Transcription

Chris
So Jeff, you better be good in this podcast. I’m going to do the best I can do. You know why? Why? Because I said so. Oh. Yes, sir. What is that about? We’re talking about Jesus’s authority.

Jeff
I’m not sure he was bossy. That’s not the same. Being bossy and having authority aren’t the same thing.

Chris
Well, you know.

Jeff
Well, we’ll find out. Yeah. How about that? So he’s Chris and I’m Jeff, and we’re the Bible guys.

Chris
Okay. He was bossy to demons. Who he was? Yeah, he bossed them around. You’re right. Like a boss. Like a boss. Yeah, yeah. Hey, so today, Jeff, we are going to just take a few comments on social media. Oh, good. Yeah. So, uh, we love we love it when our, uh, listeners decide to comment on YouTube or email us or write in and just give us feedback. And, uh, so these are three comments.

Jeff
Hey, if you’re listening on on any of the platforms, um, Spotify, Apple, whatever. Um, leave a comment or leave a review. That’s the best way to do it there. Leave a review if you’re watching on on and then subscribe follow. And then if you’re watching on on YouTube, subscribe. And then, um, leave a comment. Because all those things, every interaction you have with us helps push a little further. It tweaks the algorithms in some way to to make the show more visible.

Chris
Yeah. Which is which is the goal.

Jeff
It helps us a ton. Yeah.

Chris
So, uh, there’s three comments that we have sort of taken off, or at least Desiree has. And she put it on the sheet here. The first one reads this way. Jeff’s reactions and replies to Chris makes me laugh so much. The relationship is just so awesome to watch. Oh, that’s nice to say. That is. May these two pastors stay close until the end of times. Oh, just imagine how they would be when they are seniors lol. Name unknown, which is so funny. Can you imagine two old men, uh, both.

Jeff
Of us in a nursing home in a wheelchair.

Chris
Just sitting, harping on each other.

Jeff
And busting each other’s chops? Remember the movie? The movie’s grumpy old man? Yes. Remember those? That’s it right there. What?

Chris
Well, the two or the two old Muppets. Yeah.

Jeff
Yeah, that’s. Who just stand up there complaining about everything? That’s right. That’ll be us. Yeah, right. That’ll be fine.

Chris
Here we go. Number two. Uh, somebody else says just found you guys. So starting from the beginning, I’m only 11 months behind. I definitely need daily, uh, work and or daily word. And you guys fit the bill. Don’t stop. Brett k.

Jeff
Oh. That’s cool. Well, welcome, Brett.

Chris
Yeah. For sure.

Jeff
Awesome, man. Yeah.

Chris
Appreciate you writing in too. Yeah that’s great. And uh, and yeah so I mean 11 months behind. That’s okay. Yeah. And maybe hey who knows, maybe if he’s, uh, commenting on 11 months ago, he’ll hear his name whenever he gets.

Jeff
To it 11 months from now.

Chris
Right? Maybe.

Chris
Maybe unless he unless he doubles up.

Jeff
Right. That’s awesome. Yeah. Yeah.

Chris
So. All right. Well, thanks. Uh, Brett, appreciate that. And then the last person says, Jeff and Chris, as I said before, you both bring the Bible to life. Uh, Chris s so he’s he’s obviously giving the.

Jeff
Bible to life.

Chris
Yeah, well, you know, that’s actually a great, uh, comment to hear for for me. And I know you, too. It’s encouraging because one of the things that I, uh, grew up with was, uh, the Bible didn’t feel relevant. It didn’t feel applicable. And, uh, do you know that just last Sunday, one of our volunteers that, you know, and on security team, he actually said to me in the lobby when I grew up, he goes, the church I went to, uh, the authority figure actually said this out loud to the whole congregation and said, don’t read the Bible. We’ll read it for you and tell you what it says.

Jeff
Wow, wow.

