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:
Good morning.

Jeff:
I was wondering if that was coming.

Chris:
Good morning. I was wondering. We talked the whole night through. Good morning. Good morning to you.

Jeff:
All right. Wow. And the percussion is so good.

Chris:
And you know which movie that is from now?

Jeff:
Singing in the Rain.

Chris:
Yes. You know that my son was in the car the other day. We were all traveling down somewhere downtown for my daughter’s birthday. And Tori grabbed the phone and she said, what song do you want to hear? And my son said, out of the blue, play Singing in the Rain, Good Morning. And I was like, what? just out of the blue. And he wanted to listen to it. And then he realized that most of that song is tap dancing. So we got to the interlude and he’s like, there’s more tap dancing in here than I thought. So we turned it off. All right. Well, hey, Jeff, thanks for being here with me at The Bible Guys.

Jeff:
I am so glad to be with you today. It’s truly my privilege and honor.

Chris:
Oh, thanks, Jeff. I appreciate that.

Jeff:
I could hardly contain myself. I could hardly sleep last night.

Chris:
I was so excited. And my honor to be with you, my liege.

Jeff:
Okay.

Chris:
Today we’re doing, Desiree wants us to read a…

Jeff:
Only the most important news.

Chris:
Yes, because after all, we believe the news in this country is all reliable.

Jeff:
Yes, that’s right. Especially the stuff that’s on the internet. Yes. Just like the news that’s on the Babylon Bee. Yes. It’s very, very important news.

Chris:
Which, by the way, is a satire site.

Jeff:
Yes, if you don’t know. We love satire. So here you go. Here’s the most important news today. From the religion section. I love the title. Couple in prayer over decision to possibly sit in different pew this Sunday. This is funny. Arlington, Texas. Local couple Dan and Emily Wise have begun earnestly praying over the difficult decision to potentially sit in a different pew on Sunday morning worship service. After years of sitting on the left side of the sanctuary, 13 pews from the back, the Wise family recently began to feel their hearts being tugged at the right side of the sanctuary. I felt like, as a couple, we needed a change in perspective, said Emily. We’ve loved our pew, don’t get me wrong. I’d begun to feel a sense of malaise, though, and I began to feel the still, small voice pushing me to try sitting in a different pew, perhaps 15 feet further to the right. It was a terrifying thought, but at the same time, very exciting. After weeks of discussion, the wise couple still had a sense of trepidation about such a drastic change and began praying for the Lord’s wisdom in the matter. This would be a big move for our family and I want to be leading the family well, explained Dan. That pew has been our home for almost a decade now. Two lunges in from the aisle, just out of the glare from the stained glass, with the hymnal exactly on plane with my right hand. It’d be hard to say goodbye. At publishing time, the Wise family had deeply regretted trying a new pew after discovering the toddler behind them was a pew kicker and the view was terrible over Mrs. Benefield’s bouffant.

Chris:
Oh my goodness gracious, that’s so good.

Jeff:
I love the fact that there’s a follow-up. There’s a follow-up to the news article. Hey, it didn’t work out for them. They had to move back to their original seat. Oh, that’s so good. The language is fantastic. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Still small voice.

Chris:
Well, yeah. Cause, cause anybody who’s actually prayed over something. Yeah. Prayed over something big that those are the words that they might use. Right. Which is so funny. And it’s also pretty hilarious to camp on the fact that people, they sit where they sit. Don’t they? I do. Yes.

Jeff:
Don’t you do, do you walk in and sit in the same spot?

Chris:
I have a tendency to sit in the same spot. But what’s really funny is, uh, you know, so on Sunday mornings, uh, heritage is the church that we pastor, uh, together. And, um, uh, we have four services. They’re identical. Yeah. They’re identical. Eight 30, 10 o’clock, 11 31 o’clock. And, uh, certain people attend, you know, the only come to the eight 30 or something. And I will literally say, Hey, uh, I didn’t see in church today. And I say, how would you ever know? Yeah. you know, that I wasn’t in church state with 5,000 people or whatever it is. And I said, because you’re in the third service, right hand side, 15 rows back on the aisle. Oh my goodness, you’re right. That’s exactly where we sit.

