Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
Frank, you want to pray us in? Yeah, yeah, of course. How are we all doing? All right, guys,
I'm gonna pray us out, okay? All right, everybody, bow your heads. Dear heavenly
Father, I thank you just so much for these people in my Lord. I thank you for
for this wonderful Bible study that's about to happen tonight, Lord. You know,
I'm very thankful for all the people here, Lord, and, you know, we are looking to
learn Your Word tonight in Numbers 30, Lord. And, you know, we're all here to, you
know, learn Your Word, Lord, that You have given us many teachings that none of us
were aware of, Lord, that there's just so much that You can do for us, Lord.
And You are just so good, Lord, for us, Lord, that You fulfill us with Your Holy
Spirit whenever we feel down, Lord. And, Lord, You're just, You're our
anchor, Lord, to this day, Lord, and You just have done so much that we can't
explain, Lord. And, Lord, You're just so loving, so kind, Lord, that You
fulfilled all of our hearts here, Lord, that Your Holy Spirit is mighty
powerful, and, you know, we can't be any more thankful. So, again, Lord, that we
will take away what we have learned, Lord, and we apply to You, Lord, that Your
teachings can, you know, encourage us to be like You, Lord, in our lives. And it's
in Your beautiful, precious name we pray. Amen. Thank you. Of course. So, we're in
chapter 30 of Numbers, and I was looking over this passage and just
thought how God knows exactly what He is doing, doesn't He? I think we call it
coincidence so often, but there's so many little details in our lives that line up
so perfectly. And this is a chapter about vowels, how to make them well and what
they should look like in the realm of family and the household. And we just
crossed the threshold of a new year, and many of us may have made some vowels or
resolutions. I just think it's awesome that the Lord timed this chapter to be
during the new year week. So, thank you Lord for that. Amen.
So, there's a lot of a lot of commitments and a lot of resolutions that we make in
life, and I was looking up information about New Year's resolutions and kind of
just the facts, because I think we all, they're typically comical in the sense
that we make a New Year's resolution and we don't typically stick to it. And I
found three facts about New Year's resolutions I thought would be
interesting to ponder as we start to look at what does it mean to make biblical
vowels. 80% of resolutions fail by mid-February. Twenty-three percent quit
by the end of the first week in January. Only 9% of people that make a
resolution keep their resolution all year long. Of course, that's just the people
that reported it, but thought that was interesting and relatable. So, why do we
break promises to ourselves? I think that there's two main reasons, one being
lack of discipline. Jamie talked about this a couple Sundays ago, but then also
foolish promises are easily made. Simple commitments like I'll go to the gym every
day this year, even though we only went five days last year, or I'm not gonna eat
any sugar this year as we put down our coffee with creamer in it. We make vowels
or commitments, promises to ourselves like this all the time. And it's not
necessarily bad to be ambitious. It's a good thing to have ambition and to make
goals and to chase after things that would make us better people, but they can
be done in foolishness instead of thought out with prayer and wisdom. And
I actually found, I was looking at it through my own notes, trying to find a
list of New Year's resolutions that I've made in the past, and I don't
typically make them, but I dug quite a few years back and found a list that I had
made. Now, mind you, this is before I turned 25 and my prefrontal cortex was
developed. But a few examples this year, run 100 miles, which technically I may
have accomplished that by now because I didn't specify I had to do it all at
once. Sprint full out for half a mile, which I just watched a Jason Bourne film
I think. That's from that. That counts? Okay. Again, younger days. Swim underwater for four
minutes, pick a walk, and learn another language.
Needless to say, we make foolish goals sometimes, ones that we will never
commit to. I haven't done any of these actions. And then we get to numbers and
we hear all about vows. And we see that there's really three main things
that God, I think, wants us to see in this chapter. And the first is that
vows are, not vows themselves, sorry, but integrity to keeping those vows is very
important. God wants us to be a reflection of Him, and He is perfectly
faithful to fulfill every promise that He makes, and He wants us to do the same.
And that's why this chapter fits right into numbers. After all of these
different laws, vows doesn't seem like it necessarily fits in between them, but
it's a reflection of, a character of integrity. And it leads us to holy living,
and it protects us from pain of sinful living. Whenever we commit to our word, we
aren't only, we're only doing something that is good, but we're preventing
ourselves from a life that is hurtful. I'm just thinking of it as a picture I
had in my head of every time that we have a promise that we make to ourselves or
to other people. Just picture this line across the page, and on it is our
self-confidence. And every time we say we're gonna do something and we don't
do it, that just starts to dip, and dip, and dip. And we do this to ourselves all
the time, and God loves us so much that He doesn't want us to fall into a life of
low self-esteem and lack of confidence. He wants us to be able to trust ourselves,
wants us to be able to trust our word. And just thinking back on the last few
weeks, just to apply this to myself before we even read it, and then we will
actually dig into the word. But I do this, so I get up pretty early throughout
the year, and every winter though it gets more and more challenging to wake up
early. And every winter comes though, and I still want to commit to, I get up
typically at five o'clock, and I want to commit to that. I want to commit to,
alright, I'm gonna get up at five, I'm gonna get my work done, I'm gonna read
the word, I'm gonna go on a prayer walk, whatever it is, the list is there, and I
want to commit to it. And almost every winter it happens where a week goes by,
and not a single day that week I get up at five. And it puts me in this cycle
that maybe some of you have felt or been in where we make these commitments
to ourselves, not necessarily to anyone else, but then day by day by day by
day goes by, and we don't actually go, we don't fulfill the commitment, and it
just puts us in a cycle of self-loathing perhaps, or just again lowering and
lowering our our self-confidence in our own word. So that's just context to why
this chapter is important. It has real spiritual implications to how we can
actually live a better life, and hopefully a better year. That's a good
good passage to read at the beginning of the year, a reminder, and hopefully a good
call to action. So we'll start in verse 1.
