Have You Lost Hope?

Can I ask you an honest question? What are the things that you need to hear at this moment that will set you on a course of blessing and help and grace? I want to encourage you, everyone right now, if you're watching on YouTube, give us a thumbs up. Click on that. If you are listening or watching on Facebook, click like and then share.

The same on YouTube, go ahead and click share. Now, because Friday's broadcast is going to be a best of broadcast as we come into the Christmas holidays, I'm opening the phone lines. A little later in the broadcast, I'll take calls on any subject under the sun.

So like we do on Friday, anything you want to talk to me about, anything you want to ask me, we'll do that a little later in the broadcast. 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. So call in now. We'll get you your calls a little bit later in the broadcast. 866-34-TRUTH.

Like we do on Friday, any subject under the sun you want to talk to me about, go ahead. Now is a great day to call in. But first, I've got some really important things to share that I believe will really help many of you. Everyone that's listening, you're part of a congregation, you're part of a church, share this with your leadership. Share this with your pastor. I believe that many will be encouraged and helped. I was in prayer late last night and after a time of prayer and worship, I heard the Spirit say to me, strengthen my leaders. Strengthen the shepherds. That's part of what I want to do today.

This is not something we do only in this broadcast, but it's something I want to do today as well. And let me start in Proverbs, chapter 13, verse 12. Proverbs, chapter 13, verse 12. It is a verse that many of you have heard over the years. I'll read it to you first in Hebrew. Tohelet bemumashach makhelelev. So hope deferred, hope that is prolonged, a sickness of the heart. Ve'etz chayim tava'va'ah. But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.

And in Hebrew, the contrast is in the middle of the verse between sickness of heart and tree of life. When a hope is prolonged, hope deferred, when is it going to happen? It's never going to happen. I thought now the breakthrough was going to come. I thought 2023 was going to be different. I thought now was when I was going to get married. I thought now is when we'd be able to have children. I thought now is when we'd see the church grow. I thought now is when we'd finally break even and finish. I thought, I really thought, I thought that God showed me or God promised me or I just had this witness or this expectation.

It's another year gone by and it still hasn't happened. That makes the heart sick. Look, you know me, even though on broadcast, for example, like tomorrow's broadcast, I will be shouting out a warning. I will be sounding the alarm. If this is regular, you know that I'm full of optimism, that I'm full of encouragement, that for the most part in my life, I live encouraged. For the most part in my life, I live with this tremendous expectation of the goodness of God being manifest in our lives and on the earth.

I'm constantly rejoicing in what God is doing even while looking at all the horrible things happening in the world and all the crises within the church. So, bottom line, I'm not one of those who walks around discouraged, but it can happen to me as well. It can happen to me wired the way I am. It can happen to anyone, especially to those that aren't kind of wired for optimism the way that I am. And things just drag on and you think, is it ever going to happen? And you begin to wonder and you begin to doubt. You begin to question, maybe I haven't really heard from God or maybe I'm not doing what God really called me to do. Or maybe my particular aspect of faith is wrong. Or maybe this whole faith is wrong and God doesn't even exist.

You can go through those things. That's what happens with hope deferred. It makes the heart sick. I just saw a survey.

This is the lowest number in the history of the survey being done in terms of how many Americans are depressed and not optimistic about the future. And that's the that's a prevailing spirit. And so many Gen Z growing up in the in the age of social media, Internet and cell phones and all the distractions and everything that brings isolation.

Gen Z is the loneliest, most depressed, most suicidal, most medicated generation in American history. Again, I don't say it's an indictment, but it's saying, boy, we have needs. And in the church, for sure, I can take you to churches where God is moving. We did a whole show recently just with pastor after pastor talking about what God's doing in their churches. But plenty of you, faithful leaders, you've been serving for years and you see church in the decline. You see numerical decline, decline in commitment, decline in giving. Or you're just stagnating, just stagnating, just stagnating as a 2023 is going to be your breakthrough. This is going to it never happens.

It never and you wonder, is it ever going to happen? And then sometimes we just resign ourselves to this is the way it's always going to be. Some of you thought, this year I'm really going to break through in my walk with God. This is the year change is going to come. This year I'm going to get disciplined with my diet. Or this is the year I'm going to develop these better habits as a parent. And that's the end of the year.

It still hasn't happened. That's bad enough when you're motivated and you have hope generated out of your own heart that something's going to happen and it doesn't. But it's all the more intense, it's all the more overwhelming when you feel God showed you. God promised you. And I'm one who journals. And I'll look back at promises and think, it was a year ago, it was two years ago, it was three years ago, it was four years ago, it was five years ago.

