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In today’s episode of ‘The Narrow Path,’ we explore a special compilation of some of the most engaging listener calls discussing crucial topics about the Bible and Christianity. From understanding the nature of love and enemies in biblical context to dissecting complex theological themes like the Second Coming, this episode is packed with insights. Join Steve Gregg as he dives deep into age-old questions with clarity and depth. We also unravel the puzzling dynamics of Christian denominations and why they exist despite our unified faith in Christ. Furthermore, Steve sheds light on the concept of tithing and offerings, thoroughly
SPEAKER 01 :
This is the best of the Narrow Path Radio broadcast. The following is pre-recorded.
SPEAKER 04 :
Welcome to the Narrow Path Radio Program, hosted by Steve Gregg. Steve is not in the studio today, so calls from listeners will not be able to be taken. In the place of the usual format, we’ve put together some of the best calls from past programs. They cover a variety of topics important to anyone interested in the Bible and Christianity. In addition to the radio program, The Narrow Path has a website. You can go to www.thenarrowpath.com, where you can find hundreds of resources that can all be downloaded for free. And now, please enjoy this special collection of calls to Steve Gregg and The Narrow Path.
SPEAKER 08 :
Our first caller today is Terrence calling from Las Vegas, Nevada. Terrence, welcome to The Narrow Path. Thanks for calling.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you, Steve. Thanks for taking my call. I have a couple questions, and I wonder if you might lend your thoughts to them. In James 4.4, it states that people are an enemy of God, basically, that do such and such. And if we’re of the Lord, would they not be our enemies also? But yet in Matthew 5.44, it says, “…love your enemy.” Now, what I’m asking of you, could you, in context, the word love and enemy, like who is your enemy and what does love in that context mean? Is that clear?
SPEAKER 08 :
Sure.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. Thank you, Steve.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right. I appreciate that call.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right. It sounded like you were leaving the air, so I went ahead and opened your line for someone else. I hope that was not a presumption on my part. Okay. Matthew chapter 5, Jesus said that we should love our enemies and do good to those who despitefully use us and bless those who curse us and so forth. And yet we do read that people can be God’s enemies. In fact, it says in Romans chapter 5, we were his enemies. If while we were his enemies, Jesus died for us, how much more now that we’re his children will he do for us, Paul argues. Now, there is such a thing, though, as certainly taking God’s side against his enemies. Now, that doesn’t mean we hate them in the sense that selfish people hate people who displease them. It’s rather that we set ourselves against their agendas. Now, that I get from Psalm 139. And some people might not prefer to go to the Psalms for guidance. However, in many cases… The New Testament writers saw them as very relevant to Christianity. In fact, Psalms is the book of the Old Testament, which the New Testament writers and Jesus quoted from the most frequently. So they definitely saw tremendous relevance to the Christian life and to Christian truth in the Psalms. Though there are no doubt, there are some things in the Psalms that are so wedded to the Old Covenant that they wouldn’t apply directly to us. But this is merely an expression of David’s heart in Psalm 139. He says, speaking of the wicked, he says, 21, Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate you? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them my enemies. Now, what I find interesting about this is that David didn’t say, I hate people who hate me. I hate people who oppose me. We don’t find David really exhibiting that attitude very much. In fact, when his son Absalom opposed him, even lethally, trying to kill him. Or when Saul did. And when both of those men came to their doom, David was not pleased. He wept over their deaths. He loved those people. He loved his enemies. But he said, I have a real hard time with God’s enemies. I hate those who hate you. Now, hatred, of course, could be seen to be an emotion. And it is. But love and hate in the New Testament are largely seen in terms of actions. That’s why the command, love your neighbor as you love yourself, is paraphrased by Jesus in Matthew 7, 12 to say, what you would have men do to you, do the same thing to them. In other words, if you love your neighbor as yourself, it has to do with how you treat them, what you do to them. How do you love yourself? You can know that by seeing what you would like people to do to you. So how should you love your neighbor as you love yourself? By doing to them what you’d want done to you. You see, love is more action than emotion in the New Testament. At least the specific virtue of Christian love is doing good to someone who hates you is loving them, regardless how your emotions are about it. Jesus said, greater love has no man than this. They lay down his life for his friends. And John said here in his love that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Laying down your life and doing something kind and merciful for someone else, that’s loving them, regardless of your emotions about it. In fact, 1 John says, but if any of you have this world’s good and see your brother of need and shut up your vows of compassion from him and don’t help him, how does the love of God dwell in you? He says, my little children, let us not love in word or in time, but in deed and in truth. So love is an action which comes out of a commitment. That commitment is to not put myself first, but to put what God loves ahead of what I love. And God loves his enemies. And so I love my enemies, and I love God’s enemies too, in the sense that I would die for them. if I wouldn’t, then I’m not obedient to the command to love my enemies. However, that doesn’t mean I like them. And I realize that some people think that’s a kapha. Say, well, you have to love them, but you don’t have to like them. It’s not a kapha at all. Liking is a matter of taste. That’s what liking suggests. You like certain flavors of ice cream and not others, perhaps. You like certain vegetables and not others. That’s a matter of taste. There’s no moral issue there. It’s not even a matter of choice. It’s just… you know, it suits you. I like