Can the Bible Solve America’s Immigration Issues?

How does the Bible speak to America's immigration issues? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You've been and Pastor Adriel is waiting for your call, 833-843-2673. If you want, you can post your question on our Facebook, Instagram or Twitter accounts. You can always watch us on YouTube and you can email us with your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com.

First up today, let's go to David calling in from Arkansas. David, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Yes, my question was, you talked about forgiveness, restoration, and reconciliation. Are we to go to each and every one we've ever heard in life, whether it be 500 or 1000 people, and ask for forgiveness and restore things and begin to reconcile things? Or is that different for each circumstance? Hey David, thanks for that question.

Super practical. I imagine we're sinners, so you think about all the people that you've sinned against in your entire life, the people that you sinned against when you were a kid, and as you got older, a teenager, that kind of a thing, into being a young adult. I don't think that we need to go and seek out every single person that we ever maybe offended in that way. I think really more specifically, when you look at passages like Matthew 5 where Jesus is talking about being reconciled with your brother if they have something against you.

He says in verse 23, so if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go, first be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift. In other words, the text here indicates that going to this person is actually a real possibility. I know that there are people in our past who maybe we're not able to go to them. We can't meet up with them like we would have been able to in the past.

Maybe they've moved away. So it's not always even a possibility to do that sort of reconciliation, restoration thing, but we're called to pursue it, especially in those situations, David, where maybe it's someone in the church, someone close by in the family, in your family where you know they have something against you. You've done something and there's tension in the body of Christ because of it. Instead of just sort of brushing it under the rug and saying hopefully they get over it, Jesus encourages us to go to that person and to be reconciled.

So yeah, real practical there. I don't think you need to go to every single person in your life throughout your entire life that you've offended, but the people that are there right now at the present who you've hurt or sinned against, there needs to be reconciliation. So thank you for that question. David, does that answer your question? I appreciate it very much. Hey, thanks brother.

Thanks for your help. God bless. Thank you, David. Adriel, you're a third grade teacher, Mrs. McGillicuddy is on line six. Yeah, she wants it. I'll tell you what, if she wants to meet up for coffee and then I can just own up to, you know, the drawing pictures in class and that kind of thing. And the spitballs, yes.

Yeah, the spitballs, definitely. I have a lot of repenting to do. You know, the thing is, Bill, I love that question because, I mean, the reality is I've talked to believers who are way down as they think about their past sins and they think, I got to do something about this. And even though they've confessed their sin, they've gone to the Lord, they've experienced His grace and His forgiveness, they sort of go back to it over and over again. They feel like, oh, I need to make atonement in some way.

And there are times where it is possible for us, again, to go and to reconcile and to restore those relationships, but sometimes it's not possible. And I don't think that God holds that over our heads, and so really a practical question, good way to start the day. Good counsel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Here's the phone number to call if you have a question, 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Zach from Fort Smith, Arkansas. Zach, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Hi, thanks for having me on. The question I have is, in the Apostles' Creed, it talks about Jesus descending into hell. And basically, I just want to know what that means and where that is coming from in Scripture, because I've had just some questions on it and no real clarity yet in learning about it, so yeah.

Zach, I love this question, getting us into the Creed. I mean, and talk about Core Christianity. The Apostles' Creed, for those who aren't familiar with it, we don't really know who wrote the Apostles' Creed for a long time. There were people who were saying, a lot of people believe it actually in the church. It was written by the apostles that each of the apostles sort of took a different article of the Creed and penned that article.

But over time, you know, we've come to realize that that probably isn't the case. But it does communicate what we might refer to as the apostolic faith, the faith once for all delivered to the saints, the real heart of the gospel. And if you're not familiar with the Apostles' Creed, you really should familiarize yourself with it.

I just want to read it, and then, Zach, I'm going to get to your question. The Apostles' Creed, I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified dead and buried. He descended into hell.

There's that clause you're talking about. The third day, he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of the Father, God the Father almighty. From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church. And the word Catholic there just means universal, you know, the universal body of Jesus Christ, faith in Jesus. The communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

Amen. This is, we might say, core Christianity. And when you get that clause right there in the middle of the Creed, he descended into hell. And a lot of people wonder, well, was Jesus in hell for three days, suffering for our sins, that kind of a thing? Well, that can't be the case, Zach, because he told the thief on the cross today, you're going to be with me in paradise. And Jesus, when he died on the cross, right, he, in his body, right, the body was buried, but Jesus was in the presence of the Father there in paradise. Now a lot of times I think what people will say about this descent clause of the Creed, and I tend to agree with this, is that it refers to the sufferings, Zach, that Jesus experienced on the cross for us. Really the curse of the law, that he bore the wrath of God for us, for our sins, so that we might be saved.

