Transcript

This is your chance to ask us your bible question on fireaway friday

>> Jeff Chamblee: It'S fire away friday fire away friday on exploring the word this is your chance to ask us your bible question you can email your question at wordfr dot net or visit facebook dot com exploring the word exploring the word it's fire away friday on american family radio.

>> Alex McFarland: In the show exploring the word bert harper and i part of our intent our purpose is that we and listeners would understand what the bible really says about god and life and go over verses that need a little bit of explanation but we want people to strengthen and grow their relationship with jesus christ these are some of our purposes but you know what they're also the purposes of our books and i was looking at the second book bert and i did a hundred bible questions and answers for families and bert you know i don't want to say proud or pride because you know pride is a sin but i'm very thankful to the lord that we've been able to do this show and that god's allowed us to write books because whenever people are getting the scripture they're getting god's word integrated into their heart and life well that's that's our purpose that's our calling because the the word of god points us to jesus the son of god and we just want to lift him up and we hope the shows and the books do that.

>> Bert Harper: Don'T we we really do and alex you said it well that's our purpose we won't the people to know our god and the way you know our god is through his word and then applying that word to our lives and we see god do amazing things when this happens and that's what the two books are about really to glorify the lord jesus christ that's our purpose and we're doing this on fireaway friday and we're not taking phone calls today we're just using questions from these two books so that we can let you know it's a practical book if you wanted to purchase it it's a good book to have study book individ even for groups it's been used and this particular month on the stand that's the afa journal on the front page it's talking about our exhausted pulpits and that's practical too i'm quoted in here one or two times about pastors and burnout quote and what they're doing but on the inside of the front page are are the two books that are being promoted by afa resource center and that's resources at afa dot net resources dot afa dot net resources dot afa dot net and you can purchase one or both of these books and it also you can get you can get the stand you can try it out for six months free and so this is a multipurposed fireway friday to answer questions that's been asked but also to promote the stand which is the official journal of american family association american family radio and also to let you know about the afa resource center that has more than just these books they've got a lot of helps there that would help people and then our two books that are available as well so alex this is an opportunity we want to take and we're busy this friday when you're listening to this one of us are doing something going somewhere and i have to admit sometimes it's bert and his grandchildren and i have to take time out for that because listen nothing like them but alex i've got some questions and i'll ask them and then we'll take the opportunity and you'll answer but if i need to add anything or feel like i need to or you ask me something we'll do it that way does that sound alright to you.

>> Alex McFarland: That sounds really good and you know before we delve into the questions let me say just a word about the may twenty twenty four issue of the stand the afa magazine you know these come to our house every month and they're they're all great and they always have incredible content and just really first class journalism but this one in may of twenty four and the COVID story says our exhausted pulpits why are so many leaving the pastorate and what can we do to help this is just an exceptional issue it really is and you know when you and i were back in tennessee earlier this this year at the national religious broadcasters convention i was on the radio with george barna i'm sure most everybody's heard of the barna research organization very trusted poll watchers and they monitor social trends and george barna wonderful christian thinker but he was saying that right now in america maybe seventy five thousand churches don't have a senior pastor so let me just part of the reason i bring this up we need to pray for the church in america we need to pray for revival obviously but if you've got a pastor and i've pastored you've pastored there's no perfect pastors there's only our perfect savior but thank the lord for your preacher and pray for him and pray for his family and i know preachers can they do a lot of good and every now and then they'll do you know make a misstep or forget somebody's birthday and i've had so many people tell me that oh the pastor hurt my feelings or something like that well show some grace and lift them up in prayer because this thing of churches without a senior pastor and churches that are really struggling it is it's a very serious issue isn't.

>> Bert Harper: It it really is that's the reason jan and i do the fishbowl retreats each year afa does this sponsors this jan and i knew this and we started years and years ago and when we came to afa they asked us continue doing it and expand it and we have and so this year it's going to be in october and you can go to repairingthefoundations dot net and you can find out that information and you can know how to register and we are ready to register it's going to be in beautiful pick week landing state park up in tennessee and it's centrally located for a lot of our listeners and if you want to do something for your pastor and ask him hm don't just surprise him and say we got it because if you do that it might not work out for them to come but offer this to them and see if they can come and jan and i pour our lives into them this year ray pritchard is going to be speaking and he'll pour his the word of god into them and so this will help so anyway yes pastors pray for them help them strengthen them let them know you're in their corner that's so good so alex let's get started with the first question and this is for from our first book and if you're looking on stream live stream you can see it here this is the first book that we did and the question out of it is one i wanted to ask first and it's from the first section why do christians say the bible is god's word and how can we know it's god's word.

