Transcript

American Family Radio explores the Bible with guest host John Bowler

>> Bert Harper: The Bible. It's the word of God, sharper than any two edged sword. This sacred book is living and active and contains all that's needed for life and godliness. Stay with American Family Radio for the next hour as we study God's word and take your Bible questions. Welcome to Exploring the Word. Thank you for listening to Exploring the Word and we pray that it would just be a blessing to you as we go through the book of Ephesians. Let me give you a verse here and listen to it and then we'll get to it. He himself, Jesus gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. And again, this is Bert M. Harper along with Dr. Jon Bowler. He's our guest host yesterday and today. Jon, thank you for being with us.

>> Bert Harper: Good to be back. Thank you for the opportunity.

>> Bert Harper: And Jon is a pastor here in Tupelo, Mississippi at Calvary Baptist Church. And just a great church. Matter of fact, the church that I pastored here for 28 years and youth ministered just about two years, 30 years in one church altogether. we were a plant from Calvary Baptist Church and West Jackson Street Baptist Church where I pastored. And so I have a love for Calvary Baptist Church in the past, but right now in the present too, brother.

>> Bert Harper: Amen.

>> Bert Harper: And it is good to have you.

John: Ephesians talks about the unity of the faith

Well, we're in Ephesians, we went through Ephesians 4:1 through 6 in part of 7 yesterday. And that was a, you know, that's a small amount of verses that we try to do. But we're going to go further today. And it's about the unity of the faith. Now Jon, when we say unity of the faith, we said yesterday, it's not uniformity. That's right, but it is working together, isn't it?

>> Bert Harper: That's right, that's right. And you can see in verse six and also in verse seven where we're about to start here, verse seven says, but to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. As I was reading that, I couldn't help but how verse six ended with the unity, the overall unity of the body of Christ under the Spirit of God. Kind of a heaven view. And then verse seven, but to each one. So it goes from the unity of the church to the, the unity and the singleness and the gift that Christ gives. As you just read, some to be pastors, some to be teachers, even gifts, before we even get into that. But unity is not just overall, but it's also an individual because of a gift that Christ gives us. And ultimately, it's the grace. It's the grace. Greatest gift of all.

>> Bert Harper: Amen. earlier when we were going through the first three chapters, I know I used this, the hand and eye coordination. Janet and I have a six month old granddaughter and we got, we've seen her twice and. But this last, month, we got to see her. Her hand and eye coordination is not quite there yet, Jon. You know what? You know what I mean? And when I think of the body working in unity, one another, I think of that hand and eye coordination that we do need each other. Paul would go to great depths in the book of Corinthians to explain that we do have need of one another. So no matter what your gift might be, and the Bible talks about these spiritual gifts that some, I would say, are more necessary than others.

>> Bert Harper: Yes.

>> Bert Harper: You know, but, all are needed.

>> Bert Harper: That's right. And the gifts that God gives individuals to the church are for the church, not joy. Well, I think you get a blessing because of that. But it's for the ministry. It's for the church. So whatever gift that God has given you is not for, personal fulfillment. It is for the work of the ministry. So if you say, well, God's given me this gift, my next question is, well, how are you using it in the church? So you look around a church on a Sunday morning or whenever you gather to worship, and every person is there by purpose, gifted by God to use that gift in the church.

>> Bert Harper: Amen. That's what it is.

>> Bert Harper: That's what it's all about.

>> Bert Harper: It is. Now one more thing, then we'll continue on. I came up with this and I thought of this, and I've heard others say it too. Paul refers to it as the body. Honestly. And I don't want to, but I've seen people get by without their arm. I've seen some people get by without their legs. But the ones that are hidden, that you don't see, I've never seen anyone get by without a brain, without a heart, without lungs. And they're the ones that are not seen. They're working. I do believe, and I want you to respond to it, that we may place too much emphasis on the gifts that are seen out front.

>> Bert Harper: That's right.

>> Bert Harper: And not enough on those that are working behind the scenes.

>> Bert Harper: The Lord knows our heart. He knows the ones that are what we would call in, the spotlight. Those gifts are needed. He needs the ones where, I love. How is it at the end of Malachi where it says in a book of remembrance where the Lord knows, He knows everything that you, no one else may know what you're doing, but you're doing it for the Lord and he knows. And anything you do for the glory of God, anything you do gifted, wise, is for the glory of God, not for the glory of man. There are, opportunities where you have to be on the stage and it's a gift, but there's also behind the scenes. And, sometimes it's more fun behind the scenes than it is out in front of everybody.

>> Bert Harper: There's a lot of pressure being out there.

>> Bert Harper: There is.

>> Bert Harper: I mean, we come to this, this time of the day, 3:05 to 4:00', clock, and I'm just telling you, okay, I got to get into the Word and Lord, I want to stay straight, with the Word. Want to have the right attitude, right spirit. So a lot of preparation goes into it. Well, here, as you said, I could not help but notice each one.

