The Regular Guys Bible Study
The Regular Guys Bible Study (or BS) podcast is a podcast for regular guys by regular guys (not theologians) studying the Bible together. It's brought to you by a couple of goofy -- sometime irreverent -- guys who just want to study the Bible together and show you that anyone can read and study the Bible. In fact, you SHOULD read and study the Bible yourself. We're here to show you how we do it, and, hopefully, we can have some fun along the way.
The Regular Guys Bible Study
Matthew 4
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Ken and Steve dig into the temptation of Christ and the calling of the first disciples, wrestling with why God led Jesus into the wilderness to be tested, whether Satan's offer of "all the kingdoms" was even real, and why Peter, Andrew, James, and John dropped everything the moment Jesus said "follow me." As always, the theology comes wrapped in tangents, self-deprecating jokes, and a little AI-assisted research along the way.
- Jesus fasts 40 days, gets tempted three ways, fires back with Deuteronomy each time
- Debate over whether the devil actually had authority to hand over earthly kingdoms
- Parallel drawn between Jesus in the desert and Israel's 40 years wandering
- Adam and Eve comparison: same temptation, opposite choice
- Simon (not yet "Peter") and Andrew, then James and John, called as the first four disciples
- Steve struggles to imagine the charisma it'd take to make him drop his career instantly
- Ken confesses to eating peach cobbler after swearing off dessert that morning
- Jesus starts healing and preaching "repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand"
you are listening to the regular guys bible study podcast the bible study for regular guys by regular guys we are your host ken and steve and we are just regular guys studying the bible together Not theologians Alright Steve Hey you know I was thinking Wow I keep wanting to change The intro and outro that we have But you know At this point it's just too late It's like this is like That's who we are you know Is it? Yeah Yes that is our intro And our outro Oh, speaking of that, it is not unfortunate. Do you know, hey, guys, we've got an app that is about to come on the iOS app store. No Way. Yep, yep. Yes Way called the regular guy's Bible study. And shortly thereafter, it should be on the Android some store. I don't know. I don't know anything about Android. I've never done an app on Android before, but I'm using AI tools, and the AI tools said, yeah, that's easy.
Steve:So, androids, they're like robots that look like humans?
Ken:That's androids. We're not talking, I hope I'm not installing it on an Android. Well, it was the bad guy in Alien. That's true. And honestly, I think AI will end up being the bad guy to society, one of the many bad guys. But that's okay. Right now, it's helping me write an app. And, you know, the truth is I think a lot of these tools that we have can be used for good or for evil, Steve. Evil Steve? Yes, if it can be used for evil Steve. all right anyway we've got an app coming out but I just realized the app needs to have a way to play the intro you know it's a goofy silly app anyway it needs to have it needs to have the intro button so I'm gonna I'm gonna add that but it'll probably be in the second version there's some other things I want to add too so All right. Well, guys, we are on Matthew chapter four. Matthew chapter four. We've had some really, okay, we meaning Steve, has had some really big technical issues at his house. And so he thinks these are solved.
Steve:Well, we hope they're solved enough for tonight.
Ken:Yeah. If you listen to Matthew chapter three, which I hope you did, Every now and then Steve cuts out or there's like this little tinny sound in his voice. Okay. All right. That sounded something else. But anyway, so hopefully it'll be better now, but we'll see. All right. If you haven't read Matthew chapter four, though, go ahead and read it and then come back. All right. Are you ready, Steve? Oh, and we're back. And we're back. Yes. Thanks for coming back. All right. Why don't you read, Steve? I read the whole thing last time. Why don't you read through 17? Really? Right? Right? Oh, I didn't see. There's a break at 11. Why don't you read? There is a break. Yeah, read to 11.
Steve:All right. News at 11. All right. Chapter 4, verse 1. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But he answered, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him, Again, it is written, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory. And he said to him, All these I will give to you if you fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him, Be gone, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
Ken:All right, so this is the temptation of Christ. This is right after he is baptized by John the Baptist. So we don't really know how much time passed, but the way it's written kind of implies right after this, well, they did some healing, right? I think after that. Is that right? Now I'm getting confused.
Steve:After this, he gathers his disciples.
