An eighth grader asks, Does the sixth commandment forbid Christians from serving in the military? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of Core Christianity. Well, hi there and happy Friday. This is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. This is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. We would love to hear from you and our phone lines are open right now. You can call us at this number, 1-833-843-2673.
That's 833-THE-CORE. And we are open to questions about theology and doctrine and how your Christian life intersects with what's going on in today's culture. You name it, you can call us and Pastor Adriel would love to answer your question.
You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram or Twitter accounts. And you can always email us at questionsatcorechristianity.com. Now, all this week, we have been featuring questions from the eighth graders and the Faith Christian Academy in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. Each day, this class listens to Core Christianity in their classroom with their teacher.
And we are so excited about this. And this particular question is from a student named Leanne. Hi, my name is Leanne and it says in the Bible, the rapture will come soon. Why hasn't it come yet? Hey Leanne, thanks for listening to Core Christianity and thank you for that question. You know, this is a question that many people ask and have been asking for 2000 years. I mean, you read the New Testament and it seems like the disciples were just waiting for the coming of the Lord right around the corner. But a lot of time has gone by and Jesus has not come back yet.
And so the question is, why is that? And I think the best passage of scripture to go to is what Peter says, the Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 3, where he's talking about the day of the Lord, that is the second coming of Jesus Christ. And he says, you know, people are going to show up who say, well, where is the promise of his coming?
Everything is just happening, you know, as it has always happened, you know, what's going on? Scoffing and not following the Lord. They're questioning the coming of the Lord. And Peter gives this reminder in 2 Peter 3. He says, they deliberately overlook this fact that the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God.
And that by means of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word, the heavens and the earth that now exist are stored up for fire being kept until the day of judgment and the destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. In other words, one reason that we can say, you know, the Lord has not come back yet is because he's patient toward you, toward his people, calling us to himself, calling us to repentance. And as the Lord tarries, our job is to draw near to him and to proclaim the gospel to the nation so that people might be welcomed into the family of God, join the church, experience the forgiveness of sins. And so I would encourage you to just meditate on that passage there in 2 Peter 3, with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. It's not as if a lot of time has gone by from God's perspective, if you will. He's patient toward us.
He's calling us to repentance leading up to that day. So thank you for your question. God bless you. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and we would love to hear from you if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life.
Hop on your phone right now at 833-843-2673. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites, and Amber posted this on our Facebook page. She says, First John says, you know you're a Christian by how you love the brethren. This verse makes me question my salvation because I do not know if I love them.
Hey, Amber, thank you for this question. Recently I had the privilege of preaching through First John, and it's important that we understand the context of this book. John is writing to a group of Christians who had just experienced somewhat of a schism in the church. There were false teachers who had left, who had abandoned the fellowship, and one of the ways John is saying we can identify those people is by the fact that they've abandoned the church. They've left the fellowship because they went out from us, but they were not of us.
If they were really of us, they would have continued to be a part of the fellowship. But it is true that as Christians, we're justified not by what we've done, but by what Jesus has done for us. We receive that gift of salvation, and then the Lord begins working in us and filling us with His Spirit and giving us the grace to love one another. But that love that we have here on earth now, even with the grace of the Holy Spirit in our lives, is never perfect, and so we're always going to struggle. That's why I like to go to what John says just a little bit later in First John chapter 4. He says, We have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.
That's verse 16. The love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in Him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as He is, so also are we in the world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because He first loved us.
That's the priority. It's not your love for God. It's the love of God for His people. That's the primary love that should comfort us and give us confidence that we belong to the Lord, that we're saved.
It's not what we've done. It's what He's done and the goodwill He's shown toward us in His Son, Jesus. As we embrace that, we're going to grow in love in the Christian life. We should, because the Spirit of God is working in our lives, but that love is not going to be perfect. I would say if you're a part of a church, you're growing together with the believers, you're seeking to love them, rest in the fact that God has loved you first and that He sent His Son into the world for you and for your forgiveness.
Remember what John also says, we know we have eternal life because we believe in Him. It's that gift by faith. God bless you. Great question.
