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
Here we are, Chris.

Chris
Yes, we are here.

Jeff
We are here. Ready and raring to go.

Chris
Yeah, that’s that’s a comfort to everybody who just tuned in. Oh, man. They hope that we’re raring to go.

Jeff
This is gonna be incredible.

Chris
We are going to, uh, start off our segment by playing a version of taboo called Guess the word.

Jeff
Yeah, guess the word. And this is I get to do it today.

Chris
And by the way, I’m glad that you’re doing this. Last time I did this to you, it’s actually more difficult for you because you’re the one who has to not say certain words.

Jeff
Right? There’s five words I cannot say in order to get you to say the key word.

Chris
So if you’re listening online, then you won’t be able to see them. But if you’re watching this video on YouTube or anywhere else, we’re going to put the words on the bottom of the screen, uh, of the words that Jeff cannot say. And it’s going to be a race. Yes. And so try to race against me and my guesses go ahead.

Jeff
This year. Yes. You and I are going to share duties at 12 of these services. Christmas. Christmas? That’s right. I couldn’t say merry holiday, birthday Jesus or December. Wow. Yeah. We got you there. Yeah yeah yeah yeah that’s clever.

Chris
Bright working to it. Mhm.

Jeff
Okay. So, um. Uh, let me see. It’s. It’s a Christmas treat. Okay. That looks like a shepherd’s hook.

Chris
Gingerbread. Oh. Candy cane.

Jeff
There you go. I couldn’t say red white stripes, peppermint or sweet. Nice. There we go. Um. Oh, boy. So this animal. Yep. Uh, sheep? Nope nope, nope. So we’ve already done Christmas, and we’ve done candy cane. This animal, um, lives both in Asia and in North America. Reindeer. There you go. Reindeer. That’s correct. Awesome. Um, let me see.

Chris
What couldn’t you say?

Jeff
I could not say sleigh. Rudolph. Oh, animal. Oh, you blue animal in the middle, I blew it. Oh, no. Red nose or.

Chris
Guy. Say, what does Prancer.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah, because I didn’t even think about it. It said not to say Rudolph, and it just shut off all the names. Yeah, yeah, I messed that one up. Okay, I blew it. Okay, now, here’s another one. Um, so it’s along the same theme, uh, here. And, uh.

Chris
Christmas, I.

Jeff
Get it. Yep yep, yep. So, um. You put this? On the evergreen in your living room.

Chris
Uh, the evergreen. You, uh, that’s that’s that’s Garland.

Jeff
Well, well.

Chris
Oh, tree. There you go. Christmas bulbs. Oh.

Jeff
What’s another word? Ornaments. Ornament. That’s right. I couldn’t say decorate tree tinsel glass or hang. That’s so funny.

Chris
By the way, my mind went to Garland because my wife just asked me to go and find her real Garland to put on the stairs. Oh, and, uh, and she’s like, I don’t want that fake stuff. I want the real evergreen looking stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So my mind went straight to Garland. Mhm. Real Garland.

Jeff
Okay. A one horse open sleigh. Okay. What? What does that come from? Jingle bells. There you go. Nice. I couldn’t say song. Christmas sleigh snow or dashing.

Chris
Wow.

Jeff
Mhm. Good. Well I blew the middle one. But you got, you got all four or all five.

Chris
Well I know I got all five.

Jeff
You got all five but gave me a bogus clue. Yeah. You got the bonus. Yeah man.

Chris
That’s all right. Okay. So really it’s it’s really not my score. It’s your score, is it? I think so, okay.

Jeff
It’s our score. I’ll share it with you.

Chris
I’m going to give you I’m going to give you a thousand points for.

Jeff
Trying. Wow. Yes. And then are you going to deduct any because I blew it on the animal.

Chris
No. You would have gotten 3000.

Jeff
Oh I see man. You took away two thirds of the points just for one mistake.

Chris
Yes. Boo on.

