Episode 438 | Adriel Sanchez and Bill Maier answer caller questions. Show Notes CoreChristianity.com Key questions answered in today’s show: 1. I believe with all my heart that God is sovereign over salvation and that he alone must open the eyes of the dead. The problem is that practically I have a difficult time applying that to my children. I spend a lot of time worrying obsessively about whether I am doing something that will exasperate them and make them leave the faith. It has left me either paralyzed over making parenting decisions for fear of being too legalistic or too free or full of anxiety after I make a decision. This anxiety makes me panic and I’m fighting the constant urge to “fruit inspect” my children and I probably expect maturity that is unreasonable for their ages (I’m in the throes of the teen years). I also find my mood alters according to how they are acting in a single moment rather than my joy being in Christ. How do I practically get my head to match what my heart knows so that I can actually enjoy these years rather than wishing them away because they cause me so much anxiety?  2. My son who is 11 keeps asking me is, if God predestined people for heaven, does that mean he also predestined people for hell? 3. Some believe that one can lose their salvation, that is, even if they truly are a believer. What sin or sins must they commit in order for that to happen? 4. Why is having faith so difficult? 20 years and still have same thorn in flesh. 5. How do you understand Matthew 24:20 were it says, “let your flight not be on the sabbath nor in the winter?” Resources Knowing God by J. I. Packer  Request our latest special offers here or call 1-833-THE-CORE (833-843-2673) to request them by phone.

Episode 437 | Adriel Sanchez and Bill Maier answer caller questions. Show Notes CoreChristianity.com Key questions answered in today’s show: 1. My question is about Paul teaching on praying in the Spirit. Near as I can figure, it’s not praying in tongues. They are a gift and not everyone has the same gifts, so, can you explain what praying in the Spirit is, and, better yet, how to do it? I feel like I’m missing something here, or I’m misunderstanding the text. Can you help me to understand this way to pray? Paul said it was necessary to overcome the attacks of the evil ones if i understand him correctly. 2. I listened to you guys every day. Just want to thank you for the job you guys do. I do have a question. I have a friend who’s a Mormon, another friend who’s a Jehovah’s Witness, and I know that they believe some things that run contrary to the Bible, I’m just wondering how I can use their own literature, their own books, their own material, to proclaim the true gospel of Christ. 3. Is it normal for a Christian to worry and about their eternity? I believe in Christ’s death for my sins but honestly I still worry. And therefore I question my salvation. 4. Will we have work or vocations in heaven? 5. My question is about the blaspheming of the Holy Spirit. I was wondering if you could touch on the fact of what that entails, and if it’s possible that somebody can be guilty of that. I had a voice in my head that was accusing me of blaspheming. And I haven’t really talked to anybody that has a solid answer for me. So I was wondering if you could touch upon that. Thank you very much. Resources Core Christianity: Finding Yourself in God’s Story by Michael Horton Request our latest special offers here or call 1-833-THE-CORE (833-843-2673) to request them by phone.

Episode 436 | Adriel Sanchez and Bill Maier answer caller questions. Show Notes CoreChristianity.com Key questions answered in today’s show: 1. Pastor Adriel and Bill, I have repented of sexual immorality and drunkenness. I know without a doubt that those things are against God’s law, and I am sorry for committing those sins. However, I am older (62), and I sometimes wonder if I genuinely repented or is my decreased desire to do those things a function of getting older. Thanks. 2.  I don’t know how you feel about this, but I’m not a Christian. I’m agnostic, but I am a theology major at Arkansas State University … And I just want to know, what exactly does the Bible say against women, you know, women loving other women. I know that there’s a Bible verse, you know, man shall not lay with man, but what exactly does it say about lesbians? Because it doesn’t say anything specific that I’ve heard, but maybe there, you know, you know more about it than I do. So I was just wondering, you know about that. I just had a question about that. Thank you so much. God Bless. 3. Jesus established, during his ministry, that he had the authority and power to directly and immediately forgive sins. Why instead, when he was on the cross, did he pray asking the Father to forgive the accessories to his murder rather than just forgiving them directly by saying, “I forgive you,” or “your sins are forgiven”? Was this an indication that they would be forgiven when they realized what they had done and repented, like when they were “cut to the heart” on Pentecost? I ask this because I frequently hear Christians say we should forgive even when the offender doesn’t repent, but what I read in all my studies is that forgiveness is contingent on repentance. Can you help me understand? 4.  I was reading Ephesian 4:30, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” I was just kind of puzzled by the phrase “do not grieve the Holy Spirit.” I was just wanting to know your interpretation and thoughts on what that means and how we grieve the Holy Spirit in our lives. 5. Hi guys! Thanks so much for your ministry! I was wondering, given all of the disappointing things King Saul did, do we have any good reason to believe that we will see him in heaven? Resources Core Christianity: Finding Yourself in God’s Story by Michael Horton Request our latest special offers here or call 1-833-THE-CORE (833-843-2673) to request them by phone.