>> Bert Harper: Yes.

>> Bert Harper: I underlined those in my script, in my Scriptures copy of the Scriptures, because each one, has got a gift.

There are spiritual gift tests to help you identify what people are gifted with

>> Bert Harper: Every believer.

>> Bert Harper: Every believer. And, you've pastored for quite a few years now. How do you. Do you give tests? Or do you tell people to just start serving to find out what their gift is?

>> Bert Harper: There's different ways. there is preaching, through the passages in the NewSong Testament, like First, Corinthians 12:14, Ephesians 4. That lists some of the, the gifts in the church. There are spiritual gift tests, a lot of gifts. When you meet someone, it doesn't take very long to see where they're gifted. If someone is always just wanting to help wherever, it doesn't matter. Maybe that's the gift of service. If you have someone who has a lot of wisdom, maybe it's a gift of administration or, someone who loves to dig deep and study. Maybe that's a gift of teaching. So there's tests that helps. It's kind of like also personality, tests. You can take those. But it won't take very long to be around someone. You can tell if they're an extrovert, an introvert. You can tell if they're a dominant or, maybe more of an encourager. So a lot of it just comes with who you are. So hanging around people, being around people, you can kind of see where they're gifted.

>> Bert Harper: Amen. Well, here it says each one of us was given. It's given by God. It's already there. Given by God, but it must be developed that's right. And so here it is. And it's according to the measure of Christ's gift. In other words, God gives you what you want. Now the big gift is the gift of salvation. But along with that gift comes the spiritual gift. At least some, some may be multi gifted, you know, and so. But God gives it. Therefore he says, and he's a quoting. This is a quote from Psalm 68. When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts to me. He ascended and then he went back again. This captivity, captive doesn't mean something, mean this is something good. You know, he took what was necessary, took it with him and he gave gifts to men. you know, people get lost in this and look at it. He ascended on high. Yes, he did. That's what Christ did. That was a Messianic psalm and Psalm 68. But what he's doing here is concentrating on the gifts. That's right, that God is the giver of those gifts. And it's like he's made that statement in verse seven and he backs it up here in verse eight.

>> Bert Harper: And what's interesting, in verse number seven, the word gift, and also in verse eight the word gift. In English it's the same word, but in the original it's two different words. So in verse seven he's talking more of the free gift, like you mentioned, salvation, the free gift of Jesus and the freely giving, the spiritual gifts that he has given us as believers. And then you come down to verse number seven where he says, and he gave gifts to men. This is kind of more comprehensive of his gracious provision. Not so much the freely given as we see in verse seven, but overall he gave gifts to men because he's fixing to develop what those actually are. and you can get a lot of times when you read verse eight and I don't think going back to Psalm 68 that the writer is focusing more on a messianic prophecy. I don't think Paul is referring to that here either. I think he's using this as an illustration. And you can go Back to Psalm 68 in the context there of David in battle and ascending on high. And the captivity captive gave gifts to men. But he's using that as an illustration to set up. Each one of you has a gift.

>> Bert Harper: Each one.

>> Bert Harper: And he continues that on there in verse number nine.

>> Bert Harper: Go ahead and read that.

>> Bert Harper: Scripture says, now this he ascended. What does it mean? But that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth. Sometimes we read that and we want to just jump off the deep end, but I want us to look here at this context. The first one, I believe is self explanatory. What does it mean that he ascended? Well, the he we know is Christ. When did he ascend? Well, I think all of us can agree that's after the death and burial and the resurrection of Jesus. And he ascended on high. But he first descended.

>> Bert Harper: He came to us.

>> Bert Harper: Came to us.

>> Bert Harper: Amen.

>> Caroline: And.

>> Bert Harper: And he did this. And, you can't help but look at Philippians chapter 2, the Divine Kenosis, where he emptied himself and became obedient. Yeah.

Christmas and Easter celebrate the Incarnation; what's more important

we get this question a lot at Christmas and Easter about what's more important, Christmas or Easter? The Incarnation. Easter would not be possible if it were not for the Incarnation. For Christmas. That's right there. We don't have to have that battle, do we?

>> Bert Harper: We don't.

>> Bert Harper: We celebrate both.

>> Bert Harper: We don't. And his ascension is wonderful. But his descended. He, didn't start in Bethlehem. He is God, and He came to Earth. His humanity. Yes, Started in Bethlehem. But, this is a, wonderful text that explains the deity of Christ and how he came from heaven. Descended first. The Word became flesh, dwelt among us.

>> Bert Harper: Amen. Verse 10. He who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that he might feel all things again. Philippians is there. He came to us, and then he did what he came to do, which was the Father's will.

>> Bert Harper: That's right.

>> Bert Harper: they talk about. I know, Calvary. Yes. But the garden was where the battle was first fought. Lord, if there be any other way, let this cup pass from me.

>> Bert Harper: That's right.

>> Bert Harper: And I use this. Silence has never been so loud.

