Guiding Faith: Addressing Doubts and Seeking Truth

### Bible Study Discussion Guide

#### Bible Reading
1. **James 1:5** - "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him."
2. **1 Corinthians 6:18-20** - "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies."
3. **Romans 12:2** - "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

#### Observation Questions
1. According to the sermon, why is it important for a pastor to provide answers to faith-based questions? ([59:27])
2. What is the biblical stance on premarital sex and cohabitation before marriage as discussed in the sermon? ([01:03:34])
3. How did the pastor differentiate between medicinal and recreational use of marijuana? ([01:05:24])
4. What reasons did the pastor give for the occurrence of miracles being less frequent today compared to Jesus' time? ([01:24:35])

#### Interpretation Questions
1. How does James 1:5 relate to the pastor's encouragement for the congregation to seek answers to their faith-based questions? ([59:27])
2. In what ways does 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 support the pastor's teaching on sexual purity and the importance of repentance? ([01:14:52])
3. How can Romans 12:2 be applied to the pastor's advice on avoiding extra-biblical doctrines like "soul ties"? ([01:19:10])
4. What are the implications of the pastor's stance on mental health and the use of prescribed medication for believers? ([01:41:09])

#### Application Questions
1. Reflect on a time when you had a pressing faith-based question. How did you seek answers, and what was the outcome? How can you create a supportive environment for others with similar questions? ([59:27])
2. The pastor emphasized the importance of repentance involving a change in behavior. Is there an area in your life where you need to seek true repentance? What steps can you take to change your behavior? ([01:14:52])
3. Considering the pastor's advice on the use of marijuana, how do you discern what is beneficial and aligns with your faith? Are there any habits you need to reconsider? ([01:05:24])
4. Have you ever experienced church hurt? How did it affect your faith, and what steps did you take towards healing? How can you support others who have been hurt by the church? ([01:22:19])
5. The pastor mentioned the importance of mental health and seeking help when needed. Do you or someone you know struggle with mental health issues? How can you support them in seeking the help they need? ([01:41:09])
6. How do you prioritize your faith in environments that may lead you away from Christ, such as certain social groups or organizations? What practical steps can you take to ensure your faith remains your top priority? ([01:15:58])
7. Reflect on the pastor's explanation of female pastors and the cultural context of Paul's time. How does understanding the historical and cultural background of scripture influence your interpretation of it? ([01:44:18])

Day 1: Seeking Answers in Faith
When faced with questions about faith, it is vital to seek answers from a reliable source grounded in Scripture. This pursuit of truth is not just an intellectual exercise but a journey that strengthens one's relationship with God and fosters a deeper understanding of His will. It is important to remember that doubts and uncertainties are a natural part of spiritual growth. By providing a supportive environment where questions can be asked without fear, individuals are encouraged to explore their faith more deeply. This process involves not only seeking answers but also being open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the wisdom found in the Bible. [59:27]

James 1:5-6 ESV
"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind."

Reflection: What faith-based question have you been hesitant to ask, and how can you seek a biblically grounded answer to it this week?

Day 2: Discerning Biblical Truth from Cultural Beliefs
The concept of "soul ties" serves as a reminder that not all spiritual teachings align with biblical truth. It is crucial to discern and separate what is explicitly stated in Scripture from cultural beliefs and extra-biblical doctrines. This discernment prevents confusion and the adoption of practices that may lead to unhealthy spiritual conditions. Believers are called to examine teachings critically and to root their faith in the authority of Scripture, which provides a firm foundation for understanding God's design for life and relationships. [01:19:10]

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 ESV
"But test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil."

Reflection: How can you practice discernment this week in distinguishing biblical truths from cultural beliefs that have influenced your understanding of faith?

Day 3: Understanding the Nature of Miracles
Miracles are a powerful testament to God's presence and sovereignty, yet their occurrence is not always as we might expect. While miracles were indeed more frequent during Jesus' time, they continue to manifest in various forms today. Understanding the biblical perspective on miracles helps believers maintain a faith that is rooted in God's Word rather than in the pursuit of signs and wonders. This understanding also allows believers to recognize and appreciate the miraculous in everyday life, acknowledging God's hand at work in both the extraordinary and the mundane. [01:24:35]

Hebrews 2:3-4 ESV
"How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will."

Reflection: Can you identify a moment in your life that might be considered a 'small miracle,' and how did it impact your faith?