Moses spoke to the heads of the tribe of the people of Israel, saying, This is
what the Lord has commanded. If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an
oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do
according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. If a woman vows a vow to the
Lord and binds herself by a pledge, while within her father's house in her
youth, and her father hears of her vow and of her pledge by which she has
bound herself and says nothing to her, then all her vows shall stand, and every
pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. But if her father opposes her
on the day that he hears of it, no vow of hers, no pledge by which
she has bound herself, shall stand, and the Lord will forgive her because her
father opposed her. If she marries a husband while under her vows or any
thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she has bound herself, and her
husband hears of it and says nothing to her on the day that he hears, then her
vows shall stand, and her pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand.
But if on the day that her husband comes to hear of it, he opposes her, then he
makes void her vow that was on her, and the thoughtless utterance of her lips by
which she bound herself, and the Lord will forgive her. But any vow of a widow
or of a divorced woman, anything by which she has bound herself, shall stand
against her. And if she vowed in her husband's house, or bound herself by a
pledge with an oath, and her husband heard of it, and said nothing to her, and did
not oppose her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge by which she
bound herself shall stand. You can probably see a repetition here. But if
her husband makes them null and void on the day that he hears them, then
whenever proceeds out of her lips concerning her vows or concerning her
pledge of herself, shall not stand. Her husband has made them void, and the
Lord will forgive her. Any vow, any binding oath to afflict herself, her
husband may establish, or her husband may make void. But if her husband says
nothing to her from day to day, then he establishes all her vows or all her
pledges that are upon her. He has established them because he has said
nothing to her on the day that he heard of them. But if he makes them null
and void after he has heard of them, then he shall bear her iniquity. These are
the statues that the Lord commanded Moses about a man and his wife, and about
a father and his daughter, while she is in her youth within her father's house.
If you're reading through a yearly reading, this is definitely one of
those passages that you can read through pretty quick and just move right
along. But it is really great that we have this Wednesday night opportunity
going just a chapter at a time, because it's good to slow down and look at this
and look at what are the virtual implications for us currently. And I
think that I have a few actually verses here. Let me just actually follow my
notes. So there's three main things that as I was reading through, the Lord
just stood out to me. And the first is right in verse two. If a man vows a vow
to the Lord or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break
his word, shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. Integrity.
Integrity was the first word that came to my mind as I was reading this. Like I
mentioned earlier, God is a God that is fully integrous. Is that a word? Can I say
that? It is now. God has full integrity. I'm sorry to interrupt you, but we're at the
part where you said integrity that also got me too. Yeah. Seriously, it was
very powerful. Yeah, we have we have a discussion, a few discussion questions
that I'd love to hear more on your thoughts on that after Frank, because yeah
we'll touch base on that. Yeah, sure. And God makes promises in
scripture and he always fulfills his promises. Just reading the other day in
Deuteronomy and Moses is explaining to the people, he's giving them kind of the
final words before he passes on and Joshua takes over in position and he
actually sings this song to them and I'm not gonna sing it. You don't want to
hear that. In fact, it's in Deuteronomy. I think it's Deuteronomy 30 or 32
maybe. It's not very melodious in English, but you could certainly try. But he
talks about all the covenants that the Lord has made, talks about all the
commandments and the laws that the Lord has given to his people and it ends with
in paraphrasing, if you obey you'll be blessed and if you don't obey and then
he gives us very prophetic, very gruesome picture of what will happen and I say
it's prophetic because that is what happened to Israel because they didn't
obey and they did become slaves again and they did get destroyed and scattered
among the nations and so again God fulfills all his promises which means
if his promise is I'll bless you if you obey, he'll fulfill that and if his
promises I will allow destruction if you disobey, he'll fulfill that as well.
There's a few verses that if you have a paper I'm gonna call on you to read so
be brave. Don't pass your paper away. These verses I think just highlight further how
important integrity is to God and if someone wants to read that first one
Ecclesiastes 5 4 through 5 someone could read that. When you
vow a vow to God do not delay paying it for he has no pleasure in fools pay what
you vow it is better that you should not now and that you should bow and not pay
and can someone read Ecclesiastes 5 2. Do not be wracked with your mouth now let
your heart be hasty to utter a word before God for God is in heaven and you
are on earth therefore let your words be few. I love that ending right there
let your words be few. My mom always had a saying if you have nothing good to say
then say nothing at all and I think that is so true and can someone read the
Deuteronomy 23. If you make a vow to the Lord your God you shall not delay
fulfilling it but if you refrain from bowing you will not be guilty of sin
whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do. We're gonna circle back to that
one whenever we look at the vows made by wives and daughters because there's a lot
of grace wrapped in here that could easily be missed and Deuteronomy
highlights it really well but one more and then we'll pause can someone read
that verse in Matthew.
