The Narrow Path 5/11

Good afternoon and welcome to the narrow path radio broadcast. My name is Steve Greg and were live for another hour, as we are each weekday afternoon, since since 1997, in case you don't know how many years at is that's been 23 years every weekday out with the exception of a one year hiatus, which I took off the back in the early 2000. But that still been .22 years broadcasting daily and were still here and were still taking your calls. If you're not familiar to program our format is always been the same.

I just give your phone number you call him if you're calling you. I hope will have a question ready question about the Bible of the Christian faith or if you have a different viewpoint in the house that you'll be able to state that fairly succinctly because there's generally a lot of callers waiting behind.

Now we have a bit of a technical difficulty today which means I I can't see on my screen as I usually can what callers are waiting. I don't even know if our lines are full if you call and get a busy signal. That means our lives are full and you can call back just a little later, and you'll probably find a line has opened up.

Also, I'm gonna need audio cues from my studio telling me who's calling. I've just been told that to Dylan from Portland Oregon is our first color today so I just give the number to give the number first. It's 844-484-5737. Again, that's 844-484-5737 and the Dylan. Welcome to the narrow path answer, I gave my question is a young Christian man like myself share the gospel or have conversations with young women. It would potentially make my life jealous. I would say you should avoid it. Not saying it's said that if it ever happened this that you would necessarily be sitting because it's not the obligations to your wife and you know she's if she's jealous about you having conversations with other women. Maybe that's a problem, but she's got.

Or maybe I don't.

Who knows why she's jealous. But there she has every right to express her concern and I think if you hear that concern you should probably make a policy of avoiding that very situation. There may be times when it's rather unavoidable. I mean there are times when you sitting next to somebody on a plane or a blaster you're working next them and ask your question. I don't think you should be so legless exams. I can't talk to a girl, but I would say that you should probably make it your policy that, unless such a situation is kind of thrust upon you that you would probably just on your wife's wishes about that I know I would like my wife, my wife, today isn't the jealous type but I did have a wife once who was jealous and she did not like the idea of me talking to women alongside avoided it as much as I could. I all right got bless you.

Thank you. Call Dylan Kimberly from Sacramento is next Kimberly Markham to the narrow path answer calling hi all, in the bottle. What you want one or two sentences on that. That's a book length that's a book length answer, but why does God permit evil in the world. Now when you say even when you talk you talk about moral evil are you talking about suffering because some people use the term interchangeably. Typically, suffering specifically. Okay well suffering is often what I would call God's way of doing surgery on our soul, we have a disease we know most people are not aware that they have that this is but the bottle expert plane. Everyone is infected with sin and that sin doesn't just mean they're guilty of doing some bad things. It means that they have something in their nature. That is like like almost like a mental illness but is not literary what you call mental illness with any of that same kind of category it it inclines you to do what is wrong. Now that's something that were infected with and and it can only be removed by a certain kind of dealings of God. Only God can do it. We can't do it, and it can only be removed also with our cooperation. But suffering is God's way of trying to get us to cooperate in that sanctification process. So when we you know when we get sick or when we get an accident there when we have a financial reversal or when we lose a loved one, or whatever. This can this can draw us nearer to God, and it can make us more selfless, even if we if were not suffering with someone we love is suffering. In many cases this is how God works in our hearts to make us more selfless. That's the simple answer that it's a much more complicated question than that, but I'm what I would say is it God. We know God's nature to be such that he would not allow anything to happen to anyone that he loves unless there is a potential for that working out for the good.

Now when I say potential for working very good. I don't mean that always will because our response to it is as important as anything else. I mean if if two people two people suffer the same calamity one may choose to draw near to God and others may choose to be angry at God and draw away from him some in our response to suffering is of important part, but the suffering itself is a situation that allows us to choose if we will to be drawn near to God and to experience a sanctifying effect of his presence in our life and this is what I believe is the positive use of suffering that nobody likes suffering but it says in Hebrews chapter 12 Exodus it says that no chastening at the time, seems pleasant but painful. But afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who are exercised or trained by it, so suffering is not pleasant at the time no one likes it, but those who will be trained by the writer says will find that the fruit of righteousness is produced from binary talking as well. In that short okay, I got bless you. I can eat all right. Thank you Marty from Spokane is at the name hi Marty, perhaps you could all you will enemy of the believer entertaining that in the continuing state while were forbidden to do so. The one command that's repeated most often in Scripture is. Do not be afraid now of course a lot of times that command was about the immediate situation. An angel appeared to somebody and they were afraid of the angel. He said little difference is not really a generic statement that there certainly the Bible does indicate that we should not be anxious or worried about anything. Jesus said that we should not be anxious about tomorrow we should not be worried about really even want me to drink because we should be like trusting children who recognize that God takes care of lesser creatures than ourselves and that he certainly will take care of us who are more important to him than those lesser creatures so we need and we need to draw near to God.

