Last week, the stock market seemed to melt down. Economists began to speculate about our economy, wondering if we'll have a soft landing or a hard recession. How should we think about our personal finances? Stay with me. We'll talk about that in just a moment. Hello, friends. Welcome to Open Line with doctor Michael Redlick Moody Radio's Bible Study Across America. I'm that very same Michael Ray Melnick that I just mentioned. I'm the academic dean and professor of
Jewish Studies and Bible at Moody Bible Institute. It's time for our Bible study across America. We're sitting around the radio kitchen table. We have our Bibles open, and I'm ready for your, uh, we also have a cup of coffee here. Steaming. Tricia, thank you so much for bringing me that coffee. And, uh, we're sitting around here waiting for your calls. If you have a question about the Bible, God, or the spiritual life, just give us a call. The
phone number here. (877) 548-3675. Let me give it to you one more time, because now's a great time to call. People always want to know when can I get in? When can I get my, my, my question through? The way to do that is to call right now. (877) 548-3675. Well, Tricia is in the producer's chair. Chris Sigurd's handling all things technical. And, uh, is it to who's answering the phones? Tierra. Tierra is answering the phones. Sorry about, uh, that's. You know,
people wonder why don't. Why doesn't he know? Well, it's a completely different room. I don't see her, so that's why. But anyway, I'm glad she's here answering the phones again. The phone number (877) 548-3675. Now go get yourself a cup of coffee. Open your Bible, because we're about to study the scriptures together. If you think your 401 K had a bad time last week, think about Jeff Bezos, chairman of Amazon. I read a news report that in just
two days, Bezos lost $23,000,000,000.20 3 billion. But don't worry about Jeff. His net worth is still about $185 billion. so I think he'll just be fine. He'll be fine. Uh, but a colleague of mine was so distressed about the markets that she said, now I won't be able to retire after this year. So it could be stressful. Well, whether we have a retirement account, a 401 K, an IRA, a savings account, whatever we have, whenever the markets are in turmoil, it brings stress. So how should we think
about finance? The answer is in the book of God's wisdom, the book of Proverbs in chapter 30, verses eight and nine, here's what it says give me neither poverty nor wealth. Feed me with the food I need. Otherwise I might have too much and deny you saying, who is the Lord? Or I might have nothing and steal profaning the name of of my God. This is written by Edgar. And so what can we learn from Edgar? From Proverbs 30 verses eight and nine? First, our prayer should be for
God to provide only what we need. That's why he asks. Edgar asks God for neither poverty nor riches, but only asked for the food that he needs. This is what the Lord Jesus meant when he taught us to pray. Give us this day our daily bread. We're to pray for only what we need, not everything we might want. And then he gives the reason with the second point. Secondly, Hagar teaches us both wealth and poverty can be spiritually dangerous.
How so? Well, the danger of wealth is that it may cause us to deny God by forgetting him otherwise. Agar says I might have too much and deny you, saying, who is the Lord? We all become when we have too much, we become too self-reliant. We start thinking, I don't need the Lord to provide. Look at all I have. This attitude made me think of a story. One day, a pastor was invited to John D Rockefeller's mansion. As he drove up the winding drive lined with tall trees
with the massive house, he said, my, my. This is what the Lord might have done if he'd only had the money. Well, the truth of it is, everything that anyone has comes from the Lord. Yet when we get so wealthy, we think that we're independent of God and we can deny him or forget him. The second danger of is in poverty. The danger of poverty is that it may cause us to dishonor God by stealing from others. We don't want to deny him, but we might dishonor him.
I might have nothing, Agha says, and steal and profane the name of my God. That's another form of self-reliance, we might say. I won't trust God to provide for me, but instead I'll just take it for myself. And you know, this isn't limited to breaking and entering. We can steal by cheating on our taxes, or gouging our customers, or taking supplies from work or any number of creative ways. All these actions bring dishonor to God, whether we are
caught or not. Both poverty and riches are dangerous because they both tap into our greed, and our culture has inflamed our natural greed as we've grown up. According to Kevin Millar, it's estimated that we each have seen ready for this 40,000 advertisements per year from childhood upward. Children, even at the age of 18 months, can recognize the golden arches because of commercials. John Ortberg says that when we buy our kid a Happy Meal, this is what happens.