some personalities. I don’t like other personalities. I like some behaviors. I don’t like other behaviors. Okay? And therefore, there are people I don’t exactly like, which means I don’t find them pleasant to be around. And I’m not obligated to find them pleasant. In fact, the ones I find least pleasant, if I do good to them and love them, as Christ says, it’s the more virtuous that I’m going to love them in spite of the fact that they’re unlikable. Now, it’s great if you can like everybody, but it’s not really realistic. Because, frankly, there’s a lot of things that are done that even God doesn’t like. And the word hate in this passage refers to the emotion of really, really disliking something. Not a matter of whether I would serve them, whether I would lay down my lifetime for them. That would be love. And hate, the opposite of love, as hate, would be doing harm to somebody. So… We see David saying, do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate you? Do I not loathe those who rise up against you? And the parallelism of the psalm, hating and loathing are parallels. And loathing is an emotion. There are things we all loathe and we should loathe. I loathe somebody who would rape little children. I loathed somebody who would behead innocent people. And I would loathe anyone who was disposed that way. But would I love them? Well, would I lay my life down for them? I would if I felt that that was something that God was calling me to do. Because loving someone is doing something kind for them. It’s not whether you like it or not. Loathing is extreme dislike. It’s not the same thing as saying, I wouldn’t do a good deed for somebody. that I wouldn’t pull them out of a pit if they fell into a pit, that I wouldn’t feed them if they were hungry. I’m not saying those things. I’m just saying I can’t stand the way they behave. Even God can’t stand the way some people behave. That’s why the word abomination is so often found in Scripture. Things that are an abomination are those that are loathsome to God. And David says, you know, those people who hate you, I loathe that. I loathe that in people. But notice he says in verse 22, I count them my enemies. Interestingly, they aren’t his enemies. They’re God’s enemies. But he adopts them as his own. Why is that? Because there’s a conflict between these people who hate God and God himself. And David says, I’m on your side. You know, they’re not attacking me. They’re attacking you. I could stay aloof from this. But I’m on your side. And I’m actively on your side. I’m vigorously on your side. If somebody’s going to set themselves against you, then I’m going to make sure that I’m on your side and they are against me, too. And that’s what it means, I make them my enemies. Notice David is not talking about hating his own enemies. He’s talking about his loathing of those who are God’s enemies, but not in the sense that he would never do good to them. We know that David did good to God’s enemies at times. And he, I mean… Well, I mean, there’s so many different people that were ungodly that David had dealings with that he didn’t necessarily treat them as badly as they deserved. In fact, Elisha the prophet, when the Syrians came into the city and he was able to strike them blind and lead them into captivity, when he opened their eyes in front of the king of Israel, the king said, Shall I smite these people with the sword? These were the enemies of Israel and of God and of God’s prophet. And Elisha said, no, feed them and send them home. You know, they’re probably hungry by now. Give them some food. It’s in the Proverbs in the Old Testament. It says if your enemy hungers, give him food. If he’s thirsty, give him drink. So being kind to your enemies is an Old Testament mandate as well as a New Testament one. But liking them and somehow finding their wicked behavior, anything other than loathsome, is not our duty. Well, we should find it loathsome. In fact, if you look over at Psalm chapter 15, it comes to mind. There’s a question asked in Psalm 15 at the beginning. The psalmist asks, Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle? Who may dwell in your holy hill? In other words, who’s going to enjoy your favor and your company? Who are you going to welcome into your presence? And who can dwell in communion with you? And the answer comes this way. He who walks uprightly and works righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart, who does not backbite with his tongue, who does no evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against his friend, in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honors those who fear the Lord. He swears to his own hurt and he doesn’t change. He who does not put out his money at usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved. This is a catalog of virtues of the kind of person that can dwell on good terms with God in his tabernacle. And one of those virtues is that when they see a vile person, they despise that. They despise that vile behavior. But they honor those who fear the Lord. So even though we may love all people in the sense that we certainly want all people to be saved, and God loves all people in that sense too, and died for them, And we should be prepared to die for them if that’s what we are called to do in some situation. We should love them that much. But we can still very much loathe their wickedness. If you don’t loathe wickedness, then you don’t share much of God’s attitude toward things. God loathes wickedness. He loves people, even wicked people, in the sense that he would do the ultimate sacrifice for them, die. And he would receive them if they come to him on his terms. He’ll forgive. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t find them loathsome in their sins. And so this is, I think, what it would mean for us to, as it were, as David said, hate God’s enemies. It’s not a matter of wishing ill or doing harm to them. It’s a matter simply of finding their ways disgusting, finding it totally against our grain to consider sin. living in such rebellion against God and, and our taking God’s side in the conflict, because there is a conflict between sinful man and God and say, okay, God, I’m going to count them my enemies. They haven’t identified themselves as my enemies, but I’m on your side. And if they’re identifying you as their enemy, they’re going to find me standing with you and there’ll be my enemies there too. That’s what I understand to be the balance between, you know, uh, recognizing people as God’s enemies or your own. You’re not supposed to hate your own enemies, nor anyone else’s in the sense that you wouldn’t do good to them if they hated it. But you are certainly supposed to dislike certain things with intense dislike, with loathing. Let’s talk to Larry from Kirkland, Washington. Larry, welcome to The Narrow Path. Thanks for calling.