The following is a prerecorded version of CORE Christianity.
We'll be back live again on Monday. Can pastors require church members to keep rules that aren't in the Bible? 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. So nice of you to join us. This is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day.
And we'd love to hear from you. Here's our phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673.
You can always leave a voicemail on that number as well. And you can post your question on one of our social media sites, or email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Selah in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Selah, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hi. Yes, hi. Thank you for taking my call.
I appreciate it. I have a question about what the Bible might say or what Jesus might have said in the situation I'm in. I would like to say I've become unveiled in the last couple of years, and I've become more aware of the truth, of God's truth, and what the Bible is telling us.
Now, speaking of family members, I've been told, or at least the Lord has took me to Scripture, where it says, tamed the tongue. And I don't know how I'm supposed to speak or what do I do. I get a little impatient, I guess. I just wish everyone would know what level I am at now in my spiritual life. I just don't know how am I supposed to speak. I think being patient comes to mind, but I'd like to hear from Scripture as I'm not getting there quickly enough as to how to speak to the loved ones that I'm trying to save, because I have a big press in my heart. Time is running out, because we don't know when the time will come and when who goes and when. If it's me, my parents, brothers, sisters, children. So I just, I feel a little impatient and intolerant right now.
I just need some guidance. Well, God bless you, sister, and the zeal that you have to share the faith with the people around you. I think that that is so commendable. May God put that fire in each of our hearts, wanting others to know the truth. And sometimes, you know, especially when we're growing in our faith and, you know, it's like the light bulb is turned on. We're beginning to see all of these amazing things in Scripture.
We can get really excited, and that's a good thing. But we want to be careful that we communicate in ways that are honoring to the Lord. And certainly in the New Testament, you know, the Apostle Peter, the Apostle Paul, they talked about speaking the truth in a manner that was respectful, in a manner that was gracious.
You see this repeated in various places. You see it in 2 Timothy 2, verse 25, correcting opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth. And so right there, it's recognizing that God is the one who grants repentance, that He's the one who has to work in your family.
Sometimes I think we can get impatient because we look at an individual and we say, why don't you just get this? It's so clear what's wrong with you, but we don't realize that that people, just like we were, are blinded by sin and Satan. And it's only by the grace of God and by the mercy of God's Spirit that the eyes are open, that the scales fall off. And so maybe focusing on the need of the Holy Spirit and the fact that God is the one who opens the heart.
And as you communicate, trusting in God to do the work and communicating with grace and compassion, you certainly aren't alone in having that zeal. I think of the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 9, who as he's writing about his brothers, his kinsmen, his quote-unquote family according to the flesh, the Hebrew people, is full of anguish because they had not turned to Christ. He says, I am speaking the truth in Christ.
I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. He says, man, if I could, maybe I would even be accursed so that they might know the truth.
And he's grieving about this. And yet as Romans 9 continues, he sets his eyes on the Lord and on God's greatness, his sovereignty, and says, look, I trust God. And he continues his ministry to the Jews, to his family members, preaching the gospel, sharing, compelling them with the truth of scripture, but in a manner that's honoring to the Lord and ultimately trusting in God. So for you, sister, I would say, keep pursuing them, keep praying for them because it is the work of God's Spirit. Be characterized by the fruit of the Spirit in your speech, love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, self-control.
I mean, that's how you want to speak. And rest in the fact that the Lord is in control, that he sees you and hears your prayers for your family members and that you can trust him even in this. And so God bless you and thank you for giving us a call. You know, I can think back to when I first accepted Christ to Adriel and how I was kind of hardcore in trying to evangelize my parents and it didn't go over real well, to be honest.
Can I tell you a story, Bill? I remember when I was a new believer in high school and, you know, I thought I was like John the Baptist in the wilderness, walking around with my big King James Bible, you know, just talking to people and sharing the faith. And I was very, very zealous, not always very gracious. And I remember sometimes I'd have conversations with other students in the in the high school and if they were just, you know, rude or rejected the message, I would walk away and I would kind of kick the dust off my feet like Jesus says in the Gospels, which I was reading everything extremely literally at the time. And yeah, but the Lord has helped knock off some of the edge and I think that's a good thing. But yeah, we can have that and we want to make sure that the way in which we're communicating the truth of the Gospel is helpful, you know, is done in a manner that God calls us to, right?