>> Bert Harper: Yes. You know, it's interesting there in verse number nine and verse ten, there's two. We, want to put it in geography, two places. The highest of the heavens and the lowest parts of the earth. And if you're like me, okay, I don't know. I need to know where that's at. I need to know exactly what that place is. I think what Paul is saying here is he says, okay, I'll tell you where the lowest parts of the Earth is if you can tell me what's far above the heavens. You can't explain it. Far above the heavens? Well, to me, heaven is the highest. That's there where the scripture says he ascended far above the heavens. Well, the lowest parts of the earth is.

>> Bert Harper: In fact, you can look at that term in different parts of Scripture, and it just. It's the center of earth. It's the life. It's the that he came to that part. And we'll pick up some of that here in just a minute.

>> Bert Harper: Hey. We're going to continue in Ephesians chapter four, and it's the day of prayer.

Preborn needs you to help speak truth about life, dignity and hope

So in our third segment, we want your prayer requests. We want to hear them. We want to pray for you today here on Exploring the Word. Right now, the voices in our culture are loud, but truth is often silent. And today, preborn needs you to help speak that truth. Women facing unplanned pregnancies are often pressured to act quickly before they have time to pause, breathe, or hear the truth about life, dignity and hope. But I refuse to be silent, and I'm asking you to join me. At preborn network clinics, a woman is welcomed with compassion and given a free ultrasound. She sees the life growing inside her, often for the first time. And in that sacred moment, fear gives way to clarity. And she's offered something the abortion industry will never provide. The hope of Jesus Christ. This April, our goal is to have 11,000 gospel conversations in preborn network clinics, trusting God to bring the increase as we remain faithful to speak. You can help make that possible by sponsoring ultrasounds. Just $28 provides one ultrasound. $140 sponsors five ultrasounds for mothers in crisis. Every dollar helps save babies and share the good news of Jesus Christ. To donate, dial £250 and say the keyword baby. That's £250, baby. Or visit preborn.com host that's preborn.com host

>> Bert Harper: for the child of God is far from home the one who thinks they're too far gone.

>> Caroline: I'm throwing out another prayer.

>> Bert Harper: In baby worn out altars tear stained peace Still I won't give up on

>> Bert Harper: you I believe that anything can change when somebody prays.

>> Bert Harper: Amen. Well, that's what we're going to do today. We're going to have some people praying. And if you have prayer requests in about 10 minutes from now, I, think our lines will be open and you can call 888-589-8840.

We have prayer requests Tuesday and we want to pray with you

We have prayer requests Tuesday and we want to pray with you. We're in Ephesians chapter four. Our, guest today is Dr. Jon Boler. The reason Alex is not here, he's in Montana at the first youth camp. Youth camp of eight different ones he'll have all over the United States. So he's. And Lord willing, if everything travels correctly, you never know. These days he'll be with us. Tomorrow, Brent, Austin and I will be sitting on pins and needles till we hear that his plane has landed. And, then we'll know.

John: Christ Himself gave some of the apostles. Notice these words. Verse 7. Verse 8. And He Himself gave

But anyway, Jon, we've come to verse 11. Now you may want to say some more, but here's what. Notice these words. And he himself gave. Now look how many times this is used. Verse 7. But to each one of us, grace was given. Verse 8. And he gave gifts to men. And so here it is, verse 11. And He Himself gave some of the apostles. This giving is by his grace, his mercy, his gift. But in that, when you've been given something, is there responsibility there yourself?

>> Bert Harper: That there is. And even before the responsibility, Christ, far above the heavens, lowest place of the earth, he has full authority to give

>> Bert Harper: these gifts to Jesus as he will.

>> Bert Harper: Yes, yes. And he says, and he gave some to be apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and some teachers. It goes back to each one that there are some who will, some to be apostles and some prophets. And we think about apostles, we think about the 12 apostles or the disciples. We think about in the days of Acts, the book of Acts, somebody like Barnabas or others who may have had the title apostle, which simply just means to be sent to be a missionary, to be not necessarily a pastor of a local church, but one who may be a church planner, one who's on a mission. That's where that term, apostle comes from.

>> Bert Harper: Would you say this? The apostles that they chose to replace Judas Carrot, the two they picked from, they had seen the risen Lord. They were the original, if you want to use the title apostle, I don't fight with anybody about it. But if you were doing it today, the more modern day apostle, would be missionaries sent out. You catch? Would you agree with that?

>> Bert Harper: I think so. I think the two words here, apostle and prophecy, they are the foundation of the early church. And they were the ones that were sent out. They were the ones that the Bible says were scattered abroad and helped plant the churches. But a true apostle is one who has seen the resurrected Lord. And like I said, you can parse words left and right, but I think a true missionary would fulfill the duty of an apostle. But I don't consider myself. I'm not apostle Jon. I don't think that that's, what the word actually means. In the same way a, prophet, even though a prophet would be more, reserved to a local church, I think that's the foundation of the church.