Now there's debate, right, about how to really understand this clause in particular, but I would say that's a really good way of looking at it. The one thing that I can tell you for sure, and that no one in church history has believed, is that Jesus was in hell for three days, suffering, you know. You sort of imagine hell as the pictures painted for us in the Gospels by Jesus himself, you know, weeping and gnashing of teeth, this sort of unquenchable fire. That's not where Jesus was.

No, his body was resting in the grave, he was in paradise, as it were, had conquered death, and he was cleansing, if you will, the grave. For all those who would believe in him. And so it really is a wonderful hope, and that's the answer, Zach. Thank you for the question. Are you part of a church, Zach, that confesses the Apostles' Creed, that uses the Apostles' Creed?

No, I'm not. Honestly, I've been leading an American Gospel study, and we just kind of like, somebody asked me about it, that's part of a Lutheran church, and I've never read it before, so I just looked at it and then had a good conversation with them. Well, I'll tell you what, Zach, I'm glad that you're looking at it and getting into it, because one of the big problems that we see in the church today is just a lack of understanding when it comes to the basics, the fundamentals. And when we ask that question, you know, what are the fundamentals of the Christian faith, a lot of people don't even know where to go. We can say the scriptures, but like, give me something a little bit more brief, something that's short that I can say, this sums up the essence of the Christian faith, really the Holy Trinity and the life, death, resurrection of Jesus and the hope of eternal life. Well, that's what the Apostles' Creed was always meant to do. Actually, initially, early on in the history of church, it was probably used as a sort of guideline for new members, as new members, as converts were joining the church.

It was this creed, essentially, that they were being taught prior to their baptisms. And so, really, just a wonderful resource, something that's good for you to dig into, and I'm glad you asked that question, brother. God bless. Zach, thanks so much. Zach is one of our viewers on AGTV. We appreciate you watching the program on a regular basis.

By the way, you can watch on AGTV, or if you want, you can watch on YouTube. We'd love to have you join us and you can actually see Adriel doing his thing live in the studio. Now, one of the things that we should mention is that some radio stations air this program on a delayed basis, so the time that you're hearing it may not be the time that we're actually live taking calls. So if you'd like to talk to Pastor Adriel live and ask your question, here is the time to call.

1130 a.m. Pacific Time, which translates into 1230 Mountain, 130 Central, or 230 Eastern Time. You can talk to Pastor Adriel live in the studio, or you can leave a voicemail anytime 24 hours a day at our number, which is 833-THE-CORE. Let's go to Glory in Modesto, California. Glory, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hi, so I feel like I should know this, but whenever I try to share the gospel in a quick manner, you know, with someone, with my husband, for example, or my son, it just comes out wrong. Yeah, is there, like in 30 seconds, 60 seconds, or, you know, two minutes or less, is there, what's the best way to describe the good news? What's the best way to share the gospel?

Yeah, Glory, such an excellent question. One, don't feel bad. I think a lot of people can identify with you, especially when we have an opportunity to share the gospel and then we fumble. I've been there not long ago.

Well, I mean, it was probably a couple of years ago now. We had some friends that invited us over for dinner after the Sunday service. Now, these friends don't go to church with us.

They just know them from the neighborhood. They know that I'm a pastor, and they invited us over, and so they don't go to church, and they asked me while we're at dinner. You know, they don't go to church anyway. They said, well, what did you talk about today? And what a great opportunity for a pastor, a Christian pastor, to be able to share the gospel. So I talked about Jesus, what he did for us, but instead I fumbled. I was preaching through Peter at the time, and I said, oh, well, you know, I've been preaching through the Epistle of Peter. And when I said Epistle, this person looked at me like, what did you just say? And he's writing to the Christians scattered abroad in the diaspora, and as soon as I said diaspora, it was just game over.

The person is just shut down. And I remember afterwards just thinking, boy, Lord, you really set me up for that one, and I just dropped the ball totally. And so, glory, I've been there. And God is gracious, and he gives us these opportunities, and so how can we communicate what God has done for us in 30 seconds or less?

