Question and Answer - 01-17-2021

0:42I asked Matt to give us an update. Oh, I thought it was a mess. Yeah, I know. Sorry about that. Well, good evening. Yeah, Thomas just asked me to give a brief update on the building. I know we do this periodically, and there's not a whole lot to update, but it is, I guess it's going. It's going still fairly slow. I know the last time we gave an update, I asked you all to pray for the electricians to show up, and they showed up for a day, and then they didn't come back. So y'all need to keep praying. We still keep praying. But it is moving along. We got water hooked up to the building.

1:30So, there's water in the bathrooms, which is essential. And so, that's good. I guess flooring is hopefully going to go in at some point and touch-up paints, and hopefully, getting near the end. But in all seriousness, keep praying for the completion of the building. There seems to be some struggles to get this thing to the end, and so not on our end, but on the end of the builder and the contractors they've hired trying to get them to do the work. So, continue to pray for that, that God would just bring this to completion, and we could all be over there. God has been so faithful through it all to get us this far, and certainly financially, even though it's been a very interesting year to say the least, or 2020 was financially for the church. God has just blessed the church and continues to do so, and allowing us to do what we're doing over there without taking on any debt and continue to move forward. So, praise the Lord for that, and keep praying.

2:44Yeah, we always cringe at giving a date, but yeah, it would be wonderful. End of March is kind of what we're shooting for. It's certainly realistic. You know, that's a realistic date. If it's not that, I think we have. Bigger issues. So, anyways, keep praying. That's all I got. Thank you. Well, as I said, we'd like to have a time of question and answer. And I'll just ask some of the questions that came in. I'll handle them in the order that they came in.

3:30This one, actually, this question concerns something I said in a sermon, not this morning, but last week. Let me read to you. It says, This has to do with the passage dealing with, and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins. Actually, 1 John chapter 2: My little children, I am writing these things so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

4:13Here comes a question. I'll just read it to you: Advocating His sacrifice on our behalf before God. What is that? Tom thinks it is, that's me. Tom thinks it is the continual application of His death. To our salvation. This person's trying to quote me. We are eternal beings. We need an advocate to keep us in that eternal favored status. The benefits of his sacrifice eternally added to our salvation. So here comes the question: When we as individuals are in the eternal presence of God in heaven, are you saying that individually we still need an advocate to keep us in that eternal favored status? That we as individuals will sin, will still sin.

5:08So there's a yes and no answer there. Am I saying that individually we still need an advocate to keep us in the eternal favored status? Yes, I believe that just as Christ will always be our good shepherd, that he will always be in the passage that we have an advocate for us before the Father. He'll always be the propitiation. He will always be Jesus Christ the righteous. He will always be the good shepherd. And so, yes, I believe even in eternity, that Christ's advocation or mission, you know, ministry, his advocating on our behalf, isn't going to cease. Now, our need is not going to be the same.

5:57Tune it out. So right now, we are obviously needing the application to our sin and forgiveness and that. But yes, I don't think there'll ever be a time when we will cease to need Christ's advocation for us before the Father. He is life. He is light. Life emanates from him. Light emanates from. He is. And so for us to live, we always have to be in him. I don't think there's ever a time when we are going to be autonomous. So yes, we're always. And that's something that Christ, when he took on the whole idea of making man in his image, he committed himself to take care of humanity, to be the eyes, to always be the judge, to always be the one taking care of and granting, giving life perpetually. He's eternally giving life. So yes, I think he will always be an advocate and that there is always going to be an application of his death to our salvation. Now what that means, salvation is good to think of in three terms, justification, sanctification, and glorification. We have been saved, justified.

7:30We are being saved, sanctified. We will be saved, glorified. And so it's going to take an eternity to really take in the full benefits of Christ giving Himself for us. The cross as a propitiation for our sins is one expression, but the ongoing care, the ongoing sustaining, and will not. The follow-up question almost is, well, and then that do we still sin in the eternal state? No, the Bible's very clear that we do not. That Revelation 21:22-27, we see in the picture of the new temple, I saw no temple in it for the Lord, I mean, the new heavens, the new Jerusalem, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb are its temple, and the city has no need of the sun or moon, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it in the daytime. Its gates will never be closed.