You're not just buying fries, McNuggets, and a dinosaur stamp, you're buying happiness. The advertisements have convinced my children they have a little McDonald's McDonald's shaped vacuum in their hearts. Our souls are restless till they find their rest in a happy meal. The problem with the Happy Meal is that the happy wears off and they need a new fix. No child discovers lasting happiness in just one. Remember that happy Meal? What great joy I found there. No, no.
Happy meals bring happiness only to McDonald's. You ever wonder why Ronald McDonald wears that grin? 20 Billion Happy Meals. That's why, Wartburg concludes, when we get older, we don't get any smarter. Our Happy Meals are just more expensive. So what do we do about our inclination towards greed? It's not to pursue wealth or to steal. We're already warned about that. Here's what we do. First, we need to pray. Give me neither poverty nor wealth, but only
what I need. Second, we need to give generously to God's work. Fred Smith has said, giving is the drain plug of our greed. As we give to God, our grasping for more gives us, gives way to contentment. Because godliness or spiritual maturity with contentment is great gain. We don't have to be stressed by the ups and downs of the markets. As long as we're walking with the creator of the universe. Well, I hope that's an encouragement to you. It's an encouragement and a reminder to me
as well. We're going to talk with Nathan in Chicago, Illinois. That's our first call calling from listening on Wmbi. Welcome to Open Line, Nathan. How can I help you today?
Oh, I'm fine, Doctor Redlich. Um, how can you help me if I study in Leviticus 25? I see from, uh, verses 10 to 51, it talks about the 50th year jubilee. And, uh, I'm just wondering, did they did ancient Israel ever experience it?
I don't know.
They ever get there.
I don't know, uh, here's what I do know. Is that the reason Israel went into captivity when they did is they were supposed to have every seventh year off, right? They were supposed to take a seventh year sabbatical, not grow grain, not right. And what happened was they went into 490 years is what, uh, 70? I'm sorry. Uh, after 490 years, they went into captivity because they missed the, uh, the seven year sabbatical 70 times. That's what Jeremiah tells us.
And so therefore, they had to go into captivity for 70 years to make up for the that God said, I'm going to rest the land for 70 years. So it sounds to me like they didn't follow the, the, uh, sabbatical year, uh, very often. And therefore I would guess that they didn't follow the Jubilee year as well. Okay.
So this came after the instructions they received in Leviticus 25.
Then apparently they didn't keep them. But you know what? We may I don't know everything. Um, maybe they did sometime, but they did meet. They did miss 70 years of sabbatical years. Okay, Nathan, you know, one of the things you just said, one of those things that is really important when the Bible doesn't answer it. You said you read the Bible. I don't see them keeping it any, any year. Do you know what that means, Nathan?
You don't need to know.
We don't need to know. And we don't know. We just can't know. Uh, I love a quote by D.L. Moody. One of my. You might have heard of him. Moody Bible Institute's name for him. Right? He said God didn't give us the scriptures to satisfy our curiosity, but to transform our lives. And so often when we're reading the scriptures where we're looking to have our curiosity, did they ever do this? Did they not? And, you know, those
are a lot of questions that we have. I have those, uh, but my curiosity, that's not why God gave me the Bible. He wants to change my life. So that's I think the same is true for you, Nathan. Don't you think so?
I think I totally agree. There's one quick follow up. Yeah. Will this be a reestablished in the millennium?
I don't know. That doesn't say what? Uh, because, you know, it says in Isaiah two the law will go forth from Zion, but that's just instruction in the messianic kingdom there. I think we'll be living under a messianic Torah. Uh, not necessarily the mosaic. So I don't know what will be taken from the mosaic and part of the the Messianic Torah. Okay.
Well, thank you so much, sir.
