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Fun fact, no. I have to make my own with McDonald's Sprite, and you guessed it, Texas Pete. I am genuinely horrified to hear that.
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Where's my Mountain Dew? You're listening to Clear View Today with Dr. Abaddon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. You can find us online by visiting ClearViewTodayShow.com. If you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028, or you can email us at contact at ClearViewTodayShow.com.
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We're going to leave a couple of links right there in the description so you can do just that. The verse of the day today is coming from Matthew chapter 6 verse 24. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. What is mammon? Money.
For real? Mm-hmm. No, look.
I'll click on this footnote right here, the handy dandy footnote. Riches. Riches. OK. That's true.
I was going to start expounding when I was like, what is mammon? That's true. And a lot of times when we try to serve God and money, we want both. We want to be rich and we want to serve God at the same time.
And you can do that, but it's extremely difficult. I feel like the more that you get, the more you start to, it's human nature, you start to wander from God. That's why a lot of the times when you see, a lot of people are really averse to these mega-rich, ultra-wealthy pastors who are living in 17, 20 bedroom mansions but professing the glory of God. And you know, we can't judge their hearts, we can't judge their motives, but we can, what am I trying to say?
Compare them to what the Bible says. You cannot serve both. And so that's really the question. Are you trying to serve your money?
Yeah, it comes down to your motivation. I mean, money is not an evil thing in and of itself. We need money to live.
It's an important tool that helps us navigate the world and we can do a lot of good things with money. I mean, it takes money to do this radio show. It takes money to make church services happen. However, if we're serving money rather than serving God, that's quickly going to be exposed in the way that we portray the gospel and the way that we interact with people because we're not going to be after people's eternal destinies. We're going to be after our bank accounts. I really should have planned this segment better, but we do have a million dollar question today. Well.
You calm the money. But that's not our motivation. It's just a fun thing. It's just a fun thing for us. This is just a fun thing that we like to do. Calm down out there. You know, people like to... It's a fun thing for us.
Hey, check this one right here. Money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money. I love money. Shout out to Mr. Krabs. This one came in from Daniel E. from North Carolina. What do you think the P might stand for, my friend? Daniel... I'm going to be exotic here and go Daniel Pterodactyl. Oh my. Okay. Daniel Pterodactyl. This was a really good one. Oh, by the way.
Spelled with a P, but doesn't sound like it. You can send these questions in to 2525825028. This one comes from Daniel P. from North Carolina. Wants to know, million dollars, but any time that you accidentally make eye contact with someone, you got to just shush them. Okay, so what is accidental eye contact? I'm meaning to make eye contact with you.
Right. We're having a conversation, looking at each other. We're fine. We're fine. And if I look at the camera, I'm making contact with you.
We're fine. But if I'm like texting on my phone and I look up and I, oop, I just made eye contact with Nicholas. I have to just shush him. Like if your eyes meet, like a stranger, like you're pumping gas and you look up and you catch a stranger's eye, yeah, you got to shush them and you don't have to be like, shh, just a little. Do I have to think about this or am I compelled to do this?
Your body just does it. Yeah, I'll take it. You'll do it? Yeah, sure.
I'll take it. Yeah. Most of the times I feel like I'm like intending to make eye contact with people, but there are those random, you know, awkward encounters where you're just like scanning the room and then, oh, we're now making eye contact. And I feel like most people would be like, what the what? Yeah, and then you just move on like nothing happened. And they're like, did I, was that real? Did that guy just shush me? But then I don't want like someone to come up, like what if I'm at a restaurant with my wife and kids and I catch, I catch somebody's eye, like a biker or something and I'm like, mm, mm, mm. And he's like, now I got to get up and go have a confrontation with this guy. You also do a lot of public speaking.
I mean, I guess we both do. But then, but then, so that bears the question, is that accidental eye contact? Because I'm speaking to the room and I'm, I'm intending to make eye contact with people. So I would say, yeah, I said that falls under purposeful eye contact. You can always tell when it's accidental because when I make eye contact with someone that I don't mean to, I feel it. Like I feel kind of awkward. I'm like, you know, you feel it because you want to look away real quick. Like, oh, sorry. Yeah. Oh wow.
That was really intense. Like I even hate to say, but if I'm in a bathroom stall and someone passes the stall, like through the crack in the stall, that you definitely don't want to make eye contact. That's terrible.
