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, welcome to the Bible, guys. I’m Chris, and this is Jeff. Here we are. Yes.

Jeff
In the room. Ready to go?

Chris
Yes. With our lovely. We’re gonna bring it. If you’re watching. We have this lovely cement background. Look at this. Behind us with the logo. Yeah. If you’re not watching, then I’m sorry about that.

Jeff
Envision us sitting on the beach. Yes, in Costa Rica.

Chris
Oh, I wish I could make beach sounds, but I can’t even attempt it. Yeah. There you go. Okay. Hey. Well, we’re going to begin with a social media minute. This segment is put together by Desiree, who, by the way, often times I meet people and say, and people will say, Is Desiree real? Is she real.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah, yeah. She is the best.

Chris
Yeah, yeah. She’s great.

Jeff
I just had a meeting with her yesterday. We were talking about the podcast making plans.

Chris
If she ever chooses to like, move on, we’ll have to, like, reference a new person.

Jeff
A new one. And then what?

Chris
What happened to Desiree? So we hope Desiree stays around. That’s right. But not just for that reason.

Jeff
There you go.

Chris
So the Social Media Minute says we love our listeners. And it’s been so fun hearing and interacting with them on YouTube. So let’s take a minute and give some shout outs. Smiley face.

Jeff
Shout out smiley faces. There you go.

Chris
You want to read the first one?

Jeff
It says The Bible Guys is a part of my daily routine.

Chris
Which is great.

Jeff
I have learned so much from them. Sure miss it on the weekends. Great job guys! That’s from Wendy.

Chris
Kay. Oh, is that like a nice. Is that like, uh, one of those backhanded like, hey guys, step it up.

Jeff
Quit mailing it in just with five. Step it up. Give us all seven.

Chris
What you can’t give us on the weekends.

Jeff
So. So what? We were hoping. Yeah. If that was a backhanded compliment, which it wasn’t. Wendy. Such a nice nice.

Chris
Wendy Kay is great.

Jeff
Nice. But let’s let’s have let’s say somebody else thinks that what we’re hoping is that one day on the weekend, they’ll go to church and that maybe they could read the Bible on their own one day.

Chris
Oh my gosh, that didn’t sound condescending at all.

Jeff
Yeah. No, Wendy that’s awesome.

Chris
We are humbled. Yeah.

Jeff
We are we are humbled.

Chris
And the fact that you even have the Bible guys, she’s like daily routine.

Jeff
I didn’t realize Jeff was such a jerk. Now it’s going to be like, the Bible guy is a part of my daily routine. I don’t like one of them.

Chris
She’s gonna say she’ll continue to listen because of me. Because of you? That’s what I’m.

Jeff
Saying. Yes, the Bible guy, that’s what I’m saying. The Bible guy.

Chris
And his friend Jeff. Yeah.

Jeff
Sidekick.

Chris
Right. All right, number two. Um, you guys bring the Bible to life and make it understandable. Thank you so much, says Nick P.

Jeff
Yeah, there you go.

Chris
Uh, you know what? Hey, listen, let me just say this. Uh, we really, truly, 100% not even kidding. Very much appreciate these comments.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chris
And any feedback that we get from people on YouTube or if they comment on Spotify or or interact with us in any way or on our page or email us at info at thebibleguys.com. Uh, whether it’s a question or whether it’s a, uh, just a comment like this, uh, we really do appreciate the feedback because I’ll be honest with you, it is hard work getting up and coming in and then, you know, talking for 3 or 4 hours, you know, sitting close to each other. Yeah. Sitting this close to it when you’re coughing because you have a post-nasal drip. Yeah. I’m praying isn’t Covid. That’s right. And I’m thinking to myself, uh, honestly, you know, what keeps me going doing this is even though it’s a lot of hours, um, is that, uh, honestly, I’ll run into somebody and they’ll be like, hey, man, let me tell you how much I appreciate this. You know, this this idea of the Bible guys and I and I always I’m like, always super humbled. But at the same time I’m like, man, that that’s what drives us with moving forward. It’s really amazing.

Jeff
Yeah. And then to get a compliment like Nick gave us, um, you guys bring the Bible to life and make it understandable. I can’t think for me. I can’t think of a compliment that would be greater. Yeah, than for somebody to say about my Bible teaching. I would hope people would say I’m faithful and these other things too. But as far as about Bible teaching that, you know, there’s different motivations, perhaps, or different things that, you know, they’re not saying, man, you come off like a professor. And I really feel like I learn big words from you.

Chris
I’m impressed so much with your knowledge. Right? You’re so impressive.