I think as always Jesus wraps up anything said in the Old Testament beautifully
right in the gospel and I love that passage because it at first glance we
could think that we shouldn't be making vows at all or perhaps that it's sinful
to make the vow that's not what we're seeing in Numbers 30 in fact it's the
sinful act that we're seeing is not fulfilling it not making it that's not
the thing that we're up not to do but not fulfilling it and I think that what
Jesus is alluding to in Matthew is that we should be so full of integrity that
when we say yes to something that we don't have to make a vow that people
know that when Danny says something when Amir says yes to this I know that it's
already complete it's finished it's done and I know that that's what he's saying
because that's what he did right the final words on the cross it is finished
the vow was complete right there covenant solidified
so Jesus is calling us to a higher standard of integrity to go beyond vows
and to be people that don't require vows at all a simple yes or no should be
enough because somebody James 5 verse 12 but above all my brothers do not swear
either by heaven or by earth or by any other oaths but let your yes be yes and
your no be no so that you may not fall under condemnation again a reflection of
what Jesus is saying and a powerful truth for us of letting our yes be yes
and our no be no I think that we can all at times reflect back on times when our
yes was no and our no was yes so before we read on there's there's two other two
other main main themes that I want to point to but because we're in a circle
well we'll do a little bit of discussion after each theme talked about so on the
topic of integrity in verse two what other things do you guys see why perhaps
maybe a better starting question would be why do you see it so important for us
as followers of Christ to have integrity why is it so important for us to be people
that say yes and mean yes anybody can answer well we want to be more like
Christ in Christ kept his promise to us so if we want to be more like him we
have to keep our promises as well
the Christians are constantly under massive scrutiny it's important we believe
believe the precepts you know the teachings of the Bible I think that way
you attract people rather than you can release into to be so to scrutinize you
know yeah Christians because amongst all the religions I think increase
Christianity is more scrutinized because it ties up with a lot of things
you're representing the community
so someone if they met someone a Christian without integrity someone say oh yeah
I've met Christmas for you kind of ruin your ruining Christ's good name
any other thoughts on that before we move on or any stories that really
I think one key thing is a faithfulness show that you're a trustworthy person
know the Bible talks about like you know having a servant that you can or like if
you have somebody that you're you can't have put your faith in like a servant
who's not trustworthy it's not like a pain to the master so you want to be
somebody that you know people can trust you know especially in context of like
work and stuff like if you tell them to do something they're gonna do it
and just also more importantly than that but just faithfulness to God because I'm
in the book of Jeremiah you know that the nation of Judah like they're
forsaking God they're worshiping other Gods and that's why they end up losing
to the Babylon and then being destroyed and that's because that faithfulness is
not not there so I think God is teaching us to be faithful you know
I think I always love looking at anytime there's a commandment given it's it can
be looked at in multiple ways but like two of which are this is a reflection of
my holiness and I want you to be that reflection of the world and then two is
this this will give you a better life like it just thinking of all the all
the different cleansing commandments that they're given that at the time they
probably felt like this is so much like why do we have to do this but then fast
forward thousands of years and we have modern medicine and we're like they were
being saved from so many diseases as well as reflecting God's holiness and
so yeah I think you guys are all right in the fact that this is a picture of
God's faithfulness and he wants us to he wants us to take part in his
faithfulness not just to be on the receiving end but to be on the giving
end and it really is I like what you said Monday too it really is a blessing when
we're faithful to others it becomes a blessing when you have a business and
you finally find that worker that always shows up that never never calls
out unexpected or just is always putting the needs of the business or the
customers first it's a huge blessing to be found as a person with integrity
there's another another thing that I noted as I was going through this and
we'll read through we'll start in verse 3 we'll go down verse 3 down to verse 5
if a woman vows a vow to the Lord and binds herself by a pledge while within
their father's house in her youth and her father hears of her vow and of her
pledge by which she has bound herself and says nothing to her then all her
vows shall stand and every pledge by which he has bound herself shall stand
but if her father opposes her on that day the day he hears of it no vow for is no
pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand and the Lord will forgive her
because her father opposed her the next theme that I was noticing is humility
both I'm not gonna read again the with the wife as well because it's in fact
the same it's the same wording but what we're seeing is that they had to take a
position of humility and submission to I'll make a vow but in the end it it
stands on my father or it stands on my husband because that was the God
ordained position of authority that he was putting over them and so they had to
take a place of humility and I love this because it can be looked at as like
oh that's in modern society I know that people are so frustrated with this that
the woman couldn't make a vow without her husband's say so in a sense but
again we're looking at this now and we should be looking at it with spiritual
eyes and therefore what is the spiritual implication for us and whether
you're a woman or a man in this room their spiritual implications because what
does it say in Ephesians 5 we are the bride of Christ and therefore we have to
take the position of humility all of us under God and under Christ and with
that comes great grace if we jump down in verse 14 I believe if if her husband
says nothing to her from day to day then he establishes all her vows or all her
pledges that are upon him he has established them because he said nothing
to her on that day they heard of them but if he makes them little and void
after he has heard of them then he shall bear her iniquity perfect gospel
language right there who bore our iniquity Christ so there's great grace in
the humility but yet it can also be a challenge and a hardship so on on the
thought of humility if we're looking at this from that perspective what are
some things that you guys notice in this text on humility or some application
that you might see
I was thinking that had serious consequences yeah
both of them I thought looking at this and how the woman could be in effect
covered by us and I thought and an eye and he paid with his life now she was a
widow and widows don't have the same protection that a wife has yeah so she
also yeah it's a good connection yeah yeah I think of it as like you know
like we all made vows in our lives where she's like being unsaved that like you
know with the devil we made deals with the devil in a sense that like you
know with our living make commitments that we shouldn't have made spiritual
relationships we made commitments that were like not sanctioned by God you
know and yet if we let him my version actually says overrule similar to I
your said the husband if the husband and the and the all and the father voids it
or something like that mine says overruled but like you know God will
overrule all of our agreements yeah if we let him yeah and then that comes down
