0:02 a um desire in all of us as human beings to know. We just want to know. Uh that's what um sets things up for advancements in technology and engineering. There's a constant learning. We're always human beings are always learning, pushing the limits of 0:21 what we know. We once we feel like we've learned a lot about the Earth, we want to know well what's Mars like and what's Saturn like and Jupiter. always want to know more than what we know. And that's good when it comes to the worldly 0:33 things. Uh but it's uh dangerous when it comes to spiritual things. I'll show you a verse in 2 Corinthians. No, sorry. 1 Corinthians chapter 8. [clears throat] >> [snorts] 1:03 >> Um, in the middle of that verse, it says, "Knowledge makes you puffed up or arrogant." And but love edifies. Love builds up. There's puffed 1:22 up and build up. That's the option you face. And if you believe as the word of God says and as I believe that God is opposed to the proud, God is opposed to those who are puffed up. He's opposed to them. He's your enemy. That means you 1:40 might the more you try, the less you more you're going to fail because God is opposed to you. God is your enemy. That should put in us a a hatred for pride. a desire to not have anything to do with pride. And if I'm warned that knowledge, 1:59 seeking knowledge will likely make me proud, then it should cause me to say, I don't want I don't want to have anything to do with that. And so in Q&A sessions, it's important for us to ask ourselves whether we just want to know 2:14 if it's if the question is coming from something that will make me feel a little bit more proud and more in control. And uh I understand or is it coming from real love? Love is what will build up. So uh in questions 2:33 related to matters, personal matters, family matters, home matters or church matters, it's important for us to distinguish between why are you asking this question and what's the purpose in it. So think about that. If you ask the question or 2:49 if it's the question that you may have even if somebody else wrote it down or if you have questions in your mind about anything it's important to ask yourself why do I have this question what is the reason behind that why is this important and 3:03 that's more important and finally the last thing I say before we start to look at some of these questions is I hope that you leave this meeting not having your questions answered but seeing Jesus a little bit more uh and if I have if in answering the 3:22 questions I've given you more knowledge or shared with you some information or some theological answer to the question I've done you a disservice. I've just made it so that you can be a little bit more proud of the knowledge you have. If 3:36 you ask me a question about the difference between Calvinism and Armenianism or uh some other theological discussion, predestination or uh pre-tribulation rapture and uh you know six literal days versus gap theory and all that and I give you some nice 3:56 wellorganized answer making you feel like yeah I figured it out or I got that answer. I agree with him. I just made you a little bit more proud. That's all. But if I lead you to Jesus, I say the whole point of Genesis chapter 4:15 1 is not to understand whether it was 6 24-hour days or anything like that. Have you seen Jesus in Genesis 1? And the same thing with any of these questions relating to personal matters you may be facing, marriage problem, marriage 4:27 situations, family situations, church situations. If you go away from the Q&A session not having seen Jesus, then either I've failed or you've missed it. So think about that even as you listen to me. I I'm that's what I'm thinking. Say, "Lord 4:43 Jesus, I want you to be here and I want every answer to come from you who is the word of life." He's the word of life. If you just get a word, it'll result in more death and frustration. Another place it says, "The letter, the word 5:01 kills, but the spirit gives life." And so I pray that you will see Jesus this session and in every session, but especially in the Q&A sessions. I think it's important that we see that warning. So we'll go through some of these and I 5:16 don't know if we'll get through all of them. We'll try. Um so if the answers are short and to the point, that's the reason is because um we have a lot of them to go through. Bill. Um, yeah, we often in our church hear about 5:33 submission to authorities. Could you tell us one or two red flags that we should watch for? When do we maybe bring it up to an elder or you or brother Zach? And when should we examine ourselves to see if we are rebelling 5:44 against our elders? Well, we should always examine ourselves. And um I think a dangerous situation to get into when when you when a church has gone through a difficult time or some times of change and things like that is to now become 6:00 suspicious. It's one thing to be on alert. It's one thing to be watchful. It's one thing to be discerning. But never where it crosses to the point of suspicion. If you are constantly suspicious about everybody uh and everything you're scrutinizing, I can 6:18 guarantee you'll never build a church. Now, you may say, "Well, at least uh nothing bad happened to me or or I didn't fall for the lie." But you were useless to God. If you want to be useful to God, if you really want to be useful 6:32 to God, you'll have to allow yourself to be in vulnerable situations making yourself available to build a church. And sure, that means that people may take advantage of you. You never want to allow somebody to take advantage of you. 6:48 But it's very important that that we don't get caught into always walking around with suspicion. Okay, maybe somebody did something and so from now on you're always suspecting whoever you meet of doing something bad that 7:03 whatever they're doing is bad. You'll never be able to build a church like that. And so a bad example or even if it's a leader who is set a bad example shouldn't be a reason for me to mistrust all authority. uh there is godly authority, spiritual 7:20 authority, and even if there are bad examples in the world, that shouldn't cause you to mistrust everybody. That said, how do you make sure that you're um that you're not led astray? Uh and I say this that uh one of the 7:38 things that has always blessed me about my dad over the years as I've watched him is that he is very very um I'm trying to think of the right word here very keen and he'll very insistent that people don't lean on him 7:57 but lean on Christ and as you know with somebody with his kind of influence and the respect that people give him and recognizing him as a man of God, they our tendency is to lean on him. Oh, brother Zach said, "So, lean on him." 8:11 And I've seen consistently over the years that whenever somebody wants to lean on him and always comes to him, he'll pull back and say, "You there are other elders. You go to these other elders." And and so I've learned that come come to see 8:27 that that's one of the marks of a man who truly knows God that if their leadership or their interaction with you is in such a way that they like that you lean on them. Oh, let me call brother. He'll answer my question and there's a 8:41 danger that people do that with me too. Can I ask brother Santo? He'll give me the answer. I said what about your elder? You don't think his answer will be right? Sure. Maybe God has given me some wisdom or some ability or some 8:53 understanding of him, knowledge of him. But um uh if if there's a constant if if if a look for the leaders who want you to lean on Christ directly. In other words, when they give you an answer, they'll say, "Well, this is what I 9:09 think, but you go find out for yourself." I've seen my dad do that consistently over the years, even with me. Now, if it's a truth in God's word, which is clearly written, that's that's one thing. But even then, he says, 9:20 "Well, this I've seen the Lord. This is what's written in God's word." And when he preaches, he preaches with authority. But for his opinion on a matter is always this is what I think, but you go seek the Lord. Look for men like that. 9:33 And that's that's the kind of leadership you can trust. Somebody who is strengthening your relationship with God, with Christ the head directly, not with himself. somebody who's strengthening your relationship with Christ. That's leadership you can trust. 9:49 And uh as we speak often in the church, uh it's our life first and then our teaching. I see it like this. I recently got this picture. You know, it says Paul tells Timothy, if you turn with me to second Timothy, uh, sorry, 1 Timothy chapter 4, 10:25 Paul tells Timothy in verse, this is Timothy, who is the man that Paul could trust the most of all of his apostles. 1 Timothy 4:16, "Pay close attention to your life, to yourself, and to your teaching. Persevere in these 10:45 things. For as you do this, you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you." So, here's Paul telling Timothy, "How can you live in such a way that when you speak to others, you will also lead them to 10:58 salvation? And uh this is a good word for us to take to heart. What does he tell him? Pay attention to yourself first of all and to your teaching. Make sure that what you're teaching is good. But before that, make sure that the life you're 11:12 living is good. Your life first of all. And I believe it's like this that um if my life doesn't pass the test, I think of it like a two-part exam. Part A and part B. If you pass part A, then we'll grade part B. But if you fail part A, even if you got 11:32 all the answers right in part B, that's not going to matter. You're disqualified from part B. Whether you're right or wrong doesn't really matter. Part A, you failed. And if you fail part A, part B doesn't matter. And what is that? Part A 11:47 is your life. And whether you teach in this church or not, whether you're a teacher or not, if you believe, if you claim, if you tell others, "Yeah, this is the new covenant," or whatever, uh if that's what you teach and stand 12:02 for, that the the person in the world ought to be able to say, "Well, let me see your life. Let me come and see what's it like at your home with your husband and your wife or your children. Let me see your private life. Let me see 12:15 what you talk about, what you think about, what what motivates you. Let me look at that. If that fails, then no amount of me saying new covenant this, new covenant that really has any weight. Pay attention to yourself and to your 12:31 doctrine, then to your teaching. So, what is what am I saying there? If you're learning, if you want to know how to trust godly authority, I say observe the person's life. I've said it like this that at the end of my life, I'm I'm not saying it'll 12:45 actually be like this, but I live with that kind of mindset that before when Jesus when God calls me up and I stand before the judgment seat of Christ, he's not going to say, "Okay, I want to know what Santos was life like. Let me call 12:58 that brother who attended a conference or listened to one of his messages and said, uh, what was what was Santos like? You heard his message. That person doesn't know what my life is like." He's going to call Megan, my wife. He's going 13:11 to ask her. Now, this is just God already knows what's in my life. But I imagine it like this. He's going to call Megan and say, "Tell me for the whole world to hear. What was he like as a husband? What was he like you call my 13:23 children? What was he like as a father in the home where all the people who listen on YouTube don't know what he's living like? What was he like? That's his life." And I'm sure there will be many of you will say, "Oh, brother Santos, your 13:36 messages really blessed me. so encouraging that particular one all that okay but we won't even get to that if the first part of the test is failed and I say Lord that and I told my wife when we when I first began in the 13:51 ministry and became an elder I said my relationship with you will always be more important to me than my ministry and if at any point my ministry is going well but our marriage is crumbling I'll quit that immediately. 