Q&A's: Are Levitical laws for believers? Baptizing yourself? Forgiving abusers? Fearing everything?

Hey guys, welcome to another round of questions and answers where we look at questions that you guys have sent in, such as a question regarding fear. How do I overcome frequent chronic fears of the many what-ifs in life, of things that can go wrong? Another question about the biblical feasts. Why does it seem that Paul does not encourage Gentiles to keep the biblical feasts? And then a question about baptism. Does it matter who baptizes you, whether they are a man, a woman, their denominational background? And can you baptize yourself? Then also a question regarding the Levitical unclean laws. Are they still applicable to followers of Christ today? And then a question about forgiveness and reconciliation. Does forgiving someone always mean that we should remain in close relationship with them? And what about cases of abuse? Right, guys, we got so many good questions here today. We're going to try and move through all of them, but if we don't get through all of them, we're going to save some for round 2. So let's go. I want you to see that there's a theme tonight, and even though we're talking about, you know, everything from the Levitical law to personal struggles with fear to forgiveness and reconciliation, the thread that's tying all of these questions together that I perceive is this: What does God expect of me compared to what the religious world expects of me? You know, if we know the difference between these 2 things, we're going to experience so much freedom in Christ. Because sometimes in pursuing walking like Christ, We're bogged down with the fear of messing it up based off man-made religious technicalities. God has indeed given us expectations on how to live, right? He's given us his law, but the religious world also have theirs, and that's not always the same as God's. In the first century, the Pharisees and the scribes who ended up persecuting and murdering the Messiah had the religious expectations that they placed upon the shoulders of men, and they burdened people and they complicated faith. But today, let's look at what God says. All right. So just a little disclaimer. Of course, I don't know everything, but I welcome you on this journey with me as we journey through these questions with the Holy Spirit. And guys, just just before I begin, I'm I'm I'm going through some stuff just to be real with you, you know. And so if I if I'm seem off, that's why. Pray for me. Just some trials in life. But thank you so much for watching, joining. I love you guys, and let's get into it. All right. So first question is regarding baptism. And it goes like this: Does it matter who baptized you? Is it if it's a man, if it's a woman, if it's a quote unquote back of the book believer or a whole Bible believer, or you yourself? This question is from Christchurch. I believe that's a city. Thank you so much for sending this in. This person wishes to remain anonymous. Now, regarding baptism, I think it's important for us to begin with asking, who is the true baptizer? You know, when we look at John the Baptist, who was the baptizer in the first century initially, whom everyone was looking to, right, who came— he said he came to prepare this way for someone else. And he said this. Indeed, I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Okay, so John is speaking of the coming Messiah, and he's saying this Messiah, he will baptize you. We also see the Messiah, Yeshua himself, in Luke 12:50. Jesus says, "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!" Right? So we see both John and the Messiah himself are saying he has a baptism. So why didn't he baptize? No, but seriously, what I mean by this is that we don't actually have any records of Jesus baptizing anyone. In fact, in the Book of John chapter 4, if we open it up here, we read how it's talking about how Jesus and the Pharisees were interacting and how they heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John. And then it says, although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples. So we see John talking about the bapt— when he's going to come and baptize in the Holy Spirit. We see Yeshua saying, yes, I have a baptism to baptize with. And now we see in John 4 that he did not baptize, but his disciples baptized. So what's going on here? See, the Messiah came, and he came to give this spiritual, very real, true baptism, to be baptized into his death and to his resurrection. And that baptism is administered by his disciples. And so we see that the Messiah is the one who does the baptism on a spiritual level. He's the one who actually makes it happen. He's the one where the power comes from. But the disciples, his servants, are the ones who are given this to administer to others so that they can experience the freedom, just like How Christ heals people, God heals people, but He uses His servants to lay hands and pray, and then someone gets healed. He uses people to administer the miracle, even though He's the one who does the miracle, even though the power of the miracle comes from Him. Right? Hope that makes sense. So I want to lay this groundwork because it's very important for us to answer this question. If we also look at the book of Acts. Chapter eight, verse thirty-six. I want you to look at the example of the eunuch. It says, "As and as they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, 'See, here is some water. What prevents me from being baptized?' Now, this is very important passage because he's asking this question that is going to become an absolute cornerstone question that's going to be asked for millennia to come. What prevents me from being baptized? Because today in the world and in Christianity, right, we see that oftentimes people put preventions before others for baptism. I remember years ago there was a man who came to me. He drove 6 hours. I'm a nobody. I'm a little— I'm a kid. I'm at university, like 20 years old. I'm a no one. I'm a nobody. I'm still a nobody. And but he comes to me and And he says, "I wanted you to baptize