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
Hey, Chris.

Chris
Hey, Jeff. Did you realize that intro calls us a couple of friends? A couple of.

Jeff
Friends? I know that’s a little presumptuous, but.

Chris
We never said we were friends.

Jeff
I know it wasn’t our voice, either. So?

Chris
So somebody’s just making assumptions. Yeah.

Jeff
That’s right. They’re just guessing it’s Connor.

Chris
That voice is Connor, by the way, who is our friend? Yeah, he is our friend. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So anybody who wants to know who that is, that’s who it is.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah. There we.

Chris
Go. Hey. Well, today we are talking about Jesus healing many people. That’s actually the only thing that it tells us. That’s right. He’s going to heal multiple people. Many people. And I wonder if many means 3 or 3000.

Jeff
I think it’s probably closer to the other.

Chris
Yes, I agree the latter.

Jeff
Yeah.

Chris
Well, before we get into that, I’ve got.

Jeff
A big one for you today, man. You are.

Chris
Going to be reading the Babylon.

Jeff
Bee. Our commitment to news. Yes. Quality news yes is incredibly important. And we just had two significant bits of news items that have come across our news desk at the Bible guys studios that I’m not sure which one to use. So I’m going to let you choose. Okay. Sure. So this one is here’s the title. Okay. It’s by the way, this came from the Babylon Bee. Only two cars in line at McDonald’s. This won’t take long. Says dumbest Man Alive.

Chris
That’s hilarious. That’s a good one. That’s really good.

Jeff
Right? Right. So there’s that piece of news because we could find out what happens on that one or the other. One is Taylor Swift was traded to the Jets.

Chris
There is no doubt in my mind I want to hear that article Taylor.

Jeff
Swift traded to.

Chris
The Jets. Yeah. No no doubt okay okay.

Jeff
Here we go. This is this is breaking news.

Chris
By the way.

Jeff
I mean this is just.

Chris
In she’s traded to the.

Jeff
Just in through the Bible guys news desk. East Rutherford new Jersey in a traumatic upset for the sporting world, Taylor Swift has been traded from the Kansas City Chiefs to the New York Jets, where she will begin dating tight end Tyler Conklin. Wow. If you don’t know, she’s been dating Kelsey. Yeah, Kelsey, who is the tight end for San Fran? No, no for Kansas City Chiefs.

Chris
Oh, duh.

Jeff
Yeah. We had to trade three starting players for Swift, but I think it’ll be worth it in the end, said GM Joe Douglas. Maybe now everyone will start coming to our games. Taylor Swift is reportedly eager to get started with the team. Quote I’m happy to be back in New York, or at least New York adjacent. I didn’t realize they played in Jersey, which is a bit of a turnoff, but anything’s better than Missouri like you.

Chris
That’s so funny.

Jeff
Kansas City Chiefs Travis Kelce has reportedly slipped into depression after realizing his relationship with Swift has been used to elevate the status of his team. This is devastating for me, he said. On the plus side, my Insta followers are through the roof and my jersey sales have never been better. I guess it’s not all bad, but come on, the Jets really had it. The rest of the Jets roster is reportedly hopeful this will pave the way for each of them to date their own pop singer, but positions are limited. Quote none of us want to end up with Lizzo, noted quarterback Zach Wilson and publishing time. The New York Jets had already become the most popular team in the NFL thanks to Swift’s influence. Kelsey confirmed he’s now open to dating any other billionaire pop stars who may be available.

Chris
Oh my word, that’s so good. It’s so good. So I’ve seen so clever. I’ve seen so many like, little homemade videos on Facebook or TikTok or whatever that says, you know, it shows like the woman who’s saying like, hey, when does the Taylor Swift game come on. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And they’re trying to catch their man by surprise. Right? Right. And so the man’s legitimate reaction is he goes, you know, you’re going to have to ask that in a different way. He goes because he’s wanting to answer what time it comes on. Yes, yes. But he refuses to answer that question. Right. So funny.

Jeff
That’s so funny, man. Hey, it’s the funniest thing that people just get so excited about. Who who different celebrities are dating.

Chris
Yeah, well, why does it matter? But. Well, the Taylor thing is a cut above the rest, though. Why? Well, because.

Jeff
She doesn’t matter who she’s dating.

Chris
Well, no, it shouldn’t matter. Yeah, you said it doesn’t. It does. It just does to some people.