14:09 I still say that to this day. And God has a way by which we he wants us to do both. If he calls us into the ministry, he'll call us in such a way that every part of that fabric remains intact. When I was here a year, a couple years ago 14:24 almost now, I I I showed you a picture that the Lord gave me some years ago about concentric circles. Maybe I can pull it up sometime this weekend where the I saw that picture of the innermost circle is me and Christ, my personal 14:37 devotion to the Lord. And the next circle is my marriage and the next circle is my home with my children and then the local church and then other churches where I have ministry outside of that. And so many people are focusing 14:48 on all coloring thought about coloring all these or filling up all these outer areas. But that can only happen if the spring is you think about a spring a water from the inside in the middle as it springs up it fills and slowly that 15:05 water spreads spreads spreads spreads spreads spreads spreads that's the Christian life paying attention to your life and then your doctrine and your teaching after that so um look for follow those examples like Paul says in 15:18 1 Corinthians 11:1 follow me as I follow Christ not follow me as I teach you. In fact, Jesus said about the Pharisees, do as they say, but not as they do. Their teaching is actually good, but don't follow their example because they don't 15:35 live that life in secret. So, look for be look for the those whose examples you can follow by their life. If you look at a man, you see how he treats his wife or a woman, how she treats her husband, how their children, how he raises his 15:49 children, what is his home like, what is the the ministry like, what is his speech like? Is he is he gentle in speech? Is he humble? Those sorts of things. Look for that example. And if such a person you hear teach, then you know that their teaching 16:03 carries weight. Um, since the the local church here has gone through so much in the past few months, we as church members and as elders could have done better with the Lord's help. What is a godly advice and warning that you'd give us to be 16:16 vigilant um towards sin in our lives and also in the church that God's name would not be dishonored? I think the answer is in the question itself. Be vigilant towards sin in your own life. Take sin seriously. There's a there's a word in um I think 16:34 it's a number somewhere. Be sure your sin will find you out. And um what what Galatians 6 says, whatever a man reaps he shall sow. If you sow to the flesh, you will reap to the flesh. If you sow to the spirit, you will reap to the spirit. So um sin will 16:51 one eventually be exposed. And especially in the church when the presence of the lord is there, sin will be exposed uh eventually. But I say, "Lord, it shouldn't come to that." Now, thank God that he does expose sin for 17:02 the sake of me, the sinner. I've had sins that have been exposed. And I'm thankful for it because I would rather it be exposed now while I'm here on this earth than at the judgment seat of Christ when it's too late to repent. 17:14 So, I thank I'm thank God that there were times when to my embarrassment, sin was exposed, my own sin, so that I could repent and say, "Lord, I'm sorry I missed it. Now, let me turn and wholeheartedly follow you." So uh thank 17:28 God that he exposes sin out of love for our sinners. God loves everyone the whole world. I think of it even when famous people are caught in sinful situations right on the public stage. God loves that person. Recently there 17:43 was some CEO who was caught in public uh hugging somebody some woman in his workplace who was not his wife. And I shortly I when I heard that I said man God loves that person that he allowed him to get caught because he could I 17:57 don't know if he's a Christian or not but that's out of love. God allows sin to be exposed because he knows that if he doesn't do that and uh we don't he doesn't get our attention then when it finally is exposed as it will be all the 18:13 secret things will be brought to light and there's no more chance to repent then it'll be too late. So be vigilant towards sin in your life. That is absolute. The answer is in the question itself. I love it that you be vigilant. 18:29 Take sin seriously. If you find yourself speaking rudely to your wife in a harsh way or to your children, take it radically. If you find that when a woman walks by you, your eyes follow her with lust. Sure, nobody else saw you, but you 18:45 know what you did. God knows what you did. And that wandering eye will one day lead into more and more inappropriate behavior and sexual sin eventually. So be vigilant. God in his mercy allows you to get away with sin for some period of time. But 19:01 don't use that as a license to continue to remain in sin. Take it seriously, brothers and sisters. And the warning from the bad example of others should should tell us, okay, I I'm I honestly I think of myself as the one of the worst 19:16 sinners in the world. I don't say that lightly. A few years ago, I wouldn't have said that. And since that time, over the last few years, God has allowed me given me victory in more areas. Thank God for that. But I think I'm a worse 19:28 sinner than most people in the world, if not everybody. So, I don't say that lightly. I'm not at the level of Paul where the chief of sinners. I'm trying to get there. But I tell you why I see that. Because I recognize in I see sin 19:40 more seriously. Uh first uh Romans 7 says sin must be utterly sinful. The small thing that I did that people would say man you call that sin. All you did was you just kind of kind of hush puffed at your wife. You know what's the right word? I forget. 19:57 But you kind of you're in a huff. you you kind of just kind of despised her with your response like how why are you always like that? Well, nothing came out of it. You didn't run into a fight. You didn't yell at her. You didn't curse. 20:10 You didn't hit her. So, is that sin really? Well, if you come close to Christ and you see the small things as sin, [clears throat] then you deal with it at the root and you ask God to change your heart, you'll be protected. So, be vigilant. I like 20:25 that word, watchful over any sin coming in. I believe your elders are very watchful. You've seen some changes in this church recently. It's because they want to be vigilant. It may be nothing wrong with doing it that way or that 20:38 other way. Is there anything wrong? I'll tell you what they're trying to do. I believe for one, they consult with us uh my myself and my dad, especially my dad a lot. And so I believe their protection there. They're not seeking their own. 20:51 They're not trying to make a name for themselves. They may offend more people than they will make friends with by making these decisions. But they're trying to do be vigilant against sin in the church. And churches need watchmen 21:04 who are watching you know like they have security detail in some churches. U people who carry weapons who are employed by the church or members of the church so that if they see anybody acting suspiciously they deal with it. 21:18 I would ra we don't have such people in our church but we do have watchmen who are watching spiritually who's the one coming in with ulterior motive who's the one that has pride they think that they owed something we want to be watchful 21:31 against such people so that um that watchfulness is there in this church I believe and I believe it will protect this church in seeking to be part of a fellowship and also not being a busy body in other people's affairs I find 21:45 myself often to too cautious about seeking seeking fellowship. What advice do you have like such so that seeking to be part of a church is more than a Sunday to Sunday experience? Yeah, it is possible. It in fact it's it's we must 21:58 build fellowship but we must do it in a way that we're not a busy body. And I would ask yourself that question not just the person who asked this question but all of us. Why do you need to be a busy body in somebody else's life to be 22:13 to build fellowship with them? Why? Why do you need to know details about what's going on in their life or their children's life or something else in order to have fellowship with them? You don't. Fellowship is a spiritual 22:26 thing that comes through God knitting the Holy Spirit knitting my heart together with another brother, another sister. That knitting happens in secret. That happens when I fall into the ground and die. If I walk in the light, 1 John 22:40 1:7, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. You see that verse? Let me show it to you so we see it. How is fellowship formed? It's not by me sitting you down and saying, "Hey, tell me about your week." And if 22:55 they keep it superficial, I think, "Ah, that's kind of superficial. Let's go deep, brother. I want to go deeper. Tell me about this and tell me about that." That's not fellowship. That's just you can build a club that way. And you build clicks that way. And 23:08 you become become suspicious others. And you get little juicy details. That's not fellowship. Fellowship comes verse 7. 