Welcome to Season 3 of Love & Context. This season,
we're exploring the life of Jesus step -by -step
and uncovering what His story teaches us about
loving God and others. Here on Love & Context,
we're all about having real conversations about
how to live out that love in practical, everyday
ways, and understanding the Bible in its full
context. We're so glad you're here. Let's dive
into Season 3 of Love & Context. Welcome back
to the Love and Context Podcast. Ben's really
into singing right now. Yeah. In case you can't
tell. It's different than the one that we did
last time. So you said the last one was probably
copywritten. That one probably is too. No, it's
different. It's a brand new song that nobody's
ever heard. Love and Context Podcast. That sounds
familiar. Podcast. I think it's because you've
heard me sing podcast like a million times. It's
true. It's true. I am Ben. I'm not. That's Spencer.
If you're on YouTube, you saw me point. If you
are listening, then you're like, I'm assuming
it's the other guy talking. Yeah. And welcome
to the life of Jesus. Oh, yeah. Season three.
Yeah. In season one, we were like, do you think
we'll make it to season three? Yeah, we were
like that. Yeah. Now we're not. Now we're not
because we're actually there. That'd be weird
if we asked if we were getting there when we're
already here. Yep. Yeah, I forgot what I was
going to do. I kind of want to leave that sound
in. I did on the last episode, by the way, for
anybody listening, I did leave a nice little
blooper. It's not really a blooper. It's me singing
nonsense at the very end of the last episode.
So if you listen to the last episode and you're
like, oh, I didn't catch that. Go to the very
end, like after the credits. Yeah. Yeah. I put
it in there. So I haven't done that in a while.
So I decided to do it again just for kicks and
giggles. So it's a lot of fun. Nice. Yeah. I
got a Bible. We're going to talk about Jesus.
I don't know if you know this, Spencer, but most
of the places that we have like text about Jesus
are actually in the Bible. I know. Interesting.
This is new information that you're not familiar
with. So interesting. New information that you're
not familiar with. Specifically today, so last
week we talked about Jesus in Nazareth and rejection
and calling his first disciples. One of the things
we're actually going to talk about today is a
couple of stories about Jesus healing people.
Because we want to talk about like... just Jesus
healing people in general, and what does Jesus
do? What ramifications does it have for our life?
Obviously, if you grew up in a Pentecostal church,
you're going to be leaning heavier into this.
If you grew up in a Southern Baptist church,
you're going to be leaning a different direction.
If you grew up in a Free Methodist, it's going
to be leaning somewhere in between. No. No, more
towards AOG, right? Yeah. Yeah, Pentecostal.
Yeah. So there's going to be a lot of different
opinions. And so we want to just jump back into
the Bible and say, hey, what does it actually
say? And what do we do with this stuff? So we're
actually going to be in Mark today. And we're
going to start in Mark 21. Through 28. Chapter
1, 21. Chapter 1, verse 21 through 28. Chapter
uno. Uh -huh. Yeah, and I don't know. If you
can find Mark chapter 21, more power to you.
Yeah. Yeah, good luck. It is always interesting
when somebody, I'll encounter this occasionally.
So we post like reels and things on TikTok and
YouTube, and some of you may have found us through
that. Sometimes I'm just scrolling through to
see what other media is out there, and I'll run
into people who are like, here's something Christians
don't want you to know. If you go to Ephesians
chapter 8, and I'm like... There is no Ephesians
8. There is no Ephesians 8. There's an Ephesians
6. I was like, but there's no Ephesians 8. So
sometimes I wonder, is it like a typo, or did
they just write a... So I don't know. I don't
know. But that's a guaranteed way that the person
didn't read the book. Yep. All right. So chapter
one, starting in verse 21 says, they went to
Capernaum and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went
into the synagogue and began to teach. The people
were amazed at his teaching because he taught
them as one who had authority, not as the teachers
of the law. Just then a man in their synagogue
who was possessed by the impure spirit cried
out, what do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are,
the Holy One of God. Be quiet, said Jesus sternly.
