“I don’t wanna go to Heaven!”

Hi, I'm Dr. Andrew Farley, host of The Grace Message. Got a Bible question, struggling with a personal issue, wondering about a tricky verse? At BibleQuestions.com, you'll get clear, grace-based answers in 10 seconds or less. No fluff, no confusion, just practical, biblical truth. Ask anything, anytime, and experience the power of God's love. Visit BibleQuestions.com, that's BibleQuestions.com, your go-to for biblical clarity. Jesus plus nothing, 100% natural, no additives. Andrew Farley is celebrating your freedom in Christ. Call in and ask your questions at 877-956-9566. That's toll free at 877-956-9566. By a satellite from Texas, it's The Grace Message with Dr. Andrew Farley. Hello, everyone. Welcome to The Grace Message. I'm Andrew Farley. So glad you're joining us today. That number to call, 877-956-9566. You got wide open lines. That means plenty of room for you to get in with your question today. Maybe you've got a question about a scripture passage, perhaps you heard something even this morning in church and, well, you're not sure about it. You want to put it to the test. That is exactly why we're here for you. Again, we are live across the United States and Canada right now on Sirius XM, all kinds of FM and AM stations. And yes, of course, we're live streaming on social media as well, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram. Our mobile app, our website, so many ways to connect and yet it doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter how you're listening or watching right now. You can simply call in and be a part of today's conversation right now. This Sunday afternoon, that number to join us, 877-956-9566. And just a reminder, we love it.

We love to hear from first time callers. So if you're a first time caller today, we want to hear from you. And if you're a veteran caller, maybe you've joined us in the past, but perhaps it's been a while, you got something brand new on your heart. Go for it. Give us a call right now, again, 877-956-9566. I'll let you know that we have a few open lines at this very moment. So as soon as you call, you'll be in the queue real, real quick, and we'll be sure to get to your question. And maybe you're not sure about your relationship with God. You're looking for some assurance, some help. That's certainly why we're here for you as well. So perhaps it's something you've been learning, you're excited about, you want to share it. Join us for that reason as well. All right, let's go to Chicago for our first call of the afternoon. We'll talk with William. Hi, William. Tell us what you got for us today. Hey, my brother, good to hear from you. Thank you. When you said today in church, one of my favorite scriptures, let's see if I can remember, I'm a little nervous, he will reward us for earnestly and diligently seeking him out. Can you talk about that? Sure. Yeah, absolutely. Well, this morning we were in Hebrews chapter 11, and obviously you could take that passage and maybe if it's got twisted a little bit, you could think, oh no, am I seeking enough? Am I finding him enough? Am I pleasing him enough by seeking enough? Well, remember that you've already sought him.

You already sought him. You already found him. He has already rewarded you for that, meaning he's given you life. He's given you forgiveness. He's given you a newfound freedom, freedom from the power of sin, freedom from the fear of death, freedom from the law, freedom from so many things, freedom from condemnation. He's given you forgiveness and freedom and a new identity. As you're put in union with Christ, you're made to be one with him as close as you could get. So, I don't want you to be put off by the Hebrews 11 idea of seeking and finding and being rewarded, and here's why, because remember, partly this is evangelistic. It is evangelistic, meaning that, you know, the writer of Hebrews cares about these Hebrews. He cares about these Jews who are riding the fence there, and they haven't made up their mind about the old covenant or the new covenant. covenant, and whether they're going to be, you know, paying attention to this message, this gospel, or whether they're going to fall back on mom and dad's religion. So here's the passage, it's right there in verse 6, it says, "...and without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him." All right. Well, did you come to God? Yes, you did. You came to God and you said, save me, save me, and he did. And is he a rewarder of you who sought him? Yes, you sought him and you found him. Jesus said, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened. So what I'm saying is, you don't need to read this passage and go, am I seeking enough? Am I knocking enough? No, if you're in Christ, it's because you already knocked and he already opened the door. If you're in Christ, it's because you already sought him and you found him. And in fact, he blessed you with everything you need, every spiritual blessing, all that you need for life and godliness, bam, you've got it. You're complete in Christ. So, you know, when it says he's a rewarder of those who seek him, please just know you've already benefited from that. Now, could we extend that to learning and

