Welcome to the Thursday live stream. We're sorry that we're a little bit late. We had a little bit of a technical problem. Uh we're glad that you're able to join us today. Go ahead and send in your questions on the comments section. Those will be forwarded to us here in our studio in Ventura, California, and we'll pass those on to our teacher, uh David Guzzik. You what? Uh it should come up shortly, I think. Yeah. If it doesn't in a couple minutes, let us know. Keep going. Yeah. Okay. Uh David, we have some good news about the study Bible. Well, yeah, it's publication date is nearing. Uh the official release date for the Enduring Word Study Bible is uh November 11th and it'll start making its way to bookstores before that. Okay. Uh sometimes bookstores will observe that November 11th release date. Sometimes they'll release it as soon as they get it. Uh, but yeah, people are going to start being able to get those in hand pretty soon. Great. And I I recommend it. Look, I I wrote this thing. So, I think I think it's good. I Let's be clear, I didn't write the Bible. It's the New King James Bible translation. Yes. That's God's word. That That is the Bible portion. But the study notes, the introductions, the pastoral application points, all the rest of it. Um, I I think it's good. Look, you know what we do here at Enduring Word? We endeavor to make a Bible a a Bible commentary for normal people. That that's what it's for. Not not for scholars or academics, but for normal people. Now, pastors find it helpful, too, because there are a lot of pastors who are normal people. Not all of them, but but I was just going to ask you aren't normal people. Uh so, it's a Bible commentary for normal people. This is a study Bible for normal people and I think it's going to really be helpful for a lot of people. Great. Besides the commentary that's going to be in the book. What what other helps are going to be in Well, you know what? There's of course it's got the traditional maps at the back, the concordance, some really helpful charts that lay out things, introductions to every book of the Bible. Uh, you know, special articles in the midst of the Bible that give clarity on theological points and things of interest. I it it's going to be great. And people can pre-order it. They can they can pre-order it right now. Uh, one way you can you can pre-order it on Amazon. Uh, so that's fine. It's a great place to order it, but I think you can get it a little bit cheaper at christianbook.com. Okay. At least right now, you know, who knows? I hope that they have a fight over sales and getting it better and better. But I know a number of people that have already put in their order and they're waiting for it with great expectations. You say a number of people. What's that number? Like two. A few more. a few more than that. I know that just between my wife and I, uh, we have two. So, yes. Okay, good. Let's look over to our technical department. Are we good? Technical department. Okay, good. Great. Fantastic. Again, we apologize for being late there. Uh, we'll we'll try to endeavor to do better uh and make sure we Sometimes people say late is better than never. We'll find out if that's the case. That's the case. All right. Well, our lead question for today is very timely. David Nathan asked this. Hello, Pastor David. I understand that you don't feel a need to weigh in on controversial or topical matters for their own sake, but in light of the recent tragedy, many grieving believers are waking up to the dire state of the West and world more broadly. What are your thoughts and discernments on this terrible event? How do we as believers navigate these horrors and steward what's been granted to us while remaining focused on the kingdom of heaven and the world to come? Well, I Nathan, thank you for that question. And you're absolutely correct that uh I I don't make it a point that's not it's not the point of what we do here at Enduring Word to speak out on every current event that hits people's radar. Matter of fact, uh when everybody's speaking about something, I'm almost less uh quick to speak about it usually because somebody's saying what I would say. Uh but this has been a significant event and just last night I was preaching at Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara which I'm not the pastor of the church but it is my home church and uh it was my privilege to preach there for the midweek service last night. And I wanted to speak to this and to the issue of uh evil in the world in general and I went back to a passage of scripture that I think speaks to the matter. It doesn't say everything there is to say. I don't think any one passage of spit scripture speaks to everything that there is to say about making sense of evil. But to me, Psalm 73 goes a long way. And I would put it like this. Uh I'll just begin here at verse one of Psalm 73 where Asaf, the psalmist, he says this, truly God is good to Israel to such as is pure in heart. So he's recognizing the goodness of God and how God blesses his people. But then in verse two, he says this, "But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled. My steps had nearly slipped." So in verse one, he recognizes the goodness of God. Verse two, he says, "Hey, I I almost stumbled. I almost slipped. There was some crisis introduced in my life." And why? Well, the reason why he includes here now in verse three of Psalm 73, he says, "For I was envious of the boastful when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." And uh really the the Psalm 73, and I'm not going to do a teaching on the whole Psalm right now. You could go to our YouTube channel and and see where I teach verse by verse through the entire Psalm. But we just have this problem of a man who sees that God is good and he's good to his people, but it also seems that God allows the boastful and the wicked not only to exist but to flourish and and it's a problem. God, why don't you judge them? Now, now as the psalm develops, you you come up to the question, what do we do? Now again, I I want to stress I don't think that Psalm 73 says everything about the believer's response. I I think one response to evil that's not included in Psalm 73 is for us