Searches every word across every teaching, article, and Q&A on the site.
Searches every word across every teaching, article, and Q&A on the site.
Teacher: Pastor Paul LeBoutillier Pastor Paul: Hello everybody. We are back with more of your Bible questions, and we've got some good ones here today. Sue: Always good ones. Pastor Paul: Let's go for it. Sue: Okay. The first question is from a person SQ who said, “Good morning Pastor Paul, I've been studying 2 Kings along with your videos, and you mentioned that healing of sickness was promised to the Jews in the Old Testament only. I wanted clarification. When I pray for healing, I say, “By the stripes of Jesus we are healed.” Is this not how we should be praying?” Pastor Paul: There's really two things kind of going on in this question. First of all, I didn't actually say that healing of sickness was promised to the Jews only. That makes it kind of sound like God promised them that they would never be sick. And that's really not the case. What He said to them was that none of the diseases that came upon the Egyptians would come upon them. They've been living there for 400 years and they knew the kind of specific illnesses that the Egyptians dealt with. And God was simply saying, if you followed the law and you are obedient, then I wouldn't visit those very same things upon you. He wasn't saying that they would never deal with any sort of disease at all. Now what we also need to talk about is this second kind of idea where this person asks if praying and using the phrase by the stripes of Jesus we are healed, is that not how we should be praying? First of all, you need to understand that the statement by his stripes or by his wounds as some modern translations put it, we are healed. That appears twice in the Bible. It appears in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. In both of the instances in which it appears, it is speaking of spiritual healing. It is not talking about physical healing. So when a person uses it for physical healing by his stripes, now what they're saying in essence is that when Jesus endured suffering on the cross, he endured that suffering so that we might be granted physical healing. They're saying by that suffering, we are claiming this healing. And what those people are doing is they're saying that a benefit of Jesus's suffering on the cross is that we can now claim a healing. In other words, it is a benefit of what Jesus did on the cross. Now let me comment. That's not a biblical idea. We've already made the point that by His wounds we are healed, or by His stripes is always speaking in the Bible of spiritual healing. In other words, that the relationship between God and man has now been healed, and that is a benefit of His suffering on the cross. Why? Because when he suffered, he bore our iniquities which had separated us from God. Now that separation has been taken out of the way because Jesus was punished on our behalf. It is not a biblical idea to believe that what Jesus earned for us in his suffering and victory on the cross was physical healing. There's nothing in the Bible that says that. Now I want to be careful. I'm not saying that God doesn't heal. Sue: Correct. Pastor Paul: We're told in the New Testament to pray for people. James specifically says if anyone is sick among you, let him call for the elders, the pastors, the leaders of the local church. Let them anoint that person with oil and pray the prayer of faith over that individual. We are to pray for the sick and healing can and does happen. All I'm saying is in the covenant that Jesus established for us, which we call the new covenant, healing is not a guarantee. I'm saying that, “Healing is not a guarantee”. I don't care what somebody told you, it's not a guarantee. And by His stripes we are healed is a reference to the spiritual healing that we have through Jesus's sacrifice on our behalf. Sue: It is very thorough. It's a very good answer. Pastor Paul: I hope so. Sue: Good. We have two questions that came in on a related subject and I'll read them both. One is from Amy, “Can you talk about prophetic dreams and meaning of dreams in the next video please?” And then from Emima said, “Can you please talk about dreams and how to interpret the meaning of dreams or why people have dreams and if they come from God or not?” Pastor Paul: It's kind of funny. I actually get a lot of questions from people on the subject of dreams and I tell people in my responses to them and I will do it here as well. I think we need to be very careful about dreams and about it, especially about attempting to interpret dreams because it becomes potentially dangerous sort of a process of self-interpretation. And people will often do that. They'll say, I had a dream and this is what I think it means. That really can be very dangerous. My advice to people who write to me and say, I think the Lord gave me a dream, or sometimes they just come out and say the Lord gave me a dream. I tell them that, first of all, you need to pray about it. You need to pray and you need to ask the Lord to confirm that is in fact a dream that he gave you. And then secondly, you need to pray for his interpretation. Your interpretation doesn't matter. My interpretation doesn't matter. I've had people write to me over the years, tell me their dream and then say, Pastor Paul, what does this mean? I cannot tell you how dangerous that is. I could easily take advantage of people I don't. I tell them I don't know what your dream means. Obviously you don't either. There's only one person that does. If in fact it was a dream from the Lord, and that is the Lord himself. So talk to him and if you don't get an answer, drop it, because it was probably just your dream. We as human beings, we can have some very complex and very even spiritually dynamic dreams that seem to be saying something. And I think people really want their dreams to mean something. We talk