It's against. It's against God's commands for us to live a worried and anxious life.

And Paul said in Philippians 4 that we should be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, we should make our requests known to God without making request known to God includes doing so with faith. When Jesus talked about people who worried about whether to eat or drink is oh you of little faith. If you trust God if you know that God is good and that he is on your side and he's there and he's made certain promises to you and you trust him will then worrying isn't very easily possible.

Are there some bad noise on your line. I'm not really sure why that is spots in verdict you have noise. Go ahead let you go and thank you for the input right now timely from what I'm seeing so let me let me suggest that you read the last half of Matthew six in particular. Matthew six from all I'm not looking at her habit from the middle of it so about the end of the chapter and see that always has been something of a therapeutic against worry and anxiety for me.

Not the question up for myself so much. But what I see in general going on throughout the body of Christ in individuals. I know things happening as bad things happening. And some people are in bad shape that we care about is it's easy to be concerned about them and and we should be concerned about them but being concerned doesn't have to become worry you. It says in in second Peter in first Peter chapter 5 that we should cast all our cares upon him which meets all our worries Or Worries on Him Because He Worries for You, Let Him Do the Worrying, and You Do That by Simply Saying God, You Know, This Is Not in My Control the Situation. I'm Very Concerned about Grieved about but I Can't Do Anything about It so I'm Just Putting That on You and I Will Let You Be in Charge of It and I'll Just Trust That You Note You Doing Right Concur Eat All Right. Take Care. Thank You for Your Call Lesson Okay. We Have Some Lines Open for You and You Give Your Phone Number and Rick Talk to Michael from Aptos, California, Not the Number to Call If You'd like to Occupy One of the Lines That Have Come up Is 844-484-5737 and for Not Calling on Yourself When You May Have To Put One Event 1-844-484-5737 Is This My Friend Michael.

The Buddhist Yeah I Hear from You. Today I Cannot Really Know You on the Station Apparently from the Layla.

