Ask the Pastor with J.D. Greear

In this week’s episode, Pastor J.D. is joined by special guest Trillia Newbell to talk about whether or not Christians should be colorblind. Trillia just released her new children’s’ book, The Big Wide Welcome, and is also the author of God’s Very Good Idea. These books teach so many important lessons about how God has created us and the unity he desires us to have. Show Notes: J.D.: Trillia, one question related to your book that we hear all the time at our church: should Christians be “colorblind?” What I mean is, should we as Christians not be “seeing” the color of peoples’ skin? Should it be irrelevant? Trillia: Often, this is very well-intentioned. It’s a way of saying, “I love all people.” But the Bible paints the picture of heaven in such a way that shows that even there, God will not erase our different races, cultures, etc. Over and over, we see the nations reflected in the Scriptures — different from one another but all united around the gospel. Want to ask J.D. a question? Head to our Ask Me Anything hub to submit your question. As always, don’t forget to rate and review this podcast! Find Pastor J.D. on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Show Notes: Divorce is not the unforgivable sin. Look at Jeremiah 3:8 where God says, “For all her adulteries, I gave faithless Israel a certificate of divorce.” God has the audacity to call himself a divorced person. Now, of course, there was no sin on his side of the divorce, and maybe there was on yours. But in the cross and resurrection, Jesus puts away the sin done by you and he overturns the sin done to you. I feel a special word for some people out there going through real marital trouble—God is going to do something amazing if you trust in him and give him time. He wants to do something amazing in your marriage that makes it far stronger and more beautiful than anything you’ve ever imagined—even better than when you were newlyweds. God can bring beauty and redemption even out of our biggest mistakes if we trust it to him. In the cross, we find forgiveness for the sins done by us and healing for the ones done to us. The empty tomb is the answer for the empty soul ravaged by divorce. Want to ask J.D. a question? Head to our Ask Me Anything hub to submit your question. As always, don’t forget to rate and review this podcast! Find Pastor J.D. on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Show Notes: The answer to this question comes from the lips of Jesus, the most compassionate person ever to live. Marriage is a covenant you make with your spouse before God. God created it in Genesis 2 as a union where two literally become one, and death is the only thing that can dissolve that covenant (with a couple of death-related exceptions which we’ll talk about). So, is it ever OK to divorce? Jesus says in Matthew 19 that you can do it in the case of adultery. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 7, is going to expand that to say desertion by an unbeliever. Why are those exceptions? The logic is very important. In the case of both desertion/abandonment and adultery, they both kill the covenant. That’s why I called them “death-related” exceptions earlier. So, you say, what about the case of abuse? Or what if the spouse is involved in some illegal activity that they refuse to stop and it’s putting our family at risk? First, if you are in an abusive situation, you need to get yourself to a place of safety immediately. Talk to your church, let them help, or if you’re not feeling safe reach out to the Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE. Second, I would argue that the logic of Paul and Jesus’ exceptions applies also to divorce in the case of a spouse who is doing something that makes them unable to be lived with and puts the family in danger. Creating in abusive environment also kills the marriage covenant, and you are no longer bound to it. Lean not on your ability as a parent; lean on God’s grace as the hope for your child. Want to ask J.D. a question? Head to our Ask Me Anything hub to submit your question! As always, don’t forget to rate and review this podcast! Find Pastor J.D. on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Show Notes: This brings us to one of the “big 10” — the 10 Commandments. There are a couple of things to understand starting with the 10 commandments are divided into two sections. The first four deal primarily with our relationship with God. The last five deal with our relationship to each other. Honoring your parents is the “hinge” in the middle, so which group does it belong to? Well, both. It’s the bridge between the two categories. When we’re young, our parents stand in for God. By submitting to our parents, we’re learning to submit to God. To “honor” your parents means to recognize parenthood as the temporary stand-in for God that it is, and you respect your parents accordingly. When you’re young, that means obeying them, and for your whole life it means respecting them. If your situation is abusive, you need to get yourself out. Call 800-799-SAFE, the domestic violence hotline. If your situation is not abusive, understand that you can respect the institution your parents represent even when you don’t represent them as individuals. When honoring your parents, you are honoring the God behind your parents whose authority is represented by them. Honoring your parents is really a means to honoring God. Lean not on your ability as a parent; lean on God’s grace as the hope for your child. Want to ask J.D. a question? Head to our Ask Me Anything hub to submit your question! As always, don’t forget to rate and review this podcast! Find Pastor J.D. on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Show Notes: We should be as intentional with our families as we are with our jobs. There is a sense that, on one level, I as a parent affect the faith journey of my kids. But on another level, there is a limit to the responsibility parents have for the choices our kids make. God has made them as individuals. A lot of godly parents will have a child who wanders. And it’s not because they did something wrong. Think about it: God was a perfect Father. And the only two humans he “fathered” directly (Adam and Eve) both rebelled. It wasn’t because of deficiencies in God’s parenting. There are decisions only our kids can make. Even under the best of circumstances, they can decide to pursue things that are contrary to what God would have for them. Pray for your kids. Speak truth to them. But ultimately, know that God wants us to lean into his grace. God cares more for our kids than we do and he can pursue our kids in ways that we can’t. Lean not on your ability as a parent; lean on God’s grace as the hope for your child. Want to ask J.D. a question? Head to our Ask Me Anything hub to submit your question! As always, don’t forget to rate and review this podcast! Find Pastor J.D. on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

