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 --> 00:00:28.320 into Season 3 of Love & Context. Welcome back 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:31.359 to the Love and Context podcast. The podcast. 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:34.119 The pod, pod, pod, pod, podcast. The jingle is 00:00:34.119 --> 00:00:35.799 still a work in progress, as you guys can tell. 00:00:36.939 --> 00:00:38.500 We'll let you know when we get that patented, 00:00:38.539 --> 00:00:40.659 recorded, and copyrighted. What's the name of 00:00:40.659 --> 00:00:42.179 the guy who did all the hip -hop? Oh, Dre. I 00:00:42.179 --> 00:00:43.560 sent it in to Dre just to see what he'll say. 00:00:43.700 --> 00:00:46.579 See if he can jazz it up a little for me. For 00:00:46.579 --> 00:00:48.320 some reason, he hasn't gotten back to you. For 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:50.159 some reason, he hasn't gotten back to me. Welcome 00:00:50.159 --> 00:00:51.719 to the Love and Context Podcast with Ben and 00:00:51.719 --> 00:00:53.399 Spencer. My name is Ben and this is Spencer. 00:00:54.060 --> 00:00:57.200 And we're at Continuing Life of Jesus. Yeah, 00:00:57.219 --> 00:00:59.899 let's go. It's good to see you this week. School 00:00:59.899 --> 00:01:03.579 is back in the swing of things. And we were able 00:01:03.579 --> 00:01:05.760 to, honestly though, even this week is going 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:07.620 to be busy for you because you're doing this, 00:01:07.659 --> 00:01:08.879 we're recording a couple, and then you're going 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:13.209 to be out. Next week. Visiting some of your donors 00:01:13.209 --> 00:01:14.870 and stuff for Young Life, right? Speaking of 00:01:14.870 --> 00:01:16.090 which, if you're a listener and you'd like to 00:01:16.090 --> 00:01:18.170 be a donor for Young Life, if you go to Young 00:01:18.170 --> 00:01:20.049 Life Ketchikan, you can donate to Spencer directly. 00:01:20.329 --> 00:01:22.569 Yeah. He won't toot his own horn, but toot toot, 00:01:22.569 --> 00:01:26.230 here we go. Yep, I won't. So we're going to be 00:01:26.230 --> 00:01:27.549 in Matthew 13 today, and we're going to be talking 00:01:27.549 --> 00:01:29.189 about a couple of parables. And so I wanted to 00:01:29.189 --> 00:01:31.090 take a step back really quick before we get into 00:01:31.090 --> 00:01:33.920 parables and remind people what they are. Because 00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:35.859 they're not just random stories that people are 00:01:35.859 --> 00:01:37.780 telling. There's actually a purpose for them. 00:01:38.219 --> 00:01:43.180 There are some common occurrences in parables, 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:45.719 especially during the time of Jesus and the other 00:01:45.719 --> 00:01:47.459 rabbinic voices around that time. They would 00:01:47.459 --> 00:01:49.299 do a lot of times they dealt with everyday realism. 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:51.200 In other words, things that you ran into on regular 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:53.840 places. We're going to talk about the soil today. 00:01:53.939 --> 00:01:56.019 So it's likely Jesus is walking through the field 00:01:56.019 --> 00:02:00.560 and he says. Look at the farmer, that guy over 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:02.840 there. You know, it'd be like if you were in 00:02:02.840 --> 00:02:04.480 Seattle and you're like, look at the fish market 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:07.060 guy, right? That's tossing the fish across the 00:02:07.060 --> 00:02:09.840 Seattle market, right? There's a thing in Hebrew 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:11.180 called the marshall. It's where you take things 00:02:11.180 --> 00:02:13.020 side by side and they're for comparative uses. 00:02:13.259 --> 00:02:16.000 So Jesus is going to say many times, the kingdom 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:18.819 of God is like, okay, so he's taking kingdom 00:02:18.819 --> 00:02:21.479 of God and this thing side by side and describing 00:02:21.479 --> 00:02:24.120 some things on this side. that are going to then 00:02:24.120 --> 00:02:26.979 translate over. These are common features here. 00:02:27.479 --> 00:02:30.379 They're also not super long. Like most parables, 00:02:30.419 --> 00:02:31.960 like even the longest one, I think is probably 00:02:31.960 --> 00:02:34.979 the parable of the two sons. Yeah. Right. And 00:02:34.979 --> 00:02:37.939 like that one is, is still not super long. Yeah. 00:02:37.979 --> 00:02:39.400 It's not super long. It's still like you're, 00:02:39.400 --> 00:02:41.240 you're able to say it in like probably two and 00:02:41.240 --> 00:02:44.240 a half minutes. And so they're not meant to be 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:46.580 like these long exhaustive studies. They're packed 00:02:46.580 --> 00:02:48.560 with a ton of meaning for you to go and unpack 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:53.270 yourself. Right. But inside of all of them, there's 00:02:53.270 --> 00:02:56.789 like this moral provocation. Like, life is something 00:02:56.789 --> 00:02:59.430 else than what you're doing. What are you going 00:02:59.430 --> 00:03:01.610 to do about it? Yeah. And if you're a Jewish 00:03:01.610 --> 00:03:03.770 person hearing these parables, you'll understand 00:03:03.770 --> 00:03:06.689 that there's layers to them. And, and there's, 00:03:06.689 --> 00:03:08.849 there's like a surface depth and it goes a little 00:03:08.849 --> 00:03:11.490 deeper and a little deeper to steal from Shrek. 00:03:11.550 --> 00:03:14.310 It's like an onion. It's like an onion. So the 00:03:14.310 --> 00:03:16.969 four levels of, of onions of parables, cause 00:03:16.969 --> 00:03:19.030 that's apparently what we're going with. Uh, 00:03:19.129 --> 00:03:21.789 there is a thing called a shot. That's your plain, 00:03:21.849 --> 00:03:25.389 plain, uh, generic. You read it one time and 00:03:25.389 --> 00:03:27.949 you're like, Hey, this means this, right? It's 00:03:27.949 --> 00:03:29.979 not super. not super difficult to understand. 00:03:30.280 --> 00:03:33.159 For example, Good Samaritan, when people are 00:03:33.159 --> 00:03:34.759 bleeding on the side of the road, you should 00:03:34.759 --> 00:03:36.080 pick them up, bandage them up and take care of 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:39.080 them. Plain generic meaning. Yeah, you should 00:03:39.080 --> 00:03:40.680 do that. Yeah. Right. That's what it means to 00:03:40.680 --> 00:03:43.560 have mercy. Um, a lot of times there's a thing 00:03:43.560 --> 00:03:45.340 we call a remez and we do this a lot of times 00:03:45.340 --> 00:03:46.539 when we're talking to the new Testament, it's 00:03:46.539 --> 00:03:48.439 a reference back to the old Testament, right? 