Jeff
But it shouldn’t matter to anybody.

Chris
Just. Just millions.

Jeff
It should matter to her mother. That’s what should matter to just millions.

Chris
Not not a big deal. But but no, it shouldn’t. That’s that’s the correct. It’s not your business.

Jeff
She’s a singer. That’s what she does. She sings and fills stadiums, man.

Chris
That’s fine. Whatever.

Jeff
Okay. It’s so funny. It has nothing to do with football.

Chris
No. Right. Exactly.

Jeff
Nothing to do with football.

Chris
Yeah, but you would think that. You would think that, like, it was all about Taylor Swift. Well, it used.

Jeff
To be that Monday Night Football or Thursday Night Football, you know, Sunday Night Football in America or whatever, all those things it used to be, whenever there was a cut away from the game, they would cut and show some graphic about a play or something like that. And now they just cut to the box where Taylor Swift is sitting in, and then talk about her hair and talk about who she’s with and who she’s not with.

Chris
And they’re like, is that Deadpool and Wolverine?

Jeff
Hey, guys, would you do us a favor? And either while you’re listening to this podcast or. Or afterwards, would you go to Facebook and follow us on Facebook and then share that with all of your friends and family? We think it’s a great way. If you love the Bible guys, we think that your friends and family might too, and they’re following you, and then that’ll give us an opportunity to share all of the love and the joy and the fun and the Bible learning that we have here at Bible Guys. So thank you so much. So this is really an interesting it’s a small passage so this won’t take long. I hope you have a lot to say today. Well, what we do, I’m sure you do. Yeah. Matthew. Chapter 15.

Chris
If I could preach a whole sermon just out of one verse, I bet you could. Jesus wept.

Jeff
Jesus wept. Just the whole.

Chris

45. Jeff
    Minutes.

Chris
Yeah, 45 minutes.

Jeff
All right. Okay. Matthew chapter 15, verse 29, it says, Jesus returned to the Sea of Galilee. Remember, he was in Tyre and Sidon along the Mediterranean. He returned to the Sea of Galilee and climbed a hill and sat down. A vast crowd brought to him people who were lame, blind, crippled, those who couldn’t speak, and many others. They laid them before Jesus, and he healed them all. The crowd was amazed. Those who hadn’t been able to speak were talking. The crippled were made well. The lame were walking and the blind could see again. And they praised the God of Israel. Matthew chapter seven tells the same thing. It says Jesus left tyre and went up to Sidon before going back to the Sea of Galilee in the region of the Ten Towns. A deaf man with a speech impediment was brought to him, and the people begged Jesus to lay his hands on the man to heal him. Jesus led him away from the crowd so they could be alone. He put his fingers into the man’s ears and then he, spitting on his own fingers. He touched the man’s tongue. Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said, ephphatha, which means be opened. Instantly the man could hear perfectly and his tongue was freed so he could speak plainly. Jesus told the crowd not to tell anyone, but the more he told them not to, the more they spread the news. They were completely amazed and said again and again, everything he does is wonderful. He even makes the deaf to hear and gives speech to those who cannot speak.

Chris
Yeah. That’s amazing. Yeah.

Jeff
So it’s pretty amazing. The very first group that he was healing in Matthew chapter 15, I think gives hope for you. It says that they brought a vast crowd of people to him who were lame.

Chris
So lame. I’m so lame.

Jeff
And yet. No, I’m pretty sure that’s not what it meant.

Chris
I was going to say, yeah, that’s that’s 2021. Yeah yeah yeah. No, no. Right. Yeah. But the but yeah. So you know what I think of even though that we’re not talking about this at all, it reminds me of John the Baptist when he sent word to Jesus saying, are you the Messiah or should we wait for another. Yeah, yeah. And then Jesus responds to him and says, go tell John what you have seen and heard. He says that the lame are healed, that the deaf hear that the that the blind can see, and that the dead are raised, and that and that, you know. And so here it is, like Jesus is doing the work of the prophets. So the prophets, all the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled, he fulfilled over 300 prophecies. You know, that there’s there’s actually some debate on how many prophecies he fulfilled, right? Yeah. So people say there’s over 300. So we know it’s at least 300. Sure. I’ve heard over 400. Right. So there’s there’s but there’s hundreds of prophecies mathematically.

Jeff
I think they’re trying to differentiate between what is just a statement and what is a prophetic statement right about the Messiah. So that’s right. Yeah.