growing? Of course. I mean, maybe you could seek answers. As a Christian, you could seek answers out there in the world. You could seek answers through self-improvement. You could seek answers through merely a psychological understanding of the problem. You could seek answers by depending on other people to meet your needs. You could seek answers out there and then you end up not finding, and you end up frustrated and unfulfilled, and so then you decide to seek answers in him. Well, even that is different than seeking him. You already sought him and found him. You're already saved, you're already complete, you already have everything you need, but you're learning and growing. And so, I just want you to be aware that primarily this passage in Hebrews 11 is about evangelism. Hey, we want you to know that if you seek him, you'll find him, and he will reward you with eternal life, with everlasting life, with a freedom from the Old Covenant, with a total forgiveness once for all. That's primarily what he's talking about here. So, you know, in fact, that's why the next verse, the analogy, is salvation. With Noah and his family, you know, the ark, the salvation of his household, the heir of righteousness, which he became. You know, righteousness and salvation are key words there, because this seeking and finding and this rewarding has to do with being saved. So if you're already saved, rest assured, that is the greatest reward of all. So I'll put you back on, William, and see. Does that help, my friend? Does that make sense? Well, I don't know what happened to William there. Let's see. Oh, there he is. Hey, William. Hey, it's beautiful, Andrew. I just really appreciate that, and God bless you, my brother. Oh, well, I'm glad that helped. I'm glad it was clear, and we want to hear from you again. Always, it's fun to talk about Scripture and to look at it in context and get some light shed on it, because God's promise is always, it's going to liberate you, it's going to set you free, it's going to point you to Jesus, and it's going to be awesome. And we find that to be true every single time. So thanks, William. Call us back anytime. All right, let's go now to Alabama, and we'll talk with David. Hi, David. What you got for us today? Hey, good afternoon. Hey. What I've got is, my wife, she's a relatively new

Christian, and she has a lot of questions on the Bible, and usually when I leave, I'm gone for five days, and she was wanting us to find a book or a good app where we can sit down for two minutes each day and, you know, have a little Bible study together. Yeah. But I've kind of had a hard time finding something, and I was going to see if you had any recommendations. Yeah, how much time do you think you'd have together each time you did it? Yeah, half hour or so, and I found several of them, but they, you know, you pay for them and... Yeah, you don't have to pay for what I'm talking about. Yeah, I mean, first of all, at our website, David, there's thousands, thousands of free resources. You don't have to pay for anything. It's all free there. Every message that I've ever shared on a Sunday and every radio program, it's all free. And so I would lead you guys, the two of you, I think you would really enjoy a series that I did called Epic. This series, Epic, is all of the high-impact truths of the New Testament. So you get a little bit of Matthew, and then you get a little bit of John, and then you get a little bit of Acts and Romans. You get a little bit of Hebrews and a little bit of James and a little bit of everything, right? And so what you do by the end of the series, you have journeyed through the most powerful, most high-impact passages of the New Testament. And so by the end of it, you feel like, wow, I have really gotten to know the writings of Paul, Peter, James, John, Hebrews, so many different teachings in the New Testament. And so this series called Epic, where can you find it? Well, let me tell you, just jot this down. First of all, it's at our website, which is just andrewfarley.org. That's andrewfarley.org. And then you can click on the Media tab, and then when you click on that Media tab, click on Series. And you're looking for the series. You scroll down, and you find Epic. And so Epic has 20-some messages to it. It probably has about 23 or so. And as I said, each one is a powerful passage from the New Testament. So you're going to very quickly together get all of the basics of the New Testament. You're going to get all of the basics of life in Jesus. And I think that's what your wife would really benefit from, a solid understanding of who Jesus is, what he did, why he did it, what it means to be forgiven and free, what it means to be a child of God, a new creation, what it means to walk by faith. All of that is covered in this series. It's called Epic, and it's at our website, andrewfarley.org. And then here's the best part of all. Every single message is about what you said. You know, it's 30 minutes, 33 minutes, 35 minutes. We try not to ever go over 40 when we can. Try to keep it 30-something. And there's questions also. I mean, you could hit the pause button if you wanted and do one of the questions,

