WEBVTT 00:00:02.600 --> 00:00:06.019 Welcome to Season 3 of Love & Context. This season, 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:08.640 we're exploring the life of Jesus step -by -step 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:11.140 and uncovering what His story teaches us about 00:00:11.140 --> 00:00:13.919 loving God and others. Here on Love & Context, 00:00:13.960 --> 00:00:16.059 we're all about having real conversations about 00:00:16.059 --> 00:00:18.140 how to live out that love in practical, everyday 00:00:18.140 --> 00:00:20.199 ways, and understanding the Bible in its full 00:00:20.199 --> 00:00:22.839 context. We're so glad you're here. Let's dive 00:00:22.839 --> 00:00:28.730 into Season 3 of Love & Context. Welcome to the 00:00:28.730 --> 00:00:30.829 Love in Context podcast. I hope you guys are 00:00:30.829 --> 00:00:33.310 all excited. We decided to vote Ben off this 00:00:33.310 --> 00:00:36.710 week. You know, we figured you guys have had 00:00:36.710 --> 00:00:38.990 enough of him lately. So we decided to be like, 00:00:39.030 --> 00:00:40.950 you know what, Ben, you're done for a week. And 00:00:40.950 --> 00:00:43.530 so he'll have fun editing this and being like, 00:00:43.689 --> 00:00:46.950 wait, what? Yeah, exactly. He'll be editing. 00:00:47.009 --> 00:00:49.710 So that'll be interesting. He can see what we're 00:00:49.710 --> 00:00:52.990 saying. Yeah. So if you haven't noticed, we've 00:00:52.990 --> 00:00:54.390 been talking about the life of Jesus. So we're 00:00:54.390 --> 00:00:56.630 going to continue with that. We are going to 00:00:56.630 --> 00:01:00.909 be... referencing John 1 .35 through 2 .25 today. 00:01:01.049 --> 00:01:03.270 So computers have this great piece of technology 00:01:03.270 --> 00:01:05.450 where you can just hit pause, go read it, and 00:01:05.450 --> 00:01:07.209 then come back. And now that you're back with 00:01:07.209 --> 00:01:09.510 us, we'll start talking about it. Let's start 00:01:09.510 --> 00:01:10.890 talking about it. There's a lot of things that 00:01:10.890 --> 00:01:13.170 are going on here, but to start off, we got to 00:01:13.170 --> 00:01:15.549 understand some historical context, some cultural 00:01:15.549 --> 00:01:17.590 context. What does it mean to be a rabbi? What 00:01:17.590 --> 00:01:19.409 does it mean to be a disciple? Because we have 00:01:19.409 --> 00:01:21.650 the, especially in John chapter one, throughout 00:01:21.650 --> 00:01:23.989 that whole chapter, we have Jesus calling his 00:01:23.989 --> 00:01:27.189 disciples to follow him. And so What does that 00:01:27.189 --> 00:01:29.890 mean? And we've talked a lot about that before 00:01:29.890 --> 00:01:32.370 on the podcast, but really to be a rabbi who 00:01:32.370 --> 00:01:34.829 calls a disciple, you're asking someone to live 00:01:34.829 --> 00:01:37.769 life with you and learn how you live life. That 00:01:37.769 --> 00:01:39.829 was kind of the Jewish style. I mean, a rabbi, 00:01:39.829 --> 00:01:42.549 to become a rabbi, you basically had to become 00:01:42.549 --> 00:01:45.390 an intern and studied with them. And what does 00:01:45.390 --> 00:01:47.989 disciple actually mean? It's basically a student. 00:01:48.129 --> 00:01:51.760 Yeah. Yeah, and so you've got to kind of understand 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:54.319 that. It's not just like going to seminary where 00:01:54.319 --> 00:01:56.959 you go to some classes and then you go back to 00:01:56.959 --> 00:01:59.500 your dorm room or whatever, right? It's actually 00:01:59.500 --> 00:02:02.140 you are following them. You're living life with 00:02:02.140 --> 00:02:04.280 them. You're going with them from place to place. 00:02:04.459 --> 00:02:06.480 You're not just learning how they teach. You're 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:08.039 learning how they interact with people. You're 00:02:08.039 --> 00:02:09.539 learning how they socialize. You're learning 00:02:09.539 --> 00:02:13.439 all of this, all of this. And so it's an abandonment 00:02:13.439 --> 00:02:16.199 of everything that you know and to follow the 00:02:16.199 --> 00:02:18.199 way of the rabbi. And so that's one thing. thing 00:02:18.199 --> 00:02:20.460 that we just really, really have to be aware 00:02:20.460 --> 00:02:22.979 of when we're talking about Jesus calling disciples, 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:25.419 calling students to follow him. Yes. It's a, 00:02:25.419 --> 00:02:27.300 it's a complete, it's, it's, you're walking away 00:02:27.300 --> 00:02:30.180 from whatever you've done and completely turning 00:02:30.180 --> 00:02:32.659 your life and focus in a new direction. Yeah. 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:34.659 Yeah. And so that, that really actually comes 00:02:34.659 --> 00:02:36.919 to play when Jesus is calling some of his disciples 00:02:36.919 --> 00:02:39.120 and they're like, well, can I go bury my father? 00:02:39.259 --> 00:02:41.400 Yeah. And he's like, he's like, actually, no, 00:02:41.460 --> 00:02:42.819 you just need to come follow me. Let the dead 00:02:42.819 --> 00:02:44.879 bury their own. Right. Right now. And so that. 00:02:45.210 --> 00:02:46.849 That's that cultural piece right there where 00:02:46.849 --> 00:02:48.969 it's like you got to understand that that's what's 00:02:48.969 --> 00:02:50.469 going on. One of the things that's going on here. 00:02:51.090 --> 00:02:54.509 Another thing that we have to understand is John 00:02:54.509 --> 00:02:59.490 the Baptist, who he is. John and Jesus are actually 00:02:59.490 --> 00:03:02.689 cousins. John is a prophet who comes to foretell 00:03:02.689 --> 00:03:05.530 Jesus is the Messiah, the coming of the Messiah. 00:03:05.889 --> 00:03:08.610 I always like John the Baptist because like their 00:03:08.610 --> 00:03:11.409 description of him is like, hey, he's going to 00:03:11.409 --> 00:03:16.259 wear. Camel. Camel hair. Eat locusts. Eat locusts 00:03:16.259 --> 00:03:19.240 and wild honey. And it's like, he sounds like 00:03:19.240 --> 00:03:21.020 this guy when you see him that you're like, maybe 00:03:21.020 --> 00:03:24.060 I'll walk 10 feet further away around to avoid 00:03:24.060 --> 00:03:26.939 him. But that's kind of, that's who John Baptist 00:03:26.939 --> 00:03:29.180 is. And then he would go in proclaiming the way 00:03:29.180 --> 00:03:32.340 that the Messiah is coming. Right. And so he's 00:03:32.340 --> 00:03:35.039 actually, he kind of is an echo to the figure 00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:38.439 of Elijah who was proclaiming prophecies over 00:03:38.439 --> 00:03:41.419 Israel back in the old days. So there's a lot 00:03:41.419 --> 00:03:43.860 of tie -ins to the Old Testament. as we move 00:03:43.860 --> 00:03:45.819 through those things. But we got to understand 00:03:45.819 --> 00:03:48.120 those two cultural context pieces. We have prophets 00:03:48.120 --> 00:03:51.120 who are to basically speak a prophetic word is 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:53.159 just basically to speak truth over somebody or 00:03:53.159 --> 00:03:55.979 into somebody's life. And we often, I think sometimes, 00:03:56.159 --> 00:03:58.099 you've done a lot of talks with prophecy, but 00:03:58.099 --> 00:04:00.560 I think sometimes we overcomplicate what is prophecy. 00:04:00.599 --> 00:04:02.539 We absolutely do. And people try to put too much 00:04:02.539 --> 00:04:04.879 mystery into it. And it's speaking truth that 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:07.500 is inspired by the Holy Spirit to what you're 00:04:07.500 --> 00:04:09.620 going to say either personally or corporately 00:04:09.620 --> 00:04:12.080 or whatever. But it's just speaking. what the 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:13.960 Holy Spirit shows you about a situation that's 00:04:13.960 --> 00:04:16.560 often unknown to others. So that's good. Yeah. 00:04:16.600 --> 00:04:19.600 Yeah. So, so jumping into these, these texts 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:22.620 right here, there is, there are some really kind 00:04:22.620 --> 00:04:24.420 of interesting things to look at here. So one 00:04:24.420 --> 00:04:26.560 of the things with Jesus calling his disciples 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:31.439 is who he calls. So the Jewish schooling system, 00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:33.620 you would typically from a very young age, memorize 00:04:33.620 --> 00:04:36.379 Torah. You would. And so for some of you are 00:04:36.379 --> 00:04:38.500 like, that sounds great until you get to Leviticus. 00:04:38.639 --> 00:04:41.120 Right. But you would typically memorize Torah. 