Thanks for that, Adriel. You are listening to Core Christianity. We've been mentioning all week that we have this great group of students listening to our program every day at Faith Christian Academy in Quakertown, Pennsylvania.
Their teacher introduced them to this program and they have submitted questions via voicemail this week, and here's another one. Hi, I'm from Faith Christian Academy and my question is, if one of the Ten Commandments is to not murder, how do we explain those who are in the military and what is the difference as Christians to apply this commandment? Excellent question. So when you go to the Ten Commandments in Exodus chapter 20, you have the sixth commandment, you shall not murder. Now it's important for us to understand that this is not just a prohibition against all killing, just in general.
There's something specific that's being spoken about here. I mean, it's clear in the Bible, in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, that there were instances where God commanded His people to kill. You think of the book of Joshua and the Israelites going into Canaan and driving out the Canaanites. There was this war, this just war, where God was bringing judgment on these people through His people.
And so there's an example there. You also think of the laws in Israel related to capital punishment, people who would be put to death because of behavior, things that they had done. And you also see this in the New Testament in Romans chapter 13, where it talks about civil authorities, how they bear the sword and they don't bear the sword in vain. Those are instances that make it really clear that this commandment here in Exodus chapter 20 can't be just referring to all killing in general. And actually, there's this interesting interaction in the New Testament where John the Baptist is preaching repentance in the Gospel of Luke, and he has a number of people coming to him saying, okay, what does it look like for us to repent? And among those people who come to John the Baptist are a group of soldiers. Luke chapter 3, beginning in verse 10, the crowds asked him, What then shall we do? And he answered them, Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise. Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, Teacher, what shall we do? And he said to them, Collect no more than you are authorized to do. And soldiers also asked him, What shall we do? And he said to them, Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages. It's really interesting that he doesn't say, Hey, quit your job. You shouldn't be a soldier because of Exodus chapter 20. No, he says, he says, Do your job, but do your job honorably, right? Don't extort money from anyone. You know, don't threaten people, that kind of thing.
And so we have to distinguish between murder, what Exodus 20 is talking about, you know, the unjust taking of a life and those instances where God has permitted, you think of, again, with the cases of war or capital punishment where God has permitted the taking of human life in particular circumstances. So thank you for that question, and God bless you guys. You're listening to Core Christianity, and we are excited to share we have a very special offer for our listeners.
If you are a parent or a grandparent, this will be particularly interesting to you. It's a new book from a friend of this ministry, author and theologian, Nancy Guthrie. Yeah, Nancy was just with us on the broadcast not too long ago.
And so if you're able to look back through our podcast, you know, make sure you check out the episode where we had Nancy on the show. And the resource that we're offering today is called What Every Child Should Know About Prayer. It's a mini biblical theology of prayer, really directed toward children, an awesome resource. And so if you have kids or grandkids and you want to help them grow in their prayer lives, get this book, and I know it'll be a blessing to you and to your family. You can find it at corechristianity.com forward slash offers. That's corechristianity.com forward slash offers.
Just look for What Every Child Should Know About Prayer. Now, if you have a question for Adriel, we're going to keep our phone lines open for another 10 minutes or so. So give us a call at 833-843-2673.
That's 833 the core. Let's go to an email question that came in, Adriel, and this one is from Jason. He says, how can we apply 1 Thessalonians 5, 16 through 18, in our lives?
Well, let me turn there. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. And actually, you know, as we're coming up on Thanksgiving here, this is a good exhortation for us, right? 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, beginning in verse 16. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. A lot of people today are wondering, how can I find God's will for my life as if it's this great mystery? Now, of course, when we're thinking about the everyday decisions that we make, sometimes we don't have a light shining down on us from heaven saying, go this way and not that way. But generally speaking, we have God's revelation, His word for us, that reveals His will for our lives. And if you want to know what God wants from you right now, today, it's this. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances.
