This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program originally aired on Jan. 15, 2021. To listen to the program please click HERE.

Keith Wiebe:                     I want to welcome you to the Friday edition of Stand in the Gap Today. We have been living through days of great uncertainty and crisis. We have just come through an election. The outcome of which has been uncertain until just very recent days. We have had riots and destruction in our cities and streets. And even this last week to our utter dismay in our nation’s Capital. Our heads are reeling and we’re asking questions, what can possibly happen next? This is a good time for us to be reminded of the words of Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing that he, who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” The ESV translates that first phrase, “For I am certain of this.” And today on Stand in the Gap today, we’re going to talk about how we as God’s people can walk in certainty in the midst of what are very uncertain times.

                                             We as God’s children can have certainty because we have a biblical worldview. I’m Keith Wiebe, your host for Stand in the Gap Today. I’m joined by Sam Rohrer, the founder and president of the American Pastors Network. And we have as our guests, two successful and faithful pastors, who are leading their churches through these tumultuous times. Dr. Gary Dull is a regular co-host on this broadcast, but he comes to us now on the other side of that microphone as a guest. Dr. Bill Monroe is the founder and after half a century, still the pastor of the Florence Baptist Temple in Florence, South Carolina. I have been in services in both of these men’s churches. I’ve heard them preach. I’ve watched them lead their people, and you’re in for a treat today. I want to thank Gary and Bill for being willing to spend this time with us.

                                             They each minister in a different state and they have in their respective States, somewhat different political and cultural climates from the others. It reminds us that all of our pastors, all of our churches are in unique places. So I’m going to ask both of them to respond to several questions for us this morning. First of all, I’d like to start this way from the two of you. We’ve just in the process still of going through this COVID-19 period of time, how do you describe church life in COVID from your experience so far? Gary, we’ll start with you and then Bill you’ll follow him please.

Gary Dull:                           Well, thank you, Keith. It’s a delight to be with you today in the program, and even to sit on this side of the program as it were, as the guest and I understand now how our guests feel. So thank you very, very much for this opportunity, and that this has truly been such an interesting time, it’s been a different time. It’s been such a time that I could have never even imagined. Keith, the Bible teaches us that the church is designed to be together. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 25 tells us that we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as we see the day approaching. And since March of last year, we find that in many ways the church has been scattered.

                                             We have people in our church who have not been here since March of last year. And so it has become very, very difficult to minister to the people in the church. In fact, I think that this might be one of the most difficult times for pastors who are called to preach and teach and shepherd their people. And in this time of separation, it’s difficult. Attendance has been down, there have been other issues, but I’ve got to say this Keith, that through this COVID-19, here at our church, we’ve seen God work. We’ve seen more salvations than ever according to the record. And God’s blessed. And it’s a reminder to me that God’s in charge and he works all things together for his glory and for our good. And I think that we are seeing that during this COVID time in our churches.

Keith Wiebe:                     Bill, how are things,? how would you describe this in the church where you’re pastoring there in South Caroline?

Bill Monroe:                      Well, Keith, good to be with you today and your listeners. And I would just grab it as being unique and mixed. There’ve been some good things through this time, and there’s also been a great deal of challenges. Of course, attendance is down at our church as it is, I assume everywhere. However, we probably are having 70% or so of the attendants prior to COVID. The one thing I noticed it’s very different is we don’t have the number of people visiting with us. We don’t have people coming who are not church members. And of course it affects programs, Sunday school right now has been limited, we offer classes to the younger people, but not to the older people that are more vulnerable. We have a sports ministry and addictions ministry called Are You Reformers United, and it’s affected them, but they’re functioning and they’re functioning well.

                                             We’ve looked for opportunities to do ministry in different ways. For example, we had a major food collection drive at Christmas and provided food to people that were having a need. And so we’re just trying to think now, creatively, how can we reach out to get the gospel to more people, minister to more people than we’re able to do? And some of those are new ways and some of those that are traditional ways, but they’re limited in their scope.