or you could wait until the end and then do all the questions together as a couple. But we have discussion questions that go with each one. So again, just to wrap up, it's a series on the whole New Testament, all the hotspots. It's called Epic, E-P-I-C, and you'll find it under andrewfarley.org. And then you'll find it under the Media tab, under Series, and you just look for Epic, okay? And I think that'll be a lot of fun. Also, if you see something else there that you'd rather do, go for it. We've got lots of options there. Under the Series tab, you'll find all kinds of series, and they'll have questions with them. So I hope that helps you and your wife there in Alabama, and reach out to us any time. We want to help however we can, my friend. So thanks for your call. All right, let's go now to how about Michigan. We'll talk with Bea. Hi, Bea. What you got for us today? Well, hello. I just asked him. I said, I'm on a really great spiritual journey since 2009, and I just still have a lot of doubt about heaven. Okay, and what about God? What about God? Well, I love the whole Trinity, everybody. What happened in 2009 was that I had that involving of the Holy Spirit, which totally propelled me in a crazy direction into faith. But yeah, I believe in the Trinity, God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. But it seems like it's almost like a carrot and a horse. They're saying, here's the carrot. Keep going forward, forward, forward, and then you'll get to heaven. And I'm like, I don't... it just bothers me. Yeah. Well, I think you're turned off, B. I think you're turned off because they're offering you the carrot at the end. See, I want to give you the carrot right now. You don't have to wait. I don't know what they're talking about there, because that's not the way it works. You get everything up front. So what do you not have here? I mean, you know, first of all, you're totally forgiven. You're forgiven by God through the cross. That's a heaven right there, isn't it? That's heaven on earth, being totally forgiven of all your sins. And then you get to be made righteous. You're called the righteousness of God. That's heaven on earth, if I've ever seen it. And then you have Christ living in you. You talked about the Holy Spirit living inside of you and you receiving the Spirit. Well, that's heaven on earth, if I've ever heard it. So you got forgiveness. You got acceptance and love.

You got the indwelling of the Spirit. You got a beautiful freedom from sin. You've become righteous. You're seated right next to God at His right hand. You've already got the carrot. I mean, whatever pressure you're feeling from the religious world, the truth is this. Your body is going to go into a pine box. It's about 40 to 60 years from now or whatever. Your body is going to go into a pine box. And yet, do you believe that you will live on? Well, Jesus says you will. He says you'll have everlasting life. So we don't need to complicate this. It's not about a carrot. It's not about a stick. It's not about earning anything. It's just about, do you think you're going to be sitting in a pine box forever or do you believe you have everlasting life? Well, if you have everlasting life, guess what? It lasts forever. And it's got to last forever somewhere. And if we don't see you there in Michigan any longer, guess where you are? You're in another place, not Michigan. And I would call that place heaven. It's the presence of God. So I think what you really object to is the carrot and stick mentality. It's not that you object to heaven. I mean, look, you've already accepted heaven. Let me tell you how. You accepted the existence of God. You accepted Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus said, and by the way, He's the Son. Remember the Trinity that you accepted? Well, Jesus the Son said in John 14, I go to prepare a place for you. Now, does He say, I'll let you go there if you're real, real good, carrot on a stick? No. He says, I go to prepare a place. So it's a place of grace. It's free. Heaven is free. There is no carrot. There is no stick. That is not the gospel. So I don't blame you. I disagree with the carrot and the stick mentality, too. You're right. And it is abusive when people are running around telling Christians that they may or may not go to heaven if they do their part. No, there is no part. You don't do any part. Jesus did all the parts. Part one was the cross. Part two was the tomb. And part three was the resurrection. Jesus did all the parts.