>> Alex McFarland: Alex oh wow well that's a great great question you know the short answer is going to sound a little simplistic but it really is profound we believe the bible is the word of god because jesus christ the only man that ever raised from the dead affirmed the divine origin of all scripture so the short answer because jesus said so when he was raised from the dead i mean you think about that bert no critic or skeptic can match jesus credentials i mean here's jesus virgin born sinless life did miracles rose from the dead i mean no one can eclipse the pedigree of christ jesus and jesus repeatedly over and over affirmed the authenticity and the authority of scripture but really on you know some other levels the bible has characteristics unlike any other book the bible has exhibited amazing indestructibility they've tried to stamp it out they've tried to ban it the bible is just indestructible and we have thousands and thousands of manuscripts that corroborate the content has been preserved so let me give you these letters indestructible historically accurate scientifically accurate prophetically accurate amazing worldwide influence amazing power to change lives and then finally amazing unparalleled circulation i mean so the bible.

>> Bert Harper: It'S still the best selling book right.

>> Alex McFarland: Of all time of all time it really is and so it's indestructible it's historically accurate and you know way before archaeology existed as a science you know really the discipline of archeology is fairly young only about two hundred years or less and yet cities and people and governments and leaders and historical circumstances that at one time were assumed to be just maybe ancient legends or something well as one writer said two guys i'm going to mention william f albright who's been called the dean of archaeologists and then another man named nelson gleck they said with every turn of the archaeologist's spade another page of scripture has been confirmed and so historical accuracy scientific accuracy centuries before the invention of the submarine the bible says at the bottom of the oceans are mountains and valleys and really the mariana m trench which is the lowest part of earth this deep deep deep valley at the bottom of the ocean well the bible predicted that how could the biblical writer have known there were valleys at the bottom of the ocean you know i think about the circle of the earth the spherical nature of the planet the bible is scientifically accurate bert let me say another thing too just to and i don't mean to belabor this but this is such an important subject that's where.

>> Bert Harper: We start isn't it really this is.

>> Alex McFarland: The starting places yes do you know the jewish male babies were to be circumcised on the eighth day why the eighth day well the clotting factor of a boy baby's blood if i can use a word the clottiest an infant male blood will ever be in their entire lives is on the eighth day after delivery isn't that amazing that the israelites are in the desert they are to circumcise the male babies and that would be the day that healing would most effectively efficiently take place and the bible oh my goodness and this is where there is no other book in the world that you can compare and that's the bible's prophetic accuracy and when you hear this.

>> Bert Harper: And know this this is why this is in the first book it's in the first section one of the first questions and you can find answers like that in this book and that's why we're not trying to self promote it but it is good if you want i would say if you want exploring the word in writing you got it in these two books here's the next question we may not have time to finish it in this first segment but this we hear how could god do you know we hear that quite a bit how could god be god and this happens so here's the one that i wanted to ask how could god permit the death of achan's entire family for his sin this is in joshua chapter seven go.

>> Alex McFarland: Ahead alex well let me say this sin has repercussions doesn't it you know there's this old saying that no man lives unto himself and as writers have said no man is an island and so when achan sinned and he disobeyed something that god had been very clear about this gives us all pause to think that sin has repercussions and just let me say this for a second bert that you and i have lived in a time when a lot of preachers have fallen morally and i want to tell you i have talked with so many people that had a faith crisis or maybe even abandoned christianity because of the moral failures of some minister that they trusted and so for one thing it shows that there's a ripple effect to sin doesn't.

