WEBVTT - What To Do With My Unbelieving Spouse? 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:13.840 What's up everybody? Welcome to the podcast. Thanks for being here. 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:16.840 I answer your questions if you email them to me. 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:22.239 Granger Excuse Me podcast at grangersmith dot com. Podcast at 0:00:22.280 --> 0:00:26.279 grangersmith dot com. Email me anything could be about any 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:28.840 subject and we'll walk through it together. I've got the 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:33.120 first one pulled up right here, and I'll see who's 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:36.320 this from. Comes from Anonymous, going straight to the anonymous 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:39.519 from the very beginning, it says, I started watching your 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:43.040 podcast and I absolutely love them. I'm a Christian and 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:46.240 love the Lord, and married and have a few children. 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:49.800 I'm a stay at home mom raising our children, and 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:52.720 my husband has a job to provide. He is a 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:57.240 really hard worker, and we just don't see much of him. 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:01.040 He's always so busy, with no weekend or regular days 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:04.720 off work. Sometimes he has one weekend off in two months. 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:07.920 It's just so hard to raise our children without having 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:11.880 him around very much. What would you suggest, she goes on, 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:15.600 We have argued about it too much already, and I'm 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:18.360 just so tired of it. I didn't get married to 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:22.720 live life alone. She says. I like the fact that 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:24.720 I could be with the children and raise them instead 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:28.000 of bringing them to daycare or having other people raise 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:31.240 and influence them. While I have a job to help provide, 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:34.000 but I also think they need their dad around to 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:37.160 guide them in life and to teach them things. I 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:40.920 can't imagine our lives ten years ago going on like 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:45.679 it is right now, the children will be adults and 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:49.559 not have a father figure to look up to other 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:52.520 than knowing that he makes money. He is not a 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:55.120 church goer, and neither does he have a relationship with Christ. 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:57.840 I got saved after we got married, and although we 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:00.840 both grew up going to church, it was more about 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:05.320 practicing religion than gathering with believers to worship our Savior. 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:08.680 After we got married, we stopped being regular church goers 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:11.359 until I got saved and found a Christian based church. 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:14.640 She says, I have invited him to come with us, 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:16.639 and he's gone a few times here and there when 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:19.040 the children had a Christmas show, but he says he 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:21.480 doesn't want to go otherwise, nor does he want to 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.560 talk about God. He says if something changes, he will 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:28.520 let me know. Then here's a question, how can I 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:32.720 support him or stand by him the right way? I 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:35.079 don't know how much impact I will have on our 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:38.639 children being the only one teaching them about God and 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:41.920 taking them to church and raising them basically alone. It's 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:45.080 just so hard. I don't know what to do. She says. 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:48.840 All right, thank you, Anonymous. It's a good way to 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:53.160 start the podcast. And first of all, I want to say, 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:58.280 I'm so sorry. It's unfortunate that I do see these 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:01.119 kind of questions quite a bit. You've listened to the podcast, 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:06.120 you probably know this is just something we deal with 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:10.320 these days, and so let's dive into it, focusing on 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:14.360 your main question. Keep in mind, your main question is 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:18.920 how could I support him right away or the right way? 