to the yeah being submissive like you said like thank God like I could say yeah
but I didn't actually mean it your dad can you clean this mess up yeah so yeah so
it's a good thing we're not committed to all the foolish vows at the vows we've
ever made yeah in sin yeah no go ahead when it makes me think of it's just my
personal beliefs with the mixture of like hierarchy and I believe like
pre-determinism so it just shows that absolute power of like authority like you
can't do anything in and of yourself in and of yourself you don't really have any
power it really comes from your connection to the higher and in this sense
you know I know it's not popular you know because you know feminism is rampant
but me personally I think about like the standard that Paul talks about at first
Corinthians which is like God over Christ Christ over man man over woman you have
to look if you simplify it like between like the man and the woman like the
man is in that God role just like how God told Moses like you'll be a God to
Aaron and Aaron will be a prophet to Pharaoh so it's kind of like that so it
shows like the absolute authority and power of the man in the relationship
with the woman so in either case like she can't just do things on her own just
like I feel like you know we're not ultimately in control God is in control
so we can't do anything on our own everything has to be from God yeah I
yeah yeah I really think that's going off what you were saying to Chris of how we
like we all make foolish commitments we all make foolish vows and in in that
last verse it says that he shall bear the iniquity so it was really is almost I
guess in a sense harder to be a man after making a foolish vow than it was to
be a daughter or a wife because like you said the the husband could kind of come
in and save the day but he had to he had to pay whatever was owed he had to do
whatever was owed he had to pay the price whatever that looks like and it's
just again it's just such a beautiful picture of us like we're the bride in
this situation and it's amazing because every mistake that we've made he pays the
iniquity on the cross he paid our iniquity and I don't know why the verse
is not in my mind right now but there's a verse that quite literally says that I
can't think of the reference yeah yeah yeah yeah that's beautiful you know in
just thinking back to the Ephesians 5 where where it's described of us being the
bride of Christ it starts with husbands love your wives and therefore Christ is
loving us and covering a multitude of our sins and I just want to point out to
the in the Ephesians 5 also talks about submitting one to another and then
speaks to kind of Christmas saying but I mean we all have read that before where
it says then you know why submit to your husband and husband love your wives
as Christ love the church like you were just saying so it's this whole thing of
submitting to one another and I know even in a marriage sometimes where we're
not sure what to do and Chris has a real strong inclination like I could go either
way with something I yield to his direction because ultimately he's going
to be held accountable honestly that's how I was taught because if I don't know
you know I mean and if I don't even I don't like it or whatever I still like
if you really are feeling this is what it is I'm okay doing it because it's not
like against anything so anyways just that whole picture of I've always heard
that before like we're cut the covering of our husbands as a wife and it's
really out of protection sometimes because we can be more emotional about a
decision and they might you know a guy might be more just practical with it
you know and it just makes more sense so I've just learned to yield in those
ways when I don't know for sure yeah and that reminds me of Christ you know yeah
yeah we're all still learning to yield to our groom all right there's one more
theme in here oh is that last that last verse that I'd read 15 if you make
the Nolan Boyd after he has heard of them then he shall bear her iniquity and
the word that stood in my mind was responsibility the responsibility rests
on the one in headship the husband bears the iniquity or a widow then she has to
bear the iniquity herself and our application is that again we fail our
over and over but Christ is the one that takes the responsibility and I love
that in the gospel Jesus doesn't just know and void but he actually pays he
pays he paid the the final the final price but there is there is a
responsibility and this is something to just on a practical note of making
commitments being people that are yeses yes and our know is no there's a lot of
a lot of different ages in here which means there's a lot of differing wisdom
which is good because I think as we kind of like close into final thoughts
and we'll get into other discussion questions is how do you guys see the
the practical walking the south of being people that obey Jesus when he said
let your yes be yes and you know be no what does that look like to you I know
just in my own in my own life personally one one thing that my wife and I have
committed to is if if we say we're gonna go to an event for example we
always show up and that's something I know in my generation perhaps you guys
have dealt with this as well but because of technology and the beautiful blue text
bubble it's so easy to just say oh I don't feel good you know I'm gonna text
that I can't come and we found it to be so frustrating when people cancel last
minute and so that's one way that we've been trying to walk this out is if we
say we're gonna be somewhere we always show up even if we don't feel great or
we're tired or we don't really want to be there what are some ways that you guys
see the need to take responsibility or do take responsibility I would say for
January taking this personal silence prayer and what's it called fasting
praying and silence except during my work hours and when I'm serving so I found
that preparing the day before my schedule because there's always like nine
more morning things that I call my one things that come up during the day but
taking the time to make sure that I have the rest the adequate rest for the day
because no matter what our schedule something's gonna pop in I think
preparing it advance helps me to keep my yeses yeses and my nose noes I would
say things that are like a responsibility like an ongoing thing I
think it's really important like I've tried to make it a practice that if I've
committed to something it's usually for a period of time and you sometimes has
an indefinite period of time so you know and I like being someone who's
consistent with what was agreed on where I agreed to continue doing you know kind
of like a job or a role or something like that and then if it needs to end then I
need to make sure I'm passing it to someone or if it's officially noted yeah
this is gonna end now but that kind of thing just because I think people need
predictability in life you know like they can feel secure that this has
happened even like Wednesday nights that we're here you know we're consistent you
know I know we did get some calls about last week where are you guys you know
but I'm not too many but uh but just a consistency you know and I think me
personally I just feel you know calling to be one of those consistency factors
that's when he pulls me along with you wouldn't be here no I'm very consistent
but cuz I like routine but he is definitely somebody who will always say
well we're here like we can do it like there's gonna be a time you really
can't so do it whenever it's available just do what you're you know I mean it
just kind of helped me to be more like that yeah I think it's you know that's
one of my personal commitments you know or convictions you know I think it grows
our knowledge of how much capacity we have to when we do definitely because I
tend to think that my capacity is much lower than it probably really is yeah and
then I commit to but I'm also I say yes probably too much and I say yes to ten
things and now it's like a week of exhaustion but then I get through the