>> Bert Harper: It it really does and here he was hiding it let me just be very practical in this he was hiding it in his tent the awareness of what was going on was real and also a group of followers had already been killed at ai and as you said sin has repercussions and so achan's family yes they were a part of it and yes god is that god that loves but also is just we'll be back with more right after this break don't go away a recent study reports that the rapidly declining global birth rate will lead to a major population crisis if birth rates continue to decline their massive support for planned parenthood is all a part of their plan while we may feel hopeless in the constant attack on life there is an amazing way to fight back when they shout abortion we shout life preborn is leading the way every day their network rescues two hundred babies you see when a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears the heartbeat a baby's chance at life doubles the ultrasound is the secret weapon that joins a mother's heart to her child preborn provides ultrasounds for clinics in the highest abortion areas can we join hands nationwide for life one ultrasound is just twenty eight dollars but any gift will help five thousand dollars will underwrite ultrasounds for the entire network for a day all gifts are tax deductible to donate dial pound two hundred and fifty and say the keyword baby that's pound two hundred fifty baby or visit preborn dot com afr that's preborn dot com afr welcome.

Back to exploring the word on american family radio

>> Jeff Chamblee: Back to exploring the word on american family radio as we go.

>> Alex McFarland: Let us make disciples as we go let us tell the world of christ welcome back.

>> Bert Harper: To exploring the word bertie and alex here and we love that introduction of that psalm because this is exactly what exploring the word wants to do we want to tell about the lord jesus christ and people following him and we're praying that you're a follower of jesus christ that you know him as savior he and that's part of what we do here on american family radio and especially on exploring the word well today is fire away friday but we're not taking calls today this is a pre recorded program and it's a kind of a special pre recorded program we're taking questions from our two books that alex and bert we've got out and it's in the resource center at american family radio and it's questions that we've taken from them but these questions in the books are questions we got from you guys who've called in and asked them so we're doing that today and we're hoping that it'll be a blessing to you and if you like if you would like exploring the word in print this is where you find it you find it in these two books that you can go to and you can purchase them if you would want to and you can go to resources dot afa dot net resources afa dot net and you can get them there and i know they'd be a blessing to you and to others well alex here's another question that's coming from book number one how can anyone know what christ is like how can anyone know what.

>> Alex McFarland: God is like why well because he has shown us you know in fact two peter chapter one nineteen twenty one which i love and i encourage people to read that but it says that we have a sure word of prophecy in other words god has in dependable clear absolutely trustworthy terms god has shown us who he is and how we can know him and in the bible we learn about god's identity we learn about god's eternality we learn about his attributes that he is a god of love and grace he's also a god of righteousness and justice and yes judgment and yes every human being in the world will be evaluated ah not in light of how good we were compared to this person or that person but how did we measure up in comparison with jesus and the fact is you know bert i've had people say to me they'll say you know well i'm a pretty good person and i'll say are you perfect well no i'm not perfect but jesus was and to go to heaven we have to be as holy as jesus in other words righteous which we aren't but the way we get right with god and we are declared righteous in his sight we put our faith in jesus and as aw tozer said sixty years ago we go to heaven on the merits of somebody else on the worthiness of jesus but to your question bert and the one that's in our book we know what the lord is like because of what he has revealed about himself you know in fact we use the word revelation divine revelation the bible tells us who god is what he's like and how we can know him personally.

>> Bert Harper: Which apostle asked him we would see the father and jesus responded have i not been so long with you that when you have seen me you have seen the father so alex when we see jesus in the word of god we see him we say well the old testament new testament so much different no they're not that different as much as you think let me say i think jesus overturned the tables in the temple two times at least and so he demonstrated some of that what we call justice holiness of god now again the old testament is heavy in the justice of god the new testament is heavier in the love of god but the holiness of god and love of god if you're picking two moral attributes to demonstrate who god is and what he's like those are the ones you must concentrate on and out of that love and out of that holiness comes god's mercy his grace but also his justice and so he he you can't listen god is and you can know him that is that's one of the best phrases i've ever heard yes god is and you can know him so we hope that.

>> Alex McFarland: Go ahead alex yeah and let me mention you know you quoted the john fourteen nine and by the way we learned so much about god through the apostle john and you know in john fourteen nine eight and nine jesus said if you've seen me you've seen the father but here's the thing in first john chapter one it says that god is light and in him is no darkness at all and you know people have false ideas i've talked with people that believe in eastern thought like the yin and the yang you ever seen that symbol it's like a circle with a squiggly line through the middle and i've dialogued with people and they think well you know good and evil are forever entwined in some cosmic dance no that's false listen part of god's eternality the fact that god is forever eternal is because in god is no sin or darkness or death see the bible says in romans six twenty three that the wages of sin is death in other words part of the result of sin and iniquity and unrighteousness call it what you will darkness disobedience sin iniquity unrighteousness well that's death and part of the reason that god exists forever is because he is perfectly righteous there's no evil in god is there.