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:27.320 You say, And I understand you're frustrated. I understand that 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:31.160 you are born again. You say you're you're your believer, 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:40.000 but there there's a couple issues here. It feels like 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:43.640 you're pretty angry at the situation and you're taking it 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:47.440 out on him. And I have to tell you that 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:50.000 although it's unfortunate that we see this a lot, it 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:53.600 is it is common, and it's always been common that 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:57.000 a man goes away. In fact, I've been I've been 0:03:57.040 --> 0:04:00.160 an example of this myself for many years, going on 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:04.120 tour and often leaving on a Wednesday and coming back 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:08.200 on a Sunday afternoon and then kind of catching up 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:10.440 with stuff around the house on Monday and Tuesday, and 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:13.760 then heading out on another Wednesday. I did that a lot, 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:17.320 a lot of times, especially during the summertimes as a 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:21.440 touring musician. And then I'm not alone in that. I mean, 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:25.920 so many people have gone with careers that have taken 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:30.080 them away, so many men. And since you know from millennia, 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:34.560 I remember that movie Old Yeller. Do you remember that movie? 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:36.520 But such a good movie. You got to see it 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:39.800 if you haven't, about the yellow dog that the stray 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:43.120 dog that then becomes the best friend of the family. Well, 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:46.120 the very beginning of that movie, the dad is leaving. 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:49.159 In fact, I don't remember where he was going. He 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:50.800 was going with the other men and they were going 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:53.680 out to do some trading. And he was gone for months. 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:58.080 And that's back before phones, and you're just gone, and 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:00.320 it's like, hey, I'll see you when the season changes, son, 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:02.640 you know, I'll come riding back over the horizon. I'm 0:05:02.680 --> 0:05:06.279 a horse. And those very common men would go away 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:10.160 to hunt or to trade, or to do work on 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:13.919 a cattle drive, or to do work on a railroad, 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:18.640 or to go off and do trade ships. Before that, 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:21.359 you know, the big trading ships would go out and 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:23.760 they would leave their wives and their kids for months 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:26.279 and come back after the ship had sold everything in 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:28.839 the West Indies. They would come back to England. Very 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:32.640 very very common, and in fact, you even see this 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:34.159 in the Bible. You see it in the New Testament. 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:37.719 You see the disciples going out and occasionally you have 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:40.640 to ask, like with Peter for instance, you have to go, 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:45.080 where was your wife during this? And so there's nothing 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:48.000 I have to say, there's nothing inherently wrong with a 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:53.400 man going out and working. I'm also not encouraging that 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:56.520 in twenty twenty four. In fact, I'm someone who kind 0:05:56.520 --> 0:06:02.600 of rebounded and came back from that to make sure 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:05.919 that not just that I was spending more time with 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:10.080 my kids and my wife, but actually more so to 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:14.680 make sure that I was serving my church correctly and 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:19.680 responsibly and faithfully, and being with my kids at our 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:22.720 local church every single Sunday or as many as as 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:28.000 that I could around my work schedule. So it's interesting 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:30.880 to think of this. First of all, is that the 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:34.160 man your husband is not absolutely wrong, He's not in 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:38.440 sin for doing this. I know there's a lot of 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:41.159 other issues we need to unpack, but I think we 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:44.200 could probably start there that you're not alone, and women 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:49.200 have done it for a long time and they've been okay. 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:52.719 So you know, the Bible talks about this, and maybe 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:54.320 we should start there first. Let me look it up. 0:06:55.440 --> 0:07:01.680 First Peter three, I believe, is where we're going to go. Yeah, 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:05.960 so first Peter three. The whole chapter starts with this. 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:11.280 It says Peter's talking. It says, likewise, wives, be subject 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:15.480 to your own husbands, so that if some do not 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:19.400 obey the word, they may be one without a word 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:23.560 by the conduct of their wives when they see you're 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:29.960 respectful and pure conduct. And he goes on about the 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:37.840 clothing you wear, and then down to verse five, for 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:40.000 this is how the holy women who hoped in God 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:44.520 used to adorn themselves. By no verse past that. Look, 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:46.680 it continues on. So I would encourage you to go 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:50.600 to first Peter three and start at the beginning. Go 0:07:50.680 --> 0:07:55.760 down and keep on reading down. It's that's pretty crazy 0:07:55.920 --> 0:08:00.760 to think that Peter saying, be subject to your husband, 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:06.920 serve him, love him, and he maybe won over by 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:12.440 your conduct, your respectful, pure conduct. According to the ESV translation, 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:16.440 and so your question, your last question was how could 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:18.440 I support him or stand by him the right way? 