Era 1 Episode 7 Bonus Discussion with Shevaun Rottinger

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Voiceover

You are listening to the Bible breakthrough with Pastor David Engman and Scott Brekke. In this study, we will break down the Bible from B.C to A.D. chronologically while offering historical context and real-life application for today. This series is brought to you by the Breakthrough Media Network.

00;00;28;07 - 00;00;50;09

Pastor Dave

Hi, my name is Pastor Dave Engman, and this is my co-host, Scott Brekke. And today we are joined by special guest Shevaun Rottinger. Shevaun is the senior editor of the Bible Breakthrough. Thank you for joining us, Shevaun. Thank you. We want to welcome you, our listening audience, to the Bible Breakthrough. And thank you for joining us today. Ultimately, our goal is to lead you into a deeper, more intimate relationship with Jesus.

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Scott

Yeah. And this is our bonus video to episode six. Here we are going to discuss various topics that come up as a result of the scripture that we just covered in this episode. Also, again, the show notes will be linked in the description of this production.

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Pastor Dave

And this is actually the bonus video to episode 7, so… In the episode we read Genesis 6:1 through 22, and we learned about a world gone wrong and the consequences of such actions and resulting in the Great Flood. Before we actually open the Bible and do any reading or discussion, let's pray. How does that sound? All right. Stay with me, Scott.

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Scott

All right, Lord, again, our goal, like Dave just said, is that ultimately lead people in a closer relationship to the Lord. So, Father, as our discussion begins, Lord, that's what we want to do. Bring people closer to you, Father. So, just bless this time in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

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Shevaun

Amen!

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Pastor Dave

Amen. OK. What I think we should just roll into right off the bat is this, we are here to have fun. And this is a bonus video, so, there's… it's kind of unplugged generally not scripted in any way. We just want to dive deeper into what we just covered in the episode video and just camp out on a few things.

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Pastor Dave

Kind of take things a little bit deeper. So, what I'd like to do is start out just kind of just start out by just reviewing the facts that we discussed. And I'll just briefly run through those. And I think they're important if I can find them. There they are. All right. So, as we discussed in the episode video, what we're looking at here is a point in history where Earth is no longer this perfect paradise that God initially intended and the fact that that broke his heart.

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Pastor Dave

So, this is really a record of why the destruction of this old world was necessary. It's here in this 6:1 through 22 this particular piece of scripture where we can see just how quickly all of humanity really forgot about God. From Adam then to Seth. And then you get all the way to Noah. And we discover as we read that there was nobody except one man that even remembered God.

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Pastor Dave

We see how much God hates sin and judges those who enjoy it. We see how serious the consequences of sin are. We see how God protects those who are faithful and obedient. And then we also, learn because of Noah's character, how God gave that one man special favor. He gave him special favor. He communicated. He talked with him.

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Pastor Dave

He revealed his purpose to him. He provided specific direction about how to build the ark, for example. And we realize here that part of the reason for that was to protect him. It was for his own safety. We see here that God brought the animals to the ark. Noah didn't have to go around them up. And He did that for their preservation as well as Noah and his family.

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Pastor Dave

These are the facts, ma'am.

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Shevaun

Just the facts.

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Pastor Dave

Just the facts! So, what I like to do is just kind of open this up to the discussion… just for discussion. And here's the thing. What is it that we want to dive into a little bit deeper?

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Scott

I'll start! Perfect. Who are the Sons of God, and who are the women of men? Why is it significant that it's laying out “sons of God” and the “women of men?”

00;05;07;29 - 00;05;22;20

Pastor Dave

All right. Well, let's remember, I'm not the answer man here. I have my thoughts on this. I'm certainly willing to give those to you to start with. And we can kind of go from there. You can feel free to jump in, Shevaun, anytime you want.

00;05;23;06 - 00;05;42;24

Shevaun

Well, it is a good question because the “sons of God,” you would think, are still men that have a relationship with God. But it said that Noah, the Bible says Noah was the only one found righteous.

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Scott

Hmm.

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Shevaun

So, to me, that would mean Noah would be the “son of God.”

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Shevaun

Or one of them.