Yep. Thank you for your call. Really appreciate it. Uh, we're going to go to a break. But before we do, I do want to mention, uh, our current resource. Uh, someone wrote to me and they wanted to know, uh, why I think this book is so good. It's acts
in the Everyday Bible Commentary by Charles Ryrie. I think there are so many factors that make it good, but one that I especially like is that the book of acts shows the progress of the gospel from Jerusalem to the whole world, and this commentary brings it out and helps us to have a perspective for, uh, being world, world Christians, you know, being concerned for reaching the whole world. And I think that's that's just a great, uh, a
great benefit. So if you're interested in this book, uh, we want to send it to you as a thank you for a gift of any size. And if, uh, so if you just send in a gift, we want to say thanks. We'll send you acts by Charles Ryrie, uh, in the Everyday Bible commentary. Here's what you do. You can go to Openline radio. Org and give your gift there. Or you can just call (888) 644-7122. That's (888) 644-7122. And uh, that's uh, just the way. Remember ask for acts by
Charles Ryrie, the everyday Bible commentary by Charles Ryrie. We're going to come back with more of your questions in just a moment, so don't go away. This is Michael Radonich and you are listening to Open Line. Welcome back to Open Line with Mike Radonich. You know, I mentioned something last week. I want to mention it again. You'll be hearing a lot about it. It's something that's really
on my heart. The world has seen this explosion of anti-Semitism, not just here in the United States, but across the globe, not just about Israel, but about Jewish people everywhere. And it's heartbreaking. And one of the things that we stand for at Moody Bible Institute is that God has an eternal love for his chosen people, the Jewish people. And as a result, we have called a summit a one
day conference opposing anti-Semitism. It's upcoming on November 9th. Uh, and it's being co-sponsored between Moody and Chosen People Ministries. I'm going to talk about chosen people in just a moment, but I'm so grateful that we're going to do this. Some of the speakers I'll be speaking. Mitch Glazer, president of Chosen People, will be speaking. Mark Jobe, president of Moody,
will be speaking at the summit. And also Don Sweeting, uh, who is the chancellor of Colorado Christian University, but the son of Moody, former Moody president, uh, Doctor George Sweeting. So we're it's going to be a great lineup. We're going to have a great time, uh, exploring how the church can stand with the Jewish people and oppose anti-Semitism. And it's November 9th. If you want to find out more, the best place to go is go to Moody Conferences. Org and you'll see a link there that you can
click on that says, uh, the summit Opposing antisemitism. Okay, that's November 9th. And uh, people will be coming from all over. There's all sorts of information if you need to get a hotel for the the night or something like that, uh, where you can do that and how much it costs and all the different things that you might be interested in, just go to that website, Moody Conferences. Org and click on the summit opposing anti-Semitism. You can
register there as well. Now why? I mentioned that when I think about the whole history of the Jewish people, it's been a history. It's called the longest hatred. anti-Semitism. anti-Semitism has lasted so long. And every time you think, oh, it started with Pharaoh and Egypt and then went to Haman. And now today with Hamas, it just doesn't matter. There's this long heritage of anti-Semitism. And, uh, yet God has preserved his people. And that's why Chosen People Ministries has
this fantastic Jewish art calendar that they're offering for free. Uh, what it does is each picture shows God's faithfulness to Israel throughout Jewish history. Despite the surge of anti-Semitism, despite past anti-Semitism, God has always been faithful. That's what the art calendar is about. And Jewish calendars, of course, start in September with the Jewish New Year. And so this art calendar is available to you. Chosen people wants to
give it to you for free. It's yours. All you have to do is go to our website, openline radio.org, and then you can click on the link that says a free gift from Chosen People Ministries, and they'll send you this beautiful, really meaningful calendar. So don't miss out. Go to Openline radio.org and click on a free gift from Chosen People Ministries. We're going to talk to Janet now in Cleveland, Ohio, listening on Wqrf. Wcff. Welcome to Open Line. Janet. How can I help you?
Well good morning. Good morning. I appreciate Open Line. I appreciate your sharing with us in so many ways. Thank you. My question is, how would what's the best way to be able to talk with and approach someone who has heard the gospel multiple times, but just doesn't believe it? The Bible is true. Wonders if it's just mythological. Um, she friends with a lot of, uh, believing people she's been shared with many times, but she just simply just seems to fall on deaf ears.