1 John 1:7. By walking in the light, I'm walking in the light. I have no business knowing whether you're walking in the 23:21 light. My only job is to walk in the light as Jesus is in the light. Then I have fellowship with you because you're doing the same thing. You're walking in the light as Jesus is in the light. I'm walking in the light as Jesus 23:35 is in the light. God has called us and placed us into a local fellowship. So, we meet from time to time. We're involved in each other's lives, but our connection is because we're both walking in the light as Jesus is in the light. 23:47 Not because I sat at lunch and you told me all about your week and all about your past and all that stuff. I'm fellowshipping with Jesus. And my fellowship with Jesus is intimate. Your fellowship with Jesus is intimate. And 23:59 something beautiful happens. What'll happen when you're committed to a local church like this and you're walking in the light? The Holy Spirit will see. I want to show you one more verse. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Some people ask 24:12 me sometimes, is bib is church membership a biblical thing. All you have to do is go look in the uh concordance whether the word member comes in the Bible and there's an answer. Sure enough, 1 Corinthians 12 verse uh 24, 24:37 middle of verse 24. God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked. There's the word member. So that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 24:52 And that's the word I always take anybody who wants to come to our church and become a member. First of all, I never invite anybody to become a member of our church. I say come and see. If I tell you to you should come to this 25:04 church and be a member then if you don't like me at some point you leave. I say you come and see come and attend a meeting and see if this is where God wants to plant you. And if God plants you in this church then you're 25:17 answerable to him for whether you stay or go. If I planted you in this church then if I leave you'll leave with me. And if I stay, you'll stay with me. Thank God I have not planted a single person at RLCF or any other church for 25:30 that matter. God is the one who has planted. And so when God plants, now you can leave when God leaves. And please do. If God leaves this church, you should be going with him. But you see how that easily answers the question of 25:43 where should I be? Be where God plants you. And [clears throat] once you're committed to that local church, it should what should happen is a care for the church. All the members have a care for one another. That word care is so important. Do you care about 25:58 the spiritual welfare of the others in this local church? Do you allow them to care for you? Do you really care not with some ulterior motive or anything like that? You really care that they should grow spiritually and you care for 26:11 your own life that you would grow spiritually. If that's there then and you're walking in the light as I was saying as God as Jesus is in the light you'll find that the Holy Spirit can plant in your heart a specific burden to 26:25 pray for somebody in this local church especially now I pray for a lot of people some you know different parts of the world I know people off and I hear about situations I pray for them but the people I pray for the most are the ones 26:37 that God has placed in my circle my wife first of all my children and the local church and then extending from there. So when when I'm committed to a local church, it's like God gives me a set of people to focus my care towards 26:54 because really really if you care for everybody the same, you care for nobody. If you say, well, I care for everybody the same in the whole world, then you actually don't care for anybody. You just care for yourself. So God gives us 27:08 circles of care as it were. And so when he places us in a family, in a marriage, in a family and in the local church, that is that local expression of the body of Christ towards which he wants to show that I have his care. He cares for 27:21 the whole body. But in the area in which he has placed me, I demonstrate that same heart of care by expressing that care practically to those within that same circle. Because I can't do it for my brother in Brazil and South Africa or 27:37 Tibet. I don't have that opportunity. I could say I care about them. But how do I know that? I know that I care for my brother in Indonesia because I care for you here whom I can see. Otherwise, I mean, John says that how do you say you 27:50 love God when you don't love the brother whom you can see. So that care is manifested that way. And you'll find that God will plant in your heart a burden to pray for somebody in your local church. It'll just you know sometimes I wake up 28:06 in the middle of the night I say Lord who is it you woke me up for some reason maybe you have burden who do you want me to pray for and somebody will come to my mind and I say okay Lord I'm just going to pray for that person I just pray for 28:17 that person tomorrow it could be somebody else I used to at one point in my time have a a list of the all the members of the church and every day of the month if it was the first day of the month I went in alphabetical order had 28:28 it in my calendar now I have it in my mind so I don't need it in my calendar anymore but you pray for that specific person, you can do that as well. What you're doing through that is developing a care for the members of the local 28:39 church. And when you have that care, God sees this person is not they're not trying to have some ministry or take responsibility or be an elder or anything like that. They just care and they're praying and you don't have to 28:51 tell anybody that you're praying. Then you'll find and I'm speaking from experience here somewhat uh that this has happened quite often where on a Sunday morning or an afternoon after the meeting I will sit happen to sit with 29:04 that brother at lunch and I've been praying for him for the last week or week. I'm not going to tell him that I've been praying for maybe I will but as I interact with him God allows him to feel comfortable to open up to me in about something or just he 29:23 doesn't even have to open up but that overflow of care is manifest in our [clears throat] our conversation and our help for each other. So this is how you can actually be I was answering the question about how not to be a busy body. I don't need 29:37 to know what somebody else is doing or what what's going on in their life. If I'm busy praying for them, that care is automatically manifest. And that's how fellowship happens. Um, how do you remain encouraged when committed members 29:51 leave the church? Yeah. I um I'll show you an example from Mark 4. You know the story of the seed that was 30:12 planted in different types of soil. It's the same seed. And one in particular was a seed that fell um on rocky ground. Mark 4:5 where it did not have much soil. 30:31 And immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. And after the sun had risen, it was scorched. And because it had no root, it withered away. And Jesus explains that in verse 16, Mark 4:16. In a similar way, these 30:46 are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who when they hear the word immediately receive it with joy, and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary. Then when affliction or persecution arises because 31:01 of the word immediately they fall away. And I got this picture some years ago when I went through and I watched a situation happen where some person falling cause somebody else to fall also and then other people to fall. And I got 31:14 this picture of toppling dominoes. You you ever seen the trick shots they do? They line up a whole bunch of dominoes. They form nice little shapes and they get one and then it just like a train. I mean it could go on for 2 three minutes. 31:28 how all kind you know the whole floor full of dominoes toppling and sometimes that happens in churches one person's failure results in somebody else falling and somebody else falling and somebody else falling because they had no firm 31:39 root in themselves. Now it's one thing for dominoes to topple. If you go to the forest and you see one tree fell and then a whole bunch of other trees also fell because of that you say that's not a tree. That's just a bunch of plastic trees that have been 31:54 placed there. That's why they all fell. Why is it that you don't when one you go into a forest, you might see one tree fallen, but it's there. It's still laying fallen and the other tree is still standing upright. Because it has a 32:06 firm root in itself. [snorts] And the difference between a church and a club is this. In a church, they all have firm root in themselves. Yes, they have fellowship. That's why they're different from a congregation. They have 32:20 firm roots in themselves while they're having fellowship. In a club on the other hand, as you've seen if you read my booklet on that, there's all horizontal attachment. So they're not no firm root in themselves. Bunch of trees 32:35 that are just close to each other, no firm root in themselves. So one falls and they all fall like that. That's a club. If somebody whom I'm close to falls away, it should grieve my heart. It should it should give me a warning that I the same 32:52 thing doesn't happen to me. I should be watchful but it shouldn't shake me because I've got a firm root in myself in myself in Christ. I have a personal attachment to Christ. Few month weeks ago, I was speaking to the church, local church in in at RLCF 33:09 and I was telling them that if uh if Paul said in um Galatians three, I think it's a very bold statement. Paul said, no, sorry, it's Galatians 1. Galatians 1 33:43 [clears throat] verse 6. I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Jesus who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel. He says, I'm amazed that you're 33:59 already you're forsaking, deserting him for a different gospel, which is really not another. Only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. And look at what he says in Galatians 1:8. Even if we or an 34:16 angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed. So it's I I paraphrase Paul's words here. Let's say Paul is Paul saying, let's say I come to you and say, "Hey 34:29 man, all that stuff I taught you about the new covenant and being filled with the Holy Spirit, no, it's not really true." You ought to say, "Paul, come on. You taught it to me. I applied it in my life and it's working in my life. If 34:43 you've decided to abandon the truth, you're not going to change me. You who taught me what I know, I took it and applied it into my life and now you can't convince me that it not not to follow this gospel. That would be let me 34:59 give you an example. Another picture