Divine Inspiration - Ask the Pastor

You can listen to Ask The Pastor every weekday at 9:00am MST on 97.1FM Hope Radio KCMI! You can also listen and subscribe to Ask The Pastor in your favorite podcast feed. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music and most other podcast services.

This edition of Ask the Pastor features Pastors Mike Clement, Michael Gleb, and David Clement.

Mike Clement
The last time we got together, which was 10 minutes ago, we were talking, there was a question that was asked about the Apocrypha and how it had been included in the original King James version. But you really don't find it in very many English Bibles at all today. Very few. And we talked a little about that, and what came up is the whole area of inspiration. And Dave, what was it that you were, how do you define inspiration? Inspiration means what?

David Clement
Well the word actually translated is, is breathed, breathed out. So if you put your hand in front of your face, in front of your mouth, while you're speaking, you can actually feel the breath coming out of your mouth. And that's what inspiration means, it means God breathed. God actually spoke it, and the words came out of His mouth. Therefore, just like if we were to put our hand in front of our face while we were talking, we could feel the breath coming out of our mouths. And so you look up the original Greek language that was translated, and you would see God breathed. And so that's the idea, is the words coming out of your mouth as formed as breath.

Mike Clement
Okay, Pastor, you had a verse that you--

Michael Gleb
Well, yeah. In the last one, we talked about 2 Timothy 3:16 and it says, "Paul," writing to his young son in the ministry. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." And so all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and that's a comforting thing.

David Clement
To know that.

Michael Gleb
The Bible that I hold in my hand is God breathed, as you said. So it's coming from Him. It's not coming from the 40 plus authors of, they may have been human authors, but God inspired it. God breathed into them the very words that He would have for them to pen. Right, that's where we have a Bible!

David Clement
You know, one thing that we didn't talk about last time, but is interesting. We could go through the Old Testament prophets and we could see how God said, "You write this down." Yeah, He would say, "Write this down, write this down." So He actually told them, you know, "Write this down," and then He told them what to write down. What's interesting to note though also, because if we go over into Revelation, it talks about not adding to or subtracting from, you know? And interesting, in Revelation there were things that John was told, "Don't write that down."

Mike Clement
Right, God told John.

David Clement
God said, whatever it was that God told him, He said, "Now, you don't write that down." And so, it was literally, God told him exactly what to say, and then God told him, "Don't say that."

Mike Clement
When you take a class in Bible college and seminary and in some theology books, you find the phrase, Verbal Plenary Inspiration. And most evangelical and fundamental churches hold to Verbal Plenary Inspiration. And what that means, the verbal means: the very words; that God has inspired the very words. And we don't understand exactly how it took place, because Matthew sounds like Matthew and John sounds like John and Paul sounds like Paul and Isaiah sounds like Isaiah. And you see that their personalities or their character, or whatever are reflected in the writings. Nevertheless, the very words that they wrote were inspired. And the plenary part of Verbal Plenary Inspiration; plenary means all of them. Every single one of them. And that's supported in a number of places in the scripture. But in Matthew 5, the beginning of The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said this, He said, "Do not think now that I have come to destroy the Law of the Prophets; I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily, I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Now people who read that, may not know what that means. The word jot was the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word jod, and jod is a letter in Hebrew. It's the smallest letter in Hebrew, and it looks like our letter, 'i', without the dot on top of it. So when Jesus said, "Not one jot, (not one, jod)," He said, "Not the smallest letter in God's word would pass away." Now a tittle: a tittle was a stroke in the pen that distinguished one letter from another. In English, if you just put a line down, that's either an 'I' or it's an 'l', but if you cross it, now it's a 'T'. And when you cross that in Hebrew, that was a tittle, that little stroke of the pen, that made one letter into another. And it does, you take the word bell, b e l l, and you cross the last 'l', now it's belt. It's a different word. Yeah, and so what Jesus said was, "The smallest jot, the smallest letter, the smallest stroke of the pen would not pass away." And that is an indication that that's the extent to which inspiration goes. Now, there is a difference between when we use the word inspiration, there's a difference between that and when we say something is inspiring. Inspiring is, it's effect on me. You know, and some people find some things inspiring and some people find other things inspiring, and we don't all agree. But if it's inspired by God, that means it comes from God, and the word that goes along with that is authoritative. Authoritative: what God's word says it says. And do you have that passage in Revelation? It talks about not adding or taking away?

Michael Gleb
Yeah, I was gonna back up that, how important it is, God's word, and jump on that in Revelation 22. This is the very last chapter of the last book of the Bible in the third or the second to last verse or the third to the last verse. "And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away His part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." And so you could spend time, you know, dissecting and contextualizing that verse, but the fact of the matter is, that's a pretty bold statement. "If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy," well, that's just how important it is. God's word is important. When I grew up, you know, like what your dad said, "Following directions is important," you know? Sometimes my mom would send me to the grocery store and she'd have a list, and I didn't follow the list always to the point that it wasn't a good day. And so, you know, this is just the importance of, when God says something, it's really important.

Mike Clement
Yeah. Dave, you made a reference before, to something that's found in 2 Peter, about the more sure word of prophecy that we have.

David Clement
That's right. That's interesting, because, you know, Peter was one of the 12 disciples, probably the most outspoken of all the disciples. He had more to say. He was the one that had enough faith to step out of the boat and walk towards Jesus on the water. But anyhow, we have Peter and he spent three years with Jesus, was a part of His ministry, heard the very words that Jesus said. Jesus sat down with him, discipled him, you know, we only have what? Four gospels that are written down? And if you take your time and read through them, you can probably read through all four of them in a day. But there were three years that Jesus, I mean in the book of John, it says that many--

Mike Clement
Many other things.

David Clement
Many other things did Jesus do, the books could not contain it, you know, that Jesus did. And so Peter saw a lot and he heard a lot, Jesus taught him a lot. But in the book, I believe it's 2 Peter, he says that, "We have a more sure word of testimony."

Mike Clement
Prophecy.

David Clement
Okay. I was trying to quote it there. Go ahead and read it for us brother.

Michael Gleb
Oh, okay. Well, I am actually gonna find it for you. Okay, right there, verse 19.

David Clement
Okay. It says, "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto the light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." And so, here we have Peter saying, you know, "I walked with Jesus. I talked with Him, I heard Him." But now, this book that we hold today, is a more sure word. It's more complete, it's fulfilled. And so we don't have to doubt the word of God, and what we have here.

Michael Gleb
And another thing that you pointed out last time, a little, but we touched on it. Or maybe it was when we were talking. Anyhow, the idea of the Holy Spirit's responsibility inside of us too. And one of his jobs is to reveal the word to us as, not just reveal it, cause anybody could pick it up and read it. I was talking to someone just here the other day, and he was just in awe of what God was showing him that day. Even though he has read the passage a hundred times. And you know, that's the Holy spirit dwelling in us. And he has to reveal things, truth to us, because we're each at a different time in our life, every single day, you know? And I pointed out to him, you know, if Methuselah, (Methuselah was the oldest man recorded in scripture to live to be 969 years old), if he was to sit down and study the word of God every single day of his entire life, every single day he'd learn something different.