If you’ve heard Pastor J.D. preach, you’ve probably heard him talk about Nicolas Cage. So, what’s the deal? Does he really think Nicolas Cage is the greatest actor of all time? Find out in this light-hearted episode!

Show Notes: Who do you feel the closest kinship with? Who do you spend most of your time with? The lesson from Lot’s life is that you have to make up your mind from the beginning: Who do you really want to be? If it’s with the world, go there 100%. If it’s with God, go with him 100%. What do you love? What does that say about what your heart really desires? Are you trying to get as close to the world as you can without becoming it? So how can I be around “Sodom” but not make the mistake Lot did? It has to do with who you choose to make your close friends and your community. Those are the ones you become like—just like Proverbs 13:20 tells us. The most miserable person in the world is the half-committed Christian. Want to ask J.D. a question? Head to our Ask Me Anything hub to submit your question! As always, don’t forget to rate and review this podcast! Find Pastor J.D. on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Show Notes: It depends on what you mean by “demon possessed.” It’s never used in the Greek language that I know of, and it’s not in the Bible. The word in the Bible is “demonized,” which actually broadens it a little bit. So, if you mean, “Can a demon so overtake a Christian so that they have no will left and no ability to choose right from wrong,” the answer is definitely no. But if you mean, can a demon influence us or afflict us, Scripture I think indicates yes. But their entry into our lives comes from listening to the lies Satan tells us. We’ve got to “talk back” to Satan’s lies with the truths of Scripture and the gospel. Want to ask J.D. a question? Head to our Ask Me Anything hub to submit your question! As always, don’t forget to rate and review this podcast! Find Pastor J.D. on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Show Notes: A theologian named Michael Byrd breaks down theological truths into three primary categories. First, there are matters essential for salvation. On these matters, we have to have agreement. These include the person of Christ, the way of salvation, etc. These are things absolutely worth dividing over, and I would not partner with someone in ministry in an area like this where we disagree. Second, there are matters that are important to the faith and the church but not matters of salvation. These things are also things where you need a relative amount of unity. They’re almost always spelled out in Scripture. Third, there are matters of indifference. Those are non-essentials, debatable things, preferences, opinions, etc. You’ve got to know what category different truths go into. Romans 14 says we are not to divide over inconsequential, disputed matters. Wisdom is knowing what to unite around and what things are worth dividing over. Want to ask J.D. a question? Head to our Ask Me Anything hub to submit your question! As always, don’t forget to rate and review this podcast! Find Pastor J.D. on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Show Notes: When we think “idol,” we oftentimes think of a statue that you bow down to. But there’s more to it than that, and idolatry actually occupies the first two of the ten commandments, so you know it’s important. We often have a “root idol” that controls a lot of the way we live our lives, whether that’s power, control, comfort, or approval. In order to stop looking to these idols to meet our needs, we have to give God the ultimate weight in our lives. Idols are not usually bad things, they’re often good things that we’ve given God-sized weight in our lives. Want to ask J.D. a question? Head to our Ask Me Anything hub to submit your question! As always, don’t forget to rate and review this podcast! Find Pastor J.D. on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.