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 --> 00:00:28.739 into Season 3 of Love & Context. Welcome back 00:00:28.739 --> 00:00:32.380 to the Love and Context podcast. That was less 00:00:32.380 --> 00:00:35.520 singing. Welcome back to the love and... There 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:37.539 you go. Just for everyone else. Just for everyone 00:00:37.539 --> 00:00:40.740 else. I mean, it's like, I think it's like four 00:00:40.740 --> 00:00:42.460 weeks in a row, five weeks, maybe seven weeks 00:00:42.460 --> 00:00:45.799 in a row. Indefinitely in a row, I'm going to 00:00:45.799 --> 00:00:49.679 do that. Welcome back. It's me, Ben, and it's 00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:53.049 that guy, Spencer. So part of the singing joke, 00:00:53.170 --> 00:00:55.109 just so you guys know, Ben leads worship at our 00:00:55.109 --> 00:00:57.469 church most Sundays. And then I'll fill in a 00:00:57.469 --> 00:00:59.729 couple of times a year when he's not there. And 00:00:59.729 --> 00:01:01.689 so Ben with the other vocals be like, Oh, if 00:01:01.689 --> 00:01:03.590 you do this, this, this, and like, you know, 00:01:03.590 --> 00:01:05.329 lay out all these parts. And then when I get 00:01:05.329 --> 00:01:07.069 there, they're like, all right. I was like, you 00:01:07.069 --> 00:01:09.010 know what? If it sounds okay, I'm okay with it. 00:01:09.109 --> 00:01:10.829 And they're like, Oh, so do what we want. I was 00:01:10.829 --> 00:01:13.069 like, yeah, just don't sound horrible. And they're 00:01:13.069 --> 00:01:15.750 like, great. That is a, that is a general instruction 00:01:15.750 --> 00:01:17.569 that you give to most people is don't sound horrible. 00:01:17.629 --> 00:01:19.590 Don't sound horrible. Don't sound horrible. In 00:01:19.590 --> 00:01:22.579 fact, listener, if this, is you today just don't 00:01:22.579 --> 00:01:26.939 sound horrible this is such a uh so good all 00:01:26.939 --> 00:01:29.959 right so we're at uh um a couple of things i 00:01:29.959 --> 00:01:31.280 realized we're going a little bit out of sequence 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:33.040 but you know what we're it's our podcast we can 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:34.900 do whatever we want but we're in the life of 00:01:34.900 --> 00:01:38.719 jesus and um Today, we just have on the calendar, 00:01:38.819 --> 00:01:40.099 we're going to be talking about the transfiguration. 00:01:40.280 --> 00:01:41.939 So the story about Jesus going up on the mountain 00:01:41.939 --> 00:01:44.560 and being transfigured. Context -wise, I just 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:47.239 want to kind of sandwich this in here with what 00:01:47.239 --> 00:01:50.239 we've been talking about. There's been the feeding 00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:53.640 of the 5 ,000. There's been Jesus walking on 00:01:53.640 --> 00:01:56.799 water. There's been him asking them, like, hey, 00:01:56.859 --> 00:01:59.379 who do people say that I am? And Peter completely 00:01:59.379 --> 00:02:01.620 nails it. And then he tells them, he's like, 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:03.219 hey, by the way, I'm going to be going to Jerusalem. 00:02:03.260 --> 00:02:05.099 I'm going to be dying. And Peter is like, no, 00:02:05.140 --> 00:02:08.120 you're not. And he gets called. Satan. So really 00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:10.500 high highs here for Peter and some really low 00:02:10.500 --> 00:02:14.659 lows here for Peter. And right on the heels of 00:02:14.659 --> 00:02:17.060 that is going to be the story of the transfiguration. 00:02:17.219 --> 00:02:19.099 So I'm going to read out of Matthew. There is 00:02:19.099 --> 00:02:20.419 a couple of different places you can read this. 00:02:20.460 --> 00:02:23.379 It's in Matthew 16, it's in Mark 8, and it's 00:02:23.379 --> 00:02:28.419 in Luke 9. Starting in verse 1 of 17, it says, 00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:32.780 After six days, this is after he just called 00:02:32.780 --> 00:02:36.620 Peter Satan. Six days later. After six days, 00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:39.500 Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, the 00:02:39.500 --> 00:02:41.919 brother of James, and led them up a high mountain 00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:45.300 by themselves. There he was transfigured before 00:02:45.300 --> 00:02:48.340 them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes 00:02:48.340 --> 00:02:51.120 became as white as the light. Just then there 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:53.520 appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:57.159 with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is 00:02:57.159 --> 00:02:59.300 good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put 00:02:59.300 --> 00:03:01.340 up three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, 00:03:01.460 --> 00:03:03.979 and one for Elijah. While he was still speaking, 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:06.879 a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:09.520 the cloud said, This is my son whom I love. With 00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:12.919 him I am well pleased. Listen to him. When the 00:03:12.919 --> 00:03:14.560 disciples heard this, they fell face down to 00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:17.819 the ground, terrified, which makes sense. But 00:03:17.819 --> 00:03:19.900 Jesus came and touched them. Get up, he said. 00:03:20.020 --> 00:03:22.020 Don't be afraid. When they looked up, they saw 00:03:22.020 --> 00:03:24.219 no one except Jesus. As they were coming down 00:03:24.219 --> 00:03:25.819 the mountain, Jesus instructed them, don't tell 00:03:25.819 --> 00:03:27.639 anyone what you have seen until the Son of Man 00:03:27.639 --> 00:03:30.139 has raised from the dead. The disciples asked 00:03:30.139 --> 00:03:32.659 him, why then do the teachers of the law say 00:03:32.659 --> 00:03:35.479 that Elijah must come first? Jesus replied to 00:03:35.479 --> 00:03:37.740 be sure Elijah comes and will restore all things. 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:41.080 But I tell you, Elijah has already come and they 00:03:41.080 --> 00:03:43.659 did not recognize him, but have done to him everything 00:03:43.659 --> 00:03:45.840 they wished. In the same way, the son of man 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:48.500 is going to suffer at their hands. Then the disciples 00:03:48.500 --> 00:03:50.020 understood that he was talking to them about 00:03:50.020 --> 00:03:54.039 John the Baptist. All right. This story has a 00:03:54.039 --> 00:03:57.039 lot. What are you talking about? Just a few things 00:03:57.039 --> 00:04:02.949 going on here, right? So. Let's go ahead and 00:04:02.949 --> 00:04:05.250 just, you and I, we're just going to point out 00:04:05.250 --> 00:04:07.590 some obvious imagery that's going on. Jesus' 00:04:07.750 --> 00:04:10.110 face is shining, like Moses when he's on the 00:04:10.110 --> 00:04:11.469 mountain talking with God in the presence of 00:04:11.469 --> 00:04:14.460 God, right? His clothes are white. Right. It's 00:04:14.460 --> 00:04:16.220 going to be a symbol of purity. He's talking 00:04:16.220 --> 00:04:18.300 to Moses and Elijah. You have the law and the 00:04:18.300 --> 00:04:21.279 prophets. Right. You have Jesus, who is the very 00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:23.600 friend of friend or sorry, Jesus, the friend 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:25.920 Moses, who is the very friend of God. And you 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:28.439 have Elijah who is taken up in a whirlwind. Right. 