Ken:Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, oh, that's the end of this chapter. Okay, so right after he comes up and God says, Behold, what does he say? God says, This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. And then Jesus was led up by the Spirit. So it sounds like this happened immediately following this. event. Do you agree?
Steve:Yeah, I think so. In fact, I had a similar note here that John was already in the wilderness and Jesus just saw him. So is he fairly nearby to John?
Ken:That's a good question. Could be. I don't know. This was in the, where was John doing baptisms? Galilee. The Jordan. From Galilee to the Jordan. Okay, so the Jordan River from Galilee. So however, I don't know, Steve. I'm not smart enough to know.
Steve:Luke's version actually says he returned from the Jordan and then went into the wilderness. So I'm going to say John wasn't nearby. Okay.
Ken:You know, we are at church, we're going through 1 Samuel right now. And when you think of the wilderness, Steve, what do you think of?
Steve:Usually I think of trees. I know that's not what they're talking about.
Ken:I think of like the jungle, you know, I think of trees and, you know, animals and stuff. And bugs, snakes. And, you know, the truth is there are snakes and there's some animals. But when it's talking about the wilderness here, this is like the most desolate, rocky, barren area there could be. So I think that's interesting. That's, you know, you would, you know, if you find an oasis in the wilderness, then you are happy. All right. So let's see. I have a note for verse 1, though. All right. So I noted that Jesus was led into the wilderness for the purpose of being tested by the devil. It says, then Jesus was led by the Spirit. So God led Jesus to the wilderness so that the devil would tempt him. Why do you suppose that is? Now that's my question, Steve. I was trying to beat you to it. You know, I don't know. I mean, I think it's because he needs to be tempted like we were tempted. And this is a—
Steve:I've never been tempted like this. Okay.
Ken:But, yeah, you're right. But he needs to be tempted. The thing is, if you had that power, it seems like I know I would be tempted to use that power for myself. Yeah, I agree. And I could even make up good ways that it was good for everybody that I do that.
Steve:Oh, I'm sure we could justify it a hundred different ways.
Ken:Yeah.
Steve:Especially the part about turning a rock into a stone.
Ken:Turning a rock into a stone?
Steve:I mean a stone into bread. I'm going to do that trick. The biggest understatement in the Bible is verse 2. He was hungry. He hadn't eaten for 40 days and 40 nights. He was hungry.
Ken:Okay, so let me, I have a question about that too, Steve. So did we answer the first one? Why did God do that?
Steve:To show that the devil also knows the Bible?
Ken:Maybe. I think it does show that. But look, this is what I have come up with. And I don't know if it's right or not. I did not, I did not, I don't search everything, guys. I don't either. I don't seek everybody's opinion for all these things.
Steve:I didn't do any searches for this chapter.
Ken:I did one, but it's very obvious where I did it. Anyway, I think it's to say, you know, who, Jesus, Jesus, I'm going to give you the opportunity to turn away from me and serve the devil. Do you want to serve the devil instead of me? And, you know, prove, you know, you make the decision. You know that the, I think it's kind of similar to the way the Amish. I did not know this until recently, but the Amish, and maybe I'm wrong about this. Somebody told me. Yeah, I think I read this. I think I read a story about this. But the Amish, when a son turns 18, they release him into the wild. The rest of the world. Into the rest of the world. And he has a certain amount of time in the rest of the world and then decides to come, you know, does he want to be Amish or does he want to be in the world?
Steve:I've heard that before too.
Ken:And I think it's similar to that. You know, it's like it is your choice. You know it is right, but it's going to be your choice.
Steve:Well, a thing occurred to me as you were talking about this, what it could be, and I don't know if this is my own idea or if I heard it in a sermon, But it could be that Jesus here is being given the same choices that Adam and Eve were given, and he's choosing the right path.
Ken:Oh, you know what? I think I have heard that in a message before. I think I have too. It is the, yeah, Adam and Eve chose the devil. Because, you know, do you want to be like God? And that's what basically the devil offers Jesus at the end. Do you want to be like God? And, you know, basically God over everything in this small little place. but Jesus is God just had some limitations as man at the time alright I got something else on verse 3
Steve:alright I don't have anything until 4
Ken:ok so let me ask you this he's been fasting for 40 days and 40 nights that is the extent of the Jewish fast, right? 40 days and 40 nights.
