The following is a prerecorded version of CORE Christianity.
We'll be back live again on Monday. Are all of God's promises for the church today? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering here on CORE Christianity. Well, 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 can call us right now with your question at 833-THE-CORE.
That's 1-833-843-2673. As always, you can post your question on our Facebook, Instagram or Twitter accounts. You can watch us on YouTube and send us a message that way. And you can always email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Jill in Omaha, Nebraska.
Hi, Jill. What's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hi, thanks for taking my call. I really enjoy listening to you while I work from home and I love your humor too. So thank you.
Thank you. I'm just wondering, just out of curiosity, I thought of it from the previous program of just different things like people seeing into heaven before we all get there and all that. But in 1 Samuel 28, starting with verse 12, it says that Saul had some person conjure up Samuel's spirit from the dead. And I'm just wondering your take on that, if that is actually what happened or was that a demon?
How do you take that? Yeah, great question. I mean, one of those passages of scripture, you just think, what is going on here? Because we know repeatedly in the Old Testament that God forbade necromancy, you know, calling upon the dead.
This kind of thing is totally to be rejected. I mean, witchcraft. And so God was very, very much against this. He condemned these kinds of practices and even Saul did. And that's why when Saul goes to this medium or this witch at Endor, the initial response is, I can't do this.
You know, Saul has banished this practice and eventually she does do it. And verse 15 says, Samuel said to Saul, why have you disturbed me by bringing me up? And Saul answered, I am in great distress for the Philistines are warring against me and God has returned and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams.
Therefore, I have summoned you to tell me what I shall do. And Samuel said, why then do you ask me since the Lord has turned from you and become your enemy? Really just a scary, scary scene here. And not just because you have this witch who it seems like she's shocked. I mean, she she gets upset when when she sees the spirit of Samuels.
It seems like this might have been new for her even. But also because I mean, basically here the Lord just says through Samuel, I'm done with Saul. And of course, this was something that, you know, if you're reading first and second Samuel, you see was was this is the sort of direction that he was heading. Is this apostasy, a full apostasy, turning his back on the Lord, completely doing something that God condemned and being told, basically, you're you're you're done. You're done for Saul. Now, was Samuel really brought up?
I think based on the response of Samuel here, this was just sort of extraordinary, miraculous thing that God allowed to take place. And again, even the Witch of Indore, she seems shocked. She she screams. She's, you know, upset about this whole thing.
You doesn't know what's what's going on, if you will. But that God allowed. And we do know, Jill, that there are these dark, sinister, spiritual forces in the world that do have the power to to work miracles or even tell people, reveal to people things that they ordinarily wouldn't know. I think about the woman who was possessed with the spirit of divination in Acts chapter 16, verse 16. It says that she brought her masters much profit by fortune telling. And when the disciples cast this demon out of her, her, you know, masters were very upset because she was she what she did brought them money.
It was lucrative. So there is a there is a power here in witchcraft, in sorcery and these kinds of things. It's an evil power.
It's a demonic power. And that's why God calls us to stay away from it. And here it seems like Samuel really was brought up and he gives this last sort of message to Saul, basically saying you're done for.
But it's certainly not something that was ordinary, certainly not something that we should ever participate in. I think God allowed this to happen as a judgment against Saul. And so thank you for your question and for your encouragement, sister. Jill, thanks so much and thanks for digging into God's word. We just love it when our listeners spend time really searching the scriptures and then coming up with these these great questions. Let's go to Michelle in St. Louis, Missouri.
Michelle, what is your question for Pastor Adriel? Hi. So my question is this. I've been doing yoga. My grandmother did yoga for 45 years.
Sweet, kindest woman you ever knew. I did yoga for and do yoga for 21 years. And I hit a little snag through about five years ago when yoga became it opened up a lot of doors very quickly. And I had some sin nature I needed to work out. I hadn't worked that through. And I got into a Bible study and I did not understand why it was important to be chaste.
OK, I didn't understand that because they didn't tell me when I was growing up Catholic. And so I had to do that. I had to purify my body. I had to get pure. And then I was able to see the flesh nature and it was it wasn't easy.
It was not a picnic. But I so my question is this. I was trained to still do the yoga, but now I call it stretch and a breath. I just call it stretch and breath.
And I don't want to do anything that will cause anyone to lust after the body. And I and I understand the genuine love that Christ has for us. That is what I think.