Chris
So anyway, the but but you know, obviously the math the math is incalculable for him to fulfill all those things. But but this is a really this is a really big piece of it. Why? Because he’s not just healing the people that are brought before him out of love and compassion and concern. He’s also fulfilling the scriptures and one of the biggest pieces of the Messiah to prove his, you know, authority is to is to do these miracles. In fact, did you know that there’s other parts in the Gospels where Jesus actually said, I am come to do this so that people will know that I’m the Messiah? So he actually says like, you know, yes, it’s for their benefit, but it’s also for God’s glory. Right? And, you know, my whole ministry career in 30 something years, 31 years is I’ve always had this phrase, as I said, every single time that we receive a command from God, it is always for our benefit, but always for his glory. That’s right. Right. It’s for his glory, and it’s for our benefit every single time. So God’s end game is about himself? Yeah. For his glory, for his kingdom, for his purposes, for others. Right? Yeah. But then also it’s for our benefit every single time, regardless of whether it is, you know. Painful regardless of it is not fun in the moment or it’s, you know, saying no to pleasure or temptation or or maybe just somehow, you know, disciplinary. Right, right. Yeah.

Jeff
So and then you also have here so there’s, you know, the benefit of the healing for the people. There’s God’s glory. And then there’s also the participants that are helping make this happen because it said a vast crowd brought to him people who were lame. There’s the people who are participating in this mission of bringing people to Jesus. And I think that Jesus still heals today. Right. So there’s the physical things, but there’s also spiritual disease and sickness. And so us participating with Christ, bringing the people to him, bringing, bringing people around us that are far from God, bringing them to him through prayer, maybe sharing the gospel, maybe, you know, doing what we can to point our friends that are are sick and dead spiritually to Christ, I think is incredibly important while we’re also because I think it’s easy if we ask if we stood up on a Sunday morning at our church and said, who has a prayer request in the room, hands would go up all over the room and people would be asking, you know, pray for my aunt’s gallbladder, pray for my uncle’s, you know, gout. And those things are really important, right? Right. And so but eventually that aunt and that uncle are going to pass from this life to somewhere else, right? And they’re going to spend eternity somewhere. And so it’s interesting to me how quickly we, we move towards they need physical healing and we forget how much they need spiritual healing. Right. And so oftentimes you find Jesus would say to a guy, remember the one guy in the in the temple and Jesus said, your sins are forgiven. It’s like, what? And they’re like, you don’t have permission to forgive sins to prove I do. Jeff
Go ahead and take up your your mat and walk right. And so Jesus would often address both the spiritual and the physical. And so we can’t forget that we need to be bringing people and participating because it was a crowd that was bringing these people to him.

Chris
I think my favorite part of that whole segment that you just did was that you chose gallbladder and gout.

Jeff
Well, those are big things you think you think about.

Chris
You know, that’s so good.

Jeff
We pray about illnesses and we forget to pray about the spiritual condition of the lost people around us.

Chris
Yeah, yeah. For sure. Yeah.

Chris
So there’s the gout. That’s the best. So there’s another sermon within a sermon here. Whoops. And and so in Mark 34, my note from the Life Application Study Bible reads this way. It says, when Jesus said be opened, he used language that this deaf man would understand. The healing message was personal and unique. So obviously he couldn’t hear it, but he was or maybe he could at that time, right? But it says whoever thought spittle might be a conduit of a miracle if there is only one means of witness in your church sermons, for instance, many people would be likely not to hear. Churches need lots of different methods to meet diverse needs. Let musicians play. Singers sing, actors act, and writers write. Let each creative Christian tell the story. Jesus used spit and mud. Surely we can find widows to the minds and hearts or windows. Excuse me to the minds and hearts of people as well. Yeah. So just just the idea that that Jesus uses the littlest of things and big little gross.

Jeff
Little gross Jesus.

Chris
Oh yeah. Well said. He even spit on his own hands and then touched the tongue. I know, right?

Jeff
That’s what I’m saying.

Chris
Yeah, it’s a little. Yeah. Germy. Well, it’s.

Jeff
Because the Pharisees had said, hey, these guys aren’t washing their hands.

Jeff
So he’s like.

Chris
Right, I’ll show you. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, it’s obviously it’s, it’s it’s amazing. But yeah, it’s mud and spit and everything else.

Jeff
Well so what.