Mike Clement
Some years ago, I remember reading, I think it was Warren Wiersbe who made the statement, "Every generation has to redefine doctrine for their generation." Because new things came up and he said, "You know, we used to be able to just say that we believe the Bible is the word of God." And that was sufficient. He said, "Then we had to say, 'We believe all the Bible is the word of God, and then we had to say later on, 'Well, we believe all the Bible is the word of God and is inspired." And he said, "Now we have to say 'All the Bible is the word of God, is inspired and is without error." And I remember, in the 70's and 80's, there was a book written about reemphasizing the idea of an inerrancy. Which simply means that there are no errors in the Bible. And boy, lots of Christian organizations hustled to change their doctrinal statements to include inerrancy, because this guy brought it up. And he named names. He named organizations and schools and all kinds of things that didn't believe any longer. We have some of that today, where we have Ken Ham and some others that are emphasizing that all the Bible is true, including the book of Genesis, it's all true. In fact, Ken Ham has said, "Listen, if we can't trust the first book in the Bible, how can we trust any of them?"

Michael Gleb
Which includes some pretty important doctrine.

Mike Clement
Now, back in the turn of the previous century, from the 1800's to the 1900's, there was a fellow by the name of Harry Rimmer. And Harry Rimmer was a real defender of the accuracy of the word of God. And that was not that long after the theory of evolution came along, and Harry Rimmer would preach long and hard and loudly about the accuracy of the word of God. And what he did was, he offered, it was like a $10,000 reward, to anybody who could prove a scientific or historical error in the Bible. In his whole lifetime, it went unclaimed. Yeah, because nobody can. People will talk about it, in fact, we'll get into it, maybe in another session, the whole idea of defending the Bible. But most people that say, "Oh, the Bible is full of errors," okay, name one. They've heard that, they say that, and they may even believe it, but they've never been able to prove it for themselves and nobody else has either.

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Equipping Ourselves For Ministry - Ask the Pastor

You can listen to Ask The Pastor every weekday at 9:00am MST on 97.1FM Hope Radio KCMI! You can also listen and subscribe to Ask The Pastor in your favorite podcast feed. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music and most other podcast services.

This edition of Ask the Pastor features Pastors Kiley Callaway, Tyson Lambertson, John Mulholland and Jon Simpson.

Jon Simpson
In a couple of different episodes we're working through this idea of equipping. We've been talking about equipping ourselves as well as equipping others. And so we kind of want to continue from last time. We were talking about how we equip ourselves, and how we interact with stuff that's maybe oppositional. Where it's not what we agree with or believe, whether that be kind of within the Christian world or even if it gets into the secular culture, you know, we're interacting with stuff that we don't know necessarily agree with. And we read a scripture out of Ephesians 4. Do you wanna read that again just to get us back to that?

John Mulholland
Yeah. "Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever, they sound like the truth." So really the mindset is, how do I interact with thoughts, philosophies, ideas, ideals that are different, that are counter to what the Bible has to say? Where do we find those ideas? What the purpose of that is, in terms of engaging people who are in our culture, like trying to understand what their viewpoint is before we tell them ours. So how do we kind of do that? You talked about your background in student ministry, which was incredibly influential for you and the same way for me. I talked about kind of scouring social media to see like, what are the things people are talking about? What are the ways they're talking about it, to try and understand their perspective? And we didn't hear from Kylie?

Kylie Calloway
Well, yeah, I mean mine's way different. When I took the part-time position at the hospital as a chaplain, I thought I was doing it for one reason, but it really felt like God had a totally different reason, cause I've entered into what's called CPE or clinical pastoral education that teaches you exactly how to be a chaplain. So my struggle and learning through, is taking off my pastor hat and also as a counselor, my counselor hat, and going into that hospital room that it's not my appointment. It's not my visit, it's the person's visit. And I'm encountering, you know, luckily here a lot of the patients are Christians, but you also encounter people that could care less about you being a pastor, you being a counselor, they're not there to get advice you're going into their world. And so the biggest challenge for me is learning how to enter into their story and enter into their moment and help them in whatever spiritual journey they're in. Whether that be Satanic, whether that be a Jew, whether that be a Muslim, or whether that be a Christian. And even as a Christian, not putting my theological belief on them and listening to them where they're at and trying to steer them to a place that's not a bias on my end, which is pastors, when they come into our office. I mean, we're supposed to tell them, "This is what scripture says, this is what you need to do." And I can't do that. And I find it beautiful because it's challenging me to see the world, the scriptures, and people's journey in different places, and learning a lot from them, of what they're thinking, what they're going through. I think I love now more than ever, visiting those patients that don't even know the Lord, and they're cussing at me and cussing at things in life. And, you know, doing their fist up to God and not bringing in the scriptures, but leading them to a place that can begin to open up a dialogue of discovery for them in their own mind.

John Mulholland
Well, and you even talked about, way earlier today, how your role as a chaplain at the hospital has led you to be in the hospital room with someone from Westway or someone from Mitchell Berean. And to go into that, like kind of checking your, like, we do have theological differences, kind of checking those differences at the door. And how do I minister to, and how do I love and how do I serve that person that's in front of me without bringing like all of my things with that?

Kylie Calloway
I have to turn it off. And I mean, the beauty of it is, being able to be with y'all and actually being your advocate there instead of a pastor trying to, you know, steer somebody one way or the other.

John Mulholland
"Well, when you get out, come to Northfield. Right, I mean, you're not saying that, and you're, I mean, you're not doing that.

Kylie Calloway
No, my job is actually, I visited one of your congregants and, "Can I contact John and let him know that you're here? And, you know, he's already been contacted." Yeah and to be your advocate of, you know, that you're the best thing since slice bread, which is easy for me cause I know y'all. But even if I didn't, I still have to operate that way. Yeah, I would say the biggest challenge is just to turn it off. I'm not a pastor there, I'm not a therapist there. And the moment for you, to help you wherever you are. And that has been probably the first couple months, the hardest thing for me to do,

John Mulholland
I think that's just so interesting. You know, when at the beginning of Acts, Jesus says, "The Holy Spirit's gonna come upon you and you will be my witnesses," like, I think that's one of the hardest things for Christians. I find myself in this category and I would put myself in that category. Man, how do I turn off my desire for them to maybe respond and like, as much as I want them to respond in a certain way and how do I just come alongside them and love them in the midst of where they are.

Kylie Calloway
And I think for me, that's where I try to follow. What's called the Law of Love is, I have to lovingly guide them in that moment. Now that's not to say, if there was an open door, that I can't take it, I can. But it's, you know, I mean, let's just be honest, we're pastors, we're in the Christian world all the time, we're in the bubble. And I think getting outside of that and having coffee with somebody that doesn't believe in God and hates Jesus and hates the Bible is a good thing for us. And what I have gotten out of this, is being in kind of the secular realm, cause it is. And seeing patients that have nothing to do with God, has been the best thing for me ever in 26 years semester.

John Mulholland
And I wonder how much that's changed your real job, your pastoral.

Kylie Calloway
Just the ability to listen, and to have what would just be the ministry of presence in that moment, instead of trying to be the man with the answers, for me.

Jon Simpson
Yeah, that's really good. I think, probably for me too, some of the times where I've probably grown the most, learned the most, have been times when I wasn't in the professional, you know, pastor role. But I was working a regular job in the regular world and just having to be open to and figure out where people are really coming from. When they say certain things, what do they mean? And what is it? Where do those things come from? It's kind of like just a realness to, like you said, "Be able to listen and kind of turn off whatever agenda," in a sense. And just be able to interact and take in where people are at and where they're coming from without that, maybe that push or that judgment. You know, I'm constantly thinking, "You know, I think Paul, when he got to Athens, he's like, you know, he gets up on Mars hill right? It's like, you know, he had gone around the city, looked at their stuff, he'd taken it in, he listened to them. And then he had an intelligent presentation based on a real, kind of deeper understanding of where they're coming from. And he saw, yes, an opening, you know, you have this, I mean, do you wanna read it? The idol to the unknown?

