Bible Guys Classics: Luke 17:1–6

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome to the Bible Guys. I'm Kyle and this is Chris Yes, and today we are your Bible Guys because Jeff is out of town across the world doing great work with the Timothy Initiative and which you can google and learn about. But today we're actually in the third day of the second week of a series, the brand new series that we're talking about, Dangerous Prayers, and today is actually the theme of this week is surrender, Prayers of Surrender, which is pretty crazy. That's been great, Yeah, it's been great. And then so today before we get into that, we have a brand new segment and this is pretty crazy. I don't think I've ever done this segment Like this. Desire is coming up with new ideas all the time, and this one's called Advice Booth. Okay, so yeah, what we're gonna do here is we're each going to give each other advice on a topic and then we're gonna let the listeners vote. So I'm assuming that's gonna be through YouTube. Correct if you're watching on YouTube or even if you're listening on Spotify. Or who knows that nobody will do it, Kyle, Oh, I bet they will, but I but I hope they. I hope you take just a second and respond to us, because we love seeing feedback and I read. I know you do too. I read the comments. I love seeing this stuff, so this will be a chance to get people's responses. You know that I actually don't read the comments. You don't know, do they always talk about I don't even I don't even have it on my phone YouTube. Listen since I've done a fab this is the episode seven seventy three, and then HG Daily we did one hundred and fifty episodes, so we've done like a thousand episodes and I don't think I've ever once read a single comment. Oh okay, well they're usually pretty favorable. I like you a lot. Well that's cool, but but I probably need to. I probably need to. I probably should. But Jeff reads a lot. Yeah, and so he tells you almost to like me spoilt. Yes, all right, so now for this, you guys comments, let us know who you think you gave it a better advice? Okay, so advice booth. Here's the first one. How do you stop hitting snooze in the morning? Give people some invites? Chris, Well, I don't know. I don't know how you do it. But if I if that was my goal, if my goal is to not hit snooze, then my life hack is I would take whatever the alarm is and I would put it far from the bed forced me to get out of the bed. Yeah, that was Is that what you're gonna say? See, we didn't talk about this beforehand, and so I was worried we're going to steal each other's Hey. But that that is that is the I mean, isn't that the best one? Yes? Which shows yourself to get up. Which shows that you and I are both intelligent. Yes, exactly. So you put it way across the room, so you literally have to get up, yes, And so it's like that that way, you're not gonna hit snooze at all. Yes, And that's only if. You have a promised snooze. So my daughter, God bless her, we love her so much, Tory, she's so great. But she'll set like six alarms on the horn. Oh wow, right, my daughters do that too. Yeah, And so it's like it's like, oh, seven thirty seven thirty five, seven forty seven forty five, So she knows that she can hit uh, you know, off or snooze or whatever. And uh and I'm just thinking, why do you even want to play that game? So I had a season of life. I cannot remember the year, but it was not that one maybe within the last ten years where I went probably a year or two where I would snooze for an hour and ten every morning. I would set my alarm early, and I knew that I had up until this time, so be an hour. For some reason, it was this weird thing. I enjoyed doing it. Okay, so since you stole what I think is great advice, I'm going to give a second potential option, which is to make your ring tone so annoying and so loud that you don't want to hear it again. That could be an o pack. Give us an example, Kyle. Yeah, like what like like like a song? Oh, I don't know about a song? Yeah, I pick a song, Okay, Okay. It would be anything girly for you. Shoot, yeah, I don't know. I think you'd have to. Be like Friday Friday. Yeah, what's that? Uh? Was I persue, saying, the song, uh, something like something black Rebecca Black, Friday, Yeah Friday, be up there. It may be a show tune. Yeah, oh, showtunes would do it for that would do it? No? No, I'd lay there and be like the show too. Yeah, let's keep this time. But I think that could be a good hack. Right, is put whatever the ring tone is, or a song that's so annoying that it forces you to get up because you don't want to hear that ring tone again? Okay, all right, good advice yep. And number two, number two, what is the ultimate life hack for getting free food? What a question? What is the ultimate life hack for getting free food? You know what? I thought about this for two seconds before we started filming, and I thought, the only ideas that I can come up with are all bad ideas. Yeah, good, then share your best bad idea. Well, for instance, like I would never do any of these things willingly because they're they're they're wrong, right, because I can't think of a life hack to get free food in an honest way, right, like, like, how could you honestly get free food in an honest way? I think an app would be an option. Do you ever do food apps. No, no, okay. So for example, I have friends of mine who are big into like the McDonald's app if they you know, I know that may not be everyone's Fortepe, but Taco Bell, McDonald there's apps that allows you to get a lot of free food. Yeah really, yeah, okay, all right, that's one honest way you could do it, all right. But that means you have to spend a bunch of money and then you. Get Sometimes sometimes they'll just be going there and it'll be like with your ordernay, you get free French fries. So free