You get into some of these others, like evangelists, pastors and teachers

You get into some of these others, like evangelists, pastors and teachers. And now you're getting into where the church is at today. What's neat about this word evangelist? It's the only time it's mentioned in scripture. This word is used in other places where, Philip the evangelist in Acts or in, 2nd Timothy 4, where Paul says, timothy do the work of an evangelist, but he gave some to be an evangelist. So are we missing it in the church? Are there people who are called to be evangelists?

>> Bert Harper: Okay, even if you are not gifted, you need to still do the work.

>> Bert Harper: That's right.

>> Bert Harper: if you look at that, what Paul was saying to Timothy, in other words, he said, you may not be this, but you need to do the work. You need to be. You need to be a sole witness of me, of who I am. And I, I know guys that I've pastored, and they were really evangelists on individual witnessing. I'm thinking one particular guy and I, I would see him, he was going to get a witness in, and he did that work and did it well. And, now when you come to pastor and teacher, a pastor that does not teach, is it really? This is, shepherding and teaching, you know.

>> Bert Harper: That's right. Well, the pastor is a word, shepherd. That's where the word comes from. I look at Ephesians 4:11. A pastor and a teacher is the same.

>> Bert Harper: I do too.

>> Bert Harper: It's the same one.

>> Bert Harper: If I remember my Greek, I didn't check it out, but I took. You know, the end is not.

>> Bert Harper: That's right.

>> Bert Harper: Not there.

>> Bert Harper: It's the same. It's not two different offices.

>> Bert Harper: It's not pastor, teacher, and that's right.

>> Bert Harper: And even when you get to the qualifications in Second Timothy. Excuse me, First Timothy. It's, it's. He has to be one who could teach. And so pastor and teacher. You are correct. It is. You have some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be apostles, some to be pastors and teachers. It's. It's the same office.

>> Bert Harper: And when you get into small groups, whoever the leader of that group is, if he just wants to teach without kind of giving some shepherding. I'm talking about in a small group, whether it be a big church, small group, that idea comes across, man, you. Those two kind of. They should run parallel, shouldn't they?

>> Bert Harper: I think so. I think so. So teaching is a small group, like a Sunday school, and preaching is a big group at big church. You're doing the same thing. It's just a pastor, teacher. And I think it's one, who is called to be a pastor, which it's a calling, has to be one who could teach. In fact, I would say that's probably the highest quality. You have to be able to rightly divide the word of truth and be able to teach.

>> Bert Harper: You got to. I think you go back to Peter when Jesus said, feed my, Feed my lambs, feed my sheep. You know, you feed them, you give it to them. Word of God.

The Bible says for the equipping of the saints for ministry

It brings us to verse 12 and the. For it is there for what? For, the equipping of the saints. Okay. And then there's, I believe, you know, the commas and periods are not in the original. If I understand this right, if we were looking at it for his English and editing English, there should possibly be a comma after saints.

>> Bert Harper: Yes.

>> Bert Harper: Because it would say, what? For the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry.

>> Bert Harper: That's right.

>> Bert Harper: It's, saying like this. I'll put it in mind. I want you to respond for the equipping of the saints. So the saints can do the work of the ministry.

>> Bert Harper: That's right. The way the church is structured, Paul has given. Christ has given. Paul writes, some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be pastors and teachers. Their purpose, the Bible says, is for the equipping of the saints. Which, equipping just means building up. And, it's a word that means like you're building a house. in this context, it's a spiritual building up of the saints. The saints are the people of God in the church, followers of Jesus. To build them up, not just to tear them down, but for the work of the ministry. Who does the work in the church?

>> Bert Harper: The body.

>> Bert Harper: That's right.

>> Bert Harper: And what you see here. Okay, I'm going to bring this in. The equipping of the saints. And it says, shepherd passed the, example. This does not exclude the pastor or the teacher. Okay, I'm going to do this. Send you over here, send you over here while I sit back here and watch you. Part of this is an example. Let me see. Jesus sent them out two by two. But what had he done before that he went with them? What would Paul do? He would take Timothy with him, he would take Luke with him, and then he would work with them and demonstrate, and then he would either leave them there or send them somewhere else, would he not?

>> Bert Harper: So here's what, here's. And if you may be a pastor listening to this, a pastor should not do everything, but a pastor should be willing to do anything.

>> Caroline: Amen.

>> Bert Harper: if the trash needs to be taken out. That's not beneath you.

>> Bert Harper: It's not. You do it, brother.

>> Bert Harper: But at the same time, you can't do everything. And a good leader, a good pastor, is one who is not just delegating the responsibility, but as you mentioned, being that example of what it means to be a servant, what it means to be shepherd. A shepherd for the work of the ministry. And then that last one there in verse 12, for the edifying of the body of Christ. And also going back to that word edifying is to build up for the development of the church. And that's. And we're going to get to, later on here in a minute in verse 16, if we make it that far for the growth. This is a classic passage, Brother Jon, how can the church grow? Here we are.

