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:
Hey, everybody. Welcome to The Bible Guys. We’re back. We are back. Better than ever. Back, baby. Better than ever. Okay. See, everything’s a movie to me. Okay. Right? Two guys sitting in a studio. Yeah. I’m back. Oh, geez. Well, you went poltergeist on me. They’re, they’re here. Okay. Hey, um, we are going to start off with one of my favorite, uh, segments and this really is just so fun. It is the dad joke competition. There you go. I haven’t even looked at these. No, I haven’t either. Um, I haven’t even read a single one, but the older I get the, uh, the more I think I appreciate these. Yeah. I think they’re funny. Yeah. So, uh, you want me to go?

Jeff:
Yes. You go first.

Chris:
We have five each. Here we go. Here’s the first one. Um, what is that word? Okay, here we go. The word Q is ironic. It’s just a Q with a bunch of silent letters waiting in line. So Q-U-E-U-E, Q. Q, right.

Jeff:
Like that’s how Europe says, or British people say, standing in line.

Chris:
Right.

Jeff:
So you queue up, or you get in the queue.

Chris:
Right, right, right, right. So now… Yeah, we have queues. Yes.

Jeff:
We’re in the queue. But we usually say standing in line. Right. Get in line.

Chris:
But he says it’s just a queue with a bunch of silent letters waiting in line. It’s clever.

Jeff:
You sort of have to… It’s very clever.

Chris:
It’s a reading one.

Jeff:
It’s a reading one. That’s one you have to see.

Chris:
Come on, Desiree, don’t give us a reading one.

Jeff:
That’s right. Here we go. A colorblind friend of mine insists that all apples are yellow. I told him that was bananas.

Chris:
Oh, geez.

Jeff:
That was bananas.

Chris:
That’s bananas, not apples. That’s bananas. Number two. Here we go. What do you call a superhero with a bad sense of direction? I don’t know. Wonder Woman. It’s terrible. It’s so bad. It’s so bad. Okay. Oh, that’s awful.

Jeff:
This one’s terrible. This one is, we might get protested on this one. I recently opened a company selling trampolines disguised as prayer mats. Prophets are going through the roof.

Chris:
Oh, wow. Wow. That’s really good. Okay. That’s really good. All right. How about this one? How can you tell the difference between a crocodile and an alligator? I don’t know. Easy. One will see you later and the other one will see you in a while.

Jeff:
After a while.

Chris:
Yeah.

Jeff:
It says in a while, but yeah. That’s my grandson does that all the time. Does he? Yeah. But he doesn’t understand the rhyme part of it. So he just makes up new animals. So you’d be like, see you later, alligator. And then he’ll be like, After a while, elephant. It’s so funny. So he hasn’t quite figured out the rhyming part of it yet. We say, after a while, crocodile. No, no. After a while, ostrich. Okay, here we go. The person who invented the Ferris wheel never met the person who invented the merry-go-round. They traveled in different circles.

Chris:
Oh, wow. That’s pretty good. That’s a clever one. I like that one. All right. How about this one? When I was a kid, bedtime was 9 PM. I couldn’t wait to be grown up so I can go to bed anytime I wanted. Turns out that’s 9 PM. That’s really funny. It’s true. It is true, man. It’s really funny.

Jeff:
I fight it, but yeah. Okay. NASA. NASA is launching a satellite to say sorry to the aliens. They’re calling it the Apollo G. That was rough. Funny, clever, clever. Why would we want to say we’re sorry to the aliens? What do we do then?

Chris:
All right. How about this one? A dragon would never explode, but a dino might.

Jeff:
Okay. Good one. Good one.

Chris:
It’s funny.

Jeff:
What’s your last one? Just when you think that food cannot possibly call you on your phone, boom, onion rings.

Chris:
You know, the delivery was just as good as the punchline. The way that they wrote boom is great. And he delivered it perfectly. Boom, onion rings. That’s the funniest part of that joke. It’s not even the cleverness of it. It’s really funny. Was that it? That’s a lot of fun.

Jeff:
Okay.

Chris:
We are moving on.

Jeff:
So if you held on this long, we’re done. It’s over.

Chris:
Yes. Goodbye. And we’ll see you next time. No, no, no, no. I’m just talking.

Jeff:
The pain is, is done.

Chris:
Well, we are now launching into the next chapter, Genesis 17, if you’ve been following along with us. Today, we’re going to be looking at how Abram is named Abraham.

Jeff:
And clearly you can see how excited Zarba is about it.

Chris:
Yes. I’m so excited, Jeff, for you to read.

Jeff:
Okay. So Abram, here it goes.

Chris:
I’m so glad you do the readings. Why is that? Because last, yesterday on the Bible guys, you read Beelaharoi, which means, well, the living one who sees me. And I thought, and you just burned right through it.

