Wednesday, August 16th | Knock, Knock... Who's There?

Welcome back, everyone. Today is Wednesday, August the 16th. I'm Ryan Hill, John Galantis. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com.

If you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028, or you can email us at contact at ClearviewTodayShow.com. You guys can help us keep the conversation going by supporting the show. You can share it online with your friends and your family. Leave us a good review on iTunes or Spotify.

Anywhere you get your podcasting content from, we're going to leave a link in the description, so you can do just that today. Five stars only. Oh, yeah, five stars only. Don't be cute and leave four stars.

I'd rather you leave. Don't even leave nothing than leave like four. No, you can leave four. Four's fine. We can take four. What would you take a star off for? We can take four.

What would you take a star off for? Not three. Don't do three. Yeah, three is right out.

Four is okay. Today's verse of the day is John 6-27. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal on him. I have this tendency to focus on the immediate, like which fire needs to be put out right now. There's a sense that sometimes we have to do that.

This problem needs my immediate attention, but I want to have the smallest investment for the short-term reward. A relationship with God helps you focus on the eternal, helps you zoom out and have a better perspective on what it is that you ought to be striving for. Are you striving for rewards here on earth, or are you striving for what's eternal? As someone who works specifically in worship and music, we almost swing to a pendulum where you've got hymns versus contemporary over here. It's got to be this certain way.

Then you swing to the other side where it's like, it really doesn't matter at all. None of this stuff that we're doing, it's all temporary, because when we get to heaven, it's all going to be different. That's the thing. You're defeating your own argument, because what we're doing on earth is designed for something eternal. What you do when you stand in your church and you worship God and you sing songs, you are doing something that's by design made for eternity. First a hyper-focus on the specifics is bad, but for us to also say, hey, it doesn't matter, do what you want to do, just live your own life, do your own worship, it absolutely does matter, because it is designed for an eternity spent with Jesus Christ, and it should reflect what that eternity is going to look like. That's right. I think that clarification is important, and it's important to have distinctions like that.

Speaking of distinctions, this has been a topic of conversation between my wife and I recently. My kids, the Hill kids, there's five of them of varying ages. The oldest two twins, the oldest two are eleven, and the youngest is four.

There'll be five next month. They're still kids. They're still firmly in that kid range. The oldest are kind of entering a pre-teen. They're getting into the tween. The tween realm.

Tweeny bop. Ew. What is hilarious to me is when my kids regard other kids as kids. Let me explain what I mean by that.

Yeah, explain that. My middlest child, the one who is No. 3, right in the center. Squaw in the middle.

Squaw in the middle. She is nine years old. There was a moment recently where the kids were doing something, and they were running around being crazy and laughing and goofing.

She looks over at me. My nine-year-old daughter looks over at me, and in the most mature expression, just shakes her head and goes, kids these days. I said, excuse me? Was she joking, being ironic? Or was she really like, I'm sort of groaning?

No, she was genuinely like, these people, these little children running around and playing. I'm sorry that we, the mature ones, have to put up with that. I was like, who are you talking to? I've changed your diaper. You're nine.

Kind of recently. This is the life we must bear, father. She throws a mink scarf over her shoulder. The other way that this manifests is, my oldest son, he's 11, one of the twins, he, for a long time, this isn't recent, for a long time, he has wanted to be grown so badly, that he just sort of, without making a big deal, without making a big scene, he'll just kind of sneak his way into an adult conversation. Right, like a bunch of adults will be sitting around, and I've seen him do that, I've clocked it, where a bunch of adults will kind of be sitting around in a circle, and not even talking crass stuff.

Just serious adult stuff. And I'm kind of looking around, because when you're talking serious stuff, you'll be looking around, see how everybody else is reacting, taking it or whatever. And then I'll see Noah, and I'm like, what?

Why is he, why is he, he's just sitting there, he's like... See, my kids are still so young, my youngest is seven months, so he's not worried about anything except for pooping and drooling and sleeping. And then Gavin is more like, in the state, he's going on three, so he's like, whatever it takes to have fun, that's what I'm doing. So if I feel like I'm going to have fun interrupting these adults, that's what I'm going to do. The second I want to have fun with the kids, that's where I'm going. I'm going to be back and forth, I'm going to be fanning doors, I'm going to be slamming doors, I'm going to be opening windows and pulling stuff off the table. That's where he's at. So I'm kind of looking forward to that day where I can kind of suss out their different personalities and get their idiosyncrasies and their quirks.

