 All right, the recording is on. Welcome back to the second lecture and lecture hour. Now this should be our last lecture hour for this course. We're just interacting and taking any other questions that people would have and we're just discussing and learning through that. So we go in with questions from Samuel and I think Therese. So go ahead, Samuel, please with your question. Thank you, Pastor. So one kind of like criticism or, yeah, so something that I've often seen people point out is on the Old Testament description of God, especially in parts where God orders mass murder and genocide, kind of thing as Israel is marching into the land of Canaan. And also the anger, the wrath, the destruction of the nations, is how would you respond? Samuel, I'm kind of lost to you a little bit in between. So I could hear until the Old Testament description of God, genocide, and all of them I lost a little bit. Would you be able to repeat that? Right, the same thing was like so when people point out the angry God of the Old Testament who orders mass killings, even threatens to wipe out the nation of Israel a couple of times to a point where even Moses intercedes and God changes his mind. So on that aspect of God, that aspect drawing criticisms. So just in terms of our response, a believer's response, especially to that description of God in the Old Testament. So as far as our understanding is, God has not changed. The God of the Old Testament is the same God in the New Testament. And even in the New Testament, most of the New Testament is the four Gospels on the Epistles. But then when you come towards the end of the New Testament, again you see God now who sits as a God of Judges and he's going to judge the entire human race. And he's going to send many who whose names are not written in the Lamb's Book of Life to an eternal destination separated from him in the lake of fire. So again, that's God who judges. So like the Apostle Paul mentions, he says, I think it's in Romans 11, I'll give you the exact words. He talks about the goodness, Romans 11, 22. He talks about the goodness and the severity of God, like the goodness and severity of God. So there's a goodness of God, there's a severity of God. And this is in the Old Testament. There's also the New Testament. God himself hasn't changed. So he's a loving, compassionate God, but he's also a holy, just and righteous God, both in the Old and the New. So God has not changed. As believers, we know God has not changed. Now just that the writings are different in the sense in the New Testament, of course, it's all about the life of Jesus. And it's about the Epistles and helping us understand the cross and how the cross works out in our lives and how we have to live. And so the emphasis is so different. Whereas the Old Testament is leading up to the coming of the Messiah, which is God dealing in a natural way with a nation, positioning them and getting them ready for the coming of the Messiah and to understand what the Messiah will do. So it's a lot of natural journey work that's happening. Unlike the New Testament, which is, I think Samuel has maybe lost his connection. OK, Samuel is still there. OK, we'll just give Samuel a minute. Yes, Pastor, still here. Samuel? OK, OK. Yeah, so the Old Testament was God's dealings with this group of people, bringing them to a place where then the Messiah would come. And so the New Testament is the cross and beyonds. But God himself hasn't changed. Now, in the process of them making the actual physical journey to occupy their land, the land that was promised to them and them taking possession, yes, they have battles to fight other tribes to overcome. Because obviously, another tribe is not going to just vacate because you come here. They're just going to be fighting in possession of territory and so on. And so God is leading his people through those things. And therefore, you see God in the process of leading them. You just see God, for example, Exodus 15, verse 3 says, the Lord is a man of war. The Lord is a warrior. And now that is really jars without thinking because, hey, God is a warrior. How can you say that? But that's one aspect of God. He's Jehovah Nisi. And I think Isaiah 40 to 13 says, the Lord is a man of war. He's a mighty warrior. So all of this in the New Testament, we are told to fight the good fight of faith. So now the realm of our engagement has changed from the natural to the spiritual. But it's still the same God who empowers us in our spiritual battles. So he's still the warrior God, just that the realm of engagement has moved from natural to spiritual. But the same God, the Lord is a man of war. He hasn't changed. He's still the warrior God. He still empowers us in our spiritual battles. So I think when we look at the text in the Old Testament, especially those dealing with fighting, destruction, and so on, I understand it's a natural journey process. People are moving. They have to occupy territory. They have to be positioned where they have to be positioned. And God is taking these people through that. And therefore, there are these engagements. There are these battles. There are in the risk-killing, so on. I think what we can do is to separate that from, that's the natural. The New Testament, we are focusing things on the other side of the cross. God himself has not changed. He is still the loving God, and as well as a just and the righteous God. And so that we look at things from that perspective. Now to respond to somebody who outside, who questions us about that, while we can say the things