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Scott

One of them. Yeah. OK…

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Shevaun

But how would the rest of them be? If God saw that everyone else was wicked, a son of God wouldn't be wicked. So, that's a good question. I, I… it's a stumper to me.

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Pastor Dave

Yeah. Well, OK, so, just to dive into that, if we go back in the record, the genealogy record, for example, we see Adam is being the first one in that record, right? He's the man made. The second name in that record, was not Abel, it was not Cain, but it was Seth. Right. And, you know, he was the third one born. Now Abel had been killed, obviously by Cain, and when Seth then comes on the scene,

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Pastor Dave

Cain is not a part of the holy seed line that would lead to Christ he committed murder. Correct. And God said, look, there's a consequence here. And so, obviously Cain was very worried about the fact that the burden of his sin was too heavy for him to handle. And he thought people were going to murder him, and God said, no,

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Pastor Dave

I'll put a mark on you, OK? Anybody that kills you will die same way, essentially. But it was almost at that very moment, you see this split. Division. Right? There's this… you come, it's there that there's a fork that's in the road and the Holy See goes down the fork in the road towards Seth, not toward Cain.

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Pastor Dave

I said that, all of that to say this, that throughout these generations there were clearly, in the beginning, there were people that were listed in the genealogy record who would have been “sons of God”...

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Shevaun

And everybody lived for such a long time that they were… probably some of them were still alive.

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Pastor Dave

But they very much could be, and we know that all of them, I mean, Enoch, for example, was the only one that was… that never died, God took him.

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Shevaun

Yeah.

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Pastor Dave

Right? Which is interesting. We talked about that in previous episodes, why that might have occurred and so, but here's the thing. The Holy Seed would have had to have transferred from generation to generation. And the names in the genealogy list would have been the ones carrying the Holy See that would eventually lead to Jesus. We know it started with Adam, went to Seth, and then blah, blah, blah.

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Pastor Dave

And then we get to Noah. Noah is considered the second man. The second man… and, or I'm sorry, the second Adam. Adam was the first Adam. Noah was kind of considered the second Adam because he… it was from him that, you know, that humanity came. Initially, it was from Adam that humanity flowed. Now it's Noah. And then you know, from Noah,

00;09;05;23 - 00;09;25;22

Pastor Dave

then you go, you eventually you get to Abraham from, you know, that Holy Seed keeps going, generation to generation… Abraham and then from there you get the Jacob and the 12 Tribes and, you know, and then finally you get to Jesus and then, folks, eventually it gets to you, man of God. And woman of God, right? Eventually it comes to you.

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Pastor Dave

But to go back on that, just because the reality is this, there are people, every human being has the knowledge of God written within their heart, written on their heart. You either believe… you're either acknowledging the truth about that or you're rejecting that as truth. You're rejecting it. You believe in a lot and so, in every stage of history, you would have had people who were not believers who were simply rejecting.

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Pastor Dave

And in this illustration, you have the sons of God having sexual intercourse with the daughters of men. And in my estimation, it would mean unbelievers. This would be that where we talked in the episode about this idea. And look, I could be wrong I'm just… this is where the Scriptures led me. But we know later on, the importance of being equally yoked, and the devastation that being married to somebody that doesn't believe in God, usually leads to that person falling away from the faith almost every time, not the other way around.

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Pastor Dave

And so, these men, these “sons of God,” having sex, and maybe it doesn't say they married them, or anything, but they're having kids and they also, happen to be a breed of humans that were big. Yeah. You know, the Nephilites. They're just large humans. And it doesn't say in my Bible, but there's been a lot of speculation about this one.

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Pastor Dave

Were these just like fallen angels that were having sex with, you know, the daughters of men? And maybe I just don't see it yet, at this stage in the scripture, I don't see it. I've been through the scriptures and I; I don't know if I believe that to be the case. Right. You asked. That was my long-winded answer.

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Pastor Dave

But we got there. I hope that from my perspective. Yup. You started… you have anything else? Umm, well, do you… Feel free.