>> Bert Harper: There is i wrote down there's no dark side to god amen m you know we talk about the dark side you know the inner no no dark.

>> Alex McFarland: Side to god and forgive me i gotta throw this in and then i'll get out of the way there's so.

>> Bert Harper: Much to these answers let me tell you in the book they're more concise when we get on the radio we want to oh i thought of this i thought of that but we were limited in our answers in the book for a space go ahead alex well.

>> Alex McFarland: You know it's almost a universal trait among children to be afraid of the dark some things that are common to all children for one thing even little infants have an awareness of depth there's depth perception and they've done tests where children will crawl like a piece of glass but when they come to what appears to be a deep valley they'll stop children they're very aware of height and depth but children are also aware of their darkness and light children don't like the dark and you know the bible says that when we know jesus we are walking in the light you know one of the beauties of heaven and one of the great realities of this world too is that we are in the love and the light of god you know to know the bible it's called enlightenment we know who god is we know who we are we know about our relationship and so i think bert one of the great attributes of the lord is that the bible says god is light l i g.

>> Bert Harper: H t amen praise god again we're talking about answers that you have asked and they're printed in our book and one of them was about the third person of the godhead we've talked about god the father we've talked about jesus but now i want to ask you this what does it mean to grieve the holy spirit and who is the.

>> Alex McFarland: Holy spirit wow you know isn't that something that god is said to feel and have emotions you know the bible says god takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked you mentioned ephesians four thirty that we are not to grieve the holy spirit god loves us so much and i think yes god is disappointed when we sin you know now the holy spirit the third member of the trinity indwells the believer and you know what every human that ever lived and every human that's living now the lord has interacted with god calls god influences he doesn't override our free will but i think that god through his holy spirit he convicts people of sin in other words and i've said this many times you and i have talked about this on the show but look there's the world the flesh and the devil right so if you're feeling like you need to turn to god you feel bad about your sin you're aware of your guilt and you want to get right with god well it's not the world the flesh or the devil if you're desiring god it's the holy spirit calling you that's why we need to respond isn't it bert.

>> Bert Harper: It really is and he does god said jesus said i'm not going to leave you as orphans i'm going to send the holy spirit and he'll dwell in you the indwelling now let me say this how do you grieve him by letting things sin into your life and then letting sin remain in your life when god convicts you of sin as a follower of jesus christ you're going to do one of two things you're either going to confess it or justify it and we're good justifiers well i wouldn't have this attitude if they'd have treated me right i wouldn't have said those angry words if i hadn't have heard them talking about me no don't justify your sin it grieves the holy spirit of god but confess it it means agree with or say the same thing as god and i want to tell you it's a cleansing and listen do not grieve the holy spirit don't let sin remain the bible says don't let the sun go down on your wrath because the longer sin stays in your life the greater damage it does into your life so being grieved with the holy spirit is such a blessing alex to feel that pain that real guilt not false guilt that satan uses but that real guilt when you know you said the wrong thing done the wrong thing thought the wrong thing and so do not grieve the holy spirit well here's the fifth question we have and again this is from the first book what does it mean that the gospel is for the jew first and then.

>> Alex McFarland: The gentiles wow well great great question jesus was jewish jesus was born into the nation of israel by the way did you ever see this wonderful little book not a large book but it was by a born again jewish man named arnold fruchtenbaum jesus was a jew did you ever see that one yes i did yes and so let me say this in terms of chronology and in terms of really beginning jesus came to the jewish nation he was jewish the first people to know about the resurrection were jewish people the first born again believers were jewish jewish people and then you know it's interesting that god raised up the apostle paul and the gospel went to the gentile nations but it's in the book of isaiah it talks about that the redeemer of israel is the light to the gentiles now the verse there romans one sixteen paul said i'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of god unto salvation to the jew first and also to the greeks or to the gentiles so you know everybody can be saved through faith in christ but jesus first came into the jewish nation and christ was preached first to.

