Is the Bible Written For Me or Its Original Audience?

Is the Bible written for me or for its original audience? Well, Adriel, I know you were camping for a couple of days with your family. How was your camping trip? Bill, it was awesome. It was really nice to take a break together, get up in the mountains. We were camping in southern Utah about 10,000 feet elevation hunting squirrels. The kids had a great time. Actually, my son tried to make a squirrel trap. He was unsuccessful, but that's okay because I don't know what we would have done with the squirrel. I understand you had a little hail incident.

Yeah. The last night we were camping, it hailed on us, which is crazy because it's the middle of the summer. And so as I was making dinner, I'm cooking these steaks that we had picked up at a supermarket on the way to the campsite over one of those gas skillets or whatever, making these steaks.

It starts to hail. Fortunately, we had an umbrella in the minivan. We pulled that out, and I was able to finish cooking the steaks under the umbrella as I was being pelted with hailstones. Then we ate the steaks inside our tent. It was kind of a mess, but they were good. They came out well. You are quite the rugged outdoorsman, I must say. Yes. Actually, I'm not.

I think if I was ever lost outdoors, I would be one of the first to perish. I don't know what. But we had a wonderful time, and it was relaxing, rejuvenating, and I'm glad to be back. Well, good to have you back. Well, let's go to one of our listeners who has a question. This is Mary in St. Louis, Missouri. Mary, what is your question for Pastor Adriel?

Hi. I am struggling with something. A family member has recently come out as gay, and my Catholic faith teaches that homosexual acts are a grave sin. I'm just struggling with supporting and accepting this family member while I do not accept this lifestyle. My question is, I just want to know what the Bible says about homosexual acts.

Yeah. Well, Mary, thank you for giving us a call. In 1 Corinthians 6, the Apostle Paul, as he's warning the Corinthians about sinful behavior, he says to them in verse 9, Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. And so the Bible very clearly teaches that homosexuality, that the same sex relationships and sex acts are sinful in the eyes of God. Now there's this issue, I think, in our broader culture today, and it's this idea that if you're going to really love someone, you just have to affirm everything about them. You have to accept whatever it is that they've accepted for themselves.

And a lot of people think about, I think, homosexuality in this way. If you're really going to support a family member or love them, you just have to affirm them in the decision that they've made. But the reality is that's not what love is. And if we're being consistent, no one would really define love in that way. Love doesn't just tell someone, hey, whatever you want to do or whatever you want to believe is perfectly fine, that kind of a thing. No, that's not love. And that's not love according to the Bible. And so Mary, I would say you can continue to love this family member even without accepting or embracing their lifestyle as the right decision for them. And I think that that's a really important distinction that we have to make. I think that you can continue and you ought to continue to take an interest in this person's life, have conversations, talk to them about this decision, why this has come about.

I think it's really important that you continue to invest in the relationship. And you can do that while also being honest about the Christian faith, about what the Bible teaches. Jesus calls each and every one of us to follow him, to lay down our lives, to take up our crosses and to pursue him. And each and every one of us, I mean, there are sins that we have to lay aside, things that we have to let go of.

It may be homosexuality for some people, for other people. I mean, think of the list that Paul mentions there in 1 Corinthians 6, drunkards, greed, those kinds of things. All of us are called to turn from our sins and to follow Jesus. And that's a scary thing and it's not an easy thing, but it's what God calls us to.

And the wonderful thing is Jesus is the one who first laid down his life for us. And so my encouragement to you, Mary, would be to continue to pursue a friendship, a relationship with this family member, to know that you can love them, that you ought to love them, you're called to by Jesus himself. But loving them does not necessarily mean affirming them in this decision, in this homosexuality.

And so I think you have to distinguish between those two things. Mary, we also have a great core resource on this topic. It's called 10 Things You Should Know About Homosexuality. You can find that at corechristianity.com slash guides. Again, corechristianity.com slash guides.

Let's go to George in St. Louis, Missouri. George, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Pastor, I have a friend that is planning to start a home church initially involving only his children and grandchildren. He's got a rather large family and they live in a very small community and the choices of churches are very small.

