What's New in the Cross Reference Library? Revealing the Mysteries of Heaven

Revealing the Mysteries of Heaven - What happens when we die? Where do we go? Is there an afterlife? Does the Bible say anything specific about heaven? Are there really streets of gold there? Pearly gates? Has anyone been to heaven and returned with insider information? This book will answer those questions and tell you what’s up with heaven. God wants you to know all about your eternal home so you can anticipate the future. The heroes of Scripture thought constantly about heaven and confessed they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth, seeking a homeland, desiring a better country—a heavenly one—and looking forward to the city with foundations whose builder and maker is God. We should do the same. Heaven is the most encouraging subject in the Bible and the happiest location in the universe. You should know all about it. After years studying the subject of heaven, I’m overwhelmed by the comprehensive nature of the facts God shares with us in His Word. He wants us to study heaven, visualize heaven, and look forward to the place He is preparing for us. That’s why I’ve compiled these biblical truths into one comprehensive book packed with verses, references, and insights from Scripture. I hope they will encourage you to pursue your own Bible study about heaven and begin thinking often about the glorious future God has planned for you. 

Revealing the Mysteries of Heaven: Study Guide - “Out of sight, out of mind,” is a proven truism—and heaven is definitely out of our human sight. The only way to keep heaven in our mind’s eye is to read and rehearse the truths about heaven found in the Word of God. But even when we do that, we find there are many things about heaven that are not easy to understand. Because heaven is not like planet earth, it seems mysterious to us. Revealing the Mysteries of Heaven will answer and clarify the most important questions Christians have about their future eternal home. Pastor David Jeremiah provides answers to questions about the nature of heaven, the kinds of bodies heaven’s occupants will have, why heaven will never be boring, why infants and small children will go to heaven, and the dwelling place God is preparing for Christians in heaven. Answers to those questions and more—eleven critical issues in all—are revealed in this Turning Point study guide. If you have had questions about heaven—especially about how to get there—let Pastor David Jeremiah be your guide. Your eternal home will become as clear on earth as it is in heaven. 

The idea of heaven is interesting, beautiful, and—as Jeremiah titles his book—mysterious. Dr. David Jeremiah covers a lot of aspects of heaven that will definitely surprise you and challenge you. Here are a few scriptures that Jeremiah mentioned that I found pretty cool, the subject matter considered: 

• 1 John 2:15-17

• Ecclesiastes 3:11

• Colossians 3:2

• Acts 1:11

Come in to the Cross Reference Library and check out Revealing the Mysteries of Heaven by Dr. David Jerimiah and find out more of what he had to say about heaven.

The Names Of God Continued - 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 Ben Cline, Jonathan Hernandez.

Ben Cline
Well, I'm gonna get our conversation started this morning. You know, again, like you said Jonathan, that this is kind of a continuing conversation for us. That we started talking about some of the names of God last week, and it just is such a huge topic. It's such a huge thing for us. You know, not just as pastors, right? But as followers, followers of Jesus Christ. And, you know, you and I were talking this morning about how there really is kind of this long, long, long list of the different names of God. And the question is, "why is it important for us to study the names of God? Why is it important for us to know them?" Well, you know, for you listeners out there, if you're wondering what the answer to that question is, well we get to look at the names of God and we get to study the names of God, so that we know more about who He is. You know, we were at a KCMI event last night, and Bryan Clark was the speaker, and he was talking about how God is the creator of all things. And He seems like such a big God, but you know, the name change that happens in Genesis 2 is the first time that that name Yahweh is mentioned. And that name of God means that He's a relational God. And so, He wants us to know more about who He is. And I think that that's why we need to be studying the names of God in scripture. So I ran across a couple of names, you know, of God and things that I wanted to talk about this morning. The first one is Yahweh. And we might say Yahweh or Jehovah, and they're kind of interchangeable; in the English version of what we say and what we study about. But Yahweh Rapha is one that I ran across. And the word Rapha---and again, it's not important for us to necessarily know those original Hebrew names. But, you know, it is important for us to know what they mean, because that's how it really applies to us, knowing who God is. But Yahweh Rapha, it means "the Lord who heals." And this comes from a passage in Exodus 15, and God is talking about the importance of the Israelites obeying Him. To do what is right in His eyes, in God's eyes, to give ear to his commandments and to keep all his statutes. And then he says, "if you do this, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians." And, you know, of course those are the people that the Israelites were fleeing from. And then he says at the end of that verse, "For I am Yahweh Rapha, the Lord your healer." And so, that word, Yahweh Rapha means "the Lord who heals." And, I think the way that we can understand that through scripture is that God is healer. And I think the first thing that we think of when we hear that God is the healer, that he's our physical healer---and yes, it is true that God is our healer. And in fact, God is called the great physician. He's the one who, you know, knit us from our mother's wombs, and He knows us down to the very number of hairs on our head. And, you know, we understand God that way. In his will, if we're dealing with some sort of a physical ailment, or something like that, can God heal us? Well, the answer is yes, He can if He chooses to right? And so we can think of Him that way. But we also think of this in terms of spiritual healing. God is our spirit spiritual healer. And there's a passage in Isaiah 53, and it's in verse five. I just wanna read it through real quick, cause this is where it was first mentioned. But it says, "but he was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds, we are healed." And then that's brought up again in 1 Peter 2:24. Peter's talking there and he says about Jesus Christ, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. That we might die to sin and live to righteousness." And then he brings up what Isaiah said. He says, "by his wounds, you have been healed." So, the fact that this is prophesied about in the Old Testament, about the Messiah going through all of this physical suffering, well, why did he do that? It ultimately led to His death. But he did that to pay the penalty for our transgressions, to pay the penalty for our sentence. And that is the only way by, you know, accepting that truth, accepting that as a free gift. That's the only way that we can be spiritually healed, and be given eternal life. So those are a couple of ways that we can understand God as the healer. As Yahweh Rapha. And there's another one that I wanted to talk about this morning too, and that's Yahweh---and I'm gonna completely butcher the pronounciation of this---but I think it's pronounced Mekadesh. You only do what you can do, right? But Mekadesh means sanctification, so it's "the Lord who sanctifies or makes holy." And one of the things that we need to understand about God, and maybe there's some of you who don't understand that word sanctification. Well, it just means to be set apart from something. And when we're speaking about God sanctifying us, it means that He is setting us apart from the world's system that we live in. And so Yahweh Mekadesh means, "the Lord who sanctifies." One of the things that we find through scripture is that, you know, God really makes it clear that He makes us holy, not through our works, He makes us holy. "Not even through the law that He gave, but that it's only through Jesus Christ," in Romans 3, the entire chapter is about this. But He establishes the fact that in and of ourselves, there's no righteousness in us. There's no way to be sanctified in and of ourselves. And then in verse 21, picking up there, it says, "But now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed as attested by the law and the prophets. And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe." And then it goes into a verse that I think a lot of us have memorized. It says, "there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." And then verse 24, it says, "And are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." So, you know, that's what that name reminds me of. Yahweh Mekadesh, "the Lord who sanctifies," the Lord who makes us holy. And we're not made holy because we do things that are righteous, because we do things that are really good in the sight of God. We're made holy through that sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And only by faith in Him.