the Lord gave me is let's say a doctor I have some disease let's say and a doctor gives me a medicine. He says this medicine will cure you. I take the medicine and I apply it to my disease 35:12 and it works. It heals me. After a year or two, the doctor calls me and says, "Hey, that medicine I gave you, no, it actually doesn't work." I say, "What do you mean it doesn't work?" It worked. Now, if I had not actually applied the 35:25 medicine, but pretended like I am. I sat in a church where we talk about the medicine, but I'm not actually applying the truth in my life, then if that doctor changes his mind, sure, I'll follow him and say, "Yeah, yeah, maybe 35:36 not. So when you hear other people preach a different gospel from what you have heard and what you have seen work in the lives of those who are applying it, what should you do? He said, well, and I told the church, if you hear me, I put myself 35:51 there in Paul's shoes. If you hear me change my tone and start preaching something else from different from what you've heard, you know, go go to Galatians 1:8. Don't fall for it because there are going to be those who will as as the 36:08 time of Christ's return draws near who will lead people astray. Um, and the shest way is to make sure it's working in your own life. what you've heard from the very beginning, what brought you to this church about uh justification in Christ, Christ 36:26 accepting us based on faith and grace, the the message of the new covenant as a life of victory over sin, not just a constant life of being forgiven over sin, and a life of becoming more and more like Christ by the power of the 36:40 Holy Spirit. These are the things you've heard from the very beginning. And in another place it says even if an angel 2 Corinthians 11 comes and teach you something else, don't fall for it. But the only way you won't fall for it is if 36:53 you have proved it in your own life. Like I said, if the medicine has worked in your life, somebody could talk to you forever and ever and try to convince you from this go verse and that verse that it's not true and you say, "I'm sorry, 37:05 man. I took the truth of God's word, applied it in my life, and it's working." So that's what I mean by root in yourself. Is the gospel working in your life? And your dear brothers and sisters, I feel like we have heard 37:18 enough. We don't need more teaching. Honestly, at this point, it's good to have more teaching. But even what we have already heard, if you don't hear anything else new for the rest of your life, if you don't hear any other new 37:33 teaching, if you just apply what you have already heard, I tell you, you will never fall when somebody else falls. You will have that firm root in yourself. But you have to apply it. Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 7. Those who hear 37:48 my words and do it will build their house on the rock. But if you hear the word words and don't do it, then the storm will come that house will fall. It'll fall on you and your house will also fall. So don't let it happen. 38:03 How to have a healthy fellowship like sisters, brothers or family fellowship. More often it's getting judged by our words and deeds even with older people. Then one point we couldn't be able to share our true burdens with each other. 38:14 Fellowship just becomes high and by. What is your advice uh if you're feeling low spiritually? Now, none of that should be a reason to feel low spiritually. Uh, and I I'll make a bold statement here. I but I say this often even in our 38:28 local church that if you're coming to the church because you're low spiritually, that's good. You you're on every Sunday you're low spiritually, so you need a pickme up. Okay? If you a new believer and you're just coming learning about Christ, 38:45 that's okay. But if you've been a believer for 5 years and 10 years and still the same old I come to church and I'm low and I hear a good pep talk. I talk to some people and I get picked up but then already it's starting to go 38:56 downhill Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Okay, I need another pick me pick me up. Don't be discouraged. I was like that for many years. But that's not the true Christian life. The true Christian life, 39:09 God wants you to come, I'll tell you very simply, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. If that's your life, I can tell you you're not filled with the Holy Spirit. You're filled with teaching where you get good teaching and then it 39:23 slowly dwindles dwindles. Sunday, another one. So if you're coming to the church meeting on Sunday and expecting to be picked up by a message or by fellowship with others, it could okay if it starts that way. But that's not how God wants you to remain. 39:39 He wants you to grow spiritually. And there's only one way to experience that and that is to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit every day. Seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Receive, be filled with the Holy Spirit, and your 39:55 graph will go up. This is something better that God has for you, brothers and sisters. I I I say it from my heart. I don't mind belaboring this point, even if we don't get through all the questions. If you leave this place with 40:06 a hunger and thirst to be filled with the Holy Spirit continually and ask for it continually, I tell you it will come. The promise will come. You will experience it. I'm here to tell you, don't believe me. Believe God's 40:21 word first of all, but let me add my personal testimony to that God's word is true. And I proven it a little bit. And I'm determined that by the end of my life, God's word will have been proven true in my life. Is that a wonderful 40:35 goal for your life? Lord, by the end of my life, I want to approve you to approved in my life that I love you. How? By obeying you. That's John 13:35. If you love me, obey me. Obey my commandments. John 13 uh sorry, John 14:15. 40:54 If you love me, you will keep my commandments. So, I've said it as a goal. Lord, let me prove by the end of my life that I loved you. May you prove by the end of my life that I loved you by the fact that I obeyed you in every 41:06 every command you gave me in the new covenant. Obeyed part one. Part two, every promise you gave me in the new covenant, you fulfilled in my life. And one of those promises that is what that he would fill you with the Holy 41:19 Spirit. Seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Ask him and you will receive. So um that's the secret to having fellowship. You're not looking on the church to pick you up, but think about every meeting if you came ready to give 41:33 and to fill other people with what God has blessed you with, it'll be such a difference to our meetings. Um, how not to take personal gain or advantage and not do business dealings in the church? What is true help? How to 41:46 have godly z like Jesus? There's many things in that question, but don't do business dealings in the church. Make it simple. Um, those are the people that Jesus threw out of the temple. It was the ones who were doing business 41:57 dealings in the church. Now, if you're running a business that's open to everybody and a brother in the church comes and buys uses your services or buys product from you, there's nothing wrong with that. But don't you know, 42:10 sometimes I've seen people come to the church and run their um um um those programs they have where you you know the marketing umbrella programs. I forget the term MLMs or something like that. called where the more people you 42:26 get and network with, you get your own share and all that. So you think, "Ah, I know a bunch of people. They come to Austin CFC, so I'm going to use this as my my scheme to make more money." Don't bring that into the church. You'll 42:37 destroy your life and you'll destroy the church as well. But hopefully the elders in a church where that happens will throw it out before it comes as soon as they find out about it. So don't do business dealings in the church. But 42:49 there's nothing wrong with if you run a business and somebody wants to hire you to do it. Sure, but be fair. Be be I tell you, money is the root. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And if you think, well, I'll pay less. 43:02 I'll get a better deal if I hire my brother in the church because he'll charge me less. Why? He you should be able to pay him more, right? He's your brother in the Lord. He's got to make a living for himself, too. So, why hire 43:15 the person in the church so that you can get a better deal because you love money? That shouldn't be in the church. and keep money and church things as far away from each other as possible. As far away, there's only two gods, God, Jesus Christ, and 43:31 money. And make sure that there's no blurred lines between those two. Um, another question here is I believe that um the church wants to move on from the issues we faced recently and um but some of those keep coming up. Um 43:51 um and it's because these are we keep talking about this and bringing up that we're not able to move on. No, there's two things a few things to remember there. One is it may take some time for some to heal and to feel like the 44:03 matters have been properly addressed completely. You read 1 Corinthians and and how Paul ber um constantly uh uh harps on that point about dealing with sin. That first Corinthian letter was all about dealing with sin after sin. I 44:21 mean they were greedy when they were came to the Lord's table. One man was sleeping with his father's wife and another one was you know all kinds of sin was going on there and he had to speak to them strongly and publicly 44:35 explo expose this man who was living in sin because the elders weren't dealing with it and so it was dealt with um and it you there would have been a a dealing of that process till finally got to the point where they that person radically 44:50 repented and when he radically repented Paul finally says okay now he's repented. Now, let him come back. Second Corinthians was written for that purpose. So, um if you're if you're an elder in the church where something happens, then God 45:05 calls you to deal with those situations. Um and we must be thorough. Often we deal with situations where you only get uh you know things come to light in increments and you find out okay this okay but there was more to it then there 45:19 was more to that. Okay. And so we can only deal with it according to what we know. And I would say if you're a member of a local church where there are elders who as I believe most if not all of you are um give your elders some grace in 45:34 recognizing they didn't ask to be put into this position. They're not trying to be selfish or have any other ulterior motive. They're trying to honor God. They're trying to be watchmen over the church. They're trying to be to have the 45:48 kindness and the severity of God at the same time. And it's impossible to do humanly speaking. And it it takes a continual um dependence on the Holy Spirit and the heart of God and the wisdom of God to be able to be both kind and severe as God 46:04 wants us to be in the new covenant and uh as as his shepherds. So give them grace and give them understanding. I speak as an elder myself but also one who has been uh in under elders whose qu decisions I have not always understood 46:21 and it's protected me so much to simply say Lord I have enough that I need to do to take care of my own life to ensure that my personal walk with you is right that my marriage is right that my children are being right I don't want to 46:34 stray outside my boundary and so if you're if you find that you don't understand some of the decisions elders make it's okay God didn't call you to be an elder. I've been really blessed by this verse in Psalm 131. Psalm 131. 