Now, I appreciate the way the question there was worded, Bill, how do we do this? Especially when we feel like we're facing difficulty in life, and you have to remember that the guy who wrote this, the Apostle Paul, is a guy who faced a lot of difficulty, persecution, famine, sword, you know, all sorts of things, imprisonment, being shipwrecked out in the sea. Here's a guy who suffered immensely, and so he's not just talking from this place of, oh man, I'm really blessed, it's easy for me to do these things, to just rejoice always, to be in prayer, to give thanks for everything. No, there were a lot of difficult circumstances in the Apostle Paul's life, and yet he wrote this. And so I think it's important for us to understand that this is something that we can do, even in the midst of the difficulties that we face in life.
And it's not because those difficulties are, you know, it's just we're happy about the difficulty per se. No, it's that we recognize that God is at work even in and through the difficult circumstances that we face, that we experience, and we're able to say, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, that I may not understand what you're doing right now in my life, but I know what your word says. Your word says that you're able to cause all things to work together for the good of those who are called according to your purpose. And so, Lord, I'm going to trust in you. It requires faith, it really does. It requires faith to say, Lord, I am going to trust in you, and I am going to give you thanks that you're at work right now, and I am going to rejoice that while I don't understand what's going on, you do, and you're good, and you're going to take care of me. And so I think the key is knowing who it is that we serve, the God of all glory, who's all-powerful and who loves us and is going to take care of us. And so as you keep that in mind, heed the exhortation here, the imperatives that the apostle Paul gives us to rejoice, to give thanks, and to continue steadfastly in prayer. That is so well said, Adriel, and during those difficult situations in life, that's what we have to remember is that we have an all-loving, all-powerful God who is in charge, even when maybe our preferences or the way we think our circumstances should go are not going that way.
We can trust in Him, so thanks for that. Let's go to a Facebook question that came in from one of our listeners named Kim. She says this, why do some offer the sinner's prayer when that is nowhere in the Bible? Jesus says we must be born of water, not a special prayer. Yeah, it seems like, obviously, right, this is something that's very widespread in Christian churches, this idea of the sinner's prayer, asking Jesus into your heart so that you might be saved. And I think part of it, and this probably became big, you think of those evangelistic conferences that would be held or crusades that would be held where you gather together all sorts of people, thousands of people, and you want them to make a decision for Christ. It's very decision-focused, not always very discipleship-focused. And so I think part of the issue is maybe for a long time in the church, we've really focused on those decisions, how many people have made a commitment to Christ under my ministry, but we've not spent the time that we've needed to spend working with individuals and discipling them and helping them to grow in their local church. And so I think that's one of the reasons, just in terms of how people have thought about evangelism, these big evangelistic crusades, wanting people to make a decision for Christ and giving them something concrete that they can do. You can say this prayer, but we know that it's not a prayer that we pray that saves us. It's faith in Jesus Christ.
What a preacher is called to do is preach the gospel, faith, repentance, the salvation of what Jesus has accomplished for us. And people lay hold of that message by faith. You can believe that without ever uttering a word. I don't think that there's anything necessarily wrong with praying and saying, Lord, come into my life. I'm a sinner.
Forgive me. I think that that's a good thing. I think we all need to do that. The danger, I think, is when people assume, I've said this prayer, it's sort of like these magic words that I can utter, my fire insurance to make sure that I'm going to go to heaven when I die. And then they leave the evangelistic crusade and don't get plugged into a church and think to themselves, okay, I'm good now. I'm glad I'm good. And they just continue to live their life as they had always lived it.
That's the danger. And let me just speak to you right now. If maybe you had that experience, maybe you went to a crusade one day and you said this prayer and you accepted Jesus into your heart, if you will, and then you just went on to live your life however you wanted. You just haven't been a part of a church.
You don't know where you stand with God. The prayer, saying a prayer is not what saves us. Believing in Jesus Christ is what saves us, and we're called to follow him. Not just to say a prayer, but to follow him. And so that's what we want to encourage all of our listeners to do. And that looks like being a part of a good church where the Bible is faithfully taught and where you can grow together with other believers. Great point. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.