Jonathan Hernandez
Those are some great names. And I liked how, as you were starting just talking about, you know, as we know these names, it helps build that relationship with God even more. Because when I know someone I know, you know, their character, I know all of these things. So, you know, as we start building a relationship and Pastor Gary too---that's usually the third guy with us, but he's gone today and we're praying that he has an amazing time. And, you know, so as we grow closer to each other, we start learning characteristics. And as we grow closer to God, these are opportunities for us to learn, you know, these names of him and these characters and characteristics that he, you know, that he carries. So today, one of the ones that I have is Jehovah Nissi, and we kind of covered a little bit of this last week, just kind of what it means. But I guess there's so much to these that we could just really spin probably a whole show on just each one. And so, Jehovah Nissi is "the Lord is my Banner." And we see this out of Exodus 17:15, and Moses built an altar and named it, "The Lord is my Banner." And so we're introduced to this, obviously it's this Hebrew name, Jehovah Nissi. And it's the story of the Israelites and Moses, where their just kind of wandering around in the wilderness. And Moses, he's the first one to call upon the Lord in this manner of Jehovah Nissi. Like I said, this is Exodus 17 and, you know, as we give these scripture references, hopefully the readers jot these down real quick. And you know, are able to go and, like, really look into, you know, each of these names. But here are the Israelites, they're facing the Amalekites in battle and they're overwhelmed by this force in a sense. You know, this army is, man these guys are warriors. You know, these guys are fighters and they're experienced, and this army, you know, has the best commanders, has the best, you know, they have everything. And they feel like they're gonna lose. I mean, that's probably kind of how their feeling, you know, we're just kind of reading it, I guess, into scripture a little bit there. But, you know, they're feeling that overwhelming presence a little bit. And they're just, you know, the Israelites, they're just farmers. They're, you know, they're herdsmen. They were just slaves not too long ago. You know, they're just escaping in a sense. You know, they're traveling with women and children, and they have all their herd, and they have all their possessions. The battle was really for survival, you know, for a future, for hope. And here they battle. But the great thing is, they weren't just traveling with just the children, with just, you know, the herds and the wives and their possessions. They had something else that they were traveling with. And, you know, they were traveling with a pillar of fire, you know, a cloud of smoke. The very presence of God was traveling with them. And, you know, this is something that Moses realizes, and he's able to see this and, you know, not only is he traveling with all these things that he physically, in a sense, sees, but, you know, he's traveling with this presence of God. And the great thing is, even for today, you know, sometimes we go up against these battles in our lives and it's tough and it's hard. And, you know, there's times where we're like, "I'm gonna lose this battle." It's tough, right? And I think one of the things that we need to realize, just as Moses did, "I'm not traveling alone. You know, I'm not traveling just with my wife and kids and my possessions, and I have three animals. I'm not just traveling with them, you know? I'm traveling with the presence of God, cause He's here with us." And so, you know, Moses says here, "Jehovah Nissi, the Lord is my banner." And I think we can say that same thing as we go against different things or have certain---I don't know what some of our listeners may be battling. A season of whatever it is, depression or something. And they can say, you know, "Jehovah Nissi, "the Lord is my banner." As I go through this battle, I'm not alone. I have God with me." And if we think of a banner, you know, like when I first heard this word, we did a series a couple years ago on the names of God at church. And this is one of the ones I went and I'm like, you know, kind of studying. And I was like, man, it's so crazy cause, like, you know, I was never in the military, so I don't have some of the understanding of some of these things. And, you know, as I was studying this, it was talking about some of these, you know, people going into battle and they're carrying this or carrying that. And, you know, so we think of, when I raise a banner, you know, I think of a flag or something along those lines. You know, like if we're at church camp, we all have like these banners that were, you know: I'm Team Blue, I'm Team Red, you know, I'm Team Green. Or whatever your team name is, and so you're carrying around this banner all weekend, but it's describing who you are. You know, and so we're carrying this banner that's saying, "Hey, we're believers in Jesus Christ. And not only are we believers, but we carry the presence of the Holy Spirit with us wherever we're going." And so, you know, I just wanna encourage you guys, as you are going through these battles, know who you are with, you know, who is walking with you through these battles? Who are you---you know, in a sense you have this banner that you're carrying and you're saying, "I am a follower of Christ, He is Jehovah Nissi. He is Jehovah Rapha, He is my healer." You know? He is these things as we, you know, can go into these battles. The other name that I wanted to talk about today was Jehovah Shalom. And this is translated, "the Lord is Peace." We see this in the story of Gideon, you know, when the angel of the Lord appeared to him, Judges 6, there we go. Sometimes my mind goes into other places, but Jehovah Shalom, it's translated "the Lord is peace." It's one of the Old Testament names of God, obviously if it's speaking of Gideon. And so, in those days, the children of Israel were living in a state of fear, because of everything that's going on. The Midianites, they once defeated this army, and they're kind of coming back up and they're kind of terrorizing Israel with an overwhelming mob-like force. And their going around, and Gideon wasn't immune to anxiety. He wasn't immune to waves of uncertainty, and, you know, I think that's us too. We're not immune to some of these things like anxiety or uncertainty of things. You know Gideon, he had this uncertainty that was sweeping the nation. Matthew Henry writes a little bit here, then he says, "Gideon was distressed. He was thrashing his wheat, not in the proper place, but by a wine press in some private unsuspected corner for fear of this army. Fearful of the attack and the worry about the safety of their families. The Israelites, like Gideon took to hiding in dens in the mountains and in the caves and in the strong holds in Judges 6:2." So this is, you know, Matthew Henry wrote some good commentary. And so he's talking about, here's Gideon, he's distressed, you know, he's fearful. He has a little bit of anxiety, possibly some of these things like, "I don't know what's gonna happen, and I'm a little fearful of this force that's coming against us. And so instead of doing what I usually do here, I'm gonna kind of hide in the back a little bit. I still have work that I need to get done, but we're gonna do it in a kind of hidden place." It was a season of personal national unrest. Then the angel of the Lord appears to Gideon, and he's commissioning him to lead Israel and deliver them from this torment, you know, these tormentors. And Matthew Henry continues, he says, "The day of the greatest distress, and it is God's time to appear for people's relief." What is your greatest distress right now? Like, maybe some of you listeners are like, "I don't have anything. You know, I'm good." And man I'm like, that's amazing, that's great. We need some tips. But when we're in that place, you know, this is a time that God's gonna appear and give us relief. You know, we're just like Jehovah Nissi, we're not fighting alone. We're carrying, you know, the presence of God. And, you know, this was certainly true of Gideon's calling. You know, if you guys go back and read through all of these, you know, through Judges 6, and just start seeing some of this stuff, you know, it's amazing what happens. The Lord, He reminds this new warrior, you know, Gideon, soon to be judge. You know, He's reminding him, you know, and telling him who he is, and that the Lord is with him. The Lord is here. You know, the Lord's gonna be through him, through this entire process. But one of the biggest things that the Lord gives them in that is peace, you know? And I think as we go through the battles and the different things that we're walking through, one of the things that we need is peace. I mean, that's what I always pray. Like, if I'm facing something, I'm like, "God, give me peace in the situation." Cause I know my anxiety can overtake me at times. And that's something I've struggled with my whole life, is anxiety. And, you know, the great thing is that we have an amazing God that when we're struggling with these things, we can say, "You know what God, I need your peace today. You know, I need you to help me as I walk through these things." And so, you know, what are you guys dealing with this morning? What battle, in this sense, are you facing? One of the biggest things that God can give you in this time is peace. To help you process everything that's going on. You know, maybe it's a decision within. You know, maybe you have a new work decision, you know, you have a job and you know someone else is offering you something. Like, you just need peace in those situations. It could be, you know, you're battling cancer right now and, you know, yes, God can heal you, but He's also gonna give you peace during this time. You know, instead of having to deal with the anxiety of everything that's going on, you know, also ask God, "you are Jehovah Shalom. You are the one that is peace. You know shalom, peace. And so God, give me peace as I battle through these things." And so, you know, for me, that's something that I usually pray, "God, I need peace in this situation." So, you know, that's an easy, or I guess not easy, but that's an opportunity for you guys. You know, let's pray, you know, some of these scriptures out, you know? How can you open these names of God and use them in your prayer life? You know, use them in your devotions or whatever, you know. Me and my wife went through a book, I was trying to remember the name of it and I can't find it. And so, if I find it I'll let you guys know what the name of it is. But it was just the names of God, and it was a devotional that told you the name and it told you scriptures and you read through it, and then you basically just journaled through. And me and my wife spent a couple months just walking through. You know, it didn't obviously have all the names of God, but it had a lot of them. And so I encourage you guys to just kind of, like, read through those and, you know, see what God is speaking to you as you guys read through these names of God. So, just to close out, I was reading through an article, and at the very end of this article this lady asked a question. And this is a question that, you know, comes from when Jesus was talking to his disciples, and Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" And they all answered, you know, in different things, "Well, these people say this, these people say that." And finally, you know, instead of Jesus just allowing them to continue to go through this, "Well, these people say this." He stopped them, and he says, "But what about you? What do you, or who do you say that I am?" And I encourage you readers to, or you listeners today, to stop and quit saying, "this is who everybody says you are God." But get to the point. You could say, "you know what God, this is who you are. This is what I see in Scripture. This is who I know you to be, because of our relationship that I have with you. And so I would encourage each of you guys to get to that point where you can say, you know, "This is who you are." And I could be confident about that because I've been through the, you know, I'm in the scriptures. I'm in a, you know, that devotional life with you. I have that intimate relationship.

What's New in the Cross Reference Library? Truth Be Told!

Truth Changes Everything - Most Americans now believe that Truth is up to the individual, rather than something we can objectively know. People talk about “speaking my truth” rather than “seeking the Truth.” Faced with unprecedented levels of social conflict, purposelessness, and hopelessness, we desperately need to know whether Truth exists and how we can find it. In this inspiring book, Dr. Jeff Myers tells the fascinating stories of Jesus followers who lived for Truth and transformed their world in times of crisis. These determined and often quirky figures led the way in human dignity, science, art, medicine, education, politics, justice, and even the idea of meaningful work. If you sense that we live in hopeless days, it’s time to discover how Truth changes everything, everywhere, all the time. 

Come Sit With Me -  Being human is hard. Being in a relationship with other humans is even harder. But loving one another well is possible. In Come Sit with Me, more than two dozen (in)courage writers help you navigate tough relational tensions by revealing their own hard-fought, grace-filled learning moments. They show you how to: 

• Delight in your differences 

• Honor and value others even when disagree

• Connect before you correct

• Trust that God is working even when people disappoint you

Whether you’re in the middle of a conflict without resolution or wondering how to enter into a friend’s pain, this book will serve as the guide you need to move through challenges and grow closer to God. And it starts by inviting God and others to simply “come sit with me.”