Come out of him. The impure spirit shook the
man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
The people were also amazed that they asked each
other, What is this, a new teaching? And with
authority, he even gives orders to impure spirits
and they obey him. News about him spread quickly
over the whole region of Galilee. As soon as
they left the synagogue, they went... Oh, sorry,
actually we'll get into that story in just a
second. But it's going to continue from where
this last one left off. So... The first thing
I want to note here is they note it's the Sabbath.
So Jesus is healing on the Sabbath, the day that's
meant for rest, for communion, for celebration,
for time with God. So he's in the synagogue on
Sabbath. And one of the things that they note
is it happens frequently in the Gospels. People
are amazed at Jesus' teaching and also the miracles.
I think that's a really important thing to note
is that sometimes, we'll get to that in a little
bit, but people are actually really encountered
by the teachings of Jesus because he taught as
one with authority. Now, in rabbinic Judaism
and turn -of -the -century Judaism, authority
is this word shmikah, and it's rabbinic authority,
in other words, the authority to interpret Scripture,
in other words, to take Scripture and actually
make application of it. Yeah, and contrast that
with the religious authority of the day in Jewish
culture. It wasn't as God -centric as you would
like it to be. It was more focused on what power
can I obtain, what wealth can I gain from this.
And so the religious leaders of the day, did
they teach through Torah? Yes, they did, but
they did it in a way that brought more money
into the temple so that they could line their
pockets. Yeah, well, and you're correct, especially
in Jerusalem and in a lot of those bigger cities.
But specifically what I'm talking about with
the Shemitah is that the scribes and the teachers,
a lot of times what they would do is they would
teach Torah exactly. Or they would teach what
some other rabbi said, but they're not necessarily
interpreting on their own. And that's not really
super common. There's only a few during that
time that would have been interpreting with authority.
Nicodemus might have been one of them. Probably
Hillel, Shammai, and a few others. But most of
them are going to be teaching either what the
other rabbis taught. But not interpreting Scripture
themselves. Which brings me back to my point
where a lot of the religious teachers were probably
taught in the bigger cities and synagogues where
this corruption was going on, and they saw that
and probably carried a portion of that over.
True. And so through their teaching. And so they
go, the people listening, they're like, oh, Jesus
is interpreting. And this is very plain. In a
couple of weeks, we're going to be getting into
the Sermon on the Mount. He's going to say, you
have heard it said, but I say unto you. That's
an interpretive statement. We'll talk about it
more, but essentially when you say, you've heard
it said, but I say unto you, that phraseology
is you've heard it said, but it was always supposed
to be this. So what Jesus is saying is he's not
raising an ante, but he's correcting a misconception.
And we're going to get into that in a couple
of weeks. But this is what it means to teach
with authority, is that you're taking Old Testament
and you're actually interpreting and being like,
no, it's misunderstood. It has been misapplied.
This is actually what it was supposed to be.
And the people are like, this is crazy. You have
the authority to do this. And then in the middle
of this, in the middle of Jesus interpreting
scripture and him taking the Old Testament and
being like, this is what God has always been
wanting you to do through Torah, through the
law, through the prophets. Like these are the
things he wants you to do. There's a person who's
filled with the demon and they go, hey. Why are
you here? Right? What does he say? I was comfy
before. Now I'm not comfortable in this conversation.
Well, I love that he says, what do you want with
us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy
us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.
Now, up to this point in the text, Jesus hasn't
done anything. He hasn't said anything to this
man, except teaching a proper interpretation
of Scripture. But when he does that and he's
bringing his presence and he's bringing the presence
of God into people's life and helping them to
connect with the heart of the Torah and what
God wants for people's life, immediately the
forces of darkness rise up and they're like,
hey, why are you here punishing us? What do you
want with us? So the New Living Translation phrase
is, why are you interfering with us, Jesus of
Nazareth? That's an interesting interpretive
thing. Not a sponsor. So that's an interesting
interpretive thing. So I want to push pause here
and say this is going to be Ben and Spencer talking
about interpretive things. This is not necessarily
what's written exactly in the Bible, okay? So
if we're talking about the demons being upset
when Jesus is correcting bad teaching, that they
cry out and they scream about it, right? That
has very interesting implications. to a lot of
stuff that we deal with in the modern day. Yeah.
Some very interesting applications. Um, speaking
of going through social media, right. And, uh,
and by the way, I said this and there are some
people who are, uh, they're like, yeah, get them.