>> Bert Harper: This is it. Well, let's move on so we can get there. Notice what it says until we come to the unity of the faith.

The unity of faith means we've got other brothers and sisters supporting us

There's that theme again. it says, and the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man or a mature man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Now, what a statement that is. Do we ever get through doing this? Is what I think this unity has to what, continue on because all it takes is a weak link in the chain for this.

>> Bert Harper: That's exactly right. And even when it says, and the knowledge of the Son of God, it was also the Apostle Paul in Philippians who says, I want to know, Christ. Well, Paul, I thought you were a believer. I thought you got saved. I thought you radically got saved at Damascus. And he did. But what he says is, Christ is such, far above the heavens, his knowledge. We spend all of our life, yes, we know the experiential knowledge of coming to know Christ. But every time I read the Word, I find out how much I don't know.

>> Bert Harper: That's what we were talking about yesterday when he said, I'm the least of the. I'm the less of the least of the apostles. I'm the chief of sinners. The more you know him, the more you find out that you don't know.

>> Bert Harper: That's right.

>> Bert Harper: His mercies are what, new every morning. And they really are. Now listen to this. we come into the fullness of Christ, and I know we're leaving some behind so we can get to 16 because it would be good. I want you to hear you that we know we should no longer be children tossed to and fro. That's the knowledge of Christ. That's knowing him. And the unity of faith means we've got other brothers and sisters coming along with us, supporting us. That we should no longer be children tossed to and fro in caring about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men and the cunning craftedness by which they lie in wait to deceive false teachers. Those that would get you off track, those that think they know more about you know, this is what I believe you ought to do. And. And so. But every wind of doctrine, you got to be grounded. That's what he had done in the first three chapters.

>> Bert Harper: That's right.

>> Bert Harper: He had given them this doctrine so that when they are ministering, they don't get turned aside.

>> Bert Harper: That's right. Trickery, dishonesty, the cunning craftiness. That's the, making error look like truth. then going on down to the deceitful plotting. That's just the schemes of the devil. It's interesting In Ephesians, 6, 11, where he talks about, the armor of God, that we may be able to handle the schemes of the devil. That's that same word, the deceitful plotting there in verse 14. But he says, preach it. Speaking the truth in love. We don't run from the truth. I think it was Adrian Rogers who said, I'd rather be hated for telling the truth than loved for telling a lie.

>> Bert Harper: Brett could not help but respond when you mentioned Adrian Rogers. We believe that God wants us to get A quote by Dr. Rogers Every week.

>> Bert Harper: Every week. There's mine.

>> Bert Harper: For the two days you've done it, you've done it. And again, speaking the truth in love. Listen, you do not. And that's what you said. Don't sacrifice this. If without truth, it's a much love. Yeah, it really. You don't have anything to hang it on.

>> Bert Harper: That's right.

>> Bert Harper: You're just. You're moved around by what? Every wind of doctrine, if you're not based in truth, may grow up. Here it is. We talked about the edifying. Here it is again. Set a different way. Continue growing until you come into the maturity. Grow in all things into him who is the head. Christ.

>> Bert Harper: That's right.

>> Bert Harper: We're under him. That's right. No matter when, where or how, we're under Him. Now. We hadn't got but three, maybe three minutes. Go. 16. Read it and make your comments.

John Bowler: Prayer is really important, isn't it

>> Bert Harper: 16.

>> Bert Harper: Because you've been wanting to get there.

>> Bert Harper: Well, it just. In preparation. I just. And I've read this so many times. But it says in verse 16, from whom the whole body, not just Part of the church, not just, but the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part, every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself. In love, you know, you say, brother Jon, our church isn't growing. What's everybody doing? Are we doing? Are you fulfilling your role? Are you using your gift? Are you using your gift? and it's not just attending. There's got to be so much more.

>> Bert Harper: We're not just spectators.

>> Bert Harper: Not just spectators. Not just, taking up a space or a pew. But it's serving the body of Christ. It causes growth of the body. It's the only time it's used. It's here. It's also used in Colossians 2, verse 19. And real quickly I'll read Colossians 2, verse 19. that says, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body nourished, knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. This is what it's all about. And also this growth in this original word in the Greek language is not a growth from the outside. It's an internal growth which is through Christ.

>> Bert Harper: One more thing real quickly. You can't help but do this. Knit together. you can't. Okay. Thinking about science and I remember the first time I saw a DNA picture of the DNA and you looked at, that's kinda knit together, each one of us. And it's from that one DNA, everything in our body set. Okay. God in his DNA and the spiritual DNA he's given to us. It fitly joined together to work together for the edifying of the body of Christ. That the body of the edifying of itself in love. It's not going to happen. Apart from truth and love, it's not going to happen any other way, is it?

>> Bert Harper: Stand on the truth and live it in love.