8:51Nothing unclean will come into it. No one who practices abomination, lying, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book. Life. It is. So, no, there's not going to be sin in the eternal state, but we still need Christ being our shepherd, being our advocate for the Father. I don't think we're ever going to be autonomous. He eternally, just as parents, when you have children, you commit yourself to a task and you don't pull back. Well, we're eternal beings to reflect God's image, and so He has committed Himself to the task. And really, my personal feeling as I look forward to this, I don't know if we're ever going to see the Father independent of the Son. And it is interesting that in Revelation, the very last picture, you see God and the Lamb, the Lamb, the Lamb. That is the propitiation for us.

10:02We'll always be reminded of His sacrifice for us. And that was His sacrifice in the past, but the benefits of that are going to go on through eternity. And so, and as it relates to the Father, now, I don't think we're going to walk into heaven and say, Okay, here's the Son. And then He's going to say, Okay, now let me meet you. Let me take you into this room and show you the Father. Even when He was on. The earth, he said, Philip, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I think we're going to eternally relate to the Father through the Son. I don't think there's going to be so all that, you can call that advocating, that mediary.

10:56I think that's going to continue. So, but our need for an advocate isn't just to cover our sins, it is that, but that's just the beginning. Okay. Another question: Is there any place in the Bible where the word, the Greek word for patience, is applied to God? My answer is yes. Now, I'll caveat: I'll say this about it. There are different words for patience in the New Testament that describe that are used. Sometimes it's referring to endurance. But in 1 Corinthians 13, love is. Patient. If I go there in 1 Corinthians 13, 4, yes, and by the way, this is what I'm getting into next week. I'll give you a little commercial about what's coming. Somebody asked me this question. It just so happens that next week, I want to start our spring evening series, and it's called Loving Like Jesus Did. Loving Like Jesus does or did.

12:29And the idea is: I'm going to go through this passage, 1 Corinthians 13, and look at what love is. And I'm going to then use the Gospels to show how Jesus embodied such love. So it'll be a time of looking into what Paul says is love, like love is patient, love is kind, love is jealous, and not jealous. That's what happens when you're. And then we'll look at Christ's life. We'll go to the gospel. And I think this is very important, especially for our times right now. I think there's strain across our nation. There's strain in the church about how do we respond to certain things. And I'm in church globally and even feeling maybe some of that here. But it's very important that we understand this very Basic command that we love one another. What does that exactly look like? Well, that's what we want to take several nights to look at what loving one another is. And that's going to be the command that keeps coming out of 1 John anyway. So we might as well go into depth. How do we really love each other and what does that mean? And so it'll be a great time. Invite somebody, a great time to go through, understand what love is, and be close to our Lord. I love just looking at our Lord and certainly how he embodied love. But is there any place in the Bible where the Greek word for patience is applied to God? Yes.

14:1813:4 of 1 Corinthians, love is patient. That's what it is. And this steals a little bit of my thunder from the study, but the word there is waiting, and it's present. Love is waiting. Love is waiting. And the same word is used in Matthew 18, same root word, Matthew 18. You remember where Jesus is telling the parable? I'll just pick up the parable in verse 23 of 18. For this reason, the kingdom of God. Of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he had begun to settle them, one who owned him 10,000 talents was brought to him. But since he did not have the means to repay, his Lord commanded him to be sold along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will repay you everything. And of course, it's in the context: the Lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt.

15:37So it is in this context that is God. He is playing the role in the parable. God, certainly it's there that it's applied to God, but also in 2 Peter, where the exact same form of the verb is used. 2 Peter, look at chapter 3 and verse 9. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

16:28So, yes, there's a Patience is waiting. Love is waiting. That's what it's about. And we'll get into that a little more next week. But love is about waiting. And God is waiting. Why? Why is he waiting? Because he wants people to come to repentance. And so see that there. Good question. What is the best way to get out of a state of spiritual depression or despair? What is the best way to get out of a state of spiritual depression or despair? Let me give you one word, and that word is thankfulness.

17:23One word. How do you get out of depression? Well, change your focus. Be thankful. I find when there are times of those dark clouds of despair, depression starts setting in. Start getting, start reflecting on the goodness of God. Start reflecting. Just start writing down things that you are thankful for. The very nature of depression is that you're looking at yourself. Your eyes are on yourself. Something. You have not gotten something you wanted, or something has gone different, or you're feeling bad about yourself.

