Are There Different Kinds of Tongues in the New Testament, and Answers to Your Questions

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Does the Bible say that there are different kinds of tongues? We'll answer that, and phone lines are open. It's time for The Line of Fire with your host, biblical scholar and cultural commentator, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity. Call 866-34-TRUTH to get on The Line of Fire. And now, here's your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome, welcome to The Line of Fire.

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Sign up for the Frontline newsletter. All right, we are going to go to the phones. First, I want to answer this question. Are there different kinds of tongues in the New Testament? Those of us who believe that speaking tongues are for today or just what Paul taught, 1 Corinthians 14, whatever the application, are there different kinds of tongues?

The answer is certainly yes, that Paul lays this out plainly. And I want to go through this, 1 Corinthians 14, and we'll just do this for ourselves, and then I will go straight to the phones. Okay, so 1 Corinthians 14, starting in verse 1, Paul writes, pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. So he's encouraging us to earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially prophesying. That remains for this day.

That's an exhortation for this day. For one who speaks in the tongue speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. So the first thing he's telling us is that the one who speaks in the tongue is speaking to God, not to people. No one understands him.

It's not a foreign language. This is a heavenly language, an angelic language, but it's not an earthly language because no one understands him. He's speaking not to men but to God, and he utters mysteries in the Spirit. All right, but the one who prophesies speaks to people. Verse 4, the one who speaks in the tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. So I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. So tongues is great. I'd love for all of you to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. So we'll leave the text up for those watching, and Paul is now going to talk more about tongues, and he says, okay, here, if I'm with you publicly, what's the use of speaking in tongues publicly? There's no one to interpret.

It's just like empty sounds. It doesn't help anybody, and even though I speak in tongues more than all of you when I'm with you, I'd rather speak five words with your understanding than 10,000 words in tongues. All right, so we know one purpose of tongues then is speaking to God, speaking to God, mysteries in the Spirit, building ourselves up. Then he says, verse 13, therefore one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret, for if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. Ah, so you can pray in tongues. That's why some call it a prayer language. You can pray in tongues. Okay, that works. So we pray in tongues.

What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also. So it's not either or. Pray in tongues, then pray with your mind. I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. So you can pray in tongues. You can praise in tongues. Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say, amen to your thanksgiving, whom he does not know, when it's not what you're saying? For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. All right, so you talk to God in tongues, uttering mysteries in the Spirit.

You build yourself up. You pray in the Spirit, which is obviously related to that. You give praise in tongues.

You give thanks in tongues. And then he says, I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you, and unless in the church I'd rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than 10,000 words in the tongue. And then Paul goes on to say that if there's tongues and interpretation, then that's like prophecy. So this could also be another aspect of tongues, which is bringing a message to people by speaking in tongues. So yes, there are different kinds of tongues in the New Testament.

And aside from speaking in a foreign language inspired by the Spirit, as we see one time only in Acts, the second chapter. All right, 866, 3, 4, Truth. Let us start with Caleb in Canton, Ohio. Welcome to the line of fire. Thank you for having me, Dr. Brown.

You're welcome. Go ahead. Oh, yeah, so my question is a little bit more nuanced, but I've dealt with a lot of pain in my life, and I was born with an autoimmune condition, and I just feel like I'm at the end of my road. And I have been... How old are you?

I am 25. God, and you've suffered from this condition your whole life. Yeah, and it basically feels like... You know how the Bible says to run your race?

Yeah, of course. It kind of feels like you're running a race, but you don't know what the distance is. And the pain is exponential. It would be like if someone told you to hold a 100-pound weight. How long could you hold it for?

For every minute that passes, the pain becomes exponential due to muscle fatigue and stuff until you just inevitably collapse. And I've kind of done the only thing I know to do. I'm not trying to piggyback off of other people, but I have reached out to people to pray for me, and I've had... Not to go into super detail, but I've had some traumatic experiences. I've been told I've been demon-possessed. I've been told I need deliverance. I've been told all kinds of things, and I've had false prophecy as well, where people said, oh, you're gonna be healed, and it's gonna happen by this timeline. And those things didn't happen. And you had several coincidences along the way, so you thought that God was lining up the dots. And so you really felt like, oh, there's no way this can be a coincidence. So you really felt that you were stepping out in faith, and you just get burned over and over and over again.