00:04:41.199 --> 00:04:43.899 And those who couldn't hack it, they typically 00:04:43.899 --> 00:04:46.220 would then go back to their families and work 00:04:46.220 --> 00:04:49.259 the family business or family job. And there 00:04:49.259 --> 00:04:52.879 was some, unlike our society, there was some 00:04:52.879 --> 00:04:55.040 social moving up and there was some, but most 00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:57.199 of the time, most of the time you just went back 00:04:57.199 --> 00:04:59.399 and worked the family business. If you came from 00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:03.180 a fisherman family and you weren't able to cut 00:05:03.180 --> 00:05:05.100 it through school, you would go back and become 00:05:05.100 --> 00:05:06.860 a fisherman. Just whatever trade your family 00:05:06.860 --> 00:05:09.500 was involved in. Yep. That's usually how it worked. 00:05:09.800 --> 00:05:12.990 Jesus. does something very radical here, which 00:05:12.990 --> 00:05:16.089 also echoes the rest of the New Testament and 00:05:16.089 --> 00:05:17.670 actually a lot of Torah, but he does something 00:05:17.670 --> 00:05:20.769 very radical where he goes and he calls the people 00:05:20.769 --> 00:05:24.060 who basically flunked out. Yeah, none of these 00:05:24.060 --> 00:05:26.740 were in the line to become a rabbi. They weren't 00:05:26.740 --> 00:05:28.839 going to seminary. They weren't studying. They 00:05:28.839 --> 00:05:31.339 were just working people. Yeah, so right out 00:05:31.339 --> 00:05:33.040 of the gate, Jesus is like, you know what? We're 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:34.319 going to do this a little differently, right? 00:05:34.660 --> 00:05:38.980 He didn't go to the schools. He didn't go to 00:05:38.980 --> 00:05:40.959 the people who were actually studying to be rabbis 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:42.879 and say, hey, would you follow me? He said, all 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:46.139 right, there's a foul -mouthed fisherman. I'm 00:05:46.139 --> 00:05:48.779 going to ask him to follow me. And then he's 00:05:48.779 --> 00:05:50.560 like, all right, there's a tax collector. I'm 00:05:50.560 --> 00:05:52.100 going to ask him to follow me. And he's like, 00:05:52.139 --> 00:05:53.819 oh, there's a zealot who, by the way, likes to 00:05:53.819 --> 00:05:55.579 kill tax collectors. I'm going to ask him to 00:05:55.579 --> 00:05:59.660 follow me. And so this is Jesus. In modern day 00:05:59.660 --> 00:06:02.839 context, if you were to look at who Jesus called 00:06:02.839 --> 00:06:05.079 to follow, if we were to compare that to modern 00:06:05.079 --> 00:06:06.920 day, it wouldn't be a group of people that we'd 00:06:06.920 --> 00:06:08.500 necessarily be like, yeah, I want to spend my 00:06:08.500 --> 00:06:10.000 time with them. It wouldn't be a group of people 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:11.819 you'd let in the doors of your church. Yeah. 00:06:12.120 --> 00:06:15.540 Sadly. Sadly, right? Yeah. And so Jesus right 00:06:15.540 --> 00:06:16.699 out the gate is like, we're going to do this 00:06:16.699 --> 00:06:19.500 differently. And so that's a really, really kind 00:06:19.500 --> 00:06:22.120 of interesting thing to look at. It does, this 00:06:22.120 --> 00:06:23.740 isn't in our notes, but it actually does echo 00:06:23.740 --> 00:06:27.339 back to the Exodus when there actually was an 00:06:27.339 --> 00:06:30.139 invitation for Egyptians to actually go with. 00:06:30.259 --> 00:06:32.699 Go with them, yeah. Yeah. So it does echo back 00:06:32.699 --> 00:06:35.259 to that too. So the other thing to note is that 00:06:35.259 --> 00:06:38.339 John the Baptist also had disciples. Right. So, 00:06:38.339 --> 00:06:40.660 so like, I think in our westernized church mindset, 00:06:40.680 --> 00:06:43.319 we can get, we can think that like just, just 00:06:43.319 --> 00:06:45.819 Jesus had disciples, which isn't the case. No. 00:06:45.899 --> 00:06:47.699 We just talked about that a little bit with rabbis, 00:06:47.699 --> 00:06:50.100 but John as a rabbi, as a prophet. He had people 00:06:50.100 --> 00:06:52.240 that were crazy enough to follow him. Yeah. And 00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:55.379 I want to, did they wear camel hair too? You 00:06:55.379 --> 00:06:56.620 know, good question. You know, did you have, 00:06:56.660 --> 00:06:58.180 was there, was it tight? Would you had to really 00:06:58.180 --> 00:07:00.259 look to style? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. 00:07:00.279 --> 00:07:02.120 A uniform? I'm not sure, but if he's living out 00:07:02.120 --> 00:07:04.459 in the desert on, living on locust and wild honey. 00:07:04.600 --> 00:07:07.500 Uh -huh. Yeah. Might've need to. Right. Right. 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:10.920 So we have, so there are, there are really a 00:07:10.920 --> 00:07:13.079 couple, couple people here that I want to really 00:07:13.079 --> 00:07:17.379 talk about on who Jesus called. One is the calling 00:07:17.379 --> 00:07:23.480 of Peter. in John's account. So in John 1, and 00:07:23.480 --> 00:07:26.660 this will actually be 40 through 42, it says, 00:07:26.819 --> 00:07:30.980 Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the 00:07:30.980 --> 00:07:34.540 two who heard what John said and who had been 00:07:34.540 --> 00:07:39.000 following Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:41.480 to find his brother Simon and tell him, we have 00:07:41.480 --> 00:07:44.319 found the Messiah, that is the Christ. And then 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:47.860 they brought him to Jesus. Jesus took one look 00:07:47.860 --> 00:07:50.649 at him and said, you, Simon, son of John, will 00:07:50.649 --> 00:07:53.550 be called Cephas, which translates to Peter. 00:07:53.769 --> 00:07:56.870 So now Andrew was actually a disciple of John's. 00:07:56.870 --> 00:07:59.410 He was following John around. Yep. And then John 00:07:59.410 --> 00:08:02.569 introduced him to Jesus, basically. And Andrew 00:08:02.569 --> 00:08:04.490 said, see you later, John. I'm following this 00:08:04.490 --> 00:08:06.430 guy now. Yeah. Right. Which is a good choice. 00:08:06.610 --> 00:08:08.649 It was a good choice. Because that's what John 00:08:08.649 --> 00:08:11.329 was talking about. He actually graduated from 00:08:11.329 --> 00:08:13.970 the school of John. Yeah. Right. In that regard. 00:08:14.110 --> 00:08:15.910 Yeah. So he follows Jesus, but he was so excited 00:08:15.910 --> 00:08:17.829 he had to go tell his brother about him. Yeah. 00:08:17.949 --> 00:08:20.410 So he goes and tells Peter, or goes and tells 00:08:20.410 --> 00:08:22.970 Simon, and the first thing Jesus does is he says, 00:08:22.990 --> 00:08:26.269 you now have a new identity. Yeah. And your name 00:08:26.269 --> 00:08:28.310 is now going to be Peter. Now, this isn't the 00:08:28.310 --> 00:08:30.550 first time this has happened in scripture. This 00:08:30.550 --> 00:08:34.149 actually echoes back to Genesis where God actually 00:08:34.149 --> 00:08:36.389 changes Abram's name to Abraham. He says, you 00:08:36.389 --> 00:08:38.730 have a new identity. You're no longer the same 00:08:38.730 --> 00:08:40.710 person that you were before. And that's what 00:08:40.710 --> 00:08:42.649 happens when we say yes to following Jesus, right? 00:08:42.850 --> 00:08:45.870 Amen. That is it. And so we often, I mean, I 00:08:45.870 --> 00:08:47.990 feel like we often read through stuff like this. 00:08:47.990 --> 00:08:49.649 We kind of skim over it. And then we're like, 00:08:49.730 --> 00:08:52.009 but really in those moments in that cultural 00:08:52.009 --> 00:08:54.409 time, it was like, no, who you were before is 00:08:54.409 --> 00:08:55.980 not going to. to be who you are looking for. 00:08:56.179 --> 00:08:58.179 That's right. The old has passed away. Yeah. 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:01.399 New things become. Yeah. Yeah. So, and then right 00:09:01.399 --> 00:09:05.100 after that, we have the call of Philip and Nathaniel. 