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.

Chris:
Okay, here we are.

Jeff:
We are here. All right, Chris. I am so excited.

Chris:
I am too. And we have a brand new segment today. Oh, cool. It’s called Guess the Gibberish. Guess the Gibberish. It says, I’m going to read a string of random words, easy for me to say, and you will see if Jeff can figure them out of what the phrase is supposed to be.

Jeff:
Can you give me an illustration?

Chris:
Yeah, so the illustration that she gave us is the word bay. Bay. And then beach. Beach. And then ark. Bay, beach, ark.

Jeff:
Bay beach ark. Baby shark.

Chris:
Baby shark. That’s it. That’s it. Okay. So here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to actually put the words, we’re going to see, we’re going to put the words on the bottom of the screen. So if you’re watching, right, if you’re watching, we’re going to put these words on the bottom of the screen and then we’re going to see if you can get it. And if, and if you’re just listening, then just listen with us. And here it is, Jeff, you can look and I can look with you. Yeah. So here it is. Ready? Talk, ode, ooze, hey.

Jeff:
uh… code who’s the a taco deuce a taco tuesday taco tuesday uh… that is a go ok and i think i a m dot code who’s here’s the next one yet you have your pet picture your pet picture yet your pet picture well i know it what is it your book picture your book picture yes they have a picture of okay are very good all right and here’s the third one

Chris:
Can you can you keep a secret? Can you keep a secret?

Jeff:
Can you keep a secret?

Chris:
No Way, good job.

Jeff:
Yeah, there you go. That’s really good that one.

Chris:
All right. Here’s the fourth one Do that to do a search do a oh do a goals urge do a kugel search do a kugel search two cultures do a kugel

Jeff:
I don’t know.

Jeff:
Okay. Do a Google search. Wow.

Jeff:
Do a Google search. Okay.

Chris:
Okay. Here’s the last one. Ease owner hole. Ease owner hole. He’s owner hole.

Jeff:
I don’t know. He’s owner hole. I don’t know. He’s owner. He’s on a roll.

Jeff:
Oh boy. That’s a hard one. I don’t know about that one. Okay. Well, we got a couple, we got a couple of those.

Jeff:
That’s a fun one. Yeah.

Chris:
Yes. Uh, you know what? That game is fun. If it makes sense. Yeah. Like taco Tuesday makes sense. You have a picture I got, right? Yeah. E’s owner hole.

Jeff:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He’s on a roll. I don’t think so. He’s on a roll.

Jeff:
He’s on a roll. He’s on a roll. He’s on a roll. Whatever.

Chris:
Yeah.

Jeff:
Yeah. Okay. Well, hey, interesting.

Chris:
Yes.

Jeff:
Interesting. I don’t know what it has to do with, I mean, literally anything. Well, it’s just gibberish. Maybe she’s sending a message. Maybe that’s her passive aggressive way to say what you guys do is gibberish.

Chris:
See, you can connect to anything, Jeff. Let me preach this for you. Okay, good. Okay, sometimes when Jesus says things, the disciples didn’t understand and it seemed like gibberish to them.

Jeff:
Oh, wow. Yeah, that’s it. You’re such a good Bible teacher. Yes, yes. And that’s why it’s a privilege for me to join you on your show.

Chris:
You may kiss the ring.

Jeff:
Okay. Well, we are in my mom’s favorite chapter in the Bible.

Jeff:
Wow. John chapter 14.

Jeff:
And Jesus is the way to the Father is what this is all about. So John chapter 14, verse one. Through 14. Through 14, Jesus says, don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me. There’s more than enough room in my father’s house. If this were not so, I would have told you that. Let me say that again. If this were not so, would I have told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you so that you will always be with me where I am. and you know the way to where I’m going.” No, we don’t know, Lord, Thomas said. We have no idea where you’re going, so how can we know the way? Jesus told him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. Philip said, Lord, show us the father and we will be satisfied. And Jesus replied, have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the father. So why are you asking me to show him to you? Don’t you believe that I am in the father and the father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my father who lives in me does his work through me. Just believe that I am in the father and the father is in me, or at least believe because of the work you’ve seen me do. I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I’m going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can glorify the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” There you go.

Chris:
Yeah. And again, those last comments that Jesus makes, It really can put a bunch of confusion in somebody’s literal receptors, right? Ask me anything in my name and I will do it. I want a salami sandwich right now. You see what I’m saying? It’s like the genie- In Jesus’ name? Yeah, in Jesus’ name. Is that what you think you mean? It’s the genie wish thing. Yeah. Well, I do think that I have heard over my 30 years of being a pastor of people saying, We could do anything, right? I mean, anything we come up with, you know, as long as God isn’t against it, which I don’t think he is. So why would God not want this, right? Because, you know, God wants people to be healed. God wants this to happen or this to happen or this to happen or good or justice or whatever. And so this is going to happen.