And I'm at the point where I genuinely don't know what to do, and I genuinely don't know how I'm gonna survive. I wrote an email to you. I don't know if you read it at all.

I did get a reply. I think your team might have replied, but I basically am like, you know, the paralyzed man in Matthew, you know, when he was, sorry, I got an Amber Alert on my phone. You know, the paralyzed man, when they had no other options, it was the faith of the friends that yield them. And they cut a hole in the roof and lowered him in so he could be face to face with the people that he was in.

So he could be face to face with Jesus. And look, I'm not trying to demand an ultimatum. I understand that God has the right not to heal me, and he has the prerogative to do as he wills, but I just feel like I can't take this anymore. And like, I genuinely don't know how I'm gonna survive. You know, I'm incapacitated just every hour of the day. And I just want to either God to do some sort of divine intervention. I don't care if that's through medicine, or if that's through some supernatural healing, or if I can just go to heaven, or if I can just die a heroic death, I could I could die a martyr, and my life had meaning, and it wasn't wasted.

And so I know this is kind of long. But what would you do? If you were in my shoes, where you feel like you've reached out to other people, and and you don't want to be a cessationist, you don't want to reject the gifts, but you just have gotten burned every step of the way. And you feel like you can't endure it. It's like if someone told you to do a plank or hold a weight forever, like it feels like I'm treading water every moment of my life.

Like how can you tread water every moment of your life? So I'm asking God, can you? Is it wrong to ask him to go to heaven? Like, is that wrong? I'm 25. But I'm willing to give it up.

I'm willing. And I don't know what to do. I'm sorry. I'm just asking you for your honest advice. I don't know what to do. My parents are tired. I live with them, and they take care of me. And they're tired of taking care of me.

And they love me so much. And I'm just, I really, I think about heaven every day. And I'm scared. I'm scared of forever. I'm scared of hell. And to be honest, Dr. Brown, the worst part of my situation is, is that I have such a fear of hell and a fear forever because I've been in so much pain. So it's only natural to think of it, that my fear of not knowing what happens on the other side of if I were to take my life, overrides you from killing yourself. And that's just the worst type of pain that a human being could possibly feel. Because you want you want to die, but you don't know what happens on the other side. And so your fear overrides you that even though you're already in a tremendous amount of pain. And so I'm asking you earnestly from the bottom of my heart, what would you do if you were in my shoes?

What would you do? I'm sorry that was long. I'm sorry.

I wanted you to get every word out. And I've been listening intently and praying the whole time that God would give me words to say. I've never been in your situation, okay? I've never been in a situation of such protracted suffering lifelong and having no way out of it and then disappointed with false word after false word and so on.

So I've never been there, all right? And I don't want to talk to you as if I had been there. But here's what I can say based on the mercy of God I've discovered in my own life over the last 52 years of knowing him. There's something profoundly powerful in what you said that you would, I would say, have completely overlooked. Which is, in the midst of all this pain, in the midst of the disappointment, in the midst of being at your wit's end, you keep talking about God knowing that he's real and you keep talking about heaven in the afterlife knowing that those are real.

Caleb, there's a profound faith in you that is of massive value. So we're going to come back on the other side of the break. Don't go anywhere. Please just stay right there. I'm going to put you on hold and hopefully I'll have some words of hope, life, and encouragement for you. Stay right there.

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Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thank you for joining us. Listen, all of you listening on live radio, those that will be listening afterwards on podcast, those watching on YouTube, Facebook, would you lift Caleb up in prayer?

Would you do that? And some of you, you're going to especially lift him up. God's going to burden you to do it. You're prayer warriors, you've had someone close to you struggle like this or you can relate personally. So you're going to be part of this prayer team praying for Caleb. So again, thank you for opening up your heart the way that you did. I did not personally see your email but we received thousands of emails and requests so our team does respond.

