 Welcome to Hard Questions, where we gather pastors together to take on your tough questions and answer them right from the Bible. I'm Tom Hollis, the moderator, and today our panelists include Dr. William R. Glaze, Bethany Baptist Church in Pittsburgh, Pastor Mark Motor, Berean Church in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, Pete Giacalone, South Hills Assembly Guy Church, Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, J. Anthony Gilbert, pastor of another level in Mount Washington. Well, pastors, thank you for being with us. Today's a little bit different. It's going to be fun. It's going to be like these are a few of our favorite things, you know. So we're going to tell you about some things that have influenced us, some characters in the Bible that have influenced us, and just share a little bit about that. So we're going to start right off with, what is your favorite book in the Bible and why? Dr. Glaze. Well, I'm sure like the rest of the brothers, it's very hard to say one is my favorite. But I must say my favorite is the book of Daniel. I've taught through Daniel probably three or four times. And the reason why Daniel was one of my favorites is because of Daniel chapter two, where Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. He dreams of this statue with a head of gold and chest and stomach of silver and, you know, thighs of bronze and feet and iron of clay. And Nebuchadnezzar, he tells Daniel, he says to his wise men, he says, I not only want you to interpret the dream, I want you to tell me what the dream is, right? And nobody could do it. So he's getting ready to kill all of them, and Daniel comes and interprets them. And the thing that just blows me away. And a lot of people think that Daniel is actually historical, you know, writing from a historical perspective because he's so accurate in what he portrays. But the dream actually portrays the future kingdoms, which would be Babylon, Mediapersia, Greece and Rome. And it fell out exactly that way. And so as I look at that, it just blows my mind to see the precision in which God laid out the future. So Daniel was one of my favorite books, and that's the reason. Even the point of the Roman Empire splitting into the two legs of the Roman Empire east and west. Cool stuff. Pete. Mine would have to be, I was going to trumpet on that. The book of Philemon. And the reason why I love Philemon, I know it's only one chapter long, but the reason why I love Philemon is because you have a runaway slave, what the world would call, and I want to emphasize this, the world would call a loser. And Paul would call very important. You know, Paul, and how many people in our lives have we've come in contact with that the world said, this guy, this gal will never make it. But because of pouring your life into them and seeing their lives changed, and then even to the point that Anissimus, the runaway slave, winds up being a leader in the church. I think Polycarp even writes about Anissimus being a bishop in the church. So I love the book of Philemon because it brings hope to the ones that the world said would never make it. That is great. Great. This is some good, good stuff so far. Go ahead. It's hard. You know, it really is. I mean, one of my favorites is the book of Genesis. I love, because everything is in the Bible in Genesis. I mean, there's not anything. Redemption is in there in the fall of man. I don't think there's not any place in the scriptures you can't take something back to Genesis. It's like you get the whole kitten caboodle in those, what is it, 50 chapters. Love the life of Joseph, so outstanding of how he lived and what he had to go through in order to be processed. It's always been a big part of my life and my message is about the processing, you know, with the, but having the promise and going through the pit and then Potiphar's house and the prison and eventually to the palace. I mean, just all of that. I mean, but there's so much in there, the life of Abraham that, but also too, I have to throw this in here. Book of Revelation is something I love to study along with Daniel. Yeah, you know, yeah, it's all in there, you know. So those are the, those there, I love studying on eschatology. So Daniel and Revelation are really big on that as well, so. I will say the greatest of the four Gospels is Mark. Just to let you know that, but I agree, Genesis, it was actually what I had, I did a study last year on the first 11 chapters, which is the first section of Genesis. And I look at where we are with sexuality and morality as a nation in the earth. And I'm recognizing we've gotten away from the book of Genesis. There are over 50 firsts in Genesis. So anything you can imagine goes back to that book. So I wish that was taught in schools. We need to teach that more in our schools. We can't assume people know that in our churches. So I'm with you. Genesis is that foundation. And we just cannot assume that young people today know what we learned in Sunday school. We need to get back to it. That's absolutely