00:03:48.580 --> 00:03:50.639 And it's, it's meant to, it takes the context 00:03:50.639 --> 00:03:52.620 of what they're of, of whatever that context 00:03:52.620 --> 00:03:54.120 is in the old Testament. It pulls it forward 00:03:54.120 --> 00:03:56.379 into the new Testament. Um, this happens very 00:03:56.379 --> 00:03:58.180 frequently in Jesus teaching what we, we will 00:03:58.180 --> 00:04:00.400 continue to point that out. The drosh is something 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:01.699 that's more of like a searching application. 00:04:01.800 --> 00:04:04.960 And this is why I think, uh, a lot of rabbis 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:08.360 tell parables. It's one thing to tell somebody 00:04:08.360 --> 00:04:10.259 something. Like you're working at school. It's 00:04:10.259 --> 00:04:11.900 one thing to teach somebody something. You tell 00:04:11.900 --> 00:04:14.180 them a story, right? You say two plus two equals 00:04:14.180 --> 00:04:18.939 four. At the same time, if you give them a sheet 00:04:18.939 --> 00:04:21.759 of mathematics to actually go and do themselves, 00:04:22.040 --> 00:04:25.040 it's no longer learning mathematics. It's actually 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:26.480 allowing mathematics. You're like you're now 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:28.259 experiencing mathematics. You're getting into 00:04:28.259 --> 00:04:29.980 it. You're digging into it and actually exploring 00:04:29.980 --> 00:04:31.800 it. You're not just being told. You're searching 00:04:31.800 --> 00:04:34.220 for yourself. So what a good teacher will do 00:04:34.220 --> 00:04:37.069 is they'll give you tools. Go and search something 00:04:37.069 --> 00:04:40.209 yourself. Uh -huh. So that in the discovery you 00:04:40.209 --> 00:04:42.009 actually learn more about the thing. Mm -hmm, 00:04:42.009 --> 00:04:45.709 right I think a lot of times in English where 00:04:45.709 --> 00:04:48.149 I would it's always funny though because people 00:04:48.149 --> 00:04:50.350 be like well I think when he used the color blue 00:04:50.350 --> 00:04:52.410 he was symbolizing blah blah blah blah blah He's 00:04:52.410 --> 00:04:54.410 like actually I just like blue Yeah, you know, 00:04:54.430 --> 00:04:56.329 but a lot of times there's like symbolism in 00:04:56.329 --> 00:04:58.269 a book you say so there's symbolism going on 00:04:58.269 --> 00:05:00.470 in chapter 9 What do you think it is? Mm -hmm 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:03.160 And like, so then students, they go read chapter 00:05:03.160 --> 00:05:05.740 nine and they start, okay, maybe this is a symbol, 00:05:05.800 --> 00:05:07.379 maybe this is getting, and what does that do? 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:09.019 It helps them actually understand and engage 00:05:09.019 --> 00:05:11.240 in the story in a deeper, more real way. That's 00:05:11.240 --> 00:05:12.920 what the drosh is. That's like this third level 00:05:12.920 --> 00:05:15.860 of, of like, Hey, is there more at play here 00:05:15.860 --> 00:05:17.939 than just backwards referencing? Yep. Right. 00:05:18.040 --> 00:05:20.660 Is it playing to something going on socioeconomically 00:05:20.660 --> 00:05:22.899 around me? Does that play into the way that I'm 00:05:22.899 --> 00:05:24.860 supposed to engage with other people? And then 00:05:24.860 --> 00:05:27.120 the last one is what we call sowed. And it's 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:28.680 the things that are revealed by God alone. Yeah. 00:05:29.100 --> 00:05:31.800 In other words, you can do all the things that 00:05:31.800 --> 00:05:34.060 you think you can do and you're not going to 00:05:34.060 --> 00:05:37.519 figure it out. The best example of this in the 00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:39.980 scriptures is Jesus is talking to them. He says, 00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:43.019 hey, who do you think I am? And Peter goes, well, 00:05:43.139 --> 00:05:44.819 duh, you're the Christ, the son of the living 00:05:44.819 --> 00:05:48.480 God. And he says, blessed are you Simon Barjona, 00:05:48.600 --> 00:05:50.879 for this wasn't revealed to you by any of your 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:53.899 father in heaven. Of course, right after that. 00:05:55.079 --> 00:05:57.079 Get behind me, Satan. Get behind me, Satan. So 00:05:57.079 --> 00:06:00.439 he says, good, you heard directly from God. Also, 00:06:00.579 --> 00:06:05.240 stop being Satan. So that's generally how parables 00:06:05.240 --> 00:06:07.860 work. I do think that there's a ton of really 00:06:07.860 --> 00:06:12.300 good resources. Clyde Snodgrass has an introduction 00:06:12.300 --> 00:06:15.019 to understanding the parables. It's a really 00:06:15.019 --> 00:06:18.879 academic piece. You better be good at academics 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:21.439 if your name is Clyde Snodgrass because that's 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:25.949 quite the name. Brad Young is a university professor 00:06:25.949 --> 00:06:28.069 who also has some really interesting insights. 00:06:28.250 --> 00:06:30.750 Brad Young is really good if you're trying to 00:06:30.750 --> 00:06:33.750 understand parables in antiquity and also Jesus. 00:06:33.990 --> 00:06:38.509 Yeah. Right? So they have some good works on 00:06:38.509 --> 00:06:41.110 the parables. Do you have anything you like from 00:06:41.110 --> 00:06:45.060 the parables? So similarly, blah, blah, blah. 00:06:45.259 --> 00:06:48.240 That word is very difficult, by the way. Similarly, 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:50.939 similarly. Yeah, let's try that again. So just 00:06:50.939 --> 00:06:52.860 like when Jesus was talking in the Sermon on 00:06:52.860 --> 00:06:55.639 the Mount, a lot of times in the parables that 00:06:55.639 --> 00:07:00.500 he's talking, wow, I am tired. Try that again. 00:07:00.600 --> 00:07:02.399 It's almost like you've been with kids all day. 00:07:02.500 --> 00:07:05.959 Uh -huh, uh -huh. So just as in... Mr. Spencer! 