Now, all you can do is say, wow, and thank you. And that's what faith is. And if you have put your faith in His death and resurrection to be saved, then you have everlasting life. Jesus went to prepare a place for you, and you will be with Him. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. There's no carrot involved. There's no stick involved. There's no appraisal of, did you do enough to get to heaven? It's not like the IRS running an audit. I mean, there's no audit. There's no appraisal. There's no carrot. There's no stick. It's called grace. And Jesus paid the price so that you wouldn't have to. So heaven is free. I'll put you back on and see. Does that make sense, Bea? Yeah, there's a lot of meat in that. So one of the things, part of the issue is I really don't want to grieve the Holy Spirit. But I feel like when I die, I would just be done and not live ever after. Why? I've had a really good life and I'm kind of tired. I know I'll be working in heaven. Okay. And what makes you think you'll be working in heaven? Because we're going to be there to serve. Okay. Well, I don't know who told you that, but the Scripture says that God is not served. human hands as if he needed anything. So look at what God created. I mean, Adam and Eve were running around in a garden. They were running around naked and the biggest job they had was to name animals. So I don't think it's going to be that tough. Jesus said, my yoke is easy and my burden is light and you will find rest for your soul. So you're not going to be up there running around like a waitress or something. You know, I don't, I don't know what you imagine. You're not going to be a butler and you're not going to be a waitress and you're not going to be running around serving.

You're going to have a resurrection body and it's going to be perfect and there isn't going to be any fatigue. You're not going to be up there exhausted. So you've gotten some real bad teaching somewhere, B. I'm just going to tell you that wherever you're getting that vibe, you need to run away from that place. That place is no good. Anybody that's telling you that heaven is going to be busy work and anybody that tells you that heaven is going to be exhausting, they don't have a clue what they're talking about. I mean, and if they've given you that impression, then really, I mean, it's just a sign of horrible, horrible teaching. We're learning to rest in Christ right now. The gospel is supposed to relax you. I mean, let me just tell you how you can be relaxed. B, you're forgiven no matter what, no matter what. Right now, you're forgiven no matter what. No matter what you've ever done, you're forgiven and God remembers your sins no more. He keeps no record of your wrongs and you need to know that. So that's pretty relaxing, isn't it? To know that God's not keeping a record. And the book of Romans says, blessed is the one who does not work, but believes. So you're blessed if you don't work, you're blessed if you believe instead. So there's something about what you've been taught. I'm concerned about you because I want you to know how relaxing the real gospel is. The Bible calls it entering God's rest. We call it relaxing with God around here. And it's real, real good. It's an incredible message, this gospel message. So the idea that somebody would not want to be in heaven, well, that just shows they've gotten some bad information.

They've gotten some fake news about heaven. Heaven is the place where his face is always toward you. He's never disappointed. He's never disgusted. He doesn't have you on a quota, seeing how much you're serving up there. And so, you know, it's really, really good news to realize the love of God, the grace of God, the forgiveness of God, the kindness of God. And you know, wherever you've been hanging out, it sounds like some of that's missing. Because, you know, heaven is going to have no sorrow, no tears, no anxiety, no depression, no frustration, no fatigue, like you're talking about, no butler service. We're not running around in aprons and maid outfits trying to serve enough. We're family. We're the children of God. You know, our last name has changed. We're on the deed. We're in the mansion. We're in Dad's house with him. We belong. We fit. We're invited to the table. We're going to be, the Scripture says, we'll be judging the world, and we'll be judging angels. So we've been given some sort of authority, the privilege of participating with our Father in that final judgment. So if you hear what I'm saying, the gospel is a lot better than you've believed. Fellowship with God is a lot better than you've believed. And heaven is a lot better than you've believed. If I thought what you thought, I would agree with you. I wouldn't want to go to heaven. No thank you.