true. Well, I'm going to answer these today. So Acts is mine. I love the book of Acts because I feel like I'm in it. I'm in the book of Acts. It's still going on. We're still taking the gospel at the end of the earth, empowered by the Holy Spirit. So love the book of Acts. Let's go to the second question. Peter, I'm going to ask you this first. Who is your favorite character in the Bible and why? Okay. I like to read the Bible like a novel. When I read it, I like to go through it and just experience with all the wonderful characters from Abraham all the way to James and Jude. But my favorite is, believe it or not, Caleb. And the reason why I like Caleb, he was so influential to his nephew that his nephew becomes one of the judges. But what I like about Caleb, Caleb and Joshua were the only two that stood against the other ten and said, you know, this land is our land. This belongs to us. And then we have them 40 years later. When Joshua offers him the land of where the giants lived, Caleb said, I've been through this land before. I've seen its fruit. I know what it has. I know what it can possess. And Caleb said, I'll go after the giants. When the entire nation did not want to go after them, we have this guy late in life saying, I've been here through before, it was a missed opportunity. I won't allow this opportunity to be missed a second time. I just see something in that guy, Caleb, that I just really love. That's great, Pete. Again, I'm going to go to the book of Daniel. Daniel is my favorite biblical character. And one of the reasons why Daniel is my favorite, I think that if you look at other individuals like Joseph, I would say, you know, he lived a good life. But you know, Joseph had, to me, Joseph kind of had a spot on his record, and that is when he bragged in front of his brothers that they were. And so, you know, I kind of look at that and cast, again, I'm being overly critical, right? And then I think you look at other people, you know, you kind of see a dark mark against their character in the Bible. And there may be some that have a pure pristine character. But to me, Daniel has the most pristine that you can't find anything against this guy. You know, I mean, he didn't brag about anything. He didn't exalt himself above anybody, even when they wanted to accuse him when he was throwing into the lines then. They had to trump up an accusation against him. And the accusation they trumped up was praying to his God. So, I mean, I look at him and I just see him as being one of those, you know, individuals that had a pure, perfect testimony. That is really good. Really great. You're going to love this one, one of my favorites is Joseph. So, because I kind of mentioned that before, just because I love the process. Me as a pastor, as a minister in my life, my life has been a lot about processing. And I don't know how many times God has brought me back. But another person I like too is David. I love, I've always been a person that studies on the process of becoming what God's called you to be. And two great illustrations of that in the scripture are Joseph and David. I mean, David, his whole thing from the time of getting anointed with his brothers all the way through to even Ziklag and what happened there in the turning point of his ministry. And, you know, I like it because both of them, you see their humanity. You see their humanity. Daniel, you don't see his humanity. I mean, nothing against your guy. But since you came against mine, I'm looking to be a joy. But, you know, I see his humanity. Like, you know, Daniel, he's perfect, you know, and nothing wrong with that. Because I agree with you. I mean, Daniel was an outstanding character, but having that Daniel or David and Joseph, like, you see their struggles and you can relate to who they are. But also how God was faithful to them and brought them through and brought them out. Absolutely. Yeah, Mark. I'm with Doc. I'm going with Daniel. And he's simply, he walked with God in an unbelieving society apart from the rest of his family for about 70 years. He was about 90 in the lion's den. My life message is living long and finishing strong. And to me, he's the epitome of that 70 years walking with God. Wow, that is good. You know what? I'm going to side with Jay. Joseph is mine. I really do like Joseph. And I always thought, well, you know, Joseph and Daniel, they're both kind of those almost perfect characters. Daniel certainly with Joseph is like, you know, he does have that thing with his brothers. So we're going to, we're going to, we're up against the break here. So we're going to take a quick break and we'll be back in just 60 seconds. Welcome back to hard questions. You know, we're kind of rebuking ourselves a little bit here because we, nobody said Jesus as our favorite character in the Bible. Oh my gosh. But no, we, we recognize he is the number one character in the Bible for sure. Absolutely. Well, let me ask you this. What character in the Bible is most like you and why Mark? I would like to say Samson. We are