00:04:28.740 --> 00:04:31.339 So you have like these these legendary figures. 00:04:31.860 --> 00:04:34.480 And so that's a few things that are going on. 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:36.199 There's there's the cloud that is on the mountain. 00:04:36.360 --> 00:04:38.500 The Shekinah glory is going to be very reminiscent 00:04:38.500 --> 00:04:40.899 of what's going on in Exodus. You have God calling 00:04:40.899 --> 00:04:43.699 down. This is my son whom I love. listen to him 00:04:43.699 --> 00:04:46.399 is going to be very reminiscent of Deuteronomy 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:48.600 where Moses is continually saying, listen to 00:04:48.600 --> 00:04:50.279 God, listen to God, listen to God, listen to 00:04:50.279 --> 00:04:52.740 God. And so that's, that's a lot of, there's 00:04:52.740 --> 00:04:54.939 a lot of steep imagery going on in this story. 00:04:56.680 --> 00:05:02.519 So why these three guys? Why not? Why not? That's 00:05:02.519 --> 00:05:05.800 helpful. Well, so just to give some context on 00:05:05.800 --> 00:05:08.720 that, if you look at the rabbinic system of having 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:12.410 disciples that follow you, you typically, Typically 00:05:12.410 --> 00:05:14.750 one thing we talked about this before, but typically 00:05:14.750 --> 00:05:17.189 to have 12 disciples would be a little much, 00:05:17.250 --> 00:05:19.550 right? Typically it'd be five or six. And now 00:05:19.550 --> 00:05:21.709 that five or six, you would have one or two that 00:05:21.709 --> 00:05:24.750 followed you more closely than the other ones. 00:05:25.089 --> 00:05:28.730 Right. And so it's not uncommon for Jesus to 00:05:28.730 --> 00:05:30.670 be like, Hey, you three, Peter, James, and John. 00:05:31.230 --> 00:05:33.410 are going to go with me to places that the other 00:05:33.410 --> 00:05:35.569 disciples are not. Right. So that wouldn't be 00:05:35.569 --> 00:05:37.810 an uncommon thing. So just put, putting that 00:05:37.810 --> 00:05:40.889 on the table. Uh, you also have with the, with 00:05:40.889 --> 00:05:44.230 those three, you also have the, uh, Jesus does 00:05:44.230 --> 00:05:47.089 a tremendous church planting through those three, 00:05:47.110 --> 00:05:49.069 right? He calls, I don't know if he's done it 00:05:49.069 --> 00:05:52.230 yet, but, uh, he calls G, uh, Peter the rock, 00:05:52.290 --> 00:05:55.029 right? Of whom the church we built on. All right. 00:05:55.350 --> 00:06:00.720 Um, John, uh, is probably the, Am I mixing my 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:02.459 Johns up? I don't think I am, but John. It's 00:06:02.459 --> 00:06:04.339 possible, but sometimes it's hard to distinguish 00:06:04.339 --> 00:06:06.579 which one we're talking about. Yeah. John is 00:06:06.579 --> 00:06:09.019 also one of the most literate of the disciples. 00:06:09.660 --> 00:06:11.500 Right. Coming from a priestly family would be 00:06:11.500 --> 00:06:14.160 likely. Yep. Yep. Most likely the most literate 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:16.680 of the disciples. So most likely to be able to 00:06:16.680 --> 00:06:18.779 record, to be able to help out on that front. 00:06:19.180 --> 00:06:23.060 And then James. Now there is question on what 00:06:23.060 --> 00:06:25.579 James we're talking about as well. Yeah. It tells, 00:06:25.620 --> 00:06:28.060 it tells us that is James, the brother of John. 00:06:30.439 --> 00:06:32.060 Nope, sorry. John, the brother of James. Okay, 00:06:32.139 --> 00:06:33.860 so there's James and John, the brother of James. 00:06:34.279 --> 00:06:36.459 So which James are we talking about? Is this 00:06:36.459 --> 00:06:39.500 James and John, those two brothers? Or is this... 00:06:39.500 --> 00:06:43.600 Yeah, so. Yeah, so we don't fully know. We don't 00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:45.120 fully know on that. There's argument. There's 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:47.699 debate on that and all of that as well. But it's 00:06:47.699 --> 00:06:49.439 not uncommon. But bringing back to the point, 00:06:49.480 --> 00:06:52.720 it's not uncommon for a rabbi to have a couple 00:06:52.720 --> 00:06:55.379 of disciples who follow him more closely than 00:06:55.379 --> 00:06:58.720 other disciples. Well, and so the crazy thing 00:06:58.720 --> 00:07:02.920 is, so with rabbinic, with disciples and rabbis, 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:05.040 like you said, it's typically only like four 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:07.079 or five. But Jesus has at least 72 because he 00:07:07.079 --> 00:07:10.680 sends out 72 at one point. Then he has 12. that 00:07:10.680 --> 00:07:13.560 are much closer and representing Israel. But 00:07:13.560 --> 00:07:18.420 then he has three that he is pouring into on 00:07:18.420 --> 00:07:20.579 a regular basis. And of course, then he's also 00:07:20.579 --> 00:07:22.519 speaking to multitudes. So you actually see this, 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:24.459 like Jesus, one, he goes off into, we've talked 00:07:24.459 --> 00:07:25.879 about this in the past, but he goes off into 00:07:25.879 --> 00:07:28.899 desolate places, into wilderness places to pray 00:07:28.899 --> 00:07:31.279 and commune with God. But then he's got these 00:07:31.279 --> 00:07:33.939 three that he spends more time with. He's got 00:07:33.939 --> 00:07:36.220 the 12 that he spends more time with than everybody 00:07:36.220 --> 00:07:38.300 else. Then he has these 72 that are following 00:07:38.300 --> 00:07:40.600 him and really spending more regular time. But 00:07:40.600 --> 00:07:42.680 then he's still got multitudes that are just 00:07:42.680 --> 00:07:46.980 showing up in different places. I think on a 00:07:46.980 --> 00:07:49.939 very practical level, there is something about 00:07:49.939 --> 00:07:52.620 how to build your life relationally there, right? 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:57.399 Because you cannot feed the way that Jesus fed 00:07:57.399 --> 00:08:02.910 into the 12 into 500, right? You can't like there's 00:08:02.910 --> 00:08:05.569 you can't actually there's you have a limited 00:08:05.569 --> 00:08:07.970 amount of who you are. Like, I mean, like the 00:08:07.970 --> 00:08:10.269 amount of time, amount of energy, amount of and 00:08:10.269 --> 00:08:12.769 also like you can only become so close to so 00:08:12.769 --> 00:08:15.110 so many people we've talked about in the past. 00:08:16.129 --> 00:08:18.529 I have a lot of friends, but I have very few 00:08:18.529 --> 00:08:21.430 friends that I let speak into my life. Yeah, 00:08:21.490 --> 00:08:24.050 take Facebook, for example, right? Like how many 00:08:24.050 --> 00:08:25.769 friends do you have on Facebook? I think it's 00:08:25.769 --> 00:08:27.569 like a thousand or something like that. How many 00:08:27.569 --> 00:08:29.910 of those do you talk to on a regular basis? Regular 00:08:29.910 --> 00:08:33.269 basis. Let's say once a year, probably 200. Probably 00:08:33.269 --> 00:08:35.629 200. Right. Okay. Out of those 200, how many 00:08:35.629 --> 00:08:38.549 of those do you talk to on a monthly basis? 