And he wants to restore our relationship with each other. And so my question is this. If somebody were to see me doing lunging or to do, you know, one of these yoga postures.
How do I get I know that we can easily our eyes can lead us the wrong place. But at the same time, I'm not going to go into denying something that I enjoy, like my pastor. He his wife dances before he does. And she does this beautiful dance.
And anyway, so it's the concern, Michelle, just just to ask you one follow up right here is the concern. Then, you know, should I not do it because it could potentially cause other people who are watching me to stumble? Or do you go to like a yoga studio, that kind of a thing?
Yeah, like that. I own a yoga studio and I shut it down over there. So this this was serious. I took this very serious. Like I said, at the same time for us to deny the body and to say, oh, I'm not going to stretch. I'm not going to take care of my joints.
I'm not going to take care of my bones because it might lead someone else to stumble. No, I'm sorry. No, I'm not taking that route.
I'm taking the route of if you want to know the reasons for my joy. It's not the stretch. It's God. Yeah.
Yeah. And of course, the Bible does not condemn bodily exorcism and we're called to take care of our bodies. And I think that that's a good you know, frankly, too often in the church today.
That's probably something that we we dismiss that we don't think about. You think of sins that we don't often talk about today, sins like gluttony, that kind of a thing. And the apostle Paul, he does say in First Timothy, chapter four, verse eight, that bodily training is of some value. But as you know, and I can tell based upon, you know, what you were saying here, godliness is a value in every way, he says, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. And so basically there he's saying, what are your priorities? Are your priorities growth and grace drawing near to Jesus, glorifying him, or is it your bodily health? You know, I live in Southern California where I think sort of the health and fitness thing can be a real sort of idol for people. They begin to worship it and worship themselves and they don't take care of their spiritual needs. They don't grow in the word of God, in grace.
They don't go to Christ. And so this is something that is really important, but I would say, look, first and foremost, right, there's nothing wrong with doing things that are good and healthy for your body. I appreciate the fact that, you know, I don't know the entire history behind yoga, but I know that it does have some sort of roots in Eastern religion, that kind of a thing.
And so and I do know that there are some studios that really sort of play off on this and, you know, they'll do the chanting and that kind of a thing. I'm concerned about that. When it becomes a sort of religious practice, I think that could be a problem. But if you're just stretching and breathing, as you say, if it's a way for you to stay in shape, I don't think that there is anything wrong with that.
I think that you can, so long as you can do it with a clear conscience and to the glory of God, you know, Paul says in the Book of Romans, whatever is not from faith is sin. And so if it's difficult for you, if you're not able to do it and you just feel convicted every time you do it, even though there's nothing wrong with stretching in and of itself and exercise, you know, well, then I think you maybe want to take a step back and pray and work through it between you and the Lord. But I would say you don't have to forsake, you know, doing these kinds of exercises and certainly not just because you're afraid of, you know, what somebody else might think of you. Your primary concern needs to be between you and the Lord and before the Lord. Now, of course, and again, I appreciate that you brought this up as well, just the whole conversation of modesty and whatnot. And I think that that's a good thing.
I think that's something we all need to be conscious of, both men and women, the way we think of our own bodies and the way we want to be perceived by others. But you also are not, you know, totally responsible for, you know, what another person sinfully might do. And so I would say, you know, there has to be a balance there as well. It's not your fault per se when somebody else is looking at you in a way that they shouldn't be.
And so there really is a lot there. But to boil it down, first and foremost, I think you have to be able to say before the Lord, look, I have a clear conscience about this. God does call me to take care of myself, to take care of my body. My priority is growing in grace, growing in holiness, growing in God's word. But I also want to be sensitive to these things.
And it sounds like you are. I want to be sensitive to, you know, other people who might look at me. And I want to be sensitive to the fact that I'm not turning this into a spiritual practice. And if you can do that and you can do that with a clear conscience, I would just encourage you, sister, to do in everything that you do, glorify the Lord.
Adriel, I'm so glad you mentioned the importance of modesty there. And I really appreciate the fact that, you know, when you were at the gym bench pressing 500 pounds, you cover up because... Yes. Yeah, I have to.
You know what I'm saying? And no, and I've said this before, we had a call once about, another call once about yoga. And I appreciated that, you know, she said, well, I just call it breathing and stretching now. I think biblical bending is a better.