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:22.480 It starts with let's obey first Peter three and just 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:26.360 serve him and love him, be there for him so 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:29.840 much so that he goes she is amazing, because I 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:33.600 got to tell you right now, and this is always 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:39.280 all These podcasts are always tough love. And I want 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:42.280 to respect you, and I want to love you as sister, 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:44.840 and I want to respect your email and your situation. 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:49.600 So don't don't ever think that I'm coming across at 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:51.560 this table in front of this microphone and it's kind 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:55.440 of judgmental or telling you what you need to be doing. Instead, 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:58.920 I honestly wouldn't say it. I wouldn't even have a podcast. 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:01.800 I don't care that much to have a podcast to 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:04.679 just to be right about something. I only say it 0:09:05.400 --> 0:09:07.720 so that maybe you could hear this from the Bible 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:13.320 and go oh okay, and you could have peace or 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:18.280 rest from that. So right now, what you're doing is 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:23.200 you're making Christianity look horrible. Your husband is thinking, man, 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:25.679 my wife is nagging me about this church thing, and 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:29.040 she's lost her mind. She's crazy. Why would I want 0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:32.040 any part of whatever it is that she's learning and 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:35.560 whatever she's doing at that church, and it's coming home 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:38.720 angry at me. Please, she could have it. I don't 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:41.200 want any of it. That's kind of what's happening right now. 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:47.880 Let's see there's another one here, First Corinthians seven, I believe. Yeah, 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:51.640 let me look this up another verse. Now this is 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:57.120 Paul now instead of Peter. Paul says First Corinthians seven thirteen. 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:01.400 If anyone has a husband who is an unbeliever, that's you, 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:07.520 and he consents to live with her, she should not 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:11.839 divorce him, it says, for the unbelieving husband is made 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:15.720 holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:19.760 made holy because of her husband, so it works both ways. 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:24.680 Otherwise this is interesting. Otherwise your children would be unclean 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:29.680 as it is, but they are holy. But if the 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:32.440 unbelieving partner separates, let it be so in some In 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:36.880 such cases, the brother or sister is not enslaved. God 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:40.079 has called you to peace. For how do you know, wife, 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:46.600 whether you will save your husband? So you the Lord 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:51.080 may save your husband through you, if you stay with 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:55.960 them and love him and serve him instead of nagging 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:59.679 him and criticizing him and saying, you know what, I 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:02.240 don't know if I could do this anymore. This is 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:05.840 not my dream life. What did you say I? This 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:07.360 is not what I want to do. This is not 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:10.680 what I wanted to be. This is it's so far 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:13.880 and once again tough love here, it's just all about you. 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:18.480 It's just really all about you, and it's hard not 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:24.240 to blame you. But instead I'm saying, let your love 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:29.199 for Christ. If you do love Christ like you say, 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:33.440 if you love him, then love your husband as you 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:39.320 were commanded to do it. Don't Jesus doesn't say love 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:42.960 your husband, or serve your husband if he is serving 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:48.160 you equally back, or if he's loving you back. The 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:51.200 obedient thing to do in faith is to love your 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:55.200 husband and serve him. And as difficult as that may be, 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:57.400 that is your answer. That's my answer, because that's what 0:11:57.400 --> 0:12:01.440 the Bible says, and so we do that. And if 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:04.800 he decides to leave you, if he decide, if he 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:06.800 says I can't do this anymore, I need a divorce, 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:10.160 then then you've moved to the next level. But now 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:14.120 this is not on you, right this is that would 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:18.040 put it on him. So right now, you love him 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:22.199 with the intention of saving him, with the intention of 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:25.400 making him holy. That's what That's what the Bible says. 