30. 00:08:38.990 --> 00:08:41.429 30. Okay. What about weekly basis? Probably down 00:08:41.429 --> 00:08:44.720 to 15. Right. So, so you guys see that this is 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:47.539 just a natural progression, right? Like we don't 00:08:47.539 --> 00:08:51.179 have a time to, uh, you know, I, I don't know 00:08:51.179 --> 00:08:53.059 how many, I'm not very active on Facebook. I 00:08:53.059 --> 00:08:54.360 don't know how many friends I got on there, but 00:08:54.360 --> 00:08:56.340 like, I mean, it's at least seven, at least seven, 00:08:56.399 --> 00:08:59.860 but, but, um, but it's like, I don't talk to, 00:08:59.879 --> 00:09:01.820 I don't talk to all the people who are quote 00:09:01.820 --> 00:09:03.399 unquote friends on Facebook. And when it boils 00:09:03.399 --> 00:09:05.980 down to the people I do talk to in my life, you 00:09:05.980 --> 00:09:08.679 know, on a weekly basis, there's probably six 00:09:08.679 --> 00:09:11.500 or seven that I talk to on a regular basis. Right. 00:09:13.730 --> 00:09:15.990 And outside of, I mean, outside of people I work 00:09:15.990 --> 00:09:18.750 with, right? Right. Right. It's a, it's a small 00:09:18.750 --> 00:09:20.169 circle. And then there's other people I connect 00:09:20.169 --> 00:09:22.389 with more on a monthly basis, other people on 00:09:22.389 --> 00:09:24.830 a quarterly basis, other people on a yearly basis. 00:09:25.090 --> 00:09:28.269 Right. It all, it just depends on that depth 00:09:28.269 --> 00:09:30.250 of relationship, how much time has been invested 00:09:30.250 --> 00:09:33.639 in that relationship. Right. And I think a lot 00:09:33.639 --> 00:09:35.919 of the thing about that, when you start to talk 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:38.340 about going from a rabbi disciple perspective, 00:09:38.500 --> 00:09:41.399 I think sometimes we overwhelm ourselves when 00:09:41.399 --> 00:09:42.860 we were like, we need to go preach the gospel 00:09:42.860 --> 00:09:45.899 to all nations. Yes, we do. You also need to 00:09:45.899 --> 00:09:47.940 find a few people that you're investing heavily 00:09:47.940 --> 00:09:50.639 into. Yeah. Yeah. The other thing about these 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:54.740 three disciples is, and this is a, this is one 00:09:54.740 --> 00:09:56.799 theory I've heard because we, like I said, there's 00:09:56.799 --> 00:09:59.360 still debate on which James or which James we're 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:02.950 talking about. Right. But there is a theory that 00:10:02.950 --> 00:10:05.129 these are James and John, the sons of Zebedee, 00:10:05.210 --> 00:10:09.710 which were a fisherman family. So to have your 00:10:09.710 --> 00:10:13.529 three closest disciples be fishermen would also 00:10:13.529 --> 00:10:17.289 be another, would tie into the least of these 00:10:17.289 --> 00:10:20.149 comment. Poor Andrew. Yeah. Poor Andrew is left 00:10:20.149 --> 00:10:24.389 off on that one. It's like you get James and 00:10:24.389 --> 00:10:26.990 John and Peter and Andrew's out in the back going, 00:10:27.070 --> 00:10:30.940 hey. I fish too. What are you guys doing? I'm 00:10:30.940 --> 00:10:33.860 good with a net. By the way, there's one detail 00:10:33.860 --> 00:10:37.080 in the Gospel of Luke that somebody mentions 00:10:37.080 --> 00:10:42.480 on this. It's in Luke. nine or verse 31, uh, 00:10:42.600 --> 00:10:44.539 two men, Moses and Elijah appeared in glorious 00:10:44.539 --> 00:10:46.580 splendor talking with Jesus. Okay. That part's 00:10:46.580 --> 00:10:49.539 in Matthew. They spoke about his departure, uh, 00:10:49.639 --> 00:10:51.980 which he was about to bring to fulfillment at 00:10:51.980 --> 00:10:54.600 Jerusalem. Um, the word departure there is not 00:10:54.600 --> 00:10:57.279 departure. It's actually, uh, the, the same Greek 00:10:57.279 --> 00:11:00.299 word that they use to translate Exodus. Um, so 00:11:00.299 --> 00:11:02.480 not surprising that Jesus is talking to Moses 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:05.059 about an Exodus, right? He has some experience 00:11:05.059 --> 00:11:10.610 with that, you know? Um, But yeah, so you got 00:11:10.610 --> 00:11:12.830 the least of these being heavily invested in. 00:11:12.870 --> 00:11:14.190 And these guys are also going to be the ones 00:11:14.190 --> 00:11:16.490 who take up the mantle of really leading the 00:11:16.490 --> 00:11:18.610 church. This is indeed the James and the John 00:11:18.610 --> 00:11:22.610 and the one that ends up going into Asia. And 00:11:22.610 --> 00:11:24.690 then there's Peter who's going to be traveling 00:11:24.690 --> 00:11:28.509 and leading in the church. But then there's going 00:11:28.509 --> 00:11:30.830 to be James who's in charge in Jerusalem. That 00:11:30.830 --> 00:11:33.509 makes a lot of sense why these three would have 00:11:33.509 --> 00:11:38.740 showed up in that capacity. A little beef here 00:11:38.740 --> 00:11:44.360 that I have with maybe how quick we are to just 00:11:44.360 --> 00:11:49.399 get on to Peter. I don't know how many sermons 00:11:49.399 --> 00:11:51.259 I've sat in here where they're like, and Peter 00:11:51.259 --> 00:11:55.460 just didn't get it. Now, to be fair, prior in 00:11:55.460 --> 00:11:57.759 this, like the next previous chapter, he didn't 00:11:57.759 --> 00:12:01.279 get it and he got called Satan. But Peter's quoting 00:12:01.279 --> 00:12:04.250 Zachariah. Um, because in the, in the, in the 00:12:04.250 --> 00:12:05.889 book of Zachariah, they have this, uh, especially 00:12:05.889 --> 00:12:08.429 in rabbinic times, uh, in the times of Jesus, 00:12:08.549 --> 00:12:11.210 this, this quote from, uh, Zachariah is, has 00:12:11.210 --> 00:12:13.370 to do with being on the mountain and that they're 00:12:13.370 --> 00:12:15.990 going to, it's going to be, be, uh, a time of 00:12:15.990 --> 00:12:17.350 Sukkot because it's going to be a time of an 00:12:17.350 --> 00:12:19.870 Exodus. So he sees Moses, he sees Elijah. They're 00:12:19.870 --> 00:12:22.149 talking about departure. Jesus is shining with 00:12:22.149 --> 00:12:24.909 glory on a mountain. He says, let's build a Sukkot. 00:12:25.649 --> 00:12:27.590 Right. He's like, I see what's going on. This 00:12:27.590 --> 00:12:30.389 is, this is Zachariah. And God just goes from 00:12:30.389 --> 00:12:33.580 him and he's like, Hey. This is my son pay attention 00:12:33.580 --> 00:12:35.820 to him It's also a thing about hospitality, right? 