Cause then I gotta, I gotta be like, why did that guy on the toilet just shush me? Oh, I would take that. Yeah.
I think I would take it too. Yeah. You don't have to make yourself do it. Your body just automatically.
I wonder if Dr. Shaw would take it cause he's in a similar boat. He makes a lot of purposeful eye contact. Yeah.
Accidental eye contact. I don't know. But he goes to like ETS and stuff. He goes to conferences like around other scholars. That's true.
Yeah. Let's let's let's ask him, let's find out. Let us know if you'd take that deal. Two five two five eight two five zero two eight. Or you can visit us online at cleerviewtodayshow.com. Stay tuned. We'll be right back. Hey, Hey you. Me?
No, not you. You listening to the Clearview Today Show. You're here right now because you love Christian talk radio and I'm a hundred percent down for that. But what if I told you that Clearview Church also produces original music?
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You can worship God in any situation. In the car, at home, in the gym, while cleaning your house, wherever you are, we'll be right there with you. You can check us out on Apple Music or on Spotify, anywhere digital music is consumed. We got a few singles out right now. We have an EP out as well. And right now at this moment, actually, we are working on our first ever full length original album.
Hopefully that's going to be out sometime this coming summer. Clearview worship on iTunes and Spotify is your 24 seven place for inspiration and worship. Follow us today and let God's message of hope, love, and faith be a guiding light in your life.
Amen. Let's hop back into the show. Welcome back 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 Clearview todayshow.com.
If you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028. That's right. And we're here once again in the Clearview today's studio with Dr. Abbadon Shah, who is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism professor at Carolina University, author, full time pastor, and the host of today's show, Dr. Shah. We're going to give you a million buckarooneys, my friend, but anytime you accidentally make eye contact with someone. So you can be talking to them, you can be preaching.
It's all good. But if you just accidentally catch someone's eye, you got to just really quickly, just shush them. Just a real quick, you don't have to be like, shh, but just like mama catches you, eyes open when they pray and just like. Well, as a pastor, I've done that at times anyway.
So even to some adults, I'm like, shh. Yeah. While you're preaching. Yeah. Sometimes people you never know. Start having a side conversation.
Okay. Imagine you go to, you go to ETS and you're in the, you're in the crowd. Someone's up there giving a presentation or whatever, and you're in the crowd listening and you just look over a row over and you catch another scholar's eye. You just got to be like, they're not saying anything that you just give them. That would be tough to do that. Some of these guys are such, I hate to say this, so nerdy.
It really throw them off the game. Oh, maybe it would be terrible if you accidentally made eye contact with the guy presenting. He leaves the podium. Million dollars. Are you taking it Dr. Shaw? I said, are you going to take it? I'll take it.
All right. He's taking it. Hey, here comes the money.
I need to get one that's not quite as long. Cause this one's going to go for a little while. Sure.
He's taking the money. Very cool. Very cool. So that leads us into what we're going to talk about today. Sometimes you have to seek wisdom in trying to make the right decisions in life.
Whether or not to take a million dollars if you're going to shush a random person, if you're maybe at ETS and somebody's building a message on the stage and you just, maybe you need some to try to find some guidance as to whether or not that would be the best decision in light of that. Yeah, sure. In light of that. In light of that.
That was a fair segue. In light of that Dr. Shaw, what is the encouragement for our listeners and our viewers today? Don't shush people. Well, I mean, there's so many things we can say about that, but just don't be, don't be random. Don't be random. If you want to be random, just be random about being funny. Funny is good, but don't be random. Like check your emotions.
Make sure you don't do things because your blood sugar is low or high or whatever. Just make sure you're very intentional. That's right. When you, especially when you're making life decisions.
Yes. You know, if only getting a million dollars were that easy, you know, it's like, yeah, that seems like a no brainer, but there's lots of decisions in life where people almost choose that way. They're like, yeah, I'll do it. I'll absolutely do it. It's like, you know, should I drop out of school? I'll do it.
Yeah. Why not? It could be fun. You know, should I, should I drop my church?
Should I go to somewhere else? Sure. Why not? Yeah. If this idea pops into my head, then it's probably from God because it could have originated with me. It just, I just thought of it. So it must be, it must be revealed from God.
True. And I feel like maybe as a, as you know, you also do a lot of counseling, a pastoral counseling as well. Do people do that where like they feel like, I don't know where this idea came from, so it must be from God?
