1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:06,600 Welcome to the love and context podcast engaging in unscripted conversations with your hosts Ben and Spencer 2 00:00:06,760 --> 00:00:13,600 Whether you're tuning in from your car your office your home or anywhere in between we are so happy to have you join us today 3 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:20,120 Our mission is simple to explore the Bible through a powerful lens of love 4 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:28,600 Together will uncover fresh insights and gain deeper understandings of how we can love God and love the people in our everyday lives 5 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:34,080 So buckle up and join us on the spiritual journey as we discover timeless wisdom 6 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:41,460 That is just as relevant today as it was thousands of years ago without further ado. Let's dive right in 7 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:50,160 Welcome once again to the love in context podcast. I'm Spencer. I'm not Ben. I'm Ben. I'm definitely not Spencer 8 00:00:50,160 --> 00:00:54,160 Yeah, I was actually having a your wife and I were talking the other day and 9 00:00:54,160 --> 00:01:00,000 And I think some reason I thought you were talking to the people were that are listening to like your wife and I were talking 10 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:02,000 Like somebody's gonna be real freaked out when you say that 11 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:07,280 No, your wife and I were talking the other day and the question came up of like how are you and Ben friends and 12 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:11,080 Like and really what I came down to is like well you both like to 13 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:15,600 She was like you both like to talk theology and like that was like all that she had 14 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:19,480 That's it. And I was like I was like well, there's other things are like too. But yeah, I mean I 15 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:23,960 Yeah, I can think of a few things. Yeah, we both like eating hot dogs around campfires 16 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:30,000 Do I like eating hot dogs? I feel like you eat this this guy eats so many hot dogs 17 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:35,760 like so he was he told me this at one point where he's like, it's like yeah, like I will just like eat a bunch of 18 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:38,160 hot dogs, so I brought brats to his house once and 19 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:45,880 And he ate I think it was like six. So well, there's more to this story. No, there's not that's literally all there is to the story 20 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:48,080 Oh, you're right. There is a there is more to that story 21 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:51,100 You also eat like an entire like thing of dried mangoes 22 00:01:51,100 --> 00:01:55,800 So Ben brought the two things over to my house that I have no self-control around 23 00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:59,420 Which is hot dogs roasting over a fire no self-control 24 00:01:59,420 --> 00:02:02,620 I will eat those all day and I did eat like six in a bag of dried mangoes 25 00:02:02,620 --> 00:02:06,780 I'm gonna ask Tara to make me like a comic so we can put on a t-shirt 26 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:11,400 That's like you with your beard like with hot dogs and like dried mangoes. I'm just like stuff smear all over your face 27 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:16,760 Oh, yes could be like I have no self-control. Yeah. Yeah when it comes to hot dogs and dried mangoes. It's like man. Oh 28 00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:20,720 Man, that's a good that's gonna be an only for you shirt, but other people can buy it if they want 29 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:22,900 They're gonna be like what I don't get it 30 00:02:23,920 --> 00:02:25,920 So yeah, yeah 31 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:29,800 so if you're here with us, you know that we're in the book of numbers and 32 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:34,980 You know that these intros are getting more and more ridiculous as we go on because we get more and more loopy 33 00:02:34,980 --> 00:02:41,080 Oh, yeah, last week was fun. We had your dad on we did that was a lot of fun. We did he was great 34 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:45,880 Yeah, he was I was talking and I was like I should definitely let him close out this episode 35 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:49,220 Because he's got a lot of good things to say. Oh, yeah. Yeah, honestly 36 00:02:49,220 --> 00:02:52,300 I was like I should be talking less and letting him talk more 37 00:02:52,420 --> 00:02:57,220 But I know it's like not necessarily you're supposed to have the guests come on and talk through your entire podcast 38 00:02:57,220 --> 00:02:59,700 You know like you ask some questions and things so yeah 39 00:03:00,640 --> 00:03:03,260 We're gonna be in numbers 40 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:09,440 22 to start with through which which driver we go through he said 25 25 41 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:09,880 Yeah 42 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:13,640 so there's we're gonna be covering the story of a guy by the name of Balik and 43 00:03:13,640 --> 00:03:17,920 Balaam and Spencer likes to point out that I spilt his name wrong and I said 44 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:21,760 Depends on who you ask because it wasn't originally written in English. So hmm 45 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:29,240 I'm just saying just saying so if you remember last week, we talked about the bronze serpent and Israel openly complaining to God. Mm-hmm 46 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:34,120 There's like hey, we're not having it here removes his hedge of protection and then these snakes come out 47 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:36,840 And then there's this broad thing that they have to look at to 48 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:41,000 Be saved every time that they would be bitten. Mm-hmm 49 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:45,120 Then out of that they go and they actually go and get into a couple of fights 50 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:51,460 Taking over some places that they need to go on attack and they just they please dressing God and they just throw them 51 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:57,620 Right. Mm-hmm. Like they're completely unstoppable and just a reminder who are these people? They're newly 52 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:00,480 Emancipated slaves. Mm-hmm 53 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:05,040 very little combat experience. Yeah, and yet these these places that are like 54 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:11,240 Combat powerhouses are just getting their butts handed to them. Why not because of them. Yeah, because of God. Mm-hmm 55 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:16,040 The Amorites actually were known to have some of the strongest warriors. Yeah of the time 56 00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:21,280 And because of God Israel went in and just demolished them in battle 57 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:25,640 So they come and then there's this guy by the name of Balak 58 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:31,840 Who hears that the Israelites are in Moab and that they're they're on travel to the plains of Moab and they're camping at the Jordan 59 00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:35,200 Right. Yeah, and he saw all that they had done to the Amorites 60 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:36,800 Well, here's the deal 61 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:41,640 Balak had just been terrified of the Amorites because the Amorites had been like handing him his butt for years 62 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:46,800 Mm-hmm, and then here come these upstart people who just completely whale on the Amorites. Mm-hmm 63 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:49,200 Now if a bully beats up your bully 64 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:54,640 That makes you nervous of the new bully. Uh-huh, right? Like so you'd be a little bit nervous about these guys. Mm-hmm 65 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:56,640 Like understandably you're like, hey 66 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:00,280 These guys just wailed on the people that I've struggled against for years 67 00:05:00,280 --> 00:05:07,320 Like they didn't break a sweat. Yeah, so he goes and he and it says that Moab was terrified because they were so many people 68 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:11,240 Indeed Moab was filled with dread because of the Israelites 69 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:17,720 The Moabites said to the elders of Midian this horde is going to look up everything around us as an oxalus of the grass of the field 70 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:19,720 So Balak son of Zippor 71 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:25,800 Who was king of Moab at this time sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Bayor who was at Peor 72 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:27,800 Near the Euphrates River in his native land 73 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:31,960 Balaam said a people have come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the land 74 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:37,080 It has settled next to me now come and put a curse on these people because they are too powerful for me 75 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:42,840 Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land for I know that whoever you bless is blessed 76 00:05:42,840 --> 00:05:44,840 And whoever you curse is curse 77 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:46,600 Okay 78 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:49,960 Foreman has some great teaching on this. So I'm just gonna once again reference Aleph beta 79 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:54,280 I think that is definitely worth checking out once