00:12:35.879 --> 00:12:39.600 Where Peter ties back to Genesis when Abraham 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:41.799 welcomes the angels in and Peter's seeing these 00:12:41.799 --> 00:12:43.899 holy figures and he's like, we need to do something 00:12:43.899 --> 00:12:46.000 to make them feel welcome. Right. Make them feel 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:48.059 home, make them feel hospitable. It's part of 00:12:48.059 --> 00:12:51.279 their culture. Right. So nothing culturally that 00:12:51.279 --> 00:12:54.080 Peter is saying right here is off. Well, and 00:12:54.080 --> 00:12:55.940 honestly, he doesn't even get rebuked. Neither 00:12:55.940 --> 00:12:59.279 by God speaking from heaven or by Jesus or by 00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:01.779 Moses or Elijah. Nobody rebukes him because they're 00:13:01.779 --> 00:13:05.419 like, yeah, but no. Like, yes, yes, you're actually 00:13:05.419 --> 00:13:08.759 seeing that. But the tabernacle is not what you 00:13:08.759 --> 00:13:13.000 think. Right. And because I think Peter in some 00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:15.879 capacity gets that Jesus is the son of man referenced 00:13:15.879 --> 00:13:19.049 in Daniel. Right. Because he's just said that, 00:13:19.090 --> 00:13:20.549 hey, you're the Christ, the son of the living 00:13:20.549 --> 00:13:24.149 God. But also he doesn't quite think they understand 00:13:24.149 --> 00:13:26.710 what's about to happen, but they have no idea. 00:13:27.049 --> 00:13:29.009 Well, and we face that tension in our lives, 00:13:29.070 --> 00:13:31.210 too. Yeah. Right. Where it's like where we will 00:13:31.210 --> 00:13:33.269 hear something. We'll even say it like, yes, 00:13:33.269 --> 00:13:36.169 I hear it. I believe this. But when the rubber 00:13:36.169 --> 00:13:38.649 meets the road, you're like, oh, OK, I'm going 00:13:38.649 --> 00:13:40.889 back to my old ways. Yeah. Right. So you have 00:13:40.889 --> 00:13:42.889 that here where Peter is like, yes, Jesus is 00:13:42.889 --> 00:13:45.950 the son of God. He's the Messiah. And then these 00:13:45.950 --> 00:13:48.009 other holy. figures show up and Peter's like, 00:13:48.110 --> 00:13:50.990 Oh, he's on the equal plane as Moses and Elijah. 00:13:51.370 --> 00:13:53.370 Right. These figures he's heard about his whole 00:13:53.370 --> 00:13:56.830 life. And, um, and then that's where God interjects 00:13:56.830 --> 00:14:00.110 and is like, wait, no, no. That's where God has 00:14:00.110 --> 00:14:02.250 something to say. Yeah. And it, and like, it's 00:14:02.250 --> 00:14:03.830 not, it's not necessarily like we said, it's 00:14:03.830 --> 00:14:05.330 not an admonishment. It's, it's a correction. 00:14:05.450 --> 00:14:07.649 Like it's, it's just like, it's like, Hey, uh, 00:14:07.769 --> 00:14:11.830 no, you think, you know, listen, listen to what 00:14:11.830 --> 00:14:14.299 he's saying. Now, why is that important? Because 00:14:14.299 --> 00:14:16.980 what's happened in the previous chapter, Jesus 00:14:16.980 --> 00:14:18.960 said, I'm going to son of man has to go to Jerusalem 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:22.240 to be, to be tried, crucified. And, you know, 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:24.580 he's going to be put to death. And Peter's like, 00:14:24.740 --> 00:14:27.139 no, this is not what's going to happen. And right. 00:14:27.340 --> 00:14:29.899 You're not listening. Yeah. Like, you have ears, 00:14:30.100 --> 00:14:33.299 but you don't hear. Like, you have eyes, but 00:14:33.299 --> 00:14:35.200 you're not seeing. Yeah, and don't think you're 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:37.860 any different than Peter. No. Because, I mean, 00:14:37.899 --> 00:14:40.860 we do the same thing. Something profound will 00:14:40.860 --> 00:14:43.320 happen at church, in the sermon, in the music, 00:14:43.340 --> 00:14:45.159 whatever, and you'll be like, oh, man, my eyes 00:14:45.159 --> 00:14:47.659 are opened. And then when rubber meets the road, 00:14:47.700 --> 00:14:50.139 you'll be like, okay, I need to go to church 00:14:50.139 --> 00:14:52.860 on Sunday, but my football team is playing in 00:14:52.860 --> 00:14:57.460 the morning. Maybe I'll just watch, quote, unquote, 00:14:57.539 --> 00:14:59.610 watch online. my phone off to the side with the 00:14:59.610 --> 00:15:02.250 servant playing. So I can be like, I was at church. 00:15:02.730 --> 00:15:05.009 The, uh, I might've just called a few people 00:15:05.009 --> 00:15:07.370 out there. Yeah. There's, there's, it's weird. 00:15:07.490 --> 00:15:09.529 I it's, we haven't even posted the episode and 00:15:09.529 --> 00:15:11.850 I can see our viewership dropping. It's weird. 00:15:12.789 --> 00:15:17.409 At least we didn't talk about hockey. Um, yet 00:15:17.409 --> 00:15:20.509 we don't, we don't have time to do that today. 00:15:22.110 --> 00:15:25.110 Yeah. This, uh, this story is, um, it's, it's 00:15:25.110 --> 00:15:30.269 so, it's so important because there's, there's 00:15:30.269 --> 00:15:32.929 not a lot of things that Jesus, well, there's 00:15:32.929 --> 00:15:34.529 a lot of things that Jesus does that are overtly 00:15:34.529 --> 00:15:36.269 divine, but there's not a lot of things where, 00:15:36.289 --> 00:15:39.950 where Jesus like just shines with glory in his 00:15:39.950 --> 00:15:42.950 ministry because, um, he is, um, tormented flesh, 00:15:42.990 --> 00:15:45.929 God in human self, uh, Philippines is going to 00:15:45.929 --> 00:15:47.769 say he empties himself to, to be human, right. 00:15:47.830 --> 00:15:49.929 To, to walk on the earth and suffer as we suffer 00:15:49.929 --> 00:15:54.149 and, um, experience as we experience. But there's 00:15:54.149 --> 00:15:57.269 like, This is one of those times where he goes 00:15:57.269 --> 00:15:59.230 up on the mountain. It's almost like it's like 00:15:59.230 --> 00:16:01.789 the last huddle before they go to what they're 00:16:01.789 --> 00:16:03.590 going to go do. Since we're talking about football. 00:16:03.769 --> 00:16:06.529 It's the last huddle. And referencing Luke says 00:16:06.529 --> 00:16:07.850 they're going to be talking about the Exodus. 00:16:08.429 --> 00:16:12.970 Right? I also wonder how that works. You know? 00:16:13.230 --> 00:16:15.250 Like, I sit here and I just wonder. I'm like, 00:16:15.330 --> 00:16:17.590 so you go up the mountain and you're like, hey, 00:16:17.610 --> 00:16:20.169 I'm going to talk to representative of the law, 00:16:20.230 --> 00:16:21.990 representative of the prophets. I was like, well, 00:16:22.009 --> 00:16:27.419 what is that? Yeah. Another another theory I've 00:16:27.419 --> 00:16:30.779 heard on this is that Peter was trying to get 00:16:30.779 --> 00:16:35.720 them to stay because you have Jesus and Moses 00:16:35.720 --> 00:16:39.399 and Elijah talking about Exodus. And so there 00:16:39.399 --> 00:16:42.980 is a theory that in Peter's mind or Peter, James 00:16:42.980 --> 00:16:45.440 and John, probably, but in their minds that it 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:47.559 was happening right then and there. Yeah. Like 00:16:47.559 --> 00:16:51.679 these figures showed up. Let's talk Exodus. And 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:54.299 they're like, whoa, let's get you to stay. That's 00:16:54.299 --> 00:16:57.440 another theory now. Well, I mean, and if you're 00:16:57.440 --> 00:17:01.279 thinking that like in their thinking in turn 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:05.160 of the century, Israel. Their thinking is, yes, 00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:09.019 we do need an exodus. We need the Goliath that 00:17:09.019 --> 00:17:12.079 is Rome to be toppled. We need to walk through 00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:14.500 the Red Sea and see all the Roman legions put 00:17:14.500 --> 00:17:18.160 into that sea. And when you have that mentality, 00:17:18.460 --> 00:17:19.660 you're always going to paint everything through 00:17:19.660 --> 00:17:22.420 that lens. But what is an exodus really about? 