that what I've said, that God doesn't change, and this is a natural process of moving people into a territory. And that's why these fighting and battles and conquering conquests happen. They may understand it. They may not understand it. But for us personally, at least, it's not a stumbling block. It doesn't change our understanding of who God is. We know there is the goodness and the severity of God. God is compassionate. God is righteous. Yeah, that's how I would look at it. Does that help you, Samuel? I'm not sure. It does, in this person. I had another question, slightly different. But I think in regards to Jews, I've seen a broad spectrum of believers' reactions towards Jews. So on one end, I hate all Jews because they are the ones who crucified Christ to the other side of the spectrum, which is Jews are very special people because they are chosen nation of God. So that being the range, in moderation, how not that we interact with Jews a lot, but when we do. And one is the perspective of how do we view Jews? Because when it comes to looking at people from other religions, like Hindu or Muslim, you can say to a certain extent that they are in darkness and there's idol worship and they've been misleading. But with Jews, I think it's a little complex because in one end, they're still following the Old Testament, which is half the Bible, and worshipping God the Father, that aspect. And also, say, a Jew invites you to observe the Sabbath with him, ask you to participate in the Sabbath, and would you participate in the Sabbath? Like in clothes, even in practice, maybe in theory, we have it all sorted out. But when it comes to interacting with the Jew, it's a little bit longer than it was in the past, so thank you. Yeah, so from a theological perspective, you know, Paul really explains that for us in Romans chapters 9, 10 and 11, and also in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, but mainly in Romans chapters 9, 10, 11. So essentially what Paul is saying is, you know, temporarily, temporarily. So there is no question that the Jews are God's special people. So that's how he begins Romans 9. To them, they're given the covenants, to them, they're given all the promises, and they were the people God chose, et cetera. So they are chosen people, no denying of it. But they have temporarily rejected Christ, so they have rejected Christ. Now, because they want to pursue the law instead of accepting righteousness by faith. That's the end of Romans 9. And so then what Paul tells us in Romans 10 is, but while they're trying to receive righteousness by law, we are receiving righteousness through faith in Christ by believing in him and confessing him, believing in our hearts and confessing with the mouths of Romans 10. And this was something already given in the Old Testament, and God said he would take the gospel to the Gentiles. And then we come to Romans 11, he says so. And in Romans 11, he uses many metaphors, many pictures. And he basically says that, look, there is the original olive tree, which represents Israel. But now God is grafting in the Gentiles. So Romans 11, 25 is probably a verse, Romans 11, 25, which sums up everything. What is he saying? That temporarily God has placed on hold, or temporarily God is focusing on the Gentile world till he brings all the Gentiles in, and then he's going to work salvation among the Jews. So theologically, this is what it is, that they are definitely God's chosen people. But at this moment, it's the period of the gospel, the time of the church, where Romans 11, 25 is at work. God is bringing all the Gentiles in, he's grafting them into the main olive tree, and then he's going to work salvation among the Jews and bring them also to understand the gospel. So that's what God is doing right now. Practically, how do we as believers relate to the Jews? One is, of course, we do recognize they are God's special people, and God has not abandoned them. But the emphasis that we are to place is on the church and not the Jews, because we are part of the church. So our focus is on the church, bringing people to be saved and discipling them, which would include the Jews. So just as we preach the gospel to a Hindu or a Muslim, we preach the gospel to a Jew, invite them to come to faith in Christ. So that's how we interact with the Jew in the terms of the gospel. It's the same that we would with any other unsaved person that is we interact with them as, look, you need to believe in Jesus Christ, because right now that's what God is doing, bringing people to faith in Christ. Thirdly is, should the church embrace the practices of Judaism? Answer is no. That's a big mistake many of the Western church are making. They're just kind of going back into Judaism and talking about believers, the people part of the church, they want to keep all these feasts and they think they're becoming closer to Jesus by practicing Judaism, but that's the actual opposite of the gospel. The gospel is taking people out of those practices into simple faith in Christ. Paul explains in Romans chapter seven, we are dead to the law so that we can be married to Christ. We are dead to the law so that we could serve God in the newness of the spirit. And there are these, this whole movement of Christians back into Judaism, they think they're getting closer to Jesus, but it's not true. Now, so that's something we should avoid, stay in the liberty of the gospel and not get trapped into the keeping of the feasts and things like that. Now, if a Jew were to invite me to come and sit off for a Shabbat or