Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P597 (01-08-21)
Synopsis
It is so good to hear people come to know Christ and are studying God’s word to grow up to maturity in Christ. We all start off the same way. Such questions are so important to the person asking, and as simple as asking, “How do I know if I met the right girl to marry?”, “What is God’s will for my life?”, or “Is the law for me today?” So listen as Bob shows such respect and tenderness to those who ask questions. We should all be so gracious in our spirit, allowing people time to grow up to maturity, as we all are, one day at a time. God is so patient with all of us. What an amazing God we serve.
The number one key to growing is, first of all, to be born again, but then you get to know the person who now lives in you. You do that by reading His word, not to get information, but to get to know the author, the one who died, was buried and rose again for you. Then, you learn to abide, or rest in Him, allowing Him to produce fruit in you, that you will bear in due time. Do not be so anxious to be doing things for God, for so often when you do, you are doing so in the energy of the flesh, because your focus will be on what you are doing instead of what God is doing. So take the time to grow. Nobody expects a baby to be driving a car or walking. No, it takes time for a baby to get to know his parents, to drink his mother’s milk until such a time he is ready for more solid food. So it is with a new Christian. Some one born again with the Holy Spirit of God now placed in Him. It takes time for the renewing of the mind to occur. Allow yourself that time to grow.
Transcript
Larry
Larry: I am a fairly new Christian. I have been studying the bible. I was reading about that parable of the sower. In verse 23, this is from the King James.
Matthew 13:23 (KJV)
23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Larry: As I walk in the Lord, I have not borne much fruit. How do we know if we are bearing fruit? What is the evidence of that?
Bob: Well, in the first pale, if you are a brand new Christian you are called a babe in Christ. I came to the Lord at age 36, and I was a baby in Christ. A baby is not expected to go out and chop wood. A baby basically needs to feed upon his mother’s breast. They need to get rest. They need to exercise. They need to do all of those things But basically they need to grow in the knowledge of their mother and of their parents.
Bob: That is exactly what you need to do as a new Christian, to do exactly what you are doing, and getting to know Jesus. The only reason to ever pick up your bible is to get to know the author. It is the only thing in the world that is that way. Not one of us studied academia with the purpose for getting to know the author. We just learned what was in the book, put it on a bluebook to get a grade. But the bible is there to get to know the author, which is Jesus. So what you need to concentrate on is to grow in your knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 3:18
18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.
Bob: As you learn to know Him, then you learn to abide in Him. What that means is learning to trust Him. You can either listen to the desires of your flesh or you can listen to the desires of the Spirit that lives in you. We have choices on that and many times we go back and forth. But when you do fall down, the Lord is there to pick you up and set you on your way again.
John 15:4-5
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.
Bob: But when you abide in vine, who is Christ Jeus, then He will produce the fruit. You cannot produce it. You can only bear the fruit of the life of the vine. Again, do not sit and look at other branches. That is the last thing He wants you to do. He doesn’t want you to compare yourself by yourself, but to let God produce fruit. A brand new branch is not going to produce what a mature branch is. So you have to realize that. So get your eyes off the fruit and concentrate on abiding in the vine and God will produce in you and you will bear the fruit of the Spirit of God, who lives in you.
Bob: Again, if you are thinking about what kind of fruit you are producing, you are probably generating it in the energy of the flesh anyways. So it is not thinking about how much is produced but am I abiding and trusting, living in dependence upon Christ Jesus.
Bob: So this parable you are talking about, all of the early ones are people who are not saved. They hear but do not take root. There are people like that, who never take root. But these last three you are talking about, these types of soils, are the ones that have taken root, and Christ Jesus lives in them and He is there to produce His life in and through you. Only Jesus can give you life and only Jesus can produce the life you want produced in and through you. When you try, you will fail. The only thing you can do is to abide, to rest and trust in Him and let Him produce His life in and through you.
Larry: I appreciate it, Bob. It cleared up some things for me.