Not Sure Reach into Santa Cruz. Yeah, Look in the Morning. Okay Pay That Enough but It's More in That Outfit like This and I Really Enjoy That A Lot Of Our Listeners Ask about You Because I Know That We We Don't Broadcast in the Santa Cruz Area As Directly As We Used To. So Ryan I in the Organic Salsa Anyway. Steve I Wanted Clarification. When Jesus Began His Ministry and Was Calling for the Jewish People Who Radically Depart from the Faith You Want to Truly Live the Rabbi and so I Made Last You Have the Opportunity to Launch a British Production Called ADK and a Vampire Told the Whole Story Leading up to the Patient and in That Home Peter the Only Disciple Related to to Jesus and All and It Was All Done so in Course the Caiaphas Was Very Anti-Christian. And Don't Expect People to Wait for Joseph but What Will Will Will Write. He Was in No Way Calling the Jewish People to Not Be Choose He As You Said He Was a Jew Himself, but He Was Coming As the Fulfillment of What the Jewish Prophets Had Said the Messiah Would Be the Prophets in the Old Testament Is Very Much Part of Judaism Predicted That the God Would Send a King and Anointed King, Which Was Called the Messiah and That the People Would Follow Him or Should Follow Him and and in Numbers Chapter 18 Moses Had Said You Know the Lord Your God Will Send Another Prophet like Myself, Which Was Another Reference to the Messiah, He Says and and to Him You Shall Heed Anyone Who Doesn't Heed Him Will Be Cut off from the People. So Is Obvious That the Coming of the Messiah Was Not Just to Provide an Optional Enhancement to You. The Judaism of Some Jews Who May Be Interested, but God Was Actually Sending Another Person in This Role, but Moses Had Played Moses Had Founded the Jewish Religion so There's Another Person like Moses Is Going to Found a Significant Change. Now Jeremiah the Prophet Jeremiah 31 Had Said That God Was to Make a New Covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. Now Judaism in the Old Testament Started in Mount Sinai When God Made a Covenant with the People Who Came Out Of Egypt, the Israelites and Jeremiah Got to Make a New Covenant, Which Suggests That There's Going to Be a Modification or Replacement of the Old Order, but It Was Still to Be Made with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. So All This Was Anticipated 500 Years before Jesus Showed up, so the Jews Had This Expectation of the Messiah Coming. Jesus Came and He Was the Messiah, but the Jewish People Didn't Recognize Him. As Such, That He Wasn't What They the Messiah That They Were Looking for in Their Own Imaginations Was Much More Capable of Delivering Them from the Romans They Felt More Interested in Leading Israel Out Of Captivity to the Romans and and They Believe the Messiah Would Be to Gather All the Jews from All over the World from the Diaspora Back to Israel That Jesus Didn't Do Those Things. He Didn't Even Try. That Wasn't Even His Mission. Therefore, They They They Rejected Him, but Not All of Them Did Many of Them Followed Him and They Began to Recall the Early Church Only Because of the Reluctance of Some of the Jewish People around at the Time of Delivery Is That the Separate Related, Otherwise It Would've Been between Irony in This to Because If They Had Followed G If All of Them Have Embraced Jesus As the Messiah That Would've Required Some Changes in Their Own Religious Practices. For Example, Jesus Came to Fulfill the Whole Sacrificial System That Was at the Very Heart of Jewish Religion and and If He You Know If If They Accepted That Is Him Is the Final Sacrifice or Whatever Than They Would Have No More Use for Animal Sacrifices of the Priesthood Priesthood Main Purpose of Priest Was Offered Sacrifices so These Priests Knew They Be Out Of a Job If He Was Embraced so They Rejected Him and Him and Had Him Crucified. But the Interesting Thing Is They Lost Her Job Anyway Because in 70 A.D. As a Judgment upon Them for This God Brought the Romans and to Destroy the Temple and in Israel and Therefore the Thing They Were Trying to Preserve by Rejecting Christ.

They Lost Anyway Which Is Tragic but What's Interesting Is the Rabbis Met Together a Century or Less Than a Century Later and Put Together What We Call Town That Is a More Orthodox Judaism Today, Which Is a Bunch of Rabbinic Rules from the Traditions of the Rabbis Which Altered Judaism. For Example, in Judaism Is All about Animal Sacrifices of His Temple. Well the Temple Was Destroyed, They Can Have That Make up a New Religion Really Based on Something Else and They Did and That's What Modern Orthodox Judaism As It Is Its Rabbinic Tradition Encoded in Religion out What They Should've Done. I Think I'm I'm Quite Convinced They Should've Done They Should've Said While the Temples Destroyed May Be. Maybe God Did Want Us to Follow Jesus. Maybe Jesus Was the End of the Sacrificial System. That's Why God Allowed the Temple to Be Destroyed at Would Be of Service along and If They Turn to Jesus Instead of Forming a New Religion in Chad You Are, Which Is What They Did That All the Jews Would Be in the in the Christian Fold Now and but That It Would Be Strictly a Christian, I Wouldn't Be a Strictly Jewish Movement Because Jesus Had in Mind Also to Include after after the Israelites Recommend to Include Gentiles Now a Remnant of the His Rights Did Come in in the Early Days the Church and and Then of Course the Gospel Not Began to Include People like Cornelius Was a Gentile and Other Gentiles Eventually the Gentiles Tended to Receive Christ in Greater Numbers Than Jews Did, so Now Christianity Became Much More of a Dominant World, Real Religious System or Religious Belief. Yeah, Then Judaism Itself and an Entity Value by Forming What They Did That the New Rabbinic System, the Town Would Tell It Isn't.

They Basically Just Prevented Themselves from Being a Part of That and and They Perpetuated Now a New Religion That They Created from Talent. It's Not Moses. Religion Should They Borrow from Moses. Religion Is Not the 10 Commandments and the Feast and so Forth.

But They Don't Do the Same Things.