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, you’re welcome, Steve. So this morning when I was reading Matthew 10, when I got to 10.23, I was a little stumped, because it sounded like Second Coming, and my notes to the side on my New America Standard says Second Coming, but it sounds like during the Apostle’s lifetime he’s coming back. I don’t know if you can clear that up.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay. Okay, yeah, Jesus was… Yeah, I know the passage. Jesus was sending out his disciples two by two, to spread the message of the kingdom in places where he could not yet go. And so he is multiplying his ministry, and he mentions how they should respond to various responses that they will receive. If people receive them, they should stay in their home and continue there for a long time and labor. But he said there’s going to be people who won’t receive you. And in verse 23 he says, But when they persecute you in this city, he means in any particular city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. So, until the Son of Man comes, has the ring of the second coming in it, as it were. It sounds like he’s saying until Jesus comes back. Now, it’s not very likely that this is his meaning, and there are alternative meanings that I will suggest. But one reason I don’t think it’s talking about his second coming, is because he’s talking about the necessity of haste. You will not have time to go to all the villages of Israel before the Son of Man comes, he is implying. Now, if he meant, you know, in the next 2,000 years, you will not have enough time to do so, then I think that’s not quite accurate. Because 2,000 years is more than enough time to reach all the villages in Israel. The problem is that the villages of Israel were wiped out 40 years from the time he was ministering. When Jesus died, probably around 30 AD, it was just 40 years more before the villages of Israel were wiped out by the Romans, and Jerusalem was wiped out, and the nation was largely depopulated of Jewish people. And therefore, that would be the real end of opportunity for them to reach the villages of Israel. He is certainly talking about their present outreach. And so when he says, until the Son of Man comes, many people believe that what he means is, until the coming of the judgment on Jerusalem, which will come at the hands of the Romans, but which is sent by God, and which in the… language of Old Testament prophecy a judgment on a nation that was brought by God even though it was brought by human armies was considered to be God coming God coming and doing that God was visiting it was a visitation it was God judging and therefore the Son of Man coming I believe this place and a number of other places in the New Testament the coming of the Son of Man is a reference not to the second coming which I do believe in and which I believe is still future But in some passages, I think it’s talking about his coming in judgment on Jerusalem. Now, for those who have trouble with that particular interpretation, there’s another possibility. And this one is just much more generic. Because this was a short-term outreach. And no doubt, although he doesn’t say when they would regather, he didn’t send them out without some kind of plan to reconnect with them, obviously. And so there must have been some place that he had said at a certain time and a certain place that they would regather, that they would come back and give their report and this short-term outreach would be over. And so when he says, you will not have gone through all the villages of Israel until the Son of Man comes, he may be saying, until I come to the place, until I come to you, until we regather after this outreach. This outreach has a limited time. It might have been only weeks long. It could have been months, but probably weeks. And therefore, it says that’s not going to be enough time to reach all the villages, so don’t dilly-dally in villages that aren’t receptive to you. Move on to someone else who will hear what you have to say, because you won’t have reached all the villages of Israel before the Son of Man comes, and by this meaning, comes to where you are, comes to where we’re regathering, where we’re going to meet at our rendezvous point. And so that is a way that some people have understood it, and it certainly is a possibility. I think there’s no possibility that he means the second coming. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 06 :
I was just thinking, well, maybe the person writing the notes on my Bible has put second coming, and I went through it, and sure enough, in the back, it’s all about the second coming. Are they preterists? Is that a preterist view? Is this a verse used by a preterism to say the second coming was at 70 A.D.? ?
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, I don’t know of any note Bible that is edited by Preterists. There may be one out there, but it’s not likely. What Bible do you have?
SPEAKER 06 :
I have the New American Standards.
SPEAKER 08 :
Is it, I mean, what edition is it? Does it have, you say it has notes in the back or something? Is it a Thomas chain reference?
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, yeah, it’s a red leather Thomas chain reference Bible.
SPEAKER 08 :
Thompson, yeah, Thompson chain reference. Okay, gotcha. Yeah, it sounded like it from the way you described it. Yeah, he’s definitely not a Preterist. Thompson was a… A futurist. And therefore, I think what he’s doing is what a lot of futurists have done. Whenever they see the term, the coming of the Son of Man, they just figure, okay, that slips into a certain pigeonhole in their head. That means the second coming of Christ. At which point, they forget what the context is. And they just figure, well, I mean, I can’t understand this context, but I certainly know what the coming of the Son of Man is. So they put that in the category of the coming of the Son of Man at the end of the world, even if the passage itself does not seem to fit it. And he’s not alone in that. Lots of people do that.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, thank you. That straightens that up. I appreciate that.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right. Well, thanks for your call. Okay. Bye-bye. Okay. Bye now. Let’s talk to Doug from Portland, Oregon next. Doug, welcome to The Narrow Path. Thanks for calling.