food, okay, all right, So that that is sort of a hack. Yes, okay, a way that you would say is a bad advice. Okay there, Yes, Well, let me tell you. Let me tell you a story. When I was in the eighties, it was like it was like mid eighties, and there was a really fancy restaurant our area called the Brown Derby. Okay, And and and so we we Jeff and I and my buddy would go in and we'd sit down, and they bring us fresh bread and uh with and we'd say, we just want waters, okay, And so they give us ice water, and then we would sit down and we would do the loaf of bread, eat bread and butter, and it was so good. It was just this massive piece of bread. And then they come over and they say, what are you going to order? They say, oh, we just want the bread. There you go, that's a good life hack. And then and then they go what do you mean. I'm like, well, we just want the bread. So they brought us over another loaf of bread. They're like, well, well you have to order something. I'm like, no, we don't. It's free. It's free bread. So can you please bring us more free bread? Yeah? And we were sort of like, you know, sort of like you know, telling the waiter like, uh, I think you're I think you're obligated to bring us bread. So the waiter agrees, so he brings us more bread, so he literally waits on us. We go through like three whole loaves of bread and butter like like wonderful bread, drink the water, and then walk out without pan of dime. Wow. Now we only did that like three times. Yeah, before the management somehow caught on because apparently enough waiters complained. And then the fourth time we went in there, we sat down and they recognized us and they said, uh. There's a charge for bread, okay. And they said it's like four ninety five or something if you're not getting anything else. And I was like, oh, they caught on, gotcha, gotcha, But that was my life act. But I got It's not a terrible concept when you consider the fact there's a lot of restaurants out there that will almost fill you up before the food comes, right. I think of like Texas Roadhouse is one, yeah, I'll back, or what's one place down roadhouse? Uh don Horns, Yes. Long Horns takeout. That is great bread before you even get the food. So yeah, a lot of Mexican restaurants do free chips and saws. Yes, and there's my meal arrived. I'm like, I'm halfway full before the food even got here. So all right, that is a good life hacked. I'm gonna go with I'm gonna go with terrible advice. But I'll just say because you, well, I guess yours is kind of like, oh. Mine's terrible. Yea, yeah, I would never do that today. Yes, it's bad advice. I would say the way that was before I was a Christian, Oh that was that was b C. Yeah, mine, I would say is terrible advice, just for anybody, Christian or non Christian, is just to put it all on a credit card. Oh, just put a credit card. Not free. Ultimately that's more expensive. You're gonna be paying for it. Yeah yeah, yeah, seven percent interest on the long run. No, but but for real, i'd say the app you just say seven. Percent, isn't that what it is? No? No, No, they're a twenty five Okay, sorry. I was gonna say, like seven percent of the sales tax? Yeah, okay. So I to just one thing about I Actually, when I use my credit card, I try to pay it off. And I think popest people should try to write. Oh you're gonna you're gonna you have to throw that. In there, yes, because honestly, I didn't even know how much. How much are they used it? Well, it depends, it depends. I was just gonna say, if you have a seven percent interest on your credit card, that's a good card. That's good. Okay, I'd say hang on to that. Okay, yeah, good right, that's all right. So yeah, get some apps. Get them. Actually, do do you ever eat like McDonald's, even for like breakfast or anything? You don't strike me as a fast you know. You know what's so funny is I will I will do McDonald's and I'm good for like a year. Yeah, and then and then it'll be literally a year later before I go through. And it's almost always breakfast. Yeah, I'm a little bit I'm in the same boat. But but I do know that a couple of years ago because when I'll go with my friends to a golf outing, there's always McDonald's in town that we stop at. So I have the app and actually does have a good deal. So there's my life hack. Get the McDonald's out. All right. Well there you go. All right, Well, I'll tell you what that was. That was difficult. It was difficult to come up with those kinds of answers, right, and you know what else is difficult. What's difficult. The teaching is about forgiveness and faith that we're about to unpack. And Luke, chapter number seven. I'll just say, you're doing a great job this week with the transitions. Well, you know what, good I've taken all three of them as we were on the third day. Yeah, So for. The remainder of the week, I'm now announcing to our listeners you're you're responsible for the next two. Okay, sounds good. All right, that's difficult, you know, it's difficult what we're about to. No, no, no, no, I've already done that. All right, Luke seventeen, verses one through six. The section here says it's Jesus talking about forgiveness and faith, says in verse one and seventeen, Chapter seventeen. One day, Jesus said to his disciples, there will always be temptations to sin, But what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting. It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin. So watch yourselves. If another believer sins, rebuke that person. Then if there is repentance, forgive. Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day, and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive. The apostles said to the Lord, show us how to increase our faith. The Lord answered, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, may you be uprooted and thrown into the sea, and it would obey you. Man. Is that it? Yeah? There one through six. Yep. Okay, So the dangerous prayer then, is just that simple sentence. Right. The apostles said, to the Lord, show us how to increase our faith. And they said that, of course, in light of the really hard teaching. Yes, now you know what's so interesting. You and I live post Jesus, right, I mean you were two thousand years post Jesus. And so the concept of loving one another and loving your enemies is something that we've grown up with for generations, and so it's not unusual. It's not mind blowing to hear love your enemies. But isn't it odd and strange and almost mind blowing? You think about when Jesus said a new commandment, I give to you love one another. It was a brand new thought, which is why Jesus often said, you've heard it said an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you love your enemies, forgive those that persecute you. Right, And it's it's just like this, this brand new thought. In the Old Testament, when you grew up, things were like pretty ruthless, in fact, very ruthless. The world was so harsh and even even the standard you know, there was no government a lot of times necessarily, and so there would be there's there's social law, there's there's there's there's you know, the ability to take revenge that you were within your right a lot of times. You know, think about the wild wild West, only only worse than that, right where it's like you were allowed to it was justified. Right. I remember watching a movie, an old Western, where somebody shot somebody down and then and then everybody was standing around watching it, and and and he says, he goes, you saw it. He provoked it. You saw it, and that was the only thing he needed, apparently, right, He's like, everybody here witnessed it, he provoked it. And I was like, oh, apparently that's okay, right, you know, killing somebody in the streets within the wild blah West is okay. Because because everybody saw it and can say, yeah. Everybody can say you were justified in what you were saying. Right. So the idea, the idea that Jesus would come along in Luke chapter seventeen right here and say, okay, ready for this. Somebody is going to offend you seven times and you are probably you have probably grown up either teaching you know, that your parents, or you're even your priest, or your your pharisee, your local leader has taught you to either hate them or to shun them, or to excommunicate them, or to even get revenge on them. But I'm here to tell you you are to forgive them. Yeah, even if they offend you seven times every single days. This revolutionary idea. And I think for me, I don't the thing that stands out right before that it talks about he says of another believer sins, rebuke that person. I don't know about you, but when you hear that word rebuke, it's not It's not like a hot word. You know a lot of times like rebuke, you're kind of like, oh. But the point it makes in the notes here in this Bible is here. It says Luke about three through fourth says, to rebuke does not mean to point out every sin we see. It means to bring sin to a person's attention with the purpose of restoring that person's relationship with God and with fellow humans. So that says, when you feel you must rebuke another Christian for sin, check your attitudes before you speak. Do you love that person? Are you willing to forgive. Unless rebuke is tied to forgiveness, it will not help the sinning person. I love that. If it's not tied to forgiveness, it will not help the sinning person. So I think what he's saying is, if you're going to go rebuke somebody, it's not a bad thing. That's a good thing. Even if you're receiving rebuke, it can be a good thing. But you have to really check your heart. If your goal is to find mutual reconciliation to eventually lead to forgiveness. If your goal is not that, then you're not going to help the person and your heart's in the wrong place. I think that's great. Yeah, and a lot of Christians, a lot of Christians miss this. Yeah, you know, one of the worst stories that I've ever heard in my entire life. And I'm serious when I say that it's one of the worst stories I've ever heard in my entire life. It was actually by one of our staff members, and she said that she grew up in a real conservative church, and conservative meaning like you know, they're all about rules and you know, focusing on these sort of legalistic kind of things. And she said that one time the pastor was standing by the door. And this was, you know, and probably in the late seventies or something, right back when hippies and all those kinds of things. And this kid had walked into church and he was coming to church, but he had long hair. And the pastor said, boy, you're not coming to my church with that long hair. You turn around and go get a haircut. And when you get a haircut, then you're welcome to my church. I promise you when I say, I have a physical, visceral reaction just telling that story. Right, so you know, that guy's eternity, you know, could be at stake. He could have walked away from God and everything else. Right, the damage that that causes not only to that man's eternity, but also maybe all of his legacy and his generations. And I'm not saying God still can't reach that boy, but I am saying that I personally know the hundreds of stories that have kept people away from God for years and sometimes even permanently, right because of things like that, and. Well, and then that person the pastor might have referenced, you know, and whatsover. It's it's a proverb about an open rebuke. Yes, like, but people take that out of context, right, That's exactly that was my point. Rebuke you I'm gonna, I'm gonna. And it's like no if your heart is not yeah, so. Sorry, yeah no, no, no, go ahead, good finish. I just I was just thinking about that. I think that