Jeff
You. Okay, well, I was going to say we were friends, but. Okay. Luke chapter 14, verse 15 through 24. This is a continuation of yesterday’s thing. Remember, Jesus was at this party and people were pushing to get to the head of the table. Yes, Jesus had the conversation. So then he says, hey, don’t push. Instead, be acknowledged and invited up and be humble. Then he says, invite you know to the host. Invite people you wouldn’t normally invite to a party to not just all your favorite people. So out of that, in verse 15, he says, hearing this, a man sitting at the table with Jesus exclaimed, what a blessing it will be to attend a banquet in the kingdom of God! Jesus replied with this story A man prepared a great feast, sent out many invitations. When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, come to the banquet is ready. But they all began making excuses. One said, I’ve just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me. Another said I’ve just bought five pairs of oxen. I want to try them out. Please excuse me. Another said now I have a wife so I can’t come, which is the only legitimate. It’s the only legit one. Yeah, yeah. My wife won’t let me. The servant returned and told his master what they had said, and his master was furious and said, go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town. Invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. And after the servant had done this, he reported, there’s still room for more. So his master said, go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges, and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full. Jeff
For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet. Who?

Chris
Yeah. No doubt. There you go. Yeah. So, uh, so there’s a there’s a great meeting here. And, uh, by the way, he doesn’t, um, he doesn’t explain this, like, you know, sometimes in his parables he’ll say, well, let me tell you what the meaning of the parable was. Right, right, right. Uh, but I think it’s pretty obvious. Uh, but there’s a lot of implications, and people can run away with some things in their minds, right? Oh, yeah. Like. Like, what is he really mean? So, I don’t know, take a shot at it. What do you think he’s talking about?

Jeff
Um, so very I think the most precise, uh, view is probably that he’s talking about how God had prepared a banquet for his chosen people, right? That his kingdom was for his chosen people, the Jewish people. And then, uh, they had many reasons why they they couldn’t be apart. Right. Uh, they were caught up in the everyday life. And so then, uh, God, through Jesus, opened the kingdom also to the people that the Jewish people would look down on the Gentiles. Right. And so then he said, hey, invite them to. And not only that, invite everybody, go into the highways and hedges and, and drum up as many people as you can. So it’s not just for the only the chosen people. It’s for everybody now. So that’s probably the most general view of this, uh, this passage.

Chris
Now, I imagine that there’s probably, uh, a lot of people, a lot of listeners who may not understand the fact that Jesus was Jewish and the fact that today, Jewish, the Jewish faith doesn’t recognize Jesus as the Messiah. Right? Right. So so can we talk about that a little bit? Sure. Like, uh, the fact that, like, Jesus actually predicted that. Yeah, he actually said he comes to his own and his own doesn’t receive him. Yeah. Received him not. Yeah. And they don’t they don’t believe in him. Yeah. Which which, by the way, is interesting that he sort of predicted that 2000 years ago. And yet today it plays out that way. Yeah. And so it’s interesting, there.

Jeff
Are many Messianic Jews that do view Jesus as the as the Messiah. Yes, but that is absolutely true. The majority of the people who practice Judaism do not recognize Jesus as the.

Chris
Yeah, and it’s because basically they’re still waiting for the Savior. They’re still waiting for the Messiah. Right. And so if you think about, you know, the the 400 years of silence, you know, if you skip all the way through the back, through the New Testament and before that and enter into the whole Old Testament realm, uh, they would consider them sort of in, in the area of silence still. Right? Like the 400 years of silence until Jesus came, they would say, no, no, it’s 2400 years of silence, right, right, right, right. Which, by the way, it’s pretty crazy, right? It’s a.

Jeff
Long time. Yeah, yeah. So I would say that’s probably if you’re trying to get precisely what Jesus is talking about, I think that’s what he’s talking about. But there’s principles in here. One of them being, um, you know, lots of people have access and are invited into the kingdom. Um, but only few respond. And it’s because we get very distracted by life. The one guy he has, land he had, he bought, and he has to go inspect it. Another guy had five pairs of oxen and he’s. Go try them out. Um, the other guy just got married. His wife wouldn’t let him come. So it’s interesting to me that they’re clearly just excuses, which is what Jesus is saying. Who? Who buys land and doesn’t inspect it first? Who buys five pairs of oxen and hasn’t tested them out yet. Right.