SPEAKER 10 :
Hi, Steve. Hi, Steve. Good to talk to you today. I just have a quick question, and I’ll take your answer on the air. Okay. You know, we’re all Christians and brothers under God and Jesus, and I just, I don’t understand all the different denominations and things. And how many of them are there?
SPEAKER 08 :
Like Baptists and… There are over 4,000 denominations in the United States. And there are in other countries, like Africa, there’s a ton of denominations you’ve never heard of that aren’t here. Yeah, there’s thousands of denominations. And there should not be. And you’re right. We are all one body in Christ. So why are there denominations? Denominations exist because of immaturity. You see, mature Christians who love God also love everybody else who loves God, right? I mean, that’s the point. That’s the measure of maturity, is that you love people. Yeah, if you love all the people who love God, then you’re not going to split off in order to separate yourself to fellowship only with the ones who share all your opinions. See… If a person says, I can’t fellowship with you, even though you love God, I can’t fellowship with you because you have a different opinion than me, then what I’m saying is I love my opinion more than I love you. And so that’s immaturity, definitely. I mean, some people who take that approach might not even be worthy to be called Christians, but I think some of them, I think it’s a mark of an immature Christian, someone who thinks that their opinion is more important than people. And…
SPEAKER 10 :
Is it just because they believe different things about the Bible or Jesus?
SPEAKER 08 :
Usually. Well, usually it’s that there’s some doctrine of the Bible that they see a little differently than other Christians do. And there should be liberty to do that, shouldn’t there? I mean, I don’t see why Christians should be expected to all think and march in lockstep on one opinion about everything. And if they did, whose opinion should it be? You know? I believe that the Bible says that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there’s liberty. And therefore, I think a person also says that the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth. And I think that it’s up to the Holy Spirit to change my opinion. Now, he can do so through the influence of other people. In fact, that’s very often been the case. I mean, I believed one thing to be true, and people who were very persuasive showed me from the Bible that a different position was more true. And so I changed my opinions. And I consider that the Holy Spirit was using that person. I mean, there is such a thing as a spiritual gift of teaching. Among the spiritual gifts, Paul lists teachers. And so if someone is teaching through the power of the Holy Spirit and I become persuaded of something they say, it could be that I could see that as the Holy Spirit leading me into all truth. But what is not appropriate, in my opinion, is someone who may or may not have a gift of teaching but they’ve got a position of authority to say, you believe this way or not, or don’t be with us. In which case, that’s not the Holy Spirit leading to all truth, that’s some tyrant trying to enforce himself upon my thinking. And that happens all too often. And a lot of times denominations form, not because the person forming the new denomination was closed-minded, but because the group they were going to previously was closed-minded. That is, a person who goes to a church, a particular church, begins to see things in scripture a little differently and you know they may be willing to stay in the group but the group’s not willing to have them stay there so they end up you know going off and starting their own group so they have some fellowship but in any case denominations exist because of the immaturity of people who do not see that they can and should fellowship with other christians who love god whether or not they share their opinions
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, thank you. That’s, you know, that sets some light on it for me. And, you know, I believe like you do that we’re all brothers and sisters under God.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, Doug.
SPEAKER 10 :
I appreciate it. Thanks, Steve.
SPEAKER 08 :
Thank you for your call. God bless you. Okay, bye now. Okay, our next caller is Barbara from La Mesa, California. Barbara, welcome to The Narrow Path. Thanks for calling.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hi, Doug. I’m interested in getting an answer about Malachi 3.10. Can we send our offerings as well as our tithes to the church directly to a group we want to help and ask the church to send it on perhaps?
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay. It says… bring all the tithes into the storehouse. The storehouse was the storehouse of the temple where the priests and the Levites stored the food for the year so they could eat all year because they didn’t have farms. It’s not a reference to a local church. There were no such things as local churches at the time when this was written, nor is there anything in the New Testament that speaks about the obligation to tithe. Tithing was the means by which the Levites were supported and the temple sacrifices and service supported. was supported by the tithing of the people. I believe Christians should support their local church because Paul said whoever is taught in the word should share with those who teach. So if you’re going to a church and they’re teaching you, you should share with them and help them meet the needs of the church. Paul said if I’ve ministered to you in spiritual things, no great thing if you minister back to me in physical things. I believe people should support their local church. But as far as tithing goes, there’s no specific reference to tithing in the New Testament. And if you wish to tithe, there’s certainly nothing that would say you have to tithe to the local church specifically. We’re going to have to take a brief break here at the bottom of the hour to let some of our stations leave the network. But we’re going to continue for another half hour. You’ve been listening to the Narrow Path radio broadcast. We are listener supported. Go to our website, thenarrowpath.com. You’ll find lots of free resources and also an opportunity, if you wish, to donate at thenarrowpath.com. For those of you who are staying, stick with us for 30 seconds. We’ll begin taking calls again.
SPEAKER 11 :
Small is the gate and narrow is the path that leads to life. Welcome to The Narrow Path with Steve Gregg. Steve has nothing to sell you today but everything to give you. When the radio show is over, go to thenarrowpath.com where you can study, learn, and enjoy with free topical audio teachings, blog articles, verse-by-verse teachings, and archives of all The Narrow Path radio shows. We thank you for supporting the listeners supported Narrow Path with Steve Gregg. See you at thenarrowpath.com.