When we're done talking, Caleb, our call screen is going to come back on and grab your mailing address. I want to send you for free my book Has God Failed You? which I think you'll find really helpful. Has God failed you finding faith when you're not even sure God is real?

So I want to send that to you as a gift. I believe it will help greatly in the midst of this. But the first thing I'd say again is you should be encouraged that you still believe. That is something that glorifies God as much as preaching on a stage to a million people. The fact that angels are witness to this and others that know you were witness, you still believe. There is something that God's done deep inside of you that you can't deny and that should encourage you. In other words, why haven't that faith be healed? Why hasn't this happened, that happened?

I don't know. I've prayed for many people who are not healed. I can't say why they're not healed. Some would say God in his sovereignty chooses not to heal. We're not even discussing that.

This is your life we're talking about, not a theoretical discussion. So first, be encouraged that by having faith that God is God and not accusing him of being a monster. People have failed you.

People have disappointed you. People have done wrong things, said wrong things and yet you're not getting on the air saying God is terrible, God is evil, God is mean, God is cruel, why did he do this to me? That should encourage you that you are a man of faith more than you know.

That's the first thing. The second thing is somehow God's grace can be sufficient in the midst of this. I was just listening to a message my wife Nancy had sent me from Pastor Tim Delaney at Times Square Church where he was talking about the suffering of Job and when God spoke just one word from God was all he needed.

Even though his situation didn't change, he changed. So when Paul the same way in 2 Corinthians is talking about the thorn that was given to him by God and it was Satan sent to torment him, he said I pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away and God said to them my grace is sufficient for you for my strength is made perfect in weakness. So somehow God wants to meet you right where you are. Obviously it'd be glorious if you're healed but he wants to meet you right where you are and in the midst of that condition give you grace that is sufficient that you can grow in Jesus and have a productive and blessed life even if you're not healed. God's able to do that and that's what I want to pray that he would give you that word and that empowerment that somehow everything looks and feels different. So it would be amazing again if you're instantly healed right suddenly the power of God touched you're instantly healed but even in the sickness and the pain as Paul said he was tormented by this thing and when God spoke to him and then said my grace is sufficient he knew that this thing rather than destroying him would only make him stronger. So that's my prayer that something would happen Caleb because he will not allow you to just suffer endlessly by yourself. He wants to make himself so real to you that you'll be able to tell people what looked like the worst thing that ever happened to me God ended up using for good.