Yes. They make decisions. I'm not saying everybody.
Okay. But there are people who make decisions based on a whim. They are just a feeling or they just saw signs and they feel like I have to make this decision. And then they regret it months down the road, years down the road, they feel like that was horrible. And then their faith is shaken up. They don't know what to believe anymore. They'll blame God.
They blame people. There are many things in the Bible on how to find God's will. But what I want us to understand is there is a specific will that God has for all of us, whether it's in career or finding a relationship or financial decision, there is a specific will, but in reaching the specific will for our lives, we are to make wise decisions, right decisions based on the word of God.
Okay. So there is so much more behind it than just trusting your senses. Also, senses are involved. You need to have the truth of God's word and it doesn't just stop there. Like, okay, I'm basing my life on the word of God. No, there's more than that. It comes out of a relationship with Christ where he moves you, he guides you, he corrects you, and he works all things together for good.
So it seems like I said a lot. What I'm saying is there is a specific will. It comes from wisdom, but it also comes from a relationship. And it is more than just right principles in life. Although right principles are involved in a lot of our right decisions, but it's more than just right principles.
It's also a right relationship. So all these things are connected. It's a complex subject. And there are a lot of books out there in the market on finding the will of God or how do you find the right career or how do you find the right person to marry or how do you make the right financial decision.
There are a lot of books, but if you understand what we're going to talk about in the next few shows, it'll begin to make sense when you pick up a book. What perspective are they coming from? Right. Because there's also some people who are just like, hey, listen, and I've even heard people, I got this advice from people in my past where they're like, how do I know when I found the girl for me or the woman for me? They're like, look, if you love God, she loves God, get married. And he will take care of that.
She is the right one for you now. And to some extent that is true. There should be some wisdom principles that should guide your choice of your mate. But I think it's more than that. I do believe, and it may seem like, oh, you're just trying to be a hopeless romantic. No, I'm just trying to tell you there is a specific person that God has for you. And how do you get to that person involves more than just wisdom principles. It also involves a relationship where God speaks to you and nudges you and guides you in that direction. That's true. And there are different views. And hopefully we can unpack that.
Yeah, absolutely. I think that's something that that's a burning question for a lot of people is how do I find God's will? What is the nature of God's will for me? Is it something that I can actually find or is it something that's mysterious that I just sort of find myself in the middle of if I pray enough, if I read my Bible enough, if I put enough money in the offering plate, am I gonna land somewhere close to God's will?
How do I go about pursuing this? It's funny because even this morning your son, I think, gave us the answer and his devotion. So we do a Tuesday morning prayer, devotional, men's prayer at like six in the morning. And Dr. Shah's youngest son Thomas actually gave it today. And I felt like he kind of hit it right on the head with Proverbs three.
That's right. This is the passage he read. He read Proverbs three, five and six, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. That was the passage. And he sort of broke it down and talked about trust. And he talked about acknowledging and direction that comes from God. And I thought that was very well done.
Yeah. And I remember one point he even said, listen to this again. I was like, that sounds like somebody else.
That's true. For those who do not know, that's how I say it. I was like, listen again to this verse. He said that. I was like... I didn't catch it when he said it. Yeah. I heard him.
I was like, oh, that sounds familiar. So for our listeners, there are basically three different approaches to knowing God's will. Okay. A great book that came out, I would say almost 15, 20 years ago, it was called How Then Should We Choose? Three views on God's will and decision making. The editor is Douglas Huffman and three or four different people contributed to this book. Well, three people, including Doug Huffman would be four. And each of them took a view and propounded or they expounded on their view.
And then they kind of pros and cons and criticize each other's view and give a rebuttal. And those three views that you just mentioned earlier in the episode, the specific will, the wisdom and the relationship. Those are the ones that are mentioned in this book. And if you notice something in the start of the show, I said something about how to find God's will, but I included all three. Because my conviction and our conviction is that all three of these views are coming from scripture for our series. So the first view is the specific will view.
Okay. A representative of the specific will view was J. Sid Lobachster. For those of you who do not know, he was an evangelist.
He was from, I think from England, if I'm not wrong. And he made the statement in his book on finding the will of God. I don't know the exact title, but in this book, he said, once again, we need God's, we need divine guidance because God has a purpose for each of us as no one else has. One of the most arresting and dignifying truths of scripture revelation is that for every human being, there is a preconceived divine plan and intention. Okay. So he says, there is something called a specific will. Right. And this is God's specific will for you, that only you, that this is my plan specifically for you. It's not like this is my plan for all of creation, for Ryan Hill, for John Glantz. This is what I have in store for you.
