The ERC gang is back, answering your questions! Today's topics:

- Discerning your thoughts from those of the Holy Spirit

- Family faith routines

- Thoughts about Jesus' mother Mary

Pastor Matt and Pastor Chris are here to answer your questions about life, faith, and anything random you've cared to throw our way in August!

In this episode:

-Disney Princesses

-Pizza Toppings

-"Amen" and Genuflecting

-Things About Heaven

(1) At times, during the service, (like at the end of the service when the pastor gives a final blessing) I feel like saying “Amen” but I have not heard others saying it. Is it awkward for the church to say “Amen”?

(2) What’s your thought on making the sign of the cross during the service (as I sometimes feel like it’s a natural motion for me but I haven’t seen anyone do such)?

https://uscatholic.org/articles/202009/why-do-catholics-make-the-sign-of-the-cross/

https://christianityfaq.com/why-protestants-dont-make-the-sign-of-the-cross/

(3) When we go to Heaven, are we going to what it will be currently or are we transported in time to Heaven here on Earth?

Revelation 6:9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the they had borne. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

Isaiah 26:19 Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.

Gotquestions.org mentions….

In 2 Corinthians 5:8, the apostle Paul writes, “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (KJV). The expression absent from the body refers to physical death. When this life ends, believers will be immediately ushered into the glorious presence of the Lord. Then we will see Him face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12). And, at that moment, we will be “present with the Lord.”

To fully appreciate the significance of 2 Corinthians 5:8, it is important for us to review the immediate context. In 2 Corinthians 5:1–7, Paul contrasts the temporary nature of our earthly bodies with the eternal nature of our heavenly bodies. Once our earthly bodies are destroyed, “we have . . . an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands” (verse 1). Most translations of 2 Corinthians 5:8 emphasize the aspect of having an “eternal house,” saying that, at death we will be “at home with the Lord” (ESV, NIV, NLT, NASB, CSB, etc.).

(4) Will we wear clothes in Heaven? (‘Cause Adam and Eve didn’t before the Fall…)

• https://www.gotquestions.org/naked-heaven.html

(5) Are people still married in Heaven? When you get married, you usually vow, “til death do us part”

• For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. (Matthew 22:30)

Pastor Matt teaches about Paul's time in Rome and how the whole of Acts and the early church points to the importance of how our lives are lived out for Christ.