It's beyond our imagination as to how we understand it or how it unfolds but God can do that and that's my prayer. Yes it's wonderful to see you healed but right now in the midst of sickness I'm praying that his grace would be so sufficient so that you would say this has only made me stronger in Jesus and allowed me via through social media or word of mouth or whatever that the suffering in your life will minister grace to others that God's grace to you in the midst of the suffering will minister grace to others and I just have one very simple practical question Caleb. Have you and your family looked into all dietary changes that relate to autoimmune issues? I've been on various diets over the years I've done the paleo diet I've done I don't know the names of some of them I'm not on a diet right now but I have done diets in the past. Yeah if you're the reason I ask that I'm no expert in this my wife Nancy's studied these things in great depth and has talked to me about various nutritional things that can help with autoimmune disorders of different kinds one of our producers his wife has suffered terribly terrible pain and incapacitation because of related issues and they've been greatly helped by naturopathic doctors a solid naturopathic doctor Dr. Mark Stangler in California who works closely with our ministry and was was called the doctor of the decade a top naturopathic doctor I'd encourage you to to reach out you might even be able to reach out to Dr. Stangler say you were referred by the radio show by Dr. Brown and they could do a video consultation but sometimes Caleb there are things that can bring some real degree of relief but even now in the in the midst of the pain that you begin to realize okay I can tell other suffering people that God is still good you might say okay I'm not I have a hard time saying that feeling it that's the key thing if you can get to that point of of knowing that you know that you know that that he is good in the midst of this and in the midst of suffering I can't imagine that's why I said I've never been in your shoes I can't speak as if as I was it'd be utterly foolish for me to do that but for you to be able to say God I'm going to praise you no matter what I'm going to worship you no matter what and you want to be with him you want to be with him forever right now your call has ministered to people right now the fact that in the midst of your agony you want to be with the Lord you haven't rejected him and you know that fundamentally he is good yes and failed you that alone is ministering to people so Caleb last thing if you want to talk to someone in more depth and and and have someone even try to mentor you through this go to the website talk about doubts.com talk about doubts.com and share your situation there obviously if you emailed us you could just send that over to them and and they will connect you with an individual who can really help in a more personal level than I could so we're sending you the book has God failed you check out a naturopathic doctor that might be able to help you here go to talkaboutdoubts.com to interact in a more in-depth way and the main thing I'm saying to you is you are a man of faith and to glorify God in the midst of pain is is a difficult but very high calling and it does speak and it does speak to many who are suffering so everyone join me in prayer right now Lord I lift up Caleb to you Lord I cannot imagine what he is living through and he is living through but I ask you to draw near to him right now God draw near to Caleb right now and speak that word to him that your grace is sufficient and pour out that sufficient grace so that in the midst of the pain in the midst of the discouragement the fear that faith would rise and that he right now would have a spirit to begin to praise and worship you put joy within him and give him sufficient grace and touch him in Jesus name amen all right Caleb stay right there we want to get your address and send you the book values you could be cancelled you could be cast out you could be put down you could be silenced I'm here to say friends that I am not about to be silenced and I don't believe you are either it is time for us to stand up it is time for us to say enough is enough it is time for us to push back in Jesus name not fighting the way the world fights no overcoming evil with good overcoming hatred with love overcoming the flesh with the power of the spirit overcoming lies with truth and that's what we're here to do on the line of fire broadcast and friends it's not just a broadcast it is a movement of people around the world God's people standing up saying enough is enough and saying Lord here we are send us use us I want to urge you today to join our support team because we are on the front lines together and we are literally touching people around the world in America in the nations in Israel and together with your help we're going to amplify this voice and spread this movement around the globe so I encourage you go right now to thelineoffire.org thelineoffire.org click donate monthly support thelineoffire.org click donate monthly support when you do you become a torchbearer we immediately send you two great life-changing books we immediately give you access to many classes I've taught others have to pay to take those you get them for free exclusive video audio content a new audio message every month an insider prayer newsletter 15 discount our online bookstore so much more join our support team today go to thelineoffire.org donate monthly it's the line of fire with your host Dr Michael Brown get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH here again is Dr Michael Brown welcome back to the line of fire while this is one of the reasons we do live talk radio we just launched a 30-minute equipping broadcast that we want to blanket the country with maybe