>> Bert Harper: The jewish people they were and let me say this you remember that jesus is the firstborn the firstborn made it possible for there to be those that would be born after you know and so christ being that one has paved the path as a jew to the jew first yes and it's hard for me to go away from this question without the calling is always missional it was missional for abraham through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed and that is so true and it started where first with jews with abraham and it goes on down and then the church the birth of the church took place at pentecost you know that was the delivery where the holy spirit came and fell on these jewish people and then where would they go they came in the fullness of time and that means all over the roman empire that these jewish people who had experienced the new birth and the indwelling power of the holy spirit went back to their places and they would share the good news and then the apostle paul would follow up out of antioch he and barnabas and then he and silas and do the tours through so much of the empire and what did the apostles do alex those twelve apostles who were jews man we know thomas went to india we know matthew went to southern part central part of africa we know that they went all over to the jew first but it wasn't something they were to keep to themselves they were to share it to others and now that it's been given to us alex what are we to do share it.

>> Alex McFarland: With everybody you know how god told abraham in genesis twelve and genesis eighteen god told abraham that i'm gonna make of you a great nation and in you all the families of the earth would be blessed and of course you know the savior of the world came into the jewish nation jesus but also this bert and i was preparing for an interview i did earlier today but think about this the law of moses unto the jews were committed the oracles of god you know the bible says the revelation of god and there was the old testament and then the new testament but even before the completion of the old testament there were the five books of moses that's very often called the pentateuch genesis exodus leviticus numbers deuteronomy and all of the civil nations of the world that have moral law it all comes from the ten commandments and i'm not just saying this as a christian although i'm a christian bert i read a lot of legal books and just secular law schools where you can go to study law they will tell you that the foundation of human law and government is the decalogue the law.

>> Bert Harper: Of moses is that one reason it's at the supreme court alex yeah exactly.

>> Alex McFarland: It is you see pictures of moses.

>> Bert Harper: Holding the tablets yeah and used to they'd have ten commandments posted just about in every school building in america it is exploring the word and you're enjoying this we pray that god would bless you if we've learned anything from this election it's how important it is for us to fight fight fight we also learned how desperately the left wants to fight to take babies lives which is why every day preborn ministries fights for the babies preborn's network of clinics are positioned in the highest abortion areas fighting for mothers deciding between the life and death of their child preborn welcomes these women with god's love and offers them a free ultrasound to introduce their precious baby and hear the beautiful heartbeat this amazing encounter gives her baby a fighting chance and the majority of the time she will choose life would you join preborn in the fight for life one ultrasound is just dollar twenty eight and dollar one hundred forty will sponsor five ultrasounds babies are worth fighting for to donate dial pound two hundred and fifty on your cell and say the key word baby that's pound two hundred fifty baby or visit preborn dot com afr that's preborn dot com afr all gifts are tax deductible and preborn has four star charity ratings fight fight fight for the babies.

Alex and bert host exploring the word on american family radio

>> Jeff Chamblee: Now back to the bible study you're listening to exploring the word on american family radio it's about the.

>> Alex McFarland: Cross it's about my sin it's about how jesus came to be born once so that we could be born again it's about the stone welcome back to exploring the word alex and bert here so honored that you that you're listening we're not live today this is pre recorded because bert and i are each traveling but we're going over questions that are in our books one hundred bible questions and answers then we did a second book the first book came out about three or four years ago and then the second book came out about a year ago one hundred bible questions and answers for families and you know bert i know we're going to resume but but we got the may twenty fourth afa journal and right in the front cover and oh my goodness what an honor i cannot tell you how humbled i was what an honor there's an ad for our books right in the inside front cover and by the way the website is resources dot afa dot net and we would be very honored if you would check these out and it's like pocket sized almost i mean i guess if you got a big pocket but you've got exploring the word that you can carry with you you know yeah you do.

>> Bert Harper: Alex i want to read this you know i'm looking for humor always do but in the first book it says in the COVID here in one hundred bible questions and answers alex and macfarlane and burt harper veteran co host of exploring the word you know what that means old guys what yes exactly veteran well we've been at this this is twelve years that we've been able to do this going on thirteen really now and alex and i were talking we had never met until we did the first program on the radio we met through radio that's how most folks know us we know you through radio well that's how alex and i got to know one another and it's been a joy to do so and so anyway you can get these books if you want them as i say it's like having exploring the word print and you can go to resources dot afa dot net resources dot afa dot net and you can order them if you would want to or give them away or however you'd want to use them well alex yeah go.