Consistent living in Leadership - 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, Tony Malm, and company.

Mike Clement
We started this conversation and I said, "Well, wait a minute. Let's go back and talk about this." And so, Brother Tony, you were talking about the importance of the idea that what you're preaching from the pulpit isn't just a motivational speech. It's something that needs to be lived out, including you and your family.

Tony Malm
Yes. Oftentimes when we were on the road in evangelism, I would make the statement to that congregation, of course, in evangelism, you're with a different congregation every week. And I would remind them that, "Hey, what I'm preaching here is not just something for Sunday. As a matter of fact, my wife's in the congregation, our son, our daughters, I'm preaching to my family. I'm not just preaching at you people, that we maybe see once a year, but Christianity is something that's to be fleshed out, if you will. It's to find itself in shoe leather on the Mondays and Tuesdays and Wednesdays of life. And, you know, it's amazing how, at least from my perspective, that sometimes people have the idea that being a Christian is all mystical and you escape the realities---the raw realities sometimes---that life can bring. But the fact is, as a pastor, and that's what these programs I've picked up on have had to do from the pastor and his family. Not only does it say that the pastors be the husband of one wife, but the Bible and just two, three verses later says, "one that ruleth well, his own house and having his children in subjection with all gravity." That's from 1 Timothy 3:4. And so the measuring rod for the pastor's qualification has to do with the home. And not that the preachers kids are perfect. I mean, the deacons kids usually are teaching them....No, I'm kidding. But honestly, my children probably heard the first curse words they ever heard, sitting on a pew in a church. And I know that's gonna blow some away to hear that. But we were in church daily and many of the conferences that we were blessed to be a part of, and so there's the reality of, you know, Christianity. It follows us not just from Sunday to Sunday, but from day to day and moment to moment and interaction and challenge. Just right on the way, we have the opportunity to honor the Lord. And God says, if we honor Him, He'll honor us. And I'm so thankful, and I don't wanna take up the whole program, but you know, the greatest blessing for a parent is a child. John said, "I have no greater joy than my children walking in truth." And I'm sitting at a table tonight with two of our children, and I'm thankful for our son, and he and his family are faithful in their church. But a daughter that's just married a pastor, and that has experienced the fact that if you honor God, He'll honor you. As they came to the marriage alter, they brought the gift of purity. It's irreplaceable. And I just pray that God will continue to bless their home, and I know He will, and I'm excited for them. Yet this thing about the gravity in the fact that, you know, what the pastor's preaching to everybody else, well, he's got a checkpoint. Because mom's sitting there, children are sitting there, and so it's a blessing to serve the Lord.

Mike Clement
Years ago, I heard of a congregation that saw a real disparity, wrong word. Whatever, between the pastors preaching. The pastors preaching from the pulpit and the life that he lived during the rest of the week. And someone made the comment. They said "when he preaches, he preaches in a way that we wish that he would never get down. But when he lives during the week, he lives in such a way we wish that he would never get back up again."

Tony Malm
Wow.

Mike Clement
And unfortunately, that happens. You know, that same passage that talks about the qualifications of pastors or bishops. It says, "A bishop then must be blameless." Now, you should understand that blameless does not mean perfect.

Tony Malm
It's not sinless.

Mike Clement
Yeah, it's not sinless. However, I believe that the things that God had in mind are the rest of the things he gives there. But these are the things that, you know, need to be in line with the pastor's life. And it may not be all where we would like to see them. I've always looked for men who are growing, that I can put in positions of leadership. And there have been times when we had somebody come from another church, and I looked at the maturity level of some of our deacons, and he said, "Pastor, you know, why is he a deacon?" And I said, "you can only see where he is right now. You should see where he came from, and the direction that he's going in." I would much rather have somebody in a position of leadership and influence that is growing in their Christian walk. Though, somewhat less mature than somebody who's very mature and dead in the head in every other way. You know, their life may be going in the opposite direction. They may know more about the Bible, but they're not living it. And that's so important. Brother Gleb, how do we apply this from the perspective of being bivocational? Can you define what it means to be bivocational?

Michael Gleb
I'm not a bivocational pastor though.

Mike Clement
You were though, weren't you for a while?

Michael Gleb
No, Actually haven't been able to, and that's, that's been a huge blessing to be able to---

Mike Clement
But comment on it anyway.

Michael Gleb
Well, I'll say this is, you know, sometimes I'm always reminded. I'm like, you know, I'll be up here at the office study in a way, and then I get up on Wednesday night and wonder why they're not as excited as I am to go through the book of Ecclesiastes. And I'm looking out, and I'm thinking to myself, "They've been smacked around by the world today, you know?" And here I was getting excited about studying the Bible, that's what I was doing all day. And, you know, so I have to check myself in that regard and say, "Wait. A little patience with these guys. You know, their tired, they've got the world on them." I sometimes think to myself, "you know, it's a privilege to be able to pastor and not have---and I've been in ministry now, since 2006, full-time ministry. And it looked different in different times, but you know, it's a privilege to be able to study God's word, to help somebody. And when they do come to you on a Wednesday night to give them some encouragement, some needed strength for the rest of the week, so to speak. But, I can't really comment on being bivocational at this point in time, but the Lord may lead me in that direction. Who knows?

Mike Clement
Well, I know for me, there were a couple blessings. One was, I met people that I wouldn't normally meet. I worked with them, you know, they may not come to my church and I might stumble across them at Walmart or something. But I worked with these guys and these gals and so I could see the world that they lived in, and they could watch me live in the same world. And that actually was a blessing. The other thing that helped me understand, was people's limited time. And especially when I was working at the Sugar Beet factory, there was a rotating shift. If you were days this week, you worked afternoons the next week, and you worked midnight the next week, and it rotated around. And boy, some of those were just killers. And then I come to church, you know, just really shot. And that was when my wife's father was the pastor, and I would struggle to stay awake. Just got off of a midnight shift, not enough time to get any kind of a nap. And boy, I would just struggle. And it just gave me a greater appreciation. But that whole idea of being visible, you know, we talk about being visible in the church, the people that are in the church, you're visible in the community too.

Michael Gleb
Yeah. Being in a smaller town like Torrington, you know, I've been here and getting to know people now, the last five years. You know, you go into the radar for the first couple, but you start to get self-involved and, you know, getting friends even outside of church.

Mike Clement
Yeah. And again, there's another place we're talking about. Qualification. It is talking about having a good report with them or without.

Michael Gleb
Yes.

Mike Clement
That's the people you do business with. That's your next door neighbor.

Michael Gleb
And business with. That's important.

Mike Clement
Yeah. I heard a preacher, he was actually a professor at Dallas Seminary, but he just bought a new house. And it was a real deal, because it was the worst looking house in the neighborhood. And so he just threw himself into doing the inside. But he did the outside too, you know, he was planting grass and cutting grass. And he says, he's out there on a real hot, nasty day, sweating like fury. And there's this kid, a neighbor kid that's watching him, and the neighbor kid says to him, "my dad says, 'for a preacher, you sure do work a lot." A little insight to what the neighbor thought. But also a little insight into, you know, what the perspective of a pastor was. And then he said, "the previous owner of that house was a pastor as well." And, you know, we don't worship our lawns. We don't worship our houses. But for people that feel that that's really important, watching their property values go down because of what's going on in your house is important to them and it's got to be important to us. So that whole area of consistency, being the same person---and we've got to be careful because we are called as pastors, were called to be the leader of the church and to lead the flock. But I remember one guy at a conference I went to, he said, "a pastor that's three steps in front of his church is a leader. A pastor that's 12 steps in front of his church is a martyr? You know, you need to understand where your people are, and you bring them along. You know, the shepherd doesn't go running across the field and say, "Keep up!" He's in front at that time. He was in front, but he wasn't aways in front. Always ever to be seen.

Tony Malm
A preacher Evan Hill from Los Angeles talked about, you know, "If you call yourself a leader, but if nobody's following you, your just taking a walk."

Michael Gleb
That's exactly what came to my mind.

Tony Malm
And, you know, in 1 Peter it says, "The elders, which are among you." This thing of being among the people is what I'm hearing. And there's gotta be that interaction. You know, there's even an effort now, an effort of movement; of rather than having a pastor among you and on location, is to go and watch something. And he's in another town. But the Bible says, "among you." The marvel! No wonder God says that it pleased Him by the foolishness of preaching. Here's a person that's breathing the air you breathe, they experienced the hardships. You experienced the same tornado that tore up your house, tore up their house. And yet God uses them with His grace to demonstrate His love. It's undeniable. And only who, but the Lord could have come up with that. We're not just in ivory towers. We live on the same road the other folks live on.