SPEAKER 01 :
This is the best of the Narrow Path Radio broadcast. The following is pre-recorded.
SPEAKER 04 :
Welcome to the Narrow Path Radio Program, hosted by Steve Gray. Steve is not in the studio today, so calls from listeners will not be able to be taken. In the place of the usual format, we’ve put together some of the best calls from past programs. They cover a variety of topics important to anyone interested in the Bible and Christianity. In addition to the radio program, The Narrow Path has a website. You can go to www.thenarrowpath.com, where you can find hundreds of resources that can all be downloaded for free. And now, please enjoy this special collection of calls to Steve Gray and The Narrow Path.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right. You still there, Barbara? Yes, I am. All right. Yeah, you were talking about Malachi 3.10 and the teaching about tithing.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, that’s what I was reading in Malachi.
SPEAKER 08 :
Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
I just have that question because it seems that if you tithe, and I do, it doesn’t say anything about the offerings. So I’m assuming that the offerings we can send on our own, but the tithe goes straight to the church.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, that is the policy that many churches teach. And if you’re going to a church that asks you to agree to doing that, then you should do it. Technically, as I was saying… Malachi is not talking about Christian duty or local churches. He’s talking about the Jews under the law of Moses who were obligated to support the Levites and the temple service. And they were supposed to bring a tenth of their crops once a year at harvest. They’d bring the tenth of their crops. They’d be stored up in the storehouses of the temple and the Levites and the priests would eat them. All year long. And in Malachi’s day, the Jewish people were, many of them, neglecting this duty. And he said they’re robbing God because they’re receiving the benefits of being in a covenant relationship with God, but they’re not paying their taxes, as it were. They’re not paying for God’s staff, as it were, the Levites. And therefore, the Levites were going hungry, so he says, bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there might be food in my house. He means so my Levites can have something to eat here at the temple. Now, there are Christians who have applied this, rather arbitrarily, to Christian duty. They’ve said, you know, as Christians, we should bring all of our tithes into the storehouse. Well, first of all, this was not addressed to Christians, and we don’t have any particular teaching about tithing in the New Testament. Tithing is mentioned twice in the New Testament. Jesus said that the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23, 23, and the parallels in Luke, he said the scribes and Pharisees, they pay their tithes of men to Addison Cummon, but they neglect the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faithfulness. He said they ought to have done both. He said, these you ought to have done and not leave the other undone. So he said, you were paying your tithes as you’re under the old covenant. You’re supposed to be supporting the Levites. And you did. You did support the Levites, but you didn’t do the other things that are more important to God, the weightier matters of the law. And so he says, you should do both. You should do the heavy things, the important things, as well as the small things. But, of course, he’s not telling his disciples anything about their duties. Obviously, he would have them tithe while they were under the Old Covenant. But once they stopped being serviced by the temple, as far as worship and atonement is concerned, once they were in Christ and the New Covenant, the temple was of no more real use to them. I’m not saying they never visited. The Jerusalem Christians did. But they had no reason that they would have to. And, therefore, tithing… was not part of the Christian obligation, tithing to the church. Now, when Malachi says, you know, bring all your tithes into the storehouse, a lot of preachers say, well, the storehouse, that’s your local church. And how do we get that? Well, here’s what they say. They say, the storehouse is where you go to get your food, to get fed. Your local church is where you go to get fed. That is, you get spiritual food from your local church, so it is the storehouse that you are to bring your tithes to. Well, no matter how many people say that, that doesn’t have any exegetical value at all because, frankly, the storehouse was not where the people went to get fed. They ate in their own homes. The storehouses were the storerooms of the temple where the Levites went to get fed. In other words, they were putting money into the temple treasury to support the temple staff. That’s what it was about. It wasn’t about where you went to go get fed. You brought the the grain and so forth to feed the Levites. That’s what it was for. So the storehouse is not a reference to where you get fed, and therefore it bears no analogy to a local church where you’re getting spiritually fed. So there really is nothing about Malachi 3.10 that has direct application to Christians. Now, when pastors think that you should pay your tithes to the local church, they often say, but there are offerings. And you asked about this. There’s tithes and offerings. In fact, many times, when the plate is passed or whatever, they say, we’re going to now take up the tithes and offerings. Those who teach that tithing is mandatory usually will say, well, your tithes should go to your local church, but your offerings can go anywhere that you feel like God wants you to give. In fact, a lot of radio ministries say that. They say, you know, make sure you tithe to your local church first, but then when it comes to your offerings, you can help support our program. Well, fine. I mean, tithes and offerings are fine with me. The only problem is, When people think that this is a New Testament mandate, and it certainly is not, then I think they sometimes get into a bondage. For example, if somebody is extremely poor, they may not be able to afford to bring 10%. Now, I was extremely poor for many years of my life, and