Jeff:
And you start to know the people around you. Yes. It’s so funny. It’s just, it’s so cleverly written. And it’s clearly somebody who’s also had to struggle with those same Same issue. So very funny. So there you go. Only the best news for our listeners right there. We bring you the cutting edge. And you’re welcome. That’s right. You are so welcome.

Chris:
All right. Well, today we are sort of wrapping up, aren’t we? Yes. Is that right? Because Matthew 25, one through 13. Yep. It’s a different topic. Right. So next tomorrow is a different topic, but today we’re wrapping up.

Jeff:
Well, it’s a different illustration about the same topic, actually. Oh, is it?

Chris:
Okay. But that’s okay. But it’s a different passage, how about that?

Jeff:
Absolutely, absolutely.

Chris:
So this is the last half of Luke 21. We read the first 24 verses a few podcasts ago, and now this next half is a shorter version of what we read yesterday and the day before.

Jeff:
That’s correct. And he deals with some different things that he didn’t mention in the others. So verse 25, Luke chapter 21, it says, And there will be strange signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars. And here on earth the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides. People will be terrified at what they see coming upon the earth, for the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then everyone will see the Son of Man coming on a cloud with power and great glory. So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near. Then he gave them this illustration. Notice the fig tree or any other tree. When the leaves come out, you know without being told that summer is near. In the same way, when you see all these things taking place, you can know that the kingdom of God is near. I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass from the scene until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear. Watch out! Don’t let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness and by the worries of this life. Don’t let that day catch you unaware like a trap. For that day will come upon everyone living on the earth. Keep alert at all times and pray that you might be strong enough to escape these coming horrors and stand before the Son of Man. Every day Jesus went to the temple to teach and each evening he returned to spend the night on the Mount of Olives. The crowds gathered at the temple early each morning to hear him. So there you go. There it is. All right. So there’s several things that are different in here, but several things is the same theme and a lot of the same big ideas.

Chris:
Yeah. Well, I like the, again, we talked about warnings yesterday and application and, and, and, and this one, he seems to say something slightly different. And by the way, that doesn’t mean that, that these passages are contradictory. Right. It just means that there’s no information. Right. Luke recorded some things, and Matthew recorded some things, and Mark recorded some things, and which means he said all of them, right? That’s right. And it’s a matter of what they remembered and recorded and what God, you know, used in their minds and hearts to record.

Jeff:
If you and me and somebody else were all sitting in the same meeting and we were all taking notes, Right. We would include some of the same information, but then we might include unique pieces of information that each of us are remembering or that we recorded. And that’s what’s happening there. So what they don’t do is give anything contradictory. Right. They’re just adding other information that may be marked in right here. The addition, one of the big additions would be here on earth, the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides, the roaring seas and strange tides, the rising tides didn’t come up in the other the other books, right?

Chris:
And he said, in this particular, oh, excuse me. Sorry that I bored you to death with that last illustration. Yeah, it was so boring. I was like, really? Tides again? But then he also said this will cause people to be terrified. Yeah, it’s scary. Which he did not say earlier, right?

Jeff:
And he called it horrors.

Chris:
Yes, horrors.

Jeff:
Be aware so you’re not caught up in these horrors.

Chris:
Yeah. Well, hey, this is what I was going to say earlier. And that is, uh, when I said that I sort of branched off with parallels, but, um, when I was, when I talked about his warnings and applications, uh, he says something slightly different here. And he says, don’t let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness and by the worries of this life. Don’t let that day catch you unaware, like a trap. He didn’t say that before. No, no.

Jeff:
Yeah. That’s really unique.

Chris:
Yeah. And so, again, it sort of goes along with my story two days ago, doesn’t it? It sure does. It really does.

Jeff:
With regard to somebody that’s obsessed with Jesus returning, but spending his life in the wrong way.

Chris:
That’s right. Exactly right. Exactly right. And don’t let it catch you unaware like a trap. And I think that’s appropriate that I think God connected that in my mind and heart.