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Scott

Let me jump into something different. So, when it goes into verse five, six, seven, it says that the Lord is sorry he had ever made them and then put them on the earth. It broke his heart. And it's like, I see this, kind of this, you know, it says later on in seven again, I am sorry I ever made them. Why? Like, why would God like knowing everything? Why would he… why would that… why would he create the human race, knowing that this was just all going to happen, wipe everybody out and then only save one person?

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Scott

Would you consider that maybe a little bit brutal? Or was God like regretting in creating humanity? So, my other question to be is, you know, was it a mistake to even start to begin to create all these humans before knowing that he was just going to wipe everybody out? So, does God make mistakes? Is that… that's my question.

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Scott

Does God make mistakes? Now you're shaking your head no.

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Shevaun

I don't believe he does.

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Scott

OK, why? I don’t know.

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Shevaun

I don’t... I think he's perfect. Yup. And if something is perfect, there are no mistakes. Yeah. I also believe that because he gave us free will, he believed in the human race. He wanted the best for humanity.

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Shevaun

He is hope.

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Pastor Dave

Yeah. Yeah. And you hit it right on the head, you know? From my perspective, I mean, God's desire was that, you know, man would choose him. He didn't want robots, you know, I mean, we could create something that will do everything we tell it to do, but there's no relationship there. There's… It's just a subordinate relationship, right?

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Pastor Dave

And God wanted, you know, he wanted man to choose him. And free will was… free will was the risk he was willing to take in order to achieve that. Now, fast forward all the way to today, and look at how many believers there are! In the end, that love and that hope wins. You know? It wins out. And you know, there's always going to be people that are going to reject God.

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Pastor Dave

We know that. But we also, know that God said that it's his desire that all would come to know him and repent and that's his desire. But in that it also, infers that that isn't the reality. He also, knows and we can see that isn't going to be the case for everyone, you know? Yeah.

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Scott

And I'll just piggyback on that… I think that it wasn't that he was regretting it, he was just saying, look at that, the actions that they've decided to do, and they have abandoned me, forgot about me, and we talked about that in the episode. And look at all the wickedness and the violence and all the things they've done. And it was his plan to, to do it this way.

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Scott

And seeing that there's only one guy you had mentioned, there's only one guy. It doesn't even say that his family or his sons or, you know, his wife was righteous. It was that Noah, himself, was righteous. So, and it just, you know, foreshadows knowing the rest of the Bible. It foreshadows knowing that there's one righteous in Christ alone, that there's only one person you can get to the father through, and that's through Jesus Christ.

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Shevaun

That's right.

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Pastor Dave

So, yeah, well, those are good answers. All right, so, I got a question, how do we know… like in Noah's case, he was considered righteous, and he walked with God and God gave him favor. How do we know if our actions are pleasing to God?

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Shevaun

Well, personally, call me crazy, but God speaks to me, and he lets me know if I'm doing a good job or if I need to take a different path. And I need to practice daily, sometimes hourly, listening to God and listening to his direction because with my free will, I feel it's the best gift that God has ever given.

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Shevaun

Someone is free will. I have the ability to choose and why wouldn't I honor God by choosing Him and being obedient to him? And when I am obedient, he's attaboy, Shevaun, you know, good job. Well done. When I'm when I'm not walking on the right path, if I'm straying from obedience and I might not know it because Satan is really clever and, you know, we can all be deceived.

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Shevaun

But he lets me know that, too. And he, he puts, he picks me up and puts me right back on the right path. And he's faithful at doing that. Yeah. But we, I believe he's faithful at doing that with all of us. We just have to be open to listening to him, walking with him. Like you said, Noah walked with God and just being obedient and submitting and just giving him my all.

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Pastor Dave

Yeah, so, you mentioned that God talks to you.

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Shevaun

Yes.

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Pastor Dave

Can you expand on that or expound on that? Like, how do you hear God when he talks to you? What does that sound like?

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Shevaun

Umm, a lot of times it's a conviction in my heart.

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Shevaun

But he has because I… sometimes I've questioned, is that what you really want me to do, quit my job? And he's. Yes, you need to leave now! Well, what does now mean? And I would have conversations with Jim you know, and so, for example, I went back to work one day, and it was horrible. And God was literally shouting in my ear, get up and leave now!