come and observe in a Yom Kippur on the day of atonement or something, I would go for the experience once, just to experience what it is because then it helps us understand the Bible better and understand some of these things better. But I do it just for the experience, not because, and just, it's as a one-time thing, not something that I want to practice in my life for the rest of my life as a Christian. I would definitely step, go there and sit and experience it because it will help us understand things in the Bible better. And from that perspective, I would accommodate that request or even be interested, more of a learning, but not necessarily as a spiritual enhancement or, you know, of course, God can speak to our hearts and give us revelation and understanding through the process, but our focus is on the person of Christ and not on, you know, the practices, these things. I hope that helps. Yeah, it does. Thank you so much, Pastor. For both my questions, you gave me references from Romans, from the Book of Romans, from the Internet, so it just makes me want to go back to Romans and do a more in-depth study, but this helps a lot. Thank you. Thank you. Christopher, you had your hand raised for a long time. The question, please. Yes, Pastor. Thank you. I'm just looking at, you know, I'm trying to be reviewing this entire course and, you know, there is obviously a lot of, you know, fundamental areas that have been touched, you know, from a point of view of, you know, defending the faith. And you also touched upon, you know, the, you know, some of the, some of the things that are happening in the current environment. I'm not sure, maybe I missed it, maybe I'm not sure how much you covered on the cards. And I'm not, I mean, I'm not, my questions are quite specifically about calls, but more about, you know, the, you know, this entire, you know, environment that the new millennia is, has been exposed to, you know, around the internet and, you know, and the influence of that and how the, you know, how the, even one has permeated a lot of the internet. Really my question is about what would be, possibly a different approach to how we deal with the new millennia and the younger generation around, you know, question of politics and being able to, you know, get them, you know, get that move, you know, from where they maybe, you know, to, you know, what is available and, you know, what has been provided by God. And so what would be the different approach and, you know, how we could, you know, actually get them to, you know, get that move and make that more stronger because I think there is definitely a large proportion of teenagers and the youth who are moving away from, you know, the traditional sort of church and even from God and how Christian politics, I mean, the entire, you know, how that defending of the faith can be done with them. So that's really my question. Now, and I'm just, you know, sharing my thoughts. This is not some prepared, well-curated answer, just maybe I would say random thoughts. One is definitely, these are very challenging times to be a believer, to be a Christian and definitely very challenging for, you know, the younger generation, for the reasons you've pointed out, you know, so technology is good, but then technology itself can become a channel through which a lot of wrong information is disseminated very easily and is also very accessible easily. Technology can also be debilitating in the sense that the younger generation spending so much time not on really deep work, but on very fluffy kind of things, you know, social media and those kinds of things which are very entertaining, but they're not really deep work. And so the entire attention span is, you know, reducing drastically, so on. And so it's very challenging and added to all of this. You know, I'm so troubled by the way the Western church is going, you know, when you look at, let's say Western church, I'm really pointing to America and Australia primarily. You know, these two regions that were, and UK, where which were once the strong basis for missionaries and the godly influence to brought into the world. But today, you know, if you look at the church, especially in America, it's so sad, it's so sad. And so, you know, what should we do, what should we do? What should we do? And I think one is we need just to stay with what we really call to do, which is to preach and teach the word of God and embody Christ's likeness. Because that is a very powerful testimony to the younger generation that what we believe is so real. Because what the younger generation is seeing, and if you look at what's happening in America, there's a whole movement of people out of the church. Because that's what the solution with the church, especially even the evangelical church and the charismatic, spur-filled side, just the solution by the disparity between what we say we believe and how we live, you know, and that especially when this is embodied in quote-unquote Christian leaders, we're supposed to be representing Jesus to us, but then they're living dual lives and they preach something and live totally something different. Then obviously, you know, the church loses tremendous respect, loses respect in the eyes of the younger generation saying, hey, why should I even bother listening? Because your life doesn't match what you're preaching, and so this is a big disparity. So what should we do? I think, you know, what the church needs is to say, just keep it simple, stay with the word of God and live Christ-like, you know? Because if we