Jeff:
Yeah, so there’s a couple things. One, when Jesus tells, I’ve said every time just about when we read these things, Jesus doesn’t tell us these things to scare us, right? He tells us to let us know, hey, he is returning, he’s in control and to be ready. And here he says, look up. You want to know what you’re supposed to do? Just look up. Keep looking for Jesus, right? When you’re looking up, when you’re paying attention to Jesus, I view that or I think of that very similar to when Peter was walking on the water, heading towards Jesus. The Bible said he sees a storm and the waves around him. And that’s when he, when he took his eyes off Jesus is when he sunk. Right. And, and on this one, it’s the same, the world with all these things would be terrifying. He actually calls them horrors and terror. Right. But if we keep looking up, we keep our eyes on Jesus. Hey, the rest of these things aren’t so horrible for us. They’re not so scary.

Chris:
Do you remember those old VHS cartoon things that we used to play in Sunday school family entertainment? So for those of us who knew, back in the day, there were just these cartoons that former Disney employees made and they called it family entertainment. Anyway, it was Jesus’ ascension. The end of that video, that particular tape was, he went up to the clouds, the music’s going, you know, just in great, great Christian fashion, right? And then it zooms in on a little tiny boy who’s like eight years old. He looks up and he starts crying and one single tear comes down his cheek and he goes, he looks up and he goes, come again, Lord Jesus, we’ll always be watching And that’s how it ends. But believe it or not, I mean, that’s, that’s like, it’s right on point. Yeah. That’s a kid’s version of what Jesus is saying here. It’s super cheesy. It’s very Hollywood, but it is right on point. But I just remember it. So I think of this and I think of family entertainment. So it’s really funny.

Jeff:
Those were good videos. I wonder if they’re on YouTube. I bet they are.

Chris:
You know what the thing that he doesn’t do here? He doesn’t talk about the rich man returning, does he?

Jeff:
No, I think that’s his watch out, don’t let your hearts be dulled by crousing and drunkenness.

Chris:
Yeah, but he doesn’t say it’s life.

Jeff:
He doesn’t talk about the rich man. It’s the same principle.

Chris:
Which, by the way, I wonder if I could slip this in for fun. I bet you can. I bet you I can too. Let’s see how fun it is though, really. Okay. My, my father-in-law, when I was in college, I was dating Liz about to marry her. He had a business partner who was a multi multi-millionaire who owned the building that he rented. And so this guy, I’ll give you his first name cause it’s really fun. Okay. His name’s Aldo. Aldo. Yes. Yes. His name is Aldo. Where’s Aldo? Uh, right. There you go. And he said, Hey, come over and, uh, and work at my house. He said, I want you to come and do some projects at my house. So he borrowed me, you know, did some side jobs. Little did he know I wasn’t handy at all. And I screwed everything up. I messed everything up. I’m not kidding. Like when I painted his, I stayed in his barn and they, and they had to redo it and everything. It was really bad anyway. So the point is is that I’m this young punk kid and he’s like, okay He goes I’m gonna have you stay in this bar and it’s a two-story huge like garage barn and he goes now whatever you do He goes don’t touch the Lamborghini or the Porsche that’s inside the bar Oh, and he’s like, okay. So he leaves. And so I walk in and I see there’s a Lamborghini. I’m like, Ooh, this is kind of nice. Right. And so what I ended up doing is, is I ended up like opening it. I was like, I wonder if it’s open. And so of course I touched it. Right. I opened it and the thing opens sideways, you know, those doors that go straight up. So it’s like a hundred degrees in this barn. Right. So I get inside, by the way, I’m covered with grass. I didn’t know that till later. Right. So I get inside the Lamborghini. I closed the door and then realized that you need a key to unlock the door to get out. And i’m stuck inside the lamborghini. Oh, no, I was in there for like almost 45 minutes, right? So I started to roll down the window thinking i’m just going to roll down but the lamborghini windows are only like Like 12 inches you can get right and then it only rolls down halfway because it’s like because it’s like goes fast, right? So I tried to put my arm through and then I tried to reach down and like do the door handle, right? But the door is curved and the handle’s underneath, right? So i’m reaching all around i’m going Like this and I’m barely able to hit it with my finger and I’m talking like I’m really hurting right and every time I would open it I realized I got it open, but then it goes up which means like as soon as I go up my arm Oh get stuck. So I tried to go up and then like I couldn’t do it. So I kept on going click click like this and I’m not even kidding when I say I ended up having to put my feet up and then my head down and somehow my other arm reached through I was able to open it up pry my anyway I finally get out after like an hour and as soon as I did I realized there’s grass everywhere my sweats everywhere and I cleaned it with this rag that had turpentine on it oh oh no And so now the good news is I don’t think it’s, I don’t think it did anything to the seats. Oh no. But it smelled so bad to where like he had come in like, like a week later and said, Hey, did you, did you spill something near my Lamborghini? It kind of had a scent to it. And I was like, no, it didn’t spill. And that was the end of it. So there you go. So I snuck that one in, that was a two and a half minute story.

