Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P515 (02-27-20)
Synopsis
Listen as Bob provides practical advice and shares truth from God’s word to help people walk in freedom (Galatians 5:1). Do not let put yourself back under the law (Galatians 3:3). You are no longer under the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2). You have been set free from that. There is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). You are now under grace (Romans 6:14). Learn to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). Satan will lie to you, to get your mind off Christ and on His wonderful grace (John 10:10). In our flesh, we will always be in need to have our minds continually be renewed with truth to dispel error (John 8:32). We are always to be alert and of sober mind, for the devil prowls around to see who he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).
Remember, Christ is in you (Colossians 1:27). He is living in you to renew your mind so you can walk in the newness of life (Romans 6:4). Get in the word, study it to get to know the author, who will use His word to renew your mind, so you can walk in the truth He reveals to you (Romans 12:2, 1 Corinthians 2:9-10). Put aside all bitterness, realizing that you are a forgiven person, a new creation, a child of God (Ephesians 4:32, Ephesians 1:7, John 1:12-13, 2 Corinthians 5:17). There is no sin that has overtaken you except what is common to man (1 Corinthians 10:13). Christ now lives in you. He is your life (Philippians 1:21). He has given you everything you need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). You can boldly go to the throne of God, to receive help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).
Sandra was believing the voices of Satan, putting thoughts of bitterness in her head, that was tripping her up. It was causing her to waste time so she would be unfruitful in her walk with the Lord. She was learning how to recognize that not all thoughts are from her, but from Satan, and to take every thought captive to the obedience to Christ, and to grab a hold of truth that dispels error. The flesh and the Spirit are in conflict so you do not do as you ought. The flesh never wants to forgive. You are a new creation, so you walk in the new way of the Spirit. You forgive because God has already forgiven you. If the Spirit is in you, then you forgive because the Spirit has already forgiven. We do not wage war with the flesh, but we wage war with God’s wisdom.
Daniel called about a struggle in marriage that was caused by a mother who was controlling, and his lack of understanding of his responsibility to be the head of his home, and how to fulfill that responsibility. He wanted to fix the situation to have peace with everybody. His wife has withdrawn from any relationship with his mother because of her domineering and controlling influence. That has led to strain in their marriage. Bob encouraged him to consider the scripture that instructs the man to leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife (Genesis 2:24). He is no longer under the authority of his mother and he needs to confront his mother with the truth and move on with his new life with his wife. He needs to tell her to stop telling them what to do. If she listens and agrees with you, you have won her over to the truth. If she fails to respond in agreement, then let the chips fall where they may and you move on with your life. The responsibility is on his shoulders to lead his wife.
Glenn asked a simple question but really opened up to expose a more serious problem in his belief system. For many years he was enslaved in fear and depression over guilt over a past sin of fornication. Bob graciously helped guide him to truth so he could walk in new freedom. He no longer needs to be enslaved to the law but is free to walk in the grace of God.
Transcript
Sandra from San Diego, California
Sandra: Hi Bob. Thanks for taking my call.
Bob: You are sure welcome.
Sandra: I am experiencing bitterness. I walked with the Lord for over 20 years. I walked through several times through forgiveness. Recently I see a bitter root in me. An arrow will hit me in the middle of the day. It is like a bitter root that is there. I am not thinking bitter thoughts and not trying to have these attitudes. When it comes, it is very strong. What do I do to come against that? I am in this battle field in this one little area.
Bob: Sandra, again, when something comes upon you. If bitterness wasn’t in you it wouldn’t come out of you. Circumstances do not cause your nature. They reveal your nature. You could not stir up beans in a pot unless beans are in there. Unless you can have the spirit of bitterness in you, you cannot let it out of you. Circumstances just reveal that.
Mark 7:15
15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.
Bob: You can have a spirit of bitterness because you are bitter over something. And when you are bitter over something you are hanging onto it too long. If someone insults you, then it is only important as long as you continue to insist on remembering it. You have to let go of these things. They are not important. In light of eternity just how important is it when somebody insults you. It is learning to put everything in proper perspective. If bitterness is there, all it takes is a little thought and it will get triggered. So just get rid of the bitterness. You learn to say, “It is over as far as I am concerned.” It is not worth thinking about. Start praying for the person who is bitter.