>> Alex McFarland: Ahead god is so good those that have listened for a long time know that we started out with a dear dear brother named marvin sanders and he i guess don wildmon hired.

>> Bert Harper: Marvin that's right he did yes he did well for our first station we want we're now network but at one time we were one station in tupelo mississippi and that's when marvin came on.

>> Alex McFarland: Board well you know i'd been in the ministry a long time and really prayed about you know trying to be on the radio and then i met tim wildman and jim stanley and so i was thrilled you know when we started doing exploring the word marvin and i i was thrilled and when he you know it became evident that he you know was sick and was not going to survive you know i was sad that he was ill but i was also sad because i thought man we got something great here and what's going to happen to exploring the word and then you begin to fill in and angie asked me said who's taking marvin's place i said well there's a guy he's a pastor his name is bert harper and i said i really like him and maybe we can keep it going and even after marvin dies and of course it was an honor i got to say a word at marvin's funeral and tim wildman spoke and i just give god the glory because initiating this show and then growing it and it seems to be mightily used by god and we give jesus all the glory but only the lord could have put this.

>> Bert Harper: Together would you agree i agree it's of god and we want to be faithful it is counted unto stewards to be faithful that sounds like a word about don wildmon he said you may not can do anything but you can be faithful and that's what we want to do faithful to the word of god to declare the glory of god alex i'm holding up the second book and these questions i've got now are coming out of that book one hundred questions the blue book yeah questions and answers for families better known as you said the blue book we got the brown book and the blue book i wonder if we'll get the green book we'll see hey it could be red we could have a contest what color do you want the third book to be but no we'll wait on that one okay here's a question from the blue book and you were talking about the pentateuch the first five books of the bible and so this comes out a question from that book particularly how could moses have written the book of deuteronomy if he records his own.

>> Alex McFarland: Death good m question that's a fair question you know moses died wasn't it moab didn't he die in moab.

>> Bert Harper: I believe you're right yeah yeah on mount pisgah i know that mount pisgah.

>> Alex McFarland: Yeah you know there's a mount pisgah church not far from where i'm sitting right now but at any rate god told moses that he would not be able to lead the children of israel all the way into the promised land because he disobeyed god he saw the promised land from a distance but after moses died joshua led israel but here's the thing deuteronomy was written near the end of moses life and it's very likely that joshua as moses successor wrote the account of moses death some scholars some ancient jewish scholars thought that maybe deuteronomy thirty four was written by ezra or somebody else that had served under moses but we often say moses wrote the pentateuch which is true but just like not all the proverbs were written by solomon some were written by lemuel well not all of the pentateuch was written by moses it was either joshua or ezra or maybe some other jewish person that we don't know but that deuteronomy thirty four now there have been let me just say this and i know we'll move on some have said and i know that this theory i think is in gleason archer's book of bible difficulties maybe god gave it and moses prophetically wrote it ahead of time but i don't think so you know i think it was probably some successor maybe joshua.

>> Bert Harper: Himself and that's consistent have you noticed how god hands things off a lot of times okay yes you had moses but guess who he had coming after him joshua god had the great prophet elijah but guess who was waiting there right after elisha john the baptist he said no person has been greater born than john the baptist but right after john the baptist the lord jesus and so alex i think someone finishing that would be consistent with the way god operates you understand what i'm saying okay amen okay well here's another one and i wanted people to this question shows you that this both books have some practicality to it it's not just telling you bible questions and then answers or archeology or history but also practicality and this one was one i was really i think it's an important one and i hope that you will listen carefully and i'm not trying to just sell books but it would be worth paying for the book just to get the answer of this question here it is how do i overcome a bad habit or sin in my life wow good question.

>> Alex McFarland: well let me say keep at it you know don't give up keep going yeah you know somebody once said that we should be satisfied with the things we have but not satisfied with the person we are and very often we get it the other way around we become satisfied with who we are in terms of our character but we're unsatisfied with the things we have we crave more bert i truly think that one of the ways is to remember that as a christian if you're a believer you're not an owner but a steward you know one corinthians six nineteen twenty paul says that we are not our own and we let the spirit of god convict us and open our eyes and i hope nobody is living in overt sin but even there are things and i'll tell you somebody that i love that was really big about this was john wesley that we need to ask you know is god pleased with our habits because you know do you remember that old saying so a thought reap a deed sow a deed reap a habit and sow a habit and reap a destiny and these things that are not ideal that can really migrate into sin i mean any christian if you're not just vigilant over your heart and soul and how you spend your time and let me say one last thing and i want to throw it to you and i know you as a pastor for many years you god has used you so much and i just want to say i respect you so much i've been you know ministering alongside you for twelve years now and folks let me tell you bert harper is an exemplary christian man he really is but haven't you seen tendencies which become habits which become sin very often it starts in the emotions doesn't it bert whether it be envy or unforgiveness or just you know holding a grudge against somebody or not being grateful how we steward our emotions that could be a gateway for bad habits and even sin couldn't it it really is.