Jeff
Yeah. Where it’s it’s not about us as teachers. It’s about the fact that, hey, I feel like when I spend a little bit of time with you guys, I understand it, right? And I get the Bible and that’s. That’s the goal. And I think it’s, uh, it’s it’s very difficult sometimes to take these big, complex ideas and get them down to the bottom shelf where all of us can reach it.

Chris
But but that’s what Jesus did.

Jeff
That’s what Jesus did. Yeah. And that’s where I was going with that. So what a compliment, Nick. That’s fantastic. Thank you. Yeah, yeah.

Chris
That’s what I spend my entire life trying to do. Yeah. So.

Jeff
And then Dean said, it really does matter, uh, that you guys do this and I told you before, and I’ll say it again, you guys are special when it comes to spreading and teaching the word of God, so. Oh thanks, Dean. Super great. That’s right. Dean h. Dean h thanks, Dean. All right. You’re you’re special Chris.

Chris
You because you’re.

Jeff
Special. You’re special.

Chris
That’s the way I just saw I went to Universal Studios. I went down to on Christmas break with my daughter. Yeah. And, um, and, uh, I was with my we went to universal for a day and Disney for a day, and we’re walking out with my family, and I saw Barney the purple dinosaur. Really? And where he was on TV at universal. Yeah, at universal. And I thought to myself, is he still around? I love you. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah, yeah. And that’s where the US special song I was singing came from. Yeah. I couldn’t believe it. I’m like, Is Barney making a comeback?

Jeff
How sweet.

Chris
Because he’s kind of creepy.

Jeff
Making a comeback. OG dinosaur right.

Chris
There.

Jeff
It ain’t a comeback. Yeah, it was it, uh, was it Eminem who said it has a phrase? It ain’t a comeback. I never left or something.

Chris
Oh, yeah, you got me on that one. We’re two old people trying to. Old guys trying to be cool. Yeah, yeah.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah. Well, there’s some vague knowledge of a thing that I shouldn’t have even said out loud. Okay, so here’s one of my favorite stories in the Bible. It only lasts eight verses. Uh, it’s not a very complex story. I just love it. And so I hope you do, too. In Luke chapter 17 is where we’re going to be reading from verse 11. So we’re back to Luke, by the way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. So it was kind of singly John. It was Luke forever. Yeah. Then it was just John. So we’re going to hop through a whole bunch of these little stories that are happening.

Chris
And actually the next several days is Luke.

Jeff
Yeah. That are happening in between the time Jesus left Galilee and came down towards Jerusalem, he gets in Jerusalem. There’s some problems. It’s not yet time for him to die. And he leaves. He goes outside Jerusalem, remember? So he’s been in Bethany. He goes out into the wilderness. He’s he’s kind of hanging around the city of Jerusalem, but he’s not going to go into Jerusalem until Passover. So it says. As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. So there he is again. He’s up towards up a little north. As he entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance, crying out, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. And he looked at them and said, go, show yourselves to the priests. And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, Praise God! And he fell to the ground at Jesus feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner? And Jesus said to the man, stand up and go, your faith has healed you. Hmm. Isn’t that great? Yeah. I love so many things about this from the very beginning to the end of this story. I love everything about it.

Chris
So, uh, you went to Israel at a different time than I did. I went years ago. And you went last year. Yeah, yeah. And so, um, uh, did you happen to come upon the cave where they believed that this took place? No. So obviously there’s absolutely no way that people can guess. The cave of the Thousands of caves, right? Right, right. However, based on where he was and based on where he was going, um, you know, uh, heading toward Jerusalem, there’s, you know, a couple main throughways. Uh, there was there was a cave off in the distance. And this particular cave again, it could it could. Chances are very probable this was not the cave. Okay. Right. Uh, but chances are very probable that it was a leper’s cave. And the reason why is because it sort of stood up on a hill and, uh, there was a there was a hole in the top where they would lower food in. Right. And so and it was and it had like this, it’s exactly what you would do, uh, if you wanted to pass something to somebody but didn’t want to get near them. Yeah.

Jeff
Because leprosy was so contagious.