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:32.520 I think it's a great question, and I hope, I 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:34.880 hope that you are also working through this with your 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:38.840 local church and with the sisters in your church. I 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:40.840 hope that the elders of this church. I hope it's 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:42.520 an elder led church, and I hope that the elders 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:46.880 of this church know about this and are praying with 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:51.880 you about this about your husband, so that you're not 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:54.440 alone in all of this, and you don't ever have 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:57.360 to feel like you're alone in it. Okay, next question 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:02.480 comes from Cam says, Hey, mister Smith, and I am 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:05.439 putting on my glasses because I could see a love matter. Hey, 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:09.720 mister Smith, I have a co worker who is a 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:13.080 very vocal atheist. I do not work in the same 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:16.880 office complex, but when he's in my office, he's wanting 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:20.679 to debate people on religion and politics. He often refers 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:24.640 to Christianity as a fairy tale and as the christ myth. 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:27.360 He's heard the Gospel over and over and even stated 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:30.720 that if even if God was real, I would acknowledge 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:34.040 that but not live my life any different or obey 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:38.360 his teachings as a follower of Christ, is it wrong 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:41.320 of me to take the stance of not entertaining his 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:45.120 remarks slash telling him what I believe when his heart 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:49.120 is completely turned off to the Lord and wants to 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:51.200 live his life separate from God. I'm curious to hear 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:54.240 your thoughts on this as it continues to happen. God 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:58.040 bless Cam. All right, Cam, thanks for the question. Yeah, 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:01.360 everyone has everyone's at the atheist at the office, right 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:04.000 if you if you have an office, you've probably got 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:06.600 an atheist there at the office or in your friend group. 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:08.800 And so it's always a good it's always a good 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:14.640 question to think through. And it's really at first we 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:17.439 should start by saying it's not totally different than the 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:22.840 last email we just had. And insomuch as the first 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:26.680 response to this guy is to love him, and that's 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:28.240 what we're called to do his Christians, is just to 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:32.320 love him and to be kind and serve him, to 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:38.200 be patient with him. Uh, it's it's it's also for 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:43.120 us to to be able to declare boldly the whole 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:47.360 counsel of God to him. Now, that doesn't mean telling 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:49.360 the gospel to somebody first let's start with that, right 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:51.640 you said, uh, reiter, did you say that? You said 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:55.080 you he's heard the gospel over and over. Let's make 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:58.080 sure that he's hearing the full gospel. And let's make 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:00.400 sure that he's not just hearing you know, Jesus loves you. 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:02.760 You know, Jesus loves you right, you know, Jesus loves you. Right. 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:06.720 That's not telling the gospel over and over. The gospel 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:10.000 would need to he would need to understand what Paul 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:15.200 calls the whole counsel of God. God created, and it 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:19.520 was good man rebelled out of sin. Adam was the 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:23.240 first man who fell, and we have inherited that original 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:27.440 sin in us. All of us have sinned and fallen short, 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:33.080 separated ourselves from God. Because we've separated ourselves, and because 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:38.320 we've rejected him and his law and his mercy, we 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:41.080 are deserving of punishment of that. And the Bible says 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:43.680 that the wages of sin is death, so we literally 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:47.840 deserve death from breaking the law. This is the same 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:51.000 in a normal human law, and it's the same in 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:55.680 God's law. A criminal must be punished to the degree 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:58.400 that he that he committed the crime. And when you 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:03.560 commit a crime against God himself. It requires a life. 