Chris
Yeah. Can you believe that? Yeah. And so and so just a horrible, uh, kind of a thing. But I always felt like when I, when I got in an environment where I felt like the Bible came to life and somebody did that for me as a teacher, and the Bible felt relevant and applicable and understandable. I thought, man, that’s the way it’s supposed to be. Yeah. So that’s one of the best compliments. Thank you. That’s fantastic.

Jeff
Chris S yeah, and it’s kind of neat. Uh, thank you Desiree. She picked those out and put them on there because we didn’t. I didn’t even know that was going to happen. But that’s really cool. That’s very cool. Uh, it’s neat to see those things. So that’s what we want to do is we want to make it so you have a lot of Bible teaching. You have a lot of of biblical depth. I’ve had a lot of Bible teaching. Um, we can use all the big words. We can make it as confusing as anybody else can make it. Right? Right. Uh, but I think that there’s something special about taking these big ideas and putting them on the bottom shelf where everybody can reach it, where it’s approachable. And this is what you find Jesus doing. That’s right. That’s exactly what I wanted to say. Uh, you stole my thunder. Thanks, man.

Chris
Yeah! Whoo whoo whoo whoo! We both did it at the same time, too, old man. That’s right. It’s so funny.

Jeff
It’s going to be fun when we’re older. I hope our wives put us in the same nursing home.

Chris
Yeah, that’d be great.

Jeff
When we lose our minds and we’re just.

Chris
Actually, that wouldn’t be great at all. But there’s some dynamic that might be fun.

Jeff
Yeah. Okay.

Jeff
Well, good.

Jeff
All right. You know what? It’s always humbling when, uh, when our our listeners say nice things, but. Yeah. That’s good. Well, hey, talking about, um. Jesus. Always taking these big ideas and putting them on the bottom shelf where everybody can reach them. Uh. Jesus did. A all kinds of things, miracles and things. But he was here to connect people to God. So a big part of his, his life was the message itself, right? The teaching. And so it was surprising to people because he was such a nice, calming guy. He’s a good guy. The children loved him. People wanted to be around him. Men and women, business people, uh, blue collar workers, everybody wanted to be around Jesus. And yet he was very approachable. But he also spoke with authority. And that’s what the Bible is talking about here. So this comes up in two passages, uh, Luke chapter four and Mark chapter one. So we’ll start in Mark chapter one verse 21. Yeah. And it says Jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum. When the Sabbath day came, he went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority, quite unlike the teachers of religious law. Suddenly a man in the synagogue was possessed by an evil spirit, began shouting, why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. Jesus, cut him short. Be quiet! Come out of the man he ordered. At that the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a convulsion, and they came out of him. As amazement gripped the audience and began to discuss what had happened. What sort of new teaching is this? Jeff
They asked excitedly. It has such authority. Even evil spirits obey his orders. The news about Jesus spread quickly throughout the entire region of Galilee. No lie, I bet, right? I bet, and then it. Luke chapter four says, Then Jesus went to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and taught there in the synagogue every Sabbath day. That’s a that’s a new.

Chris
Great new detail.

Jeff
New detail, every Sabbath, not just on the Sabbath, but every Sabbath right there too. The people were amazed at his teaching, for he spoke with authority. Once when he was in the synagogue, a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit began shouting at Jesus, go away! Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God and Jesus, cut him short. Be quiet! Come out of the man he ordered. And at that the demon threw the man to the floor as the crowd watched. And then it came out of him without hurting him further. Amazed, the people exclaimed, what authority and power this man’s words possessed! Even evil spirits obey him, and they flee at his command. The news about Jesus spread throughout every village in the entire region.