I gave 20% because I felt since I teach that tithing is not an obligation for Christians, I thought some people might think I would teach that because I don’t want to tithe, because I don’t want to give up 10%. So from the time I was a teenager on, and I’m 63 now, I gave at least 20% away of all my gross income. Now, in the past 10 years, I’ve increased that percentage considerably, but never less than 20%. And that’s because I believe that tithing is not enough. I think that your whole life and all your resources, your time, your money, your house, everything belongs to God. And everything should be used for investing in the interest of the kingdom of God. The support of your local church, hopefully, is one of those things that furthers the interest of the kingdom of God, and therefore you should do it. There are other things that do also. The main thing is there’s no figures that the Bible gives the New Testament, except 100%. Jesus said in Luke 14.33, he said, unless you forsake all that you have, you cannot be my disciple. And that doesn’t mean you give away 100%. It means that you sign over everything you have to God. You sign the title to all you have, including yourself, over to God. And he owns it now. You are now his steward. And as you steward his money, he may very well lead you to give 10% to the local church or more. Frankly, I think that when pastors tell people that they should be giving 10% to the church, I think the pastors are selling themselves short because God might want them to give 50% to their local church or 30%. Some people are wealthy enough that God might want them to give 90%. That’s what J.C. Penney eventually did. J.C. Penney began tithing, but as he prospered, he gave more and more until he was given 90% away to the church. What a shame if his pastor told him he was supposed to give only 10%. But the point here is that Jesus said we’re supposed to surrender all that we have to him. Now, to him would mean that we are using whatever he has given us, which is his, to support his interests, his enterprises. The local church would be one of them. Missionaries would be another. The needs of the local poor or international poor would be another very reasonable concern of God that you might give to. And you might give your entire… Let’s say you have 20% you can give every month. You might give the whole 20% to help people in Haiti who’ve lost their homes or whatever to a natural disaster. You have not violated any command of Scripture. But I will say, if you… are receiving ministry from a Christian fellowship somewhere, and you’re doing nothing for its support, I don’t say you have to give 10% or more or less than that. I just say you have to support it, or else you’re just on the take. You should be giving back to the church, not only just receiving from it. You know, I visit around churches. because I travel. When I’m away from home on a Sunday, I usually try to find a church and attend it. Sometimes I don’t end up liking the church very much, but sometimes I do. But whether I do or not, when they pass the offering, I always put something in, and I try to be generous, because I figure, even if this is not a church I’d want to go to, I am here taking advantage of their hospitality, frankly. They maintain the building, they They put in the pews for me to sit in or the chairs. They organize a worship gathering, and they make it easy. I just come in and get to worship with them. This costs them something, and if I’m benefiting from it, I want to participate in the support of it. That’s how I am when I go to a church. Even if it’s a church, I don’t know how much I like them, but I know I’m taking advantage of their hospitality, and therefore, even if I don’t get a lot out of it, I want them to get more from me than I get from them, if possible. It’s always better to feel like you’re giving more than you’re taking, and I would recommend it. Okay, so I don’t necessarily think that tithing to the local church is necessary, but you apparently go to a church that wants the members to give 10% to the local church, and then they can give offerings to others if they wish. And I’d say if that’s the understanding that you agreed to, When you joined a church, I think you should do it. Now, I probably wouldn’t join a church that said I had to give 10% to them, although I might. But the thing is, if I had made that promise, then I would keep that promise. And if I felt like, oh, man, I kind of regret it now because I feel like God wants me to give 10% or 20% to this missionary or something, well, if I had promised 10% to my local church, I’d give the 10% to the local church and the additional to the missionary. I mean, you can’t out-give God. And I’ll tell you, I lived in what the IRS at least would call poverty for all my adult life pretty much. I mean, so much so I never really had to pay income tax. I was just too poor. But at the very least, I was giving away 20%. And that’s because I figured, well, I can. Not because I have extra, but I can live more modestly. I can cut out a few extras from my life because, frankly, this is God’s money. And when I stand before God, I’m going to have to give an account of it. He’s going to say, okay, I gave you X number of dollars in the course of your lifetime. How much of it did you spend on yourself and your family? How much of it did you spend on my kingdom directly? And how much did you spend frivolously? And I wanted the answers to be good ones. And I really believe in Jesus. I really believe this is a judgment day. And I really believe the things I teach. and therefore I live by them the best I know how. And for that reason, I have the fear of God. When it comes to stewarding the things that God gives me, I want to make sure that when he asks me what I did with his stuff, the answer I give doesn’t make it look like I’ve been ripping him off, because that’s one time you’re really going to want to make sure that your hands are clean. All right? Okay, let’s talk next to Les from Seattle, Washington. Les, welcome to The Narrow Path. Thanks for calling.
SPEAKER 02 :
I have not heard your teaching on thenarrowpath.com about this question. In your studies, any evidence of the Apostle John preaching to many peoples and nations and tongues and kings while on the island of Patmos?
