HOT TAKE Series Finale | Hot Topic Q&A | Lakewood Young Adults

[Music] well welcome everybody to Lya how we feeling good well listen it it is the finale of our uh series that we've been in called hot takes and I hope you've enjoyed it if you miss it you can catch them on uh online on on our YouTube channel so shout out to everybody who's watching even now from near and far but I want to not take too much time because we have someone here with us who is so near and dear to our hearts who does not need an introduction but he does deserve to be honored and celebrated here in the house he is a our in-house Theologian I would say and I just want to tell you when before I bring him up and when he does come up I want you to stand up and give him an Lya welcome but this individual is he's one of those those pastors that you sit with and you know we we like to talk about all different types of things but when you sit down and talk with them you leave and you for me I know I realize man I have so much more to learn in a good way you know like I just learned so much from him and so much that I want to dive into the Bible to learn and read and explore and um and he's just just an awesome man of God an amazing Communicator would you stand to your feet Lya put your hands together for a pastor Jeremy Murray good yeah [Music] there we go Jeremy all right you can have a seat well thank you everybody I appreciate that it was very kind we also like to call Mr Monday nights so if you haven't watched uh on YouTube we do have and I I promise this isn't like you know some sort of sale or anything but this is great because we have Bible study here at Lakewood Church and so Pastor Jeremy helps lead the charge in that and every Monday night you can catch all of the different studies that happen it's incredible it's amazing um yeah so thank you PJ we love you thanks for being back absolutely absolutely thanks for having me what's up everybody we good good to see all of you well we are we're gonna have some conversation you know uh I know it said panel but really I told PJ I said listen we're just gonna have some some questions that have the people have asked so how many of y'all have been following on our stories and all you've been seeing some some questions that have come in anybody know what what I'm talking about yeah some questions have come in we'll answer some of those some of these have been questions that have been asked throughout the series and so um before we even get to all of that I just want to open up by saying I love these conversations because they're open they're candid they're real they're raw and it's kind of like hey let's sit in the living room let's have a little bit of a family chat yeah and I love these because you know everybody has questions right everybody has questions and this is an opportunity for us to not say we're the experts by any means but how can we discover the truth of God more and more as we have these questions and how can we have a deeper understanding of what God's plan and purpose in all of the questions that we have so PJ you had you encouraged even our team in our leader meeting not too long ago but share a little bit of what's on your heart for tonight and yeah I think that um my favorite thing in the world is to answer really tough theological philosophical and and life questions human beings like why are we here um deep things um I like having these types of conversations but I think one of the most important things we can remember is simply this is the Bible says that when we are at peace with God when we have relationship with him and we are at peace with God according to Romans 5 1. then God will bring prosperity and he will make our paths straight when we follow him and I want to reiterate nobody has all of the answers right only Jesus so here's the thing regardless of where you are in your faith Journey regardless of how many answers you do or don't have our calling is to have relationship and communion with God right God will iron out all of the theology when we see him he will iron out all of the questions we have do we want questions or do we want answers to questions absolutely do I want answers to tough questions that I've things I've been through in life 100 percent yeah but regardless of if we get those answers the key is loving Jesus and following God amen amen so tonight as we talk about it let's remember that um we I'm gonna do my best I know Pastor Serena is going to do her best to try to shape some of the responses I like q and R different from q a because people are like give me an answer I'm like I have a response it may or may not be an answer but it's a response and I think it's really important for us to remember that that to have all of the answers is not the way to be spiritual to follow God as the way of being spiritual that's the key amen all right I love it I love it we're gonna just jump right in um last week we we talked a little bit if you remember the message for some of you who are here we talked about the weight right and I feel like we touched on a question that we didn't get to go fully like in on and I thought you know what let's let's come back to this because people still have questions about this I know nowadays we're living in it we're living in a time where marriage is viewed a specific way and people are asking questions like what's the point of of getting married what's the point of commitment what's the point you know why wait to have sex we're going there you know what's the point of all of this and and so I just felt like you know last week we talked about the weight and what you do in the weight so let's just talk about marriage PJ and I'm going to let you open it up but just talk to us like what marriage is and what what is the purpose of marriage to begin with that's a good question I think I think that's the most important question for any of these questions that we ask what's the purpose of it what's the purpose behind God he's the creator of it he's the designer of marriage in Genesis chapter 1 Genesis chapter 2 