Sam Rohrer:                      Bill, thank you for that and for Gary the same thing. And as we interface with pastors all over the country, what you were saying seems to be very, very similar to others. Bill let me go to you first, [inaudible 00:06:10] the last little bit you and Gary had to follow up after you, church is all about relationships. Gary started out talking about the requirement to not forsake the fellowshipping of ourselves together. Scripture talks about the unity of the brethren and such an important thing. How have you seen relationships affected during particularly this last year going now into 2021?

Bill Monroe:                      Well, obviously I think there was such a fear that came over the entire country when this thing started back in March, the declarations from Dr. Fauci and the World Health and all that, and that fear changes relationships. And it really does. I think that’s the biggest thing. And then the things they suggested was the social distancing, for example, the wearing of mask. You wouldn’t think that, that would have the impact. I would not have thought previously that would have had the impact it has, but when people can’t touch, they can’t hug, they can’t shake hands, you can’t see their expressions, their countenance. The countenance is a big emphasis in the Bible. A lot of our communication is from the countenance of people.

                                             And so when you add all that up, it mitigates against the warmth and the love that we were traditionally experiencing in our churches and hence it hurt relationships. Thankfully, we worked at it and we encouraged the people, but just the very directions that they’re trying to follow and maintaining their health, mitigate against a warmth that we would love to have.

Keith Wiebe:                     That is really true Bill, I think that’s been the same thing in all of our churches. Folks we’re going to continue with this discussion, I think you’re going to find segment two fascinating. We’re going to take just a bit of break.

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                                             We’re living in uncertain days, we all recognize that, but our theme for this broadcast and our thinking for believers as we live today is certainty in uncertain days. We’re going through something of a cultural reset that does not appear that it’s in any way, moving toward that of a biblical worldview. We don’t know what the future will look like. We don’t know when we’ll return to anything resembling normalcy, nor exactly what that will look like. The recent election, well, undoubtedly main changes that will affect, especially those of us who live and minister in harmony with a biblical worldview.

                                             We have as our guests today, Bill Monroe, pastor of the Florence Baptist Temple in Florence, South Carolina, and Dr. Gary Dull, pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Altoona, Pennsylvania. And I’m going to ask both of you about the challenges that pastors are facing today. We’ll talk in a minute about challenges that our people face in general in our churches, but as a pasture, giving leadership shepherding the flock. What challenges are you as pastors facing in this world today? Bill you first and then Gary please.

Bill Monroe:                      Well, my greatest challenge right now is knowing what is the truth? Having a knowledge of the truth, as leaders, we want to do the right thing, we want to give good guidance and direction. And yet the signals from our government, from health officials and so on have been so mixed. That it’s difficult to know what is the right thing? What is the truth? Jesus said, “If you know the truth, the truth will set you free.” And Hosea said, “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge.” And so my greatest challenge right now is to be discerning, to read, to study, to be well-informed myself, as much as possible. These things keep changing every day or week, but I want to be so well informed that I have a good feeling about whatever direction I set, because as a shepherd, we set the direction in our churches. And so I think my greatest challenge is knowing to know what to do. I need to know the truth, the facts, and therefore, I would say that’s my biggest challenge.

Gary Dull:                           I would agree with that 100% brother Bill, and I just want to say something here before I give then an answer. This coming Sunday, the 17th of January is the sanctity for human life Sunday. And also Tony Perkins has asked pastors to lead their congregations in prayer for our nation. And so I’d like to call on pastors all across the nation to set aside this coming Sunday is a day of prayer and fasting for our nation, for the matters of life in our country, and for truth to prevail here in the United States of America. But in answering your question directly, Keith, one of the struggles or the challenges that I have as a pastor in something, I asked the Lord to give me direction on daily, is wisdom as to how to deal with my people in knowing where they are.