18:09And maybe that's you need to confess sin, confess sin. And I love this, even the verse that we just looked at yesterday in 1 John. If you are in a 1 John, oftentimes I find that sin gets us down. We wallow in sin, we navel gaze, we sin, we start feeling bad, and woe is me. And that's a good time when you're starting, listen, depression should move you to look for a remedy, and that remedy is found in Christ. And I love the words: if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I love that. Do you believe that? If you confess your sins, he's not only going to forgive your sins, but he's going to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. So, as you come to that moment of just that navel-gazing despair, and really it is when you start looking at yourself and getting your eyes. On yourself, you will find lots of reasons to despair because we are broken, fallen apart, and we're not able, even on our best days, to live up to even what we would want.

19:52And so, so thankfulness, confession. Remember, believe Christ's word, confess your sin, and then know here to move on. I appreciate in John chapter 14, John chapter, do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. Saying, don't let your hearts be troubled. And he's talking to his disciples at one of the darkest times in human history, in their lives, in his life. And he's saying, Look, don't, don't get down.

20:37Don't be troubled. But going beyond that, one word, thankfulness and confession. I'll say this about depression and despair: that the best remedies, truth, community, mission. Truth, community, mission. That's some of our values up here, right? Truth. Constantly be expected. Exposing your mind to truth. Constantly be in that community. We're not meant to be isolated. And oftentimes, create that prayer list for others. As you're being thankful, also look around you, and I guarantee you, you will find some people who have it worse than you do. And be praying for them and then be serving them. And get your eyes off yourself, get your eyes in heaven, get your eyes on those needs around you. And go truth, community mission, be on mission, go and pray, go and serve, go and give. And then another aspect of this: routine, routine. I mean, if you're grossly overweight, you sleep 12 hours a day, and you eat horrible food, guess what? You're going to feel bad.

21:54And I think our bodies are far more, we're far more connected to our bodies than we really realize. Slothfulness is not going to lend to happiness. It does the happiness. So eat right, exercise, hydrate, oxygenate, pray, you know, all that. I think that get in a healthy routine, sleep, get plenty of sleep, but maybe not too much, you know, just all this. What is the best way? Well, it's to get out of a state of spiritual depression. It's change your lifestyle. Change your lifestyle. But in those moments where you're really feeling that dark cloud of depression, turn your attention to heaven and just start being thankful. Start expressing gratitude. And then, if there's sin, confess that sin and know you're going to be forgiven because he is righteous and he is going to continue to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. And you just have to believe that, or you're calling him a liar. And he gives you those promises so you can move on.

23:19Good question. One that we all, and there's more that could be said. But there's another one that came in. A lot of interest in the end times. It may very well be that the mark of the beast isn't going to be a number on our skin, but rather a social ranking on social media that allows you to do commerce if you say and support the right things. Your ranking score will buy you credits, and you score higher when you speak approvingly with those who do evil or report those who are upholding the truth. That's quite possible. That may be how it can play out. We know we are headed toward a one-world government because Revelation tells us such. What I am unclear about is if we should just sit back and let it come or resist this evil as long as possible so that more might be reconciled to Christ.

24:26So, I guess the question is: should we just sit back and let it come or resist this evil as long as possible so that the more, so that more might be reconciled to Christ? My answer is: we always resist evil. That's who we are. In whatever capacity we're in, on the individual level, we resist evil. I resist evil in my own heart, as an individual, in my own life. I am to resist evil in my family, as a father, as a husband, I am to resist evil in those areas that would seek to destroy my family.

25:21Likewise, on the church, as a church member, as a pastor, we are to resist evil as a citizen. Of this country, this state, this community, as a citizen, yes, we are always about resisting evil. We are to be shrewd, we are to be careful, we are to be skillful in what that resistance looks like. We are not to resort to Hamas, violence, but we are to resist evil, and we are to be shrewd in how that plays out.