Yeah. I think that's where a lot of people, you know, want to land or look to, like, that's how God operates, that he has a specific goal for you, like person specific. Well, cause that's what he did in scripture, right? Like with Abraham, with Noah, he's like, Hey, here's what you're going to do.
You're going to build this arc with these instructions or you're going to, I'm going to show you this land and you're going to go there. And the hope is that God will light a bush on fire in your front yard and say, here's the plans I have for you. And people say that too. People are like, you know, it would be so much easier if God would just, just put my kitchen sink on fire and speak to me through it. Then I would know. It's like, I guess.
Yeah. I mean, if you look down through scriptures, you have how Nehemiah was called to go build the walls around Jerusalem. Esther was told by Mordecai in Esther chapter 4, 13. Well, Mordecai told Esther, do not think in your heart that you will escape the King's palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. That's true.
Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this means that this is your destiny. This is your purpose. That's what he was saying. That's right. Right. That's the specific will. Oh yeah.
It's going to happen without you, but this is for you. It's intended for you to do. Yeah. He was told by the angel to go and visit her cousin, Elizabeth. He didn't just say, Hey, so in a situation like this, what do you think is the best course of action? I don't know.
Maybe visit a relative. No, that's not what he said. He said, go visit. This one. Yeah.
It was very specific. Very true. Right.
Very true. God told Ananias to go visit Saul of Tarsus who was waiting for him. And Ananias was hesitant for of course, obvious reasons. This guy's a murderer.
Yeah. He says in Acts 9 13, Lord, I've heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priest to bind all who call on your name. But now listen to what God says to Ananias about Paul.
He says, go for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles, Kings and the children of Israel, for I will show him how many things he must suffer for my namesake. Very specific. Yeah. Yeah. So what about someone who's listening and they're wanting to discover this specific will for their life?
They're like, I bought it. That's what I want. Yeah. Right. That takes all the pressure off me. God's just going to tell me, how do I get him to do it?
I mean, we can unpack this more in the weeks ahead or days ahead, but generally speaking by scripture, by prayer, circumstances, godly counsel, but it's primarily by scripture. That's right. That's where we find the turn by turn directions. If you want to use the GPS analogy, specific will is like when you turn on your Google maps and you type in your destination, let's say Crabtree Mall or the doctor's office or some other place. And it gives you turn by turn directions that go here, a hundred E.R.s turned right on 158, 200 E.R.s turned left on tiny Broadway, go down and in about quarter of a mile, turn bare right onto I-85 or bare left to I-85 South, probably I-85 South because Crabtree is to the south of us, for those who know where I'm talking about.
But anyways, those are the turn by turn directions. Specific will view says, this is how God speaks to us. What is the second view?
The second view is the wisdom view. A representative would be someone like Haddon Robinson. For those who do not know, he was, I think at Gordon Conwell, he was a professor of preaching. In fact, he is very well known or was very well known. He passed away a few years ago for being a leading professor for expository preaching. Okay. One of my good friends did his doctoral work under him.
Dr. Haddon Robinson. Yeah. So he says this about the wisdom view. He said, we must face the fact. How do you know the will of God in making life's decisions? It's not a biblical question. The Bible never tells us to ask it. The Bible never gives us direction in answering it. And the pursuit of some personalized version of the will of God often leads us towards disobedience. When we find ourselves facing the tough choices in life, those day in, day out decisions that make up the very fabric of our existence, we shouldn't seek special messages from God. Instead, we should ask how do we develop the skills necessary to make wise and prudent choices? Okay. Operate with Godly wisdom.
Don't stress about like, is this the right choice? Just make the best choice given the wisdom principles in the Bible. These are not just general wisdom principles in the world. No, these should be based on the Bible. If they're not coming from the Bible, then this wisdom view doesn't apply. So it's still rooted in scripture. Oh yes, definitely.
In fact, very rooted in scripture. Yeah. So it will be, there is God's sovereign will and God's moral will. Okay. But there is no such thing as an individual will.
Gotcha. Specific will view says there is God's sovereign, there is God's moral, but there is also God's individual. Wisdom view says there is no individual will of God. Now, just to let our viewers understand and listeners understand, sovereign will is what God will do in this world.