week and I'm like thank you we did it you know hey man you just know that like
oh I can actually say yes to more than it and I think I like I like that say say
what yes why you can
what are some other ways that you guys have found to practically walk out making
saying yes and following through a little bit easier I made it too long of a
question just what are what are some practical ways that you've been able to
say stick with your word
I think it's a very serious thing to be to really keep your vows keep your yes
yes no no because I can remember I felt terrible once because we were invited to
a wedding reception and never occurred to me and a little miss me myself and I
you know not thinking about the expense of what was going on that wedding and
that our absence was probably I know it was a plate it was the dinner we were
planning they were planning our dinner was there yeah and we just thought of
well we just thought you know we'd better something else after as long as I
learned this really okay and I really marriage and I thought this is not very
good those poor people I mean that's $50 out of that pocket we just you know
didn't think didn't think of it just thinking of ourselves you know we said
we'd be there we were you didn't know and I got so convicted of it that I
remember going to the mother's house the next day right and just
repented and just telling her how sorry I was but doing that was terrible so
rude I heard yeah I would say like I just ask God for his blessings and they're
going to a quiet time and say God I just wanted to do this I share with Pastor
Chris one time about my job interview like four years ago and my the guy who
was doing the interview he asked me like how how's how your day goes I thought he
said about my work and say I'll just make sure meet the deadlines and
everything you know then he said no no I mean like how's your day because I want
to get out of the fitness world you know I said you know what God is in my
hearts you know no matter what kind of day this mostly ice you know I'm always
very happy and he said I think we're gonna go ahead go on where you have the
good well because I'm Jewish and I'm like oh and I was like this is it I'm not you
know I don't think I'm doing a good job you know but he said that I like he likes
my enthusiasm you know I think he likes Jesus as a good person you know yeah
yeah so it was right after Easter he Jackie I'm secretary his secretary
he called me and I said yeah you got the job yeah so changed my life and also really good yeah so yeah so that's the
that the day I just really pray you know that is something that
the power of prayer is so important because it really like Jesus Jesus showed
us perfect integrity complete humility and full responsibility and it's really
hard to fill those shoes when we're trying to reflect him and he doesn't
call us perfection he calls us obedience but he helps us obey in those things
when we ask of that in James if anyone lacks wisdom let him ask and he'll give
generously and I know for myself that is something that I'm I'm a very scatter
brained person if you've heard me teach maybe you've noticed that and God bless
me with a very organized life thank goodness but it is something that has
become such a challenge of really just sticking to the commitments that I make
because I'm always thinking about so many different things that things just
kind of slip off into forgotten land and I actually I had a story about a year
ago similar to yours where our neighbor he's about 83 and he has real bad back
issues so you can't get around very well and he's got a beautiful garden out
front and I go and garden with him every summer and this last summer he asked me
he said hey could you commit to like three or four days a week helping me
with my garden and normally it's only like an hour or two hours so in my mind
I was like sure why not and so I said yes and weeks went by before I
scheduled to come over and help him and it was about two and a half weeks
actually and he called me said hey could you come over I want to talk to you
about something and this is a guy that is not a believer and he he came out of
his house and we sat down outside and goes so look you you told me that you
you would help me and like I can't get around and do this myself and I was
really kind of counting on you and then this is why I don't think I'll ever
forget this and hopefully I it sinks into my brain well enough to actually start
being better at this but I said you are a man that goes to church you should
have the the ability to say yes to something and then commit to it you're
right Peter I'm being rebuked by this guy that doesn't even believe in Jesus
but it was such a and he worked in HR for years so it was probably the most
loving gracious rebuke that I've ever received Christians included honestly and
he did it so well but I was so convicted by the Lord of like I can't
believe I let this guy down who was counting on me and one of the things
that he said is I understand like I just started a business he's like I understand
you're starting a business you've got a two-year-old in your house you've got a
lot going on and so if you need to say no to me I don't mind I can get
somebody else but don't say yes and not so I think it is it is so important to
not we're not again we're not gonna be perfect we're gonna make plenty of
mistakes but it is so important to be people of integrity to be people that
take responsibility of our words because we are a reflection of Christ to this
world and whatever we're doing especially for this guy Peter I just think of this
so often of whatever I'm doing that's what Jesus is doing for him because I'm
the only Christian in his circle I'm the only reflection of Christ and there's a
lot of days of conviction because of that because I'm not the best neighbor I
could be much better so there's a few more discussion questions I actually
didn't print one off for myself yeah thanks so looking looking kind of at
our own lives what kinds of promises or commitments do you find yourself most
likely to make and then struggle to keep
ones that require a lot of time yeah usually promises to myself promises to
myself are the first ones that I'll break
because nobody else knows right I think that's that's the one that I struggle
with the most as well yeah I give that example silly kind of one of getting up
early but that really is it's I don't want to go back on what I was just
saying how it's really it is so important for us to be full of integrity
for the sake of what we're reflecting but also for ourselves like that's that's
why I just I love going through these books of the Bible because sometimes it
can be super monotonous but it also is this sweet reminder of how much God
cares for us and how much he doesn't want us to live an awful life he
doesn't want us to go in these cycles of feeling terrible about ourselves and and
though the more we don't commit to the promises we even make to ourselves the
the worse we end up feeling that's how I feel at least
the next discussion question I realize I'm looking at these these are kind of
they kind of are poking into our personalized I apologize we're the
offline yeah George cut how have broken promises to yourself or to others
affected your confidence integrity or relationships we ever noticed we've both
had had had several situations in life where that people were upset that we
didn't reach out to them but they didn't reach out to us right and it's kind of
like and you're like thinking well was it my responsibility or was it our
responsibility you know in terms of isn't it a relationship kind of both ways
and you know and but then again you know it is you know it obviously meant a
lot more to that person though I or we didn't reach out to them then vice
versa because maybe there's less going on or you're maybe whatever you know
maybe they're more offended when I realize if life's busy if you want to
meet up or talk or let's let's do it you know but like let's not be upset
about it you know I don't know if that actually answers the question because I
do feel guilty sometimes for that but it's like is that my responsibility when