I'm probably talking about you too. That when
somebody comes and they, and they, and you have
like this doctrinal stance where you're going
to go, you know, um, I'm going to do X, Y, and
Z. And if you don't do this and you're not in
the kingdom. And I said, Hey, we actually need
to do these things saturated in love. Yeah. And
compassion. And compassion for the people around
us, right? And that if it's not resounding and
it's not saturated and filled with love, you
shouldn't be the one doing it. Otherwise, it's
just going to be a clanging and resounding symbol.
And then you go, heretic! Right? Or something,
right? And it's really interesting that the demon
doesn't speak up in this case where it says interfering.
Yeah. You're interfering with what we're doing.
In the very synagogue where the words of God
are being spoken, the interference that's happening
is relying on tradition rather than the intent
of the word of God. So, and the interesting thing
here is in first century Judaism, demonic forces
are unclean spirits, demons are often seen as
agents of chaos, opposition to what God is doing.
And it is interesting here that there is actually
a process of like... driving out demons in Jewish
history and Jewish protocol is what I'm going
to call it. It's probably not the right word,
but I'm going to call it protocol. But what Jesus
does is he gives it a word and commands it to
come out. And there's nobody during that time
that commands demons out by a word. Yeah. Right?
So it's a very different thing. And everybody's
looking around. They're like, okay, so not only
is he interpreting. scripture, he commands evil
spirits by a word. Well, and there's the practical
implication of our lives too. When we're living
in a place of sin or living in a place where
we are not following Jesus and he shows up and
speaks truth into our lives. And there's part
of us that wants to be like, why are you messing
with what I got going on? And Jesus is like,
oh, just wait and see. Like, you'll understand,
but I need to mess with this first and make sure
you get to a good spot. Yeah. And so in this
story, too, I think it's important to note that
who does Jesus oppose? Yeah. The spirit, not
the man. The man has a spirit, but he doesn't
oppose the man. He opposes the spirit in the
man. The reason I classify this or clarify this
is we have to continue to remind ourselves that
when we have battles to fight against chaos and
sin and all these different things, it is not
against the person. It's against the thing that
is influencing the person. The powers and principalities
is what Paul is going to call it. It's a lot
of P's. Powers and principalities and Paul. Principalities.
I like that word. This is also Jesus in the start
of his ministry, quote unquote, working on the
Sabbath. Like if it's for the kingdom of God,
he's like, yes, I will. Yeah. I'm going to do
this for the betterment of the kingdom of the
Lord. Well, it's interesting. I was actually
having this conversation with a friend of mine,
Marty Solomon, Bayma Podcast, and we were having
this conversation because he is an Orthodox Jew
that follows Jesus, right? And so he tries to
absorb as much as possible. Torah law, right?
Because he's genetically Jewish. And one of the
things I was asking him, he says, well, so Sabbath
is an important one, but when Jesus says, love
the Lord your God with all your heart, soul,
mind, and strength is your primary, and the secondary
is like it, love your neighbor as yourself, which
sides with Hillel over Shammai, who would have
said obey the Sabbath is a second. He says that
your framework is love, not obedience. That doesn't
mean that obedience doesn't matter, but it's
subservient to love. Right? And so one of the
things he'll talk about is he says on the Sabbath,
the only time that he will violate Sabbath is
if it's pursuit of love of somebody else. Yeah.
If you are pursuing love, love is the higher
calling. Now, with that being said, I think that
people have a tendency to go a little overboard
on that and over -qualify that and badly schedule
and then try to never take a Sabbath because
they're like, I've got to be about kingdom ministry.
I've got to reach people. You also need to rest.
right you need to recoup he's redefining what
the sabbath is though right right yeah like because
in jewish culture of this day it uh it was from
sundown sundown on friday night to sundown on
saturday correct right and so he's redefining
that and being like no you can take your day
of rest when you need to right But if an opportunity
arrives for you to love your neighbor, you should
do that. Yes. Don't fall prey to the religious
aspect and forget the relational one. Yeah. Right?
