Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P460 (8-01-19)
All of us are in continual need of replacing error with truth in our lives, and that will be true until the day we die. The real question is, “Do we want to get well?” That is why it is so good to hear people call in with their questions, for this is an avenue in which the body of Christ can be built up and grow. Others call to receive advice to deal with circumstances in their life that they do not know how to resolve. That is why we are placed in the body of Christ, to help and encourage one another. Other callers simply call to get clarification on a passage of scripture that they are struggling to understand its meaning. In the process of sharing truth with one another, we learn more about God’s love for us.
Francisco called on behalf of a friend of his, that although he was delivered from a lot of things, he said he could not stop smoking cigarettes. He also said that because of this he could not pray or study the word. So the man’s more critical issue is that he is not functioning under grace but under law. If you think God has turned his back on you because of your behavior, then you do not know the unconditional love of God. Now, as far as smoking, you are lying to yourself when you say you cannot quit because even a non-believer has quit smoking. But if you do not think God loves you, how can you love him back? Do you love cigarettes more than a testimony of Christ in your life? That is why the erroneous thinking that keeps you under law is the more critical matter. Knowing the love and grace of God, you study and read the bible and freely go to God without fear of condemnation. If you stand in truth that you are not under condemnation, then there is truth in God and His word that can set you free to walk in the newness of life. You can boldly go to the throne of grace for any need. With the power of God in you, how much more so can you stop smoking. Non-believers with enough will power can stop smoking. How much more so for you. Do you want to?
At times, we can be harder on ourselves more than God, putting expectations on ourselves that we cannot carry out in the energy of the flesh. Such was the case with the question Brian called about. He was bothered by the fact he could not love as he ought. The swearing and ungodly behavior in the surroundings he is in, such as at the workplace, just gets to him that he just does not want to be around these kinds of people. Sometimes he feels like he wants to punch them in the face. He had been thinking about this verse.
Luke 6:32-33
32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.
Anyone who has tried to love like that, like someone who just gets under your skin by playing this raunchy music in your ear, with all kinds of cursing and disrespect and ungodly behavior, or simply cuts you off the freeway, nearly running you off the road, knows what his first reaction in the flesh is going to be. We never had it in us to love like this. God is love and Corinthians describes the love of God. Galatians 5:22-23 tells us what the fruit of the Spirit is, and that it comes from the Spirit of God.
1 Corinthians 13:4-5
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
So what do we naturally do. If we do not first just want to hate the person, we feel guilty and then maybe try to love in the energy of the flesh and find ourselves falling flat on our face. That is also why we are under grace and not the law. This is the normal and natural human experience. But we cannot generate this love. Jesus explained to us how we are to function in the Spirit in John 15, when he explains the parable of the vine and the branches.
John 15:1-5
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
The flesh never wants to be kind to someone that gets under our skin. The flesh wants to get his own way. I cannot do that any more than a branch can produce fruit. It would be like saying, “You branch go out and love all the people in the world.“ The branch comes back and says, “I cannot do this.” God says, “I never intended you to do it. Your role as a branch is to abide in the vine and let the vine produce in you that you cannot do in and of yourself and you will bear the fruit of the vine but you cannot produce the fruit of the vine.” You and I cannot do it in the energy of the flesh.
We are in the process of being renewed in our minds to turn first to the Spirit when facing every day life situations. Will we ever function perfectly? No, but we learn to grow, even from our failures. We are reminded of our weakness so Christ’s power may be displayed through us. That is why Paul said, “I delight in my weaknesses that Christ’s power may rest on me. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Jim called to ask a question in regards to a passage in scripture that says there is faith, hope and love but the greatest is love. Then he asked, “Is love greater than faith?”
Bob shared that love from the bible comes from God. Faith comes from us. Love is greater than faith. This falls in the subject of initiator and responder. We are not made to be independent people. We were made to be dependent on our Father. He is the initiator of cause and effect, the dynamic of his own action in creation. The love of God came from heaven, from God Himself. Faith is how we respond to that love and enter in our salvation relationship. Love is on his part. Faith is on our part. Love is greater than faith. Our faith can fade, can be feeble, and can be misplaced. Nothing can separate us from God. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. We are never going to express ourselves through love unless we have faith in the initiator, the love of God.
Another Brian called concerning a strained relationship with his mother and his wife. 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. 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, not his mother’s, to lead his wife.