me." I'm like, "Why didn't you get baptized in your church?" He says, "Well, look, I went to my church. I talked to them, and they say no, no, no. I have to go through this like three-month program, and at the end of that program, that church program, I can I can wait for the next baptism service, which happens once every few months maybe. And you know, then they're going to send out invitations to everyone and friends and family, and and then finally." I'm going to get to that one day, maybe like 4, 5, 6 months into the future, and then I can finally get my baptism. But you know what? I want to get baptized now, and that's why I'm here. And so I baptized him because, see, this is what the Scripture is speaking about. The eunuch's asking, what prevents me from being baptized? Imagine if Philip said to him, "Well, go through this church program first at the synagogue, at the local synagogue. Let's send some invites to your family and friends first. You know, this is a big deal. We have to make it a ceremony. Make it pretty. Get the right music. Get the right PowerPoint going. You know, let's get planning." No, none of this is happening. Rather, he's saying, "Here's some water right here at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere." No preparations have happened. What prevents me? Nothing prevents him, and he gets baptized. Okay, because I'm saying all this because this is the crutch of this question: is what matters in baptism? What is it that can stop baptism? What is it that makes a baptism invalid? That's the question, right? And so, first of all, the person asked, does it matter who baptizes you? Now, I would say yes, it matters, but not as much as some may want to think. I would say that this person would need to be a believer. Absolutely. You want a believer to baptize you, but they don't need to be a priest. They don't need to be a pastor. They don't need to be someone special. They can just be an average believer like Philip was, because Philip was someone who was simply a table server of widows. He was not an apostle. He was not a bishop. He was not a pastor. He was evangelistic in his gifting and a servant. But we see in Acts 6, he too, he was, he was just serving tables. So the Scriptures are actually making it clear that Philip was not someone special. And if Philip can do it, anyone can who's a believer. And so I'd also open up in 1 Corinthians 1:11 because Paul addresses the issue of baptism and who baptized. And he says this: For it has been reported to me by close people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, I follow Paul, or I follow Apollos, or I follow Cephas, or I follow Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. So Paul is making it clear. Look, there was this dispute about who they were. People were boasting and who baptized them. They were making it such a big deal that, oh, I got baptized by Paul, I got baptized by Peter, I got baptized by Apollos. Right? And Paul is like, stop with that. We have to understand that we have a baptizer that is one, the one true God, Yeshua the Messiah. He has come to give us this baptism. It's not about the man who just administered it. Just like if someone prayed for you and you got healed, it's not because that man or woman is special. God is special. And he just chose to use them as a servant. And so, yeah, hope that makes sense. Also, then about the question went on, you know, does it matter if it's a man or a woman? Well, we see in Scripture that both men and women have been used by God to work in ministry. I 100% am for women baptizing if there's a woman who has this in her heart and that she sees someone who's in need and needs to be baptized, then who am I to stop her? Hallelujah! The Holy Spirit can work through women. He does, and just as he does through men. Okay, so let's not put restrictions upon women that the scriptures have not placed upon women. The scriptures have not restricted women, barred them from baptizing, from praying for healing, from prophesying, from speaking in tongues. from the gift of discernment or any— all of these spiritual gifts, these, these uses, these ways that God uses people are given to women just as to men. Okay. The question went on to ask, what about a back-of-the-book believer versus a whole Bible believer? What if— You know, I think that it's important for us to level the playing field of faith with faith. To understand that we all come from different backgrounds, denominations. We are going to have different traditions in our faith, and there's going to be differences. We're going to have some disagreements. However, we are united in Christ. We are united by our faith in Him. And so even though our expression—we can talk about what that expression of our faith can look like—we each will have our passions, right? Theologically. But if fundamentally we believe in Christ for who He says He is. Then you know we are a believer, a follower of Him. And yes, I'm comfortable with any person who is a true believer doing the baptizing. I am not going to to give them a questionnaire about all my theology of the on aspects that aren't fundamental, that is salvational, to figure out first if I agree on everything before they could baptize. Right? That's that's I don't think that's at all God's heart, because we're all going to disagree with one another theologically to some degree. And yeah, so the question just is, what is fundamental to our faith? What is a salvation issue? All right, then the last aspect of this question was regarding baptizing yourself. Can you baptize yourself? Now, here's what I would say to that. In exceptional emergency circumstances, I do not believe that God is going to not honor that. If you have someone who is in a prison somewhere, there's no other believers around who could baptize them, and somehow they got the gospel message and they want to give their life to him and they want to get baptized, but there's no way for someone to baptize them. And if they poured a bucket of water over their head because that's all they had, Who am I to say to God that person can't be