00:17:22.740 --> 00:17:27.750 I mean, even in the exodus. God is leading his 00:17:27.750 --> 00:17:30.130 people out, but he's also placing judgment on 00:17:30.130 --> 00:17:32.230 the gods and the things that Egypt is trusting 00:17:32.230 --> 00:17:35.390 in and inviting Egypt into this relationship, 00:17:35.529 --> 00:17:37.130 which was something we referenced back in season 00:17:37.130 --> 00:17:41.869 one. Yeah. And God is always extending an invitation 00:17:41.869 --> 00:17:44.809 for people to come and follow Yahweh. And so 00:17:44.809 --> 00:17:48.569 even the Exodus wasn't about just crushing Egypt. 00:17:48.650 --> 00:17:50.390 It was about crushing all the things that Egypt 00:17:50.390 --> 00:17:53.589 trusted. Yeah. When there's a God not bound by 00:17:53.589 --> 00:17:55.789 geography, there's a God not bound by time, there's 00:17:55.789 --> 00:17:57.710 a God not bound by circumstances, there's a God 00:17:57.710 --> 00:17:59.869 not bound by anything that this world has to 00:17:59.869 --> 00:18:03.009 offer because he's the one through whom all of 00:18:03.009 --> 00:18:06.319 it comes to be. Yeah. And he says, man, I just 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:10.180 want you to come and be with me. Yeah. So you 00:18:10.180 --> 00:18:12.180 get Peter wanting to make these memorials and 00:18:12.180 --> 00:18:16.480 then you get God speaking. And this is a new 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:19.779 living translation, but even as he spoke, a bright 00:18:19.779 --> 00:18:23.519 cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the 00:18:23.519 --> 00:18:26.920 cloud said, this is my dearly loved son who brings 00:18:26.920 --> 00:18:29.779 me great joy. Listen to him. Disciples were terrified, 00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:33.230 fell down on their face. A couple of things just 00:18:33.230 --> 00:18:37.109 to note here. Nowhere does it say God was angry. 00:18:37.450 --> 00:18:39.930 Yep. Nowhere does it say God was mad. We've hinted 00:18:39.930 --> 00:18:42.769 at, we've talked about this. Nowhere does it 00:18:42.769 --> 00:18:46.910 say God was yelling, right? Right. It just says, 00:18:46.990 --> 00:18:50.109 but a voice showed up and said, this is my son 00:18:50.109 --> 00:18:54.150 who brings me great joy. Listen to him. And then 00:18:54.150 --> 00:18:56.130 the disciples were terrified and fell face down 00:18:56.130 --> 00:18:59.529 on the ground. And just so we're clear, there's 00:18:59.529 --> 00:19:02.650 a tie back there to Isaiah. Isaiah did that when 00:19:02.650 --> 00:19:05.589 he had an encounter with God in the temple. Ezekiel 00:19:05.589 --> 00:19:09.769 did that. There's also a, it's also a. precursor 00:19:09.769 --> 00:19:13.769 to John in Revelation who fell down as if he 00:19:13.769 --> 00:19:17.109 couldn't move. Right. Uh, the idea of falling 00:19:17.109 --> 00:19:20.410 down in fear when you physically encounter the 00:19:20.410 --> 00:19:24.150 presence of God is a common thing. Yeah. And, 00:19:24.150 --> 00:19:27.730 and I'm, I'm, and yes, fear is in light, but 00:19:27.730 --> 00:19:30.369 it's more of, it's, it's, it's when you actually 00:19:30.369 --> 00:19:33.210 get an accurate representation of the disparity 00:19:33.210 --> 00:19:37.170 between who you are and who God is. Um, I'm going 00:19:37.170 --> 00:19:39.049 to use the word kavod. It's the, the weight, 00:19:39.170 --> 00:19:42.769 the weight of the presence of God. Um, they talk 00:19:42.769 --> 00:19:44.589 about like the face of God was always before 00:19:44.589 --> 00:19:47.210 me. The presence of God is before me. It is, 00:19:47.309 --> 00:19:49.069 you're, you're getting a true representation 00:19:49.069 --> 00:19:53.349 of just how small you are. And it, it's, it's, 00:19:53.349 --> 00:19:56.630 it presses you to the ground sometimes literally, 00:19:56.809 --> 00:20:00.309 right? Not because God is overbearing, but because 00:20:00.309 --> 00:20:03.450 there's just a recognition that, oh man, I'm 00:20:03.450 --> 00:20:06.670 an ant bowling, balling up my fist. well when 00:20:06.670 --> 00:20:10.670 you have that encounter of a perfect holy deity 00:20:10.670 --> 00:20:15.390 right and you a broken you like you feeling broken 00:20:15.390 --> 00:20:19.470 and small and tiny like there's you that's just 00:20:19.470 --> 00:20:21.809 one of those things where it's like so overwhelming 00:20:21.809 --> 00:20:24.150 that puts you at a loss for words there was i 00:20:24.150 --> 00:20:28.839 mean that i was um in high school. Um, so, and 00:20:28.839 --> 00:20:30.359 I grew up, I grew up Southern Baptist, which 00:20:30.359 --> 00:20:32.259 by the way, a lot of my good friends are Southern 00:20:32.259 --> 00:20:35.519 Baptist. And, uh, um, but we just didn't have 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:38.079 words for what God did in my life in high school, 00:20:38.119 --> 00:20:41.019 um, because there's not as much of a exposure 00:20:41.019 --> 00:20:44.490 to the spirit. but we were in a prayer meeting 00:20:44.490 --> 00:20:47.470 during high school and, um, I got hit and, you 00:20:47.470 --> 00:20:49.450 know, like, uh, we were just praying and I asked 00:20:49.450 --> 00:20:51.289 God to fill us, to move, move in our presence, 00:20:51.349 --> 00:20:54.569 to make our faith come alive. And, uh, where 00:20:54.569 --> 00:20:55.950 they talk about when you're filled with the Holy 00:20:55.950 --> 00:20:57.730 spirit that you almost like, it's like you get 00:20:57.730 --> 00:20:59.329 electrocuted. People talk about like coursing 00:20:59.329 --> 00:21:01.690 electricity. I was like, it was like, I got static 00:21:01.690 --> 00:21:05.390 shocked in my body. And it was from that point 00:21:05.390 --> 00:21:07.329 forward. Like I know the day, I know the moment, 00:21:07.369 --> 00:21:10.849 like it's, it's not that my faith was, uh, it's 00:21:10.849 --> 00:21:13.609 not that it was, it became effective. It was 00:21:13.609 --> 00:21:16.829 effective long before that it came alive. And 00:21:16.829 --> 00:21:19.970 from that moment forward, I started to like, 00:21:20.009 --> 00:21:22.670 I would have like visions and I would have dreams 00:21:22.670 --> 00:21:24.369 and God would speak to me and like, and like, 00:21:24.369 --> 00:21:26.490 but like the presence of God was moving in my 00:21:26.490 --> 00:21:29.190 life. And, and it was when the presence of God 00:21:29.190 --> 00:21:30.789 comes into your life, it's like, sometimes it 00:21:30.789 --> 00:21:35.130 has like a physical reaction. Um, now can that 00:21:35.130 --> 00:21:39.259 be abused? Of course. Right. I mean, we probably 00:21:39.259 --> 00:21:41.500 we could easily go off on a bunch of those things. 00:21:41.539 --> 00:21:44.859 But just because it's something you don't understand 00:21:44.859 --> 00:21:46.599 doesn't mean it's not something that's legit. 