Transcription

Connor
You’re listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and practical ways.

Jeff
Well. Welcome back. We’re so glad that you joined us. I’m Jeff and he’s Chris and we’re the Bible guys. And today we are talking about Jesus sending out workers as answers to their own prayers. Yeah for sure. I think it’s going to be a really good episode. And but before we do that, we have a challenging segment for you.

Chris
Yeah. I just found out two seconds ago that we were doing this, and the last time this happened, I was under so much pressure because I don’t want to waste anybody’s time.

Jeff
Anxiety. Anxiety. Yeah, yeah.

Chris
But at the same time, I don’t want to look ahead and cheat, so. Well, this one.

Jeff
Isn’t even on your show sheet. It just says.

Chris
Right.

Jeff
It just says that I’m going to give you two different people, and you have to see if you can link them together through association in the least amount of steps possible.

Chris
Okay. So number one, are they are they actors.

Jeff
Yes. Everybody’s an actor.

Chris
Okay. And there’s only two of them. There’s only two of course. The principles, the principle of six degrees of separation. It actually got very popular with Kevin Bacon. Bacon. Right. That everybody in the world has only six degrees. There were only six degrees away from Kevin Bacon. Yeah, yeah. So this guy knows this guy.

Jeff
These two people acted together, right? Right. Right right. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So that’s how you do it. Okay, so here are the two people. Oh, geez. Bob Barker and Will Smith.

Chris
Will Smith and Bob Barker. Holy Christmas. Um. Bob Barker and Will Smith.

Jeff
Yes. If it were me, I would start with Bob Barker because he has fewer acting credits.

Chris
Well, yeah, well, Bob Barker. The only thing that I know that he was ever in was Happy Gilmore. There you go. So. And then I have to connect Adam Sandler. So there’s one degree. Yes. So Adam Sandler is connected to Will Smith. In what way? Um, Adam Sandler. Uh, there’s.

Jeff
Somebody between Adam Sandler and Will Smith.

Chris
Oh, Adam Sandler. Okay, okay. Adam Sandler starred in. Uh oh. I know the name of the movie. It’s with the big Pac-Man. It’s the one with Kevin James. There you go. He starred in the. What was it called? The big Pac-Man logo. Where the aliens came.

Jeff
Yeah, there’s that one. So? So he’s been in a couple of movies with.

Chris
Kevin James.

Jeff
But you got the Kevin James. Oh, okay.

Chris
Here you go. Adam Sandler was in Grown ups.

Jeff
Grown ups with.

Chris
Kevin. Kevin James, and then Kevin James was in a movie with Will Smith called hitch. Hitch.

Jeff
There you go.

Chris
You got it? Yeah. There you go, buddy. That was tough, man.

Jeff
I walked you through it a little bit, but you know it. You had it. Yeah. Okay. All right. Very good. And then because I could never do these, I’m telling you, I could never do it. Yeah, yeah. So the way your brain works is, is it’s just a miracle of science.

Chris
It’s a miracle of science.

Jeff
All right, so here’s the other one. Denzel Washington and Octavia Spencer.

Chris
Octavia Spencer was the one in The Help, right? And she was also in Hidden Figures. Okay, so Denzel Washington and Octavia Spencer.

Jeff
This one. This one is going to be a miracle.

Chris
So Octavia Spencer. We talked about this last time in movie quotes. Octavia Spencer was in The Help with Emma Stone.

Jeff
Yes.

Chris
Who was in La La Land with Ryan Gosling? That’s right. Who starred with Denzel Washington? And remember the Titans? Wow. There’s three of.

Jeff
Them. That’s the connection. Yeah, that’s what’s written right here.

Chris
Oh, she she wrote that. Yeah, yeah.

Jeff
She wrote Denzel Washington was in Remember the Titans with Ryan Gosling. Ryan Gosling was in La La land with Emma Stone. Emma Stone was in the help with Octavia Spencer.