Am I interested in billions of years of butler service? No. But God has made me a child, his child, one of his. And so, God deserves all the service in the world, in the universe. And yet he says, I don't need your service. I'm not served by human hands as if I needed anything, the book of Acts says. So it's humbling that he doesn't need us, but it is certainly the biblical truth that he doesn't need us to run around waiting on him hand and foot. That's not the purpose of heaven. The purpose of heaven is, wow, thank you, Lord. You gave me a new resurrection body. I don't. have to worry about health issues, I don't have to worry about fatigue, I don't have to worry about depression, I don't have to worry about anxiety, I don't have to worry about sorrow or sadness or tears, and it's going to be relief. I mean, heaven is an enormous relief and some of that relief starts right now with how good God is. So that's what I would love for you to experience. I mean, I'll tell you what, if you'd like, I'd love to send you a free book. We have a book called Relaxing with God, and if you hang on the line after we talk, if you hang on, I'll be sure that we send you a free copy of Relaxing with God. But Bea, I want to put you back on and see, did that help some, my friend? Yeah, yeah, that did help. And a lot of this is internal, in my own thinking, it's not people who have taught me that, but I appreciate everything you've said, and I was listening to you speaking with William, and how you said something about your website, so I wrote that down, and the media, and the series, and then I can look up different things to Yes, yes. Okay, well listen, if you hang on another three minutes, we'll just make sure that we send you a free copy of our book, Relaxing with God. Our call screener, we'll make sure we send that to you, and you're right, you can go to the website, andrewfarley.org, and there's hundreds, thousands of free things there. And you might really enjoy any of those, but, you know, I was recommending our series called Epic, that would be a great place to start. But the bottom line is, God loves you, God likes you, God has forgiven you. Through

Jesus, you're made clean and close, and, you know, relationship with God is not hard work. He says the opposite. He says, my yoke is easy, my burden is light, and you will find rest for your soul. So there's going to be a mentality shift as we get to know God's grace. We're going to shift away from, am I doing enough for God? And then begin thinking, look at all he's done for me. Wow, look at all he's done for me to make me clean, and close, and forgiven, and loved, and accepted, and righteous, and holy, and blameless. When I put the focus on what he's done for me, it changes everything. So thanks for your call there, B. Hang on the line, we'll get this gift to you. All right, we're going next to Ohio and then Alabama. First, Mark in Ohio. Hi, Mark. Hi, Andrew, I got a question for you. It's kind of a complicated question. I think it is, I don't know, but let me explain. You see, my mom says like we could hurry up the end times, and like, well, that was kind of confusing for me. And like, I don't believe we could hurry up God's timing, if you know what I mean, because like, it feels like we're like taking control from God, if that makes sense. And like, and I believe that God will come on his own timing, if that makes sense. Yeah, yeah, I hear you. I don't think that's a complicated question. I mean, I went to grad school with a bunch of people that were constantly saying that sort of thing, like, oh, if we do our part, Jesus will come back quickly. And it's just not scriptural. We cannot, you know, hurry the end times. You know, we're not barking orders at God, saying, God, look at all the good stuff I've done. Now I'm assuming you'll come back quicker because I've been such a swell guy. Or I've influenced society so much that now you're going to, you know, hurry up your return or something. And that's just not the bottom line. The date is set. I mean, no one knows the day nor the hour, but the Father knows. And if it's a day and an hour that the Father knows, then why do I think I can hurry him along? I mean, that's just ego at its best. Acts chapter 1 says, it's not for you to know the times or the epochs which the Father has fixed. Well, if he's fixed it by his own authority, then how do I think I'm going to be the one to make him unfix it? That's Acts 1.7. It says it's fixed. Then Matthew 24, of the day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels, but the Father alone. What does that tell you? There's a day, and there's an hour, and the Father knows it, and we're not going to rush him. And 1 Thessalonians 5, it says, you know that the day will come