to resist evil. I I think believers are called to resist evil. That's just being part of a of a godly person. Now, one big way that we do this in a representative democracy is by electing and supporting leaders who are committed to the rule of law and the administration of justice. This is very important for us to do. believer, if you live in a representative democracy, and I suppose that almost everybody who's watching me or listening to this on a podcast does, may maybe it's going out into a few places where you live in some sense or another in a totalitarian state. But if you live in even some kind of representative democracy, you got to do everything you can to elect and support leaders who are committed to the rule of law and to the administration of justice. Now, Lance, I do want to say that it's true that Jesus did say this in Matthew chapter 39. I tell you not to resist an evil person. Jesus did say that in the sermon on the mount, but that was in the context of the evil of a personal insult, not an evil that was committed against somebody else. No, God says uh in Romans chapter 13 most specifically that he gives the government the responsibility to punish the evildoer and to bring justice and order to society through doing that. So it's wrong to think that Jesus meant by that statement in Matthew chapter 5 that evil should never be resisted. Matter of fact, Jesus demonstrated with his life that evil should be resisted, such as when he confronted and rebuked the leaders of the religious establishment of his day and when he turned tables in the temple. So, no, believers, I think, have a responsibility to resist evil in whatever proper way God gives us to do it. But, but that's not all. We can't have our focus only be upon that. I think Psalm 73 also teaches us that we need the power of a new perspective. You know, Psalm 73 and again, I'll recommend our viewers to our YouTube channel to go through the whole psalm, but it builds up to a crescendo of frustration and agony until he gets to verse 16. He says, "When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me." He he was tormented by this this difficulty of reconciling what he knew to be true about God and what he saw in the world with the evil in the world. And it builds up to that that crescendo of frustration. Verse 16 until he comes to verse 17. He says this in verse 17 until I went into the sanctuary of God then I understood their end. It was the sanctuary of God, the house of God that gave Asaf perspective and he could understand the end of such evildoers when he went to the house of God. And I would suggest Lance that going to the house of God, which for ASAP in his day would have been the temple or you could say the tabernacle. Going to the house of God would have meant at least three things. I'm not limiting it to these three things, but at least three things it would have meant for Asaf at the house of God. First of all, at the house of God, he would have seen prayer and worship at the sanctuary. And by that, he would understand that God was at the center of all things and get a fresh perspective of both God and eternity. You know, it is so helpful for us to understand that we are not the center of all things. Neither is some prominent leader or celebrity or prominent person. Listen, praise God for godly leaders that the Lord raises up. And and I believe that many ways Charlie Kirk was just such a person. But but they are not the center of the universe. I am not the center of the universe. Dear listener, you are not the center of the universe. God is the center of the universe. And that's what we come to with the proper exercise of prayer and worship. That's one thing you gain at the sanctuary. Second thing we gain at the sanctuary is hearing the word of God. You know, Lance, it's often neglected the understanding of the role of the teaching priest in Old Testament Israel. The the priests of Israel and the Levites were given the instruction to teach the word of God to the people. and they would hear the word of God at the sanctuary. And by hearing the word of God, they would understand that there's a truth that goes beyond what we see and experience in everyday life. But then thirdly, prayer and worship's number one, hearing the word of God, being anchored to God's truth. But then thirdly, by observing sacrifice. You know, you couldn't go to the sanctuary of ancient Israel without understanding that sin was so serious to God that it required judgment and atonement. Now, we understand all of that in light of the cross. So, when we observe sacrifice, we're not talking about the sacrificing of a bull or a goat. We're looking back to the perfect sacrifice that Jesus Christ made at Calvary as a sacrifice for the sins of everybody who would put their trust in him. So by worship and prayer, by the word of God and by the sacrifice which we understand be the cross of Jesus Christ that reoriented the thinking and the heart of the psalmist and he came to understand. It says, "Then he understood their end." I'll say one more thing about the sanctuary. For Asa, the sanctuary was to be a place where he gained understanding. Not just got a good feeling, not just an emotional vibe, but understanding. And dear brother, sister, I I hope that you can connect to a church that will help you grow in your understanding of God. Not merely a feel-good church, not merely an emotional high good. Look, I I'm happy that if going to church makes you feel good. I'd rather generally speaking than make you feel good than feel bad. Though there might be times when you need to feel bad at church in the conviction of sin. But what we really need at church is understanding. So that's what we need as believers. Yes, we we need to resist evil as God gives us the ability to do so. But we need to come to the house of the Lord and through worship and prayer, through the word of God and through sacrifice, we understand. Sacrifice meaning the cross of Jesus, we come to a better understanding. You know, um I'll close it out with this. The last verse of Psalm 73, this is verse 28, says this. I've put my trust in the Lord God that I may declare all your works. Friends, the psalmist understood ASAP in this case