47:03 Oh Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyesaughty, nor do I involve myself in great matters or in things too difficult for me. Surely I have composed and quieted my soul like a weaned child rest against 47:23 his mother. My soul is like a weaned child within me. You'll love David's humility. David the king who's got, you know, per perhaps the ruler of the most powerful nation at that time. Israel and Judah were united under him. He knew he 47:39 had the backing of God. He was a man after God's own heart. And this king with all his power and authority says, "I'm like a child. You want to know what's in my heart? I'm like a child. This is the man after God's own heart." 47:52 So I think about that when you face questions or uncertainties or people ask you questions or you uh try to figure out like I don't understand why this thing is done this way or done that way. Take the attitude of a child. Imagine 48:05 one of the three-year-old little kids coming and saying I didn't understand why the elders did this. And you say you're only three. What do I what do you expect a three-year-old little girl to know about why the elders made a 48:18 particular decision? I mean, if your three-year-old daughter came to you and said, "Hey, can you explain to me why the elders made this decision?" You would just kind of shrug it off like you're three and David's saying, "I'm 48:29 like that." Now, somebody comes to you and says, "Hey, why do the elders make this decision?" You say, "I'm three. I'm trying to be like a little child." It's the proud ones who think, "Oh, I know. I can understand this or we need to know 48:40 or explain this to me. Explain that to me." The ones who are like children, they say, "I don't know, man. I'm that's too too high for me. Too dividal for me. I'm a wean child. And I'll tell you the secret. It's it's to be like a weaned child, which means 48:59 you're nursing from the Lord. The Lord is feeding you. That wean child is just at rest. Wean means it's just been nursed as it were. If you picture a child after it's just had a meal, just drunk some milk, just laying, it's so content. and you wake up 49:16 that child and say, "This thing's wrong with the world. That thing's wrong with the world. I don't like how they did this." You yell at that child and treat, "Don't give it this." You'll say, "You can't shake me. I've just eaten a good 49:26 meal. I'm weaned." And David says, "That's my attitude when I face things too difficult for me or great matters." I want to leave that advice with you, especially local church here. Some of the matters you've had to deal with are 49:41 great matters, things too complicated for you. Be like a wean child. Nourish yourself on the word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. Let him feed you. And I'll tell you, you may never get the answer to your question, but you 49:52 will be at rest. And God will withhold that answer from from you out of love for you, lest you get the answer, but don't get rest. The answer will not bring you to rest. Just like having a little bit more money that you think 50:08 will give you rest, will not bring you to rest. Ask the richest man in the world, is he at rest? All you got to do is read their Twitter and you see they're not at rest. Um, how does rest come? Compose your soul, wean yourself 50:22 on the word of God and the Holy Spirit, and you'll find rest. And you may never get the answer to your question, but you'll get rest. That's far more valuable. So, even in these questions, I hope you're looking for rest, brothers 50:34 and sisters, not the answer to the question. So um yeah, meditate on that verse. It's it became a real solid stronghold for me in my heart like Lord anytime I'm faced I face situations even now I don't understand and I I feel like demanding an answer 50:53 and God says hey where are you? Have you wandered away from the rest wandered away from being on my breast just leaning? Come back let me feed you. Let me nourish you and you'll find rest. Um, is Olivia here? 51:19 Vienna. I My wife's trying to call me, so maybe she doesn't know I'm speaking, so you can just take the call. Um, [clears throat] how would you encourage uh the the church, the local church to transition 51:39 from being a club to being a church? I think I talked about that already, which is having firm root in yourself uh and then building fellowship out of that. You can read that booklet I have. I think they have it here. The 51:48 congregation, the club, and the church. Is it part of an elers's role and responsibility to hold fellow elders accountable? How does it play out practically? Uh what are the elders responsibilities towards the church members? Yes, fellow elders hold each 52:01 other accountable. But um uh that is um again I just caution against it becoming a suspicion. I'll give you a personal testimony. Some years ago, I went through a situation where uh in in a in a church where the local church and 52:16 people in the local church, including those I was in some I was in leadership with, uh really hid things from me and schemed behind my back to try to kick me out of the church and um for nothing other than they didn't like the strength 52:28 of my preaching. And I didn't know any of this. And after it all came to light and I was just kind of shocked that people who were so close to me sat there in that meeting and threw all kinds of false accusations at me. And um I was 52:41 perplexed by it and after that God took care of the situation very quickly and brought new elders and churches really flourished amazingly. uh the reality of what you you've been hearing here from Hagi 2:9 that the latter glory of this house 52:57 would be greater than the former was the same promise the Lord gave us at that time and he has fulfilled it beyond what we could have expected now it's not about that but after that I'll give you my honest testimony it was a little bit 53:09 more difficult for me to trust now I have no reason to mistrust my fellow elders I've never had but because it's sort of like I'd been burned you know like they say in the world once been twice shy I um the because I was 53:23 bitten once, I'm like, "Okay, I uh I want to hold back." And the Lord had to walk me through that and give me wisdom to say, "Listen, you'll only hurt yourself." Now, we always are wise. And Jesus said, "Be innocent as doves and 53:37 wise as serpents. Be shrewd as serpents." So, be be wise. Be shrewd, but innocent. And the Lord had to lead me back into a walk of faith and trust with a new set of elders, knowing what I had gone through in the past and how people had, you know, 53:57 hidden things from me and all that. I had to learn that. But I'm thankful that I did. I just said, "Lord, I I I want to leave follow you. I don't want to let the past and how what people have done to me in the past hinder me from 54:08 experiencing what you want me to experience in true fellowship." And I'm so thankful of that that I didn't sort of like, okay, I'm going to watch you. Last time I trusted somebody, they did this or you know, I'm watching you. I 54:21 would never have been able to be useful to the Lord. I would have wasted my life uh suspicious of others because of my past. I said, Lord, yes, you'll protect me. I'm going to walk in the light. I'm going to be innocent as doves, which means there's 54:35 no bad attitude, no sin in my life towards anybody, no um unforgiveness towards anybody, but I want to walk in the light and I'm going to trust you, Lord. And I tell you, I have such sweet fellowship with my fellow elders we've 54:50 had for the last 7 years. Not even one day without fellowship with each other and genuine loving relationship with each other. So the Lord is doing that. He brings restoration. But you may go through that period where you have to 55:03 learn to trust again, not trust in man. Cursed is the one who puts his trust in man. So if the experiences you've gone through in your life allow you to see that you were putting your trust in man in some way, then praise the Lord, 55:17 you've learned a lesson from that to never put your trust in any man, no matter how godly you think they are, but only in the Lord. and let him lead you into deeper fellowship and uh inter you know interconnected love and trust in 55:32 that sense in the church. Uh what is the relationship between the church leadership and good leadership? Um what is the Christlike response when I see appointed church leaders acting in a way that I would consider ineffective 55:46 leadership? Yeah. Uh it wouldn't surprise me that somebody who's not an elder would consider leadership ineffective um because they're not elders. And so you don't know. Now I'm not saying that you just follow leaders blindly. You keep your eyes open. But 56:03 recognize that if God wanted you to understand and to know what to do in a particular situation, he would have placed you as an elder. And if he hasn't placed you now, in the same way in the home, if you're the husband or the wife 56:15 or the father or the mother in the home, you're responsible for those decisions. I don't expect my daughters or my sons, some of whom are here, to make decisions for the home. I don't even expect them to necess necessarily understand it. As 56:30 they get a little bit older and I'm mature, I might be able to explain to some of them, but I owe zero explanation to my children for what I do. I my wife and I are accountable to the Lord and I don't take advantage of that. And the 56:43 same way in the church there's a sense in which we don't really as elders don't owe that explanation to anybody. Um and your elders don't owe you an explanation for what