Chris
That’s. I never thought of that.

Jeff
How many? How many times? You know, I had to go get a my wife went and got a new vehicle recently, which is a nice car. Um, but she test drove a bunch of cars, right? Right. So you would imagine ten oxen, five pairs. Didn’t test drive them yet. I got a test drive now, so clearly it’s all an excuse. And I think that’s one of the things that Jesus is highlighting is people have all kinds of reasons why they can’t come to God. Right. Oh, I met a rude Christian one time. I think Christians are hypocrites. I don’t believe that there’s a God. I prayed and God didn’t answer my prayers. Right? We have. And really what he’s saying is all these things are really thinly veiled excuses. So that’d be part of it. And then the other part is, I think he’s trying to say, listen, um, the good news of the gospel, my kingdom isn’t just for elite people. It’s not just for those that are already in and their kind. It’s for everybody. Even the ones that you’d be surprised would be allowed into the kingdom of God. It’s available to them too.

Chris
I heard a speaker one time say, you want to know the definition of a bad excuse? It’s a skin of a reason stuffed with a lie.

Jeff
Hahaha. There you go. Isn’t that funny? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chris
And it’s true, isn’t it? Yeah, yeah. So it’s a lie. That’s really what it is in the heart of it. It’s stuffed with a lie. And so, so then he. Then he goes out and says, just find anybody who’s willing to come, which is, which is one of the most hopeful and bright spots of this parable. Right. Where which which means like the invitation is for everybody. That’s right. This, this, this, this banquet, this, this taste of this great banquet is, uh, is, you know, generally in this day and age, in this social, you know, uh, system is not reserved for those who, who have huts behind hedges. Right, right, right, right. And yet what he’s saying is all are welcome. All, all can come. And that’s the great thing about the gospel. So the gospel is, is, you know, the apostle Paul was called to the Gentiles. So, you know, the Jewish people, you know, hey, we’re God’s chosen people. And then what does what does God do? Jesus himself appears to Paul on the road to Damascus in Acts chapter number nine and says, hey, it is well, didn’t say it right away, but eventually says it is your job to go out and bring the message of Christ to everybody who’s not Jewish. Right. And so what does Paul do? He goes out and just does his missionary journeys, and he and he starts spreading the gospel. Yeah. And, uh, and just the idea that, that he’s saying that the message of the gospel and the resurrection is for everybody is is amazing. Yeah.

Jeff
And he’s telling him, go everywhere and tell everyone that’s right. Right. That’s really it. And that that would have been a shocking concept to the people who believed that they were, you know, chosen by God, uh, as elite and all the rest of the people were, you know, just dogs and leftovers. And instead he says, go tell everyone. One of the things with the Timothy Initiative, you know, we we partner with often to plant churches around the world. It only costs about $400 to start a new church around the world. And, um, uh, we we have this strategy right now that we’re working, not just us, but there’s this whole coalition of the willing. Some of the largest, uh, church planting ministries in the world have all come together, the North American or the International Mission Board and crew and all these other big organizations, East, west, uh, E3 have all come together and with this idea, achieve a church in every village, everywhere. Right. And the idea being, it’s not just for us, it’s not just for our neighborhood. It’s not just for the countries that already have a bent towards Christianity. It’s for everybody, everywhere. There’s somewhere around 5 million villages in the world. And it looks like in order to get a a church within a one hour walk of every person on the planet, it’s going to take about 5 million more churches. Wow. Right. So, um, this idea that Jesus sent us about go everywhere, go into the country lanes behind the hedges, urge anyone you find to come so that my house will be full. God’s goal at the end of time would be that his house would be full. What did Jesus say? He said, I go to prepare a house for you, a place for you, right? Jeff
And God’s goal is for his house to be full. And that’s going to mean we have to go everywhere and tell everybody we need a church in every village, everywhere. Right? And it’s kind of a cool mission to be on.