Mike Clement
That's right. As my football coach said, "we put on our pants one leg at a time." You know, I just close with a thought. Years ago, I was making payments to IRS, and I was gonna miss a payment and I knew it. So I went down to the office and I actually got to talk to the guy who was in charge there. Brought me into his office, and I told him what was going on. He said, "well, have you missed any other payments?" I said, "No," and he tapped on his computer and looked at the screen. He said, "Yes, you did. You missed the first one." Well, the first one was in April. I had just finished paying one year, got ready to start paying the next year. And I said, "Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, I really did." And then he said, "Well, you know, we'll make an exception this time. It's all right, you came in." And then we started just talking. And he said, "You know, it's hard for me to go to church anywhere? And I said, "Is that because you work for IRS, and people don't trust you or whatever?" He said, "No, it's because I know what's going on in the finances of the leadership of the church." And then I said, "Oh, and here I am missing a payment." He said, "No, you came in and you made arrangements." He said, "That's what needs to be done." He said, "By the way, if you're gonna miss another one, make sure you call us before you come in." But boy, I mean, it was something to be learned. Terrible experience there.

What's New in the Cross Reference Library?

Active Defense - When former field surgeon Heather Fontaine returns from a party to find that someone has broken into her house—and threatened her friends—she assumes it is the stalker who has been creeping her out. She hopes to find safety and peace of mind by leaving the city and hiding out in a small town. But trouble follows her even there. Luckily, a stalker isn’t the only one observing Heather. Travis Walker has been secretly watching out for her for weeks. As owner of his own security agency, it’s what he does. Together, Travis and Heather must figure out who wants her dead—and why—before it’s too late. 

Colorful Connections - Many conversations are happening at home and in church about difficult and timely topics—but when it comes to race, too many Christians are silent. It’s time to speak up. But where do we start? Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith and Lori Stanley Roeleveld enter a transparent and open dialogue about race, privilege, bias, and discrimination. As you witness the real-time process of meaningful discussion, you’ll see how these women model healthy conversations—giving voice to pain without blame, expressing anger without ridicule, and asking questions without guilt. These pages are filled with vulnerable personal stories, biblical teaching, conversation starters, and practical next steps. By the end, you too will be equipped to have your own colorful conversations, and find your place in healing the racial divide and bringing together the body of Christ. 

We live in an era where this comment is becoming more and more common, “I bet Jesus is coming back soon, because the world is getting pretty close to falling apart.” I’ve heard it said differently by different people, wondering how much worse the politics, racism, war, etc. are gonna get before the end. Even in the Cross Reference Library, you can find plenty of books by authors who help answer your questions about the state of the world today (and for the questions they can’t answer, they try their best to direct you to a place in scripture instead). Our new books this week in particular, indeed touch on issues like racism and the lasting effects of war. In Colorful Connections we are introduced to authors, Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith and Lori Stanley Roeleveld. Both seemed pretty surprised when they were asked to work on this together. Dr. Dalton-Smith even straight out said, “I am not an expert in diversity, inclusion, or equality training.” But a few sentences later she continued by saying, “What I am is a black woman who sits every Sunday on a church pew surrounded by people of every race. We worship together and it’s a beautiful sound.” Lori Stanley Roeleveld also said this, “While I don’t believe racism lurks within every whiite person, I believe there is sufficient statistical and anecdotal evidence to support the contention that prejudice and bias still impact people of color on multiple levels in our times. That said, I never planned to write about racism.” What I love about these introductory statements, is that these two authors are completely laying it out there. Saying stuff like, “I know I’m black/white and I have not actually “lived” in the opposite color. But I’m going to use my experience, my credentials, and my love for Jesus, others, and writing in order to have this conversation.” And as you read on, they ask you to consider 12 different questions like, “How do we respond like Jesus when we disagree,” or “How do we further the kingdom in times of conflict?” So definitely check this book out when you drop by in order to find out what those other questions are. The other new item that was donated to our library is Active Defense by Lynette Eason. It seems to have a little bit of everything: action, danger, romance, and what the lasting effects of war feel like. In chapter one, we get to see Heather in action as she is aiding the wounded over in the Middle East. You can’t help but sympathize with her after she loses a patient that she tried really hard to save from a bomb explosion. After exiting the tent after a long and exhausting day, she sees a sunset and it says, “But she didn’t want to see beauty when she was surrounded by death. Not tonight.” I can’t even imagine what it would be like to experience that pressure. Of constantly looking over your shoulder for an unknown enemy, or even having the lives of friends or strangers in your hands. But the other difficulty that the main character has, is how she feels like she has to go it alone. And, you know, that reminds me of the song, “Lord, I Need You:

Lord I come, I confess

Bowing here I find my rest

Without You I fall apart

You're the one that guides my heart

Lord, I need You, oh I need You

Every hour I need You

My one defense, my righteousness

Oh God, how I need You

You don’t have to go it alone, especially when it feels like you and the entire world is falling apart. So come on down to the Cross Reference Library and check out these powerful reads. 

Can You Talk About The Different Names Of God? - 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 Ben Cline, Jonathan Hernandez, and Gary Schick.

Gary Schick
Hey, we got a great one today. "Can you guys talk about some of the names of God?" And I'm just gonna clue you in listeners. We were like, "No, I want that one." As we're talking about this a little.

Jonathan Hernandez
Yeah, we were fighting over the names.

Gary Schick
So, Jonathan, first, you get all the good ones. There's a lot of good ones.

Jonathan Hernandez
Yeah, there are. So, I went ahead and chose two of them. And so the first one I chose was El Roi. So it's spelled, E-l R-o-i. And so this name came from the story of Hagar in Genesis 16. And so, Adam uh, or Abraham; sorry, I got my stories mixed up in my head.

Gary Schick
It is a little early as we're recording today.

Jonathan Hernandez
It is. So we have Abraham and Hagar, and Abraham obviously is married to Sarah, and they're not able to have children at this time. And so Abraham's nearing the age of, what, a hundred? And he's had a promise from God that he was gonna be the father of many nations, and here he is childless. And through the story, Sarah says, "Why don't you just have my servant Hagar," and so then Hagar ends up being pregnant. And then there's this rift between Sarah and Hagar and just a lot of conflict. And so Hagar runs away and in the wilderness, I guess, she encounters God. And so, she declares God, "the God who sees me in this story." So that's where we come to the word, El Roi. And I think about that. We did a women's conference, or my wife and the women did a women's conference a few years ago, and this was the story that we used during that time. And really just allowing the women to see that, you know, God truly sees you no matter where you're at in life. And so, I think that's good for our listeners to hear, that no matter where we're at. Even if it's in the deepest of our sins, you know, God still sees us and He still cares about us, and He's still coming after us in those times. And it could be in the best points of our lives, you know, where we feel like, "Hey, we're the champions of the world and everything's great. Everything's happening like intended and God still sees us in those moments and still cares for us and is still, you know, is still coming after us in those moments." And so, you know, when I read over that story, I think about those examples, cause there's so many times in life, you know, I think about my life. There's many times when I felt like, "you know, God doesn't see me. How could He see me? You know, I'm living in sin and I'm doing these things and why would God wanna see me in this?" And now looking back seeing, "man, God truly did see me in those times and He truly was still coming after me and pursuing me and trying to bring me into a relationship with Him." And so, you know, just seeing those, you know, those types of examples. I don't know where our listeners are at, but I really hope that they truly see that God truly does see them and wants to have a personal, intimate relationship with them in those times. And so, that was one of the stories that I---the names of God that I chose from scripture. And then the other one was Jehovah Jireh. And I was telling the guys here, "when I was a kid growing up, my mom had a CD in her car that I would always put in, and it was this CD called Metal Praise. And it was heavy metal worship music, and one of the songs was Jehovah Jireh. And I'm not gonna sing it for you guys, cause you guys would probably turn off the radio. It was such a great time in life, I guess, cause you know, I didn't really realize I was listening to worship music. It was just this heavy metal music, and I liked heavy metal music. And so, here I am singing this worship song, you know, "Jehovah Driver, you're my provider." And so I'm sitting there just continuously singing that and not realizing that, you know, all these years singing this song throughout middle or elementary school. I was sitting there declaring to God, "You are my provider." And then at times, like, you know, really just thinking about that. Man, all these times where God provided for us, you know, as a young kid, and then obviously now as an adult. So we look at this Jehovah Jireh, and this origin comes again from Abraham. And this is when he was going up to the hill to Mount Mariah to sacrifice his son. And obviously we know the story, and God provides the lamb and the tree or bush. And, you know, so think about all those times where God provided for you. You know, we can easily take it. I think about five years ago, the heater at the church went out and it's like, you know, the gas company tells us, "This is gonna be a $10,000 job." And we're like, "Wow, this is gonna break us as a church. You know, we got some money in the savings, but this is it. You know, this has taken it all." And through that whole process, you know, we've seen God just providing finances after finances, you know? And so, you know, that's an example of God being the provider in that. But we think of it on an even deeper level, you know, here Isaac is about to be sacrificed. Obviously his life is about to be taken, and God provides, you know, exactly what needs to be at that moment. And, you know, I think about like, in the midst of my rebellion and in my sin, I needed something to be provided and it couldn't be a sports car. It couldn't be, you know, any of these things, it had to be Jesus. And God provided that for me and my place, you know, in the exact moment in time that it needed to be. And so, you know, God has provided that for each of you guys too. That you needed that sacrificial lamb, and God provided that for each of us. And so, those are the two words or names of God that really had spoken to me over. Obviously, all of them have a place in our hearts that, you know, God has spoken to us in those, but these were two that I really enjoyed.

