The WOFOYO Podcast
The WOFOYO Podcast
Born Out of Due Season: When God's Call Doesn't Follow the Expected Timeline
God offers remarkable grace for those whose spiritual timelines don't align with conventional expectations, as seen in Paul's description of himself as "one born out of due time" and in the Second Passover provision.
• Numbers 9 reveals God's provision of a second chance to observe Passover for those who couldn't participate at the appointed time
• Just as the Second Passover accommodated unavoidable life circumstances, God extends grace to those who can't "do church" on conventional schedules
• Paul's unconventional apostleship demonstrates how God's calling transcends normal timing and preparation
• The story of Eldad and Medad in Numbers 11 shows God's Spirit works both inside and outside established structures
• True spiritual leadership requires discernment to recognize both divine timing and potential spiritual dangers
• Not everyone is suited for every ministry role, requiring leaders to balance grace with wisdom
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Hi, this is Henry the Cessationist here to tell you that all those times that Jesus talked about kingdom, he was just kidding. He didn't mean for us to engage society, government or business, oh no, he wanted us to hole up in a local congregation and wait for him to return. If you really want to impact the world for Christ, the best way to do it is to refuse to interact with it. Don't be concerned with supernatural manifestations that demonstrate the power and wisdom of God. No, no, no, no, no, no. When it's time for revival, well, there'll be the path to your door, and we know this is true because that's the way I learned it in seminary. And they ought to know. They've been dead longer than you've been alive. Who do you think you are anyway? Hey man, hey everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Wofo Yo podcast with C Dubbin' Bones. We are going to be talking about what it means to be as one born out of due season or one born out of due time, and the foundational scripture for that, the passages 1 Corinthians we'll be reading out of the good old King James and Paul is talking about Jesus here and Jesus being resurrected. So in 1 Corinthians 15, verses 7 through 9, it said after that he was seen of James, who's Jesus' brother, then of all the apostles and last of all he was seen of me also as one born out of due time, for I'm the least of the apostles that I am not meet or fitting to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. So Paul is talking about I'm one born out of due time. It didn't happen for me like it happened for everybody else. This past week, reading through some of the good old Old Testament Bones, I was talking with you on the phone just sending some messages back about some different patterns and stuff I saw Over here in Numbers 9. So what's getting ready to happen here is the Lord has given the command. This is the first Passover they're getting ready to celebrate and observe in the wilderness. So there's your setup. Now.
Speaker 1:The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the first month of the second year, after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying let the children of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time On the 14th day of this month, at twilight. You should keep it at its appointed time According to all its rites and ceremonies. You shall keep it. So Moses told the children of Israel that they should keep the Passover. And they kept the Passover on the 14th day of the first month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai, according to all that the Lord commanded Moses. So the children of Israel did, and everything's hunky-dory until verse six.
Speaker 1:Now there were certain men who were defiled by a human corpse so that they could not keep the Passover on that day. And they came before Moses and Aaron that day, and those men said to him we became defiled by a human corpse. Why are we kept from presenting the offering of the Lord at this point in time among the children of Israel? So Moses said to them. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying Speak to the children of Israel, saying, saying if any one of you or your posterity is unclean because of a corpse or is far away on a journey, he may still keep the Lord's Passover On the 14th day of the second month, at twilight.
Speaker 1:They may keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break one of its bones. According to all the ordinances of the Passover, they shall keep it. According to all the ordinances of the Passover, they shall keep it. But the man who is clean and is not on a journey and ceases to keep the Passover, that same person shall be cut off from among his people because he did not bring the offering of the Lord at its appointed time. That man shall bear his sin. And if a stranger dwells among you and would keep the Lord's Passover, he must do so according to the rite of the Passover. And according to this ceremony you shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger and the native of the land. So what you have here is again.
Speaker 1:It seems like everything's hunky dory and life happens Basically for these guys. They became defiled by human, by human corpse, a human body, most likely a family member or a friend or you know somebody that they were laboring with. And you had this ritual If you touched a body, you were unclean for X amount of days. And they're like well, what's up with that? We want to do the right thing. So why are we prevented from doing the right thing? But he gives this ordinance that you're supposed to celebrate it on the 14th day of the first month, and if you're unable, god says celebrate it on the 14th day of the second month. There is not a third option. You're going to do it then or you're going to do it there. But I saw almost a type and shadow of the old and new covenant and I also saw that grace you know, kind of like what Paul was talking about too of he didn't get even with the new covenant. Paul didn't catch it right away.