Jeff:
So sometimes people think that praying in Jesus name means that if we say it in Jesus name, Jesus name is the lucky word. Yeah. Right. And that’s not what he means. In that day, oftentimes, you know, they didn’t have email. They didn’t have cell phones and telephones. So a leader, a king, would send his ambassadors out and they would go and speak in his name. they would take the message. He’d write out a speech, and they’d go into the villages, and they would declare the speech of the king, speaking in his name.

Jeff:
So says the king!

Jeff:
Hear ye, hear ye, so says the king, right? And so, that ambassador wasn’t saying his words. That ambassador was not saying what he remembered the king was thinking. He goes and he gives the words the king said. So when you do it in the king’s name, and that’s what, so if you can pray that prayer representing Jesus, then he says, of course I’ll do it. So if you would pray the prayer I would pray, that’s what he’s saying. If you would pray for the thing I would pray for, of course I’m going to give it to you. So it’s not whatever you want, it’s whatever I need to do. There’s a big difference between those two things, right? But people would use it. There’s a really great note here, John 14, 14 says, For when Jesus says we can ask for anything, we must remember that our asking must be in his name, that is, according to God’s character and will. God will not grant requests contrary to his nature or his will, and we cannot use his name as a magic formula to fulfill our selfish desires, like salami sandwiches. If we are sincerely following God and seeking to do his will, then our requests will be in line with whatever he wants. And that’s really it, right? So it’s not just that he’s saying, I’ll give you everything you ask for. I’ll make, you know, remember Napoleon Dynamite, vote for Pedro, he’ll make all your wildest dreams come true. Yes. Right.

Chris:
That’s kind of… He’ll make all your wildest dreams come true.

Jeff:
Right? It’s so funny. That’s what a lot of people think Jesus is. He’s the genie in Aladdin. Yes. Right? And that’s not how it works. Instead, when you’re praying in Jesus’ name, you’re praying the way Jesus would pray. And then, of course, you can expect him to answer it. But anyways.

Chris:
All of a sudden, I get all these Napoleon Dynamite quotes.

Jeff:
I see you drinking 1%. Is that because you think you’re fat?

Chris:
Because you could totally be drinking whole milk if you wanted to.

Jeff:
Which is such a thinker’s thing to say, isn’t it? He’s trying to give her a compliment.

Chris:
So it is a funny thing, you know, when we try to pray God’s will, because in other parts of the scripture, you know, like in James, it says, hey man, you pray and you don’t get it because You ask with the wrong desires. Jesus also talks about, you know, not your will, but my will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And so we should always surrender to God’s will. But the problem is sometimes we don’t know God’s will. And sometimes God’s will is, I mean, like, it seems so right to us, you know, heal my mother-in-law. Right? And sometimes Jesus does. Peter was on the benefiting end of that. You know, and then sometimes he doesn’t and people pass away, people die. And so you’re just like, geez, what is God’s will? And what isn’t God’s will?

Jeff:
And sometimes it’s… Pray for God’s will. God, what is your will in this? I don’t know.

Chris:
Yeah, but all I’m saying is that the literal receptors in everybody’s brain hears, ask me for anything. in my name and I will do it. Right? Ask me for anything, which means it seems to indicate that like, you know, okay, you do the asking and whatever you can come up with in my name, which is the extreme version of that.

Jeff:
Yeah. So it’s a human-centric view of that passage. And Jesus never invites us to a human-centric view of anything. Right? So, the key words are not, you ask me, the key words are in my name, as I would ask. Right. Ask for what I would ask for, and I’ll give it to you. So, he never invites us to a human-centric worldview. So surely it means something other than what I want it to mean. What I want it to mean is, man, I want a Mercedes and I want to win the lotto and I want, right, I don’t want everyone to die and I want everybody to live right.

Chris:
Or something more noble, like God you know, heal that lame guy on the side of the road. Right, right. Right? Which, you know, which I believe God can do and has done. He can.