Ephesians 4:30-32
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Matthew 5:43-45
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
Sandra: That is it. Oh, I thought I was over this, and then boom. Okay.
Bob: You may be over this. Satan is activating those thoughts. I have had situations in my life where people have done things to me that were very, very difficult to forgive. I could not forgive them in my flesh. I was trying to conjure up fleshly forgiveness. I had to realize is that I could not forgive in my flesh. What I was trying to do was to manufacture up fleshly forgiveness. There is nothing good in the flesh.
Romans 7:20
20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
Romans 8:1-8
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
Bob: The flesh never wants to forgive. Hold on a minute. I am in the Spirit. I am a new creation. I am a spiritual being. The Spirit who lives in me has already forgiven them. So as far as I am concerned they are forgiven. I do not care what my flesh tells me. Hold on a minute. This flesh is not going any place except to the grave. I am in Christ Jesus and Christ has forgiven that person. So as far as I am concerned they are forgiven. Whether my flesh wants to agree with that or not is irrelevant. Satan is activating those thoughts. In the Spirit, you forgive. Satan is just triggering your flesh. Satan, you might as well talk to someone else. I am not interested in entertaining that thought anymore.
2 Corinthians 10:5
5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Sandra: Okay. I need an answer that makes sense. Thank you so much. I just do not want this thing to keep going on, wasting my time.
Bob: Absolutely. Satan wants you to waste your time and he is the one who is bringing those thoughts back to your mind.
John 10:10
10 The thief [Satan] comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I [Jesus] have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Sandra: Thank you so much, Bob. God bless you. I just love your ministry. Thank you very much.
Bob: Thank you, Sandra. Bye bye now.
Daniel from Pheonix, Arizona
Daniel: Thanks for taking my call.
Daniel: I have a question that is something that has really been bothering me for the past three years. I have been married for three years. Other than having a happy marriage and a happy life, it has gone to being very unstable. Any move that we take, I find myself trying to make any move possible to find happiness. It has been really hard. My parents raised us in the church. The thing is that my wife was not a Christian when I met her. We became friends. Finally when we got serious, things started occurring to me if she was a believer or not. We ended up getting married. Within a week after being married, she gave her life to the Lord.
Daniel: My mom is kind of like controlling. It happens with every marriage, I would guess. The mom finds that her place has been taken by another woman, and so forth. That has always been there. The thing is my wife feels like my parents do not want her for me. I have a ministry as well. My parents look at ministry. She thinks he needs someone who is an asset to the ministry. So she has had that feeling they do not want her for me. We went through a stage we had to live with them for a couple of months and it just got worse. Right now they are at the point, they do not talk to each other. I try to make peace between both. My wife understands I am on her side. But I try not to lean into it. If it is carnal and not biblical, then I try to explain it to her. That is not biblical and that is not the way God wants us to be.
Daniel: She is at the point she is okay with not talking. They are both okay. One or the other will not make the effort to talk. It gets to the point that she does not want our kids seeing my parents. The thing is I am fine with my parents and so forth, but I also have to side with my wife, and show my wife I am not against her. My question would be this. How do you get it to where I do not want my parents to hate me and I do not want to disrespect them or dishonor them. Proverbs tells me to honor them, but at the same time, I am the father and the Christian of my own home. I am my own head. They will throw it to me, saying you need to obey your parents. I say wait a minute. I am a father of my own home. That no longer applies to me. I do honor you and respect you. But there is a limit. I am caught in the middle. I do not know which way to turn. If I go one way, then … So how do I work this situation out. As a father of my own home, there is a limit, a boundary I must keep.