Chris
Yeah, yeah, those are two. Those are two visual aid stories. The same story. Yeah. But, uh, but but Holy cow, man, when you try to visualize that, uh, uh, you know, I’ve seen a lot of movies, like I said, so. So that’s a heck of a visual. Yeah. Um, and so, yeah, he was bossy, wasn’t he? In this case. In this one. Yeah. So, uh, and a good a good kind of boss, right. Uh, but, uh, I do, uh, love the fact that the Life Application study Bible includes a lot of insight. And, uh, so let me read the note if you would allow me. Oh, good. For Mark 121, it says this Jesus had recently moved to Capernaum from Nazareth, as referenced in Matthew 412 and 13. Capernaum was a thriving town with great wealth as well as great sin, because it was the headquarters for many Roman troops. Pagan influences from all over the Roman Empire were persuasive. This was an ideal place for Jesus to challenge both Jews and non-Jews with the good news of God’s kingdom. This gives us a little insight that he still referred to as Jesus of Nazareth. But, but, but Paul traveled the world and was still referred to as Paul of Tarsus. Yeah, yeah, because it’s it’s where you came from. Right.

Jeff
That was kind of your last name.

Chris
Yeah. Right. Right, right. That’s right. And, uh, but yet, uh, Jesus at this time had moved his, uh, you know, residence to Capernaum.

Jeff
Yeah. So Nazareth is about 20 miles away from Capernaum. Um, and Capernaum was not only a garrison for the Romans, like, like that that passage said it was also kind of a crossroads on the northern portion of the Sea of Galilee. Um, so if you’re heading towards the major cities, if you’re heading towards Damascus, or if you’re heading up to the north into Lebanon, there’s, uh, would often come through Capernaum. That would be one of the major trade offs. That’s why later on you’re going to find out, uh, Matthew was a tax collector there, uh, was same thing. It was kind of a toll taker, um, so much of the business. So it was really a strategic town for Jesus to choose because it wasn’t only a Jewish town. Right, right. There were a lot of, uh, there were a lot of Gentiles, and that’s kind of rare in that region. Most most of that region was almost completely Jewish. And even today you go up there today, uh, you know, around the Sea of Galilee is almost every village is almost 100% on the the western shore. It’s almost 100% Jewish. And, uh, it’s been that way for thousands of years. So it’s really interesting. He chose Capernaum. And you’ve been in Capernaum, huh?

Chris
Yeah, I’ve been in Capernaum also. Yeah. And you know, what’s interesting is that this is also in the grand scheme of things, uh, uh, a strategic small step that Jesus is making because he’s going from a smaller town to a more strategic. And then also, uh, like you said, uh, more Roman soldiers, more gentiles, uh, people who are on the outskirts, the people that he wants to reach and impact. Yeah. And so it’s it’s a, it’s a ministry strategic decision that we can just blow past if we don’t take time to understand it.

Jeff
Right now, Capernaum is such a more of the miracles happen in Capernaum than anywhere else, too, by the way. And so much of his teaching happens here. Um, you’ve been there. So there’s, uh, remnants of what is believed to be Peter’s home. Um, is there it’s a pretty big house.

Chris
Yeah. It was it was the biggest one in Capernaum.

Jeff
Yeah. Uh, there’s a synagogue there. Um, so the Bible says Jesus taught in the synagogue every day. Now, the remnants of that synagogue that we see today there, um, is from after Jesus time. But it’s built on the foundation. Yes, of the synagogue Jesus taught in. So that’s the exact same spot. Yeah.

Chris
The black rock versus the the rock, the white rock. And, uh, and so, yeah, it’s the foundation.

Jeff
So everything on that side of, uh, Galilee, almost everything was built from the, the black volcanic rock that was from that area. Yeah. And. So the new synagogue, new being, you know, 100 years after Jesus knew, were they a Roman centurion imported a bunch of and a family imported a bunch of marble. And so then they it was more white, but it sits on top of the foundation. So they’ve actually opened up a hole where you can see the foundation of the floor where Jesus would have stood on. Yeah, every week, by the way, every Sabbath. Yeah.

Chris
And so when you go to Israel, if you ever take an Israeli trip, uh, the they sort of number it with ones, twos and threes and they, and they say like, this is for sure the exact spot where this happened. Or they’ll say something like, well, we know it was close, right, right, right.

Jeff
So a one is for sure a two is somewhere right in this area.

Chris
A three is like, well, nobody really knows.