oftentimes people see the rebuke thing and it does have a negative connotation because of the fact that it's been used as as a justification for unkind or ungodly or or hurtful words that are said and unproductive. Yes, exactly. So it's like it's like rebuke. Think about the purpose of rebuke. So the purpose of rebuke is directly tied to restoration, repentance, restoration, and everything else. So the purpose of rebuke is not for the sake of rebuke. Right. So it's like to all the Christians who type in caps, it's like, that's not the purpose of you know, your platform. The purpose of your platform is for the purpose for somebody else to be, you know, to come to Christ. So I think of it about as effective as this. And I actually said this literally, I just said this. So last Sunday I actually had the privilege of going to the away Lions game. Okay, so we were in Green Bay, the Lions did not do very well. No, in fact, it was that part of the trip was pretty darn discouraging. However, the trip itself to Green Bay was pretty awesome. And as we were walking through Green Bay, and by the way, what a wonderful place to be, I just have to publicly say wow to the people of green Bay. Just best best stadium in the United States of America. Best people, I'm not kidding, not even close in my mind. Well, just an unbelievable, over the top experience. So good job green Bay. But anyway, doesn't make me like the team anym though, but good job green Bay. So anyway, as I'm walking through, uh, this whole big strip where all these people are should or shoulder walking, there's the preacher on the microphone, but he's on a megaphone, right, and he's shouting things in the megaphone to people walking by the streets. And the things that he's shouting a lot of them are true things. They're true, but they're about as effective as you know. I mean, I'm trying to think of an illustration of the most ineffective thing in the world. Let me just say, fighting the tide with a pitchfork. It's about as effective as nailing jello to a tree, right, I mean that's how that's literally how effective this guy was. And he's shouting into the microphone, and and and and the things that he's saying are true, right, a lot of them. But but but but I walk by and and and then uh. I had my buddy Dave Wilson with me, and Dave Wilson goes, hey, goes, aren't you don't you want to go back there? And and and uh and and join him, And I said, uh no, I want to go back there and say, hey, thanks guy for making all of us look like idiots. Yeah, thanks for taking down all preachers are notch and making religion something to avoid, and thank you for being the most ineffective person in the world. And repel people. It's almost as if your goal isn't to have people know the truth. It's almost as if your goal is to repel people. Well, guess what ready for this transition. That's the same person who types in caps. Yeah, that's it. I mean, no ifs, no ads, no butts. If you're a Christian who all you do is just scream truth on a platform on a social media platform. I don't care where your heart is. It's about as effective as that guy out. I'm not kidding. That's true, right, because the number of people you persuade is let me think, carry the two zero. Yeah. Yeah, you think you're making an impact because you're speaking the truth, But it doesn't matter. It's the way. It's it's the First Corinthians thirteen where it says, if I speak in the tongues of men and ev angels but have not love or don't have love, I'm only a resounding gong or clinging symbol. That's right. That's literally, It's like it's your your approaches. You can say right things, the wrong one and the wrong way at the wrong time to the wrong people at the wrong place. Okay, so what do you think about this? So before that even he gets into this idea of causing the little ones to stumble, and it's it's it's sorrow awaits a person who does the tempting. It'd be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin. So watch yourselves. Yeah, well, I I just I preached on this a year ago I should say we did right across the campuses. But yeah, we talked about how you know, there's this there seems to be this righteous indignation that Jesus has when it when it comes attached to children, especially right, and so for those who prey on children or or cause children to sin or stumble or you know, because after all, think about all the times in the Bible where God talks about us having the faith of a childe right, He says, our goal is to have the faith and innocence of a child. Even even to get into heaven, the requirement is childlike faith. Yeah right, so so so you know, think about innocence in the faith of a child. There seems to be this h you know, protection, protection and in a warning against those who take advantage of those who you know can't help themselves. Yeah, I think it's I think it just shows obviously God's heart for young people for sure that they are the future, and also just the protection of them, not just in a physical way, but also in this is a spiritual that the things that you tempt them to do or and especially in our culture nowadays, there's so much, so many temptations out there for young people but also I also think there's a possibility to that idea of Missy here. By the way at millstone is you know what that is? Yeah, it's actually a little Yeah you want to talk about Does it have a little note in there? Now go ahead read your not Yeah, that actually has the note and explained it better than I would. Yeah, it's great. It says. A hand mill is made of two circular stones used for grain grinding grain the grinding of grain using concave stones with flat grinding pieces to depict the ancient art dating back says the stone commonly uses black and the number of them. See we get to the point here. The handmill was so important in the life of