Day 4: Living Within God's Design for Purity
The Bible provides clear guidance on sexual purity, emphasizing that sex is a gift intended for the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman. Living within these boundaries is not only a matter of obedience but also a path to true fulfillment and protection from spiritual and relational harm. Cohabitation before marriage, even without sexual activity, is cautioned against as it can lead to temptation and compromise. Repentance in this context means a genuine turning away from sin and a commitment to a lifestyle that honors God's design for relationships. [01:14:52]

Ephesians 5:3 ESV
"But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints."

Reflection: What steps can you take to honor God's design for purity in your current or future relationships?

Day 5: Embracing Wholeness in Mental Health
Mental health is an integral part of a believer's overall well-being, and seeking help, including medication, is not indicative of a lack of faith. The stigma surrounding mental health treatment within the Christian community needs to be dismantled. Recognizing that God can use various means, including medical professionals, to bring healing and wholeness is an important step in caring for oneself and others. Believers are encouraged to support one another in seeking help and to view mental health as a component of their stewardship of God's creation. [01:41:09]

3 John 1:2 ESV
"Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul."

Reflection: How can you support someone in your community who is struggling with mental health, and what can you do to promote a healthy understanding of mental well-being in your church?

Right, so here we go. It's going to be a fun Sunday where I just answer questions for the next 35, 40 minutes.

And so to give you a little bit of a heads up as we jump into this, I do take very seriously the role, the responsibility of a pastor to answer faith-based questions of people. And so I think that a horrible thing that we do, a horrible feeling is when you have doubts or you have questions, but you don't know where you can go for answers.

And so I want to always be a place where you can come for answers. And so we are going to literally answer every question that comes in. We won't have enough time to do that in the service today. So we're going to continue answering questions in the podcast this week.

And if we still aren't able to get to everything, because I think that 50 number was before service, so it's probably crazy now. But we'll be answering those questions as long as we need until we're done answering all the questions.

If you're worried that you've got a serious question you really need an answer for, and you're not going to be able to be watching the podcast, you didn't watch the previous service, you're worried that you're not going to get the answer you need, please email me at brent at clc.tv. Just my first name at clc.tv. And just that way, I can answer directly your question. Because I don't want anybody to go home without an answer.

And so please take advantage of that. I would love to be able to answer questions. I would love to be able to answer questions for you.

I will add a disclaimer though. There are three questions that I'm not going to answer today. But not because I'm not going to answer them, but because I feel that they need more time than we're going to dedicate in this message. So we're actually going to dedicate a whole Sunday to answering three questions.

Questions about the LGBTQIA+ community. Those questions I'm not going to be answering today. Questions about abortion I'm not going to answer today. And questions about politics I'm not going to answer today. But I will be answering all of those questions.

So if you have questions about those things, go ahead and still text them in. Actually, I think we got it on the screen already. You can actually start asking your questions right now. Even if you don't have a question to ask, I would encourage you to go to that link. Because you can actually upvote other questions.

So if you're like, ooh, that's a really good one, you can upvote it and it'll pop up higher on Jason's list. And then we'll be able to answer that. But those three questions in particular, I feel like need additional time to really address properly.

And so I'm going to go ahead and answer those. And so we're going to actually use the rest of the series to be able to do that. So not answering those today. But please ask them anyways. Because I want to get the nuance of the questions you have.

Make sense? Sound good? You with me? You awake? You alive?

All right, Jason. Make it hot in here. Did that sound weird?

Are we going to start with secular music? Is that?

Yeah, so I think you started last service with the same question or a similar question. It must have been popping up a bunch. And so my answer for that is, don't be stupid. Is that the right answer to that?

No, so congratulations on having a two-bedroom place. Congratulations on your lease being up. Those things do not mean you should engage in dangerous activity.

And so the point that I got to get across is, I don't care that you're engaged. That's not a qualifier for it because engaged does not mean married. Right? I don't care how serious you are. I don't care how much you love them. Until a pastor, a priest, a judge says, I now pronounce you man and wife, you're not together, okay?

And so can you live with somebody if you're not having sex with them? Is that sinful? No, it's not. It's just a bad idea. It's just dangerous. It's playing with fire. Don't do it. Go live with your cousin for a couple of months.

Or you know what? Look, genuinely speaking, like I've done some weddings in our lobby where it was like, hey, look, we need to do this thing like tomorrow. Like, I would rather you get married than go do something stupid.

However, you also need to go to Entwine, so.

Yeah. Don't you love those rhetorical questions? It's not a good idea.