Chris
Right. And so people would, uh, if they had to ever interact with anything with, with people in a cave. So, so in other words, uh, we all know this, I think. But, uh, if you were diagnosed or, you know, had evidence of leprosy, you were outcast from the city. Yeah. So you were always outside the city. You weren’t allowed to interact with people, and then they sort of huddled together because the only thing lepers could be around is other lepers. Right. And then you spent your life, probably the rest of your life, in a cave, and you had no choice but to depend on people for begging. Right? So here they are, a great distance off the side of the road, which is this is where this cave was. And if anybody ever had to give them anything, they would have to lower it through. And the way that this cave was, is as people were able to stand on the top and then lower down. So so I just thought to myself, wow, if this is true, and if this is exactly where these lepers were, it would make so much sense. Which is why they had to shout a great distance off the side of the road, uh, you know, shouting out master, uh, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. And then Jesus looked at them, go show yourselves to the priests. Yeah, now talk about that. Why do they have to show themselves to the priests?

Jeff
Well, they were unclean. And so, uh, being unclean meant that nobody could touch them. Nobody could be around them when they were walking down the street, or if they were walking on a road and they came across some healthy people, they’d have to they were required to cross to the other side of the road, and they’d have to call out that they were unclean. I’m unclean. Right. And so they lived their whole life as being unclean. And, uh, being unclean meant you couldn’t go into the temple. It meant you couldn’t do your sacrifices. It meant it meant so many things that were deeply ingrained in the in the Jewish culture and Jewish religion. And so the only way that you could be made clean again would be to go through the ceremonial cleansing and washing and then to be declared by a priest that you’re clean. And so basically what what he was saying was he’s sending them in to go prove to the priests they’ve been healed of, of, of, uh, leprosy.

Chris
And which, by the way, is proof that, like, the priests have more guts than anybody else. Yeah. Because the priests then has to, you know, be around somebody with leprosy. Yeah. Right. Right. I mean, that’s and that’s not unlike our entire history. Uh, whenever, whenever you see, whenever you see, uh, what was it like? Smallpox. Right. It was the Christians. Right? Right. It was the Christians who risked their own lives. And this would be proof to.

Jeff
All the rest of the Jewish people that, hey, if a priest could be in the presence of a person that was formerly a leper. Yeah. And not be unclean because they were in that presence, then that means it’s okay for all the rest of us too. Oh yeah. Right, right. So that that was why that was so, so culturally important. So Jesus says, uh, you know, that have mercy on it. They say, have mercy. They call him master, which is Lord. Right. Um, I think that’s a salvation moment. Right? Everybody who calls the name of the Lord will be saved. Uh, you have to. You have to believe in your heart, and you have to declare that he’s the Lord. Right? And so that’s what they do. And he says, go and show yourselves to the priests. And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy.

Chris
As they went.

Jeff
So so.

Chris
How far they got?

Jeff
They leave by faith to go to the priest. They were not healed when they left. They were not healed. When he said it, they were healed as they were heading.

Chris
That it took faith to.

Jeff
Leave and go.

Chris
Like because you could have rationalized and said, why bother? Yeah, go show yourselves to the priest. Why would I do that?

Jeff
That’s going to be embarrassed one more time. It’s always embarrassing to be around anybody who’s healthy. Yeah, I’m unclean, I’m unclean.

Chris
And by the way, that’s a really important.

Jeff
Throw rocks at him. Mhm.

Chris
Yeah. It’s an important distinction what you just mentioned, which you said by faith they started to walk toward the priest because there’s so many times in the Bible where you know, remember in the Old Testament, uh, it says they were carrying the ark on the raging Jordan River. Right, right. And it says after you step into the river, then the waters parted. Right, right, right. So it took faith to step into a river, a raging river, right. Uh, carrying an item that if you touched it, you died. Right? Right. But yet. Yet. God. Because you say.

Jeff
So. It was when their feet touched the water. Right? Then God made the way.

Chris
Hey, Peter, come step out under the water. Right, right. So, so these things that require a step of faith before it actually happens. Right.

Jeff
So, uh, for a lot of us, what we want is a complete and total answer, and then we’ll believe. Yeah, we want everything completely solved, and then we’ll trust. Right. And what he’s saying here is trust me and go and it’ll be solved. And so for, for people who are struggling with obedience or with holiness or with making choices that are honoring to God, just understand the blessing will come as you go, right? The blessing here was in the obedience. The healing happened in the obedience. Right? So okay, we’ll go. And it was on the way that they were healed. Uh, I, I think and this is totally incidental, I think it was closer to the time they arrived at the priest than it was to when they left. Jesus.

Chris
Sure. And there’s no way to tell that. No. Uh, because.

Jeff
But it makes sense with the idea.

Chris
It does. Because. Because. Uh, if it would have been close to Jesus, they would have most likely all turned around. They would have turned.

Jeff
Back and come back to Jesus. That’s right. But only one did.

Chris
Right because one went out of his way. Right.