John, the last caller, asked, “What does Romans 8:17 mean that ‘we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory’?” Bob said that some people try to find things to make them suffer for Christ, which is nonsense. The issue is, all of us, one time or another, will go through different types of suffering but we do not go out and look for suffering. What did Christ do when he went through suffering? Trust the Lord. What are we to do when we face suffering? Trust the Lord.
In this world we will have tribulation, but we are told to be of good cheer for Jesus has overcome the world (John 16:33). If they persecuted Jesus when he was here on the earth, they will persecute us also (John 15:20). How beautiful is the body of Christ that has been given to us.
2 Corinthians 1:5-7
5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
Some think the only way of serving God is to cause themselves to suffer, but that is nonsense. Suffering will come but you do not go out and look for it.
Transcript
Francisco
What about your loved ones that go on with the Lord? Will they be in heaven. Will you will recognize them in heaven?
Yes, you will know them in heaven.
Francisco continues sharing about a Christian friend of his. A friend who a is Christian, who was into drugs and sensuality, and delivered from those things, but he said he could not give up cigarettes and so does not get into the word or pray.
Bob answered by saying that he is not functioning under grace but under law. Bob can say without question that people might say they love God but he does not believe it. If you think God has turned His back on you because of your behavior then you don’t understand his unconditional love.
1 John 4:19
We love because he first loved us.
If you do not understand the unconditional love of God, how then can you love Him back. To say you can’t quit smoking is nonsense. Bob said he smoked like a furnace before he was saved, and made up his mind he had enough and quit, and that without the Spirit of God. Yes, the first few days was difficult but after that not an issue anymore. Now as a born again believer, smoking is not a testimony of Christ. So what you are really saying is that you love cigarettes more than a solid testimony of Jesus. You cannot hide those types of things. If you are born again, you don’t need to be messing up the temple of the Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 6:16
What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
Would you walk into a church building, a man-made structure deemed a place of worship among men, and light up a cigarette? You are the church, not the man-made building of brick and mortar. You can get out of if you want to. Ask God to help you do what is necessary to get you out of that habit that is offensive both to the lost and the saved.
Does that mean you cannot read or study the bible? No, of course not. It means you have a bad habit that you are having difficulty getting out of. The key question is this: “Do you want to?” If you follow a few steps, it is not that difficult. There will be difficulty for the first couple of days due to withdrawal symptoms and the pull of the flesh, but even with will power you can get out of it. How much more so with God’s power living in you, renewing your mind!
Brian from San Diego, CA
He recognizes he has an unloving attitude to other people. It concerns him. He has been thinking of this verse that he continually falls short on.
Luke 6:32-33
32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.
Brian said that when he looks at some people, he just wants to foam at the mouth. At times, he says he prays God removes this from him. At other times, he just does not want to be with them. He also has struggles with his thought life. Rap music blasting with profanity on a bus just gets to him.
Brian, you are a human being and so am I. If you could have heard what I am thinking when I hear this awful music from the pit of hell. So if you knew what I was thinking, you would not be listening to me on the air.
1 Corinthians 13:4-5
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
When you are looking at God’s love from Corinthians, God’s love is patient and kind. I may not like that person but I am to be kind to him. I may not want to be around him but I do not want to keep records of his wrongs. All those kinds of things has to be something that God has to produce in you and through you.
The flesh never wants to be kind to someone that gets under our skin. The flesh wants to get his own way. I cannot do that any more than a branch can produce fruit. It would be like saying, “You branch go out and love all the people in the world.“ The branch comes back and says, “I cannot do this.” God says, “I never intended you to do it. Your role as a branch is to abide in the vine and let the vine produce in you that you cannot do in and of yourself and you will bear the fruit of the vine but you cannot produce the fruit of the vine.” You and I cannot do it in the energy of the flesh.
John 15:1-5
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
First comes the natural and then the spiritual. When my car is vibrating because of some pinhead with radio blasting, I do not know how they lose their hearing, but I praise Jesus if something does not come out of my mouth back at him. God says, “You do not need to be irritated. In a moment he will have driven away.” You want to be loving but you cannot produce that love. You have to have Jesus produce that through you.
Jim from Little Falls, NY
Jim asked a question in regards to 1 Corinthians 13. There are three things, faith, hope and love, but the greatest is love. Scripture also states that you can have faith to move mountains. Is love more important than faith?