SPEAKER 08 :
As in Revelation chapter 10.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay. Or is this a future event for the Apostle John? Take answer on the air.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay, thank you for your call. I know you’re alluding to the commission that he received in Revelation chapter 10, when he ate the little book, and it was sweet in his mouth, and it became bitter in his stomach, and he was told in Revelation 10, 11, the angel said to him, you must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings. Now, he didn’t say you will prophesy too many nations, peoples, nations, tongues, and kings. He said you will prophesy concerning or about many of them. Now what this, I think, is saying is that what he’s been prophesying about prior to this has all been pretty much restricted to the concerns of the nation of Israel. I believe the earlier visions in Revelation prior to chapter 10 are about judgment upon apostate Israel. That’s my belief. And now, in chapter 10, he sees another book. Now, he had one book shown to him in chapter 5, which had seven seals, and those seals were broken, and judgments came, and so forth. And now the last of those seals is broken, and now there’s been seven trumpets, and they’re done, too. And now he’s, well, not yet done. They’re going to be done in chapter 11. But he’s told that there’s going to be another prophecy, represented by this second book. The first book was about Israel, I believe. And that’s why it’s emphasized your second prophecy is going to not be about Israel per se, but it’s going to be about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings. That is to say, in addition to your prophecy against Israel, I have another prophecy for you to give, which is about a global concern. So let’s put it that way, not just local Israel things. And so I believe that in the chapters that follow, that we have this prophecy in chapters 11, 12, and 13. We have this prophecy that concerns many nations and kings and tongues and so forth. Now, he doesn’t say that you, John, will preach to these people. He says you’re going to prophesy about them. And the book of Revelation contains the prophecy that he received. No, we don’t have it in answer to your question directly. No, we don’t have any reason to believe that John, while he was on the island of Patmos, preached to many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings. We don’t even know, after his imprisonment, whether he was preaching at all on the island of Patmos. But he did prophesy. And that’s really what was predicted, that he would give a prophecy about them. And we have that prophecy, I believe, in the following chapters of Revelation. All right. Anne from Edmonds, Washington is our next caller. Hi, Anne.
SPEAKER 12 :
I have a question on Revelation 20, verses 4 through 6. Okay. And who are those included in the first resurrection over whom the second death has no power who will be priests of God and of Christ and reign with him for 1,000 years? Does that refer to Christians of today or only those who go through the Great Tribulation who don’t receive the mark of the beast?
SPEAKER 08 :
I definitely have an answer that I believe is correct, and I’ll tell you what it is. But I need to preface it by saying there are many different views of Revelation. And when it comes to Revelation 20, there’s three very different views, because Revelation 20 is the only chapter in the Bible that mentions a thousand-year reign of Christ. Now, I believe there’s other passages that describe the same period of time, but only here do we read of a thousand years as a length of time. And so it’s called the millennium, a thousand years, millennium. Millennium means a thousand years. Now, the differences of opinion about this are radical, radically different from each other. Premillennialism is the view that before the millennium, Jesus will come back, and therefore the millennium is a consequence of his second coming. That Jesus will come back, he’ll set up a millennial kingdom. And that’s called premillennialism because Christ comes pre, that is before the millennium. That is the view that probably you have heard most, at least most people in America in modern times have heard that view most. It’s not the view that was most, for the longest period of time, held in the Christian church in history, but it is certainly the one we hear the most about now. According to premillennialism, the first resurrection is when Jesus comes back, he raises the righteous, only the saints. And that the second resurrection will be When he raises the wicked, after the millennium, there will be a great white throne judgment, they say. So the first resurrection, they believe, is the pre-millennial return of Christ when he raises the Christian. And the second resurrection will be the resurrection of the wicked, who are raised to go to the great white throne judgment, only to be cast into the lake of fire. Now, when it says these people lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years, they believe that when Jesus comes back, you and I, if we have died, and if we’re Christians, will be raised from the dead and will reign with Christ for a thousand years on this earth, and then other things will happen after that, which are found later in the book, later in chapter 20. That’s the premillennial view, and it’s the one you’re likely to hear most often, certainly on the radio, and many denominations teach it. there’s a post-millennial view also out there, which is taught by some, usually people of the Reformed camp, who believe that Jesus is going to reign over the earth before he comes through the church, that the church is going to convert the world largely, and for a thousand years before Jesus returns, there will be righteousness and justice on the earth because the world will pretty much have voluntarily submitted to Christ, although he had not yet come. and therefore the earth will be won by the gospel and will be governed by a righteous people for a thousand years, and then Jesus comes back at the end. And this is called the post-millennial view, because they believe the second coming of Christ is after, post, after the millennium. So those are two views. Now, the view I hold is the view that was really the main view of Christianity for 1,500 years. There were premillennialists and amillennialists. I’m an amillennialist. For the first 300 years of Christianity, both these views, premillennialism and amillennialism, existed. After about 400 A.D., though, there were not really many premillennialists at all. The official view of the church was amillennial up until the 1800s. So there was about 1,500 years of church history where, that’s three-quarters of church history, the church was amillennial. Now, that’s the view I also hold. That is the view that the millennium represents the entire