especially Genesis 2 God was the one that brought um Adam was as a title by the way Adam is not his first name Adam is a Hebrew title for humankind so when you hear the word man in the Bible or mankind it means both male and female it's not singular gender the point is is God created marriage to be something where man and woman come together and are a picture of the marriage of Heaven and Earth there to be a symbol on the earth of what God is like so uh in Genesis chapter 2 verse 24 it says that a man will leave his house his family and it will be joined to his wife and the two shall become one the word e-h-a-d there in Hebrew literally means a compound Unity the same exact word used for God in Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4 it says here listen the Shema prayer the most famous Jewish prayer in the entire Bible it says listen Israel your God is one that word means a compound Unity father son Holy Spirit in the same way that God demonstrates who he is to us as humans is the same way he intends to use marriage to demonstrate who he is on the earth as well so it's a way for us to have direct communion and connection with God is to have communion connection with one another so that's the purpose of marriage is to demonstrate what God is like I love that um let's let's talk about now we know the purpose and what we are to reflect here on Earth through marriage but why wait why wait to have sex why why not explore okay this is not gonna this answer is not gonna go on social media I can do I tell you right now yeah we're not going to put this one on social media but we're going to be honest okay can we have a can we have a spiritual and biological discussion we good okay all right so from from from my gathering over the years and listening and watching and studying Theology and doing all of that with the scriptures um man and woman were two and one with Adam and God separated brought from the side it's we use the English word rib it's really bad translation but we'll go with it on the side the two were separated man and woman the reason they were separated is because they shared kind of like a coin human beings were two sides of the same coin that shared a spine so God separated them to turn them back around and to bring them back together face to face which is intimacy so the point to relationship and marriage is intimacy and the way that happens is that the mingling of Souls and the mingling of souls happens both spiritually and physically when you mingle two people together physically your mingling souls we've heard that many times you may have heard something like soul ties things like that here's the point in the Bible God uses the shedding of blood as a covenant he also uses the planting of seed as a covenant in Genesis 3 15 the promise of the seed that's Christ was the very first prophetic word about Jesus coming and being the Messiah so in sexual intercourse you have the shedding of blood and a seed planted it's the picture of God's covenant with humankind when you have sex outside of the context of marriage the marital bed what you're doing we all okay I'll be honest this is personal for me okay my wife and I neither of us were virgins when we got married okay but the point is simply this is there is a mingling of souls that happens that is a picture of God's covenant and promise to humans to be their God and I know that's very graphic and that seems like wow that's really uh interesting way to phrase it but that's the Bible's intention of using sexuality as an imagery for God's covenant with us and it's the same thing so it's a deeper thing than just a transaction as the generations have gone on sex has become more transactional and less intimate and I want to caution Us in that the reason that God desires that we wait is because there is a mingling of Souls it is a mingling of Souls but here's what I want to say that's the theological answer the Pastoral answer is this whether you have waited or you haven't waited there is restoration there is forgiveness there is Mercy and there is newness my wife prayed before our wedding night she asked God she said restore me to the fact that it feels like it's new I know that's graphic if she were here she would say that there was restoration and there was mercy so God's desires that we do it his way plus when you have um let me say it like this Man was created to give woman was created to multiply whatever you give a woman men whatever you give a woman she'll multiply you give her a house she'll make a home you give her groceries she'll make a meal I'm not saying women just cook you guys do it too don't add me on social media okay you got my point with the shedding of blood in sexual intercourse it simply means she is now prepared to multiply with the planting of seed what's the point that is a superpower that women have and it's Godly gentlemen as well if you give her stress if you give her resentment gentlemen understand whatever you give her she will multiply you give her if you give her Joy listen if you give her Joy she will multiply your joy if you give her love she will multiply the love that's the point of the sexual intercourse the shedding of blood and the planting of seed because multiplication happens and the multiplication comes not only physically but in the soul full isn't that so good oh I love I know that was no no no no no graphic well said well said though I love these moments these conversations because sometimes as a pastor it's so hard to try to answer all the questions within our allotted what 25 minutes or so on a weekly basis right that but that's not my way of saying we need to wrap it up but speed it up dude no but I Paul talked a little bit about this PJ he and Paul talked well he was talking to individuals and where this was happening even in biblical times right so this isn't something new men were the ones in 21st Century Century we're we're the ones who were in sin it was like sin is been happening and so Paul he's addressing uh he's addressing the church here in and I was reading in First Corinthians