don't live this Christian life, there is no amount of ministry that we do that's gonna impact the next generation. They're gonna see this, and if we want to use the word hypocrisy because we're saying something, we're living something different, you know? And the younger generation aren't gonna be impressed without preaching if our life doesn't match it. So I think, you know, this is so important. We've got to live the life, we've got to be Christ-like, and at least then we can, you know, say that, look, this Jesus thing is real, right? And then of course, you know, as far as technology itself is concerned, we can't rein that in, in the sense, it is what it is. There is the internet, there are all kinds of platforms and every other day you have somebody starting their channel and talking what they want and saying what they want, I mean, we can't stop that. It is what it is. But if the young people see a true reflection of what the church is supposed to be, then they will most likely gravitate towards that and choose that instead of, you know, the numerous voices that are there online and all the things that are being put out there online. Because we can't fight that, you know? We can't fight with every person that's putting stuff out on online. It's, they're gonna keep doing it. It's just gonna keep getting more and more. But what we can do, the church can do is lift the word of God, teach the word of God and embody Christ-likeness, you know, and stay away from things that are divisive, hurtful, abusive, political in nature. Stay away from those things. Just stay with the word and be Christ-like. And that, I think, will impact, I believe, will impact the younger generation much more than all the other things we do. That's just my random thoughts in response to your question. But I believe that, I believe that. Yes, Samuel, I see a question about dinosaurs, come on. Apart from that, on Chris, on the current topic that we're talking about, Master. So, I mean, one perspective that I have is the church is trying to, in some ways, innovate in order to attract, keep, however you want to call it, the younger generation that's coming, you know? And which is, I think, practical because, you know, social media coming up with new technology and new gadgets. Worship has changed. The way sermons are being preached has changed. The way engagement is happening is being changed. We are no longer in the era where the Bible is accessible to scribes and educated. So, I think, so on one end, so I think the balance between, I'm searching for the question, but the balance between innovating so that it's relevant to the Christians who are growing up in this age, but at the same time, not like completely getting lost in that. I mean, especially, I think there's a lot of criticism around how worship, which is meant to praise God, but because the worship leader and the music has gone so good that worship leaders get worshiped in some way, or even the worship itself gets worshiped. So, I think that I see as like the necessity, at the same time, the danger of innovation and getting good. So just some thoughts around that question because it's such an interesting topic for me. Yeah, I think, I mean, to answer your question, you know, simply in a short sentence, the answer is definitely the church needs to be relevant in the sense that it should, you know, definitely use, make use of, especially urban churches, make use of resources, technologies, the audiovisual tools and all of that media to reach out and minister to the young people. So definitely the answer is yes. But yet we can learn a lot from what's going on or what has happened in the Christian world, especially in the last 10, 20, 30 years. And I've been spending quite some time just following, you know, at this moment, there are two big churches. One is Hillsong from Australia and the other one is of course, Mars Hill from the United States, which has wrapped up. But there are these two big case studies that are being investigated or looked at very closely. Now Hillsong, of course, for the last 30-some plus years has turned a lot. They've become like a big production house itself. But what is actually happening inside? You know, you have to listen to the insider's stories and experiences to know, okay, we are being contemporary. We are, you know, using these tools, but in the process, how are we impacting lives? What's happening to the actual people who are serving and making these productions happen week after week, you know, because every Sunday is a big production. There's all these things happening on stage and of course, you know, you are impacting thousands of people, but what's happening to the people serving in the church, in the local church to make these productions happen week after week and sometimes several times during the week. Same thing with Mars Hill church, which wrapped up in 2014, but, you know, there's a lot of things going on about that and people are investigating to try to understand, okay, here was a very contemporary cutting edge church in America at one point. What happened to the people? You know, again, it was leveraging technology. It was based in Seattle, one of the, you know, high tech centers and so on. And so what actually happened to the people and what happened, you know, how was media being used? And so there are a lot of lessons coming out of it, you know, so answer is, yes, we should be contemporary, but let's not make the same mistakes that have been made over the last 30 years, you know. And for example, you know, just