Chris
That, by the way, I had a choice to say La La Land. And then Emma Stone was also in a movie with Ryan Gosling in It’s Not Date Night. It was crazy, stupid love. Wow. With Steve Carell. It’s crazy. I was going to say that, but I thought that La La La Land was easier from the brain. There you go. So I’m almost amazing. I’m almost mad that I said the same thing that was written.

Jeff
Yeah, well, you said it just right.

Chris
Yeah, well, although I went the other way though. Right? Right. I started with.

Jeff
Her. That’s really amazing, Chris. And I can’t wait to, you know, for you to donate your brain to science and.

Chris
Yeah. Yeah. Have.

Jeff
Have all the genes just figured.

Chris
Are tough because I don’t want anybody to be.

Jeff
I’ve got a pocket knife right now. We could see what’s going on in there if you want to.

Chris
Oh, gee whiz, I’m not sure you’re qualified to understand it other than somebody give me a medic afterwards.

Jeff
Okay. So, anyways, that was amazing.

Chris
Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Desiree. Hey everyone! Before we continue on with our podcast, we would love if you would just take a minute. And if you’re on Facebook, share the Bible guys, you know how sometimes when you scroll and then you know you’ll see a video play and you really didn’t click on it. It just plays. Well, we would love for people to hear us enough as they scroll so that they say, you know what, that Chris really has a great sounding voice and he’s sort of attractive. So maybe I’ll just go ahead and watch them. So please do it and share the Bible, guys.

Jeff
Okay. So in Matthew chapter 13, Mark chapter six and Luke chapter four, that’s what we talked about yesterday. Matthew is just reminding people what we talked about yesterday.

Chris
Oh I see yeah.

Jeff
I wasn’t I read the wrong passage.

Chris
I was like I was like, I think you’re saying things wrong.

Jeff
It’s Matthew chapter nine today. And then we’re going to go on to Matthew chapter ten. We’ll also look at Mark chapter six and Luke chapter nine and a little bit.

Chris
Of verses here today.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah. So we’ll cover a little bit of ground. But this is kind of neat. Here’s what Jesus says in Matthew 935. He says Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the good news about the kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. And he said to his disciples, the harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord, who who’s in charge of the harvest, ask him to send more workers into his fields. And then Jesus called his 12 disciples together and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illness. And here are the names of the 12 apostles. First, Simon, also called Peter, then Andrew, Peter’s brother James, the son of Zebedee, John. James. Brother Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas. Matthew, the tax collector. James the son of Alphaeus. Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot, Judas Iscariot, who later betrayed him. Jesus sent out the 12 apostles with these instructions don’t go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, but only to the people of Israel. God’s lost sheep. Go and announce to them that the kingdom of heaven is near. Heal the sick. Raise the dead. Cure. Those with leprosy and cast out demons give as freely as you have received. Don’t take any money in your money belts. No gold, silver or even copper coins. Don’t carry a traveler’s bag with a change of clothes and sandals or even a walking stick. Don’t hesitate to accept hospitality because those who work deserve to be fed. Whenever you enter a city or village, search for a worthy person and stay in his home until you leave town. Jeff
When you enter the home, give it your blessing. If it turns out to be a worthy home, let your blessing stand. If it’s not, take back the blessing. If any household or town refuses to welcome you or listen to your message, shake his dust off from your feet as you leave. I tell you the truth, the wicked city is a Sodom and Gomorrah will be better off than such a town. On the Judgment day in Mark six second half of the verse six, he says, Then Jesus went from village to village teaching the people, and he called his 12 disciples together and began sending them out two by two, giving them authority to cast out evil spirits. He told them to take nothing for their journey except a walking stick. No food, no traveler’s bag, no money. He allowed them to wear sandals, but not to take a change of clothes. Wherever you go, he said, stay in the same house until you leave town. But if any place refuses to welcome you or listen to you, shake his dust off from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate. So the disciples went out, telling everyone that they met to repent of their sins and turn to God, and they cast out many demons and healed many sick people, anointing them with olive oil. And then in Luke chapter nine, verse one, it says, one day Jesus called together his 12 disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases. Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. Take nothing for your journey, he instructed them. Don’t take a walking stick, a traveler’s bag, food, money, or even a change of clothes wherever you go, stay in the same house until you leave town. Jeff
If a town refuses to welcome you, shake his dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate. So they began their circuit of the villages, preaching the good news and healing the sick.