The gospel, salvation, raising nations, taking nations out, second coming. These are all part of the sovereign will of God. Moral will is what God desires in this world. He wants truth. He wants righteousness. He wants evil to end.
He wants God's people to live holy lives. So that's moral will. Individual will is, according to wisdom views, just make wise choices. Trying to see God's specific will only comes from immaturity.
That's what they will say. What about the third view? So third view is the relationship view. Okay.
This is the relationship view. In this, I guess a representative would be Lloyd John Ogilvy. For those who do not know, he was the United States chaplain at one time. Wow. Yeah.
That's pretty big. Yeah, he was. Yeah. He wrote a lot of books and stuff like that. But anyways, he was a representative of this view and there are many others, but he is one. According to him, the will of God is not a mysterious set of sealed orders we search for and receive if we happen to hit on the right formula. See, that's what he's saying against the specific will. It's not a mysterious set of sealed orders we search for and receive if we happen to hit on the right formula. It's not like a hidden recipe that we got to figure out.
And find the one for you. Right. Rather, the will of God is a relationship with him in which he discloses his purpose, his power, and his plan for our lives in that order.
His purpose, his power, and his plan. So don't get caught up in the how to. Right. Got you. Right. So if you go back to our GPS analogy, okay? We talked about how you type in a destination and then you pick, right? Okay.
This is the right address and you go for it. Turn by turn directions. Specific will. Sometimes or many times it is, I want to go here and there'll be three or four different routes.
Pick the one best for you. No right, no wrong. That's the wisdom view.
Specific, I mean, I'm sorry. Relationship view will say it's something like it's not about turn by turn or about pick the best option. This is about who you have with you in the journey. So imagine if you're traveling to a new city and you have your GPS on, but you also have somebody with you in the passenger seat who knows the area better than even the GPS. Yeah, true. Like I was thinking, like if, like even around here in the United States, it's pretty easy to get around. But like if I went to Basavil, India or something, right? Like your hometown overseas and I'm trying to just rely on my GPS, like I'll probably end up getting lost. But if you're with me and you're like, Hey, I grew up here.
I know exactly where we are. You don't need that. Listen to it at times. But like when I was visiting my mom last year, I needed the GPS even though I didn't have my GPS on most of the time because I was relying on these guys. But then at times I opened it up just to know where I was at.
And guess what? It worked. But then when we got into town, I knew where I was at. Yeah, even though it was 30 years ago, but I had gone back to visit the past several times lately.
The latest one prior to last year was in 2017. So I knew where I was at. But still, I didn't need to look at the GPS.
I wonder where we are now, you know? Right. You knew it. I knew. You've been there. Yeah. That's a great point.
So if you were driving, I would have told you, don't worry about that. Just keep going. It's about half a mile down. Right. Right. And then imagine, like I can see now how the relationship view looks appealing because then imagine that somebody else who's like never been there is like, no, no, no, I'm just going to follow the GPS.
It's like, dude, I've lived here for 17, 18 years. I know where it is. Yeah, follow me. I can tell you where you're going.
Yeah, I'm telling you. So relationship view will say something like, nothing is more important than the character and quality of our relationship with Christ. It is the ascension that guides our interaction with Christ.
Ascension means what? He is alive. He is real. He is with you. Who's guiding you. You don't have to look at, you know, it doesn't have to be like, please, God, you're up there.
Send me the exact direction to the one you have for me or the one college I need to go to or the decision I need to make. Please guide me turn by turn. You don't even have to do, God, okay, guide me as I find the best option for my life. No, Jesus is with you. And as you interact with him, he will guide you. He is standing at the door knocking and he wants to come in. His last words are, do not be afraid. I am with you.
Okay. And requires becoming aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life. It is real.
It's about real time decisions with a real Christ. That's a great point, right? So this is the relationship view.
So which one, which one is us? That's right. That's what we'll talk about over the next couple of days.
That's right. So excited to dive into this further. Today was helpful for you guys. Write in and let us know two five two five eight two five zero two eight, or you can visit us online at clearviewtodayshow.com. Don't forget you can partner with us financially on that same website. Every gift that you give goes on only to building up this radio show, but countless other ministries for the gospel of Jesus. Make sure you guys tune in tomorrow as we continue this series. Love you guys. See you tomorrow on Clear View Today.