Steve:Okay, if you say so.
Ken:That's what I've, okay. I didn't look this up, but that's what I've always been told. That's how long the longest fast is. 40 days, 40 nights. And so his fast was over. So why would it be wrong for him to create bread for himself from stone? Or as you would say, why would it be bad for him to create a rock from a stone? Are you there?
Steve:Yeah, I'm just thinking. I don't have a good answer.
Ken:okay well you know I don't necessarily have a good answer I didn't look this one up maybe I should have but I'm thinking it's because he needs to face the challenges that man face he did not come to use his powers on himself to help himself. Did he ever use the Holy Spirit's power, or you could say his power, on himself?
Steve:Or just himself?
Ken:Yes.
Steve:Let's see. Depends on how you look at it. When he fed the 5,000, he was probably hungry too.
Ken:We don't even know if he ate.
Steve:I don't think he ever used them just for himself.
Ken:I think of no instance where he used it just for himself. Other than you could claim, oh, and he rose himself from the dead. But, you know, he also carried our sins with him in that process. So I don't think that was just for himself. Right. So anyway, I think he, you know, he needs to go and buy the bread and just like, or make the bread just like anybody else would.
Steve:Well, don't you think now in verse 11 that when the angels came and ministered to him, they probably brought some manna or something?
Ken:They might have, yeah. But that was not his power. that was being sent to him. Okay, that's my comment there. And then what do you have? You have something for four?
Steve:For four. So he's quoting, Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy, and it's part of Deuteronomy when the people are being reminded of everything God had done for them while they were in the desert, Which is interesting because he's basically been in the desert for 40 days.
Ken:So it's a parallel to the Israelites being in the desert for 40 years? Is that what you're saying?
Steve:That's what I'm saying. Well, with your help, that's what we're saying.
Ken:Is that what you were intending to say or did I just say that?
Steve:You mostly said that. I was just pointing out that they were both in the desert. But, yeah, you kind of make it sound a lot better.
Ken:Well, I never – to be honest, I never thought about that, Steve. So, you know, I guess –
Steve:Iron sharpens iron.
Ken:Iron sharpens iron. And it's also a good reason to be in a Bible study with other guys and not just do it on your own. But you should read your Bible on your own. But, you know, it's great to study it with other guys as well. I know that, you know, we meet every Wednesday morning, Steve, for some accountability. And sometimes we read Scripture. There's a huge group at another table that's doing a Bible study. and there's groups like that all over so I think guys should take advantage of those things
Steve:yep alright so I have something for five as well
Ken:okay what you got
Steve:so as soon as Jesus quotes from scripture the devil turns around and counters with a quote from Psalms
Ken:you're right yep So the devil knows his Bible as well. He knows the word of God and he knows how to use it for his sake. Yep.
Steve:Which just this last Sunday, our pastor was saying, there's nothing more dangerous than a Christian that doesn't know their Bible.
Ken:Did he say that?
Steve:I believe he said something along those lines.
Ken:All right. I must have been daydreaming at that moment. No, I'm just joking. I never daydream, but sometimes my memory isn't very good. Yep, I agree. People need to know their Bible. All right. What else you got? I got something at 10. I don't have anything.
Steve:I have 7 through 10.
Ken:Okay, go for it.
Steve:So, you know, I've been talking about how they're quoting the Bible back and forth here. Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy again from chapter 6, 16, and then from 6, 13. It's interesting because Deuteronomy is talking about the law and how it is to be kept. And Jesus is quoting also from the part of Deuteronomy that talks about the promised land. Jesus is showing that he is fulfilling the people side of the deal. And God is going to fulfill his side of the deal.
Ken:Man. Yeah, I never got that. That's good, Steve. Huh.
Speaker 3:All right. What did you have? Well, all right.
Ken:So for 10, Satan says, I mean, no. Oh, I have it at 10, but the truth is it's really for seven.
Steve:The whole thing.
Ken:It's for the whole thing, yeah. Or it's for eight, I guess. So where Satan says, all these things I give you, if you will fall down and worship me. Did Satan have power to do that?
Steve:He seemed to think he did.