John Mulholland
Yeah, I love it. "Men of Athens, I noticed you're very religious in every way for as I was walking along, I saw your many shrines. And one of your alters had this inscription on it, To an Unknown God, this whom you worship without knowing, is the one I'm telling you about." I think today, like we would expect Paul to be like, "Men of Athens, I noticed that you are worshiping all of these false idols. You guys are going to hell. And let me tell you about Jesus." And it's so counterintuitive what he does, and just like, how do we help? How do I have this mindset? How do we help the people in our churches have this mindset? Like it's such a cautious way. And like, I love Acts 17. It's one of my favorite texts in scripture. And like, he gives a gospel presentation without mentioning Jesus one time. And I think if the three of us were to get up in front of our church body and do this, we might have people who are angry with us, because we weren't maybe as clear as we could have been, or we didn't condemn the idolatry as much. And we didn't do all these things, but the way he handles this is just so incredibly wise, recognizing, cause he knew who he was dealing with. And we read elsewhere in Acts, we know what Paul's you know, what his background was what his education was. Like, he knew who he was talking about. So I think if there is ever an apologetic or if there is ever an instructive on how we are to interact with people who don't know Jesus, like, Acts 17 says.

Jon Simpson
Well, at the end of 17, he takes this really, you know, he takes an approach that says, "I understand where you're coming from and I get a little bit of who you are." And then, by the end, he gets to the resurrection, and that kind of is the hinge point, where some people think he's crazy and some people are like, I wanna hear more. And then he gathers them after, you know, some join him, some become believers, some don't, but his approach is, I mean it's a missionary approach. And I think that's something that, I feel an importance of today that I'm exposed to kind of the modern thinking on things. What are people thinking right now? What is out there? The people that are influencing other people. So I kind of look to podcasts and things, where they have a huge following, a lot of people are listening to them. Cause I'm like, "Okay, this is influencing a lot of people. They're people turning to this. Why?" You know, and listening to what they think and what they have to say. And yes, at times they're oppositional to Jesus and the gospel. At times they say things, that to me, "Oh man, here's why that's true." You know, I just wanna jump in and go. "Here's why that's true." Cause they do, the world does at times figure things out. I listened to a guy talk about forgiveness and the power of it, the importance of it and how he's learned over time. Like, it's not healthy to hold onto grudges and stay mad at people. And he's just learned this and he's not a believer, man, he's a total pagan, but he's learned the truth and the power behind a biblical principle. I'm like, well, yeah. I mean, yeah. Would you talk to, you know, some of us who are Christian struggle with this. You know, it's like anyway, being exposed to other ideas and other people, to me is important. To really be good at presenting the gospel and speaking to our culture today.

John Mulholland
And there would be some people in the Christian world who would have, from their perspective, a legitimate beef that we would expose ourselves to this kind of thinking. But we want to like, we wanna be exposed to it, to I think celebrate what's true. Like you said, the thing that you heard about forgiveness, I said this a few weeks ago at Westway. Like, isn't it awesome when culture catches up to the Bible?

Jon Simpson
Yeah, exactly. When they figure something out.

John Mulholland
You know, celebrate truth where they see it. Like, that's what Paul does, celebrate truth where they see it. But also, confront false things, and we have to know what that is. And part of our role and our responsibility is teaching our church bodies. Like, how do I do that? How do I become like Paul in Athens? Like, kind of checking our theological comfort zones, understandings at the door. Not ignoring them, not turning our back on them, but recognizing, "Like, maybe this isn't the space for someone to hear, like what I might believe about end times theology." This might not be the space for that.

Jon Simpson
Well Paul, to me that Ephesians four passage that, "You won't be tossed by every wind of teaching." Things that sound so good. I mean, honestly, there's people in our culture, and there's churches going this way. There's Christians going this way where, because of a compassionate. Here's the compassionate, loving approach being presented, whether it's sexual orientation or gender, whatever it is, it's like they're being swayed to move away from scripture in order to, you know, "Well, this is what you have to do if you're compassionate and loving." Well, those are biblical. That's what Jesus would do. But then, you know, so to me, when I engage the stuff in the world and what they're teaching, it doesn't sway me at all. I'm not swayed, but I am educated and I do learn better. What are they thinking? Where do they come from? Where are people at? And how can I speak to that? I think it keeps me equipped and sharp to be able to preach the gospel today.

Kylie Calloway
And that's where our job comes in to equip them to where they will be mature and to where they won't be swayed. And I think we'll be talking about that next time.

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Spiritual Discipline: Reading Your Bible - Ask the Pastor

You can listen to Ask The Pastor every weekday at 9:00am MST on 97.1FM Hope Radio KCMI! You can also listen and subscribe to Ask The Pastor in your favorite podcast feed. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music and most other podcast services.

This edition of Ask the Pastor features Pastors Gary Schick and Ben Poole.

Ben Poole
So last week we started a topic on spiritual disciplines, that we find needing, for our lives to help us grow in our faith. Last week we talked about probably one of the most important ones, is our prayer life, and really investing in that communication with God. And a lot of people I think, may have different ideas on how God talks to us, and in the Old Testament, God would show up to certain individuals in certain miraculous ways. You think of Moses and the burning bush, you think of through the prophets, through a donkey. So many different ways that God has shown up. Then we see in the New Testament where God becomes man through His son, Jesus and speaks to the world and performs miracles. And so now we're looking at it from, and I'm not gonna say that God cannot speak audibly or show up in certain ways in certain people's lives, but it's not the norm anymore. And so really I look at the scriptures as, this is God speaking to us. Everything we need to know about God and the message He has for us, we can find in the scriptures. And so today, we just want to dive into that and the importance of reading our Bibles. And so Gary, what are some of your thoughts?