                                             As Bill just said there, what we hear from the government, what we see in the media, it seems to be changing on a daily basis, sometimes several times throughout course of the day. And the people in our congregations, they’re tossed to and fro sometimes by these various winds of doctrine and teaching that’s out there. And so my challenge and what I pray for is that the Lord will give me the wisdom to minister to my people where they are knowing that out of several hundred people, we’ve got different people with different concerns. And so that’s a challenge that I have. And then I challenged my people to make certain that you focus on the word of God, build a prayer life so that they themselves might be able to see the clear direction of God in their lives.

Sam Rohrer:                      And Gary, I want to follow up with you now and turn it from the standpoint of the challenges that you and Bill were talking about from the standpoint of your personal challenges. I know you’ve shared a number of things that COVID has created difficulties, even such as visiting people in the hospital. And you can go beyond that if you want, but it would be this, what are the biggest challenges that you have found that the people have experienced during this time where our lives have been totally changed and how have you ministered to those? So I’m very curious what you say. And then Bill, if you immediately follow up after Gary, please.

Gary Dull:                           Sam again, that’s a very good question. And from my perspective, I find that a lot of my people are confused and they face fear. And of course they are confused simply because as I said, a moment ago, you hear so many different things. And I want to go back to what Bill said in the first segment. It’s important that we, as pastors try to help our people understand what the truth is about everything that they’re hearing day in and day out. And so I think that there might be some confusion there, but there’s another thing Sam, that concerns me greatly. And that is the fear that a lot of our people are going through. Paul told Timothy that the Lord has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

                                             And then in the gospel of Mark the Lord, Jesus Christ, when he was in that boat with the disciples and they became very fearful over the storm that they were in, he asked them a question and made a statement to them that I’ve shared with my people over and over again. And that is this, he says in Mark four and verse 40, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” And I think that it’s very important for me as a pastor and I think others as well to try to lead the congregation through that period of fear, to the point of faith, where faith is over fear in their lives, rather than fear over faith in their lives.

Bill Monroe:                      I would also say, and I agree, 100%. I think the number one thing today and the country is the spirit of fear that Satan has used. And you have different kinds of people in our membership. We have people that really should not be at church. They are vulnerable, they’re in their eighties. They have other co-morbidities and so on. But we also have people who honestly have been so captured by a spirit of fear. They should be here and it’s holding them back. And I think the one thing that the principle I’ve tried to keep in mind is to emphasize to our people, to live by the word of God, to live a principle-centered life based upon the scripture and not an emotional response to the world around us. If I live by my feelings by definition, I’m going to be very, very insecure and I’m going to be up and down and tossed to and fro.

                                             So if I can get people to understand the sufficiency of the scripture, that God’s word is sufficient. It was sufficient before COVID, it is sufficient in COVID and it will be sufficient after COVID. And I know we don’t have time to develop this much, but one of the great challenges we have as a church for people other than our people is, how do we do evangelism in a climate that says, well, you can’t get close to people and you can’t talk to people like you once could? So that’s another challenge for me, how do I actually help the unsafe people come to know the Lord Jesus Christ and to share the gospel with them?

Keith Wiebe:                     That is so well said, Bill and Gary, both. And it leads really right into and partially answers the next question that I want to pose. And that is, as we look back over this whole COVID experience, what have we learned? Maybe what you would do different going through it again, this is a road that none of us as churches and pastors and ministries have ever traveled before. So what have we learned? How do we even address unity in the face of policies and norms? And we’ve already talked about some things that push us apart. What have we learned that can help us prepare for the times ahead? Bill, I’ll start with you then Gary, you follow.