you're listening to it already on a station near you but live talk radio nothing like it getting your calls being able to speak one-on-one and I trust just because of a message that Nancy asked me to listen to last night the timing of that and this call I trust that the Lord set things up at this moment to minister grace to Caleb and thanks everyone else for holding I hope you were praying as as you're listening we go over to Bay Ridge New York Evan welcome to the line of fire hey Dr Brown thank you for having me on sure I'm a pretty simple question uh I just wanted to know do you still think Europe can be saved like I've been noticing even the eastern part specifically with Greece legalizing gay marriage that even the religious parts are starting to liberalize and secularize do you think like our donations would be better like suited to like somebody somewhere else like the Middle East or like you know Israel Iran maybe donations to God's ministries yeah to ministry yeah like first outside of America no you you give as God leads uh you give as you have relations and know people for example I just met with the the couple that leads Jesus revolution which was birthed in Norway and they've raised up thousands and thousands of laborers have gone all over Europe and in the midst of the apostasy and the darkness and the falling away they're seeing many people come to faith whether it's too late for Europe as a whole it's become post-christian or whether Europe is going to have another revival and move of God that's that's for God to write that we don't know yet I my dear friend yesupadam from India I've been called to Germany and spends months every year in Germany and this planet works in other parts of Europe and he believes that revival is going to come to Germany and from Germany spread to Europe so if they're ministries that are actually bearing fruit and you want to connect with them don't stop we have we have missionaries grads from our ministry school that I support our ministry supports every month those who give you help support them and they're doing a great work in in it's difficult it's challenging but people are being saved lives are being impacted so by all means continue I'll be making God willing my 28th trip to Italy in in April and been to Europe many many dozens of times and pour it in there so no reason to stop God's work in the harvest is still ripe the needs are still there now if if a ministry is outdated and is just kind of treading water and it's not really bearing any fruit that's what I would reconsider but certainly God has not abandoned Europe and we should not abandon Europe uh and if there's a ministry that you know is that is doing a good work then continue to be a lifeline for them by all means thanks for the question awesome all right yeah thank you you bet 866-34-TRUTH uh let's go over to an anonymous caller in Raleigh North Carolina uh you wanted to comment on on the call with Caleb go ahead yes forgive me can you hear me all right I'm having a speaker because otherwise I can't hear you uh well all right if you can talk into the phone without having me on speaker that's best right now for our audience so take me off speaker and speak right into the phone we'll hear your best that one I've got this if you can otherwise we may not hear what you have to say as well okay all right is that better go ahead great yes okay thank you okay you uh precious Caleb um my heart goes out to you because I um I know how I I understand the uh actually it feels like torture uh uh all my life and several I've lost several family members from suicide and I've attempted myself and praise God I'm still here I still have gone through a dark dark time right now but I'm holding on um and my heart just my heart just breaks for you you know um I just feel it you know and I had to call and uh I was praying with so many others just a minute ago and also thought well that I need to keep that in mind as well one verse that keeps coming back to me is Romans 8 28 um you know but don't give up sweetheart yeah so Romans 8 28 for those for those who don't know it is that and in all things God works for the good of those who love him who are called according to his purpose so if in all things God is still working for our good even if the things themselves are bad he's working for our good to make us more like his son hey thank you for taking the time to call in having lived through pain you can encourage him Caleb we're cheering you on don't give up thank you for calling I really appreciate it rock on kid god bless you much everyone god bless eight six six three four truth let's go over to David in Stockton California welcome to the line of fire hi Dr Brown I first I just want to say Caleb we're praying for you man we're praying to God we'll just meet you where you're at we love you brother you know thank you anyway my question is about tongues um you hear a lot of people say well it tells you that if you don't have an interpreter no one's supposed to speak in tongues I guess that's in verse 27 of chapter 14 in first Corinthians and I always tell people I know this is the public yes a demonstration of giving the message in tongues exactly and someone's supposed to interpret it and what Paul was correcting this is what I wanted to ask you about that I believe what Paul was correcting here is that you had a congregation that someone would jump up and speak in tongues and there was an interpretation then someone else would jump up and then another and then another and another and a lot of people liking that to where you have a congregation where you usually go into prayer praise and worship time people will break out pray praying and speaking in tongues or singing in tongues I just wanted to hear what your opinion was on that yeah I mean Paul's explicit through the whole chapter that tongues