Gary Schick
Well, and you know, as you were just mentioning there and I was thinking, you know, if somebody says, "I feel like the Lord is telling me--," you know, whatever it is. One of the checks to know whether that might be true is, "Okay, is what is being said here in accordance with God's word? Because, you know, unlike us where we contradict ourselves sometimes, God's not like that, He's not gonna contradict Himself. He's not gonna say, "Jesus is Lord one day and Jesus is not the next," Jesus is Lord "period." And so, whatever you're hearing, and not to say that this is the final word on it either, but absolutely would have to be in conformity with what God is telling us in His word. Yeah, we're talking about, really, the way I like to think of it is, what are ways that a Christian's faith grows? G.R.O.W.S. We talked about it last week: Go to God in prayer, and so today read scripture. You know, Jesus, when He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, He answered Satan with scripture over and over again. I think the first answer He gave was right out of the book of Deuteronomy when He said, "Hey, uh, Satan was like, why don't you turn this stone into bread." And Jesus was like, "You know what? It is written, 'man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." One of my favorite verses of scripture, Psalm 119:105, "Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." And actually throughout the scripture, the scripture just describes itself to us in so many ways. It describes itself as a lamp, as meat, honey, milk, a hammer, a sword, a fire. I mean, it's so many things. In the beginning of the book of Joshua they're about to enter the promised land. God says to him, and actually it was the You version verse of the day yesterday, Joshua 1:8. "Do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night. That you may be careful to do all that is written in it for then you'll make your way prosperous and then you'll have good success." Do you wanna succeed in life as a child of God? Then it starts with God's word, and my goodness, how blessed we are. You know, today we've got Bibles on the shelf. I mean, they're just all over the place, and if you don't have a physical copy, you can download it. There's Bible apps: I've got the You version, I've got the Bible gateway, I've got the Bible Hub app, I've got the Blue Letter Bible app, and they're all fantastic! But you know, none of it does us any good if we don't pick it up and read it. And so, I guess what I really want to encourage my listeners today is, how are you doing about being in the other side of the conversation? You're right, prayer is talking to God. And yes, it can include being silent in God's presence and trying to hear from God, but ultimately He really speaks powerfully to us through His word. And I'd like to encourage people to kind of do the macro reading and the micro reading. By macro, I mean look at the Bible in large chunks, you know? Take one of those Bible apps where you have the opportunity to actually listen to the word audibly, do the Bible in a year. By the way, if you're wanting to do the Bible in a year, here's how to do it. You don't even need to download something and check it all off. The Old Testament: if you listen to two chapters a day, Monday through Friday and four chapters a day on Saturday and Sunday, you will get through the Old Testament in just like a day or two under a year. The New Testament: one chapter a day, five days a week, exactly one year. So there it is: three chapters a day during the week, two Old Testament, one New Testament; and four chapters a day in the Old Testament on Saturday and Sunday, will get you through the Bible in one year. So that's a good way to just kind of be hearing the word in the big chunks. But I think it's also really important and valuable for us to kind of zero in on the word. And so I think it's also good to take in the word in some of the smaller chunks. You know, like maybe a chapter, or a paragraph, or a verse, or even just a few words, that you can really zero in on and dig into the word. If you've got a Cross Reference Bible and you're reading something, and there's something that intrigues you, those little extra letters that you see kind of above and around the words or in the margins, those are connecting scriptures. You know, commentary is great, other opinions are great, but the reformers had this idea that the best, explanation of the word was the word itself. And that's what all those scriptures in the footnotes and margins are about. Those are about other scriptures that take us to more about what the Bible says on those topics. And so letting the Bible unpack the Bible for you, yes, absolutely. If you've got footnotes, if you've got study notes, glean all that you can from it, mine it. You know, when I was in seminary, we used to have to go and buy tons of volumes to be able to dig and unpack the word. Today, like if you've got a good study Bible, like the ESV study Bible, or the NIV study Bible, or any of the study Bibles, those things are basically whole seminary libraries. You know, you can really dig in that way. And then I would just say, "Meditate on the word," that's what it says in Joshua. "Don't let this book of the Lord depart from your mouth, but meditate on it." And how does that happen? Well, to meditate on it, you've got to have it more than just outside in your hand, you've got to have it in you. And so I would encourage our listeners to be regularly memorizing just little bits of scripture, just little bits. It might be something that's soothing to you. Are you struggling with anxiety or having trouble sleeping at night? Maybe you need to just verse by verse, a few words at a time, memorize the shepherd Psalm. Psalm 23, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down green pastures, He leads me beside still waters, He restores my soul." And let the word restore your soul as you slowly memorize and meditate on it. Do you have access to another language? Did you learn Spanish when you were in high school? Do you know German? Read the word, meditate on the word in another language if you have access to it. Just to hear it from a different perspective use different translations, but get the word into you and let it speak to you. You know, I talked last week a little bit about praying through the Lord's Prayer, which by the way, that also is scripture that you can meditate on. But even if it's a verse like we were just talking about, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and light unto my path," pray the scripture back to God. You know, what are you telling me Lord? In Psalm 23, "Lord, you are my shepherd, what else am I wanting? Help me to just get my needs met right here by you today. Lord, lead me beside the calm waters, calm my soul. I feel like I'm going through the valley of the shadow right now. Lord, I look to you, you are my protector, you are my shield." And so, that's a way to take the scripture and pray it back to God. And then absolutely, as you pray it back to God, ask God to show you how to live it out. Because ultimately we wanna be people in the word, of the word, living by the word. So that we can just be blessed by God, through the word and shine forth His glory.

Ben Poole
Right. Such good information there. I was thinking of a different aspect to this for myself, that's been really important in my life. I grew up in the church and when I went to Bible college, since I grew up in church, I obviously knew what all the Bible's about. And I was quickly shown how ignorant I was of the scriptures. So, through my studies in school, but also my own personal time in God's word, I've grown to need God's word. There have been things in my life, or even in my wife and I's life, where the truth of the fact that we are in a spiritual war has come into a very physical sense in our lives at times. One of which was, I took a call to be the pastor of a church, and shortly after we accepted that call, we found out we were pregnant the same day we found out we were having a miscarriage.

Gary Schick
Oh my goodness.

Ben Poole
And so we knew, even in the hospital sitting there waiting on doctors and stuff, talking to each other about, "We know this is an attack from Satan, trying to hold us back from doing what God has called us to do. And it really began to ring true in Ephesians 6, where Paul tells us to put on the armor of God. All of the armor is for defense, to protect us. Except our sword, it is our offense, the sword is the word of God. Just like you talked about Jesus in the wilderness, He was having a spiritual battle. And what did He use to fight the devil? He used the scripture.

Gary Schick
That He had in His heart that He had memorized.

Ben Poole
He had hidden it in His heart and knew the word of God, and that is something that, you know, with our kids at home, we have them do memory verses. And they're actually getting pretty good at getting larger chunks of scripture down at a time. It's really awesome to watch. And it helps us as parents to be in the word with them and to guide them in this and help them understand what the words means. Because this is gonna go with them into the rest of their lives, and realizing when those attacks come, not if when, they will have that scripture hidden in their hearts to guide them through. And I know that for myself. In certain situations we've gone through, had I not had scripture in my heart, where would I be today? I wouldn't be in a good place, I know that. So it's not something that we should feel like, "Well, I need to read today and I need to do my daily reading." We have the privilege to hear the word of God, to us. Not just because it's there and we should, but because He loves us. And the message, as much as it was for people, you know, the gospels and the letters 2000 years ago for the people that were hearing it, even for the first time, as much as it was for them, it is for us as well. And that we can grow in our walk with Christ. And so we would just encourage you, if you need help on finding resources, there are so many. You look on, especially You version, they have got such a wide array of options to study God's word.

Gary Schick
Yeah, and listen to their devotion every morning, first thing.

Ben Poole
And it's something that we have been truly blessed with and would just encourage you to not see the scriptures and reading them, as a burden, maybe. You know, I kind of grew up that way that I didn't really want to read it, cause I was told to read it. But now I have a deep love for the scriptures, because it affects my life. Affects my wife and my kids and what I do with my life and in my everyday things. It really affects me on a spiritual and physical level, and it is one of the greatest gifts that God could ever give us. Is to have His word given to us so that we can come to know Him.

Gary Schick
And you know, I mentioned about memorizing and meditating stuff that's soothing like the 23rd Psalm. But also taking to heart that which challenges us and helps us with struggle points. You know like, are dealing with anger issues? There's tons of verses on anger, memorize that. You know, "A fool gives full vent to his wrath, but a wise man keeps himself under control," you know? If you've got that on your tongue, it might keep something else from rolling off your tongue that you're gonna be sorry for. You know, verses that challenge us and grow us. I tell you what, if this is kind of a new concept for you, why not start with the fruit of the spirit? "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control." If you take that and pray that back to God and meditate on it through your day, it can change your perspective on life. You know, the word is powerful. To transform us, to disciple us, to grow us, but it comes by hearing and believing and ingesting it. Letting it become part of who we are as we grow up in Christ. And it's a forever process. None of us ever have reached a point where we've gotten all we can take in. Anymore than, "Sorry, I've had enough to eat in my lifetime. I don't need---," but I'll tell you what, there's the point, what are we ingesting? You know, just as it makes a difference what we ingest into our bodies, food wise, spiritually we're constantly ingesting what we're seeing, what we're hearing, what we're watching. Make sure you've got a healthy diet of God's word to keep you balanced, healthy and growing strong in the Lord.