Bill Monroe:                      Well, one thing I’ve learned I guessed if I were to say that I’ve learned anything specifically, it would be that God is sufficient. His word is sufficient, that we started into this thing, it was such an unknown, we were hearing all these conflicting stories of people dying and so on. And I just think that day by day, we still have made it. We’ve endured, our church here, thankfully is intact. I what I’ve learned is that God’s grace is sufficient and you can see that better looking backward than you can looking forward sometimes. And so I would say, God has been awfully good to us. In spite of the challenges, our income is up. We have people, we have a missionary getting ready to go to the field. So in all of it, God has been faithful as we knew in theory that he would, but in the rear view mirror now for the last 10 months, we can see that he’s been faithful.

Keith Wiebe:                     Good. Gary, briefly please.

Gary Dull:                           A 100%, simply because of the fact that the Bible teaches us in the book of Hebrews chapter 10, that we can have confidence in God, the work. And since March of last year, I’ll tell you, Keith, we’ve seen God work many ways in our ministry. I agree with brother Bill, our finances have been up. There’ve been some Sundays when we’ve gotten twice as much as what we actually needed. And in the budget beyond that, our worship has been better. Our singing, our studying of the word of God has been better. So I think if there’s one thing I’ve learned, and that is this, that as we go through these dark times, we can have confidence in God to bring the brightness of his light, to our congregations. He is doing that.

Keith Wiebe:                     That is very good. As much of this we could drill down much deeper, that we’ll do that at a later time. When we come back from this next break, we’re going to talk about a major reset that the secular [inaudible 00:19:15] would like to have, but even more importantly, the major resets that God has for us. Please stay tuned, Stand in the Gap Today.

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                                             Welcome back to Stand in the gap Today. We appreciate you tuning in and joining us. We’re talking about uncertainty in the difficult days in which we live, but the great issue is not what is happening to us as much as it is, how we respond to what in God’s loving providence is happening in our lives. And in that context, I asked the question. So just what is the strategy of the enemy? Rahm Emanuel, is very famous for saying, ‘you should never waste a crisis’. He was chief of staff for Barack Obama in beginning days of his presidency, later served as mayor of the City of Chicago. And the world would exploit a crisis to further selfishness, but God uses a crisis to further his purpose in our lives. Now, this is a time of reset politically, economically, especially spiritually.

                                             Bill, I know you recently started a series of messages on the great reset. The thought was triggered by a book that you read. And you’ve recently talked about that in your church, and we’ll do this in two parts. First, talk to us for just a minute or two about the goals of those that have a human worldview and what their reset ideas are. And then Sam will pick it up and take on to the next part of it, with the question for you. Bill, go ahead. What are the goals of those with a human worldview?

Bill Monroe:                      Well, those goals are laid out in a book by a man named Klaus Schwab, who is a German professor, an engineer, who is also the founder of the World Economic Forum, which meets in Davos, Switzerland every year with a lot of the real [inaudible 00:21:11] to the whole world and government finance and so on. He wrote a book called COVID-19: The Great Reset. And basically in it, he says that COVID is an opportunity for a reset to start all over. And I would say he is using COVID as a camouflage to increase the power and control of governments, and then lead toward globalism. In fact, one place in the book, I took a marker and marked it, and on two pages where the book was open, he used the term global governance, 12 times that phrase appears in two pages. So it is a globalist view of the future.

                                             There’s a video that he has on that website. You can see it on YouTube and they give the eight goals of the globalist movement by 2030. I’ll just give you one of them, the very first one, and it will chill you. The first goal is you will own nothing, but you will be happy. This is a state to go. So it’s socialism, communism by whatever name you wish to call it. But it is a total one world mindset and worldview. And it’s laid out very well in that and of course, attending that conference will be Bill Gates and Zuckerberg, and a lot of heads of state and people like that, CEOs.

Sam Rohrer:                      Bill, I want to follow up here now with you because we have dealt on our program on the Stand in the Gap TV program and some others on this theme, because it is so encompassing. And you obviously mentioned only a couple of things there, property ownership, but they get into ownership of weapons for protection, their second amendment. And it’s talking about digital currency as well. And it’s all tied into the COVID vaccination is going to be the entrance card to travel and all that. So when you’re presenting that to your people, you’re really getting very practical, I want to commend you for that.