Bob: One of the things that happens to us, Larry, is we come to Christ, and it happened to me, and it kind of depends on the church you are in at the time. You want to go about and produce for God and God understands that, and there is nothing wrong with that. But the issue is we need to take time to grow. A baby has to take time to drink milk and eat baby food until such a time he is ready to mature into other kinds of food. So a lot of times we make a mistake by getting people on the circuit too early and getting them busy and then you are totally preoccupied with what you are doing and never get to learn what Christ is doing in your life. So the issue is to abide. Okay?
Larry: Yes.
Bob: Keep doing what you are doing, brother. Study scripture. Bury yourself in the word of God and let God speak to you and reveal Himself to you as to who He is.
Larry: I appreciate it very much.
Bob: You are sure welcome. God bless you. Do not hesitate to call at any time.
Larry: Okay.
Matt from Kajak, TX
Matt: I had a question about marriage. I never really got past my question. I was going to ask. I am not saying that I am thinking about getting married anytime soon. I am not saying it is going to happen. You start thinking about those things. I have been under the impression, and wondering about it. Is marriage something that.
Bob: What is your question in regard to this thing?
Matt: Is marriage something you have to know that you know that you know? Is it something you have to pray about?
Bob: I have been married to my wife for 45 years. I did not pray about it for one minute. I was lost and I think she was saved at the time. It was not the case of praying about it. It was the case of someone I met and I liked her. I, in turn, came to love her. We made the biggest decision of our life and we have been married 45 years. It is not a complicated thing. You see somebody you love. There is an attraction to one another and I think it needs to be. That is someone you make up your mind. That is someone I like to serve and love the rest of my life.
2 Corinthians 6:14
14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
Bob: Too many times, if you are not equally yoked with each other, that is not going to occur. If my memory is correct, you are going with somebody who is totally off in a totally different theology and that will not work in marriage.
Bob: Can you frame your question for me?
Matt: I was wondering if marriage is such a big deal as I think it was.
Bob: What do you mean by a big deal, Matt?
Matt: You have to know you are marrying the exactly right person.
Bob: You do not know that. You will not know that until you get back from the honeymoon. You just do not know that. That is why you have to deal with numerous things during your courtship. First, are you like-minded? Are you thinking alike? Are you together spiritually? That is the number one issue, to be together spiritually. There is nothing more important than that.
Matt: If you are both Chrisitans, and you both have the same views on things and you both get along well, and you love each other, then who is anyone to say you should not marry that person or to say it is not the right person for you? As long as all those things are in line and you really like the person, then there is really not a problem, is it?
Bob: Again, that is nobody else’s business. That is your business. That is not my business, you should not marry somebody. But again, if you are talking about someone who is not a Christian and you were, I would certainly recommend that you not get married. I would say you might as well get yourself an attorney at the same time you get a pastor because it will end up in an attorney’s office before long.
Bob: I would say that for your protection and I have a lot of experience in giving out that advice, and of people not heeding that advice, and sure enough, six month’s later are in the attorney’s office. But if a person is truly in Christ Jesus, and I am not talking about pew sitters, those people we call Christian, but those truly born again in the Spirit of God, walking in the newness of life, trusting Jesus for life. If you have two people in that category, the chances of you getting along are marvelous.
Bob: If that is the case, and you know someone like that, and you want to marry and they want to marty you and you decided this is a person you want to serve and love. You do not marry a person to get. You marry a person to give. That is a person I want to serve. I want to provide for her. As a man, I want to love and care for her. I want to treat her the same way I treat my body. This is a person I want to be the mother of my children. That is the attitude you should have. The wife’s attitude should be the same. I want to serve my husband and be there for him and provide a home for him and provide a setting that is comfortable. All of those types of things should be in the mind of a person. Today, it is hard to find people with those kinds of desires.
Bob: If you got one, hang onto her.
Matt: That helps tremendously. That simplifies everything. That is good.Bob: Okay, brother.
Matt: That answers my question.