the people that it was illegal to take someone's millstone as a pledge against the payment of a debt, for this would deprive the family of the means of making flour for bread. These stones were heavy enough to kill a man when thrown on his head, as in the case of be Malecan judges, if tied to the neck. They were also heavy enough to drown a person the sea. So yeah, there you go. Jeez, that's what And so Jesus says, ready for this better it would be better for you to put a millstone on your neck and jump into the sea than to offend one of these littles drowning and cause them to send So so yeah, a millstone, basically, I was going to say, in a shortened version, it's a really really heavy stone used to grind grain. A lot of times it would have a hole in the middle because there'd be a string. So instead of rolling the stone, they would pull the string and it would roll back and forth, and it would separate the wheat from the chaff, and it would it would do all these different kinds. It was grind right basically to make flour and things like this. So so yeah, a millstone was a very useful thing, but very heavy. And so yeah, and you know some of the little ones. What if it's a little one in your faith. It could be somebody who's a new believer. You mentioned earlier about the story about somebody walking into church and their hair being long. What if that person was open to the idea of Jesus for the first time, or maybe even recently accept the Christ in life. Then they come and they're told. So I think that we have to be very careful in how we handle per what Jesus is saying protecting those who are younger in general, but also younger in faith as well. Just protecting them, you know, keeping an eye out for them, not tempting them, more helping to show them the truth in love. So it's no wonder why the disciples said, show us how to increase our faith, because without the context, that may seem like a detached and kind of a thought. But I think, you know, based on what we said earlier about the mentality of like forgiving somebody was a brand new thought and right, so Jesus is saying forgive them every time. I would imagine that disciples would be like, I don't even know how to do that, Like, like, how would a person ever do that? That's the dangerous prayer that they prayed. It's a prayer of surrender. It's like, okay, God, you're giving us a truth that we don't want to hear. You're giving us a truth that is extremely hard, you know, for us to even accept or get around because, after all, those who offend are you know, if you're gonna use the word offend, that seems like justifiable. And you're telling me to forgive this person. So in order to do that increase my faith, because I don't know how to do that. And then Jesus of course responds and says, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and be thrown in a seed. It would obey you. And so he says faith as small as a mustard seed. In other places he talks about it's the smallest of seeds. Have you ever seen a mustard seed? No number? So if you take like a sunflower seed, it's like, it seems like it's three to four to five times as big as a mustard seed, I mean, maybe even more. A mustard seed is so incredibly small. And he says, if you had faith as small as a mustard seed, it's interesting because it brings up that whole I've mentioned this so many times before, but it brings up that whole idea of it's not quantity of faith that Jesus is referring to, it's quality of faith, right, because he says, you know, right here, he's not saying you have to have more faith. He's saying you have to have a very small amount of true faith. Right. So that's why. One of my favorite sayings is, it's not the size of your faith that matters. It's the size of your God. It's the quality of your faith that matters, not the quantity. So it's not the size of your faith that matters. Stop saying I need more faith, more faith, more faith. No, you just need some true faith. Yeah, right. I remember hearing about the mustard seed that the thing that separates it is that it's alive and growing, even though which is odd to think that it's so small, but it's actually alive and growing. I think that faith as long as your faith is alive and growing and not dead and decreasing or stagnant, and that's what what really is hoping hoping for it like a faith. It could be small, like you're saying, but at the same time, as long as it's alive and growing. So yeah, no, that's that's powerful. Yeah, and just a little bit of faith of saying, like I believe in who God is. I believe one hundred percent completely that God can give me the power to forgive, right, you know, for people who can't even imagine that. There's probably people listening right now who have a really hard time forgiving. Maybe even your spouse. You have a hard time forgiving your spouse. Maybe you're just angry at your spouse for something, and it's and it's a continual, chronic kind of a thing, you know. And you'd say, hey, will there ever be a day where I could live with complete forgiveness and I could move past this? Well, yeah, it takes a lot of work to do that, right, because faith is a choice, or excuse me, forgiveness is a choice. But you know, there's also a process that we should go through to allow God to heal our hearts as well. But it is possible, and God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is able to give you that power to live. There's a life destined for you that is free of bitterness and hatred. There, it really is. It is possible if you have that kind of faith that God can do that for you. Then that's how Jesus is responding. He's saying, just believe because I can do it. That's great, so great insight. Hey, Well, that's our time for today and so hopefully we will see you tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in on the Bible. Guys,