Jeff
Yeah. Who knows, who knows.

Chris
And it’s in the.

Jeff
Right part of the world.

Chris
Right? Right. Because because inevitably 2000 years later, there’s going to be some threes, right? Yeah. Yeah. Uh, but it is kind of cool to, uh, be on what, you know, for certain is the exact spot, a piece of real estate where Jesus did these things. And, and when you’re standing in Capernaum, you know, and you’re walking through, you’re allowed to walk right on the temple ruins. Yeah.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah. Synagogue.

Chris
Yeah. Or synagogue ruins. Sorry. Yeah. The temple is in Jerusalem, right? So yeah, the synagogue ruins. Um, it’s just amazing just to know the holy cow, the Son of God taught and did most of his miracles in this town. And when he taught every single Sunday, he taught. He’s probably stood right here.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah. And then I want to tell you, of all the places, all the places we were at in Israel, I wanted to stay in Capernaum. It’s beautiful. Yeah. Like so, you know, all you’re seeing is the, you know, a couple feet of the walls of most of the homes. You can see where the lanes and the little the little alleys, the excavation. Yeah. Of the excavation that they’ve done. And they say they’ve only done about maybe 15%, 20% of it. Uh, so it’s much bigger. But when you get down by the shore, the trees, palm trees, beautiful flowering trees and bushes, uh, the water is just kind of it’s a it’s an easy, sloping walk out into the the water there. It was beautiful. Jesus picked a great town to live in, right. Yeah. And then, you know, it’s the biggest town in the area. So it’s probably a good restaurants and all kinds of all that other stuff, too. There it was a happening place but stunningly beautiful. And I mean, he, he picked a if you’re going to live in Israel 2000 years ago, you couldn’t have picked many better places than that one. Yeah, that’s pretty great. Yeah. And, uh, so then I think it’s interesting, like, like we said, the benefit of reading parallel is you see here that one thing, you know, Mark says, when the Sabbath came, Jesus goes and assembled to teach. Luke says, every Sabbath day. Can you imagine having Jesus preaching every week?

Chris
Yeah. He’s your pastor.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So the synagogues you’ve seen this before? Uh, so for our listeners, if you haven’t seen this, um, the synagogues would be an open room. Um, most of the time they were made out of solid stone with windows up above, and it would let heat out. And, uh, we sat in a synagogue. Did you go in the synagogue in Nazareth? They have a they have a rebuilt.

Chris
I can’t remember.

Jeff
There’s a rebuilt synagogue in Nazareth. And one of the things that our guide said is just just lean back against the wall. You lean back against the wall and it’s so cool. So people would come and what they had is they had, um, uh, stone benches.

Chris
Cool, temperature wise.

Jeff
Cool against the. Yeah. So it’s hot outside.

Chris
Not like Joe Cool. Yeah.

Jeff
Yeah. Well, it might be cool to, to lean back, but but yeah, it was it was cool to the touch. It was cool in the room. Yeah. They designed them so that the hot air would flow out the top, sucking in air through the rest of the thing. And then the stone was very thick and so it would keep the temperature cool. So it was a common area for the people of the village. If they’re not working to go and just sit and to, um, uh, so they would have along the walls 2 or 3 levels of stone bench, almost, almost stadium type seating. Right. And people would just sit and they’d talk, and then there would be in the middle, uh, towards one wall, there would be like a, not a pulpit, but kind of a pulpit there. And different teachers would bring out different scrolls, but it would be a conversation happening, not just a lecture. Like you and I. We get up and preach, we get 35 minutes and we’re not expecting a lot of talking back. Right, right. It’s people sitting in rows looking at us, but they’re the speaker, or the teacher would be in the middle and everybody kind of be sitting around him engaging in conversation. And that was Jesus favorite way, apparently, to do it. That’s what he did. Every time he was there on the Sabbath was he would be in that environment. So to be able to go back and forth with Jesus while he’s teaching his own words, it’s pretty cool.

