Being a Chain-Breaker

Welcome back, everyone. Today is Thursday, January the 26th. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abhijan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart with the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com.

If you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for future episodes, send us a text at 252-582-5028. Sorry, I jumped the gun. Go ahead. Go ahead.

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My Social Security. Absolutely. It's 2-4-1. Wait a minute. Don't give him that. Sorry about that.

Don't give him that. Sorry about that. Also, don't enter the phone on the show. That's right. That was kind of rude. Sorry. I just didn't know if it was my turn to talk or if you were going to monopolize the entire... I passed the phone to you. That's true. You guys can help us keep this conversation on the air by supporting the show, sharing it online, leaving us a good review on iTunes, Spotify, anywhere you get your podcasts.

We're going to leave you a couple of links so that you can do just that. We want to set you up for success so you in turn can set us up for success. That's the cycle of success. You know what we call that? What's that? Reciprocity. That's it. Reciprocity.

Reciprocity or reciprocity? No, I call it the sex cycle. The sex cycle. The sex cycle. I don't know.

It was bad. Anyway, let's read God's Word. You go ahead and read the verse of the day today.

The verse of the day today comes from 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 16. Therefore, we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. You know, that's something we joke about all the time is getting older, but it actually is pretty challenging.

I'm only 30, so I'm still kind of a young buck. But, you know, I'm starting to see these themes of maturing in my life, and there's sort of this, I wouldn't call it dread, but there is this understanding now that my days are very limited. You know what I mean? My time on earth is short. And so when you start to realize your own mortality, you start to realize, like, my body's going to one day betray me. My mind is going to betray me.

My kids are going to grow up and move away. And yet with the Spirit of God, everything is new. You know, He always is doing a new thing, and we're being renewed and refreshed every single day. I know there's some people who are listening now who, I mean, you need that word today. You need to feel a sense of being refreshed. You need to feel a sense of being renewed, because if you're being honest, it's been a while since you've felt that. That can only come from God's word.

That can only come from a relationship with Him. That's right. You know, speaking of things that are old and tired, I saw you had some Boba Fett socks on today. I do have some Boba Fett socks on today. Those are brand new, actually.

I got them for Christmas. I'm talking about just Boba Fett as himself. He's an old, tired character. I'm going to say something, and I'm seeing this as a Star Wars fan. So I want you to know, all of you guys out there that love Star Wars—I love Star Wars.

Love it beyond belief. Star Wars is boring. Boba Fett is not a good character.

Is this—okay, now wait a minute. Are you talking about the book of Boba Fett that just came out? I didn't like it. You've actually seen it. I did not like it.

So I can't speak to that. So are you saying that Star Wars introduction into the universe, the book of Boba Fett, are you saying Star Wars as a franchise is boring? I think that every Star Wars movie and iteration that has ever come out is boring. It's just a degree of how boring is it. Really?

Yes. That being said, I love Star Wars. I have lots of nostalgia with it. But I was watching the book of Boba Fett, and 15 minutes went by, and no one said a word. And I was like, okay, you don't always need dialogue.

That's fine. But what's on the screen has to be compelling. I don't care about this dude who gets vomited up out of the sarlacc pit and is just wandering around Tatooine, sitting around a fire, trying to ward off these invaders. It's just not fun. Star Wars used to be fun. And it was because I was a little kid and I didn't understand what was going on. There was just laser swords and spaceships and now I'm old and I'm realizing that this thing I love is not good. It's not well written.

None of it is any good. I went back and watched Empire Strikes Back and I'm not going to lie, it made me feel really good, but I don't think it was a well written, well produced movie. I want to be a little kid again and watch Star Wars and love it. And when Darth Vader comes on the screen, I want to be like, oh my gosh, that's Darth Vader.

Now I see it and I'm like, look at this six foot two asthmatic robot walking around like a laser sword samurai wizard in black. Oh, I'm sorry. I don't mean to laugh at your existential crisis over Star Wars, but that was really funny.

Star Wars used to be fun and it's just not fun no more. I'm sorry. It's all right. I'm sorry. Your socks really set me off.

I apologize if it makes you feel any better. I'm not even really like a Star Wars. I like Star Wars. Star Wars is fine, but I'm just like, David got me this for Christmas. It's Obi Wan, Tales of Kenobi. I do read the novels.

I'm not going to lie. They are very boring, but they're very good because they're Star Wars. You put a Star Wars logo on it, I'm going to read it.

