Beyond the Letter || Night 6 || ALFC Fresh Start

Welcome to the Lesse podcast. Here at LESSE we seek the loss, teach

the found, and send the disciples. We truly hope you're encouraged by this

week's message. Hey, we're glad that you guys are joining us then,

and we got a lot of people joining us online as well. This is

special if you were invited this maybe your first time, second time coming here

right now. For this year, every first Wednesday of the month, we

have what we call Beyond the Letter Night, where it's an opportunity where some

of us on the leadership team can answer some questions that you may have.

And so over the course of this past week, many people that may be

here or maybe watch it online have submitted numerous questions, whether it's from personal

advice on a biblical perspective, or it's on a biblical question, theological question,

pop culture question, but all of it has to do with how do

we interact with this in our faith as believers? And so that's our heart.

That was our heart this year, is to be able to have conversations.

So we call this Beyond the Letter Night. You bring the questions,

we'll bring the conversation. Because not everything is always just black and white and

has a direct answer. Many things in the Bible do, but other things

may be in the sense to say, let's just have a conversation around around

it, so that you can also go back home and continue the conversation,

or you can bounce back with us and we can continue the conversation as well.

So we always have some in person questions, then we go into tabletop

questions that people have submitted. So for what I understand is, we do

have two in person questions today, So without further ado, we'll bring it

up to the first one. Would you do us a favor? You could

introduce yourselves for us, and then feel free to ask your question for today.

Okay, Hi, hello family, Helloi. Okay, So I'll make

this quick. Oh my name is Tami go Rius. That's who I am.

Hikay Tanika tom go Okay. I don't have a speaker facing me right

now, so it's harder for me to hear it. I got it now.

Okay. So I come from a family who's divided on the subject of

cremation. Is it unacceptable for Christians to cremate? Yeah? I mean I

think a lot of people who hold to that usually come from either a very

old traditional denomination that is anti cremation, or that you come from Catholicism as

well, which is anti cremation. The approach that I've always struggled with in

terms of limiting what God can do in terms of because really what they're talking

about, if they're limiting what God can do in the death, then we're

talking about God's future resurrection. And so some people hold to the theological belieful

if you cremate, if God's supposed to raise the dead one day, you

know, what is he going to do with your ashes? There's a couple

issues with that. Number One, Adam was formed from the dirt, so

right away we know God can do miracles with dirt. That just right off

the bat teaches us that. Second of all, now you get into trouble

of what about those that die in a fire that's a form of cremation,

their house catches on fire, or in older days where people will burn down

homes in terms of war, like, if that person's a believer, immediately,

now does that disqualify that individual for future resurrection? I think it's it

gets into pretty muddy territory to be able to black and white answer this,

And so We've kind of shared that before here up on stage or maybe on

our podcast, and then also leans to me. Ecclesiasties Chapter three, verse

twenty says, all go to one place, all are from dust, and

all to dust we will return, So to me, scripture makes this very

clear. I struggle with anyone that's anti cremation. Traditionally, we don't hold

the cremation because it's you bury the body, you say goodbye to the body.

But in an age today where companies are totally taking advantage with people with

the cost of caskets and burial sites, I just think it's absolutely ridiculous on

how much is charged for people. People have to go open up go fund

means and all these things where a cremation is much more cheaper. To me,

it's just as sincere and things like that. So I don't think there's

any Biblical precedents or value to be able to be against cremation at all.

Even if you get buried. So you're telling me God can put fletch organs

skin veins back on your body, but if for some reason your bones are

burned, God can't reform your bones like it just doesn't make any sense in

terms of the miraculous. If God can do a miracle with your bones and

give it flesh, he could do a miracle with your ashes and give you

flesh. Again. God can do whatever he pleases within the scripture. So

yeah, I don't think now. It gets much more messier when you're bearing

family member and one half of the family is against cremation and burial. That's

tougher. You gotta make a tough call because some family are going to be

really hurt offended by it. But but biblically, it's it sound the cremation

is allowed in that sense. I believe that's what I see. Thank you

so much. Let's go to the next person up here who has Oh,

I see you're right there on the I saw you had a your foot hurt,

your ankle hurt. Yeah, I told Mike Achilles, oh man,

sorry to hear that. Good. Hi. My name is Cameron Matthews.

And my question is when do I know that I'm walking with God or rather

that walk again the flesh? Beautiful? How can you tell when you're walking

with God rather than or rather also walking in the flesh correctly? Yeah,

that's good. Um, Let's have Caleb. You goan someone that. Yeah,

Galatian six talks about that he who sews to the flesh will of the

flesh reap corruption. He who sews to the spirit will reap life in peace.

So there's a Native American principle that I find is a great illustration.

Everybody has a good wolf and a bad wolf, and whatever wolf you feed

the most is going to have dominance in your life. I think that's a

pretty cool illustration. Another thought that comes to me is, I think your

level of peace is a good metric of whether whatever decision that you made is

either of the flesh or of the spirit. And most of the time we

kind of know because God's given us the gift of conscience, and if you're

a believer, you have the Holy Spirit, and so that's kind of the

conscience on steroids for us Christians. So an example would be when you look

at porn. After you look at porn, how do you feel right right?