And I had the exact same expectation and now is the time and it hasn't happened. We go through that. As I was worshipping last night, I went over to the Brownsville Revival where I had the privilege of serving from 1996 to 2000. The most powerful outpouring of the spirit I've ever witnessed.

What church historian Vincent Simon called the longest running local church revival in American history. And I went back to a service, one of my favorite songs, probably my single favorite that we would sing there is Spirit of the Sovereign Lord. And in it, Linda Cooley's leading worship, but then he begins to share from his heart. And I believe as many of you hear his words now, it's going to resonate with you.

You're going to say, yes, that's exactly where I'm at. Let the Spirit of the Lord minister to you. Whether or not you're Pentecostal or Charismatic, whether or not you participate in Brownsville or believe it was real, let's put all that aside and take this in and may the Lord minister to you through this song. The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon you Because He has anointed you to preach good news The Spirit of the Sovereign God is upon you Because He has anointed you to preach good news He has sent you to the poor to bind up the brokenhearted To bring freedom to the captive And to release the ones in darkness This is the gift of the favor of the Lord This is the gift of the vengeance of our God This is the gift of the favor of the Lord This is the gift of the vengeance of our God For so many years, we the church have cowered in the corner. As people ask us, where is your God? Where are His mighty acts? Where are the things that happen in the Word of God? Where are the great miracles? And it seems for the last several years, we've just been a shell of what we could be for the Lord. And many of us begin to wonder and ask questions in ourselves.

Is it really real anymore? Does God still do it? He is the Lord God Almighty. He moves at His time. He moves on His clock.

He doesn't move according to what we want or when we want it, but He moves when He's ready to move. And the Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon us today. Because He has anointed us to preach goodness.

Yes He is! The Spirit of the Sovereign God is upon us. We could continue to listen to that and be ministered to. But those words, I remember I used to watch that or listen to it and weep. Literally weep because God was moving. And prayers that I had prayed for years and a deep promise that God had given me 13 years earlier. That I had wept over and prayed over and fasted over and groaned over and cried out to God for. And called people to cry out to God for. A promise that I would serve in a revival that would touch the world. These things were happening.

It was real. We were seeing the radical conversions. We were seeing the deep repentance. And I look back now all these years later and you see the fruit of it. And those who were dramatically touched, burning bright to this day.

And making a massive impact for the Lord and American around the world. And I'm reminded that some of you are in that exact place right now that Lentil the worship leader described. Does God do it anymore? Do these things really happen?

Or is any of it real? And the Sovereign Lord is saying I'm moving afresh. I'm moving afresh. There's a fresh wind.

Something's happening. Be encouraged friends. It's not too late for you. It's not too late for the Church of America.

It's not even too late for America as a whole if we'll get desperate and earnestly cry out to Him and turn from our sin. Friends, a fresh wind is blowing. I'm hoping. I'm praying. You can feel it. You come back. I've got more encouragement for you. Then we'll go to the phones. 866-348-7884.

All subjects and calls. Welcome. They can never have it. This is how we rise. It's our resistance.

You can't resist us. Is brain health important to you or someone you love? Then please take a few moments and let me present a most amazing product formulated by leading physicians from Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins Medical.

This is Michael Ellison, founder of TriVita. I watched my mother who was wonderfully gifted and such a hard worker for most of her life until her later years. And then it was so sad to see the effects of neurodegeneration.

Even to the stage she did not recognize her son. Did you know that two out of three Americans aged 50 years or older experience some level of cognitive impairment affecting their lives? I was determined to find a formula that would support brain health. I commissioned three of the most talented and competent physicians to build a formula that would not only support mental health long term, but would contribute to feeling brighter, more alert, and with less anxiety each day. After considerable research, a formula was developed and now I have the joy of presenting NeuroShine, exclusively from TriVita. The formula ingredients are equivalent to the science studies shown to improve focus and concentration, enhance mood and memory acquisition. It has also been demonstrated to help prevent cognitive loss. I encourage you to call a TriVita wellness consultant and discuss how NeuroShine will support your brain health or someone you love.

To feel better and brighter, try NeuroShine for yourself. Order today and use promo code BROWN25 to receive 25% off your order. As a new customer, 100% of your order proceeds from your first order will go to support the Line of Fire radio broadcast. Call 1-800-771-5584, 1-800-771-5584, or online at TriVita.com.