Chris
Yeah, yeah. And by the way, I love how Mark says when the Sabbath day came, what he’s really saying is, okay, this one Sunday this happened. Yeah, yeah. And and what Luke says or or that’s I’m sorry. Correct. Yeah. One Saturday and then, uh, and then Luke says, uh, he taught every Sabbath day and then this one Sabbath this happened. Right? Right. Which is really cool. Yep. Um, yeah. By the way, uh, we we have Sunday is our day of, uh, you know, where we have church and everything else. Uh, because Jesus rose again on Sunday. Right, right. That’s really sort of what changed that day of of celebration, uh, in terms of, you know, the Sabbath being a Saturday according to Jewish tradition, um, you know, the principle of God creating the world and resting, having a one day of rest, uh, uh, you know, there are religions built around the belief of Saturday. Sure. Uh, but those those who believe in Jesus, uh, resurrecting, uh, we believe that Sunday was the first day of the week. That’s when Jesus rose. And that’s when we celebrate.

Jeff
Yeah. So the overarching principle is six days. Should you work the seventh day? Should you rest? Right. That’s it. Um, for the Jews, Sabbath is Saturday. Those are the. Those are totally interchangeable words. Sabbath and Saturday. Right. Um, and then for, for the huge majority of the Christians, um, once the gospel spread outside of Israel, they were not Jewish and didn’t have the Jewish tradition. And so they began to worship the non-Jews, began to worship God, and set aside an entire day on the Resurrection Day, which was the first day of the week. The Bible says, right, that Jesus. Uh, so the principle is one day it needs to be dedicated to God. That’s the principle. The law was for the Jews Saturday. But since we are not under the law, then Jesus says later on, you’ll you’ll read this, uh, uh, where Jesus said, The Sabbath is for man, not man for the Sabbath. Right? What he’s saying there is that God gave this day off as a gift to humanity. This isn’t a rule based thing. It’s a principle based thing. The principle is have the day right.

Chris
And they were trying to make Sabbath a burden, right?

Jeff
Well, they had made Sabbath.

Chris
Yeah. Right. Right, right.

Jeff
For a long period they they ignored the Sabbath completely. That’s why Malachi, the book of Malachi is like, hey, you guys, get back to the Sabbath, right? And then by the time you get to Jesus day, we’re back to the Sabbath, but purely as a burden, right to the point where they would argue and still do. Uh, how far are you allowed to walk? What are you allowed to carry? Yeah. So I was in Jerusalem.

Chris
Yeah, there are rules. Yeah.

Jeff
I was in Jerusalem in the Jewish quarter on Sabbath. So let me tell you, it’s hard to find a restaurant open. So I’m looking for a Coke. A Diet Coke, right. Couldn’t find one. All the stores are closed.

Jeff
But the place was trashed. Oh. So normally the Jewish Quarter is impeccably clean. Very clean, except on the Sabbath. Because if you drop something, you can’t pick it up. It’s work. So you have to wait till tomorrow to pick it up. Wow. I’m not joking. So we could go cruising through there in the evening, and it was like, just garbage everywhere. And I’m like, this is so weird because yesterday it was spotless and they were like, oh, they’re not allowed. If they drop something, they’re not allowed to pick it up. It’s work. Well, not allowed to throw something in the garbage. It’s work. So it just. Goes undone. Well, doesn’t that seem like it’s a little excessive? Is that what God intended? Right. Don’t pick up the thing you dropped on on on the Sabbath. Is that what he meant? Right. And that’s what Jesus was trying to crack later on. We’ll talk about that. Yeah, it’ll come up. But yeah. So anyways, here’s Jesus teaching everybody sitting around. And then in that context, this evil spirit goes, whoa, right? Yeah, yeah. And Jesus says, stop it, I love that.

Chris
Yeah, right. Be quiet, be quiet.