There? A lot of regret, You don't feel too good. When

you serve at Abundant Living's outreach center. How do you feel after when you're

driving home? You feel pretty good? When you when you when you give

a gift to somebody out of grace when you forgive somebody, How do you

feel? Have you ever regretted um doing good for other people? Have you

ever regretted spending waking up at three o'clock in the morning and spending two hours

and worship and prayer to God and reading your Bible? Have you ever regretted

that? Did you ever feel this? He not, you didn't. But

have you ever regretted going to a bar and having a one night stand with

somebody? Yeah? You probably probably did. So. I think peace is

a good metric of you know what you're feeling the most. Yeah, it's

good. So I'm gonna have you comment out to Dad, but I'm first

I'm gonna say this, so, uh, it's his question was just to

revisit it. When when do I know that I'm walking with God rather than

walking in the flesh. When I was when I was a young man,

probably seventeen or eighteen, I asked you something something around a question like this,

like, how do I kind of I know to make the decision between

the flesh and between the spirit and and you gave me to me the best

answer that you know. Over the years, me being a youth pastor young

adult pastor, I mean he just might go to advice. You always said

this. He said, if you're struggling deciding what God would have you do,

stop and think what would Satan have me do? And then do the

opposite of that? He says something you said told me sometimes that's easier than

saying what would God do? In this? Just go what would Satan want

me to do? And then you told me it just turn around, do

do do the opposite of that? And that to me, this was like,

oh man, it became more and more, way more easier than thinking

all the time trying to just make the right decision what would God have me

do? It's like, man, just understand the wiles of the enemy.

What would what does the enemy want from you? He wants you isolated,

he wants you alone, he wants you and your flash. I mean you

could dial that down pretty easy and then go, okay, well let me

do the opposite. So do you have anything further on that, because you

know that's just my go to advice. Now. I think it's so clear

and simple. But do you remember that that's something that you say, not

that time telling me, but like, do you remember that you know?

And I'll stick with that since that's a good answer, that's my answer.

That's your response for it still is yeah, so let it be written,

So let it be done. Hey, no, if at the end of

the day, Jesus said, you will know them by their fruit, So

your fruit proves whether you are mirroring the scriptures walking christ like or your behavior

and your fruit will mirror opposite of the Bible scripture. And like Jesus,

that's the difference. Yeah. Great, I think we all too. We

all have these different markers of what you were saying about peace being the thing

that really shows us whether we're walking with God. I know for myself the

moment anxiety starts to creep in the moment I know that I am leaning towards

my flesh. I remember after I had I just didn't have a lot of

time, and I just noticed I was tired of doing all these things,

and and I noticed I wasn't in my word as much, and so anxiety

started to creep in. And now I embrace the fact that anxiety has become

a marker for me so that I can say, Okay, I'm having anxious

thoughts, what does that mean. It means that I need to get into

my word. More, it means that I'm starting to be distracted. I'm

starting to listen to the noise rather than listen to the voice of God.

And I've learned to embrace that trigger of anxiety because i know in that moment

that I'm not standing where I should be standing. I'm not in a safe

space anymore, so that i can begin to move in a way that,

like you said, and stop going into the direction where Satan wants me to

go. Yeah, that's great, thank you. All right, let's go

to the first question on the screen. What do we got? What do

we got? Go ahead? How does salvation work for people who never had

a chance to hear the gospel? It is enough for them? Is it

enough for them to recognize and seek God in nature but not know of Jesus

and his saving work? In discussions of my faith with unbelieving friends, multiple

people have asked me this, but I'm unsure how to respond. If this

question is unable to be answered live, I would still oh, okay,

I would still love it to appreciate a response. Thank you. And we've

said that before, Like, if we ever don't answer your question, you

could just put that at the end and whether we pick it or not,

because we'll get you know, thirty forty submissions. So if it ever is

something you really want to response, you just put that at the end.

Please please answer this, whether on stage or not, and we'll make sure

either normally either me or Caleb will will answer it. We promise the short

answer we get for that number one that really is apologetics one o one.

So if you ever study apologetics, which is, you know, the defense

of the Christian faith, I mean that usually tends to be an unbeliever's kind

of go to thing. What about people in a village? You never heard

the gospel? Why do bad things happen to good people? You know?

So, so I encourage you. You know, you can always do a

Google search, whether it's William Lane Craig or whether it's JP Morelin, and

you just type in, you know, top responses. You know that Christians

get asked by unbelievers, and that's a good place for you to start in

terms of if you find yourself being asked that a lot from your friends,

you'll get You'll get those normal three to four things like what about people of

other religions and so on and so forth, So you know, the kind

of the easiest response for this is and again within the Christian space, people

may have some differences, but all in all, majority of us in the

popular known evangelical Christian community would point anyone to Romans chapter two because the apostle

Paul got asked that question, and the apostle Paul dealt with that question.

And so in short, Romans Chapters stu two, starting verses three to ten

or three to eleven, and don't ever be afraid, like you don't have

to interpret the scriptures for your friends. You could always just send them the

verse and say read it. Read it for yourself, you know, like

here's the verse. Sometimes we feel like like, oh, let me paraphrase

that verse for you, Like, no, read them the verse. Let

let the Spirit deal with them too, Like here's the verse. Read it.

What do you think God is saying? Well, I'm not a Christian.

I know you're not a Christian, but as a Christian, it's not

my opinion on these things. It's the Lord's word. That's what I'm quoting

to you. And so that's what you basically want to read is Romans chapter

two, verses three to eleven. And in short, Paul says, do

you suppose, o man, you who judge those who participate in such things,

and yet do them yourselves, that you will escape the judgment of God?