again a reminder Foreman is an Orthodox Jew 80 00:05:54,280 --> 00:05:58,440 So he's not necessarily going to connect to Jesus, uh-huh, but his understanding of Torah is really good. Yeah 81 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:03,880 He makes a lot of connections between Balak and two different figures in the Bible 82 00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:06,520 One is Jethro 83 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:11,720 Which I find is a really interesting thing because it's if he's at zip or and by the way, the only other time we saw the name 84 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:16,280 Zippor mm-hmm was Moses's wife by the name of Zippor. Uh-hmm, right 85 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:18,920 from the same Hebrew roots and 86 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:21,480 Jethro comes to Moses 87 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:27,800 After they have just exited Egypt. They've come to a new land and he says look at all that the Lord has done 88 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:32,680 He recognizes God's hand and everything. Mm-hmm, right and uh, he compares 89 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:35,240 this this idea of 90 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:36,920 Jethro 91 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:43,960 And Balak but then he also goes and he compares Balak back to Pharaoh because what is Balak actually concerned about here? 92 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:47,960 Like some of these things do they sound familiar? He says people have come up 93 00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:52,120 Covered they cover the face of the land. They're numerous. They're so 94 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:56,920 Numerous they're going to eat everything and they're going to be able to overpower me. Mm-hmm 95 00:06:57,480 --> 00:06:59,720 So it's not like anybody else is concerned. We've seen in Torah 96 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:05,880 So Pharaoh back in exodus who lived in Egypt had that concern, right? Um, uh 97 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:08,760 He's like wow these uh, these 98 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:13,960 Those israelite people or these hebrews at the time. They are just growing so numerous 99 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:17,640 Right that like we can't contain them can't control them, right? 100 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:21,480 It was a fear factor of like we're gonna lose everything we have because they're just gonna wipe us out, right? 101 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:24,040 And so he says let's deal 102 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:27,720 Shrewdly with them. Yeah, and ultimately ends up with them being in captivity 103 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:29,720 But the whole thing is they're trying to manipulate it now 104 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:36,360 The invitation that for a foreman talks about is the invitation for balik is are you going to engage israel like jethro? 105 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:39,960 Yeah, where he says I see God's hand and we rejoice and we're happy for you 106 00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:44,520 Or are you going to see God's hand like pharaoh did and try to oppression dill shrewdly now? 107 00:07:44,760 --> 00:07:46,840 If you've read the story, you know where it's gonna go. Mm-hmm 108 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:51,000 But the invitation is there that is balik gonna be jethro or is it gonna be pharaoh? 109 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:54,680 Mm-hmm, and uh, I would actually argue that we get that invitation a lot 110 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:59,960 Oh we do every day like when we run into something and we see the hand of God on someone. Mm-hmm, right? 111 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:03,800 Are we gonna try to deal shrewdly to manipulate for ourselves? 112 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:07,000 Or are we going to elitist the hand of God on someone? 113 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:13,560 Are we going to try to deal shrewdly to manipulate for ourselves or are we going to elevate what we see God doing in someone? Yeah 114 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:15,560 Mm-hmm 115 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:21,240 A lot of armchair theologians like to throw stones at people who aren't doing who are doing active ministry. Mm-hmm 116 00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:23,880 Right. Mm-hmm 117 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:25,880 People who are actually on the street loving people 118 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:31,080 Right. I think about I think about your sister actually. Mm-hmm 119 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:37,880 And your brother-in-law like they're on the street loving people inviting them to their house feeding them like when you step back and you're like 120 00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:39,160 Hey 121 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:41,320 You have some bad theology and that makes you you know 122 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:47,400 Ineffective in ministry like listen if you're if you've never been on the street feeding somebody you have no position to talk 123 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:51,160 Right. That doesn't mean you're necessarily even wrong 124 00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:55,640 But it needs means that you need to walk in their shoes and understand like the position of the gospel 125 00:08:55,640 --> 00:08:58,600 Which is to actually love people before you actually have commentary on it 126 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:05,000 Mm-hmm. Well ministry is so much more relational than it is programmatic. Yeah, um, and we we've gotten away from that 127 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:08,440 Um, we've we're we're we at least in america 128 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:15,960 Um, I want to be specific there, but at least in america we've we've shifted to what's the programs we offer, right? 129 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:21,420 Right. What are the events you do and it's like well the events are nothing if you don't have relationships 130 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:24,760 Like if you don't have solid relationships with people in your community 131 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:30,600 Uh, if you if you're not out there reaching the people who need to be reached the events being nothing like it's 132 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:37,160 It's not a build it and they'll come thing. That doesn't work. Mm-hmm. It's jesus's command actually in 133 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:39,720 matthew 28 is go 134 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:43,000 Which is we often focus on the go and make disciples part 135 00:09:43,560 --> 00:09:48,360 We need to also rewind one verse where jesus is like i've been given all power and authority 136 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:52,920 Now you say now go make disciples and by the way, i'm gonna be with you while you do this 137 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:59,560 All right, right. So you're not going out on your own. You're going with christ with you, right christ exactly 138 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:02,840 And so this this invitation 139 00:10:03,560 --> 00:10:05,560 Is uh when you see god at work 140 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:11,960 Your invitation is are you going to recognize it and elevate it or you're going to try to deal shrewdly against it 141 00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:18,280 Now I think that the tendency is we try to discredit a small piece of what somebody does and then try to discredit the whole 142 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:22,280 Mm-hmm when israel comes out of egypt. They weren't perfect 143 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:27,880 In fact jethro actually made a comment to moses. He says hey, you can't adjudicate all these rules 144 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:31,720 Like can't do it. So clearly everything wasn't running smoothly at that point 145 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:35,320 But jethro saw the hand of god moving. Mm-hmm 146 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:41,080 I think the invitation for us a lot of times is when we see the hand of god moving we draw that out of people 147 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:44,520 So there there is this invitation right that you've been talking about 148 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:50,680 Um, and sometimes what we want is we want ministry to look perfect. Mm-hmm, and it doesn't look that way 149 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:55,240 um in the reality that's just the reality of it and uh 150 00:10:56,360 --> 00:11:01,480 Two things kind of stand out before we jump too much further and this is one have you ever asked yourself what? 151 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:04,680 Were moses's qualifications to lead a nation? 152 00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:09,800 No, I have not asked myself that okay, but like 153 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:16,200 Um, but like but they weren't grand. They weren't grand. I mean, I mean you could argue that he was raised by both 154 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:21,400 Uh in hebrew culture and egyptian culture, so we would have had better education. So in that um 155 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:26,840 Aspect yeah, he was the most qualified. Yeah, he was the most qualified of an enslaved nation 156 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:27,960 Yeah, right 157 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:32,440 But there was still an enslaved nation still an enslaved nation and like if you were to look at moses's resume 158 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:37,080 You'd be like, yeah, this might be a little weak for this right? Right, but god said this is who I want 159 00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:40,360 okay, the other thing that kind of stands out to me here is 160 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:44,840 Ministry is meant when we are leaning into the work that the lord has for us 161 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:50,920 It is meant to drive us to places where we are trusting him and it's going to feel uncomfortable, right? 