Jeff:
I was just making it up.

Chris:
And I would never, I just don’t want that. Yeah. Yeah. So I just, I just allow you to read, you know, like Tony Stark says, I will allow that. I will allow that. Yes. That’s me. That’s my favorite line.

Jeff:
Yeah. Well, it’s kind of spelled out that way, right?

Chris:
Yeah. I just am grateful that you’re doing the reading of these things.

Jeff:
Well, thank you. That’s my part. That’s the small part I get to play. Yes. Yes. Cause I mean, you get to sing. I can read. You get to sing and you get to laugh. You get to do all the fun stuff.

Chris:
Yeah. Here we go. Not actual Bible stuff.

Jeff:
So Genesis chapter 17 verse one, And it just simply says this, when Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, I am El Shaddai. I knew that one. God Almighty. Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will make a covenant with you by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants. At this, Abram fell face down on the ground, and then God said to him, This is my covenant with you. I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. What’s more, I’m changing your name. It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations. I will make you extremely fruitful. Your descendants will become many nations, and kings will be among them. I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you from generation to generation. And this is the everlasting covenant. I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you. And I will give the entire land of Canaan where you now live as a foreigner to you and your descendants. It’ll be their possession forever. And I will be their God.

Chris:
Wow.

Jeff:
There you go.

Chris:
That’s great.

Jeff:
I think I say, there you go. Almost every time I finished reading. So just in case you’re only ever listening and you’re not reading along with us, the Bible doesn’t actually say, there you go, at the end of every one of these passages.

Chris:
It’s interesting how God had already promised Abraham to leave his country a long time ago. That’s correct. And that he was going to make him a father of nations. right? And he promised them descendants long ago, which is why Abram got up and he left and he packed everything up and took everything with him, his wealth, and he traveled all the way through, right? He went further down to Egypt and then came back. But now he is 99 years old, and then the Lord appeared to him. Now, what’s interesting about this is why would God appear and make such a drastic appearance to say the same thing only in more detail as he already said. Right? And you know what I think the answer is? I think the answer is Um, it’s, it’s found sort of in between the lines. Uh, you know, we just read last chapter, which was yesterday’s podcast. The fact that, you know, they’re praying for, uh, you know, a child for decades and, uh, and then they get impatient and then they, you know, act in sin and, uh, they do this thing with child out of wedlock with a servant. And then now he’s 99 years old, which means there’s another 13 years that have passed. You know what I believe it is? I believe what God is doing. And again, it’s not said, but you can apply it and say, maybe God is showing up and he is reaffirming or reminding Abraham that he never fails, that he’s going to keep his word, that he is saying, Hey, I’m, I’ve not forgotten you. I’ve never, and I’ve not forgotten the promise. you know, that I’ve given to you. I’ve never stopped watching over you. I’ve never stopped hearing your prayers. I’ve never stopped hearing your cries. And he is showing him up, maybe showing up in person, maybe to perhaps solidify his faith, to, you know, ground him once again in his resolve to serve God. I don’t know. What are your thoughts on that?

Jeff:
Yeah, I think so very much. I think that, the idea of changing the name, I think that right after this comes the circumcision covenant, which we didn’t read. All of these things as God is putting his mark on Abram, God is saying, are you going to follow me? God has brought him on this journey and there’s been kind of an expansion of the promise. This is the third promise in Abram’s life. So the first one, Abram is, you know, probably, I don’t know, does the Bible tell us how old he was when he left? I don’t remember. I can’t remember. But here we are, he’s 99, so this has been decades since the first time God promised. So God promises at the beginning, go to the land of Canaan, I’m going to give you that land. He doesn’t say, I’m going to give you land. Go to the land of Canaan, I’m going to make a great nation of you. That was the promise. Right. And, you know, Abram had good times and bad times. He was following God, but he wasn’t a perfect man.

Chris:
Then God promises… Oh yeah, it says Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. Okay, so 75.