And my guess is there's gonna be a lot of questions today that are can and cannot questions, which as believers, we really should change that to should and should not. Because just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should do that thing.

So should and shouldn't is probably way more important to us than can and can't.

Who is that?

So, man, that's a fun one to answer because like medicinal and recreational are not the same thing, right? And so medicinal because you feel some anxiety and so you figure that this will help or medicinal because your doctor said you should do this. That's two very different things.

And so, look, that's another one of those, you're playing with fire. You know, I heard somebody make an argument, they're like, but it's natural, you know, it grows in nature, that means God created it. It's like God created a lot of things, but it's still stupid for you to engage in it in an inappropriate way.

And so I think that there's a danger in marijuana use. I know it's legal in the US, so we can't even use the argument of you can't break the law. But as a believer, it's not something you should be engaged in.

So, yeah, so I would have to have a conversation with that person because I think that the underlying statement that they're trying to make is that we don't do both. And the reality is CLC and most churches don't do both. They just do both things.

And so, like, just yesterday, we had a big event at the Hope Center here in Blue Island where we gave away, I think it was like 300 or 400 pounds worth of food, fresh vegetables, all kinds of stuff, gave some education to the community. It was a great event.

So that was yesterday. Just during the week, we've had people call in for benevolence help. We do those things locally. We also do things internationally. And so it's a both and. It's not a one or the other.

Now, you will see, usually, we will spend a greater amount of money overseas than we do locally. And the reason for that is just good stewardship. And so it's the value of a dollar.

So if I send a dollar to some people in the Philippines, it's feeding them for a much more significant amount of time than a dollar goes in Chicago, right? And so it's just a matter of stewardship.

And then for us, we also add into that the fact that our mission is to preach the gospel. Right now, there are countries, like our project in Senegal, it's only 4% Christians in all of Senegal. So that's 96% of the population is unreached. That's not the same statistic that you see here in Chicagoland, right?

And so we're gonna spend an extra effort in trying to reach people that have never heard the gospel. There's a missiologist, I forget his name, but said, why should anyone hear the gospel twice before everyone has heard it once?

And so that's a little bit of our heart here at CLC is we wanna make sure that the gospel's being preached in places that have never had a chance to hear it. Whereas everybody in this room probably drove past 15 churches on their way to this building.

And you lump racism and politics together? So I'll just say real quick, racism is stupid. Thanks for that.

And anytime you put anything before your faith in Jesus, that's stupid. You don't do that. So the whole idea of a white Christian nationalist, the fact that you put white before Christian, that's a problem with me right there.

So, yeah.

Was Jesus black?

I'm gonna go to the other end. It's right here. I didn't ask. Sorry, you caught me off guard. I shouldn't laugh. There's no dumb questions. Like, I shouldn't laugh at that.

Was Jesus black? The answer to that question is no. He also wasn't white. So, like, please understand, he was born in Israel. He's Israeli. I don't know if you've ever had a chance to know that.

To go to Israel, there's not a whole lot of black people there. And so it's just the nature of the region. He's Middle Eastern. So he looked something in between the two of us, right? I mean, our best guess.

Was he blonde hair, blue-eyed Jesus? No. I don't even know what to do with that. No. Like, please, we need to use wisdom and understanding. He's Jewish, as Carlton realized a while back.

Okay. So I think that's a great question. A few things for it. One is you've got to live your faith. Right? So people need to be able to see what you believe before you tell them what you believe.

Because if what you're saying and what you're doing don't line up, that makes Jesus look bad. And we don't want to make Jesus look bad. So make sure you're living out your faith.

And then I encourage you to have conversations. Really, the best advice I can give is ask questions. It's actually what Jesus did. I would love to be able to do that today, but I don't think that that works.

But anytime somebody asks Jesus a question, he asks one back. In fact, I think that there's actually a stat out there. I'd have to find it again. But it lists the number of times Jesus answered a question and the number of times he asked a question.

And it's like astronomically different. He answered like five questions. And he asked like 500. It's something crazy. And so ask questions. Get to the root of what they believe and why they believe it.

And then from there, you can have conversation. And then I just feel like I have to hit that. Because you mentioned Catholicism first off. Catholicism, and my wife and I, we always have fun disagreements about this.

Catholicism is a form of Christianity. It's a denomination of Christianity. Now, Catholicism also has adopted some practices that depending on where you are in the world can become a different religion that's no longer following Christ.