162 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:53,240 um 163 00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:57,800 and so a lot of times when I see churches who are like we have it put together our programs and they're living in this 164 00:11:57,880 --> 00:11:59,880 comfortable space i'm like 165 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:04,040 To me, it's actually a bit of a red flag where i'm like, are you actually? 166 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:07,240 Are you actually doing the work of the lord? Are you actually putting yourself in a place where you're like hey? 167 00:12:07,240 --> 00:12:08,440 We don't know how this is going to work 168 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:12,280 But we're going to trust that the lord's going to provide that he's going to leak well and with that 169 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:15,960 Have you ever run into a group of people where they're like, oh we agree about everything. I was like, that's weird 170 00:12:16,440 --> 00:12:21,800 Yeah, like it feels like maybe everybody's not allowed to have an opinion. Yeah, everybody agrees about everything 171 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:25,480 Yeah, now I think if the church comes together and like we we around 172 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:29,000 If a church comes together and they say we rally around fundamental 173 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:30,760 things 174 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:37,800 Uh-huh loving god loving other people following jesus figuring out how to live in harmony with each other even when we disagree 175 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:41,720 Yeah, like those are things you can get behind but someone's like, oh, yeah, no, we agree on everything 176 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:46,200 And I think sometimes the uh, the dogmatic nature of the church is we want everybody to 177 00:12:46,500 --> 00:12:49,960 Theologically think the exact same thing all the time and that's just not going to happen 178 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:54,680 No, like we go to a pentecostal church. You're not from a pentecostal background. You're from the free methodist 179 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:58,280 I i'm from a southern baptist background guys and I go to a pentecostal church 180 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:01,400 Uh, that makes me a baptist if you're keeping track 181 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:05,000 That's a pretty good phrase. Let's say is that a thing? 182 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:10,120 Well, I actually went to a non-denominational church in college. So I actually call myself a non-baptist 183 00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:12,920 Yeah, yeah 184 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:14,440 Yeah, I i've 185 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:17,640 I've been a part. I've been a part or have helped out 186 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:23,160 Churches have been free methodist four square nazarene baptist assembly of god 187 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:27,560 Mm-hmm. I've even done work with catholic church before too. Right? Yeah 188 00:13:27,560 --> 00:13:31,400 So what we do is we go when we look for jesus and we elevate that. Yeah 189 00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:35,000 There are always going to be in every church that I go into there's going to be things I disagree with 190 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:39,560 Oh, yeah, right. So what i'm supposed to do as a follower of jesus is I go and elevate jesus 191 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:45,240 I teach people to obey what he commanded not what I think about what he commanded. Mm-hmm 192 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:48,440 Oh, yeah, man, I feel like i'm preaching to myself now 193 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:53,240 Yeah, so this invitation to balick is are you going to be a jethro? 194 00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:55,560 Are you going to recognize the hand of god and elevate them? 195 00:13:56,200 --> 00:14:00,280 Yeah, like because he could have just said hey israel. I see what god is doing with you 196 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:03,240 Why don't you come over here? We'll bless you on your way. Yeah 197 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:06,440 That's how he does. No 198 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:08,600 Instead he goes and gets guy by the name of balam 199 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:15,720 It actually says here for I know that whoever you bless is blessed and whoever you curse is cursed 200 00:14:15,720 --> 00:14:19,240 Mm-hmm. Now let's play that lovely little game of where have I heard this before? 201 00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:26,920 Genesis chapter 12 anyone sorry. I was gonna answer that I started laughing. Yeah, no, it's well 202 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:29,480 I mean, but you know you you've heard it before right and by the way guys 203 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:31,480 This is why you know your bible is really important 204 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:35,640 Like it's not an accident like so whether or not balick actually says this 205 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:39,720 Uh-huh, we take subscribe moses's authorship when moses writes this down 206 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:43,240 He wants you to connected back to something that's happening in genesis. Yeah, right 207 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:50,200 So the authors are trying to drive you to to this statement that whoever bless bless is blessed and whoever you curse is cursed now people we know 208 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:56,840 That god is the one who put the blessing then whoever blesses them is going to be blessed and whoever curses them is going to be cursed 209 00:14:56,840 --> 00:15:01,480 It's not dependent on who is giving the curse, but who's actually receiving it. Mm-hmm 210 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:04,520 That if israel receives it, it's going to curse the other person 211 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:12,040 This actually has a couple other implications as well because one is oftentimes we take on the role of okay 212 00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:15,080 Are we're going to bless and curse? Mm-hmm. It's like actually no 213 00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:20,280 God's the one who blesses right right right and uh 214 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:26,920 And even though through the first part of genesis, you don't see god cursing and does mention that god will curse in genesis 12, right? 215 00:15:28,040 --> 00:15:34,200 Um, so god's the one who blesses he's the one who curses and the question is are we actually working with those people who god has blessed? 216 00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:38,040 And more to your point playing god on display. Yeah, because up to this point in torah 217 00:15:38,040 --> 00:15:43,000 We've talked about is their job to put god on display the law to put god on display the royal priesthood to put god on display 218 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:45,640 The way they love to put god on display. Why? 219 00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:50,760 So that when people bless them they're going to be blessed because they're brought into the kingdom of what god is doing 220 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:55,240 Yeah, right. Their job is to be a conduit of that blessing from god to humanity 221 00:15:55,800 --> 00:15:57,800 Then when people interact with it, they go wow 222 00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:03,640 There is a different way to live and I personally this is part of the reason that paul when he's when he in his writings 223 00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:06,680 When he's like who am I trying to please god or man, right? 224 00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:11,960 Right, right like he's like no i'm going to serve the god who blesses and curses. I'm not going to 225 00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:14,760 Uh, i'm not here for the approval of man 226 00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:16,040 All right 227 00:16:16,040 --> 00:16:19,800 So we're going to go into a section of scripture here and i'm going to start asking questions and i'm going to do a lot of 228 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:21,240 Where have I heard this before? 229 00:16:21,240 --> 00:16:27,960 And you're going to kind of help the listeners along because we've discussed this a little bit. Okay answers the bible. That's funny. Actually, that's really funny 230 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:34,600 So I said, okay, so the elders of moab and midian left taking with them the fee for divination. Okay, so they're bringing money 231 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:38,360 When they came to balem, they told him what balek had said spend the night here 232 00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:42,520 Bale said to them and I will give report back to you with an answer that the lord gives me 233 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:46,360 So the moabite officials stayed with them. God came to balem and asked who are these men with you? 234 00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:50,360 Right. So first off we want to point out god not afraid to interact with balem 235 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:53,080 Yeah, right 236 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:59,000 Balaam said to god balek son of zippor king of the moab sent me this message a people that has come out of egypt covers the face 237 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:01,400 Of the land now come and put a curse on them for me 238 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:04,440 Perhaps then I will be able to fight them and drive them away 239 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:08,440 Now god says to balam do not go with them 240 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:13,480 You must not put a curse on those people because they are blessed. Okay. So what was god's answer to balam? 