that what he received at the house of God was given to him so that he could proclaim it to all the world. In other words, it wasn't just for his own personal benefit, but for him to be able to be equipped and restored and prepared at the house of God so that he could go out and make a difference in the world around him. That's what we need to do in response to such kind of tragedy. Resist evil as God gives us to do it, but come to God's house. Draw near to God as he says there. I've put my trust in the Lord God that I may declare all your works and then proclaim to the world the truth and the goodness of God. I'll give our viewers right now and this is kind of current. This is here for today because this coming Sunday, we we do this broadcast live on Thursdays. On this coming Sunday is going to be Charlie Kirk's memorial. And um a a friend of ours, Lance, a man we've known for a long time, Pastor Rob McCoy, he was very close to Charlie Kirk. You you could say truthfully that he was Charlie Kirk's pastor. Yes. Pastor Rob McCoy is going to have the opportunity and might I say the responsibility to preach the gospel at Charlie Kirk's memorial. There's going to be something like 75,000 people in attendance and who knows how many untold thousands upon thousands watching online both at the moment and later. W would you please pray for our dear brother, Pastor Rob McCoy, that God gives him just exactly the words and the anointing that he needs to be able to proclaim the gospel in such a pivotal situation. This could be something mightily used of the Lord in such a time as this. David, I'm going to ask why don't you just pray a short prayer right now? Let's we can ask all everyone to join us in this. If you're viewing this, uh why don't you pray with me as I pray right now. Father in heaven, uh we pray that you would give our dear brother Rob McCoy both the words and the anointing of the Holy Spirit that he needs to faithfully and powerfully proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ at this unbelievably unique opportune time and place at Charlie Kirk's Memorial. Father, let it bring or be the means of bringing many, many people into your kingdom as they hear your word and are invited to put their trust in Jesus Christ. Uh repenting of their sins and putting their faith in you. Lord, do this mighty work. We ask you, we plead with you to make the most of this opportune moment in Jesus' name. Amen. We have a promise in Romans chapter 8 that God is able to make all things work together for good. And uh the reports that we're hearing is that after the events of last week, apparently a lot of people I read numerous remarks online about people who said they hadn't been to church in years. Uh some that said I I I even read one uh I'm a former atheist. this whole thing has caused me to re-evaluate my entire view um and was asking people in his area suggest to me a good church to go to this this last Sunday and from the reports that we're hearing the much after uh happened with the Gulf War churches many churches had lots and lots and lots of visitors and people coming and saying I'm I'm shaken by the events of this week. So I think of Charlie in glory um if if he does see what's happening he must be rejoicing because so much of his life is oriented towards wanting to see people come to faith in Christ knowing that would be the basis of of the understanding that you spoke about being so important that we understand things how the Lord is able to take a great loss tragedy and and bring great good from it. That's one of the things that I really respected about Charlie Kirk uh was that he was a genuine Christian in the public sphere. Now look, I I the Christian world is really big, Lance, and I I don't have any doubt that there's people out there who would, you know, uh pick and poke at some aspect of Charlie Kirk's faith. Well, I didn't agree with him on this or I disagree with him on that. Okay, leave all that out of the window. This was a man who was radically and publicly committed to Jesus Christ. He was perhaps one of the more public Christians in the world today. I I don't know how you quantify that, but probably in the top 10, if not the top five. And and for that um he he must be thrilled I if he knows how God is using this uh because he he wanted to live his life for the glory of God and God is finding ways to glorify himself even in the midst of this great tragedy. We have uh some follow-up questions on this issue. Susan says some say Charlie was a martyr. Pastor David, what are your thoughts on that? Would you consider him a martyr? Uh, I I do think that you could call him that. Now, now look, um, he rooted his cultural and political beliefs. I I think that Charlie Kirk's most controversial positions were not primarily political. You could call them cultural, but if you really want to get technical, you could say they're anthropological. They have to do about the nature of man, especially when it comes down to sexuality and gender identification and and uh sexual practices that people pursue. And his positions in his own conscience before God were very much based on his Christian faith. And he died as a result of those things. He was murdered, assassinated because he was such an effective spokesman for those things. And look, I I know that so much of the world called it hate. I I I don't see it at all. Um but you know Lance you know this from your own studies of history how in the earliest days of Christianity Christians were accused of being haters of mankind. That was one of the liels or slanders uh focused against Christians in the early days be because they just didn't approve of everything that the world did and they were therefore called haters of mankind. In that same spirit, Charlie Kirk was called a hater of mankind because of what he stood for as his Christian faith. Um, look, c could you point to people in history who were more dramatic or obvious martyrs than Charlie Kirk? Yeah, I think you could. But but because he died very much connected to and pointed on his Christian faith, I don't have a problem at all saying that he was a martyr. Yeah. Uh Lynn asks, and this is a this is a tough one. My husband is saved, isn't