Or do you presume on the riches of the kindness and forbearance of patient

not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance. But because

of your heart impentitive heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the

day of wrath, when God's righteousness and judgment will be revealed. He's speaking

of people who are rejecting the gospel. Then he goes further. He will

render to each one according to his works. To those by patient and well

doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.

But for those who are self seeking and do not obey the truth, but

obey on righteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be a

tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil to the jew first and

also to the Greek. And you could continue to read Romans to what he's

saying. Is he saying the law has been written on every person's heart.

Every person's heart has the law written on their heart. They know the difference

between right and wrong. They know to murder is wrong, they know to

cheat is wrong. They know to commit adultery is wrong. And so what

happens is those that are in third world villages or whatever it may be,

as they do those things, are they seeking a life that reject the rejects

the negative things of the law, that says, I want to worship the

one true God. So you took go to Acts chapter seventeen. Amongst the

pantheon of gods. For the Romans, apostle Paul points to one god that

they had, which said the unknown God. And the apostle Paul says,

this is the unknown God. I know of His name is Yahweh repent to

him. Some repented and some came to know the unknown God. Others rejected

it. And so what that means is it means even in the pantheon,

they knew that there was one unknown God, and there would be someone who

had never heard the Gospel which would go to that unknown God and go,

I know, according to my heart, that is the one true God.

That is the one that I want to know, and that is the one

that seeks. So Romans too says, for those people. God will judge

them according to their heart on earth. Now does that mean okay, that's

why then we don't priest the gospel. That means God will judge their hearts

in that way. Well, Number one, the gospel is all the much

freer. I would never want I want to live their life with an Oh,

I'm seeking something, but I don't know where it is. I would

love to be that person that introduces them to Jesus. That's why that's a

missional mandate for us to go out into the four corners of the world.

Because there is freedom in the Gospel. There's repentance in the Gospel. So

that's why Romans Chapter two is kind of a both and Paul's talking about this

responsibility to preach the gospel but also answer, but what if there are those

who before you reach them? It gets there, He says, God still

has a way that he's judging them, and the works of Christ will be

ascribed to those who are truly repenting and seeking Christ. So, in short,

that would be the summation of kind of most apologists is you could really

lock in on Romans two and kind of get that hidden in your heart,

and you can respond to people in the future. According to that question,

let's go to the next one. Okay, what does it mean to be

quote unquote saved or to hear the Gospel here from God? I keep hearing

about being saved, but what does that exactly mean other than accepting God as

your Lord and savior. I also have tons of thoughts running through my mind

all the time, so I get confused. It's hearing God a distinct voice.

Dad, you can answer front, part back, part both of them.

Let you go first. Hearing God is a distinct voice. Well,

I'll try to draw broader picture. The number one way that God is going

to speak to every christ follower is through his word, the scriptures. It's

not an outward voice. It's not a vision, it's not a dream.

It's not somebody who gives you a prophecy. The number one way that God

is going to direct your life, guide your life, speak to your life

is the scriptures. And that's why we have to give time for God to

speak to us by giving time to the Word of God. If not,

then you are open. You open yourself up to other voices. And the

Bible says there are many voices, the many voices, but the only true

voice is the voice of God, which is the Word of God. Then

God also can speak. God can also speak through authority figures like your parents,

or like a pastor. God can speak both an inward voice, an

inward voice, where it could be a strong premonition, a strong thought using

your word peace, I have peace. God's leading me in this choice and

decision by peace, I have no peace. I have anxiety and stress and

worry in this decision. It's probably God leading you not to date that person,

marry that person, take that job, go to that place. So

God can speak to us by the inward voice of a thought. He could

come, and he can come through a vision and a dream. He can

come through first Corinthian Squall, through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, by

using somebody in a prophetic word. So these are all the ways that I

think God can speak to us. And then there ultimately is the voice of

God, the voice of God. But I have I have trouble. This

is my personal conviction. I have personal As I look at the scriptures to

people that say God talks to me all the time, You're gonna have to

really slow that down and explain to me what you mean. Is it like

this, good morning, diego, how are you today? Now, here's

what I want you to do today. I want you to do these ten

things. I have a problem with that with someone who says that, because

I don't think that that's absolutely truthful, that that is um the way God

speaks. I think he speaks through the word of God, And there are

infrequent times. I could say, there's only two times in my forty four

years of salvation that I've heard the voice of God, an audible voice the

way I'm talking to you. So if you have the ability to do that,

then then you have then I have the right to test the spirit.

I have the right to judge that you're saying God told me and God said.

But most people that say that all the time do not want to allow

you to judge the word. They just want to give it to you,

walk away and pretend like you know, that's your responsibility, or wash their

hands of it. And that's not the way the Bible says to do it,

you have to confirm the word with two or three witnesses found in the

scriptures along those lines, so that I don't know if that yeah, yeah,

definitely, UM, that's great. We can clap on that that's good

sonas or you got anything on it. No, just to add to what

you're saying about the fact that God is not the author of confusion and how

when he speaks to us, You're right, he is not in your face.

Satan's in your face. Satan is the one that will be really,

really loud. It's like being at a concert or being in a grocery store.