both strong and handsome with long, beautiful hair. But I will actually go with Apollos in the Bible. The scripture says that he was elegant and competent or mighty in the scriptures. And my goal is to be a teaching pastor. And that's not always popular. People like someone a little bit more flashy. But to me, the scripture says about Apollos that he greatly helped those who through grace had believed. And I'm a strong believer in the teaching ministry. And so to me, Apollos is a hero of mind. I want to be known as someone who's helping people to grow strong in the Bible. And so if I can't do Samson, I'll do Apollos. That's great. How about you, Pastor Jay? Jesus. Oh. No, we'll claim it right. You see that. No. Not even slightly. Oh gosh. Save your emails and phone calls. No, no, no. Probably the most, you know, that's a tough one there. I mean, there's so many different people that you can pull from in the scripture. But I would like to say David, you know, one of the things about me is that a lot of people look at me and I'm going to be real transparent and vulnerable with this is like, you know, I preach a real strong word, you know, I'm very much a no nonsense. I mean, that's the word that God's given me is to be that guy, but they don't know my heart. I've always had a heart for people. Always had a, you know, the Bible says he was a man after God's own heart. And I don't want to make seem like I'm perfect because not at all. Neither was David. But just my heart for the Lord, my heart for the things of God, the heart to people say, why do you preach the way I do? Because I'm passionate about him. And I just stand for that because I think he's worth so much. And I feel like God has many times treated it as like a second class citizen, like, you know, when David danced out of his clothes, you know, I said, I'll be even more undignified. You know, he didn't care about all the pomp and fashion and all those things. He was in love with his God. And that's me. And that's why I'm so zealous the way that I am. Not because I'm trying to be harder, just he's worth it. And I just love him so much. So that's why I would probably say he's most I find myself most in him because of his heart. For God's sake, that's really good. You're a lot like Jesus, too, by the way, a little bit. Well, I guess I see myself sometimes in some of the I'm not going to be as serious as Jay, I wish I could be. I see myself a lot like Peter, you know, that guy one day. He's, thou art Christ, the son of the living God. And then a couple of moments later, get thee behind me. Foot in mouth. Yeah. Foot in mouth. I have it right here. Right here. Look it. Foot in mouth, always. So I throughout, you know, again, I'm 68 years old. So throughout my life, I see that. What comes along with that, I also see the wonderful grace of God that sees us through when we have that foot in mouth. That's really good. Yeah. Well, like Mark, you know, I love to teach. I love, love, love to teach the Word of God. So to me, Ezra, and the thing that it says about Ezra, Ezra 710, he prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, to study the law of the Lord, I mean, to do the law of the Lord and to teach the law of the Lord, you know, and, you know, I look at that and that I want that to be my testimony, you know, I want to study God's Word. I want to do God's Word and then I want to be able to teach the Word of God. So that verse spoke to me years ago. And so Ezra would be the one that I boy, that's really good too. You know, guys, I'm tempted to say what character in the Bible is most like me and why? Eutychus. Okay? Eutychus. He's the one who fell asleep during his sermon. Okay? Just saying something here, brothers. Okay? But I actually go with Barnabas, I really identify with Barnabas, Son of Constellation, the encourager, the one that brought, you know, when everyone else didn't want to have anything to do with Paul. Yeah. He had him the right hand of fellowship. So I kind of identify with him. I see that. Well, let's go on to what sermon or Bible passage has influenced you the most, Pastor Jay? You know, I would say Matthew 6. Okay. It kind of goes back to the heart for God, you know. I feel like, you know, for me, making God number one and priority is so vital. You know, it's not like, you know, that whole passage to me is like, after all these things do the Gentiles seek. He said, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his right hand, all these things will be added. And you know, that whole discourse through Matthew 6, he goes through it all, and then he goes through, what are we going to wear? What are we going to eat? Which is where a lot of the church's mind is at. What about me? And what about this? And what about that? And he's like, listen, after all these things do the Gentiles, just keep me number one. Make me top priority in your home, in your marriage, with your children, in your ministry, and everything else will be added. You know, it goes back to that scripture with Mary and Martha. I love that