00:09:05.720 --> 00:09:07.679 Okay. Got to turn the page here. There we go. 00:09:07.860 --> 00:09:09.600 Ben turned the lights off and now I have to like 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:12.120 rotate the Bible down to read it here. Now the 00:09:12.120 --> 00:09:15.039 next day, Jesus decided to leave Galilee, finding 00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:17.200 Philip. And he said to him, follow me. Philip, 00:09:17.240 --> 00:09:20.320 like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:22.980 Philip found Nathanael and told him, we have 00:09:22.980 --> 00:09:26.279 found the one Moses wrote about in the law and 00:09:26.279 --> 00:09:29.919 about whom the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, 00:09:30.019 --> 00:09:33.259 son of Joseph. Nazareth, can anything good come 00:09:33.259 --> 00:09:36.220 from there? Nathanael asks. Come and see, said 00:09:36.220 --> 00:09:39.220 Philip. When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, 00:09:39.539 --> 00:09:43.519 he said to him, Here truly is the Israelite in 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:46.600 whom there is no deceit. How do you know me? 00:09:46.620 --> 00:09:49.240 Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, I saw you while 00:09:49.240 --> 00:09:52.259 you were still under the fig tree before Philip 00:09:52.259 --> 00:09:55.139 called you. Nathanael declared, Rabbi, you are 00:09:55.139 --> 00:09:58.039 the son of God. You are the king of Israel. That's 00:09:58.039 --> 00:09:59.980 pretty, pretty cool. I mean, Nathanael was skeptical. 00:10:00.340 --> 00:10:03.679 Yeah. And he's like, the guy from now, what good 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:05.549 can come out of now? You know, it's like, that's 00:10:05.549 --> 00:10:09.350 a little bit jaded, but then he, and then Jesus 00:10:09.350 --> 00:10:11.710 calls him out with really what I would call a 00:10:11.710 --> 00:10:15.809 prophetic statement. Right. And I always, I've 00:10:15.809 --> 00:10:18.029 always compared this to like, think of the state 00:10:18.029 --> 00:10:20.009 you're in. Every state has that one town that 00:10:20.009 --> 00:10:21.570 you're like, you don't want to be there. What 00:10:21.570 --> 00:10:24.330 good can come of that town? Right. It'd be like 00:10:24.330 --> 00:10:26.750 us saying what good can come of Fairbanks. We're, 00:10:26.750 --> 00:10:31.059 you know, we're, but there's always. There's 00:10:31.059 --> 00:10:33.259 always that one town. That's right. Right. And 00:10:33.259 --> 00:10:37.940 skeptical. But Nathaniel went anyways to be like, 00:10:37.960 --> 00:10:40.519 he did. I'm going to see. I want to see what's 00:10:40.519 --> 00:10:43.419 curious. What is this? Right. Yeah. And so it's 00:10:43.419 --> 00:10:45.379 a good thing. But then at the end of John chapter 00:10:45.379 --> 00:10:47.279 one, you actually have this promise for greater 00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:49.460 revelation. And this is you'll find this in verse 00:10:49.460 --> 00:10:53.879 50 and 51. where it said, Jesus said, you believe 00:10:53.879 --> 00:10:57.220 because I told you, I saw you under the fig tree. 00:10:57.340 --> 00:11:00.299 You will see even greater things than that. Then 00:11:00.299 --> 00:11:03.539 he added, very truly, I tell you, you will be, 00:11:03.700 --> 00:11:06.559 you will see heaven open up and the angels of 00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:09.899 God ascending and descending on the son of man, 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:13.580 referring to himself. So that is one of the amazing 00:11:13.580 --> 00:11:16.259 things. This is like, you are going to see such 00:11:16.259 --> 00:11:18.779 great things happen. And see things in the spiritual 00:11:18.779 --> 00:11:22.269 realm. opening that up so yeah it's not even 00:11:22.269 --> 00:11:24.409 yeah not even just you're not even just going 00:11:24.409 --> 00:11:26.450 to see changes in your community or your towns 00:11:26.450 --> 00:11:28.409 you're going to see you're going to see things 00:11:28.409 --> 00:11:30.669 in the spiritual realm open up to you yeah realize 00:11:30.669 --> 00:11:33.750 that the kingdom of heaven is here yeah Right. 00:11:33.870 --> 00:11:35.769 Yeah. Angels ascending and descending. Yeah. 00:11:35.870 --> 00:11:37.690 It's all connected. It's all connected. That's 00:11:37.690 --> 00:11:39.830 right. And there, there are actually a couple, 00:11:39.950 --> 00:11:43.570 uh, there's a couple, um, Torah connections that, 00:11:43.570 --> 00:11:46.110 that can be brought up with us too. Jesus refers 00:11:46.110 --> 00:11:48.490 to, so when he's referring to the ascending and 00:11:48.490 --> 00:11:50.590 descending, he's actually also, he's referring 00:11:50.590 --> 00:11:52.610 to Jacob's ladder and you can find that. I'll 00:11:52.610 --> 00:11:54.370 let you guys do your own research and go read 00:11:54.370 --> 00:11:56.470 that, but you can find that Genesis 28, 12 through 00:11:56.470 --> 00:11:58.509 17. Go take a read on that. You can even pause 00:11:58.509 --> 00:12:00.289 it right now. Go read it. Come back and join 00:12:00.289 --> 00:12:02.750 us. Uh, there's another connection in Exodus 00:12:03.730 --> 00:12:08.309 2, 3 through 13, where Jesus is identified as 00:12:08.309 --> 00:12:11.149 the lamb of God. This is linking over to Passover 00:12:11.149 --> 00:12:14.070 in Egypt, right? Where there was a sacrificial 00:12:14.070 --> 00:12:16.230 lambs and the blood on the doorpost that saved 00:12:16.230 --> 00:12:19.110 them, that saved Israel from the, or the Hebrews 00:12:19.110 --> 00:12:21.750 from the plague of the death of the firstborn. 00:12:21.909 --> 00:12:25.250 And so Jesus is identifying himself with that, 00:12:25.289 --> 00:12:27.990 a major Jewish holiday and major Jewish tradition 00:12:27.990 --> 00:12:30.990 of saying, I'm going to be the lamb of God. Alluding 00:12:30.990 --> 00:12:33.110 to that, he is going to sacrifice. Himself. The 00:12:33.110 --> 00:12:35.549 sacrifice to protect the rest of us. Yeah. To 00:12:35.549 --> 00:12:38.070 save us. And so those are some connections there. 00:12:38.110 --> 00:12:40.169 The more you actually dive into the life of Jesus, 00:12:40.230 --> 00:12:42.149 the more you realize how much he actually quotes 00:12:42.149 --> 00:12:44.830 Torah and is like connects things back to Torah. 00:12:44.830 --> 00:12:46.549 And that's what I so appreciate about hanging 00:12:46.549 --> 00:12:48.990 out with you and Ben is that's really a passion 00:12:48.990 --> 00:12:52.049 of Ben's. I know for sure how Torah is the foundation 00:12:52.049 --> 00:12:55.009 for everything in the Bible. And we don't, you 00:12:55.009 --> 00:12:56.850 know, we study the life of Jesus without looking 00:12:56.850 --> 00:12:59.129 back and realizing how much he was fulfilling 00:12:59.129 --> 00:13:01.230 and how much was foretold and the magnificent 00:13:01.230 --> 00:13:03.960 plan. that God has put in place. Yeah, right. 00:13:04.120 --> 00:13:06.200 It's pretty cool. It's great. And so there's 00:13:06.200 --> 00:13:08.980 a connection here where when the Exodus was happening, 00:13:09.080 --> 00:13:11.500 there was this invitation for Israel and Egypt 00:13:11.500 --> 00:13:15.159 actually to follow Moses. Right. And that invitation 00:13:15.159 --> 00:13:16.840 sometimes can get skewed because we have this 00:13:16.840 --> 00:13:19.919 conversation of Moses going to Pharaoh and saying, 00:13:19.980 --> 00:13:22.600 let my people go. And it really was really what 00:13:22.600 --> 00:13:24.700 that was. If you look at contextually, it really 00:13:24.700 --> 00:13:27.019 was an invitation for him to be like, hey, you 00:13:27.019 --> 00:13:29.419 have opportunity throughout those 10 plagues 00:13:29.419 --> 00:13:31.529 to be like, all right, yeah, they can go. And 00:13:31.529 --> 00:13:35.409 so as Israel had that invitation to follow Moses, 00:13:35.509 --> 00:13:37.230 we now have that invitation to follow Jesus. 00:13:37.710 --> 00:13:40.429 And so, so that's the invitation that we're working 00:13:40.429 --> 00:13:43.289 with now, which is great. Any other thoughts 00:13:43.289 --> 00:13:45.389 on that? Nope. I'm good. All right. All right. 00:13:45.409 --> 00:13:48.129 And then we get to the first miracle in John 00:13:48.129 --> 00:13:51.639 chapter two. Okay, so let's talk Jewish weddings 00:13:51.639 --> 00:13:54.899 for a moment. Big deal. A little different than 00:13:54.899 --> 00:13:56.759 our wedding. So when Lindsay and I got married, 00:13:56.879 --> 00:13:59.700 we purposely planned our wedding at 3 p .m. And 00:13:59.700 --> 00:14:02.919 we didn't have dinner. We had dessert. That was 00:14:02.919 --> 00:14:04.480 because we wanted people out of there at 5 p 00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:05.679 .m. because we didn't want to stay there all 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:07.799 night. And that's not how Jewish weddings work. 00:14:07.960 --> 00:14:11.860 No. So you have the whole time frame where once 00:14:11.860 --> 00:14:15.620 the betrothal happens, there's a year where they 00:14:15.620 --> 00:14:19.580 don't really see each other. place ready at his 00:14:19.580 --> 00:14:21.559 father's house and then when the party happens 00:14:21.559 --> 00:14:25.200 it usually lasts about seven days yeah and and 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:28.129 it's a real party and I don't know about you, 00:14:28.169 --> 00:14:30.210 but in U .S. culture, if we're through the idea 00:14:30.210 --> 00:14:31.570 of like, hey, we're going to have a seven -day 00:14:31.570 --> 00:14:33.909 wedding. Actually, my oldest son just got married 00:14:33.909 --> 00:14:36.769 on Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, and just the 00:14:36.769 --> 00:14:40.049 17th of May. Destination wedding, rented a big 00:14:40.049 --> 00:14:42.929 farm out there, and we had 160 people show up, 00:14:42.990 --> 00:14:45.230 and it started Thursday night and ended Sunday 00:14:45.230 --> 00:14:47.789 morning. Great. And it was a phenomenal event. 