excuse me, my husband isn't saved and said some cruel things about Charlie's murder. How do I even get through life with someone so evil? All right. Uh the name was Lynn. Lynn. Yes. Not my wife. No. Praise the Yeah. You You'd never say such a thing. All right, Lynn. I'm And because this is your husband, I'm going to give as compassionate towards your husband an answer that I could give. Look, we all say stupid things in the heat of moments that are exaggerations perhaps of what we really believe. Uh we we all say things sometimes that we wish we could take back. Now I don't know your husband. You know your husband a lot better than I do. But I I would first ask you consider um maybe this was an outof character remark for him that doesn't reflect the normal status of his heart. Uh but you would know better than I on that. And maybe anyway, if that's the case, then you need to extend to him that generosity of heart and and in that sense just sort of forget about it. But again, you know him better than I. Maybe you would say, David, I regret to say that does reflect who he is. I mean, matter of fact, sometimes he's even worse. If that's the case, then you just need to take that that counsel from Peter where he says uh you you live with him, you love him, and you pray for him and ask that God might not work some miracle and that through your godliness towards him, uh it might be the cause of his conversion. Don't feel that it's your responsibility as a wife to correct him or fix him, but but pray for him, love him, and let God do that work. So that that's about all I can say not knowing more specifics about your husband. But Lynn, I am sorry to hear that and I pray that God will help you navigate through this. There have been a number of accusations about things that that Charlie supposedly said. Uh and at first the reaction of people was a bit I think a bit of disbelief. Some time has passed now and people have gone back to look at those quotes that he's that have been attributed to him in their context and uh you can find some material online now that I think would disabuse people of the assumption that that Charlie was racist, that he was a transphobe, that he was a homophobe. Um Mike Winger did a uh about a 40 minute long investigation of kind of some of the chief charges and his conclusion was if you look at these remarks in their context. He's not merely stating an opinion. What he's saying is actually based in statistics and facts and research. Um, and once that's understood, some of these charges that are being made against him really just dissolve. They disappear. So, but if all someone is doing is just taking the statements of people online that he was a racist because he said this without any context, it's understandable why they would see him as an evil person for the things that he said. But again, look at the context, look at the statement and and what it's based on and you come to a completely different conclusion. Yeah, I I I would agree with that, Lance. Um, you know, there's must be thousands of hours of video or question and answer and things like that time that that uh Charlie Kirk has been presented speaking off the cuff. Um, e even if he were to say something unourred, uh, I it I I would just put it in the context of an entire I I I would I'm very suspicious of anybody's trying to pull out gotcha quotes from things like this and to try to write off uh a man because of something number one that could be taken out of context or number two just doesn't reflect who he was in his entirety as a person. Yeah. All right, we're going to change gears now. This is from IME. I wrestle with how church leans on structure and pastor-led teaching versus the spirit's simplicity and shared gifts in acts. How do we honor gathering while guarding faithfulness and true participation? Well, I have seen IME I have seen the the kind of uh fellowship structure that you're talking about most effectively carried out in smaller groups. Uh maybe a smaller group would be a Sunday school class at a at a meet meeting at a church. Maybe it would be a home group that meets at a certain time. Uh in some context people would say a house church works for that. But really that that just happens in in the smaller group. I if you have a group of even 80 people that are meeting together, much less 800, but let's just say 80 people meeting together, there's no way that everybody's going to be able to contribute. But if you have eight people together in a room, uh they can. So really what you're just kind of focusing on is something that the Christian world has seen and noted and I think tried to build up over the past many years is what some people would call small groupoup ministry uh in whatever form it would take. Sunday school class, home group, house church, whatever it would be. And I I just say God bless it. That that's a great arena for that. I I do want you just to be able to understand this that Jesus exercised both kinds of ministries. Jesus had ministry to the multitude and then he also had ministry to what you would call his small group, his 12 disciples. So the two don't contradict each other. They can be very complimentary towards one another. And if this is something you're hungering for, then man, find a way to get it into your life by joining something that your your church is already part of. Or if you need to start your own home group or small group or something like that and uh and and build it along these lines that are on your heart. Great. Yeah, I think that that mix of the larger gathering and then the smaller gathering is very important. viously see there in Acts chapter 2 where they met for the apostles doctrine in the temple courts and then they met from house to house to share bread and pray and to fellowship and um yeah you know Lance uh you and I we've both been uh in pastoral ministry a long time and both of us we we know what it's like to be effectively the pastor or the leader of like a a small group or you could call it a house church if you wanted to we know what it's like to be pastor of a small church. We know what it's like to be the pastor of a medium-sized church. And we know what it's like to be the pastor of a larger