                                             But in the light of that, I think you also attempted to summarize and say, on one hand you have the efforts of man, it’s almost like going back to the tower of Babel, where people said, “We’re going to do it our way.” And God said, “No, you’re going to do it my way. And he spread them around the world. Now it’s back, they’re getting ready to do it again. Of course, the AntiChrist, the end times are coming. And so we’re building that way. So we have what man says, we’re going to redo and reset, but God’s also got a plan for reset. And you have some bulleted points that you put down. Would you go through those please?

Bill Monroe:                      Well, in my series I’m saying that they’re actually five resets that God himself is engineering. The first reset of course occurred at the fall. When the original plan of God was thwarted by the entrance of Son into humanity. And then a couple of thousand years later, the Bible says every imagination of the heart of man was evil continually, and God judged the world. He actually pruned the tree down to one family and we call that the flood. And then after that, of course was the situation you mentioned there, the tower of Babel, when the first globalist a man named Nimrod sought to keep the world together, using politics, building a city, and also religion, building a tower to heaven.

                                             Then I think there was another reset that occurred at the first coming of Jesus Christ. When God provided through the cross of Christ and his sacrifice, a reset, forgiveness if you will, the opportunity for every single person, whosoever will to come to a saving knowledge of Christ. Then there’s a future reset. And that will be the second coming of the Lord, Jesus Christ. When he comes and he comes back in glory and power, and the kingdom of God becomes a literal kingdom at the millennial reign of Christ. So God has his plan of reset as well.

Keith Wiebe:                     He certainly does Bill. And I was thinking, while you were talking there and Gary, I’m going to ask you to respond to the element of fear, just a moment that we have talked about here. We have the same civilization from creation till now, the same set of historical circumstances that people face. But here are people operating from a secular worldview, like the book, Bill, that you described that wants to respond with control with a one world government, with a one world religious system. And all of that control is designed to push God out of the picture, but respond to you the same set of circumstances. Again, the issue is not what’s happening to us, the issue is how we respond. Responding to that same set circumstances as God’s people. And that it occurs to me that there needs to be on our part, the dual response of acknowledging God’s purpose and yielding in submission to him, but also acknowledging and confessing our confidence in God.

                                             And you both made the point through this, that a great enemy today, a great concern is that people have responded so much to all of this with fear, and we don’t need to have fear. We don’t need to have uncertainty Gary. We can have confidence in God, Gary, you’re a pastor. You’ve dealt with people through fear. Talk to us out of a pastor’s heart for just a couple of minutes here about dealing with our consequences today, with what we’re facing today. Not out of a spirit of fear, but out of confidence in God.

Gary Dull:                           Well, again, Keith, I appreciate that because you know, the Bible teaches us how very important it is to have confidence in God. I made reference a bit ago of a verse in Hebrews chapter 10. I just want to read it right now. It’s verse 35 where it says, “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” It’s absolutely important, Keith, that we as pastors, as well as people in the pew, as it were, keep our eyes on the Lord during days, like the COVID-19. Another things here in the United States of America, we are facing the inauguration of a new president and we’ve gone through a tremendous time of disunity in our country.

                                             And many people are saying, what in the world is going on? One of the things I think we need to keep in mind, Keith, is that God causes, allows and directs all things. If we take our eyes off the Lord, we will become confused. If we keep our eyes on the Lord and have confidence in God’s working, then I think that we will be strengthened. So that leads us to the question, how do we keep our eyes on the Lord? And how do we have confidence in God that will override as it were fear? And how can we have confidence in God that we’ll build our faith? Well, we go back to Romans chapter 10 and verse 17. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” And so I think it’s very important in times like this, that as Christians, we really spend time in God’s word. We talk to God in prayer. We do what we can to build our own walk with the Lord, keeping in mind, what the enemy is really up to.