I'm not going to watch it. But Tales of Kenobi is actually good. It's no longer canon, but I still like to read it because it's Star Wars.

Why don't you guys write in and let us know what your thoughts are on Star Wars. If you love it, if it's more of a nostalgia thing for you, or if, like Jon, you're just kind of in this existential crisis. You've been brainwashed into loving it. You as a child were brainwashed and conditioned.

You've been influenced by pop culture into liking it. Exactly. That's what it is. Let us know. 252-582-5028. We've got an exciting show planned for you guys today. We're going to go get Dr. Shaw, but if you have any questions in the meantime or suggestions for new topics, text us into that number at 252-582-5028 or visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com.

We'll be back after this. Hey everyone, my name is Ellie. And I'm David. And we want to take a minute and let you know how we can actually serve you as you're listening to Clear View today. The Bible paints an extraordinary picture of who we are as a church body. The mission of Clear View Church is to lead all people into a life-changing, ever-growing relationship with Jesus Christ. A huge part of leading people is praying for them. A big reason that Christians have unanswered prayers in their life is because they're not praying.

You know, 1 John 5.15 says, and if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him. If you're listening to the Clear View Today Show, we want to know how we can pray for you as well. There's a number of ways that you can get in touch with us at Clear View and share your prayer requests. But the best way is by texting us at 252-582-5028. You can also send us an email at prayer at ClearViewBC.org.

Or you can download the Clear View app on iTunes or Google Play. You know, on that app, there's a dedicated prayer wall that helps us to get to know what's going on in your life, how we can pray for you, and how we can take any necessary steps to get you moving in the right direction. Thanks for listening. Now let's get back to the show. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart with the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com.

If you have any questions or suggestions for future episodes, make sure you let us know by writing in and sending us a text at 252-582-5028. Dr. Shah, welcome to the studio this Thursday. Good to be here today. It's good to see you.

Absolutely. It's good to see you guys on the radio, all of your bright... Even though we can't really see you. Yeah, I can see all your bright and shining faces right now. I'm looking through the radio at you.

You guys need to stop texting while y'all's driving. I've been told y'all about that. If you're brand new, visiting with us. If you're brand new, never seen the show before, never listened to the show before, Dr. Abbadan Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show. You can follow his work on his website.

That's AbbadanShah.com. If somebody's listening for the first time, they're like, this dude just told me he's looking at me through the radio. It's like Willy Wonka style. What's happening? It's Willy Wonka style. You didn't finish putting on your makeup. Everybody's going to notice it. Oh, no.

I'm joking. I can't see y'all through the radio. Well, guys, if you've been listening to the show, all January long, we've been talking about new beginnings. This idea of starting over and getting a fresh start, especially with the new year. A lot of resolutions happening.

We've talked about this a few times this month already, but today we want to take a look at being intentional about doing things like breaking old habits and doing away with old patterns. These can often lead to consequences that can simply be impossible to predict. We've got to think rightly about how to break those patterns because we can fall into trouble thinking.

We can fall into thinking that will lock us up and, in a way, chain us down. In life, we all have choices. We all have decisions to make, but making wrong decisions comes with the consequences. All decisions come with consequences, but wrong decisions are where you go, oh, I know why this is happening. This is why it's happening this way. Now, our job in today's show is not to make you dwell on the past. You know how I feel about that. It's not to sit there and just beat yourself over decisions you made years ago. Our job is to understand the past and move forward.

That's it. We're talking about making decisions that you couldn't have seen the consequences or you just didn't think about the consequences that could have happened. It reminds me of that story you told us a long time ago. I don't know if you ever told us in a sermon. I think you did, but when you all went rafting on the Chattahoochee River, do you remember what I'm talking about? I do remember the story. Yeah, I remember that. This was good grief. We're going back to like 2004, okay? A long time ago.

We went to visit Northeast Georgia up in the mountains. That's Nicole's stomping grounds, isn't it? Well, mine too. It's yours too. You went to college there.

Yeah. I went to college at Toccoa Falls College in Georgia, Christian College. After we married, moved away. Then we had three kids at the time, Rebecca, Abigail, Nicholas.

Thomas hadn't been born yet, so we're talking about pre-2006. We decided to go to a small little town called Helen, Georgia. Helen, Georgia is like a German Alpine village. He said, how did that get to Georgia?