It's a good practice, but it does not circumvent
the responsibility of loving God and loving other
people. Yep. Right? He's actually going to talk
about this elsewhere. He's like, if your donkey
fell into a ditch, are you just going to leave
it there until after Sabbath? Of course you're
not. You're going to leave the donkey out of
the ditch. Yeah. Right? At the same time, this
guy's got an evil spirit. Or later, it's somebody
with a withered hand. They've been bound up for
years. Am I going to leave them here when I can
deliver them today? Yeah. Now, notice he doesn't
necessarily go searching for those people, but
he does run into them, and he takes care of it.
Yep. You know? Yep. So let's go to the next story
here. Let's go into Peter's mom's story. Mother
-in -law. Sorry. Mom -in -law. All right, where
is this at? So picking up right there where it
ended, it says, As soon as they left the synagogue,
they went with James and John to the house of
Simon and Andrew. Simon's mother -in -law was
in bed with a fever, and they immediately told
Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her
hand, and helped her up. The fever left her,
and she began to wait on them. That evening,
after sunset, the people... brought to Jesus
all the sick and demon -possessed. The whole
town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many
who had various diseases. He also drove out many
demons, but he would not let the demons speak
because they knew who he was. I'm going to include
this next spot because I think it's important.
Very early in the morning, while it was still
dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went
off to a solitary place where he prayed. Simon
and his companions went to look for him. When
they found him, they said, Everyone is looking
for you. Jesus replied, Let us go somewhere else
to the nearby villages so I can preach there
also. That is why I have come. So he traveled
throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues
and driving out demons. Okay. So he goes to the
house of James and John. They go to the house
of Simon's mother -in -law, and she's sick. And
they say, Jesus, mother -in -law is sick. He
says, Okay, go. heals her and and and um he grabs
her hand heals her and then she immediately does
mother -in -law things which just goes and takes
care of everybody in the house because that's
what moms do yeah right mom is feeling good she
starts taking care of everybody um i actually
love i don't know if you've seen the episode
of the chosen the way they interpreted it when
she like heals and she's like oh you need some
food oh it's like do you want some bread it's
like going around and doing this stuff i was
like it was such a like mom stepping into you
know yeah um but it this is the one person but
then note there it says after dark so what does
that mean sabbath is over okay after dark the
next day people bring all the people who are
sick and demon possessed to jesus so jesus doesn't
actually do a ton of healing on the sabbath He
healed people that he ran into, one, the guy
who was demon -possessed, and then Simon's mother
-in -law, because they went to her house, and
she was sick there. So he took care of the people.
He loved the people who were in his way, is probably
the right way to say that, in his path for the
day, right? But he also made himself available
that after Sabbath, for anybody who was sick
or demon -possessed, because a ton of people
come and they get healed, but they wait until
after Sabbath. Because it is important to have
that rhythm in your life, that rhythm of rest
and communion and communication with God and
oneness with the Spirit of God. Even Jesus Christ
thinks it's important to spend time with the
Father. Probably important for me, too. Right?
Right. Yeah. But then they bring all these people
afterwards. And then it says that the next day
Jesus woke up early. So they come at night. He
heals people for a ton of time. And then he goes
to bed and gets up early to go spend time with
the Father. Yeah. Right? What I'm hoping in breaking
down the story and saying this over and over
again is healing is a natural part of the Christian
life. Yeah. And we can talk about Peter, James,
John. Paul, all these guys, when they're going
and doing their ministry, they go and they share
with people about the kingdom, right? In this
case, Jesus is going to preach the good news,
the euangelion, that the kingdom of God is here
and it's ready for you to interact with it. And
while he's doing that, he runs into people who
have problems. And because he's so tied to the
mission, miracles fly out. Right. There's healing
in his wings to quote from the Psalms. Right.
And then even on the Sabbath, he's healing people
because he's loving people. He's showing exactly
what it means to love God, love other people,
but also to be obedient to Torah, follow Torah,
what God has in for your life. But then as soon
as Sabbath is over, he's healing people a bunch.
Then the next day, the disciples come and they're
like, all right, everybody's looking for you.
He's like, yeah, we got to go somewhere else
because they want the show. and they're missing
the message, and I gotta go preach the gospel,
this good news that the kingdom of God is here.