Speaker 2:What I like here is that, uh, god has a provision, um, in that, you know, here's, here's the way it's going to be, here's what I need you all to do, but I get it. You know, not everybody's going to be able to do it this way. I'm not saying I'm doing this because not everybody wants to do it this way, but sometimes folks can't do it this way. So, for those who for some reason, can't catch the Passover on the 14th day of the first month, I got you covered. I'll provide another time for you.
Speaker 2:Had conversations like this with folks who were just so steadfast on being in church on Sunday morning oh, you got to be there. You got to be in church Sunday morning. Oh, you got to be there. You got to be in church on Sunday morning. Yeah, okay, what about the folks who work midnight shift? And you know they work midnight shift and they got Wednesday, thursday, off. Well, you know they're going to have to suck it up. They just got to sacrifice. You know, I don't think I understand what you're saying, but I don't think God wants anybody to risk themselves falling asleep on the way to church because they've been up for 18 hours already. You know, bottom line is there is another way for those who couldn't make the Sunday service. But I like what you're seeing here is that here's the ordinance, here's what I need you to do, but there's grace too for those who need it.
Speaker 1:I did those days on that shift and I think you had the same days off as well. We did that for seven years.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, About seven, eight years. Yeah, that's hard. I'll be the first one to admit it. Midnight shift for seven or eight years? That's hell.
Speaker 1:I did a total of 13 and a half on midnights and I'm good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, your body doesn't get used to it, you don't adjust. That's why there's a medical disorder called third shift sleep disorder, because the truth is life goes on around you. I was getting off work at 7 o'clock in the morning Guess what? My daughter still had to go to school. So you know, I had to take my daughter to school and she was going to a private school at the time, so that school got out at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Guess who had to be at school to pick her up? So you know, life still goes on for our folks on Midnight Shift. And God is kind of saying that right here. He says I understand life goes on and there's life happening all around you. So I think it's awesome to see that. You know God has a way, he's providing a way.
Speaker 1:When I was reading this. I just see there's a first Passover, there's a second Passover. Just like you have the Passover instituted by God to Moses, then you have Christ, our Passover, instituted by God to us. And even with that, again you see paul being extended that grace, even as one who was persecuting the church. He didn't get it right away. And we have this idea and it's and it's put forward to us. This idea, it's marketed to us, it's sold to us. Sometimes it's beat over our head that you've got to do it our way. You have to do exactly what the church is saying, exactly according to our doctrine, and that's just the way it is. And you're just not seeing that, as far as in the character of God and what he is allowing, he's going, you need some time to catch up, right? Not everybody is there immediately. Some folks need some grace.
Speaker 2:I think there's a picture here too. What is Passover? What do we typically see? Passover as A picture of redemption, a picture of salvation. Picture of redemption, a picture of salvation. So I think we can take solace in the idea here that you may have heard a salvation message, someone may have shared the gospel with you, but maybe you rejected it, maybe it didn't land on you, maybe you didn't feel called, whatever the case may be. But God doesn't offer it to you one time and that's it. You get another chance. There's another chance coming. For a lot of us there was two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten chances. But the idea here, the picture here, is contrary to some preaching If you don't accept the Lord today, you may never get another chance.
Speaker 2:Maybe, but maybe, maybe not. But there's solace in the fact that just if you didn't get it today, it's going to be offered again Now. Whether you live to see the next time it's offered. Now that's a different story. But no, you don't get one chance at salvation and that's it. No, we're thankful for God's grace and his unending patience with us, because he desperately wants to call everyone into the kingdom.
Speaker 1:A couple chapters later, we have a story. We're not getting full on into it because we really got into depth a few episodes ago, but you see this pattern extended also in Numbers 11, which we had talked about a month or two ago. You have this scenario, and the one thing we didn't cover was the scenario that led up to it. Everybody's complaining we ain't got nothing but manna, manna, manna, manna, manna, manna. Oh, it's horrible. Manna Reminds me of that movie, secondhand Lions. So, robert Duvall, corn, corn, corn, nothing but corn. Start shooting the corn, you know, with the old clay pigeon launcher and stuff, putting it in there and Moses just goes. Why don't you just go ahead and kill me Rather than me have to deal with these people? That's a heck of a thing to ask. Yeah, it's pretty much what it's like to be a union rep.
Speaker 2:That's how it is. In just about any kind of leadership role. You can get so frustrated with folks because, man, sometimes you just want them to just stand up, be a man.
Speaker 1:So in the midst of this, lord says gather the elders. So they gather these 70. They actually call 72. So you see that number play even in the New Testament of 70 and 72. And he lays hands on them and the spirit that was on Moses goes on to these 70 elders which is where you get the Sanhedrin from and they prophesy, they go out and the Lord had promised them that he's going to bring them meat so much they can't stand it. Bring them meat so much they can't stand it.