Mhm. Uh, well, you know, you can have a good argument about it, you know that. But I'm not sure that that's going to be all that helpful, you know? Uh, here's here's how I would come at it, you know, um, and this is I think what's so crucial is so often the issue isn't about the cognitive, the academic, the give me the five evidences that you that make you believe whatever it is that you believe. Uh, so here's the thing that I think melts people, opens them up,
and that is relationship. Uh, that without a good, warm friendship, it's really hard to share seeds of the gospel. You know, you got to cultivate, cultivate the soil with a relationship. And and so there's one aspect is just being a really good friend and being faithful. Secondly, what I would say is live a transformed life. Your life has to be something that a person looks at you and says,
there's something different about Janet. Uh, you know, I know that I disagree with her about Jesus and the Bible, but boy, the Bible sure has changed her. The Bible has made her into a better person. Jesus has transformed her. That's the second key. First relationship, second, uh, transformation. Living a transformed life before someone. And then when when things
happen in your life. When things. When the Lord answers a prayer, when the Lord gives you encouragement, when there's something really, really important like that that you would share with any friend, then, uh, what you need to do and even when you have a need, saying, I'm having people pray for me about whatever it is. Uh, I know you don't pray, but I did want you to know that people are praying for me about this. And then when God answers that prayer, tell your friend about that.
That answer to prayer, how God has worked in your life, got what you have learned and what God is doing. As you raise those flags, what you're doing is you're making this person jealous for your relationship that you have with the Lord Jesus. And then the the last step, I would say when she says, well, how could you believe the Bible? I would so like to believe what you have, but how is it that you can believe this? Well, I would always go right to the resurrected Lord Jesus.
Here's the reasons I believe in the resurrection and Jesus if if indeed, and he has been. But if indeed Jesus is raised from the dead, then he's God, because that's who he claimed to be and God raised. And then he was raised from the dead. And if Jesus believed the Bible, then I'm going to believe the Bible. That's where I would start with that. So but it's
not an immediate thing. I wouldn't start there. I would, I would go, I would go with that relationship transformed life, and then raising the flag from time to time about what God is doing in your life. And then ultimately the resurrected Jesus, who is God, believed the Bible. That's how I would go at it. Okay.
Okay. Yes. Yeah.
Thank you very much.
Yeah. I'm so glad. Thank you. You know, so often we think if we just give people the four reasons or five reasons that we believe the Bible, they're going to say, oh, that's fine. Uh, it doesn't work that way. Usually, usually what works is, is a relationship. So the key to evangelism, in my opinion, is a transformed life. So that's that's a great reminder for me because sometimes I forget that that's the key not to win the argument,
but to win the person. And think about this. I once heard someone say that if we want to see people make a decision for the Lord, but really, if we're caring for people, the truth is it's a series of many decisions. It might be a decision to hear your story, or it might be a decision to read a book of the Bible. It might be a decision to talk with you. It's a series of many decisions
rather than one big decision. We have to lead people from not wanting and helping them to see they need, and then help them to make that decision in the end. So anyway, that's the story. Janet, thanks for your call. We're going to talk to Mary listening in Illinois and Wwdm, welcome to Open Line. Mary. How can I help you today?
Yes.
Go ahead.
Mary, um, I was wondering. I'm sorry. I am a Christian, and I know what Romans 13 teaches us. Um, to, um, respect our leaders unless it's contrary to God. Um, but I was wondering about does God allow, uh, the presidents to that we get to be selected? I have heard that there is scripture to back that up. And if there is, where is that scripture?
Um, it's in the book of Daniel, I think that's probably the place I would go. Uh, uh let me find the verse. Uh it says. Uh, Daniel chapter four, verse 17, right in the middle. Here's what it says. This is so the living will know. That's us. You and me. Right, Mary? We're the living that the Most High is ruler over the kingdom of men. He gives it to anyone he wants and sets the lowliest of men over it. So who's the real ruler? God himself, who puts even lowly men in the position of king
or president or sovereign. Well, it's God himself, God's sovereign over human government. Okay.
Okay, okay.
I was just, um, wondering where that scripture was, and I've heard that I've heard that said. But I, um. And I know it's true, but I just didn't know where it was. Yeah. Thank you very much, Daniel.