about our dreams a lot. Sue: Yes, we do. Pastor Paul: And we talk about how weird they are. Sue: But we have also had prophetic dreams in our lifetime. Pastor Paul: I've had one, I believe, and it was kind of a directive, but I didn't have to wonder what it meant because I watched it play out in the coming weeks. In fact, in the coming days after I had the dream, I didn't sit and wonder about it. I don't believe God gives dreams so that we're just going to sit and wonder for years about what it might mean. I think if God is going to give a dream, he's going to give it because he wants to communicate something. And if he wants to communicate it, then he wants you to understand that he's the one communicating it. And I don't think that the Lord just gives us dream so we can sit around and kind of go, “Gee, I wonder if that was from God. What do you think that dream means?” I strongly encourage people, don't go ask people what they think your dream means. You are begging for danger. By the way, when it comes to dreams and that sort of thing, people like to quote that passage in Joel that talks about dreaming dreams. In fact, the passage from Joel 2:28-29 (ESV) goes like this, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.” Now if you look at the time frame of Joel when he says, and it shall come to pass afterward. This is after the Lord returns and this promise is given more to the people of Israel and even specifically the people of the southern Kingdom of Judah than it. It's not just a promise to all people that God's going to pour out his spirit and give dreams. That's not to say that God won't or doesn't ever give a dream. I'm not saying that. So don't anybody say, Pastor Paul doesn't think God doesn't give dreams. I'm not saying that. I'm saying that you need to be very, very careful. I would encourage people, if you had a dream that you feel may have some significance, write it down. , that's just. Sue: That is just what I was going to say. Pastor Paul: Write it down, pray about it, ask the Lord to confirm. Listen, if he gave you a message that he wants you to know, he'll confirm it for you. And then ask him for the interpretation. And don't ask any other human being, that's just begging for trouble. Sue: I agree. Our next question asks, “Is it possible that John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus if He was the One they were waiting for in order for the faith of the disciples to be strengthened or for them to believe? It seems that the way he lived his life by faith, he would have definitely known that his cousin Jesus was (is) the Messiah.” Pastor Paul: This is an interesting question just because it's asked from the standpoint of I just can't understand why John would have a time of doubt. And we dealt with this in a previous Q&A and it's hard for people to believe. John was a dynamic character. He was a man who was led by the Lord. He was a man who was given many signs. The Lord gave him a sign. The one on whom the Holy Spirit comes and stays is he and John is the one who said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and on more than one occasion. And yet here he was in prison, imprisoned by Herod and he was entering into a period of doubt. And for many, many people, including obviously the person here who's asking this question, it's just too much. It's like, can somebody who was that dynamic really enter into a time of doubt? And I'm going to tell you right now, they can. As much as a person is used by the Lord as anointed, as a person may be, as used by the Lord as someone could possibly be, you can still under the right circumstances enter into a period of doubt. And let me tell you something, prison can bring it on. That was a period of great darkness and many, many Bible characters dealt with doubt from time to time and even depression. Elijah depressed, wanted to die and yet used so powerfully by the Lord. So, yes, it can happen. I don't believe John sent his disciples for the sake of his disciples. I don't believe it. I think it was John saying I'm hurting here and doubt has begun to creep into my mind and I don't want to have doubts. So I want to ask you, are you the one we're waiting for, or should we wait for another? Sue: It's actually comforting to me to hear you explain that, because when some of these Bible characters, as we call them in Sunday school, they just seem so superhuman. And it is so good for us to remember that human nature is pretty consistent. Pastor Paul: And pretty fragile. So John was a man who was subject to all of the difficulties of life including doubt. Sue: Okay. Our next question asks, “What is the difference between praying and praying in the Spirit, and how do I know or can be sure I am praying in the Spirit?” Pastor Paul: The reference to praying in the Spirit, first of all, is found in Ephesians 6, in a couple of verses it goes like this. This is where the Apostle Paul is talking about the full armor of God and he says “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.” So Paul is talking about praying in keeping with or in step with the Holy Spirit. We're told to walk in step with the Holy Spirit. We're told to pray in step with the Holy Spirit. So praying in the Spirit refers to that very thing. Now, the question that's being asked here is how do I know or how can I be sure that I'm praying in the Spirit? That is a good question, but it is a learned sort of a situation where you come to the Lord and you say, “Lord, I want to be burdened with the things you're burdened about. And I want to pray about the things that you want me to pray about. And even the things that I want to pray about, I want to pray as you would have me to pray.” And it's learning to be sensitive to the voice of the Spirit and the leading of the Spirit. It is not an easy thing to do. It is a difficult thing to do. It is a very challenging thing because we have all these voices and our