And so my wife, growing up in Mexico, Catholicism in Mexico and Catholicism in Chicago are quite different things. And so you really, you can't even take what they say as their religion as the final say.

You really need to get into, okay, who is Jesus? What is the path to salvation? Because you'll have some Jehovah Witnesses tell you, hey, I believe in Jesus. It's like, okay, but the Jesus you believe in is not the Jesus we see in the Bible.

And so we have to have a deeper conversation. And I think the same applies to Catholics and Protestants. That, hey, we are part of the same faith, usually. But there are some Protestants that probably ain't following Jesus. And there's some Catholics that ain't following Jesus.

So we just got to have a deeper conversation about it.

Stop telling me the questions you're not asking me.

Well, well. Give me a question I can answer.

So the Bible's very clear. Sex is reserved for marriage between a man and a woman within the context of that marriage. So anything outside of that, you know, the Bible's really clear on stuff. It's really easy to follow.

Like, here's the boundaries. Anything outside of the boundaries, we don't have to question whether or not it's sinful or not. It is if it's outside of the boundaries of what he set up.

So that means that all that stuff is sin. Is there grace when we sin? Yes. Is there forgiveness when we sin? Yes. We repent, which is not just saying I'm sorry, but it's a change in behavior.

And so if you feel guilt for premarital sex, but then you keep continuing in that action, then was there real remorse? Is there real repentance taking place in that? And that becomes more questionable.

But is there grace when we mess up? Absolutely.

Was there more to the question?

No, no. I thought it was a continuation of the sex question.

I have very little thoughts on any of those subject matters because it's just, it's not a part of my life. I would say any organization that is going to lead you away from Christ, stay away from.

And so if there's something in the sorority you're a part of that's trying to put identity in the sorority as the most important thing in your life, that's sinful. Like, that's anti-Christ.

If there's something in your fraternity that's saying, hey, put the fraternity brothers above your relationship with Jesus. No, that's a problem.

Now, does that mean that a sorority or fraternity just as a blanket statement are bad? No. It just, they can lead to some bad behavior, some bad mentality. And so we just have to be cautious with that.

Again, it's the whole, you know, what did Paul say? You know, everything is permissible when not everything is beneficial. Right?

So can you be a part of a sorority? Yeah. Is it going to benefit your life? Maybe. Is it going to be detrimental to your faith with Jesus? Could be.

You know, if the fraternity is all about the keg stand and, you know, the party that's happening, then that, obviously, that's a problem.

Not doing no keg stand?

Well, I just figured if somebody's asking fraternity or sorority questions, they're in that.

No, brother. No.

Old folks in fraternities?

Yes.

See, I told you. That's not my area of expertise.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, that's the root of the problem.

Yeah, it's idolatry. You place something, we just sang about it today, anything above the name of Jesus.

The ends justify the means is a horrible way to approach life. Right. And so you can't justify a bad behavior with a few good behaviors.

So the answer to that is a little bit complicated and I gave a quick short answer.

Um, and it ruffled some feathers.

Uh, cause here's the problem. Is it real? Maybe. Is it biblical? No.

So is soul ties talked about in scripture? No.

Uh, is there something that happens to some people where they get a little bit unhealthily connected yet? Does that mean that your soul has been tied to their soul? No.

Cause that's not a thing that can happen.

Um, now usually, and I think we brought this up.

Uh, usually the soul ties thing is a connection to premarital sex.

Uh, and so if that's the case, you don't need to worry about the soul tie issue. You need to focus on the fact that it's sin regardless. Right.

So whether there's a soul tie that's happening, Jesus said, don't do it. So we shouldn't do it.

Yeah. You don't need to label that a soul tie. That's just an unhealthy relationship. It's dangerous anytime we take something that's extra biblical and turn it into doctrinal foundation.

And so we just have to be cautious with things like that. So personally I would get rid of the soul ties phrasing just cause it does lead to some weird thoughts and weird conversations.

Things are moving.

Yeah. So sadly church hurt is very real.

Uh, and it, it hurts. I feel like church hurt hurts more than a lot of other hurts because if it's supposed to be a safe place, supposed to be a place where you can find love and compatibility with people and camaraderie.

And there's all of these scriptures about how we build each other up. And so when you're in the environment that's supposed to be building you up and it's the thing that tears you down, I don't know, for some reason that, that hurts more than, than a lot of other situations.

Uh, the reality. The reality is, uh, don't throw out the baby with the bathwater.