And Moses Said, for Example, There Are Christians Today Who Think That We Should Be Keeping the Jewish Feast within the Jews Can Keep the Jewish Faith Because If You Don't, Moses Said to Go to Jerusalem for That and You Have To Offer Animal Sacrifices That at the Temple with Levitical Priest Doing It. There Are No Levitical Priest Is Note Temple.

There's No Animal Sacrifices Israel and Sorry the Idea That Anybody Can or Should Be Keeping These Festivals Is a Little Bit Crazy in a Way Because You Know When the Temples Destroyed. It Became Essentially Impossible to Keep Any of the Festivals the Way the Love Well Thank You Again, Michael Facer, Okay, Call Us Again Sometime. I All Right by Now Just for Mountain View, California. Welcome to the Narrow Path Is the Calling Hi Steve, Thank You so Much for What You Do Should I I Would like to Know Where You Learned about the Hebrew Idiomatic Expression of the Limited Negative Did You Make It up for to Other Scholars That I First Heard of It.

I First Heard of It from a Scholar Named Jay Sadler Baxter Many Many Years Ago When I Was in My Early 20s, Probably, and I Assumed When He Mentioned It That It Was a Very Common Term among Scholars.

It Is Not Even so Much He Bray It Could Be a Hebrew-ism Is Found in the Old Testament Is Found in the New Testament to It's Just a It's It's It's It's a It's an Inning. We All Use.

I Mean I Think of Every Language Says. But Even in English, We May Do It. We Say You Know I'm Not Here I'm Not at This Concert to Hear the Band Play on Here to Be with My Girlfriend.

You Know Well but You Better Hear Them Play to the Right You Are Not Here Just for That on Here for That, and This to When We Say It's Not This, but That in Certain Contacts Remain Not Only This, but Also That and That's What It Limited Negative Is At Least That's What Jason Will Baxter Called It. Now I Will Say When I Got Online and in the Course More Modern Times Looking up the Nigam Limited Negative. I Haven't Found It Used Very Widely. I Know I'm Not the Only One Who Uses It.

And Even If No One Else Uses up a J Citrobacter It's a Great Term Because Basically It's Is Not It's It's Observing Something about Patterns of Speech That We All Use, Namely, That Sometimes Will Say Not This Which Sounds like a Universal Negative but It's Really Limited Limited Negative Because We Say, Not This Only, but Also That so It's Not Entirely Not This, but Not This Primarily but That Two or Maybe That Primarily When Jesus Said I Did Not Come to Bring Peace in the World, but a Sword. Certainly Hate We Be Wrong to Think You Didn't Come to Bring Peace.

He Did, He Did Come to Bring Peace, but That's Not All He Came to He Came to Bring Peace and the Sort I Can Come Only to Bring Peace but Also a Sort You Know Is Basically How We Should Understand That When You Said Do Not Labor. Labor for the Meet the Parishes but Labor for the Food That Endures to Eternal Life. Well My My Forbidden Dentin to Labor for the for the Parishes. He Said Don't Labor for the Parishes but If That's an Absent Negative That Is Wrong to Hold a Job. But If It Is the Same, Don't Only Labor from for the Parishes You Better Also Take Care That Getting Getting Hold That Meat That Endures to Eternal Life Is a That's That's What's Meant by a Limited Negative Even If There's Not Very Many People Using That Term and J Citrobacter Assumes That There Is an Old Man When I Heard Him and It May Be That Billing Using the Term These Days. I Hear I Thought of the Standard Term When I Heard from Him, but I'd I Don't Know Many People Use It except to Listen to Show Well and Excited to Share This with My Friend and Play like Your Show so Much You Bring New Alternatives like Ideas to Understand the Scriptures so Much Was Great Talking to You Jeff Collection Right by Now Okay with My from Sacramento. I'm a Little Concerned about the Break Is Coming up Here. I Just about a Minute Mile. What You Could We Put You on Hold until after the Break Has at Some Sure You Do That so Chris, If You Put Her on Hold and Will Get Her Right after the Break Because Although the Break Hasn't Started Is Going to Too Quickly Really Do Justice to Her, I Want to Give Her Plenty of Time I'll Use This Time to Let You Know That the Narrow Path Is a Listener Supported Daily Radio Broadcast and You Notice Things That We Have a Half-Hour so Far, We Have a Whole Hour Day.