Chris
Yeah, for sure it is. Um, I remember one time I was going to, you know, I mean, hang on, let me let me start my story by saying, uh, to tell somebody about Jesus and to and to explain to them that the invitation is for them. Yeah. And that salvation and getting into heaven is free and it’s accessible and it’s available to them. It’s the greatest thing you can be a part of, right? Yeah. So anyway, with that in mind, um, I remember I was on, uh, in a cast and I was, I could have been on crutches, but I was walking on an air cast and I was going down to meet my. Family for a Cleveland Browns versus Detroit Lions ball game because they grew up, you know. Yeah, avid Cleveland fans. So they meet me in Detroit. Well, I’ve got church, which means I’m already going to be late. Right. So so the last service ends, I get in my car, I’m already going to be like, you know, the end of the first quarter kind of thing, right? But as I’m driving, I saw that the parking near the stadium was like 40 bucks. And I was like, well, I don’t want to spend $40, and I’m not sure I even have $40. Right. And, uh, and I think I didn’t have that much cash. Well, anyway, so I start driving around and I get all turned around, and then I eventually see a parking spot that says $15. And I thought, oh, that’s that’s for me. Right. And it had a booth with a guy there. And then I was like, oh, cool, it’s a booth. You know, it feels protective, right? So I drive in. I realize there’s only like three cars in this lot. Chris
It’s like a back alley. There’s like glass everywhere. I’m like, oh, this is not great, right? So anyway, I ended up, um, forgetting my ticket. I left it on the dashboard. Right. And it turns out that I get out of the car, there’s a guy there who is, uh, who’s who’s working the booth, and he says, uh, hey, hey, where are you going? And I’m like, okay, gotta go, gotta go. So I hobble on my aircast right? And I look on my phone, I’m realizing I got turned around, where am I? It said I was 1.4 miles away from the stadium. Great, right? So I literally am thinking to myself, this is terrible. So I hobble all the way to the stadium. And then I realize when I got to the stadium that the $40 lot had been brought back to 25. Oh, great. And I was like, son of a gun, right? Well, then I get in line and I see somebody I know from church, ironically. So I’m talking with them. We get all the way up and I go reach for my ticket. Didn’t have it. And I’m like, oh no. And he’s like, what do you want me to do? And I’m like, I have no choice. I got to walk back. So I walk 1.4 miles on my cast all the way back. I finally get there and he goes, I saw the tickets. This guy in the booth, I saw the tickets in your windshield. And he goes, oh, you know what else I saw? He goes, I saw a Bible. He goes, what’s that about? And I said, well, you know, as I go to church a lot. And he goes, he goes, really? He goes, are you are you some sort of minister? Chris
And I’m like, okay, here it comes. Right? So I’m like, I’m a pastor. He’s like, oh, a pastor. He’s like, okay. So I go to walk and I’m thinking, oh man, it’s like already half time at this point, right? Right. I’m thinking, you know, how long. You know how long it took me to hobble on a cast? Yeah. Both ways. And then finally, I’m thinking to myself, I got to hurry up, and he. And he goes, hey, pastor, I just have a question for you. I said, what? And he goes, how does a person get to heaven?

Jeff
Ah, yeah.

Jeff
And I’m like, what must I do to be saved? Yeah, yeah.

Chris
And I’m like, I’ve got to go. But uh, this wins obviously, right? So I’m like, oh, is that all? I’m like, okay, okay. So then I was thinking, well, maybe this will be a quick leading to Christ, right? Not at all. He’s like, I’ve got 10,000 questions and I’m trying to do the David Wood thing, right where I’m just like, let’s take those questions and set them aside. But no, this guy wouldn’t have it right. Turns out I didn’t get to the game till like the end of the fourth quarter. I’m not even kidding. So I sit there, I lead this guy to Christ, and then finally I realized I can’t even drive to the next lot because I don’t have enough money. I got to walk back again and then back again, and I get there at the end, which is a funny way of saying that. Yeah, I didn’t get to go to the Browns game and I missed my entire family and I missed everything. But when I get to heaven for the rest of eternity, you think I’m going to regret that? No. Right, right, right. Because that guy is going to be there and and we’re going to share stories. And by the way, I don’t know how many people that guy will lead to Christ. Right. Which means the gospel finds its way to you on its way to some.