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Shevaun

You know, and it's… it was different than the conviction in my heart. It wasn't necessarily an audible voice. Like, I can hear the two of you, or hear myself speaking, but it was a shout in my ear rather than a conviction in my heart.

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Pastor Dave

That's good! And to me, I would say that, you know, that's close fellowship you know, that's how we hear him. Yeah. It's through our intentional actions if you will, in drawing in, drawing close to him. He's here. He's constantly beckoning us, but through the close fellowship. Now, that's one of the things Noah had, close fellowship with God.

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Pastor Dave

He walked in close fellowship with God. You know, it doesn't necessarily say here that no one was hearing the audible voice of God. I mean, it doesn't say that. When people say, “God said,” or “God told me this,” or, you know, there's people that like that gets their attention and they're like, “oh, here we go!” God said… right? And then they feel like they got carte blanche to do whatever because God said they could do it.

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Pastor Dave

I think we know the Spirit, when that order is delivered, in the spirit it's delivered in, whether or not the person that's revealing the fact that God said this or God said that really was from God or not. When it's about you, if it's a selfish you know, I mean, where do we spend our time in that Christ-centered care or in that self-centered chair?

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Pastor Dave

And so, I want and desire to be in that Christ-centered chair as much as possible. Yeah. But the reality is, it's so easy to fall into my self-centered chair. And then if I were to start saying this about “God said,” “God said this,” “God said that,” I think people would question that. But when we're really in the Christ-centered chair, there isn't much of a doubt, especially with other believers.

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Pastor Dave

Right. Would you agree? I agree. So, Noah was a righteous man, what makes somebody righteous? Scott?

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Scott

Well, umm… hmm, righteous?! What do you know about that? Well, I know about Jesus! He’s the only one that makes us righteous through our belief in him. It says that we are made, or we are made righteous in the eyes of God, through our belief in Jesus Christ. So, there's only one way to be righteous, through him. Now, you had talked about this, but there was no Jesus yet in the time of Noah.

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Scott

So, how was he made righteous? I just think it's in his obedience to what he heard the Lord tell him. So, you heard the Lord tell him that, look, all the all the earth is corrupt, and it's filled with violence. Go and make this ark because there's going to be a flood that's coming. And then he goes and builds this huge boat and all that’s saved.

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Scott

So, his obedience to the Lord, I think, is what made… I don't know. Is that right? Obedience to the Lord, is what made him righteous? What do you think? Do you think that’s right?

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Shevaun

I think the purity of his heart as well. His intentions were all godly. He wanted a relationship with God. He wanted to obey God. He listened to God. He listened for God. And his heart was pure for that. Yup.

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Pastor Dave

Right. And, you know, he was clearly not perfect. He sinned. All men sin.

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Shevaun

All men sin.

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Pastor Dave

And yet God also counted him as righteous and blameless because of the sincerity of his heart. I think that's the part. Now, I’m going to read the footnote here in my Bible regarding Genesis 6:9, which is the verse I've been talking about; saying that Noah was righteous and blameless does not mean that he never sinned. The Bible records one of his sins in Genesis 9:20.

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Pastor Dave

Rather, it means that Noah wholeheartedly loved and obeyed God for a lifetime. He walked step by step in faith as a living example to his generation. Like Noah, we live in a world filled with evil. Are we influencing others or being influenced by them? That's a set up right there, you know?

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Shevaun

Yeah.

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Pastor Dave

I mean, I want to be holy. I want to be righteous, which can also mean I want to do the right things as opposed to the wrong things. I want to hear God tell me when I shouldn't do that. And then don't do that. Right! I want to do that! That to me, you know, I want to be blameless that way.

00;24;50;20 - 00;25;21;21

Pastor Dave

But we fall down and stumble and thank God for, you know, thank God for Romans 8:1, there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus according to their faith. And we are not condemned. But, you know, this is who this man was at a time when there was no other influence, no other godly influence. He was it! Noah was it. God's like, all right, build an ark. A what? Right? What for?

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Shevaun

Yeah.

