Episode 408 | Dr. Michael Horton and Adriel Sanchez answer caller questions. Show Notes CoreChristianity.com Key questions answered in today’s show: 1. When you become a believer, are we to pursue a separate baptism of the Holy Spirit? Is tongues for today and how do you understand Paul having an entire chapter on how to use tongues properly if it’s not for today? 2. I’ve never understood 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Do we have to keep confessing every individual sin in order to be forgiven? 3.  Is Islam a religion of peace? 4. How do you understand John 12:23–33? Was Jesus talking about the cross or his later ascension? 5. Do you have any advice for those of us who trust in Christ but still struggle with assurance? I know intellectually that God loves me, and I’m saved, but I still feel an anxiety that maybe I’m wrong and that I’m not chosen.  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 407 | Dr. Michael Horton and Adriel Sanchez answer caller questions. Show Notes CoreChristianity.com Key questions answered in today’s show: 1. I confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and asked him to come into my heart and try to believe the gospel and tried to live out the life with his grace but then I fell away. I have been slowly and slowly hardening my heart and living in sin to the point of I would rather live in sin rather than—I guess, to make a long story short, if hell was paradise without God, I guess I would rather go there. So, how do I address my heart condition? I suppose I was never saved to begin with or maybe I was and lost my salvation or I guess I don’t know what’s going on. But I know what I’m doing is not right and I seem to be in a slimy pit. 2. I occasionally listen to your radio program and had a couple of related questions that I was hoping you could address. God explicitly and authoritatively designates the seventh day of creation as a holy day and reminds Abraham’s seed about its holiness in the heart of the Ten Commandments. A change to the Sabbath day as stated in the 4th Commandment would be monumental. Wouldn’t a change to His holy day necessitate an explicit “thus saith the LORD” to set everybody straight as to which day is holy and sanctified by God? Where in the Bible is a change of this magnitude explicitly announced?   3. How do you reconcile God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility in salvation?  Resources Putting Amazing Back into Grace: Embracing The Heart Of The Gospel by Michael Horton Request our latest special offers here or call 1-833-THE-CORE (833-843-2673) to request them by phone.

Episode 406 | Dr. Michael Horton and Adriel Sanchez answer caller questions. Show Notes CoreChristianity.com Key questions answered in today’s show: 1. Why do so many churches teach that hell is a place of eternal torment when it says in the New Testament that only believers will put on immortality and in the Old Testament it teaches that the wicked will be destroyed and the New testament it teaches that death is the punishment for sin, for example in John 3:16. Johns very clear about the symbolism of the lake of fire being the second death. I don’t understand why so many mainstream churches teach this place of eternal torment. It doesn’t make any sense when people say God is a God of justice. This is very serious to me because it seems like blaspheme against God to say that he is wicked and like Satan and to go against Scripture. 2. I have friends who have struggled to find a church because they did not feel like there was genuine community in most churches. In your opinion what is Biblical community? 3. I’m the only Christian in my family and I’m always getting into arguments because my family thinks I’m crazy and can’t understand why I have “given up on reason and embraced religion.” I would like to be able to tell them that I haven’t abandoned reason but when I try, they ask me to prove the Bible is true. Can you help me out in this area? 4. When was the blessed mother filled with the Holy Spirit? I read in the Bible that when they took Jesus to Jerusalem to celebrate the was 12 years old. They left and thought he was with them and he wasn’t. They went back to find him and when they did, he told her didn’t you know I would be about my father’s business. At this point it seems to me that she wasn’t filled with the Holy Spirit. I believe she was filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts 1 where all the apostles and Mary was there also and filled with the Holy Spirit.  Resources Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian in Community by Dietrich Bonhoeffer Why Should I Believe that Jesus Rose from the Dead? by Dr. Michael Horton The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between by Gregory Koukl Request our latest special offers here or call 1-833-THE-CORE (833-843-2673) to request them by phone.