like a thief in the night. So it's going to be a slow day. surprise and you don't set the thief's schedule, do you? When a thief comes to rob your house, let me tell you, you're not—I've had that happen a few times in my life—and you're not involved in the schedule. So that's the point that he's making there in 1 Thessalonians 5. Only the Father knows, Mark 13, Revelation 22, behold I'm coming quickly. So he's got his idea of quick, and it's set, it's fixed. The day is like a thousand years, a thousand years is like a day. We just don't have a clue. But God is the one who removes kings, establishes kings, sets times, fixes the hour, plans the return. God is the one, and we are not. So I think that's a good discussion you're having there with your mother, I believe. But at the end of the day, you know, we can't bark orders at God, and we can't say, look at me, Lord, look at me. Now hurry up, would you? That makes no sense, and there's no scripture for that. So I hope that helps, my friend. Good to hear from you there in Ohio, Mark. Call us back. We got room for you. We're going to Alabama next. We're going to talk with James in about 20 seconds, but I want to remind you, you're listening to the Grace Message. You can dive deeper with us at andrewfarley.org, and don't forget, when you support the Grace Message this month, you can get a copy of Gospel Zero just by saying, I want it. There's a little box to check when you're giving your gift. Make sure to request your copy of Gospel Zero. We want to send it to you just to say thank you for supporting the Grace Message and helping us reach people. Well, that number to call, 877-956-9566. We've got three open lines, so now's the moment. Today's your day. Be a part of the discussion right now. Okay, let's go to Alabama next. We'll talk with James. Hi, James. What you got for us today? Hi, how you doing? Hey, good. What's on your mind? Oh, well, first of all, this is my first time speaking to you. I listen to you all the time, and I'm very honored to be speaking to you today. Oh, thank you for calling. What's been on my mind lately is, earlier in the show, I heard you mention the reference Hebrews 11 and 6, and those who come to God must first know that He is God, and He is the reward of those who diligently seek Him. One of my favorite scriptures, so I went through a pretty big transformation over the past three, four years, where God took me from my bottom, brought me to a point of recognizing myself into my bottom, and I've seen where He's started bringing me, rising me up. Throughout that time, my mom passed, but I referenced back to some of her teachings or things He's spoken to my life, and oddly enough, after her passing,

those things have begun to take root, particularly into my direction of what I feel my calling. As I go to God with that and diligently seek Him regarding that, I feel like I haven't gotten a bottom-line answer, but at the same time, I have not been able to shift away from what I feel like my calling is, my purpose. Even though I have run from it, it keeps pulling me back to it through things people say who have no idea of what I'm feeling or thinking or maybe struggling with. But I still have that fear. So, I love it. Okay, well let me say this. The number one thing you need to do, I believe, is shift a word in how you're thinking, and it's a small word. It's two letters, and it's the word it, and you're talking about it, and when you say it, you're talking about a calling, and what I would change there is I would change the it to a him, and your calling is to know Christ Jesus, and your calling is to express Christ Jesus. So, your calling is a him. You're called to him. And so, here's what happens. When I'm called to an it, then I'm afraid I'm going to miss it. Oh no, am I going to miss it? What if I miss it? What if I miss my ministry? What if I miss my calling? What if I miss my purpose? What if I miss it? And see, the enemy loves for you to be focused on an it, because then you might miss it, and you live in fear. But what I want you to know is that your calling is to a person. You belong to to Him and you'll never miss Him because He lives in you and you live in Him and it's a vine branches relationship that will never go missing. It is impossible for you to miss Him because He is your life and He is your everything and wherever you go, He'll be there. Whatever door you walk through, He'll be on the other side because He's in you and He'll never leave you and He'll never forsake you. So I get it. Listen to me carefully. I get it. I know there's church culture and I know you grew up in some sort of denomination like I did, a church culture where they talked about, you know, finding God's will and finding your calling and finding your purpose and finding your mission and maybe there was a little prophecy involved in that where somebody put their hand on you or prophesied over you or told you something and then other people come along and they recognize that you can

string two words and two sentences together and they say you're gifted and they tell you about it and everybody keeps talking about it, it, the prophecy, it, the calling, it, the ministry, it, the purpose, it, God's will, it, this and it, that and what I'm telling you is that's a trap. It is a trap, man. You are not called to it. You are called to Him and there's a big difference in that mentality and here it is. You can be in Him while you're moving trash cans around. You can be in Him while you're going to law school. You can be in Him as you're doing secretarial work. You can be in Him as you're a missionary in Africa. You can be in Him as you're a husband with five kids screaming in the backseat. You can be in Him doing any job, anywhere, any place and when we search for it, we're going to miss out on enjoying Him. So Christ is your life. Ministry is not your life. Some prophecy is not your life. Finding God's will is not your life. Finding purpose is not your life. Christ is your purpose. Christ is your life. Christ is your mission. Jesus is your everything and you're in Him and He's in you. So as I'm speaking to you right now, you have a bond, a union with Christ that will never be shaken and you need to know that because otherwise, I'm telling you, the rest of your life, you'll be thinking, oh, what if, oh, what if I had chosen differently? Oh, what if, I wouldn't have missed it if, I wouldn't have missed it if, if I, if only I had chosen this house instead of that house or this job or instead of that job or this wife instead of that wife or this ministry instead of that ministry or, oh, if I only, I guess I could never quite hear my calling.