period of time. It’s symbolic for the whole period of time between the first and second coming of Christ. Everything about it is symbolic, and therefore, if you try to press literal interpretations on any part of it, you’re going to start scratching your head and saying, that doesn’t seem to work. But it works if you compare Scripture with Scripture. I was premillennial for the early part of my ministry, and I changed because of my comparing Scripture with Scripture, frankly, and realized that I’d be more convinced that I was right if I could see Revelation 20 in the light of what the rest of Scripture taught about the same subjects. Now, the amillennial view holds, well, there’s two different ways that amillennialists have seen this. Some believe the first resurrection is simply a reference to those who have died and gone to heaven. during the present age, during the church age, from the time of the apostles until Jesus comes back, those who die and go to heaven, their transport into heaven, it is said, is the first resurrection. I’m of a different view, as some other amillennialists are. I believe the first resurrection is being born again. Paul said that we were dead in trespasses and sins, and we have passed, he says, God has made us alive from the dead. That’s a resurrection of a spiritual sort. Jesus said in John 5, 24, he that hears these words of mine and believes on him that sent me shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death into life. So we were dead before, and we’ve now passed into the state of being alive. That’s a resurrection. That’s a spiritual resurrection. That’s our first resurrection. When Jesus comes back, we’ll have a second resurrection. We’ll be physically resurrected. Now, I understand John to be saying that the whole period of time of the thousand years is the time that he’s calling the first resurrection. And that those who are not converted and don’t experience the first resurrection will not be resurrected at all until the end of the period of time. Now, this, frankly… Anyone who’s unfamiliar with this, I would not expect to be convinced simply by my having said these few words about it. I have extensive lectures at my website going through this verse by verse and cross-referencing. So that would be what I would recommend if you’re interested in more in knowing what I believe it is actually saying. If you’re premillennial and you go to a premillennial church and you’re going to say premillennial, then probably what you’d be understanding is that the first resurrection is is the Christians who are resurrected at the second coming of Christ, in contrast to the non-Christians who will be resurrected after the millennium. That would be the premillennial view, and like I said, the most popular one today, I think. Robert from Concord, California, welcome to The Narrow Path. Thanks for calling.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay, so my question is involving Genesis chapter 32, verse 27 and 28. and it’s where Jacob is saying, I won’t let you go until you bless me. I was sitting with a younger brother in the Lord, and he asked a question that stopped me, and I never really even thought about it before. He said, he asked, after Jacob got his name changed, what benefit do we see? What tangible, visible outcome do we see in his life after it happens? And I tried to spiritualize it, and I said, well, he’s more sanctified now. But he said, no, no, I want to see what… He got his hip broken. His life seemed more strained. He thought he’d lost Joseph. His wife, Rachel, died. And so what benefit, what blessing did he get out of that? And I looked all over. I couldn’t find the answer, so I knew I had to call you.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay. Well, we don’t see any major blessing in the life of Jacob that night. In fact, he was limping after that night when he wasn’t before. But he was on his way to re-enter the Promised Land after 20 years’ absence in Paddan Aram with his uncle Laban. And when he did come back into the land, he recognized God for the first time as his own God. So he had the blessing of salvation. He became related to God. Now, why would I say that? Because 20 years earlier, when he’s fleeing from Esau, And he saw Jacob’s ladder in a dream. He said, Lord, if you keep me safe and bring me back home to my father and my father’s house again, you will be my God, he said. He made some other promises specifically, you will be my God. So for 20 years he was holding off, not calling God his God. In fact, when he did refer to God in talking to Laban and so forth, he referred to God as the God of Abraham and the fear of my father Isaac. meaning the God that Abraham worshipped and the one that Isaac, my father, feared. He never refers to him as my God. But shortly after this night where he wrestled with God, he went back into the Promised Land, in fact, the next day. And one of the first things he did then, or one of the things he did shortly afterwards, is to go and make an altar, and he named it God, the God of Israel. Now, Israel was his name now. Jacob is Israel. And so he called God the God of Israel. That is my God, since he was Israel. It would be like me saying the God of Steve Gregg would mean Steve Gregg is owning God as his God. And so we see that for the first time, And just shortly after this, Jacob is acknowledging that God is his God. He’s not just the God of his father and his grandfather. He’s now the God that he is embracing and that he is worshiping. And I think, I would say that in wrestling with God all night long, and in the morning he says, I’ve seen God face to face and my life is preserved. I think we can say that’s when Jacob came to really have a personal encounter with God. Whereas before that, God was somebody he’d heard about. He’d heard about him from his father and from his grandfather, but he hadn’t really owned the faith himself. He hadn’t owned God as his God. And here, this is what changed. And certainly being brought into a relationship with God and knowing God personally is the greatest blessing anyone could have. And I think that’s the way that he is blessed in this situation. It’s a good question you ask, and I’m sorry I don’t have any time to go longer on it, but I’m glad we got onto your call since it was your first time caller and I hope that’s helpful, though it was very brief. You’ve been listening to the Narrow Path radio broadcast. My name is Steve Gregg. As I mentioned earlier, we’re listener-supported. We pay for the time on radio stations. We’re on quite a few stations, and it costs a lot of money. If you’d like to write to us, you can write to The Narrow Path, P.O. Box 1730, Temecula, California, 92593. You can also donate from the website, but everything at the website is free. It’s thenarrowpath.com. I hope you’ll join us again. We’ll talk some more. God bless you.