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I Think the Website Is Free Website Is the Narrow Path.Calm Now I Think I'm Getting Her Music Here in Just a Moment and Then Then Yes I Am Okay That Music Does Not Mean, Moreover, We Have Another Half-Hour so Don't Go Away but That Music Tells Me It's Time to Let You Know What I Just Told You Monica Tsonga to Use This Minute to Tell You That There's Some Alternative Good Resources You Can Use It If You Want to Get More Out Of This Broadcast Is a Website Called Matthew 713.com Next. Matthew 713.com Find Their Index of over 5000 Calls to This Program over the past Arranged Topically. You Go There You Can Just Choose a Topic and It'll Pull up A Lot Of Calls in the past Were People Asked about That Topic and Will Have the Answers. There Is a Great Resource. Also, My Notes from the Lectures of the Website Are There posted@matthew713.com now be back in 30 seconds or six more calls State again to nearly is the path that leads to life to the narrow path. Steve grand has nothing to me today that everything to get the radio show is over.

Go to the narrow path.com confetti and enjoying the three topical audio teachings blog articles teachings and archives of the narrow path radiation. Thank you for supporting the listener supported narrow Path grant. The narrow path.com radio broadcast Steve Greg were still taking calls for another half-hour questions about the Bible of the Christian faith called this number it's 844-484-5737 that's 844-484-5737 and we have the next online is on my from Sacramento hi my welcome to the narrow path you I would say that an inmate I really appreciate your ministry and you and your way to well your daughter is a sweetheart, Dan is waving at you in high gear sweetheart to mentally leave your daughters you know about your opinion on about having children that and just in general, but then also when you notice that they show patterns of sinful behavior. So should should children fast like to help overcome sinful behavior.

Should a parent make a child fast and trying to write a sentence.

That's my question.

Yeah, I would not if I work if I'm raising kids. At this point, I would certainly not require them to fast. I mean if you fast, and she knows that your fasting. It may be that it will get her head that maybe some shoe she want to do that sometime but I think that I don't own a child's in the in the growing years. I'm not sure I don't have medical expertise to know how much how important is for every single day.

Have a certain amount of nutrition out fasting can be partial in the Bible, not all fasting is just complete abstinence that Daniel faster just from sweet foods for 21 days in Daniel chapter 10, so I mean that there can be partial fast. John the Baptist was on a partial fast for his whole adult life eating nothing but locust wild honey. You know he is either stop so fasting can be complete total eating nothing even in drinking nothing or can be eating nothing but still drinking or it can be your cutting something else out of your diet for a period of time so it would not be unsafe for a child I'm sure to cut something out of the diet, especially if it's on the particular good for them and and to do that is a discipline. I wouldn't want. I wouldn't want to give my children impression that fasting was something there doing that are making them do, because they've been bad because I could just put a real negative connotation on the whole thing.

I think that when people as adult Christians fast.

It should be something that they're doing voluntarily that they are doing because they believe it's in no spiritually beneficial or not against. I don't think attributes viewed the way that a child maybe with your spanking or something bout. On the other hand when it comes to discipline a child is got bad behavior to make them fast from certain things they like. Whether it's junk foods for a period of time, or even from media fasting from computer use circular from television, from media that can be that can be pretty effective. I would think at least as effective as regular fasting in terms I think that's better than putting your child against her will honor a complete fast even for a day method. A day without food is gonna hurt or necessarily but again I'd I would want fasting to be viewed by my children as something that's more of a positive than something that all your bad you have fast so I wouldn't I wouldn't use fasting for that okay today.

I didn't present it as consequent. I did explain to her that you know I would think maybe to get control of some things in life that she could do voluntarily what she actually came to me in combat and then that's what started as a thing and then on that. What I found interesting was after we are after I broke the fact she decided that I asked that if the Lord is leading you to continue and we only did a partial date that that's how you confidentially didn't. She felt the Lord was leading her to continue her fat well why think the Jews when they fasting really fast from sunrise to sunset. I don't think they did a 24 hour fast.

Whenever I fasted I voice is condemned by the clock 24 hours or whatever. I'm actually frankly from Eve from sundown one day to send on the next day, but there's nothing there's a rule about this in the box. I mean if she's voluntarily wants to fast. I wouldn't admit she's she's not a little child whose whose growth spurt, I wouldn't and so she could probably fast some sunup to sundown several days in a row if she ate something after sundown. There's just no law about this summit is no biblical rule governing the side. I would just be cautious about imposing fasting on average done, because we are talking about doing so.