We've still got a few minutes left. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, you can give us a call at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. Here's an email question we received. Adriel, this is from Lynn, and she says, Hello, Bill and Adriel. Thanks so much for your ministry. My daughter is 11 years old and she has a good relationship with her dad who doesn't live with us. He has told her he doesn't believe in God. And many of my daughter's friends at school are also non-believers. She's expressed that she finds it hard, as I'm really the only one she can talk to about God, and sometimes she feels embarrassed. She's expressed to me that she likes being a Christian and enjoys reading her Bible. I want to help nurture her relationship with God.
What would you advise? Well, the first thing I'd say is make sure that you're in a church, Lynn. I hope that you guys are in a church, that there are other believers there who can encourage you and your daughter in building relationships with the people there in that church. Maybe friendships with children who are your daughter's age, but also just others as well. I think having conversations. I think it's really helpful for our kids to have conversations with other believers who are their parents' age, to hear them talk about the Lord.
It's interesting. We've got several friends in our church, and I'll talk to my children about the Lord, and they listen to their dad, the pastor of the church, but I'm always interested to see how they respond when others in our church talk about Jesus and the work that he's done in their lives. Seeing them light up and listen and pay attention is so encouraging. You want to expose your daughter to those relationships. I think she certainly should be encouraged in reading the word of God, in fellowshipping with other believers. One thing that you can also encourage her, and I just recently had a conversation with a family in our church about this, is at that stage, as a Christian going to school, you can feel like you don't fit in, and you want people to like you. You want your friends, your middle school friends or your high school friends or your elementary school friends to like you. You don't want to talk about Jesus or religion because you're afraid that they won't like you. One of the things I always encourage young people with is, look, your real friends are going to love you and like you for who you are. Don't try to pretend to be someone that you're not so that other people will like you. The most important thing about us is our relationship with Jesus, the fact that we belong to him. You should be bold about that. It's okay to be bold about that, to talk about that. Your true friends are going to encourage you in that, or if they don't want to spend time with you because you're a Christian, that's on them.
Jesus said there are going to be people who don't like us because of our faith in him. But be bold for Jesus, and be who you are in him. God bless.
Great advice. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Just a reminder, we have that wonderful book from our good friend Nancy Guthrie available. It's What Every Child Should Know About Prayer. If you're a parent or a grandparent, go to our website at corechristianity.com forward slash offers to learn more about that book.
Make a great Christmas gift, actually, for someone. Again, it's called What Every Child Should Know About Prayer. Well, let's go back to the phones. We have Marcus on the line from Stockton, California. Marcus, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?
Yeah, thanks, guys, for taking my call. I'm wondering a question I've heard from friends saying that, you know, parts of the Old Testament and parts of the Bible kind of ways to help people then in that context, you know, make sense of the world and life they live in, but they're not necessary literal things and not things we might have to subscribe to. I'm just wondering if, you know, if you can disagree with the Bible and certain parts and not subscribe to them and, you know, and still consider yourself a Christian.
Now, Marcus, I guess I would just say it depends on what it is that you're talking about. Obviously, there are a number of Christians who disagree about things, and that's okay. I mean, we can still have fellowship with one another, but there are certain things with regard to the Scriptures that we just, I mean, cardinal truths that if we disagreed with them, if we said that's not that big of a deal, we would be undermining the faith all together. And in fact, that's what happened at various points in the history of the church.
I think of the 19th and 20th century, there were people that were saying, yeah, those miracles in the Bible and the Old Testament, the resurrection of Jesus, that's all myth. That's not the real essence of what Christianity is about. The essence of what Christianity is about is really loving each other and loving God. And the problem with that is they were essentially, what they were doing is they were cutting out the most important parts of Scripture, the parts that had to do with our very salvation, the resurrection of Jesus. I mean, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, if Christ is not raised, we are still dead in our sin. So brothers and sisters, we have to receive the word of God for what it is, his authoritative speech to us. And I'm always concerned when people say, I want to get rid of this section or that section.
I don't know how I feel about that. We are not the judges of God's word. We need to receive it with humility and let it judge us, let it speak the truth to us and let it transform us by the power of the Holy Spirit. And so I would say, embrace all of the Scripture. God bless. Join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.
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