What's New at Cross Reference Library? Discover Jesus in the Darkness

Rediscover Jesus - I think about this often, and I always come to the same realization. I don’t know Jesus anywhere near as well as I would like to know Him. The desire is there, but life gets in the way. There are times when I seem to be making great progress, and other times when I wonder if I know Him at all. But I always arrive back at the same inspiring and haunting idea: If there is one person that we should each get to know in a deeply personal way, it is Jesus—the carpenter from Nazareth, the itinerant preacher, the Son of God, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the Lamb of God, the new Adam, the Messiah, the Alpha and the Omega, the Chosen One, the Light of the World, the God-Man who wants goods things for us more than we want them for ourselves, the healer of our souls. The best time to rediscover Jesus is right now. I don’t know what God has in store for you, but I am excited for you. There are some questions that we all ask ourselves in different ways: Who am I? Who is God? What am I here for? What matters most? What matters least? What are my unique talents and abilities? What will my contribution be? We discover the answers to these questions most completely by encountering Jesus. He longs to help us discover deeply personal answers to our deeply personal questions. 

When Life Goes Dark - Depression strikes millions, across all demographic groups. Approximately one in eight will have a severe depressive episode at some point in their life. Women experience depression twice as often as men. And over 50 percent of people with serious depression do not get adequate help. What can be done? Richard Winter explores the complex medical, psychological and spiritual issues surrounding depression. He presents recent scientific research on its biochemical and genetic causes and examines social and cultural factors. Dispelling common Christian misunderstandings, Winter explores the dynamics of despair, loss, anger, guilt, shame and spiritual warfare. Even in the shadow of the valley of death, God can bring healing and deliverance. This book is a helpful guide for those who find themselves, their loved ones or those they counsel vulnerable to depression. Find here a framework for understanding depression and rediscovering hope. 

Get Out of Your Head - The greatest spiritual battle of our generation is taking place between our ears. Again and again, we allow false thoughts about who we are to influence our thoughts about who God is and how He is at work in our lives. But we have the opportunity to stop our spinning minds and escape toxic thinking patterns. In Get Out of Your Head, Jennie Allen helps you transform your life by renewing your mind as she explores: 

• How what you believe about God shapes how you think of yourself. 

• The negative thought patterns that are keeping you stuck

• How to hold space for silence and community—and why they matter. 

• The science behind why your thoughts can change your life.

• Your God-given power to confront and overcome your fears.

When you reclaim your thinking patterns from the lies of the enemy, you are set free to set others free. In a very real way, your thoughts can change the world. So join Jennie in the battle and step boldly into freedom. Change is possible. You can live free.

When you think of a war, what usually comes to mind? Well, for me, I think of two sides of a conflict fighting on a battlefield with the weapon of their choice, hoping to prove a point. But today I’m not going to talk about the physical battles that are fought on a mud, grass, or even cement battlefield. Instead I’m going to try and shed some light on the kind of war that this week’s authors commonly explain and I title as: The Innerworkings of a Dispirited Mind. In When Life Goes Dark, author Richard Winter thoroughly explains what depression is and how it has effected a large majority of people throughout the societies of the world. “Constant feelings of inadequacy, failure, worthlessness, shame, and guilt plague the mind, and it seems as though others are watching and are critical of every action, “ according to Winter, this is how most people with depression feel on a daily basis. The devil uses these deep dark moments in a person’s life to his advantage, hoping that he can successfully strip them of any hope, love, or faith. But he tends to forget that our Heavenly Father who loves us, knows that we are not worthless, and will stop at nothing to make sure all of his children know that they are loved by Him. In Get Out of Your Head, Jennie Allen gives her readers a way to step out of that overwhelming cloud of self-doubt and discouragement. “What we believe and what we think about matters, and the enemy knows it. And he is determined to get in your head to distract you from doing good and to sink you so deep that you feel helpless, overwhelmed, shut down, and incapable of rising to make a difference for the kingdom of God.” But you can make a difference for the kingdom of God! You were given a very unique personality that the Heavenly Father placed inside you, so you could go out into the world and proclaim His name and the name of His Son Jesus. And finally, as interesting and helpful as the other books are, Rediscover Jesus truly puts the cherry on top of this impactful stack of books. You’ve experienced life when it had all gone dark, and you’ve managed to get that darkness out of your head for a while. So now the most important and the only thing left to do is to rediscover Jesus and to keep Him in your life for eternity, letting His light chase that deep darkness away forever. So come on down to the Cross Reference Library and check out these serious but important reads for yourselves.

The greatest spiritual battle of our generation is being fought between our ears.

- Jennie Allen, Get Out of Your Head

Historical Evidence for the Resurrection: Part 2- Appearances of Jesus after His crucifixion

There is solid historical ground for the truth that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

“Inference to the Best Explanation”

A METHOD COMMONLY USED TODAY TO DETERMINE THE HISTORICITY OF AN EVENT.

William Lane Craig describes this as an approach where we, "begin with the evidence available to us and then infer what would, if true, provide the best explanation of that evidence." In other words, we ought to accept an event as historical if it gives the best explanation for the evidence surrounding it.

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There are three Historical truths about the resurrection which are so strong that they are accepted by all serious historians, even non-Christians.

1. The tomb in which Jesus was buried was discovered empty by a group of women on the Sunday following the crucifixion.

2. Jesus' disciples had real experiences with one whom they believed was the risen Christ.

3. As a result of the preaching of these disciples, which had the resurrection at its center, the Christian church was established and grew.

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Evidence for the Resurrection Appearances

There is evidence that Jesus’ disciples had real experiences with someone who they believed was Jesus risen from the dead. People don’t argue this fact because we have testimony from the disciples themselves saying they saw, touched, and ate with Jesus after He had been crucified.

There is a Christian creed in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 which was given to Paul way before 1 Cor. was written:

1 Corinthians 15:3–8 (NLT): passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter--and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers--at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him.

It is generally agreed by critical scholars that Paul received this creed from Peter and James between 3-5 years after the crucifixion. Now, Peter and James are listed in this creed as having seen the risen Christ. Since they are the ones who gave this creed to Paul, this is therefore a statement of their own testimony. As the Jewish Scholar Pinchahs Lapide has said, this creed "may be considered the statement of eyewitnesses."

Their testimonies are also recorded in the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Of course, just because they claimed to have seen Jesus alive again after He was crucified and buried, doesn’t mean they actually did. There are three possible explanations:

1.       They hallucinated

2.       They were lying

3.       They really saw the risen Christ

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Did the disciples hallucinate?

First, the disciples record eating and drinking with Jesus, as well as touching him. This cannot be done with hallucinations. There is no physical nature to hallucinations.

Second, it is highly unlikely that they would all have had the same hallucination. Hallucinations are highly individual, and not group projections. Imagine, if I came in and said, “Wasn’t that a great dream I had last night?” Hallucinations, like dreams don’t transfer that way.

Third, the hallucination theory cannot explain the conversion of Paul, three years later. Was Paul, the persecutor of Christians, so hoping to see the resurrected Jesus that his mind invented an appearance as well?

Fourth, and perhaps most significantly, the hallucination theory does not explain the evidence for the empty tomb.

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Were the disciples lying?

To make a decision on this, it’s important to note that each of the disciples suffered greatly throughout their lives in order to defend their claim that Jesus was the Messiah and that He had risen from the dead. They took these claims to their grave.