This is how we rise up. It's the Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the Line of Fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Once we get into the new year, I'll give you my NeuroShine update, how I have found the product which I'm just about to try. And remember, for those that have never ordered from our co-sponsor TriVita, 100% of your first order goes right back into the Line of Fire to help us get on more stations and blanket the nation with our broadcast in more than a tithe of all subsequent orders. So that's 800-771-5584. Tell them Dr. Brown said it. Well, they'll know when you call that number.

Or TriVita.com Brown 25. Okay. So just a couple more minutes. I want to speak to those of you who are discouraged. There are certain things that can't be fixed in this world. A dear friend lost his wife recently suddenly unexpectedly of 40-something years' marriage. He's in ongoing agony as the weeks go on.

In terrible pain. I can't imagine. I just can't imagine a loss like that.

As Nancy and I are about to celebrate 48 years of marriage. And you can't fix that in this world. You know what I'm saying? Some of you lost a child. You just can't fix that.

Some of you, you've had a life-altering injury and that's just the reality. Unless God miraculously intervenes, that's the reality. Certain things don't get fixed in this world, but it doesn't mean that God cannot bring light out of darkness. It doesn't mean that God cannot bring hope in the midst of pain. It doesn't mean that he's not a redeemer. And everything that was meant to destroy us, that he can't use that in a way to produce good in our lives. It doesn't mean that Romans 8.28 is not true. That all things work for the good for those who love God and are called according to his purposes. And ultimately, God is making us like his son. But I want to speak more specifically to the question of hope deferred.

To the question of is it ever going to happen. You know, I've looked more in recent months in Luke the 24th chapter. And this is the famous account, Jesus talking to the two disciples.

He meets them on the road to Emmaus. Now he's risen from the dead, but they don't know it. Heard some reports, but all their hopes, this expectation, this is it. The Messiah is real. It's real. He's here.

We've looked at the miracles. This is the son of God. He's here.

It's real. And then he died. He dies a criminal's death. He's rejected.

Everybody abandons him. And what? Even though he told them it was going to happen, they didn't get it. He told them repeatedly, but it was just so foreign to them they couldn't get it.

Now they're in this fog, certainly demonic spirits loose to discourage, depress and attack. And they're talking and discussing things. And Jesus said, what are you talking about?

And they're downcast. They begin to answer him. They said, what, you haven't heard? What, the only one in Jerusalem doesn't know? He says, what are you talking about? And they don't recognize him.

Their eyes are withheld from recognizing him. About Jesus of Nazareth, they replied, that's what we're talking about. He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death and they crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more is the third day since all this took place.

In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb earlier this morning, but they didn't find his body. They came and told us that they'd seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. And some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus. Now remember, they hear this, he's risen from the dead right with them. But the depression, the hopelessness is so deep, they can't see it. They said he's risen. They said they have a vision of angels and he's alive.

We're still downcast because we just have lost hope. Remember the children of Israel, Moses comes and works the signs for them and God's going to deliver them. And yes, praise God, they're going to be delivered from their slavery. And then he goes and tells Pharaoh, let my people go. I said, what are you talking about?

You're idle. Now your work's going to get even harder. Now it gets even rougher. And they said, Moses, it's got worse since you got here.

And he shows them the signs and it's like, they don't believe. Why? Hopelessness.

Hopelessness. That's exactly where some of you are. I know it. I don't just know it statistically that out of all those that we speak to in the course of a broadcast that there are going to be some that are fighting this. I know it by the Spirit as well. That's why I'm speaking on these things today. Especially coming to the end of the year. Some of you are like, another year has gone by and this is it?

This is it? And you're in pain because of lack of hope. Jesus says to them how foolish you are and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Did the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? Then he opens the scriptures to them and then they insist on him staying with them because it's getting later. Then as he breaks bread, their eyes are open, they see who he is and he disappears. Smaller hearts were burning as he talked. Pastor John Kilpatrick, who was the pastor and senior leader at Brownsville Assembly of God and oversaw the Brownsville Revival, he has talked about it.

It's on my show and he's talked about these things. Outwardly, the church was succeeding. Even the TV ministry in the local states. It was a healthy, growing church in many respects. He just knew something was missing. Something deep was missing. You may be in a church, sir, you may be leading a congregation that's thriving outwardly, but you're agonizing on the inside because you know something's missing. Your people don't really know God. They're not really encountering God and something is wrong. They're so bound by sin in the world, you know something's wrong.

There's got to be more. He would go in the church building alone at night, in the middle of the night and just wail and cry and groan. He said that when he really felt the outpouring was near, the revival was near, God was about to break, it was still distant. When he lost all hope, that's when it was near.