Jeff
I’m really glad he didn’t do was spit on his hands and then stick his fingers in the.

Jeff
Guy’s ears. I think he did. He I think he did. No no no no no.

Jeff
It says he put his fingers in the man’s ears then spitting on his own fingers.

Chris
Yeah, well, then he said, then he touched the man’s tongue.

Jeff
I know.

Jeff
But if he spit on his fingers and then touched his ears, it’d be a wet willy. Oh.

Chris
I see, I see, I see.

Jeff
That’s what I’m.

Jeff
Saying. You never did.

Jeff
That to your brothers. Oh, well, you.

Chris
Actually, more accurately, they did it to me. Yeah, I’ve done it to my brothers, but more so they do.

Chris
It to me. So.

Jeff
So I read when I read the Bible like this, it just those things jump out at me and I’m thinking, that’s so funny.

Chris
Well, I mean, it’s so funny. And the reality is you’ve pointed this out before, but Jesus didn’t have to even touch them. No, he didn’t even have to be in their presence. Right, right. So as we saw yesterday, right. He spoke, the woman’s daughter being possessed of demons to be healed from a whole nother city distance.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah.

Chris
From a distance. And he’s done that with a Roman centurion or no Roman centurion servant, right. Yeah. Yeah, he’s done all sorts of things like that. So. So for him to be interactive is an indication, like the note said, that Jesus is also personal. Right. And and I think that’s important because when we pray, sometimes we don’t think that Jesus hears us. You know, we think that like, you know, he doesn’t know. What I’m going through. He doesn’t know. I’m all alone, you know, and there are times where people really do. I felt that way before, where I’ve actually felt like. I’m not sure that God is paying attention to what I’m going through, because if he did, then he would do something about it, right? Because it’s so exhausting, it’s so agonizing, and it’s so, you know, like like if anybody understood, they would, they would want to help. Yeah. And but yeah, Jesus is personal across the board.

Jeff
Yeah. And then, you know, it says that the he Jesus turns around and tells the crowd, don’t tell anyone.

Jeff
Right. Keep this a.

Jeff
Secret. It’s just between us. But the more he told them not to, the more they spread the news.

Chris
By the way, did he know that? You know, it’s that whole thing of like.

Jeff
I think I.

Jeff
Think people vacillate back and forth between. What was his intent on that.

Chris
Right.

Jeff
You know, I do know that there are some people in my life, if I say, don’t say this to anybody, they’ll they will go around and say, listen, don’t tell anybody. But and they’ll tell, they’ll tell 50 people.

Chris
Don’t tell anybody. I lived in.

Chris
Atlanta for ten years. I know this all too well. Right? The gossip was was more prevalent down there than it is up here.

Jeff
Do you think so? We’re just better at it.

Chris
I do, I do. You know what’s so interesting. So we’re going to sidebar just for a second, is that people down there, the southern hospitality is true, by the way. It’s all true. Southern hospitality. Southern hospitality is a thing and 90% of it is marvelous. It really is like people are truly kinder.

Jeff
But there’s an evil underbelly.

Chris
Yes. And here’s the evil underbelly. Literally, when I would leave a person’s.

Jeff
House, bless his heart.

Chris
Yeah, right. Which which, by the way, it.

Jeff
Doesn’t mean bless your heart. It does not.

Chris
Mean bless your heart. It means he’s so stupid. Yeah, yeah, that person is an idiot. But when I would be at a house and I would say, hey, are you going to come to church on Sunday? And they look at me and say, I promise you, I will meet you there. I’ll meet you in the lobby at 1030. You’re like, okay, see you Sunday. It was so common for people to lie disguised under southern hospitality because they didn’t want to, you know, be unkind that you would leave that house and anybody who was with you didn’t matter who it was, it didn’t matter who you were visiting. You would actually walk away and say, we already know that they’re not going to show. Right? And that was just a common assumption. So. So how weird is it that that’s so inbred in the culture to where it’s like, you already know that they’re saying something that’s not true bred.

Jeff
It might not be the right embedded.

Chris
Embedded, embedded.

Jeff
Embedded.

Chris
I said inbred didn’t I?

Jeff
That may have been.

Jeff
A Freudian slip.

Chris
There. Yeah. There you go. You need.

Jeff
To apologize to all of our listeners from Georgia.

Chris
From Alabama.