But it still says, even as he went, he was healing
and driving out demons. Right. So, are healings
a part of the natural Christian ministry? Yes.
100%. Do they take place in many shapes and forms?
Yes. Yeah. Sometimes it, you know, and it's,
I do think that, the supernatural has probably
been de -emphasized in American Christendom to,
to, to a point. Um, and some places it's overemphasized,
right? Uh, that there's a lot of practical healing
and a practical like moves of God that can be
made to that people want to rely on a supernatural
where a practical would make sense. I would push
back a little bit on that actually. And I would
say what we've done is we've actually separated
two things that are meant to be cohesive. Sure.
Um, cause like the supernatural move of God,
we've often equate that to the, to the big physical
healings, the casting out demons and stuff like
that. Right. Right. But the supernatural move
of God is also the change of someone's heart.
Right. Uh, the, the, someone being pulled from
a life of sin into a life of, uh. Oh, that's
the portion you're, I thought you were talking
about, uh, for example, like somebody has a need
and you meet it. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, but I, I
hear what you're saying. Yeah. So, but I think
I, so that's where I would like, I would be like,
yeah, you know, I think, I think what we have
done as church is we said, this is what supernatural
looks like. And this is just normal. Yeah. Because
I mean, you think about it, if you're a person
who is like really wrapped up in, uh, like you're.
there's a lot of people in the church that have
anxiety. Yeah. You're really wrapped up in anxiety
and you're like, you're like concerned about
the future. You're unsettled in your spirit.
And God brings calm to that because you cast
your identity onto Christ and like, and you still
have anxiety, but it's not what it was. Yeah.
That's a miracle. Yeah. Right. When you pass
from death to life, that is a miracle. When you're
filled with the Holy Spirit, that's a miracle.
When you are able to put on love and patience
and kindness and goodness and faithfulness in
your everyday life, especially with dumb people
because they're everywhere. That's a miracle.
Right? And then also praying for people with
broken legs and them getting healed is a miracle.
Praying for people who have cancer and no longer
have cancer, that's a miracle. Yeah. You know,
praying for people to have a revelation from
God on where they're supposed to go and then
God speaks, that's a miracle. And all of these
things are meant to work. Like, to your point,
they're not separate things. They're all moves
of God. And so the hard thing is, is that we
are trying to... We're trying to pursue the stuff
instead of just pursuing the kingdom of God and
allowing God to direct us in those steps. Yeah,
I think sometimes we try to reconcile something
that doesn't need to be reconciled. When God
is moving, there's going to be a supernatural
movement that's happening. That could look like
a handful of people coming to know Jesus. That
could also look like huge transformation in a
city. That could look like physical healing,
casting out demons. It could also look like the
true gospel of Christ being preached. And so,
like, I think sometimes we just are like, oh,
yeah, well, this is what supernatural looks like
and this is what normal looks like. And it's
like, actually, when you're talking about the
move of God, it's all interconnected. Yeah. Right?
It's one thing. It's one move. I do think there
are times, and this is demonstrated in the Gospels,
and it's not in this particular story, but it
is demonstrated in many of the stories, is this
reality is that when you are caught up in a situation,
and when somebody tries to bring the Gospel,
the good news, this reconciliation of the Kingdom
of God here among us, if you are in the middle
of chaos, you're in the middle of emergency,
you're in the middle of need, sometimes you can't
hear that. One of my favorite verses talking
about this is this referencing forward. It has
a context in its day, but Isaiah has this prophecy
where he's talking about Israel, and he's talking
about God, and he's talking about Israel and
what they're going to do. But it has future implications
on who Jesus is and what Jesus is going to do
through his people. It says, A king will reign
in righteousness, and rulers will rule in justice.
Each man will be like a stream in a desert. And
each man will be like a shelter from a great
storm. Yeah. Right? And each man will be like,
there's one other analogy, and I forget what
it is. Then the eyes of those that can see will
see, and the ears of those that can hear will
hear, and the tongues of those that can speak
will speak. This idea is that there is a desert,
there is a need, and when those are met, suddenly
these eyes that couldn't see before can now see.
And the ears that could hear before can now hear.
But the reason they can't hear is not because
they're broken, but because there's something
stopping them up now. There's a thirst. There's
a heat. There is a storm that is in their life.