Ben Cline
Yeah, that's great. Thank you, Jonathan. You know, I was just thinking about this question and, you know, this is one of my favorite studies, is studying the names of God. Because each and every one speaks to, you know, a part of God's character that is so, like, intimately involved with our lives. And so it's just neat to see, through scripture the way that, you know, God has provided these things to us as believers and they meant something. And speaking of names, you know, in the Bible names were something that were very important to the people, you know, historically in the Bible. And it's so neat to look into those names; the names that people gave to their children and different things like that. The names that, you know, there were times when God renamed somebody to something else and it was for a purpose and it was because those names meant something. You know, and we can do that now. We can look at our names, and look it up and see if they mean something. You know, I know that my name, I'm not sure if my parents were, you know, thinking about this during the time when they actually named me. But, you know, my name Benjamin means, "Son of my right hand." And I've always taken that, you know, kind of in a humorous way, because I ended up being lefthanded. No, I'm just kidding. But, you know, just thinking about the names of God, they do mean something, and it's just fun to look into. A couple of names that I was looking at; one of them is Yahweh or Jehovah Rohi, and that means, "The Lord is our Shepherd." So you guys think of, you know, this came from Psalm 23, from that first verse that says, "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not be in want." And we know the, you know, or if you don't know it, you can look up Psalm 23 and read through the rest of that short psalm. And that's really just David's heart, you know, thanking God for who he is and carrying him through the times that were really rough, and taking him to green pastures and still waters. But this is how it starts, he praises God saying, "You are my shepherd." And so he, you know, David there, he's looking at his relationship, and he understands this because he was a shepherd to his sheep, you know, in a very physical hands on way. And, you know, the Lord is our shepherd as well, we are the sheep of His pasture. You know, so we get to look at that one and understand that God guides us and leads us along. God provides protection for us. You know, the shepherds back then, that was a good part of their job; was to provide protection against the enemy animals that would come in to try to eat the sheep and to kill the sheep. You know, we know that this life can be rough. There's a lot of times when we really feel the attacks, you know, from the enemy. But God is our shepherd, He's there to protect us and to guide us and lead us to still waters and green pastures. And so that was one of the names that I got to look at. And then another one is Jehovah Shammah, and I don't know if I'm saying that right, but that's okay. And this name of God means, "The Lord is there," and I love the history behind this. It comes from Ezekiel 48:35 and it says, "the circumference of the city." And when it's talking about the city it's talking about Jerusalem, "the circumference of the city shall be 18,000 cubits. And the name of the city from that time on shall be, The Lord is There. You know, the history of this that I was reading about is that, this was the name that was given to Jerusalem and to the temple there. Just talking about how the once departed, you know, presence and glory of the Lord was now there. And, you know, to me this is a reminder that the Holy Spirit lives inside of us. If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit lives inside of us. And the Lord is "there," and I'm sitting here on the radio pointing to myself. But you know, just that reminder that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. That's how God has designed things for us in this age. And, you know, just that reminder that God is always there. It's easy to think that He's not, but He is always there. He is always with us. So those are a couple of the names that I was thinking of.

Gary Schick
Boy, you know, this could be a series.

Ben Cline
It could be.

Gary Schick
Cause really guys, you have just, and I appreciate that you've kind of gone into a little depth on them. You've just touched on a couple of the Old Testament names of God the Father. We haven't even thought about the names for Jesus and the Holy Spirit here. And probably just to give our listeners a little background, I thought you guys pointed out so well. So, you know, it seems like with a lot of our names, we don't always know the meanings. Scriptural names and particularly names of God have meaning and are revelatory. They reveal something about Him. Furthermore, so many times those names come forth in moments of need. And so, you know, "You are the God who heals me at a time when," guess what the person was looking to God for. "You are the Lord my shepherd. As I'm seeking, as I'm needing that from---you are the God who sees me, you are the God who hears me." All these things, showing the intimacy of who our God is. I just kind of want to key in a little bit here on a couple of the big ones. You were talking about Jehovah Jirah, and that's a great song. How about the Amy Grant song, El Shaddai, right? Everybody, or a lot of us---I shouldn't say everybody---remember this song, and I think it even bridged into the secular world. I think Amy Grant was kind of one of the first to bridge out of the little Christian subculture into; this was actually an album that became popular in the secular world. And how cool that a song, I think it was written by Michael Card actually, who has a number of the names of God wrapped up in it. Listeners, you probably notice some of these names are a little hard to pronounce. That's because they're describing it in the original Hebrew language that it was spoken in. And so, you know, when we say Yahweh Nissi or Jehovah Nissi, "The Lord's my banner." That's what it is in Hebrew. So anyway, probably the key name of God in the Old Testament would be the name that God's people stopped saying. We believe it's pronounced, Yahweh. It was mistranslated back in the days of when they were doing the King James version as Jehovah, so that's kind of an English invented word. And the reason is, is because the Jews took so seriously God's command not to take His name in vain. This was the name that God gave to Moses. Essentially, it means "I am who I am." And so when Jesus stands in the garden of Gethsemane and they, you know, "who are you looking for?" And "well, we're looking for Jesus," and He says, "I am," and they all fell before Him. That's because essentially in Greek, He spoke the very name of God and was identifying Himself. So often in John, we see this close identification with Jesus and Yahweh in the Old Testament. And Yahweh is a sacred name of God that was given by God to Moses in the burning bush. Moses said, "Lord, they're in Egypt, there's all these gods. When they say, 'Well, which God shall I say, sent me to you?" It's the one who really is none of these fake gods. None of these made up gods, the One who is the origin of everything. "I am who I am." And so, how did we get to Jehovah? Well, in the Hebrew, they have kept the letters for Yahweh, but they put in the vowels for a different name of God, Adonai, which means "Lord." And so every time a Jewish person would come to the name Yahweh in scripture, they would see the consonants of Yahweh and the vowels of Lord. They would read Yahweh, but would say, "Lord," so that they did not say the name of God. And then along came the English translators, and just kinda ran that over with a truck and put them all together and came up with this new word, brand new word, Jehovah. But God knows who we're talking about when we speak of Him. And so it's not wrong to say Jehovah, and it's not wrong to use the name of the Lord. I mean, the Psalms are full of the name Yahweh, it's a beautiful name. Boy, there's a lot more names I would just like to touch on here, but let's not forget some of the names of Jesus too. In the Old Testament: Wonderful Counselor, Every lasting Father, Prince a Peace, that's who Jesus is. Let's not forget some of the names of the Holy Spirit: Comforter, Counselor. Just to start, I mean, look at Jesus' final words to the disciples in John 14-17. He lists several names and aspects, descriptions of the Holy Spirit and what he does in our lives. And probably, you guys have seen this too. Have you ever seen that poster with just the names of Jesus? I mean, that could be a series, you know? Lord of Lords, King of Kings, Savior, Prince of Peace, Lion of Judah, right? Lamb of God. So many descriptions of who He is to us. And so, great question, wish we could talk, this is one we could talk about all day. And maybe in a sense, listeners, this is your little assignment, is to kind of think about some of the names of God that you know, and how are they precious to you? And then use those names in your conversation with God as you speak to Him today.

Transforming Lives - 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
All right, well we've been discussing life change and transformation as a part of what it means to follow Jesus and to become a follower of His. Again, Jesus didn't just say, "get saved," but he said, "Come follow me." And so following Jesus means; it means some things for our lives. We've been talking about that. Sometimes we don't see the life transformation that we would hope to see. There can be breakdowns in that. So we've kind of been breaking down Romans 12, the first couple verses, and just unpacking that a little bit. John set up this discussion for us.

John Mulholland
Yeah. The last video we talked about, "Not Copying the Behavior and Customs in this World." And one of the things I liked about that conversation is, we didn't get overly specific. Like, it's not a list of dos and don'ts, which I know we're gonna talk more about this time; like making sure of these behaviors. But it really is about who we are, rather than what we do. But this time we're gonna talk about the next part of Romans 12:2, "but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think."