It's really hard to sort of encapsulate everything in that, but I would focus on this. The gospel is the good news of what God has done to unite us to himself through his son Jesus. And it's good news. It's not what you do or your obedience to God. That's the law. We distinguish glory between the law and the gospel. The law says, here's what you need to do, and we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We've broken God's law, and so we can't be saved by the law, and that's why it's really important to distinguish there. And a lot of times when people—I bring this up, glory, because when people think about the gospel, when you ask the average person on the street, what's the good news of Christianity?

What they do is they point you to the law. They say, well, be a good person. Love your neighbor, love God, that kind of a thing. Those are good things, but that's not the gospel. The gospel is not what we do. It's what God has done for us in Christ, what God has done for sinners, for people who don't deserve it. They say, if you're emphasizing anything in 30 seconds, in 60 seconds, emphasize the goodness of God towards people who don't deserve it in Jesus. And there are a lot of wonderful verses of scripture that you could go to.

Real quick summaries, I think. John 3.16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. There it is. God loves you, and He gave His Son so that your sins might be forgiven.

It's not what you do. It's laying hold of that good news. And so that's what we want to focus on, what God has done, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for us. Thanks for calling us. Amen.

That is beautiful, Adriel. And I think you would probably add that we're not necessarily always going to see a conversion on the first attempt. God does tell us, the Bible does tell us, that some water, some plant that seed, some water it, and not everybody harvests.

And there may be a long process for some people. You're right. You're alluding to what Paul says to the Corinthians, and that's absolutely right. Sometimes we're just planting a seed. You never know what's going to happen years down the road.

It could be that that seed blossoms, grows up 10 years later, and you never got to see the fruit of that. But we're called to be faithful and to share the good news of the Gospel with the people around us. And that's why it's so important for us to know it, for us to be able to communicate the Gospel clearly, what God has done for us in Christ.

So, amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We are very excited to announce a brand new Bible study we have to offer you, and it's on the Book of Revelation. Yes, this is the Book of Revelation, written by the Apostle John, a vision that Jesus Christ gave to him about the things that were going to happen. And you know, the Book of Revelation was written to be a comfort for Christian suffering, suffering persecution, suffering difficulty in life. That's the focus of the Book of Revelation. And so it's one of those books of the Bible that we today can really benefit from immensely in our walk with the Lord, but a lot of people don't understand the Book of Revelation. So that's why we created this resource. You could use it individually, go through it by yourself, maybe for your morning devotions, or with a group of people, friends from your church, Sunday school class, that kind of a thing. Get a hold of this resource.

It's yours for a gift of $20 or more. This study will really help you understand one of the most challenging books of the Bible, a book that a lot of people get confused about. To request a copy of the Revelation study, just go to corechristianity.com forward slash revelation. That's corechristianity.com forward slash revelation. Or you can call us at 1-833-843-2673 for that offer or any one of our offers.

Again, it's 1-833-THE-CORE. Let's go to a voicemail we received from one of our listeners named Virginia. Living near the Mexico border, I hear negative comments on immigrants and refugees seeking asylum in the U.S. Some say we need to take care of our own, but we are all God's people. Could you point me to references in scriptures where it says, we are welcoming the stranger?

Hey, Virginia. I live not too far from the border as well. I'm glad that you bring up this crisis, this great difficulty. It really is tragic because we're talking about people, children made in God's image. I saw a video not too long ago of a little boy, I think he was about 10 years old, it was all over the news, and he was wandering around in the desert with a group of people to try to cross the border.

They had abandoned him and so he was picked up by the border patrol. And in the video you can just see the fear, the pain in this child's eyes and your heart, it just wells up. God is a compassionate God and so I think it's really important for us as we think about these things, as people get in debates and arguments about policy, we're dealing with souls, we're dealing with people made in God's image, deserving of dignity, love, care, and respect, and God cares for the vulnerable. Think of what the psalm is said in the book of Psalms. Psalm 146 verse 9, the Lord watches over the sojourners. He upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. Or in the book of Leviticus, you shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

I am the Lord your God. Those are passages in the scriptures that talk about welcoming the stranger. Now one thing that we need to understand is that in that context, those laws were given to Israel as a political body, as God's kingdom on earth. The United States of America is not God's kingdom on earth.