241 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:18,760 No curse. Okay. So if uh if I was to play out, um 242 00:17:19,320 --> 00:17:24,280 Son and daughter or a daughter and father relationship and denver comes to you and she says dad. Can I have a cookie you just said 243 00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:27,240 No, okay 244 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:28,520 Because we're gonna come back to that 245 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:34,680 So the next morning balam got up and said to balek's officials go back to your own country for the lord has refused to let me 246 00:17:34,680 --> 00:17:38,120 Go with you. Okay, pause. Is that what god said? No 247 00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:43,080 It says that the lord has refused to let me go god didn't say anything about not going. He said you couldn't 248 00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:46,920 Mm-hmm curse. Mm-hmm. Okay. This is why it's important to see this. So 249 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:53,400 Verse 14 so the moabite officials returned to balek and said balem refused to come with us 250 00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:55,720 Okay, is that what balem said? No 251 00:17:55,720 --> 00:17:58,360 Once again, not what he said. He said that the lord has refused to let him go 252 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:03,000 now one of the things that foreman points out is in the hebrew the implication is that 253 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:08,280 The words that are being used balem is telling them that he could be persuaded. Mm-hmm to go 254 00:18:09,480 --> 00:18:12,440 Mm-hmm. He's asking for a little something something. Mm-hmm, right? 255 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:21,000 And it's evidenced by what actually hands up happening next says then balek sent other officials more numerous and more distinguished than the first 256 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:24,920 So now he's sending his fancy pants army to go with them 257 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:29,640 And he's okay that 20 bucks wasn't enough. Let's send 100 down. Right exactly see that works 258 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:34,280 So it says they came to balem and said this is what balek son of zippor says 259 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:41,480 Do not let anything keep you from coming to me because I will reward you handsomely and do whatever you say 260 00:18:42,120 --> 00:18:44,120 Come and put a curse on those people for me 261 00:18:44,840 --> 00:18:48,760 But balen answered him them even if balek had refused to let them go 262 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:53,240 He answered him them even if balek gave me all the silver and gold in his palace 263 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:57,960 It's interesting. He just notes that. Mm-hmm. He's still looking for a little something something 264 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:03,640 Uh, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the lord my god 265 00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:05,080 Now that really sounds really good 266 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:07,560 But the whole point of bringing up all the silver and gold 267 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:10,520 Like the only reason you bring that up is so balek might be thinking right? 268 00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:13,000 But 269 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:17,720 Now spend the night here so that I can find out what else the lord will tell me 270 00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:21,640 That night god came to balem and said since these men have come to summon you go with them 271 00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:25,000 But do only what I tell you okay now 272 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:27,560 daughter father again 273 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:31,960 Dad, can I have a cookie? No, I have 20 bucks. Can I have a cookie now? Yes 274 00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:40,600 Like like so so balem comes in he's coming in and treating of the god again, he already knows the answer 275 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:41,560 Uh-huh 276 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:42,680 Right. Mm-hmm 277 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:46,680 He already knows the answer but he's trying to manipulate god into doing something here 278 00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:48,040 right 279 00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:51,800 Now foreman is actually going to connect balem to another character 280 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:59,240 He's going to connect him to abraham, which I think you already probably should see from the who you bless is blessed who you curse is cursed 281 00:19:59,240 --> 00:20:03,720 Yeah, right. So it's already happened, but let's let's take uh, just take some of these stories. So 282 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:07,880 Balaam got up early in the morning. Mm-hmm. Where we've seen that before 283 00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:13,880 Uh abraham when he went to sacrifice azik. Yeah, uh, he gets up early in the morning. He saddles his donkey 284 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:16,680 Where do you see that again abraham same story of them? 285 00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:21,720 He went with the mobile officials and there was two of them interesting. So he has two guys that go with him 286 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:28,600 What happened in the story of abraham? There's two guys that go with him interesting. Yeah, but god was very angry when he went 287 00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:36,040 Okay, so god has given uh balem instructions and he is uh going on the road 288 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:38,680 And so god has said no or to go 289 00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:42,680 And now there's an angel who's telling him to stop standing in the way 290 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:45,720 I'm sorry, which story are we talking about? 291 00:20:46,360 --> 00:20:50,120 Right now if somebody you're gonna really struggle to see this there's a lot going on in hebrew 292 00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:52,920 Which is once again why I said you should go and check out some of the stuff from foreman 293 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:56,840 But these these stories are meant to work in tandem with each other 294 00:20:56,840 --> 00:21:01,320 So balem gets up and he saddles his donkey and he says, you know, you would read this and you say well 295 00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:04,200 He said that you can go ahead and go with them. I do only when I tell you 296 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:11,000 Well, god's already said no now balem is going intending to do whatever he wants because he wants to gather for himself 297 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:15,960 So why is god angry because balem is not actually listening to the intent of god 298 00:21:17,320 --> 00:21:21,960 When abraham is uh when abraham is talked to by god, he says you need to go and sacrifice isaac 299 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:24,840 Do you hear abraham arguing with god? No 300 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:29,320 He goes now. He knows the character of god. He knows that god's gonna be different 301 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:34,200 He doesn't argue and he just stays he goes and he does exactly what he's supposed to do 302 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:36,600 And the angel lord comes and he stops him 303 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:41,960 This story is a little bit different in that balem knows what he should do and he's trying to manipulate god anyways 304 00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:43,320 Which is the continuing story here 305 00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:47,560 So it says here that the angel lord stood at the road to oppose him balem was riding on his donkey 306 00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:50,360 And his two servants were with him two servants once again 307 00:21:50,360 --> 00:21:53,560 When the donkey saw the angel lord standing in the road with the drawn sword in his hand 308 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:56,360 It turned off the road into a theater of the angel lord 309 00:21:56,360 --> 00:22:00,840 Standing on the road with the drawn sword in his hand it turned off the road into a field and balem beat it to get it 310 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:02,120 Back on the road 311 00:22:02,120 --> 00:22:06,680 Then the angel lord stood in the narrow pathway between the vineyards with the walls when the donkey saw the angel lord 312 00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:10,440 It passed close to the wall crushing balem's foot against it. So he beat the donkey again 313 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:16,360 Then the angel lord moved on ahead and stood in the narrow place where there was no room to turn either to the right or to 314 00:22:16,360 --> 00:22:21,240 The left when the donkey saw the angel lord it laid down under balem and he was angry and he beat it 315 00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:23,560 with his staff 316 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:28,280 Then the lord opened the donkey's mouth and it said to balem. What have I done to make you beat me these three times? 317 00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:33,320 He says well you've made a fool of me first of all, I think it's weird that he doesn't he's like why is the donkey talking? 