I'm sure moms understand this. If my child is across the grocery store

and just goes like I will be able to hear it because that's my child.

It could be loud in the place. And I know the voice of

my child because that child came from me. And so when it says what

does it mean to be saved? I just believe that that's when we accept

the Holy Spirit into us, and it's to be one with us to help

us through our life so that we're not doing it alone and to be able

to feel the nudges and to feel the peace and to feel the whisper of

these decisions. And like you said, especially when it comes to people who

have a word for you, I personally don't believe that God's not going to

go straight to the source with the word. So oftentimes when people have a

word for you, it should act as a form of confirmation rather than a

brand new word. Because God's not God. God's going to go straight to

the source. So um, just always remember that and and you will.

I believe that we hear and we feel God's speaking. It's just whether or

not we are choosing to go down or down the route that maybe God is

leading us, because sometimes our flesh is a little bit too loud. Sometimes

we like what the enemy is telling us rather than what God is telling us.

So, like he said, the more that we're in the Word,

the more we can and recognize that voice that is God, that is holding

the peace over our lives and feeling the Holy Spirit as we're going through our

day to day life and being able to be guided in that manner. And

a lot of this is dependent to me on your relationship with the Holy Spirit.

So to me, a quality prayer life opens the door for that inward

voice, that strong thought, that strong inclination. You'll hear me every once

in a while when I'm ministring, all of a sudden, you'll hear me

say, thank you, Holy Spirit, Thank you Holy ghost. Why am

I saying that, Not because I'm putting a filler in there or trying to

be dramatical or being sensational. It's because I'm getting a spiritual download at that

moment, which is a strong thought to do something, or all of a

sudden I know something, but I didn't hear a voice. It was a

strong no uh an awareness of something. But that all to me comes from

being set to operate at that level of sensitivity. You have to spend time

praying and praying in the spirit that opens yourself up um to hearing God's voice.

Well, it's look, let me let me just say that, because

what's worked for me and um it's a new practice is not not in the

worldly sense, but just silent meditation. This is church history. They've traditions

have always done this. Oftentimes when you think of prayer, you just think

about all using all these words and words and words, and you always have

to be talking. Well, I encourage you to practice the art of silent

meditation, quieting your mind and um. Some through church tradition, they've both

Orthodox and Catholic churches have have have done chance. Whether it's the Lord's prayer

that you repeat or whether it's um this this saying, Lord Jesus, christ,

Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. And so

you just say, Lord Jesus, christ Son of God, have mercy on

me, a sinner, Lord Jesus. And the purpose of that is to

eliminate your mind of distractions, because if you are solely quiet, you're thinking

about, Oh, I gotta do this with the kids, I gotta do

this, with my wife, with my husband, I gotta do this,

I gotta do this. And so sometime a lot of times that's helpful to

focus you on God. And so when you're doing that, when you're quieting

your mind, when you're meditating, what will happen is the first few minutes

you're thinking about all of your obligations. You're stressing you. It's hard for

you to just quiet yourself. You know, you got to. You gotta

play some worship music, right you're just bored. You gotta do something to

add to the background noise or whatever. But about five minutes into it,

ten minutes into it, that's when you'll get those God thoughts, impressions.

Call your dad, call your mom. Your brother's in trouble. Right now,

remember this, I need you to deal with this. There's this sin

in your life. It's causing destruction. I need you to repent right now.

I mean that happens to me. That practice personally has been the most

revolutionary for me. Yeah, I don't want to. I think it's important

because I feel like a lot of people have this question, so I want

to move on. But I also feel like this can broaden more more depth

to it. Number one, in the same sense that you're saying that also

additionally, many of us in the Pentecostal tradition, we'd also include in that

what Caleb's saying. And then I'd also say and then additionally, you pray

in the spirit, you speak in tongues. That that's a form of meditation

too. And so sitting in that time with the Lord and praying in the

spirit, which is often what I do. It's all pray in the spirit,

whether it be in my car or in the shower or just sitting down

on my chair. I'll just begin to pray in the spirit form of meditation,

no music, no noise, no nothing, and spend that time with

the Lord. And I think it's important, like as Caleb said, because

so many of us live on this and psychologically this has proven that when you

pick this up, it creates serotonin. Serotonin is what tells you that I'm

happy right now, and this is pleasure. And so whatever gives you pleasure

or whatever gives you happiness, if you have that favorite dessert, that'll supply

you with serotonin which says this is good, keep doing this, keep doing

this. And so it's very common that nowadays people struggle spending time with the

Lord because for a lot of times it's not going to create serotonin because you've

not taught yourself that this is good for you. You've not taught yourself that

this is healthy for you. So you sit there and you say, oh,

I need noise, I need my phone, I need my iPad,

I need to put on music in the background. You start to tell yourself,

I need an assistant of serotonin. Well, if you start assisting other

things of serotonin, then you're never gonna find it in the Lord. You're

never gonna find it in the presence of God, because you're using suppositories from

the outside that are giving you joy. Oh, I just need to make

sure I have this, sir. I need I need fertic on in the

background. I need a sermon on in the background. Oh, I'm gonna

go journal. I need I need to be doing this at the same time.