So when we think about how to apply some of these principles, we have to be discerning. Really, the kingdom of God on earth right now is the church of Jesus Christ, which is universal, made up of people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. This is a call, I think, for us as Christians to have compassionate hearts towards people who are in need, to be welcoming. Absolutely, to be welcoming.

I think that's what you see there in the Old Testament. One of the things that's so interesting is God told his people that you guys were strangers. You know what it's like to be a stranger. You were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Therefore, you should be loving. Brothers and sisters, we too were strangers, alienated, we're told by the apostle Paul, from God, from his grace, from his goodness, from his covenants. Yet, God reached down to us through his son Jesus and welcomed us into his family. So that should shape the way we think about the world around us and the people around us and cause us to have hearts that are full of compassion. I know there's a broader question about policy and all of those things, but we really have to first and foremost, I think, start there, Virginia, where I've just started in thinking about God's heart and as he's revealed himself in his word and what he called his people to, what he calls us to. And so, may God help us to be compassionate, to be wise, to be loving, and to recognize, again, that we're dealing with people made in God's image.

And so, the way in which we speak about them, we want to be very careful because we're talking about God's image bearers. God bless you. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

Let's go to Kevin in Perryville, Missouri. Kevin, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Yes, there was a caller a few minutes ago that asked about the Apostles' Creed, and I just got in on the first part of the call. And you read the scripture, but I did not hear whether you said where the scripture was you were reading from.

Yes, yes. And I just wanted to know that. Hey, Kevin, I'm glad you called to help me clarify there because what I was reading was the Apostles' Creed. And the Apostles' Creed is not, whereas I would say it's based off of scripture, every article in the creed, right, we can point to passages of the Bible, just a summary of the teaching of the Bible, the real basic teaching of the Bible. So the focus on the Trinity, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. And I mentioned that this is early on in the history of the church. This was used for people who were joining the church, people who were coming to be baptized. This was the basics that they needed to receive, what we might call, what Jude called the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Now, how do we know that these kinds of things were the basics? These kinds of things were the things that the Christians early on, even from the days of the New Testament, were focusing on. Well, listen to what the author of the Hebrews said in Hebrews chapter six. Therefore, he's writing to the church, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ, so this is the basic stuff, the ABCs, and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of, so you imagine this is what they were teaching to people who were joining the church, a foundation of repentance from dead works and faith toward God, instruction about washings and the laying on of hands, probably reference there to baptism and maybe even church government, the laying on of hands ordination, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. What is it? What are the basics that people need to be brought up in as they're coming into the church, and what is it that we need to lay hold of and let take deep root in our hearts?

Well, it's those things. It's the truth about repentance towards God, faith in Jesus Christ, the gospel. They have the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, washings, baptism, the life of the world to come, and the eternal judgment. Those are all the things that are essentially brought up in the Apostles' Creed, and that's the very things that, from the very beginning, at least as early as the book of Hebrews was written, that new believers were being brought up in. So, really important that you understand that the Apostles' Creed was written after the Bible was written. We don't know exactly when.

It was probably finalized somewhere in the fourth or fifth century, that kind of a thing, but it really is a faithful articulation of the basics, the teaching that we find in the Scripture. So, Kevin, thank you for that question and for helping us make that clarification. One quick email question before we go today, this one for you, Adriel. This person wants to know, what is the nature of the resurrected body of Christ? Does it take up physical space? Yes.

Boy, that can be a quick question, Bill, or we could just spend the entire broadcast on that one. Definitely, when you look at the New Testament, Jesus rose again from the dead, and we're going to have bodies just like the Lord Jesus, glorified bodies. Paul brings us up a good passage of Scripture that you could go to if you wanted to get into this discussion, is in 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul outlines just a lot of really good stuff related to the resurrection and the resurrection body.

But we also know that it is a physical body. Jesus, what did he do for Peter? After Jesus had raised from the dead, Jesus is hanging out by the beach and cooking up a meal, breakfast for Peter.

They have a meal together. Remember when Thomas, at the end of John's Gospel, a little bit prior to that scene, sees Jesus, and Jesus says, put your hand here where the nail prints were. Put it right here where the spear had pierced my side. Don't be unbelieving, but believe. This was a real physical resurrection from the dead, and that's really important. Again, this is core Christianity, because that's what gives us the hope of the resurrection, because Jesus rose from the dead. One day we, too, are going to rise again from the dead through him. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together.