318 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:35,320 You know like 319 00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:39,560 He says you have made a fool of me if only I had a sword in my hand 320 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:44,120 I would kill you right now, which is ironic because that's exactly what the angel is gonna do 321 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:47,720 Am I not your own donkey which you have always ridden to this day? 322 00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:51,800 Have I not been in habit of doing this? No, then the lord opened balem's eyes and he saw 323 00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:57,560 The angel of the lord standing in the road with the sword drawn. He bowed low and fell face down 324 00:22:58,120 --> 00:23:04,440 Okay, once again, hopefully you're seeing the connections between the story of isaac and abraham and the story of balek and the donkey 325 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:09,960 So now balen said to the angel he says I ascend I did not realize you were standing in the road and to oppose me 326 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:12,280 Now if you are displeased, I will go back 327 00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:19,320 Right. So now he's acknowledging the angel lord said go with the men but speak only what I tell you 328 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:22,040 So balen went with balek's officials now 329 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:27,320 I think it's very clear from the implication of the text in the hebrew that balem had no intention of not trying to manipulate god's words 330 00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:31,960 He's gonna do something different now. Yeah, because that's gonna end out real bad for him 331 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:39,320 So then balem comes to this area with balek and balek runs out and he's like, hey, didn't I tell you what was urgent? 332 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:41,320 What took you so long to get here? 333 00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:44,840 I literally my donkey was laying down on me and the angel lord was trying to kill me 334 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:46,600 So, you know, I got some excuses 335 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:49,560 I mean, there's some pretty good reasons, uh 336 00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:52,920 Why didn't you come to me? Am I not really able to reward you? 337 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:57,320 Once again, uh balek trying to figure out ways to bribe balem to do what he wants 338 00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:02,840 Well, i've come to you now, but I can't say whatever I please I must speak only what god puts in my mouth 339 00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:09,080 Then balen went with balek to kureth huzoth balek sacrificed cattle and sheep and gave balem and the officials who were with him 340 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:11,400 the next morning balem 341 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:15,800 A lot of b-words balek took balem to see ba mouth ball man 342 00:24:16,360 --> 00:24:19,800 A lot of b-words and from there he could see the outskirts of the israelite city 343 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:23,960 Okay. Now he is going to have a total of seven messages 344 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:29,320 But I want to talk about the first three because uh balek ends up taking um balem to three different mountains 345 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:34,280 So can you pull up genesis 22? Yeah. Okay got it open. So in 346 00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:38,840 genesis 22 the angel actually gives uh three different things 347 00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:42,120 That he says are going to abraham is going to be blessed by can you read those in the text? 348 00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:47,080 So genesis 22, this is us in uh verse 15 349 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:50,600 Then the angel of the lord called again to abraham from the heavens 350 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:58,040 This is what the lord says because you have obeyed me and not withheld your son your only son. I swear 351 00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:02,520 By my own name that I certainly will bless you 352 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:06,280 I will multiply your descendants beyond numbers 353 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:12,680 Uh, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashores your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies 354 00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:19,880 And though through your descendants all nations of the earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me 355 00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:23,400 Okay, so he says three things there. He says your descendants you're gonna have ton of them 356 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:26,280 They're gonna be like stars in the sky dust on the field, right? 357 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:30,440 Uh, the second one is you're gonna have conquest over your enemies. Yes 358 00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:33,560 The third one is you're going to be a blessing to your enemies 359 00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:37,800 Yes, the third one is you're going to be a blessing to everybody around you. Yes, right? 360 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:42,360 So, uh at the end of balick's first message or balam's first 361 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:44,360 message 362 00:25:44,360 --> 00:25:46,360 Listen to this 363 00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:49,320 From the rocky peaks I see them from the heights I view them 364 00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:56,920 I see a people who live apart and do not consider themselves one of the nations who can count the dust of jacob or number 365 00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:59,000 even a fourth of israel 366 00:26:00,360 --> 00:26:01,400 Okay 367 00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:05,000 Once again, you're seeing this connection back to abram. So then they go to another mountain 368 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:08,280 And his ending of his second message is this 369 00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:13,640 There is no divination against jacob no evil omens against israel 370 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:19,160 It will now be said of jacob and israel see what god has done the people rise like a lioness 371 00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:25,640 They rouse themselves like a lion that does not rest until it devours its prey and drinks the blood of its victims 372 00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:30,200 Has power over its enemies, right? And his third message is 373 00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:34,760 Is like a lion they crouch and lie down like a lioness who dares to rouse them 374 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:40,200 May those who bless you be blessed and those who curse you be cursed 375 00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:45,960 So you're starting to see why foreman is connecting this back to abraham and it's very clear from the text that that 376 00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:51,640 The author is attempting for us to see something in balick and balam that is happening back in abraham. Yeah 377 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:56,360 What it what are you going to do when you're confronted with the word of the lord? 378 00:26:56,360 --> 00:26:59,480 Are you going to obey god and walk in his ways? 379 00:27:00,120 --> 00:27:05,720 Like abraham, or are you going to have an evil eye and try to manipulate for yourself like balam? Yeah 380 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:08,440 Who are you going to be? 381 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:11,880 Because your your role is to actually be a blessing to all nations 382 00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:20,040 And you know, here's the deal if balam would just come and bless them without artillery emotives. What's the promise of genesis 12? 383 00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:24,840 Uh that the lord will bless those who bless curse those who curse 384 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:29,480 So if he's going to be blessed for blessing man, he should just go bless the heck out of israel, right? 385 00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:33,000 Because like he recognizes hey god's authority is moving here 386 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:39,480 the problem is I don't know that balam brignett necessarily recognize recognizes nor respects the authority of god because 387 00:27:40,360 --> 00:27:42,840 It continues on and there's there's the fourth. There's the fifth 388 00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:47,880 There's a sixth and there's a seventh message where he keeps going out and doing these different 389 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:50,680 Blessings that were supposed to be curses 390 00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:52,520 now 391 00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:58,600 Forman will actually connect balek back to pharaoh again in that pharaoh didn't recognize god as an authority figure 392 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:04,200 And he wanted to have control over what was coming on. And so god actually sends 10 plagues 393 00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:09,880 For him to recognize the power and control that god has in the world. Yeah, right and in the story of balek 394 00:28:10,360 --> 00:28:14,680 Now he has seven curses that he wants laid out that end up being seven blessings 395 00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:17,560 Once again balek you are not in control 396 00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:20,440 Who are you going to trust? 