part there. And I believe it is in Mark when he talks about how Martha was run around. She's all troubled and anxious. And she said, Martha, you are troubled about many things, but Mary has chosen the one thing that is needful. And if we can get back to that Matthew 6 mentality, and if we live that lifestyle, what can't we have? He made it real simple in Matthew 6. And that's kind of been my life scripture. That's super good. Mark. Well, to me, Acts 17, 10 and 11 talks about being a Berean. And I was 14, 15 years of age. I was at a Christian school, and we were going through a Bible class on the book of Acts. We came to chapter 17, and I saw that the Bereans diligently or daily searched the scriptures to make sure that what Paul was saying was so. And I said, if I ever have a church, I'm going to call it Berean. And we did. And that's my life passion for every Christian, regardless of the name of their church, to be a Berean, searching and living by the scriptures. Great stuff. That's good. That's good. Bless it is the man that walketh not in the council of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law does he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth its fruit in its season. Its leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Well, I'm getting blessed. I'm getting blessed now. You know, when I got saved, many of you know this, my family really wanted nothing to do with me after I gave my life to Christ. And it was a battle. But the book of Isaiah, the whole book has always been one of the most powerful, encouraging books to me. But the verse, the very first sermon I ever preached, I was 17, maybe even 18, Isaiah 41, 10, fear not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you, and I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. I can't tell you 46, 47 years of ministry that how many times this verse has come back to me. Fear not, for I am with you. All good stuff. My life verse is Acts 20, 24. I was reading in the Living Bible many years ago. I think I was 20 years old. And Paul is speaking and says, but life is worth nothing unless I use it to do the work assigned by the Lord Jesus, the work of telling others the good news of his mighty kindness and love. And that's just been my life story from that point forward. So great stuff. I've been really blessed. I hope you have a life verse or you have a favorite passage that has meant so much to you. Well, coming up in 60 seconds, we will ask our pastors what gives you the most hope for the future. Welcome back. Well, the next question, and I'm going to be the first one to answer this one, because it's an easy answer for me. Who taught you the most about faith in God? Guys, it was my dad. Yeah, I knew you. You knew my dad. I knew you. We were going to say that. It's a great question that I am who I am today because of a lot, obviously because of God's work in my life, but a lot of the foundation was laid by my dad. And my dad was a steel worker who led Bible studies in the steel mill and led people to the Lord in the steel mill and loved the Lord and knew a lot about the Bible for being a steel worker. He learned a lot from preachers. He didn't fall asleep in any sermons or anything. You know, he learned, he learned stuff. So yeah, it was definitely my dad. So I have you, Pastor Glaze. You know, as I thought about that, you know, I've had people that have touched my lives, my life over the years, but I really haven't had like a mentor or anybody that was strong. So I'm going to reflect back to when I was in seminary and one of my professors, Dr. Harold Wilmington, and I took several classes with him. But you know, through his book, Wilmington's a guy through the Bible. I mean, that just had such a profound impact on my life. And so I'm going to say Dr. Harold Wilmington. That's great. Well, you know who I'm going with. I'm going with Robert Owen. Yeah. You know, I, he took every moment, whether we were having a bowl of soup or after church on Sunday, of course, we had, on staff when I was there years ago, we had to be on our knees every morning, Monday through Friday. And I'm a walker when I pray, but we had to be in our knees with him. But he took every moment always as a teaching moment. He'd walk by the office, hey, fellow, you got a moment. You know, you'd be right in the middle of study for you, pastor. Yes. And he just was always teaching and living and speaking faith. You know, Robert. Yes. Yeah. No, he was your, he was the senior pastor at Salfa's assembly for many years. Yes. I'm probably a lot like you. My father, my mother, that I think the biggest things that they taught me were the importance, you're in church, you know, back in those days, you're in church a lot more hours than you are now. But you know, you had Sunday morning, Sunday night, Thursday nights or Wednesday nights, whatever it is that you did. But we're in church continually, but they taught me about how to make out a priority and how to keep God in your home. Me and my brothers, all of us, our greatest encounters