baptized, right? That God would not see that person's heart, that God would not answer from heaven, right? However, I do think there's a pattern in Scripture. I don't think the exceptions, the extreme circumstances should be the dictate of the norm, right? In other words, normally under normal circumstances in Scripture, God chose to use believers to baptize people. Even the Messiah himself, who is, who is much higher than any of us, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, right? He chose to humble himself and submit himself to John the Baptist to be baptized. And John said what I'm sure many of us would have said. Why are you asking me to baptize you? I mean, I need to be baptized by you, and you're now coming to me and asking me to baptize you. All right, that's what John said in Matthew 3:14. So if the Messiah showed us through his example that he went to someone, a believer, to be baptized, I think that we should do the same. I, I don't think that we should self-baptize, uh, if we have the ability to get baptized by a with the involvement of other believers. God wants to do it that way according to the established pattern of Scripture. Okay. All right. So next question. Why does it seem Paul did not encourage Gentiles to go to Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts? All right. So this question from Nathaniel in Angola, Indiana. Nathaniel, thanks for this question. He says, In Deuteronomy 16:16, it states that all Israelite men are required to appear before the Lord 3 times a year: Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. We read in Acts 20:16 that Paul was eager to return to Jerusalem for Pentecost, but why does it seem that he does not encourage the Gentile converts to appear before the Lord for these festivals per Deuteronomy 16:16? Okay, right. So let's read these scriptures that Nathaniel brought to us. In Acts 20:16, we see it's written: For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem if possible on the day of Pentecost. Right. So here we have Paul. He was really desiring to be at Shavuot, right? Pentecost. And so the question that Nathaniel is asking about this verse is, why does Paul not encourage the Gentile converts to also appear before the Lord in Jerusalem on Pentecost as Deuteronomy 16:16 states. Now we're seeing in this verse some really interesting geographical details given to us. It says that he sailed past Ephesus, and then it also says it was from Miletus that Paul was traveling, right? So we have to ask, okay, this ancient biblical city of Miletus, where is this? Now I looked this up actually, and it's the modern-day Aydin province in Turkey. And if you throw this in Google Maps, just the walking distance from ancient Miletus to Jerusalem, which is where these people would need to travel to, to keep the Feast of Shavuot according to Deuteronomy 16:16, that is, if you want to travel to keep it. It's 1,749 kilometers. That's 1,086 miles for my American friends. And that would take about 8 to 10 weeks of trekking, depending on, you know, your endurance, the terrain, and how much you need to rest, stuff like that. So what does this tell us? That there is an ability problem here. The reality is, is that Paul is now in a place that's so far that not everyone could realistically travel to Jerusalem for this. In fact, it even says in the very verse that even Paul was not sure if he could make it, because it says he was hastening to be at Jerusalem if possible on the day of Pentecost, because Travel in the ancient world was quite difficult. I mean, today you get on a plane, you get in a car, it's a breeze compared to back then. Paul was in this case sailing, very much dependent on weather, and the average 1st century person would of course need to take off work. It would be 10 weeks of travel there, roughly. Then 10 weeks of travel back. This is about 5 months of travel to be in Jerusalem for this feast. Let's just think about that practically for a second. Almost half of the year, you're just traveling for one of the feasts. Now, what if you're elderly? What if you have an infant? All right. I think it's important for us to consider these factors because It's one thing if you live near Jerusalem. It's another when you live really far and travel is difficult. And so that's what they were facing back then. And I think it's important to consider the purpose of the law. So when we read Deuteronomy 16:16, you know, which encourages going to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast there, it is not— the law is never given to bring danger, harm, extreme burden upon people, right? If it becomes an extreme burden, a danger, impossible almost, right, to keep, then we have to consider our Messiah's words. Just like when the Pharisees came to him about picking grain on the Sabbath or, you know, any of that. And he referenced, right, David and eating of the temple showbread. In a dangerous situation, a difficult situation that's really extreme, almost impossible, or in their case, hunger, going through this grain field, he said, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. I think that Paul had mercy on people, and I'm sure, like, okay, so the question is, why does it seem that he's not encouraging the Gentile converts to appear before the Lord? I think it's a bit of an argument from silence. What I mean is that in Acts 20:16 over here, what we just read, it doesn't say that Paul is discouraging them to keep the feast in Jerusalem, you know, to travel. It just says what Paul was himself desiring to do, that he himself was hastening to be at Pentecost in Jerusalem if possible. So another example is in Acts 18:21, the same thing. Now if you go to the King James— this is the ESV— so the King James says, I must by all means keep this feast that comes in Jerusalem, but I will return again to you if God wills. And he sailed from Ephesus. All right, so there's a pattern of Paul talking about going to Jerusalem for keeping a feast, and he's even telling the people this. That he must do this. He wants to do this. We also see in let's do one one Corinthians sixteen