Jill K H Geoffrion

How the Disciples/Apostles of the Bible Died 

Disclaimer: Other than Judas & John, these are not Scriptural. Some are historical; some passed down by Christian traditions and are consistent with how they would have been treated in their time.

Andrew (brother of Peter): Martyrdom by crucifixion (bound, not nailed, to an "X-shaped" cross) at Patræ, Achaia [southern Greece]. Hung alive for two days, exhorting spectators all the while.

Bartholomew (Nathaniel): Martyrdom by being skinned alive and crucified, head downward by the idolaters of Armenia (Western Asia near Turkey). The most travelled of the Disciples after Jesus death, Preached the Gospel in Mesopotamia [Iraq], Persia [Iran], Ethiopia, Arabia and India.

James the Greater (son of Zebedee / brother of John): Beheaded or stabbed with a sword by Herod Agrippa around 44 AD near Palestine and not far from where he was a local missionary to the Jews in Judea. His accuser was converted by James' courage & the two were beheaded together.

James the Lesser [son of Alphaeus]: Was first Bishop of Jerusalem Martyred in his early 90's by being thrown from a pinnacle of the Temple at Jerusalem , then stoned and head bashed in with club

John (The Beloved) (son of Zebedee / brother of James): Natural Death The only apostle who did not meet a martyrs death. Banished by Roman Emperor Domitian to Isle of Patmos where penned Revelation, the last book in the Bible. Was later freed & went to preach in Turkey and died at 100.

Jude (Thaddeus): Wrote Book of Jude. Martyred by being beaten with a club then crucified 72AD at city of Edessa [Turkey] while on a missionary trip that went to Persia (Iran).

Matthew (Levi): Martyred about 60 AD by being staked and speared to the ground. Preached the Gospel in Ethiopia (Africa) and was killed for questioning the morals of the king.

Simon Peter: Martyrdom by crucifixion at Rome by Nero. Crucified around 68 AD up-side-down at his request because he did consider himself worthy to be crucified like Jesus.

Philip: Said to have been tortured, impaled by iron hooks in his ankles and hung upside down to die. Preaching to death 54 AD in Heliopolis, Egypt. Preached in Phrygia which was in the Roman Province of Asia near Ephesus [Turkey].

Simon [The Canaanite]: Called "The Zealot" because he was associated with that sect. Thought to have ministered mostly in Jordan. Martyred by crucifixion in Britain in 74AD and then sawn in half.

Thomas [Didymus]: Martyred thrust through by spear in India .Preached the Gospel in Parthia [Iran] and in Kerala, [southern India] where yet today the Mar Thoma Church exists.

Mark (John Mark): Was dictated to writing the Book of Mark. Martyred - dragged to death.

Luke: The Physician. Wrote Luke and Acts. Was hanged on an olive tree

Paul meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus

Matthias [Disciple who filled the place of Judas Acts 1:20-26]: Was stoned and beheaded at Jerusalem.

Apostle Paul (Saul): Wrote half of the New Testament was beheaded by Emperor Nero at Rome

James (The half-brother of Jesus): Thrown 100 feet off a wall - done to him after he repeatedly refused to deny his faith in Jesus. He survived the fall and was beaten to death with clubs

12 Men and a Carpenter Who Changed the World, Wayne Pascall

Apologist Sean McDowell carefully states this position:

“The apostles spent between 1.5 to 3 years with Jesus during His public ministry, expecting Him to proclaim His kingdom on earth. Although disillusioned at His untimely death, they became the first witnesses of the risen Jesus and they endured persecution; many subsequently experienced martyrdom, signing their testimony, so to speak, in their own blood. The strength of their conviction, marked by their willingness to die, indicates that they did not fabricate these claims; rather, without exception, they actually believed Jesus to have risen from the dead. While in and of themselves these facts prove neither the truth of the resurrection in particular nor Christianity as a whole, they do demonstrate the apostles’ sincerity of belief, lending credibility to their claims about the veracity of the resurrection, which is fundamental to the case for Christianity.”

New Testament Scholar Craig Keener:

“People of course die regularly for values that are false; they do not, however, ordinarily die voluntarily for what they believe [or know] is false. Intentional deception by the disciples is thus implausible.”

The disciples were not lying and could not have been hallucinating. There is only one possible explanation left: the disciples believed that they had seen the risen Jesus because they really had seen the risen Jesus.

Roman Sleptsuk, The Resurrection

Information drawn from these sources:

- William Lane Craig's Reasonable Faith & The Son Rises

- J.P. Moreland's Scaling the Secular City

- Gary Habermas' The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus & Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?

- desiringgod.org/articles/historical-evidence-for-the-resurrection

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You can download a free printout of this information by going to our “Free Material” Page and clicking on “Historical Evidence for the Resurrection: Appearances”.

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This series of blog posts titled, “Holding on to Reason”, is named after Amanda’s favorite C.S. Lewis quote: “Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.”

Click here for more things written by Amanda Hovseth.

The Spiritual Discipline Of Prayer - Ask the Pastor

You can listen to Ask The Pastor every weekday at 9:00am MST on 97.1FM Hope Radio KCMI! You can also listen and subscribe to Ask The Pastor in your favorite podcast feed. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music and most other podcast services.

This edition of Ask the Pastor features Pastors Gary Schick and Ben Poole.

Ben Poole
All right, so here it is. "What spiritual disciplines do you, or God's word, recommend for believers in general? What particular disciplines do you, yourselves practice and what does that look like for you?" So first off, big topic and there's so many things we can talk about. And we are gonna talk about probably some of the big ones, the main ones, especially that we see in scripture. And as always scripture needs to be our guiding factor, and we need to abide by the word and to live by that. We have wonderful examples of this. Obviously, Jesus being our perfect example, but all of this comes down to, I know our heart's desire, your pastor's desires and especially God's desire is that our relationship with God is always growing. These spiritual disciplines are not just a list of things that you should do, or you must do. I look at this as things that you get to do. That we have the privilege to become more spiritually disciplined and grow in God through His holy spirit. And so the one that we want to talk about today is maybe one that seems obvious, but at the same time is probably not utilized enough. And that's the topic of prayer. I think that is a wonderful place to start when we think about spiritual discipline, and what I love about prayer is how we see it transform through scripture. Kind of a backstory in the Old Testament, the way that people went to God was through, well, there's a few different ways, but kind of the main one was through the high priest. The high priest once a year, went into the holy of holies to appeal to God on behalf of God's people seeking for forgiveness. And that was the communication outside of the times where God would speak to certain people at certain times. There was not really a freedom to come to God's throne; until the cross. Once Jesus died, you see in scripture that, the veil was torn in two, which really shows this opening where God is out and open for everyone. And Hebrews tells us that we can come before God on His throne, boldly and confidently; not fearful, not worrying, but we can come straight to God. And that is one of, outside of salvation itself, I feel like prayer is one of the greatest, if not the greatest gift that God has given us. Where we can come straight to Him. So with that, Gary, what are some of your thoughts on this?