Bob: Alright, Matt. God bless you, pal. You keep us posted, okay?
John from Colleen, TX
John: My question is. I am in my mid 40s and I have been going to church since I was in my grade school. I was saved about a year ago, and ever since then I have been reading scriptures and studying it very hard every day. The problem I have is this. I have been doing a lot of study scripturally and trying to evangelize, particularly my family. It seems the more in depth I get into scriptures, the bible, the more distance my own family members are getting from me. I was explaining to them to go back to bile when you have questions. Whenever I do that, they seem to think that the more I try to explain what it says, the more crazy I am. They are afraid for me and my children. There is a distance from them, and I do not have to get over that. I do not feel like I am crazy. I am trying to live the word of God every day and to keep the commandments. I was wondering if I was only one feeling like that out there.
Bob: Well, it has been going on since the day of Jesus. His family, his brothers, they thought Jesus was crazy. They wanted to take him away at one time, thinking he was crazy. They certainly thought the apostle Paul lost his mind. When Jesus had appeared before authorities in Rome, they thought Paul lost his mind. “Your intellect has caused you to lose your mind.” That is just part of it, John. That is part of being a born again believer.Bob: My family thought I was nuts when I came to Christ. I was excited about the things of the Lord. When you are a brand new Christian, you are a little nutty. The fact of the matter is, I got accused of being a tambourine clinger and everything you can imagine. I remember going back to Chicago one time and visiting a girl that I had known in college, she and her husband, and really a good friend. I had just gotten back from Korea from an existing evangelisstic campaign. I was so full of stories it was unbelievable. I went out to dinner and I practically bored the daylights out of those two. I heard later that they thought I lost my mind.
Bob: That is a part of it John. Do not think anything of it. That is a part of people who do not understand spiritual birth. I was talking to our staff about that. You cannot see that. You go out and try to raise funds for cancer or a heart fund. You can see that, people who have cancer or heart attack, and people with diseases. You go out and tell people to give for a spiritual person and do not know what it is. They do not know what you are talking about. So the best we can do is build buildings.
John: I have lost friends over this,
Bob: Join the crowd. I lost all of mine.
1 Peter 4:4-5
3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do -living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4 They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you. 5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
John: One of my friends accused me of taking drugs. He had mentioned to me,“You wake up and all you do is talk about religion and Jesus Christ. You eat and sleep and talk about Jesus Christ all day long.” And I say, “Thank you. That is the way I feel.” He said it is equivalent to taking a drug.
Bob: It is a pretty good drug. If you are going to be hooked on drugs, that is a pretty good one to be on.
Bob: John, recognize this is a part of Jesus saying that you are apart from the world. That is what it means to be made holy or sanctified. You are set apart by your knowledge of the word of God. You are set apart by the word of God. Your knowledge of the word of God sets you apart from the world, who does not know the word of God. You are set apart from it. The more you learn about the word of God, the more set apart you are from the thinking like the world thinks. That is just a part of it. Just realize the truth of that and move on. Do not worry about it. It is part of being a Christian.
John: Yes sir. I thank you very much, brother Bob.
Bob: You too, John. Thanks for your call, my friend.
Jim from West Camina, CA
Jim: I like your opinion on something. Do you think, Bob, that there are some people who would wear a wedding ring and not really be married?
Bob: One of the co-hosts would be of that category. He lost his wife and is still wearing his wedding ring.
Jim: I think some people are wearing wedding rings and are not really married. That is going on. Is that possible?
Bob: Those kinds of questions are really nonsensical. The issue is, what in the world does it matter whether you wear a wedding ring or not. I was married for many years and never wore a wedding ring. Then I decided to wear a wedding ring and I still got it on. And when I died, I would still wear it. So who cares. If you do, you do. Those are outward symbols that have no meaning to it at all. There are some people, who never stood before a pastor in some place, to get married, but they have lived in the context of marriage, and as far as they are concerned they consider themselves married. So whether you wear a ring or not makes no difference. What is going on in the heart is what God is looking at.