For 17. It's great reminder. You know, uh, sometimes we look at leaders and we can't believe that they're in charge, but we trust the sovereign one. Think about that. That was Nebuchadnezzar that this is said of. And God had a way of humbling Nebuchadnezzar as well. Remember Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonian tyrant? Well, he was humbled and ultimately had to come to respect the sovereignty of God. Uh, that's a
great reminder. At this election season, you know, sometimes we think that, uh, this is like the most important thing in the world. I think the most important thing in the world is to recognize the sovereign of the universe, not the president of the United States. And that that's just where it's at. You know, it's scary. Everyone has their political opinions. Some people say if this person is
person's elected, then I'm going to leave the country. Well, no. If the other person's elected, I'm going to leave the country. You know what? I'm sticking around. I'm going to be in this country by God's grace, and I'm going to do my best to serve the sovereign of the universe. Uh, at that, whoever is elected, that's the key. And and, you know, the Bible teaches we need to pray for our leaders. Uh, it also says honor the emperor in
first Peter, I think. I think that was Nero. Uh. So when you think about it, uh, God calls us to do that, not to have blind loyalty when the government is doing something evil. But we have to speak up. But nevertheless, we have to honor the King. Anyway, we'll be right back with the mailbag. Trish is coming in. She's dragging that mailbag right now, so stay with us. This is open line with Michael Radnich. Welcome back to
Open Line. It's time for the Febc mailbag. Febc far Eastern Broadcasting Company is a marvelous ministry that brings the gospel through media to places that we could never reach. They also have people on the ground and they do follow up. I love this ministry. It does a tremendous work. And if you'd like to know more, you can go to their website FBC. Org and click on the link about their podcast called Until All Have Heard. You're just going to be really impressed with all that they are
doing and so don't miss out. And that thank. I am grateful to FBC for partnering with us to bring you the mailbag, and you have sent these questions in and Tricia has put them together. Hey, Tricia. Hello. This is Tricia McMillan. I always, I assume, like, everyone knows who Eva is, that they know who Tricia is. It's Tricia McMillan, producer of the mailbag. And, uh, everyone, they say, who's this Eva he's talking about all the time? That's my wife. Yeah. So she's the one that texts me
the answers when people write. Yeah. So, anyway, uh, I'm grateful that you put these, uh, questions together. The best way to reach us with your question is go to Openline radio.org and click on the link that says Ask Michael a question. And then Tricia puts them in the mailbag. And you had some update for me about the summit opposing anti-Semitism.
I did so also on our website. There's that form to fill out that emails me basically your question. It's a little form with your question that you can fill out, but it also has a link with a banner right across the top of our website, which is Open Line radio.org for that, um, summit on anti-Semitism conference on November 9th. So you don't have to remember. You can remember the
other the other website you gave earlier works. But if if you just can remember Open Line radio.org, click on, then click on the banner, the banner on our website.
That's great.
Thank you. Easy way to do that. Yeah.
You're welcome. That's great. Okay, so before we go to the mailbag I have a mailbag question for you.
Oh, boy. Okay, okay.
Here's here's my question. Uh, we even I did a bunch of Bible study moments for the summer. Yes. Have you been listening to them?
I mean, I was there when we recorded, I mean, right when it was written.
Yeah, yeah, not not when they were sent out. But we were there about the covenants And I think that sometimes people, uh, don't understand that the covenants really are the backbone of the scriptures. And, uh, I think it was a really a fun time for me to go through the covenants of the Bible for the Bible study moments. And that's what made made me think of you being there. And we were talking about it and it was so much fun. And then I thought, well, how do you
get those Bible study moments? Well, become a kitchen table partner. That's one of the things that we do for our kitchen table partners. People who partner with this ministry by giving monthly. One of the ways we say thank you is sending every other week a Bible study moment, uh, about a particular topic usually. But we're doing the covenants this summer and that's that's been kind of fun to do and I so appreciate it. And now what's the best thing I think about being a kitchen table partner?
Oh, there are lots of great things.
Well, I'll tell you the. Well, of course I.
What do you think is the.
Best thing to get if a person commits to $30 a month, which I'm so grateful for everyone that does this. But if they do, then they get half off of everything in a moody publishers catalog. And, you know, I just think that school's coming up. You know, people are getting back to school. There might be books they need to get and things like that. And so I think that that's one of the coolest things to about being a kitchen table partner and has nothing to do with me. It's. So and.
It's everything. It's kids books, it's Bibles. It's the Moody Bible Commentary, which we talk about frequently because we think that's a valuable tool.