Because right now, it's just full-fledged energy. Go, go, go, go, go. It is a lot of fun, the older they're getting, to see their different personalities emerge and be like, hmm, I didn't really peg you, is that? Or, oh, yep, I saw that when you were two, and now here we are, manifested later in life. During the course of this episode, we looked in the back, and Noah's just like... Somehow, he's like, how did you get in here? He's just like, on a mic, he's like, hmm. It's like, we hooked up a mic for him, and it just never used. He's running the switcher, like, what? What's happening?

Oh, my goodness. We're going to start our episode in just a second, but if you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028, or you can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com. Stay tuned.

We'll be right back. Hey there, listeners. I'm Jon Galantis.

And I'm Ellie Galantis. And we just want to take a quick second and talk to you about Dr. Shah's and Nicole's book, 30 Days to a New Beginning, daily devotions to help you move forward. You know, this is actually the second book in the 30 Days series, and the whole point of this devotional is to help us get unstuck from the ruts of life. You know, when it comes to running the race of life, it matters how you start, but a bad start doesn't ultimately determine how you finish the race. You can have a good finish, even with a bad start, and that's where this book comes in. No matter who you are or where you are in life, you're going to get stuck.

Instead of going out and buying some gadget or some planner, like I know I've done several times. I know that's right. 30 Days encourages you to find your fresh start in God's Word. Life doesn't have a reset button, but our God is a God who does new things. His mercies are new every day, which means every day is a new chance for you to start over. You can grab 30 Days to a New Beginning on Amazon.com. We're going to leave a link in the description box below, and if you already have the book, let us know what you think about it.

That's right. Send us a text, 252-582-5028. Share what God has done in your life through this devotional. Hey, maybe we'll even read your story on the air. Ellie, you ready to get back to the show?

Let's do it. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com. If you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028.

That's right. And if today's your first time ever listening and joining us here on the Clear View Today Show, we want to welcome you, let you know exactly who's talking to you today. 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 find all of his work on his website. That's AbbadanShah.com. Dr. Shah, do you remember when, I think this was a couple of Sunday nights ago, we were sitting in the cafe after everybody kind of left, trickling out, going home. We're just kind of sitting talking and Evie was sitting in there and she's just kind of doing her thing and the rest of my kids run through and kind of, you know, they're being kids, being loud. And Evie looks over and she shakes her head and she goes, kids these days. Oh, she said that?

Really? Evie said that. My nine-year-old said that about her other siblings.

And we were talking earlier about, you know, that point where your kids start regarding other kids as kids, like just kind of that growth, that change in their, in their maturity level. Well, all your kids are super, they're very smart. They're very, they're like you and Elizabeth. They're kind. They're hardworking. They are, you know, they're just great kids.

Evie is just different in that sense. She is very smart. She's very friendly, everything, but she's also a thinker. And I remember that same conversation sort of evolved into, so I have some questions for you.

And I was like, oh, for me. And then she began to ask me questions about, and can I mention that question? Her question was, so if God knows everything about the future, why does he make people or, you know, allow evil knowing the whole time that this is how it's going to be in the future? She launched me into really, I've had been collecting books on the foreknowledge of God, time, eternality, omniscience, all these kinds of, I've been, I've been studying this for a while and I have a pat answer about, you know, yes, God knows everything and yet you are free. But then I didn't want to go beyond that because I know the moment I go beyond that, then I have to answer the question. If God already knew that what I'm going to do, didn't he in a sense cause it.

So we're going to be discussing this over the next month or two, just be prepared. There's a series coming and I'm working a lot in that area, especially with time ordering and studying the works of T. Ryan Byerly, who is a great philosopher. And he's written books on this and how to resolve that foreknowledge versus free will. And it has its issues, but it is deep reading. Yeah. And that's, that's one of the reasons I am so thankful for you as both a pastor and a friend who takes time on a Sunday night to sit down with a nine year old little girl and answer those questions and field those things and not just give a pat answer, but like, you know what, that's a great question.

I want to go research that. Yeah, absolutely. And one of the things you told me years ago that has stuck with me all these years is that you can always, people are not as dumb as you think. Like they know when you're not answering the question.

You're saying something that sounds good and it makes you look smart, but they know, even if they don't realize it in their front brain, they know in their heart, you did not answer the question, right? And we don't have to compromise the core doctrines of our faith. We don't have to walk away from orthodox doctrines to answer that question. We can still do that and say, yes, I know what Augustine said, but here he is where he missed the boat. Or I know what Aquinas says, or I know what Calvin has said, and I know what Wesley has said.