Jeff:
So 75 to 99, so two and a half decades. Yeah. And then in the middle, God promises again. And then this one here, where he finally comes and has this very strong reaffirmation. But at this time, too, he’s also promising the whole land of Canaan is going to be yours. Right. All of this land is yours, where you now live as a foreigner to you and your descendants to be their possession forever. Canaan is what is modern day Israel and Palestine, that area. And God said, hey, this is going to be your people’s land forever. And it is still. Right. And then God institutes the ceremony of circumcision. as the foundational element that is physical proof that they were set apart by God. There’s a lot of reasons for that, but God literally put his mark in the place that is most important to Abram, right? At that point, which to me, if you’re gonna start a religion, that seems like a really bad recruiting mechanism or recruiting tool, right? But in this situation, that’s what God said. And there’s an interesting note in here about this idea. It says, it gave four reasons. One, it was a sign of obedience to God in all manners. And that’s, I think, true, right? From the very basic human behaviors all the way to saying that your heart is for God. Everything is that way. It is a sign of belonging to his covenant people. Once circumcised, the man would be identified as one of God’s chosen people, eventually the Jews forever. The third reason is that it was a symbol of cutting off the old life of sin and purifying one’s heart and dedicating oneself to God. That’s where Abram got himself in trouble, right? So this is where God says, okay, let’s cut this off. And then possibly as a health measure, there’s a lot of health issues that go along with that as well. And so in Abram’s day, it was essential. God was saying, I’m going to send the Messiah through your line. It’s essential that God’s people stay pure and clean and not defiled and have their bloodline watered down by the pagans around them, the people worshiping other gods. And so it was all those things together, and God changes his name. And he goes from, Abram means like a celebrated father. right? And Abraham means father of many. And so even then, the difference between, hey, you’re going to have a son, to you are going to be the father of nations. God elevates the promise. And so I think sometimes people feel like, oh, I had sin in my past. This is 13 years later. Right. But you might feel like, you know, a decade ago you were sowing your wild oats and you were messing up your life and that there’s no hope for you that God’s ever gonna do anything special. God increased his promise to Abram over those next 13 years as Abram leaned back into his relationship with God. God says, hey, now, what did he say? He did tell him, I want you to live pure, right? Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life, and I’ll make a covenant with you by which I’ll guarantee you countless descendants.” So God elevates the promise. And so, you know, if you have something in your past, God still can use you and still wants to use you in a great way.

Chris:
Yeah, and I find it very interesting as well. Like, listen to the wording of what God says. He says, it will no longer be Abram. Instead, it’ll be called Abraham. You’ll be the father of many nations. And then listen to this next sentence. I will make you extremely fruitful.

Jeff:
you 99 year old man.

Chris:
Yes. Make you extremely fruitful. It’s like, it’s like what? So the idea that like, uh, you know, uh, there’s still time left. God is not done with you yet. Right. Right. Yeah. How many stories have you ever heard, uh, of people who, they’re just, I mean, I mean, simple stories, not even famous. For instance, I know a guy, a good friend of mine, Tom Hoag and his wife since has passed on, but she was a wonderful nurse. And my wife was looking to get into nursing. And, uh, and she said, Oh, my wife said, Oh, I’m so old. I’m in my thirties. And, uh, I think Tom, I think at the time Tom said, well, my wife’s been a nurse, uh, and she, she went to school to be a nurse. Like when she was in her late forties, And I was like, what? And here she is just, you know, this really well-established nurse and that since then she’s passed. And I think Tom may be in his early eighties. But anyway, the point is, is that, you know, God has great things on the horizons for anybody who maybe thinks, oh, my time has passed. It’s too late. Sure wish I would have served God for decades. And now it’s too late. It’s like, no, no, no. You know, do you ever read Charles Dickens? Yeah. Right. Scrooge in his late, you know, in his late ages, it says the last line of the Charles Dickens novel, of course, this is, you know, fiction, but it says that he became known, Christmas became attached to his name more than it was, you know, against it or something like that. Right. So I believe that that’s what God can do. God is the God of second chances. He’s the guy that wants to use us today, regardless of how much time we have left.

Jeff:
Yeah, my dad became a Christian when he was 40. So he’d grown up in a Christian home, but was not a Christian. And then when he graduated from high school, he ran from God. And he became a Christian when he was 40. I can remember when he was 50, I was 18. And I can remember him talking on his 50th birthday, Man, serve the Lord. Don’t walk away from the Lord. Serve the Lord. You know, you’re at that age when I just threw it all away.” And he said, I feel like I’ve wasted so much of my life. And he had a lot of regret that he wasted a big chunk of his life in being effective and never really felt like he was going to ever be able to do anything for the Lord. But now my dad’s 86, which means he’s been a Christian longer than he wasn’t a Christian. Wow, that’s great. And my dad’s health is failing. And, you know, just as you get older, sure, things are different. And my dad spent a big, big chunk of his Christian life just really enthusiastic about the idea of sharing his faith. He taught me how to share the gospel. We would share the gospel together sometimes with people, stuff like that. Just recently, I was with my dad, and he was with somebody he cares a lot about, but he wasn’t sure that person was a Christian. My dad’s not always putting together big arguments now or conversations now, but he leaned in and wanted to make sure that this person knew Jesus and was on their way to heaven, right? And I was just thinking, hey, that’s kind of, I love that. My dad’s been serving Jesus longer than he didn’t serve Jesus. And he still wants everybody else to know Jesus, right? At this point, late stage. And so for Abram, here he is. He’s an old, old, old, old man. By every standard that we have in modern times, 99 years old, God says, I’m not done with you. I’m going to change your name. I’m going to give you a new mission. I’m going to expand my promises to you. And so it’s not too late. I guess that’s what I was trying to say. It’s not too late. God wants to use you. And maybe right now, you’re feeling, you’re at home maybe, and you’re retired, you’re trying to figure out what you’re supposed to do next. A lot of times people feel old, they’ve been told they’re old, they have a couple of health issues, you start to believe it. Whatever you believe about yourself is usually true in some way, or winds up becoming true in some way, right? You make it true. There’s self-fulfilling prophecies. But if you decide, hey, God’s not done with me yet. My life has changed, but now I have to find new strategies. My wife’s, my mother-in-law, She, you know, has some maturity about her, and I think that’s a nice, delicate way of saying that. I was very polite. Well done. She jumped in on, you know, we do a lot of the Timothy Initiative training with Disciples Making Disciples at Heritage, and she jumped in in the very first round of training on that. She has gotten on fire for sharing the gospel, making disciples. She started a Bible study group at the senior center. Now she lives in a senior retirement facility and she started a group there and she’s just, she is on mission right now. And she has the time. She’s moving a little slower, but she has the time to do it. And so she’s maximizing her time and man alive. I think that’s kind of what we’re seeing here with Abram.