Jon Simpson
So one of the things I observed, just to maybe start this off, is that there has been a tendency throughout the history of the church, and you could say not just within Christianity. But there's been a tendency to try to control behavior and to set up rules, if you will. And kind of go towards those rules as ways of measuring and kind of defining, I guess, this life transformation or observing it. And yet this verse, it seems to me, says the opposite of that, you know? Rather than external rules that we can observe, Kylie I know you're a good Christian because you don't drink, you don't smoke, you don't chew, you don't go with girls, you know, that kind of stuff. But this is a transformation in the way you think, who you are inside. And I don't know why that is not what we gravitate towards in the church. Seems like we gravitate towards the observable metrics and behaviors. So how do we change the way we think? What does that look like and how does that happen?

Kiley Calloway
It all goes back again to finding his good pleasing and perfect will. And that's through the word. As far as---

Tyson Lambertson
Okay, so you would say that primary---I'm just gonna dump a whole bunch of words in.

Kiley Calloway
Dump that.

Tyson Lambertson
So you would say the primary way that God transforms us into a new person by changing the way we think is through his word? Is that fair? Because I would say that.

Kiley Calloway
What's the Bible stand for? Basic instructions before leaving Earth. So, you know, it's not about my works. It's not about me checking off my list: I did this today, I'm a good Christian. It's about getting into the word and transforming my mind. Like I said, you know, last session, there are a lot of things that I just don't agree with, but I have to transform my mind. It's the computer, right? It's the software of how I'm gonna live. But deeper than that, the mind's a terrible place to get into, because I mean, you're talking about strongholds, you're talking about offenses, you're talking about hurts. You're talking about patterns of thinking. You're talking about thinking ruts, thinking traps, icebergs that are there that will drive you to the opposite of God's word. Will drive the flesh and bring out the ugliness in our heart, so to speak, that the Bible clearly says, "Don't do this, don't do that." I mean, we say it's not a list of rules. Actually, there are some lists. There is the law of Christ, now that we've come into the New Testament, there are some things that we shouldn't do. And actually it's a little bit harder than the Old Testament was. But I have to transform my mind and follow the word.

John Mulholland
That's one of my favorite things about reading, especially through Paul's letters, is so many times he'll indicate, like, "the Christian life is not about following a list," and then here's a list for you to follow. Like, I just love the way he does that. So this really, I mean, we could end the video 10 minutes early if we wanted to. So really, what we're telling people is, you need to read your Bible.

Jon Simpson
But can I say something with your comment that he says, "it's not about a list, but then he gives a list?" But I think he gives the list because it is a way to measure, "What are you doing?" If you have these behaviors, you know, he'll say, "if you're doing these things, what you're not doing is living out your relationship with Jesus." Because a person doing that would never do these things. So he does it kind of like a, to me it's a measurement in a way.

Kiley Calloway
The list goes back to, this is the list of what the Lord wants.

John Mulholland
And Paul's list; and when he puts up competing lists. Like, if we were to look in Galatians 5 where we see the work, I think it's the works of the flesh versus the fruit of the spirit. If we were to compare those two lists, the fruit of the spirit are all character. So when Paul gives a list, his lists are character traits rather than behaviors. And whenever he does mention behaviors, the behaviors always flow out of those character lists. So for me, that's so much of what we're talking about here, being transformed into a new person. Like, that's the character that God is after, that Jesus is after, that Paul's after. That this whole book is really working on, is changing our character, who we are inside, like you said.

Kiley Calloway
So that's why it says "so, I say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh."

Tyson Lambertson
Well, so our mind is probably the most sophisticated piece of machinery ever known on planet Earth. How God created our minds. If you're like me, my emotions can lead me even though their real, can lead me down the wrong path. And I think that in this, the Lord always wants us to align our mind with His perfect will. His perfect will is in scripture. His perfect will can be fleshed out, but it's a constant battlefield of the world's identity of the mind versus God's identity and how to flesh that. So transformation, when you talk about transformation, cause this is a passionate piece and you having your degree in psychology and counseling and those things, how do you work that? How do you help somebody transform the renewing of their minds? To produce, sorry, produce is probably the wrong word. But to enlighten them to scripture and what God's best is for them.

Kiley Calloway
Right. So if we think about people, all people can do is behave. Like we're behaving with one another right now. We're behaving for this audience, and then when the camera goes off, we'll behave right?

John Mulholland
A different kind of behavior!

Kiley Calloway
Right? So all behavior is total behavior, and if we look at it as a car, there are two wheels up front, two wheels in the back. The two wheels in the back, we don't have a lot of control over, which is our feelings and our physiology. And a lot of people right now in society today are being motivated by their feelings. The Bible says, "let's flip that and let's control the two front wheels, the two front wheels we have direct control over." Sometimes we can't control our feelings. You may say something to me and a feeling wells up, a past event wells up that's been in my mind. But the two front wheels is my thinking and my actions. So as I conform my mind to His word, now the feelings and the physiology align. So now my feeling submits to my mind, because I've renewed it with the word of God. And what I tell people and what the Holy Spirit's been dealing with me is all people can do is give you information. And what you do with that information internally is totally up to you and how much you've gotten into the word. Because people can offend you, people can hurt you, people can say something and your automatic response is to get defensive. But if my mind is filled with His word, then my feelings and my physiology line up. Cause my feelings can affect my physiology. If I start feeling like, "oh my," then I start getting tense and that angry feeling and you know, just shaken. But my mind can control that, especially when it's filled with His word. And again, when I know who I am, I know what to do.

Tyson Lambertson
Just wanna make sure you're not saying that emotions don't matter, because emotions do matter greatly. Correct?

Kiley Calloway
Yes, emotions matter. I mean, that's why God gave us emotions right? That there are indications to certain things. You know, the Bible says, "don't let the sun go down on your anger." Anger is a good emotion in you, but what you do with that is definitely wrong. Fear is an emotion, but it's genetically put in us by God to get away from something that's dangerous. But if we take fear to an area where, you know, it's false evidence appearing real, then it can mess with our mind, that feeling, and we can think of things that are not even there. We can jump to conclusions. We can have all kinds of different things that are affecting us. So no, God's given us emotions, He's given those as indicators. Some indicators of what's going on internally in us as far as our heart and our spirit as warning signs. But to be very careful cause if you allow this emotion to keep going, it could cause some horrible things. But that's where I think, you know---here's what I say---God would've never put it in scripture if we couldn't do it. He's not gonna put something in there that's impossible. With His help, His power, His grace and His mercy, and then the direction of the Holy Spirit, we can transform our minds. We can control those two wheels and the physiology and the feelings will follow.

Jon Simpson
So kind of what I hear you saying too, in this sanctification transformation, is that it can be fruitless in a sense, or backwards if we focus on trying to change what we feel or trying to change those reactions that we can have to things. But really, you said something important, we can change the way we think, and so that's something within our power to change. Which is what the scriptures actually say that we should allow God to change the way we think here, right? He will change the way we think. So as we interact with Him, as we interact with the truth, both through his word, through the Holy Spirit who's present in our lives, then He will change the way we think about things. For instance, I think Jesus---

Kiley Calloway
By getting into the word.

Jon Simpson
So Jesus said, "Hey, don't worry about what you're going to eat, what you're gonna drink, what you're gonna wear. The pagans worry about that stuff. You belong to your father in heaven. He's got you covered." So, kind of a way for Jesus to change the way we think about this life and what matters. Cause it's awful easy to worry an awful lot. Thinking an awful lot what we're gonna eat what we're gonna wear, how we're gonna live. I mean, that consumes most people's lives in this world. And Jesus goes, "no, think differently." Right? Is that a good example of kind of the change of thinking that can change how we feel about stuff?

Kiley Calloway
Yeah, but that doesn't happen instantly at salvation. That's where I still say, as I make Him the Lord of my life, I'm hearing His heart, I'm hearing His mind, I'm hearing how He's thinking. And as I hear how He thinks and what He wants to see in my life. The guardrails He wants me to put in my life, how if I do this, blessing will come. I wanna be blessed, I don't know about y'all. I mean, I'm a little selfish here. I wanna live a good life. And in the word, He shows me ways to be that better person that's gonna bring those blessings. So, yes. You said He changes the way we think. Not instantaneously. I get into His word to discover what He says about my life.

John Mulholland
Yeah, and I think recognizing too, like for someone who's not a believer, and for someone who doesn't have the Holy Spirit actively working in their life, most likely they're gonna read this book and it's gonna be gibberish. It's not gonna make any sense. Which goes into, like, kind of a sideline conversation we had before we started recording this whole series was; and maybe this is another day where we record this one, but we asked the question, "are people really saved?" Like, what level of recognizing that the Holy Spirit is the one who, God transforms us, we don't transform ourselves. 100% in agreement with that. If someone has been a Christian for 25 years and there's no marked transformation in their life; like if that were me, I would think it would be reasonable for me to wonder like, "Am I really a follower of Christ?" That's probably a conversation for another day. But I think that's a reasonable point that someone, I think that could be a place where someone could reasonably question that and draw that conclusion. If there is no marked difference in my life, am I really a Christian?