were God. We're never in church. They were in our parents' living room. Wow. And so my brothers, I came home one time from wherever I was at. I think it was a sports event. Came home and my brothers were laid out in the living room. And I said, what happened? The power of God hit them in their living room. I got baptized in the Holy Ghost in my parents' living room. I woke up almost every morning at 5.30 in the morning to my dad praying. And I would hear him praying and I would feel the presence of God in our home. So that's what really taught me about the importance of having it in your home, not Sunday morning kind of being a transformation chamber, but the house is where it needs to be. So that's where I learned it. That's awesome. For me, it'd be my mother. She got radically saved in the mid-70s and began to share with my brother and I. We would get up at 5.30 in the morning and before I went to school, I would sit on one side of the table, she on the other, and we would do various Bible studies. And I did that for several years. So I would not be in ministry or where I am today without her influence in our family. Amen. I love this. I love, I just love hearing all these stories and, you know, there's been a lot of people in my life actually that have helped me along the way, certainly. Well, let's go on to the next one. I think this is a great question I'm going to ask Pastor Mark to start for us and what gives you the most hope for the future? We don't have, sometimes we don't see a lot of hope on the news and everything. What gives you the most hope for the future? With all the craziness we're seeing right now, it's one simple statement by Jesus. He said, I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. So if you remember, nothing else. Remember this. When we read the back of the book, we win. Thank God we're on the winning side. Amen. Let's just go right across to you. Go ahead. I think I look at David and he said when he came up against Goliath, he said the hand of the bear and the lion couldn't defeat me. So who is this uncircumstitled Philseam? So for me, it's the testimonies of looking back that propelled me to go forward. And if the devil couldn't do anything about my yesterday and he couldn't stop me from getting here today, he certainly can't stop me from my tomorrow. It's the testimony of everything I've been through to get me to this point that gives me confidence that I know God's got tomorrow. Amen. Amen. Well, if I can put everything together and I'm not trying to steal any thunder, the Bible says heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. So without this weapon, this is what gives me the most encouragement, is the weapon of the word of God. And I think that's the reason why we're told to hide it in our heart. Amen. You know, I would say heaven gives me the most hope. And you know, there was a little girl and her mom, they were walking out one night and the stars were in the sky. And the little girl looked up and said to her mom, mom of heaven, is this beautiful from the wrong side? What must it be on the right side? And so I look at that and realize that I'm just a pilgrim and that motivates me to stay on this journey. Because I know that I'm going to a place that has foundations who's a builder and maker is God. So what gives me hope for the future? The character of God gives me hope for the future. The fact that I know that he is righteous altogether, that in him is light and there is no darkness at all in him. And so to know that is that good and perfect God that has the future. He holds that future. He holds it for me. And if you're his, he holds it for you too. And I hope you are his today. Well, we have a closing scripture here that we want to share. Maybe we'll get a little bit of commentary with the time left. And it's from Psalm 1830. And it says this, As for God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord has proven. He is a shield to all who trust in him. Psalm 1830. Any, any thoughts on that scripture? Speaks for itself in my opinion, but well, I mean, you know, God is perfect. You know, and I look at that and you can't go wrong following him. And I love it, which says, And he makes my way perfect. He makes, you know, his, his way. And he makes my way perfect. I just think of Ephesians two, where the Bible says that people who don't know God are without hope. And the good news is we're not without God. Therefore, we're never without hope. And so thank God that he is that eternal hope. And we've got a great future. I said it before and I'll say it again. I hope you know that hope. I hope you know the God who holds the future because he loves you. Well, we hope you enjoyed today's program. I know I enjoyed this one so much. We want to hear from you. Email us your questions at hardquestionsatctvn.org or call into our hotline at 412-349-4326 and leave a question that we'll put on the air. Thank you so much for joining us. God has got a plan and a purpose for you. Don't miss it. He's gonna do great things in your life.