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
Greetings and salutations.

Jeff
Hey, Chris. Hey. I just want to tell you, you’ve been killing it this week. You just been doing a great job.

Chris
Are you talking about, like, at church or in this podcast?

Jeff
Well, this is a third day of the podcast this week.

Chris
No, Jeff, you’re supposed to say both. Well, supposed to say both. Chris, you kill it in every area of your life, in.

Jeff
Every area of your life. Chris. Did I say that right?

Chris
Yes.

Jeff
You are nailing it in every area of your life.

Chris
I wonder if my whole family would say that too. I hope so.

Jeff
No, I’m just saying. I think you’ve been doing a good job. Thank you, thank you, I appreciate that. I’m just glad to be here.

Chris
I am glad that you’re here with me, too. Yes. So it’s the Bible guy and his friend named Jeff.

Jeff
That’s correct. And so those of you who are our long time listeners know our commitment to to important news.

Chris
Yes. Only the best, only.

Jeff
The finest research news.

Chris
No fake news here.

Jeff
That’s right. And so we like to one of our main news sources is the Babylon Bee. We think it’s as good as all the rest, right.

Chris
It’s good.

Jeff
The rest. It’s a parody site if you don’t know. But here’s one of my favorite recent articles.

Chris
The title of this is fantastic, Desiree.

Jeff
Pass this on to us. And I just thought it was great. It says man receives gold medal for standing up first when airplane stops. Have you been in an airplane? Oh gosh. So I’m just saying to say I did that yesterday. Did you? Two days ago. Two days ago. Yeah. First one up. Here’s what it says. Dallas, Texas airline passenger Lyle Finch defied the odds Thursday when he stood up faster than anyone else on American Airlines Flight 2211 after it come to a complete stop. Finch was subsequently awarded the gold medal to honor his incredible speed and initiative. Quote they said it couldn’t be done, but I proved them all wrong. Look at me everyone. I’m standing up and quote said it clearly emotional flinch. This is for you, mom. It’s so good. According to sources, Finch trained his entire life to be the first person to stand up on the plane after it landed and come to a complete stop. It was always his dream to be up first and ready to leave as soon as humanly possible. At first I did it because I hate flying and don’t want to be on these terrible planes one millisecond longer than I have to, Finch reflected in an interview with ESPN Sportscenter. But now I do it for the kids. They need a good role model. Oh my goodness. Commentators have reportedly questioned the purpose of honoring such a skill when it accomplishes nothing. So he stands up first. Whoop dee doo, said another passenger. It doesn’t get him off the plane any faster. I’ve seen people wait a half hour to get off the plane after it stops, and they just stand there the whole time like a moron. At publishing time, Lyle Finch signed deals with Wheaties and Nike.

Chris
I got to tell you, it is. It is like, such a clever and sophisticated way. Sophisticated way of making fun of those people. Yeah, it is wonderful. It is so good, I love it.

Jeff
I’m not going to lie. Because of the gazillions of miles I fly every year, I wind up almost always getting automatic upgrades to Comfort Plus, which puts you at the front of the plane. So you’re only eight rows back. You know, you’re just behind first class. And so I’m pretty accustomed to being off the plane five minutes after the doors open, three minutes after the door opens. Yeah, but I was traveling with my wife this week, and for whatever reason, we bought tickets late, and so we didn’t get those all the up. So we sat way back. Yeah. And I was horrified that it took like 30 minutes to get off the plane. And so I promise you, we landed. Yeah. It goes dang quick. I was up, I opened up the thing, I got my bags out, I’m blocking my chunk of the aisle and I’m trying to get Bonnie out. And she goes, where do you think we’re going? Yeah, right. There’s like 90 people in front of us, and it took so long.

Chris
It’s a it’s a first. It’s a first world problem.

Jeff
So yeah, I feel like Desiree sent that just for me.

Chris
Yes. Well, she knew your heart, Jeff.

Jeff
Yeah, she knows my heart. Her and Jesus, they both know my heart.

Chris
That’s really funny.

Jeff
Oh. That’s terrible. Well, good. I like that one. I don’t even know how to segway. Do you know how to segway out of that?

Chris
Luke chapter number 12, verse number 22. Jesus is talking about money and possessions. And actually it’s a warning about worry. Yes. There you go. How about that for a Segway?

Jeff
That’s wonderful. Do you worry a lot? Are you a.