>> Bert Harper: Alex and you did a good job of explaining that just let me say one or two things one god saved us from our sin not to continue in sin just remember that listen we all have besetting sins not anybody's exempt from that and you know if you have a habit or a favorite thing you do it's harder to break but you can he's the chain breaker that's the reason i love the song that zach williams wrote in saying he's the chain breaker he really is and you don't have to be held in you can hold sin and satan in check through the blood of the lord jesus christ another thing i would say get as far away from that sin not close to it now you know if we're not careful well i don't want to sin but we're going to go to this place that you know that you're going to be drawn aside you know good and well you do not need to watch this because you want to you want to get as close to it but no come out from among them and be ye separate saith the lord and do not touch the unclean thing in other words you separate there's got to be a separation between you and that sin and it needs to be one that you fight all the time another thing is you guard your heart be careful what you let in guard your heart with all diligence not carelessly but guard your heart with what about your senses what you see what you hear let me just say what you taste we don't talk much about gluttony but i want to tell you we need to be disciplined in all areas and i'm better in some than i am others alex and then the bottom line of all sin is pride it really is no matter if it's jealousy bitterness we think well i don't deserve this you know i wouldn't do this if they hadn't of done this to me and that's still the bottom of its pride it was the first sin that we know was that was committed in heaven when lucifer wanted to be like the most high and have his throne equal or above and so how do i overcome bad habits or sin in my life listen let the word of god dwell in you richly have you heard that old saying the sin will keep you from this word or this word will keep you from sin put the word of god in your heart alex you're one of the greatest resources i've ever had the privilege of working with in memorizing scripture and know where it is i'll quote a scripture and then the next thing i know alex said yeah that's in ephesians and i appreciate that so much now it takes work to do what it does for all but some can do it better but here's the last question i know you can you take that and i praise god for you brother but here's a question that's in the last book and it's real important maybe the most important question in the two books how can i know jesus through and have.

>> Alex McFarland: Salvation wow wow great great question well folks you can know jesus by putting your faith in him and what does that mean well the greek word for faith we often say belief i believe in jesus but fundamentally it means trust to trust jesus and not just to know the lord in an intellectual sense you know bert we've often talked about james two nineteen says the devils believe yet tremble now if you ask satan even the devil himself did you know jesus was born of a virgin did you know jesus is the sinless son of god did you know jesus rose from the dead did you know jesus is coming back even the devil could say yes i'm aware of that and of course he's not saved so it's not just mental assent to a fact but it's a personal encounter a personal relationship and when we say trust jesus first of all you need to trust what he says about your condition and god loves you oh my goodness does god love you he does but jesus says until you're born again you're in sin and bert i think one of the starting points for a relationship with jesus is to accept what christ says about our condition and so do you admit you're a sinner do you admit who jesus said he was you've got to believe what jesus claimed about himself and he said he was the one and only way to the father he said that he would give his life for our salvation and then you appropriate that to yourself by praying the bible says in romans ten thirteen whoever calls on the name of the lord she'll be saved how do you do that even right now folks jesus is as close by as a prayer say lord i believe lord i know you died for me come into my life save me and burt no matter who it is if they'll call out to jesus today they can be saved this very day amen the.

>> Bert Harper: Main purpose of these two books is so people can know god and be saved i'm holding them in my hands one hundred answers and questions questions and answers and we have them and you can get them at resources dot afa dot net and it can be a blessing to you and your family alex it's been fun thank you brother amen.

>> Alex McFarland: Thanks for listening to exploring the word everybody tell somebody about exploring the word but most of all tell everybody about.

>> Bert Harper: Jesus.

>> Alex McFarland: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast do not necessarily reflect those of the american family association or american family radio.