Right. Great question, because there are no Germans there. This is kind of like, how can we get a bunch of people to come and drink in town? Like a Georgian Oktoberfest. That's it. That's what they wanted. They actually dug up something about some explorer who happened to go through there, maybe, sort of, was probably German. Could maybe at one point possibly have been maybe related to somebody who was German.

Propped him up, put his face everywhere, put his name in. Yeah, yeah. It was just like a little window that has this history of Helen, Georgia. Anyway, so we used to go there a lot when we were in college. We used to go walk around, because it has a, what do you call it, like an outlet mall there and all that. And then they have the Chattahoochee River flows behind, so you can get on these tubes and inner tubes and kind of dried down lazy river style. And so we decided to take these kids, our three kids, to Helen and got there the night before, I believe it was Sunday night, if I may be wrong. And man, we just walking around, it's like, oh, this looks great.

Yes. You know what, let's come out here tomorrow morning and let's go ahead and go inner tubing. Kids would love that. It's summertime, so water is nice and cool. It's not hot. It's not cold.

Great. And so we get down there the next day. Only problem is that the night before or that after we left, went back to the hotel, it rained. And I'm talking about torrential rain. I'm talking about Georgia rain. Downpour.

So we got there and went straight to the place where you get the tubes and then get in the water. And something told me, it's like, um, don't do this. You hit the little crunk, the little crunk angel on you. Yeah.

It's like, don't do this. Because the water is rushing a lot more and it's not, it's deep. All of a sudden this little river is looking deeper. Like some whitewater rapids. Yeah.

It's deep. So I was like, yeah. So I'm like, okay, let's, let's be okay.

We'll be fine. Yeah. So Nicole gets Nicholas. I get Abigail and, um, Rebecca is on her own.

So I was like, okay, this works out great. How old is Rebecca at this time? Rebecca is, uh, golly, I can't remember now. I want to say maybe she was born in 95.

It was 2004. So she's nine, eight or nine years age. Yeah. So I felt like, ah, she can handle it. No, this, this went from lazy river to raging whitewater rafting very quickly. So I'm like hanging on to Rebecca's inner tube.

Okay. And we're like going down this thing. And, and then, uh, we, I mean, they're rocks.

So we're like, we're, we're hitting here, hitting there. And it, I let go of that rope. I didn't let go of it. It just came out of my hand.

Yeah. It's wet. It's hard to hold on to something. We're like, we're just going on mock speed through this, breaking the sound barrier. And so I see her and, and, and as we're going down this thing, there are some other idiots on the river with us, but I'm like, Oh, this was a mistake. This is a huge mistake. And I was like, what do we do now?

Maybe she just get out, but we can't because now we're separated. Yeah. And, um, and we're, we're going under the bridge. You know, there's several bridges and there's like people stand there and watch. I'm looking up and people are looking with horror in their eyes.

Like, why would y'all have done this? This family has really, you know, there's some bads about to happen. And then, then all of a sudden Nicole's inner tube flipped. Oh no. Yeah. And so she has Thomas in her hands. Oh no.

And the water is about, you know, waist deep. So this is, so we have, we do have, you know, live jackets on, but still, I mean, it's not a fun thing anymore. Yeah. And right about this time I see Rebecca getting further and further away from us. Oh no. So yeah.

Easy to get out. Right. Cause I pulled over to the side, but now Rebecca is not.

Yeah. She's on her own. She's in the middle of the stream and is moving faster and faster away.

So I'm like, I'm like literally scared. Is she like crying? No, she's sitting in the middle. Yeah.

Just holding onto the ropes and just kind of going along. And by the way, this was her birthday. Oh, this is July the third. Oh man.

2004. And, and I'm like, wow, this is a great day to see our daughter, you know, head on into the other life. You know, it was, it was very scary. Oh, thank God. Thank God.

We got to the end and she was over there standing just waiting on us. Wow. The whole point is this, you know, when we got into the water, I didn't realize what would happen because it was not a fun time. Right.

It was not fun at all. Right. Gosh. It's just that way. That's just part of life. I guess it's just, we make these decisions in life and then we end up on the other side and be like, how could I have ever seen the consequences of this coming? Yeah. But also let me, let me remind the listeners, the viewers, it's not just decisions you make.

Sometimes there are storms that come that you didn't plan. I would not in a million years throw my daughter into a whitewater, you know, a river. Right. I wouldn't do that because no, she doesn't know that.