You can't make a rule out of this, but often it's the way it is. It's near, it's about to happen, and it doesn't. Then you think, it's never going to happen. I thought so. Boy, I had all these reasons.

Maybe he had a great outpouring lesson for a few weeks and ended it. It's never going to happen. Many times it's right around the door. That's what I'm saying to you, and then I'll be done with this subject.

We'll go to the phones. See if the Lord breathes fresh hope into you as I speak. See if you sense that encouragement rising. I remember a pastor preaching a message decades ago. We know what the Bible says, without faith it is impossible to please God. Without faith it is impossible, Hebrews 11 and 6. He preached a message called, without hope it is improbable.

Without hope it is improbable. I'm telling you that I stand here as a servant of the Lord telling you that God is moving. That there's every reason to set your sails because the wind is here. There's every reason to expect God to meet you as you seek him earnestly. There's every reason for you to believe that in Jesus the best is yet to come. I don't just mean eternal heaven, but I mean in terms of the working of God that we get to witness in our lives. Friends, I've been around, been in the Lord now by his grace over 52 years, and it's by his grace, period.

Over 52 years. And I've had ups and downs and struggles and hit walls and fallen short. And I'm telling you, I've seen the faithfulness of God over and over. And I've been through these seasons where you think it's never going to happen. Be realistic and accept the fact that breakthroughs aren't going to come. You didn't really hear God. The promises aren't real. And those rare moments of crisis where you feel like nothing's real.

The whole thing is false. That's something I very rarely go through. But I've been hit with that briefly.

Others, you live with that. Is any of this real? I'm telling you God is at work and God is about to stretch forth his hand. And many of you are going to be in the midst of outpourings of the Holy Spirit. And personally, you're going to receive encouragement from God. Even in the midst of the storm and the difficulty and the pain.

And you see no change. I'm telling you, encouragement is going to flood many of your hearts. And you're going to feel the uplifting truth of God.

And you're going to raise your eyes to look at him and worship. And as you do, hope is going to rise afresh. And on the wings and heels of that hope, faith will rise. And confidence will rise. And soon enough you'll know that you know that the God you worship is real, is true.

And is about to move powerfully in your life and in the earth. Be encouraged today. We come back, friends.

We go straight to the phones with your calls on a wide variety of subjects. Stay with us. Michael Brown here, friends, with a very, very sober announcement. We're living in different days. We're living in different times. The battle has come to us. And like it or not, every single one of us, we are in the line of fire today. And friends, there is an all-out war today against the Jewish people.

There is an all-out war like there was before the Holocaust to annihilate and destroy Jewish people. And God has positioned us with the line of fire on the front lines to do two things that are very, very critical. One, to speak the truth about Israel. To speak the truth about anti-Semitism. To push back against the destructive lies. To push back against false theologies.

To stand strong and tall and say this is what the Word says and this is what reality is. And then with that, friends, we also reach out to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It is a key role that we play. We are equipping Jewish evangelists around the world. We are equipping the church to share the good news. We are directly involved in winning Jewish people to Jesus, Yeshua.

So we are fighting on these two critically important fronts in unique ways. And I want to call on each of you to stand with me. Stand with our support team. Become a Torchbearer today. These are urgent days and you can make a difference. Go to AskDrBrown.org. AskDrBrown.org. Click on donate monthly support.

One dollar a day or more. You become a Torchbearer, a monthly supporter. Together we're making a difference. We will pour into you. Immediately get two free books that will bless you.

You get access to many free online classes, exclusive video content, all other benefits. Read about it at AskDrBrown.org. Join our support team today. This is how we rise up. It's the Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the Line of Fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. As promised, since Friday will be a best of broadcast as we come into the Christmas season. We wanted to go to the phones today on all subjects and then come into the new year. We've got some best of broadcasts coming your way next week. We've got some major, major announcements we'll be making in the early year. If you're getting our emails and letters, you'll know about these as well. Let us start in Bay Ridge, New York. Evan, welcome to the Line of Fire.

Hey, Dr. Brown. Thank you for taking my call. Before I start, on the subject of Jewish evangelism, I'd also just like to raise awareness of a lot of almost forgotten Jewish communities in a lot of East Europe, which is like Romania, Greece, Bulgaria. There's a lot of forgotten Jews, if you could, just to raise awareness for, just in general, to reach them to become messianic. On my topic of theistic evolution, I just wanted to get your take on that idea, because I've noticed that that's the reason why a lot of people, well, the majority of people, have turned their faith away from God. And how should we address that? Like, should we preach with it?