>> Bert Harper: Okay. Hey, we're going to take phone calls and that number is 8885-8988-4088-8589-8840. It's a day of prayer. But if you have Bible questions, we get to them as well. But call us 888-589-8840. America's 250th birthday. It's a great excuse to have some extra cake and ice cream, but we can help your celebration go well beyond that. Show your patriotism with America. 250 apparel that will become a memento of this special year.

>> Bert Harper: We also have special Episodes on AFA

>> Bert Harper: Stream to help underscore that America is

>> Bert Harper: a Christian nation and help you find God in the Constitution.

>> Bert Harper: Find all of this and more in one place.

>> Bert Harper: Afa.net topics250 don't stop praying don't stop calling on Jesus name Keep on pounding

>> Bert Harper: on heaven's door Let your knees wear

>> Caroline: out the floor don't stop believing when

>> Bert Harper: you hear that song, you know it's time to pray. We, we just praise God for the opportunity we have here on exploring the Word to pray with you. But it also opens up the door for saints all over the United States and because of the Internet, all over the world to join us together. Jon Bowler is our guest today. Guest host. He is a pastor. Ah, here in Tupelo at Calvary Baptist Church. Prayer is really important, isn't it?

>> Bert Harper: Amen. Amen.

>> Bert Harper: Isn't it a blessing to have people in your church and family members, too, that pray for you? They do.

>> Bert Harper: It humbles you.

>> Bert Harper: It really does.

>> Bert Harper: It humbles you.

>> Bert Harper: It does. So we're going to take these prayer requests and we appreciate it. If you have a Bible question, we'd try to get to that as well, but we appreciate you so much.

John: First place we're going to go is to Louisiana

So first place we're going to go is to Louisiana and it's Kim. Kim. Thank you for calling. Go right ahead.

>> Caroline: Hey, how you doing today? How you guys doing?

>> Bert Harper: Doing well. Good to hear from you, man. You're from Baton Rouge. Did I say that right?

>> Caroline: You sure did.

>> Bert Harper: Okay. Baton Rouge, as I say. Okay. Go ahead, Kim. You have a prayer request, brother?

>> Caroline: Yes. I listen to you guys every day and I love you guys. I pray that if it's God's will, that I may receive my sight back.

>> Bert Harper: Well, has it been a time frame since you has lost your sight?

>> Caroline: 20, 21.

>> Bert Harper: Okay. Okay. Well, we're going to pray that Jesus touched several people for their sight, but he never necessarily do it the same way every time. You know that, Jon?

>> Bert Harper: Different every way.

>> Bert Harper: And that blessed my heart. When I was at Blue Mountain and Dr. James Travis, he said, now look here, you got mud in the eye. Church. Different. If you're going to go by how you did it, no wonder you'd have different thoughts. But God is looking on the inside. And Kim, we're going to trust God for him to do that.

>> Bert Harper: Yes.

>> Bert Harper: Would you mind praying for Kim?

>> Bert Harper: Absolutely. Father, we come before you in the precious name of Jesus. And I thank you, Lord, for our friend Kim. Thank you for his Lord, just his encouragement to us as he listens and, and studies God's word alongside exploring the word. Father, I pray you'd hear his heart today. And, for the last, four or five years as, his sight, needs, to be restored. Lord, I pray. Lord, we believe, we know you can do more in a second than we can do in a lifetime. And we trust you for that. So we ask for your perfect will. All through scripture, Lord, we saw where you gave sight to the blind. And I ask for that for Kim. Lord, for your honor and for your glory. Only in Jesus name. Amen.

>> Bert Harper: Thank you, Jon. Kim, thank you. And you've got people that are praying for you right now. And we trust the Lord. we don't make demands on him. We make requests.

>> Bert Harper: That's right.

>> Bert Harper: And our request is that you'd receive your sight. Thank you again. Well, let's go to Mississippi and talk to Jason. Jason, thank you for calling. Go right ahead.

>> Caroline: Well, thank you so much for taking my call. I appreciate it.

Matt Olson of Mississippi is preaching through the entire Bible for 96 hours

I would like a prayer for my pastor, Matt Olson of First Baptist Church of Sharon in Laurel, Mississippi. last August he got certified to train missionaries in survival, training. And he had to be taken out in the woods and survive for 96 hours. And he said, for 96 hours I didn't have my Bible. And I had the thought, what if I could preach for 96 hours and preach through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation? And he began to research anything ever been done like this before. And he reached out to Guinness and again it says we don't have a category for longest sermon, but the longest marathon speech was set by a Muslim in Dubai who spoke for 80 hours on the Quran. And brother Matt says, I feel like, I should try to, reach that goal of preaching 96 hours. So right now he is preached for 68 hours. And he has preached that the Old Testament. He is now in NewSong Testament. So just prayer for him to finish strong.

>> Bert Harper: Wow. Jon, you.