Tyson Lambertson
One thing that we need to make mention of, is in this the Holy Spirit is a gentleman and He's not there with a whipstick or a cattle prod saying, "You messed up, I'm gonna shock you." He's always guiding us into this transformation, and renewal of the moral mind.

What's in the Cross Reference Library? Uplifting Self-Help Material

Breaking Anxiety’s Grip - No question, we have a lot to worry about. Children, jobs, homes, homes, health, finances, and more. The solution isn’t to rid ourselves of the sources of anxiety—as if we could. Instead, we need to recognize that anxiety originates from a spiritual influence and that we can fight back using the God-given weapons of power, love, and a sound mind. Sharing her own story of emerging from the battle with anxiety as well as the stories of others, Dr. Michelle Bengtson reminds you of your identity as a follower of Christ and of the peace he promises you in spite of everything. She provides tools to cope with the crushing emotional burden of anxiety now and, more importantly, shows you how to reclaim God’s peace as a way of life so that you can break anxiety’s grip.

Life’s Healing Choices - Are you hurting? Is someone you love hurting? There’s no doubt, we are living in uncertain times. Some people are losing their jobs or homes. Others are suffering emotionally from their hurts. Many are losing their hope for the future. It seems everybody needs to recover from something. But the good news is that Jesus gave us a way to recover, that will work for every problem we face. And personal recovery can lead to church-wide revival and ultimately national renewal. You don’t have to hurt alone. Make healing choices by taking this important spiritual growth journey. 

7 Steps to Courage - Are you feeling overwhelmed by your life—barely keeping your head above water? Does it feel as if you’re going down for the third time? Don’t despair! 7 Steps to Courage is a life preserver. And you’re just one choice away from correcting the trajectory of your life. Your journey toward freedom begins the moment you choose to stand up and face your life with courage. In 7 Steps to Courage author Ann White shares with authenticity and raw emotion the story of how she walked away from a life steeped in dysfunction to a life restored in God’s grace. With vulnerability she provides the tools you need in order to act rather than react, become empowered by making brave choices, and find joy as you celebrate freedom from your fears. 7 Steps to Courage offers seven intentional, doable steps that can ultimately alter your life, no matter what fearful situation you’re experiencing. Ann provides step-by-step direction and proven guidance on how to proceed and succeed in changing your life from frozen to freedom.

Our library is filled with all kinds of books that are filled with content that is targeted toward helping you with your walk with God. We have stuff for: men, women, teenagers, married and dating couples, and for those who are single and for families in general. But the books that I want to tell you guys about this week are our Self Help material. Now, one of the best things about the books in our Self Help section, is the fact that the authors are experts in the field they are writing about. They aren’t just sharing their opinion on courage and anxiety, but use scientific facts and definitions to back that opinion. But, more importantly, these authors use facts from the Bible and what they know about God, in order to lead their readers on their journey toward peace and courage. One of the first examples of that is in Breaking Anxiety’s Grip, when author Dr. Michelle Bengtson says, “Being at peace means we can rest, be still, and trust God to keep us safe through it all.” Along with also saying, “If you are depressed, you’re living in the past. If you are anxious, you’re living in the future. But if you are at peace, you’re living in the present.” These statements came after another interesting thought from Dr. Bengtson, “When we entertain worry, anxiety, and fear, we sacrifice our peace.” We don’t just want peace to be a word we hear in a Christmas carol, but to see it out live the anxious moments in our lives. 

Along with overcoming anxiety and fear with peace, author Ann White gives her readers the 7 Steps to Courage. And those 7 steps are simply these:

Commit to Change

Overcome Obstacles

Uncover our True Self 

Replace Worldly Lies with Scriptural Truth

Accept the Things We Cannot Change 

Grasp God’s Love for Us

Embrace a Life of Grace

As you continue to read through this book, Ann explains what each of these means and how you can apply them to your life! 

The final book that I read for this week was Life’s Healing Choices by John Baker. I liked this one a little more than the other two books, because John throws a lot of content that could become relatable for whoever is reading.  Two examples that he gives are, “the apostle Paul felt a similar frustration, ‘It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong…there is something else deep within me that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin.” And John even includes stories of people who struggled but overcame those mental and physical trials. In these stories, each person thanks our Lord Jesus for the victory and has devoted their lives to helping others reach that peace, along with introducing them to God. So if you are struggling with depression and anxiety, and would like to learn more about what these authors have to say, come into the Cross Reference Library to check some of our Self Help material. 

— “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

What Are Your Churches Doing About The Problem Of Pornography? - 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, Ben Cline, and Jonathan Hernandez.

Gary Schick
Today's topic is a relevant one because of the world we're living in. And apparently, I don't know, maybe you folks have been hearing about it for a week, because they're asking all the pastors this question. So the question is--it comes to us and it comes to the others---"what is your church doing to address pornography? What resources is your church providing for the betrayed spouse's trauma?" So, Jonathan, you wanna get us rolling?

Jonathan Hernandez
Yeah, so when I look at this, you know, I would think there could be a listener out there saying, "Well, is pornography really a sin? Is it something that bad?" In scripture, there's a couple things, Matthew 5:28 says, "but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart." And so that was the easy one to, you know, go to and look at. Also, Ephesians 5:3 says, "But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetness must not even be named among you as is proper among the saints." And 1 Corinthians 6:18-19 says, "Flee from sexual morality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God." And so that would also look at the question as, "Well, pornography doesn't hurt anybody," or right there it just talks about how it hurts, you know, obviously it grieves the Holy Spirit. So, just kind of knocking those things out of the way to look at. You know, so some of the things like within our church, we just make sure, you know, so we'll ask, like in our men's group, and then hopefully our women are also covering these topics too. Cause it, you know, pornography is not just something that is, you know, within the men. There's also women that struggle with it. So just making sure that, you know, it's an open topic and that we're not, you know, somebody comes up to me and they say, "Hey Pastor John, I'm dealing with pornography." I don't shame them or, you know, put them down for it but, "hey, let me walk alongside you with this. I understand how you feel and where you're at." And one thing I always tell him is, "I'd love to hear now, that you say that you're struggling. Because if you're not struggling with this, it's not an issue to you and you're fine doing it all the time. But now that you're struggling, let's continue to walk through this struggle, and get you to the point where you're no longer struggling with pornography, but you're set free from it. And you don't have to continue to walk in that, you know, in that past." Is the enemy always gonna try to use pornography on that person? Probably. You know, the enemy's not gonna just keep bringing up this new stuff. He's like, "hey, you dealt with this in the past. Let me try to get you with this now." And so you always have to stay on guard as that person moves forward. But, you know, also making sure that we're not shaming that person for, you know, coming out and saying, "Hey, this is what I'm struggling with." But then also making sure that they're surrounded by people that are uplifting for them. You know, fellow Christians that that person can call and say, "Hey, I'm struggling right now and I really want to go back into this." And, you know, they can help talk to them, "Hey, let's go out for coffee. Let's get you out of, you know, being alone," or however that may look. And so, you know, those are kind of, I guess, tools in a sense that we have within our body. You know, making sure that they're not alone. That they know that they have people that they can talk to. And then having, with a guy that I helped walk through this a couple years ago, we met every week and just kind of talked about, "Okay, where you're at? How are you handling this?" And so, that was just kind of what we did as he walked through that process. And then, you know, resources; there's like, Covenant Eyes on the internet that you can, I'm not sure how much it costs. But you purchase it or whatever, and then you have it put on all your phones. He can, you know, if it's the guy or lady, whoever's struggling with it, then they'll have an accountability person that has access. So, the Covenant Eyes will send that person a report every week and says, "Hey, they've looked at this many sites," or whatever it may be. And so those are some resources that I guess that I know of.

Ben Cline
That's great. Thank you, Jonathan. It's interesting being a, you know, a smaller congregation. Being a smaller church, a lot of times there are not the resources, you know, to be a part of as a church together. And so, you know, the approach that we take, the approach that I personally take is similar to yours Jonathan. I think that when those issues come up, then we can deal with them. You know, there's a thing that has to happen in a person's heart, you know, to be convicted by the Holy Spirit, to be ready to deal with those things. But one of the things that I really stand, you know, very firmly on, is as we are teaching through the chapters and the verses and the books of scripture, that we don't leave those issues behind. You know, we've been in the book of Acts, and I think that my church probably is like, "when are we gonna get done with the book of Acts?" Cause it's one of the longest books in the Bible. But, you know, when we came across chapter 15, you know, they're at the Jerusalem Council and there's people who are bringing in issues that are non-salvation issues and saying that they're required to be saved. Well, they convene together and they make this decision that there are a few things that they biblically want to place on the gentile believers. You know, they say, "these are things that you need to follow, because these are things that are clearly covered in scripture." And in verse 20 it says, "but we write to them that they may abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and what is strangled from blood." So these are the things that they said to the gentile believers, "These are the things you need to abstain from." And you notice that the word fornication is in there. You know, this would include lustfully looking at a woman. This would include inappropriate relationships. This would include pornography, and different things like that. And so, you know, we run across those situations that are recorded in the pages of scripture. And we make sure that we clearly teach them as we're facing them, through those verses and through that teaching. And then, you know, the other thing too, is that I am so thankful for other congregations in this valley. Other ministries that have the resources to be able to offer things like, you know, Celebrate Recovery. And, you know, those are things that we can encourage our people to be a part of and to take part in, if they are struggling with things like pornography. And so yeah, that's kind of where we are.