it wasn't established does that make sense yeah totally you know I had that
actually pretty recently and so I kind of determined in my own minds for the
next two months I'm gonna reach out every other week and if nothing happens
then I'll just let it go and two months one by and I reach out and we didn't end
up meeting in two months like all right you're being offended over nothing though
because I've now reached out yeah I do think that's a good
because it's a common one specified you know yeah what are some other examples
in your guys lives the question again how have broken promises yourself or
others affected your confidence integrity or relationships I'm gonna say
going off of the previous example like making promises to yourself like when
you say like hey I promise I won't like commit this sin again then you do
usually like that feeling of despair yeah but going on to like conversations
we're having earlier that's why I'm glad like in the New Testament you know
Jesus tells us like not to make a vow and it reminds me of a sermon that I
heard I know some of you know like the Macho pastor I like like what he's
he was preaching a sermon about vows and he said that you know ultimately and
it goes into like my beliefs about pre-determinism and ultimately we're not
in control and it's kind of prideful to make a vow saying like yes I'm gonna for
sure do this because you're kind of putting trust in yourself and we're just
flesh you know we can't trust ourselves you know we're gonna ultimately fail and
so that's why it's not a good idea to make a vow because we're ultimately
putting confidence in ourself instead of God so it's easier to just say like
hey like if it's the Lord's will like I'll do this or that or like I'll say
like yes if it's God's will like I'll do that but I'm not gonna make a definite
promise like I can fulfill it because I don't know like what's gonna happen may
not be God's will I can promise like hey I'll meet you at the store but what if
like God had something else in mind you know what if something happens like an
accident happens and I'm not able to go so ultimately it's just recognizing like
God's ultimately in control it's not up to me or anybody else you know it's
God and so yeah if he wants me to change he'll he'll change me himself so
yeah just leave it up to him and just not try to do things in my own power
because when you do that it's like it's a lot of stress and a lot of pressures
it's like dang why can't I get it right well because in and of myself I'm
powerless you know but all the powers with God so if I just trusted him then
it'll all work out so yeah I don't want to piggy off back off of that though
because like for me that can also go into places of lack of personal
responsibility because it's like oh if it's God's will then and I'm not changing
God's will but it's like ultimately you do have to have some sort of personal
responsibility like not saying it wrong or anything but like like there is this
story like for me it's like I can't put that on God to not change his sin habit
because it's like I'm choosing to do the sin God's not like oh this is your sin
to carry for the rest of your life it's my will that you have you know cuz it's
like it's not God's will for us to have sin at all it's actually quite the opposite so like
for me like that put me in a dangerous place where I'm like lacking self
responsibility where I'm like oh yeah it's God's will for me to change or like
it's God like God God's got this so I don't have to do this I can just sit and
wait for things to happen but it's like no like there's many examples in
the Bible where God tells people to go like go do this like Moses like go to
Egypt go tell Pharaoh like you know like yeah so like that for me like not saying
they're wrong like I said but for me I can usually use that as a crutch of like
oh God told me to just sit and wait and be patient like be still know that he's
God so all I have to do is just sit and wait no like you have to get off your
stuff like faith without works is dead so like ultimately it's like that that's
for me I can use that as a danger and I do know that too when there is the
temptation to sin that he has given us his spirit and the power to overcome so
when we feel that temptation or that desire we can say you know turn to the
Lord say Lord I know I need your power right now to overcome this you say
you're gonna give me a way of escape and he promises to so he did he does live in
us he's not some outside God you know so we are able to partner and co-labor
with him to do the right thing you know but also taking responsibility when we do
fail and going to him thanks thankful for his mercies and his grace you know
because we all need him and it's really that dependency on him yeah yeah I think
that both those really good we had a guy at Bible College that was the every
every time you ask him something well it's the Lord wills it we'll see Sam I
need you to come tonight
baby but yeah I think that there is that you know and this could have just been
you know me seeing these things and maybe they're not really there the
integrity humility and responsibility but I think that I do think they're
intentional in there because there is human responsibility to obedience to
doing what we say we'll do I love I think I actually just heard a message
recently on that the passage where Jesus is saying don't make a vow but
rather let your yes but yes you know you know and this is David Guzik I don't
know if you know him but he yeah he has a really good commentary you guys like
commentaries yeah I'm not sure but yeah he he was really pointing to the fact
that Jesus made vows God makes vows he makes lots of vows and promises but he
always fulfills them Jesus always fulfilled them and so he wasn't arguing
that they shouldn't be made but that we should be people that don't need them
because when I say yes to Aaron I mean yes and he can count on that and our
yes becomes action I let me just pull up that the one verse it's in verse two
yeah yeah it's just up the last sentence in verse two he shall do according to all
that proceeds out of his mouth I just think there's a lot of spiritual imagery
there in the sense that when we look at God the perfect vow keeper when he spoke
everything into existence he just did it with his words which is such a beautiful
picture that when his yes is spoken it's not just I'll get to it but it's
it's done now and so when he spoke light light is down there not it's on its way
and so I think that we should strive to be as followers and and apprentices to
Jesus we should strive to be men and women that our yes is action already
taking place to get the thing done and I think that's why in Ecclesiastes he
says that over and over pay immediately like if you make a commitment take
care of it quickly but yeah what was your question so I was gonna ask so cuz
now it makes me think about this first in a different way I might have some
reflection to do tonight but what made me think about I know there's some
Christians that say like all vows are simple maybe like outside of marriage
vows but all vows are simple because after Jesus says that you know let your
yes be yes you know you know like don't swear at all he said anything more
than that is evil so that that to me like it makes it seem like making the
vowels are swearing like that's not really the right thing to do or it's
even sin so I just wanted your perspective on that what would you use
the word word like evil for that you know anything more than yes or no it's
like you swear I think again it goes back to he knows our hearts and he was
speaking to Pharisees and he knows their hearts he knows that these are men that
make vows over and over but are are lying to the people they're making a
vow to so yeah go ahead I got a question what about today if you stand in the
court you take a vow to tell the truth about the truth I heard a lady in court
refused to one thing like something that the two of you were even talk about but
while you're talking about a vow I was even thinking about like like a vow is
and I promised to do something but I was thinking and if I don't then I will like