church. I I don't know how you want to define mega maybe that. But anyway, house church, small church, medium-sized church, bigger church. You and I, we have experience both. And listen, I'll tell you what my testimony is regarding that. I don't think that any one of those is inherently better than the other. But I would say this that each one of those have their own advantages and disadvantages and you just have to be real about that and uh instead of bemoning the disadvantages of your particular thing, why don't you lean into the advantages and and rejoice in those. So that that's how I often put it to people. Good point. Dom Quar just listened to your study on the book of Daniel. Very insightful. In Daniel 12, the numbers 1290 and 13:35. I'm a little confused on what are their meanings. And then a follow-up question. Are they related to Revelation 12? All right. Well, he's talking about in Daniel, and I'm doing this from the top of my head, Lance, so maybe you can help me out here. But, uh, he talks about the a marking point at,290 days, and then another marking point at 1,335 days, a 45day gap. And people wonder what happens in that gap. It obviously has to do with the end times, has to do with the final judgment, the end of the age, but what happens those 45 days? And our questioner, what was his name there? Uh, Dom Qua. Dom Quay. Um, I don't know. Not not exactly. I I've got some ideas and I'll give you the main idea, but I there's nothing that I could say yes absolutely I know is confirmed by scripture. But here's the best explanation I found is I believe that after Jesus Excuse me. You have a little bit of a tickle today, don't you? I do. Excuse me. I get a little excited. This is my problem. After Jesus returns in glory, I believe that following that will be what I call the judgment of the nations that Jesus described in Matthew chapter 25. I believe that the judgment of the nations is for the purpose of determining who is allowed to enter into the millennial earth. I believe that that judgment happens during those 45 days. again. Am I like, "Yes, I stand on that." No, I mean to me it's a difficult passage and that's the best explanation I've come up with of a difficult passage. You have any thoughts on that, Lance? Well, so uh the 3 and 1/2 years works out to 1260 days and then Daniel refers to 1290 and then 1335. And you're right, it would be great if it and by the way during this time he'll be doing this. We we would love that. I think the 1260 is when the actual return of Christ. The 1290 is the reathering of the Jews back to the land under his reign. Then once he's seated under they're all under his reign. Then he judges the nations. Why? Because the his people have been taken the Jews have been taken out, brought back to the land. And then the judgment of the nations takes place in 1335 as that's the commencement of the millennium is what and look we understand that there's all sorts of wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ who would hear us describe that kind of outworking of the end times say you're crazy all of that's already happened or it's just symbolic. Well, look, we're just going to agree to disagree. We agree that you're wrong. Well, I'll agree that you're wrong on that. But no, I we understand the Christians have different perspectives, but I I mean I I feel good and let me say this about these esqueological or end times things. Lance, I I don't believe in my understanding of uh end times or esquetology, which just quickly I would say is premillennial and and I would even say pre-tribulational. I I believe that the catching way of the church will happen before that. But I I don't believe in those positions because I think there are absolutely no problems with them scripturally. Sure. I think that there are problems or difficulties you could say with every esqueological construct. I I just think that the problem I prefer the problems in my camp. So if well no here's a difficulty with okay great I understand that difficulty but when I take it in whole I think that the difficulties in the postmillennial and the amillennial camps are even greater we it's the premillennial pre-tribulational seem to have the least amount of problems that can be resolved the in my estimation for sure you you had mentioned the that kind of attitude well it's all symbolic and I always come back to the issue of symbolic of what? Yeah, that yes it's okay symbolic but of not of nothing. It's it's symbolic of something and then what is it a symbol of? And I think that this view that we hold pre-tribulational pre premillennial um it's the most straightforward taking of the text. It's taking the text as literally as the text can be taken in our estimation. Yes, it's just applying the same principles of biblical understanding to those passages as we would apply to to other passages. All right. Well, we're back to some questions on Kirk. Uh John Weisner asks, "Hi, John. What would you say is a healthy way of mourning Charlie Kirk's execution because it is really consuming uh the hearts and minds? Thank you. Love you both." thesis. Thank you for that question, John. Look, it it's okay to feel sad. And you shouldn't feel that with the death of a loved one or an important person, a person that was important to you, that you you have to like move on right away and make yourself feel happy. But I I do think this that you should almost and Lance, I hesitate a little bit in saying this, but I'm going to go ahead and say it that you you should allow yourself some time to mourn, but you should almost put an expiration date on your mourning and say, "By this date, I'm going to recognize I've given myself enough time for mourning. Now I'm going to rejoice in the fact that this loved one is in heaven. And we can say that in regard to Charlie Kirk, I know people can't say that in regard to every loved one that's lost, but in regard to someone like that this one is in heaven, that God will use this terrible crime for his glory and that God is going to be glorified in it. So we sorrow, but in light of the resurrection, as Paul says, it's in 1 Corinthians 15, isn't it? He says we don't sorrow as those who have no hope. Right? So uh it's okay