Chris:
You know, when I was, when I got out of Bible college, I went straight to Atlanta, Georgia, and I worked at one church that was a smaller church. It was like 180 people. I was there for like eight years. And then I left that church. I should have quite honestly left it long before that, but God in his timing, right? And then I went to a decent sized church. It was like 1800 people. I was there for about three and a half years. And then I left there. And I think that both of those ended poorly. So I liked ministry. I liked, you know, pretty much like my level down. The problem was I didn’t like from my level up I didn’t like leadership in the church because I had been burned twice at two different churches So I decided that I was going to be done with ministry and I was really You know, I mean we’re talking like I’m 30 I would have been like 30 something years old 32 and and I thought geez I don’t know if I have it in me to go to another church, you know and and move across the country or do whatever. And eventually I found myself moving to Michigan through an unbelievable set of circumstances. I don’t have time to tell the story, but it’s my angel story, right? But here’s my point, is that I thought to myself, gosh, I’ve been in ministry now for you know, for, at that time, it would have been, what, like a dozen years. And I had been a Christian for another five or six years. I thought, geez, that’s over 20 years of serving the Lord. I think I’m done doing this full time. But the thing that God told me, and there’s only a few times in my entire life where I felt like God spoke it. I don’t think it was audible. But it was just about as close to audible as you could possibly get. I knew it was from God. And it was just this unbelievable moment. And it’s just a long story. But basically, here’s the message. As I heard God say with crystal clarity, and I’ve never doubted it, the message was, I’m not through with you yet. That was it. And that was in 2004. And I just remember thinking, in fact, it was in August, August 15th, 2004. That’s when it was. And I just thought to myself, geez, like, what a thing to hear from God. And I knew it was from God. And so if God says, hey, I’m not done with you yet, That fueled me for the next 20 years from then until now, because it’s been 20 years exactly from that date. I can’t even imagine how much more great it was for God to appear and to talk to Abraham face-to-face.

Jeff:
And then the Bible says, if we go on beyond the circumcision thing, then God also changes Sarai’s name to Sarah. Both of those names mean princess. But he says, and she’s going to have a son. And Abraham is like, he said, I’ll bless her richly. She’ll become the mother of many nations. And this is when God’s solidifying, hey, you guys, I’m not done with you two yet. And the Bible says, Abraham bowed down to the ground. but he laughed to himself in disbelief. And he’s like, how in the world? I’m almost a hundred years old. She’s almost 90 years old. How are we going to have a child? But then he also said, Hey, God, would you bless Ishmael too? And so he didn’t forget Ishmael just because of the promise that God said, yeah, I’ll make a great nation out of him. And then they went ahead and obeyed God. And I think that that’s the key. The key isn’t just the promise. The key is every promise of God. in the Bible. I can’t think of a promise apart from it. Every promise to God is if then. So he said, I want you to live holy, right? I want you to be faithful, be blameless, and I’m going to bless you. And then, and I want you to obey me and do this circumcision thing. And I’m going to change your names. I’m going to change your future. I’m going to reaffirm and expand the promise. And then the very next thing Abraham did, was follow God and obey God and do exactly what He said to do. So promises of God are if-then promises. It’s not just like, oh, I get to claim the promise, it’s mine no matter what. God always attaches a thing to it, something to it. And in this situation, it was be blameless and be faithful. That’s great. And they obeyed.

Chris:
Well, that looks like about our time. So hopefully we will see you tomorrow on The Bible Guys.