So the, the, what I mean by that is it was a person that hurt you. It wasn't the church that hurt you.

Uh, and so I, I got a friend that one time described it like this. He said, if I get, if I'm an alcoholic and I'm at a bar and the bartender is rude to me, is mean to me, makes me feel a certain way, I leave that bar and find a different bar to go to.

I don't leave bars completely.

You out of your bar hopping?

No.

No, but it's an analogy that works because what has happened is a lot of people have been hurt by a church and so they've written off God or they've been hurt by a church. They've written off all churches and that's an unhealthy response.

So the healing process, it does take time. It does take, uh, some risk even to say, Hey, I'm, I'm going to go back into a scenario where I was hurt before.

Uh, but hopefully you can go into it with more wisdom, more understanding. Hopefully you can find a healthy place to be.

I hope that CLC will always be a healthy place.

Uh, for people, uh, who have come from, you know, we've been, we've been referred to as a hospital, uh, for Christians for a long time. And I, and I, I do hope that that continues, uh, in a sense.

I hope it doesn't continue in the sense that churches stop hurting people, um, and don't need to find a church where they can find healing.

But as long as there's church hurt, we want to be a place that can be a shelter, uh, for people that have been hurt.

And so utilize, uh, some of our counseling department ministries, some of our support groups, uh, grief share, uh, utilize our small group system, uh, so that you can get into community with people, that you're not, uh, just trying to follow Jesus all by yourself, because you weren't designed for that.

That's a good question.

Uh, there's a lot of answers to that question, actually.

Um, one is that the miracles around Jesus was for a time.

Uh, now, we're not cessationists. Cessationists will take that and say, so that means there's no more.

Uh, we believe it does continue. However, there was an uptick. There was more of that during Jesus' life to draw attention to him as God.

Right? If he just shows up and says, I'm God, but then doesn't do the things that only God can do, nobody takes him seriously. Nobody believes it.

Right? And so there's an increase in miracles at that time.

Now, when you look at the entirety of scripture, some people are like, man, there's all kinds of miracles and fire from heaven and all these things happening all the time.

Well, that's not true. But you have to also understand the Bible's written over a 3,500 year period.

So count up all of the miracles that take place in the Bible and now divide it out by 3,500. Is that like miracles are happening every other day? No, it's still rare in, in, even in Bible times.

And so to have an expectation that miracles are going to happen, uh, all over the place at magnificent levels is just not, uh, it's not biblically accurate.

Now for, for scripture that says, Hey, we're going to do greater work. Well, I think that that is a quantitative, right?

So if, if Jesus is there healing one person or Jesus sends out 50 disciples and they each heal one person, Jesus healed one, the disciples healed 50, right? So that is a greater work.

Uh, and so that's kind of theologically, that's how we, we come to that one.

But yeah, so, uh, I do expect to see miracles continuing. I have seen miracles. I've, I've seen crazy things happen. People's, uh, backs restored.

There was a guy. A guy, uh, forklift ran over his legs and, uh, he ended up running laps around the church. Like he raced me, uh, and beat me.

Uh, I was really bitter about that because he went from walking with a cane to out sprinting me. And I was, I was really upset because I wasn't fat at the time. I was, I was skinny Brent.

That's a lot of extra information right there. A little bit too much, too much information.

I just want to say, I do believe in miracles. I think miracles take place. Miracles happen here at CLC on a, on a, what I would determine a regular or semi-regular basis.

Now you don't necessarily see the grandiose style, but I think that that was specific to, uh, a purpose that was being fulfilled.

Come on, mama.

Yeah, we don't have a wall like that here.

Yeah. I haven't seen that one.

That's the one I haven't seen.

Yeah, absolutely.

Was it Moody? Who was it that said anticipation is the breeding ground for miracles? Was that Moody?

Who said, somebody said that.

Was somebody good?

That was real good.

I will add, I had a friend that said he hates miracles because miracles only take place when you need God to show up in a desperate way.

And he's like, I would rather just not be in a place where I'm so desperate that the only answer is a miracle.

So.

Can't be praying for God to heal my diabetes when there's a do right donut sitting on my desk.

Which one of us is in the hot seat?

Am I wrong?

Yes.

And I'm just, I'm going to categorize it as a yes, just because I have not met a guy that can do that without lusting over something.

I haven't met a girl that's been able to do that without lusting over.

So is the act of masturbation a sin according to scripture? No, there's nothing that lays that out.

But looking at a woman with lust in your heart is.

So, yeah.