Jeff
So and that’s the highlight Jesus is making this one guy. Didn’t I heal ten of you? Right? And only one came all the way back. So that means that it was an inconvenience to the other nine. Yeah. Um, they were closer to the priest than they were to Jesus, but the one turned around and came back, and I love that. I think that this story for me makes me. I want to be that one. Sure. Right. I want to be that guy probably more than anything else. I want to remember always to give God the glory. Um, uh, there’s a song. You know, God has done a lot of really amazing things in the ministry you and I serve in. Right. And, uh, there’s a song from back, I don’t know, maybe 2000, 2005, something like that. Um, uh, one of my. Uh, favorite worship leaders. Charles Billingsley, um, sang. It’s just called In the Room, and the theme of the song is very simple song, very gentle song. But the theme of the song was, uh, I’m just sitting here in the dark room after the service is over and God showed up and did amazing things, and it would be tempting to take the credit, but I just realized I’m just glad I was in the room when the Holy Spirit did what the Holy Spirit did. Yeah. And so coming out of some really great weeks here, that song keeps playing over and over and over in my mind. And I just this story is the story in my mind. God, I want to be that guy who doesn’t take credit. And I want to be the guy who keeps coming back and saying thank you. And that’s what he does. Right? And and it’s interesting, even here, I’m not sure he knew that Jesus was God, but he’s praising God. He understands where this healing came from, where this thing came from. And he felt the ground at Jesus feet and thanked him, too. Right. And he’s thanking Jesus, um, and giving glory to God. And Jesus goes, no one else returns except the remember, we don’t like Samaritans, right? So only this.

Chris
Well they didn’t.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah. Jesus did. Yeah Jesus did. But Jewish people thought that they were uncultured, unmannered people. Sure. And the only one who had the culture and manners to come back and say thank you was the least likely and man alive. When I think about the blessings God’s given to me in my life, I feel like I’m the least likely person that God would have chosen for some of these things. And I want to be that guy who keeps coming back and saying, thank you.

Chris
So, um, so when I was a youth pastor, you know, pastor of high school students, I took, uh, I don’t know, maybe 60 kids or so, uh, from Atlanta, Georgia, all the way up to, um, uh, a camp in Ohio. And, uh, there was a speaker by the name of Dave Adams, and, uh, and I remember him giving this ranting speech and he goes, uh, he said, let me tell you something. I’ve been in ministry 30 years. Oh, my goodness, he was. He’s us. Yeah. You’re that guy. I used to hear that guy back. He’s so old. This old guy. Old, old guy. Wow. Because this was 20 years ago. But. But anyway, this is 25 years ago. But anyway, he says I’ve been in ministry 30 years. He goes, I have three degrees beyond high school. I’ve read thousands of books. I’ve seen thousands of lives and people surrendering to ministry and all these kind of things. And he says, and you know what I’ve learned? He goes, uh, it’s a sad fact, he said, but only 10% of you who say that you’re going to go on and serve God with the rest of your life are actually going to make it. He’s 10% who are actually going to say, I’m going to go to ministry. He goes only 10%. Are you going to make it? Wow. And so all of a sudden what ends up happening is as he’s as he’s ranting and raving about this, right? Just trying to drill it into the people that it takes commitment and everything else. One of the teenagers who, you know, um, stands up and folds his arms and just stands in the middle of the crowd, about 1500 kids. Wow. He just stands up all by himself for no reason, and all of a sudden somebody else stands up and somebody.It’s like an 80s movie, right? Yeah, yeah. They’re all standing up like this, and all of a sudden, like, by the time I’m like, uh, you know. And then the speaker sort of stopped and he goes, oh, I see. And he goes, who else? And then all of a sudden, by the time he got done, about 150 kids were standing. And I think that after, like it was 10% of the crowd. I think that maybe, maybe other people were afraid to stand up for something, you know, but but it was sort of like, oh, captain, my captain kind of moment. Wow. And all of a sudden he goes, he goes, well, thank you. And everybody gave these guys a round of applause for standing. And then afterwards, the first kid who stood, which was next to me, who again, you know, I looked over and I said, I go, why did you stand up? And he and the kid said, because I wanted that guy to know that I was going to be one of the 10%. That’s what he said. Yeah. And it was just amazing, right? It’s awesome. But it’s exactly what you’re talking about. Right? Because because guess what? One out of ten is 10%. Yeah.

Jeff
That. Yeah, yeah. That’s true. In fact, that amazing.

Chris
Yeah. In fact, he might have been preaching on this passage. Come to think of it, it might have been because I don’t remember the passage. I just remember the moment, you know, the 10% moment. That’s crazy.

