In this fifth Online Fireside Chat, we have brothers Ken Mooney, Mark Ruthe, and Ray Mulligan sit down with us to give some responses to the questions the young adults and students have asked. It is so good to have fellowship and be in the Body of Christ, even during the covid19 pandemic, and to open to the Lord and to the saints with our questions and problems!
In this session the questions range from being an overcomer (even though we may not be able to deal with the past), disciplining ourselves to spend time with God, not being condemned, dealing with financial anxieties, giving money to the Lord while under a financial strain, being stressed with our job search, reaching out to people and to saints when we are very shy, enjoying the Lord while in chronic pain, and spreading the gospel to our closest friends who may not be that open.
You can watch the entire fireside chat via youtube here, and in portions/by questions via the UniStudents website.
Online Fireside Chat 5 – Dealing with Financial Anxieties, Job Search, Enjoying the Lord while in Chronic Pain, and Speaking the Gospel to those who are not open
Question 1: If I do not deal thoroughly with my past, does that mean I’ll never be an overcomer?
Longer question: The brothers often emphasize that we need to thoroughly clear the past. There are some things in my past, such as certain sins, that I feel I cannot deal with. If I do not deal thoroughly with my past, does that mean that I’ll never be an overcomer?
It is easy to take some of these matters or principles in the Bible such as dealing with the past and be condemned that we can’t do it, so we can’t be an overcomer. But the Bible speaks something different on this matter, and it is so good to know what the word of God speaks!
Watch the response/s given by the brothers here or here.
Question 2: How can I be disciplined to have life practices and recognize God’s sovereignty in situations seemingly adverse to His will?
Longer question: Sometimes, when I wake up, I get distracted and waste time, and it’s hard for me to have a time with the Lord and/or read the Bible. Any suggestions on how to discipline myself to do these things in the early morning? Also, sometimes I feel really discouraged when I need to miss a message (like the dive session). I also tend to feel discouragement and condemnation when (pre-Coronavirus) circumstances sometimes prevent me from going to the meetings, shepherding others, or going to conferences. How do we recognize God’s sovereignty when sometimes our circumstances appear adverse to God’s will for our lives, such as when they prevent us from doing spiritual things?
We may think that the Christian life needs to have some sort of a structure or principles, and the life practices need to be engrained in us, so if we miss one or two times…we may feel condemned. But what we need is simply to come to the Lord again, even to confess to Him that we can’t do it, and just seek Him. I really enjoyed the response of the brothers here.
Watch the response/s given by the brothers here or here.
Question 3: How can I enjoy the Lord in the midst of financial anxieties and provide some fellowship on bankruptcy?
Longer question: Can you provide words of fellowship about financial anxieties? I grew up in a family that struggled a lot affording basic necessities, and I think that has resulted in me being anxious about money as a young adult. I’ve recently had some emergencies, a car accident, and expensive healthcare bills. I’ve had to pay for things with a credit card, and now I’m very anxious about my bills. How can I enjoy the Lord when I’m so anxious about finances? It seems like I might need to file bankruptcy, yet I feel a lot of condemnation about that. Can you provide fellowship related to finances and bankruptcy? Part of me feels like filing bankruptcy is not a Christian thing to do and that as a Christian, I need to pay all my bills. But they are also beyond what I can afford.
This is not uncommon. As we see from the response of the brothers, they themselves have been under such strenuous situations and had financial problems. However, what the brothers respond to this question is not “you need to do this and that” but simply bringing us to the Lord Jesus and to fellowship with the saints. It is so good to be brought back to contacting the Lord and being in the fellowship in the Body! Even in the matter of dealing with financial anxieties we can experience Christ!
Watch the response/s given by the brothers here or here.
Question 4: Can you fellowship regarding giving money to the Lord under financial strain?
Longer question: Can you provide any fellowship on giving money to the Lord while one is under financial strain?
Watch the response/s given by the brothers here or here.
Question 5: Can you provide comforting words of fellowship to a recent graduate who is very stressed with job searching?
Longer question: As a recent graduate, I have been very stressed with my job search. It is very hard to get hired. It’s stressful and scary, having filled out so many applications for months without getting hired. Do you have any comforting words of fellowship?
It is indeed not easy. But we can contact the Lord and learn to experience Him even in this situation. And we can consider our looking for a job as being our full-time job. And we may even consider taking any job for the moment… – but it’s all in our fellowship with the Lord.
Watch the response/s given by the brothers here or here.
Question 6: How can I, as a shy person, reach out to and be built up and connected to people, including saints?
Longer question: I’m naturally very shy, and it’s hard for me to reach out to people, including the saints. But I want to get built up and connected. How can I reach out to them as a shy person? I’m an introvert. How do introverts last in the church life? It’s hard for me to be social and to spend much time being social.
You may be surprised to find out that there are so many of the saints in the church life who are shy and introvert, not extrovert and bold and outspoken. And the solution is not to try to deny ourselves and try to be bold and exercised to speak, etc…but simply to learn to open to the Lord and also to another member in the Body. We need one another, and the life we have in us is a life of fellowship; because of the divine life in us, we can open to one another and fellowship, even though we are shy by nature. Enjoy the response from the brothers.
Watch the response/s given by the brothers here or here.
Question 7: How can I enjoy the Lord in much physical and emotional pain?
The longer question is, due to some surgeries that didn’t go as planned, I have a lot of chronic pain. How do you enjoy the Lord when you’re physically in much pain? Also, how do you enjoy the Lord when you are in a lot of emotional pain?
Some can relate to this; even one of the brothers who responds testified that his wife had chronic pain, and it is not easy, but she learned to enjoy the Lord even in this matter. Sometimes we may have physical pain and at other times we may have emotional pain; we need to learn to contact the Lord and experience Him, even in the midst of this situation.
Watch the response/s given by the brothers here or here.
Question 8: How can my gospel preaching be effective, and how can I learn to shepherd new ones?
In other words, how do we spread the gospel to someone we care about but who is not open? How can my gospel preaching be effective? I have preached the gospel to several friends but they haven’t come to the church life because I don’t know how to shepherd them properly. How can I learn to shepherd new ones? How can I explain to my unbeliever friend that we need to not only be good and nice, but also to seek Lord?
We may “ruin” our testimony with our old “pals” or “mates”; how can we preach the gospel to them? And how can we testify to them, even though they seem to know who we are, who we were, what we have done, and we may feel that we don’t have the ground to do this? The response of the brothers is so encouraging and so enlightening.
Watch the response/s given by the brothers here or here.
Disclaimer: the Question and Response sessions (hosted by UniStudents via YouTube) have a group of invited panelists to respond to questions submitted by students and young adults during the week. The ones on the panel are generally older and more experienced brothers in the Lord, and they have a burden to respond to the questions by sharing both from their experiences in life and from the truth in the Bible. It is important to know, however, that the brothers do NOT presume to have all the answers to all the questions; rather, the brothers provide a response in fellowship, and we all need to take this to the Lord personally to consider all these things before Him. How good it is to be in the Body and to learn from one another in fellowship!
Watch and listen to this Question and Response session in Russian (Вопросы и отклики полная сессия #5).
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