And he asked me what I thought about him doing that. He's not a pastor. He's not an elder anywhere. But he wanted to know, would it be permissible for him to baptize any of his family that does accept Christ? And also, would it be acceptable for him to serve communion which would be outside the church and he is not a clergy? And I couldn't find any scripture versus that speaks to that.

Well, a really practical and good question. And I mean, it just goes to show that we need to be planting more churches today because there are, as you mentioned, places throughout the United States and certainly throughout the world where there are not good gospel preaching churches. The job of the church is to go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them, teaching them to observe the word of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that needs to continue to happen here as well. And so I'm sorry to hear that your friend doesn't have, it seems like a church close by. And if you're in an area where there is no church, I think it is important for you to be in the word with your family. Frankly, I would say that's a good enough reason to move somewhere else if it's possible, if the Lord opens up the doors. There's really, I think, nothing more important than being in a good church where you're going to be encouraged and built up in the word of God. And there are churches that are properly constituted, we might say, and then there are a lot of churches, frankly, that aren't. We don't call ourselves into the ministry. I don't ordain myself into the pastorate or as a pastor.

And one of my concerns is that there are a lot of people who just sort of think, oh, I can just sort of do this on my own. I can go and make myself a pastor. But in scripture, that's not really what you see. You have, according to Paul in 1 Timothy 3, this sense of internal calling. An individual has this desire, they aspire to the office of an overseer. But that internal calling also has to be confirmed by the calling of the church. The church, the people of God need to be able to say, yes, this person is called in. And so ordination, the pathway to the ministry, to the pastor, it happens in the context of the local church. And one of the reasons why, George, this is so important is because there are many individuals who just sort of take up to themselves the office of pastor.

I'm going to be a Bible teacher. And maybe they're gifted. Maybe they can gather a great crowd around them.

Maybe they have charisma. But the question is, are they qualified? Do they have the character that someone who's called to the ministry is supposed to have, according to 1 Timothy 3? Are they competent in the scriptures? People can do a lot of harm by taking up the office of pastor, claiming that they're pastors, and teaching the Bible, when in reality, they're twisting the scriptures. And I'm not saying this about your friend. I don't know what your friend's theology is, what his beliefs are about the word of God, what he wants to teach.

But I have seen it go south so many times. And so I caution people against this kind of thing. And I caution Christians against sort of joining churches where the pastor just decided himself that he was going to be a pastor.

There's no real accountability. And as I said, I think it is something where if you are in a place where there are no good churches, you feel like you're the only one who can be a pastor and you have to go about it in that way, I would say, maybe consider praying about finding somewhere else to live. Frankly, again, I don't think that there is an exaggeration. There's nothing more important than being in a solid church for us and for our families. And it also extends, George, you mentioned, can this friend, should this friend be baptizing and administering the Lord's Supper? I think those ordinances or sacraments, as we sometimes call them, go hand in hand with the ministry of the word. Not everyone is called to be a teacher or a pastor. In fact, James says in James chapter three, verse one, let not many of you become teachers knowing that we'll receive a stricter judgment. So there is this particular office in the church, a pastor, teacher, and those who fill that office need to have been qualified according to first Timothy three and Titus chapter one. And it's those individuals in particular who are called to administer those ordinances, baptism in the Lord's Supper. We're told in first Corinthians chapter four, verse one, that we are stewards of the mysteries of God. We're guarding the deposit of faith. And that's why it's so important that we have these processes that we go through in order to make sure that the doctrine is sound, that what people are being taught is good and true and in line with the spirit of God.

And so that would be my suggestion. Now again, George, let me just say this last thing. I know that there are extraordinary circumstances. Maybe it's the case that your friend has nowhere else to go. He can't move.

He's stuck there. And I would say, well, be in the word with your family, be studying the scriptures, get solid Bible teaching as much as you can, but look for an opportunity to be a part of a solid, true biblical local church. Thank you for your call. Great counsel.