seven and many of you have read this before okay and I just want to bring just a little bit of understanding to this and PJ feel free to chime in as well our theologian First Corinthians 7 chapter 8 he says he gives some advice he says now to the unmarried and the widows I say it's good for them to stay unmarried as I do but everyone say but if they cannot control themselves they should marry for it is better to marry than to burn with passion and so I just want to bring a little bit of clarification on this because I think even me I I used to read this and think okay well then I gotta get married you know I gotta get married you know or I've always had the dust some of us have always had the desire to be married right and there are some of us who are like maybe I don't know wasn't really modeled to me we'll see if I meet somebody great whatever but what Paul is saying here he's not he's not saying that marriage is the fix okay he's not saying that marriage is the end-all be-all solution it is it is a gift that is given to us but listen to this being single is also a gift and so when you look at so many people throughout the Bible the greatest of all time Jesus was single right Paul single right Ruth single first season right so many individuals in the Bible who were single and so what he's saying is I realize not everyone can maybe be in this state of celibacy that I've been practicing and for those of you if it is become this passion this desire that is consuming then it's better to marry and so I I don't know I just wanted to help bring a little bit of clarity if that makes sense is that marriage is not the end-all be-all solution it's like okay fine good I'm married we're good now no no actually what it is is even in that singleness which some of you you're single for a season and then you'll be married right and some of you might stay single great like Paul but it's a state it's a state of being just like being married is a state of being and there's a beautiful gift in that state of being where you can now Embrace this Oneness with the Father the Creator right I I um gosh I read something but I'll probably chop it up so I won't say it but it has it was something along the lines of it'll come back to me that's fine were you gonna say something PJ I was just gonna say I mean Adam was single yeah oh here's here's the crazy part here's the crazy part who told Adam he was alone God God did yeah Adam didn't know he was alone so what's the point you can walk with God and not be alone right people come and tell you aren't you aren't you tired of being alone when I was single I was like nah bro I'm good with God with God yeah he walked with God in the cool of the day yeah he had no idea he was alone until God said hey I'm gonna I'm gonna bring somebody to you by the way the word there is um for for companion is used in the Hebrew literally means a fortifying Ally the woman was a fortifying Ally she was a structured walled City for Adam to fall into so the word sometimes we translate it in weird ways that it sounds like the woman is below the man in scripture that's not true they are opposites but equal and God brings them together notice in creation God brings light and dark together he brings he brings uh land and water together he brings night and day he brings the moon and the sun he brings opposites together all the way through Creation in Genesis 1. he does the same thing with man and woman they're equal but opposite and they complement one another here's the point Adam Adam did not know he was alone because he was with God so if Tara never planned my wife never planned to get married she was 30 years old she was looking to go to the mission field in Africa and be single the rest of her life and I was like let me convince you had to do some work the point is this Justice Godly just as fulfilled Justice whole whether you're single or you're married but here's what I'll say the culture the culture wants to convince us to be single to be selfish listen to me listen to me young people our culture is on a rampage for us to be focused on us the rest of our lives and we're struggling because of it let me encourage you your purpose as a human being is to find something in God to give your life away and you will never be more happy than when you give your life away whether you're single or you're married whatever your purpose is but you can be completely whole and and completely in in love with your life and the joy and the happiness and all of that single or married amen so good so good all right we're gonna go to the next one ready all right okay so this one is it's it's a it's a question that comes up comes up often and it's one of those questions it's hard to just give one single answer to because it's on the topic of suffering and you know I know many of us have experienced loss in our life or you've seen Injustice happen in the world and something on the inside of you stirs up and you ask this question if God is so good why do bad things happen to good people let's go there you're gonna answer that one no um this this is one of those tough ones um I I uh other than theology philosophy is probably my favorite thing in the whole world to to um logic and philosophy I just love it um academically but it's one of those things that no matter where where you come from with this question there's two kinds of answers the first answer is going to be a philosophical one second answer is going to be a pastoral one the first answer is the fact that we even use the language evil means we have to compare it to something good if human beings know deep down even atheists I have my uncles and atheist lives in Portland I talk to them all the time he's like that's evil I'm like what do you mean by evil um if you posit the idea of something good it has to be in contrast to something that's evil and evil in contrast to something that's good which means something has to be perfectly good to be the standard by which we judge everything whether it's good or evil if that's the case that's what we call moral law moral