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Pastor Dave

Well, it's going to rain. What's rain. That's right, it's never rained on earth… rains coming. It's coming from the sky, you know? I mean, and the people around him at that time had to… as we get into the word, we clearly see that, you know, that there was plenty of persecution that came against Noah, ridicule how do you feel when people are mocking you, when they're making fun of you, when they're clearly not going to help you either?

00;25;52;28 - 00;26;03;14

Pastor Dave

I mean, you clearly didn't get, you know, it's not like everybody over there was like, hey, come on over here! We got a big project we're going to work on today. It's going to take us 100 years or more, but we'll get there.

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Shevaun

Yeah.

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Pastor Dave

It was Noah, you know, preaching through his actions. You know?

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Shevaun

That's a lot of peer pressure. Right?! That's a lot of peer pressure!

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Pastor Dave

Exactly! But he was rewarded. For his faithfulness. You know?

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Shevaun

Yeah.

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Scott

Yeah, umm, hmm! So, I wanted to bring up God's clear instruction of what to do and how to do it. So, in verse 14, it says, build a large boat, and he doesn't stop, right? He doesn't just say, go build a large boat. This is... and I love God's detail; “go build a large boat from the exact kind of wood, right?

00;26;52;29 - 00;27;22;29

Scott

So, you have what he's going to build, what he's going to build it with… wood. And you're also going to waterproof it with tar inside and out. And then you're going to make decks and stalls throughout the interior. You're going to make it this long. 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, 45 feet high. And then you're going to leave an 18-inch opening below the roof all the way around the boat, and then you're going to put a door on the side and you're going to build three decks middle, lower and upper.

00;27;23;23 - 00;27;41;16

Scott

So, it's not like he's just like, yeah, here's the idea. Go build the boat. He gives, he gives Noah exact detail and direction of how to do it. And I love that, that we can apply that to our life as the Lord is going to give us something like this, and then He's going to give us exactly what to do and how to do it.

00;27;42;01 - 00;27;58;24

Scott

And it obviously comes out with stepping out in faith because there now you got to go get… what are you going to do? Well, OK, I got to go... Oh, that's right. I got to go get the Cyprus wood now. Right? I got to go get the tar, make the tar, and spread it out, make these levels and make the door, and all these different things.

00;27;59;04 - 00;28;18;18

Scott

So, can you guys think of a time where a testimony where God had led you to do a specific thing and then like he gave you something to do and then it like all of a sudden, all these steps fell into place. And you're like, wow, that was awesome! And then at the end, you're like, look at this amazing thing that God did!

00;28;19;10 - 00;28;20;04

Scott

Does anybody have something?

00;28;20;08 - 00;28;52;02

Shevaun

jump back to March, April of: 2020

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Scott

Yeah. (laughter)

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Shevaun

Well, one of the… and so, when the COVID19 hit and we started getting contracts and feeding thousands of people a day and in the beginning, Pastor Dave had put Jim and myself in charge of the menu. Here's the food that we have in stock. What can we make out of this? Do you remember? Yeah. OK, so, I would pray about it.

00;29;24;18 - 00;29;50;24

Shevaun

f each person eats two brats,: 2000

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Shevaun

And we had… we had shelves of bread and we had boxes and boxes of liquid eggs. I'm like, that's genius! Never thought about it. How do you maple glaze a brat? And he's like, you cut it slanted, put a little bit of butter in the frying pan, start browning it, and when it starts getting a nice brown edge to it, pour in some maple syrup and it will caramelize the meat.

00;30;30;02 - 00;30;57;01

Shevaun

Oh, that sounds delicious, and I don't even like brats! (laughter) So, I take it back to the team. I said, this is what God told me. And they were just like, Yeah, we're going to add vanilla to the eggs in the French toast, so it's cinnamon and vanilla. And then we… God is perfect! We didn't have to add butter into the clamshell, or syrup.

00;30;57;12 - 00;31;09;22

Shevaun

There was enough there that we laid out the French toast in the clamshell and poured the brats and syrup over the French toast, and people kept coming back for seconds. We ran out.

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Scott

Wow.

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Shevaun

It was so awesome to watch that, and in such volume!

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Pastor Dave

Yeah.