Thanks, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We have an awesome new Bible study that we want to tell you about today. Yes, we have revised and uploaded our first Bible study built, Core Christianity 101. This is a complete self-contained study on the Christian faith, aimed at building a solid foundation in the basics. Oftentimes today, you either see people in the church dividing over secondary or peripheral issues, and you see others who don't take things like Jesus' resurrection, the teaching of justification by faith alone seriously.

This is because biblical literacy is at an all-time low, and many Christians have no idea what they believe or why they believe it. Core Christianity exists to help remedy that, and the Core 101 Bible study is a great one-stop shop for everyone to get to know us, our mission, and it explains the core truths and essential doctrines of the Christian faith. And unlike our other Bible studies bill, which are for a donation of $20 or more, this one is for a donation of any amount.

So get ahold of this resource. They're available in bulk quantities as well, and would be great for you to consider as you plan through your fall Bible studies and Sunday school classes. This is really an awesome Bible study. It's a great way to learn more about the Christian faith and more about our mission here at Core Christianity. You can get this 10-week Bible study for a donation of any amount by going to corechristianity.com forward slash studies. Look for Core Christianity 101.

Again, it's corechristianity.com forward slash studies. You can also call us for that resource or any one of our resources at 833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. And our phone lines, by the way, are still open if you have a question for Pastor Adriel. Call us for the next 10 minutes or so. We'll be taking calls live here in the studio at 833-THE-CORE.

Let's go to a voicemail we received from one of our callers named Stephen. I was calling with regard to the Bible, audience relevance, and timing statements. In the book of Daniel, if Daniel is told to seal the book for this prophecy as far into the future, and 500 years later was the time of the coming of the Messiah that Daniel prophesied about, then why is it in the book of Revelation when they talk about the prophecy to the seven churches at Asia Minor about the things that were soon to occur, 2,000 years later that's not considered far off in the future? Just a question about timing statements and audience relevance. What were the words on those pages that meant to their original audiences?

Thank you. Yeah, I love this question because one of my passions is to help people see that the Bible, while these particular stories that we have or epistles that we see in the New Testament may not have been written directly to you, they certainly are for you. It's really important that you understand that the whole Bible, all of scripture, Old Testament, New Testament is for you and for your instruction, and God will use it in your life to build you up in the faith, to bring you into a deeper relationship with Him.

So absolutely important. There's actually one passage of scripture that I think makes this absolutely clear in the book of 1 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 10, as Paul is warning the Corinthians about idolatry that took place in the Old Testament, he says to them, beginning in verse six, these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and 23,000 fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come.

You see what Paul is doing there. He's saying, look, all of this, what we have in these stories, and they were written down, were given these examples, but that they're for our instruction until the Lord Jesus comes back. The whole Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit.

It's God-breathed, Paul told Timothy. In the immediate context, you have these letters or these prophecies or these prayers uttered by particular people in a particular place with a context. It's very important that we understand that context in order for us to be able to apply these texts to ourselves faithfully, but we need to also recognize that as we understand the text of scripture in its original context, it also has meaning for us.

There are applications ... things that we're able to take for our own instruction. Even if you have a word that's given to a group specifically, like that word that came from Daniel the prophet or the word of Jesus in the early chapters of the book of Revelation to the seven churches in Asia Minor, those are specific exhortations to particular people in a particular place, and yet they're relevant to us. As we read them, as we open up the scriptures and read them prayerfully, asking God to illuminate our hearts and minds, he speaks to us now, today, through these passages written so long ago. I just want to encourage you to dig into the scriptures and to know that even if this particular text wasn't written with you in mind, it was written for you, and that the Spirit speaks through the word today. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, we'd love to hear from you. Our number is 833-THE-CORE, and you can always leave us a voicemail on that number, 24 hours a day.

833-843-2673 is the number. Let's go to a caller from Illinois. What's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hi, I'm calling from Illinois, and I do have a question regarding my Christianity. I would like to know, if I'm proclaiming to be saved, will it take away from my Christianity by wearing pants, by wearing jewelry?