00:07:06.259 --> 00:07:09.759 Yeah, pretty much, right? Pretty much. Or they're 00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:12.879 like, hey, don't hit that kid with a rock. Why? 00:07:13.699 --> 00:07:20.180 Really? Why? Why? Okay. Yeah. So just like Sermon 00:07:20.180 --> 00:07:23.360 on the Mount, where Jesus is counteracting two 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:26.639 ideas, the idea of Roman culture seeping into 00:07:26.639 --> 00:07:29.060 the Jewish way of life, and then also this false 00:07:29.060 --> 00:07:32.459 Jewish way of life. Yeah. So he does that with 00:07:32.459 --> 00:07:33.939 the parables too. You're actually going to see 00:07:33.939 --> 00:07:35.839 that with the first one we're going to talk about. 00:07:35.959 --> 00:07:38.699 Right. So with that being said, let's go to Matthew 00:07:38.699 --> 00:07:41.579 chapter 13. I'm going to read this here and then 00:07:41.579 --> 00:07:43.620 why don't you, you'll open up just talking about 00:07:43.620 --> 00:07:47.579 it. So that day, so that day being the day after 00:07:47.579 --> 00:07:51.000 Jesus had told his mother and brothers that everybody 00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:52.680 was his mother and brother and sister and that 00:07:52.680 --> 00:07:55.420 he's there for everybody. So that day Jesus went 00:07:55.420 --> 00:07:57.459 out from the house and sat by the lake. Such 00:07:57.459 --> 00:07:59.139 large crowds gathered around him that he got 00:07:59.139 --> 00:08:00.959 into a boat and sat in it. That's, by the way, 00:08:00.980 --> 00:08:02.879 what a lot of introverts will do is more people 00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:05.060 come and they get away from him. No, that's not 00:08:05.060 --> 00:08:08.759 what he's doing. While all the people stood on 00:08:08.759 --> 00:08:11.600 the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:13.959 saying, A farmer went out to sow his seed. As 00:08:13.959 --> 00:08:15.860 he was scattering the seed, some fell along the 00:08:15.860 --> 00:08:17.980 path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some 00:08:17.980 --> 00:08:19.980 fell on the rocky places where it did not have 00:08:19.980 --> 00:08:22.259 much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil 00:08:22.259 --> 00:08:24.879 was shallow. But when the sun came up, Excuse 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:26.920 me. When the sun came up, the plants were scorched 00:08:26.920 --> 00:08:29.360 and they withered because they had no root. Other 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:31.339 seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked 00:08:31.339 --> 00:08:33.580 the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, 00:08:33.700 --> 00:08:36.220 where it produced a crop a hundred, sixty, and 00:08:36.220 --> 00:08:38.620 thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:41.929 let him hear. The disciples came to him and asked, 00:08:42.029 --> 00:08:44.009 why do you speak to the people in parables? He 00:08:44.009 --> 00:08:46.009 replied, because the knowledge of the secrets 00:08:46.009 --> 00:08:48.090 of the kingdom of heaven have been given to you, 00:08:48.169 --> 00:08:51.250 but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, 00:08:51.289 --> 00:08:52.710 and they will be given in abundance. Whoever 00:08:52.710 --> 00:08:54.490 does not have, even what they have will be taken 00:08:54.490 --> 00:08:57.330 from them. Okay, then I'm going to start one 00:08:57.330 --> 00:08:59.250 more spot. This is why I speak to them in parables. 00:08:59.250 --> 00:09:01.230 Though seeing, they do not see. Though hearing, 00:09:01.409 --> 00:09:03.850 they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled 00:09:03.850 --> 00:09:06.149 the prophecy Isaiah. You will be ever hearing, 00:09:06.269 --> 00:09:08.230 but never understanding. You will be ever seeing, 00:09:08.330 --> 00:09:10.129 but never perceiving. For this people's hearts 00:09:10.129 --> 00:09:12.669 has become callous. They hardly hear with their 00:09:12.669 --> 00:09:14.990 ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, 00:09:15.090 --> 00:09:16.690 they might see with their eyes, hear with their 00:09:16.690 --> 00:09:18.669 ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, 00:09:18.830 --> 00:09:22.320 and I would heal them. But blessed be your eyes 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:24.600 because they see and because your ears, because 00:09:24.600 --> 00:09:26.620 they hear. For truly, I tell you, many prophets 00:09:26.620 --> 00:09:28.419 and righteous people long to see what you see, 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:30.139 but did not see it. And to hear what you hear, 00:09:30.220 --> 00:09:31.960 but did not see it. Okay. And then he's going 00:09:31.960 --> 00:09:33.840 to give an interpretation of what's going on 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:36.299 inside of that. So one thing you got to note 00:09:36.299 --> 00:09:39.080 right away is, we probably should have said this 00:09:39.080 --> 00:09:41.720 earlier, but Jesus often teaches in parables 00:09:41.720 --> 00:09:44.460 when he's addressing large crowds or religious 00:09:44.460 --> 00:09:48.850 leaders. Yeah. And if you think about that, those 00:09:48.850 --> 00:09:50.669 are two very different groups. Very different 00:09:50.669 --> 00:09:52.690 groups. You have a group that large crowds who 00:09:52.690 --> 00:09:55.049 are wanting to hear his teaching. Right. And 00:09:55.049 --> 00:09:56.629 you have religious leaders on the other hand, 00:09:56.649 --> 00:09:59.129 more often than not, are like, we want to trap 00:09:59.129 --> 00:10:02.470 Jesus in his thinking. Right. And they think 00:10:02.470 --> 00:10:04.590 they can do that. Or we want to pin you down 00:10:04.590 --> 00:10:07.269 to be something we want you to be. Yeah. Yeah. 00:10:07.330 --> 00:10:10.970 A hundred percent. Right. And so, and have you 00:10:10.970 --> 00:10:13.559 ever like. And oftentimes we think of this like, 00:10:13.659 --> 00:10:15.720 oh, this is a really profound idea. And I was 00:10:15.720 --> 00:10:18.259 like, well, yes and no, because this happens 00:10:18.259 --> 00:10:21.179 cross -culturally too, right? We hear that in 00:10:21.179 --> 00:10:23.799 sermons in the US, right? Where people will give 00:10:23.799 --> 00:10:26.299 a story that relates in their life, then tie 00:10:26.299 --> 00:10:30.600 it into scripture, right? Yeah. Right, we do 00:10:30.600 --> 00:10:33.379 that. And so, because oftentimes when you give 00:10:33.379 --> 00:10:36.740 a story about... in this case, a farmer, you're 00:10:36.740 --> 00:10:39.360 tying it into a very practical thing. And one 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:41.379 thing to note here on the farmer side of things 00:10:41.379 --> 00:10:44.779 is culturally speaking right now, the farmers 00:10:44.779 --> 00:10:48.539 are being taxed out the wazoo, right? So they 00:10:48.539 --> 00:10:52.220 are - Estimates are in the 80 to 85%. Yeah, yeah. 00:10:52.460 --> 00:10:54.320 Depending what scholar you look at, there's going 00:10:54.320 --> 00:10:56.230 to be different, but - There'll be different 00:10:56.230 --> 00:10:58.169 interpretations on that. You might read something 00:10:58.169 --> 00:11:00.230 that's like, oh, they said 65 % and might read 00:11:00.230 --> 00:11:02.350 somebody else who says 90. Yeah. There's going 00:11:02.350 --> 00:11:04.710 to be a variance depending on the region because 00:11:04.710 --> 00:11:08.629 Israel is big too. Yeah. And so farmers are dwindling. 