law doesn't fall out of nowhere moral law comes from a moral law giver but we would call a creative mind so if there's good and evil there's moral law if there's more law there's a moral law Giver that's the reason I believe in God also we see Injustice in the world and I believe that either Justice is going to be done in this life or the next but it's going to be done because if there is no moral law Giver who can right wrongs whether in this life or the next then we don't have any firm ground to stand on from a logical standpoint to say that people deserve justice it's just the nature of atoms bumping together so the point is why is there suffering in the world God gave us a perfect place and human beings tried to take all of the authority and power away from God and Define good and evil for ourselves because of that sin came in the world is broken and we now live in a world of monstrous evil and suffering and we see it we know can we all agree that we see evil in the world but that's the whole point this is the way the world is I love the way that one Theologian Ignatius said it he said but this is not the way the world ought to be the fact that you and I use the word ought means this is not the way this world was supposed to be that means that there is a God who created it a certain way we we tried to rebel against God and take it for ourselves so what's the point the point is simply we're experiencing the pains of Rebellion we're experiencing the Pains of trying to take good and evil for ourselves and Define it ourselves now there is suffering in the world bone cancer in children horrible horrible God why would you allow that and I don't think I know the answer I don't think any of us know the answer to that but here's the Pastoral answer people usually follow that question up with why does God allow suffering with where is God in my suffering and I know that y'all are out here looking at me right now going yeah I'd like to know and I think the cross and the resurrection are the signal to humans that God himself put himself in a human body and went to the Cross to say I am with you in the suffering so the question of where is God and my suffering well if Jesus Is God and he is then God is right there in it with us he took on every bit of the pain every bit of the suffering to say I'm in solidarity I'm with you in suffering see the Gods in the ancient times especially in three four five hundred years before Christ Plato Socrates those guys they believe that the Greek mythologist they believed that gods were up there the gods would never come in flesh they would never suffer they would never put themselves around wretched humans God put himself Yahweh put himself in a human body and came and suffered with us to say I'm with you in this and then he rose out of the grave so that we could rise out of the grave the resurrection doesn't just prove that Jesus is God the resurrection also approves the fact that you and I will be Resurrected because it's true so if there's a resurrection of one there's a resurrection for All In Christ so he not only showed us that he's willing to come into the suffering he's willing to pull us out of the suffering there will be a time Isaiah 65 if you want to write it down Isaiah 65 there will be a time there will be no tears there will be no pain there will be no war there will be no injustice God will restore the Earth to its original perfect place yeah yeah PJ I I wrestle with this question because it often people often ask this you know and I think for us as Believers it's hard and not even just Believers Humanity we wrestle with it because in our own minds and our comprehension we try to bring some sort we want an answer we want to we just just tell us why and I I remember uh watching this a long time ago it was by Ravi Zacharias and he had shared this idea that we all kind of share if only that life were like this equation it was uh be good be blessed be bad be cursed and we would hope that maybe that's the explanation to this but but this doesn't make sense for me personally when I see injustices like human trafficking and just horrible horrific things that's where we ask the question and you brought it up earlier it's surely the reality of the evil somehow reveals that there has to be a loving God on the other end of this on the opposite end of the evil there has to be a solution and so what I would encourage us with is as you read scripture and you just shared in Isaiah is that there will be a time where the judge will come and and he will come after those who have done these great injustices and there will be a time where we won't feel the sorrow and the pain and the hurt because I think if anything for us it's man I want to do something about this what can I do which that is also a part of our purpose here on Earth what can we do here with the injustices and that's the reason why he truly put us here which this kind of naturally bleeds into the next question and this again this is a question that many people ask not just in one stage of life now as a young adult we're always asking this question why am I here what is my purpose what am I called to do and I almost want to say this is a question that you'll ask this question in high school you know when you've asked that question in high school it's different when you ask that question when you're in college or graduated right when when you're married it might you might ask this question like what is my purpose now through marriage or in marriage and so let's talk about that let's talk about purpose and I love this one because I don't know if it's because man I feel like I found my purpose my calling when I was a young adult and um purpose is um it's it's one of those I think we need to bring a little bit of clarification because maybe even separation because sometimes we think that purpose is the same thing or calling is the same thing as our occupation right but to to let's let's bring a little bit of a separation bring some clarity to what that actually means like purpose is not our occupation okay