listening to, again, this was from Hillsong, New York. And if you know the story, I mean, what's happened to Hillsong, New York and so on, it's just very sad. But look at the insider story, you know, this was somebody who was the stage director and she was serving there. And it was basically like everybody's serving a man's vision and everybody's helping put up a good production, Sunday after Sunday. But what's happening to that person, that individual, you know, or the individuals who are serving, you know. And yes, we want to be contemporary, yes, we are putting out this, you know, post-modern type of service, casual, and entertaining, exciting, et cetera. But what's happening, who's the one making it happen? And I mean, you look at all these details, you know, it just says like, look, we've got to be careful that while we definitely need to use tools, technologies, we shouldn't deviate from the Christ likeness that we're supposed to embody as ministers of God and as a church of God, that's number one, more important than being contemporary. And I agree, we have to be contemporary, we have to relate to the youth, but not of the sake of compromising being like Jesus, you know. First be like Jesus, then use the tools, you know. This is what I would just say, yeah. Christopher, you have a comment? Yeah, just a follow-up comment, and I mentioned earlier about a different approach, and I guess what I was trying to imply is that, I think these are also times, you know, when there's just to be a level of aggression and a level of, I mean, in the Bible, we know there are times when we refer, you know, the devil as a voting line, and I guess I'm just trying to get it to how Christians and possibly in the apologetics area, what is the level of intensity that is exhibited by that group of people or by that group of people or that body of believers. I mean, I'm talking about the apologetics area, and to counter some of this that is happening, you know, because we do, I mean, there's also reference in the Bible, you know, when we are as believers, we are expected to be, you know, having that, you know, quote of armor or that breastplate of, sorry, I can't remember exactly. So I'm just thinking that, you know, this is just a comment, you know, I mean, this could be a comment which I'm saying that, you know, we seem to be on the back foot rather than, you know, really, you know, trying to, you know, to counter some of the stuff that's happening on the internet as well as, you know, you know, the evil that's, you know, some of the evil that's being permeated in the word. Yeah, definitely we need to, you know, make our voice heard, so we need to speak out or, you know, let the truth be known. And I thank God for, you know, especially Christians, people of faith who are also qualified, maybe they're a scientist or others, you know, in a scholarly way to be able to respond to what's there. So, and I think the church is doing, the body of Christ at large is doing there. God has raised up people who are responding, providing answers and all of these things are being available online, being put out online. So to that extent, a work is happening and God has raised up people who are making their voices heard on these different themes around apologetics and information is available, you know, in for young people to go and people to go explore and listen to and find answers, yeah, so that's my observation. I mean, I'm not sure if you were getting at something else, Christopher. I mean, just a thought here, and that is, you know, the level of intensity, again, I'm not, I don't know whether that's happening or not, but I mean, you know, if you look at possibly, and this is more in the context, but if you look at, you know, some of the other religions, where there seem to be more, you know, here about, you know, what, how they stand and, you know, they will not, you know, have, you know, anything against certain principles that they have, you know, so, versus, you know, the Christians will seem to be a little more on the back for, you know, yeah. Okay, let me see, you know, look at what, yeah, so about dinosaurs, Samuel, we did kind of do a little brief. This is in one of the PDFs, which is actually page 36, lesson number eight, Auditional Questions on Science and Creation. We did mention about dinosaurs, and I think a good website, AnsweringGenesis.org has quite a detailed response, so I'll just put it here. Answering, A-N-S-W-E, AnsweringGenesis, A-N-S-W-R-I-N-G, AnsweringGenesis, okay. So AnsweringGenesis, did I get that right here? Okay, there's only one G on my mistake. So AnsweringGenesis, so there's one, just one G. So that has, this website has Answering and they've just used one G, AnsweringGenesis, A-N-S-W-R-I-N-G, AnsweringGenesis, okay. So they have a good write up on, you know, the response to dinosaurs. Essentially the answer is that dinosaurs, or these huge animals, are not as old as they are supposedly claimed to be because, you know, their bones have not been fossilized and I'm just looking at the notes here that red blood cells and protein tissue, protein other soft tissues and DNA have been found on some of these fossils. So, and if you actually look at how this whole thing has been happening, they claim something then that claim is retracted. They, you know, call something as, so many years old and then they, that's retracted, they say, oh no, this is actually the bone of something else. So if you look into the depth of, or the deep things in detail, this is what is happening in the whole space. That