397 00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:25,480 But they still go and they try to manipulate israel now this ends up ending very badly for balek and balam 398 00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:31,320 Um, it talks about that later in scripture and we'll talk about that at some point, but I want to talk about the people of god 399 00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:35,400 our role as kingdom of priests as 400 00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:40,680 Gentiles grafted into a tree is to fulfill the same mission that we would be a blessing to all nations 401 00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:44,120 Right through the redemptive work of jesus christ and powered by the holy spirit 402 00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:46,680 We live lives that are different meant to put god on display 403 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:51,640 Right. This is what tor has been talking about the whole time. Yeah, it's what jesus is talking about in the future, right? 404 00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:54,440 Uh a light that is on a hill cannot be hidden 405 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:59,240 Light by this very definition needs to be stuck out where everybody can see. Yeah, right 406 00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:05,720 So our job is to put on display who god is and when we do that people are drawn to god, right? 407 00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:08,840 So c.s. Lewis has that quote where he talks about 408 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:14,840 Jesus is the light but it's not necessarily jesus the light that's what he's seeing but but 409 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:19,000 By the light of jesus, he sees everything else around him. Yeah, like it's it's a really profound statement 410 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:24,200 It's like jesus as light and reflected into our lives is actually going to help people actually see life 411 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:30,440 Now john what we talked about last week is gonna say this is the verdict people see the light and they just like their darkness 412 00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:34,920 But that is their choice our choice is to are we going to reflect the light or not? 413 00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:39,000 Yeah, and if we are are we gonna throw a bushel on top of our light? 414 00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:41,320 Are we gonna put it on a lamp stand so everybody can see? 415 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:44,440 And this is the question that is is sticking here with balick and balam now 416 00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:47,640 There is a ton of things I could have gone into here. Yeah, right 417 00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:52,520 But I think this is the most appropriate and probably the most dramatic for the christian life that we walk 418 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:57,720 At the beginning of the story you see balam and like he's clearly a guy who has communication with god. Mm-hmm 419 00:29:58,280 --> 00:29:59,640 so what 420 00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:03,720 What's going on? Like are you going to trust balam? Like you literally had a conversation with god 421 00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:05,160 Are you going to trust him or not? 422 00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:08,200 Well, even when we're in positions of authority in ministry 423 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:12,200 We can we can exploit that right? Um, and so 424 00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:17,640 I mean there's gonna be things where people could even look at what we're doing and say well 425 00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:20,440 Are they trying to exploit that like we got a merch store up, right? 426 00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:25,080 Mm-hmm, like there's things like that where they're like, oh, well, they're doing this, but there's financial gain on the side of it 427 00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:29,240 Side note will be very transparent with finances, but um 428 00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:35,080 There's things that there's things ministers do to exploit that we read articles in the news all the time of 429 00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:40,120 Stuff like that that happens. Um, and then oftentimes we're in shock. Like why would they do that? 430 00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:45,160 We're like this actually isn't anything new. You see this in balam who's like, okay? 431 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:50,920 This is what the lord said, but what do you got to offer? Like do you have something that might entice me to? 432 00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:55,880 Step into doing what the lord hasn't doesn't want me to do. Mm-hmm 433 00:30:56,440 --> 00:31:00,440 Right, like do that. That is a little bit like too like real. Yeah 434 00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:04,360 Yeah, yeah, and there's there's times where the Lord's like there's times where the Lord's like hey don't do this 435 00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:08,040 There's times where he's like here's the direction. I want you to go. There's other times where the Lord's like hey wait 436 00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:14,200 Yeah, and what I have found in the people I know and in my life is the times where the Lord's like says 437 00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:17,960 Hey wait where I'm like, maybe there's something I can do while I'm waiting 438 00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:23,400 I had a conversation with a friend of mine and they don't listen to the podcast or not and they may listen at some point 439 00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:25,400 But it's so vague like they're not gonna 440 00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:29,960 But they were commenting and they were talking about they're like, oh, yeah, I have a really good marriage 441 00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:36,360 But I get really flattered when specific women like send me like direct messages and blah blah like all these different things, right? 442 00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:42,920 I said dude, that's really questionable because I was like I have a suspicion you have no strong marriage. Mm-hmm because 443 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:46,040 If you're like, oh well 444 00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:48,840 What am I what can I get out of this and I'm not getting out of this? 445 00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:51,880 Right because that's that's a lot of people who are like, oh, I'm not getting out of this 446 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:57,960 I'm not getting out of this right because that's that's a lot of what like cheating and affairs and like these things come from 447 00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:01,640 Is they they believe that they're they can get something else that they don't have in their marriage 448 00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:04,280 Yeah, and it is the biggest lie in the world 449 00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:07,400 If you're not getting in your marriage, you're not going to get in another relationship 450 00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:09,320 It is a lie 451 00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:15,720 All you're doing is you're exchanging your garbage that you have in one relationship ripping that up and then adding to it in another relationship 452 00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:19,160 You actually have to figure this out between two people and to be fair 453 00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:22,360 I want to I want to take a step real quick back and say that um, 454 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:25,480 We're not talking about relationships where both people aren't trying 455 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:31,960 Right because like we we've talked about this in the past with divorce like divorce happens when two people can't figure it out together 456 00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:35,560 Right, um, or one person will is not willing to come to the table 457 00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:38,680 I was like if the other person is not willing to come to the table and actually be in relationship 458 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:43,080 Like there's not a whole lot you can do about that. Both people have to want it. Yeah, right 459 00:32:43,080 --> 00:32:49,480 Absolutely, but we have this this mentality in christianity and we're like, yeah, I love god 460 00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:55,000 And one of something better comes along. Mm-hmm. And I know that like people would never say that out loud 461 00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:58,600 But I seen church attendance during football season 462 00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:05,320 Oh, you had to go there, huh? Oh I went well because i'm you know, you know, i'm a big I love football 463 00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:07,320 Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I love football. Oh, yeah 464 00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:12,360 I was like, but if it's god in football, man, there's no question. No question. All right, no question 465 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:17,560 I I remember um, there was one time where a group of us we were going through 466 00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:21,800 Is david pratt's book radical, uh-huh. Um, and um 467 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:25,000 Link in the show notes. Yeah david platts book radical 468 00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:26,680 um, and uh 469 00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:31,480 We were going through that and the question was asked like would you be willing to give up everything you have as the lord called you 470 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:32,680 somewhere else 471 00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:38,520 And the amount of the thing that struck me in that conversation was the amount of pushback that we got from the group 472 00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:44,200 