Ken:All right. So I went to AI on this one. And here's what AI says. And this is Claude, by the way. Yeah, Claude Code. Or not Claude Code, but Claude AI. I asked it, did the devil or why? I don't remember exactly what I asked. But basically, did the devil really have authority? Is there biblical evidence that says that Satan has the authority to do this? And AI says, good question. And it's genuinely debated. There are a few angels angles. There are a few angles worth chewing on for the episode. So the thing about Claude is it knows I'm doing a Bible study. So because it's been helping me code this app. So it's really funny. It's tying it all together. So one view leans on passages like Luke's version of this same story where Satan says the authority has been given to me and he can give it to whomever he wishes, which some read as Satan having a real, if delegated and temporary authority over the fallen world system. 2 Corinthians calls him the god of this age, and John's gospel calls him the ruler of this world. So there's real textual support for some kind of dominion. The other view says it's simply a lie or an exaggeration, Satan overselling a claim he can't actually back up, since ultimately everything belongs to God, as the Psalms say, the earth is the Lord's and everything in it. So, but there are other scriptures that kind of, you know, point to Satan having some authority on this world.
Steve:Yeah. I'd like, I kind of like how it pulled in all that other stuff.
Ken:Yeah, I'm, and it did not give like its own opinion.
Steve:I had a comment for that verse as well.
Ken:Okay.
Steve:And it's basically that this feels like the lamest offer the devil could have made to Jesus. Because he knows he's going to sit at the right hand of God and be over the kingdom of heaven, which is a lot better than over this and reporting to the little red man with horns.
Ken:I think we undersell the all, he is all man, right? Jesus is all man and he's also all God, right? So that man side, I think it's a real side, you know? And we are stubborn and very sinful people. So he's got that temptation, you know, is there. Right. So, but you're right. I understand. He knows, you know, but do you ever do something, Steve, that you know you shouldn't do? Oh, yes. And you know it's going to be bad. I just had dessert I'm really fatter than I've ever been And I just had dessert And This morning I said I'm not going to have dessert And Now I want dessert I ate dessert I had peach cobbler with ice cream Ooh That sounds good Yes it was
Steve:I wouldn't be able to say no to that
Ken:So I think it's a real temptation
Steve:Well, I have another thing for verse 9.
Ken:Okay.
Steve:So when the devil says, fall down and worship me, do you think he is suggesting that Jesus grovel at his feet? Or do you think maybe this could refer to falling from heaven just as Satan had?
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm.
Steve:because if Jesus chose to fall from God's good grace, going back to your original question, I would think Satan would have authority at that point
Speaker 3:to give him that stuff. I don't know. I don't think so.
Ken:I think, I mean, I see what you're going after, and maybe. I think it's more of just change your allegiance. Yeah, bow down to me and change your allegiance, which, you know, is the same. It's still falling in the same way, I guess. Right I don't know Steve
Steve:Alright well that's all I had For what we've read so far
Ken:Yes same Alright so I'll read 12 through 17 Now when he heard that John okay so he's Been ministered by the angels They probably fed him Gave him some water and stuff Now when he heard that John had been arrested he withdrew into Galilee, and leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled, the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned. From that time, Jesus began to preach, saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Alright, not a lot happened there, but there's a couple of key things.
Speaker 3:I actually have two notes from this section.
Ken:Alright, what's your first one?
Steve:Verse 12. If we jump down to Matthew 14, 3, we'll find that he talks more about why John was arrested. And it makes me think that perhaps John was in prison for quite a while.
Ken:Okay. But we're not... Oh, hold it. Where did you say if you jump where?
Steve:Matthew 14.
Ken:So 10 chapters later.
Steve:Right. That's when he gets killed.
Ken:Ah, okay.
Steve:Sorry. Spoiler alert.
Ken:Dang it.
Steve:But, you know, because right here it doesn't really say why he was arrested.
Ken:Right. Are you going to mention it here and spoil everything? Oh, no. I'm not going to do that. You're going to have to come back in 10 weeks. Like we'll be that far in 10 weeks. Actually, I know we won't be because chapter 5 is going to be two weeks. Yeah.
Steve:And we're going to miss a week.