Gary Schick
Well, and you know, I just want to back up just a hair, because the question actually had to do with spiritual discipline. And I think you're right, I think we want to go with this for a few weeks. You know, we spend so much time focusing on the gospel, which is: God loves us, He made us, we have sinned, it separates us from God. There is nothing we can do to right that wrong, to make ourselves right with God. Christ did it all when He died for our sins and rose from the dead. We are invited to believe in Christ and receive Him as Lord and savior. And so I think it's always important to start there, because even in our conversation before going on the air. You know we were talking about, we know people who've grown up in the church, who really don't know how to be saved even though they've probably heard it. So have you taken the step, have you put your trust in Christ and owned Him as your savior and also your Lord? So what does it mean that Jesus has saved me and now He's my Lord and I'm growing in Him? I always like to talk to kids about the word, "grows." G.R.O.W.S: G--go to God in prayer(what we're talking about today), R--read the word (get into God's word, the Bible), O--others (connect with other believers and have fellowship with them), W--worship (worship privately, worship publicly with the people of God), and then triple S--serve Christ as you serve others and share the faith. And I think there's kind of an order to that, you know, where it's about serving Jesus, it fleshes itself out in others. And part of that definitely includes sharing the faith, but going back to the beginning, go to God in prayer. Prayer has been described as the breath of the believer. Prayer can be very personal and heartfelt and overflowing. The whole book of Psalms is a book of prayer. It's praise, it's petition, it's crying out to God. It shows us that we can just talk to God. You know, probably the earliest reference we have to prayer in scripture is clear back in the book of Genesis. It says basically, that when Adam and Eve's third son, Seth was born at that time, people began to call on the name of the Lord. I think it's most basic essence, is that it's a calling out, but not, you know, I'm not calling out to you, Ben. I'm not calling out to my wife. Well, you guys are great. Yeah, you're a great buddy. My wife is boom, she is amazing. She's my best friend. But calling out to the Lord. And it can be spontaneous all the time, Paul says, "Pray without ceasing." We should pray on all occasion, we should just be about the business of prayer. The end of the spiritual armor in Ephesians talks about, and through all, through all by prayer and petition, you know? This is key. Prayer can also be formal, you know? Like we don't know what to say, we can use those very words of the Psalms. By the way, Jesus taught us a prayer. And I don't know about you, but I feel like most of us have missed it with the Lord's prayer. We're either from just, you know, really contemporary churches. Like churches I grew up in, where the Lord's prayer, "Yeah, that's somewhere in the Bible." You know, they don't make any use of it. On the other hand, I've been a part, especially in this valley, of some more formal churches where we say the Lord's prayer. And I got to tell you friends: if you're not saying it and if you are saying it, you're probably missing it, because what Jesus actually taught was, "pray in this manner." He actually was giving us the Lord's prayer as a structure, a kind of a rungs on the ladder to hang it on. When I was early on as a Christian, I was kind of taught this little acronym, A.C.T.S. When you pray, think about these topics: Adoration (praising God), Confession (confessing your sins), Thanksgiving, (thanking God), and Supplication, (bring your request). The nice thing about that is, we tend to run into God's presence with all the things we want. The Lord's prayer is even better than that, because the Lord's prayer includes: where do you put those applications? Where do you put those prayer requests? I tend to put it under the heading of, "Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." You know, bringing boldly our needs to God in prayer, but with the attitude that Jesus did when He was in the garden. His flesh was crying out, "I don't want the cross, take this cup from me. But with a recognition of, "Father, your will." And sometimes our heart's desire and the father's will, they are hand in hand, and you can't even get the prayer out your mouth before God's already answered. But you know what? There was one occasion where Jesus wanted something and the opposite happened, and He knew it. I mean, He knew as He prayed that. He'd already told His disciples, "We're going to Jerusalem, I'm gonna suffer, I'm gonna die, and I'm gonna rise. This is what God's will is, and this is what's gonna happen." And yet, doesn't mean His flesh wanted to go there, and what a comfort to us. We don't have to pray right. We don't have to pray the right words, the right thoughts, the right feelings. We can just tell God what we want and trust Him and trust His will. And that it's perfect. And so, you know, I would invite everybody to take a second look at the Lord's prayer and there's somewhere between five and seven topic headings to kind of keep our conversation with God balanced. You know, it starts with calling Him our Father. It starts by asking above all that He would be hallowed and praised. It prays for His kingdom, His justice, His righteousness. It asks for His will, it trusts Him with our most basic needs. Our daily bread, it reminds us to come and ask for forgiveness, but it also teaches us to forgive one another. It invites us to pray that God would guide our steps and that God would protect us and deliver us from evil. And then it rounds it out by saying, "It's all yours God." I mean, what a tremendous way to go to God in prayer. You can take that out, break it into pieces and spread it through there. You can say it, you can say it holding hands with God's people. But you know, don't just go through the motion of the words. Really let the Lord's prayer guide you into prayer. And that prayer, in my opinion, will do more to disciple you in the way of Christ, in the attitude of Christ, in the heart of Christ, in the mission of Christ. Boom! But again, you know, "Oh, I can't talk to God unless somehow I'm working the per-- No, No! I mean, what is the need of the moment? Go to God. What is the praise of the moment? Thank God. And you know, are you sick? James says, "Call for the elders of the church and get together with God's people in prayer." Probably the saddest thing, it's gone by the wayside in my lifetime. There used to be three things: there used to be Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday prayer, and I think all that's left today in most places is Sunday morning and maybe a Wednesday Bible study. But prayer, why is it left in the margins? I mean, what do we read of Jesus? He went often by Himself to lonely places to pray. The example of Jesus was getting alone with the Father. Martin Luther said, "If he had a busy day, he needed to spend more time in prayer that morning to be ready for it." Not the last thing or the least thing, but the first thing.

Ben Poole
This is such a good topic, and what I've talked to people about in the practical side of this, thinking about, we're in a relationship with the creator of the universe and He wants to hear from us. Beautiful opportunity, and I try to help people understand this. And if you're married, which I am, one of the key ingredients to a healthy marriage is communication. My wife and I talk about everything all day long, even into the night. And I also know the other side, whether I'm upset or she's upset when we're not communicating our relationship struggles. We are told in scripture that we are a bride of Christ. We are in a marriage with God, the Father, and what is one way that we keep a healthy relationship? Communication. And that's what it is. And I really appreciate what you said. It's not about a canned prayer. It is about your heart, and I would so encourage you to read through the Psalms. David especially, felt free to express his emotions, his feelings, even anger, even questioning God's timing. And not that we're doubting God, but we are in this relationship where we can speak freely to God. Knowing that He hears us, knowing that He loves us, knowing that He wants to hear our hearts. Side note to that: He already knows what's in your heart. He knows everything you're going through. He wants you to express that to Him and grow in that relationship. And as we talk about these other topics, I really appreciate that you thought prayer would be the one that we should start with, because I think that should be at the forefront of spiritual discipline.

Gary Schick
It runs through all of it.

Ben Poole
Yeah this will shadow into all these other disciplines if we will lead our life in prayer with God and have that relationship. And through prayer, take the time to say what you need to say, let God's will be His, and then listen. Part of prayer is listening for God to speak and answer those prayers. And just like Jesus in the garden, "Not my will, but yours be done." God's always gonna answer your prayers, it may just not be your heart's desire. And so if we can come to every situation, the easy, the hard things and saying, "God, this is my life, and I've given it to you. I'm giving everything of myself to you, to lead me, and so I'm asking that your will be done that it's not mine. And that you would open doors or shut doors or whatever it may be, and that through that we will follow you faithfully to wherever you lead."

Gary Schick
And you know, some of the great prayer warriors of the past, they would pray themselves into a point of where they had really sought God's will until they had gotten themselves out of the way. Until they were really ready for whatever God's will is. And that was a big---and so much more could be said---I mean, I think fasting. You know, we talk about prayer and fasting something, probably not practiced by many. I've practiced it on and off at different points in my life, but it is a function of prayer. It is a way of getting alone with God wherever you are. If you're fasting, it's, "I'm feeding on you God." And whether you're driving down the road, perfect time to pray. Taking a walk, I tend to pray better when I'm moving in motion, or you know, on your knee in your room. Or if you can take an extended period of time, go hike the Monument. Pray all the way up and down, you know, I mean---

Ben Poole
Oh, I'd be praying up for sure.