is good he encourages so I want you to love for all you speak in tongues it's he ends the chapter saying don't forbid tongues but use it properly right so here let's let's just say for example I get up right now and I'm speaking in Hebrew okay I can do that but unless you're an Israeli it doesn't do you any good so if someone gets up you know in a service and they deliver a message in German and someone else in Spanish and someone else in Hungarian and someone else in Portuguese like okay we don't understand what you're saying doesn't do any good same principle with tongues it has to do with public messages he he strongly encourages uh praying in tongues and gives I mentioned earlier he speaks of giving thanks with tongues singing praises with tongues uh praying in tongues we speak mysteries in the spirit of God we build ourselves up he said I thank God I speak in tongues more than all of you so Paul is an avid tongue speaker as as I am and know the benefits of it but in a public service there's no reason to deliver a message in tongues if others can't understand so it could have been as you say that one got up and another got up or as he also corrects everybody doing it this you got a meeting with maybe 20 people remember it's a house meeting he's talking about maybe get 20 people in the house and you walk in you got no idea what's going on and 10 different people are now shouting out in tongues like what is this is are you crazy uh so what about if we're in a service today with a thousand people David and we're all worshiping the Lord the musicians are playing hey just sing a new song to the Lord right and you've got people next to you singing in Spanish someone in German someone behind you in Russian someone behind you in tongues someone in English it's all just one voice blending up to God that's not the issue I don't have an issue with the congregation all together raising their voices singing in the spirit um and and it's just one loud voice or one unified harmonious voice going up to God the issue is if I get behind the pulpit and I I'm preaching a message that I get really inspired I speak in tongues for a minute and I don't interpret and go back to the message like but that didn't help anybody so it's talking exactly about delivering public messages and there's a there's a protocol for it but it's it's no different than having a uh someone to speak in your congregation who's from another country it's exactly the same right if they speak a foreign language it doesn't do any good unless you have an interpreter hey thank you sir for the call I appreciate it okay all right hey appreciate your explanation now god bless god bless eight six six three four truth uh let us go over to Logan in Norman Oklahoma welcome to the line of fire hey Dr Brown hope you're doing well today yes sir um yeah first uh like many have already said I do just want to my heart uh went out to Caleb hearing hearing his testimony uh we're the same age so um just hearing that is um you know it yeah that's that's heavy but uh I truly do hope that um he is encouraged from this great cloud of witnesses that yeah we are all with you and um and and truly lifting you up in prayer um my question is uh about verse and uh so it's marked chapter six verse 52 and uh it talks about how the disciples hearts were hardened um from being able to understand about what happened with the feeding of the five thousand um so my really kind of my specific question is and I've I've watched I've watched uh one of your one of your videos over you know the whole concept of hardening with Pharaoh um and how you know correct me if I'm wrong but what what I took from it is with the Hebrew idea of that at least in the old testament is is somewhat a strengthening of a resolve that was there in the first place um which which I think you know made sense to me uh in that context um but coming across this verse in mark you know kind of gave me pause because I initially had kind of understood the idea of hardening that well God's not going to harden some you know if somebody wants to follow God he's not going to harden them and you know prevent them from doing that um but this verse here in mark you know in a sense kind of seems to go against that right because the I mean these are disciples right they're obviously demonstrating a desire to follow Jesus and yet it you know it still use that that uses that phrasing of yep their heart was hardened so how would you how would you take that yeah so first uh when he came to Pharaoh you rightly said that that the Hebrew starts with God strengthening his own resolve and then ultimately hardening him in it so it does become judicial at a certain point that that his heart is is getting over to that depravity but it's not that God takes a willing humble suppliant Pharaoh and then makes him into a hard-hearted monster rather God gives him over to his hard-heartedness and hence he gets harder and harder when it comes to the disciples that's not the case but on the other side of the break because we're about to go to the music now take break other side of the break I will explain exactly what happens with the disciples and even go to Luke 24 to illustrate it further so stay right there we'll be right back for heaven is this I'm Paul Burnett a board-certified doctor of holistic health over the years I have helped countless people increase and maintain their natural energy production with Alfred Libby's slow dissolve super b12 sold only by Trivita I have never met anyone deficient in caffeine or sugar but I have met many people deficient in energy supporting vitamin b12 vitamin b12 is one of the eight b vitamins and is an essential nutrient meaning the body cannot make b12 on its own you see unlike other oral b12 supplements Alfred Libby's slow dissolve super b12 is fast acting because the formula is