So the Lord's like, man, if you would just quiet your mind

and find pleasure in me, flying peace in me, and I can't tell

you how long it'll take for you to have to detox because because you're because

right now psychologically we're so hell bit on this in the TV that you have

to actually detox yourself off of that. So that's why I tell people like,

man, I'm struggling here. God, tell me what your daily habit

looks like. Well, I wake up, I spend forty five minutes on

Instagram, then I go to my work and then I'm watching this and then

I turn on the news when I come home, and like, we're so

indated with technology it's hard to turn it off. And then go, okay,

God, now do a miracle, Like well, okay, you know

how many times is God going to have to do a miracle where you know,

all of a sudden you find it pleasure to read a book or to

spend that time with the Lord. You have to fight that threshold that takes

joy in God. I'll addishly say this on the first question, what does

it mean to be saved? Saved is a short term of salvation. So

salvation is what you'd really be talking about, which is Romans chapter ten,

verse nine and ten. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. Believe

in your heart that Christ died for your sins and he rose three days later.

If you confess that and believe that, scripture says you will be saved.

So sets salvation. What does it mean to be saved? To confess

your sins, to believe in Jesus's death and resurrection, and to call him

Lord. It says you will be saved. That's an emphatic period on that.

So plain and simple. That is salvation. Confession in Christ, repentance

in Christ, and believing in his death and resurrections. Salvation right off the

bat. Now hearing the voice again, Number one, I'll say some of

us older saints, and I put myself in that category because now I've been

safe for sixteen years and I've spent that time in the Word. And many

of us, many of us older saints, have done a bad job at

discipling the next generation, and so a lot of the older saints, we

use language like God told me the Holy Spirit led me, But we don't

qualify that with younger believers and show them and tell them what does that mean?

What does that look like? So then therefore people get this feeling like

it's a Harry Potter thing and like somehow those that hear from God have a

crystal ball, and you're thinking, when do I get my crystal ball?

Like I'm hearing all these older saints always say God told me. God's leading

me, and You're like, he ain't doing that for me. It's like,

yes he is, We're just not qualifying that. What that looks like.

I don't wake up and get an email from the Lord with a script

of what I'm doing for the day. But younger saints, you guys think

that because we have done the bad job at taking you along with us,

not just from a pope, like literally discipling from you and say this is

what this looks like. Let's talk about this, let's work about this.

Because God often the Lord's leading through also through accountability, through eldership, through

church leadership, through other saints in the church. That's why the gifts of

the body are so important. That's why we have to be activated in our

churches, because God can also speak to us through churches. There's the five

full ministry. So I'm not a prophet. I'm not a prophet. Caleb

is more in that office than I am. So I can't speak to you

prophetically. The church has to operate together, you know, so together we

can all discover through our conversations. And this is what the Lord is leading

to. And I'll say the last thing. A lot of times God's voice

is hindsight. So when I say that, when the Apostle Paul was writing

the epistles in two thirds of the New Testament, the Apostle Paul every second

was not having a pen and going or using his scribe and going, God,

what sentence would you have me say? Yes? Next? Okay,

I wrote that sentence. What would you have me say next? No?

The Apostle Paul was filled with the spirit, so as he was writing,

the spirit was activating the scriptures. And so hindsight. When the letter's done,

now the church eldership goes, Yes, that whole letter as a whole

was the spirit the whole thing. That's why that should be canonized in the

Bible. Then we have other leaders, other letters from other church leaders where

we say probably half of that was spirit led and the other half was probably

their opinion. And there's a lot of ways we could go deeper into why

that is. That's why if you ever hear Pastor Diego's preaching, he doesn't

say thank you Holy Spirit every sentence he says, maybe says it once a

month, because that's a moment that he genuinely knows the Holy Spirit spoke to

him. All other moments, only when we leave service can we really were

flect and be like, what is it that the Spirit said in this it's

hindsight. So you have to actively every day make sure that time is spent

with the Lord so that you're led by the spirit. Then you can reflect

and say, you know what, Yeah, that moment yesterday that was spirit

led, and or I can also say, which is true for Adam,

I can also many days ago, Man Adam, that was all flesh.

He was not being led by God. And so it's sometimes it's through the

reflection of how we react and how we act that we can say, Okay,

was this God using me with speaking me? Or was that all me?

Was that my flesh? Was that my own anger? Or was that

this, So there's just adding some more clarity for some people. I mean,

that's how is God speaking and meditation because this was another revolutionary thought for

me that was very helpful. God lives in an eternal present. So a

lot of our issues in our in our mental mind psychology issues is we're either

dealing in the future or the past, and God wants us to live in

the present. Right, So you know, the devil is speaking to you

if he has words talking about the future or the past. So what the

words from the future usually comes with anxiety? This is what's going to happen,

Caleb. Aren't you afraid the China is going to blow up America?

Caleb? Didn't you hear the prophecy that you know that Ai is going to

take over everything? And you know da ba ba ba ba future future,

future, future, anxiety, anxiety, anxiety, future future future. Okay,

pat Caleb, you you remember when you you slept with twenty women.

Caleb, you're such a You're such a piece of crap. Caleb. You'll

never be forgiven you remember you remember when you did this? Caleb? All

there's no redemption that God won't forgive you. What's he doing? Guilt?

In the past, guilt in the past, anxiety of the future. That's

how you know the devil's talking to you. What prayer and meditation does.

Boom, It brings you in the present, and that's where God lives.

The past doesn't exist anymore. The future doesn't exist. The present is all

there is. So practice the presence of God in the present. That's good.