Gary Schick
But go do something with God.

Ben Poole
It's being with God, and that's really what it's all about.

Gary Schick
And learning to just rest in Him and His presence. I mean, it's not even all talk. It's just sometimes being quiet, and letting the spirit impress things on our heart and mind, and just learning to be with Him.

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Historical Evidence for the Resurrection: Part 1- The Empty Tomb

There is solid historical ground for the truth that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

“Inference to the Best Explanation”

A method commonly used today to determine the historicity of an event.

William Lane Craig describes this as an approach where we, "begin with the evidence available to us and then infer what would, if true, provide the best explanation of that evidence." In other words, we ought to accept an event as historical if it gives the best explanation for the evidence surrounding it.

There are three Historical truths about the resurrection which are so strong that they are accepted by all serious historians, even non-Christians.

1. The tomb in which Jesus was buried was discovered empty by a group of women on the Sunday following the crucifixion.

2. Jesus' disciples had real experiences with one whom they believed was the risen Christ.

3. As a result of the preaching of these disciples, which had the resurrection at its center, the Christian church was established and grew.

Evidence for the Empty Tomb

FIRST: the resurrection was preached in the same city where Jesus had been buried shortly before. Jesus' disciples did not go to some obscure place where no one had heard of Jesus to begin preaching about the resurrection, but instead began preaching in Jerusalem, the very city where Jesus had died and been buried. They could not have done this if Jesus was still in his tomb--no one would have believed them.

SECOND: the earliest Jewish arguments against Christianity admit the empty tomb.  In Matthew 28:11-15, there is a reference made to the Jew's attempt to refute Christianity by saying that the disciples stole the body. This is significant because it shows that the Jews did not deny the empty tomb. Instead, their "stolen body" theory admitted the significant truth that the tomb was in fact empty.

The Toledoth Jesu, a compilation of early Jewish writings, is another source acknowledging this. It acknowledges that the tomb was empty, and attempts to explain it away. Further, we have a record of a second century debate between a Christian and a Jew, in which a reference is made to the fact that the Jews claim the body was stolen. So it is pretty well established that the early Jews admitted the empty tomb. Remember that the Jewish leaders were opposed to Christianity. They were hostile witnesses. In acknowledging the empty tomb, they were admitting the reality of a fact that was certainly not in their favor.

THIRD:  the empty tomb account in the gospel of Mark is based upon a source that originated within seven years of the event it narrates. This places the evidence for the empty tomb too early to be legendary, and makes it much more likely that it is accurate. What is the evidence for this? I will list two pieces. A German commentator on Mark, Rudolf Pesch, points out that this pre-Markan source never mentions the high priest by name. "This implies that Caiaphas, who we know was high priest at that time, was still high priest when the story began circulating." For "if it had been written after Caiaphas' term of office, his name would have had to have been used to distinguish him from the next high priest. But since Caiaphas was high priest from A.D. 18 to 37, this story began circulating no later than A.D. 37, within the first seven years after the events," as Michael Horton has summarized it. Furthermore, Pesch argues "that since Paul's traditions concerning the Last Supper [written in 56] (1 Cor 11) presuppose the Markan account, that implies that the Markan source goes right back to the early years" of Christianity (Craig). So the early source Mark used puts the testimony of the empty tomb too early to be legendary.

FOURTH: the empty tomb is supported by the historical reliability of the burial story. NT scholars agree that the burial story is one of the best established facts about Jesus. One reason for this is because of the inclusion of Joseph of Arimethea as the one who buried Christ. Joseph was a member of the Jewish Sanhedrein, a sort of Jewish supreme court. People of this ruling class were simply too well known for fictitious stories about them to be pulled off in this way. Also, if the burial account was legendary, one would expect to find conflicting traditions--which we don't have.

The burial account and empty tomb account have grammatical and linguistic ties, indicating that they are one continuous account. Therefore, if the burial account is accurate, the empty tomb is likely to be accurate as well. Further, if the burial account is accurate then everyone knew where Jesus was buried. This would have been decisive evidence to refute the early Christians who were preaching the resurrection--for if the tomb had not been empty, it would have been evident to all and the disciples would have been exposed as frauds at worst, or insane at best.

FIFTH: Jesus' tomb was never venerated as a shrine. This is striking because it was the 1st century custom to set up a shrine at the site of a holy man's bones. There were at least 50 such cites in Jesus' day. Since there was no such shrine for Jesus, it suggests that his bones weren't there.

SIXTH: Mark's account of the empty tomb is simple and shows no signs of legendary development. This is very apparent when we compare it with the gospel of Peter, a forgery from about 125. This legend has all of the Jewish leaders, Roman guards, and many people from the countryside gathered to watch the resurrection. Then three men come out of the tomb, with their heads reaching up to the clouds. Then a talking cross comes out of the tomb! This is what legend looks like, and we see none of that in Mark's account of the empty tomb--or anywhere else in the gospels for that matter!

SEVENTH: women discovered the tomb was empty. Why is this important? Because, the testimony of women in 1st century Jewish culture was considered worthless. As Craig says, "If the empty tomb story were a legend, then it is most likely that the male disciples would have been made the first to discover the empty tomb. The fact that despised women, whose testimony was deemed worthless, were the chief witnesses to the fact of the empty tomb can only be plausibly explained if, like it or not, they actually were the discoverers of the empty tomb."

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There have been various theories used to explain away the empty tomb, such as that the body was stolen. But those theories are laughed at today by all serious scholars. In fact, they have been considered dead and refuted for almost a hundred years.

For example, the Jews or Romans had no motive to steal the body--they wanted to suppress Christianity, not encourage it by providing it with an empty tomb. The disciples would have had no motive, either. Their preaching on the resurrection got them beaten, killed, and persecuted. Why would they go through all of this for a deliberate lie? No serious scholars hold to any of these theories today.

The resurrection of Jesus is not just the best explanation for the empty tomb, it is the only explanation around!

What explanation, then, do the critics offer, you may ask? Craig tells us that, "They are self-confessedly without any explanation to offer. There is simply no plausible natural explanation today to account for Jesus' tomb being empty. If we deny the resurrection of Jesus, we are left with an inexplicable mystery."

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Because of the strong evidence for the empty tomb, most recent scholars do not deny it.

D.H. Van Daalen has said, "It is extremely difficult to object to the empty tomb on historical grounds; those who deny it do so on the basis of theological or philosophical assumptions."

Jacob Kremer, who has specialized in the study of the resurrection and is a New Testament critic, has said "By far most exegetes hold firmly to the reliability of the biblical statements about the empty tomb" and he lists twenty-eight scholars to back up his fantastic claim.

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The information for this blog post was drawn from these sources:

- William Lane Craig's Reasonable Faith  and The Son Rises

- J.P. Moreland's Scaling the Secular City

- Gary Habermas' The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus and Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?

- desiringgod.org/articles/historical-evidence-for-the-resurrection

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You can download a free printout of this information by going to our “Free Material” Page and clicking on “Historical Evidence for the Resurrection: Empty Tomb”.

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This series of blog posts titled, “Holding on to Reason”, is named after Amanda’s favorite C.S. Lewis quote: “Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.”

Click here for more things written by Amanda Hovseth.