to feel sorrow. We shouldn't feel that as Christians we have to deny our sadness or mourning when people dear to us or near to us um go home to heaven. Uh but we should come back to our overwhelming confidence in uh in the resurrection and in God's greater work. I know we've done a number of memorial services and they're always difficult. One of the things that I found is the greatest comfort to people is the reminder that what we're experiencing in grief and sorrow at their passing is for our loss, not theirs. They're a person who has died in faith. It really is comforting for people who are grieving to remember they're more alive now in the presence of Christ than they were ever on earth. Absolutely. And that really does seem to be a a comfort and and to to when we're grieving to realize to be able to say, "I'm grieving actually for my loss, not theirs." It it really does help. Um also just the manifestation of evil. And then we're back to Psalm 73. God make things right. It's just not what's h the prosperity of the evil. They're prospering. They're seeming to get away with it. Is just there's a righteous anger that wells up within us. But one of the things that the psalmist said, and I didn't read this verse in Psalm 73, when he went to the house of the Lord, he understood that the Lord had put them in slippery places. Yeah. That their prosperity and you could say in some sense their happiness is really an illusion. It it might be real in the moment, but it's transitory as in a dream. Yeah. Doesn't he say something about they're like a fatted calf? Does he No, I I don't think that that's in there. Yeah, that's that's in my version. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Um, Vag, I'm not sure I'm pronouncing that correctly. Uh, says, "I started standing out for my faith and because of this, I have a meeting with my manager tomorrow." Uh, uhoh. What happened here? Sorry about this. Uh, I have a meeting with my manager tomorrow. Well, we could just Oh, that that that question got changed on me right here. Sorry about that. Okay. Charlie's death impacted me so much. I spoke against my workplace's ideology got changed and I think that was impulsive. I have a meeting tomorrow about my misconduct. How can I stand for my faith wisely? Do you think this fire that Charlie's death has caused in Christians is good or potentially harmful? What was the name there? Uh, Verog. Verog. Okay. Verog, look. Um, you know much more about your situation than I do, but if you feel that you spoke inappropriately, now maybe you spoke the truth, but at an inappropriate time and occasion. That could be possible. If you felt that's the case, then it's okay for you to apologize for it and to say that it was wrong. And even if you want to make a distinction, you can say, "I want you to know that I believe that what I said was true, but I understand that that was not the appropriate time or place to say that. If that's the case, it's okay for you to say that to apologize and and you know to appeal to your manager or boss or whatever on that basis." Uh so again, not knowing the the down and dirty details of the situation, I want to allow for that possibility. Otherwise, if you are confident that it was the time, it was the place, and what you said was true, then as tough as it might be, you might just have to take your lumps and trust that God has something for you in this. From the way that you phrased your question, it leads me to to sense and I can't say I know this that maybe you think that you said something true but maybe not at the right time place and people that's okay but you can look your manager in the eye and say look I want you to know that's what I believe but I agree with you that it wasn't the time and place to share it. uh because we agree there can be inappropriate times and places even to say what's true. Uh so you you're going to have to be the one who gets down on your knees before God and tries to sort that out. Um, if it is a case where you legitimately were making an appropriate stand for Jesus Christ and you get fired, I just want you to join with me in trusting God that he's going to bring good out of it for you. Even if it were mean even if it were to mean for you losing your job, which I know in some senses is a catastrophe for anybody, but God can still work it for good. remember something that Christ said, "Be wise as serpents, but harmless as doves." And I think that that's an an application here of there's a right time and a right place using a using a measure of tact and wisdom. Again, something Charlie was really really good at in these campus settings where people the great hostility would come and he would be very disarming actually in the manner that he would treat people. Yeah. Exactly. So, yeah. Yeah. JX500. This is an interesting question. Hello, David. Do you personally believe that God actually reversed time itself for Hezekiah? Or could he have made the shadow on the sundial go backwards in some other way? All right. Well, this gets into things of like time and space and I guess quantum physics that I know nothing about. Nothing. Uh, it's easier for me to believe that God did something merely with the appearance of the shadow on the sun dial rather than God actually moved time and space or just time, maybe not space. I don't know. It's all together. You can't really split it up. Yeah, I guess that's what it is. This is how little I know about this. But it's easier for me to believe that God did this in appearance rather than in fact. Not that it was any less real for Hezekiah. Um but that it was done in appearance rather than fact. Um when the sun stood still for Joshua, I think God did that with appearance rather than in fact. I think the sun was probably moving in whatever way the sun moves uh through the universe. But it certainly appeared to Joshua that the sun stood still and to everybody else. Uh so I I would I would approach it from that thing. But look, if I'm wrong on that, I I'll easily own up to it. Maybe that would be one of the great things. Say, "God, tell me how you did that. Tell me what was going on with that when we get to heaven." Yeah. There have been a number of attempts to explain that. Uh