And here is where I think there's something missing. Let's address that, but do it biblically and do it philosophically, which means it needs to have logical propositions. It cannot get into fallacies. But sometimes some of our answers are fallacious. You know who really doesn't think through their theological answers? Lukewarm Christians.

That's very true. If you're lukewarm, you ain't having this conversation. Sorry.

I love the way you made that happen. Sorry, not sorry. If you're lukewarm, these are not the things that you think about. You're absolutely right. And that leads us back into our discussion on the church in Laodicea. We're talking through Jesus's letter to this church. Many people know it as the lukewarm church. And we talked on yesterday's episode about the difference between being hot and cold and how most of the time we hear this as be on fire for God or be completely cold and turned off to the gospel. Yeah.

Lukewarm fellows, logical fallacies. This is an LFS. Yeah. There you go. There you go. Very nice.

No LFS here. I definitely have heard people say that though. I've heard even sermons preached that God would rather you just be lost and dead in your sin than to be a lukewarm Christian. And it's weird because when someone stands from the pulpit and says something like that with authority, Christians believe them. And I believe them.

I was like, yeah, that's true. God wants you to be sold out on either side. But then when you preached this sermon, it was like, do you think God really wants you to be completely sold out to the devil?

Like to their father? He wants that? That's too human for him to be, for us to say, Oh, that's what he means. No. I mean, think about it. This is Jesus speaking.

I'd rather you just be hot or cold, but since you're neither, no, I don't think it's about being atheist. Sometimes commentaries have also looked toward the water system around Colossae, Laodicea, and Hierapolis. Because if you go to Hierapolis today, which is in Turkey, of course, all these three are in the Lycus Valley in Turkey. Hierapolis has those hot springs. In fact, there's a place right outside of Hierapolis, which is called Pamukkale. Pamuk is clouds.

Kale is like a castle or a fort. So Pamukkale means cotton castle. Oh, wow. That's an album name. I'm going to write that down. Cotton castle.

I like that. So if you go there, you know, you see this white scenery. It looks like snow, but it's not snow. It's calcium. And people are walking on it. In some places, it's a little, has not mildew, but what you call moss.

And be careful, you'll slip. So it had hot springs and Colossae at one time was known for cold water. And so both of these would make their way to Laodicea. By the time they get to Laodicea, both the hot and the cold would become lukewarm. Or so the argument was made. That was the argument they made.

That's what Jesus meant. Well, last time I was in Turkey, this was a couple of months ago, we had Mark Wilson. Mark Wilson right now is probably the most well-known scholar.

There are several really good scholars on Turkey or Asia Minor or Anatolia. But Mark Wilson right now is just hitting it out of the park when it comes to studies about Paul's missionary journeys or Seven Cities of the Aegean with John or Peter's letters written to the believers in Pontus Bethenia to the north. But one of the things he said on the way out, because he met with us, ate with us, and spoke for about 45 minutes. He said, by the way, the whole thing about the water systems, about coming from Colossae and Hierapolis and turning into lukewarm, that's not true. Not even accurate. That's not a good argument for what Jesus is saying. Not only is Jesus not saying that, it's not even true. Yeah, that's not correct. So I was like, oh, wow. Okay.

I got to go back home and make a note of that because when I preach on Laodicea, I'm going to fix that. So what exactly does it mean? Well, we have to approach that text with an understanding of what cool water means and what hot water means, or meant for those people. Cool water. Well, cool and refreshing. Hot water, hot and healing. They would sit in those hot springs to heal. Cool water, man, there's nothing better than a cool glass of water.

So refreshing. Yeah. So what Jesus is saying to this church is, I wish you were cool and refreshing or hot and healing or soothing, but since you are neither refreshing nor healing, you're just lukewarm.

Yeah. We've got that like Katy Perry disease where it's like, we feel like hot is good, cold is bad. So be this, but if you're not going to be this, at least be this, but it's not, it's not cool water. Don't be in the middle. Right.

Hot water and cold water or hot food, cold food. They both have their place and they both have their function. Right.

Right. So there are churches which are refreshing. Then there are churches which are encouraging. What Jesus is saying is you're neither encouraging or refreshing.