Episode 405 | Dr. Michael Horton and Adriel Sanchez answer caller questions. Show Notes CoreChristianity.com Key questions answered in today’s show: 1. I’m a new believer. Jesus came from heaven to come down to be on earth did he know he was going to be resurrected and go back to heaven or did he come down only thinking he was going to die? 2. What should I do when my joy and passion to read the Bible has faded? 3. This week I was reading the Bible looking for answers. I have been struggling with ongoing sin. I struggle with lust. I came across a passage that gave me some hope of victory but I’m not sure how to apply it. Colossians 1:29, “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.” How can I see God work powerfully within me in this area of my life? 4. On several episodes you have talked about the difference between the law and the gospel. I’m a bit confused. If we are forgiven does that mean that the law no longer applies to us? 5. How do you understand the great commission? Does the call to go apply to everyone; and what does Jesus mean when he says that he will be with us? 6. I’m Jewish but I’m a believer in Jesus the Messiah. I have always struggled with how Jews were saved before Jesus came. And is there salvation for Jews without Jesus? And I know in revelation it says that he does save a remnant of Israel. Thanks.  Resources The Gospel-Driven Life: Being Good News People in a Bad News World by Michael Horton 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 404 | Dr. Michael Horton and Adriel Sanchez answer caller questions. Show Notes CoreChristianity.com Key questions answered in today’s show: 1. How do we look forward to the coming of Christ without falling into extremes like predicting his coming or looking at every current event as a fulfilled prophecy and worrying about how bad things are in the world? 2. It’s popular to say that God’s love is unconditional but all through the Old Testament it seems like God’s love is completely conditional on the obedience of the people which is why God is often so angry in the Old Testament. Am I missing something? 3. What does blasphemy of the Holy Spirit mean or entail? I often hear discussions about how all can be saved. What about blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? What can a person do? 4. In heaven, will we see God the Father face-to-face? 5. Is it possible to be a Christian and addicted to alcohol?  Resources The Future of Everything: Essential Truths about the End Times by William Boekestein  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 403 | Dr. Michael Horton and Adriel Sanchez answer caller questions. Show Notes CoreChristianity.com Key questions answered in today’s show: 1. In Genesis 1:26 says that Adam was to “have dominion over creation.” How does this relate to stewardship of creation? Does this verse give us reason to be concerned about things like pollution and the possibility of climate change? 2. My dad became a Jehovah witness what is the best way to deal with this? 3. Why do many Christian people today not believe in prophets and apostles when Ephesians 4 seems to teach that these things will remain until the unity of the faith? And this hasn’t happened today with all the doctrinal division in the church. 4. I’m looking for a Bible based church and I noticed that they each use a different translation. Which is the best? And is there a denomination that teaches the Bible verse by verse? 5. Hi Mike and Adriel I have a question about Mark 4:12 where Jesus seems to suggest that he was teaching in parables so that people would not understand. I thought Jesus taught in parables because parables made it easier to understand his point. Thanks.  Resources Conversations with Jehovah’s Witnesses: A Friendly Approach to Sharing the Truth about God and the Bible by Ron Rhodes 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 402 | Dr. Michael Horton and Adriel Sanchez answer caller questions. Show Notes CoreChristianity.com Key questions answered in today’s show: 1. How do you know if God loves you? I believe that God loves people, but I really struggle with a sense that God loves me and I’m not sure what to do. 2. Hi Mike and Adriel. I have been loving the show and a while back you talked about doing family devotions. Recently my wife and I started reading a chapter of the Bible and having a short prayer with our three kids. They are 9, 7, and 5. My question is, should I be explaining the passage and how can I make it relevant to them? 3. There is no doubt in my mind that God is real. God is showing me thing, I know in my heart that it’s God, he is showing me stuff about people around me and I have been praying for assurance. I have never experienced something like this. It’s scary to know that so many people are lost. I see a lot of my brothers and sisters struggling to have faith. And here I’m fasting and trying to trust God, but you know it’s like you always have this sense of doubt. I know what God has shown me is true but how do you know for sure? I need prayer. 4. If you sensed, as a pastor, a lack of zeal for the lost in your church, how would you recommend promoting evangelism? 5. How do you know if you are a gentile or a Jew? Is it because you were born in Jerusalem or is it that your heritage is Jewish? Or how did you become a gentile?  Resources Christianity Explored DVD by Rico Tice Request our latest special offers here or call 1-833-THE-CORE (833-843-2673) to request them by phone.

Episode 401 | Dr. Michael Horton and Adriel Sanchez answer caller questions. Show Notes CoreChristianity.com Key questions answered in today’s show: 1. What does 1 Peter 4 mean when it describes Christians as suffering in the flesh? 2. Hebrews 6:4–6 seems to say that anyone who backslides from the faith has no hope of returning to it. Can you clarify these verses and if there is any, can you give hope to a backslider like me? 3. I’m confused about John 6:56, where Jesus said, “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” I have some Catholic friends who told me that this is talking about Communion or the Eucharist. I have never heard this before, is it true? 4. In Mark 9:1 Jesus says to his disciples that some standing here will not die before they see the kingdom of God arrive in great power. I don’t understand what this means. Can you clarify this for me?  Resources Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian in Community by Dietrich Bonhoeffer Introducing Covenant Theology by Michael Horton Request our latest special offers here or call 1-833-THE-CORE (833-843-2673) to request them by phone.

Episode 400 | Dr. Michael Horton and Adriel Sanchez answer caller questions. Show Notes CoreChristianity.com Key questions answered in today’s show: 1. How can I be more intentional with sharing my faith? Do you also know of any good resources that can help me better share my faith? 2. How do I trust God and not my feelings or false thoughts? 3. I have a question about speaking in tongues. I have been to churches where people are speaking in tongues all at the same time, but Paul says that everything is supposed to be done decently and in order. So, should I look at what is happening in this church as a move of the Spirit? 4. How should we deal with church scandal? When leaders fall and churches cover up abuse, there are people hurt by these things, but at the same time I know that these things happen and it doesn’t mean that we should abandon church, but I’m wondering how I can talk to a friend who is really upset because one of our elders left the church after it was discovered that he was having an ongoing affair for several years.  Resources A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of God-Centered Worship by Michael Horton The Message of Acts in the History of Redemption by Dennis Johnson Request our latest special offers here or call 1-833-THE-CORE (833-843-2673) to request them by phone.

Episode 399 | Dr. Michael Horton and Adriel Sanchez answer caller questions. Show Notes CoreChristianity.com Key questions answered in today’s show: 1. How do you understand Ecclesiastes 5:19–20? “For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart”?  2. I have a friend and he is convinced that religion is just a tool to control people, and I have to admit that sometimes religion, especially false teaching, has been used to control people. How do we talk to people about this in a way that shows them that even though Christianity has been abused it’s still true? 3. Is there Scripture to back up the fact that someone cannot lose their salvation? This seems to be something that I hear a lot. I don’t think we can lose our salvation after we had a heart experience with Jesus. Also, I am dealing with a person who thinks that we are God’s puppets. Can you touch on these two things? 4. 1 John 3:2 says, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” How do you understand this? How will we be like Jesus when he appears? 5. Jesus said that the world would be able to recognize us as his disciples by our love. I don’t see much of this today. Can you explain why that might be? What are we failing to do as the church to attain to what Jesus thinks is supposed to be a basic mark of a true Christian?  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.