Chris
So here’s the question was it a walking stick or no walking stick?

Jeff
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chris
One says take nothing except a walking stick. No food, traveler’s bag or money. The other one says, don’t even take a walking stick, Travis food bag or money. So I think details like that obviously don’t really mean much in the end. Yeah. In terms of application or, you know, anything else. But the details are slightly off there. Yeah.

Jeff
Well, we do know that he did this multiple times. Yeah. Right. So he sent his disciples out on a number of different occasions. One time with 70, not just the 12. He sends out the the 12. This time he sends out 70. So this could be a conglomeration of multiple events. There you go. Right.

Chris
Yeah. That sounds sounds about right. Yeah. And and by the way, I love how everybody is listed by name. You know, it’s not like the Blind Boys, a couple, you know, a couple of days ago. Right, who were just sort of listed by their.

Jeff
Their infirmity.

Chris
By their infirmity. Yeah. But but everybody’s listed and and he’s given them the power. Can you imagine that man. So, so he says, he says, watch me. I can do miracles. They stay with him, they watch him. And now he says, you as my disciples have the power to do such things. Right. And so, you know, we know that today, right? That God is the one who heals. Yes. Right. You know. I don’t necessarily believe in somebody who says, hey, I’ve got the I’ve been given the power to heal. And I go around and I touch people and I heal them, and and it’s just me because it’s my natural gift. I’m not sure how you feel about that. Yeah.

Jeff
I’ve never met one. Yeah, yeah.

Chris
One time in the prison ministry, I came across an elderly lady that traveled down there with us, and she was the one that said she’s. Oh, yeah, she’s. I have the power to heal. And she walked around and just started touching everybody. And I have no idea whether or not they were healed. But I remember thinking to myself, like, gosh, I know that God still heals and I believe in the power of healing. Yeah, I’m just not certain if one person carries that gift today as they did back then.

Jeff
Yeah, the book of James says if there’s any sick among you, let them come to the elders. Right? Have the elders anoint them with oil and lay hands on them and pray for them, and then talks about, because the prayers of the righteous accomplish much. Right. And and they’ll be healed. So God does have mechanisms, but I don’t think for us to just walk around and say we we can heal anybody is is absurd, right? I don’t think that’s.

Chris
Because we have no power in ourselves. Right.

Jeff
But he does have this process for Christians to say, hey, go to the elders and have them anoint you with oil, pray over you, right?

Chris
Yeah. And so, by the way, have you ever done this? Have you ever prayed over somebody? And then they were miraculously healed? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Do you have like a quick cool story I had?

Jeff
Well, I’ve told a story on this, on this podcast before of a guy that was they wanted us to come and pray for him. The doctors did because he was dying and they were going to give up on him. And while we were praying for him, he turned around completely and two days later was home. Yeah. That’s amazing. It happened while we were there.

Chris
Yeah, yeah. And I think I’ve told the story of Josh Eisenhut, who a good friend of mine, they tried pregnancy tests and spent. Yeah, yeah, tens of thousands of dollars. And they said, do you ever have anybody lay hands on you, pray with you? And he’s like, no. So he did. And then she got pregnant after seven years of trying or six years of trying by herself. Wow, wow. And all of a sudden she got pregnant the next month. Yeah. So things like that are pretty cool.