Jeff
Yeah. And kicks him out. And but I did want to highlight the people were amazed. Verse 22 of Mark chapter one. The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority, quite unlike the teachers of religious law. He was teaching like you really knew what it meant, that that’s what they’re saying there. But then he spoke with authority to the demon and said, be quiet. Yeah, right. So the people were amazed before he did the miracle. The people were amazed with the teaching style that he had. Right. And the fact that he was speaking as if God’s words matter. Yeah. This isn’t just a religious text we should learn from and take advice from. This is, you know, he was able to take the words of God and make them real and living and and applicable to the people. And they realize, wow, he’s expecting us to live this.

Chris
Yeah, yeah.

Chris
And by the way, we’re, uh, I love this phrase that they came to the conclusion of it says what authority and power this man’s words possesses. Even evil spirits obey him and they flee at his command. And so the Book of James says that, doesn’t it? It says, the demons believe and they tremble. And then it also says, you know, submit yourselves therefore to God. James four seven resist the devil, and he will flee from you. So, so the. So the demons didn’t just flee from Jesus later on, James tells us, which is the brother of Jesus, that demons flee from us in Jesus name. That’s right. Right. So, so, so the demons know who God is. They know his name and they are forced to flee. Uh, you know, in Jesus name. That’s right. So for those of us who believe that there, you know, maybe not even necessarily possession, but, you know, the the tormenting, a tormenting of of something evil, um, uh, you know, in our sight, you know, so not as a Christian being possessed, but but yet being tormented. Yeah. Uh, you know, to to call out in the name of Jesus. So, believe it or not, we just did this in our own home where we just said, hey, you know, we’re going to go around the room and we’re going to pray in every single room. And we read Scripture over every room. And we prayed and we just said, hey, no, no tormenting allowed in this house, right? Yeah.

Jeff
Yeah. Great.

Chris
And so in the name of Jesus Christ, you know, we want this house to be protected.

Jeff
And that’s not your authority. No, that’s not your ideas. It’s it’s your calling on the authority of the name of Jesus Christ. Yeah. And which was what? What he was so terrified by. I know who you are. You’re Jesus, the Son of God.

Chris
So in a few hours, uh, literally in a few hours from now, I’m going to get on a plane with my wife, and my wife’s going to go down and see, uh, my oldest daughter bought a house in Florida for the very first time, bought a house, uh, and, and we’re going to go down and Liz is going to see for the first time. And one of the things that we are going to do in that house is go from room to room, do the exact same thing. Just pray for every room, pray over the house, pray in the name of Jesus Christ that nothing, nothing is, you know, right? Any unwelcome spirit is not welcome in that house for protection because.

Jeff
But you’re not going to go around the house burning sage and and doing.

Chris
No, no, no.

Jeff
No, all the Wiccan stuff or the.

Chris
No, no no no.

Jeff
So this isn’t a good luck charm and you don’t need a priest or pastor.

Chris
It’s just no, you do not. It’s just in the authority of Jesus name.

Jeff
That’s it. If you’re a follower of Jesus. So the book of Hebrews says that we can come boldly before the throne of grace. All of us. Yeah. Now, every Christian, um, uh, Peter says that we are a nation of holy priests. Now, all of us. Right? The the, the followers of Christ. And so you can go and in the authority of Jesus name, you can do that in your own home. You don’t need to go get some guy with a cross and a robe and a collar and and all those kinds of things, right? You as a follower of Jesus, can claim the power of Jesus name over your household. And, and yeah, there’s, there’s there’s a lot of power in that.

Chris
And by the way, uh, it’s probably a good place to wrap up, but because we’re at that time. But I would just say to our listeners, if you have not done that, if you’ve not gone around from room to room and prayed, uh, that God, you know, has the authority in your home and nothing else does, I would say that’s a good thing to do. Yep.

Chris
That’s right.

Jeff
So yeah, it’s not out of fear of the demons. It’s it’s out of, uh, confidence and in the power of God.

Chris
That’s exactly correct.

Jeff
That’s right. So.

Chris
All right, well, that’s a good place to wrap up. And we’ll see you next time on The Bible Guys.