Yep, that's exactly.
All of the things. But I do want to say if if you're wondering about those, uh, the covenant series, we are exactly halfway through. We did ten of those recordings on the covenants because there are five covenants. We are we just did the. So we've covered so far the Abrahamic Covenant. There were two parts to that the mosaic covenant, two parts to that we just sent out on Thursday two days ago, The, uh, first part of
the land covenant. So there are five left. If you join now and you're like, oh no, I missed them. You can go back. There's a link on your email. You can go back and listen to the ones you've missed. Oh that's great. Yeah. So so even if you became one do that so.
I can see what I said because I don't remember. Yeah.
No they're really good. They are really good and very helpful. Especially in light of what's happening, um, in Israel right now. Like just wondering which parts of these are still valid and still promised that God will keep his promises to Israel?
You know, people always ask me about the covenants and I say, If God's not faithful to his covenants with Israel, then we're on a slippery slope because he's made a covenant of redemption with us. He's he's, you know, and if he can break that, the word that he's made in the past, then he can break the word he's made with us, and he won't. He's faithful. Yeah. So, yeah. Okay. So how do you become a kitchen table partner? All you have to do is go to Openline radio org.
There's a link there for that. Or you can call (888) 644-7122. And uh uh okay. We might as well answer questions since that's what we're supposed.
To do, right? Our first question is from Deborah in Alabama, listens to Ww.w, uh, in Second Chronicles 25, verse 24, Obed edom is mentioned. So it says, he took all the gold, silver, all the utensils that were found with Obed edom in God's temple, the treasures of the king's palace, and the hostages. Then he returned to Samaria, and she remembered that in second Samuel the ark of the covenant is taken to Obed edom in a failed attempt to
bring it to Jerusalem. It says the Ark of the Lord remained in his house three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and his whole family. Mhm. Are those two connected?
Well, think about this in second Samuel six. That's when is that taking place? That's taking place when David is first king of Israel. Right. So let's put that about 1000 BC and then, uh, in Second Chronicles 25, it's talking about the captivity. And so, so that's hundreds of years later. So it's just the same name, not the same person. Okay. That's it.
All right. So with that, some sometimes. Hmm.
Sometimes we think it's just like this.
It's a very unique name.
Listen, I know it's a unique name to us. Yes. Uh, however, not in the ancient Near East. It was not a unique name. It means, uh, servant of Edam, of Edam. And, uh, no, it wasn't a unique, unique name. Think about it. We our our second president of the United States, John Adams. Right. And then.
Of course, his son, John Quincy Adams.
Right. And then, of course, later on, if we didn't have last names, think about this. John Fitzgerald. Kennedy. John. Another John, is that the same president? No, no, it's hundreds of years later. Right.
So okay, so similarly, though I think we we run into similar names like this. And I think it causes us confusion when we're studying but can also drive us to deeper study. So Deb also, um, in Alabama went to know of King Artaxerxes in Ezra is the same one who was Esther's king?
Well, actually Esther's king was Ahasuerus or Xerxes, not Artaxerxes. Uh, there were I think she got the question wrong. I think she meant, uh, is the king Artaxerxes in Ezra the same king Artaxerxes in Nehemiah? Okay. And and yes, it is the same one in both Ezra and Nehemiah. In fact, in the Hebrew Bible, it's one book.
Ezra and Nehemiah are one book.
Yeah.
Okay, so then it would be referring to the same person. Exactly.
Uh, the Xerxes, who is an Esther, was king from 485 to 465 BC. And then Artaxerxes. Xerxes, who is Artaxerxes who is king in Ezra and Nehemiah is king from 464 to 424 BC.
Okay, I think the same thing happens with Herod, because Herod or Caesar, you know, like you can take it out of the Bible, like there are these, these titles, these titles that get used and there's Herod. It's like, well,
which Herod is this? Is this Herod the Great or Herod Agrippa, or, you know, and it and to us who are not used to these titles and don't have a chronology in front of us, of of when something is happening in the Bible, we don't it's harder for us to, to keep in mind when it's happening, because it's all in the past and we don't have this in our head. So what is a good place to know? Um, like you just rattled off these years, I wouldn't have been able to say that. And I realize you had
the questions ahead of time. You may have looked it up, but where would I even look that up to know that they're not even alive? At the same time.