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Shevaun

You know?

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Pastor Dave

That was incredible, six or: 7000

00;31;53;09 - 00;32;19;00

Pastor Dave

Was it Cyprus wood? Yeah. We don’t have any Cyprus wood! Plant those seeds over there. What? Yeah, it's going to take about 60 years, but I'm telling you, you're going to have plenty of Cyprus wood! Yeah. 60 years?! Or you know, I don't know if that's the deal, but you know what I mean? I can relate to, you know, some of the things that must have been frustrating I guess at certain times for Noah.

00;32;19;00 - 00;32;27;02

Pastor Dave

But you know, just try to have faith, and listen and keep doing, obediently, what God's telling us to do. That's my answer. Yeah.

00;32;27;15 - 00;32;56;17

Shevaun

I think that's a really good comparison, too, Pastor Dave, because hearing your testimony before you said you had no heart for the homeless. Yeah. But God put that desire and passion in your heart. Mm hmm. And you listened to that, and you were obedient to that. And look what has become because of that obedience.

00;32;56;17 - 00;32;59;03

Pastor Dave

Amen! Praise God! Amen.

00;33;00;05 - 00;33;06;13

Shevaun

And he brings the people to you. Yeah. You don't always have to go out on the street and get them.

00;33;06;15 - 00;33;22;26

Pastor Dave

That's funny! That's true! I didn’t think about it like that. Because when we started, we’d go out and then he showed us something and they would come to us. And since then, that was early on. Since then, you know, we make food and people come and eat it and then we get to sit down and build relationships.

00;33;22;26 - 00;33;26;28

Pastor Dave

Yeah. Just kind of like Jesus did, you know? I like that! That's a great illustration.

00;33;27;08 - 00;33;27;20

Shevaun

Yeah.

00;33;27;23 - 00;33;31;21

Pastor Dave

Well, what about you? How do you answer your own question?

00;33;34;06 - 00;34;00;17

Scott

Well, oh, I mean, man, I could go on with I feel like I could tell like 18 stories right now, but one that just stands out is throughout my testimony. You know, I feel like when I first came on to the ministry, I started to really hear… I started to hear God's voice, and it was like, wow, this is awesome! (laughter)

00;34;01;14 - 00;34;21;05

Scott

You know, like, wait… and then we’d go out and things happen, and it just builds your faith. And you’re like, oh, my gosh, that was God! And then and then it's like what the Bible says is testing the spirit and seeing if what you're actually hearing is from the Lord or something else. So, it's that process too, of hearing him and then, and then making mistakes, sure…

00;34;21;05 - 00;34;44;15

Scott

But like any good father, he's going to correct you. And discipline sometimes that stinks. Sure. But ultimately, he knows better than I do. So, I'm just, you know, transitioning from, you know, my previous work and then into the ministry was just a blessing for me to hear and see. Like I said, there's an hour-long story behind that.

00;34;44;15 - 00;34;54;28

Scott

But getting to the point of coming into the ministry had a lot of different details that set me up to where I am. And it's all glory back to him.

00;34;55;01 - 00;34;55;18

Shevaun

Amen!

00;34;55;25 - 00;35;02;09

Scott

Sure, I heard, and I listened but none of that would have happened if he hadn't told me what to do. I love that. And I love that he does that.

00;35;02;16 - 00;35;03;04

Shevaun

That's right.

00;35;03;04 - 00;35;28;05

Pastor Dave

I’d like to just kind of wrap up our session here with this. I’m just going to read this about Noah. So, the story of Noah's life involves not one, but two great tragic floods. The world in those days was flooded with evil. The number of those who remember the God of creation, perfection and love had dwindled to one.

00;35;28;05 - 00;35;58;28

Pastor Dave

Only Noah still worshiped God. God's response to the severe situation was a 120-year long last chance, during which he had Noah build a graphic illustration of the message of his life. Nothing like a huge boat on dry land, to make a point! For Noah, obedience meant a long-term commitment to a project. Many of us have trouble sticking to any project, whether or not it's directed by God.