now now mind you each and every single one of you you have amazing gifts natural abilities some of you are incredible with music and communicating in your mind you know got Brian over there he's he's going to go to law school come on you know you got different individuals David music I see you you know every single person has a special skill set and ability but that is when we that gifting we use that towards the purpose that God has given us so the question then is so okay so what is my calling if if my purpose and my calling is not my occupation I'm glad you asked you probably heard me share this before it's really simple it's really simple we have we all have one calling and that is to follow Jesus and help others follow Jesus that's the one calling if we're like what is my calling in life follow Jesus help others follow Jesus essentially It's the Great Commission right Mark 16 15 like go out and tell the world preach the gospel tell them that's the that is the calling but now once we understand the calling and the purpose then we realize that oh okay I can now use that if I know my my calling is to follow Jesus help others follow him and be a image bearer of him here on Earth make him known then we realize that man what I do can never be greater than why I was created and if we're created to reflect who he is to others then we found our purpose then we found our we found our calling so our our occupation it can it can never be tied to purpose our purpose is always the one thing it is follow him help others follow him does that help yeah love that love that what do you think PJ I think that um there's there's two things that we have we have a purpose in our heart we have a calling in our hand what you have in your hand right now will get you to what's in your heart many of you are in school you have jobs and you're like man I don't know God where do you have me right now you may be asking the question what am I doing with my life yeah what am I doing right now how's the school going to help me how's this job going to help me how's it whatever you have in your hand right now be faithful with that because God's going to use it to get you to what's in your heart which is your purpose yeah you're going to start to see it when I was when I was in my early 20s I coached high school basketball I I knew my life I knew that I was created to to uh to speak truth that's number one to teach and then to inspire people and so my desire was like man I don't know what that's going to look like I was a high school basketball coach I was a middle school Bible teacher I've been a pastor I mean I've worked all different kinds of jobs the calling what's in my hand looks different every time in different seasons but the purpose never changed so whatever you have in your heart whatever God has put in your hand right now do not abandon it to go look for the glitz and the glamor because sometimes we'll abandon what we have in our hand right now to go I don't think this is it God and God's like just let me use it and I'll get you to what's in your heart so good I'm reminded of that there's that verse in Colossians 3 whatever you do it unto God as if you're serving God so what's in your hand I love that visual what's in your hand whatever God has in your hand right now do it with the best of your ability with your god-given gifting Talent knowing your purpose and doing it unto God all right all right all right here we go we're gonna we're gonna go we're we're fun with this one let's see um this one actually came in through our stories um so how many of y'all have pets any animal lovers yeah yeah what's your pet's name go ahead and say it out loud Jupiter Mario Lou yeah my I have a dog named Oliver Ollie pop Ollie that's what we call him we've always had a dog Duke Annie give me a second no so a lot of times we just Lament The losing of animals yes moment of silence do Dogs Go To Heaven do animals Blue Dogs Go To Heaven pets go to all I'll just start with this and then I'm gonna let you take over okay all I'm saying is when you read in Revelations there is a rider on a white horse that comes from Heaven that tells me there is there's a horse a white horse from heaven and uh so that tells me there's there's a there's an animal one animal in heaven it's true so PJ let's talk about it do dogs go to heaven can we all agree that cats do not amen I just I kid I kid sorry I kid I kid for all the for all the cat for all the cat lovers out I know I know I'm getting booed for all the cat lovers out here uh I got scratched in the face in eighth grade by a cat and that was the last time but here's the thing I'm not a big animal person myself my wife loves dogs uh and for the for the for the fact that I like being married I'm gonna say yes they go to heaven she's probably gonna see this yes babe they go to heaven no um yes absolutely the interesting thing about it is is the way that we view Heaven and the way the Bible describes Heaven are two very different things many times um Hollywood has given us the picture that like uh heaven is like an ethereal non-body experience up in the clouds somewhere where we like have Harps and little babies fly by um that's not what heaven is um eternity will actually be right here in this earth the Bible explains it differently than the last 150 years of Western theology has explained it we've kind of muddled it a little bit but God's going to renew the Earth and so yes there will be animals that's why the resurrection is going to be needed First Corinthians 15 a bodily Resurrection is because we're going to be have a real existence here but perfect in eternity with Christ in the renewed Earth so there will be animals 100 probably your dog and Bailey and Lolly yes my two dogs I have girls so I have to have dogs yes Dogs We Love Dogs We love cats too they're all right they're okay [Laughter] all the cat people are like dude you ruined my night all right we're gonna go to another question that's come in through stories are you all enjoying these I hope you are all right uh someone asked the question