Jeff
Yeah, I’ve seen that. I’ve seen that before. So he goes, Jesus. According to Mark, chapter six goes, you know, village to village and he’s teaching. And then he calls the 12 and then he sends him out. But isn’t it interesting? At the beginning of our reading today, it says that he’s going around. And one of my favorite descriptions of Jesus ministry is he traveled through all the towns and villages of the area. He went everywhere teaching in the synagogues and announcing the good news about the kingdom. Jesus didn’t wasn’t going around with a bunch of bad news. He wasn’t looking for a bunch of fights. He wasn’t just going around and reading headlines from the news. Right? He was bringing good news about the kingdom. Yeah. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. But then it says when he saw the crowds, he had compassion because these people were running around. They were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. And so, Jesus, he’s trying to do what he can. He heals them. But hey, they’re still going to die someday, right? That’s not a permanent solution. But he sees these people as just being totally helpless. There’s no real solution for them because they don’t have a shepherd and they’re just wandering and they’re confused. And, you know, when we look at the world, the world’s a mess around us, and it’s because they’re like sheep without a shepherd. And so the Bible says Jesus wasn’t angry at them. And I think sometimes Christians find themselves getting angry at society when society is just acting like a bunch of sheep without a shepherd. Yeah, right. And Jesus doesn’t get angry at them. The Bible says he has compassion on them, and he says, you know what Christians, followers of me, you should be praying. Jeff
The fields are ripe for harvest. There’s just not enough workers to do the harvest. And then he goes, hey, so I asked you to pray about that. Hey, guys, you should go, right? And then he sends them out two by two. So that’s six groups, right? Because he got 12 disciples. He sends out six groups of two and tells them, hey, go tell everybody everywhere. And he gave them the power to do it. And I believe he’s done the same thing for you and me. Yeah, the field is still ripe for harvest, and he still tells us to go and go in teams. So he sees the benefit of working in teams and tell everybody everywhere.

Chris
There’s a note in the Life Application Study Bible about verses ten or chapter ten of Matthew, verses 2 to 4. It says the list of Jesus’s 12 disciples doesn’t give us many details, probably because there wasn’t many impressive details to tell. Jesus called people from all walks of life fishermen, political activists, tax collectors. He called common people and uncommon leaders, rich and poor, educated and and uneducated as well. Today, people think only certain kinds of people are fit to follow Christ. But this was not the attitude of the master himself. God can use anyone. So no matter how insignificant at first appearance, when you feel small and useless, remember that God uses ordinary people to do his extraordinary work. And there’s a sermon in there, isn’t there? You know that that, you know, we always try to disqualify ourselves. But, you know, what does it say? That Jesus doesn’t qualify? What is this? What is it?

Jeff
Jesus doesn’t call the qualified.

Chris
He qualifies the called. Yeah. And so that’s what he does. He equips us. And again, it’s that whole miracle healing thing, too. It’s like in and of ourselves, we’re not anything special. We’re a vessel. God is the one who gives the power, and he’s the one that equips us. And so if there’s anything good that happens, it is not us, but only God through us. Yeah.

Jeff
In the central hallway to our offices, we have a bunch of pictures of some of the history of Heritage Church. And there’s a phrase over the top of our the bunch of the baptism pictures that says, ordinary people empowered by God, doing what Jesus did together can change the world. And I believe that’s true, right? That’s that’s God’s plan. That’s his plan. A and there is no plan B, right? It’s use ordinary people empowered by God, doing what Jesus did together. And that’s that’s what happens here. So Jesus had already been healing people. Jesus had already been teaching. Jesus had already been declaring that the kingdom of God was here. All those things he’d already raised people from the dead, he’d already cast out demons. And now he goes, okay, these ordinary guys, fishermen, tax collectors, political zealots, right? You guys, your ordinary guys, I’m going to empower you. I’m going to give you the power. Now you go do what I did. And, you know, I think it’s less about raising the dead, and it’s more about declaring the good news of the kingdom. Yeah, but sure, all those things are possible if it’s necessary. I believe God does miracles for the sake of moving his kingdom forward. He doesn’t do miracles just for miracles sake, and I think a lot of people were attracted to him because he did miracles, and they thought that was the whole point. But it wasn’t. It was about the fact that he was capturing people’s attention so that he could explain to them the good news of the kingdom of God, that it was possible to have a right relationship with him. And then he says to them, there’s only Matthew says this phrase. He says, heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy cast out demons. Jeff
And then he says, give as freely as you’ve received. What a great phrase, right? Freely given, freely receive, freely, freely given, freely give. And I think that there’s there’s something about that to be open handed. And, you know, we’ve tried to be that way as, as a church and as leaders, too. God gave us so many things freely we should share freely we should be open handed. We should be generous. We should be as generous to others as God has been generous to us.

