For this session of the online Fireside Chat 3 – Questions and Responses – we have brothers Ken Mooney, Mark Ruthe, and Ray Mulligan sitting down and share with us about their experiences of Christ, based on some of the questions raised by the Christian students and young adults. Questions raging from being judged by others to interacting with other Christians.
Sometimes we will read the question just as it has been submitted, and other times we will adjust the question in order to more broadly address the topic in that question. Enjoy the full fireside chat below (a little over two hours long – nonetheless a very good listen).
These questions were submitted during the conference; some of them will be read as they are, but others are a bit heavier, but still quite important. Some of the questions may be adjusted so that the topic in the question may be addressed more broadly.
Online Fireside Chat 3 – Questions and Responses
Question 1 – 2:31 – Sometimes I really feel like I am enjoying the Lord, but then I lose that feeling. I then get introspective and try to figure out what is wrong. If I lost the Lord’s speaking, what should I do?
This is a very common question. Sometimes in life, we feel we’re enjoying the Lord, He speaks to us, and we feel – is this what abiding in the Lord is?
And then, all of a sudden it goes, blank! So we may go quite introspective, which means that we look inwardly to try to figure out what’s wrong, is the Lord mad at us, did we do something wrong? If we lose the Lord’s speaking, what should we do?
Listen to the response to this question here – or watch it on youtube here.
Question 2 – 21:54 – I feel constantly judged by other Christians regarding my lifestyle. Whenever this happens, I seem to completely lose all my enjoyment of the Lord. How can I be saved from this outward judgement by other believers? How can I continue enjoying the Lord in this experience?
We may feel constantly judged by other Christians concerning the way we live our life, our lifestyle; this may refer to the things we do in the weekends, what we do during the weekdays…but the way we spend our spare time, other Christians judge us.
When this happens, there seems to be such an outward focus on things they are judging us with. So, when this happens, we seem to completely lose all enjoyment of the Lord.
How can we be saved from the outward judgment of the believers? We can’t change them, but they may try to impose something on us. And how can we continue to enjoy the Lord in this situation, in this experience?
Listen to the response to this question here – or watch it on youtube here.
Question 3 – 38:05 – I live in a city without other saints there. My family is not interested in the church life and are even opposed to it. My contact to other saints are limited. What might the Lord be trying to speak to me in this environment?
It is not a majority case, but it is not uncommon. Especially throughout Europe there are a number of brothers and sisters, older ones and younger ones alike, who find themselves in this kind of situation.
So the question is, if we live in a city where there are no other saints, we are with our family, and even our family is not interested in the church life, but even more: they are opposed to it. So our contact with other saints is limited.
On one hand, we have an intimate relationship with the Lord, but there’s a suffering related to the fellowship with other believers.
And in fact, any attempts to fellowship with other believers is opposed. This is something we have been praying about, and this may have caused us to be even more vulnerable toward the enemy. This may be an environment arranged by the Lord, but what might He be trying to speak through it?
Please pray for such ones in such situations. Pray that they would be preserved in the Lord and their heart would be guarded. In such an environment, we want the Lord’s speaking, but we can’t hear it.
Listen to the response to this question here – or watch it on youtube here.
Question 4 – 51:55 – My father is always yelling at me. He is always telling me very bad things. He yells at my mom and brother too. He drinks a lot of alcohol. My face and my heart are crying because of it. After that, I am sad and anxious, and I have dead thoughts. What should I do in this kind of situation? What kind of prayers should I pray?
It is related to the environment, for sometimes the Lord allows us to be in an environment that is quite unbearable. What should we do in such situations, and what kind of prayer should we pray?
Listen to the response to this question here – or watch it on youtube here.
Question 5 – 1:07:39 – How should we interact with our Christian friends that meet in other groups and that might have different views, but nevertheless love the Lord? Should I try to bring them into my group?
This is a transition to another question, in a different direction. It is a very good question because something we’re constantly faced with is Christians in other groups that believe different things that we do. So we both believe in the Lord, even love Him.
But how should we interact with those Christians, who many times are our friends – even close friends – and not just some random person we meet? They are dear believers, part of a different group, a church or something else; they have different views, they love the Lord…so how should we be with them?
How do we enjoy the Lord with someone from a different group? And as a follow-up, should we try to bring them into our group? Should this be our goal in meeting with them and conversing with them?
Listen to the response to this question here – or watch it on youtube here.
Question 6 – 1:27:41 – How could we gain someone to whom our testimony has been damaged due to our past life?
This is a follow-up question related to the previous one: it has to do with our experience as those who were in the world. The Lord touched us at a certain time, He pricked our heart, and it happened in a lot of different ways. We had that other life, with different friends, in that environment or culture.
But then we start to make new friends, we pursue the Lord, and eventually, we become burdened for our friends, those from our past. We start to touch this enjoyment of the Lord, His love, and we want to share it with others.
And when we try to contact them and talk to them, they reject us; because of our past life, our testimony with that person has been damaged.
The Bible did speak of an instance when the Lord tried to go back to His family…but how can we preach the gospel to these people from our past for whom we’re burdened for, but our testimony has been destroyed by the fact that they know who we were….?
Listen to the response to this question here – or watch it on youtube here.
Question 7 – 1:41:49 – Brother Ray, please give us your testimony on how you met your wife.
This is the one last thing for the Q&R. It’s a big thing. It is one area in which there was a tidal wave of questions: relationships. The next Q&R will be on relationships (not just the personal ones but also being offended with others and such things). But in this portion, we wanted to know how did brother Ray meet his wife (as a foretaste of how it will be in the next episode). Brother Ray, how did it all go down?
Listen to the response to this question here – or watch it on youtube here.
About aGodMan