I think there's a really helpful tool that everyone should have along with their moody Bible commentary. And that's the Unger's Bible Dictionary. Uh, that would be a helpful tool because you could look up Xerxes, you could look up Artaxerxes, you can look up Ahasuerus, you can look up Obed-edom. You can look up Herod, Herod the Great.
Herod Agrippa, the years that they.
It'll give you a little biography. Okay. Of each of these it works.
Like a regular dictionary. Well, instead of a definition, it's.
Like a little. It's a handbook or more of a Bible dictionary, which is it's doesn't define the words so much as it gives you a.
Little summary of summary, who or what this was.
It's like a mini encyclopedia. Okay.
But it's called Unger's Bible Dictionary.
Yeah, and it's by Moody Publishers. And, uh, if a person is a kitchen table partner for $30 a month or more, they can get it for half off.
That's a great.
Yeah, it's a great tool. Okay. You know, one of the when I came to Moody Bible Institute 50 years ago this month.
Wow.
50 years ago. And I was I was just an infant at the time, But, uh, when I came here, the man who discipled me, Dan Rigney, now with the Lord, uh, the Irish rabbi, uh, he he gave me three books for my time at Moody, uh, a Wycliffe Bible Commentary, which is still available, but pretty much the Moody Bible commentaries replaced, and then the Wycliffe Bible Commentary and Unger's
Bible Dictionary and a Unger's Bible Handbook. And really, when I first started at Moody to study the Bible in a more, um, serious way than I had for the two years I had known the Lord before I came to Moody. Uh, those were the three books that guided me through everything. And and they're still, to this day, a one volume commentary, like the Moody Bible Commentary and the Unger's Bible Handbook. And the Unger's Bible Dictionary will
get a person real far. Mm. Uh, if if that's what they're interested in studying in terms of the scriptures. All right.
So if you just need some basic, basic Bible resource books. Yeah, that's a good place to start.
Those are a great place to start. All right. Thank you. Well, that's a lot of fun. Tricia. Come back. There's more questions. I'll try and answer more next time. Uh. All right. Okay. Next hour. Uh, that was Tricia McMillan. I'm Michael Redlick. We'll be right back with more of your questions. Uh, right here on Open Line. In fact, we're going to try and get to a whole bunch of them real quick. So, uh, don't don't hang up. Stay with us. We're coming right back.
Welcome back to Open Line. So glad to be with you this morning. We're going to go right to the phones and we're going to talk to Femi in Florida. Did I say your name right? Femi.
Yes you did.
Good. Well how can I help you? Good morning. Good morning.
Yes. Good morning. Um, I have a question about how that consecutive verbs are translated in Genesis 219. Some translations have it as imperfect tense, which has fuelled animals created after Adam, and other types of pluperfect, which has those animals created before Adam. If it's pluperfect, how do we determine that?
Okay, so no one understands your question. I mean, I do, but, uh, but no one understands your question. So, Lord God formed out of the ground every wild animal and every bird of the sky, and brought each to the man to see what he would call it. Uh, the question here is, it's that would seem to contradict, uh, the, uh, the the sixth day of creation in, uh, uh, the chapter one. Uh, I think that it should be I think the, the
vav consecutive is irrelevant. It's the word so but it really is, uh, the the tense, uh, how do we translate it? It should be. So the Lord God who had formed out of the ground pluperfect, every wild animal and every bird of the sky, now brought them to Adam to name. That's how I think it. And that's a perfectly reasonable way of translating that verse with that verb. Uh, and it makes sense in light of the previous chapter, that that's when God, he had already created them. But
now he brought them to Adam to name. Okay. Is that is that not good?
I mean, I still have more questions.
Well, Femi, Femi, I think we're going to move on, uh, to because we've got a bunch of callers here that need to talk with me. But thanks for your question. Uh, we're going to talk to Shirley now in Florida, listening on Wmbb. Welcome to Open Line. Shirley. How can I help you?