God cares about even how we're speaking. And so I think it's really important to appreciate her question so much. I love what you said about the Holy Spirit and depending on him to work in those people's hearts. So thank you for that. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez and Easter is coming up here in just a few weeks.
We want to tell you about a wonderful free resource that we have available for you. Yeah, a brand new Easter devotional that we want to offer our listeners called Meeting the Risen Christ. You know, Easter can unfortunately be a time where we can be tempted to water down our faith with sentimentalism. You hear sayings about how we can roll away the stones of our life, that sort of thing.
Good luck with that, right? We need to recover a view of Easter, a view of the resurrection like the Apostle Paul had. He said, if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. That's what this devotional does. Written by Pastor Jonathan Landry-Cruz, Meeting the Risen Christ contains five scripture readings and reflections surrounding Christ's post-resurrection appearances.
And we hope as you reflect on the familiar passion narrative this season, you'll remember where it's all headed, to an empty tomb and a risen Savior who still meets and speaks with his people, assuring us that we'll soon share in his victory over Satan's sin and death. So you can get this devotional for free over at corechristianity.com. This will be a great devotional to focus on between now and Easter. And to get this free resource, just go to corechristianity.com forward slash Easter.
Again, that's corechristianity.com forward slash Easter. You can also call us for that resource or any one of our resources at 833-THE-CORE. Let's go back to the phones. Kathy is on the line calling from Indiana. Kathy, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?
Thank you for taking my call. I have a question about people who repeatedly commit the same sin, such as someone who's drunk, or in the gay lifestyle, or committing adultery, or stealing, whatever. How does God view that? Because I know he says in his word that the drunkards, the sexually immoral, etc., will not inherit the kingdom of God. But these people are asking for forgiveness, but then they're going right back and doing the same thing over again. Yeah, thank you for that question.
Well, I think that there are a couple of ways that we could look at this. First, the text of scripture that you were referring to is 1 Corinthians 6. Paul gives a list, sometimes referred to as a vice list, of these sins that are out there in society, out there in the world.
He says, look, don't be deceived. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God, 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, Paul said to the Corinthians, 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. Now, you read the book of 1 Corinthians, and it's clear that even though the Corinthians were washed and justified, sanctified, they still had a lot of struggles. Throughout the book of 1 Corinthians, Paul is addressing divisions that they had, problems of sexual immorality, even within the church.
They were pursuing each other in the... I mean, there was a church with a lot of issues. And so it's clear that having been washed, justified doesn't mean that we're gonna be sinless, we're gonna continue to struggle with sin.
And that's, I think, the key distinction. For the believer, there is a struggle. There are some people, I think, who claim to be Christians and don't have any struggle.
They just say, I do whatever I want, I live how I want. Yeah, maybe I ask for forgiveness when I go to church occasionally, that kind of a thing, but the reality is the gospel of Jesus Christ has not shaped my life in any significant way. I really don't even have an awareness of my sin. I think there are people who are deceived out there, Kathy. And I think that's why Paul says, don't be deceived. You know that an individual who persists in this, who lives like this, unrepentant, even if they mouth the words, dear God, please forgive me, they're not gonna inherit the kingdom of God. In fact, Jesus himself said in Matthew chapter seven, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.
Right there, there are a lot of people who say, Lord, Lord, right? But don't know Jesus. And in fact, Jesus in that context says, I'm gonna say to them, I never knew you. You could say my name, but I never had a relationship with you.
You never had a relationship with me. At the same time, Kathy, I wanna speak to the individual who is a Christian, a real believer, but still struggles with the same sins. And they hate those sins. They wonder, am I truly saved? It's the battle that I think Paul talked about in Romans chapter seven, where he discusses the things that I don't wanna do, I do, and the things that I do wanna do, I don't do the way that I wanna do them, wretched man that I am.
I think this is something that we can identify with as Christians. And when we go to the Lord in genuine repentance, asking for forgiveness, even if it's the same sin that we committed yesterday, you need to know that God is gracious and that he does forgive. Think about what our Lord said to Peter in Matthew chapter 18, Matthew 18, verse 21, Peter came up to him and said to him, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him?