I could never quite hear my purpose. I had too many sins, too many sins in my life. I couldn't quite hear God's voice. Hogwash. Nonsense. God's voice through scripture is telling you that Christ is your life. Christ is your mission. Christ is your calling. Christ is your purpose and you can express the fruit of His spirit anywhere all day long as you go. So stop chasing an it and start enjoying Him. I'll put you back on and see. Does that help, James? It helps a lot. It sounds like Seek ye first the kingdom of God. Yeah. So, yeah. All right. Thank you so much. You bet, my friend. You bet. And all these things will be added unto you, it says. Here's what I'm saying. All those things are in Him. Don't think I'll seek Christ and then I'll get the ministry. No. Christ is the ministry. I seek Him and all these things are added, not separately. They're added in Him. He's the ministry.

He's the purpose. He's God's will. He's my life. He's everything. So, you know, I don't know what kind of teaching you've gotten, but some people out there will say, well, seek Christ first and then you'll get the blessings. Uh-uh. Nope. Christ is the blessings. Do you want Christ or do you want cash? Do you want Christ or do you want good health? Do you want Christ or do you want earthly blessings? Because in Christ, you may only get spiritual blessings. Would that be okay? Would it be okay to just be infinitely righteous? unbelievably forgiven and credibly loved? Would it be enough to be utterly accepted no matter what, clean and close to God forever? You could have cancer and be the righteousness of God. You could have a job you don't love very much and be forgiven, holy, and blameless. Would that be enough? Would that be enough? Don't buy the lie that you seek Jesus and then get the blessings as a separate deal. The blessings are spiritual blessings and they're in Christ and he is your life and he is your everything. So focus on that truth, my friend, and you won't be distracted.

And it says he'll never disappoint you because if you're really interested in knowing him and letting him be him, then these other things, they kind of pale in comparison. I mean, don't get me wrong. I'd rather be well than sick. I'd rather have a roof over my head than not. But Paul talks about a secret of contentment in Christ. Your mother, your mother that you spoke of, she left a legacy, a legacy of truth. She didn't leave you a legacy of, hey, I want you to be blessed with all kinds of earthly blessings. She didn't tell you to fix your eyes on Jesus so that you would receive other blessings. Your mother's legacy was Jesus himself. She wants you to fix your eyes on Christ and to be intimately acquainted with him as your life and to be satisfied with who he is in you and who you are in him. So good talking with you, James. All right, let's go to Virginia. We'll talk with Scott. Hey, Scott. Yes, sir. Hey, what's- How are you? Good, what's on your mind today? Yeah, well, on my mind, Pilate, I'd like to ask you,

if it's Pilate, save, did save, or will go to hell? Which one? Which one? That question really beating me so much. Okay, all right. Is Pontius Pilate in heaven or hell? Is Pontius Pilate, was he saved or was he not saved? Well, I'm gonna have to follow the words of Paul on this one when he says, do not say. Do not say who will ascend into heaven and do not say who will descend into hell because we can't say for sure. I mean, that's to bring Christ up from the dead. That's to bring Christ down out of heaven. That's to presume that we know who's going to heaven and who's not. Instead, we should be saying the word is right here. The word is right up in your ear that whosoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And, you know, scripture doesn't give us a clear location label for Pontius Pilate. What it does give us is that, look what Jesus accomplished through the cross and the resurrection. And the cross and the resurrection are for anybody and everybody, but we don't have the life story of Pontius Pilate to go on. And the gospels tell us, obviously, I mean, if you know the story,