I know there's a lot of conservative Christians are coming out and saying that it is compatible. I don't know if you've heard of an inspiring philosophy on YouTube. And I just wanted to get your take on that. So theistic evolution would generally say that, yes, evolution is real, but it was God who was guiding the process over the millions or billions of years. So this is a divine process through which God worked. And that would be the view of some older creationists would say that. Now, others would say we all believe in evolution, but micro, not macro. Right. That we all believe that within the species, there is development in evolution within species and adaptation.

And that's what God designed. But that macro evolution. So from one species to another or Darwinian evolution is something that we have to reject. So, yes, it is true that many people do lose their faith over evolution. I was completely untouched by that in high school and college, just not having science classes.

And or when I had them, I wasn't engaged in the classes. But in point of fact, as I surveyed people, many did lose their faith and then came back to the Lord subsequently. So it is something that still needs to be dealt with, even if we say, well, Darwinian evolution is crumbled and and even institutions are recognizing it more and more. So does the stronghold that raises questions. So, Evan, as you probably know, I've often said that I am not scientifically astute enough to sit down and argue with a young Earth creationist versus an old Earth creationist.

So for me, the question is, what does scripture say? And if I'm trying to reach someone, this is their big obstacle. Right. Then I would say, hey, listen, why don't you go to a Web site like reasons.com, reasons.org, the reasons to believe Web site, or why don't you go to creation.com, a young Earth Web site. And why not go there?

One's older, one's younger. And why not look at the answers to some of your questions? In other words, I don't I'm not going to make the science issue the big issue up front. Number one.

Number two, I don't have the academic capability to get into an in-depth discussion with someone who's really studied these things. I really enjoyed being at the Young Earth Creation Museum in Dallas earlier this year. I was amazed at how well done it was. And I encourage folks to go there. I visited with you, Ross, and the folks at Reasons to Believe when I was in Florida some some years back. I interacted with folks like Jonathan Sarfati, a Young Earth Creationist. We've had others.

Fuz Rana on the show, you know, older. So I've I've welcomed both points of view. And what I would do is I'm trying to get someone to believe in the reality of the God of the Bible. And right now, they suspect the Bible as a whole of being false, because in their mind, it teaches a six day creation, et cetera.

Well, right. Someone's convinced that's what it teaches. Well, go to the Young Earth Creationist and see what they have to say.

And look at the top scientists and biologists and geologists and archaeologists among them, you know, with PhDs and recognized institutions and look at what they're producing to say we have answers. You can read the Bible in this way. If you say, well, I just I know the Bible talks about God creating and all that.

I just have a problem with this whole idea. Well, then go to the older websites and read what they have to say. And either way, let's start there with some of the obstacles to believing the truthfulness, the veracity of scripture. Start there, because in my view, you could argue based on creation accounts and things like that, a young earth or an older. You could make arguments for either.

And they're going to have to be other determining things in terms of coming to final conclusions. I know folks on both sides differ with me on that. That's my view there. So I would I would be as evangelistically practical as possible and say, hey, there are older creationists who hold views similar to you, but they're sure the Bible is true and that the only way to explain the origin of the universe is with God. Or I might even make it more simple and say, how can you explain anything without God? Unless you believe that nothing created everything. You know, where did matter come from?

Where did the energy come from? You know, to form the universe. As my friend Frank Turic says, I've got no problem with a big bang as long as there was a big banger. You know, you can always just start there and say, if you rule God out, then there's no sense to anything.

Nothing has any meaning. And even human beings are just basically it's a deterministic world view because we're just products of a random evolutionary process. Just doing what evolution told us to do.

You know, it's just inevitable that we act and live in certain ways. So I would either give them options to begin to think and recognize their solid scientific intellectual people who have answers on different sides of this, or even more fundamentally say, well, what do you do without God? How can you explain any of this without God? You can't.

The origin of life, the details of the cell, so many things, just like there's no ultimate atheistic answer that works fully. And then the last thing is you pray for the person to recognize their need for God because sometimes God starts with the heart and then the head catches up after that. Right. Thank you. I appreciate that. But on the matter of since Jewish evangelism is obviously your specialty. For someone like me, that's that might be looking into it. How should I go when trying to spread the gospel to Jews?

Yes, I might specifically like I could do probably in the communities of Greece, I speak Greek so I could go and obviously have like a debate, do whatever within the evangelism community there. But in general, how should we spread it to somebody like that? Simple thing. Same as anyone. Build a relationship. Pray for people. Take a genuine interest in their well-being.