00:21:46.680 --> 00:21:50.400 Yeah. Right. Yeah. I when they were walking away 00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:54.079 at the end, they asked Jesus about why did they 00:21:54.079 --> 00:21:56.500 say Moses has to be the one to come. Right. Or 00:21:56.500 --> 00:22:02.519 Elijah has to come first. Right. I was actually 00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:04.539 going to pull this up, and they're referencing 00:22:04.539 --> 00:22:07.380 actually back to Malachi. I know that book that 00:22:07.380 --> 00:22:10.000 all of you have read so many times, right? When 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:11.920 was the last sermon series we did on Malachi? 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:16.119 Us? It was not that long ago. Well, no, we did 00:22:16.119 --> 00:22:18.680 a minor prophet, so it wasn't specifically Malachi. 00:22:18.759 --> 00:22:22.420 We did like a brief overview of all the minor 00:22:22.420 --> 00:22:24.900 prophets, and sometimes more than one minor prophet 00:22:24.900 --> 00:22:30.299 in one sermon. Yeah. In other words, I think 00:22:30.299 --> 00:22:32.039 we're due for a sermon series through Malachi. 00:22:32.180 --> 00:22:34.720 Okay, let's do it. All right. So in chapter four, 00:22:34.839 --> 00:22:38.700 it says, surely the day is coming. It will burn 00:22:38.700 --> 00:22:41.339 like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer 00:22:41.339 --> 00:22:44.160 will be stubble. And the day that is coming will 00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:46.319 set them on fire, says the Lord Almighty. Not 00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:49.259 a foot, or sorry, not a root or a branch will 00:22:49.259 --> 00:22:52.839 be left of them. But for you who revere my name, 00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:55.660 the sun of righteousness will rise with healing 00:22:55.660 --> 00:22:58.250 in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like 00:22:58.250 --> 00:23:01.910 well -fed calves. Then you will trample on the 00:23:01.910 --> 00:23:04.690 wicked. They will be ashes under the soles of 00:23:04.690 --> 00:23:06.789 your feet on the day when I act, says the Lord 00:23:06.789 --> 00:23:37.730 Almighty. Okay. Read that again. Or else. I will 00:23:37.730 --> 00:23:39.230 come and strike the land with total destruction. 00:23:40.650 --> 00:23:43.450 And so what, who do we see Jesus on a mountain 00:23:43.450 --> 00:23:47.329 with Moses and Elijah, as he's talking about 00:23:47.329 --> 00:23:49.730 being the son of man referenced in Daniel. And 00:23:49.730 --> 00:23:55.230 they're like, Oh, but what, wait, why did they 00:23:55.230 --> 00:23:56.829 say Elijah has to end that? Cause like, they're, 00:23:56.829 --> 00:23:59.349 they're like, well, where's Elijah. Right. And 00:23:59.349 --> 00:24:01.799 he's like, well, Elijah already came. Like that's 00:24:01.799 --> 00:24:03.460 who John the Baptist is. He's here to preach 00:24:03.460 --> 00:24:06.240 a message of repentance. Repent for the kingdom 00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:07.900 of heaven is here. It's ready for you to interact 00:24:07.900 --> 00:24:10.299 with it. I was like, this was the message that 00:24:10.299 --> 00:24:12.480 was preceding. He was the, the read that was 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:15.220 also echoes Elijah's message all throughout his 00:24:15.220 --> 00:24:18.640 ministry. So it's almost like, and this is, this 00:24:18.640 --> 00:24:20.539 is, this is not something that's surprising to 00:24:20.539 --> 00:24:22.839 you, but sometimes it's surprising to Christians. 00:24:23.259 --> 00:24:27.339 This book is not. an old Testament, new Testament 00:24:27.339 --> 00:24:30.960 is one story. And Jesus is stepping into a context 00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:32.660 of things that have been going on for generations. 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:34.700 And God has been doing in the hearts of people 00:24:34.700 --> 00:24:37.779 since the very beginning. Yeah. Right. That's 00:24:37.779 --> 00:24:39.420 not to say that it's not a new covenant and not, 00:24:39.440 --> 00:24:40.880 that's not to even say that you shouldn't call 00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:42.180 it old Testament, new Testament. I don't think 00:24:42.180 --> 00:24:44.859 that's, that's inappropriate. But I think sometimes 00:24:44.859 --> 00:24:46.380 when we do that, we're like, well, it's old. 00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:50.519 We don't need it anymore. Well, no, the old informs 00:24:50.519 --> 00:24:53.019 the new. Was it you that was telling me that 00:24:53.019 --> 00:24:54.500 the first Lord of the Rings movie you watched 00:24:54.500 --> 00:24:57.559 was Two Towers? Yeah. Hadn't read any of the 00:24:57.559 --> 00:25:02.220 books. And I walk into this movie and I see little 00:25:02.220 --> 00:25:04.599 people walking through the woods. And then it 00:25:04.599 --> 00:25:06.339 ends with little people walking through the woods. 00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:08.500 This is a bad description of Lord of the Rings. 00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:12.269 And I was like, what just happened? I went into 00:25:12.269 --> 00:25:15.210 the movie like, cause I had no idea. Nobody had 00:25:15.210 --> 00:25:17.130 told me anything. I went into the movie or thinking 00:25:17.130 --> 00:25:20.549 like gladiator ring, people fighting it out type 00:25:20.549 --> 00:25:23.450 thing. Perfect. And so like I was, yeah, I was 00:25:23.450 --> 00:25:28.410 way off. I wish that at some point, like with 00:25:28.410 --> 00:25:31.480 that being your first movie. If you had like 00:25:31.480 --> 00:25:33.440 sat down right there and tried to guess what 00:25:33.440 --> 00:25:35.299 the beginning of the story and the end of the 00:25:35.299 --> 00:25:37.519 story was about. Yeah. Just jumping in the middle. 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:40.000 Yeah. So then after I watched that, I went back 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:41.859 and I was like, I need to get some context. And 00:25:41.859 --> 00:25:43.420 I read all three of the books and I was like, 00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:46.660 this makes a lot more sense now. Right. So interesting 00:25:46.660 --> 00:25:49.539 thing. I was actually watching a video from a 00:25:49.539 --> 00:25:51.700 token scholar. So this is not really related 00:25:51.700 --> 00:25:53.160 to the podcast, but you guys get to listen anyways. 