Gary Schick
And I'm glad this question comes up, because it's a problem. It's a problem in our culture. I mean, there was a time, you know, at least when I was a kid, I found out that you guys are a bit younger than me. But when I was a kid, you know, like you might, somebody found a magazine in a trash can or something. Today, it's right there on everybody's phone if you go looking for it. And a lot of people do. And as pointed out, it used to be considered kind of a men's problem, because men are more visually wired. You know, we're attracted to our eventual spouses initially, visually, and then we get to know them. Thankfully women, I think, are a little bit more emotionally wired. But regardless, women are becoming addicted as well today. And so, in one sense it is as old as time. I don't think we really know for sure which is the oldest book in the Bible, but I've heard it speculated that it's Job, because of the ancient language. Of course, it's poetry, which often uses ancient language. Maybe the oldest book in the Bible. And Job himself said, "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look at a young woman lustfully." So there it is. So, Job knew what the lust of the eyes was. John writes about, you know, the lust of the eyes. Paul warns Timothy, "treat the young women as sisters, the older women as mothers, the older men as fathers, younger men as brothers." In other words, you know, "here's healthy relationships for you Timothy as a young single person in ministry." And by the way, people in ministry struggle with this too. I think statistically, it's kind of flat; everybody. You know, it's one of those things. There's a natural element to it, the natural element of attraction, but then it's taken to a place where it shouldn't go. You know, your eyes should only be for your spouse in those intimate ways. And that's what scripture calls us to, that private place of husband and wife. So, all of that said, you know, what are the resources? In ministry, I remember the first time that---and you know, by the way, I think you put it well in terms of, how does this change happen? Somebody asked me once, "how many counselors or psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb?" Do you guys know? "Only one, but the light bulb has to want to change." And that's a problem, not only with this addiction, but any addiction or any sin really. People, you know, can come; I've had on a few occasions, a guy will come to me. Often, it's because his wife is bringing him to me. And right there in a sense is, "yes, this is right, it's good, there's a problem," but how unfortunate that it's his wife bringing him. Because until he gets to that place that he says, "I want change," he's not gonna. It's gonna remain the private sin. I mean, you can have all the accountability out there, but you still have to make yourself accountable to it. That said, if you are struggling, and a lot are; and you know, I guess one of the good things is, it used to be all sort of hush, hush, covered up. It's so blatant and so out there in our society, it's not even such a big deal anymore. Please, go talk to your pastor about it, and make yourself accountable. And as you've pointed out, you know, in our smaller churches, what's the resource? Well, we as pastors are; we and our wives. And so, you know, I've had the situation more than once. Where a guy will come to me struggling in some way, or even a younger person, and then you know, my wife will be that resource for the wife. But in terms of resources, I think Jonathan put it well. I know there's a ton of resources on the internet. There's Covenant Eyes; there are apps you can put on your phone, and really you need to go there because that's probably, in this day and age where people are getting this stuff. They're getting it electronically, so you probably need some electronic solutions. I think you need to connect somewhere for accountability, whether it's with your pastor, another older, wiser Christian. A place like Celebrate Recovery is great, because there you're probably gonna get connected with somebody else who's somewhere along the same road you are. You know, whether it's Celebrate Recovery, that deals with all the addictions: sexual addictions, alcohol addictions, drug addictions. And they'll probably connect you up with somebody else who's on that same path, who's a little further down the road, that you can be accountable to, who will understand your struggles. I think that's helpful too. Somebody who gets where you're at. Also, there's some great reading resources. I remember, you know, the first time somebody came to me. I just kind of scratched my head and went looking at the Christian bookstore. And I think back when this issue began to become an issue, the only book out there was called Every Man's Battle by Steve Arterburn. And what's kind of neat about that book is, there is also a section at the end of each chapter for the wife. Or was it Arterburn who wrote that? I can't remember for sure, but I know that, you know, there was an author who wrote it, and I think he had struggled with it. And so he's telling his story of how he got out of it. So it may or may not have been Steve Arterburn, I don't know, but I know it's connected with his line of books. But then there's kind of the woman's response. And again, yes, today it's both a men's and women's issue. But probably the, you know, the larger percentage still is men because of how we're more visually wired. And so the woman talking about, you know, how she feels the betrayal she feels and coming to terms and helping her husband work through it. And then I remember, I had a youth pastor at one time, and he came scratching my head and said, "Hey, we got one in our youth." And so there's also Every Young Man's Battle out there, which I think is again, by the same author, but it's more focused for teenagers. The only struggle I had with that book, you know, because I had a guy coming to me, and so I began to read it. And it had kind of a lot of, you know, like "stories in terms of," and "here's how this happened in my life and where it went." And it's like, boy, that left some images in my mind just reading his stories. You know, like, I don't think I want that necessarily. So a third book that I came to along the way in ministry, um, what was it called? It was called Finely Free Fighting for Purity With the Power of Grace by Heath Lambert. And that was a great book, in the sense that it dealt with the issue without all the stories that just sort of create more images in the mind. And actually, that book kind of, even though it was addressed to that issue, I thought it really dealt well with probably almost any addiction in terms of dealing with it. With accountability and the power of the Holy Spirit and God's grace. And again, it's author was a person who had walked the road, you know? They weren't just coming at it from an aspect of this, a problem in our society or an interest in it, or whatever. It's, "I've been there. I've been right where you're at. If you're out there dealing with this, here's where I was and here's where the Lord has brought." And so, I think those are all helpful. But the one thing, you know, just to kind of finish up is, it's a strange thing. Even though it's sort of, it's even joked about like in sitcoms, you know? Pornography, as if that was no big deal, even though it destroys marriages. I've seen marriages destroyed. I've heard that it leads to impotency interestingly. I mean, just all kinds of problems. Nevertheless, it's a very private sin. People, you know, they don't want to admit to it. They don't want to talk about it. Well, if you're there, if you're struggling or if you've got a spouse or loved one who's struggling....Satan loves it when we try to deal with our own problems by ourselves in the dark, because that's where he can surround us and keep us captive. Get with somebody who you can open up to and really get on the path to freedom.

What's in the Cross Reference Library? Some Good Ol’ Fashioned Historical Romance!

Wonderland Creek - Alice Grace Ripley lives in a dream world, her nose stuck in a book. But the happily-ever-after life she’s planned on suddenly falls apart when her boyfriend breaks up with her, accusing her of living in a world of fiction instead of the real one. To top it off, Alice loses her beloved library job because of cutbacks due to the Great Depression. Longing to run from small-town gossip, Alice flees to the mountains of eastern Kentucky to deliver five boxes of donated books to the tiny coal-mining town of Acorn, a place with no running water, no electricity, and where the librarians ride ornery horses up steep mountain passes to deliver books. When Alice is forced to stay in Acorn far longer than she planned, she discovers that real-life adventure, mystery—and especially romance—may be far better than her humble dreams could have imagined. 

A Lady of Good Family - Raised among wealth and privilege during America’s fabled Gilded Age, a niece of famous novelist Edith Wharton and a friend to literary great Henry James, Beatrix Farrand is expected to marry, and marry well. But as a young woman traveling through Europe with her mother and aunt, she already knows that gardens are her true passion. How this highborn woman with unconventional views escapes the dictates of society to become the most celebrated female landscape designer in the country is the story of her unique determination to create beauty and serenity while remaining true to herself. Beatrix’s journey begins at the age of twenty-three in the Borghese Gardens of Rome, where she meets beguiling Amerigo Massimo, an Italian gentleman of sensitivity and charm—a man unlike any she has known before….

Beyond All Dreams - Anna O’Brien leads a predictable and quiet life as a map librarian at the illustrious Library of Congress until she stumbles across the baffling mystery of a ship disappeared at sea. Thwarted in her attempts to uncover information, her determination outweighs her shyness and she turns to a dashing congressman for help. Luke Callahan was one of the nation’s most powerful congressmen before his promising career was shadowed in scandal. Eager to share in a new cause and intrigued by the winsome librarian, he joins forces with Anna to solve the mystery of the lost ship. From the gilded halls of the Capital to the scholarly archives of the nation’s finest library, Anna and Luke are soon embroiled in secrets much bigger and more perilous than they ever imagined. Is bringing the truth to light worth risking all they’ve ever dreamed for their futures?