All right, let's go to these uh, next two, and then

we'll try to rapid fire the miss me close. So let's go to this,

uh, this next one right here? What do we um? I've

seen a lot of news about transgender transition surgeries from for children. There are

new states like California that are allowing children to undergo surgeries without parental consent.

How do we handle these situations considering how divisive they are. I have a

couple of friends who are thinking about transitioning as they do not feel comfortable with

their current genders. I was wondering how to handle this situation. Is what

they are doing? A sin um. I'll first give it to Ukleb and

then Sinas. Well, I want to hear Sina, Let go, Sinas

go first. Okay, it's really I was just having a conversation with my

husband about it last week of just how are we going to navigate raising our

children in this society that we're entering into. And UM, I look at

questions like this from just a mental health perspective because I was a counselor for

so many years. So when I read this, UM, I can't help

but just emphasize that we're living in a time that is trying so hard to

give these permanent solutions, solutions to these these issues that can be not massaged

through. But what is the root of the issue. And we don't really

look at the root of the issue of the gender dysphoria of and we've talked

about this so many times, of the statistics that they seem to refuse to

listen to, of a lot of these children who have been abused in their

life. And but we're number one, as Caleb has said many times,

which when he comes back around and answers the second part of the question,

we do not have a fully developed brain until we are adults, and we

should not in any capacity change the biology of a child who has not fully

developed. Their brain is not fully developed, period. And I think it's

an absolute travesty what's happening legally that our children are able to make these decisions

at all, with or without their parents' permission. And but what is going

to happen And I believe that we're going to see it twenty years from now,

as we are going to see an absolute uproar in detransitions, because these

people are transitioning without actually solving the root of the issue, realizing that they

have completely mutilated themselves, and now their problems have not gone away. And

now what do I do Now I'm mutilated and depressed and suicidal and all of

these things on top of them. And everyone's just saying, well, if

you don't like the body that you're in, then change the body that you're

in, not dealing with the internal issue that's happening. And the only thing

that can truly truly help these people is Jesus. And I know that seems

really just fluffy to say, like Jesus is the only one that can't but

changing your body at especially at any age, but especially at such a young

age where these children do not. My children believe that they're dinosaurs right now,

and that's just the truth. Right now. Ezra will tell you he's

a pterodactyl today and twenty years from now, I will probably legally be able

to change him to a pterodactyl because that's what he identifies as. And it

sounds silly and we laugh about it, but that's the life. That's the

world that we're living in today. So I my my heart is aching for

people who are depressed and sad and hate themselves because there is a God who

loves them and created them in his image and wants them so badly to be

able to accept who they are and love who they are because God loves them

for who they are. But they're rejecting that, and they think that changing

their body is going to be able to give them happiness. And we all

in this room know that that is not going to happen, and so we

have to get to a therapy, and Christian therapy right from the route from

the parents to the children. UM needs to happen. Along with the laundry

list of things that I could talk to you for about an hour with,

but I'll let Caleb continue the conversation. Yeah. Yeah, as far as

UM transgender surgeries, I don't see that changing. For adults with informed consent

who can have an informed consent. The argument really is, so I don't

really see there there being an end in Western civilization to adult who make the

decision to trans transition. But what you may see is the minor sex change

surgeries, which is what really the fight is right now against because you have

the argument of well, they're not even able to buy alcohol twenty until they're

twenty one, how can they cut off their genitals at the age of fourteen

or fifteen? And I think that law is like if you have a married

couple and the child, or if the child transitions or wants to transition,

the state can remove the child or something. This could be wrong, but

the state can remove the child if the parent doesn't want the child to transition.

And oftentime it's sad, but it's oftentimes it's the father who doesn't want

the child to transition, but the mother does. And so now you have

that conflict. Maybe they're separated, and so the father is fighting the courts

and he's fighting the mother not to have his child transition. But it's a

losing battle unfortunately at this point. But in regards to that, those laws

will change when it affects money, and you have a big case right now

against Kaiser from a miner who did a sex change surgery and is now suing

Kaiser because she regrets it. And the operation was done when she was a

minor and she had she had counselors through the Kaiser system encourage her to be

herself and become a man, and so I think she had a massectomy and

maybe win all the way, but I think she did definitely had a massectomy.

So you're going to be having a lot of that, and all you

need is a couple of cases to be won before those laws are no longer

happened. Because at the end of the day, the god of this world

is Mammon. And so if these institutions realize that they can be sued by

these children later on in life, well they're probably not going to do it.

But I will say, you know that Kaiser won't allow. I think

somebody under the I could be wrong, but somebody the under the age I

believe a thirty to tie their tubes just so because they believe that they're going

to regret it. And I t mind. But I had my tooths tide

and I was thirty thirty eight or thirty nine when I got my tooths tide,

and I had to take class and then I had to wait thirty days

and think about it and then sign a paper, and then I had to

wait six months to get the surgery just in case I would change my mind

at thirty nine years old, after I had children, and they won't accept

people who are under the age of a certain amount. I think it's like

twenty five or thirty. And it's interesting because I think it was a money

It may have been because they have to then pay for the reversal, so

I think that that's why they do it. So I think you're absolutely right

and that it is one money driven and it's unfortunate because our children are the

ones that are paying the price of these large corporations and hospitals and things.