Bob: Let me see if I can shed some light on that, Daniel. In the first place, your mom and dad are not your parents any longer. They were your parents when they were parenting you. They are no longer parenting you. They really ought to stay out of your business. The problem is not with your wife. The problem is with your mom. You are the one who has to stand up. That is why the scripture tells the man to leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two of them shall become as one. It does not say that to the woman, but to the man. One reason for that is this. The man tends to hang on to the skirt tails of his mother. The mother has a tendency to continue mothering a child who is now married. So if you are going to be the man of your home, then you are going to have to leave your mom and dad and cleave to your wife, and the two of you become as one. You are now the head of this new entity called a brand new household. I do not think the problem is with your wife. Your mom is trying to hold on. You are in a predicament there to not offend any one of them. But you are going to have to take a stand that you might have to offend one, and if you do, then it will have to be your mom. If your mom remains angry over that, then that is her problem. She is controlling and she is trying to control things and she has interfered in your life. It may be that you sit down some time and say to your mom, “Mom, this is my family and I do not want you to control my family.”
Genesis 2:24
24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Daniel: It gets to point that. I sometimes sit down and talk with her about certain issues. We were moving house to another house and we stay there. We were just to stay there for a little bit. My mom in the beginning, for the first couple of years they hit off really good. My mom felt that she had the right to say certain things. There were certain issues I had to tell her. If you are not accepting my wife, then you are not accepting me. My wife and I are one. There are times they get extremist. They get into an argument. I am trying to make peace with every body.
Bob: We do not have time to rehash this. The issue is that you are married and the two of you have become as one. If your mom continues to make those kind of decisions that she does not want to see you any more, then you have to leave that in her hands and to accept that and the two of you get on with your life and quit worrying about it. If your mom comes to the point she comes to her senses and says she is acting like a fool, which she has, and she says, “it is your life and not mine and I am going to support you in your marriage. You are my son and she is my daughter-n-law, and I am going to support you in your marriage.” If she comes to that point, then praise God. If she does not, then you go on with your life, and let the chips fall where they may. You cannot fix things, Daniel. You cannot fix a heart that wants to control. You have to leave that with God.
Daniel: I appreciate that.
Bob: Yes, I would move in that direction. Let your wife know we are together and if you are mad at my mom, I understand that. “Try to be loving and forgive as Christ says, in God’s timing. But we are not going to pay any attention to what mom and dad are saying right now. It is our lives and we are going to get on with our marriage.
Daniel: I appreciate this. Thank you so much.
Bob: You are sure welcome, Daniel. Keep us posted on how you are doing. Okay?
Daniel: Thank you so much.
Bob: Alright brother. God bless you, pal. Bye bye.
Glen from Colorado Springs, Colorado
Glen: Hi, Bob.
Bob: How are you doing, brother?
Glen: I have a question on 1 Timothy 5:12, about the widows. It is about the widows. When you put on the support of the church, when they go and get married, Paul says they incur condemnation upon themselves because they set aside a previous pledge. So this “pledge” and “condemnation”, what is that all about?”
Bob read the full context of the scripture and explained what he knew from simple reading of the scripture.
1 Timothy 5:3-15
3 Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. 4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. 5 The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help. 6 But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives. 7 Give the people these instructions, so that no one may be open to blame. 8 Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.9 No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, 10 and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the Lord’s people, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.
11 As for younger widows, do not put them on such a list. For when their sensual desires overcome their dedication to Christ, they want to marry. 12 Thus they bring judgment on themselves, because they have broken their first pledge. 13 Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also busybodies who talk nonsense, saying things they ought not to. 14 So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander. 15 Some have in fact already turned away to follow Satan.
Bob: We need to look after older widows and see they are cared for. In giving, a person over 60 are to be put on some kind of list. I do not have a list like that. But back then they did. As for young widows, do not put them on a list for they are able to work and provide for themselves. But also their sensual desires overcome their earlier pledge and they want to get married. What is that first pledge? Maybe to not get married, but scripture does not say.
Bob: Paul is providing practical advice to Timothy in leading the people of God under his care. In their day, widows were in need and since a church has limited funds a list was made to prioritize the need. Widows over 60 of good character were those identified to be helped by the church and younger widows who are able-bodied and able to work should do so. Also if widows have family who can help then the family should do so first so as to not to burden the church when the person’s own relatives are able. Young widows are also vulnerable to give into sensual desires and overcome their dedication to remain unmarried and therefore would no longer be a widow in need.