00:11:08.710 --> 00:11:14.009 So you have this text where you have the hurt 00:11:14.009 --> 00:11:16.230 of the farmers outlined in that too, like of 00:11:16.230 --> 00:11:18.269 them sowing seeds, things not growing, getting 00:11:18.269 --> 00:11:21.009 choked up by thorns, falling on the footpaths. 00:11:23.129 --> 00:11:24.970 We read that and be like, okay, is this farmer 00:11:24.970 --> 00:11:27.129 just really bad at his job, right? Because he 00:11:27.129 --> 00:11:29.389 should know what good soil is, right? The reality 00:11:29.389 --> 00:11:31.629 is, is farmers were probably trying to do that 00:11:31.629 --> 00:11:33.649 to make as much money as they can, hoping that 00:11:33.649 --> 00:11:37.289 crops would spring up as in every inch of ground 00:11:37.289 --> 00:11:38.950 that they could so they could still make some 00:11:38.950 --> 00:11:43.129 money, still make a living, right? And so that's 00:11:43.129 --> 00:11:45.509 something to note here in this passage as well. 00:11:46.279 --> 00:11:48.940 So there is a, I'm going to just clue you guys 00:11:48.940 --> 00:11:50.779 in here just for anybody who wants to make the 00:11:50.779 --> 00:11:52.840 connection. There is a Remez. This is the only 00:11:52.840 --> 00:11:56.519 passage where they tell the story where he's 00:11:56.519 --> 00:11:59.600 going to use the number 100. Uh -huh. There is 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:01.480 a reference to the Old Testament by the guy by 00:12:01.480 --> 00:12:06.379 the name of Isaac. Yeah. Who is a farmer in a 00:12:06.379 --> 00:12:10.639 time of famine. Mm -hmm. And he sows and he reaps 00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:13.779 100 times what he sows. Mm -hmm. There is a connection 00:12:13.779 --> 00:12:16.269 there. go and find it. It has to do with generosity. 00:12:16.309 --> 00:12:18.429 It has to do with heart. Yep. And what is he 00:12:18.429 --> 00:12:20.929 specifically talking about? People who have eyes, 00:12:20.950 --> 00:12:24.070 but can't see ears, but they can't hear. Right. 00:12:24.409 --> 00:12:26.330 So there's, there's some connections going on 00:12:26.330 --> 00:12:29.450 there as well. Yeah. Yeah, there is. So, um, 00:12:29.590 --> 00:12:32.389 and you look at this and then you get to the 00:12:32.389 --> 00:12:35.190 point where the disciples are like, why do you 00:12:35.190 --> 00:12:37.750 teach a parables? Because if you're a disciple 00:12:37.750 --> 00:12:39.870 of somebody, they're not used to hearing this 00:12:39.870 --> 00:12:42.450 when Jesus is teaching them. They're used to 00:12:42.450 --> 00:12:44.769 hearing a little bit more of a direct teaching 00:12:44.769 --> 00:12:48.470 from Jesus. Okay. All right. And the reality 00:12:48.470 --> 00:12:51.090 is, is just sometimes stories connect differently. 00:12:51.149 --> 00:12:55.549 Right. And sometimes how you hear a story connects 00:12:55.549 --> 00:12:58.409 differently. Just to give you an example in our 00:12:58.409 --> 00:13:02.240 lives, Ben likes to read books. I do. Okay. Um, 00:13:02.419 --> 00:13:04.639 I've argued with Ben that it's not a good book 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:06.899 if they're not turning it into a TV show. I was 00:13:06.899 --> 00:13:08.620 checking to see, I thought I had my shirt on 00:13:08.620 --> 00:13:10.799 that said book nerd. Uh huh. Yeah. Yeah. It's 00:13:10.799 --> 00:13:13.299 not, it's something, it's a serenity from Firefly. 00:13:13.379 --> 00:13:15.240 Oh, that's, I mean, that's equally as good, right? 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:17.899 Yeah. Yeah. Um, incidentally, uh, you enjoy, 00:13:17.940 --> 00:13:20.539 well, your wife enjoys the show Firefly. I've 00:13:20.539 --> 00:13:22.700 read the books, Firefly, they continue the show. 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:25.700 And you said, well, the show was good. I'm not 00:13:25.700 --> 00:13:28.139 going to read the books. Yeah. Right. And so 00:13:28.139 --> 00:13:29.559 Ben will be like, yeah, have you heard about 00:13:29.559 --> 00:13:30.940 this series? And I'm like, are they going to 00:13:30.940 --> 00:13:33.429 turn it in? do a tv show yeah and he'll be like 00:13:33.429 --> 00:13:34.850 what i was like well that's a sign that's a good 00:13:34.850 --> 00:13:37.149 book series he's like well i don't think so i 00:13:37.149 --> 00:13:38.549 was like well it's probably not a good book series 00:13:38.549 --> 00:13:40.730 that that's the joke a little bit of the joke 00:13:40.730 --> 00:13:42.690 we have right so but like you can send your hate 00:13:42.690 --> 00:13:46.009 mail to love and context care spencer made absolutely 00:13:46.009 --> 00:13:50.970 can i will 100 not read it um but see actually 00:13:50.970 --> 00:13:53.370 i'm just going to go and point out here uh what 00:13:53.370 --> 00:13:55.169 the listeners don't know is that you actually 00:13:55.169 --> 00:13:57.970 don't know how to read no that's actually it's 00:13:57.970 --> 00:14:00.779 not like i teach kids how to read every day You 00:14:00.779 --> 00:14:03.320 just memorized a lot of words. Yeah. What do 00:14:03.320 --> 00:14:06.519 you think reading is? So stories hit a little 00:14:06.519 --> 00:14:09.159 differently, right? Yeah. And so, so if you're 00:14:09.159 --> 00:14:11.700 not familiar with the gospel that Jesus is preaching, 00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:14.960 right? Having, having a relatable story about 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:17.879 something in your world, in your sphere is going 00:14:17.879 --> 00:14:21.320 to bring it home for you. Well, and I think there's 00:14:21.320 --> 00:14:25.200 also this capacity is like, um, Jesus is capable 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:27.139 of writing because later in scripture he writes 00:14:27.139 --> 00:14:28.559 down on the ground, but like most people can't 00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:30.799 write. At this point, they might be able to read, 00:14:30.840 --> 00:14:34.460 but they can't write. And it's a very and their 00:14:34.460 --> 00:14:36.360 memory is very different than ours. Like they 00:14:36.360 --> 00:14:38.039 remember everything. Now that we have phones, 00:14:38.059 --> 00:14:39.580 like I don't remember anybody's phone number. 