>> Bert Harper: I do, Jason. I am a fellow pastor in Mississippi and know Matt a little bit just through the conventions and things. And you can't help but follow his story. And I know that his church has been live streaming these services. And I'm, going to pray he finishes strong and finishes well. And pray that he gets everything he wants to say. If I'm not mistaken, he's preaching through the entire Bible, is that correct?

>> Caroline: Our Bible. He has finished the entire Old Testament and he's on the NewSong Testament now.

>> Bert Harper: Man, what a blessing.

>> Bert Harper: Wow.

>> Bert Harper: What a blessing.

>> Bert Harper: Thank you. Jason, would you do me, do us a favor. When he is through, I want you to call back and report and tell him, if he'll give me his number, I want to talk to him about this.

>> Caroline: And so, Jason, I would love to get you in touch with him.

>> Bert Harper: Okay.

>> Caroline: We are so blessed by God to have him.

>> Bert Harper: We're going to pray for him, but, we're going to get to put him on hold and, and Richard is going to get phone number that I can get in touch. And we want to pray for him right now though.

>> Bert Harper: Yes.

>> Bert Harper: Since you. I know we usually mix it up, but being a pastor. Would you go ahead and pray?

>> Bert Harper: Father, we thank you for today. And as a pastor, Lord, what a privilege to proclaim your truth. It is a calling from you. I pray for my dear brother Matt as he is leading, his church in this 96 hours of revival. Lord, it's, a little different than, what, it's just different. But Lord, I believe you can work through it. I pray first of all, Lord, for strength for Matt, as from Genesis. He'll go all the way through revelation, Father, that somebody will catch a live stream or somebody will show up at his church who needs to hear the truth of Jesus, Lord, and come to know Christ. But at the same time, for the church for revival, a, pastor who, who so loves the word of truth that with the exception of a couple of breaks here and there, is standing and sitting for 96 hours and just going straight to the word God. May your power, like on the day of Elijah, Lord, days of Elijah. Just may your power fall. May it fall fresh. And may you bring revival there to, that church in Mississippi. In Jesus name. Amen.

>> Bert Harper: Amen. Thank you. I'm, We're going to keep up with this.

>> Bert Harper: That's neat. It's a wonderful story.

>> Bert Harper: We are. We're not going to let it lie. We're going to find out what all took place.

Deborah has a prayer request for some friends who are ill

Well, let's go to North Carolina, and it's Deborah. Deborah, thank you for calling. Go right ahead.

>> Caroline: Yes, I have a prayer request for some friends of mine. They're both ill. Mary and her husband called. They asked for prayer. Please.

>> Bert Harper: Mary and Carl.

>> Caroline: Yes.

>> Bert Harper: Okay. I'll. I'll lead us in this prayer. We want everyone. Those of you that are prayer warriors, join us as we pray. Father, I thank you for a friend like Deborah that has a love for her friends and know how bad it is that we come to you in prayer. And Father, we're praying for Mary and Carl, right now we don't know everything that we could know. We don't have to. That's the great part about it, you know. And, Father, we're just making requests to you that you would meet them where they are and their greatest need, whatever it is, the greatest need. It could be spiritual, it could be relational, it could be financial. Father, it could be any of those areas and in all of them come together. And I pray God that you would meet those needs according to your riches that are in Christ Jesus alone, who is able to do above and beyond all that we could even ask or think. So we pray for this and ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Brent: Three prayer requests come up on our Facebook page

Well, Brent, I understand we had a prayer request come over on our Facebook. I've actually got three, so let me give, me a second to get through these. First is going to be Brad is asking for prayer for Keith Chamberlain. Pastor Keith is starting a new church in Rock Point Church, Carlsbad, NewSong Mexico. Oh, wow. Yeah. And he's asking for prayers for that. I just had another come up on, Facebook messenger, from Rose. She continues to ask for prayer for her daughter Jessie, who is demanding to be addressed as non binary. Okay, we've prayed for that. We're going to continue praying. Rose, there's still a lot going on with that. And then I've got one more. I'm having to shuffle through all this. Christy, has unspoken prayers, but she also is asking for prayer for her brother who is in end stage renal failure, and her cousin who is battling addiction. Okay. Did you get all those written down, Jon?

>> Bert Harper: Working on it.

>> Bert Harper: I know. Need shorthand sometimes, don't we?

>> Caroline: Yeah.

>> Bert Harper: Well, I'm going to ask Jon to pray for these. We've written them down and I just want you to. What I do, I take, I write this down, I take them to my desk, I pray for them then. And I at least pray for them off and on 24 hours until we come back. And it that helps me to keep my promise that I'm praying for you. Would you mind praying?

>> Bert Harper: Let's pray. Yes, Father. We come today. Thank you. That, prayer knows there's no walls in prayer, Lord, that, somebody can make a request of a Pastor Keith in NewSong Mexico for this new church plant. We pray for your, your great blessing on this church and as it reaches their community. So I thank you for Brad and the request this pastor. I pray for Rose and her request of, Jesse, who is non binary. Lord, I pray for truth. I pray for wisdom, as they deal with this situation. Lord, I pray for Christy, as she has mentioned today, about her brother and, the request.