00:14:47.889 --> 00:14:50.590 I love it. The ceremony was Saturday afternoon, 00:14:50.809 --> 00:14:53.409 and it was a huge party. It was a blast. It's 00:14:53.409 --> 00:14:55.009 probably the most epic wedding I've ever been 00:14:55.009 --> 00:14:56.700 to. Awesome. I love it. Pretty cool, too, because 00:14:56.700 --> 00:14:59.019 he paid for it all. Yeah, that's great. But it 00:14:59.019 --> 00:15:00.139 was great. Makes it better, right? But it was, 00:15:00.139 --> 00:15:02.360 it was, reminded me of what that, and how fun 00:15:02.360 --> 00:15:04.639 that could be, and the reason for the Jewish 00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:06.940 wedding and the huge celebration. It is an event 00:15:06.940 --> 00:15:09.220 to be celebrated. It is. Absolutely. Absolutely. 00:15:09.620 --> 00:15:11.220 Absolutely. I would say, though, in, like, U 00:15:11.220 --> 00:15:12.539 .S. culture, like, that's probably not. That's 00:15:12.539 --> 00:15:14.600 unusual. It's unusual, right? It's unusual. Right? 00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:16.620 Like, it's usually, like, a day event, maybe. 00:15:17.019 --> 00:15:18.639 Afternoon event. Yeah. You know, I know Laura's 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:21.639 my wedding. Many years ago, we had a ceremony, 00:15:21.700 --> 00:15:24.399 and which wedding ceremonies aren't long, you 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:27.009 know, 15 minutes. basically, but then we had 00:15:27.009 --> 00:15:28.570 a reception, and a couple hours later, we're 00:15:28.570 --> 00:15:30.570 on the road, done. It was a couple -hour event. 00:15:30.809 --> 00:15:32.690 Yeah, but that's the case for Jewish wedding. 00:15:33.169 --> 00:15:36.789 They're big events. They get married on the third 00:15:36.789 --> 00:15:38.950 day. Yeah, they get married on the third day. 00:15:39.110 --> 00:15:41.750 And I was curious about that, because that's 00:15:41.750 --> 00:15:44.850 how the verse for this starts. It says, on the 00:15:44.850 --> 00:15:48.049 third day... They were at the wedding, and the 00:15:48.049 --> 00:15:51.269 tradition was on the third day of creation, talking 00:15:51.269 --> 00:15:54.529 back in Genesis, God said, this is good. And 00:15:54.529 --> 00:15:56.490 so that's when the day they wanted to be married. 00:15:56.669 --> 00:16:00.509 Yeah. Yeah. And then the wine usually symbolizes 00:16:00.509 --> 00:16:04.490 God's promise. And wine's actually an interesting 00:16:04.490 --> 00:16:07.889 topic in biblical culture, because when you hear 00:16:07.889 --> 00:16:11.309 the phrase wine, you can often associate, I mean, 00:16:11.330 --> 00:16:13.629 obviously alcohol, and then that can also associate 00:16:13.629 --> 00:16:15.879 with alcoholism, so on and so forth. But back 00:16:15.879 --> 00:16:17.720 in that day, fermentation was actually one of 00:16:17.720 --> 00:16:20.039 the safest ways to drink water. So when we're 00:16:20.039 --> 00:16:21.879 talking wine, we're not talking like the types 00:16:21.879 --> 00:16:24.320 of wines that you and I might know. We're talking 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:27.480 more so like lightly fermented. There is still 00:16:27.480 --> 00:16:29.700 some alcohol content, but it's really low. And 00:16:29.700 --> 00:16:33.080 it's just a way to purify the water. But at weddings, 00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:34.799 they typically brought out the good stuff. Right. 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:38.559 Yeah, because it was a big celebration. And so 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:40.580 when we're looking at this, as you pointed out 00:16:40.580 --> 00:16:42.940 on the third day, they were there. And then you 00:16:42.940 --> 00:16:45.139 get into this miracle where Jesus. Jesus turns 00:16:45.139 --> 00:16:49.820 water into wine. Now, there is this tradition, 00:16:50.200 --> 00:16:51.940 and I'm going to probably butcher this a little 00:16:51.940 --> 00:16:54.200 bit, but I'm going to do my best. So if you guys 00:16:54.200 --> 00:16:55.860 write in and be like, actually, this is kind 00:16:55.860 --> 00:16:58.820 of how this worked. But there is this tradition 00:16:58.820 --> 00:17:01.159 where they actually had these ceremonial pots 00:17:01.159 --> 00:17:04.640 where they would fill with water. And then what 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:07.700 they would do is it would be considered like 00:17:07.700 --> 00:17:09.680 a blessed wedding if there was like a taste of 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:13.119 wine in the water. And and it was it was this 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:15.539 tradition that isn't fully rooted in Jewish culture, 00:17:15.660 --> 00:17:17.880 but it was kind of co -opted by other cultures 00:17:17.880 --> 00:17:20.059 around them. And so you actually have this thing 00:17:20.059 --> 00:17:22.140 where Jesus, when he turns the water into wine, 00:17:22.500 --> 00:17:24.380 he is showing that this union is going to be 00:17:24.380 --> 00:17:27.740 very blessed. And so and there's forget the teacher's 00:17:27.740 --> 00:17:29.079 name, but there's a teacher who does a really 00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:31.559 good job explaining all of that. And I just didn't 00:17:31.559 --> 00:17:33.700 do as good of a job. But but it's kind of this 00:17:33.700 --> 00:17:35.920 interesting. There's so much symbolism in anything. 00:17:36.019 --> 00:17:38.440 And we miss if we don't look for that and find 00:17:38.440 --> 00:17:40.339 it in there because there's so much symbolism. 00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:43.460 in what's taking place. Yeah, yeah. And so you 00:17:43.460 --> 00:17:46.660 have, it started in verse six, you have nearby 00:17:46.660 --> 00:17:49.940 stood six stone water jars. Now these were the 00:17:49.940 --> 00:17:52.039 jars that were typically used for ceremonial 00:17:52.039 --> 00:17:57.200 purification was what it was. And each one from 00:17:57.200 --> 00:18:00.019 holding from 20 to 30 gallons, those are big 00:18:00.019 --> 00:18:02.299 jars. Big jars, yeah. Jesus said to his servant, 00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:04.720 fill the jars with water. So they filled them 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:07.559 to the brim. Then he told them, now draw out 00:18:07.559 --> 00:18:09.779 some of the water and take it to the master. 00:18:09.930 --> 00:18:11.710 the banquet. So they did. And the master of the 00:18:11.710 --> 00:18:14.170 banquet tasted the water that had been turned 00:18:14.170 --> 00:18:17.049 into wine. He did not realize where it had come 00:18:17.049 --> 00:18:20.049 from, though the servants who had drawn the water 00:18:20.049 --> 00:18:22.710 knew. And then he called the bridegroom aside 00:18:22.710 --> 00:18:26.269 and said, everyone, everyone brings out the choice 00:18:26.269 --> 00:18:29.349 wine first and the cheaper wine after the guests 00:18:29.349 --> 00:18:32.309 have had too much to drink. But you have saved 00:18:32.309 --> 00:18:35.349 the best until now. Yeah. There's a lot. There's 00:18:35.349 --> 00:18:37.250 actually a lot going on. There really is. But 00:18:37.250 --> 00:18:40.390 the idea with the wine here, though, is that 00:18:40.390 --> 00:18:42.730 Jesus is showing that this is a blessed union. 