Jeff
Yeah, I think that’s probably true. It seems like so many people make a claim. Yeah. And then don’t don’t follow through. Right. So yeah, let’s be that one. And there’s so there’s the power of the Holy Spirit in you who gives you the power. And he’s going to complete what he starts in you. All those things that’s really talking about making you like Jesus and taking you to heaven. But, um, the there is the character side of it where you just grit, right. We’re going to do a message series called grit. Uh, there is just there is something about just saying, I’m not going to quit because we have an enemy who hates us, who is going to do everything he can to stop us. And when you’re in a battle, sometimes the only thing that gets you to the end of the battle is, is not giving up, right? Right. The the grit, the stick to itiveness, the whatever. So there is something to be said about a person just deciding. I will be one of those people. I will not give up. Right. And you know, Paul talks about that. Paul says, I’m going to finish my race, right? I’m going to do it. And I mean, he was in chains. He was in he knew he was about to lose his head. They were going to cut his head off. And he’s like, I will not quit. I’m going to finish this thing. So, um, I would say this there’s another note in, uh, for verse 16 here in the Life Application Bible says only the. So nine out of ten did not come back. Right. But it says only. The thankful man, however, learned that his faith had played a role in his healing, and only grateful Christians grow and understanding God’s grace. Isn’t that amazing? Yes. So they all left thinking Jesus was a good luck charm. And only one came back and really grew in his knowledge of how grace really works. In that moment when he found out it was his faith. Because Jesus said, it’s your faith that made you whole, wasn’t, you know, wasn’t some kind of magic thing I did right? It was your faith that made you whole. And so God doesn’t demand that we thank him. But he’s pleased when we do, and he uses our responsiveness to teach us more about himself. I think so much of spiritual growth happens when we recognize it’s not us. And it’s not that he’s a good luck charm or some kind of lucky thing that makes good things happen, but rather it’s this combination of our faith and his will aligning. And he does amazing things and we grow so much more in that. And that’s what this this note’s highlighting there. It’s again, I’ve used this analogy several times on the podcast. It’s like that, that kung fu master saying there’s a whole other level and that’s the next level. And gratefulness, I think, is one of the thankfulness is one of those things that unlocks the door, the humility to say, it’s not about me. Thank you, God, for what you’ve done, begins to unlock the the door to the next level.

Chris
Yeah. That’s awesome. Yeah. Hey, so you talked about that Sticktoitiveness and the and the grit, right? Yeah. Of just wanting to press forward. Uh, so I based my life verse on this. So, uh, one of the things that people have said about me, uh, I guess is, is, uh, like, let me let me say it a different way. At my previous church, I worked at a church before I worked with you for 16.5 years. And we went around and we gave each other nicknames. Right. And, uh, and they were like, oh, we’re going to base it off your personality. Well, uh, they they said my nickname was Wolverine. Oh, really? And I said, I said, Why Wolverine? And they said, because you are a scrapper. They said, you fight and and based on your entire life, you fought for everything, and it’s just who you are. And I thought, yeah, that’s probably true. Right. So, uh, but what’s so interesting is that the more years that passed, the more I start to realize that actually is pretty descriptive of me. And my life verse was based off that. It jumped out of the page. So it’s first Corinthians 1558. Oh yeah. And it says, uh, with all these things going on for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground and don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort. And I learned it. And by the way, that is a, uh, weird version, because my version that I memorized was the King James version. Yeah, yeah. Right where it says, I’m just going to say, therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. And the idea of being unmovable. Yeah. And standing your ground. Yeah. And being steadfast or steady. Right. And I just think that like the, the idea of that is to say I’m going to be the 10%, I’m going to be the leper. Right? Like, I’m going to be the guy, hopefully at the end of my life that’s found faithful.

Jeff
That’s my dad’s life verse.

Chris
By the way. Is it? Yeah, yeah.

Jeff
So, um, he, uh. I would say I would hear him quote that verse. Once a week. It was. It was in him all the time. My dad is a rock. He’s 86 now but is a spiritual rock. And it was that. Be steadfast. So that’s not that verse doesn’t say Paul doesn’t say God will make you steadfast, right. It’s saying you need to decide to be steadfast, right? Right there, always abounding in the work of the Lord. And then you know, everything you do for God is noticed.

Chris
It’s not a wasted, it’s not going to be wasted.

Jeff
And, uh, yeah. So everything we do for the Lord is worth it. And this guy, we’re not required to be thankful. But man, this thankfulness unlocked a whole other level for him that the other nine didn’t get.

Chris
Yeah, yeah, well, that’s a great place to end and we will see you next time on The Bible Guys.