Get to know them, to love them. And as you have the opportunity, begin to talk to them about their own beliefs and faith. Share your own testimony and then become sensitive to Jewish objections.

The simplest way for you to do that, Evan, is to go to RealMessiah.com. When you go there, you will find about 100 of the most common objections with short answers in writing or via video. Then what I'd encourage you to do is watch some of the full length debates there that I've had with rabbis. That's so much to learn to debate, but rather to see what the objections are. Why these rabbis don't believe where they're coming from and then see how I respond. Then if you want to dig deeper, I've got my five volumes on answering Jewish objections to Jesus. You go through those one at a time. But check out the free resources first at RealMessiah.com.

Understand the objections, understand the issues from a secular Jew to a religious Jew, and then pray that God would give you divine opportunities, divine connections with someone that's seeking or hungry or ripe. Hey, thank you, sir, for the questions. Much appreciated. Thank you for your heart for the Jewish people. 866-34-TRUTH.

Let's go to Joshua in Washington State. Welcome to the line of fire. Thank you, Dr. Brown. My question revolves around the anti-Semitism within the church fathers and how to give a little more context, I just last night had a very eye-opening and very hard conversation with a friend of mine, a very dear friend of mine who now basically has made the argument that there is an ontological shift and change that happened to the Jewish people after the death of Jesus, making them the children of Satan and all of that typical anti-Semitic argumentation. And I quoted what I could from memory of John Chrysostom, and he basically said to me that with other pitiful objections to how I was presenting it, but basically said he could not see how that what John Chrysostom said was sinful.

And so I'm just trying to find, very specifically, I'm trying to prep for this discussion with him that I am inevitably going to have again. And I'd like to know if you have any more like inter-Christian theological tools to... Yeah, Joshua, have you read my book, Our Hands Who Stand With Blood? Yes, I have.

I am in the process of reading it, yes. Right, right. So you'll get most of your information there. I'm not sure which edition you have, 1992 or 2019. The most recent. Okay, good.

So things are expanded there right up until today. What I would do is first contrast what God says about Israel and the Jewish people and his ongoing love. And Paul even explicitly saying, even though they're enemies, those rejecting the gospel or enemies of the gospel for your sake, they're still loved on account of the fathers. I would look at the Philo-Semitism, so it's chapter three of Our Hands Who Stand With Blood, of the Puritans and of the Scottish Presbyterians and of these others who spoke so plainly and understood these things.

I would then also point him to God's grace towards us as followers of Jesus and the promises of God to extend grace to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And then the other thing is I would emphasize strongly that this is the very thing Paul warned about in Romans 11. Don't be arrogant because of ignorance. The ignorance being that God's finished with Israel, God's finished with the Jewish people, he's done with them. Paul said that ignorance will lead to arrogance.

And you'll say, well, we're in Israel and we've replaced them. Paul warned about it. And that's why the church is in spiritual decline where these things have happened. They pray that God opens his eyes because there's obviously a bad mood on the inside that's being fed by these ugly attitudes. And the demonizing of the Jews happens through church history with horrific, bloody consequences. ...affecting their daily lives is a serious issue.

But there's hope. Introducing TriVita's NeuroShine, brain support supplement developed by Mayo and Johns Hopkins trained doctors. NeuroShine is specifically designed to nurture the healthy development of brain cells and provide defense against neurodegeneration. TriVita's NeuroShine contains bicopaminari, shown to enhance verbal learning, delayed word recall, memory acquisition, and reduction of anxiety.

Studies also show an impressive 85% improvement in focus and concentration. Our clinical formulators included lithium orotate, a specific salt known to enhance mood, making you feel better and brighter. It also demonstrated to prevent cognitive loss. TriVita's formula includes pantothenic acid, playing a crucial role in regulating and synthesizing several neural pathways, ensuring comprehensive support of your cognitive health. Protect and enhance your cognitive health today with NeuroShine. Experience the difference in mood, memory, focus, and concentration. TriVita, your trusted partner in wellness, brings you NeuroShine to support a brighter and healthier mind, sold only by TriVita.

To feel better and brighter, try NeuroShine for yourself. Order today and use promo code BROWN25 to receive 25% off your order. As a new customer, 100% of your order proceeds from your first order will go to support the Line of Fire radio broadcast.

Call 1-800-771-5584, 1-800-771-5584, or online at T-R-I-V-I-T-A, TriVita.com. It's the Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the Line of Fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome back, friends, to the Line of Fire. So, one more word to Joshua.