Episode 435 | Adriel Sanchez and Bill Maier answer caller questions. Show Notes CoreChristianity.com Key questions answered in today’s show: 1. I have a question about how do the Protestants handle confession, as where Catholics do it with a priest in the confessional because they say that Jesus told Peter that “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven, the sins you retain are retained.” That’s it, basically, how do the Protestants get around that part of Jesus’s teaching? 2. When taken together, do the Bible passages discussing hell and the second death point to a currently ongoing literal locality? Also, are hell and the second death referring to the same thing? Thank you for your continued ministry! May God continue to provide you with wisdom and grace to address people’s questions relating to his word. 3. After sharing that we had two miscarriages a woman told my me that she felt like God was telling her that he was going to give us another baby. That never happened. So my question is, when ordinary people prophesied like that, are they being deceived? Are they doing it for malicious purpose? Or they just wrong? 4. Is it possible to be a genuine believer in Jesus Christ without being a genuine disciple? Resources Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian in Community by Dietrich Bonhoeffer Request our latest special offers here or call 1-833-THE-CORE (833-843-2673) to request them by phone.

Episode 434 | Adriel Sanchez and Bill Maier answer caller questions. Show Notes CoreChristianity.com Key questions answered in today’s show: 1. In Luke chapter 6, I would like you to expound where it is speaking about bringing judgment against somebody else, about being judgmental. 2. Why was the Sabbath changed from Saturday to Sunday? 3. My question has to do with this matter that God is not willing that any should perish. If that is the case, how do you square that with what it says in God’s word that says God wants all people to be saved?  4. I’m really confused by what Paul means about spiritual bodies in 1 Corinthians. I go to a church where people talk a lot about one day having spiritual bodies and maybe I’m confused because I grew up catholic but I thought that we were supposed to be raised with physical bodies, but a friend showed me 1 Corinthians 15 and now I’m not sure. Can you clear this up for me? 5. What did Jesus mean when he said that he was the way in John 14:6. I ask because I have some friends who go to a more liberal church and insist that Jesus is not the only way to salvation and when I brought up this passage they told me that it didn’t apply to people who practiced other religious because they can follow the light they have received and that Jesus only meant to apply that to Jews because Jesus is the fulfillment of their covenant. Is this right? Resources The Gospel-Driven Life: Being Good News People in a Bad News World by Michael Horton Request our latest special offers here or call 1-833-THE-CORE (833-843-2673) to request them by phone.

Episode 433 | Adriel Sanchez and Bill Maier answer caller questions. Show Notes CoreChristianity.com Key questions answered in today’s show: 1. I would like to know if you have to be baptized and submerged completely underwater to get to heaven? 2. Why are there so many interpretations of how to take communion and the essential meaning of communion? If God really wrote the Bible wouldn’t it be very clear that there was one way to take communion and the essential meaning would be very, very clear? 3. I am wondering how you might answer a question I was asked recently. A friend of mine who isn’t a Christian asked me, “what does Christianity offer the world?” What I think he meant was, what does Christianity have to offer that other things do not, and I just wanted to hear what you guys would say to that. 4. With all the things that have been happening in the world, I’m really looking forward to Jesus’ return, but I’m also really struggling with falling into a feeling of pessimism about things and wonder if maybe I’m falling off a side of the horse here. Thank you for the show, it’s been a continual source of encouragement for me. 5. Since I was a child, I have been told that God is omni-present and is everywhere. But I also have been told that the devil is everywhere. Does this mean that the devil is omnipresent too? I have a hard time believing that he has the same power as God does. Should we instead say that the devil and his minions are everywhere? Resources The Gospel-Driven Life: Being Good News People in a Bad News World by Michael Horton Request our latest special offers here or call 1-833-THE-CORE (833-843-2673) to request them by phone.