00:18:43.170 --> 00:18:46.009 It's one of the big key things here where it's 00:18:46.009 --> 00:18:47.150 like, this is going to be blessed. We're going 00:18:47.150 --> 00:18:51.049 to save the best until now. Make the best. It's 00:18:51.049 --> 00:18:53.269 also, I've heard some people talk about how it's 00:18:53.269 --> 00:18:57.140 symbolism of how like... of how like when you're 00:18:57.140 --> 00:18:59.579 in a marriage union, the first, like you can 00:18:59.579 --> 00:19:01.839 have some rocky years, but the more you stick 00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:04.500 with it and the more you work on your relationship 00:19:04.500 --> 00:19:06.559 with your spouse, like better years are to come. 00:19:06.680 --> 00:19:09.319 I can guarantee that after I'm coming up on, 00:19:09.339 --> 00:19:14.039 well, 48 years married this year. So it does 00:19:14.039 --> 00:19:17.759 get better. Yeah. And then you get to verse 11 00:19:17.759 --> 00:19:19.900 here where it talks about how the disciples believe 00:19:19.900 --> 00:19:24.079 in Jesus. And so you have just this cool little 00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:26.980 story of water into wine. And it just seems like 00:19:26.980 --> 00:19:28.720 such an interesting first miracle. There's so 00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:32.599 many miracles. Water into wine is just... Kind 00:19:32.599 --> 00:19:35.839 of a radical concept. Yeah. Because it's a controversial 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:39.259 topic with people. It is. It is. But water into 00:19:39.259 --> 00:19:42.759 wine. And I don't want to skim over it because 00:19:42.759 --> 00:19:45.759 I know alcohol has been a huge issue for a lot 00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:48.299 of people. I mean, especially we live in Alaska. 00:19:48.559 --> 00:19:50.700 It's a huge issue for a lot of people in Alaska. 00:19:51.039 --> 00:19:53.200 It is. And so I know stories like this can be 00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:55.960 a little touchy for some people. Right. You know, 00:19:55.980 --> 00:19:59.119 the reality is you just have to believe God and 00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:01.910 know what's right for you and not. Yeah. And 00:20:01.910 --> 00:20:03.630 I don't need to debate whether it was alcoholic 00:20:03.630 --> 00:20:06.009 or not. I mean, obviously, the statement that 00:20:06.009 --> 00:20:08.549 you bring out the best wine first and when people 00:20:08.549 --> 00:20:10.049 have drank too much, they don't care. Obviously, 00:20:10.250 --> 00:20:11.769 there's some alcoholic content in there. But 00:20:11.769 --> 00:20:13.210 it's not endorsing that. And that's not what 00:20:13.210 --> 00:20:15.369 Jesus' point is. The point is he takes something 00:20:15.369 --> 00:20:17.009 ordinary and makes it into something extraordinary. 00:20:17.269 --> 00:20:20.549 Right. He's taking something. He's transforming 00:20:20.549 --> 00:20:22.950 something from good to great. In the natural 00:20:22.950 --> 00:20:25.130 world. Yeah. You know, something like that. And 00:20:25.130 --> 00:20:27.349 that's what he does with us. Yeah. If you want 00:20:27.349 --> 00:20:30.170 to read more about like covenant purification 00:20:30.170 --> 00:20:33.589 and celebration, you can go to Exodus 19, 10 00:20:33.589 --> 00:20:37.609 and 11 and 24, 3 through 11. There's some talks 00:20:37.609 --> 00:20:41.609 about that. And if you also want to read more 00:20:41.609 --> 00:20:46.349 about like messianic imagery of wine and abundance, 00:20:46.650 --> 00:20:50.630 Genesis 49, 10 through 11. There's so much symbolism 00:20:50.630 --> 00:20:52.650 here, and it's really exciting when you get into 00:20:52.650 --> 00:20:55.130 that and see that and study some of that. So 00:20:55.130 --> 00:20:58.089 do read the scriptures. And the big thing I really 00:20:58.089 --> 00:21:01.509 see in this is that Jesus, he took a ritual and 00:21:01.509 --> 00:21:04.109 he turned it into a relationship in abundance. 00:21:04.390 --> 00:21:07.589 Yeah. Right. He he did this in a relational way 00:21:07.589 --> 00:21:09.890 and he turned into abundance and people believed 00:21:09.890 --> 00:21:11.950 in him. And on a side note, there is a little 00:21:11.950 --> 00:21:14.789 conversation with Jesus and his mom where where 00:21:14.789 --> 00:21:17.390 Mary's like, hey, we're out of wine. And he's 00:21:17.390 --> 00:21:19.490 like, well, it's not my time. And she's like 00:21:19.490 --> 00:21:22.470 at that moment. I just I just imagine her giving 00:21:22.470 --> 00:21:24.890 him like the side, like the mom look of like, 00:21:25.029 --> 00:21:27.750 come on. And what obviously no answer to this 00:21:27.750 --> 00:21:29.970 one. But his mom went to him and said, hey, we 00:21:29.970 --> 00:21:31.869 got a problem here. Solve it. And it's like she 00:21:31.869 --> 00:21:34.500 knew. I mean, what had taken place in. all of 00:21:34.500 --> 00:21:36.359 his years, the 18 missing years that you guys 00:21:36.359 --> 00:21:38.099 have talked about some, you know, what was going 00:21:38.099 --> 00:21:40.380 on in there that she knew he could do that. You 00:21:40.380 --> 00:21:42.240 know, there's a lot, there was a lot missing 00:21:42.240 --> 00:21:44.440 that's unsaid there, but. I've told Ben on a 00:21:44.440 --> 00:21:45.980 number of occasions, I was like, what would it 00:21:45.980 --> 00:21:47.900 have been like to be one of Jesus's brothers? 00:21:48.279 --> 00:21:50.579 Yeah. Right. Like growing up, you know, like 00:21:50.579 --> 00:21:52.660 you have, you have the son of God, the perfect 00:21:52.660 --> 00:21:55.700 child. And, and then, and they're like, and then 00:21:55.700 --> 00:21:57.160 that's the standard that your parents are like, 00:21:57.200 --> 00:21:59.420 well, but Jesus did this. That'd have been a 00:21:59.420 --> 00:22:02.240 tough call. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah. So, and then 00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:04.480 we got another story. happening in this, this 00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:06.519 is the early time of Jesus's ministry where he 00:22:06.519 --> 00:22:11.079 cleanses the temple. So there is actually a little 00:22:11.079 --> 00:22:14.700 debate on timeline on this one. So John, the 00:22:14.700 --> 00:22:18.180 gospel of John really kind of... is written more 00:22:18.180 --> 00:22:21.140 so to prove Jesus is the Messiah. And so the 00:22:21.140 --> 00:22:23.539 first half of John, there's a lot of the miracles 00:22:23.539 --> 00:22:25.460 listed and there's actually debate on whether 00:22:25.460 --> 00:22:27.819 those are actually listed in chronological order. 00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:31.599 So I'm not going to get into that debate. I don't 00:22:31.599 --> 00:22:33.160 think it's relevant for the conversation, but 00:22:33.160 --> 00:22:34.779 if people want to go look that up, great, go 00:22:34.779 --> 00:22:38.000 for it. But he goes and cleanses the temple. 00:22:38.140 --> 00:22:41.299 And so you have this starting in John 2, 13 through 00:22:41.299 --> 00:22:44.740 17. When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, 00:22:45.019 --> 00:22:47.970 again, you see, that connection over to lamb 00:22:47.970 --> 00:22:51.170 of God, right? Jesus went to Jerusalem and in 00:22:51.170 --> 00:22:53.150 the temple courts, he found people selling cattle, 00:22:53.269 --> 00:22:56.170 sheeps, doves, and other and others sitting at 00:22:56.170 --> 00:22:58.710 tables, exchanging money. He made a whip out 00:22:58.710 --> 00:23:00.950 of cord and drove them all out of the temple 00:23:00.950 --> 00:23:03.789 courts, both sheep and cattle and scattered the 00:23:03.789 --> 00:23:06.410 coins amongst the money changers and overturned 00:23:06.410 --> 00:23:09.049 the tables to those. He said, get out of here. 00:23:09.130 --> 00:23:11.609 Stop turning my father's house into a market. 00:23:11.650 --> 00:23:15.650 The disciples remembered it was written. It was. 00:23:15.950 --> 00:23:19.690 that it is written zeal for your house will consume 00:23:19.690 --> 00:23:23.509 me so you have a couple things here there's other 00:23:23.509 --> 00:23:26.150 accounts that talk about jesus overturning tables 00:23:26.150 --> 00:23:28.049 and saying you've turned it into a den of thieves 00:23:28.049 --> 00:23:30.069 like a house of prayer into a den of thieves 00:23:30.069 --> 00:23:32.670 well he cleanses the temple twice yes and this 00:23:32.670 --> 00:23:35.269 is the first time so so he does that twice and 00:23:35.269 --> 00:23:37.700 um which I think there's a little application 00:23:37.700 --> 00:23:40.660 there of like personal application for us. Like 00:23:40.660 --> 00:23:43.299 how many times has the Lord like directed us 00:23:43.299 --> 00:23:46.819 in, uh, where we need to go. And then he has 00:23:46.819 --> 00:23:48.980 to redirect us back to where we need to go. He 00:23:48.980 --> 00:23:51.079 has to come in and clean house again. Cause we 00:23:51.079 --> 00:23:54.119 got off track a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. That's 00:23:54.119 --> 00:23:56.119 never happened to me. I'm just saying, I'm just 00:23:56.119 --> 00:23:59.180 joking. Not since, not since. Yeah. Not since, 00:23:59.200 --> 00:24:04.180 uh, 30 minutes ago. Right. Um, and so, uh, but 00:24:04.180 --> 00:24:09.420 you have, you have the zeal of the Lord fulfills. 