here's a uh a question from Sam Culp. Hey David, youth pastor from CC Big Bear here. One of my youth kids is growing in the Lord, but he overtly doesn't like anyone in our youth group. He makes them uncomfortable. Any advice? Uh Sam, thank you for this. Uh I I would take this on as a challenge of personal disciplehip with him. Find time to spend just you and him. Pour into him as a young disciple. I'm excited to hear that he's growing and we would just kind of assume that as this young man continues to grow in the Lord. You'll kind of realize those passages in the Bible that say we should love one another. But again, you kind of got to adjust your expectations for this guy. for them, for this young man, maybe uh maybe loving one person is going to be a big b breakthrough for him and uh it'll be a while till he loves everybody in the group. But um I I would take this as a challenge of personal disciplehip to him. I I'll tell you what not to do, Sam. Don't teach studies to the whole group on loving one another when you really only have this one individual in mind. It it's better for you to speak to. Now, if you're going through a book and it speaks to that, that's great. Cover it, you know, don't back over the but don't teach something that's really just for him and pretend you're teaching it to the whole group. Uh, look for some one-on-one time with this guy. That's good. Lady Kesh, my husband is quote hateful of me becoming God's child since I have been saved. How do I deal with him? I'm married for 30 years and I am with him until I die. It is quite difficult for me. I find it hard to deeply feel love for him after I became truly saved. But now I am having trouble with this problem as I am becoming a new person in how I think and act and he is not accepting of this. Well, Lady Kesh, I think you said your name was uh I feel uh very bad for you. This is a challenge that the earliest Christians faced. That's why Paul addresses this in 1 Corinthians 7 and Peter in first Peter 4. I don't remember. Doesn't Peter talk about winning your wives? I can't but I believe it's in first Peter. I can't remember the exact chapter. Um this is a problem that was experienced by predominantly female believers in the early church. So I want you to know God knows your struggle. And the main emphasis of the response that God gave through Paul in 1 Corinthians 7 and through Peter in 1 Peter was to love them, endure with them, pray for them. When you're praying for your husband though, pray for yourself as well. That God would remind you of the good things in your husband that you can respect him and love him for. There will be a temptation and I believe that this is a temptation that comes uh in some sense from the devil. Not that it could also come from our flesh. But I think that the devil would want you to lose all respect for your husband and to begin to despise him. That's not what God wants you to do. God wants you to be real about your husband's failings, but to fundamentally respect him for the good that is in him as a man and a husband or if nothing else for the good in the past that you saw in him. So, uh, pray that God guards your heart so that you don't lose all respect for your husband, but rather continue to respect him, to honor him as a husband, and especially to pray that God would change his heart, his life. In our ministry, I know we have seen many times over the years where a woman who is married will come to faith in Christ. Her husband remains unsaved. Doesn't doesn't come to church. There struggles. He doesn't like the changes that are taking place in her. But she gets a hold of this respect for him. Becomes very active in it. and how how many men we end up seeing um in our churches saved, worshiping God, hands in the air, involved in ministry because they were one by the faithful love and respect of their wives towards their husbands when they didn't deserve it. And sometimes it's taken a long time. It can take a long time. Yeah. Yeah. It's true. So, don't lose hope. Don't lose hope. That's right. All right. Well, we are headed into our lightning round. Fantastic. Here we go. Paula Hton says, "They said that Charlie was getting ready to change from Christianity to Catholic. How would that change uh the foundation of his faith? Would it make a difference given the difference in doctrines?" David, I don't know if you you heard this, but this was this was a charge that was made by a particular commentator online right now who's saying a lot of untrue things. I believe that's a complete fabrication. and those people closest to Charlie Kirk would say otherwise. So, I just think it's a complete fabrication and should be given no credence whatsoever. Right. Good. Kylie, after the thousand-year reign, Satan is led out to war against God one last time. He gathers people like grains of the sand to the uh to go to war. Where does Satan get these people from? Well, I believe that these are the inhabitants or maybe you could say the citizens of the millennial earth and it will not be required that those people be born again. They'll have to submit to the Messiah's reign obviously, but they may do so with unregenerate hearts. And I think that it's among those people that at the very end of the thousand years spoken of in the book of Revelation that Satan gathers uh whoever he can for his feeble rebellion because it's not even a war. God just crushes them instantly and then we move on to the final judgment. So there going to be a lot of people born during the millennium. Absolutely. Yeah. A thousand years with extended lifespans and a perfectly prosperous peaceful earth. Yeah. There will be a lot of people born during the millennium. Yeah. And and this will be their opportunity, if you will, to show what's really inside of them. That's right. Yeah. Henry, did Jesus perform miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit or through his divine nature when he was on earth? Well, I I would say both. Um I I don't have a problem saying that for the most part, Jesus did his ministry as we might say a spiritfilled man. Now he was a spiritfilled unfallen man which makes a big difference. Uh but many of the things that Jesus did were done by uh the