one is that these bones are not as old as they are claimed to be and second, many times, initial statements about these bones are then retracted quietly, but the public is left with the impression that, okay, these were what was originally claimed, but all that information is available there answering Genesis and so our response is, okay, these animals were created there in Genesis chapter one when animals were created, I think on day five or something and whatever got created was there and of course, you know, they, you know, over time things have been going, animals have been going extinct and there's still today that's happening, we're very aware and we're trying to preserve the life of certain animals, but animals are birds, but things have been going extinct, but they're not as old as claimed to be when you look at things closely and information is out there answering Genesis. Okay, okay, we'll take a last question from Maggie and then we're going to pray. Maggie, go ahead please. I think it's not a question, just like adding to the dinosaur question. If I'm correct, in Texas there's a rock where they have footprint of dinosaur and human. So my question, not question, just adding to the question that if human footprint and dinosaur footprint were all imprinted at the same time, so at the same age, how can the dinosaur be millions of years old if they were still alive when humans were working on the world and that if they were alive when humans were working on the world, so that means even if it might not be written in written form, that means human, so dinosaur, and it's not long ago that they were on Earth. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thanks Maggie for sharing. Okay, so we're going to take some time, Charles, to answer your question. It's not a question, Pastor. It's an appreciation and thank you for the time you spend in researching, because we can't take it for granted. I would like to move a vote of thanks for the work that you do, especially in researching, in praying to get this, that even allowing the Lord to reveal this information to you so that you are able to store it for memory, because again, information can come and it can be lost. But I appreciate the fact of storage in writing, in electronic format, but also in human interface. Thank you so much. God bless you. Thank you Charles. I appreciate it. Hopefully we get to meet someday. I know we're all in different parts. I am coming for my graduation. I'll come for graduation. Wonderful, wonderful. I believe God. Wonderful. Good. All right, so let's take a moment to pray as we close off this course. And I want to thank all of you for being part of this course and just interacting, learning, asking questions, discussing. I appreciate you doing that. Okay. So we're going to pray together a couple of minutes. Pray and then we will dismiss and of course we will meet right after the break in the Keester Supernatural Ministry class. So I just request one person to please pray with all of us and we will then dismiss who wants to pray. Can I pray first? Please go ahead. Father, we thank you and praise you for this wonderful journey that you've given to us. Thank you for the word of wisdom and Lord and Master enlightening. Lord and Master, our knowledge, we thank you for the wonderful word for Lord and Master, strengthening our faith, strengthening, giving us more sharper knowledge on your word. And Lord and Master, you are clearing our doubt. I thank you for your servant of God. Lord and Master, you blessed us. This time you blessed us ten. Lord and Master, release the right word of Father God. I thank you for everyone of Father God. Lord Master, who all are blessed through his word and Father God, which is strengthening every day. O Lord, I never walk with you. And Father God, let these words, Lord Master, let it not be taken away from our heart, but let these words of Father God bring fruit in our life for God. Let the crisis and the challenges of the world, the temptations of the world should not choke these revelations. But help us to stand strong. Help us to, as Jesus said, help us to build our faith on the stone, on the rock of Father God. When the winds and the waves come against our Father God, against us, against our ministry, against our walk with you, O Lord Master, let these words of Father God be able to strengthen us for Father God and let be able to be fruitful and let be able to fight this, Lord Master, the fight of this fight with faith of Father God. As the Paul said, I fought a good fight of faith and I pray for the same thing for the pastor that let he also be able to fight a good fight of faith of God. And as you have given that strength and wisdom that we all should be trained under him. So Father, we pray that the grace which is flowing in his life, Lord, as we are also partnering with him, O Lord, give us the same grace that we could be able to fight this, Lord Master, a good fight of faith. Thank you once again for giving us this grace to stand together and listen to his word of God. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. So we won't have class next week. Just look out for any assignment that we put out, finish it, and it'll be done, okay? Thank you. I appreciate all of you. God bless you all. See you after the break. And we'll meet you in the next class. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. God bless you. Thank you for all your comments there in the chat. See them. Thank you. God bless. God bless you. Okay. See you shortly, the next class. Bye now.