I think that's where like you're kind of saying that you can't fully trust me so
if I can't if I don't do this then I will give you this or I will like you
know what I mean it's almost like maybe that's the evil part is the is the
part of saying like yes be yes but not contingent upon if I don't then I have to
do all these things I got to clean your house for a year you know like all of a
sudden like maybe that's where where the flesh comes in because you're like putting
a loophole or you're already even saying that I might not do it you're
right and then if I don't I promise something else that I might not also show
up to do that either yeah it's always becoming like this domino effect of like I
promise and if not then you know instead of just saying I'll be there and that's
it you could trust that because I just said that it's not if I don't if I'm not
there then I'll give you a hundred bucks like that's where all the sudden
that's like oh wow that's weird you know that's what your word is worth a hundred
bucks you know does that make any sense to anybody that's just what I was thinking
about well you actually made me think about like two different examples and if
anybody want to give their thoughts on it it would be helpful I was thinking
about like the vow that Jephthah made because sometimes that it could be
dangerous and he made a vow like you know if you help out with this thing
that's great out of my house I'll sacrifice and then his daughter came out
having to sacrifice his daughter let me get out of that like couldn't get out of
that you probably could have we just read it if you read it yeah you know what I
mean that's a great example about the Jephthah and then also in the book of
Acts with those guys that they made a it said they bound themselves under a
curse and it made an oath that they were going to kill the Apostle Paul and
he said they weren't gonna eat anything until they killed him so maybe it's
like and he said it was a curse so it was like something negative so it makes
me think about that yeah I think sometimes it's also about translation though words
that into English so because like the word evil in Hebrew is raw or I think is
raw it can also mean like something that's harmful or destructible so if
you're not keeping about to yourself you're harmful to maybe someone like you
maybe hurt the person's feelings if you didn't go their wedding or you hurt
yourself if you're not fulfilling the things to yourself so it can in some way
be harmful not necessarily your daughter yeah so it doesn't necessarily it might not
I mean it could mean evil sometimes it does leave the evil but I think that word
possibly might mean a different different took it out as evil when it
could just be harmful or something I do want to get to Roger at some point
because he's had his hand up for a while sorry Roger you raised your hand a
little bit it was saying how has it affected you your confidence yeah and I've
had less confidence I tend to put yeah I carry a book and write things down and I
tend to relabel those intentions rather than promises or vows or these are
intentions so it's kind of the way I've changed because sometimes you tend to
overschedule yeah and usually somebody who has to make a valid exam I'm gonna
do it I promise I swear on my whatever I'm gonna usually means they're not
trusted my question is saying I promised today the same as saying I bow in the
biblical time right yeah I think it depends on who it's doing I think if it's
to God certainly but also we're under grace and that's that's the thing about
this chapter that's so beautiful is how it ends with that the poor husband
and he takes all of it like yeah if she makes a bad vow and one if he didn't say
anything it's his fault already because he should have been suitoring his
household better but then too he has to be the one that pays what's due and
there's so many like movies but this is in reality too of that you know deathbed
moment where well God if you give me one more turn you know I'll commit my life to
you this time and then they continue to live a life of sin even though God heals
them in the end if we're committed to Jesus and he's washed us with his blood
doesn't matter how many times we do that he still pays it so I would just to go
back to some of your questions though I don't have a full answer for you but I
would just spend time looking at that passage because he trying to find where
it is I wrote it down somewhere which one 33 because he starts by saying you
shall not swear falsely and I think that's that's the distinction and again
he's talking this is sermon on the mount and yeah I think just looking back at the
text in its fullness it's chapter 5 starting in verse 33 yeah so I don't
really have an answer but maybe just sitting and pondering on that because it's
it's a promise made that we weren't gonna commit yes Roger
yeah it's judges 11 I'm guessing you're talking about Jeff's though yeah judges
11 is where it talks about that and I would say no he doesn't and the reason I
would say that is when you read the passage if I can find it nope judges is
so it's in I'll just read it it's in verse 29 of chapter 11 of judges the
Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah and just backstory he just got called in as
the big muscle basically to take over this army they they're struggling and
they're like Jephthah's a good warrior let's call him even though they had
just kicked him out of town a few chapters before it says then the Spirit
of the Lord was upon Jephthah and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and
pass on to Mispa and Gilead and from Mispa of Gilead he passed on to the
Ammonites and Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said if you will give the
Ammonites into my hand then whatever comes out from the door of my house to
meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord's and I
will offer it up for a burnt offering so that is the vowel that is made if
you weren't familiar that's what is being talked about then he defeats the
Ammonites and he's walking home and he was I don't know why he was expecting to
come out of his house when he said this he had one daughter so perhaps maybe he
was thinking a pet would come out you know he doesn't have a lot of family
living at home I could have been his wife maybe he didn't like his wife
his daughter is the one that comes out and he's obviously he's just
heartbroken and the thing that I thought was really neat here and I will answer
your question sorry but the thing that I thought was really cool is that the
daughter says so he basically tells her like I made a vow that I can't go back
on and she says my father you have opened your mouth to the Lord do to me
according to what has gone out of your mouth now that the Lord has avenged you
on your enemies on the Ammonites that's that's some faithful submission right
there I don't think she knows what he vowed to do but to fully answer your
question it says that obviously it's it's clarified what is about to happen
and then she says let this thing be done for me leave me alone two months that
I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity and my
companions so he said go and he set her away for two months and in other
translations it said let me weep that I may never marry so it never says in here
that she was burnt and what more often happened if you were committing your
child to the Lord meant that you would be a servant in the temple so it's more
likely that God said no because he's always against child sacrifice and rather
said you were foolish but you still have to be responsible and so your daughter's
gonna come and and serve me in the temple so that's all implication I don't know
if that's what happened but it doesn't say that she died and it does say that
she's specifically weeping for the fact that she's not gonna marry so I think it
would have been more explicit if she's weeping that I'm gonna die yeah yeah it
sounds to me then that Jesus really clarifies that for safety yes we yes and
you know we know yeah yeah yeah I don't want to belabor the point too much but