Here's how I would answer that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm good with that answer.

Yeah, 100%.

Yeah.

Now, an argument I heard one time was, isn't it better for me to masturbate than it is for me to go sleep with somebody that I'm not married to?

Well, that's the only two options.

And the answer is no.

Like, option three is don't sin.

Like, that's the better option.

Yeah.

So, no, you can't justify in your mind a lesser sin in order to not commit a greater sin.

Because, biblically speaking, there is no such thing as lesser and greater sin.

So, stop justifying it.

100% agree.

As long as it's followed up with, don't stay the same.

Look, if the church didn't allow sinners to enter, none of us would be here. Myself included.

So, like, yes, absolutely, come as you are.

But the whole point of a relationship with Jesus is that he transforms us. He changes us.

And so, come as you are doesn't mean stay that way.

I can go trick-or-treating.

Yeah.

Show me in the Bible where it says, thou shalt not trick-or-treat.

Now, should you engage in, like, pagan worship? No.

But I think there's a big difference between your kid dressing up as a princess and asking your neighbor for some candy.

I think there's a big difference between that and worshiping Beelzebub or something.

I don't know.

You said you wanted rapid fire.

I know. That's why I asked the wrong question.

The danger there, even though, is…

There's a lot of misinformation out there.

So, like, I'm talking to some Christians here recently that don't like the phrase Easter because they read how that's a yoster and this goddess.

There's literally no historical evidence to prove any of that is true.

Like, so, like, the root of Easter is not a pagan holiday.

That's what they say on TikTok, though.

Yeah, but it's not.

Like, even the…I forget the name of the woman.

The woman that they used, they're like, and her sign was the bunny and eggs.

Like, that goddess was a legitimate, like, it was a thing that people worshiped, and the symbology for it was not eggs or bunnies.

So, like, if you're going to look at the root, like, get to the actual root, don't just regurgitate something that somebody told you one time.

Keep it moving.

Keep it moving.

See, now, that one I'm good with.

See, now…

Okay.

Look, I know there's a lot of Beyonce fans in the room.

However, there is some problematic stuff…

Don't do that.

There is some legit problematic stuff with Beyonce.

This conversation got real weird real fast.

I don't know.

I don't know why you'd want to.

It smells gross.

No, that's not a biblical thing.

So, that would be a no-no.

Stick to the Bible, people.

Like, stick to the Bible.

Follow the Bible.

Read it. Study it. Understand it.

Yeah.

Get rid of the sage.

Get rid of the crystals.

Get rid of the...

All that.

That's a big old red flag right there.

Man, that's actually a really good question.

It just kicked me out of my questions.

So I was actually reading a guy.

Man, I'll have to go back in and see what his name was.

But I was reading a guy that did the math on it.

So I think it was 16,000 or 18,000.

I think it was 18,000 species at the time is the estimation.

So if you got two of every kind, then what's that, 3,600?

36,000, I mean?

So 36,000, the average animal size was a sheep, especially if you're taking a young, right?

Because you don't have to take the full-grown rhinoceros.

You can take the baby one.

And so if you account for that, so the average size of the animal is the size of a sheep, you can actually fit all of the 36,000 in one-third of the ark.

Somebody did the math.

Isn't that crazy?

I love people that do the math.

But the bigger answer to that question is the same God that created the world, the universe, the same God that raised Jesus from the dead, the same God that said, I'm going to flood the earth, the same God that raises dead people back to life.

And if there are miracles in the Bible, we don't have to worry about how Noah got all the animals on the ark.

Miracle.

Come on, Jason, you got like four minutes.

Not only is it okay, it is highly encouraged.

The reality is, as believers, there are some things that are spiritual, there's some things that are physical, there's some things that are mental.

And we want to be healthy in all three areas, right?

And so there are things that you need to do for your physical health, right?

You wouldn't just throw that out and be like, well, God's going to be taking care of me, it's going to be fine.

No, you need to take care of yourself physically.

There are some things you need to do to take care of yourself spiritually.

Coming to church, worshiping, reading your Bible, those are things that you do for your spiritual health.

There are things that you need to do for your mental health.

And the reality is, there's been some danger done, some damage done by the big C church in stigmatizing, or in downplaying mental health issues to the point where believers felt like, and this is a horrible thing to feel, but felt like it was a lack of faith if they went to a counselor or a therapist or got on medication, when all they needed was faith that God would heal them.

God may be bringing about your mental health through the training of a counselor, through medication.