1 Corinthians 1:13
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 John 4:7
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
1 Corinthians 13:2
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
Love from the bible comes from God. Faith comes from us. Love is greater than faith. This falls in the subject of initiator and responder. We are not made to be independent people. We were made to be dependent on our Father. He is the initiator of cause and effect, the dynamic of his own action in creation. The love of God came from heaven, from God Himself. Faith is how we respond to that love and enter in our salvation relationship. Love is on his part. Faith is on our part. Love is greater than faith. Our faith can fade, can be feeble, and can be misplaced. Nothing can separate us from God. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. We are never going to express ourselves through love unless we have faith in the initiator, the love of God.
1 John 3:16
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
Hebrews 11:1
1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Daniel from Phoenix, Arizona
Daniel explained how has been bothering him these past three years. He has been married three years. Other than having a happy marriage and a happy life, life is unstable. Every move we make to find happiness is thwarted. His wife was not a Christian when he met her. After a week of being married, she gave her life to the Lord. His mom is controlling. His wife feels like his parents do not accept her and are always critical towards her. If his mother is acting carnal and not biblical, then he tries to explain it to her. She is okay with not talking at all to his mother. One or the other is not wanting to talk. She does not even want the kids to see his parents. He does not want parents to hate him and still wants to honor his parents. So how do I work this situation out? As a father of his own home, there is a limit, a boundary he must keep.
Bob responds. In the first place, your mom and dad are not your parents anymore. They ought to stay out of your life. The problem is with your mom. You have to stand up. The bible tells the man to leave his father and mother, and cleave to one another, and become one. The man tends to hang on to the skirt tails of his mother. Mother wants to continue mothering a child who has grown.
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.
So leave and cleave, since you are the head of a new entity, a new household. The problem is not with your wife but your mom. You are in a position where you do not want to offend anyone. But you have to stand up and offend someone, and that someone needs to be your mom. Sit down with your mom and tell her it is your family and tell her not to control your family.
Daniel continues elaborating on his situation, “Moving from one house to another and supposed to stay a little bit. At first hit off well. Yet, mom felt had right to say certain thing. She is my wife and do want her to accept my wife and rather her not accept me.”
Bob interrupted and told him to quick going over and over these things again and again. He directed him to what he should be doing and leave those thoughts behind. They certainly are not doing anybody any good going over these things. You need to take the initiative to communicate the matter with your mother.
The issue is that you are married and have become one. Leave the decision in her hands, whether she is going to accept correction to stop controlling your family. Get on with your own life and do not worry about it anymore. If she ever comes to her senses, then praise God. If not, go on with your life and let the chips fall where they may. You cannot fix her if she has a heart that is wanting to control. You have to leave her in the hands of God. You and your wife are together. Tell your wife, “If you are mad at my mom, I understand but try loving her like Christ, but we are going on with our marriage regardless of my mom’s choices.”
John from Creswille, Oregon
In Romans 8:17, you read that we are children of God and a joint heir with Christ. He has been hearing strange teaching on that. Peter wrote on this also. He understands that the inheritance is our glorified body. When you read, “if so be you suffer with Christ”, does that mean the sufferings of tribulation in this life?
Romans 8:17
17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Some people try to find things to make them suffer for Christ, which is nonsense. The issue is, all of us, one time or another, will go through different types of suffering but we do not go out and look for suffering. I have no fear of death but being maimed I am not real fond of. Jesus was not looking for suffering. Suffering is a by-product of what man did to him. All of us are subject to that type of thing. Our lives are not over yet. We may live in a country where people have to suffer for Christ. We do not run into that in this country yet. If we do, then we will be prepared for it. But in some areas, a Jewish person comes to Christ, and many times they are disowned by their family. Much mental turmoil in that. So also can happen with those raised by atheist parents. Madelaine Murray O’Hare, when she came to Christ, was disowned by her family. That has been replaced with the beauty of fellowship with believers. Are we going to go through that? Possibly, but we are not going to go out looking for it. What did Christ do when he went through suffering? Trust the Lord. What are we to do when we face suffering? Trust the Lord. Some think the only way of serving God is to cause themselves to suffer. You do not go out and look for suffering. The sufferings I went though is small in comparison to what others in other countries go through or the martyrs or what Paul went through.
John said, “I was also thinking that suffering could be about Paul’s struggle in the flesh.”
Romans 7:15-20
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. 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.
John said, “I thought that was the suffering he was talking about.”
Well, that is part of it, but also the suffering that Paul had to go through in sharing the message of the gospel, a type of suffering I cannot even enter into.