Bob also referenced the scriptures concerning Paul’s advice on marital matters, the choice of a person to marry or not, in 1 Corinthians 7.
1 Corinthians 7:8-11
8 Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. 9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. 10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.
Glen: What is the pledge?
Bob: Scripture does not really provide enough information as to what that pledge is. We just do not know.
Glenn: Why then the condemnation if such a person should set aside the pledge?
Bob: The condemnation would be from other people, not from God. Paul is basically setting up safe-guards or practical wisdom so as to prevent a person from incurring abuse on themselves. Here a young widow, possibly immature in the Lord, could be boasting about her devotion to God but then decides to become married, and after having received income while a widow, both her and the church could incur condemnation. That just creates an embarrassing situation for her and the church who gave to help her. Even today, people are so quick to condemn a person for divorce and even condemn that person for life as if it is unpardonable sin. That should never be.
Glen: What is really bothering me is this. In the past, I committed fornication before I became married to this other woman I now have as my wife. I have fears of God’s condemnation because of what I perceive as a pledge I broke to be potentially married to a person I was involved in sexual fornication with, justifying my behavior that we were going to be married. So 17 years later, I turned to anti-depressants to deal with this guilt.
Essentially he is not living under grace but has placed himself under law, whether he realizes it or not. He does not fully comprehend what God has done for him.
Bob: False teaching has gotten you off base. You are living in disobedience to the Lord all these years by not believing what He said when He said “I went to the cross to take away all your sins.” You are placing a lot of emphasis on your words rather than His words. Your sins are never seen again in the eyes of God. You are beating yourself up over 17 years of committing fornication with a girl you were hopefully planning on marriage but never worked out. In religion, you say: “I sinned and what do I do”. In Christ, Christ says: “You sinned and I already took care of that sin in the eyes of God. When I cried out from the cross, ‘it is finished’, that is what I meant.”
John 19:30
30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Bob: Christ is who helps you through the day. You turned to drugs to alter your mind rather than to Christ to renew your mind. If you are truly born again with the living Christ in you to guide you into all truth, to make the truths of God made known to you and to replace truth with error. You are doing this or you would not be calling to ask these kinds of questions. Just like those who study the dollar bill, study the real thing to recognize the counterfeit. Stay strong in the grace of God as a child of the living God, not because I am a good or bad person but because of the mercy of God. Do not ever negate that mercy. The mercy of God is the most important truth to hold onto. God is merciful. God looked down on our condition and said “forgive them, they do not know what they are doing”. That is a merciful statement.
Luke 23:33-34
33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals – one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
Bob: He said this to those who just beat the daylights out of him. Learn to stand in the grace of God with the full knowledge my sins are taken away from the eyes of God once and for all and forever which Jesus did on the cross. He entered into my spiritual death with me so I can enter into his resurrection with Him. When I came to Him I came to Him for life. The consequences of sin is death and the solution to death is life and the only life available to me is resurrected life of Christ Jesus.
John 8:32
32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Bob: I am a born again, forgiven forever, eternally saved person. Stand in that. Do not let those voices come in with all of these doubts and other stuff. Realize that truth is what will set you free. Counseling and pills do not set you free. Jesus sets you free. Truth sets you free. A true counselor is going to lead you to one who can set you free, who is Jesus. He will lead you to the word of God.
Romans 8:31-39
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Bob: You grab a hold and hang onto that, Glen. Put aside that guilt behind you and start walking in the grace of God. He came to save you from your sin and guilt. Take the marriage you now have, praise God for it, and continue on in the new life God has given you.
Bob: Okay, brother.
Glen: Sounds good.
Bob: Okay, Glen. Do not let yourself be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Do not put yourself back under the law. You have been freed from the law. You are now standing in the grace of God.
Galatians 5:1
5 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Glen: Thanks, Bob.
Bob: Okay. God bless you, my friend. Bye bye.
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