00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:41.320 I remember my old phone number from my house, 00:14:41.320 --> 00:14:42.960 but I don't remember anybody else's. Yeah. But 00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:44.419 I used to be able to just rattle off and call 00:14:44.419 --> 00:14:48.289 people because I had to. Yeah. Right. Now I don't 00:14:48.289 --> 00:14:51.289 do that. And so we write things down. We record 00:14:51.289 --> 00:14:53.690 things. We make videos, photos, all those different 00:14:53.690 --> 00:14:56.269 things. They didn't have that. So they memorized 00:14:56.269 --> 00:14:58.669 scripture. They memorized stories and they memorized 00:14:58.669 --> 00:15:00.330 these things. So now Jesus is giving them this 00:15:00.330 --> 00:15:04.149 story, this quick 30, 45 second story that they 00:15:04.149 --> 00:15:06.149 go walk around later and they're like, there's 00:15:06.149 --> 00:15:10.649 a farmer who spreads seed. And you walk with 00:15:10.649 --> 00:15:12.330 it and you tell it to yourself over and over 00:15:12.330 --> 00:15:15.470 again. And if you are somebody who can't read 00:15:15.470 --> 00:15:17.470 and can't write, it's also something you can 00:15:17.470 --> 00:15:19.409 take with you as you're going around too. It 00:15:19.409 --> 00:15:21.730 plays into the tradition of the oral stories, 00:15:21.769 --> 00:15:24.330 right? Because that's how Old Testament stories 00:15:24.330 --> 00:15:28.529 got passed along, right? Exactly. Well, and it's 00:15:28.529 --> 00:15:31.470 interesting because, you know, like essentially 00:15:31.470 --> 00:15:33.850 what Jesus is saying, he's like, well, why do 00:15:33.850 --> 00:15:35.789 you talk to them in parables? So that they're 00:15:35.789 --> 00:15:38.549 a little confused. Yeah. So they have to dig. 00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:42.519 And maybe in that digging, they're going to see. 00:15:42.700 --> 00:15:45.320 Yeah. Like that's the hope is I'm trying to give 00:15:45.320 --> 00:15:47.080 them, and he's going to talk about this a little 00:15:47.080 --> 00:15:49.279 bit later and we'll, we'll get to this. Uh, it's 00:15:49.279 --> 00:15:50.879 actually later in the verses is after the parable, 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:54.139 the weeds, but I'll get down a second. So the 00:15:54.139 --> 00:15:55.899 flip side of this is at the end, he says, listen 00:15:55.899 --> 00:15:57.860 to what the parable of the sower means. When 00:15:57.860 --> 00:15:59.659 anyone hears the message about the kingdom and 00:15:59.659 --> 00:16:01.220 does not understand it, the evil one comes and 00:16:01.220 --> 00:16:03.320 snatches it away. Well, which by the way, he 00:16:03.320 --> 00:16:05.460 does not always give interpretations to his parables. 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:06.820 This is the one we actually know what it means. 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:12.139 Yeah. Um... This is the seed, let's see here. 00:16:12.279 --> 00:16:14.399 This is the seed sown along the path. The seed 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:16.200 falling on rocky ground refers to someone who 00:16:16.200 --> 00:16:18.179 hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 00:16:18.340 --> 00:16:20.679 But since they have no root, they last only a 00:16:20.679 --> 00:16:22.620 short time. When trouble or persecution comes 00:16:22.620 --> 00:16:24.700 because of the word, they quickly fall away. 00:16:25.059 --> 00:16:27.080 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone 00:16:27.080 --> 00:16:28.919 who hears the word, but the worries of this life 00:16:28.919 --> 00:16:30.659 and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, 00:16:30.740 --> 00:16:33.340 making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on 00:16:33.340 --> 00:16:34.980 good ground refers to someone who hears the word 00:16:34.980 --> 00:16:36.820 and understands it. This is the one who produces 00:16:36.820 --> 00:16:39.279 a crop yielding 160 and 30 times what was sown. 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:41.879 By the way, as I'm reading through those in the 00:16:41.879 --> 00:16:43.860 descriptions, rather than just thinking about 00:16:43.860 --> 00:16:45.379 types of people, I was actually thinking about 00:16:45.379 --> 00:16:47.840 Jewish responses to the end of the Old Testament. 00:16:48.019 --> 00:16:51.860 Yep. And you have this choked up by the world. 00:16:51.940 --> 00:16:55.080 Sounds a lot like Herodians, right? Yep. Like 00:16:55.080 --> 00:16:57.700 they want to be Jewish. They also want to have 00:16:57.700 --> 00:17:00.659 all the Roman perks, right? You have the people 00:17:00.659 --> 00:17:04.750 who are just, they're... to your point talking 00:17:04.750 --> 00:17:06.829 about taxation and like there's this rocky ground 00:17:06.829 --> 00:17:08.849 and they have short soil and like when when trouble 00:17:08.849 --> 00:17:10.529 is there like they can't do it because they're 00:17:10.529 --> 00:17:13.690 they're so focused on their trouble right what 00:17:13.690 --> 00:17:17.130 kind of soil are you going to be yeah right it's 00:17:17.130 --> 00:17:23.289 good i like that yeah well i mean so the common 00:17:23.289 --> 00:17:25.430 interpretations on these stories is like what 00:17:25.430 --> 00:17:27.690 type of soil are you going to be and also is 00:17:27.690 --> 00:17:30.750 when you are spreading the gospel your job is 00:17:30.750 --> 00:17:34.049 to spread it everywhere right And it's going 00:17:34.049 --> 00:17:37.529 to, there's going to be people who just flat 00:17:37.529 --> 00:17:39.650 out reject it, right? There's going to be people 00:17:39.650 --> 00:17:41.569 where they get excited, but then within a year 00:17:41.569 --> 00:17:44.069 or two, they're burnt out and they walk away. 00:17:44.230 --> 00:17:47.089 There's going to be people where it multiplies 00:17:47.089 --> 00:17:50.529 a hundred times in their lives. And so it's, 00:17:50.529 --> 00:17:52.789 but what is your role in spreading the gospel? 