As many as seven times? And of course, maybe you've heard, Peter here thinks he's being generous, seven times, I'm full of grace, Jesus, seven times. And Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but 77 times. If God calls us to forgive like that, then certainly we know that God is that forgiving, that gracious. Seven times, 70 times seven, we go to the Lord broken, contrite of spirit saying, Lord, I just, I failed, I've sinned. Again, you need to know that sometimes that's the experience we have as believers.
And I want you to know that the grace of God is still for you. That doesn't mean you're not a Christian because you have that struggle. The difference is for the believer, there is that struggle. For the person who's deceived, who's not a believer, there is no struggle. There's no awareness of sin, conviction of the Holy Spirit.
There's maybe a nominal profession of faith, but not a real grasping of the gospel of grace by faith. And so there's your answer, Kathy. Thank you for your question. God bless. Adriel, I'm so thankful you mentioned that passage in Romans chapter seven. I know it's something that has really helped me through the years. And then of course, when we get to Romans chapter eight and Paul says, there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, what an incredible promise.
Yeah, absolutely. One that's I think oftentimes hard for us to really grasp because we look at our own lives and we think, man, I feel condemned, man. I still struggle. I have these sins that I have not fully put to death, that the Spirit hasn't fully mortified in me yet. But we do have that hope in Christ and through the word it's repeated all over the place. And Romans chapter eight specifically is such a good text for us to go to in those moments to remind ourselves of the great mercy of God. Amen.
This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. You can call us and leave a voicemail 24 hours a day. We do our best to listen to those voicemails each day. Here's the phone number. It's 833-843-2673. Or you can spell it out on your phone 833 the core.
Here's a voicemail from one of our listeners named Galena. Is it wrong for a church to set forth rules for its leadership? Basically anyone in ministry that are rules that go above what the Bible teaches us.
So for example, not drinking alcohol. Is that legalism? Is it in the church's proper authority to set those rules for its local congregation? Yeah, just wondering if what you guys think about that or really what what the Bible teaches us.
Hey Galena, thank you for that question. You know, this happens a lot, doesn't it? In churches, in ministries, they want to say, okay, you know, if you're going to come to this church, you got to obey God's law. But we have a couple other rules for you to obey. You mentioned, you know, you're not allowed to drink alcohol or you're not allowed to, who knows, you know, the list can go on. No dancing. Can't dance. I remember when I was in college, went to a small Christian college, and that was one of the rules, right? There's no dancing. So you're not allowed to drink alcohol.
There's no dancing, certainly no drinking, and no rock and roll music. Actually, the third one I think was okay. But this is something that happens and it concerns me. It really does.
And I'll tell you why. It's a problem not just when we detract from God's law, but also when we add to God's law. As the children of Israel were coming into the promised land, the early chapters of the book of Deuteronomy, you know, God is giving them his law. And he says to them in Deuteronomy chapter four, verse two, you shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take away from it that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. This is repeated throughout the book, actually, in the very next chapter in Deuteronomy chapter five in verse 22. These words, the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud and the thick darkness, with a loud voice.
And he added no more. This is really important. God's saying it's not just a problem to detract from God's law, to minimize God's law. But when we start creating our own rules and regulations for people to follow and put them on the same level as God's law, we're making a mistake, I think. And the issue is, it's a failure to understand the authority of the minister or the Christian ministry versus the authority of God's word. God's word, we would say, we would say has magisterial authority in our lives. We're always called to submit to it. Ministers of the gospel, pastors, Christian ministries, have a ministerial authority.
We point people to the word. We are ministers of the word of God, and we hold people accountable on the basis of that word, but we don't have the right to add to it. Even if, you know, we might say, oh, but that just seems like a wise rule. Yeah, but when we turn it into God's law or put it on that level, we can really easily slip into legalism. And frankly, God says, just don't do that.
Don't add your own laws to my law. And certainly things like, you know, you mentioned again, I'm just bringing it up because you mentioned it, things like alcohol. You know, the Bible says alcohol in and of itself isn't sinful. There's nothing in scripture that indicates that it's sinful in and of itself.
