Tough Questions- Week 5, Answers to Your Questions

Question 1: What does deliverance mean?

Answer: In the Bible there is one primary use for the word deliverance and it has to do with God delivering us or rescuing us from sin/ evil. Matthew 6:13 says "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." This is a reference from the model prayer in which Jesus said we should pray and ask God to "deliver" us from evil.

Through out the NT Jesus is portrayed as the deliverer who would come and rescue His people as the messiah. We see that Jesus delivered us from the "bondage" of sin through His sacrifice on the cross.

Question 2: What does it mean when the Bible says God is coming soon? The word “soon” means for us something that will happen in a short amount of time, but what does it mean when the Bible uses it?

Answer: The first thing always to take into account whenever you are reading anything is its context. When reading the Bible the two primary contexts to take into account are the grammatical and historical, among others. The grammar focus on the text what comes before and after, and the historical aspect inspects what the words meant at that time. Another issue to bring forth is weather it is being used as a figure of speech. So the answer to both questions is all a matter of context and in order to give a more specific answer the text that you are referring to would need to be studied.


Question 3: The bible also touches on the timing of the end times and that wants to wait so that more people would come to know Him. Can you expand on God’s sadness that not all will come to know Him? And just how deep his mercy is?

The clear teaching of the scripture says that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16)." This helps to know that God's desire if for all people to know Him and find salvation in Him. The other thing that we know from scripture is the we "do not know the day or the hour of Christs return (Matthew 24:36)." So, what does this mean for us. We need to be faithful in sharing the love and good news of Jesus with everyone we come into contact with. We don't know who will come to faith in Him no more than we know when He is going to return or we will die. Our faithful duty is to make him known to everyone that we can.

Question 4: Eph. 4:11 states "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up." Are al of the appointed ministries or gifts done away with or just some like apostle and prophets. If yes, why some and not all, and if all still exist how doe we identify them? As well, how do they all work together in the body of Christ?

Answer: I don't think we see clear evidence from the scripture that any of these gifts have gone away competely. I think it is possible to say that the with assurance that the function of all of these gifts still exists in the church today. For instance, the term Apostle in the New Testament represents a couple of things. First, an Apostle was one who was a disciple of Jesus who physically saw Jesus. Now we know that specific role/ person does not exist any more. But the function of the apostolic gift still exists. Paul was an apostle (1 Cor. 9). He was the first missionary of the church and was largely responsible for seeing churches started all over the Roman empire. So, do we still have missionaries and church planters today who are filling an apostolic function? Absolutely!

How do you know if you have a specific gift? I think you will know your gifts by being a part of the church. They will be discerned over time by your involvement. Others will see the gifts that you possess and will encourage those gifts in you.

On a practical note, if you would like to take a spiritual gift inventory. Please email me at aaron@gallerychurch.com and I will send you a workbook that will help you assess your God given gifts.