00:24:09.420 --> 00:24:12.759 You actually see this. You'll see the purity 00:24:12.759 --> 00:24:15.299 and sanctity connection for the tabernacle in 00:24:15.299 --> 00:24:20.000 Exodus 25, 40. Worship for the places God chooses 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:23.420 in Deuteronomy 12, 5 through 14. And in Malachi 00:24:23.420 --> 00:24:26.220 3, 1 through 3, the Lord purifies the temple. 00:24:26.380 --> 00:24:30.319 Jesus fulfills that. So there's prophecy that's 00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:32.039 being fulfilled. There's connections of Torah 00:24:32.039 --> 00:24:34.539 that's happening here. And culturally speaking, 00:24:34.759 --> 00:24:37.779 when the Sadducees, I believe, set up the exchanges 00:24:37.779 --> 00:24:41.029 in the temples, they did this. They're the guys 00:24:41.029 --> 00:24:43.470 of like, we want to make sacrificial offering 00:24:43.470 --> 00:24:45.730 animals more accessible to people. Right. Because 00:24:45.730 --> 00:24:47.089 they're people that would travel days to get 00:24:47.089 --> 00:24:49.230 there and they're not packing goats or stuff 00:24:49.230 --> 00:24:51.130 with them. So they could just acquire them there. 00:24:51.329 --> 00:24:53.329 Yeah. But what they did is they actually set 00:24:53.329 --> 00:24:55.230 this up. Traditionally speaking, they set this 00:24:55.230 --> 00:24:57.150 up in the court of the Gentiles. So it was in 00:24:57.150 --> 00:24:59.529 the outer courtyard. So when people who were 00:24:59.529 --> 00:25:02.089 actually traveling from out, who are still, who 00:25:02.089 --> 00:25:05.390 are traveling from outside of Israel to, to the 00:25:05.390 --> 00:25:07.869 temple, to Jerusalem, because we did have, there 00:25:07.869 --> 00:25:10.569 was a Jewish and Hebrew. were presence outside 00:25:10.569 --> 00:25:12.529 of there, they would come and they wouldn't have 00:25:12.529 --> 00:25:15.650 a place to worship. And so you have the cleansing 00:25:15.650 --> 00:25:17.630 of the temple is also a way of Jesus saying, 00:25:17.750 --> 00:25:20.190 hey, we're welcoming the outsiders back in. Like 00:25:20.190 --> 00:25:22.930 you've looked too much inward that you are no 00:25:22.930 --> 00:25:24.869 longer seeing the people on the outside who need 00:25:24.869 --> 00:25:27.869 to know who the Lord is and need to know what 00:25:27.869 --> 00:25:31.170 it takes to follow the Lord. There's some very 00:25:31.170 --> 00:25:33.609 pointed application to the church today for that. 00:25:33.609 --> 00:25:36.670 No, that's huge. That's a real big one. They 00:25:36.670 --> 00:25:39.400 had turned that portion of the temple. into a 00:25:39.400 --> 00:25:41.380 marketplace. And it was just about, it was about 00:25:41.380 --> 00:25:44.059 generating revenue, not about changing lives. 00:25:44.259 --> 00:25:47.640 Yeah. And so, I mean, as church today, like, 00:25:47.660 --> 00:25:49.640 and this is speaking very broadly, I really, 00:25:49.720 --> 00:25:52.500 I try not to do that when I can. But as a church 00:25:52.500 --> 00:25:54.440 today, it can be really hard because it's really 00:25:54.440 --> 00:25:56.819 easy to look inward, right? And then neglect 00:25:56.819 --> 00:26:00.039 the poor and the broken and come through the 00:26:00.039 --> 00:26:03.460 doors. And we often can make it so where we don't 00:26:03.460 --> 00:26:05.420 really have a place for them. And if that's the 00:26:05.420 --> 00:26:07.420 case, my invitation would be like, maybe we need 00:26:07.420 --> 00:26:09.380 a clean house. little bit. We need to clean house 00:26:09.380 --> 00:26:12.119 and let's focus on what Jesus focused on. Right. 00:26:12.500 --> 00:26:14.279 That's exactly where our hearts need to be. And 00:26:14.279 --> 00:26:16.539 what did he see and who would he see and how 00:26:16.539 --> 00:26:18.819 would he touch people rather than judge him or 00:26:18.819 --> 00:26:21.099 close them out because we're too busy doing our 00:26:21.099 --> 00:26:22.799 own programs and our own things that we don't 00:26:22.799 --> 00:26:24.940 have room for people to come in. Yeah. Right. 00:26:25.059 --> 00:26:27.799 And on a personal note, like our life, like the 00:26:27.799 --> 00:26:30.160 temple now is us, right? Yeah. We're the temple. 00:26:30.240 --> 00:26:32.619 We're the temple. And we need to be mindful of 00:26:32.619 --> 00:26:34.859 that. Like there's, you need to be able to clean 00:26:34.859 --> 00:26:37.279 out the filth, right? We need with the help of 00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:39.579 the Lord. would be like, hey, we need this removed. 00:26:39.799 --> 00:26:41.960 And it's a real subtle thing in our lives too. 00:26:42.059 --> 00:26:44.400 It's like this, they didn't start out. No. They 00:26:44.400 --> 00:26:46.380 start out with a good intent. Yeah. You know, 00:26:46.400 --> 00:26:48.200 we want to be able to provide these people, the 00:26:48.200 --> 00:26:50.240 animals and things they need for sacrifices. 00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:52.279 And it started out with a good intent, but it 00:26:52.279 --> 00:26:55.329 got corrupted. took over and blocked out what 00:26:55.329 --> 00:26:57.289 God really wanted to accomplish in the temple. 00:26:57.369 --> 00:26:59.289 And we have, our lives are the same. Yeah. You 00:26:59.289 --> 00:27:00.730 know, we can start out with a good intent, with 00:27:00.730 --> 00:27:03.430 a habit that gets out of, out of balance, out 00:27:03.430 --> 00:27:06.230 of control, but whatever it is, we can even bounce 00:27:06.230 --> 00:27:08.309 back to the wine thing. You know, anything out 00:27:08.309 --> 00:27:10.029 of balance or, you know, out of control in our 00:27:10.029 --> 00:27:12.609 lives can not leave room for Jesus and what he 00:27:12.609 --> 00:27:14.609 wants to do with us. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. 00:27:15.150 --> 00:27:18.390 And it's, and usually, usually those shifts in 00:27:18.390 --> 00:27:20.589 our lives where we are like getting out of balance, 00:27:20.650 --> 00:27:22.410 those usually come subtly. They do. Over time. 00:27:22.569 --> 00:27:24.859 It does. It just creeps up on you. And so it's 00:27:24.859 --> 00:27:27.259 not usually something where it's like boom, instantly. 00:27:27.680 --> 00:27:29.599 Sometimes it is the case, but a lot of times 00:27:29.599 --> 00:27:32.380 it just is subtle over time and it causes a lot 00:27:32.380 --> 00:27:34.880 of problems. And we need to, you know, allow 00:27:34.880 --> 00:27:37.299 ourselves time with the Lord to look for that 00:27:37.299 --> 00:27:39.740 in our lives, but also trust that we've got close 00:27:39.740 --> 00:27:42.259 friends that can stand beside us and help us 00:27:42.259 --> 00:27:43.980 out too. It's, you know, as long as you're studying, 00:27:44.059 --> 00:27:46.339 if you're listening to podcasts, learning, then, 00:27:46.420 --> 00:27:48.579 you know, you're opening yourself up to hear 00:27:48.579 --> 00:27:50.839 what God has to say and change in your life. 00:27:51.150 --> 00:27:53.950 Yeah. Yeah. So we have, there's a few, there's 00:27:53.950 --> 00:27:56.410 a few just like big invitations and applications 00:27:56.410 --> 00:27:59.450 that I think that come from this. One is, is 00:27:59.450 --> 00:28:02.210 obviously the invitation to follow Jesus. Right. 