apostles and others elsewhere in the Bible. But there's certain things I I think that there were certain places where Jesus just kind of said step back. I'm going to do this as God. uh the stilling of the storm, uh the transfiguration. I think there's certain places in the in Jesus's ministry where he said, I want to make it clear, I'm not doing this as a spiritfilled man. I'm doing this as God. So, I don't have a problem saying for the most part Jesus did, but certainly not in every occasion. Walking on water, Peter did that for a couple minutes. Okay. Or a couple steps. How about uh the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes? Okay. Well, if can I get pedantic? Sure. Elisha did a similar Okay. miracle in the in the Old Testament. That's right. Okay. Good. Kathleen, if Satan was ruling the earth before the garden, doesn't that nego uh negate that sin entered the world through Adam? No. Because for whatever reason, the fall mankind was not accounted as fallen until Adam sinned. Okay. Uh the Bible makes that very clear. Whatever the nature was of Eve's transgression, it was not accounted to be responsible for the fall of humanity. Uh so I I understand how you're getting at that and um we might arrive at the same logic if we want to emphasize a thing that all sin is sin. Uh but according to the scriptures, Adam is responsible for the fall of the human race. So, and really, Satan wasn't ruling the earth before the garden? No. No, he wasn't. No. Yeah. Marilyn Killingsworth. Hello, Pastor Guzzk. Will the church be here during the great tribulation? I don't believe so. Well, okay. There will be believers on the earth during the great tribulation. those who come to faith after the great catching away uh described in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Uh that's my understanding of the order of prophetic events. Obviously, these are matters of controversy, but you're asking for my opinion and so I'm going to give it to you. Um other people who love the Lord and read the Bible seriously have different opinions, but but I don't mind giving you mine there. I think that there will be believers on the earth, but God will catch away what we would call the church uh before the beginning of this 7-year period. Uh quick follow-up question to that uh was answering questions on our YouTube channel to to the videos. Yeah. And one of them uh I think in light of what happened with Charlie Kirk and just kind of the turmoil in the world right now uh asked the question, are we in the great tribulation? No. Uh, from my understanding, the marking point of the beginning of the great tribulation, this last 7-year period that I believe the Bible describes, again, I hate constantly giving the caveat that people disagree, but I I just want to acknowledge that there's good brothers in the Lord who have disagree with this, but I'm giving my understanding here that this uh final 7-year period before the glorious return of Jesus Christ begins with the establishment of some kind of covenant or contract before this with this world leader and the state of Israel or the Jewish people of some kind or another. This is the very issue that the uh Thessalonians were having a problem with. And Paul writes second Thessalonians 2. Um he he basically says you they they thought they were in the tribulation. Yes. And he says you're not because if you were, you would have seen some things. Yes. Yes. And one of them the man of sin would have been revealed. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Very good. Okay. Uh wings and hooks. Hello. Question. What books do you recommend for missionary calling? Okay, I'll give you one right off the bat. Uh, two. Uh, Oswald Chambers has a great book, Not Knowing Wii. It's a tremendous devotional book about missions and Abraham and how Abraham went out not knowing where God was sending him to. Not knowing wither by Oswell Chambers and the Jesus style by Gail Irwin. I think those are two books that uh every missionary should read. David uh you have been very involved in the ministry of Jay Edwin our Yes. uh and because of a relationship that you had um meeting his wife and getting some of his library uh you you've been able to republish some of his books and make a website. Why don't you let our listeners know about that because it's a tremendous resource. Look, if you have any interest in true revival, biblical revival, historical revival, I'm not talking about just drumming up enthusiasm in a meeting, but true revival. Go to jedwinor.com. I I'll say it again. J. Edwin or altogether, all lowercase, jedwinor.com. Tremendous resources by the late Dr. Jay. Edwin our uh I compiled all the video and audio of Jay Edwin ours ministry that I could find and it is fantastic the resources that are available on there is one talk that he gave this fits with our subject for today there's one talk that he gave if you can remember the title of it um where he talks about this tremendous revival that took place but before it happened uh Europe and the United States in Canada were worried that Christianity was about done, almost done. Was that the second Great Awakening? Well, okay. I would say that it that qualifies for at least two huge works of revival, but probably the one he's talking about more was the uh what people would call the second great awakening, the one that happened after the Revolutionary War in the United States. Things had gotten so bad in the United States that Christians on campuses were being persecuted, mocked, reviled. Uh public uh things were set up that were blasphemous and uh it looked like Christianity was going to be extinguished from the land. Uh but God raised up a mighty revival in those days. I would listen to the first two messages in Dr. J. Edwin Orur's series on the history of revival. That'll help you a lot. Great. I think uh that'll be a great encouragement to a number of people right now that are wondering what is going on and where is God in the midst of all of this. Absolutely. Positively. Great. Well, David, thanks for uh answering questions today. We'll look forward to next week's Q&A. Thank you, everybody. See you next week. Right.
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