Chris
Worrier? No. Are you a fretter? No, I would say think about what ifs. I would say I. It depends on the issue, but I would say almost always, I don’t worry at all. There are some things that are pretty monumental that I think I maybe even more recently, I would say in the last five years maybe have more anxiety about.

Jeff
We were we were just getting ready to raise a bunch of money. We’re getting ready to launch a new location. Seemed like you were a little, little concerned about that one.

Chris
Well, I wasn’t worried about the results at all. I was worried about our job. Did we do a good job? Did we do a good job? And I felt like we weren’t doing enough. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And and I was also I wasn’t under the impression that it was a 12 month deal. I thought it was either hit or don’t. Oh yeah. So that was really the big thing. So once we said, oh no, it’s 12 months, it was like once it settled it. Yeah, yeah. Which we said.

Jeff
Normally you’re not much of a worrier.

Chris
No. Do you sleep well?

Jeff
Do you sleep well at night?

Chris
Um, not as much. Not as good as I used to, but it’s not. But I’m not because of worry.

Jeff
It might be because you’re 52.

Chris
Yeah, I think so.

Jeff
That’s it. You can be one of those guys now. You just wander around the house at 2:00 in the morning? Yeah, I was going to happen. Yeah.

Chris
I remember seeing Big Bang Theory with, you know, have you ever seen that? And Bob Hope, I know about it, not Bob Hope, Bob Newhart. Bob. But comedian. Yeah Bob Newhart. And he says he’s like 92 and that thing whatever. And he knocks and he goes, he goes, hey, he goes, I got to go to bed now because in about half an hour I’m scheduled to walk up, take a pee and just wander around the house for an hour. And that’s what he said. And I’m like, that is so funny. Yeah.

Jeff
So that might be it. Yeah. All right. Well, hey, so I think a lot of our listeners understand the whole worry thing, right? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And so let Jesus just talk to you. He’s not saying this in a judgmental way. That’s why I wanted to bring that up, is I really read this whole passage where Jesus is very comforting and concerned about his people being, you know, consumed with worry. So I think this is relevant for a lot of people. If you need to know, it’s Luke chapter 12, verse 22 through 34, it says. Then turning to his disciples, Jesus said, that’s why I tell you not to worry about everyday life. Whether you have enough food to eat or enough clothes to wear for life is more than food and your body more than clothing. Look at the ravens. They don’t plant or harvest or store up food in barns, for God feeds them, and you’re far more valuable to him than any birds. Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things? Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing. Yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? And don’t be concerned about what to eat and what to drink. Don’t worry about such things. These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers all over the world. But your father already knows your needs. Seek the kingdom of God above all else and he’ll give you everything you need. Jeff
So don’t be afraid, little flock, for it gives your father great happiness to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven and the purses of heaven. Never get old or develop holes. Your treasure will be safe. No thief can steal it. No moth can destroy it. Wherever your treasure is there the desires of your heart will be also. I love that passage. It’s one of my favorite passages in the book of Luke.

Chris
Well, you taught that passage this Sunday. You announced you had cancer. I did, yeah. So I got hired here in October of 2020, and the weekend that I spoke, October 11th was the day, and that was the weekend that you had found out that you had cancer. Yeah.

Jeff
Well, that was the week I told you I had I knew I had a couple of weeks before, I just hadn’t told anybody yet.

Chris
And then and of course, I didn’t know. And then and then the following week we spoke at the, at the, the fall kickoff. Yeah. And then you spoke after that when you announced you had cancer to the congregation and you spoke on this passage and, and the idea that, like, you know, I say that for the most part, I’m not a worrier. And I would say that that is true. I think that there are certain categories that are, like I said, monumental, all that that are personal. Sure, sure that I, that I do worry about. Absolutely. But but for the most part, I think it’s always helped that God has wired me with tremendous faith. And so I always just seem to, you know, say, hey, all you got to do is do the right thing. Yeah. And just trust God for the rest. And once you decide to do the right thing, which again proves my point about the about the campaign that we were raising money. Right? I wasn’t worried about the result.

Jeff
You just want to make sure it was the right thing.