Jim: As a Christian, would it be wrong for me to wear one if I was not married? I do not think it is wrong.
Bob: If you feel like wearing a ring ,wear a ring. The issue is, what is in your heart?
Jim: I think it keeps me from sexual sin. It kind of stops me from doing it.
Bob: I think that is a shame that something on your finger is the only thing that stops you from doing something. I do not think that impresses God a whole lot.
Jim: I think it is actually a deterrent for me.
Bob: There is actually a deterrent from being under the law. But that is not what God came to free you from. Jim, look. If you feel that is a deterrent to you, but please do not go and advertise that and get other people to do it. If that is what you feel God uses to help you for sinning, then that is fine. But that is not the way God did things.
Titus 2:11-13
11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope – the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ
Bob: He says the Holy Spirit is there to keep us from wrong-doing. It is the grace of God that teaches us to say no to unrighteousness. It is not a ring or anything else or a robe. So what you are doing is substituting something for spiritual truth of the grace of God. If that helps temporarily until you really get to know the grace of God, that is your decision.
Jim: Okay.
Bob: That is your decision. I will not say it is right or wrong.
Jim: It bothered me so much that I went to talk to a Christian counselor about it. I went to him about ten times.
Bob: That would be nine too many for me. Again, Jim, do not substitute anything for what God came to do. He did not send the Holy Spirit to live in you to put on a robe, or a ring, or a hat, or as the shufflers used to do in Jerusalem, to wear these things on the side of their face like a horse so they would not lust. That is not of God. God says your heart is what will keep you from sinning. He says, “I alone can take care of your heart.” It will not be any outward sign. I hope you can come to that point. I think you will.
Jim: Thank you for the input.
Bob: Alright, my brother. Nice talking to you.
Al from Omaha, NB
Al: I cannot understand why Satan pursues that which he pursues. What does he derive out of his efforts upset mankind or to take this particular age of time and pollute it with his poisonous attitudes. What does he get out of this? What does he derive from this? Everybody does something for something? Get money or a medal or some reimbursement. But it does not speak of anything in the scriptures that Satan gets from that, considering he was one of the highest echelons in heaven. He was a very intelligent person and leader of a hierarchy position. Other than Chrsit, he was higher than all the other angels. What in the world does he derive out of trying to completely obliviate a Vietnamese rice farmer? I cannot believe that …
Bob: I know you cannot believe. Let us see if I can get an answer on that. When Satan rebelled, hje rebelled because he wanted to be like God. He wanted to be God. He was cast out of heaven. God is not ever going to have anybody to take his place or to have someone so egotistical to think he can. When God made mankind, Satan’s goal was to destroy his creation and get his creation to follow him rather than to follow God.
Bob: What Jesus said is the world’s sin is unbelief in Him.So what does Satan get the world involved in. Do not believe God, but believe me and I will lead you. When a person does that then he becomes captive to the mind of Satan. That brings great joy to Satan to think he has got God’s children, and they are following him instead of God. As far as Jesus is concerned, if I could keep people away from salvation, because I thought I had everything under control, until this guy Jesus came along and died on a cross to take away the sins of the world, that God had created, and then resurrected from the dead in order to restore them to spiritual life, which I never thought they would do but now my goal has become not only to try to con as many people as I can who do not know the Lord but to paralyze those who do. He does that by keeping them under law. He loves to teach law to people because the power of sin is the law and keeps people away from the grace of God. His goal is rebellion against what God came today to do.
Bob: To me I equate it like the United States. You have people who love America and have sense to know that there are enemies and sense enough to know if there are enemies they have to be defended. On the other side, we have people who say let us be nice to all people and let people come in and take over your country. Why are there half the people like that in this country? I do not understand that either. It is because of whether you are listening to God or are you listening to Satan. He loves that. That is the best answer I can give. We have to go off the air, my friend. I appreciate your call, Al.