Ken:That's true. All right. What else? You said you had two things.
Steve:That was 12. 17. Let's see. From that time, Jesus began to preach, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. I didn't really realize he began preaching before getting disciples, but it kind of makes sense because why would anybody follow anyone that hadn't actually preached yet?
Speaker 3:But also, I wonder how long he was on his own like that. We wouldn't really know because he didn't have disciples taking notes. That's true.
Ken:Okay, let me ask you this. What was the message that John the Baptist was preaching?
Speaker 3:Repent.
Ken:Matthew 3, chapter 2. I mean, chapter 3, verse 2. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Steve:Are you saying that Jesus plagiarized?
Ken:No, but I'm saying it is the same message that John the Baptist was preaching. And what did John say about the one to come?
Steve:He said that he was unworthy to even clean his sandals or something?
Ken:But did he say that he would baptize?
Steve:he said he would baptize with the spirit.
Ken:And?
Speaker 3:Come on, Steve. And?
Ken:I don't remember. The spirit and with fire. Fire. So they are both, you know, John is saying, John was saying then that I baptize you with water. There is one coming greater that will baptize you with the spirit and with fire.
Steve:I've always thought of the fire part as being the spirit, but is there more to it than that?
Ken:You don't want me to get into my theories, Steve.
Steve:Wasn't that why we're here?
Ken:No, because my theories, you know what? My theories are just thoughts. They aren't based on biblical reasoning. And so I don't want to focus on that. It doesn't go. My thoughts don't go against biblical messages. But it does, my thoughts on it, don't necessarily align with most churches. So that is, which, you know, honestly, I think that is one of my main reasons why I really want people to read their Bible. Churches sometimes get stuck in a tradition. Yeah, they do. And you want to know what the Bible says so that you'll understand the tradition first. And secondly, when that tradition is just tradition, you'll know that too. And in many cases, there is nothing wrong with tradition. I mean, tradition is how we build communities together. And so I'm not trying to say tradition is bad, but sometimes it's non-scriptural, but people will act like it is scripture.
Steve:You mean like Christmas?
Ken:The birth of Jesus or Christmas? Christmas. Okay, yes, Christmas. But I celebrate Christmas.
Speaker 3:Sitter!
Ken:All right. All right, so that was, actually, that's what I was going to say about 17. And when I read that, when I read what Jesus is preaching, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. I wrote this note to myself here about what that means to me. And to me, it sounds like he's saying, well, repent, first of all. Turn away from sin, pay attention, and turn to God. Pay attention and turn to God. That's kind of how I took it. That's like a modern-day way to say it. That's a little less preachy maybe, but I don't know.
Steve:I don't know if I'd say it's less preachy. It just uses less inside words.
Ken:Yeah, okay, that works. All right, you ready to go on?
Steve:I am. All right. Verse 18. While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. You want me to keep going?
Ken:Yeah, why don't you keep going?
Steve:And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis and from Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.
Ken:All right. All right. So we've always thought there were 12 disciples, but there were just four apparently. No, that's just a joke.
Steve:That's a funny one.
Ken:All right, so he starts out by calling these four different, or I guess two different pairs of fishermen, right?
Steve:Well, two pairs of brothers.
Ken:Oh, and two pairs of brothers as well. You're right. So Peter and Andrew, and then James and John.
Steve:So before we go on.
Ken:Yes.
Steve:Peter wasn't called Peter until sometime later
Ken:That's true, Simon
Steve:Here he is Simon
Ken:Yep
Steve:Because the who is called Peter is in parentheses
Ken:That's right You're right, he's called Simon right now And there's a very important part Later on where he becomes Peter So I should not have said that He called Simon and Andrew and John and James. All right. What? Yep, go ahead.
Steve:20. Immediately they left their nets and followed him. So I kind of mentioned this earlier, but do you think that they'd heard him preach before this? Because I struggle with what sort of charisma a person would have to have for me to drop everything. I mean, literally your whole career and everything you know and follow them.
Ken:Yeah. No, I know. That's the same note I have on both of these, right? Why? My question is why? Why did they just immediately obey? Okay, so you're asking, did they already hear him preach? Maybe. They might have seen him heal or heard about his healing. Okay. But, you know, actually he hasn't done that yet as far as we know.