Jeff:
And the illustration was, what’s the application?

Chris:
The application is the rich man might return at any moment. The entire time, man, I was the guy cutting up, right?

Jeff:
That’s funny.

Chris:
I mean, I wasn’t like, you know, doing the things that Jesus said the other guy was doing, but I certainly was in the Lamborghini.

Jeff:
So, I have two big things that jump out for me. The one that you just mentioned, watch out, don’t let your hearts be dulled by crousing. Don’t let your hearts be dulled. Isn’t that interesting? It is interesting. Right? So, he wants us to be vibrant, he wants us to be dialed in, he wants our enthusiasm and our focus and our energy all directed at the fact that he’s returning and he has a mission for us, right? is the opposite of dulled. To be sharp. And so here, don’t be dulled. And the things that dull us are the things that oftentimes are the most fun or the biggest deal to us, right? We’re worried about the things in this life and that can dull us. Or it’s the other side, it’s having fun, the crousing, the drunkenness, all those kinds of things. And what happens is the devil doesn’t need to get you ruining your life. He just needs to get you dull. He just needs to distract you, right? And there are a lot of great people who could have a tremendous impact in their life, except they’re dulled by either the worries of paying the bills and keeping life going or the business or whatever. or they’re being dulled by just the entertainment and the fun things. And there’s nothing wrong with paying bills. There’s nothing wrong with taking care of your life and building your career. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying life and all those kinds of things, but we have to be careful that they don’t dull us, right? Because we can get distracted. So that was the first one.

Chris:
Hey, there’s a note here in the Life Application Study Bible in verse 36, where it says, Jesus said, keep alert at all times and pray that you might be strong enough to escape these coming horrors and stand before the Son of Man. So this note says this, only days after telling the disciples to pray that they might escape persecution, Jesus himself asked God to spare him the agonies of the cross. Right? And if that was God’s will, it is abnormal to want to suffer. But as Jesus’ followers, we must be willing to suffer by doing what we can help build God’s kingdom. And by the way, you know what it does not say? It also does not say that just days after he says, be alert at all times and pray, Don’t you remember that he asked the disciples to come pray with them and they fell asleep? Yeah. Yeah. It doesn’t include that, but that happened too. Yeah. And what does he do? He comes back and he says, wake up and pray with me. Right. And then he goes back and prays and comes back and says, why are you sleeping? You know, are you, are you so dulled your senses that you, that you’re sleeping? And he says, couldn’t you pray with me one hour?

Jeff:
Right. Yeah. You’re right.

Chris:
Yeah. And so, uh, that’s, that’s an interesting, uh, thing that happens only days after this.