I know you hung up during the break, which is fine. But just one more word to Joshua, then we'll go right back to the phones. This is a spiritual battle above all. And when you talk about the painful discussion you had, yeah, it's shocking to hear someone say, That's fine. Jews are just fit to be, yeah, like animals fattened for slaughter.

That's it. And a synagogue is worse than a brothel. You know, some of the rhetoric of John Chrysostom, who in many other ways was a tremendous Christian leader, but had these horrific sermons against the Jews, seven sermons, ultimately eight sermons against the Jews. But he was not alone.

You show where these things led, what they result in. And ultimately how it affects how people see the Jewish people to this moment. And if they can't see that, if they can't see God's love in the midst of his rebuking his people and calling them stiff-necked, et cetera, he says in Jeremiah 32, As often as I did this, my heart always longed for you. There was always a sense of God's tender, fatherly love. So, yeah, Joshua, be strong. And now, you know, some of the pain many of us have lived with for decades. It's it's horrific.

May the Lord work and bring your friend to repentance and recognition of God's purposes for Israel. All right. We go to Carrie, North Carolina. Greg, you're on the line of fire. Hello, Dr. Brown.

How are you doing? Real quick question. When you were in Israel, did you go to Jericho? No, I didn't.

The the the tour did. But that's one morning I stayed back. Oh, you didn't go where Zacchaeus was. You know, that's one of my favorite stories in the Bible. But anyway, I've done it in years past, but not this not this time.

There are parts of the tour where I stay back and then meet with everyone later in the day. That was one of those days. All right, Dr. Brown. The question I have is I've heard and in songs that they've referred to, like, say they refer to grace as ridiculous and say they. A preacher might say, you know, he might refer to faith as reckless and excuse my ignorance, but it's like a fingernails on a chalkboard to me when I hear people say stuff like that. And I don't know if it's just me or if I'm just completely theologically incorrect or whatever. It's certainly not just you that that's for sure. I'm sure many others struggle with some of the terminology. So, number one, it's not just you.

I understand why you would be concerned. Number two, I want to understand what someone means when they say it. Right. Because reckless let's talk about reckless faith, because I've heard that I haven't heard ridiculous grace, but I've heard reckless faith. So what does someone mean by that? Because faith is responsible. Faith is sober. Faith is is not just some emotional decision and you're just going to jump out on something.

That's that's often fleshly presumption. So what do you mean by reckless? If they mean fearless, if they mean willing to take risks in stepping out in obedience. OK, I get that.

Right. Because many times God calls you to do something by faith. It's like, oh, no, this is scary. And in that sense, you have to take a risk. Did I hear God or not? When you put your faith in Jesus and turn away from sin and maybe leave your livelihood because it's corrupt. And now say, I'm going to follow the Lord. That's a risk in the natural. But, you know, he's true.

You know, he's real. You're going to do it. When you say no to certain things that could be very lucrative because it's dishonoring to God in the natural. That's a risk.

But you do it because it's faith. So there are things, you know, I remember when God spoke to me in June of eighty three to quit my job and go teach at a Bible school. And I gave notice on my job, say it's going to be several months down the line. I'd be leaving and be transitioning.

That was the summer of the in the fall. But I had I'd never even talked to the school. I had no one, you know, no contact. But I knew it was God. So I stepped out. There are other things I've done over the years where I knew it was God and I had to step out. So faith causes us to take risks in the natural.

But it's sober. It's knowing the will of God. Walking by faith in obedience to God, just obeying the scriptures causes us to take risks in this natural world where we obey. So if that's what they mean, it's reckless. We just step out. We obey.

Amen to that. If reckless means that it's irresponsible, that it doesn't think about the consequences, that it acts based on emotion, then that's that's a bad word to use. So I would ask the person, what do you mean when you sing that? If they explain it in a way that makes sense biblically and you're at home with that, then when you hear reckless, just hear the good sense of it. If when they explain it, it reinforces that they're reckless and they're used to the word, then that's not a song you're going to be able to enter into with, you know. Well, you've heard these songs where they say, the Holy Spirit followed me. And I'm thinking the Holy Spirit is not a clumsy oath. I mean, what would I understand what they would say?

I mean, just the terminology of words. Psalm 23. Right. In Hebrew. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me.

It's literally will chase me all the days of my life. Right. So I feel like in the old days, they used to talk about the Holy Spirit as the hound of heaven who tracks people down. These were reverend Christians would use that terminology. So you don't want to get hung up on certain things because everyone's expressing things in different words.