Steve:I know that we can say this is all perfectly chronological. Yeah, yeah.
Ken:It's not like he hasn't done other things. we know that when he was 12 he turned the water into wine was that 12? he was a kid anyway no no when he was 12 he wasn't a kid no you're right when he was 12 teaching in the temple in the synagogue yeah you're right but before his ministry started that's all we really know and that I don't know is that in Matthew or not? no we didn't talk about that yeah that would have already been here i think yeah um okay so yeah the question is why and i think i think i have a an answer but you know i don't know if you're going to like the answer.
Steve:Well, the only thing I could come up with is maybe the Holy Spirit was working in them, but they didn't have the Spirit yet, supposedly.
Ken:Yeah, the Holy Spirit was, I mean, there were serious mentions of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament.
Steve:Right.
Ken:So God can do whatever He wants. That's true. So I'm saying the Holy Spirit told them, hey, go. Or maybe, you know, with the command of his voice, he, that maybe, you know, God can do it however he wants to do it. But the point is, Jesus called and they obeyed immediately, without hesitation, while James and John were helping mend the nets, and they just got up and left.
Steve:See, I kind of understand that because that sounds really boring.
Ken:Oh, got to go. And, you know, Simon and Andrew, you know, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. It's like, ooh, tasty. You know, what? You think they filleted him? No, but, you know, that's, it's definitely not something that would be the same type of appeal, you know, while he, I don't, I don't know. But I think it is an example of how when we feel called to do something, we need to do it immediately.
Steve:Yeah. I think I'm bad about that. I think sometimes I ignore it.
Ken:Not me. You know what? I try to like go on ahead of God and do stuff before he even wants me to. That's a great idea.
Steve:Nothing can go wrong there.
Ken:No, I definitely, definitely don't obey all the time, especially the immediate part. All right. Let's see. What else you got here, Steve? I have nothing else. You know, it's interesting. I don't have... I'll have one thing. He was proclaiming the... In verse 23, he was proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. That's what it says. I'll read the verse. And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. Proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. What does that mean?
Speaker 3:Huh. Well, up above he was saying repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Yep. Yep. I mean, to me, the gospel of the kingdom is
Steve:God giving us grace and forgiving our sins to allow us in.
Ken:Okay, I think for them, I'm thinking the gospel of the kingdom. And gospel means good news, right? That's one of the few words I know. So he's saying the good news about the kingdom. And he's been saying repent because the kingdom of God is near. I think he's turning people to the scriptures about the Christ coming. So it's the good news that the Christ is coming. That is the kingdom. When they're saying the kingdom of God is near, Christ is near. That's what I think they're saying.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Ken:That's just me. I don't really know. I'm all right with that. All right. Then he heals a bunch of people. I don't really know what to say about, you know, he healed a bunch of people. you know.
Steve:It's a little interesting that they call out Syria because that wasn't a Jewish territory at the time, was it?
Ken:It certainly isn't now. I don't think so. News spread as far as Syria, yeah, and people soon began bringing to him. You know, there were probably little pockets of Jews all over, just like there were in Babylonia when the wise men, you know, came because of the Jewish, probably because of the Jewish things they learned from Daniel.
Steve:Why would Jews have little pockets? To carry the scrolls. I think they'd need big pockets for that.
Ken:Okay, maybe. Anyway, I think that's all I got, Steve.
Steve:Me too.
Ken:All right. So, what does this tell us about Jesus and how we are to respond to Jesus?
Steve:Well, I think you already said it. We're to respond immediately.
Ken:Okay, and what does it tell us about Jesus?
Steve:Well, he's, as a man, he was capable of resisting the temptation. Okay.
Ken:Yeah, and he resisted temptation with the Word of God. the scripture, the same scripture that we have.
Steve:Which should be encouragement to read it.
Ken:Yes, read it, read it, read it. All right. Well, that's all I got, guys. Anything else, Steve? Nope. All right. Matthew 5. Matthew 5 next week, guys. We will probably do it. We're going to try to do about half of it, I think. So work your way through it. You can do the whole thing if you want. All right. See ya. The regular guy's Bible study is a Chasm LLC production, all rights reserved.
