Jesus Christ Show | Hour 2 [01/21]

You're listening to KFI AM sixty on demand. Jeff, Welcome to the Jesus Christ Show. Hi Jesus. I'm a grateful believer and I love your show. Oh thanks, Jeff, I appreciate you listening. How can I help you? Well, I'm going to get my emotions under control here. I was divorced about twenty years ago and didn't have much contact with my kids.

Basically was an addict, and now I'm not. And I'm trying to talk to my kids about you, and I think they don't want to listen to it because of a messenger, okay, And I just want to hear what you have to say about it, or ask me questions about it, or just come and get my head on straight around it. Well, I hear.

I get phone calls and emails of all kinds from people in situations where they're going I really want to share Christ, but for reason x Y and Z, I can't because of something I did or the place I'm at.

And that may be the case that you're looking at. You may be the worst person to bring that information to them, And the best way to bring that information to them is not from the hole in your face, but from the thing that beats within your chest, and that is to act in a way and let them see the experience that you have and not just try to

proselytize. It's very difficult, especially somebody who's been through the ringer like you have, and has gone through addiction and gone through these types of things and a divorce and you haven't seen them for a long time. They're going to look at you and say, who are you? And why should I trust you? And why would I hear this from you? And and don't tell me about living a good life or about focusing in on God. They they that you don't have that place in their life yet, And I think it's

best just to be living in a way that is is an example. Then, yeah, sometimes taking we're talking about, you know, taking the shortcuts or not having consequences. Sometimes talking about things becomes this simple way and the obvious way and the easy way, rather than living in a way that asks that promotes people to ask you about why you're living the way you are. You understand the difference there. It's you know, one thing to say, hey, do this, and it's another thing to do it and have people

go, wow, why do you do that? Why do you do it that way? And it's I mean, look at the way. You know, you watch a golf and these shows on on the weekends or these infomercials about golf swings, and do this with a golf swing. Do that with a golf swing. You will find men that will parse and vet every nook and cranny of a golf swing because they see the results of that golf swing.

Nobody wants to know how to do a really bad golf swing. Wow, you really you knocked that into the you know, the beach there, so I want to find out how you did it. No, it's not, it's not about that. It's about wanting to replicate success or replicate something that you see to be of value and in life. That works the same way as well. If you're doing something that people see that is valuable and healthy and efficient and loving and all these things, they're going to ask you

naturally. But sometimes believers think, oh, it's easier, I want to do it just this way, and I'm going to shove it down their throat or I'm gonna, you know, just preach to them. And it's not that you know that doesn't have value to to express verbally. But I think in this particular case, there's way they're going to receive that from you.

In that way. It's going to be too be too simple. It's not going to have the weight or the value of just seeing you and your life turned around and you loving on them and doing your best to be in their life in a way that's healthy. They're going to be out of the country for two years now and I won't be able to see him, and I don't know how they're going to see the change in me. Well, there's nothing. While I was saying, you know what, I know, we

don't have a whole lot of time together. I know you're going to be out of town, and you know, forgive my zeal, but I want so much for you to see the things that have helped me change, change and grow. And I know you're not going to be able to see that. And if you know, if I get so excited about it, forgive me. But understand that I've been through a lot and that I've missed a lot, and so I feel like I'm trying to cover ground. But just

know that that's where it comes from. It comes from a place of excitement and a desire to connect and and so when I share these things with you, it's it's not a shortcut. It's just to kind of bringing up to speed at where I am in my life and the things that have really helped me. And I feel like I haven't been able to impart a lot during under the circumstances. And and this is this may seem like it's, you know, a lot to consume right now, but I feel like I've been

out of the loop for a while. And I think feel like I haven't been in your life in the way I like to, or I haven't been able to teach you or to show you these things. And and I I, you know, I don't have gold, I don't have silver, I don't have any of these things necessarily to give you. But what I do have is this, And on your on your trip for the next two years, if you can take this with you, whether whether it's a Bible or

whether it's just that notion that at least you've planted that seed. I get that I do, but you're not going to do it all in one. If it was that easy, it wouldn't have any value. Yeah, it's not an amulet, you know, it's not some magic water you're going to give them. It's not a necklace, it's not there's it's nothing like that. It's not the kind of it's not the way this gift is passed on. It's really about you know, experiencing in them, seeing that that difference

in you. It's okay to talk about it, just don't make that. You know, people always look Jeff for that right word, as if you know that right word is going to get them saved. And it's not about that right word. It's about being available when they have the questions. It's about being honest and open and not being ashamed of your faith. But you know, if you if you crammed food down their throat, they they'd vomit it up as well. So it's you know, and so would you.