Jeff:
Completely. And you see Peter, James, and John, Paul, literally laying hands on people, healing people, right? So I do believe that that is still a thing. I still believe that we can do that. I don’t know that I think that that’s what this verse means, right? I don’t think that this verse just means that anything you want to do like that. That’s through the power of the Holy Spirit is what’s happening there. But in this way, I genuinely believe that he’s saying, what are the things Jesus would pray for? Well, we’ve heard Jesus pray several times. Jesus has prayed that God would be glorified. Jesus prays that Jerusalem would come to faith. He’s praying for the whole world would come to faith. Jesus is praying for… He prays for them in just a little while. He prays that they would love each other and that they would be on mission. Right? So, if we pray the way that Jesus prayed, we pray the Lord’s Prayer, right? God, you’re hallowed. Keep me from temptation. Provide my daily needs. Right? Those kinds of things. We’ve heard Jesus pray a lot, so if we pray like Jesus prayed for the things Jesus prayed for, it’s not unreasonable to expect him to answer our prayers. James, Jesus’ brother, when he writes about prayer, he says, you have not because you ask not, and then sometimes the things you ask for are just for your own lusts. Right? So, you know, as these guys matured, the ones who walked with Jesus every day, as they matured, what they find, what they wind up giving us is, again, pray in line with his will. And so I find myself a lot of times people ask me to pray for a thing and I don’t know, I’m not sure what I think God’s will is on that. And so I’ll just say, Lord, I don’t even know what you want to do in this situation. I don’t know what your will is, but I’m just praying that you would be glorified in your decision. Here’s what we want. and if that aligns with your will, then God be glorified. If not, give us peace knowing that your will is being done. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Chris:
You know, at the beginning of this chapter, we haven’t talked about this yet, but he says, at the very beginning, he says, don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God and also trust in me. On tomorrow’s podcast, I’m going to capitalize on that word, don’t let your hearts be troubled, because he mentions it at the very end of the chapter too. But he says, if it were not so, would I have not, you know, would I have not said that I’m going to provide a place for you? In other versions it says there’s, in my father’s house, there’s many rooms, there’s many mansions, right? And how could you hear that passage, first of all, and be a part of our generation and not think of that song by Big Tent Revival? Oh yeah, yeah. Right? A big, big house.

Jeff:
Oh no, that was Audio Adrenaline.

Chris:
With lots and lots of room. Was it? Audio Adrenaline, yeah. A big, big table with lots and lots of food. A big, big yard where we can play football. A big, big house. It’s my father’s house. So, you know, back then, it’s interesting to know in that culture that when a family expanded, they actually just added on rooms. Right. So they would have a house that was made of, you know, some sort of a thatched roof, which is very, very temporary. And then the walls would have been made either by stone or mud. And they would have these structures. And if it depends on where they are, it could have been a tent structure as well. Right. could have just been all cloth, right? But if it was a permanent house, you know, chances are it was a permanent structure like that with walls. Well, you know, if the family expanded, instead of just saying, hey, we’re going to send you away like Americans do, right? Americans, you know, what do we do? We raise our kids, they turn 18, and then what we do is we say, okay, time to leave the nest And then the Western thinking is now you’re off and now you have your own home and go raise your own family. That is literally the opposite of what they used to do in Old Testament times. Which by the way, I always see, I always drive by and see these different cultures in our area. In fact, Chaldeans are famous for this and I always admire it, but I always think like, geez, you must really have to love your family to live with them so long. But what they do is instead of building like three houses for $300,000 each, they build one big million-dollar house. And it has like the West Wing and the East Wing, right? And they’re like, okay, you live on the West Wing, we live on the East Wing, and then they get the benefit of living in this million-dollar mansion, right? But the drawback is they gotta live together. Yeah, you gotta get along. Gotta get along.

Jeff:
Which is what Jesus just said, you know, here’s the command, you guys got to get along, love each other.

Chris:
But that was the picture. The picture is that in that mindset, nobody left. It was just, in fact, in a lot of ways, it was actually seen more of a blessing of God, the bigger your family was. Yeah. And the bigger your flocks and herds and wealth were, you know, they would come across somebody with a large family with many sons and, you know, with lots of cattle. And they would say, you know, God has blessed you beyond measure. And that was sort of the, that was sort of the big thing, wasn’t it? Yeah. And they would just add rooms on.

Jeff:
And then he says, and you know the way and Thomas goes, we have no idea where you’re going. What are you talking about? And Jesus said, I am the way, right? He’s already talked about narrow is the way, right? That leads to God. And he says, I am the way I’m the truth and I’m the life. And then he makes a bold statement. No one can come to the father except through me. You know, a lot of people would want to say, oh, you know what? I think all faiths lead to God. You know, it’s just you got to have faith. And Jesus says, no, there’s no way to the Father. So sometimes Christians will get accused of being narrow minded. Jesus was very narrow on this. There is no other way. Jesus is the only way to the Father. And he says, and by the way, Philip says, show us the Father, we’ll be satisfied. Jesus says, have I been with you all this time? You still don’t know who I am? If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father, right? That’s a really big one. Jesus is declaring now his deity. This is maybe the clearest place in the whole Bible where Jesus just declares his deity to his disciples. I am God. I’m God in the flesh. So remember just a few minutes ago when I told you I’m the sacrificial lamb. Remember, it’s my sinless body that’s going to be sacrificed for you. It’s my sinless blood that’s going to pay the price for your sin. What I’m trying to say is you can’t get to heaven except through me, and if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father. We’re one. He’s saying, I’m God in the flesh and I’m the one paying the price for your sin.