So should a Christian take medicine from their therapist? Yes.

If it has been prescribed to you, if they say you need it, then take it, right?

I would not sit up here and tell somebody that's got cancer that they shouldn't get chemo because they just need to have faith.

No, if there's a sickness in your body, get the help you need.

Sorry, I'm a little passionate about that.

Amen.

Got one more?

Yeah, so it's a really touchy subject.

The Bible is really hard on divorce.

Like, there's only a couple of instances where divorce is okay.

Now, just to list that out, if there's abuse, if there's adultery, divorce is granted, it's warranted, right?

Don't stay in a bad relationship that you're getting abused just because you feel like you have to.

Like, get help, get out, first and foremost.

Now, the remarriage question, it's not addressed very much in the Bible.

Outside of, it's, you're now committing adultery outside of that.

So the only advice that I can give to somebody is take it to Jesus, repent for whatever you need to repent of, but the solution to resolving a sin is never to commit another sin.

And so if divorce is a sin, then this is the advice that I've given to somebody that's like, hey, I was married, we got divorced, I remarried.

The Bible says that that new marriage is sinful, so should I get a divorce in order to fix that sin?

No, you shouldn't.

So at that point, you allow the grace of God, the forgiveness of God to absolve that.

And so it's probably a much bigger conversation than right here, right now that I've got the bandwidth for.

But man, my heart goes out to people that have been in that place.

Divorce is ugly. It hurts people. It hurts kids. It hurts just everybody involved.

So I hate divorce. So don't do it if you can't.

No, one more.

One more. It's 12:28. If we can close at 12:30, we're good.

You couldn't give me like an easy one? The last one?

Okay, so where I am, because I am, first and foremost, I'm all about Bible, okay?

And there is scripture that says, Paul says, I do not permit a woman to teach. Tells them to remain silent.

There are two or three, depending on how you look at it, scriptures that would infer or teach that women pastors would not be an okay thing.

My personal hermeneutics, I use, first, I start from a literal standpoint.

So I'm looking for the literal interpretation of scripture.

I use the word hermeneutics without defining it. Hermeneutics is the art and science of biblical interpretation or interpretation in general.

Anyways, the way I interpret scripture is I start from a literal place and then I use what's called a historical grammatical hermeneutic.

So we look at literal, then we look at history, and we look at grammar.

How does grammar shape this verse? How does the history or the context of the verse shape it?

And so for me, the way I wrestle with those verses, and I do wrestle with them. My wife is a pastor, my mother is a pastor, but it's still something that I wrestle with when I read the scripture.

How I come to the Bible. How I come to the conclusion that it is okay to have female pastors is a cultural understanding.

That at that time, there was not female education the way there is today. There was still a segregation.

And if you've ever been to Israel and you've gone to a Jewish service, they still will separate men and women.

So men sit on one side, women sit on the other side. That's a carryover from even before the first century.

But when Paul is writing this, it's taking place in that context, in that scenario.

So think of it like this. A wife is sitting on this side of our room and the husband is sitting on this side of the room.

The wife who is now being invited into spaces that she's never been allowed to enter into before because Jesus brought that possibility, right?

Even Paul says, you know, there's no longer male or female.

So now they're learning together, they're growing together, they're in fellowship together.

But one's sitting over here, the other's sitting over there.

And something that's said from the pulpit, something that's said as they're expositing the scriptures is confusing to the wife.

So she wants to get an answer from her husband. There's no cell phone to text across the room.

So instead, the wife just goes, hey, Jim, what do you mean by that?

Right, it's disruptive.

And so the reason why I come to that conclusion is there's a lot of passages that Paul talks about order in services, order in the church, that chaos and disruption is not okay.

And so we take a cultural understanding of that situation and that's how we come to the conclusion that we come to here.

Now, there's a lot more that we could address with that.

And there are people that are gonna vehemently disagree with me on that. And I'm okay, we're still brothers in faith.

This is not a salvific issue, which is, it does not bear into salvation, right?

And so it is okay for somebody to even attend CLC and say, you know what, I'm not super comfortable with the whole female pastor's thing.

I'm okay with you having that stance.

Now, you may not feel comfortable here long-term, you know, when you're in the church, when my wife is up here preaching, that may be, you know, too much for you to handle.

And I'm okay, I understand that.

From a biblical standpoint, I understand that there are different interpretations of those passages.

Amen.

That was a, you gave me like a 12-minute question when I said we got like 30 seconds.

