. Help me have peace in this moment, in this hour, in this meeting, um, in this talk that I'm getting ready to have with my spouse or my kids. Lord, give me peace here in this season. And and then you build up a lifetime of peace. Like I said, it's when we begin to focus too far out on all the unknown, all the unanswered questions. That's that's really when anxiety begins to creep up. Number three, uh, build a remembering list. Write down some some specific times where God came through. And I don't care if you put a date on them and keep them somewhere you can find them. Put them in the notes app on your phone or um in a in a journal by your your bedside or you know, in a notebook in the car, something, because you you won't be able to generate hope from nothing, right? But you'll be able to go and read those things and call them to mind again. And that I think brings hope. It brings peace. That God was faithful for me then, he'll be faithful for me now. The fourth thing I would tell you is uh confide in a faithful friend. Um these things are hard to wrestle with alone, so go to someone who who you trust uh and know is gonna to point you back to the Lord to give you godly wisdom, godly advice. And and I I'm saying go beyond, you know, Chat GPT or or Grok or whoever. Uh go to go to a real person and say, hey man, I'm struggling here, and allow that person to put their arms around you and pray for you. You can get a lot of good answers on Google and AI. Uh you you can't get someone to just wrap their arm around you and pray with you and be with you. And I think in some a lot of these situations, um, that's what we need more than an answer, is just someone to stand there with us, uh to stand in the gap for us. And number five, don't forsake gathering together with the Lord's people. Um there are seasons where sometimes you just show up and you let the room sing what you can't, you know. Um I think that's why scripture tells us, you know, to encourage one another, to not forsake gathering together. It it's something that continues to build our faith, that gives us peace when we come together and we see the Lord's faithfulness. And so that's why in week one, as we kind of wrapped up that sermon, I had asked people, if the Lord's been faithful, say amen. You know, let us know, because there's people in this room who are struggling. We need to know that God, God is faithful, that he's good, that he's gonna come through. And so uh don't forsake gathering together. And and number six, look at the cross when you can't see anything else. Um the most unanswered question ever asked aloud was asked by Jesus. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And the Father did not answer it on Friday. He didn't answer it on Saturday, he answered it on Sunday. And uh sometimes the answer isn't absent, it's just not not due yet. And so here's the here's, I guess, my encouragement. Uh, you're not gonna think your way into peace because peace was never downstream of an explanation. Uh, it's a lot like joy. You know, you can have joy in the middle of some terrible, horrific uh situations and seasons. Peace is the same thing. It arrives, um it arrives on a different road. It's gonna show up when when the panic is still there, when when the anxiety is still there, uh we can still have peace because it's not ours, it's not manufactured, uh, it's not something we find, it's not an answer. Uh, it's God's peace, and it surpasses everything that we can we can think. Uh it surpasses our understanding, and it'll guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. All right, last question. I'm