I don't, I can't help her there. I mean, this is not, this is not acceptable, but the rain night before, who could have predicted that? Yeah. Right. Yeah. So no, this is before having the weather app on your phone and all that stuff. This is 2004. So maybe they had it on some phones.

I didn't have it. Yeah. Had no idea that this would happen. Yeah. So don't, please don't beat yourself up overthinking you made this wrong decision and that wrong decision and hence your family's in a disarray or whatever. You know, we're all going through something like that. No, sometimes things happen and, and you have to just accept that God is going to use this to work something good. Yeah.

And that's what we want to talk about today. It's never, it's never too late to make that point to course correct. Or if you've been like the, the, if you're several generations into your family making wrong decisions or you're having to deal with the fallout from previous generations, you yourself can break those chains. Right. You preached a message a while ago, Dr. Shah, about Abraham and Sarah and about their family and about how, you know, there were, there were several generations of, of these wrong decisions or these, these wrong patterns that then these individuals had to become chain breakers in their own families.

Yeah. And I would think about Abraham, you know, in, or Abram in Genesis 12, his name hasn't changed yet. God comes to him and says, get out of your country, from your family, from your father's house to a land that I will show you. I'll make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. And I will curse him who curses you.

And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. And Abram steps out with his wife, Sarah. But what we don't realize is that if we back up to verse 31 of the previous chapter, it says, And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife. And they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. And they came to Haran and dwelt there. So here's the big question.

Who got the call? Yeah, that's true. Good point.

It's true. We tend to think it was Abraham that he was the first one. Right. But it says that Terah did it. His father did it.

Right. So Terah is the one who took his son and his wife and all that, and they stepped out. So when you study these genealogies carefully, what you find is that Terah is located at the end of the first age and the beginning of the second. The first age begins with Adam and Eve and goes all the way through Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham, Japheth. And the second age begins with Terah in verse 27, but it says, you know, this is the genealogy of Terah. Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. So Terah is sort of like the transitional figure between the first and the second age. And I believe it was Terah, not Abraham, who left Ur of the Chaldeans. Because that's true. You just said that this is not, this is the genealogy of Abram.

This is the genealogy of Terah. He's that transition. That's right.

That's right. And so he left Ur. And I imagine for a moment, what a difficult decision that must have been. Archaeological evidence shows that Ur was the place to be. It was right there by the Persian Gulf. It was a center for moon worship. There is evidence to this day of a ziggurat. Ziggurat is like this pyramids, a step pyramids dedicated to the god Nanna or sin.

And he was the god of the cow herders, the cattle breeders, the orchard men, also the god of fertility. And so this was the place to do business. And in those days, you don't, you don't leave a place like that and say, let me just wander. No, this is where you want to be. This is when you want to raise your family. You'll have all the things in life.

You have community. And he steps out. So Terah is the one, I believe, who left all behind to follow God and headed towards Canaan. But unfortunately, you know, he moved out, but he did not go all the way to Canaan. He stops in Haran. You know, it says here in verse 28, and Haran died before his father Terah in his native land in Ur of the Chaldeans. So we don't have all the details as to what happened, but I believe in some sense, Terah must have said, I'm done.

I'm just staying here. I think there's a very profound truth in that, in that a lot of times we see success and we tend to give it to someone who may deserve some credit, but there's also stuff happening before them that laid foundation. Like I think for myself, like here at Clearview, and I think a lot of worship pastors tend to do this or worship leaders tend to do this is they look at the success they've had in their ministry and they think, man, God has really worked in me a lot. I tend to see it more as look at all the struggles I didn't have to face because Dr. Shaw has been doing this for 20 years before me, laying a foundation, solving problems that I don't have to solve. I don't have to build this network from the ground up because the foundation has been laid for me.

Someone who came before me, and if you're listening, your pastor or the people who worked in your church before you have laid a foundation and have put hard work in so that you could reap those benefits. And that, to me, that keeps me humble and that keeps me remembering that everything I have is a privilege. That's right. Yeah, absolutely.

And I love the credit that you give, Dr. Shaw, to your own dad. And you talk about being able to stand on his shoulders in your ministry and him kind of being the precursor for you and even Nicole's dad as well. Right. And even the people at this church, right, where we are at Clearview and Henderson, they held the fort. They hung on to this place and did whatever they could. The budget was very small and hardly any people, but they kept on day after day, Sunday after Sunday, year after year.