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:09.720 So we're on death row. And while we're on death row, God, 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:13.600 knowing our situation, comes in in the person of Jesus, 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:19.080 literally into the cell and says to the judge, take 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:22.920 my life, not his, save his life, Take mine. And 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:26.920 because Christ is lived the perfect life, fulfilling the law perfectly, 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:30.000 his giving his life, the blood of the Son of 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:34.080 God is worthy of all sin. It is the ultimate sacrifice. 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:38.680 And our response to that Jesus does this, does this 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:43.880 on the cross three days later, resurrects and defeats death, 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:47.760 proving the sacrifice worthy. And our response is repent, turn 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:50.560 from our ways and turned to Him, turned by faith 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:54.400 to God, changing our mind. Really, you could say that 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:57.960 for repent, changing our mind about sin, and turning to God. 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:01.960 And so that's the full counsel of God. It's more 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:04.439 than Jesus loves you. It is Jesus loves you. Because 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:08.439 Jesus loves you enough to go to the cross for 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:13.320 your sin. But without understanding that, we have to respond 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:16.639 to that, and without understanding what he did and why 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:19.360 he did it to reconcile us or to bring us 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:23.840 back to God, to fill in that separation. You have 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:26.560 to understand the full council. And so just a little 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:28.360 bit of it. If I just told you that we're 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:31.560 all sinners going to hell, that's not the gospel either. 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:35.679 That's part of it. But just as Jesus loves you 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:37.880 is not all of it. Neither as you're all going 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:40.640 to hell. We need to bring it all together with 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:44.000 what Jesus is and who are who Jesus is and 0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:46.760 what he did. Right, So let's make sure that he's 0:17:46.760 --> 0:17:48.919 hearing that, and he doesn't have to hear it over 0:17:48.960 --> 0:17:51.840 and over. He needs to hear it one time. He 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:54.800 needs to understand what you're saying. One time. There's what 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:57.640 Jesus did. Repent and believe the good news and you'll 0:17:57.680 --> 0:18:03.080 be saved after that. There's no need to cram it 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:04.679 out his throat and tell him over and over and 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:08.560 over again. At that point, you love him. You live 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:11.600 a life that makes Christ look awesome. You live a 0:18:11.640 --> 0:18:14.400 life that makes him say, what is it about you 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:17.879 that you have this hope about you? You have this 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:20.560 peace about you that I can't explain. And then you say, 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:23.560 remember I told you what Jesus did on the cross 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:27.400 for sins to bring us to God. In every other 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:30.600 religion you have to climb the mountain to God, which 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:34.480 is always too tall. And in Christianity, it's the story 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:37.440 of God coming to man to bring him to himself 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:39.280 because man wasn't good enough to do it. You remember 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:42.080 that story. That's why I live with so much hope. 0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:44.800 That's why I live with so much peace, because my 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:48.640 work is done. Christ did it for me, and by faith, 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:52.359 I believe in him. That's why I have hope. And 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:56.400 he goes, Okay, I don't believe that stuff, but that's 0:18:56.480 --> 0:18:59.000 the life you live, and that's what you want him 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:04.560 to know. And so it's so tempting to go down 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:08.480 these rabbit holes of apologetics, meaning that the defense of 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:13.119 the faith and going up against especially an atheist that 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:18.160 is probably well versed in his own theology, which it is. 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:22.920 It is religion. Being an atheist is a religion in itself, 0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:26.199 with its own doctrine and its own apostles and its 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:32.439 own belief system. Because because you because there is he 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:36.679 doesn't have the evidence to tell you about evolution. He 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:39.160 has to have faith in it, right, So he has 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:42.000 to An atheist has to have a lot of faith. 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:44.760 A lot of people would say more than a Christian. 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:49.520 To have faith in that there is no God requires 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:55.720 a lot of belief. So because of that, it's attempting 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:57.879 to follow these rabbit holes that he might these traps 0:19:57.880 --> 0:19:59.920 that he might give you. I will tell you of 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:02.600 probably gone down most of these rabbit holes and traps. 