Heaven, Hell, And Remembering Loved Ones

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over the hour mark, so I'm gonna try to get through this one quickly. Um here is the question: Does the Bible say anything about this? Those of us who go to heaven, how will we feel about those we knew on earth who are in hell? Will we will we remember them and just understand? Um short answer, yes, I believe that you're gonna remember them. Secondly, I think you're gonna understand more, not less. And at the I guess the root of all that, the heart of all that, is I think God's gonna handle Himself what that costs you. Um now, I know that we often don't ask this question in the abstract, right? Like we usually ask this because we know somebody or we knew somebody and we're worried they might not be there. You know, there's there's a face attached to the question, a dad, a sister, a friend from high school or college, and someone died, someone passed away, and you're just not sure. And so you've been carrying the weight of that. And and it I want to acknowledge that I understand, stand those questions, right? And and there's people in my life I'm I wanted the same thing. Um, and so here's what scripture says plainly. First and foremost, there will be no grief when we get to heaven. That's a promise, not a guess. Revelation 21, 4 says, He's going to wipe every tear from our eyes, that death will be no more. Grief, crying, pain will be no more because the previous things have passed away. So there's gonna be no grief when we get to heaven. Number two, you're gonna understand more, not less. Paul in Corinthians says, for now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, but then we'll see face to face. Now I know in part, then I will know fully, as I am fully known. And so the will we just understand half of the question that gets a clear yes. Our our knowing gets completed. What scripture never says is that the understanding is the thing that makes the grief stop. Um, and so we'll we have to figure out and wrestle with that a little bit, but I think we What we find out is God Himself is going to wipe every tear from our eye. Third, God Himself takes no pleasure in it. Through the prophet Ezekiel, he says, As I live, this is the declaration of the Lord. I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked person turn from his way and live. Second Peter 3:9, we read this this past Sunday. The Lord does not delay his promise as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. And so this kind of reframes uh the whole question. If the fear is that heaven will require you to stop caring, I want you to know this. God himself has never stopped caring. Um He cares about the person who is refusing to follow Him. And fourth, uh grief over the loss is not a weakness. Uh the Apostle Paul says, I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart for, and listen to what he says here, for I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the benefit of my brothers and sisters. Paul said, I would rather die and go to hell if it meant that that the people of Israel, my brothers and sisters, would be saved, would would turn and repent and follow after Christ. So Paul, certain of his own salvation, carried this unceasing anguish over people who were not saved. And the Bible does not teach that or call that a lack of faith. But here's three of the common answers that don't seem to hold up. Number one, you'll hear you you'll hear people say this. Well, you'll just forget them. Um I don't think that's true. Um Heaven's worship requires, remember, in Revelation chapter five, the redeemed sing to the Lamb who was slain. You can't sing that song if you've forgotten the cross. The risen Jesus still bears his scars. And so the most memorable wounds that have ever happened in the universe survived into the resurrection. So I don't think memory is deleted there. I just think it's healed. Uh, number two, people say, well, you just won't care. But we need to look carefully at what that actually claims. That means heaven makes you less loving than you are now. That perfecting a human being involves shrinking their capacity to love. And sanctification has never once worked by making somebody care less. And so I don't think that holds up either. Uh, number three, you'll rejoice over it. There have been uh some pretty serious followers of Jesus who said this. Uh argue they argue that the saints won't grieve the the damned people who are in hell because they'll see God's justice as glorious and the lost are no longer uh I as I think Jonathan Edwards put it, capable subjects of mercy. Um and so there's people that say, well, you're you're just you're gonna rejoice over you're gonna see it. Maybe that's true. I I don't I don't really know. I don't think so. Um here's what I believe. I think you're gonna know. I I think you will get understanding. I don't know that that understanding gets rid of the pain, but I know that God Himself is gonna wipe every tear from your eye. That sentence only makes sense if there are tears to wipe. And so God doesn't say there there aren't any tears, that we won't have tears, but that he will wipe them from our eyes, that um he's going to personally deal face to face with that pain for us. And so that's not the language of amnesia or forgetting, that's the language of a father who loves us, right? Um the other thing I would tell you this is this is no one can tell you where a specific person ended up. Even if you're in the room uh during someone's last moments, last breaths, you we often don't know what what the Lord has done, uh what's happening in the silence of someone else's head, the prayers that they might offer up. And and we know that God can save someone even at the last moment. And I don't it's important to to not offer cheap comfort and say, I'm sure they're fine, right? Because we don't know. But it's also important that we don't do the something even worse, say, well, they definitely weren't, because again, we don't know, but the judge of the whole earth will do what is just, and part of that is trusting him and not trying to to step in and declare something that we don't know. And so Deuteronomy 29, 29 says, The hidden things belong to the Lord, but the revealed things belong to us and our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law. Um this is the the important thing. You'll you're gonna remember, you will fully understand, and God himself will handle what that costs, he'll wipe every tear from your eye. How he does that is a hidden thing and it belongs to him. God didn't withhold that answer to torture any any of us, he withheld it so that we'd hold on to him instead of an explanation. And so will you remember those people? Yes, I believe you're gonna remember them. Um you're not gonna forget them, but God's gonna God's gonna take care of that that pain, that grief, and what that cost us by wiping every tear from our eye. He is a faithful and a good God. And uh heaven's gonna be better. It's gonna be more than we ever imagined it could be. Hopefully, I did

Final Prayer And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 1:11:27

those questions, Justice. That was a lot to to cover in one podcast. Um, but hopefully that brought some some comfort, some clarity on some of these things. If not, I would love for you to send me an email and let me know. Again, I'm not saying you have to believe everything I believe on these things, and I know some of uh for some of these, I just gave you some of the different perspectives and uh would encourage you to wrestle with those things, dig into God's word, um, you know, keep keep going to the Lord in prayer. And as you have follow-up questions, definitely feel free to send us an email to reach out and we'll do our best to continue pointing you back to God's word, provide clarity in what we believe scripture teaches on those things. But we have one more week of our hard question series. If I didn't get to your question on this episode, I'll try to wrap it all up next week. But uh let me pray for us and uh we'll we'll tackle them again next time. Father, we thank you so much for your word and we thank you for the confidence that it gives us even in these moments. Lord, I thank you that you invite us to come and argue these things out. And for each question that we tried to handle on the podcast this week, Lord, again, I just pray that you would you would provide wisdom, discernment, clarity on these things. Let us see the deep things uh that we need to see and give us the faith and confidence to trust you in the things that are hidden. And uh, Lord, make us faithful, make us loyal uh in the unknown and in the in-between so that we can we can stand at our post, we can wait to hear what you have to say. And Lord, we want you to know we trust you. In Jesus' name.

unknown 1:13:06

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:07

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