00;35;59;14 - 00;36;33;00

Pastor Dave

It's interesting that the length of Noah's obedience was greater than the life span of people today. The only comparable long-term project is our very life. But perhaps this is one great challenge Noah's life gives us; to live in acceptance of God's grace, an entire lifetime of obedience and gratitude. So, I thought that was a neat little wrap up. Yeah. All right.

00;36;33;20 - 00;36;35;07

Shevaun

Yeah, that's profound.

00;36;36;02 - 00;36;53;26

Scott

So, one last thing is, you know, we've talked about being saved. We've talked about righteous Noah, and the wickedness and stuff. So, how would one person who's saying, OK, I get that, I want to be saved! I want to get… I want to be like that, Noah! I want to be on that boat!

00;36;54;24 - 00;37;18;12

Scott

What would you say to that person who's seeking out, like, trying to find... Oh, I just don't know where to go? I don't know what to do. I want to be on the boat. I want to make sure I'm the same person what do I got to do?

00;37;19;14 - 00;37;41;00

Pastor Dave

I would just simply say this fall on your knees and pray to God and ask him. Just ask him to become what the Bible refers to as the Lord of your life. Just ask him to do that! And guess what, he will! And when he does, he will forgive your sins because that's the promise and when your sins are forgiven, he's not just forgiving the ones you sinned in the past. He's forgiving the ones you’re sinning today.

00;37;41;07 - 00;37;59;24

Pastor Dave

And because we can read in Romans 8:1 your sins in the future as well, are going to be forgiven, and your name will be written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And that's great for when you die. But what about the kingdom? Jesus ran around Judea saying The Kingdom of Heaven is near! That was the Gospel of Jesus.

00;38;00;23 - 00;38;25;25

Pastor Dave

The Kingdom of Heaven is near. He's instructed us to go out and do things, but the Kingdom of Heaven is near and it's near you now. And it's not just about eternity in heaven. It's about… your shirt yesterday said it all! Right? It was Heaven is now; or “heaven is my home; I'm just here recruiting.” Right! Heaven is my home.

00;38;26;05 - 00;38;59;00

Pastor Dave

Yeah. That's my home address. I've been sent out here to recruit, and I want to take as many people or help as many people end up in a place called Heaven, an eternity-worth of heaven, by the way. And but the joy of the life in the kingdom while we're still here on earth, and the recognition of our purpose and our mission, you know, and the strategy he gives us to go about how to do it and the family and the body that we start to be a part of.

00;38;59;00 - 00;39;25;19

Pastor Dave

And in spending time, life together with the joy of that unity of the believers is amazing. So, it all really… to answer to your question simply, is just get on your knees, literally, in an attitude of humility and just look up if you have to, but close your eyes if you must, ask him to come and fill you and he will.

00;39;25;29 - 00;39;55;21

Pastor Dave

And I promise this, your life will never be the same. The moment that that happens, with sincerity, like Noah, God will look at you and count you as righteous. Amen? Amen! Preach it! Preach it? Preach it! Preach it, pastor! All right, So, before we dive into that part, look, if you're struggling with any of this, we talked about this last episode, but you're not alone.

00;39;56;06 - 00;40;14;11

Pastor Dave

A lot of people struggle, but it's OK. We're all struggling with stuff. Just hang in there, keep coming back. You know, if you'd like to connect, we'd love for you to just join our Insiders Club. Go to our website to check that out. Thank you for being a part of this, Scott. Thank you, Shevaun. And we want to thank you, our listening audience for tuning in.

00;40;14;11 - 00;40;27;28

Pastor Dave

We look forward to our next meeting together in episode eight as we discuss the flood, how it receded and God's promise in our ongoing study of the first era of beginnings. Thank you and God bless.

00;40;33;17 - 00;41;10;06

Voiceover

Thank you for tuning in to the Bible Breakthrough with Pastor David Engman and Scott Brekke. We hope you enjoyed today's episode and will join us again for more of the Bible from B.C to A.D. We are a volunteer driven ministry and rely on you to help us get the word out to the world. Please, like this podcast on Facebook, share it to your page and continue to listen on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, or anywhere you find your favorite podcasts. This has been a broadcast of the Breakthrough Media Network.