00:28:02.509 --> 00:28:05.809 You see that through John one, where he is inviting 00:28:05.809 --> 00:28:08.170 people to follow him. On side note, Jesus also 00:28:08.170 --> 00:28:10.289 did this on a bigger scale. Usually rabbis would 00:28:10.289 --> 00:28:12.869 have two, maybe three disciples. And Jesus is 00:28:12.869 --> 00:28:15.069 like, I'm going for 12. Right. And then he actually 00:28:15.069 --> 00:28:18.329 had more than that. He had 72 that followed him. 00:28:18.349 --> 00:28:21.029 And then the 12 that were closer knit. um you 00:28:21.839 --> 00:28:23.799 And so there's always that invitation to follow 00:28:23.799 --> 00:28:26.180 Jesus. And there's always the invitation if you 00:28:26.180 --> 00:28:27.900 did follow Jesus in the past and kind of have 00:28:27.900 --> 00:28:30.920 fallen off the way to return to him. Right. We 00:28:30.920 --> 00:28:32.700 have stories, there's stories in scripture like 00:28:32.700 --> 00:28:36.019 the prodigal son where the father was overjoyed 00:28:36.019 --> 00:28:38.240 when his son who went astray returned to him. 00:28:38.279 --> 00:28:41.759 Right. Nothing we can do in our lives will, God 00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:45.359 can't forgive. Right. And so we sometimes think 00:28:45.359 --> 00:28:48.279 we've gone too far astray. And that's not true. 00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:50.420 God is still there waiting with open arms. There's 00:28:50.420 --> 00:28:52.700 another invitation to. believe in Jesus, like 00:28:52.700 --> 00:28:54.779 not just follow him, but to believe that he is 00:28:54.779 --> 00:28:57.079 who he says he is. Yeah. Right. Because I, and 00:28:57.079 --> 00:28:59.180 I wanted to put the distinction between the two 00:28:59.180 --> 00:29:01.099 there because I know people who they actually, 00:29:01.140 --> 00:29:03.579 they follow the Bible. Yeah. Right. And they 00:29:03.579 --> 00:29:04.960 follow, well, this is what the Bible says, how 00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:06.920 I should live. But then when you actually prod 00:29:06.920 --> 00:29:09.380 them about believing in Jesus and who he is, 00:29:09.500 --> 00:29:11.539 they're like, well, I really just want to focus 00:29:11.539 --> 00:29:13.200 on like the good behaviors I can get out of the 00:29:13.200 --> 00:29:15.779 Bible. And I'm like, okay, that's. If I do all 00:29:15.779 --> 00:29:17.400 this good stuff, then good stuff will happen. 00:29:17.460 --> 00:29:19.759 It's whatever. But you look at the disciples. 00:29:19.940 --> 00:29:22.480 I mean, Andrew believed him because he had already 00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:24.559 committed. He was looking for him. He was out 00:29:24.559 --> 00:29:26.529 looking for him because John. told him to. And 00:29:26.529 --> 00:29:28.289 then he takes him to his brother, but then you 00:29:28.289 --> 00:29:30.289 get to Nathaniel and he's like, I'm curious, 00:29:30.390 --> 00:29:32.569 but I'm skeptical. And there's that invitation 00:29:32.569 --> 00:29:34.990 for us who do believe and follow Jesus to bring 00:29:34.990 --> 00:29:37.089 other people into the fold. They were excited. 00:29:37.250 --> 00:29:38.789 Andrew was excited. He's like, you got to meet 00:29:38.789 --> 00:29:40.970 this guy. And that's how our lives should reflect 00:29:40.970 --> 00:29:44.869 Jesus as well. Yeah. And I like to always add 00:29:44.869 --> 00:29:46.910 a little clarification there when we're inviting 00:29:46.910 --> 00:29:49.250 people into the fold to follow Jesus, to believe 00:29:49.250 --> 00:29:51.690 in him. That happens best through relationships. 00:29:51.990 --> 00:29:54.150 Amen. Right. I think a lot of times churches 00:29:54.150 --> 00:29:58.190 co -opt programs or or we'll co -opt words like 00:29:58.190 --> 00:29:59.910 evangelism and stuff like that and be like hey 00:29:59.910 --> 00:30:02.490 we need to go out to the community stand on the 00:30:02.490 --> 00:30:06.269 corners street corners with signs you know believe 00:30:06.269 --> 00:30:09.309 in Jesus or go to hell you know when really majority 00:30:09.309 --> 00:30:11.890 of people I know who follow Jesus they can pinpoint 00:30:11.890 --> 00:30:15.140 one or two people in their lives who said who 00:30:15.140 --> 00:30:17.900 just did life with them and brought them into 00:30:17.900 --> 00:30:19.420 the world. I had a lot of religious background, 00:30:19.579 --> 00:30:22.240 but it was a specific individual. So I was listening 00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:24.539 to a song coming up here that says this happened 00:30:24.539 --> 00:30:26.619 because somebody prayed. And I can tell you my 00:30:26.619 --> 00:30:28.920 life changed because somebody was praying for 00:30:28.920 --> 00:30:31.299 me. And it was a relationship that brought that 00:30:31.299 --> 00:30:33.960 person, brought me into that person's life. And 00:30:33.960 --> 00:30:36.019 they were praying. My world changed over the 00:30:36.019 --> 00:30:38.339 next year. And I can say the same thing. Like 00:30:38.339 --> 00:30:41.140 I can pinpoint two people in my life that really 00:30:41.140 --> 00:30:44.019 just took the time to do life with me. Yeah. 00:30:44.329 --> 00:30:47.859 and really changed my life because of that. And 00:30:47.859 --> 00:30:50.900 and even now having those people in our lives 00:30:50.900 --> 00:30:53.180 to hold us accountable. I mean, life is challenging 00:30:53.180 --> 00:30:55.720 and our spiritual growth is challenging. And 00:30:55.720 --> 00:30:57.839 who do we share that with? Who do we talk about? 00:30:57.880 --> 00:31:00.559 That relationship is one of the absolute keys 00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:03.400 to to our growth in our own discipleship. Yeah, 00:31:03.480 --> 00:31:06.819 absolutely. Just like a rabbi and his disciples. 00:31:06.960 --> 00:31:09.559 Absolutely. Right. All right. And then continuing 00:31:09.559 --> 00:31:12.259 those relationships, like just just keep those 00:31:12.259 --> 00:31:15.740 relationships going. And that's another thing 00:31:15.740 --> 00:31:17.880 I think the church often lacks in a little bit 00:31:17.880 --> 00:31:19.000 is they'll be like, all right, you know, Jesus. 00:31:19.059 --> 00:31:21.259 Great. You're good. And it's like, well, next, 00:31:21.440 --> 00:31:23.599 next. And it's like, okay, well, we actually 00:31:23.599 --> 00:31:26.460 need to continue that relationship. Like you're 00:31:26.460 --> 00:31:28.960 talking, you're talking about someone who it's 00:31:28.960 --> 00:31:32.910 like. I did a, for a Young Life talk the other 00:31:32.910 --> 00:31:34.809 day, I pulled my guitar out and I had the students 00:31:34.809 --> 00:31:36.710 like, tell me how to play the guitar. And I just 00:31:36.710 --> 00:31:38.710 did everything exactly how they said. And it 00:31:38.710 --> 00:31:41.769 went horribly. And they kept getting mad at me 00:31:41.769 --> 00:31:43.049 because they're like, no, like it's supposed 00:31:43.049 --> 00:31:45.670 to be like this. And so, but we use that to talk 00:31:45.670 --> 00:31:48.230 about like how when we're learning to follow 00:31:48.230 --> 00:31:51.500 Jesus, sometimes like. like comparing it to a 00:31:51.500 --> 00:31:52.880 guitar, like when you're learning to play guitar, 00:31:53.099 --> 00:31:55.359 like it doesn't, the first little bit doesn't 00:31:55.359 --> 00:31:58.220 necessarily look pretty, right? Like when I first 00:31:58.220 --> 00:32:00.799 took following Jesus seriously, like I lost a 00:32:00.799 --> 00:32:03.160 lot of friends. I had a lot of people just basically 00:32:03.160 --> 00:32:04.819 write me off because they're like, what are you 00:32:04.819 --> 00:32:07.440 doing? Like, why would you do this? Why would 00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:09.220 you abandon the way of life that you were living 00:32:09.220 --> 00:32:12.259 type thing? And, but it took time, right? Like 00:32:12.259 --> 00:32:14.559 it took time. And the more you lived into it, 00:32:14.559 --> 00:32:16.500 the more you spent time with Jesus, the more 00:32:16.500 --> 00:32:19.099 natural it became to be like, to be like, all 00:32:19.099 --> 00:32:21.130 right, right. And just like the guitar, the more 00:32:21.130 --> 00:32:22.769 you play, the more you practice, the better you 00:32:22.769 --> 00:32:25.890 become. And so, which brings us to kind of the 00:32:25.890 --> 00:32:29.470 final point here was that we need to be purified 00:32:29.470 --> 00:32:33.049 by him, right? The purification is his to do. 00:32:33.089 --> 00:32:34.930 It's his. That's right. Yeah. The purification, 00:32:35.190 --> 00:32:37.390 the forgiveness, the redemption is his work in 00:32:37.390 --> 00:32:40.769 our lives. He takes ordinary and turns it into 00:32:40.769 --> 00:32:43.430 extraordinary. Yeah. Like he did water and wine. 00:32:43.569 --> 00:32:45.589 Yeah. Cleansing the temple. He can do that in 00:32:45.589 --> 00:32:48.569 our lives. Yeah. Right. And so he's the one doing 00:32:48.569 --> 00:32:50.910 that work. And I was having a conversation with 00:32:50.910 --> 00:32:52.930 a friend the other day, and we were just talking 00:32:52.930 --> 00:32:55.089 about like, we were just, we were asking the 00:32:55.089 --> 00:32:57.730 question, like, have we as a church just taken 00:32:57.730 --> 00:33:00.990 the idea of calling, of not trusting Jesus to 00:33:00.990 --> 00:33:03.230 handle sin and trying to take it into our own 00:33:03.230 --> 00:33:05.589 hands? I think that's a huge challenge with the 00:33:05.589 --> 00:33:07.950 church is that we're trying to pass judgment 00:33:07.950 --> 00:33:10.670 when God says people, he's going to sort it out. 00:33:10.809 --> 00:33:13.190 We're here to love people. Let's build relationships 00:33:13.190 --> 00:33:15.329 with people no matter what they look like. And 00:33:15.329 --> 00:33:17.650 God's going to clean that up. God's going to 00:33:17.650 --> 00:33:20.140 change their life. That's not our position. Yeah. 00:33:20.240 --> 00:33:22.140 And in that conversation with his friend, I went 00:33:22.140 --> 00:33:24.599 as far to say, to just ask the question of like, 00:33:24.700 --> 00:33:27.480 are we abandoning our trust in the Lord when 00:33:27.480 --> 00:33:30.259 we try to take, when we try to control? We try 00:33:30.259 --> 00:33:32.640 to control. We try to fix people. We try to tell 00:33:32.640 --> 00:33:34.359 them, you've got to do these 10 steps or you're 00:33:34.359 --> 00:33:35.720 not going to make it. This is how you have to 00:33:35.720 --> 00:33:37.799 live your life. So that's just, that's a challenge, 00:33:37.940 --> 00:33:39.700 right? It's a challenge because when people come 00:33:39.700 --> 00:33:41.140 through the doors of the church, they're going 00:33:41.140 --> 00:33:42.900 to be broken. They're going to be messy. There's 00:33:42.900 --> 00:33:45.279 going to be issues. If they're not, if those 00:33:45.279 --> 00:33:46.960 kinds of people aren't showing up in church. 