they do. I'll tell you a little secret dear brothers and sisters which 56:56 saved me about 20 25 years ago. I was in a large church, big mega church and I I was very active in ministry um and leading Bible studies and involved in many outreach ministries, homeless shelters, prison ministries and 57:14 all that. And in inside I was rotting spiritually, backsliding and the Lord allowed me through personal failure and other things that came to light to just see Santos, what are you doing? Everybody has this opinion of you 57:29 that you're so active in this and all of that. And it came from a sincere desire, but um um I was backslided and and the Lord took me to a verse in Hebrews 13. I'd like you to see it with me. Hebrews 13:E1 17. Obey your leaders and submit to them for 57:52 they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief for this would be unprofitable for you. And I saw that the reason that my life was well the reason that my life was so 58:06 backsliden was first of all I was not I was proud but also the Lord showed me he says where are who are your leaders that you're submitting to? Who are those leaders that you're submitting to? Now I have plenty of reasons not to have 58:18 leaders because there are bad examples of leaders who control people by their you know clubs and cults and all that but it's still here in God's word that there are some that we all must at the end of my life I want to stand before 58:32 God and say yes Lord I obeyed these leaders. It doesn't say take their advice or anything like that. It says obey in the same way that children the same word children obey your parents. Ephesians 6:1. The same word is used in 58:46 Hebrews 13:7 verse1 17. You man who asks your children to submit to you. Have you obeyed your leaders and submitted to them? And I said Lord where are they? Who are the leaders that you have planned for me to submit to? I'll go. I'll at that time 59:03 I thought I got to go back to India, Bangalore. And I was prepared go back and then the Lord led me. But that's what took me to Colorado ultimately was to submit to authority. Now those the elders at that point in that church 59:15 aren't even in involved in my life anymore. They're not a part of the church. But at that time they were the elders in that church. And what allowed me to trust their leadership was they themselves were submitted to spiritual 59:26 authority. At least they said so. And that was my dad and I knew his life and I could follow his example. And so I said Lord okay I don't know the these two elders but I see that they have expressed that they have submitted to um 59:41 brother Zach my dad as an overseer and I know his life I can trust his leadership so I'll place myself under there and as God is my witness he seen in many situations I faced within a few weeks of getting there I was tested in that 59:54 submission the Lord said just submit and then people came to me for an opinion on matters because I'm brother Zach's son and I wasn't even an elder at that time I said, "I have nothing to say. You have two elders. We have elders. Go to them. 1:00:07 And if if they're not able to handle it, then we go to uh the next level." So, uh this has protected me in in finding those elders and wanting to to submit. I hope there is a desire in all of you who are sitting and listening to this to 1:00:25 submit to spiritual authority. I can tell you the second reason. I'll tell you the first reason shortly. The second reason is it will go well with you spiritually. If you actually submit to spiritual leaders, godly leaders, it 1:00:40 will go well with you spiritually. The first reason is God said you should in Hebrews 13:17. So that ought to be enough. Um there are many New Testament scriptures that speak against divorce and remarage. I generally don't speak 1:00:53 about divorce and remarage in uh meetings because it's a uh for one it's very clear God hates divorce and um Jesus said you can read it in Matthew 19 and other places that whoever uh divorces his wife causes her to commit 1:01:10 adultery. I believe that's true for a woman who divorces her husband as well. Uh the language that Jesus used was just the language used in that day. And secondly, whoever marries a divorced woman also has committed adultery in 1:01:23 doing so. And and yet uh that that's that's that's what God has said in his word. And I stand by it. And um so as far as specific situations and how to handle it, if you were divorced years ago and remarried and then came to know 1:01:40 the Lord, if God wanted us to teach something uh about that, he would have made an exception and thought, well, but that would be old covenant. And so there's the new covenant which is which still upholds the law which says that 1:01:54 God hates divorce and God um does not permit a man to divorce his wife or a woman to divorce her husband. So keep that in mind and if there are specific specific questions that you have related to that I urge you to work with your local elders or um who 1:02:13 can guide you in that. Um uh should we seek to be part of a local body in our area or is it listening to RLCF or Austin a better option? Um and this I think question is coming from a wife and a mother. Is that outside her 1:02:30 boundary? Yeah, it depends right with this situation. Thank God for technology that allows people to join remotely. Uh I know Austin has that. uh NCCF, many other churches uh offer the ability to join online. Um and I think it's good. 1:02:49 However, it's good to have a local body even if they don't if you don't agree with them. Now, if it's if it's somebody that's teaching false doctrine, that's another thing. But if if it's a good church, a bibleelving church that believes in 1:03:00 Jesus Christ and you're going there to have fellowship, have some level of fellowship, I would say, with other believers, that's good. And for your children to have friends their age that they can play with and have a common uh 1:03:14 experience of being raised together, that's good. While you get your teaching, sound teaching from the teachings that are available through CFC and other other churches like that. So if you're just going for having local 1:03:27 fellowship, that's good. Uh nothing wrong with that. and uh pray that the Lord will lead you through that to somebody else who has a common vision with you in terms of uh what you believe to be the truth. So nothing wrong with 1:03:40 that. And then at the right time likewise I say when people say should I move to Austin, move to Loveland to be a part of the church, I say it depends. I think it's good first to pray, Lord, you've placed me here in this town where 1:03:53 there isn't a local fellowship. And your desire according to the verse we saw in Malachi 1 10 is that there will be a pure testimony in every place from the rising of the sun to the setting. So God wants his pure testimony all over the 1:04:07 world. And if everybody moves to one town and makes that church a mega church and God says, "No, I was hoping you would be my light there." So pray that the Lord will make you a light there where he has placed you. But if you find 1:04:20 that that's not really happening, you're not able to meet others who are like mine and and you feel like you really need to move to be a part of a local fellowship for your own sake and for the sake of your family, then sure, pray 1:04:32 that the Lord will open a door. But that's not always the answer to move. Um basic guidelines for disciplining children. Uh yes, it's a bigger topic. Um and each family does it differently but some basic things at work. Now we 1:04:47 must be careful about physical discipline of children for for one the state frowns on that to some extent. I'm not saying therefore you shouldn't do it at all. That's between you and your wife and your husband and the Lord. The Bible 1:04:58 does say spare the reward spoil the child or the effectively of that you he who loves his son uh disciplines him. All whom the Lord loves he disciplines. And that uh discipline clearly is related to pain or a lack of enjoyment. 1:05:15 It says at that moment it doesn't feel enjoyable. You read in Hebrews 12. But what we've also found, my wife and I have found to be effective is that uh as as the children get older, you may not be able to physically discipline them 1:05:25 anymore. It might be ineffective to do so. You can effect effectively accomplish the same by withholding certain privileges. And I'll tell you from my own experience when I was a child, I would sooner have taken the spanking than the punishment which was 1:05:40 you're not allowed to play with your brothers uh this evening. And the worst torment worse than uh 10-second pain uh on my flesh was 2 hours of listening to my brothers having a good time with their friends and not and being stuck 1:05:54 inside. And I learned my lesson much sooner than I did from any spanking. So we found that to be effective. My parents were smart that way. So I I found that to be effective even in my own life with our children that um if we 1:06:07 withhold some privilege whether it's playing a game or something they like to do something they get look forward to doing for me it was Friday evening or at the end of the week we were allowed to play for 2 hours and if that was taken 1:06:18 away it was torment um then you end up with children like my kids are where they feel so sorry for their one sibling who's been disciplined that they all decide not to play and then it defeats the purpose of But that's a good problem to have, I 1:06:35 guess. Um, uh, regarding leaving and cleaving after get married, is it okay for parents to correct their married children or sit down and talk with them when there are certain things they need to be set right? Where should parents draw the 1:06:48 line when it comes to disciplining their children and their families? I don't think discipline is a good word. When your child is married [laughter] themselves, uh, I think advice is a better word. You cannot discipline your 1:06:59 married children. Obviously, the time is long past for discipline, but you can sit them down or or write strongly and firmly to them. I don't have married children, so I'm speaking theoretically of how I would hope to handle it in the 1:07:13 future, how my parents have handled it with me as a married uh son of theirs. Is write firmly if needed. If it's serious enough, write firmly and say, "I want to warn you the way you're headed on or the I noticed this thing in your 1:07:25 home or with your children even, but never in a way that's controlling. you better do this or you you know force them to do it. You can't do that once children leave the home. So be faithful to do it before they leave home and be 1:07:39 uh appealed to