Chris
I wanted to, I worried tremendously. I had anxiety over our responsibility, right? Which I didn’t think, I didn’t think, and but I didn’t understand it until afterwards. Then we said something different. I was like, oh, now I understand it. So. But, but but beforehand I was, I was concerned about. So I think that there’s, I think that there’s a blessing having been wired that way. But but like my wife, for instance, I’m going to sort of call her out. But I’ve done it for years and she she understands. She just totally admits it. She is a warrior on a pretty high level, right? Yeah. And she wishes she wishes that she didn’t worry as much. She tries really hard. Yeah. She has a heart for Jesus as you know. Right. Yep. So she tries really, really hard. And she’s a.

Jeff
Person of faith and.

Chris
She’s a strong person of faith, but she’s.

Jeff
Very. So my wife is very similar to Liz. Bonnie is a person of faith, but very entangled in the the concerns of this life. And and they’re big deals. It’s a big deal. My wife says all the time. She worries for both of us.

Chris
For me and, you know.

Jeff
No, no, no, for me and her.

Chris
Oh okay.

Jeff
Okay. Yeah, yeah. I don’t I don’t think she worries for you.

Chris
Oh that’s good.

Jeff
But she worries on the behalf of both of us because I’m not worrying. Right, right right, right. That’s what she’s saying.

Chris
In other words, she worries enough for the both of you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Liz worries enough for for us as well. So. So explain why you’re not a person. Like for instance, when you had cancer, you weren’t worried at all. In fact, it was almost creepy. Weird. It was like it. Was like, that’s the goal you had. You had you had more confidence in faith. In that moment, I mean, I promise you when I say this, I was kidding when I said creepy weird. It was like it was. It was what every Christian should aspire to if they got a diagnosis. Right. So your attitude was just almost supernatural, in my opinion. So tell us why you didn’t worry.

Jeff
Yeah. So to be clear, I was sad about it. Yeah. Like, you know, we shed tears. I talked with God about the fact that I didn’t feel like I was done. There’s so many more things I want to do for the Kingdom. I think we’re in a really sweet spot with regard to effectiveness, leading people to Jesus, making a difference around the world, all those things. Um, so I just I wanted to do more for God, but I wasn’t afraid of dying. So. So the fear of death wasn’t an issue at all. Because if you really, truly believe that heaven is real and Jesus is the way and that heaven is perfection, I’m just old enough now to realize this earth is a mess, man. It’s just broken. And so Jesus knows that that’s a promotion. How do you threaten a person who really believes in Jesus and really believes in heaven? How do you threaten them with heaven? Right, right. So there was a sadness component to it that if this is it and I’m about ready to bite the dust, I didn’t want, you know, I’m not in a hurry. So there was a little bit of sadness there, but I wasn’t afraid. And I think it was this verse, quite honestly, where he says, can all your worries at a single moment to your life? Right. That’s verse 25. Yeah. And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things? Do you remember in a couple of days ago we talked about you said. Talked about the don’t fear those who kill your body fear God. Right. And he’s what he’s saying is there’s bigger things than death. There’s bigger things than life. Right. Jeff
And Jesus is calling our life now, not our life. Life on this earth a little.

Chris
Thing, right? All life. All life.

Jeff
Right. So life begins now and goes for eternity for a believer, the moment you trust Christ, life begins full real life. Because I was dead in my sins, I became a follower of Jesus and now I’m going to live for eternity. This body will rust out, but I will not cease to exist and I will be.

Chris
Not rust out.

Jeff
Yeah.

Chris
Wear out. Yeah. Like the tin.

Jeff
Man of glass oil. Yeah yeah yeah, yeah. But you know what I’m saying? So this vehicle that I’m riding around in will run out of gas. It’ll it’ll eventually go off to the dump, but I won’t. Right, right. And my car is not me. Right, right. And my body is not me. And so if this ends, I get promoted. I go into eternity. I’m 100 convinced that that 100% convinced. That’s true. And Jesus goes, hey, listen, your worry doesn’t add one moment. So I had a choice in that moment to decide, am I going to let my worry ruin? If these are my last six months, am I going to let worry ruin these last six months? Right? Or or not? And I decided, no, I’m not going to let it. Let it ruin it because I can’t add I can’t make it six months and one more minute right by worrying. Right. You know, and so it has no effect. And so I think you do your best and hang the rest. It’s kind of that’s kind of one of my philosophies in life.

Chris
And by the way, for those for those who don’t know, which I’m sure are several people, what kind of cancer did you have and what are the results?

Jeff
I had the most aggressive kind of kidney cancer that you can have, but it was pretty well contained. And they removed my kidney and that was two years ago and removed all that cancer. It was as big as my fist. Okay.