00:33:47.500 --> 00:33:49.359 there's a problem with church. Yeah. Your church 00:33:49.359 --> 00:33:50.880 needs to address some issues. That's right. Right. 00:33:51.640 --> 00:33:53.960 But we just need to trust that the Lord is actually, 00:33:54.000 --> 00:33:55.799 that Jesus is actually going to redeem. Yeah. 00:33:56.039 --> 00:33:57.799 And by the way, he's far better at it than we 00:33:57.799 --> 00:33:59.660 are. He's a lot better at everything than we 00:33:59.660 --> 00:34:01.599 are. Yes. We've just got to get back to that 00:34:01.599 --> 00:34:03.619 trust. And you're totally correct, Spencer. It's 00:34:03.619 --> 00:34:06.900 just like, let him do the work. We're here to 00:34:06.900 --> 00:34:08.920 love people. That's what he said. Love our neighbors 00:34:08.920 --> 00:34:10.900 as ourselves. It doesn't matter what they look 00:34:10.900 --> 00:34:13.320 like. And if we do that, then the world will 00:34:13.320 --> 00:34:16.199 know us by our love. Yeah. Yeah. And the other 00:34:16.199 --> 00:34:18.900 thing with that is we're not responsible for 00:34:18.900 --> 00:34:22.460 the outcome. I know people who have abandoned 00:34:22.460 --> 00:34:24.900 following Jesus. My heart's broken for them, 00:34:24.960 --> 00:34:28.739 right? But if I am following what the Lord has 00:34:28.739 --> 00:34:30.400 asked me to do, to love the Lord with everything 00:34:30.400 --> 00:34:33.119 I have, love my neighbors with everything I have, 00:34:33.199 --> 00:34:35.679 right? And be there for the broken, the hurting, 00:34:35.800 --> 00:34:38.739 the lost, right? If I'm living in that lifestyle 00:34:38.739 --> 00:34:42.300 and someone doesn't come into the fold the way 00:34:42.300 --> 00:34:44.619 that I think they should, that's not on me, right? 00:34:44.780 --> 00:34:47.420 It's not on you. And you're still, depending 00:34:47.420 --> 00:34:49.519 on how the Lord leads, maintain a positive relationship. 00:34:49.760 --> 00:34:51.579 Yeah, right. And, you know, my life is going 00:34:51.579 --> 00:34:54.539 to be an example. Yes. And I know for all my... 00:34:54.539 --> 00:34:56.980 years in my careers I honored the workplace and 00:34:56.980 --> 00:34:59.619 not being not preaching there but my life was 00:34:59.619 --> 00:35:02.619 an example yeah and we just got to help people 00:35:02.619 --> 00:35:06.280 get in the dorm yeah Jesus do the work yeah Yeah. 00:35:06.320 --> 00:35:08.860 So just, just to close it out, the beginning 00:35:08.860 --> 00:35:12.980 of Jesus's ministry really fulfills and transforms 00:35:12.980 --> 00:35:15.739 Torah, like provides this transformational piece 00:35:15.739 --> 00:35:17.820 of like, oh, this is what it actually is talking 00:35:17.820 --> 00:35:19.980 about. And the reason John writes that way is 00:35:19.980 --> 00:35:21.539 because there's a lot of misunderstanding and 00:35:21.539 --> 00:35:23.800 debate on what Torah is actually talking about. 00:35:23.880 --> 00:35:26.059 And Jesus is coming in and he's saying, all right, 00:35:26.059 --> 00:35:28.519 let's set the record straight. Right. Right. 00:35:28.969 --> 00:35:31.969 it goes back to where Jesus is saying, he's the 00:35:31.969 --> 00:35:34.949 lamb of God. It also references like him as the 00:35:34.949 --> 00:35:37.849 bridegroom, right? With the wedding. There's 00:35:37.849 --> 00:35:40.769 a reference there where lamb of God, the bridegroom 00:35:40.769 --> 00:35:46.769 of. And that he is the temple, right? That we 00:35:46.769 --> 00:35:48.510 now become the temple, the dwelling place of 00:35:48.510 --> 00:35:51.090 the Lord. There's a referring to that. And it 00:35:51.090 --> 00:35:53.289 also talks about that ladder, Jacob's ladder, 00:35:53.449 --> 00:35:56.050 where like angels ascending and descending, how 00:35:56.050 --> 00:35:59.050 heaven and earth are not separate places. They're 00:35:59.050 --> 00:36:02.150 not separate places. And side note, there's a 00:36:02.150 --> 00:36:04.269 lot more theological backing to say that the 00:36:04.269 --> 00:36:07.050 Lord's going to restore earth into heaven than 00:36:07.050 --> 00:36:09.030 there is to say we are going to leave earth to 00:36:09.030 --> 00:36:11.090 go to heaven. Totally agree with that. Side note, 00:36:11.150 --> 00:36:13.440 you guys can. Do some research. Do some research. 00:36:13.719 --> 00:36:14.159 I'm not going to do that for you right now. Maybe 00:36:14.159 --> 00:36:16.000 we can talk about it someday. Yeah. Yeah. All 00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:19.739 right. So let's just walk in the fullness that 00:36:19.739 --> 00:36:22.860 he brings. Amen. Right? The life where it goes 00:36:22.860 --> 00:36:25.260 from good, like, because you can have a good 00:36:25.260 --> 00:36:28.019 life not following Jesus, right? By earthly standards. 00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:30.900 But you're going to have a great life following 00:36:30.900 --> 00:36:34.659 Jesus. What Jesus brings to life and what... 00:36:35.799 --> 00:36:38.280 Yeah. What he brings into our world and our lives. 00:36:38.320 --> 00:36:40.960 If you can get that connection that we're walking 00:36:40.960 --> 00:36:44.119 with him here on earth, it is such a huge, huge 00:36:44.119 --> 00:36:46.300 blessing. It's the right way to go. And it doesn't 00:36:46.300 --> 00:36:48.519 just transform your life. It transforms the community 00:36:48.519 --> 00:36:49.760 around you. The community around you. The people 00:36:49.760 --> 00:36:52.320 you know. There will be transformation that happens 00:36:52.320 --> 00:36:55.719 there. Amen. I can speak to that in like my wife's 00:36:55.719 --> 00:36:57.780 family in particular, like because she didn't 00:36:57.780 --> 00:37:00.320 grow up in a Christian home. And when she came 00:37:00.320 --> 00:37:02.659 to know Jesus, a short time after that, her sister 00:37:02.659 --> 00:37:05.599 came to know Jesus years after. that her brother 00:37:05.599 --> 00:37:09.699 and sister -in -law came to know Jesus. And to 00:37:09.699 --> 00:37:11.159 the point where there's other family members 00:37:11.159 --> 00:37:12.860 who are starting to ask more questions, right? 00:37:12.940 --> 00:37:14.760 Because there's transformational work happening. 00:37:14.860 --> 00:37:18.329 Now that... was over 20 years, right? That wasn't 00:37:18.329 --> 00:37:21.789 like a two month process. That was a long process 00:37:21.789 --> 00:37:22.989 of people being like, wait, there's something 00:37:22.989 --> 00:37:25.170 different. Like you care for us in a way that 00:37:25.170 --> 00:37:27.469 I haven't seen before. You love us in a way that 00:37:27.469 --> 00:37:29.809 I haven't seen before. And so there's transformational 00:37:29.809 --> 00:37:32.630 work and that work is the work of Jesus. Amen, 00:37:32.849 --> 00:37:35.889 it sure is. And we just, our job is simply to 00:37:35.889 --> 00:37:37.909 display it. It is, to walk it out and display 00:37:37.909 --> 00:37:40.409 it. So, well, thank you all for joining us. Until 00:37:40.409 --> 00:37:43.449 next time, we will be talking, as you can probably 00:37:43.449 --> 00:37:46.030 guess, about Jesus in the future. Great topic. 00:37:46.110 --> 00:38:04.829 Until next time, guys. and Facebook at loveandcontext. 00:38:18.730 --> 00:38:20.750 Love and Context. Be sure to hit that follow 00:38:20.750 --> 00:38:22.949 button and join our growing community. Thanks 00:38:22.949 --> 00:38:24.530 for being part of the Love and Context family. 00:38:24.789 --> 00:38:27.250 Remember, love is at the heart of it all. Until 00:38:27.250 --> 00:38:29.510 next time, keep seeking wisdom, embracing love, 00:38:29.630 --> 00:38:31.369 and living out your faith in today's world.