Chris:
Yeah, and I’ve said this a few times before, I think, but I can’t hear this verse without saying this, because if everybody thinks that Christians are narrow-minded because Jesus made a quote-unquote narrow-minded claim, if you think about all the other world religions in the whole world, Christianity is the only one that actually God is the one that paid the price, right? Every other world religion has to do with your good deeds. And so the three statements are Christianity is the only world religion where, number one, everybody gets into heaven the same way. Right. Number two, everybody can meet the requirements. And number three, everybody’s invited. And so in all the other world religions, those three things are not true. So instead of being narrow minded, it’s actually the broadest invitation that exists in the world. Yeah. Right. Everybody is invited. Everybody can meet the requirements and everybody gets in the exact same way. And if you think about that, that levels the playing field for everybody, which means it has nothing to do with how good you are, or who you are, or the eliteness, or the chosenness, or whatever it is. It is the same invitation. It is the same invitation of hope, And it is offered to everybody, and it’s offered at any time during their lifetime that they can make a decision, regardless of past, regardless of where you’re born in the world, regardless of anything. So it is not narrow-minded. It is quite literally the opposite.

Jeff:
Yep. And then Jesus finishes up with that, and maybe one of my favorite, I love John 14 6, I love John 14 12, I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done and even greater works because I’m going to be with the Father. And I love that, right? He’s going to send them on a mission in just a few minutes and it’s the same. The idea, because I look at it and go, Jesus raised people from the dead. How How are you going to do greater works than raising somebody from the dead? And I have a friend, and he’s a global worker, and he refers to this passage a lot. And he says, hey, you remember, Jesus seemed to live in both the physical and the spiritual all the time. Right? Bible would say that angels would come and minister to him when he was off alone, right? In the mountains, praying and things like that. After the temptation out in the desert, angels came and ministered to him. So Jesus kind of lived in both the physical and the spiritual. You and I, because of sin in our life, we are not living. We don’t see the spiritual, but Jesus did. He wasn’t affected by sin. He lived in both. And so my friend talks about the fact that Paul later on tells us that we are dead in our sins. And then we’re raised to walk in a brand new life, right? We’re raised to life when our spirit comes alive in Christ. And so literally then this mission that he’s going to send us on is to go raise the dead. That’s what we’re doing. We’re bringing them out of death into life. Not physical, but spiritual. It’s eternal life and death. And so a lot of times, he’ll say before we go out to go preach or share the gospel somewhere, he’ll say, hey, let’s go raise the dead today, right? And so there’s a note here, it says when raising the dead is about as amazing as you can get, how could the disciples do greater things than that? That even greater works would come because the disciples, working in the power of the Holy Spirit, would carry the good news of God’s kingdom out of Palestine and into the whole world. Jesus’ entire ministry was in a space a little smaller than the entire state of New Jersey.

Chris:
Right. Which is often a thing that we forget.

Jeff:
And for 2,000 years now, Christ’s followers have been raising the dead, spiritually dead, all over the entire planet, going to everybody in every village, every town, everywhere. And so you and I get focused on the immediate, oh, wow, he healed a person. Oh, wow, he fed some people. Well, Jesus is saying, listen, go out and raise the spiritually dead and you’ll go everywhere. You’ll go so much further than I could go. You will reach so many more people than I could reach. And that’s what he’s saying in that passage. It’s really a cool, a cool phrase.

Chris:
Yeah, that’s really cool.

Jeff:
So that means at work today, go raise the dead. At school today, go raise the dead. Right. Bring them out of death into life spiritually.

Chris:
That’s a great invitation. Yeah. So as long as you know what it means. Otherwise you’re thinking zombies.

Jeff:
So weird.

Chris:
Well, I mean, you know, if you don’t know the meaning behind that slogan. Yeah.

Jeff:
I think I just did. I know. Right. Right. Right. So those people knew it.

Chris:
Yes. Yes. And now they know it.

Jeff:
That’s right.

Chris:
But if you champion it without explaining it.

Jeff:
You might not want to tell your boss. Oh, don’t worry about it. I’m just raising the dead today.

Chris:
That’s what I’m thinking. So, hey, that’s a great place to end. Great challenge. And we’ll see you next time on The Bible Guys.