00:17:53.590 --> 00:17:55.970 It's to spread the gospel. Yeah. Right. Your 00:17:55.970 --> 00:17:58.150 job internally is what kind of soil am I going 00:17:58.150 --> 00:18:00.569 to be? Mm -hmm. Your job externally is I spread 00:18:00.569 --> 00:18:03.750 the gospel. Yeah. To quote a later parable, you 00:18:03.750 --> 00:18:05.869 go catch fish. Uh -huh. The angels will sort 00:18:05.869 --> 00:18:09.230 them out. Uh -huh. You go sow wheat. The angels 00:18:09.230 --> 00:18:11.960 will sort out the tares. Yeah. Your job isn't 00:18:11.960 --> 00:18:13.880 to decide who's in and who's out. Your job is 00:18:13.880 --> 00:18:16.200 to go spread. Spread the gospel. Spread the word 00:18:16.200 --> 00:18:19.319 of God. I'm going to jump over this parable of 00:18:19.319 --> 00:18:20.859 the weeds because it's not important. I think 00:18:20.859 --> 00:18:22.359 it's great. In fact, actually, it's the next 00:18:22.359 --> 00:18:25.019 one coming up. You guys should go read it. Yeah, 00:18:25.059 --> 00:18:26.920 you should go read it. But I want to jump because 00:18:26.920 --> 00:18:28.920 I think this is kind of what we're talking about 00:18:28.920 --> 00:18:32.160 with the power of parables. Jumping into verse 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:34.599 31, he told them another parable. The kingdom 00:18:34.599 --> 00:18:36.759 of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man 00:18:36.759 --> 00:18:38.980 took and planted in his fields. Though it is 00:18:38.980 --> 00:18:41.140 the smallest of all the seeds, yet when it grows, 00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:44.180 it is the largest of the garden plants and becomes 00:18:44.180 --> 00:18:46.640 a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its 00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:49.180 branches. He told them still another parable. 00:18:50.619 --> 00:18:52.539 The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman 00:18:52.539 --> 00:18:54.599 took and mixed into about 60 pounds of flour 00:18:54.599 --> 00:18:57.160 until it worked through the dough. Jesus spoke 00:18:57.160 --> 00:19:00.309 all these things in the crowd. He did not say 00:19:00.309 --> 00:19:02.069 anything to them without using a parable. So 00:19:02.069 --> 00:19:03.690 it was fulfilled. It was spoken through the prophet. 00:19:03.809 --> 00:19:05.829 I will open my mouth in parables. I will utter 00:19:05.829 --> 00:19:07.569 hidden things since the creation of the world. 00:19:07.910 --> 00:19:13.450 Okay. Mustard seed, tiny seed. Like somebody's 00:19:13.450 --> 00:19:14.890 like, well, there's, there's smaller seeds. Okay. 00:19:14.950 --> 00:19:16.269 But in their time, did they know there were smaller 00:19:16.269 --> 00:19:18.569 seeds? Right. It's a small seed that they can 00:19:18.569 --> 00:19:21.309 find. It's super tiny. And essentially the mustard 00:19:21.309 --> 00:19:23.849 plant is a, uh, it's kind of a noxious weed. 00:19:24.279 --> 00:19:26.980 Yeah. Which is a really weird thing for Jesus 00:19:26.980 --> 00:19:29.819 to be like, it's, there was a farmer who took 00:19:29.819 --> 00:19:32.000 mustard seed and he planted it all throughout 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:34.059 his fields. Like, why would you do that? Why 00:19:34.059 --> 00:19:36.960 would you do that? And once it took root, you 00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:40.140 couldn't stop it. And, but that's what the kingdom 00:19:40.140 --> 00:19:43.200 of God is like. Yeah. And you're like a noxious 00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:46.059 weed that you can't eliminate. Yeah. Cause once 00:19:46.059 --> 00:19:47.400 it takes root, it's going to get everywhere. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:51.240 You can't stop it. Yeah. And mustard trees come 00:19:51.240 --> 00:19:54.220 from mustard seeds as well. And, They provide 00:19:54.220 --> 00:19:57.940 more than just mustard, right? These trees were 00:19:57.940 --> 00:20:00.319 actually known for getting 20 to 30 feet tall, 00:20:00.539 --> 00:20:03.079 and their branches would actually branch out 00:20:03.079 --> 00:20:05.599 and make a big canopy. So they were known for 00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:08.599 providing shade for travelers in this hot desert 00:20:08.599 --> 00:20:14.059 climate. And so it's also providing, it was a 00:20:14.059 --> 00:20:16.640 common wood that was used in building materials 00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:18.779 because it was a good -sized tree. And we were 00:20:18.779 --> 00:20:22.319 talking a culture where wood like cedar and mustard. 00:20:22.829 --> 00:20:25.029 and stuff like that is valuable you're a culture 00:20:25.029 --> 00:20:27.529 that primarily builds with stone yeah it's not 00:20:27.529 --> 00:20:29.269 that they don't have trees but they don't have 00:20:29.269 --> 00:20:32.529 trees like we do in uh the northwest yeah right 00:20:32.529 --> 00:20:34.650 yeah like we have lots of trees and we have massive 00:20:34.650 --> 00:20:37.049 trees they don't have the 300 foot tall yeah 00:20:37.049 --> 00:20:38.849 spruce trees types or even think like uh you 00:20:38.849 --> 00:20:40.410 think california like the redwood forest like 00:20:40.410 --> 00:20:42.390 they don't have trees like that no right no we're 00:20:42.390 --> 00:20:45.309 and so like trees are a healthy commodity so 00:20:45.309 --> 00:20:47.789 like uh you want to be able to grow these trees 00:20:47.789 --> 00:20:51.210 yeah and so this is a like if you were someone 00:20:51.210 --> 00:20:53.630 who was in the business of growing and cutting 00:20:53.630 --> 00:20:56.549 down mustard trees and harvesting the mustard, 00:20:56.769 --> 00:20:59.509 selling the wood. Like you're somebody who is 00:20:59.509 --> 00:21:01.390 actually of probably higher standard, higher 00:21:01.390 --> 00:21:06.950 wealth, most likely. And so you have, so, I mean, 00:21:06.970 --> 00:21:08.970 you get to the point where it's like this little 00:21:08.970 --> 00:21:11.650 act of faith, like this little bit of faith can 00:21:11.650 --> 00:21:14.589 blossom into something that provides so much 00:21:14.589 --> 00:21:17.089 for the world around you. When it takes root, 00:21:17.130 --> 00:21:19.500 you can't stop it. Yeah. When it takes root in 00:21:19.500 --> 00:21:22.420 the heart, you can't stop it. And the next story 00:21:22.420 --> 00:21:24.940 he says is like a woman who grabbed about 60 00:21:24.940 --> 00:21:26.579 pounds of flour. Well, that's a reference back 00:21:26.579 --> 00:21:29.630 to, that's 3CS. Uh, if you, if you're like, I've 00:21:29.630 --> 00:21:30.930 heard three C's before. Yeah. It's in the book 00:21:30.930 --> 00:21:33.430 of Genesis. Yeah. Uh, Rachel or not Rachel, uh, 00:21:33.569 --> 00:21:35.890 Sarah, when they have the three visitors, he 00:21:35.890 --> 00:21:37.730 tells them to go bake some bread and she takes 00:21:37.730 --> 00:21:40.069 60 pounds of flour and bakes it into bread. Right. 