00:25:54.079 --> 00:25:55.599 Apparently Lord of the Rings actually should 00:25:55.599 --> 00:25:58.380 be split into six books, not three. That token 00:25:58.380 --> 00:26:00.480 actually wrote it as six but because they were 00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:02.319 having printing issues during the time that it 00:26:02.319 --> 00:26:04.099 was being published They actually formatted into 00:26:04.099 --> 00:26:05.599 three books because it was easier to publish 00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:09.440 Okay. Yeah, just random because they said there's 00:26:09.440 --> 00:26:11.960 actually that actually makes a lot of sense because 00:26:11.960 --> 00:26:14.420 one of his writing partners was actually CS Lewis 00:26:14.420 --> 00:26:16.700 Yeah, who did his series in seven books? Yeah, 00:26:16.799 --> 00:26:19.519 so it actually that actually yeah, especially 00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:23.390 when you factor in like with this what's that 00:26:23.390 --> 00:26:24.950 what's the other collection of books that he 00:26:24.950 --> 00:26:27.210 has it's a similar simirelian yeah something 00:26:27.210 --> 00:26:29.069 like that yeah i'm gonna say simirelian and somebody 00:26:29.069 --> 00:26:31.569 you can correct me only if you can pronounce 00:26:31.569 --> 00:26:33.829 it correctly we just lost like half our followers 00:26:33.829 --> 00:26:36.730 because like you mispronounce that how dare you 00:26:36.730 --> 00:26:42.569 there is yeah so but jesus jesus comes into a 00:26:42.569 --> 00:26:44.869 context and so like he goes and takes him on 00:26:44.869 --> 00:26:47.210 the mountain and he takes these these boys that 00:26:47.210 --> 00:26:49.710 have been steeped in torah Yeah. They've been 00:26:49.710 --> 00:26:52.309 steeped in messianic prophecy. They've been steeped 00:26:52.309 --> 00:26:54.390 in this world to come. And he says, come and 00:26:54.390 --> 00:26:56.210 take a look at what's going on here. And I don't 00:26:56.210 --> 00:26:57.829 know why Jesus needs to talk to Moses and Elijah, 00:26:57.950 --> 00:26:59.650 but he takes them along so they can see what's 00:26:59.650 --> 00:27:04.190 going on. Because they're about to enter a place 00:27:04.190 --> 00:27:06.529 where you're going to need some hope to hold 00:27:06.529 --> 00:27:11.940 on to. The story of the last week of Jesus, which 00:27:11.940 --> 00:27:14.440 we're coming in on pretty soon. We got a few 00:27:14.440 --> 00:27:16.180 more weeks of different things that we're covering. 00:27:16.359 --> 00:27:20.500 But the stories of the last week of Jesus, he 00:27:20.500 --> 00:27:23.259 does a lot of confrontation. And the crucifixion 00:27:23.259 --> 00:27:25.700 and when they have to sit there for three days 00:27:25.700 --> 00:27:27.539 while they're waiting to figure out what to do 00:27:27.539 --> 00:27:32.079 next. Yeah. It's going to be important to have 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:36.269 hope. Right? And it's interesting because he 00:27:36.269 --> 00:27:37.809 says that they're not even allowed to talk about 00:27:37.809 --> 00:27:40.970 this until he resurrects. And he's told them 00:27:40.970 --> 00:27:43.369 he's going to resurrect. He's like, you can't 00:27:43.369 --> 00:27:47.349 talk about it until then. Well, yeah. So what 00:27:47.349 --> 00:27:49.950 are the takeaways for us here? And I think one 00:27:49.950 --> 00:27:52.349 of the big ones is, well, a couple of things. 00:27:52.369 --> 00:27:54.650 One, you don't always know how the Lord's working. 00:27:54.849 --> 00:27:58.279 Correct. Right. You might think you see one thing 00:27:58.279 --> 00:28:00.319 and be like, this is what's happening. And then 00:28:00.319 --> 00:28:02.599 God might show up and be like, actually, let's 00:28:02.599 --> 00:28:04.700 do a little bit of a turn here. We're going to, 00:28:04.740 --> 00:28:07.900 this is what we need to focus on. Right. And 00:28:07.900 --> 00:28:10.700 so sometimes we will enter into a situation where 00:28:10.700 --> 00:28:12.240 we'll be like, this is how it's going to be resolved. 00:28:12.480 --> 00:28:14.519 This is how I'm going to fix it. And then you'll 00:28:14.519 --> 00:28:16.099 hear the story and you'll see what's actually 00:28:16.099 --> 00:28:18.480 happening. And you'll be like, maybe I don't 00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:21.140 know as much as I think I do. Yeah. And that's 00:28:21.140 --> 00:28:24.000 okay. Like, it's okay to sit back and be like, 00:28:24.059 --> 00:28:26.599 okay, that didn't go my way. I didn't get to 00:28:26.599 --> 00:28:28.619 set up my three, my three tents for these three 00:28:28.619 --> 00:28:31.980 amazing people. Right. But I do get to focus 00:28:31.980 --> 00:28:35.200 on this one person who's actually leading me 00:28:35.200 --> 00:28:37.880 down this path. Who's actually leading me into 00:28:37.880 --> 00:28:41.599 a life with him. And so it's okay to be like, 00:28:41.660 --> 00:28:43.420 okay, that didn't go my way. Lord, what do you 00:28:43.420 --> 00:28:46.279 have for me? I think also you can, you can have 00:28:46.279 --> 00:28:49.640 a biblically framed mindset on what events are 00:28:49.640 --> 00:28:52.799 happening and still miss what God is doing. Right. 00:28:53.680 --> 00:28:56.140 And that's why it becomes more important to have 00:28:56.140 --> 00:28:58.579 that relational perspective. Right. Yeah. We 00:28:58.579 --> 00:29:00.180 have this time where we're just chatting with 00:29:00.180 --> 00:29:02.220 God and being like, I mean like, Hey, I think 00:29:02.220 --> 00:29:03.480 this is what I should do. And he's like, yeah, 00:29:03.539 --> 00:29:06.579 I hear you. Also, you need to go do this. Yeah. 00:29:07.119 --> 00:29:08.799 You're like, that doesn't have anything to do 00:29:08.799 --> 00:29:10.740 with what I wanted to do. And he's like, that's 00:29:10.740 --> 00:29:13.500 okay. It absolutely does. Actually, it absolutely 00:29:13.500 --> 00:29:16.759 does. And tell you what, after, after you're 00:29:16.759 --> 00:29:18.319 going to recognize exactly why you had to go 00:29:18.319 --> 00:29:20.680 do that. How many, how many times in your life 00:29:20.680 --> 00:29:23.130 do like, God is like, putting, you're going through 00:29:23.130 --> 00:29:24.490 something and you know, like you're right in 00:29:24.490 --> 00:29:25.630 the middle of where God wants you to be and it's 00:29:25.630 --> 00:29:28.509 not great. But then like later you look back 00:29:28.509 --> 00:29:29.829 and you're like, oh yeah, that's exactly where 00:29:29.829 --> 00:29:33.549 I needed to be. Right. Like today I can look 00:29:33.549 --> 00:29:35.970 back and be like, oh, absolutely. I even think, 00:29:35.990 --> 00:29:38.809 um, when we, when, uh, this is, I'm going to 00:29:38.809 --> 00:29:40.509 close this story real quick here. Yeah. You're 00:29:40.509 --> 00:29:43.599 good. Um, Tara and I served at a church. We've 00:29:43.599 --> 00:29:44.859 talked about, there's a church that we served 00:29:44.859 --> 00:29:46.480 at that we got kind of chewed up and spit out 00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:49.440 out. Right. And it was a, it was a really like 00:29:49.440 --> 00:29:51.619 bad experience. And, but I was like, I knew for 00:29:51.619 --> 00:29:53.740 a long time that God wanted us there. Now I overstate 00:29:53.740 --> 00:29:57.079 God's call there. Right. Because I was like, 00:29:57.160 --> 00:30:01.059 Oh, you know, we can fix this. You know, we couldn't. 00:30:01.720 --> 00:30:04.779 Um, but while, while we were there, like, um, 00:30:04.940 --> 00:30:08.160 I was like, we, we were very definite that our 00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:12.519 call was there. But it was hard and it was rough. 