Chris
Yeah. And by the way, it’s interesting because, you know, the gift of giving is actually a spiritual gift, right? To have the gift of giving. And if you take a spiritual gifts test, my wife’s number one gift is the gift of giving. And so we as a family are always on the receiving end of people blessing us always. And I try so hard to be generous, and I think that I am probably compared to, you know, a lot of people maybe, perhaps. But but I’m not nearly on the level of like, all the people that I love and admire so much who give freely to me, right? Like there are just friends in my life that give freely to me. And and I just no matter how hard I try to give, I’m never as giving. I remember one time we were getting off the freeway and there was a guy there and he was homeless, and he has a sign up, you know, and I take a left and my wife says, turn around. And I said, okay, turn around. I’m thinking, here comes again. She’s going to give money or whatever. And then she looks over at me and she goes, give me all the money you have in your wallet. And I was like, what? She goes, oh, whatever’s in there, I’m like, there’s $80 in my wallet. And I’m like, I’m not giving you $80 to give this homeless guy. And she’s like, yep, that’s what that’s what I feel like we need to give. Give me $80. I’m like, okay, everybody calm down. Everybody just calm down right now. You know, there’s nothing to see here. But she grabbed that thing and she went out there and prayed with that guy. Chris
And she went ahead and gave, you know, and then she just then she always has the habit of reminding me, you know, do you not are you not given are you not given things? Have you not been blessed? And, you know, I remember during that time way that long ago, I mean, gosh, we were so blessed being given so many things, but, you know, you barely making it that kind of thing.

Jeff
You can’t out give God.

Chris
Yeah. You can’t get out. Give God.

Jeff
Yeah. So so let me read a list. Yeah. And then I think we can close with this. Yeah. He says in verse five, Matthew chapter ten, Jesus sends out the 12 apostles with these instructions do not go to the Gentiles or Samaritans, but only to the people of house of Israel, God’s lost sheep. And now look at verse seven, go, announce to them that the kingdom of heaven is near. Heal the sick. Raise the dead. Cure. Those with leprosy cast out demons. Give as freely as you’ve received. He gave them seven instructions. And I think it’s really tempting as Christians. I recognize five of those I don’t think I can do. I’ve never raised any anybody from the dead. I’m not sure I heal a lot of people. I don’t I’ve never cured anybody of leprosy. And I don’t know that I’ve ever cast out demons, so it’s easy for me to start going, well, I just can’t do what Jesus told me to do. But I could give and I could go and I could tell. Yeah, right. So we need to stop focusing on the things we can’t do. Like, oh, man, I’m not Saint Matthew. I can’t do that. I’m not Saint Peter, I can’t, but I can. Do we excuse ourselves from the things we could do by saying, there’s a bunch of things we can’t do? And I would just say, do the thing you can do. We can all be generous. We can all go. We can all tell. So let’s do that and then see if God doesn’t do miracles among us.

Chris
Yeah that’s great. Well that’s a that’s a great place to end I think. Yeah. So do what you can do. Good. Let’s do what you can do. And by the way, do what, what God. What God calls you can. Yeah. Calls you to do.

Jeff
Go tell give. That’s awesome. And see if he doesn’t allow you to do the other miracles.

Chris
All right. Well that’s a great place to end. We’ll see you next time on The Bible Guys.