If she's looking to adopt fasting as a spiritual discipline that I'd say I wouldn't I would not forget that. But I would so I would say let's don't go overboard with an ominous and to go that Cisco part of the day, you might want it more than one day a week I be okay. The Pharisees fasted twice twice a week, but a person could become obsessive person to be almost anorexic.

You know about that some need to be keep an eye on that and not let it become an unhealthy thing. Okay thank you perhaps go ahead 22 and think mean yeah the child in the way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.

A lot of people take that as a promise of God and I don't know if you've heard me say this before but I think people make a mistake when they take the Proverbs as promises because the Proverbs are not promises. They are observations. They are part of what we call wisdom literature are not commandments of God in the Old Testament are not part of the law and are not going out in prophetic dreams and okay you can be guaranteed. This is going to happen if you do such and such.

I think of all the times and problems were sessional, the diligent man will become rich.

Well, there's a lot of diligent people in Third World countries who work ill every waking hour and they never get rich very diligent.

The point of wisdom literature is to observe patterns and cause and effect, so as to give advice as to what is the wisest way to pursue a certain goal. If you want to get rich well then you better work hard because that's what tends toward riches. If you want to be poor, well then being lazy is a pretty good way to guarantee that but not every time you could be lazy and still win the lottery so these are not promises.

These are observations of generalities such as, basically, one of wisdom. What a proverb is insane. Do you want this end result than the smart thing to do with the truck pursued in this manner. Okay you want to be rich than don't sleep all day.

You just and likewise you want your child to not good when he is old, then starting one is young… His train up a child in the way should go and when he is old he will not depart from is not an absolute anymore than any of the Proverbs are absolutes in terms of the advice given. I often give us an example of the provinces. A soft answer turns away wrath. Well, not always but if you want to turn away from this is wrath.

You be smart to give him a soft answer rather than the provocative but sometimes you give soft actually still be angry so it's what Proverbs are it is saying that if you train up a child in the right way, then the tendency generally will be that the child will be you going the right way and stay in the right way. It's actually harder to change the patterns that you develop when you're young as an adult that people can choose to do it.

People can really get rebellious against the way they were raised, but it's good basis and you want your kid to do well in their older training to do well when they're young that's what the problem same. Okay yeah I don't think it is. I'm glad you asked that just some people, something like donate through PayPal. PayPal has for some reason, cut us off with that without warning. We don't know why they won't let us receive donations through them anymore, but there's still what's called we pay in. There's a link on our website to we pay in and you can do the same thing through that as is through PayPal. If you want to donate online.

Okay, okay, my thanks for calling to talk if you publish it okay okay next colors Martha from Vancouver, Washington hi Martha, look into the narrow path that you're calling, you put a little line down between fluently and elation and cleaning on the cliff employee left here last Sunday night exclamation and that I'm going think he is a cliché.

Why do you not believe we create. I thanked God thank you Courtney. Complete the land.

I called on him and not Diana Lyons and elation and I cannot now locate the living world when he so sobering. Anthony listen. They thought that way you do and I wonder why you don't believe okay well I do believe the Christians are the elect, but I think some people understand the word elect very much differently than I do. Elective course is just a word that means chosen. Just like when we elect the president. The people choose a present by their votes and may like to present so the idea that we are elect of God means that we are chosen by God. I believe that but I think people want to hear that term too often understand it mistakenly like saying that Israel was electric.

Israel was God's chosen nation. Well, true. He chose the nation of Israel. That is the whole nation but individuals who were either born inside that nation outside the nation could choose to change a Jew who was born Jewish could leave the nation could be cut off from the nation.

According to the law if they choose to worship idols, for example they be cut off from the people by bosses so they won't be part of the survey will be part of the chosen nation by their own choice. They won't be. It's the nation collectively that's chosen, it's not the individuals in it that are chosen to be part of it that that's the choice given to each person and likewise a Gentile could become part of the chosen people. He was born that way because is Gentile, but he could be circumcising to become a proselyte, and become as is.

The Bible puts it as a native of the land like a Jew, so being in Israel was a personal choice.