My bad.

But if somebody has more questions around that subject or anything, please email me, brent at clc.tv.

I'm more than happy. I'm more than happy to talk through that stuff because especially when we get into the Bible, that's just, that's where I'm happiest.

So ask me your Bible questions.

Cool.

Hey, look at that. They got it up on the screen for you. Brent at clc.tv.

All right, so that is it for our Q&A today. I'm gonna answer a bunch more questions in our podcast this week.

Usually that goes live on Wednesday or Thursday, somewhere in there. So look for that.

If we're not able to get through all the questions, I have no idea how many questions we have at this point. A lot, it just keeps going.

We'll do our best to answer all of them in the one podcast. If we're not able to do it in the one podcast, we'll figure out something from there.

But we are committed to answering every question that you've got.

And if you have specific questions, email me, brent at clc.tv.

As we close out the service today, I wanna tell you there's some really cool things happening this week.

First of all, this Tuesday night is the last session of Life University for this round.

Then we take a one week break and then we come back with four new classes for Life University.

We're gonna be doing a lot of stuff. We're gonna be looking at a lifestyle of worship and leading yourself and a few other things.

I think a walk through the book of Acts for our biblical studies course. It's a lot of great classes.

You can get information on that in this week's newsletter or on social throughout this week.

And we'll be emailing everybody that's part of Life University how they can register for those classes as well.

And then this Wednesday night is CLC Women. Hope to see the ladies here. Gonna be a great time fellowshipping together, hanging out and all of that.

And then it is April food drive this whole month. So bring in your food items. You can leave them right there in the lobby. Hope to see you there.

All right, why don't you stand to your feet? Let me pray the blessing over you.

Jason, thank you for all of your input today. It was a lot of sex questions.

You couldn't ask the sex questions?

It was a lot of them.

Give me one real fast. What was the sex question you didn't want to answer?

Let me pull it up. I can get it myself.

All right, two things. One, prayer team, if you can come on down if you need prayer for anything at all.

Second thing, is oral sex okay in marriage?

Yes.

Absolutely. It's your thing.

"And so there are things that you need to do for your physical health, right? You wouldn't just throw that out and be like, well, God's going to be taking care of me, it's going to be fine. No, you need to take care of yourself physically. There are some things you need to do to take care of yourself spiritually... There are things that you need to do for your mental health. And the reality is, there's been some danger done, some damage done by the big C church in stigmatizing, or in downplaying mental health issues..." [01:41:09](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



"Congratulations on having a two-bedroom place. Congratulations on your lease being up. Those things do not mean you should engage in dangerous activity... Until a pastor, a priest, a judge says, I now pronounce you man and wife, you're not together, okay?... It's just dangerous. It's playing with fire. Don't do it." [01:03:34](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



"Is there grace when we sin? Yes. Is there forgiveness when we sin? Yes. We repent, which is not just saying I'm sorry, but it's a change in behavior. And so if you feel guilt for premarital sex, but then you keep continuing in that action, then was there real remorse? Is there real repentance taking place in that?" [01:14:52](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



"I would say any organization that is going to lead you away from Christ, stay away from. And so if there's something in the sorority you're a part of that's trying to put identity in the sorority as the most important thing in your life, that's sinful... Can you be a part of a sorority? Yeah. Is it going to benefit your life? Maybe. Is it going to be detrimental to your faith with Jesus? Could be." [01:16:43](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



"The reality is, uh, don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. So the, the, what I mean by that is it was a person that hurt you. It wasn't the church that hurt you... So the healing process, it does take time. It does take, uh, some risk even to say, Hey, I'm, I'm going to go back into a scenario where I was hurt before." [01:23:22](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



"To have an expectation that miracles are going to happen, uh, all over the place at magnificent levels is just not, uh, it's not biblically accurate. Now for, for scripture that says, Hey, we're going to do greater work. Well, I think that that is a quantitative... Jesus healed one, the disciples healed 50." [01:25:33](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



"My personal hermeneutics, I use, first, I start from a literal standpoint. So I'm looking for the literal interpretation of scripture... How I come to the conclusion that it is okay to have female pastors is a cultural understanding. That at that time, there was not female education the way there is today." [01:44:18](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



"I do take very seriously the role, the responsibility of a pastor to answer faith-based questions of people. And so I think that a horrible thing that we do, a horrible feeling is when you have doubts or you have questions, but you don't know where you can go for answers. And so I want to always be a place where you can come for answers." [59:27](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)