And so we're standing on their shoulders and we need to remember that. So with Abraham, Terah was the chain breaker. He left Ur of the Chaldeans, but he did not go far enough. He stopped at Haran. Haran would be today kind of Northern Iraq. And I've heard commentators say, well, he stopped at this place called Haran.

I also think he must have started the town of Haran, named after his son, Haran. And so, I mean, keep in mind, when you study Abram and Sarah's life or Abraham and Sarah's life, they were not ordinary people. Abraham, you know, there's a title for him is the King of Damascus.

And I believe Terah was a very prominent person in Ur of the Chaldeans. In fact, it talks about them being kings and queens, Sarah being a princess. So Terah must have been a king.

Right. I mean, if your daughter is a princess, what does that make you? Yeah, that makes you a king.

It makes you a king. That's right. And you say, well, maybe that's Terah's, I mean, Sarah's dad may be a king. Don't forget Abraham and Sarah's dad, both of their dad was the same person, Terah.

That's true. So, so he was the king. Yeah.

Not only was he her father-in-law, but he was also her father. Yeah. The problem I believe came in is, is his faith.

Okay. So you find evidence for that in Joshua chapter 24, verse two, it says, and Joshua said to all the people, thus says the Lord God of Israel, your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor dwelt on the other side of the river in old times, talking about Euphrates, and they served other gods. That was his problem. He was a chain breaker, but he could not complete the break because he still hung onto the old gods.

That's very hard for me to imagine. Terah worshipping other gods. Maybe he gave it up, but he could not completely give up. And hence is Abraham who really becomes the main hero of the story instead of Terah. So Terah is the one who, who is the, these are the generations of Terah, but it's not Terah that we spend most of Genesis talking about. Right.

It's Abraham, his son. And that's, that's, I think that can be very costly because I don't want someone else to finish the journey that I, that God has for me. Right. You know what I mean? It's that's, and that's one thing I've learned from you is the importance of finishing well.

Yeah. The steadfastness that is so lacking in our world, in our culture, in our, you know, the new generation today, the steadfastness, the delayed gratification, waiting, doing what needs to be done and doing it right and with integrity and not expecting immediate rewards. And it's not just, let me just follow my women pleasure and just go with it because that makes me happier. That makes me satisfied. It's not always the case that the things that you're supposed to do will make you happy and satisfied.

Maybe sometimes, but sometimes it's just like, no, I have to do this. But in time, delayed gratification, God blesses you and you go, okay, thank goodness I was obedient. I was faithful and I turned away from my own selfishness and my own sin and chose to do things God's way. You know, going back to the whole account of Tara and Abraham, it says in Acts chapter seven, verse two, you know, when Stephen, you know, the newly elected servant in the church, he's, he's preaching his sermon before the high priest in Acts seven, he says, and he, and he said, brethren and fathers, listen, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham. And he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Haran and said to him, get out of your country from your relatives, come to a land that I will show you. Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead. So here we have another mention of Tara. He was alive and he was controlling everybody and keeping them from going forward. But when his father was dead, he moved him to this land in which you now dwell. So Tara had to literally pass away, but sort of a mixed allegiance to God, you know, in a sense, very, very obedient left to her, but still had the old stuff.

But Abraham is the one who completely left things behind. Wow. Still had issues, but he became a chain breaker. Definitely. And what an encouragement to us. I hope that's encouragement to you listeners as well. You can break those chains in your lives. If you enjoyed today's topic, you have any suggestions for future topics, let us know by sending us a text at 252-582-5028. You can visit us online at cleaviewtodayshow.com and you can support us financially on that same show. We're so grateful for our partners, grateful to have you on our team as we seek to impact the nations. So Dr. Shaw, there's a closing question for you today from Jordan P Jordan Peterson. I was just about to beat me right to it.

This is from Canada. What would you say is the biggest thing missing from mainstream seminary education? Oh my word.

Biggest thing? Because there's several things I can see that I feel like that, you know, there are a lot of things I respect about my professors. I think they're amazing individuals with some knowledge and expertise and a lot of things. But then there are places where there's a weakness when it comes to application of the church life. And I feel like if that could be balanced so that students who are leaving with excellent resources and exegesis and hermeneutics and languages and theology and all of that will also know how to make practical decisions, how to have a sense of discernment. So I would say that, and not to say I'm an expert in that, but I feel like that was something I wish I had more of. Yeah, absolutely. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clearview Today.