00:21:40.569 --> 00:21:43.130 And, uh, what is that whole story about? Hospitality. 00:21:43.170 --> 00:21:45.109 Yeah. Right. He's, he's welcoming the people 00:21:45.109 --> 00:21:47.109 and then he's interceding on behalf of, it's 00:21:47.109 --> 00:21:48.829 going to be Sodom and Gomorrah, but it's about 00:21:48.829 --> 00:21:50.410 hospitality. Well, what's been going on so far? 00:21:50.450 --> 00:21:53.920 So we've connected it to Isaac. And sowing into 00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:57.000 a famine. Yeah. And producing food that's going 00:21:57.000 --> 00:21:59.240 to feed an entire area. Yeah. We have a mustard 00:21:59.240 --> 00:22:00.579 seed that's going to grow into a great tree. 00:22:00.660 --> 00:22:02.019 Once it takes root, it's not going to be able 00:22:02.019 --> 00:22:04.180 to stop. And it's going to provide shelter for 00:22:04.180 --> 00:22:05.940 the people around them. Yeah. And then you have 00:22:05.940 --> 00:22:09.359 this flour, this dough, 60 pounds. I don't know 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:10.799 if you guys made 60 pounds of bread. It's a lot 00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:14.579 of bread. Especially the way they bake it. Yeah. 00:22:15.819 --> 00:22:18.539 That is about hospitality and the story of patriarchal 00:22:18.539 --> 00:22:20.960 hospitality. So what is Jesus doing in all of 00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:24.599 these? The kingdom of heaven is founded on generosity 00:22:24.599 --> 00:22:27.180 and reaching out and taking care of people and 00:22:27.180 --> 00:22:30.279 peace and growing in hospitality and putting 00:22:30.279 --> 00:22:32.019 something different on display for the world. 00:22:32.920 --> 00:22:35.220 It's the kind of, it's the kind of thing that 00:22:35.220 --> 00:22:37.480 looks at a place that's in famine and says, I'm 00:22:37.480 --> 00:22:40.740 going to plant some food. Yeah. Right. Yeah. 00:22:40.819 --> 00:22:42.619 It's the type of thing that says, Hey, I'm going 00:22:42.619 --> 00:22:45.299 to take this little thing and it's going to blossom 00:22:45.299 --> 00:22:48.220 into something magnificent for the kingdom. Right. 00:22:48.599 --> 00:22:51.930 Now, last week, Matthew Nunley and I were talking 00:22:51.930 --> 00:22:53.869 about prayer and we were talking about creating 00:22:53.869 --> 00:22:57.130 space to actually pray and talk to God. And one 00:22:57.130 --> 00:22:59.730 of the most common things, and maybe you run 00:22:59.730 --> 00:23:03.910 into this with ministry with kids as well, is 00:23:03.910 --> 00:23:07.690 that they're like, I just can't do enough. You 00:23:07.690 --> 00:23:09.750 know, I can't find that time in my schedule. 00:23:09.990 --> 00:23:12.329 And like what I talked about, as I said, you 00:23:12.329 --> 00:23:14.630 were driving five minutes. Just talk to God. 00:23:15.009 --> 00:23:18.549 You wake up five minutes early and you spend 00:23:18.549 --> 00:23:20.549 a few minutes. I was like, you create a space 00:23:20.549 --> 00:23:22.150 and you allow God to fill it. And you're like, 00:23:22.210 --> 00:23:24.190 man, that's not significant. Well, guess what? 00:23:25.009 --> 00:23:28.950 Mustard seed? You might be surprised how big 00:23:28.950 --> 00:23:33.809 that tree gets. Oftentimes what we do, and I've 00:23:33.809 --> 00:23:36.150 encountered this in church so many times, where 00:23:36.150 --> 00:23:41.619 we will look at the pastor of a church. spoiler 00:23:41.619 --> 00:23:43.819 alert, if you're like, for those who don't really 00:23:43.819 --> 00:23:46.880 know, if you are a pastor of a church, like full 00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:48.799 -time. If they don't know you're a pastor of 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:52.359 a church. Sorry. If someone is a pastor of a 00:23:52.359 --> 00:23:55.059 church, they often have more time to dedicate 00:23:55.059 --> 00:23:57.420 towards prayer, more time to dedicate to reading 00:23:57.420 --> 00:24:01.059 scripture, more time to dedicate to the things 00:24:01.059 --> 00:24:03.640 that we're called to, right? Because that is 00:24:03.640 --> 00:24:07.880 their vocation, legit their vocation. And so 00:24:07.880 --> 00:24:09.380 oftentimes what we do is we compare ourselves 00:24:09.380 --> 00:24:11.619 to that. We're like, man, I hear about my pastor 00:24:11.619 --> 00:24:14.240 saying he prays for an hour every morning. Yeah. 00:24:14.519 --> 00:24:16.960 Okay. Oftentimes he can do that between 9 and 00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:19.220 10 a .m. when he's at the church. Yeah. Right. 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:23.400 I hear that he had a whole day to just prepare 00:24:23.400 --> 00:24:28.480 for his sermon. Right. Right. You have to understand 00:24:28.480 --> 00:24:30.839 they're, they're living in a different space 00:24:30.839 --> 00:24:33.119 than people who have a nine to five job. Right. 00:24:33.339 --> 00:24:36.000 Or people who have a nine to five job who are 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:38.740 married with kids. Right. You might, you might 00:24:38.740 --> 00:24:40.440 be like, man, this five minutes is all I got. 00:24:40.640 --> 00:24:44.019 The Lord can work with that five minutes. Yeah. 00:24:44.579 --> 00:24:46.480 Cause what I think a lot of times what we're 00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:48.019 trying to do is we're trying to plant an oak 00:24:48.019 --> 00:24:49.720 tree in our life and God says, no, put a mustard 00:24:49.720 --> 00:24:53.019 seed there. Yeah. Yeah. And we often treat it. 00:24:53.079 --> 00:24:54.779 The other thing I've told people is we often 00:24:54.779 --> 00:24:57.460 treat prayer as this, Oh, I have to carve out 00:24:57.460 --> 00:24:59.500 the X amount of time where I'm just down on my 00:24:59.500 --> 00:25:01.519 knees by my bed doing it. And I was like, yes, 00:25:01.559 --> 00:25:04.000 you can do it that way. Or you can just continually 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:07.000 pray to God throughout the day. Right. You can 00:25:07.000 --> 00:25:08.819 see an aid car go by and you'd be like, Lord, 00:25:08.940 --> 00:25:12.809 be with that situation. Give the paramedics wisdom 00:25:12.809 --> 00:25:16.349 on how to deal with that. You can see a homeless 00:25:16.349 --> 00:25:18.529 person on the street. You can go offer them food, 00:25:18.589 --> 00:25:20.769 and after you walk away, you can pray for them, 00:25:20.769 --> 00:25:22.269 