And we get the privilege as Christians and as
believers to come and be the peace in chaos and
to bring the settled in, which is Jesus and the
Holy Spirit. And so sometimes you will lead with
a miracle, right? And sometimes the miracle is
you offering food. Yeah. Like the amount of times
where like a simple meal has changed a person's
life and has drawn them to Jesus. Like the reality
is there are sometimes there's things that are
just so ordinary that when you offer those up
in the circumstances where the Lord prompts you
to offer those up, that becomes a supernatural
thing for the person who's receiving it. Yeah.
And so. And now they have, because their stomach
is, like, because it's not screaming at them,
or in the case of parents who have kids that
are hungry, they're not worried about, is my
child going to have food tonight? Yeah. They
have an opportunity to actually hear the gospel,
to hear this good news. Yeah. Working in camping
ministry, this is just a little side note, one
of the things that we were always taught was
make sure the basic needs of everybody there
are met, because if someone is hungry or cold
or... you know, dirty, like not able to take
a shower or stuff like that, they're less likely
to be able to hear what the good news that's
going on because they're going to be distracted
by that. Right. And it's like, make sure those
needs are met. Right. And so like, but coming
back to that idea, like the move of the Lord
is a supernatural move. It comes in many, many
shapes and forms. And I think. I think maybe
the problem is we said supernatural is like we
think otherworldly, but it also can be contextually
in the way that you behave and that you live
in the face of adversity and love in the face
of hate and like those type of things. Those
are also supernatural things. Yeah, and I know
we're kind of on a rabbit trail right now too.
Yeah, that's okay. I like rabbit trails. But
if we're talking like otherworldly. Yeah. Let's
remind people that heaven was originally here,
right? And then we stepped out of it. And then
there's more scriptural evidence for heaven being
restored to earth. So if you want to talk otherworldly,
like really, this is the place. Yeah. A place
where we're supposed to bring heaven to earth.
Yeah. Now, so this is an interesting thing because
I'm going to, I know we have some international
listeners, but I'm going to talk to Americans
right now because we all have a fair amount of
money living in this country. I was reading through
this list of like specific, because I have some
notes here, just on some things on the verses,
but reading some specific things, talking about
healing the blind and healing the lame. Did you
know right now you, listener, can actually...
participate in people being healed just with
your wallet. All over, Cure International, I
forget who runs that, but they work a lot in
South America and a lot of different places in
Africa. There are kids that are born with club
feet, and they're able to separate that out so
that they can actually run and grow the way that
they're supposed to. I remember there was a thing
where... talk about Mr. Beast for a minute. Mr.
Beast did a thing and it was like his philanthropic
thing where he raised money and they went and
took doctors and they helped people who were
legally blind and have a surgery that corrected
their eyesight. Like they literally took the
blind and made them able to see right now, obviously
like full blind in like healing power got a hundred
percent. Those are absolutely things that God
does. I was like, but also with your resources,
do you know that you could contribute to people
being healed? Because medical science has changed
so much, and God has absolutely been involved
in that. Yeah. You have the ability to do that.
You also have the ability to have people who
are hungry have food. Yeah. People who don't
have shelter have shelter. I think that you have
to, you know, and so the point in all of this
is that if the church isn't going to be involved
in healing people, If the people who call themselves
followers of Jesus, who in his life was about
proclaiming the kingdom of God, 100 % you got
to do that. But also as he is going and found
people in need, found ways to reach out to them
and heal them. And if the church isn't going
to be those people, who is? Right? Well, and
the reality is the people who are going to step
into those roles are going to be people who do
not have the intention of Jesus, do not have
Jesus in their lives, right? There's going to
be an ulterior motive to it. And so you can ask
the question, okay, if people are stepping in
to these roles to say, hey, I'm just going to
provide medical care for somebody who needs it,
right? Yes, there are generous people there,
but when we're doing that outside of the lens
of Jesus, outside of our relationship with Jesus,
we're missing the point of who is the healer,
right? Because Jesus is the one. You could say,
yes, Jesus still heals, right? Also, he's given
man the mind to heal, right? And we've come up
with ways to cure tons of diseases that we, in
the past, were uncurable, right? Yep. Tons of
ways to prolong life, right? And what does that
prolonging life do? That gives people a longer
chance to hear about Jesus. or participate in
the kingdom of God here on earth. Right? Yeah.
