Passage to be considered: James 1 5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. -kjv 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. -niv 5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. -hcsb Question: James 1 seems to say that in order to acquire godly wisdom, one must ask for it from God while not doubting but who does not carry around at least a bit of doubt in their heart? Does having doubt makes one ineligible to acquire godly wisdom? Answer from Dr Michael Rydelnik on openline moody radio on Jan 14, 2017: Actually when you look at this verse, it's verse 5, James 1:5. Let's put it in context: this whole chapter is about trial and testing. It says consider it great joy when you encounter various trials, then when you lack wisdom ... what does the word wisdom means? The best translation or understanding of the word wisdom is skillful living and so it's really saying if you are going through a trial, I know you should also rejoice but what should you also do? You should ask God to deal with that trial. It's not just general wisdom in life, it's talking speficially of the wisdom in dealing with trials. Does that make sense? So, it should be asked with faith, unwavering ... you don't want to be doubter. Here's one of the thing that I just want to caution people about the scriptures. The scriptures often are aspirational, in a sense that this ought to be our goal, this is what we want to be the most like, it does not mean that if we are not perfectly like that, then God will just say ... sorry ... you don't measure up, because there's only one person that can ask in faith without wavering and that's the Lord Jesus himself. I think what's it saying is what we need to do is to keep our focus on him, really we should intentionally try our best to trust him through trials, and ask God for the skill to face those trials from Him and skillful living and that He will answer us. I think it's a mistake to say that there is this perfect target and if we miss it, God won't answer us. Rather, we have to aspire to have confidence. The way I ask in faith is like the man who says to the Lord Jesus, " Lord, help me in my own unbelief" and I think God really appreciates that kind of attitude where we recognize our own weakness as human beings. I want to say to people when you read the scriptures, lighten up, God is easy to please, He longs for us to trust Him. It's not like He's getting to slap our back, that's not like the kind of God that He is. Tozer wrote an article, an essay called "God is easy to please" and it's really affected me. God always looks at us with kindly good intentions, not with a harsh demand. Isn't that a better picture of God?
Know the bible
Passage to be considered: 1 Corinthians 2 8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. -kjv Question from moody radio listener on 31 December 2016: When Jesus was on the cross and those that were doing him in, Jesus prayed to God the Father, "Father forgive them". Did God the Father forgive and answered Jesus's prayer? Answer from Dr Michael Rydelnik: Yes, I do believe when Jesus said "Father forgive them, they don't know what they are doing", he was referring to what Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 2 where he said had they known they wouldn't have crucified the God of glory. So often when people think of the people involved in the crucifixion, whether it was Pilate or Herod or the Jewish crowd or the Sanhedrin or the roman soldiers that they were knowledgeable, that they knew what they were doing, they didn't. They were acting in ignorance, that's what Peter says when he says brethen you acted in ignorance, so I believe God forgave that act. I am not saying they all became believers or they were forgiven all their sins but because of Jesus's intercession, God forgave that act when they crucified him, that's because the Father always listens to the Son.
Passages used in this post: Isaiah 65 20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. -kjv 20 “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. -niv 20 “No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, Or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of one hundred And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred Will be thought accursed. -nasb Zechariah 6 11 Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest; 12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The Branch; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord: 13 Even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. 14 And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of the Lord. 15 And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord, and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God. -kjv Question from openline moody radio listener on Dec 31, 2016: My bible study teacher is saying that when the new temple is built in Jerusalem, there will be again blood sacrifices, is that true? Answer from Dr Michael Rydelnik and his wife Eva Rydelnik: It is true. If you look at Ezekiel 40-48, it speaks of the restoration of the temple in the Messianic kingdom when the Messiah is reigning on the throne in Jerusalem and it includes animal sacrifices, actual blood sacrifices. It is clear that this is going to happen in Ezekiel but the question is why? The reason is they are memorial sacrifices, just like we have the Lord's supper today, to remember what the Lord did for us. In the kingdom, there won't be much death as in Isaish 65 where it says if someone dies at a hundred, he will be considered young. There won't be much death, the predatory animals, the wolf and the lamb will lay down, not much death and so there will be people born in that kingdom who will need to become followers of Jesus to trust in Him, to become believers and they won't fully comprehend fully this idea that Jesus died for us and rose again and so in the temple there will be sacrifices, not to provide atonement for the forgiveness of sins but rather there will be memorials to remind us of what Jesus did for us in His death and resurrection and also they will provide ritual cleansing, not cleansing from sin but ritual cleansing so that priest can serve there. But the main thing is that it is a reminder of what the Lord Jesus did for us in his death. Question from listener: Why do we need the bible then? That's our reminder, isn't it? Answer from Dr Michael Rydelnik and Eva Rydelnik: Yeah, why do we have the Lord's supper if the bible is our reminder? Because we need something tangible and even then, in the Messianic kingdom, it appears that the Lord's supper will be insufficient to teach people who don't see much death about what's that talking about. And the bible does not only teach about sacrifices but it teaches about so much else, so we need the whole bible like what we are talking about in the first hour today, to remind us of God's character, His love for us and what the Messiah's done. In Zechariah 6, it talks about when the Messiah comes, He will rebuild the temple and what's the point of the temple but to have sacrifices and He will be the priest king on his throne. It says in Zechariah 6:11-15 and also in Zechariah 14, it describes the Messiah and the nations coming to worship in that temple in Jerusalem, so that it will be a great reminder in the Messianic kingdom of what the Messiah has done for us and so a lot of people think it can't be but it's right there in scripture and we have to understand it, they are not there to take away sin but those sacrifices are there to remind us of the one who took away sins through his death and resurrection.