26:10Maybe a second question here on this topic: if our mandate was to let the gospel be shared in every tongue and this is complete in our present age, then perhaps we are finished. Perhaps we need only rejoice about the end that we see coming because it is a sign that our work here is nearly finished. Yeah, certainly. I think looking ahead, there's a sense that God is moving this thing to the end. Now, I don't know if we're at the beginning of that now, if the thing is going to flip around for another 500 years or whatever, but there are some things that are looking on the horizon are very different and very well can be fitting some of the paradigms. And we don't want to be a people who read our times into the Bible and make it speak about our times when it doesn't. At the same token, we don't want to fail to miss the signs of the times, as Jesus excoriated the Pharisees for not reckoning. You can read the weather, but you can't read your times. And so, yes, and it is a cause. God is doing something, even the end times. We often think of them as something greatly to be feared. But during those times, God is doing something great. And it is a God who is patient, who is waiting, that has allowed the time. And even in the great tribulation, going that far ahead to the great tribulation, it's aimed. We read through Revelation, which we're going to, good timing, right? We're going to get through 1 John, then we're going into Revelation. And who knows, maybe we won't get through it. I don't know. But that's where we're going. So we're going to be able to sort all this stuff out. Hope to get there beginning the summer. But there are some very clear directions. That Jesus gives us about the end times. In fact, can you go ahead and pull this up? In fact, if you were in our men's group, remember this last summer we did, we were looking at men of the end times. You remember that? How many of you guys were there? We went through this a couple of what I did, and I'm going to take these and I've printed out about 80 copies here, and you can come up here and get some. But what I did is I took Jesus's words from Matthew, Mark, and Luke over this all of it discourse, and I just put them side by side.

29:16You can pass them out. Yeah, that's great. But if you'll look up here on the look up here on the board, what I've done is laid them out in a parallel fashion. Jesus comes out of the temple and his disciples, and he, in Matthew 24, 1, Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when his disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to him. And he said to them, Do you not see these things? Truly, I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down. As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, The disciples came to him privately saying, Two questions. You can see them over there. When will these happen? And what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?

30:15So, questions. And if you put these three, the Olivet discourse together in three side-by-side columns, you see they all ask the when and what question, whether you're in Matthew's gospel, Mark's gospel, or Luke's gospel, when, what, when, what, when, what? And they asked some little bit different questions. There's probably several questions being asked there, and each writer records something. Now, if you'll scroll up a little bit, just to where you can see both of the red, no, keep going, I'm sorry, the other, scroll down. Yeah, that means down, I guess. Scroll down, keep going. Okay, so stop there. So you see these red, these red parts are Jesus's commands. So those are commandments.

31:13And so Jesus said to them, Thank you. Jesus said to them, And all see to it that no one misleads you. Across the board. See to it that no one misleads you. See to it that you are not misled. Okay, so when We're facing even the end times, when you're facing these times, the command is don't be deceived. That's what Jesus wants. So make sure you're obeying what Jesus tells you very specifically. Many Christs are going to be coming. There's going to be lots going on. And then there's a second one. What's the second exhortation that he tells his disciples?

32:03Do not what? Do not be frightened. Do not be frightened. And if you look at these things, there's going to be wars, rumors of wars. Nations are going to rise against nations, ethnos against ethnos, ethnic group against ethnic group, going to be people groups. Then there's kingdom against kingdom. So official governments against governments. There's going to be famines in various places. There's going to be earthquakes. There's going to be lots of things going on. Plagues and famines, as Luke records in verse 11.

32:45There's going to be terrors, great signs from heaven. All that, what are you supposed to do? Do not what? Those are some pretty frightening things, right? And Jesus is saying, Look, don't be frightened. These things are coming. Don't be frightened. So, if we see things and not quite sure where we are in the epic of God's time, and so what we're seeing around, certainly if the command is do not be misled, do not be misled, and do not be frightened, even in the face of great geopolitical and tectonic upheaval. If he's saying in those contexts, don't be afraid, certainly in our context, it applies as well. Do not be misled.

33:35Do not be frightened. These are, and he says, these things are just the birth pains anyway. So, labor hasn't come in, hasn't come. That's just the very beginning. And talk to anyone that's been through labor, and it's painful. I haven't been through it, but my hand really got hurt. And I mean it. My Nancy, sweet little Nancy, you know, just could hardly hold on tight to anything. But boy, when she went into contractions and she wouldn't hold my hand, I mean, crushed. What are you doing? This hurts. She goes, tell me about it.

34:18That's the beginning. Sorry if I embarrassed you. That's phase one. So in phase one, no matter what happens. From here on, do not be misled. Hey, listen, the church has the answers. Listen, we know how to reconcile the nations, we know how to make wars cease. We know that. The church needs to meet. The church needs to proclaim. The church needs to keep on doing what it's doing now more than ever. And so we are to keep on going.