And so I should probably specify if any listener,
well, obviously we did the spiritual gifts last
season, but if we have any new listeners that
are like, oh, does Ben believe in healing ministries?
Absolutely I do. I also believe in you opening
up your wallet and caring for the people around
you. I believe in being a generous person with
what you've been given. I believe Genesis 12
that says you will be blessed so that. all nations
would be blessed. I believe that in Jesus Christ,
that's our call. We're given a great deposit
called the Holy Spirit. And that deposit demands
a return. It demands our life, our allegiance,
and our getting out into the world. Not because
we're trying to earn anything, but because we've
been blessed and blessing is meant to flow from
us. Yeah. And if you're sitting here thinking
like, okay, yes, I live in America, but... Cost
of living is really high. I don't have a ton
of extra money to go around. You have more than
you think. You have a lot more than you think.
There's organizations where it's like $15, $20
a month you can help donate and help provide
some of these causes. Also, if you're like, well,
how do I really care for my neighbor? I was like,
okay, you might say you don't have a lot, but...
How many times are you going to Starbucks a week?
But the point being is we can also look at that
and be like, this is the Lord's resources. How
do I need to align these resources with what
the Lord wants? Yeah. So the caveat here is not
to feel bad about anything that you're doing.
The question is, if you want to line up with
the heart of Jesus, you need to have a generous
heart that's about sharing the gospel. You have
to be able to share the good news of Jesus Christ,
that the kingdom of heaven is here on earth and
it's ready for you to interact through the finished
work of Jesus Christ and the empowerment of the
Holy Spirit. That's always on our lips. But as
we do that, we're going to run into people with
need. Yeah, 100%. And to quote Jesus, who's quoting
from Deuteronomy, the poor will always be among
us. And so we need to, from Deuteronomy, always
have an open hand to take care of those around
us. That the poor always being around us is actually
motivation for us to not be stingy. To be generous.
To recognize that everything comes from God and
for us to pour out. And the reason I'm inviting
you into this is because it has been the biggest
blessing of my life to be generous. I feel like
I get way more out of being generous than I ever
give to people. Every time. And I just believe
it's because God puts that in your life. He wants
to pour through you into other people. Now, some
of you heard that I give a lot of things and
I get a lot of things. I'm not talking about
money. I'm talking about satisfaction, love,
compassion, friendships, relationships. It's
like I give freely of what I have because I believe
in passing along what God has blessed me with.
Yep. So should we maybe. Yeah. And it's not hard.
Jesus gives of himself just on a regular basis.
Yeah. He is the word made flesh. So what did
he literally do? He gave a word. Yeah. Right.
Right. So just to give you guys a couple examples
of how this can play out in your lives. So story
time. Story time with Uncle Spencer. So we did
a cookout fundraiser in town a couple weeks ago.
And there was a homeless guy who came through.
Supposed to be like $20 a plate. He didn't have
any money. And he's like, well, can I just have
some food? We're like, absolutely. Yeah. Came
back through a second time. Can I have some more
food? Absolutely. Came back through a third time.
He's like, can I have some more food? And I was
like, absolutely. And the person standing next
to me was like, dude, I think he's taking advantage
of you. And I was like, and I don't care. Right.
Like, I don't know when his last meal was or
when his next meal is going to be. So he came
back through a fourth time and he's like, can
I have another plate? But can I have it wrapped
in foil to go? I was like, absolutely. Right.
We can do that. Right. Right. We had plenty of
food. It wasn't hurting us at all. Right. But
the point being is like. We often view these
generous gestures as big, grandiose things. And
sometimes it's just you're doing what you're
doing and someone shows up and needs a little
bit extra. Be generous. When I lived down in
the lower 48, there was a lot of people at pretty
much every intersection you can find that have
signs that talk about every case under the world
that you can think of. And to the point that
people get jaded. giving money because uh there
are people who abuse the system they take money
and they actually have like a really nice house
and like stuff like that stuff does happen um
i was i ran back and forth with with whether
or not to give to people because i was like i
don't want to support people who are just abusing
it but also somebody needs it i don't want them
to not have money so i came up with a solution
with god and i said if i have cash in my pocket
I'm going to give, because like it's hard, you
can't give somebody a credit card anyways. But
I was like, if I have cash in my pocket, I'm
going to, before I go and I see them, I say,
Holy Spirit, I'm going to give them money. If
I'm not supposed to, let me know. And then I
go to be generous. And out of like, I think it's
probably 45 times that I've given people money.
One time I went, I had like this physical, like
spiritual reaction where I was like, I really
shouldn't do this. And otherwise, I just trust
God to do what he's going to do. People are like,
well, what if they take the money? I was like,
it's not my problem. My job is to be generous.
My job is to have a heart for people. Yeah. My
job is to put Jesus on display in all things
that I do. Yeah. We're not supposed to worry
about the outcome. Yeah. We're not supposed to
worry about the outcome. And when you don't have
to worry about the outcome, man, it gets a lot
easier to just walk in trust. Yeah. Right? But
you do have to be faithful. You know, you do
have to, you have to show up and you got to do
it. So all of this being said, all this conversation,
like don't look at your life and be like, man,
I suck. I'm not doing enough. That's not the
point. No. The point is Jesus calls us to do
something and I would love for you to step into
it because it's a blessing. Yeah. And I mean,
it ties back into the Mark passage we've been
reading through today is because what you have
right here is you have Jesus being generous with
his time. when it's needed right people uh he's
preaching in the synagogue and a man blurts out
why are you interfering and he's like okay you
gotta deal with this one we're dealing with this
evil spirit out right yeah um he uh same with
healing um healing in uh peter's uh mother -in
-law's house right right and then you actually
get to the next story right which is the man
with leprosy People who are supposed to be going
through saying they're unclean so that other
people can avoid them. And then Jesus is like,
no, we got to deal with this. We're going to
deal with this. I'm going to heal this. And so
you look at all these stories. It wasn't Jesus
going out of his way. It was, okay, this situation
arose right here in front of me right now. How
can I be generous with my time and what I have?
I think also there's this reality is that if
we as believers, just churchgoers, because we're
interspersed throughout the community. Like one
of the craziest thing I always think about with
the church is, even our church, is if you think
about how widely spread we are throughout town.
Yeah. Right? Like just our church. We're just
widely spread throughout town. It's almost like
God knows what he's doing. Right? We're touching
every place in the city just by random happenstance
of us coming together. Random happenstance. I
put that in quotations. If we just keep our eyes
open, this entire city would be. Yeah. We wouldn't
have to go look for the things because all of
us is going to run into something. We just keep
our eyes open. Yep. And we say, Holy Spirit,
what are you doing here? Yep. What do you need
done here? And then the better thing is to stop
and listen. Yep. Right? So there we go. Love
and Context Podcast. Welcome to the Love and
Context Podcast. Well, if you enjoyed this talk,
tune in next week. Notice he said talk and not
song. I was very specific. You're very specific
about that. It's a good conversation. It's a
little bit more difficult. I was thinking about
this this week as we're closing here. It's not
self -recrimination. I don't want you guys to
feel bad about any of these things. There's enough
content on social media about why you should
feel bad about X, Y, and Z. I want you to feel
great about being a child of God and feel called
into something and not sit here and beat yourself
up. God wants you just to Be involved. Yeah,
and the more you lean into your relationship
with Jesus, the more these things are just going
to naturally happen. Correct. Right? And the
more you're going to see people through God's
eyes, and you're going to start managing your
time, your resources, your money in a way that
aligns with the Lord. What we're talking about
is a natural process that happens. I know we
talk supernatural a lot, but... Super natural.
We're talking about the natural process that
happens when you say, yes, I'm going to follow
Jesus. And the more you lean into that in your
personal relationship with him, the more you
see these changes play out in your life. Amen.
Until next time. Until next time. And that's
a wrap for today's episode of Love and Context.
We hope this conversation encouraged you and
gave you fresh insights into how we can better
love God and others through the powerful truths
of the Bible. We'd love to hear from you. Send
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all. Until next time, keep seeking wisdom, embracing
love, and living out your faith in today's world.