>> Caroline: Health.

>> Bert Harper: Ah, request a very serious health request, Lord, that, your will would be done. we believe that you can heal. We believe and we trust you through that, Lord. So we pray for that. And also the one who, is battling an addiction. Lord, I pray that, through this, they would understand that, Jesus, you are truly all that they need. And what they are longing for. And what they desire more than anything else would be Jesus and not anything else. So, Lord, we lift these up. Thank you for the privilege. Thank you, Lord, for the power of prayer. And thank you, Lord, for just letting us come to your throne, unworthy as we are, but brought near, Lord, to you by the precious blood of Jesus. In your name we pray. Amen.

>> Bert Harper: Amen again. Thank you. Thank you, Jon. Well, let's go to Texas. And Shirley, thank you for calling. Go right ahead.

>> Caroline: Oh, yes. Thank you so much. Love you both.

Shirley asks God for help with beginning stages of Parkinson's

I wanted to pray for a little lady that, blessed me through the Lord yesterday in the grocery store line. I. I rescue animals. And she began to. I don't want to make this too long, but I want you to understand that she saw in my cart that mostly I had pet food. And I had noticed that she was in the beginning stages of Parkinson S. But as she moved to another aisle to check out, I was still checking out. And as she left, she walked over to me and handed me some money. And she has no idea what it meant to me. And she said to me, she said, I used to do exactly what you're doing, but I can't do it anymore. And I want you to use this to help the little animals. And she doesn't even have a clue what she did through the Lord. And I want the Lord's help with her Parkinson's, because I know she's in the beginning stages of it. And I thank you so much.

>> Bert Harper: Thank you, Shirley. listen, there's ministries. I, One of the best ministries and most enjoyable interview I did, for exploring missions. Other program I did was this ministry that trains dogs to go into nursing homes and hospitals. And, I know here, close, not far from us in Memphis, Tennessee, where you have, St. Jude Hospital. And then you have others, know some people up there, and they were all alone. They brought a dog in and just trained, and it. It made that child just light up. So there's ministries for that. There's ministry, but we're Praying for this lady, Father. I pray for this lady that blessed Shirley. Beginning of Parkinson's and it's a difficult. It's difficult journey. And I pray, God, that you would help her during this time. And I pray God that you would continue to use, surely to be a blessing to others and that. That as we see you operate in our lives, even using animals for us to be a witness to others. I pray you'd help us. That in Jesus name, Amen.

Deborah from Louisiana requests prayer for her two sons and her grandson

Okay, we got another. Deborah. Deborah from Louisiana. Deborah, thank you for calling. Go right ahead.

>> Caroline: Would you please pray for my son, my oldest son and my oldest great grandson that God would open their spiritual eyes to see truth. And then for my second son that God would give him his right mind.

>> Bert Harper: Oh, wow. Your oldest son and your oldest grandson, that they would open up for the truth of God's word. And your second son, that he would have a, clear mind. Is that sufficient enough? Deborah? Is that the prayer? Well, we're going. We'll do that right now. Jon.

>> Bert Harper: Yes, Father. We thank you for Deborah. Thank you Lord, for her calling in today. We lift up her request of her son and also her oldest son and her grandson, Lord, that they would seek, the light. That they would see the light of the truth of the word of God. And to see that that's exactly what they need in their life. Father, may you use, Ms. Deborah, may you use another, ah, friend or even just a random stranger who will plant the seed in their heart where they can respond to God's truth. I also pray for her second son, and the request there. Lord, I pray for just grace that is there. I pray, Lord, that exactly what he needs, Lord, it would be provided through you. But I thank you for Deborah. Thank you for her, Thank you for her burden, ah, that she has for her family. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

>> Bert Harper: Amen. Thank you, Jon. Jerry, we're not going to be able to get to you today. We got less than a minute. But if you'll call back tomorrow, Richard will put it down and we'll get to your question. If you can call us early, we'll make it the very first one. So Jerry, thank you for doing that. Jon, thank you for being with, with us these two days.

>> Bert Harper: It has been a joy, big shoes to fill for Alex McFarland. And I just tell him it has been an honor and a joy and it just a wonderful joy. I appreciate that so very much.

>> Bert Harper: The ministry, God's given.

>> Bert Harper: That's right.

>> Bert Harper: To open the word of God and talk with people and pray with them.

>> Bert Harper: Amen. Amen. We do it for a fellow pastor that's. And a friend. That's incredible.

>> Bert Harper: What a day.

>> Bert Harper: It's incredible.

>> Bert Harper: Thank you for listening to Exploring the Word. And tune in tomorrow. We're going to continue in the Book of Ephesians, chapter four, so you can be ready and pray for us that we will rightly divide the word of truth. And pray for Alex as he's continuing to work with the youth at these camps.

>> Bert Harper: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.