You're in the middle. You are a ho-hum, no purpose, no passion, business as usual, same old, same old dull, dry church, bland, lifeless, flavorless, just absolutely worthless. And then so many Christians listen to this in denial, like not my church, hashtag not my church. It's, it's tough to see that sort of thing in yourself. Yep. And that's why when we bring your husband or your wife who is lost or your teenager or your cousin or your uncle, they come to your lukewarm church and they walk away going, neither did I get refreshed nor healed or encouraged.

This is not for me. And they never come back. So what we're saying here is there's this passage actually applies very, very well. And I think it's, it's also telling that he's saying it to the Laodiceans, you know, yesterday we kind of talked about where they were, their position in life, how successful they were, how prosperous they were, and they couldn't see past their prosperity to see how lukewarm they had become.

Because all they saw was the money and the success in the city. Yeah, exactly. And, and you know, as a church, we need to be both authoritative and nurturing.

That's right. You know, those are the two, two kinds of churches really. Now in the middle there are the dead ones.

So when I'm talking about the two, two on, on the opposite end. Five are the dust says the Lord. This is sin. We're not going to compromise. You need to hear the truth. We're not going to tickle your ears. We're going to tell you the word of God, unadulterated along with the grace of God, but it's going to be the truth, the double-edged sword. But on the other hand, you have those churches, which like, man, any way you are just calm. We're not here to judge you. We're not here to, to, to point out your sin. You need to come to God and we're going to love you.

We're going to, we're going to welcome you in. Those are the nurturing, the healing type churches. And sometimes there are Christians who say, Oh, we should just be encouraging people.

We're not here to judge. What business do I have and what business I, and I hear what they're saying and I agree with them, but giving people healing without giving them the truth is to me, it's the worst thing you can do for a lost person or even for a saved person. We, when we first started, this is kind of a peek behind the curtain of the show, but when we first started pitching the idea of doing a daily show, that was one of the core values of whatever we, it wasn't called Clearview today. When we first started, it was just our daily radio show.

We don't know what it's going to be, but we do know one thing is that it's going to have truth and mercy together. You can't have one and not have the other one. And that was that from the very beginning of the show, every episode. And there's not a single one that doesn't have both because it's by design. That's right.

So we want to be authoritative and yet we want to be encouraging both cold and hot. And so this church wasn't either. So Jesus says, I'm going to spew you out of my mouth. And then he goes on to say in verse 16, verse 17, actually, he says, because you say I am rich, have become wealthy and have need of nothing. And do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. Right there. Let me stop for a moment. Where is that coming from?

In the old Testament, Hosea chapter 12, verse eight. Anybody want to read that? Sure. You want to read it?

Yeah. And Ephraim said, surely I have become rich. I have found wealth for myself and all my labors. They shall find in me no iniquity that is sin. So what other scroll does John have in front of him on the island of Patmos? Hosea. Hosea. He's got Isaiah, Zechariah, Ezekiel, but also Hosea.

I mean, he's got the whole Old Testament sitting around him. I love these. I love these touch points to the Old Testament too, because I mean, like you said, John, these are Jewish believers. So these things that were like, wow, that's a really cool connection.

They would have caught instantly. They would be like, Hey, that's from Hosea. That's from Isaiah. That link to their past, that link to their ancestry. And we need to keep in mind the reason John quoted from Hosea is because Ephraim was that tribe also at times cold, at times hot, but many times lukewarm. And so once you understand the character of this tribe, which is the second son of Joseph, we understand what, what he is driving towards.

He's telling them you're like this tribe and keep in mind Ephraim was part of the Northern tribe, which one scattered never came back. That's right. Right. So again, very important to keep these little hints in, in mind. Now he tells them, Jesus tells them in Revelation 3 18, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire that you may be rich and white garments that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed and anoint your eyes with eye salve that you may see.

Oh, to the, to the city that has a medical school for ophthalmology. Yes. Of course.

But let's back up for a moment. Gold refined in fire, which is a moral, a reference to a clean moral life. Buy from me a clean moral life. You, you pretend to be pure and holy when really you have compromised so much like the world.

That I mean, you compromised so much with the world that you look like the world. Right. Right.

White garments to represent purity and faithfulness. Eye salve because you have become so ignorant and you have no sense of discernment regarding your own sin or the sins of others. You need this ointment.

Okay. And now a quick mention here, Laodicea was known for the Phrygian stone from which they made this ointment for the eye. And Jesus is saying, put that down, get the Holy Spirit and see if he can be applied to your eyes. So you can actually see that the problem. Yes, evil is around you. Yes, people are evil, but as a man of God, woman of God, I'm not that concerned about their sins. I'm more concerned about my sin. Now, I'm not saying for a moment that what is happening here is all my fault.