own voices and our own inclinations and our own desires that war against the voice of the Spirit. So we have to learn to quiet our heart before the Lord and we have to learn to listen. So praying in the Spirit is a very challenging and, and difficult thing to do. Prayer in general is difficult. I remember a passage where the Apostle Paul wrote, and I'm forgetting now who he wrote to, if it was to the Colossians but he talked about someone who is always wrestling in prayer for you. Sue: I think that is. Pastor Paul: I think it is Colossians and I love that verse because it reminds me that prayer is often a wrestling match. It's not easy. It's hard, and praying in the spirit can be even harder. Now before we move on, I do want to differentiate between praying in the spirit and praying with my spirit. Paul makes that reference too. It's in 1 Corinthians 14:14-15 (ESV) where he says, “For if I pray in a tongue, which is a supernatural language that I've never learned before, he says my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. So what am I to do?” And here's where he says it, “I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also.” In other words, I'll pray in my own intellect, and sometimes I'll pray supernaturally with my spirit. That's different from praying in the Spirit. So praying in the spirit is just using my words, but following His leading. Sue: Good. And I wonder which one this person meant. Pastor Paul: They said praying in the Spirit, so I'm going to just assume that that's what they are referring to. Sue: We'll go with that. All right. Jason says, “I listened to your recent teaching on Matthew chapter 25 in which you explain the “Parable of the talents” as being “rewards” for those saved in Christ, not about salvation. But the warning in verse 30 is so ominous and so striking, that it forces one to pause and reflect. If this parable is about a judgment of rewards, why would Jesus cast the worthless servant into outer darkness?” Pastor Paul: In other words, what Jason is kind of asking is what is he doing there? What is the worthless servant doing there? We tend to refer to this as the Bema seat judgment, where believers come before the Lord and they are rewarded according to how they've used what God has given them. We call that the Bema seat judgment. Again, it's a judgement of rewards. And yet in the parable that Jesus told in Matthew 25, we have this giving of rewards and suddenly there's this break where this worthless servant is confronted, cast out and where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth and people are like, that just absolutely doesn't make any sense. Well, I don't believe that what Jesus is doing in Matthew 25 is telling about an event. I think he's just simply making a simple point, which parables often do. They just make simple point. And this simple point is that your works will ultimately earn you either a reward or a condemnation based on whether you're in Christ or not, and that's the simple message. So it's not foretelling an event, it's just foretelling that making a statement that rewards or condemnation will be given. Not at the same time, they're going to be different judgments, but that they're both going to be meted out in their own time and that sort of thing. So I think we have to be careful. This is what the point I'm making. We have to be careful assuming that the parable is talking about a specific event in the last days. Sue: That makes it a lot more clear. And our final question today is from Dorothy. And she says, “Thank you for this website that we can write in our questions!! I love your YouTube site with the verse by verse Biblical teaching! My questions are: Where do the saved and those who are not saved (during the tribulation and millennial period) go when they die?” You want to answer that first? Pastor Paul: Sure. The Bible doesn't specifically say, but we just assume that those who die in Christ during the tribulation period go to be with the Lord and then there will be a resurrection for them. And those who are lost go to a place of punishment awaiting the final White Throne judgment. Sue: And then she says, “When will those Saints obtain their glorified bodies?” Pastor Paul: They're going to have their own resurrection during that time. I would encourage people to go to our website, lifebibleministry.com and you will find a link. In fact, if you go to the Book of Revelation, you'll find a button on the bottom of that study that is to a PDF that gives the last day's timeline. And it would really be helpful, I think, for Dorothy and for others to see when these things take place in relationship to other things. So once again, go to lifebibleministry.com/revelation, don't put an ‘S’ on the end, you're going to get an error code. And then again, scroll down to the bottom of the page and you'll see the button that says “LAST DAYS TIMELINE” and you'll see when all of those things take place. Sue: I actually have that printed out and it's trifolded in my Bible. I have it in my Bible all the time. Pastor Paul: That's a really good idea. It's probably a good thing to keep in your Bible. And it is such on our website that when you bring it up, you can print it and do just what you said. Just keep it in your Bible and then you can refer to it. Sue: I think it's one of those things that a lot of people just, it's very difficult to hold all of that in your mind. So to have these little resources that you keep in your Bible or your journal or wherever it's handy, I think it's a great idea. Pastor Paul: It is a really good idea. So those are our questions for this episode. We thank you so much for sending them in. Keep them coming. You can send your questions to this e-mail address questions@lifebibleministry.com, and we will do our best to feature your question or answer your question on our next few episodes. So thanks so much, and we'll see you next week. God bless.