Hello, doctor. Thank you so much for taking my call. I really appreciate listening to you. Um, so my question is regarding prayer. I, you know, I use the Lord's Prayer as my guide, um, in praying, you know, and obviously I pray I change changed the words depending on whatever the needs are or whatever I want to be thankful for. But, um, I address it always to father
in heaven, you know, my father, God in heaven. And I'm confused because sometimes I'm at church and some of the praises or some of the songs like, you know, some of the songs are like prayers, right?
Mhm.
So I'm like thinking, okay, we're, you know, I'm singing this song, I'm praying this song. And then all of a sudden they'll, they'll call Jesus father or, or when they're praying, they're praying, you know, like to Jesus and um, or they're starting, they'll start praying to God first, God in heaven, our father in heaven. And then down the line.
They start addressing the Lord Jesus. Right?
Or they start. You know, addressing the whole prayer to Jesus. Yeah. Now, I always pray in the name of Jesus. In the end, I always pray that.
Okay, okay, so so surely let me let me see if I can answer your concern. First of all, I think that people aren't. They just think they're praying to God and they know that Jesus is God and they get kind of, uh, confused about the triune nature of God. I don't think God is up there saying, uh, no, not going to answer this prayer because, uh, you're not getting it exactly right. I think God's a lot more tolerant with us than than than we would think because, uh,
he cares about us. And just like, you know, my grandkids come up and they talk to me, and they. They call me papi, and, uh, they they will sometimes then automatically, without even looking at it, look over at their Nana Eva and talk with them. And we're pretty tolerant with our grandkids because we love them so much. And so I think God's just as tolerant with us when we pray. Second, uh, and this is important, I think, that we should be more conscious of how to pray
according to the scriptures. Uh, there's only one example in Scripture of someone addressing the Lord Jesus after he has ascended to heaven. And that's when Stephen is being martyred. He says, Lord Jesus, into your hands I commit my spirit. That's the only prayer that we have directed to the Lord Jesus. That's perfect. It shows it's okay, but it's not the norm. The Lord Jesus taught us to pray. We should pray to the father in the name of the son, by the power of the Holy Spirit, by
the guidance of the Holy Spirit. That's that's how we should pray. And, you know, I think that's a pretty important thing. And we should be more careful. Although God's tolerant, if we could be more careful when we pray, recognizing we're coming to the father boldly by the throne of to his throne of grace, because we're coming in the name of Jesus. That's that's what I would say. Uh, so there, there you have that. Okay. That's what I would suggest. Does that help at all?
Yes.
It's very helpful. Now my confusion is is it do I call I mean, is it okay? Is it okay when when people sometimes call Jesus father?
Well, he's spiritual father. You know, uh, some people base that. I don't think it's the right translation. Some people base that on Isaiah nine six because it says his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor. Uh, and then it says Everlasting Father. And so, in a sense, the Lord Jesus is not the father in heaven, but he is our father. Uh, in that sense, I think a better translation of Isaiah nine six is father of eternity. He's the father of
all time. He's the creator of the universe. That's what father means. Father of eternity. So that that's what. But you know, the Lord Jesus said, I call you friend, right? So some people might, uh, I knew I know of a a man who came to the Lord on the Mount of Olives in 1882, uh, a Jewish man, uh, from Kishinev, and he read the Gospel of Matthew, looked at it and said, this is our brother Jesus. And he always prayed in the name of our brother Jesus. Uh. Uh.
That was what he did. Some people praying. The name of our friend Jesus. What a friend we have in Jesus. You know, uh, here's what I do. I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus because he's my king. So, uh, I'd rather recognize him as my sovereign, even though he calls me friend, which that's kind of hard to believe. Uh, I I, I, you know, I don't know how I
got in the habit of calling him Lord Jesus. Uh, and and the or the Messiah Jesus, which is a title of deity, uh, or kingship, I should say, uh, royalty. But I think it goes back to 40 years or so ago in graduate school. And I had a professor who said, uh, Michael, don't be flippant when you talk in the name of the Lord Jesus, call him Lord. And that's, I think, crucial. Well, that's our our I
hope that helps. Uh, as we pray, uh, we're going to be back with another hour of Open line in just a bit, so don't go away during the break. Check out our web page open Line Radio org has all the links you're looking for right there. The Bible study across America will continue in the second hour, so stay with us. Open line with Doctor Michael Ray Zelnick is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute. We'll be right back.