Chris
The tumor and but you’ve been cancer free ever since I’ve been.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah. So just a couple of months ago I had my most recent scan and they, they declared me then because that’s two full years cancer free. Now, I just, you know, occasional checkup, that kind of thing. But things are great. But that phrase, right. You can’t add a single moment to your life. So what Jesus is challenging us to do is to put all of this in perspective. You know, James says that our life is like a vapor. It’s here and then it disappears. Right? And he’s not talking about our life in eternity. He’s talking about our time on this earth. On this earth. Yeah. And so, you know, the author of the book of Psalms says, teach us to number our days, right? God, help me just make make my life matter. I want to I want to live the rest of my life doing something for you. And that doesn’t have to be some great grand gesture changing the world. It could be changing the neighborhood. It could be changing the world for one family, for that single parent down the street, or that kid without a dad at home or or that family that’s struggling financially. You could change the world for somebody. You can make the world better. And what I wanted to do, I knew this. I knew that when I died. My life made a difference, right? And and that’s what was important to me. And then the rest of it, if he gives me. So now I feel like I’m walking around on extra time right when I get all this good news and I’m just like, man, now all of it is for you. And I think that that’s what he’s saying. Look how good God takes care of flowers. Jeff
Look how well he takes care of birds. Surely you’re more important than that. And so instead, don’t be concerned about all these other things. They. Everything. One of my favorite things when we travel or whenever we’re anywhere is. I love to find restaurants. I like to go where we’re going, you know? And he says, don’t worry about what you’re going to eat. Today. I find myself looking in books, hey, what’s the best place to eat here? You know, looking up on Yelp. What’s the best place to eat? That’s not what he’s talking about, right? Enjoy life. But what he’s saying is don’t don’t panic over. Are you going to have enough? God’s going to provide for you, right? Right. He hasn’t forgotten about you.

Chris
Yeah, that’s what he’s saying. And then. And then he says. He says that these thoughts will dominate the hearts of unbelievers all over the world. But your father already knows your needs. And what he’s trying to do is he’s trying to distinguish like, you know, hey, there are people who don’t believe in God, and they’re consumed with those thoughts, but you with you, it shall be different, right? So you’re the one who believes in your heavenly father, who who clothes the birds more gloriously than he did. Solomon, who’s the richest man ever, right. And and he takes care of us. And he basically what he’s saying is, is he’s saying, hey, if you if you store up treasures in heaven and you and you and you get your mind set on heaven and you worry only about you, focus only on your heavenly father, then then you won’t have to worry about possessions. You won’t have to worry about wealth. You won’t have to worry about provisions. You won’t have to worry about having enough. And he’s saying all those things. And by the way, he makes a statement in there also. And he says, hey, if you if you sell your possessions, meaning the stuff that you’re greedy with, right, and you give to the poor, you’re going to accumulate treasures in heaven. And when you have treasures in heaven, guess what? That’s a treasure that nobody’s going to break in and steal, right? The moths aren’t going to corrupt it.

Jeff
They never run out of it.

Chris
And you’ll never run out of it. And so he’s trying to elevate us to the upper room mentality, to a heaven mindset. That’s what he’s asking us to do.

Jeff
And then I think.

Jeff
So verse 31, he says, seek the kingdom of God above all else, and he’ll give everything. He’ll give you everything you need.

Chris
It’s like that song. You know that song.

Jeff
Seek ye first the kingdom of God.

Chris
And His righteousness. Did you sing it like around? Yes, yes.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chris
When we did and all these things, the lady’s like, yeah, no, whatever it is, you know. Yeah, it was really cool.

Jeff
So that’s also in what Matthew six is that Matthew 633. Yeah. Matthew 633. Yeah. Same verse. So in Matthew 633, that’s still the sermon on the Mount where Jesus preached that up in Galilee. Right. So this seems to be a recurring theme. He preaches often. This is a big part of his life. So, you know, he doesn’t say and do all these things one time. Right. And so here it is. We’re coming towards the end. And he’s reminding them again, lay up treasures in heaven. Don’t be afraid. Seek the kingdom of God above all else, and he’ll give you everything you need. And then this, this verse. So don’t be afraid, little flock, for it gives your father great happiness, little flock, to give you the kingdom of God. Yeah, yeah. And so sometimes I think we think that God is holding back from us. He’s holding out on us. We don’t want to admit that a lot of the struggles we have in life are because we made bad choices. So there’s that. Then we feel like God’s holding out on us. But Jesus said, we don’t have to be afraid, little flock. That’s a very for a shepherd to talk about. His little flock with this kind of focus is just it’s sweet. It’s like, oh.