                                             Over in John chapter 10 and verse 10. I think that the Lord Jesus gives the enemies mission statement. When he says that he has come but for to kill and steal and destroy. Satan is doing that, that’s his goal. We need to keep our eyes on the Lord and have confidence in him so that we can enjoy the abundant life that Christ has given us.

Keith Wiebe:                     Yes, we certainly do, and God is never shortened that his hand can’t save, his ears never heavy that it cannot hear us. Thank you for those encouraging words. When we come back, we’re going to talk very directly to pastors and to their people about how we respond, how we react to the days ahead.

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                                             Thank you so much for listening today to Stand in the Gap Today, on this Friday edition. I’m going to ask our producer, Tim Schneider to take the microphone for just a moment and share with you some of the resources, additional ways that Stand in the Gap Today and the American Pastors Network can have a ministry for you. Tim, go ahead.

Tim Schneider:                  Hey, thanks Keith. Good afternoon, everybody. Glad that you’re joining us today, hopefully you’re enjoying this great topic and thank you for joining us here. We do have lots of great resources, if all you do is listen to the radio program or check out the TV program and you don’t realize everything else that’s going on. I know we have some new stations that have come on board this week. So just want to let you know about some other things that are happening besides just the radio and the TV program. We have a great newsletter and you can sign up for it by going to our website. Actually there’s two of them, americanpastors.net, or standinthegapmedia.org. Also, over there, there’s opportunities for you to read some articles and just see some other great things that are being put out by us.

                                             So go on over there, americanpastors.net, or standinthegapmedia.org and go over and check our resources and sign up for that newsletter. Also, do you ever find yourself busy? I think we all do, but sometimes you may not have the opportunity to listen to a whole entire Stand in the Gap Today show, even though it’s a less than an hour, I understand we all have things going on and sometimes we can’t sit down and listen to the whole entire program. Well, did you know that we have shorter audio segments of somewhere between two and 11 minutes? Usually that cover various topics discussed on our Stand in the Gap Today, radio program, we call these podcasts Q&A’s. These are podcasts such are good for listeners who desire to hear a short segment on a certain topic. We have lots of different topics, cultural issues, biblical worldview, the constitution, COVID, as we’re talking about today, tons of different things.

                                             We have tons of those podcasts, Q&A clips. We have over 3000 in our library. You can go and check that out in our archive section, either go onto our app and look at the podcast Q&A area, or go to our website, standinthegapmedia.org. Also, we are on all the streaming platforms. So if you get your podcast, which I do a lot of things, because I listen as I drive a lot to get here and other places. So Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, iHeartRadio, we’re on all the major streaming platforms. So if you get your podcasts through that, we encourage you to sign up for our podcast. So every time something new is loaded, you can get it to your smart device downloaded right there, fast, convenient. Don’t even need to worry about it.

                                             So please sign up for those, if you do your podcasting through those platforms. Also, if you’re subscribed to our podcast through Apple Podcast or Google Podcast, or one of these other platforms, please make sure you rate us. Ratings will allow other like-minded individuals to find us out as they search for podcasts. So please make sure that you give us a rating if you really appreciate what it is that we’re doing. All right, Keith, I’m going to go back to you. Hopefully you’re not in your snow cave just yet, and you’re still able to conduct the program, so back to you.

Keith Wiebe:                     Still, able to do this. Thank you so much, Tim. It’s been a privilege to have Gary Dull as a guest on our program today. And Gary you’re generally a co-host to the [inaudible 00:33:31], while I have you on the guest side of the microphone, I’m going to ask between you and Sam to divide the next six minutes or so between you. I would like to draw on your experience and wisdom as a pastor, a shepherd of many years, what would you say to people who are listening? A lot of pastors are listening and of course, most of the people listening have pastors, what would you say to them as they look at what likely maybe ahead of us in our lives and the days ahead? In the next few minutes, how would you advise them to prepare spiritually to respond to these days from my biblical worldview?