And you have, like you said, you have higher suicide race. So

look at the fruit. You'll know them buy their fruit. So when you

sow to the flesh, you naturally reaction. There's natural laws. When you

go against nature, you're going to have negative consequences. You will reap death.

So what do you see in the transgender community higher rates of suicide?

You really they come to realize after years that, oh, I'm still miserable.

Um, and this is one of the things that people need to like

learn contentment and gratefulness. I've used this argument before. It's like, hey,

I'd love to live in another time period. This isn't my time period

of choice, you know, But hey, I don't have a choice.

God, God predestined me to live in two thou twenty three, to be

thirty five years old in two thousan twenty three. Nothing I can do about

it. I would love to be Lebron James hight I would love, man

what I wouldn't give to be Lebron James hight Right. But but but no,

that's that that that that's not a that's not an option. One of

the basic elements of being a human is to just be learned contentment the lot

that's given to you. You know, I'd love to be a child of

a billionaire. Hey, but I'm not. You know. It's like,

you gotta learn contentment. And I will say, but there is there is

redemption, there is hope, and there is salvation for transgender people when they

come to Christ. Daniel Mishak and a Bendigo were the King's Eunichs. Most

likely they their genitals were cut off serving in the king's courts. You have

the Ethiopian Unich, most likely his genitals were cut off, and so you

have Just because you undergo this procedure um doesn't mean God cannot still use you

and forgive you and redeem that situation. And I think both your perspectives are

just right on. If if I am a parent, a Christian parent,

I think last week in prayer, I said the hours coming were Christians must

get ready for persecution and to begin to suffer for the Lord. And we

don't understand what that looks like. We are living in America now where you

will be persecuted for your faith and accept like the early Church did that you

are going to suffer in the name of Jesus Christ for the scriptures that you

believe in and not compromise. And so if that means whatever that means,

put me in jail. But you're I'm not going to allow my child.

I will stand in boycott, take away all my rights. Whatever you're gonna

do. I'm not going to give into this. If it's and if it's

in my family, I'm going to look people in the face and say no,

don't do it. It's a defiance against God's word. It's a defiance

against creation itself. It's a defiance against the law of God when it comes

to procreation. And it goes on and on and on and put the truth.

I'm not coming under my authority to tell you this. I'm coming in

the authority of scriptures that tell you that this is wrong. And here's what

the word says. But God is loving, God is merciful. I'm gonna

pray, but not on my watch. Am I just gonna accept it,

tolerate it. I don't have opinion and give into it. I'm gonna fight

it as much as I possibly can as a parent, as a grandparent,

I'm gonna do whatever I can. So, yeah, that's great. Let's

go to this U. Let's do the last one right here, and then

we'll close out together. I'm fairly new to faith, saved about two years

ago, and I'm longing to be included with more believers. I want to

join small groups and serve, but I'm still struggling with same sex attraction.

I'm not saying I will act on attraction, but being around certain people or

in gender specific groups make me nervous because of the attraction, fewer judgment and

rejection from peers in the group. How do I deal with this? I

don't want to feel this way, but you can't. I can't help you're

attracted to I feel so many emotions about this, and I don't know what

to do. Uh. Number one, thank you so much for asking that

and being um, you know, so transparent enough. Even though I know

this is an anonymous level, but still regardless, um um. It takes

a lot for a person to articulate what they're what they're going through. I'll

speak to a few of the things. Number one. First, Galacious,

chapter five, verse twenty four to twenty five says this and those who belong

to Jesus have been crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we

live by the spirit, let us also keep in step with the spirit.

And so number one, I applaud you. I applaud you that you have

recognized that your old self and your flesh has died. Because you you there's

a level of confidence that you know that the Lord is leading you, and

you're saying, you know, I trust I'm not going to act on these,

but but you're still wrestling with with this attraction and these desires, and

so that's gonna take some time. Often articulate to people who are new to

faith who say, man, I'm still struggling with this, Like I still

want I still want to get drunk, I still want to look at woman

eyes. I still you know, I'm still attracted in the same sex.

What's going on is you know you you almost want to send a letter up

to heaven and be like, Hello, God, has it got to you

that I gave my life to you? Yet? Like when does the miracle

you know come in? And I always tell people like, just think about

how long you sewed it in your flesh. Think about how long you have

built in your flesh in your eyes and your ears habits to be satiated and

satisfied by your flesh. That doesn't replace overnight the spirit of the Living God

comes with you. But there's still Romans chapter eight. If you ask that

question, go read Romans chapter eight. Your flesh is wrestling with the spirit.

The spirit inside of you is saying, hey, you know, you

know, keep the faith, keep your eyes on Lord. And then your

flesh she goes. But it feels so good, it feels so right.

But we know what happens. You know, Caleb just said that. My

dad just said that it leads us to destruction. That's what we know.

We know those feelings, we know, we know that after feeling of what

happens when we saytiate our flesh. So what I'm saying is be encouraged,

encouraged that the spirit of the Living God is with you, and God is

for you, and this wrestle is going to happen, and so be strong

in the faith. And I'd say what you said is let community come and

surround you. James James, chapter five, verse sixteen says, therefore,

confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be

healed. The prayer of a righteous person may has great power and it works.

That's what it says, prayer of a righteous person. So right now,

the enemy wants to score this idea of isolation inside of you because you

talk about this fear of getting with community. That's all the enemy isolate yourself.