or you can pray for them, or if they want you 00:25:22.269 --> 00:25:23.789 to pray for them with them, you can do that too, 00:25:23.890 --> 00:25:26.369 right? Like, there are so many ways where it 00:25:26.369 --> 00:25:30.329 doesn't take a ton of time, right? What the Lord 00:25:30.329 --> 00:25:32.950 wants is He wants us to be present as we go through 00:25:32.950 --> 00:25:35.190 our lives, right? He wants us to be present and 00:25:35.190 --> 00:25:38.190 intentional, thinking how, looking at things 00:25:38.190 --> 00:25:41.990 how He looks at things, right? And so, uh, it 00:25:41.990 --> 00:25:43.630 doesn't have to be like, okay, I need to carve 00:25:43.630 --> 00:25:45.789 out an hour every morning for prayer. If you, 00:25:45.789 --> 00:25:47.789 if you can do that, great. I'm not saying don't 00:25:47.789 --> 00:25:49.549 do it. I'm saying that, but I'm saying if you're 00:25:49.549 --> 00:25:50.869 like, man, I just don't feel like I have time. 00:25:50.910 --> 00:25:53.650 It's like, no, you do. Usually you, you might 00:25:53.650 --> 00:25:55.609 be commute to work. Like you're saying it might 00:25:55.609 --> 00:25:58.190 be, you might have, uh, I mean, I work in the 00:25:58.190 --> 00:25:59.950 schools, but even in the schools, I have moments 00:25:59.950 --> 00:26:02.490 of like five to six minutes of just like quiet 00:26:02.490 --> 00:26:05.410 and then back to back to work. Right. So I have 00:26:05.410 --> 00:26:07.509 those moments where I can actually pray for. 00:26:08.089 --> 00:26:10.309 pray for people in schools. Right. I have those 00:26:10.309 --> 00:26:13.269 moments where I can actually, you know, be present 00:26:13.269 --> 00:26:16.250 in people's lives. Right. That's what we're called 00:26:16.250 --> 00:26:19.509 to do. So. And there's a, there's a pastor that 00:26:19.509 --> 00:26:22.069 I like to quote sometimes. And he talks about, 00:26:22.109 --> 00:26:24.230 he says, a lot of times we're asking God for 00:26:24.230 --> 00:26:26.170 an oak tree when he, and he gives us an acorn. 00:26:27.109 --> 00:26:30.269 Right. And he's like, because if he gave you 00:26:30.269 --> 00:26:33.809 the oak tree, it would crush you. Yeah. Because 00:26:33.809 --> 00:26:37.049 we're all growing. We're growing in our life 00:26:37.049 --> 00:26:38.710 with God. And I was like, so where's the first 00:26:38.710 --> 00:26:40.390 place you start? You start with an acorn. Right. 00:26:40.809 --> 00:26:42.950 You start with a mustard seed. You plant it into 00:26:42.950 --> 00:26:45.410 a life that's following after God. You saturate 00:26:45.410 --> 00:26:47.269 it in generosity and love for the people around 00:26:47.269 --> 00:26:49.970 you. You live into the kingdom of God. You bring 00:26:49.970 --> 00:26:52.609 God with you to your workplace. Yeah. Right? 00:26:53.289 --> 00:26:55.750 That's a novel concept. Absolutely. Stop going 00:26:55.750 --> 00:26:57.869 to meet God to bring God with you. Uh -huh. Right? 00:26:58.349 --> 00:27:02.089 And you'll be surprised that once that takes 00:27:02.089 --> 00:27:05.339 root, what, what the, what the kingdom of God 00:27:05.339 --> 00:27:08.640 does in and around you. Yeah. So this is, uh, 00:27:08.720 --> 00:27:09.960 this has been a little bit shorter one, just 00:27:09.960 --> 00:27:11.339 kind of like talking about the parables. Cause 00:27:11.339 --> 00:27:13.180 I wanted to, we're going through the life of 00:27:13.180 --> 00:27:15.859 Jesus, but, and he tells so many parables. Yeah. 00:27:15.940 --> 00:27:17.119 Right. And they're really good. And we're going 00:27:17.119 --> 00:27:18.700 to keep referencing them like as we're going 00:27:18.700 --> 00:27:21.900 through, but it's, uh, the kingdom of God being, 00:27:21.960 --> 00:27:24.660 uh, first and foremost in these parables, the 00:27:24.660 --> 00:27:26.559 kingdom of God is like, the kingdom of God is 00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:30.549 like, right. It's important. Like Jesus's message 00:27:30.549 --> 00:27:32.410 was repent for the kingdom of heaven is here. 00:27:32.509 --> 00:27:35.910 Yeah. And it's going to be accessible through 00:27:35.910 --> 00:27:38.630 his death, burial and resurrection. Yeah. But 00:27:38.630 --> 00:27:40.690 his message is it's here. And let me tell you 00:27:40.690 --> 00:27:43.589 what it's like. Yeah. And when we're talking 00:27:43.589 --> 00:27:45.730 about the gospel, that is the gospel. Yeah. That 00:27:45.730 --> 00:27:48.069 this kingdom life is now accessible through his 00:27:48.069 --> 00:27:50.410 death, burial and resurrection. And now we're 00:27:50.410 --> 00:27:53.130 able to live into this. Yeah. Yeah. And with 00:27:53.130 --> 00:27:55.609 the mustard seeds, God's calling you to just 00:27:55.609 --> 00:27:58.339 give what you can. Yeah. right it all belongs 00:27:58.339 --> 00:28:01.420 to him anyways but just give what you can yeah 00:28:01.420 --> 00:28:06.000 um there's this uh story in youth ministry um 00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:08.779 where there's this guy who's like okay i really 00:28:08.779 --> 00:28:10.799 want to help out and like well how much time 00:28:10.799 --> 00:28:12.339 do you have and he's like i got two minutes a 00:28:12.339 --> 00:28:16.799 week and so like okay uh are you able to go to 00:28:16.799 --> 00:28:19.299 the town's football game and as the players are 00:28:19.299 --> 00:28:23.539 leaving the stadium just congratulate them and 00:28:23.539 --> 00:28:26.039 he's like yeah i can do that and that grew into 00:28:26.039 --> 00:28:29.250 like Bigger, better, more faithful ministry. 00:28:30.609 --> 00:28:35.809 Start small. So I guess that's the challenge 00:28:35.809 --> 00:28:38.109 this week. Let's go find ways that, you know, 00:28:38.109 --> 00:28:40.849 find something in your life that's meaningful 00:28:40.849 --> 00:28:42.630 that you can invest in smallly in the kingdom 00:28:42.630 --> 00:28:45.009 of God and the people around you. Yep. And then 00:28:45.009 --> 00:28:46.690 don't be surprised when it blows up into a big 00:28:46.690 --> 00:28:52.569 old tree. Yep. Until next time. Goodbye. And 00:28:52.569 --> 00:28:54.609 that's a wrap for today's episode of Love and 00:28:54.609 --> 00:28:56.910 Context. We hope this conversation encouraged 00:28:56.910 --> 00:28:59.589 you and gave you fresh insights into how we can 00:28:59.589 --> 00:29:01.670 better love God and others through the powerful 00:29:01.670 --> 00:29:04.289 truths of the Bible. We'd love to hear from you. 00:29:04.349 --> 00:29:06.289 Send your questions, thoughts, or suggestions 00:29:06.289 --> 00:29:09.950 to loveandcontext at gmail .com. 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