Chris
The Bible buddies.

Jeff
Yeah, exactly. And then he says, for it gives your father great happiness to give you the kingdom. And so if I could just realize it delights God to give me what I need, right, right. And if I would seek him first. So those two sentences go together. Seek the kingdom of God above all else, and he’ll give you everything you need. Yeah. Then he says, don’t be afraid. It gives your father great happiness to give you the kingdom. Seek the kingdom, and he’s delighted to give it to you.

Chris
I saw a TikTok of like a 92 year old lady. Just some random lady, right? I’m just sort of scrolling through videos and the lady says, I’m 92 years old. You know, she was sort of, you know, that kind of voice. And she goes and she goes, and I wish I would learn. I’ve learned in my 20s what I know now, which is stop worrying. And then she looks at the camera and she goes, that’s it. That’s the big lesson. She goes, she goes. 98% of all the stuff you worry about is never going to happen. Yeah, yeah. She goes all that and then she goes through this laundry list of things, you know, this kind of thing and this kind of thing, this kind of thing. She goes, and if you just don’t worry about it, she goes. Another approach is just deal with it when it does come right, because you’re going to get through it, right. She says. Just eliminate all worry. And I’m thinking to myself, man, easier said than done. And a moment ago you just said I’m old enough. Now you’re 52, right? I’m old enough now to know that this world is really broken. Well, you know, imagine a 92 year old. Oh, yeah. Right. I mean, so, I mean, 40 years older, it’s almost. Yeah, it’s almost double your age and I should say our age, right where somebody looks back with wisdom and says, goodness gracious, I wish I could have the same mentality in my 20s as I do now. But guess what? If you’re 50, or if you’re 40, or if you’re 60 and you still have an incredible time worrying, you know, let’s look to the people with wisdom like the 92 year olds of the world and say, gosh, you still you can still save yourself 30 something years of of senseless worrying that is going to accomplish nothing. Chris
Jesus says it can’t add a single moment. It can’t do anything. If anything, all it does is it robs you of your faith, right? It hinders your faith with your heavenly father. It causes stress and anxiety. It causes physical, you know, unrest in your body. And and if anything, it just makes you miserable and sad and gets you consumed with all these kind of negative things. Right? Yeah.

Jeff
And then we have access to all the information in the world in our pockets. Yeah. And we scroll through all that information right before we go to bed. We scroll through it when we wake up, we scroll through it every break we have, because we don’t want to make eye contact with anybody when we’re standing in line or when we’re waiting for something, and we just take in all the bad information from the whole world. And no group of humans in history had as much bad news as we do, right? Bad news was happening everywhere, right? And Genghis Khan wiped out millions of people, right? Yeah.

Chris
Stuff was happening in the 70s. We just didn’t know about it.

Jeff
Yeah, but yeah, the people. Well, he wasn’t killing people in the 70s. No, I was.

Chris
Making another reference. Okay. Genghis Khan.

Jeff
Yeah, but, you know, the people in London weren’t worrying about Genghis Khan, right? They didn’t even know about it. Yeah. So. So there is something to say about that, that sometimes because we’re taking in all the news of the whole world all at one time. Yeah. And all the time nonstop. And people are fretting about it and then understanding that people are manipulating the algorithms to get you information so they can push their fears and their solutions on you just understand we’re being played, and we’re carrying a tremendous amount of anxiety carrying burdens that were never meant for us. Right? We’re carrying stresses of the whole world, and no other group of people in history ever had to carry all the burdens of every problem on the planet. Yeah. And so so I’m not saying ignorance is the solution, but there is a certain amount of bliss in ignorance when I’m not trying to carry a burden that wasn’t designed for me. And then so what happens is because something’s bad happening somewhere else, I miss the sunset. I miss the beautiful moments for me because, hey, bad days are coming too. But we miss the great moments because we’re freaking out about something that’s happening somewhere else. And so I would say, man, if you’re if you’re carrying a lot of anxiety, shut off the phone. Right. Don’t don’t scroll today and instead spend more time with Jesus reminding you little flock, that it gives God great happiness, happiness to give you what you need.

Chris
That’s a great thought to end with. So we will see you next time on The Bible Guys!