00:30:12.720 --> 00:30:15.839 And like we had a lot of like just things that 00:30:15.839 --> 00:30:18.240 we had to deal with. And I'm like, I don't understand 00:30:18.240 --> 00:30:20.579 like why I'm going through all these things. 00:30:20.920 --> 00:30:25.960 Except now, you know, 12 years later, I've actually 00:30:25.960 --> 00:30:28.779 run into very similar situations that churches 00:30:28.779 --> 00:30:32.019 are going through on a regular basis. Yeah. Because 00:30:32.019 --> 00:30:34.839 I was in the middle of that. I recognize signs 00:30:34.839 --> 00:30:36.420 and I'm able to talk to people and have real 00:30:36.420 --> 00:30:38.339 conversations about like problematic behavior. 00:30:38.539 --> 00:30:43.170 Yeah. problematic things, um, because I sat in 00:30:43.170 --> 00:30:46.769 rooms where I was berated for 45 minutes to an 00:30:46.769 --> 00:30:49.950 hour, uh, for everything under the sun that you 00:30:49.950 --> 00:30:54.329 can think of. Um, it just doesn't really bother 00:30:54.329 --> 00:30:58.109 me when people speak badly about me. Um, as far 00:30:58.109 --> 00:30:59.650 as like being able to talk love back to them. 00:30:59.690 --> 00:31:04.170 Yeah. Right. Um, it just, I guess, especially 00:31:04.170 --> 00:31:06.490 when it comes to like leading in faith and following 00:31:06.490 --> 00:31:09.369 Jesus, like, I mean, it's just, it's not, But 00:31:09.369 --> 00:31:11.869 I didn't, in the moment, I was like, what's the 00:31:11.869 --> 00:31:14.150 purpose of this? But now there's so many times 00:31:14.150 --> 00:31:17.349 that even like this year where God has used the 00:31:17.349 --> 00:31:19.589 experience of what I went through in order for 00:31:19.589 --> 00:31:23.490 me to effectively lead now. Yeah. And knowing 00:31:23.490 --> 00:31:26.430 that, I still don't like the pain. I still don't 00:31:26.430 --> 00:31:28.269 like the turmoil. I don't like the stress and 00:31:28.269 --> 00:31:29.869 everything that we had to go through. But I'm 00:31:29.869 --> 00:31:34.650 like, was it worth that to be able to help with 00:31:34.650 --> 00:31:36.789 what's going on today? Yeah. And the answer is 00:31:36.789 --> 00:31:39.799 usually yes. Yeah. You know? Sometimes I'm like, 00:31:39.819 --> 00:31:42.660 I don't know. But most of the time the answer 00:31:42.660 --> 00:31:46.339 is yes. Yeah. Oftentimes the Lord works in ways 00:31:46.339 --> 00:31:49.220 we don't understand. Actually more often than 00:31:49.220 --> 00:31:50.720 not. I was going to say most of the time he works 00:31:50.720 --> 00:31:53.779 in ways we don't get. Yeah. Right. And that's, 00:31:53.779 --> 00:31:55.940 let's just be real in American culture. That 00:31:55.940 --> 00:31:57.859 can be hard because we have our plans. We have 00:31:57.859 --> 00:31:59.920 our desires. We have our dreams. We have our, 00:32:00.019 --> 00:32:04.339 this is how it should be. Right. And when Jesus 00:32:04.339 --> 00:32:06.880 enters in and is like, pulls a little bit of 00:32:06.880 --> 00:32:10.680 like, well, you know, Let me reframe this for 00:32:10.680 --> 00:32:14.339 you. Let me reframe what it means to be loving. 00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.740 Let me reframe what it means to follow me. I 00:32:19.740 --> 00:32:23.059 was listening to a guy talk a while back and 00:32:23.059 --> 00:32:25.839 he, I say a while back, it was like two weeks 00:32:25.839 --> 00:32:27.420 ago. It's just been a really long two weeks. 00:32:28.220 --> 00:32:30.579 There are some weeks that feel like years. Yes. 00:32:30.660 --> 00:32:32.460 The last couple of weeks have just been crazy 00:32:32.460 --> 00:32:34.900 for me. But I was listening to a guy talk a couple 00:32:34.900 --> 00:32:38.119 of weeks ago and he was talking about the, Church 00:32:38.119 --> 00:32:39.960 split that happened around a thousand years ago 00:32:39.960 --> 00:32:43.460 where you had the Western part of Europe, they 00:32:43.460 --> 00:32:47.720 shifted to a practice based theology where they're 00:32:47.720 --> 00:32:50.200 like, this is about what we can do, what we can 00:32:50.200 --> 00:32:52.619 produce. And then the Eastern part of Europe 00:32:52.619 --> 00:32:56.140 switched, focused more on just being in the presence 00:32:56.140 --> 00:32:59.900 of God. And, and he was saying, he's like, yeah, 00:32:59.920 --> 00:33:02.799 unfortunately he's like. We as a church, we still 00:33:02.799 --> 00:33:05.460 like to live in this practice -based theology 00:33:05.460 --> 00:33:08.240 of what do I have to do? He's like, maybe we 00:33:08.240 --> 00:33:11.059 need to step back and just focus on being still 00:33:11.059 --> 00:33:15.039 and being in the presence of God. It comes rarely 00:33:15.039 --> 00:33:17.440 back to this teaching of Jesus when he talks 00:33:17.440 --> 00:33:19.240 about, I am the vine and you are the branches. 00:33:19.480 --> 00:33:23.400 If you remain, you produce fruit. We're like, 00:33:23.420 --> 00:33:25.240 oh, we need to go and produce fruit. No, you 00:33:25.240 --> 00:33:28.940 need to remain. You need to abide. You need to 00:33:28.940 --> 00:33:32.500 be present. You need to be connected. And when 00:33:32.500 --> 00:33:36.420 you do that, you're going to produce fruit. Right. 00:33:36.539 --> 00:33:38.660 Well, and just in the transfiguration too, you 00:33:38.660 --> 00:33:41.539 have Peter who's like, here's these people. This 00:33:41.539 --> 00:33:43.759 is what we need to do. Yeah. And God's like, 00:33:43.900 --> 00:33:48.619 here's Jesus. Be with him. Yeah. Right. And so 00:33:48.619 --> 00:33:51.220 that's actually, let's just close with that idea. 00:33:51.900 --> 00:33:57.240 Listener this week. I'm here. Jesus says, I'm 00:33:57.240 --> 00:34:01.099 here. Just be here. Yeah. be present, be present 00:34:01.099 --> 00:34:04.539 with God. Yeah. Right. Um, you might be driving 00:34:04.539 --> 00:34:07.460 on your way to work. You might be, uh, running 00:34:07.460 --> 00:34:10.699 on a treadmill. You might be, um, hurting cats 00:34:10.699 --> 00:34:13.559 because, uh, just talking about teachers, um, 00:34:13.719 --> 00:34:16.480 you know, whatever it is. I was like, wherever 00:34:16.480 --> 00:34:19.699 it is, you can be present and just be present, 00:34:19.739 --> 00:34:22.000 listening and engaged with God wherever you are. 00:34:22.059 --> 00:34:24.420 Yeah. I was like, you never know when you're, 00:34:24.420 --> 00:34:25.880 you're like, Hey, I want to build boosts. And 00:34:25.880 --> 00:34:27.059 he's like, Nope, just want you to be here and 00:34:27.059 --> 00:34:31.170 see what's going on. Yep. We're going to leave 00:34:31.170 --> 00:34:34.130 it there on that note. Bye. Have a great week. 00:34:36.139 --> 00:34:38.360 And that's a wrap for today's episode of Love 00:34:38.360 --> 00:34:40.820 and Context. We hope this conversation encouraged 00:34:40.820 --> 00:34:43.519 you and gave you fresh insights into how we can 00:34:43.519 --> 00:34:45.599 better love God and others through the powerful 00:34:45.599 --> 00:34:48.199 truths of the Bible. We'd love to hear from you. 00:34:48.260 --> 00:34:50.219 Send your questions, thoughts, or suggestions 00:34:50.219 --> 00:34:53.880 to loveandcontext at gmail .com. Your feedback 00:34:53.880 --> 00:34:55.880 means the world to us and helps shape future 00:34:55.880 --> 00:34:58.539 episodes. 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