Who were they were like, well, it's I mean the lord. I mean, there's nothing in the bible says who that we can't have nice things 473 00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:47,560 I was like, well, correct. There's nothing in the bible that that's not the point though 474 00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:53,240 The point is would you give that up if the lord said give that up? Yeah, it's it's a it's a hypothetical question 475 00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:56,840 Yeah, it's a hypothetical like god is not asking you to give it up. But if he did yeah 476 00:33:57,560 --> 00:34:01,880 And but the the thing that struck me was the amount of pushback people were like well that 477 00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:05,400 Well, I mean this is something that lord's blessed me with why would I give that up in it? 478 00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:10,680 And then the perversion of words that were used to say well, I have these nice things and the lord's blessed me with that 479 00:34:10,680 --> 00:34:13,400 So like I don't need to give it up because it's a blessing from the lord 480 00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:16,600 Well, he gives and takes away, right? So 481 00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:19,880 Um, like he you might be blessed with that in that moment 482 00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:23,000 But there might be a time where he says okay, I blessed you with that for that season of life 483 00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:25,880 Now I want you to give that away, right? 484 00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:29,560 Well, it's it's kind of like the height of hubris to be like 485 00:34:30,200 --> 00:34:34,520 Oh, well, you know these things are so important that guy could never want me to go and do you know 486 00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:38,040 X Y Z. I mean, it's kind of like the height of hubris when you're like, well, I'm like the pastor of the church 487 00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:42,040 Why would I clean toilets because jesus washed feet? Uh-huh. That's why 488 00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:46,200 Because moses fell face down whenever there were issues. Uh-huh 489 00:34:46,680 --> 00:34:51,240 Like he didn't go and be like, oh, I'm too dignified to go get on my face before god 490 00:34:51,240 --> 00:34:54,840 No, there was a problem and he got on his face before god. Uh-huh because it needed to be fixed 491 00:34:54,840 --> 00:34:59,480 Uh-huh, right and he cries out. Yeah, and uh, you know 492 00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:03,320 So one of the main reasons I brought up especially like in marriage like like cheating 493 00:35:03,320 --> 00:35:06,280 relationships and those things is because if you actually take a look at at uh 494 00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:08,840 numbers 25 495 00:35:08,840 --> 00:35:14,200 All these uh blessings and the curses they don't matter when it comes to uh, israel because uh 496 00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:19,720 The curses keep turning into blessings. So they do something else entirely. They send in a bunch of prostitutes 497 00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:27,480 To lead them astray and israel falls to sexual sin and finds themselves in really bad positions. Mm-hmm, right 498 00:35:27,480 --> 00:35:32,840 Uh, which by the way is going to be a reoccurring theme for a lot of israelite men. Mm-hmm, right 499 00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:39,000 Um king david solomon. Well, it's already a reoccurring thing because you see that with tamar 500 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:44,760 Uh-huh tamar on the book of genesis. Yep. So it's already a reoccurring thing. Hagar and sarah. Yep, right 501 00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:50,840 Uh, jacob and uh rachel and leah, uh-huh, right? Oh my word that that chapter is like 502 00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:53,080 Genesis 30 anybody if you want to go read it go read it 503 00:35:53,080 --> 00:35:56,200 It's just like what is going on here by the way, I think it's a good book 504 00:35:56,200 --> 00:36:01,000 What is going on here by the way shout out to there is a um, there is a youtuber, uh 505 00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:07,320 Instagram guy his name is god's best friend. Uh, and he does some fantastic skits and he has one about rachel and leah 506 00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:11,880 And it's pretty great. Oh, it's like various where it's like, uh, yeah, it's real good. So just go check that out 507 00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:17,640 He's very funny. Uh, yeah at this point in the story. This is already a reoccurring thing for israel 508 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:23,320 And it continues to be a reoccurring thing which by the way, this might be a good time to point out that hey 509 00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:26,600 Um, jesus has freed you of your past sin, but it still is familiar 510 00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:33,480 And you need to be ultra unaware of that because because otherwise it can come back to bite you even in the midst of the season 511 00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:39,000 Of blessing. Yes. In fact often it's those things that we kind of find ourselves wrapped up in frequently 512 00:36:39,720 --> 00:36:42,200 They get us the easiest. Mm-hmm, right? Yeah 513 00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:46,520 Now ultimately later, uh balem it's going to talk about balem in the bible again 514 00:36:46,600 --> 00:36:49,720 It actually talks about balem later in joshua 13 515 00:36:49,720 --> 00:36:55,240 And it talks about how balem dies by the sword when they're actually retaking the land the mobat land later 516 00:36:55,480 --> 00:36:59,320 So when joshua comes in and they're cleaning house, uh balem actually dies at that moment 517 00:36:59,960 --> 00:37:01,800 now once again 518 00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:05,080 Take a look at this entire nation and we talk about uh this provision of god 519 00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:10,760 Are you going to trust the word of god now had moab balek balem all these guys recognized the authority of god 520 00:37:11,320 --> 00:37:17,240 And responded to it. They would have had this option to say hey, we recognize what god is doing in your midst 521 00:37:17,240 --> 00:37:20,680 We're going to bless you. Yeah, and then they would receive blessing 522 00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:25,800 But instead they tried to curse and they got blessed instead. Yeah, and then they tried to lead them aside sexual sin 523 00:37:26,600 --> 00:37:31,560 And a lot of the things that the moabites were doing were deplorable like we're not going to get into it 524 00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:32,440 but like 525 00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:38,520 Uh, I actually think i'm going to link an episode from marty solomon of the book of joshua because it's conquest and some interesting 526 00:37:38,760 --> 00:37:40,920 It takes about like what was happening in the land 527 00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:44,920 Like god doesn't just willy-nilly tell people to go in and clean house 528 00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:49,160 There's a good reason why these things needed to be taken out and because they were awful 529 00:37:49,720 --> 00:37:53,480 Uh, we've talked about the the worship of all we've talked about the worship of 530 00:37:54,760 --> 00:38:00,200 Melek melek. Yeah, and like and then how how these things actually worked and then we're just talking about the tip of the iceberg 531 00:38:00,520 --> 00:38:02,520 It gets worse 532 00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:06,440 And uh, eventually god just says enough and he has to deal with it 533 00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:09,880 Just to put this in really simple terms 534 00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:15,720 As a parent like there's things i'm willing to let my kid endure so that they can learn struggle through 535 00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:20,360 Uh, but there's also times i'm like enough. Yeah, we're taking that out 536 00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:23,480 Yeah, like that is no longer going to be a part of your life 537 00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:26,040 Yeah, so I have two boys 538 00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:28,680 Who are foreign to and so they uh 539 00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:31,800 Enjoy playing with each other for a minute 540 00:38:32,920 --> 00:38:36,920 That's that's pretty good. Yeah, and I thought I was thinking you're gonna say like 10 seconds 541 00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:42,040 Or so the bigger one has a hard time understanding how big he is and the younger one has a trouble understanding that 542 00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:45,240 He's actually pretty heavy. Mm-hmm. Like he's a big kid. Both my kids are real big 543 00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:47,000 and um 544 00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:51,320 And so most of the time i'll let them kind of figure it out and i'm keeping an eye on the older to make sure he's not 545 00:38:51,320 --> 00:38:53,320 Hurting the younger, right? 