You know, people came to you before, people try to teach you things and show you things, and you had to do it in your own time, right when you're ready, as do they so plant the seed. Scripture says that that there are many participants in that. There's the person who plants the seed. There's a person who plows the field, there's a person who waters. There's all that and that's going to happen. You have to trust

God for those things. That's where your faith comes in as well, to know that you can just plant that little seed and that they can go, you know, away for two years, go away for twenty years. It doesn't matter. God's still there. God hasn't fallen off his throne. And worry about just the planting of the little seed, not trying to grow a tree instantaneously. That's just not the way it works. Matt, Welcome to the Jesus Christ Show. Hey, Jesus, how you imagine? Good?

How you doing? Excellent? Sir? What's going on? I just got a quick question, theology question. I'm Catholic. My family was some of themes to our catholic A lot of them went to the Evangelist movement or whatever you want to call it now, and they they, you know where it's very followed just the scripture, the Word of God, and that's what it is. Nothing wrong with that and a lot of respects. I like it.

My question is is from what I understand at least and the church history, is that the pope sometime in the fourth century or so, actually compiled the Bible. And I guess or compiled the books that we know today that

are in the Bible. And my biggest struggle with maybe possibly either going over to that church with my parents, The biggest struggle I have is if the Pope compiled those books and chose what's in it, and they so outright least speak, you know, against the Catholic Church, why it just seems kind of ironic to me when the book that they consider the Word of God, which it is, you know, was compiled by the pope speak. I

just need more clarification to try to understand it myself. Well, talking about unfortunately, to go through, you know, and parse all the specifics of history is kind of outside the scope of the time that we have. But I do want you to understand that's it's not a fair statement to say that the Pope put together the Bible, right that what takes place is there are

councils that do take place. There are groups where they come to ecumenical councils, and there are groups that come together to make decisions based on certain things about scripture. But the scripture itself was already pretty much because of its usage and the context of its usage, determined and canonized. Canon just means like measuring rod, like a measuring read. So it's it's saying this is the measure of God. This is that this has shown itself or proven itself to

be the word of God. Now there's disputes between the Catholic Church and the Protestant Church as to certain books that would be you referred to as apocryphal books. Now those books aren't damaging necessarily and that they're just not seen as scripture so by some. So the battle that takes place there is really dealing with an understanding of how the Bible came to be. It wasn't that some guy sat there and said this is what I determined to be. It's not one

person's job. Also, going back, it's very easy for the Catholic Church to say, well, this was the Catholic Church, when really Catholic means universal and at the time, it wasn't talking about necessarily the structure of the Catholic Church as you know it today. It's talking about the early Church because until the Reformation, it's just the Church. So it's kind of hard to

say, well, the Protestants weren't a part of that. You know, technically they were, because the Protestants means Protestants came from the first Church as well. So the branching off of that came from disagreements as to the way the structure of the church was the path that the church was going, and some disagreements there, but the essentials always remained, which is the most important. And also to look at the fact that the decision making wasn't just done

by one particular person. Throughout the centuries, there have been people that have tried to add things and subtract things. And the key to the canonization, and the most important part of it was to determine that nothing was to be added at this point, that all the revelation that was to be given by God has already been given. That way that people don't start writing things into

it and putting new things into it and modifying. And there are new testaments that other groups that people would refer to as non Christian cults add to the scriptures, and there's new covenants and new things like that, but the scripture it was decided as these groups. Nothing changes throughout history. You'll be happy to note that the same craziness that goes on today, when you know a

thousand years ago two thousand years ago, you had groups. Even when you read through scripture, you read through the epistles, and you see the Church at Corinth, the Church at Ephesus, and they had these major problems at the time. They was all kinds of craziness going on, and so a lot of times these groups would come together to reinforce the belief for the understanding

that had been the universal belief or understanding. And now that a group comes in they start teaching something else, they'd come together and say, no, we still all agree this is the way things should be. Let's weed out this particular problem. And that's when they would get together on these councils as well, to kind of decide, well, it's getting crazy out there.

People are starting to say this and teach this, and that's not what we all believe correct, And it would be ecumenical in the sense that it would be the entirety of the best representatives possible to come together and say, no, this is what we've always believed. This has always been the tradition. We continue to push forward on that. But to say that the Pope canon I Scripture is not a fair statement, Laurie, Welcome to the Jesus Christ

Show. Hello Jesus, thank you for taking my call, my pleasure. How can I help you? Well? I hear people talking about surviving horrible situations where they say they just believe in God and put their faith in God. And I do that too, but I'm having trouble dealing with issues that someone can be blessed by God and a follower of Jesus and still get cancer, especially like if they have young children. I know several people in this situation now, and they're no less a believer than I am. And I

pray every day I will not be tested in this way. And I why why would you pray that when Scripture says you will be tested that way? Scripture says, well, that you should rejoice in your trials because that's where God is seen. You're not going to walk through life in perfection. You're told at the very beginning of life that it will end. That's temporary and there's no guarantee. No, I understand that. I think the part that