But some of our hymn writing today can be a little too loose. So I would I would really want to understand, OK, what what do these people mean when they sing the song? You know, what what's the what's the point of it?

And can I enter into that as as well? You know, look, there's songs we say, you know, and dancers who dance on injustice. And someone said to me, what does that mean to dance on injustice? It's a good sounding song, but that's a fair question. What does it actually mean? You know, if if we I've never heard God's grace is ridiculous.

Maybe it isn't a song. If it means it's it's completely incomprehensible. It's ridiculous that God would do this in the natural.

God would send his son to die for sinners like us and then he'd bring us into his own family and set us in heavenly places. It's completely ridiculous. It's inconceivable that. Yeah, I can understand that and say amen to that. But it's it's a matter of of how carefully the words are written and conceived and what they mean and what they convey. And sometimes I just I just think they could use that on. Maybe I'm being too critical.

I need to chill. But a lot of times it's just like you were bringing up at the beginning of the song, that worship song. And I can just think of the songs like my favorite worship song of all times is Lord, we lift your name on high.

Do you remember that song? Yeah, sure. It's so simple, but it's like so theological and evangelistic. Here's what I encourage you to do, Greg, because I had a season in my life where I was just kind of hypercritical of everybody doing everything, you know, late 70s, early 80s. And it could happen, you know, that that attitude can rise up. I would come to worship and to celebrate and to say, hey, these people are pure hearts and they're going after the Lord and and they want to bring us into the presence of God. Start the positive note.

And then then if you hit a wall, then if it's a song, you just all right. So you just maybe sipped that one out, you know, or just kind of pray quietly and and and tune out for a bit, then come back. So come in with a good attitude, positive attitude and say, hey, I think the worship leader, I think the team, they want to bring us into the presence of the Lord or bring us into a revelation of who he is through what we sing. So I'm going to come in with a good attitude and pray. I was not exactly the way it said, but look, hey, the people love the Lord and they've got a good heart and there's nothing heretical about it.

And if it crosses other lines like maybe we want to talk to the pastor about that. All right. God bless, man. And thank you for the call. All right.

We've got another Greg upstate New York. Welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Michael, can you hear me?

Yes, I can. And Michael Brown, I have I have a very level marriage question. I just want to hear advice and also your accountability. I'm a young man of twenty seven. My wife and I got married at a very young age.

It's twenty one, twenty three. We got married because we felt like it was the will of God. Not not necessarily because we were mailing in love with each other. We had a strong companionship. Now, it's five years later now. And and it is it's a loveless period.

And divorce, something that's definitely been waiting on my mind. And I just wonder the will of God. But I want to be in the will of God.

Yes. I wanted to know what's your wisdom, your advice, your ability. Well, I can't give accountability. I'm distant to you and not in relationship, although I appreciate your heart there. But yeah, divorce is not an option. You're married for life. You got married for life in the sight of God and God will pour out grace in your relationship. If you determine you're going to humble yourselves and honor each other before the Lord, he will pour out grace and you can have love restored. You know what's interesting, Greg? And I'm just going to be as clear as I can because time is short.

I'm so glad I were able to get your call. There are arranged marriages, say, in religious Judaism or in certain parts of the world, still commonly done in parts of India and other countries. And you know what they say? We don't marry the one we love. We love the one we marry. And for sure, you got married as believers. By the way, Nancy and I got married. She had just turned 21. I was 20. So we got married even younger. But you believed it was the will of God. Either way, you're both believers and you got married as believers.

So that's it. You got married for life. Marriages for life. There can be certain potential grounds for divorce, but that's not what you're describing here.

It's simply going through a loveless period. So that's the first thing. Just accept you're married for life. That's the reality.

Then how can I make this work? So I put for me, the husband, the onus on me. I'm going to love my wife as Jesus loved the church. I'm going to pray for her in that way.

I'm going to pray for myself to be the man that she needs me to be, to be the Godly man that she needs me to be, to be the Jesus centered man she needs me to be, to be the caring husband she needs me to be. And I'm going to put her first. I'm going to love her. I'm going to spend time with her. And whether physical affection and intimacy comes out of that or not right now, that's not going to be the focus. I'm going to love her and put her first.

And I believe if you do, you'll see change come. And you say, before God unto her, I'm committed to you for life. The vows you took are vows.

Great. Humble yourself before the Lord. Even now, you can change your heart. Divorce is not an option. Married for life. You can call me back in six months and say, hey, we're having a new honeymoon. I believe it, my friend. Grace, grace, grace to you.