Episode 432 | Adriel Sanchez and Bill Maier answer caller questions. Show Notes CoreChristianity.com Key questions answered in today’s show: 1. If salvation is by faith and our works have nothing to do with our salvation, won’t this make people lazy and indifferent to their spiritual progress? 2. In 2 Peter 3:8–9 it says that God is delaying judgment in the coming of Christ. I never noticed this before. Can you explain it? 3. How could Noah put all the animals of the world on the ark? 4. What advice do you have for being faithful to Jesus in the little things. I’m a stay at home mom and I love my children but a lot of my time it can feel hard being stuck in the house and watching kids and not having much adult conversation. 5. The Bible tells us that God is the same today, always, and forever? How do we say this when God came down and became a man? Doesn’t this contradict? 6. How am I supposed to know God’s will for me when everything in the Bible seems to be unrelated with my life? Resources Ordinary: Sustainable Faith in a Radical, Restless World by Michael Horton Request our latest special offers here or call 1-833-THE-CORE (833-843-2673) to request them by phone.

Episode 431 | Adriel Sanchez and Bill Maier answer caller questions. Show Notes CoreChristianity.com Key questions answered in today’s show: 1. With the current virus, am I comprising my faith in God by following the earthly rules such as washing my hands, 6 foot social rule etc. Since the bible has many examples of God telling us to have faith in him and he will protect us such as Isaiah 41:10. I am struggling with faith in God and fear of the unknown. Should I carry on with life or is there a delicate balance between faith and common sense? 2. Is it okay for Christians to practice yoga if you are doing it for the physical aspect and not the spiritual aspect? 3. I’m really confused about how Jesus can be both God and the son of God. Isn’t this a contradiction? 4. Why does Christianity make me so sad and miserable all the time? I pray all the time. Maybe my name is not in the book of life and nothing is registering. Are there going to be a lot of people who want to be Christians and God will not allow it? 5. I’m reading Matthew 12:31–32 if you can explain that, that would be great.   Request our latest special offers here or call 1-833-THE-CORE (833-843-2673) to request them by phone.

Episode 430 | Adriel Sanchez and Bill Maier answer caller questions. Show Notes CoreChristianity.com Key questions answered in today’s show: 1. I understand God wills whatsoever comes to pass, but why did God will sin in the first place? I was reading 1 John 4:12 which says that God’s love is perfected in us. And the only thing that I could come up with is that maybe God’s love exhibited through mercy, grace and sacrifice requires sin to exist for their use.  2. How do you understand the Bible being the word of God? Are you committed to inerrancy and how would you explain that? 3. What does it mean when Scripture tells us that God hates someone? Romans 9 quotes Genesis stating, “Jacob I have loved but Esau I have hated.” Several passages speak of God’s hatred as well. I understand that some language is anthropomorphic so we can make sense of it but this is a difficult one to understand. Can you help this make sense please? 4. I have a friend who is converting to Eastern Orthodoxy, and he is a really nice guy and I love him a lot. He is very smart and philosophical about things. But lately I find that when we talk about stuff, I end up getting really emotional and angry. So far I’ve done an okay job about not expressing that to him. Do you have any advice about how to not be a jerk to my friend as he goes on his path, though I’d rather he didn’t go on that path?  5. I love our church and I know that Jesus loves the church despite all our failures, but when I hear about how false teachers enter into positions of influence and lead people astray it really troubles me. How do you guys stay positive that God will keep his church pure? Resources Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism by Bradley Nassif, Michael Horton, Vladimir Berzonsky, George Hancock-Stefan, and Edward Rommen Request our latest special offers here or call 1-833-THE-CORE (833-843-2673) to request them by phone.

Episode 429 | Adriel Sanchez and Bill Maier answer caller questions. Show Notes CoreChristianity.com Key questions answered in today’s show: 1. Is the idea of glorification biblical? I have heard people talk about this, but I thought that we are supposed to give all glory to God. How is it that we would somehow share in that glory or obtain glory? 2. How can I be a good witness to Christ during this time of fear and social distancing? 3. My brother grew up in the Christian church but married a Jehovah’s Witness 15 years ago and although he did not convert, he allows her to raise their 3 kids as witnesses. He did not renounce his beliefs but fell away from going to church. He is now going to the meetings with his family and references God as ‘Jehovah.’ I am very close to my brother and his family, loving them dearly. I have a strong Christian faith, which they know, but struggle with how to witness to them. My heart breaks for them and I pray for them all the time. Would love and appreciate a little biblical insight and advice. Thanks for all you do! 4. What is grace? 5. If God doesn’t savingly love everyone, then how can I know He loves me? Do I gauge it by my performance?  Resources Jesus Is God Request our latest special offers here or call 1-833-THE-CORE (833-843-2673) to request them by phone.