eight. I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. So here we have three different situations where Paul is telling a congregation that he is to wants to go to Jerusalem for a biblical feast day, and we see that. Or in this case, that he's going to be here until Pentecost. And in 1 Corinthians 16:8, he's using Pentecost as a marker on a calendar, as a way of determining the time. So he's using the feast days and in his ways of thinking very much, and he is still keeping them. And I want to encourage— share that, you know, Paul is actually encouraging feast keeping to everyone who is following his life and his teachings in the first century. Because as we just read how Paul was very much looking to be in Jerusalem for the feasts, and then he also famously says in 1 Corinthians 11:1, be imitators of me as I am of Christ. Christ kept the feast days with his disciples. We know this very well. Paul obviously did the same because he told us. And he even spoke of this to the congregations he was in, and he told them to follow his example, and he directly encouraged them to keep the feast as well. If you look at 1 Corinthians 5:8, for example, therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity And truth. We can see that Paul is certainly revealing the biblical feasts to his congregations through his own life, through direct instruction to keep the feast, and teaching the, the spiritual application of what the feasts are supposed to mean for us, which is really much a teaching from the Old Testament, the Torah, right? Where God has taught about unleavened bread and what that represents with the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and Paul is reiterating that. He is teaching that same teaching which he got from the Torah and the prophets to his congregation, the Corinthians. In this case, Paul is absolutely keeping it. He's encouraging it through his own life, and we should all desire to walk as our Messiah. We're not saved by feast keeping. We're not not believers if we haven't kept the feast this year. We're saved by faith, but we do see that God is revealing this beautiful thing to us that is called His biblical feasts, and He's asking of us to choose them—not not to choose the feasts of this world at the cost of His biblical commandments, His biblical feasts. Because if we choose feasts that are not in the Bible over feasts that are. Then perhaps we are lifting the traditions of men over the commandments of God. And we know what Yeshua said about that. All right, next question is from someone who wishes to remain anonymous regarding fear and anxiety, and it goes like this. Hello Petey, I became born again in 2016, and before then I was very fearful, particularly when it came to me and my family being victims of a crime. Every time my family went out for the day, I would have them check in several times and constantly tell them to be careful and so on. After I became born again, I thought I was delivered from that. For a few years, I did not have such fears due to being in a current season that requires fearlessness, having to stand up for the vulnerable at all costs, despite the hostile opposition my family and I have received. Lately, I've fallen back into that state where I'm worrying about my family's safety. I don't know the root cause of it. My question is, how do I get back to having discernment about certain situations but not be so afraid? I'm also like this concerning germs. I know the truth concerning our Father Jesus, which makes me even more sorrowful that I have gotten myself in this state. I want to be to fully rest in Jesus again. Right. Well, I just want to say, first of all, thank you so much for sending this in. I can see how vulnerable you are being here and also very self-aware of the struggles that you've been facing. And so I just want to say thank you. You've been very brave to send this in. And, you know, you mentioned that you feel very sorrowful that you struggle with fear. Despite the fact that you know you you feel like you shouldn't. You feel like you're a believer. You shouldn't be struggling, worrying about all these different things that could happen. But with my family, you know these what ifs. What if this happened? What if that happens? You know maybe even things that like germs, like you mentioned. Now first of all, I just want to share that just because you struggle with fear doesn't mean you don't have faith. Okay, just want to say that because it can be easy for us to get stuck in something that we're struggling with in our flesh. You know, this flesh of ours, it's pesky. Like, we're all— all of us are going to have unique struggles with our flesh in different areas depending on our history, our, you know, generational just stuff has come down the lines and And be careful that the enemy doesn't come with guilt, shame, and condemnation and be like, you know, you, because you have fear, you obviously don't believe in God and stuff like that. That's easily, that easily comes in in order to try and get us even further away from the Lord, feeling more guilty because of it. And then we're not even going to him as much anymore because we feel guilty. We've let him down somehow, but he's actually the one who can heal us. And so The enemy wants us to get away from Him because that gets us away from healing. I want to share something with you about fear. I am going to share something which I'm going to ask you to believe me because it may sound unbelievable, but I had a massive struggle with fear in my life since, since I was a little kid. More— I was more socially awkward, more scared of people than anyone you could imagine. For real, so quiet and so scared of public speeches. Public. I remember I have this memory ingrained, burned into my memory when I was in primary school. We had to do a speech in front of the class, and I got up there. I had my whole speech prepared, and I said the first line, and then I hit a blank because I just saw like these thirty kids in class staring back at me and. And I couldn't remember anything else in my speech. And I just stood there for