Jeff
Way to somebody else. That’s right. You know, um, a lot of people feel like Jesus isn’t for them. Yeah. Right. So because, you know, we have a hard time separating a relationship with Christ from religion. So we look at religion and we look at all these people and they’re all dressed up nice, and they seem to be minding their p’s and q’s, and they’re good little boys and good little girls, and they do all these things. And then we’re standing on the outside sometimes looking in and going, man, the things I’ve done in my life, I could never get in to that party. I could never I would never be welcomed there. And a lot of people stand in the outside of a church looking. And we had one lady who drove to our parking lot and sat in our parking lot for three months and would not come in. She would she.

Chris
She never left for three months. She didn’t go and take a shower.

Jeff
She she well, no, she she would drive to our parking lot every Sunday for a service, and she would sit in our parking lot and watch us online and then drive all the way home because churches like, uh, she was guessing churches like ours didn’t like people like her, but she was very intrigued by Jesus. Eventually she determined, hey, I think I’ll be okay. And she came in. Eventually she gave her life to Jesus. But there are a lot of people who don’t feel like they deserve to be there. I would say there are a lot of people on the inside who think there’s a lot of people on the outside that don’t that shouldn’t be there either, right? They’re shocked when somebody shows up and doesn’t wear the right kind of clothes. They don’t behave in a certain way or whatever. And so Jesus is saying, hey, listen, my kingdom is for everybody. Um, you don’t have to change to come to the party. Um, now, because you come to the party, he’ll change you, right? So he will. He’s the one who does the changing, but he’s inviting everybody. And it reminds me, uh, one time I was in a country that is, uh, somewhat dangerous to Christians. And we were in an area where the police had, uh, kind of lost control, and they handed us off to what would be perceived as a terrorist organization and, um, for security purposes. And the guy that was, uh, assigned to us, he was the leader. Uh, there were about six other people. Uh, I asked him, I said, or I told him, I said, hey, I want you to know, I don’t think that Jesus only loves Christians and Jews because he had asked me.

Jeff
He said, what are you doing here? I said, well, I’m a pastor and I’m supposed to speak at this church. And he says, oh, you’re Christian. I said, yeah, I said, but I want you to know, I don’t think that Jesus only loves Christians and Jews. I think that Jesus loves, uh, Muslims. He loves Palestinians and Iranians and Egyptians because everybody and I said, I think he loves you, too. And the guy goes, I think, I think Jesus loves everybody too. So great. Well, then that opened up the conversation. From that point on, he went from being somewhat hostile towards me to being open to me, not because we were going to debate the merits of Christianity and Islam, right? Right, or Western thought and Eastern and Middle Eastern thought. We weren’t debating those merits. We came to a peaceful place when we when we agreed that Jesus loves people. Now, uh, I believe that until he comes to faith in Christ and and confesses his sin, places his faith in Christ as Savior. Uh, he’s missing out on those things. But I had no way. I can’t lead my enemies to Jesus. I can only lead my friends to Jesus. Right? And so the place to make peace is to come to this place and say, hey, Jesus loves you. And then if he’s open, that’s great. Now, if he wasn’t open, hey, that could have been a really difficult moment for us too. But he was open. And I think that’s what you see here, is you have the ones that you would think would be open, are closed to the invitation, and the ones that you think would be closed or uninvited are the ones that are open. And I think that’s another secondary lesson in this is you don’t have to to yank ripe fruit.

Jeff
Right? I think a lot of times we try to force the ones we think would be best man if, if, if, if we could just reach that guy for Jesus, he could do so much for God’s kingdom. And God’s not sitting around waiting for the elites to come. He’s just saying everybody is welcome. And so our goal isn’t to go find the best ones, our goal. Our goal is to go find all of them. Right. Tell everybody everywhere.

Chris
Yeah that’s awesome. Well, hey, I think that’s a great place to end. And, uh, that’s time for us. So hopefully we’ll see you next time on The Bible Guys.