scientifically developed to dissolve under the tongue bypassing the digestive process making it immediately available for use in the body Alfred Libby's slow dissolve super b12 is also formulated with other natural energy supporting ingredients such as folate ginseng root and other natural ingredients not only are the ingredients beneficial for energy but they also support healthy cognition mood nerve function and natural hemoglobin production you deserve to live with greater energy and mental clarity and now like millions of others you can with Alfred Libby's slow dissolve super b12 sold only by your wellness partner Trivita to order Alfred Libby's b12 for yourself call 1-800-771-5584 or online at trivita.com order today and use promo code brown25 to receive 25% off your order as a new customer 100% of your order proceeds from your first order will go to support the line of fire radio broadcast call 1-800-771-5584 1-800-771-5584 or online at trivita.com it's the line of fire with your host dr michael brown get on the line of fire by calling 866-34 truth here again is dr michael brown once again thanks to our co-sponsor Trivita who helps make this broadcast possible those looking for some great natural health supplements that i use as well you can go to trivita.com and you can use the code brown25 when you go there or you can call 800 771-5584 okay so back to logan in norman oklahoma obviously god can do whatever he wants he can harden him he wants have mercy on him he wants but he never acts contrary to his nature he never acts in a way that would be unjust or immoral obviously because he's god he is light and in him there's no darkness at all so it's often pointed out that the same sun that melts the wax bakes the clay so sometimes just showing the love of god to someone hardens their heart in certain ways and softens someone else's heart so people can be hardened for many many different reasons when it comes to the disciples let's think about luke 24 the two disciples on the road to amaeus now their eyes are hidden from knowing that it's jesus right but he rebukes them for not believing in what was written in in in the tanakh in the hebrew bible why are you slow so slow to believe what was written in moses and the prophets that messiah had to suffer uh and and and rise from the dead and then when he leaves their eyes are open and they realize well our hearts were burning as he was talking to us so they still didn't see who he was god hadn't opened their eyes to that but jesus was still saying you should have seen you should have known what's in the bible so as i see what happened with the disciples uh yeah on the one hand it had not been fully revealed to them who jesus was and obviously some of this they they more fully understood when he rose from the dead and then ascended to heaven but for sure they should have known because he rebukes them elsewhere like don't you get it are your heart still so dull right when he talks to them later about the feeding of the 5000 why don't we get it right it's just you know a connecting chapter he says you still don't see are your heart still that dull so when their hearts are hardened to me they they responded wrongly to what happens somehow they misjudged they got things wrong and that that led to further hardening i i don't see it there as an act of god that they were like oh we got it we got it and god says no premature zip i'm gonna i'm gonna hit you with hardening and you're gonna be more blind i don't see it like that i see it rather they should have seen they shouldn't they should have known because of their own wrong thinking attitude whatever they ended up just more hardened which is now being reported by scripture um and and let's just remember here so if we go to uh let me just grab mark six marks the sixth chapter so let's start at the beginning of mark six uh so he he he goes away to his hometown he can't work many miracles there among his own people because of their unbelief right he sends the 12 out two by two to work miracles then his teaching after the death of of john uh feeds the uh the five thousand okay and goes through everything there walks on water okay take heart it's i uh he got out of the boat with them the wind ceased they were utterly astounded for they did not understand about the loaves but their hearts were hardened he subsequently rebukes them for this he he subsequently says don't you get it when they're in the boat and and and he says beware the leaven of the pharisees and they're saying oh i guess because we don't have bread he goes don't you guys get it so their hearts were hardened that's just a report about what happened to them not that there was divine intervention that took soft hearts and made them hard but rather they still weren't getting it they still weren't responding the right way their hearts were hardened they kept getting it wrong and responding the wrong way that's all that's being reported there if that makes sense to you all right well logan obviously got off during the break but that is the answer oh okay there's another caller had a comment for caleb but you weren't able to hold on which is just fine so let me uh let me go over to matthew chapter 16 matthew chapter 16 so verse five when the disciples reached the other side so they're going across the lake they had forgotten to bring any bread jesus said to them watch and beware the leaven of the pharisees and sagittarius and they began discussing among themselves saying we brought no bread and jesus saying you know hey be careful where you get your bread because beware the bread that has leaven of pharisees and sagittarius and oh yeah we forgot the bread and he said no no i'm not i'm not talking about physical bread jesus aware of this said oh you of little faith why are you discussing faith why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread or do you not yet perceive do you not remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you gathered or the seven loaves for the four thousand and how many baskets you gathered how was it you failed to understand that i did not speak about bread beware the leaven of the pharisees and sagittarius then they understood that he did not tell them to wear the leaven of bread but of the teaching of the pharisees and sagittarius okay so here's the point jesus is saying you don't you still don't get it you still don't get it marks reporting yeah they still weren't getting it they still weren't getting it that's all that happened there let me say for sure nowhere in the bible no where in the bible is it taught that god will take someone seeking him crying out to him longing for him and harden that person and push them away nowhere if you're a calvinist you don't believe that either because the calvinist would say that no human being is doing that on their own but either way we would agree calvinist armenian others excuse me that nowhere in scripture nowhere in scripture does it say that if someone is seeking god longing for god desiring god that god will harden that person and drive them away no jesus said whoever comes to me i will in no way cast out and the book of revelation so you get to the end of the bible and what does it say whoever is thirsty let him come let him come and drink of the water of life whoever desires let him come whoever wants to let him come and partake of the water of life god will not harden someone seeking him god may allow that person to be tested god may stretch out the period of time that it takes for the person to break through but it is for their growth and he also knows it will help develop them in character and in faith but god will not harden his children as they're seeking him and earnestly desiring to serve him absolutely not will he harden someone rejecting him he may he may give that person over to their sin that may be part of judgment on them but remember he can do it in ways differently than we understand he might harden someone by revealing his love and he knows that the moment they see more of his love the more they're going to run and the harder they're going to get everything he does is utterly consistent with his own nature so i'm just looking at the clock here yeah let me let me just talk about this for a minute so i i uh i was talking to nancy uh some weeks ago and something came up about the church from which we were saved so i was a believer two and a half years god saved nancy brought us together that was in 74 next month we celebrate uh 48 years of marriage because wonderful grace what a wonderful marriage what a wonderful wife and uh i was saying to her think of how little we knew we were in that first church i mean we were new believers i was saved a few years longer than her but we were new believers and we were kind of in our own little christian bubble then we didn't know so much of the rest of the christian world and had not traveled out and met believers all around the world and and we're much younger than we met at 19 we're married it she just turned 21 i was two days shy of 21 but she's often reminded me of that when we went on our honeymoon so march 14th we got married march 15th flew to california my dad bought us tickets and and paid for for for our honeymoon in um california and uh we got there to sign for the rental car and i couldn't sign it was day two young she had a sign for the rental car any anyway um if we were so young and new then i said to her think of how little we knew we were in that first church and she said to me think of how little we know now of a typical nancy comment typical burst the bubble comment a typical realist comment but a typical truthful comment from my bride think of how little we do know yes people look at some of us are your bible teacher a bible scholar someone said to me the other day dr brown you have so much wisdom i said listen if you live long enough and and don't fall away from god you learn some things you know by bouncing off enough walls and making enough mistakes like whoa you're so wise like no i just had more time to learn from my mistakes that's pretty much what it comes down to and learn about the mercy of god so you know you look at the disciples it's like oh god you don't okay you still don't get it and we don't realize we could often be just as blind just as short-sighted just as ignorant just as spiritually mature so let's go easy on one another let's let's hold one of the high standards let's hold one another to what the word of god says let's not compromise an inch morally ethically doctrinally let's hold to the high standards of god and his word and at the same time let's be merciful to one another especially those that are younger anyone that's been saved less than like a few thousand years yeah be merciful because we're all growing we're all learning in that regard and i wonder how many times god looks at us like jesus looked at the disciples and said you still don't get it you still don't get it hey god's been doing some things in my life as i've been seeking him earnestly that are very profound and i was telling nancy she goes it's the same it's only happening when you're about to turn 69 we were laughing about it it's like hey i plan to keep growing until i meet him face to face i encourage you to do the same all right if you're not getting our frontline newsletter and every week getting infused with faith and truth for the everything we send out you sign up now what are you waiting what are you waiting for it's free go to the line of fire dot org the line of fire dot org sign up today for the frontline newsletter back with you on monday let's have an awesome weekend and glorified pieces so you can resist us another program powered by the truth network