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:06.560 And Uh, there there is no way to trap a 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:10.000 Christian and and and pin him into a corner and 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:15.280 just say I got you. And likewise he's always gonna 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:17.200 find he's gonna weasel his way out of what you 0:20:17.240 --> 0:20:20.119 give him. So these are just endless rabbit holes that 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:25.800 just go forever, and they they never find an end. Uh. 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:28.359 You could go down YouTube and watch debates and you 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:30.360 could see this over and over. They don't. They don't 0:20:30.359 --> 0:20:32.400 have an end. So love him, tell him, make sure 0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:36.320 he knows the full gospel, love him, and live a 0:20:36.320 --> 0:20:39.560 life that makes Jesus look awesome so that he comes 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:41.440 to you and ask for a reason for the hope 0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:44.240 that's in you. Podcast is brought to you by Shopify. 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:46.679 You know, I think back to grangersmith dot com and 0:20:46.800 --> 0:20:49.159 ye Ye dot com back in the early days of 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:52.959 e commerce and trying to figure out how to have 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:55.199 a website with a checkout where you could enter your 0:20:55.240 --> 0:20:57.880 credit card number and you're in you're you're mailing address, 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:01.359 your you're billing address, and then I remember, credit cards 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:04.119 would get declined, and then we would have to we 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:06.359 would already have ship the shirt out or ship the 0:21:06.400 --> 0:21:08.560 hat out, and then find out the cards declined. Then 0:21:08.600 --> 0:21:10.880 you can't get ahold of the person anymore. It wasn't 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:13.960 a mess. Really, This was all before we got Shopify. 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:16.919 Shopify takes care of all of our checkout needs and 0:21:17.000 --> 0:21:19.199 it has for a long time now. It takes all 0:21:19.200 --> 0:21:23.040 the worry out of the buying aspect, the checkout aspect 0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:25.040 of the website. So we could do what we love 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:28.040 to do, and that's make new designs and make new 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:30.920 T shirts and make new EEE hats and put them 0:21:30.920 --> 0:21:33.680 on the website and design the website according to how 0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:35.679 we like, and we don't have to worry about the 0:21:35.680 --> 0:21:39.919 mechanics behind the checkout itself. Shopify does that in facts, 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:42.040 not just us. They do it for companies all over 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:44.119 the world. They could do it for you too. You 0:21:44.119 --> 0:21:47.080 could upgrade your business and get the same checkout we 0:21:47.200 --> 0:21:50.600 use with Shopify. Sign up for your one dollar per 0:21:50.680 --> 0:21:54.440 month trial period at shopify dot com slash Granger all 0:21:54.480 --> 0:21:58.600 lowercase Go to shopify dot com slash granger to upgrade 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:03.080 your selling today slash Granger. Okay. Next question comes from 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:05.840 Anita says at Granger. I love your music and I'm 0:22:05.880 --> 0:22:07.520 hoping to get a worship album from you soon. I 0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:10.880 think that could change some lives. I have a question 0:22:11.119 --> 0:22:13.760 about the Mark of the Beast. I know that when 0:22:14.000 --> 0:22:16.320 I know that if we get it, we'd be giving 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:19.120 our lives to Satan. However, people have been talking about 0:22:19.200 --> 0:22:23.080 the government using vaccines to chip us. Essentially, I understand 0:22:23.119 --> 0:22:27.199 that if we do believe that, we could just not 0:22:27.359 --> 0:22:29.920 get the vaccines, But what about the people who don't know. 0:22:30.720 --> 0:22:34.040 If they are in fact doing that and someone gets 0:22:34.040 --> 0:22:37.679 it unknowingly, would they still be giving their lives to 0:22:37.760 --> 0:22:41.119 the devil? Thanks so much, Anita. Yet, that's a good question. 0:22:41.280 --> 0:22:46.199 And this is eschatology, which there's certain things on this 0:22:46.240 --> 0:22:48.439 podcast and I don't mind, but there's certain things that 0:22:48.480 --> 0:22:51.040 we just end up kind of going back into, and 0:22:51.720 --> 0:22:54.520 that is the study of in times markt the Beast 0:22:54.600 --> 0:22:58.960 is one of them Anti Christ's rapture, all those kinds 0:22:58.960 --> 0:23:01.440 of things they come up. I have mentioned I should 0:23:01.480 --> 0:23:04.479 say it because I say it every time that I 0:23:04.520 --> 0:23:08.879 think for the most part, these types of discussions can 0:23:09.359 --> 0:23:12.040 become a distraction away from the Gospel itself, which I 0:23:12.160 --> 0:23:16.920 mentioned in the last question. The whole Council of God 0:23:18.040 --> 0:23:23.080 gets hidden in this worrying about the end times and 0:23:23.119 --> 0:23:26.680 the market, the beast and the anti Christ. And this 0:23:26.800 --> 0:23:29.760 question is a great example of that. What if people 0:23:29.800 --> 0:23:33.639 don't know and what if they unknowingly give their lives 0:23:33.680 --> 0:23:37.320 to the devil or they doomed well to that? What 0:23:37.359 --> 0:23:41.080 the Bible says very clearly because the sesschatology stuff that 0:23:41.880 --> 0:23:45.240 the mark of the beast, for instance, is very vague 0:23:45.720 --> 0:23:49.760 and not a lot is known about it. But what 0:23:49.800 --> 0:23:53.000 we do know. So whenever we read the Bible, let 0:23:53.040 --> 0:23:56.360 me say this, whenever we read the Bible, the verses 0:23:56.400 --> 0:23:59.399 that we don't know, are that we're not sure about 0:23:59.480 --> 0:24:04.199 or that are vague, should be informed by all the 0:24:04.480 --> 0:24:07.959 mountains of verses that we do know instead of the opposite. 0:24:08.040 --> 0:24:10.760 You shouldn't take all the mountain of verses that we 0:24:10.840 --> 0:24:14.919 do know and then make them cloudy and ambiguous because 0:24:14.960 --> 0:24:19.160 of one verse that we don't know. Right, So let's 0:24:19.200 --> 0:24:22.000 inform our reading with all the truth that we do know, 0:24:22.160 --> 0:24:25.200