It's the abuse of alcohol. It's drunkenness that is forbidden in scripture. So if, you know, ministry wants to forbid that, great, right? Like if people are engaging in that, that's not okay, and there's going to be, you know, we're going to deal with that. But going further, and this is oftentimes what we want to do, I think is a problem on the basis of what the text says. And so we want to let God's law speak for itself, and we want to submit to God's law and recognize that it's the ultimate authority. We want to be careful not to add to God's law. When we start doing that, I think we get into trouble. And so thank you for that question, Galena, and may the Lord bless you.
You'll appreciate this, Adriel. A denomination I was once involved in had an old manual which said that circuses were sinful. And I know circuses are near and dear to your heart.
Are you serious, Bill? Because I think there was, so for those of you who don't know, my dad in Mexico owns a circus. So yes, circuses are near and dear to my, in fact, I took my family to a circus that was here in San Diego just a few weeks ago, and we had a great time, and there was no sinning present. You know, it was just a sweet time with the family. But yeah, so circuses are okay.
I think that was based on the old circuses, maybe from the 1800s, which might have had a few suspect things going on. Yeah, yeah. Well, let's go to an email question we received from one of our listeners.
By the way, here's our email address. It's questions at corechristianity.com, questions at corechristianity.com. This one from Abigail, she says, hi Pastor Sanchez. I'm a college student, and at my school there is a girl who claims to have prophetic abilities. I'm quite sure that isn't true, but I know a lot of people are turned off from Christianity because of her. I'm really worried about this because I feel like a lot of people have been hurt, and I'm starting to think that something needs to be done.
Do you have any tips for addressing this problem in a loving manner? Hey, God bless. Yeah, well, I mean, you want to go to the scriptures that talk about the gift of prophecy, 1 Corinthians 12 through 14, and even there in 1 Corinthians 14, so my view, sister, is that God doesn't give the gift of prophecy today, that that's not ordinarily how God is working, that we have the scriptures, but let's just assume this individual, they believe that God does give the gift of prophecy today. Well, how did it work in the New Testament? In 1 Corinthians chapter 14, Paul talks about the person who's prophesying doing so in the context of the gathering of the believers there under the authority of the elders in the church. It wasn't just a rogue prophet going around telling people what they needed to do and how they needed to live. This gets at the previous question is people who claim to speak on God's behalf, whether that's a group that says, hey, we're going to add to God's law, and if you want to be a Christian, you need to follow these commandments, but you also need to do these things that are a part of our own church tradition, or somebody who says, I have the direct line to God, I'm a prophet, and God is telling me you need to do X, Y, or Z. Man, both of those, I mean, that's scary.
That is terrifying. We don't want to misrepresent God. There is a stricter judgment for those who claim to speak on God's behalf, James chapter 3 verse 1, and so I think coming alongside of this sister, this individual, and maybe opening up the word of God together and looking at those passages in 1 Corinthians 12 through 14, what we oftentimes say, what I often say is revelation in the New Testament was tied together with the accomplishing of redemption. So you did have prophets and miracles and all these things taking place throughout redemptive history, recorded in the Bible, and oftentimes associated with new redemption that was being accomplished, the coming of Jesus Christ, his incarnation, his earthly ministry, his resurrection, the growth of the church early on. You did have a lot of miracles, a lot of prophetic utterances there, and they accompanied the advancement of the gospel and redemption being accomplished. Well, redemption is finished. There is no new redemption that needs to be accomplished. Jesus has once for all accomplished redemption, so we don't need new prophets and people out there sort of giving us new inspired scripture.
It's been done. Now we go back to the word, and that's another one of my concerns is oftentimes with some of these groups, and I don't want to paint with a broad brush, but I've seen this. With some of these groups that are really into prophecy for today, there can be an emphasis on the miraculous and the signs and wonders and what are you doing for Jesus, but not a lot of emphasis on doctrine and being rooted in the word and the truth of scripture and the faith once for all delivered to the saints. We're always looking for something exciting, a move of God's spirit, but that can only last so long. We need to go back to the text, and I hope, Abigail, that that's something you can do, and maybe if this person's not in a solid church, invite them to the church you go to. Hopefully you're in a solid church as well. That's so important, but so often these things, you know, they're just untethered from the church. It's an individual doing their own thing, and as you said, it can lead a lot of people away from the Lord. It can be discouraging, or they can say things that are just not true, and so if that's happening, well, you want to correct it on the basis of scripture, and may God give you wisdom as you do that. God bless you, Abigail. 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.
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