Chris
And Georgia. So so the it’s so funny. So it’s. I can’t get around that one. Can’t.

Jeff
No, no I thought I’m going.

Jeff
To let it go. And then I thought I better not let it go.

Chris
Yeah. Yeah.

Chris
So I didn’t mean to.

Chris
Say it’s.

Chris
Embedded.

Jeff
Embedded.

Chris
Embedded. Sorry. Everybody in the South. By the way, I love the South. I love the South, I really do. So anyway, I still love trucks and country music too, by the way. There you go. But the point is, is that I moved to the north in 2004, and I remember being out there in the ball field, and I remember talking to somebody about church, and I said, I said, hey, I said, come to church or, you know, hey, I’ll invite you to church. And they said to me, go to blank.

Chris
Right.

Chris
Go to Hades. Right? And they looked at me right in my face and said it. And I was like, oh, that is so delightfully refreshing.

Jeff
You love getting.

Chris
I thought, I love that because somebody actually said what they.

Jeff
Think, no, it’s not.

Jeff
Going to happen.

Chris
And I told my wife about this and she, of course, wasn’t, you know, the pastor in position like I was. So she didn’t see the underbelly side of it. Right. So her experience with southern hospitality is generally really, really good. But I hated that part of it. The ministry part of it was exhausting. Yeah. And and so I much prefer somebody telling me like it is.

Jeff
So the, the, the issue here is he’s telling them don’t go tell anyone and then they gossip. So is it, did he tell them knowing that they would and that was a tactic he was using. Right. Or is this a please don’t tell anybody else. I genuinely think because he’s so exhausted. Right.

Chris
And there’s evidence of him wanting to get away.

Jeff
I genuinely think it was just don’t tell anybody.

Jeff
Else.

Chris
I agree I agree. Yeah, it’s something he can’t stop and he probably knows it. Right? Right. And so there’s.

Jeff
Jesus isn’t trying to get more followers and more clicks at this point.

Chris
Right?

Jeff
Right. Make sure you like and thumbs give me a thumbs up.

Chris
Which we.

Chris
Say.

Jeff
Subscribe. You’re right. That’s not what he’s doing here.

Jeff
He’s he’s he’s on his way. You know, he knows pretty soon he’s getting ready to head towards Jerusalem. He’s heading towards the cross. These temporary healings, they’re important to that individual in that moment. But in the scope of eternity, which is really where his focus is, it’s such a temporary solution. And then he was frustrated that they didn’t really get the point. Yeah.

Jeff
Right.

Chris
And and he’s already established his Messiah ship at this point. Yeah. He’s already he’s already sort of accomplished and done all the things that he has come to set out to do. So if he hadn’t healed one more. He still would have fulfilled the scriptures when when it comes to healing the blind, the sick, the lame, the, you know, raising the dead, all that he’s done, all of it. So he’s fulfilled the scriptures. So it’s just a matter of, do you heal 200 people or do you heal 20,000 people? Right, right, right. And it’s just it’s more of the same, like you said.

Jeff
Well, tomorrow you’ll get an indication of it because he said, we’ve been here three days, right? It just doesn’t end. Yeah, right. So they say they were completely amazed and said again and again, everything he does is wonderful, right? So it’s interesting the religious leaders are always looking at.

Jeff
Everything he does as evil. Wonderful, right? Yeah.

Jeff
The religious leaders are looking at him. Everything he does and says is evil. And the people are saying everything he does is wonderful, right? And they get pulled back and forth, and he even makes the deaf to hear and gives speech to those who cannot speak. And you know, when you really have an encounter with Jesus, I think that’s what you come away with is everything he does is wonderful. Yeah. That’s great. Even when he spits on his fingers and touches your tongue.

Chris
Right, right, right. Yeah. Which, by the way, there’s another sermon altogether. Absolutely. Which is. Which is sometimes he answers our needs, wants and wishes. Maybe slightly different than we thought.

Jeff
Yeah. Yeah, right. We don’t get.

Jeff
To dictate how he solves.

Chris
Right.

Jeff
The problem we’re asking him to solve.

Chris
Yeah, right.

Chris
And so there it.

Chris
Is right there. A whole other.

Jeff
Message there, man.

Chris
Yeah. So how about how about that little. I slipped that in didn’t I? Doo doo doo I slipped it right in there. Oh well hey, that’s a great place to end. And hopefully we’ll see you tomorrow on The Bible Guys.