he was involved in the condemnation of Jesus. And he, deep down, I mean, he knew that Jesus was innocent, but they don't really, you're not going to find chapter and verse on Pontius Pilate in the afterlife. So I can't do any guesswork on that for you, my friend. All I can say is God is a righteous judge. He's looking at the heart. He's the only one who knows. And it's based on faith, all right? You could be a horrible, horrible person for 99 years. And then in a flash, like the thief on the cross, you could put your trust in Christ and be saved. So nothing shocks me about the track record of Pontius Pilate. He killed an innocent person. I'm sure he killed many people, many, many people. And innocent, guilty, other, I mean, he killed lots of people. So that shouldn't shock you. You and I, we've killed people. Every time we get angry, it's the same as murder. That's the true standard of the law. Every time we look with lust, it's the same as sleeping with somebody. That's the true standard of the law. We're all condemned. We're all Pontius Pilate by that regard. By that standard, we're all guilty. We're all equally dead in Adam. And so, you know, my question would be, are you saved? And I hope you are. And you know the answer to that.

If you're saved, then you know it's because of what Jesus did, not because of what you're doing. You're not saved because you're different than Pontius Pilate. No, you're saved because Jesus saves you and you let him save you. You're not saved because you're different than Hitler or Pontius Pilate or Mussolini or any dictator or any cruel person. You're not saved because you're better than them. You're saved because you let Jesus save you. You're saved by grace through faith. It's not of yourself. So a person's behavior becomes almost irrelevant. Their life track record is not relevant to the question of whether they ever called on Jesus to be saved. That very well could have happened at the end of Pontius Pilate's life, but we don't know. The most important thing is me and you and everybody listening. Here we are, alive in this moment. Have you trusted Jesus for your salvation? Have you called upon him to be saved? Are you looking to his death and resurrection? Or are you looking to your resume, how squeaky clean your behavior is? Well, that doesn't matter to God. In fact, he calls it, you and I, we might call it squeaky clean. He calls it filthy rags. So that's what grace is all about. Grace is for people who don't deserve it. Grace is for people who can't achieve it. And that's all of us. So we're saved by grace through faith. It is not of ourselves. It is a gift of God. Salvation is free for the taking. It is free for anybody who wants it. It comes at no charge to us, because Jesus paid for it. I'll put you back on and see. Does that help some, my friend? Yes, that helped me. And one more question I'd like to ask you. I'm a Christian and I live in an apartment, like apartment. So my foot is cut. I want you to pray for me for that. My foot is, my two foot is, I have sore on it. Every time I heal, it bursts back. So when I figure it out, the person on top of me is doing a lot of like witchcraft and voodoo against my foot. So I have a problem. Don't say it. Okay. Okay. I hear you. All right. Well, I'll pray for you, my friend. Father, we just pray right now that Scott and his food situation, whether it's food that he purchases or is delivered or whatever, we just ask that you would protect Scott, that you would enable him to be able to eat freely

and give thanks for the food that he takes in every day. Father, we thank you that there is no other God other than you. And when it comes to witchcraft and when it comes to idolatry and when it comes to false gods and demons and all of those things, the worship of other things, angelic beings, we just thank you, Father, that they are no match for you and that Scott is safe, that he is holy and righteous and protected and sealed in the Holy Spirit and that the evil one cannot touch him. So we ask, Father, that you would infiltrate his thinking and renew his mind and help him to see where he really is in this protected place in Christ. Father, we thank you that there is food on his table. We thank you that he has a roof over his head and that he can be content even with that. But regarding his neighbors, we just ask for protection, their physical protection, that you would intervene and that Scott would have peace. And we ask all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, thank you for trusting us with your question today and your situation. I can't imagine that's an easy one. So thank you for reaching out and call us back anytime. Well, friends, we're almost out of time. I want to remind you, you're listening to the Grace Message. My name is Andrew Farley. And if you like what you're hearing, maybe you're beginning to discern the difference here. Maybe you're discerning the difference in that you come from two different premises, right? Either Christ has done it all or he has not. Either his work is done or he has not. finished or it isn't. Either we're under grace or we're not. Either there's no condemnation or there is some. Either we're forgiven or we're unforgiven. There's no middle ground. Either we're under law or under grace. Either we're a new creature in Christ or we still need to be dying to self every day. Either you're the new self or you're not. There's so much clarity when we realize what God is really telling us through the new covenant. So I'm excited you enjoyed or joined us that is for today's broadcast and I hope you enjoyed it and

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