The New You: April 5, 2014 (ep 30)

April 5, 2014

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Saturday, April 5, 2014
“Q & A Saturday”

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Email: robert@thelightnetwork.tv
Voicemail: 903-26-LIGHT (903-265-4448)

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Episode Transcript:

It’s Saturday, April 5, 2014, I’m Robert Hatfield and this program delivers daily thoughts for new Christians. This is the Saturday edition of THE NEW YOU!

Welcome to Q & A Saturday! Let me take just a moment here at the beginning to remind you that I could really use your questions for next week! If you have a question or comment – anything you’d like to add in to the show – I’d love to hear it! Don’t be afraid to ask anything. Email me at robert@thelightnetwork.tv or, better yet, give me a call and let’s hear your voice right here on the show! My voicemail line is 903-265-4448.

Let’s get started.

Question #1: “How old does someone have to be to be baptized?”

I really like this question a lot. The answer is no, there is not a certain age that one must be in order to become a Christian. Instead, becoming a Christian is a matter of knowledge, understanding, and maturity. In other words, do you understand what the Bible teaches you to do in order to be saved? Do you understand why you must do those things? If so, then you are ready. No one can tell you whether you are ready to become a Christian. It is a decision that you must make yourself. However, there are many people who can help you to arrive at this decision. Your parents or grandparents, your Bible class teacher, a preacher, or an elder are just a few examples of those who would be so happy to talk with you about becoming a Christian.

Kyle Butt and John Farber wrote a great little book titled, Am I Ready to Be Baptized?. I highly recommend it to your reading if you’re wondering when you should be baptized. In the book, the authors encourage us to think on the following questions:

Do you know who God is?
Do you understand what sin is? Have you sinned? (see 1 John 3:4; Rom. 3:23; 6:23)
Do you know God’s plan to remove sin?
Do you understand what it means to repent? (see Luke 13:3, 5; Acts 2:38; 17:30-31)
If you have sinned, are you willing to repent of ALL of your sins?
Do you know that God’s plan says that a person must confess Jesus Christ? (see Rom. 10:9-10)
Do you know what it means to confess Jesus? (see Matthew 10:32-33)
Do you understand that God’s plan says that a person needs to be baptized? (see Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; Romans 6:3-4; 1 Pet. 3:21, etc.)
Do you understand what baptism does with sins? (see Acts 22:16)
Do you understand that becoming a Christian is a life-long commitment? (Mat. 10:22; Rev. 2:10)
Do you think you are ready to become a Christian by being baptized?

Question #2: “Does the Bible speak of dinosaurs (Job 40:15-24)?”

Yes! The reference that was included in this question could be talking of nothing other than a dinosaur – the behemoth. While some have claimed that this animal could have been something like an elephant or a hippo, these animals simply do not match up with the description here in Job 40 (like the tail, for example – an elephant’s tail is nothing like a cedar tree).

Does this mean that dinosaurs and humans coexisted? There is simply no other conclusion if we respect the Genesis account of creation (Gen. 1). Dinosaurs would have been created on days five and six with the animals of the air and water (day five), the animals of the land (day 6), and humans (day 6).

See also passages that refer to leviathan – Psalm 74:14; 104:26; Isa. 27:1.

Admittedly, this is an extremely simplistic answer to this question. If you’re interested in further study on the topic of dinosaurs in the Bible, there are several resources that I would recommend. I’ve linked them below:

That’s all that we have for this week’s edition of Q & A Saturday. Thanks so much for these great questions. The Bible can answer any question that we have relative to the sin problem, God’s gracious salvation offer, the purpose of life, and everything related thereunto. I want to thank you for studying with me today. If anything I said has been helpful to you, then I’m thankful to God.

Also, let me stop for just a minute and thank you for listening to The New You. This has been one of the most enjoyable experiences that I’ve ever had. This is the 30^th episode of The New You! I love producing these podcasts, and I love hearing from people who have been blessed by it. That’s extremely encouraging to me. It’s all about going to heaven. I can’t wait until we can all be together there.

Memory Verse: On Saturdays we like to see how well we’ve done with the week’s memory verse. Here’s what I’m going to do: I’ll say the verse but with blanks. As I say it, you say it with me and see if you can fill in the blanks. We’ll review the answers at the end. Here goes!

Ezra __:___: For Ezra had _____________ his heart to _______ the Law of the LORD, and to ____ it, and to ______________ statutes and ordinances in Israel.

Ezra 7:10: For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.

Great job! Let’s add that one to the verses that we’ve memorized together. This is a growing list which currently contains Psalm 119:11, 1 Corinthians 15:58, Jeremiah 10:23, Romans 1:16, and now Ezra 7:10. We’ll begin to add another verse to this list on Monday, the Lord willing.

Over the weekend: Tomorrow is the first day of the week! That’s the day that the first century disciples gathered to worship (Acts 20:7). Modern followers of Christ will do the same. Do you have a place to worship tomorrow? If not, check out our show notes over at thelightnetwork.tv for an interactive map of congregations. (http://www.searchtv.org/mapchurch.html). Search for your area and I’m sure you’ll find a nearby congregation with which to worship.

OUTRO:

Thanks for joining today me on The New You. You can contact me by email at robert@thelightnetwork.tv or by phone at 903-265-4448. Archives of this program and more Christian podcasts can be found online at thelightnetwork.tv.

I’ll meet you on Monday as we begin another work week together right here on The New You!