They're gonna judge you, they're gonna persecute you, they're gonna distance themselves

from you. Here's what I'll tell you about this. Just number one,

right off the bat, and it may come off strong. If you are

a person in this church and someone comes to you and tells you their testimony

of where God has taken them, if you ostracize or judge someone, I'll

tell you right now, go find a new church. This is not the

church for you. If you hang someone's past over their head and something that

Christ has redeemed and something Christ has died for, and you've made someone to

feel like God cannot use you and redeem you, I will give you a

list of other churches that may best fit your religious pharapsychical mindset, because that's

not us. We believe the Gospel and the grace of Christ can redeem anyone.

So this is what it would look like if you came to me,

if you were in community with me, I would encourage you to go in

community, go a couple times, see those that are seasoned believer, and

then pull them aside, say hey, I would love to either right now

or take you to coffee, tell you a little bit about my story,

tell them your testimony, tell them your story the testimony of God. There's

freedom in that, there's healing in that, So don't be afraid to share

that testimony. Don't be afraid to that past and then you invite that person.

Would you help me be accountable? Would you pray with me? Would

you walk with me? Would happen? May there be someone at some point

in the church that's immature, Yes, they may be immature, but I'll

tell you this, they're me knowing people in this church. There's a lot

of great believers who would love to come around you. Even every year we

do a small group through Pastor Kenny Karen Counseling that takes people that have struggled

with LGBTQ pass and he does a community group with them, just with them

and go through a curriculum and stuff. So there are definitely things abund it,

but I encourage you just get in the community like you feel be led

to stop the isolation, stop the downcasting on your own self, allow the

freedom in Christ to rule in your life. Get around other people, brothers

and sisters in Christ, and just say, hey, would you pray for

me? Would you pray with me when I feel weak? Can I call

you? Begin to build up an army of other friends and believers who are

with you and for you, and that can pray for you when you have

a week day. You call them today's a weekday. Let them pray for

you. So that's where I encourage you. Thank you for asking that.

Continue to lean in on the Lord. And this is a process. That's

why in the church world we call it progressive sanctification. In other words,

it's a process living the life by the spirit and with God. It's a

process. So continue the process. We think it's like the old way when

we did with our flesh. We just satisfy it and then it's fixed.

No, the life of the spirit is you're being radically transformed day and day

out, day and day out. I look a lot different than I did

sixteen years ago when I got saved. I have a lot of victories from

sixteen years also still struggle with some things I struggled with sixteen years ago.

That's a part of the process of salvation. We're only perfected in Christ.

One day when we stand before the Lord and we celebrate that the wrestle is

over, that's what I'm gonna be like, thank God, we made it.

The wrestle's done done. Thank you Lord, and scriptures true Jess,

We'll look at you and say well done, good and faithful servant. He

won't say well done, perfect servant, because that's not what Jesus desiring.

Well done, good and faithful servant, which means in your weakness, you

were faithful to the Gospel, faithful to stick true to God. And that's

the process. So I'll give it to Pastor to close us out and we'll

leave here together. You know, there seems to be a theme tonight and

night pray that you've heard God from all areas, But the Bible says there's

none righteous, no, not one. All of us have fallen short of

the glory of God. We have issues, we have skeletons, we have

sins. But that's why Jesus suffered so brutally on that cross to take away

those sins, the wrath of your sin, the judgment of your sin,

the consequence of your sin, the damnation of your sin. And today I

just want you to recognize you can walk in a level of as we sank

today, liberty and victory and peace, experience the mercy of God that you

deserve and I deserve the judgment of God. But God was so merciful to

say, I don't want them to have to perish. I don't want them

to have to go to Hell, and that's why I brought him here tonight,

so that they could hear the gospel the good news. The good news

is that your sins have been paid for by Jesus Christ. Or you can

walk out of this place, have heard the good news that I can be

forgiven and reject it. Today. I want you to recognize you and I

are one germ, when virus, when accident or mishap away from Heaven's gate

or Hell's doors. Tomorrow's not promised any single one of us. Jesus is

knocking on your heart today. Will you open up that door and say,

I surrender today to your mercy, to your love, and to your grace.

I want to be saved. Or you say, with that shot of

a doubt, I've accepted the Lord, but I'm writing the fence of compromise.

I'll say I'll never do those sins, and the next thing you know,

I'm succumbing them to them again, and I just have to ask the

Lord to forgive me. It was last night on the fourth of July.

I maybe did something I shouldn't have done, or or there's something strong dominating

my life that I can't seem to control or surrender. Two, So I

want to rededicate my life to the Lord or you say, I'm born again

and I love God, But I'm not feeling with the Holy Spirit for any

of these three things. I just I'm gonna go one, two three like

that, And I just want you to raise your hand, and we're gonna

pray for you, and I promise you it'll be the greatest miracle that has

ever taken place in your life. Here we go one two, one,

two three. Raise your hand wherever you are all across this auditory to say

the simple prayer with me. I can only give you the words. I

can't give you the heart. But God looks at your heart now and say,

Dear Lord Jesus, do you know who I am? I need you.

I recognize tonight how much I need you. I need a savior.

I need someone to forgive me of my sins. I need someone to pay

for my sins, and I know that's you and only you. So I

believe you died on the cross for my sins, and I confess you.

Ask my Lord and Shavior in Jesus Mighty name. Amen. We really hope

you enjoyed the message. And if you said yes to Jesus, we just

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