Speaker 1:And somewhere here in the middle, around verses 25 and 26, the Lord came down in a cloud and spoke to him, spoke to Moses and took of the spirit that was upon him and gave it unto the 70 elders. And it came to pass that when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied and did not cease. But there remained two of the men in the camp. The name of one was Eldad, the name of the other was Medad, and the spirit rested upon them and they were of them, that were written. But when not out into the tabernacle and they prophesied in the camp, and there ran a young man and told Moses and said oh, dad, me dad do prophesy in the camp, and Joshua, the son of none, servant of Moses. One of his young men answered and said my Lord, moses forbid them. And Moses said unto him envious thou, for my sake, would God that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them? He's like if you had my spirit then the job would be easy. And Moses got him into the camp, he and the elders of Israel. So we got in a little bit of depth there.
Speaker 1:But the interesting thing is I also saw a parallel to Paul that we really didn't cover in the discussion of being outside the camp was their names were still on the roll. You have these guys, eldad and Medad, that start to prophesy. They got called for whatever reason. They didn't go when they were called, but somehow, the grace of God, it says that the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. He wasn't confused when he called you. He knew about all the dirt, he knew about all the screw-ups and all the stupid stuff that you would do. You are still called Now. If you're working out some character issues, it doesn't mean that the manifestation of that calling is necessarily right now.
Speaker 1:I found out about a situation I'm like nah, nah, oh, daryl Coulson went over, hung out with him and he's like man, you got this issue. Well, there's an international house of prayer had one of their leaders, the founder of it. This dude was a serial abuser, was using the gift of prophecy, was accused of using it to hook up. All the Lord done, said that my wife's going to die and had like 15, 16 different women come up with the same thing and you're going to be her replacement when she dies. Hook up Well, mama's doing. Well, you know. But really what had happened was evidently this guy's sister is out there prophesying, says oh, he's coming back. The Lord said he's paid his price and you know what Things are what they are.
Speaker 1:But let me tell you something about predators. See, what you don't do, what you absolutely positively do not do, is put a predator in a target rich environment. You and I have dealt with people that were predators. One of the interesting things that I discovered in doing this career field I've been involved with for 25 years now is it's I can spot a predator pretty quick. Now there's a couple of different variances. They're not all Hannibal Lecter. What they look like is overly polite and charming, right and till the, until all of a sudden, there's the opportunity. And when the opportunity is there, you see the fangs come out. You see that the wolf was indeed in sheep's clothing.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you what's interesting. My wife and I we watched the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings oh yeah, just kind of wrapped that up. I don't think I'd ever watched any of those movies all the way through. I've seen bits and pieces of them here and there. And just to give you some backstory, my wife and I we love sagas, we love epic stories and that's why we both love star Wars and and things like that. So we love these, these epic, epic, epic stories. Um. So anyway, just listen to you talk here.
Speaker 2:Um, gollum is a good, um good picture of a predator. Just when you see, when you see how gollum floats back and forth between Gollum and Schmeichel, the way that he's talking he's always referring to himself as we and us. But the dialogue that goes back and forth between Gollum and Schmeichel as he's talking to Frodo and whatnot, that's very much how a predator operates. There's this flipping back and forth of the page between one personality to the other. You have this very polite and understanding person and then, all of a sudden, you have someone who pops up, very different, usually when they're confronted, and then they pop back to being polite and nice in order to sway your favor back to them. But when he was talking, all I could see was Gollum and Smeagol and that interaction there.
Speaker 1:The manners and the charm are one weapon that is used. The other method is victimhood. Yeah, and Smeagol was definitely good at playing the victim. And you say, oh man, you see this in the news all the time of oh, that poor man, look what they did with him. And then you find out the context which, if you want to have peace in this day of instant news, instant headlines, instant outrage, bite your tongue and wait a month. Yeah, which is hard to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Bite your tongue, open your eyes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then listen and then all of a sudden you start hearing these discrepancies. Wait a minute, that isn't what you said last week, that isn't what you said two weeks ago and all these inconsistencies will come out and you just pick up on it. I was dealing with one of the people that I was helping to supervise this week incoming won't get into too much detail out of professionalism, but they were a talker. The thing is, once they shut up, they did okay and I finally told the guy if you are talking, you are not learning, and it was. It was one of these consummate question asking people. I nicknamed him yeah, but yeah, but yeah but yeah, if you're talking, then you're not learning. Listen. And he was also doing something else.