Well, dear sister, no. I don't believe that it would take away from your Christianity, wearing pants or wearing jewelry. Sometimes in the church, people can create these sort of extra biblical rules and impose those rules on the congregation, and sometimes those rules look like you have to dress this particular way. You can't wear pants on Sunday.

You have to wear a dress or a skirt or something like that. Well, that's not anywhere in scripture. The Bible doesn't teach that. The Bible does say that we should be modest in our apparel, that we should focus on the internal person, on the heart.

Paul talks about this in 1 Timothy chapter two, but that doesn't mean that you can't wear jewelry or that you can't wear pants, that kind of a thing. So often, tragically, I think, in Christian circles, we get caught up with these issues that really have nothing to do with... The Bible doesn't say these things, but this becomes what the church is about. We can frankly add to the gospel in some sense by focusing on these things and by imposing these kinds of rules on people. If you tell someone you can't really be a Christian unless you dress this particular way or unless you embrace this particular cultural practice, what you're doing is you're adding to the gospel. That actually, sister, was something that was happening in the ancient apostolic church. There were Hebrew converts to Christianity that were telling Gentiles who were joining the church, if you really want to be a Christian, if you really want to be a part of the church, you're also going to have to adhere to all of our cultural laws as well. You're going to need to continue to embrace the doctrine of circumcision that was important under the old covenant.

You're going to have to eat like we eat, adhere to our particular dietary restrictions. The apostle Paul in the book of Galatians, he came against that so strong. He said, look, you're adding to the gospel. You're making the gospel something. You're corrupting the gospel.

Essentially, this is not a gospel at all, Paul says at the very beginning of the book of Galatians. We have to be careful that we don't miss the forest for the trees, if you will, that we don't lose sight of what Christ has actually called us to. He has called us to purity, to holiness, to modesty. Those things are true, but it's not the job of the pastor to impose upon his congregants or some theologian to impose upon the people in the church. That looks like you're not allowed to wear a necklace or you're not allowed to wear pants, that kind of a thing. I would say you can be totally modest and still wear pants or still wear jewelry, and so it wouldn't take away from your Christianity.

Thank you for giving us a call. Of course, we should mention that there was that time that Adriel wore a Hawaiian shirt to church. That was, I don't know, a little controversial, but you had your clerical robe over it. There you go. There you go.

It's a very Southern California thing. You just have to be here to understand that. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

Here's an email question we received from Janet. She says, in Isaiah 65, when it speaks about the new heavens and the new earth, it seems to say that people still die there, but in Revelation 21, it says there will be no more death. Can you explain this?

Yeah. Sometimes this is referred to as a sort of prophetic idiom, the way in which the prophets would speak. Of course, Isaiah is himself a prophet, and he's given this great vision of the future. What does it look like? It looks like peace. It looks like feasting. It looks like joy. It looks like rejoicing. We have to be careful as we're reading these prophecies that we don't take it to mean, well, maybe I guess that the new creation, we're just going to live really to have nice old lives, and then we're going to die.

Who knows what that's going to look like? No, it's prophetic literature. He's given this image, this sort of picture of the perfect life, of joy, of festivity, of worship. That's what we have in Isaiah 65. There's no reason to conclude from that that there's going to be death in the new creation, that kind of a thing. No, it's this prophetic idiom, if you will, the prophets speaking in a way that the people at that time would have understood. Thank you for your question.

Appreciate that email. That reminds me, Adriel, it's so critical for all of us to be considering the claims of Jesus Christ and our relationship with Him, because we don't know the day or the hour. We don't know when we might be taken, and if we're not prepared, it's not going to work out so well for us. Yeah.

You know, Bill, that's something that we do always want to bring up on this broadcast. The importance of you knowing Jesus and having a personal relationship with Him, not just having said a prayer at one point in your life or, you know, I was baptized many years ago and I haven't been to church or don't know what I believe, that kind of a thing. No, Jesus calls you to follow Him, and you can because He loves you and He laid down His life for you. Thanks for listening to Core Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at CoreChristianity.com and click on Offers in the menu bar, or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program, and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together.