like 10, 20 seconds trying to remember. And I just went to sit back down again. Oh, cringe. My one friend was like, oh, oh, PD, you know? So that was me. And I don't know how I remember when— I wonder what my, my mark was, what my score was on that test. Okay, but anyway, so I remember years later my passion for the Lord grew and grew, and one day I had a friend ask me to go and share with kids. I'm now an adult. I'm now like just after school, maybe 20 years old or so, and he's asked me to go and share in front of his school because he's a teacher about my testimony to the kids. And I'm like, no, no, like, dude, I can't speak. In front of like a thousand kids, and because I'm I'm just not that person, and I prayed about it, and the Lord said, "Go." Really, I felt I needed to go, and man, I got there. I remember before my heart was beating. I was scared. I was so scared because I also, by the way, the Lord actually said, "I want you to go, but I want you to also not prepare." So I'm not only there about to go up and speak in front of all these kids and teachers, but I, I have not a word prepared on what I'm going to say. But I was really desiring freedom from the fear that was keeping me in bondage and even from the things that God wanted to use me in. And so I walked up on the stage. I still have the memory so I just have it so clear in my mind, looking over all of the kids and teachers staring right back at me. And it was like, you know, that time and that day in class when I was a kid. Now I'm there again, and it's the same, but just even worse, right? And I open my mouth and I speak, and the Holy Spirit just speaks through me. And it went well, right? And glory to Him, all glory to Him. I realized after that, like, oh my, like, that was not me. Like, I am unable to do this kind of thing. And God showed up. And the moment that I stepped on that stage, brothers and sisters, was my day of deliverance. It wasn't because someone laid hands on me. It wasn't. And it's not that people can't. We should pray for one another. But it was because I took a step. Of faith confronting my fear. Okay, that was my moment of deliverance, and I've been free. It doesn't mean I'm not nervous when I speak in front of people. I always am still nervous, but I I am not in bondage to fear in that arena anymore as I was. And so I hope that helps. You know, all you know we there can be reasons as to why. We have fears. You know, you mentioned in your message, I'm not sure why you have these. You're not sure why you have these fears. The truth is, you know, you said something that's very good. You said that when you were focusing on serving other people, it's like that fear was no longer there. You didn't experience it in the same way anymore. You see, that's not a coincidence. Just like I Just say it in my testimony. I was there to serve people. I was there to share of the glory of God, and I became fearless in that because the anointing of God comes when we're doing His work, His kingdom work, and He delivers us in order for us to do the work that's needed. If and and you know I don't know you know we're all in different places, different seasons of life. It's going to always look different, right? But that's definitely something to focus on is how can I serve the Lord in ways that would confront my fears? And let me do that. Let me step forward, even though my nervous system is scared. Let me go and be focused externally on others, on serving. Because when we don't, if we, if we're in a season where that hasn't happened and we're, we're very much— we start to look into ourselves a lot. We're very internal, right? We're very like— and we just get worked up. Our mind starts going here and there and we get fearful of all kinds of stuff. Whilst while we're serving others, it brings a kingdom perspective on our life, an eternal perspective on our life back into our mind. And we remember what's most important. We, we remember the eternal place that the Lord has prepared for us. And then the fears of this world are confronted with God, and God always wins. I want to read from Joshua 1:9. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. I love that wherever you go, he is with you. And so that's what I would encourage. And if you know you've tried all of this and you still find yourself just unable to overcome this, and I'm not saying that look, this this can always be this can this is always going to try and creep back at times, right? Our fears. are in our struggles in the flesh, we can get freedom and then they're going to try and creep back. And then we should go back to what works, and that is to focus on the Lord and his kingdom. Sometimes we need intervention from outside. Sometimes we need to speak to people who are spiritual, who are elders, who are wise, who can walk with us through the truth of God so that we can renew our minds, so that we can confess our sins and repent if that's needed. and even walk with us through deliverance if that's needed. Sometimes if we have a history of witchcraft in us or families, sometimes there will be a need for deeper prayer and deliverance. We see that the Messiah casted out demons often, and that's definitely something that we still have today, and that's at times necessary. Alright, the next question is regarding the Levitical unclean laws. And it's from Indiana. In Leviticus 15:31, is uncleanness only a concern for those who are in the Lord's camp and have the possibility of defiling the Lord's tabernacle? Also, what does the Lord consider His camp today? Finally, do foreigners who live outside the Lord's camp bear their iniquity if they're not going through the ritual cleansing for uncleanness? All right, well, look, let's open up Leviticus 15:31. And we can read this verse that's being referred to. Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle that's in their midst. Right, and that's— this is going to be a key for us here today is defiling my tabernacle. This is specifically mentioned in relation to this Commandment of uncleanness, and just for anyone who is not aware, Leviticus 15 is about bodily discharges. So basically, if someone is bleeding, what then? What should they do? Well, the scriptures are saying, okay, this person has an unclean discharge, and they need to follow a process in order to be clean, lest they die in their uncleanness. by defiling my tabernacle that is in their midst. All right, so this is very important. It's about the tabernacle in their midst. Do you have a tabernacle in your midst today? That's the first question that we're going to have to ask ourselves. In fact, this is not an unusual thing for God to do about, you know, mentioning the tabernacle in relation to a commandment. We see in Numbers 19:13 the same thing happens where it says that regarding touching a dead person or someone who's died, you have— if you don't cleanse yourself, you're defiling the tabernacle of the Lord, and then you'll be cut off from Israel if you do so. We also see in Numbers 19:20, just a few verses onwards, if a man who's unclean does not cleanse himself, he shall be cut off from the assembly. Because he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. All right. So over and over in these verses, we're seeing a pattern of the sanctuary, the tabernacle, the temple being referred to when God is giving a commandment about uncleanness. Now, first of all, we have to understand that these instructions are exclusively for approaching the Levitical temple. That's why he specifically mentions that. And are you know some people have said before, well this is relevant because we have temples. We're temples of the Holy Spirit. Yes, we are temples of the Holy Spirit, but the temple of the Holy Spirit is not the Levitical temple. These are two different things. The the Levitical temple, the sanctuary referred to here in Numbers that we just read about, is talking about the actual temple that was on the earth in the midst of the people of Israel. And so we have to understand that when God is talking about that sanctuary, that commandment is applicable to that sanctuary. It's not applicable to different situations in general, right? Let me show you what I mean. There's 2 categories of unclean in the scriptures. We see that there are There's this, what we just read, this Levitical temple ritual uncleanness, as people like to call it, which it becomes— it basically means that if you are unclean and you approach the temple in that unclean state without going through the process of washing yourself, in other words, you bled, you're full of blood, now you're walking to the sanctuary, you're approaching the temple in this state, that then becomes a sin. The sin wasn't that you bled. The sin wasn't that you were unclean because of the blood that's on your garment. It's that you approached the temple in that state, and then that became the sin. All right. But uncleanness can also always be a sin if it's an unclean deed that you have done. For example, Leviticus 18:20. And you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor's wife and so make yourself unclean with Her, right? So now we're seeing these commandments also referencing making yourself unclean. Remember, in the New Testament we read that the one who commits adultery or sexual sin doesn't— is doing a sin against his own body. This is what— where this is coming from. Leviticus 18:20: you make yourself unclean through sexual sin. And this is not about approaching a temple. This is just always, always, no matter where you are Whether there's a temple in your midst or not, if you lie with your neighbor's wife, that is an unclean sin. Now, overlap of this can confuse people because Leviticus 15:21, 15:24, we see here, for example, also referencing the ritual uncleanness that we just talked about. If any man lies with her and her menstrual impurity comes upon him, he shall be unclean 7 days. And every bed on which she lies shall be unclean. Right. But this, this is now talking about lying with a woman who is bleeding. Right. And in verse 31, it talks about this further and puts the condition upon it, saying, thus you will do this so that you do not die in your uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle. Here we have that again. However, the commandment to not lie with a woman who is bleeding is not actually only regarding approaching the tabernacle. It can also be regarding just in general. It says in Leviticus 18:19, you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness, and you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor's wife and so make yourself unclean with her. See, here you're seeing that It is both sin to lie with a woman in her menstrual uncleanness and then approach the temple without getting clean again, and it's also wrong to lie with a woman in her menstrual uncleanness just in general without the specific condition given that this is about approaching the temple, because this commandment is given right next to You shall not lie sexually with your neighbor's wife and so make yourself unclean with her. Okay, so I hope this, this is enough information for us to now answer the question, which is, is uncleanness only a concern from those who are in the Lord's camp and have the possibility of defiling the Lord's tabernacle? Right. So sin uncleanness is a concern for all of us because when we sin, that is uncleanness, spiritually speaking. But temple uncleanness, in other words, that of approaching a temple, that's only a concern from those who are planning to approach a Levitical temple in their midst. And most of us are not going to be doing that anytime soon today because there is no Levitical temple standing. So the question goes on further. What does the Lord consider his camp today? Well, his camp is the body of believers by faith. We are saved by faith. We become part of his camp by faith. And the question ends with, do foreigners who live outside the Lord's camp bear their iniquity if they're not going through the ritual cleansing for uncleanness? Well, today you're not going to be approaching a temple because there is no Levitical temple standing. So foreigners, this is not going to be relevant to them. But every person upon