Jeff:
And then the other one, and this has come up in all three passages, but in verse 28 it says, so, oh, what did he say? I’m sorry, it’s not verse 28. Where’s the verse that says, oh yeah, verse 33, heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear. We started talking about this yesterday and then we talked about something else instead, but this idea of heaven and earth, right? So he seems to be driving this, the values, what’s most important So I’m coming back. Don’t let your senses be dulled. Don’t let your effectiveness be dulled. Watch, look, be on mission, right? He’s got all those things. And then every passage that we’ve read, all three of these, he says, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. And so the note for Mark chapter 13 says, Jesus tells us that even though the earth will pass away, the truth of his words will never be changed or abolished. God and his word provide the only stability in our unstable world. How short-sighted people are, who spend all their time and energy learning about this temporary world and accumulating its possessions, while neglecting the Bible and its eternal truths. Isn’t that fantastic? So, this idea that the only real stability is God’s words, because it’s the only thing that will never change. It’s the only thing that will never disappear. Everything else, everything else we spend our time on will change. God and his word never change.

Chris:
Well, so just for a fun trivia fact, there is one thing, actually several things inside one thing, from this earth that is going to last into heaven. Do you know what it is?

Jeff:
Well, your soul?

Chris:
Yes, but I’m talking about a physical object. Oh. Yeah, so like everything on this earth will disappear physically, right? Yeah. But there is one thing that is mentioned that will be in heaven, the Ark of the Covenant.

Jeff:
Yeah. The Bema Seat.

Chris:
Yep. And then inside the Ark of the Covenant is, I think it’s three. I’m being vulnerable here because I’m pretty sure I know the answer to this, but it’s three things. Do you remember?

Jeff:
Yeah. It’s the Ten Commandments.

Chris:
Well, the stones. The stones that were broken. Yep. So the remnants of them.

Jeff:
Yep. Aaron’s Rod.

Chris:
Aaron’s Rod. Yeah.

Jeff:
Good job. Good job. And a bowl of manna.

Chris:
Yes. There it is. Boom. Which by the way, manna, which didn’t last a single day, is now going to last forever in the Ark of the Covenant.

Jeff:
And the reason why is the Ark of the Covenant had what’s called the mercy seat, right, is there. I think I said the wrong word a minute ago, but the mercy seat. And that represents then the pouring out of the blood of the Lamb and the sacrifice that is sufficient to pay for the sins of the world. And so, yeah, that’s the idea. So there’s that. Your eternal soul is here on earth, but we’ll spend eternity with God and we’ll make it past this heaven and this earth. And then, of course, His word. So God never changes.

Chris:
Yeah. You ever hear my favorite Jim Gaffigan reference about the gates of heaven? No. Jim Gaffigan, you know, the comedian? Yeah, he’s funny. So he’s a Christian and he goes, gates of heaven. I’ve always wondered, he goes, what kind of neighborhood is heaven where it has to have gates? He goes, he goes, yeah, we had to put these gates up because all the kids are sneaking in and using the pool. And he goes, he goes, what kind of neighborhood is this? And he goes, yeah, he goes, they were really hard to put up to. He goes, we had to go all the way down to hell and find a contractor and everything. Oh no. I know. So all of our contractors are like, hey, wait a minute. But that’s, that’s Jim Gaffigan’s joke, not mine.

Jeff:
There you go. There you go. Yep. So, so this idea of you spending a little bit of time each day, just taking in some of God’s words might be the only thing you do today that will last forever. That and sharing the gospel. Those two things are the two things that will last forever. And so here you are, you’re drawing closer to Christ, you’re learning his words, and these should strengthen you, they should empower you, and they should challenge you to

Chris:
That’s a great thought, because every time we read God’s Word, every time we spend time in it and work toward it, that means we’re investing in the movement of the kingdom of God, which means those are the things that will last, right? Yeah. So we live this life, just as Paul says, he says, I strain, I forget what’s behind, I strain for what is ahead, and I press on to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward.” So what he’s saying is, he’s like, live this life as if you know that there are rewards in heaven, things that will actually last, and don’t just run the race of the Christian life, but run to win. That’s right. Right? Yeah. Which is really cool.

Jeff:
Yeah. So keep looking up.

Chris:
That’s right. There it is. That’s the motto. There you go. Of the last six days. Yes, that’s right. All right. So that’s it for our time together. And we’ll see you hopefully next time on The Bible Guys.