And if you're just reciting Bible verses or listening to sermons while you do it, that kind of a thing, filling your mind with the word of God, just call it biblical bending. And there you go. So just stay away from the hot yoga.
Go with the cold yoga. OK. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and we love hearing from you. By the way, our program airs on a lot of different radio stations and some of those stations air the program on a delayed basis, which means if you want to call into the studio live, you want to do that at 1130 a.m. Pacific time, which translates into 1230 Mountain, 130 Central or 230 Eastern Time.
So if you hear the program airing at a later time, either call in during that half hour period, or you can leave us a voicemail anytime, 24 hours a day at 833-THE-CORE. Let's go to Simpson in Clearwater, Texas. Simpson, welcome to the program. Hello?
Hey, Simpson. Yes, I have a question. In Ecclesiastes chapter 7, verse 2, it says something about it's better to go into the house of mourning than a house of feasts or something like that. And some people ask on to it about the Bible said that when someone dies, you're supposed to laugh when a baby is born, you're supposed to cry and all that kind of foolishness. I wonder where they come from.
And and I've had several people die in my family recently. And there wasn't a happier case to me. So I just wonder where the foolishness come from.
Well, Simpson, I don't know that I could say where the where the foolishness comes from. I think it's totally appropriate when someone dies to lament and to mourn not to laugh. Certainly not or not to treat it lightly. I mean, one of the problems I think in our culture today is that we treat death too lightly. We avoid it. We talk about it as if it was just this sort of beautiful part of life, this natural part of life, what we all go to, that kind of a thing.
We've toned it down. According to the Bible, Simpson, death is a great enemy. It's a monster that needed to be defeated, not a friend, not something for us to befriend. And and so I think that that's really, really important. And Paul, you know, right into the Thessalonians is when a brother or sister dies, you know, we sorrow, we ought to have sorrow, but not as those who don't have any hope. And so mourning for the believer can look differently than it does for the rest of the world, because other people, you know, someone dies and it's just they're gone forever.
Or maybe I can sort of speculate about them crossing over to the other side, passing on, you know, all these these phrases that you hear. But there's nothing concrete. Well, we have something concrete. We have the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And we know based on holy scripture that all those who are in Christ will be raised again. And so we do have sorrow when someone we love dies. But we can also have hope, hope in the midst of sorrow. Now, you mentioned Ecclesiastes, chapter seven, verse two, where wisdom says it is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting. For this is the end of all mankind and the living will lay it to heart. Now, right there in that passage, it's not saying that, you know, it's better because we have a better time when we go to the house of mourning.
No, on the contrary, we're mourning, we're weeping, we're crying. Why is it that here in the wisdom literature it's called better? Well, I think it's because it's meant to instruct us. Death shows us something. It teaches us something about our own frailty.
It reminds us of our mortality, what everyone now is trying to sort of forget and avoid. We want to live as long as we can and just sort of push death off as much as we can, no matter what, that kind of a thing. There was a book that came out not long ago talking about how, you know, as a society, one day we're going to conquer death. It was written by an atheist and he was saying with all the medical advancements that we've made and, you know, how we've doubled our life expectancy in the last however many years, one day we're going to get to the point where we can live forever through medicine, through technological advancement, that kind of a thing.
But that's just not the reality. Death is going to come to each and every one of us. And so when we go to the house of mourning, we're reminded of that and it helps us to live in light of that reality.
And frankly, that's something that we need, Simpson. We need to recognize that this is a reality for us, but that there's also another reality, an even greater reality, and that's death. The house of mourning, the grave, has been conquered by Jesus Christ. He entered into the tomb, was there for three days, sanctifying the tomb, if you will, and then he came out victorious.
It's as if you think of, you know, like a great boxing match, for example, where two great boxers are getting into the ring, only one is going to come out. It's as if Jesus got into the ring with death himself and Jesus came out and death was left dead. He conquered death and that's the hope that we have, but that doesn't mean that we should celebrate when someone dies or be happy or that kind of a thing. No, we experience sorrow because we know that death is the result of sin. And so, I appreciate your question.
I don't know. I mean, there are all sorts of people who have, I think, unhelpful and unhealthy views about death and dying. And it sounds to me like that's what you were referring to and I don't know why they hold that view. Part of the reason might just be because we don't know how to deal with the reality of death. We want to avoid it, we want to make a joke about it, we want to just not talk about it.