them once they are married. That's probably the best you can do even if you have to do so firmly. Um is there anything if there is anything you don't agree with your partner? How do you communicate it to them without 1:07:53 argument? How do you handle such situations? Well, it that's just learning to uh live as a married couple. Um the Bible does say in 1 Peter 3, hus uh husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way. 1 Peter 3:7, honor them, showing her honor as a 1:08:13 fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered. So live with them in an understanding way as with a weaker vessel, it says 1 Peter 3:7. So for men, I would say make allowance for your wife if you don't 1:08:26 understand her. I mean, people make money out of selling books that say why women and men are different. And so we know it's different. Even the world recognizes it. But God has called such opposite temperament, people of such 1:08:39 opposite temperament to be manif to be knit together in love to demonstrate that real marriage can only happen through the power of the Holy Spirit. That's that that's why I think when the answer you know was the book of men are 1:08:52 from women are from Mar men men are something like men are from Mars from Venus or maybe the other way around forget which planet is well it's true men and women are different but God has so ordained the husbands and wives to be 1:09:04 so different in temperament that should bring us to our knees and say Lord I need your Holy Spirit I need to be filled with the Holy Spirit to love my husband to love my wife as you want me to. So seek for the power of the Holy 1:09:17 Spirit and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to build a godly marriage. Um uh I'm struggling with unforgiving. The pain and memories are still there. I 1:09:36 can't erase my memories. Whenever I heard about them and see, I will remember what they did to me. Without erasing memory, is it possible to forgive? Do I need to deny myself and fellowship with them? Well, fellowship and forgiveness are two different 1:09:47 things. Without erasing a memory, is it possible to forgive? Obviously, the answer is yes. We don't have the power to erase from our memory what people have done to us. That's impossible. It'll be there. In fact, it's out of our 1:10:01 control. It's an involuntary action. The bringing up of memory. I don't have to try to remember what somebody has done. It just it just comes. Now the further it gets back I may not even have to remember but then maybe seeing them again kind of brings 1:10:16 that memory back up again. You have no control over that but you still have control over forgiveness. Otherwise Jesus would not have said you must forgive. So Jesus said even if your brother comes to you you know he said 70 1:10:29 * 7 in a day 490 times in a day if somebody came to you how are you ever going to not remember? You're like what do you mean? This is literally I forget the math but if you count the number of hours that you're awake let's say 16 hours if you 1:10:44 sleep for 8 hours within 16 hours if somebody comes to you 490 times that's multiple times that's um 30 times an hour that's like every 2 minutes hey I'm sorry I did it again you literally 2 minutes ago how can I forget something 1:11:02 they did 2 minutes ago I'm sorry I did it again it's been 2 minutes so clearly Jesus was saying your memory of it has nothing to do with the forgiveness of it. You must forgive even though you'll still know what they did and still it'll 1:11:16 be there. So forgiveness is and I'll tell you the simple way to do that is just say Lord please forgive them what they've done and you say Lord I want to be free of all unforgiveness towards them and maybe the emotion is there and 1:11:29 the pain is there but you must say Lord I I I I do forgive them and pray for them. say, "Lord, I pray that you will uh lead them to you. Help them to see what their behavior and all that for their own sake um and pray for them." 1:11:45 Fellowship is different though. Fellowship implies that the other person has truly repented and has buil brought has made you know has set things right, made restitution fully and uh that confidence could take a little while to 1:12:01 come back. So fellowship doesn't happen right away. It doesn't. Jesus never said uh have fellowship with uh those who harm you. He says you forgive them. Forgive them. Fellowship may take a little while. Hopefully it does. Fellow 1:12:15 forgiveness does lead to fellowship where they set things right. They make restitution. They're walking in the light and they are holding themselves accountable to people who can help them. And you can rebuild fellowship. But if 1:12:26 that doesn't happen, you may never be able to have fellowship. There are some people who I used to have fellowship with it that I may never ever have fellowship with here on this earth. God will decide what what it's going to be 1:12:36 like in heaven. But until those things are set right, I may never have fellowship with them here on this earth. I don't spend any time worrying about that. They're not in my life anymore. And I don't let it be. But I say, "Lord, 1:12:50 help me to walk in forgiveness." And anytime I think about them or see them on the road, I want it to always be, Lord, I've forgiven them. Um, can Christians get tattoos? The question of the day, why or why not? I always answer these questions with 1:13:08 why. See that in the old covenant, it was what can you do and what? The question was what? You can't eat shrimp or you can't eat those kinds of animals. You can't do work on the Sabbath. What can you do? What can you not do? On the 1:13:23 new in the new covenant, there's no what. There's no list of things that are forbidden and list of things that are permitted. It's why are you doing it? So that's what I always ask in these situations. Why do you want to get a 1:13:33 tattoo? If nobody else in the world had a tattoo, would you get a tattoo? Probably not. You want to get a tattoo because you see that guy, he's got this sleeve full of tattoos and it looks cool and he likes to wear the tank top so you 1:13:48 can see all of it and you want to look like that. Ah, if that's what you want it for, then you answered your question yourself. Why? Why? What is it going to do? Uh, so you ask yourself that question honestly. If nobody else in the world 1:14:02 had the tattoo, would you do it? In other words, is God telling you go get a tattoo and you're the only one in the world doing it? Then you answered your question. But if you're doing it because you see that, oh, that looks like a cool 1:14:12 tattoo. It it's popular in the world, so I'll I'll get one, too. And I copy the world. The devil is trying to make the church more like the world. And I pray that there will be prophets who will stand against it. And we're not here to 1:14:25 be legalistic. If you have a tattoo already, don't be discouraged. And if you decide to get one, you're answerable to the Lord, not to me. I'm nobody to set any rules on it. But I would say for your own benefit, ask yourself why. I 1:14:37 remember one thing that really challenged me some years ago. I read an article by an atheist somewhere. I forget where it was. And uh it's a long article, but one of something he said in the point of the article was captured in 1:14:49 a in a question he asked. He said, "If you Christians are so busy trying to get us to come to your side, why do you increasingly look more like us?" Let me say that again. If you Christians, he was posing this question generally to Christians. If you're so 1:15:06 worried about wanting us to come to your side, ask Jesus into your heart, become a Christian, and all that, why do you look more like us? Why is it you dress more like us and you have the tattoos like us and you sing like us and your 1:15:18 your church services look more like our worldly concerts. What am I going You look more like us. That convicted me. I said, "Lord, is there something that people are seeing in my life that they say, "Yeah, he's just like one of us, 1:15:32 but he calls himself a Christian. How can it be, brothers, sisters, that we look more and more like the world, but preach that we are from a different kingdom? It ought to be that we're different." Now, I'm not proposing some 1:15:44 kind of imposing some kind of requirement that we dress this way or sing that way or anything like that. But question every decision you make and say, why am I doing that? Is it to look more like the world? I want to be as different from the world 1:15:59 as Jesus was. Um, as Christians, we're called to work diligently and do our best. I will go until 4. Is that okay, Josh? Yep. Okay. Um I'll go as Christians, we're called to work diligently and do our best, but by doing so, we end up working longer 1:16:18 hours. What are some principles or guidelines to balance work life? I it's a good very good question and that is because I struggle with it too. I sometimes I spend a long hours and I work for a company that's based in the 1:16:31 UK. So now my day starts earlier in the morning 600 7:00 in the morning and I my morning hours are so packed and sometimes I have to travel. So with all of that, I say, Lord, you're the one that's given me this job. And we live in 1:16:44 a world where sometimes you do have to work a lot just to just to have enough to survive. And I know I'm sure most of us are not. None of us is really starving. But we want to give a good life for our children and have a good education and 1:16:58 provide for them some level of comfort. I hope you're not getting things simply because the Joneses have it. As keeping up with the Joneses, as they say, your neighbors have it and somebody else has it. So you want that you want that new 1:17:09 car or you want that new this or that and so don't copy the world. But if you find that just in order to provide a decent comfortable living for your family, you need to work so many hours. Well, see if there are things that you 1:17:20 can live without. Can you cut back on some of those things? Going out to eat as much perhaps and cutting down on some of those expenses, extending the life of your clothes a little bit so you don't have to keep buying new clothes, all 1:17:30 that. Okay. But despite all of that, if you still find you're working really hard and you're saying, "Lord, I don't this is not my pri priority. I want to live for your kingdom." But God is the one who's ordained it that we should 1:17:41 provide for ourselves and say, "Lord, help me." I remember once um I gave a brother this advice and I questioned myself like, "Is it really true? I I'll share it and take it. It's it's just my thoughts here. I think it's the spirit 1:17:54 of Christ in what I say, but you take it before the Lord and see." I was a brother was telling me, "Brother, I come back. I work so much and I'm we we have a very simple house very small enough for our living. We're comfortable but I 1:18:06 have to work and sometimes I have to leave before they get out of bed and I come back and they're I only get like 20 minutes half hour with them and then they have to go to bed and then but it's I can only I get back long hours 1:18:18 commuting and what do I do? I said, "Brother, if if you can find another job, that's great. But if you can't, then say, Lord, you go to the Lord and say, Lord, I only have 30 minutes with this with these children of mine, and I 1:18:31 want so much to win them for your kingdom, and will you help me? Will you give me grace?" And I said, "If you pray in faith, I believe that God can make those 30 minutes of as much value as somebody who gets 30 hours or 3 hours 1:18:45 with his children." And I I the story that has helped me with that is the story of the boys, the boy with the five loaves and the two fish. When he saw the the size of the problem, 5,000 men plus women and children, he didn't do the 1:18:59 math. He didn't see how many how big a slice does it have to be for me to cut up this fish to get to feed 5,ou 10,000 people, you know, two fish. That means each fish is, you know, you do the math, you everybody gets a a little lick of of a 1:19:18 fish and a piece of bread. He said, "Lord, this is five loaves and two fish. If I if I had 5,000 loaves and 2,000 fish, I would have brought it to you, but this is all I got. This is what my mom gave me. What can you do with it?" 1:19:31 God said, "I can do something." God's not a divider. He's a multiplier. And I take comfort from that that God can take the 30 minutes. Now, if you're being careless with your time, you're going out and hanging out with your 1:19:44 friends and and careless with your work and you're coming back and you're like, okay, you give your family the leftovers, then God can't do a miracle for you. But if you're being diligent and you go to God and say, "Lord, I you 1:19:55 know, I'm working hard and I I wish I wish I could have more time with my children, but I don't and I have to work Saturdays also sometimes, but will you take what I have? Can you do something with it?" He says, "Yes, you come to me 1:20:07 in faith. You've done the best according to your ability. You worked hard. I'll take that 30 minutes and do so much in those 30 minutes for your children and for your wife that it'll be multiplied. God is a multiplier. That's helped me. 1:20:21 If you believe it and God confirms it in your heart, take it to heart for your own life as well in whatever sphere of influence it is. And I think about that often. Now, I'll tell you that. Having said that, because I work in a job where 1:20:32 I don't have my manager constantly peering over my shoulder to see what I'm doing, which I don't think any of us does. Maybe you do. I have the flexibility to do what I want with my time. I just have to show some indication of work done typically by the 1:20:46 end of the week or every two weeks or something like that. And over time, if I'm careless, it will show. Santos is just goofing off. He's spending his time reading the news or watching YouTube videos or, you know, on social media 1:20:57 when he should be working. It will eventually show itself out. And I've had to learn to be disciplined, especially because there's nobody checking up on me constantly. Hey, you done your work? Have you done your work? What are you 1:21:07 doing? What what website are you on? Nobody's doing that for me. I have to be disciplined to make sure that the time I I'm supposed to be working. I'm diligent with that so that I don't have to work overtime unnecessarily and go beyond or 1:21:23 take time away from my children. So if the if I'm if I don't have if I have to take time away from my family because I was in disciplined during my normal working hours, that's a different problem. And I've had to answer to to 1:21:35 the Lord for that and take that to heart. So, um, yep. Um, let's see if there's, um, I'm wanting to be rebaptized by immersion, which is the more biblical way. I was only sprinkled by water on 1:21:55 the head. Yes. Uh, because I, as I think I mentioned, or maybe I didn't mention, but baptism is a picture of burial. You don't bury somebody by sprinkling mud on their head. You bury them by putting him into the ground. And so the only baptism 1:22:10 that is biblical is immersion baptism. That means you're put into the water like a burial. It's a burial of your own man. And so and the question is, am I being hindered from being baptized by the Holy Spirit until I'm rebaptized by 1:22:23 immersion? I don't know whether that's what's holding you back, but I would wonder why are you being held back from being from taking true baptism? And if God sees that when he's given you a command to be baptized by immersion and you've been 1:22:37 shown from God's word that that's the only form of baptism and you're holding back from doing it out of fear or whatever else, you have every reason to do it, but you're not doing it. Then God say, "Why would I give you my Holy 1:22:49 Spirit? If you don't take my word seriously." So maybe it could be that what's holding you back from receiving the power of the Holy Spirit and being filled with the with the Holy Spirit is that you haven't obeyed what you know to 1:22:59 do. And what you know to do is be baptized. Peter was very clear. Repent and be baptized. In the end of Acts chapter 2, when they asked him, what shall we do? We're convicted. Go be baptized. Immersed into water. Um um 1:23:18 when did the um yeah, it's a good question. I think it's appropriate for this church. If they received, it says that in John 20, Jesus breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." That's John 20:22. receive the Holy Spirit. And then in 1:23:32 Acts chapter 2, did they receive the Holy Spirit? If Jesus said receive the Holy Spirit, do you think nothing happened? Of course, something happened. Every prayer that Jesus when Jesus said, "Lazarus, Lazarus, come forth." Lazarus 1:23:42 came forth. And when he said, "Receive the Holy Spirit," they received the Holy Spirit. Acts John 20:22. Otherwise, it's an empty word of Jesus. having received the Holy Spirit. Why did they need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit later on in 1:23:55 Acts chapter 2, showing us that this they received the Holy Spirit? A picture of being born again. I believe personally that's when they were born again as it were the disciples cuz now Jesus is dead and resurrected. But then 1:24:08 they needed to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Clearly showing that you don't receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit when you're born again. No matter what you've been taught or what people have said about it. So on Acts chapter 2 1:24:18 weeks later, the Holy Spirit comes and fills them. Then you read a couple chapters later, the Holy Spirit fills the room again and they're baptized again with the Holy Spirit. There you see through the experience and the teaching Ephesians 5:18, 1:24:33 Luke 11, where it says, "Ask and keep on asking. Seek and keep on seeking. Knock and keep on knocking and you shall receive. So shall my heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and keep on asking. Seek and keep on 1:24:46 seeking. Knock and keep on knocking. Ephesians 5:18, be being filled with the Holy Spirit. So, yes, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit continually. And I I just want to say testimony-wise, brothers and sisters, some years ago, it 1:25:01 became the continual cry of my heart. Lord, I want to be filled with your Holy Spirit. I'm tired of being defeated. I'm tired of not being where I want to be spiritually. I I need you. I need you. I need you. became a constant, not daily, 1:25:15 constant prayer. And I'm here to tell you, God has been merciful to me in filling me with his Holy Spirit. And I can see the difference in my life, the difference in my personal life, the difference in my ministry, the freedom 1:25:27 that God gives me, to speak with authority when I need to, grace in my home, in my marriage, to love my wife as Christ loves the church, to grace with my children, to be a godly example to them, a witness in my workplace, a 1:25:39 witness in the community. This is what God can do with your with a truly spiritful person. So I pray that you will make it the cry of your heart to be filled with the Holy Spirit constantly. Constantly filled with the Holy Spirit. 1:25:51 I'm thankful for the example of godly men and women. My dad of course whom I knew personally and my mom whom I also knew. I saw their lives. But other people whom I read off. I encourage you to read the stories. read a book called 1:26:03 They Found the Secret about men and women who were had a good ministry, but they knew they were missing something. There was something that was missing. Men like um Samuel Logan Pringle who was a rising pastor here in North America 1:26:19 and and then but he knew he was missing something. He would read about William Booth and how he was a fire brand for God and said, "Lord, what am I missing? I've got everybody here in the church likes my sermons, but what does William 1:26:29 Booth have that I need?" And he went there and decided to join the Salvation Army. And William said, "Yeah, what you need is to start wiping some boots." So this famous pastor Samuel Bringle became a boot cleaner and he received the baptism of the Holy 1:26:45 Spirit, cleaning boots and it changed his life and he was used by the Lord there in the Salvation Army. Story after story like that. If you're really hungry, you really are willing to be honest with yourself that no matter what 1:26:57 you've believed or been taught, there's a lack in your life, there's a lack of joy, there's a lack of peace, there's a lack of love, there's a lack of boldness in your life, there's a lack of victory in your life. If you're really willing 1:27:09 to be honest with yourself, it will drive you to your knees where you'll cry out to God for the fullness of the Holy Spirit. And you'll read stories, say, "Lord, lead me to examples of people who have done that." and he'll fill you. 1:27:24 Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray Lord that the words you have put on my heart which may not have been answers to all the questions but the word that you put on my lips today will be an encouragement and a challenge that our what we seek will not be 1:27:40 answers to our questions but a life of knowing you through the power of the Holy Spirit. Please help us in Jesus name. Amen.