34:58Turn over, keep scrolling down to page two. Then we shift into gears, shift gears, and then they will deliver you to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. And at that time, many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and mislead many. Matthew's Gospel, I'll just read verse 12: because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. And that's why we need to learn how to love. I mean, even right now, I think as you can see growing lawlessness in our times, there's a sense that your heart can close. You see people stumbling around in the dark, and they're doing dark. Things and there's a sense that we can get angry and they are rushing to a Christless eternity. And yes, we are to resist. We are not to be afraid. We have nothing to be afraid of.

36:23And so we are not to be afraid. We are to love. We are to continue to love. And we are to continue to speak truth, truth in love. That is what the world needs. Keep scrolling down. And you get the blue. The blue. This is an interesting statement in all these gospels. This is verse 14 of Matthew 20. In Matthew, the gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. Look at Mark's recording. And you will stand before governors and kings for my sake as a testimony to them. The gospel must first be preached to all the nations. Verse 13 of Luke: it will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. What's happening? The nations are hate. You're going to be hated. Why? Because you stand for truth. That's exactly what God wants. You to do. So we are to continue to resist evil. And it's in that resisting evil. Now, we are to be Christ-like in the way we resist evil, for sure.

37:43But in that very resistance, there is an opportunity for testimony. And even in the face of violent opposition and being dealt with very unmercifully, it will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. What God is interested in doing, He is this God that's waiting. He wants people to come to repentance. And yes, as the world runs and is given over and continue and will not turn and will not repent, yeah, there's going to be people right in the middle of it. There's going to be, you see, in Revelation, there's believers throughout the whole tribulation, even the great tribulation. Whether we face the tribulation or not, we will experience tribulation. You know what I mean? Jesus said, you will.

38:49You're going to face it. But if this is true about the end times, do not be misled. There are many Christs out there, but there's only one Christ of Scripture, right? That's why we love the Christ of Scripture. That's why we talk about the Christ of Scripture so much so that we're not misled. And do not be frightened. Do not be frightened. Even in phase two, don't be frightened, even when it gets really, because God's doing something to get His Word out.

39:24Testimony. So I hope I answered, but about the mark, yeah, we're not taking the mark. And that's part of the occasion for the testimony and however that plays out and wherever we are at that time. God's people aren't taking the mark. And the tribulation, even the great tribulation, is going to be a great time of God's provision for his people and a great time for the gospel to go forth. Some hard hearts are really going to be softened. And the nation of Israel really isn't about America. Not even College Station.

40:24Israel is going to be hammered. Like they've never been hammered before. But during this tribulation, they're going to realize who their Messiah is. And they're going to look upon the one whom they pierced. And he is going to come. Good things are going to happen. And so, yes, perhaps we need to only rejoice about the end that we see coming because it is a sign that our work is nearly finished. Yes, as we see these things happening, look up, be excited, keep doing what we're doing. Obey Jesus. Don't be frightened.

41:18I hope that answers the question. Well, that's it on the questions that I'm answering tonight. I'll take, I'll let somebody, somebody wants to make a comment or two, and we'll wrap this thing up here in about another minute or so. Yes, sir, Louis? I think that the word seven, but I don't know what word it's found. It says, the menu tells the guy, resist the devil, and you will please. Yeah, good, good. Resist the devil. We always do that.

42:01Yeah. Good. Well, why don't we close? Oh, yes, sir. I was just going to mention, throw this out there for as far as our work that's left. If you look at all of the Bible translation efforts that are in progress and the costs associated with that and the time associated with it, it's actually very, very doable to get the written word into every known human language in this generation. Yeah. Well, that may very well be. Yeah.

42:36I can assure you, by the time the tribulation is over, everyone's going to have heard. I mean, there's angels flying. I mean, there's some, that gospel's going to get out. And yes, and as we continue to translate and get the words in people's hands, yes, God, great things are happening. And the good news is, let's just keep doing what we're doing. Assembling. Loving the Christ to Scripture. Focusing on truth, community, and mission. Let's keep doing those things.

43:13Pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the evening, all your kindness to us. Thank you for this body. Thank you for the great questions. And, Father, just go with us now this week. And we pray for this nation. We pray for The incoming administration. We pray for the events of this week. We pray for the outgoing administration. We pray for your hand to be present in all the affairs to the end that your name would be exalted and honored. Father, we do ask that you would protect us, protect this church, protect our country, protect our state, Father.

44:02But also, Father, we recognize we need your discipline. There are some things that we cannot keep growing in. And so, Father, we look forward to what's ahead because we know who you are. In Jesus' name, amen.