But we can talk about it because we know the one who has conquered the grave. Thanks for your question, Simpson. Thanks for those words of comfort, Adriel, that is so true. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. And by the way, we have a special group of people that we would like to thank. They are members of what we call the Inner Core. And if you're a regular listener to this program, we'd love to have you consider joining the Inner Core. Yeah, I always love being able to talk about the Inner Core, Bill, because Inner Core members are a huge shot in the arm for our entire team, for me personally. It's so encouraging to know that you are supporting us with your contributions, that you're praying for us.
We're grateful for you. And if you've been blessed by this broadcast, if you're encouraged by the Q&A that you hear every single day as we come together, taking live calls about the Bible and the Christian life, would you consider joining the Inner Core? With a monthly donation of $25 or more, you can be a part of the team, the Inner Core team. And we also have all sorts of exclusive resources and offers that we give to our Inner Core members. If you join, you get a copy of this book, Core Christianity, just a wonderful book.
I think everybody should read it, digging into the core doctrines of the Christian faith. But we also have a number of other exclusive things that we give to our Inner Core members, a monthly devotional that I lead, that kind of a thing. And so, would you, as I said, prayerfully consider joining the Inner Core? All you have to do is go to corechristianity.com forward slash inner core to learn more. Again, that's corechristianity.com forward slash inner core. You can also call us about joining the Inner Core at 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also leave us a voicemail at that number if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life.
And here's a call we received earlier this week. Hi, my name is Angelo and my question is regarding the promises of God. I've read the Bible and it doesn't really signify what are the promises. Where did that begin and how do we substantiate always connecting God's word with the promises of God? What signifies the promises of God and where is it stated and how do we prove all of that?
Thanks again. Angelo, I love that question. And so, I just opened up to Galatians chapter 3 and let me read beginning in verse 15. This is Paul talking about the difference between the old covenant and the promise that was made, old covenant being under Moses and the promise was made to Abraham and to his offspring. Galatians chapter 3 beginning in verse 15, to give a human example brothers, even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say and to offsprings referring to many but referring to one. And to your offspring who is Christ.
This is what I mean. The law, that is the Mosaic covenant, the Mosaic law which came 430 years afterwards does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God. He's referring there to the Abrahamic covenant.
So as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise. But God gave it to Abraham by promise. So you have these promises that were made to Abraham and in particular you see a blessed offspring. Genesis chapter 12 verses 1 through 4, God promised Abraham kids land. You see this in Genesis chapter 12 verse 7 and 13 verse 15. Genesis 15, Genesis 17, this promise of land. A promise to be the God to Abraham and to his children.
I'm going to be a God to you and to your children. But this language of promise and offspring also echoes back earlier in Genesis to Genesis chapter 3 verse 15. Where God promised that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. That is ultimately the promise of the gospel. One day Satan himself would be conquered by the seed of a woman.
By Jesus, born of the virgin Mary, crushed Satan at the cross through his resurrection from the dead. You have all these promises though that essentially are and find their fulfillment in Jesus. That's why Paul in Galatians 3 says when it says the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring, really the focus is on Jesus. Now in Jesus we, Angelo, are the recipients of these promises as well. We're a part of the family of Abraham. We're the children of God. You think, well what about those land promises?
That kind of a thing. Well it's interesting because ultimately those promises were a picture of a type of a greater reality. The land, even the land of Canaan in the Old Testament, was a picture of the new creation. Ultimately the new heavens and the new earth.
It was a picture of heaven with the Lord. And actually this is something that the author to the Hebrews makes absolutely clear in Hebrews chapter 11. It says in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 8, by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance.
And he went out not knowing where he was going. Then if you go down to verse 13 it refers to all the people who received these promises. They all died in faith not having received the things promised but having seen them and greeted them, acknowledged them, and that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out they would have had an opportunity to return.
But as it is they desire a better country that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared for them a city. In other words the hope of Abraham and all those who were the recipients of the promises was above all else the new creation. The eternal life being in the presence of God. And that is actually what John says in 1 John chapter 2 verse 25. That what he has promised us, what God has promised to all who believe in Jesus is eternal life. And what a wonderful thing brothers and sisters. What a glorious thing that you and I are the recipients of those ancient promises through Jesus Christ. You are a child of Abraham, heirs according to the promise. Be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together.
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