No, no, no. You are sinning and you will be judged for what you're doing. Having said that, I am more concerned about areas in my life. They'll be dealt with. Focus on you.

Focus on places in your life where you need to turn towards God. And so that's what Jesus tells them to do. And then he even reminds them in verse 19, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, therefore be zealous and repent.

Yeah. That's something we don't like to hear because we tend to think that rebuke is anger. Rebuke is like criticism. If as a parent, if you love your kids, you're going to correct them. You're going to discipline them. You're going to help them understand the guidelines that they need to operate within.

If you don't love them, then you're going to, you know, I don't care what you do. And now comes the final statement, which in our series we call prognosis, the fourth point. And this is one that is known the world over. Revelation 3 20. Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him and he with me. I think when you preached this, this was one of the most powerful closers ever, because you told a story of it talking about this idea of, of I stand at the door and knock. And when someone's knocking on the door, you can hear it.

But a lot of times we get to a place where we can't hear it anymore. Lost and saved. Yeah. That's right.

And you gave that example that your father told you. Do you want to tell that story? Yeah.

Yeah. So this man who did not want to come to church was lost. His wife and kids came and my dad would go visit him. And every time he did, this man would sit there on his couch or sometimes on the cemetery wall.

There was a cemetery right next door. And he was like a local thug. I mean, he, he made very well off for himself, but he was sitting on that cemetery wall and had this handlebar mustache and he was sitting there and he'd be tweaking it. So he would do that number and do that number and do that number constantly.

Just, and as my dad would talk to him and they say, you know, God, and then he would reply, well, pastor, God didn't do anything for me. I had to do it for myself. I had to work hard. I had to do what I have to do. Look where I'm at now.

I'm good. And my dad would go back and talk to him and his same response. And then one day my dad got word that this man was gravely ill. He went to the home to visit him and his wife and his children were there. And his wife said, well, we had to move him to the back of the house to actually a little shed in the back. So that's where he is. And my dad walked down the path and when he got to the door, his, even his wife said, I can't go in there cause it smells so bad.

He has sores all over his body. It's really, really horrendous. Wow. So I'm going to leave you here.

I'm going to go back. And, and my dad walked in the room and the dark room and just this array of light coming through revealed a man, just a shell of a man lying on the bed. And you know, the mustache, the handlebar mustache that he was so proud of. It was, my dad describes it or described it cause my dad passed away a few years ago. He just, he used to describe it as like a shoe brush, just wilted, just nothing left. Nothing left.

Just, just frayed. And, and then my dad told him, why don't you give your heart to Jesus now? You know, his reply was, no, I can't. I can't.

Now my dad explained to him, yes, you can. God is giving you a chance. Here it is. It doesn't matter what you've done before, how much you've rejected God.

Here's your chance. But you see something had to happen upstairs, sort of a short circuit that he could not either understand or reconcile with the fact that God was willing to forgive him. And all he could say was, I can't. And my dad finally walked out of that room and walked back the path. And he remembers that man moaning as loud as he could.

I can't, I can't. So the word for us is respond to the knock on the door while you can. And I'm talking about Christians and lost people. Great. Respond to the door because you may be living in sin and disobedience, and God is knocking on the door of your heart and saying, come on in, welcome him in and let him do the work he needs to do in your heart. If you're lost, open the door as quick, quick as you can, because you have no guarantee that you'll still be alive to open the door by this evening. That's right.

Wow. So what is given to us? This is beautiful, by the way. I can't end this without reading this, these last two lines, Revelation 3 21 and 22. To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. In other words, when we open the door, he is not standing there with a belt or a paddle or ready to whoop us. He's actually waiting to sit, to take us and seat us in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That's right.

Beautiful. He wants us to go with him and enjoy all the riches in Christ. But we have the idea that he's just going to just let us have it now. And sometimes that keeps us from opening the door.

That's right. So beautiful. If you guys have questions or suggestions for new topics or you want to interact with what we talked about today, you want to learn more about the church in Laodicea, let us know by sending us an email to 252 or sending us a text 252-582-5028. You can email us at contact at clearviewtodayshow.com. You can partner with us financially on that same website. That is our heart, that people would respond to the knock, that they would respond to the gospel and many would come to know Christ. We love you guys. We'll see you next time on Clear View Today.