546 00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:58,520 But then occasionally my older will do something like he'll grab the younger by the neck or something and i'm like, nope 547 00:38:59,880 --> 00:39:05,320 Stop, we're done. Uh, right and I separate them because like now we're talking about something that could cause like serious damage 548 00:39:05,320 --> 00:39:11,160 Right sometime and so god is uh, incredibly merciful. In fact, it says back in genesis that 549 00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:17,640 God says to abraham he's like this is going to be your land, but you can't come and have it yet because their sin hasn't reached 550 00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:19,640 full measure 551 00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:22,600 Means that god still is trying to reach them reach them 552 00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:27,640 Which by the way, um, this is a really important thing and I think we really want to stress because we've been going through torah 553 00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:31,560 We talked about all nations all these different things god is working through one people group 554 00:39:31,960 --> 00:39:34,280 This is not the only thing he was doing in the world at the time 555 00:39:34,280 --> 00:39:40,440 God, uh, well, I mean it's very apparent here because we're in numbers 22 is where we spent most of the time today 556 00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:43,560 And we're talking about god talking to balaam 557 00:39:44,280 --> 00:39:51,320 Who is not an israelite? Correct? Who is not hebrew? He is he was not enslaved in the egypt 558 00:39:52,520 --> 00:39:53,400 All right 559 00:39:53,400 --> 00:39:55,560 And god was speaking to him 560 00:39:56,280 --> 00:39:57,800 Yeah, so 561 00:39:57,800 --> 00:40:00,920 One of the things we were talking about recently because going to a pentacostal church 562 00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:06,600 Um, our our friend pastor nick was talking about when uh, the church goes into foreign countries 563 00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:10,200 A lot of times we're like, oh well, we need to give them our church culture 564 00:40:10,920 --> 00:40:14,840 No, you need to help them understand how jesus has always been present in their culture 565 00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:21,640 Right. Uh, this is what paul does he says hey, I see that you're a religious people. Let me tell you about this unnamed god 566 00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:24,680 Right now some people are really gonna struggle 567 00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:28,120 They're like no you have to blah blah blah blah blah is like well some things are going to be cultural 568 00:40:28,120 --> 00:40:33,080 And some things are going to be spiritual what we're doing is we're supposed to reveal jesus and allow him 569 00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:35,640 To transform people's lives 570 00:40:35,880 --> 00:40:38,840 One of the issues that we had in i'm gonna say colonial america 571 00:40:39,880 --> 00:40:40,680 um 572 00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:45,480 Great britain that that time when they were sending out missionaries and stuff is they were trying to make everywhere they went 573 00:40:45,960 --> 00:40:48,920 Look like the british church look like the american church 574 00:40:50,520 --> 00:40:52,780 Like when we go and plant churches in the philippines 575 00:40:52,780 --> 00:41:00,380 They shouldn't look like the american church. They should look like the philippino church. Mm-hmm rallied around the same god the same jesus 576 00:41:00,760 --> 00:41:05,180 Motivated by the same spirit, but meant to reach their people 577 00:41:06,540 --> 00:41:10,380 Right. Yeah, and and for the church of america, don't think we're immune to this 578 00:41:10,460 --> 00:41:13,500 We're actually the number one mission field for a lot of uh, 579 00:41:13,980 --> 00:41:21,580 Asian churches in asia. Yeah are sending missionaries to the west coast of america. Yeah, like as one of their number one mission fields 580 00:41:21,580 --> 00:41:26,860 So like if you're thinking a little like well we in the church of america have it figured out 581 00:41:27,340 --> 00:41:32,060 We actually are to the point where we have other nations where christianity is illegal 582 00:41:32,460 --> 00:41:37,420 Where where there is no freedom of speech stuff like that where they're sending missionaries over to us 583 00:41:38,380 --> 00:41:40,140 To bring the gospel 584 00:41:40,140 --> 00:41:45,180 You know, it's interesting also like a lot of a lot of the american church heritage comes through 585 00:41:45,500 --> 00:41:49,180 Um the uk, which is a ton of really good stuff that came out of there. Okay 586 00:41:49,660 --> 00:41:51,100 um 587 00:41:51,100 --> 00:41:53,740 But the church was in africa long before that. Yeah 588 00:41:54,220 --> 00:41:59,260 I actually heard like this guy was talking and they were talking about how uh christianity is a white man's religion 589 00:41:59,500 --> 00:42:05,020 And this guy got up and he's from africa. He says christianity was in africa long before was in in the uk 590 00:42:05,640 --> 00:42:09,100 Christianity was in africa long before it was in the middle east long before 591 00:42:10,220 --> 00:42:15,500 It spread to the uk actually through the roman empire, right? Right? That's how it spread to the uk 592 00:42:15,580 --> 00:42:17,580 But it actually didn't even get to england 593 00:42:17,580 --> 00:42:24,540 Uh for quite some time after jesus's death. It is not it is not a it is not color specific 594 00:42:24,780 --> 00:42:27,740 I don't know if you guys know this but the gospel is for everyone 595 00:42:28,460 --> 00:42:29,420 right 596 00:42:29,420 --> 00:42:34,220 And the second that you try to make it not for everyone you actually um, you start to 597 00:42:34,700 --> 00:42:40,380 Step on the work of jesus. Yeah, I think one of the longest standing christian churches in the world is actually the egyptian church 598 00:42:40,700 --> 00:42:45,340 Yeah, and that sounds about right probably probably from the egyptian eunuch. You know, yeah 599 00:42:45,340 --> 00:42:46,300 Yeah 600 00:42:46,300 --> 00:42:51,580 With that being said like all that being said what i'm pointing out is that god is already having a conversation with balem 601 00:42:52,060 --> 00:42:56,780 And he's having an invitation once again with balem. Who are you going to trust and this invitation also has happened with balek 602 00:42:56,860 --> 00:43:01,500 It's happened with pharaoh. We have seen all these stories over and over again. God is pursuing other people 603 00:43:01,980 --> 00:43:05,260 Later in the text god's going to pursue other people. There's going to be this story of this 604 00:43:06,060 --> 00:43:08,220 Guy with the skin disease that comes to see elisha 605 00:43:09,580 --> 00:43:10,940 right and uh 606 00:43:10,940 --> 00:43:15,340 And he bathes in the jordan seven times and is healed and he asks if he can if he can take some dirt 607 00:43:15,340 --> 00:43:20,380 So he can worship god back where he came from right because he thinks god is located geographically. Yeah 608 00:43:21,260 --> 00:43:24,940 And elisha's answer is super interesting because he's like yeah go ahead and take it 609 00:43:26,220 --> 00:43:29,820 He doesn't try to correct his thinking. He says whatever helps you connect to the god of the universe 610 00:43:30,700 --> 00:43:31,740 Right 611 00:43:31,740 --> 00:43:35,580 Now I think that somebody could take what I just said completely out of context and way too far 612 00:43:35,580 --> 00:43:40,620 Mm-hmm, but what we're trying to do is find jesus elevate him. Are we going to be jethro? 613 00:43:41,260 --> 00:43:46,540 Are we going to be pharaoh? Yeah, are we going to be abraham or are we going to be balem? Yeah 614 00:43:47,260 --> 00:43:52,940 That's our invitation. Mm-hmm. Torah is is starting to wrap up some of these stories next week when we talk about some of the stuff 615 00:43:52,940 --> 00:43:57,660 That happens on the back end. I'm going to mention a story about gilead. I'm going to clue you in ahead of time 616 00:43:58,380 --> 00:44:01,820 Connected to genesis 31 the story of 617 00:44:02,540 --> 00:44:03,500 when 618 00:44:03,500 --> 00:44:07,980 Jacob is fleeing laban. Mm-hmm. These stories are connected in in numbers 619 00:44:07,980 --> 00:44:13,740 They're wrapping up a lot of these things that have happened early on and it's coming back full around to actually be completed 620 00:44:13,900 --> 00:44:17,500 Yeah, god is showing his promises come to fruition and it's really important 621 00:44:17,500 --> 00:44:22,140 We may not get super deep into it because I always think it's really good to give you guys some homework 622 00:44:24,380 --> 00:44:25,500 Yeah 623 00:44:25,500 --> 00:44:32,620 So I think that wraps us up for today. Yeah again, you can find us on pretty much any social media platform at this point 624 00:44:32,620 --> 00:44:36,060 Um youtube all that we do have a merch store open 625 00:44:36,460 --> 00:44:41,500 Uh with that said the merch store just so you guys know um any money we make from the merch store 626 00:44:41,580 --> 00:44:43,580 We just fund back into missions 627 00:44:43,740 --> 00:44:48,060 Um, we'll cover a few expenses for the podcast because there are some expenses that go into that 628 00:44:49,020 --> 00:44:51,740 But outside of that, it's just getting funneled back into local missions 629 00:44:52,220 --> 00:44:57,260 Um, so just uh, just in case you're wondering where your money's going and if that ever changes we'll also let you know 630 00:44:57,420 --> 00:45:01,980 Yeah, absolutely. Yeah right now. Honestly, the reason we put up a merch store is because we just thought it would be fun 631 00:45:01,980 --> 00:45:03,820 Yeah, yeah 632 00:45:03,820 --> 00:45:07,020 Alright. Well next week. We're going to be wrapping up the book of numbers 633 00:45:07,420 --> 00:45:11,660 And so uh, we will see here talk to you guys at that point. Yeah. Bye 634 00:45:13,500 --> 00:45:15,500 That's a wrap for today's episode 635 00:45:15,740 --> 00:45:21,500 We want to extend a heartfelt. Thank you for tuning in and spending your valuable time with us 636 00:45:21,900 --> 00:45:28,300 We hope that you found today's conversation insightful and that you take something meaningful from it 637 00:45:28,460 --> 00:45:30,460 If you have questions or comments 638 00:45:30,460 --> 00:45:35,200 We would love to hear from you reach out to us at love and context at gmail.com 639 00:45:35,980 --> 00:45:38,060 And we will be sure to get back to you 640 00:45:38,700 --> 00:45:43,820 Remember you can always engage with our content on all your favorite listening platforms 641 00:45:44,280 --> 00:45:50,940 Including apple spotify amazon youtube and one don't forget to follow us on social media at love and context 642 00:45:51,340 --> 00:45:54,060 on instagram and facebook for updates 643 00:45:54,940 --> 00:45:59,660 All right. Hold on. Don't all right me. I'm not. All right. I'm not already 644 00:45:59,660 --> 00:46:04,220 I'm my great roll bends over here like let me adjust my mic again 645 00:46:05,100 --> 00:46:07,100 You know what? 646 00:46:07,820 --> 00:46:12,220 Balik sends balam you spelled pay like wrong by the way 647 00:46:16,380 --> 00:46:18,380 Depends on who you ask 648 00:46:25,580 --> 00:46:27,820 This is the part i'm gonna have to edit because i'm stupid 649 00:46:27,820 --> 00:46:29,820 Because i have stupid words 650 00:46:30,860 --> 00:46:32,860 Podcast what was I saying? 651 00:46:32,860 --> 00:46:58,860 Please tell me please tell me podcast