Our courses were born in this room were more likely to stay in Israel by default but they could leave and not be part of Israel or people could join who were part of it so being chosen had to do with choosing you yourself choose to be in the chosen people are not in the chosen people. It's the people that the nation that was chosen.

Now Christ in the New Testament is the chosen one, and I can decide whether I will be in Christ or not.

I know that because Jesus commanded me concerning that he said remain in me. He said anyone who does not remain in me is cast off like a branch and burned so Jesus commands us to be in him to remain in him and he he speaks about people who don't remain in him so remaining in him is skirted up to me.

Or else why would I be given a command about now.

If I'm in him. He is elect, so I am elect in him just like an individual in Israel was in the elect people in the elect corporate entity of Israel. So if I'm Christ is a corporate entity. He's a vine with many branches, that's one organism, but corporate with many branches. He's a body with many members.

Again, the body is corporate. The individual members art comprise the body. So if I am decide to follow Jesus Christ, then the result will be that I am in Christ and as one in Christ I experience. While I have the status of being in him chosen, just like a person in Israel was chosen there. Part of the chosen entity.

So this is what the Bible teaches that we chose. Now I think the more common way people think about this, which I think is wrong is they think that if I say we are chosen that that means that God chose me individually to get saved and he chose you individually say that my next her neighbor who doesn't get saved. God chose that person not to be say the gods choosing who's going to be saved and not on an individual basis and this is what Calvinism teaches.

Calvinism teaches that there is a certain number of people, a number that cannot be added to or subtracted from that God had selected before the earth began.

Of all those who would ever be born, and some he elected that they would get saved and others he allegedly would not get sick. They were called the reprobate Calvinism teaches. Well, I don't believe that the Bible teaches that what God is decided is that all who are in Christ will be saved and that is a choosing he has chosen all those who are in Christ.

The question is, who decides whether an individual can be in Christ will that individual and that's what the Bible teaches throughout, you'll never find a verse of Scripture that says otherwise. So that's why that's likely.

So I it's not that I don't believe were the elect.

I do believe we are the elect.

We Christians, we who follow Jesus are the elect, but that doesn't mean that God chose each of us individually to be part of the elect. The elect is a category and you know it's it's like if I sent out invitations to everyone on my block to a barbecue. I said not everybody I've chosen that everybody who comes his barbecue is getting a free state that and have steaks forever who comes well if if a neighbor chooses not to come, then they don't get stake because that's that's only promised to the category of those who do respond if my neighbor doesn't get stake. My neighbor made that choice.

But the people who do come are in the group that I have chosen to give free sticks each one so it's it's a collective you decided you to be in the collective. And if you are in Christ Jesus.

The elect one all the things that are given to us in Christ are given just because they belong to Christ. And when we belong to Christ than they want us as well.

Now you also asked why does God allow a lot of evil and so forth and actually have had: the first our effort to follow the program to and you said that you put a little differently. Since God is sovereign, why does he allow this will God is sovereign in the sense and not missing since a Calvinistic Calvinist believe that God ordains everything that happens, the Bible does not say that the Bible is not hinted that and even the word sovereign doesn't mean that the word sovereign means the one who's in absolute authority who can do whatever he wants to do and no one can judge him or criticize him or say he should do different because he's the one who's got the right to do it all and he sees he's above you know anyone supervision or criticism or censure out like a king.

A king in the country has the right to govern it. However, he wants to. Now some kings when they govern, they may want to be tyrants.

They may want to control every decision people make or they may not. They might like the idea of their people having some freedom, not total freedom. The stuff to submit to the Kings authority but he may not want to interfere in everything in life that's his business as a sovereign. He can choose how he wants to govern, and God tend to to say God is sovereign to simply say he's got absolute authority. It doesn't tell us how he chooses to use that authority that that we have to get from other parts the Bible and the fact that he gives people the choice to do good or to do evil is certainly very clearly stated in Scripture and that's why evil happens is people do evil. Evil happens because people have the opportunity and choice to make and not all people choose to be good they could. It's it's really a choice that's a free I believe it's harder for some than others. People who have really rough upbringing probably have a harder time choosing to be to do the right thing than some who's raised very civilized and very polite and and very caring.

But everyone can make the choice and say I'm going to follow God I'm going to live for God.