the face of this planet are going to be facing The uncleanness of sin if they do not repent of their sins, if they do not have the atonement of Yeshua placed upon them. Because ultimately, remember that all sin offerings, even in the Levitical system, was only there to point to Yeshua, who is the only true one who can take away sin. And so today everyone has access to him. Even though there is no Levitical temple standing, you have access to that atonement. And I'll end with Hebrews 10:3, just to remind all of us about this reality. In these sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins every year, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. There you have it. Our Messiah is the only one who can do that. All right, next question is regarding forgiveness. Does forgiveness always mean reconciliation? And it goes like this. This question is from someone who I'm going to keep anonymous because it involves a child. So this question says, hello, Petey, can you explain the biblical difference between forgiveness and reconciliation? I grew up in an environment where people felt forced to forgive Even in unsafe situations, whether the hurt was emotional, psychological, or physical. Unfortunately, this mindset is common in the church, where setting healthy boundaries is often misunderstood as having an unforgiving heart. Praise Yah. He gently led me to the truth. My family and I are currently navigating a painful season where we had to step away from family members to protect a child Father truly tested our faith. Would we follow his guidance to protect the vulnerable or bow to human expectations? We chose to honor Nabaiyah, which brought immense peace and confirmed we were walking in his will. Sadly, others misunderstand us and assumed we hold bitterness when our choice is purely motivated by protection. They did not see that we still lift them up in prayer and remain genuinely open to reconciliation where the Yah leads to. Whenever Yah leads the way, could you please bring biblical clarity to those who are carrying this heavy burden? This type of manipulation within the church causes deep wounds for sincere followers of Christ, while inadvertently hindering perpetrators from facing the accountability they need to truly change. Thank you. I agree. This is a problem. I've seen blame— the victim being blamed was a problem in the first century. It's a problem today as well, where there is real danger, real harm that comes upon someone from an abuser, and then people can't identify it because it can get really complex to identify what's going on. And we'll talk about why in a second. Or they just put these burdens upon a victim, telling the victim, "Well, you just need to forgive. You just need to kind of get over yourself. You know, swallow whatever happened to you and get back to the abuser." And I think this misses the heart of our Messiah. It does. So I agree that the church at times have failed to protect. Victims of abuse, I think we can do better in this arena. It's so difficult for people, I think, who've never been in an abusive situation or an abusive situation that is of the same nature of the one that you may be facing to understand what is going on and how dangerous that can become for you. And this is a problem, right? When we don't know what we don't know, we just don't know, and we can't understand what someone else is going through. And so we may. Give them advice that is not taking into consideration the full magnitude of what they have gone through. And so then we can suggest to them, well, you just need to toughen it out, you know, kind of thing, even though that would not be actually what Yeshua would be telling them. I think that if staying in relationship or, you know, close with someone who brings a credible threat to safety, then that's not wise. We see that the Messiah made ways for people to leave dangerous situations. We see that he endorsed David leaving Saul, who wanted to hurt him. Even though David had a responsibility towards his king, God wanted David to flee for David's own safety. Okay, so just because you separate from someone who wants to hurt you doesn't mean that you are being just full of bitterness. You're not being forgiving or anything like that. Because David, we know in the story of David and Saul that David actually had a lot of forgiveness and mercy that he offered Saul in his heart. But he had to physically leave Saul's presence for his physical protection. And Paul also actually instructs this in 1 Corinthians 5:11. But now I'm writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of a brother if he's guilty of sexual immorality, greed, idolatry, reviler, drunkard, swindler, not even to eat with such a one. Right. He's talking about these very, very serious sins. Someone who's unrepentant and who bears the name of a brother. And he's saying, hey, separate from a person like this. We also see in the book of Proverbs, chapter 22, verse 10, saying, drive out a scoffer and strife will go out and quarreling and abuse will cease. Right? Like if, if there is an abuser in the house, drive them out and the abuse will cease. 1 1 2. Like, that's just how life works. And sometimes that's what's going to be necessary. Now, at the same time, I also want to just speak a bit about forgiveness itself. In Mark 11:25, you know, God talks about forgiveness through Yeshua with us. Whoever, whenever you stand praying, forgive if you've got anything against anyone, so that your Father who is also in heaven may forgive your trespasses. Very important for us to forgive. Just want to remind everyone Of that call, and in Colossians 3:13, Paul reminds us to bear with one another. And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must forgive. And of course, we know that in another place he said, "If you do not forgive others, the Lord in heaven will not forgive you of your sins and trespasses." Forgiveness is very, very important. Now that I've addressed this question, I also find it imperative for me to just. Address the broader implications because relationships are so complicated. And I