why do Christians seem to be more judgmental than people who are not Christians I gotta go I'll start okay all right here's what I'll say I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna do a doctor uh Dr Paul I'm gonna do what the Apostle Paul not Dr Paul Osteen the Apostle he didn't write it he didn't write it he didn't write those 10 books the Apostle Paul in Acts 15 he quoted Greek philosophers and Poets to the Greeks to prove to them the existence of God so I'm going to use Plato from 5th Century BC uh he said this he said a society or a culture that is built on lies and shadows will punish anybody who speaks truth as though it's hatred so I'm going to debunk something very quickly yes Christians can be judgmental but speaking the truth in love which is the call of the scriptures to us to a world that is separated from God is Not hatred it's love but it will be pitched as hatred to shut down anything that people don't want to hear so we can throw the baby out with the bath water and we can go the opposite direction and not share anything with anybody at all but that would be anti-jesus Jesus told us both in word and indeed Show Your Love and if we have I love the way one atheist pen and Teller the famous comedians that do a show in Vegas let is a as an atheist has been for his whole life and he had a guy come up to him and share give him a Bible at one of his shows and share Jesus with him and he did a video after the show in his dressing room and he said this he said I don't believe in God but this was a good guy and he's like if you're a Christian this is his question an atheist he said if you're a Christian and you believe that you have the answer to eternal life how much do you have to hate somebody not to share Jesus with them so my point is this can we be judgmental Christians can we be honest we can be judgmental but here's here's here's my advice to us I have an uncle who's an atheist and every time we get together he's always nervous about me talking to him about theological things about the life he leads about the decisions he makes so Christians can we agree let's start with Jesus before we start digging into people's moral decisions because what what trips us up sometimes as Christians and I want you to add to this what trips us up many times as Christians is we start dealing with people about their moral decisions before we've talked to them about their savior and we need to we need to not do that I I had somebody um somebody that my wife knows really well and he said um he said you know I I was scared to have a conversation with you because I thought you were going to talk to me about my life and I said he said would I ever be welcome at your church and I was like bro absolutely and I said first of all the first conversation we're we're going to have is not your life first conversation was going to have is Jesus and if Jesus decides to work in your life that's his job my job is to tell you about God's love y'all with me so we we don't need to take the bait of not saying anything but we need to put Jesus first because what we've what has happened in the west and can I say this what has happened in the western culture in the last 500 years we've boiled Christian Christianity down to a list of moral things you should and shouldn't do that is not what the Bible explains the Bible is a story from Genesis to Revelation that reveals the Messiah so if we're going to have a conversation with anybody we need to start with God loves you and Jesus proved it by coming as a human to give his life for us that's where we start don't start with their moral decisions or their ethical Behavior it's a bad place you get people to shut down that quick I'm a Christian you get me to shut down talk to me about Jesus and the grace of God yeah so good I just I just thinking about the scripture where it says you know there's talks about faith hope and love but the greatest of these is love and if if we don't come I wonder if this if this question even comes from a place where people have seen Christians being nasty towards other Christians even we see that you know where Christians being nasty towards the church or and I get it I know I know a lot of people have been hurt with within the walls as well but I I would I would Church hurts a real thing it is a real thing and but I would almost say if we can't come at anyone without love then what are we doing right right the Bible says to love your neighbor as you love yourself and sometimes I think I hope I do believe many of us we love ourselves we do love ourselves and some of us don't have a full understanding of that that definition of love but love your neighbor means to me I I can't love someone unless I'm spending time understanding sitting down with them hearing their story so I think before we get to that judgment seat place which we should never actually before we even get to a place where we want to Choose Love First Love is is the answer yeah can I demonstrate something real quick okay you yeah come here real quick Sam Switzerland how are you man I'm good you good all right you're gonna play the role of Jesus all right here's what here's what here's what Grace here's here's what Grace looks like okay here's what we do here's what can we can we have a family discussion let's do it here's what we as Christians do this is judgment we stand next to Jesus and we go look at that loser look at all the things he's doing yeah yeah this is judgment amen stuff that's happened in your life choices you've made so have I why don't we look at him this is Grace is not ignoring walking with people in life especially if they're struggling in something but the question is who are you standing next to when you're addressing this person because we've all been right here this is all of us we think many times as Christians we're here next to Jesus going look at these people out here so my question is where are you standing when you're having a conversation with this person says everything about the heart from what you're coming for thank you Sam give it