I'm going to give up my sinful ways and if they determined to do so. I don't think anyone is in a position to more than anyone else. I think we all can make choices like I appreciate your call. All right to have on the line and Jeff is Joe. Joe is looking to the narrow path you can't in good all night. Basically you the weaker brother, weaker brother, weaker brother that they're not only eat grass being I'm wondering that they are our I think it is both because I think both kinds of weakness run together. Now what you said is it when Paul speaks of those. For example, who some people eat all things, and their conscience is clear. Other people who are weak in their conscience cannot eat all things that are more legalistic and they restricted diet more now the weakness he speaking of, there is a weakness of their grasp of grace of their grasp of what it means to walk in the spirit they don't quite understand the Christian life. They think it's a legalism.

They think it's some kind of a abstinence from certain foods and so forth and and that's got a week grasp of grace but also because a week grasp of grace they don't walk in grace like someone else who does who's got a better grasp of it and it's the grace of God that keeps us from stumbling is the spirit of grace since the spirit of God whose spirit of grace. The Bible says so God gives us the grace and temptation gives us the grace and hardship in trial and so forth to live the life we should now when Paul gives the example of somebody who thinks it's wrong to eat meat sacrificed to idols.

He initially indicates that this is a person who doesn't quite understand. He said we all know that an idol is nothing at all visa but not in everybody there is not.

This knowledge is this is for scrapings eight says everyone doesn't know that some people don't grasp it to them.

Eating idle Israelis eating something that's eating eating food that ciphers a real God doubt they obviously are weak in their understanding of grace and of of spiritual things in general. But he also sees them as someone who's therefore vulnerable to falling back into idolatry and he says you know if you if if your brother sees you eating meat sci-fi sense he might do it do it and you might destroy him for whom Christ might just you know that is the ideas okay.

He thinks he can't eat meat sacrificed idols, but because he is not really walking increase her understanding grace.

He's really still drawn to eating and worshiping idols. And when he sees you do it and copies you and he goes out into the temple feast and says well if if Joe can do it that I can do it, but that he can't because he's weaker than you know this week is like like somebody who… For someone who thinks that Christian should never drink alcohol okay now I don't say that I I will drink alcohol. I don't like alcohol and don't drink very much because I never liked it but but that I won't get drunk if I if I take some wine if I tasted beer and get drunk and get some people will a guy called me last week and said he can't believe that there be, you know, wine in the in the kingdom of God and he said can you imagine what Dr. drunk and I said why would you think that there's wind of it ever to be drunk. This is why would & he's obviously weak. He he believes he cannot handle alcohol without getting drunk and therefore he gets legalistic and says I can't believe that we should never allow anyone to drink alcohol. See his own weakness, then this is basically what legalism comes out of somebody who's got moral or spiritual weakness. They are afraid that everyone else is as weak as they are soon to make rules forbidding people to do things that are actually quite innocent and you know eating meat sacrificed idols.

It is a case that Paul gives you know they think it's wrong, but they still want to do it and if they if they fall into it, it'll suck them right back into idolatry. So don't don't do anything that would encourage them that correction into following stumbling I wouldn't do what you get.

No doubt right now. If there are things that are not long for Christmas do you increase could you put that background noises is really thinking. If there's things that are not wrong for Christians to do but it might not be good for me to do them. Let's just say having a TV now is there anything that runs it's wrong to have a TV know, but it might be wrong for me to have a TV. If I can't if if if it becomes a master of mind.

If you know every time I'm in the room. I sit down to watch TV and the hours go by and eventually wasted a whole day and I've maybe watch the right wrong kinds of things that aren't very healthy are spiritually good for me so I might say well I don't think I should have a TV that's not legalistic as long as I'm saying. The reason I can't is because I'm too weak to have one but other people might be strong one.

I can make laws about us. For them I'm just going to say it's not good for me and now that's not legalistic and if a young Christian has scruples and says well I I know that some people can handle alcohol but I can't stomach again. They were near it. I think that's good on risk, it's good to watch over your soul.

That way, and to notice Wharton to know where your weaknesses are, but to when you become a legalist is when you actually say because I can't handle it. Nobody can be trusted to handle and therefore we need to make a rule about this. No one should do this that's that's what legalism comes in time, but I appreciate your call very much God bless you that all you called.

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