know people listening to this are going to try and apply what I say to whatever situation they have, and their situation may actually be quite different but similar in other ways. And so please hear me out here. What I'm about to say is not applicable to what the listener who sent in the original question, um, their situation necessarily, but It is going to be applicable for for others out there, perhaps. So let's try and evaluate our own situations through some of these things. There are people who are victims of abuse, truly. Okay. There are people who are looking for an excuse for their bitterness, and who and where they are not victims of abuse, no true abuse. They're just angry. They're bitter. Because there's been conflict. Okay? Because not not every conflict is abusive. Okay? There is abuse, and there's a fight that was nasty and uncomfortable, and but it wasn't abusive. Okay? I know I just have to say that because on social media as well, like everything these days is abusive as well. So so let's also just be careful about about that. And then we also have people who are not being abused. This is now the third category: people who are not being abused, but who are actually the abusers. They are actually abusive, but they are projecting their abusive behavior upon a victim and saying that the victim is the abuser. This is actually pretty common, guys. That when there is an abuser-victim dynamic, that the abuser actually tries to flip the script and make the victim to be the abuser, to, to confuse the narrative so that people on the outside just don't even have the truth of what's going on. They're confused. They might even get things backwards. And then you get a situation that's just so toxic. And so, um, I want to put that out there because I think what has happened sometimes is that people in the church are looking at a situation. They don't know the truth because it's so complicated. And there is some lying going on. There's some deceit going on. And you don't know if there's really abuse. You don't know if who's the abuser. And you— and, and then you have perhaps a victim of abuse. And now you need to protect that victim. You need to figure out who that is and you need to actually If that victim is a victim, get them away from the abuse if that's dangerous for them, right? So as you can hear me just speaking this out loud a bit, exploring this a bit, that it's rarely as simple as it looks on first glance. Okay, sometimes it is, but there are cases where it's not, and That must put us all on notice to be careful about how we approach such a situation, so that we do so in an informed manner, not based off just the first line appearance. Okay, and also, if we're in this situation, look at our own hearts and test. Let's test our own motivations. Let's ask ourselves. Is it for protection that I need to separate from a person? Like the person who wrote in, they sought their heart and they determined that it is for protection that they needed to separate this child from someone who was being abusive to the child. Cool. That's good. Very good. That is, in fact, what Yeshua would want. There's no other decision to be made. Okay, we also then need to ask ourselves, or is it because of bitterness that I want to discard this person? In other words, is it that I'm not actually being abused, but I'm bitter and I want to discard this person who is— who we've had, who we've been fighting, and now I need to find a reason to do so? And so I, I say that they're abusing me. Even though it's actually my unforgiveness and my unwillingness to deal with the conflict. That's the motivator. Or let me just say it like this. And we have to ask ourselves, what role have I played in this situation? You know, what have my behaviors been towards this other person? Have I had behaviors that are actually very toxic or unhealthy? And that I need to take accountability for myself. That's important. Okay, so because relationships are so complex and we are so emotionally enmeshed in conflict, it's so essential for us to speak to spiritual elders, get spiritual guidance from the outside and looking in, who can look at this and say, whoa, okay, look, this is this, this is that. And hopefully they can guide us into a healthy situation where we can play put boundaries in place where they are needed, and also get a perspective from the outside. Guys, accountability is so important, and and I want to say I know that there have been people who've been hurt by they've tried what I just said. They've tried to go to spiritual elders and. These spiritual elders did not do what they should have done, and I want to say I'm sorry. When that's happened, that has happened, and it's a horrible thing when it does. At the same time, I also want to share: don't let that hurt to the point where you don't—you're unwilling to involve spiritual elders for guidance in the future again when when something. Comes up that that needs it. There are people who are spiritually wise, and there are people who who aren't. And so let's pray for the Lord to bring the right people into our lives so that we can have that because it's so important for insight into a situation and into a relationship because we just can't do it alone. Honestly, sometimes there are just things are just going to get out of hand to a point where you just can't do it alone anymore. Okay, guys, thank you so much for joining me, and thank you for everyone who sent in their questions. I'm sorry I didn't get to everything here tonight, but we're going to do a round 2 sometime soon. Guys, all of us are asking the same questions, so go into the comments and tell me what you think about some of these struggles that people are having. Have you had a struggle with fear that you overcame? Tell me about your story. How— tell me about the relationship conflicts that you've navigated before? Tell me more about all of the things that you see in the Bible regarding the biblical feast days and how your baptism was. I love you guys. Like this video, share it, subscribe to this channel, and I'll see you in the next one. Shalom. Shalom.