I see is that when I we've got a situation. We have a friend that has two little children and she was just diagnosed with stage four cancer and we're talking, you know, not a lot of time, and I just don't understand with two little kids that this is. I guess I'm just having trouble with that. Of course, it's it's normal to worry, worry, and be frustrated with the things of this world. It is, and to see children like that put in a situation. But you only have, you

know, two choices there. You know, to live life in the that is given to you, regardless of what that is good, bad or otherwise, or not to live at all and refrain from having children because you might get sick or and these types of things, and both have their their pluses and minuses. So in this situation, if you look at scripture over and over, it says be not afraid in one way or another. Be not afraid of the one who can kill the flesh, be afraid of the one

that could kill the spirit. It's never been about this life. This life

is only a preparation and an understanding for the life to come. So there's going to be cancer, not because God created it and God wants it, but because in this world there are the options of those things in the you know, whether it be pollution and things that are put into the atmosphere, whether it be genetic problems, whether it be whatever that brings someone to that particular place in their life, you have to understand that the glory of God

can still come from that situation. And that's what it's about, not being in it, you know, having the life you expected you were going to have or for the length of time. And I think if you get it in that mindset, get in that mindset of going, well, we're going to live ninety years and we're going to be healthy for those ninety years, and that's just not no. I understand that a legitimate way to think.

Yeah, no, And I don't think that way is it pertains to me And I think it's just I think it's throwing the little kids into the mix that always, you know, kind of sets me apart on that that. I don't know, I just have a harder time. I have a harder

time with that, of course, but it's the quality as well. I've had people call up who lost the children, and would do you think for one second that a parent whose child dies at the age of two or five thinks that that child was less important or less valuable because of the length of their life. So it's really not the length of life, it's it's what it's your experience and the quality of interacting with one another and and creating those

relationships. And there are there are parents that will live to eighty that aren't going to be one modicum of the parent that your friend has been and the life that they have. So there's is it is it horribly sad situation, Absolutely, And I know that that is something that is a battle with believers. And you see, you know, you see like somebody driving in a beat up old car that's falling apart and there's a bumper stick on the back that says the Lord provides, and you go, wow, provides what to

whom? And and I know that that becomes this this kind of dichotomy of you know how you're supposed to say that it's a blessing, but really, if you think about the word blessing when people pray, it's it shouldn't be this is what I want God. It should be for understanding for what you have and and and really that kind of infusion of God into this situation becomes the important part. Let me do this gracefully, let me do this with dignity, Let me do this in a way that glorifies you God. That's

where you're at it this point. If God chooses in his infinite wisdom to reach into the situation and heal, hallelujah. And if he doesn't, hallelujah. Because all of that glory should be given to God. And this is where the community of Christ should come together and take care of those children and and help that. You know it's and that and God's glory will be seen in that. But you certainly wouldn't say that you know all is lost for

these children. It's a horribly sad situation. These children God's will be done, will grow through it, and it will be a part of who they are in a way that gives them understanding and a deep understanding of the temporary nature of life in this world. And that will give them the strength to push forward and do things in a manner that they may not have before.

There's all kinds of things that will go on. But does it stink absolutely on its face, it stinks to live in this world that is not covered in nerve, that has sharp edges, that people die in, that people get hurt in. But that is to help understand the preciousness and the value of life. And that's for Christians as well. You don't get a pass. It doesn't change how life will be or what happens to you. It should change how you perceive it and how you go through it, but it

won't change that you'll go through it or won't go through it. Okay, thank you very much. You're welcome, Laurie, and we will be praying for you and the families involved. And it's one of those things where Christians often look around and say, hey, you know I believe I have faith. I've been on my knees, I have you know, holes worn in the carpet next to my bed, and bad things still happen. It's not about avoiding those things. You're going to have those things in life. Life

will be difficult, you will have trials Christian and non Christian alike. Period. It says in scripture in Matthew that the that the sun will rise and set, and it will rain and have sun on the righteous and the unrighteous. And what Matthew five forty three and forty five is saying there is that you know what good things and bad things. Good things will happen to bad people and bad things will happen to the good. That's just the way it's

going to happen in this world. God gives you armor, but that spiritual armor to deal with the spiritual things that come at you. And those spiritual things are that in times of trials and weakness and frustration and sadness, that the enemy wants to sit there and go where is your God. One of the most beautiful scenes, the most powerful scenes in mel Gibson's Betrayal of the last twelve hours or so of My Life was his interpretation of what took place