up for Sam [Applause] so good so good so good okay looks like maybe we have another we're over our time but we're still going to go for this one how about this was another one came through this is came in today all right y'all came in today uh if someone's still questioning the resurrection of Jesus when they're about to die what happens I would almost I'm gonna I'm gonna read this again if someone's still questioning the resurrection of Jesus what happens to them to the person who asked this first of all I just want to I want to commend you because you know it takes a lot of courage to even ask questions like this and I would also tell you you're in good company and here's what I mean not too long ago I never caught this I'll be honest I never caught this before but I was reading I was reading a story about where many of us know the story where Jesus it's right after the Passover and he's in the temple and he sees that there's there's people are selling things in his father's house and he gets upset and so what does he do he like throws his stuff out there starts flipping tables and immediately after that they say to him the in the elders in the synagogue they say they say who Do You Think You Are to do this and because Jesus says you know tear down this temple in three days and and I'll raise I'll build it back up I'll raise it back up and they're like it took us 46 years to build this Temple what are you talking about and oh gosh I don't want to mess this up I remember this verse I believe it's in John and so what happens what happens the the it says that the disciples in that moment oh my goodness please don't mess this up Serena come on Jesus help me where'd it go where'd it go it's in John it's in John that's what I remember so in this moment I'll I'll just speak a little bit more here it goes so it's in John 2 the Jews then responded to him what sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this Jesus answer them destroy this Temple I'll raise it again in three days they replied it has taken 46 years to build the temple and you're gonna raise it in three days it says but the temple he had spoken of he was talking about his body right being Resurrected and so catch this says after he was raised from the dead his disciples recalled what he had said then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken so when I say you're in good company this is what I mean even the disciples who walked with him they talked with him they accepted him as Lord right and savior they even questioned the resurrection of their lord and savior it and it wasn't until after he was resurrected scripture says here that they recalled what Jesus did in the temple does that are y'all following me you're hearing me so if you have that question you're in good company you're in good company uh anyways I'll I'll let you take it on PJ I feel like you got something Brewing you know something's Brewing uh I'm just gonna I'm just gonna add very quickly to that I think um you know one of the things that happens is Christians is sometimes we're scared of doubt I mean I'm considered a professional you and I are paid professional Christians and I I I teach theology for a living and there are days when I wake up and I go did that really happen none of us are above it faith and doubt are two sides of the same coin there's a difference between doubt and denial denial is the danger zone outright rebellion and denial of God that's the dangerous part to have questions I literally had a discussion with a pastor a few months ago a mentor Pastor I've known lives in another part of the country I was having a discussion we were talking about the resurrection and he said you know I really struggle with the physical resurrection and I went what I was like I've followed your ministry for 30 years and I would have never known that and he said I struggle with it all the time again whether we have all the answers to the theology or not here's what the resurrection does it's the single greatest event in all of Christianity if the resurrection is not true then we are a good Community organization we're the United Way that's what we are hanging out together the resurrection makes us the church but the point is this the resurrection is not only about Jesus proving he was God the resurrection was securing our Resurrection as well because if Jesus was raised we will be raised as well first Corinthians 15. and it's the sign that you have eternal life that's the resurrection eternal life here on the earth when Jesus returns and establishes the kingdom fully what's the point struggling and having questions does not scare God loving Jesus is the goal loving Jesus is the goal having questions about it so if somebody's at that point and they still have questions that is not a problem for God to Iron Out theology outright denial it's the one thing Jesus said is the unforgivable sin it is looking at the Holy Spirit and going no that is not of God the resurrection is by the spirit Romans 8 11 The Same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in you so yes there is room for doubt there's room for questions there is room for that that is not antithetical to Faith it is part of The Human Experience none of us are perfect and none of us have seen Jesus yet so God knows that we are weak many times in our understanding and that's okay but loving God and and and loving God loving people love God with heart soul mind and strength pursue God all you can ask the questions go to prayer ask God but it's okay to have questions amen amen I'm also I also think of this PJ the scripture that says blessed are those who haven't seen him yet believe in him still and we're in that party we haven't seen them yet but We believe We Believe

Channel: Lakewood Young Adults

Views: 471

Keywords: Lakewood Church, Lakewood Young Adults, Sermon 2020, Houston Church, Jesus, God, Next Gen, NXT, Lakewood, Youth, Youth Adult, High School, Junior High, Sermon 2021

Id: 8xPLeqRwSm8

Length: 53min 8sec (3188 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 03 2023