Speaker 1:Ooh, I have a big pet peeve due to past interactions with people that have done this. When I'm on a firearms range. I've had two that drove me absolutely nuts because they weren't any good at all. Both people that I've really had to deal with personally that did this were horrible and they thought that, by explaining, I would say what you need to do with the firearm is you're doing this and it's causing this to do, yes, what I need to do, and they would echo everything and they would talk and logic themselves through the issue and it never changed the result. You're not going to philosophize your way through it. You're either going to do it or else you don't.
Speaker 1:And so when this young man started to do that, I'm like so you know, you're doing something that pisses me off, and I explained to him exactly what it was and I explained to him why.
Speaker 1:I said you're either going to do it or you're not going to do it. But what we're not going to do is take an extra five minutes for you to explain to me what you're going to do, when I've already told you what you need to do is take an extra five minutes for you to explain to me what you're going to do, and I've already told you what you need to do. And it's 95 degrees out here and we're on a range yeah, you're going to either do it and pass, or you're either not going to do it and barely pass or fail. But we're not having this discussion. I said it's not even a personal thing, it's just I've dealt with too many people that do this and you're starting to do it and I'm shutting it down right now. And you know what he did fine, he did fine but we had to keep that mouth shut.
Speaker 2:I wonder, I wonder if that is, I wonder if that's a stall tactic. That's an insecurity, a stall tactic born out of insecurity, him not being sure of himself. So by stalling he's trying to gain himself some more time, thinking that he'll get it by osmosis or something. But I definitely see where it's frustrating.
Speaker 1:I'm going to get in trouble for telling you this. They're stupid. The problem is it don't equate. Sorry, now you get. Now you're getting firearms instructor seat up. The bottom line is every three of the I'm going to give this guy some grace, but the two previous ones that did that were dumb Doesn't mean they're bad people, but sometimes people are just dumb, and these two people that I had to deal with previously were dumb. I can't really do it. So I'm going to say what the process is. You're saying it but you don't comprehend it. And in several other instances and one of those people was, uh, one of those people was dirty, so they got escorted out of a job because their integrity was lacking. So I get a little bit.
Speaker 1:I get a little bit. No, they shouldn't have been there. Yeah, shouldn't have been there. So, that being said, back to Back to what we were talking about before. I started going off on predators and people that are stupid. Oh, you're not supposed to say that. Well, bottom line is there are some people that are stupid. There's a difference between ignorant and stupidity. You can change ignorance. Ignorance can be changed through education and learning. Stupidity can't do it. You know what? Let's go here real quick before we get back to L-Dad and Me-Dad.
Speaker 1:In a church setting or even in ministering to people, you're going to have to deal with some stupid people, okay, and you're going to have to recognize that for what it is. And you got to understand God still loves them. You got to understand that God's extending some grace. Therefore, you should extend some grace. That being said, don't you be the dummy and not realize what you're dealing with. If you try and mentor somebody that lacks the capability of rising up to what you're trying to mentor them to be, you're banging your head against the wall. And again, this is not to belittle or talk down about, but you better have a little bit of common sense and go. They love the Lord, we're going to work with them, we'll love on them, but we're not trying to train them to be a pastor or an evangelist. We're not trying to train them how to do the books in church or lead worship, because the capability and potential is just not there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the enemy can send these type of people to you as a way to sabotage or hoodwink other people's perception of you.
Speaker 1:Those landmines.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're landmines, that's a good way to put it. They're landmines and once again, this is a horrible part of warfare. Had a first lieutenant tell me this years ago Probably one of the smartest things I ever heard a lieutenant say War means fighting and fighting means killing. That's just the horrible part of warfare. So, even in spiritual warfare, you're going to have casualties, part of warfare. So, even in sport and spiritual warfare, you're going to have casualties. You just got to make sure that you mitigate how you produce casualties.
Speaker 2:The enemy will send you these type of people to draw you off your square, to put these landmines out in front of you and, like you said, you're going to show compassion. But at some point in time you got to know, hey, this is not going to be, uh, the next, uh, sunday school teacher, this is not going to be the next youth group leader, this is not going to be the next, whatever you know it's going to be. You got to that's what we really where. You really have to rely on the Lord, uh, for him to show you what this person is going to be, because the Lord does have a place for him.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you just have to be. You have to lean into his own understanding and not your own, to find out where that place is going to be. And it is a leadership challenge, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:But if Billy can't stop picking his nose in service, he don't need to be passing around the collection plate and he don't need to be passing around the collection plate, and he don't need to be serving at the banquet either.
Speaker 1:No, Everybody thanks for listening. We are going to continue this discussion in our next episode, continuing to talk about those born out of due time and God's grace to cover it. You can always check us out at Wofoyoorg or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, spotify, audible, even check us out on YouTube. Remember folks, if you're going to grow, you've got to woeful yoke. Get in the word for yourself.