in the garden of Gasemine where I'm alone and I'm praying. And it doesn't say this in scripture, but I think it was a legitimate, a legitimate use of what could have been going on there as someone who has vision as a director, and it shows the enemy kind of walking around me or pacing like a tiger ready to pounce, and this kind of ambiguous creature male female, you don't really know, kind of beautiful kind of repelling is the enemy

saying you can't do this alone. He should never put this on you. It's too much for one person saying those doubts, putting those doubts, trying to infuse my head with those things from the pit hell. And the enemy does the same thing to you when you are at your weakest. The enemy wants to sit there and do a dance and say, see where is your God? Now? They said it to me when I was on the cross. It's implied that it's said to me throughout temptation. They're going to say

it to you. The glory of God comes not from a miraculous healing, which is a human thing. That's what the humans want. The glory of God is when man goes through things that are inherently scary, frustrating, sad, frightening, and does it with the poise and the grace of someone that can only only have that strength and ability if they knew God. Bonnie, Welcome to the Jesus Christ Show. Yes, Hi, Bonnie, Hi.

I was listening to one of your last callers that said that her face had been a little bit shaken because she had friends that were young and dying or thought they might be dying of cancer and couldn't understand why God would do that, And I was I just had to call because I know one reason is that when a person of faith like that. That is how I came to know Jesus Christ through a young woman who had two young children, everything to

live for, and she was literally dying of cancer. And through her I saw a faith and a trust. She was happier than anybody I knew that had everything going for them. And I watched her carefully. I couldn't believe this what I just she was set apart. And I watched her and what I began to go to a Bible study that she actually would give you. She would be in the hospital for a week and she'd get out for two

hours to come and teach a Bible study. And she asked me to go, and I went and began to understand what it was that she had the faith in. It was something that I embraced, and for the woman that was concerned, I also paid attention to what was what her heart's desire was.

That she knew she was dying, that she wanted God, and the prayer was watch out for my husband and my two children, m and to look over those that were they are going to be less, Yes, And that was her only prayer and that request, and she I watched when she died, and the most God took care of her husband and her children in the most miraculous ways, and there was it just increased my faith. I

became a Christian. But even more importantly, I think they're probably were There were probably about fifty more people that came to the Lord through that one woman. We'll see there there's and and I thank you so much, Bonnie for calling people. Don't understand that things do him from this and it is sad.

But you even remember Randy Pausch, Professor Pausch from the last lecture if you haven't read the book, it's a lovely book and a tribute to a man who loved his family very much and wanted them to know it even when he passed. There is much that can be done in those last hours, those last moments, and you can touch people. Randy Paush touched a world who continued to read his book that was written due to the pain and the

suffering and the sadness and the frustrations that he went through. Don Welcome to the Jesus Christ Show. Hello Jesus, thank you for doing my call, my pleasure. What's going on? Done well? I've always been curious about God the Father in the sense of taking his deity to other cultures, not just through you, but to other cultures. Say, you know the Buddhists and uh uh and the Vishnu. You know that that sort of thing as

well as the Native Americans does does does? Does he manifest himself you know, to different cultures in different ways. Well, that's that. That's the difference between motherhood and your mom. Your mom is your mom. You can't repackage her. She is your your mother. And although other cultures have the term for mom or mother, there is only one your mom, only one mother of Dawn. So in a like sense, it's more likely because they

they aren't all the same. Even though some people can say, oh, well, Buddha's a manifestation of this, or fish News a manifestation of that, they don't jive. They don't have the same philosophy's beliefs. And in every other walk of life you came by somebody who claimed to be someone or something and they didn't have those same defining properties, you'd say it wasn't the same person or thing. And so it's not just well, gosh, all

these different belief systems or cultures have an idea of God. It's what is that idea of God that's important, and so they don't mesh. So to say that they are all the same manifestation of the Father God in different areas or cultures, it doesn't make sense because culture shouldn't be more powerful than God. So a culture can't define God. God has to define the culture.

And if you come across these other manifestations for lack of a better term of God, they still have to be defined as to what they are, just like your mother would be defined by who she is. I if I was seeking God, I was raised Roman Catholic, if I was to you know, to attempt to find you know, the Father through Buddhism. Buddhism is completely different than the Christian God. Vishnu completely different from the Christian God. And that's not to put a value on that. It's to say that,

well, one, this is the Jesus Christ show. If it was the Vish New Show or the Buddhas show, I'm sure they'd be talking up their beliefs. But ultimately that's to say there is a difference. There's an old saying everyone can be wrong, but they can't all be right if they contradict each other. There are contradictions inherently in all those belief systems that don't match up. They are not interchangeable, and you can because of the freedom,

you can believe what you want. But keep in mind they are not interchangeable and they do not all believe the same things. That's where problems arise. KFI on Demand