Gary Dull:                           Well, Keith, I think that you said it right there at the end, and that is the concept of the biblical worldview. It’s very important that we as Christians have a biblical worldview, which basically means to see everything through the eyes of the scripture. And I’ve often said that one of the ways to do that is ask the question, what does the Bible say? WDTBS. In other words, with everything that comes up in their lives, whether it’s in our individual lives, our family lives, our church life, our national life. What does the Bible say about it? Now, that simply means that we need to be in the word of God and I don’t have the time to elaborate upon it. But I think of passages like Joshua chapter one, verse eight, where God told Joshua, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein.”

                                             And then he says, “For then thou shalt make their way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” Joshua had a series of great battles ahead of him. He didn’t know what he had to fight. He really didn’t know specifics about what the future would bring as he took Israel across the Jordan River and into the promised land. But God told him, “Stay in the word of God, stay in the law, be focused on the book of the law. And then you will prosper and be successful.” That’s not talking about prosperity theology, but it simply means that when we are in the word of God, we will prosper in the things and be successful in the things that God wants us to do. And I think that’s important as we go through this COVID-19 time. And then in the new Testament, the book of Ephesians chapter five verses 15, 16, and 17 are rich, Keith.

                                             Where it says, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Wherefore be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.” We need to be walking circumspectly, looking around us, observing what’s taking place, redeeming the time, buying up the opportunity to serve the Lord and in doing so, getting to understand the will of God so that we might live for his glory. Those two passages of scripture, I encourage people to meditate upon Joshua 1:8, Ephesians chapter five verses 15 through 17. It helps one to develop a biblical worldview.

Keith Wiebe:                     Very well said, Gary, thank you so very much. Sam you’ve been a cohost today, but I also know that you have your finger on the pulse of our culture. You keep up with a broad spectrum of what’s happening. What should God’s people, especially those that we think of as remanent believers, what should they expect in the days ahead? What counsel would you offer them about how they should order their lives in the days ahead?

Sam Rohrer:                      Keith, I think that’s what every person across the country is thinking. And this is where I go with them, in times when we feel pressure, when we don’t know what’s happening down the road, and we do not know what’s happening, it may unfold here in the immediate days ahead of us and this year. So what do we do? Why say we go to the scripture? And I think one of the things, the verse that comes to my mind or it’s the concept is waiting on the Lord. “Be still and know that I am God.” He says. The example of the Israelites. They were confronted with great challenges. They came up against the Red Sea. One, I think of, and the Egyptian army and all the powers were upon them. They were on their tail. They had no place to go. It’s that time when we have no place to go and nowhere to turn that God has a way of showing up.

                                             God shows up when we need him. And I think within the context of waiting on the Lord and Keith, for me, it’s a part of learning increasingly to walk by faith and not by sight. Turn off the secular news. It’s not giving us news anyways, go to the word of God, wait on him, rest in the Lord. And then anticipate his return. Anticipate his return. The Lord’s return is soon. The disciples asked the Lord, “What’s it going to be like?” And he said, “Well, don’t be deceived. That’s going to be the mark.” He said, “You’re going to see wars, rumors of wars and all those things and persecution, false prophets.” He didn’t tell them that Keith to get them worried. He told them that so that they would not be shocked when those times come and they’ve come, but to be resolute and standing for the truth and declaring the gospel. I think that’s really where we need to be. It’s a mindset trusting in the Lord.

Keith Wiebe:                     That’s exactly where we need to be. Folks, this program has been rich with Bill Monroe, Gary Dull, Sam Rohrer, the insights they’ve shared. There are some things here that it’s worth your while, then go back in the archives in the next day or two and listen to this one again. Please remember that in uncertain times, we can be certain and confident. Be steadfast, know that he is God. Thank you for listening.