I'm looking at the verse right now so I have like the King James version so
he didn't say like do not swear falsely but it says in verse 33 it says you
have heard that I've been said by them of old times this is like what the elders
are saying people in the past like don't swear falsely but I say unto you do not swear at
all so that that's where people get that like you should not make any vow
don't swear don't make oaths that's why some Christians say shouldn't do that
all like in the courts don't do it just to say yes no don't make any
promises except of course like marriage vows that's the exception but the
outside of that they say like don't swear at all don't make oaths so Jesus said
in verse 34 so yeah yeah I'll have to think about that to me I whenever I was
reading it I knew that would come up eventually because it was like gone
through the passage before and it's come up and you have to look at all the
different Hebrew like yeah and Hebrew and then the full counsel of the Bible
you know and what I know that again that guy referenced earlier David music
he does do a whole study on that so I could try and find it but yeah you know
give you a better answer words interchangeably vowels promises yeah I read
right I think they're sort of differences they are yeah yeah so even in numbers I
didn't go too deep into it but there's I think seven seven different words being
used but we're reading it as bow bow bow bow each one is slightly different but
kind of the same implications for all of them which is why I didn't bring up it's
kind of cool yeah I will say you cannot be punished for anything you've not made
a vow so yeah practical basis I think we should learn to say no to things we
cannot yeah yeah absolutely I mean more recently I've learned to say yeah I don't
count it as failure to be honest yeah that's great yeah yeah I think that's
something that my wife said recently to me of saying no isn't a failure or you
let somebody down yeah it's not letting somebody down it's being responsible for
your family and specifically for me I have family but I think it's so true
because again in my context when I say yes to something I'm committing my whole
family I'm not just committing me coming tonight means that Tara's at home by
herself with Maria which she's fine she doesn't be there but but still there's
there's other commitments that I've made in the past that I get home and I
tell Tara about it's kidding yeah so it really is like it I just I love Jesus
because he gives us a blueprint for how to give live a good life not an easy
life or a comfortable life but a good life and it's hard to walk it out but
anyways I think yeah thank you guys for being willing to get in a circle do
we do want right out we will yeah I was gonna ask so if anyone had any prayer
alcohol I know oh you're fine I know McRoberts we could be praying for them
yeah and Tammy I'll walk oh I didn't hear I'm not in the prayer chat okay Roger
right hey daddy so Tammy's father sick too right oh yes
he had this is a great great-granddaughter coming in May he really
wants to be here so I'm suffering from gastritis since December
and it's taken I also have fibromyalgia so I've been in a flare you know like the
constant state of healing the doctors are saying I have like eight more specialist
appointments before they decide they're gonna take my gallbladder in March or
April but I I'm praying for a hundred percent healing I had to go to the
hospital again because I couldn't walk or talk last week but the doctor said
that my body is healing it's just that my physical body is weak from fighting so
I just pray for continued healing yeah I got you ma'am don't worry let's pray we
don't all have to pray there's a big group but we can so we'll just kind of
popcorn and well Chris you open us all the other guys thank you for your word
Lord thank you for the amazing sharpening that was done here tonight so
many excellent points were shared Lord and definitely feel refreshed more by
this wisdom thank you for it Lord and we do pray for Tia Lord that you would
heal her completely and that her body would just rise up and fight this thing
and Lord if she needs her gallbladder out you know or that you would guide
the doctors to know that and guide them in that surgery but in the meantime just
just fill her with your healing power and Lord also we pray for Tammy's father
or that you would restore him long enough to to see his loved ones everyone
he needs to and just encourage Tammy during this time Lord and she's there
for her father in Jesus name Amen
I am going to lift up the McRoberts to you and if you know of Doug's mother for
this weekend or we just pray your comfort around all of them Lord and
thankful Lord that she knew you as her Lord and Savior and I just pray Lord that
if there's anyone there that the gospel would be clear that they would come to
know you as well Lord and I just pray Lord that you'll just be with Doug's dad
as he has been sick of pneumonia and then the ICU and all that this week so
we just thank you that he is doing a little better and that you just heal Doug
up to us he's has a big cold and whatever he got after all this where we
just prayed over that family would just plead the blood of Jesus over Jake each
one of them and Jake that he'll get better and be home in time for the funeral and
Lord you know all the details and we're just going to trust you to just bring
glory to your name through it all Lord and we're grateful for tonight Lord and
just how wonderful it is to be amongst your people and our sisters and
brothers in Christ
I'm gonna pray that thank you so much for your work and the scripture that he
studied and help us to use that points to use in our life and what do I pray
for this tea and then God put your blessing hand on our body and you are the
doctors of doctors and you know how you created our body so we pray for all the
staff the team level wanted to to to take care of heart they do your name and
thank you so much for for this final study and help us each other we can build
each other and then we learn that how the words they don't have like created
power just like the way you created this world of our words can break and build
somebody so thank you so much for this for this final study and learn from it
and just stay brave. Amen.
I pray for Leanna, recovering from the waltz of the baby home, just pray that she'll be encouraged and get back to normal and pray they'll be able to help our problems as a result of that.
Dear Heavenly Father, I hope and heal that she gets healed by you Lord that you that
you uplift her body and just fight to fight this thing Lord as you heal her
with her mighty strength with your mighty hand Lord and Lord just let her know
that she's loved Lord and just let her know that the doctors are there for her
and Lord that you are there also for her to save her as you are also our anchor
and you know you have the strength to strengthen us and especially the ones
that are that are sick Lord and I know that you can heal all of us and I
hope and pray for that for her as well and her recovery and you know I thank
you so much for Bible study tonight I thank you for all the wonderful people
that showed up here tonight Lord to learn your word and it's in your name we pray
Amen. We just lift up the allen block family as well just pray for healing
and Lord I just pray that you would have your hand of healing to be over and
bring comfort and enjoy even like a silly thing to ask for we ask for joy in
the midst of all the hardship that people in this church are feeling or
that you would bring joy we love you we thank you for your word Lord help us to
be men and women of integrity help us to take responsibility for our words and
our actions like you did Jesus on the cross or we know we'll stumble and we
thank you for your grace and love and mercy Lord help us this year to be
different than we were last year in Jesus name amen thanks everybody
thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church as we praise God and discuss his
word don't forget to join us for worship lives Sunday mornings at 10 a.m.
Eastern on YouTube be blessed and have a great day